A.S.K. Ministries

We have a problem.

It is not confined solely to Christians. It concerns everyone, even people outside the United States.

If you have ever been an addict, whether drugs, pornography, whatever compulsion that undermined your life, you will understand fully what this is about.

We want to blame Wall Street, the bankers, the real estate people, even the government, for the problems that are chipping away at the quality of life in our land, taking away jobs, fortunes, retirement accounts, all that stuff. And to some degree, all these institutions have to take some of the responsibility. But at the end of the day, and I know people are not going to like this, the ultimate responsibility comes back to you and to me.

This is not a popular view to take, but it is the only view that matters. Here's why...

In post World War II America, we began to benefit from the new wealth that was being created. We saw people getting rich and wanted our "fair share" of it. These newly rich people often turned around and started companies that required people to run them. Good salaries were offered and people were hired. Their standard of living began to improve. In the 1970s a subtle shift began to occur. With the added income people chose to start spending instead of creating a safety net. They chose to buy things. They chose to buy expensive things. And they began to buy houses, too. All this is not necessarily a bad thing. But...

On the other end of the spectrum, the lower income people started benefiting from the economic boom, too. Some did manage to be able to advance into higher paying jobs. The extra money they earned went into buying things they had done without. They did not create a safety net, in part because of their ignorance about finances, in part because they were tired of going without. And with the relaxing of lending rules in real estate that was forced upon the lending institutions in the 1990s, many more people who could not otherwise afford to buy a home began to purchase houses. And herein began the unravelling of one sector of the economy.

In fact, as I have stated in the past, the net saving of Americans alone is at minus two percent. That says we're in the hole. And the figures for the average debt of Americans from credit card purchases runs about eight thousand dollars average per family. Now you know where all the savings are going; they are going into paying for our licentiousness, feeding our addiction.

As I said, it's easy to blame someone else. After all, they made you do it, right? Their advertising beguiled you and enticed you and beckoned you to go and spend your extra money on things you really didn't need. It's their fault.

No... no it isn't.

We have spent ourselves into this mess. And because the government is afraid people might start saving money, they have launched a campaign to convince the American public, and the world, too, to keep spending. We'll even give you money to spend. What did you do with your stimulus check last year? Did you put it in a savings account? Did you pay bills? Or did you go out and buy something? That's what they wanted you to do, buy stuff. And it's still being encouraged. Don't believe me?

Take a look at the issue of Newsweek, the March 23rd 2009 release. It has that famous Montgomery painting of Uncle Sam on the cover pointing at us and telling us to spend money. This is what the government wants America, and by extension the world, to do. Don't save, spend. It is the way to save the economy. We need to spend our way out of debt. Uh... excuse me?

Do you honestly believe this is the solution? More wasteful spending? In no rational economic model does borrowing your way out of a hole, spending your way out of a depression or a recession, work. The only sensible economic model is one which stops the spending and works to pay off the debt until it's gone. You are stronger for it and, once your debt is satsified, can now begin to save money for a real emergency.

We are addicted to stuff. We are addicts of excess. We are junkies for junk. Most of the stuff in your house is worthless. I'll prove it to you if you have the courage to do the following:

Walk through your house, into your closets and cupboards, your garage... everywhere. Take a pad and pencil and write down everything you haven't used in at least six months -- label it so, and put the price you paid next to them. You will be surprised. Now write down what you haven't used for a year on a separate piece of paper and label it as well, including the price you paid for each item on the list. Now on a separate piece of paper, write down what you haven't touched in over two years and label that, too, with the cost along side it. Then tabulate the value of all of that, the total price you paid for everything on your list. What is the total?

If you are honest in this exercise, you will find literally thousands of dollars worth of stuff you don't even use. How do I know this is true? I walked through my house and did this very thing. Guess what? I had stuff that was useless, even no longer relevant, just laying around taking up space. I didn't use it, I wasn't going to use it and some of it I no longer had a use for.

Now the hard part.

I've been writing about Baal worship lately. Baal worship is the worship of false gods, idols. Our stuff is the modern idolatry. We have to have this stuff for God knows what reason. We can't live without this stuff. And that's what makes it an idol.

So I will repeat the statement Elijah made: If the Lord be God, then follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.

You have to break the cycle of addiction (Baal worship in the form of material things having such importance in our lives) by first admitting that you have a problem. Then you have to take meaningful steps to combat the problem. Then you have to fight. But your fight is not a solitary one. We have the sovereign Lord of the universe to help us overcome anything and everything that keeps us from relationship with our Lord Jesus, the only thing we really need in this life.

All we need is His love and His Word of Truth, the Bible, and the fellowship of caring and loving biblical Christian brothers and sisters we can turn to in times of need and for the help to break the chains of material addiction (in addition to other addictions). For this is far more important than any thing we believe we cannot live without. If you do not believe this, if you cannot do this, you are in far worse shape than you know.

That to which a man is enslaved, by that is he overcome.

Think about it.

May you find yourself in the peace and truth of Christ that sets all men free.

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Latest Revision: 18 April, 2009 A.D.