Filthy Lucre
The phrase “filthy lucre” is referred to three times in two of Paul’s final epistles:
While these verses in 1 Timothy and Titus are particularly addressed to preachers (“bishops” and “deacons”), I would extend them to any member of the body of Christ who accepts money for knowingly engaging in any kind of fraudulent activity, i.e., participating in the promotion of something deemed to be beneficial in some way, which actually results in the opposite of this.
The old testament prophets accused the ruling class in Israel and their accomplices of this kind of iniquity/fraud waged against the poor and unsuspecting ((Ref. Is 33:15; 56:11; Ezek 22:13,27)) and the following passage from the Proverbs quashes the idea that anyone in the body of Christ who is knowingly participating in it–which includes simply remaining silent about it because it might rub somebody the wrong way or cause you temporal loss– is going to escape the loss of rewards at the judgment seat of Christ ((Ref Romans 14:10; 2 Cor 5:10,11))
Prov. 24:10-12
Make no mistake about this, brothers and sisters in Christ, what is going on here and abroad with this agenda to force a needle into 7.9 billion inhabitants in the world is being driven by the quest for $$ gain, control, and power.
This is nothing less than pure evil, and Isaiah has some very harsh words for those who refrain from calling it what it is:
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Of course, this is being addressed to Israel but in the spiritual sense it applies to believers in every dispensation, including the present one (grace).
.…He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.Mark 4:9
Post Script
Are you saved? Jesus Christ—“who knew no sin”—and his sacrificial death on the Cross, has made the way for “everyone that believeth…to be reconciled to God. History has shown that whatever peace man has achieved in the world can only be temporary. The Bible says that individual men and women can know, beyond a doubt, that they are saved and bound for heaven, and therefore have absolute and permanent peace, regardless of what is going on in the world, by trusting Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for their eternal salvation. “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures….for our justification….believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”26 Have you done this? If not, why not now?
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