In I Timothy 6:10 we read this astounding statement, “The love of money is the root of all evil, which while some have coveted after they have erred from the faith…” This is a most thought-provoking statement – the love of money the root of all evil? The statement at first reading seems almost unbelievable. But as we consider it we see that the love of money, and of things it can buy, wars and contends with a whole-hearted love for and reliance on God, a reliance exemplified by His Son, Jesus the Christ. That love of money represents the age-old battle for our devotion between Spirit and carnality, between God and mammon, between the worship of the One God or the heathen worship of worldly idols, between the Christ Way or the way of the world.

This is the battle that Christ Jesus’ money loving disciple Judas Iscariot lost when he sold his Lord and Master to His cruel enemies for thirty pieces of silver.

If we modern Israel nations, the Anglo-Israel-Nordic nations descended from Abraham through Isaac, do not get our priorities straight – if we worship material idols or our creature comforts rather than putting the God of Israel first and worshipping Him as Jesus taught – we too as nations risk suffering the fate of Judas, for we follow the same suicidal course. We remember how Judas despairingly threw away the fruits of his treachery and went and hanged himself. It is a sobering thought that the only power of such materialistic worship is to destroy itself, and the woeful fate of Judas provides a stern warning, both to individuals and to nations. We see that to base our decisions on the accumulation of money, material things, or material power instead of on loyal service to God and our fellow-man does indeed warp and distort the true Christly spirit of charity, the spirit of unselfish giving. That unselfish giving is the Law of God the Great Giver, Who gives us life and breath and all things, Who gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

An inordinate love of money, when carried to extremes, will bring the economies of whole nations to a grinding halt, because it is idolatrous and puts greed before the Christly love for God and man. It violates God’s Law. The very first commandment, which God gave to Israel through our forefather Moses laid down the principle, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” This was the rule for man’s good and well-being, and the same rule is in operation today. It lays down the priorities for modern Israel, those Anglo-Saxon-Nordic peoples and for all mankind. It is enforced by the omnipotent Power of God. Sooner or later the Law of God must be acknowledged as supreme over all. His priorities will be established and His Will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. His Kingdom will certainly come when Jesus Christ comes back to rule and reign on this earth, with a rod of iron.

The degree of success of our capitalistic system of government, limited though it is, is due in no small measure to the unselfish contribution in time and labour of “dollar-a-year” men – dedicated men who love their nation and their God. They give freely of their time and talent because they love their fellowmen and their country with Christian love and wish to give the needed guidance. With no personal profit motive, with no financial axe to grind, their policies are unselfish and objective, motivated by love for God and man, and are a blessing to all concerned.

Self-serving, selfish policies have a way of back-firing. In the depression years, the “hungry thirties”, a farm boy succumbed to the love of money. A scrap iron dealer offered what was to the boy a dazzling sum of money to gather together a load of junk metal. It was common knowledge that war was looming, and that some dictatorial nations were already preparing, arming themselves to the teeth. The boy had qualms, but the lure of money was too strong. He delivered the load of scrap iron and took his “thirty pieces of silver.”

The years rolled on and sure enough, war broke out. The farm boy, now a soldier, found himself under a bombing attack. A large sheet of corrugated roofing fell near by, and the soldier dived under it for protection. As the shrapnel rattled on his flimsy shelter he saw clearly that he had been less than wise to sell the scrap iron to the dealer. He repented that he had been governed by the love of money. He wondered if it was his scrap iron that, like the proverbial chickens, was coming home to roost above him. A poet has written, “Though the mills of God grind slowly, Yet they grind exceeding small. Though with patience He stands waiting, With exactness grinds He all.”

As with all sin, the unprincipled and inordinate love of money always receives its just compensation. It forfeits the protection of the First Commandment, leaving the sinner, whether a nation or an individual, exposed to all sorts of unpleasant consequences. The God-inspired Israel leader Moses warned our ancestors, the children of Israel, centuries ago in the words of Numbers 32:23, “Be sure, your sin will find you out.” What a sobering, almost frightening thought! Divine justice will be done. God will adjust the balances fairly. Genesis 18:25 admonishes us, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

Sometimes we tremble when we remember that God is just. We find ourselves praying that we and our nations will not receive the punishment that we so richly deserve. We pray that God in His infinite mercy will forgive our manifold sins and our stubborn rejection of His way.
But forgiveness can only come about through deep and sincere repentance and a return to God, as our Savior Jesus Christ repeatedly urged. And that not only on the personal level, but also on the national. Our nations are guilty before God. There is none righteous, no, not one. And the Anglo-Israel-Nordic nations are the most at fault. We have been instructed in God’s Law down the centuries, and have turned away from it. Our sin is the sin of deliberate rebellion against God.

Not only repentance is required today, but a radical turning back to Christ, complete reformation, so complete that those sins will no longer be indulged, so complete that they will no longer even be remembered nor come into mind, so complete that the slate will be wiped clean by our merciful God.

These Anglo-Israel-Nordic nations are faced with a choice. We can indulge ourselves in a money-centered, money-grabbing life style which leaves out God and His Way and suffers the inevitable consequence of a steady decline and eventual fall. Or Israel can resolve to obey that First Commandment as urged by Christ Jesus, to return to our Father as did the prodigal son in the parable recorded in chapter 15 of Luke’s gospel. The course of action which the Israel nations must take is found in II Chronicles 7:14, clearly set forth there: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

It should not be a difficult choice. It is a simple choice between life and death. Deuteronomy 30:19 sets it out plainly before us in these words, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”

Let us arise and go to our Father, the God of Israel. Christ Jesus His Son has shown us the Way. The rewards are without money and without price, greater than any earthly reward. Joshua 24:15 puts the choice squarely before us, “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”