There is a legend about a man who was given the power to turn everything he touched to gold. This man was King Midas. Everything he touched would transform into precious gold, roses and even his robe became solid gold. The Kingdom was thrilled that their king could by this supernatural power, transform ordinary and even base objects to the glitter wealth that has shipwrecks many souls, including Christopher Columbus. However, a price came with this power. Midas is unable to ever touch the ones he loves, and in one instance forgetting this out of desperation to embrace and show love to his daughter, turns her to gold, killing her instantly. What a powerful image for what money and gold do to human soul, money kills love. How eloquently does the tragedy of Midas fit into Paul words, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils, which some, stretching after, have been seduced away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many sorrows," (1 Timothy 6:10).
It is not fashionable or popular to denounce wealth and call it evil. For man is bound by it and suffers under the last scepter of Satan, money. Jesus Christ purchased for us via His death salvation, but also a seat, a throne (Revelation 3:21) amongst Himself, and He even offers us all authority in heavens and earth (Matthew 18:18-19), as well we promised by Christ that if we endure in the faith we shall be seated on His throne, "To the one who is victorious (Matthew 24:13), I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne."(Revelation 3:21). What gods do you know would promise such a thing? Odin would not give Thor a throne, why would he offer man one? Zeus' son Hercules despite his conquest of Hades did not get to sit on Zeus' throne nor did Zeus decide to live in Heraclius. In contrast the True and Only God, The Trinity, offers mankind, his children, not only eternal life (John 3:16), but promises that He who is God lives in us (1 Corinthians 3:16) and we will sit on His throne with Him! (Revelation 3:21). This is what our enemy the devil covets, He wanted the throne (Isaiah 14:13-16) and he rebelled with an army (Revelation 12;7-17), but instead God the Trinity in His love for us men and women has given us crowns (2 Timothy 4:8, Revelation 2:101 Peter 5:4, James 1:12, ), thrones (Revelation 3:21), lives in us (Colossians 1:27, 1 John 3:24, Revelation 3:20, Ephesians 3:17-19, 2 Corinthians 6:16), and will seat us on His throne with Him as He did with Father (Revelation 3:21). This enrages the evil one who foolishly trying to seize such power turned against God, when the only way to gain such power and authority is through and in relationship with God as we have. Unable to steal from man this covetous desire, the devil has enslaved man in world's system of commerce and money, in fact it was the devil who made gold and money worth anything,
"Then this further message came to me from the Lord: 12 “Son of man (Jesus is the Son of Man, see Matthew 9:6, John 5:27), sing this funeral song for the king of Tyre (Satan). Give him this message from the Sovereign Lord:
“You were the model of perfection,
full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty.
13 You were in Eden,
the garden of God (Genesis 3:1-10, Satan tempts Adam and eve in Eden).
Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone—
red carnelian, pale-green peridot, white moonstone,
blue-green beryl, onyx, green jasper,
blue lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald—
all beautifully crafted for you
and set in the finest gold.
They were given to you
on the day you were created.
14 I ordained and anointed you
as the mighty angelic guardian.(these are Cherubim who guard God, Ezekiel 10:9-16)
You had access to the holy mountain of God
and walked among the stones of fire.
full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty.
13 You were in Eden,
the garden of God (Genesis 3:1-10, Satan tempts Adam and eve in Eden).
Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone—
red carnelian, pale-green peridot, white moonstone,
blue-green beryl, onyx, green jasper,
blue lapis lazuli, turquoise, and emerald—
all beautifully crafted for you
and set in the finest gold.
They were given to you
on the day you were created.
14 I ordained and anointed you
as the mighty angelic guardian.(these are Cherubim who guard God, Ezekiel 10:9-16)
You had access to the holy mountain of God
and walked among the stones of fire.
15 “You were blameless in all you did
from the day you were created
until the day evil was found in you.
16 Your rich commerce led you to violence (Revelation 12:7-17),
and you sinned.
So I banished you in disgrace
from the mountain of God.
I expelled you, O mighty guardian,
from your place among the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was filled with pride
because of all your beauty.
Your wisdom was corrupted
by your love of splendor.
So I threw you to the ground
and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings.
18 You defiled your sanctuaries
with your many sins and your dishonest trade.
So I brought fire out from within you,
and it consumed you.
I reduced you to ashes on the ground
in the sight of all who were watching.
19 All who knew you are appalled at your fate.
You have come to a terrible end,
and you will exist no more (Revelation 20:10).” (Ezekiel 28, ). So we then see what Paul means, Satan wishes to seduce us from the faith into money, and make us slaves once more to his sinful and seditious programme that will never merit heaven or power, but ends in death and hell fire (Revelation 20:10). This is why Jesus warns us, "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (Matthew 6:24), "but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word (Jesus, the Word of God John 1:1-15 and Revelation 19:13, the Gospel for Jesus is only way of salvation John 14:6 and Acts 4:10-12), making it unfruitful (Jesus said He is vine and only through Him do we bear fruit see)," (Mark 4:19), "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21). We discover Jesus is not saying it is wrong to have nice things or pretty things, but rather He is warning us that money, treasures, and gold have power to seduce us from Him and that lust and coveting of the treasures can turn us away from the faith (Matthew 24:10).
from the day you were created
until the day evil was found in you.
16 Your rich commerce led you to violence (Revelation 12:7-17),
and you sinned.
So I banished you in disgrace
from the mountain of God.
I expelled you, O mighty guardian,
from your place among the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was filled with pride
because of all your beauty.
Your wisdom was corrupted
by your love of splendor.
So I threw you to the ground
and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings.
18 You defiled your sanctuaries
with your many sins and your dishonest trade.
So I brought fire out from within you,
and it consumed you.
I reduced you to ashes on the ground
in the sight of all who were watching.
19 All who knew you are appalled at your fate.
You have come to a terrible end,
and you will exist no more (Revelation 20:10).” (Ezekiel 28, ). So we then see what Paul means, Satan wishes to seduce us from the faith into money, and make us slaves once more to his sinful and seditious programme that will never merit heaven or power, but ends in death and hell fire (Revelation 20:10). This is why Jesus warns us, "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." (Matthew 6:24), "but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word (Jesus, the Word of God John 1:1-15 and Revelation 19:13, the Gospel for Jesus is only way of salvation John 14:6 and Acts 4:10-12), making it unfruitful (Jesus said He is vine and only through Him do we bear fruit see)," (Mark 4:19), "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21). We discover Jesus is not saying it is wrong to have nice things or pretty things, but rather He is warning us that money, treasures, and gold have power to seduce us from Him and that lust and coveting of the treasures can turn us away from the faith (Matthew 24:10).
What becomes apparent in tale of King Midas and His Daughter he turns to gold is that the love of money and treasures destroys love. Midas cannot touch those he loves, even his daughter who wants to hug her father dies because of this power he has. This is parable for us, and supports Christ's and the Apostles words. For we are told that God is love, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:8). If God is love then Midas cannot know God because the love of money has choked love and God out (Mark) and the love of others dies as well, "And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold." (Matthew 24:12). What makes people lawless, the love of money. Wanting to not pay taxes they cheat on taxes, not wanting to have welfare and comfort taken away they march and destroy businesses in riots, and so on and so on. It is evident that it is not using money or having it that destroys us, it is being seduced by it, making it a god or more important than loving God that it destroys us. We must not let the deceitfulness of riches choke God out of us, but rather we should love the Lord, "Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40). We love God because He first loved us, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us," (1 John 4:18-19), and "It is rare indeed for anyone to die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us, Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" (Romans 5:7-9). Jesus reminds us this is crucial in the end days to keep loving, "But I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other as you did at first! (Matthew 22:37-40). Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don't repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches." (Revelation 2:4-5, NLT).
Our enemy the devil wants to choke Christ out of you through his invention money and gold (Ezekiel 28). So beware brothers and sisters! The devil would seduce you, "But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:3). Our enemy knows we have already been given all authority (Luke 10:19, Matthew 29:19+Colossians 1:27), all power (Romans 8:37), the throne next to Christ (Ephesians 2:6), later the throne with Christ (Revelation 3:7), that the King of Kings lives inside us and we in Him (Colossians 1:27), and that we will inherit not only this earth (Matthew 5:5, cross ref Matthew 23;12 and Matthew 23:11), but the earth to come and heaven to come (Revelation 21:1), and a New Jerusalem full of more precious gems and streets of gold (Revelation 21:4-53) through Jesus Christ. The trick my friends, is that Satan wants you to lust for the riches in this life and be damned in next, having be seduced away from Christ (Mark 4:9, 2 Corinthians 11:3), and falling away (Matthew 24:10), but the truth is if we endure in faith, If we love God with all we are (Matthew 22:37-40), abide in Him (1 John 3:7-9), love Him more than anything, than we will have eternal life and treasuries in the next life (John 3:16, John 6:40, Revelation 21:4-53), but those treasures of the New Jerusalem will even seem trivial compared with triumphant presence of God (Revelation 21:22) and our love for Christ and the full love of Himself will so permeate, pierce, and overpower us, that you will feel a high better than any drug of this earth, an orgasm greater than any sex can give, and knowing and full acceptance of who you are that no person in this life can give, that gold and gems of this earth or even next earth will be worthless, because you will be lost in God who is love, and that relationship with Christ will make all things that glitter seem cold, dull, and dead, for being fully know, loved, accepted, trusted, and allowed to be who you are will be in God the Trinity, and this will surpass any gold that we will receive in addition in the new Jerusalem. Amen.
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