If the economy is in an inflationary spiral, the controls choke off the money supply (primarily credit) in an attempt to stop the increases. This stifles those segments of the economy that are dependent on credit, as most are. The economy then plunges into a recessionary period, and it takes greater quantities of money to reverse that trend. Each time the economy inflates, it generates higher prices. Each time it deflates, it picks up higher unemployment. What does the future hold for us economically? We will explore this in the next chapter.

By the late 1920s, the stock market had inflated completely out of proportion. It was being used as a vehicle for “get rich quick” speculation, rather than long-term growth.

During the pre-depression era, the banking industry, in spite of the Federal Reserve System controls, was generally unregulated. Just as in Dan’s nail bank, few, if any, real controls were enforced. Banks made speculative loans backed by little or no security. They used credit to expand, just as Dan had.

Then, in 1929, the collapse came. First the stock market collapsed, followed by large-scale loan defaults and almost total economic devastation. Shortly thereafter, banks that were thought stable and had been so for decades, collapsed. Unable to recover their deposits, individuals lost their life savings, and companies lost most of their operating capital. Businesses that were heavily credit-oriented were forced out of existence.

For the Christian, wealth is that which God entrusts to each of us. From the world’s perspective, the creation on wealth evolves around many things, including self-will—how much self-control and will power one has to devote to earning money.

As we will see later, that is not God’s perspective because, in every instance, individuals who spend their lives in the pursuit of money end up frustrated and miserable. They never really understand why they have money, and as they get closer to death, they realize how futile the attaining of wealth was.

There is a lot of worldly folklore surrounding wealth. Some of it states:

1. It takes breaks to get ahead. Whoever gets the best breaks or has he most influence is “the guy who gets ahead.”
2. It takes money to make money. In other words, the rich get richer.
3. You can’t be too honest and get ahead today. Why? You must be willing to shade the truth. If you’re extremely honest with people, then you will not be able to deal with the world system.

None of these are God’s principles. They are nonsense put out by those who seek to rationalize their behavior. The creation of wealth is both a gift and a talent. For some, acquiring wealth is easier than it is for others. But it is possible for anyone who is willing to sacrifice and to achieve by setting and reaching goals.

I’m not suggesting that this is good, because as we will see in God’s plan, it’s attitude, not aptitude that He honors. The gaining of wealth as an end in itself is a very poor investment of a life. Because, first, it requires a great deal of time—to the virtual exclusion of everything else including family, friends, hobbies and relaxation.

Second, there is no correlation between wealth and happiness. That is an important key! Many Christians are inwardly disturbed by the prosperity of some non-Christians. Yet we should recognize that Satan is the prince of this world, and it would be an extremely poor recruiting practice if he recruited only the impoverished.

But there is a great difference between God and Satan in our finances. “It is the blessing of the Lord that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it”. This establishes the foundation for the remainder of our study—how to have wealth without worry (wealth being everything that we own: our money, our family our creative ability—everything we have acquired since we arrived and everything we must leave when we go).

Thus we should remember that money is temporary. The importance of money to God is that for this small sliver of time in which we are living. He wants to use it to help determine our usefulness to Him throughout eternity. Our commitment to God’s Word on this earth is proportional to our use of money.

Second Peter 3:11 says, “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.