Book 1 of Musings Paupers or Princes?

With Christ we are rich beyond imagination.

Without Christ we are paupers although we possess all the material wealth of the world.

The Lord Jesus told the angel of the church in Smyrna that He knew of their afflictions and their poverty - but they were rich!

They were paupers, but they were princes.

If there ever was an idea the Christians in America need to understand it is that material wealth is not necessarily a sign of God's blessing; neither is poverty an indication that the believer is under a curse.

God loves poor people.

Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? (James 2:5)

So the saints in Smyrna were poor in material possessions but rich in that which is of infinite value - faith.

After many years as a Christian, I have come to the conclusion that material possessions more often than not result in spiritual death. Since the culture of America is extremely materialistic, spiritual death is prevalent.

Today as I write I am informed that God is working miracles in many of the poorer nations. The dead are being raised. Water is being turned into wine for the Communion.

We do not have this sort of supernatural activity in America to any great extent. Oh we have a lot of ballyhoo, shouting, uproar, but it reminds us more of the priests of Baal than it does the Man of Galilee.

But that quiet power that works miracles is not with us to any great extent.

On top of this, there are numerous ministers of the Gospel who are preaching that Christians should be rich. Can you imagine? Are they trying to be pierced through with many sorrows? Are they just anxious to be deceived, because riches are deceitful?

The Lord Jesus Christ was poor in material wealth, and told us it is quite difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Yet in the American churches you would think a poor man was a sinner who was not blessed by the Lord. Our culture has contaminated our understanding of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

I am not claiming that being rich or being poor or somewhere in the middle is either good or bad. All I am stating is that our financial status is not a measure of our position in Christ.

Many years ago I was downtown in Los Angeles. I was alone, unmarried, looking for a restaurant to get breakfast.

I was wondering what church to attend. It was a Sunday morning, and I was not acquainted with the local churches.

I had looked at the church advertisements in the Saturday paper. I singled out two large churches that appeared to be fundamental in doctrine. After breakfast I was going to find one of them and attend.

A tramp came toward me. He had a bindle on his shoulder. You don't see these any more. The bindle consisted of a stick at the end of which were his possession tied up in a bedroll.

He asked me if I could spare a quarter so he could get a bite to eat. You can tell from the amount he asked for how long ago this was.

I said, "Come with me. I am going to get breakfast. You can order what you like."

We found a kind of cafeteria. I got what I wanted, probably pancakes and eggs. He picked out what he wanted and we headed toward a table.

I had been exhorted ever since I had been a Christian that I was supposed to tell everyone I met about Christ. As we sat down I was prepared to do this.

After a couple of mouthfuls of food I prepared to do my preaching. But something stopped me. The tramp began to speak to me, and I felt I was to listen.

Can you imagine this scene? The restaurant was a busy place with people coming and going, so no one could hear what he was saying.

He started to tell me about Jesus. He said, "Sometimes when I am walking along a country road I am singing 'Jesus is passing this way.'

"Why is this?" he asked.

He said, "You know, Jesus was a poor wandering beggar like me."

I was sort of stunned.

I don't remember what else he said. In my mind I was thinking about the huge churches I was considering attending that morning. And here was this tramp telling me that Jesus was a bum like himself.

Before I was finished eating he got up and went out the door of the restaurant.

I was in a trance. Suddenly I thought, "I have been listening to an angel."

I jumped up and went to the door. I looked up and down the street. As you might have expected, there was no one in sight.

I have never forgotten incident. I love the song "Jesus Is Passing This Way." I hope you know it. It's an old-timer. The newer choruses are not of that kind, and I believe there is a reason. God is calling us now to His Kingdom and to spiritual warfare, to moral transformation.

But the hymns like "Jesus Is Passing This Way" never lose their charm for me. There is something about the simple Man of Galilee walking along a country road that has an appeal all its own.

Something has gone awry in American Christianity. To think we would ever come to the place where we are speaking the word of faith to get money; or commanding our angel to get money for us; or prophesying that in the last days the Christians would have a corner on the money of the world so the unsaved would have to come to us to get the finances they need.

"Brother Thompson, don't you know we are to be the head and not the tail?"

Yes, I know about that blessing on Israel. I know also that if we keep on in the way we are going, with preachers attempting to order the Holy Spirit around and use Jesus to get rich, that we are going to be the tail and not the head.

The New Testament speaks of a retirement plan.

There was a man who built large barns. There he intended to store his wealth so he could quit working and just enjoy himself eating, drinking, making merry, and traveling around with his wife in his vacation trailer.

He had planned his retirement carefully.

God heard about this retirement plan and said to this senior citizen: "You fool! I am going to require your soul tonight. Then what good will your barns do you?"

Do you know what? The Bible provides many illustrations of the danger of being rich or the desire to accumulate wealth.

Think about Balaam, Gehazi, Judas, Ananias and Sapphira, plus the warning of the Apostle Paul that those who would be rich fall into temptation and a snare.

Jesus Christ was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver.

As I said, material riches probably are the chief cause of spiritual death, at least in the United States.

The believers in Smyrna were rich with the only true riches - faith. They were tried in imprisoning circumstances. They were promised the crown of life if they were faithful unto death.

The Romans had several gods, as did the Greeks. Yet Jesus mentioned only one god as being a competitor of the true God. The competing god is Mammon, who I believe was the Syrian god of riches if memory serves me correctly.

"No man can serve God and Mammon," Jesus warned.

The Apostle Paul said the love of money is the root of all evil. The newspapers of America are bearing this out, as we see the numerous scandals that have their origin in the love of money.

Sometimes believers say they want to make a lot of money so they can assist the churches. This is a game they play with themselves. God doesn't build His Kingdom with money but with the Holy Spirit.

Which reminds me. I read an article in a missionary-minded magazine that stated the Kingdom of God can be spread only in terms of the money available.

This is the mind of man talking. This is fleshly reasoning. I know from many years of experience that when we are obeying God strictly, money is never an issue. It is when ambitious preachers are building what they think is the Kingdom of God that money becomes an issue.

One of the ways God leads us is by controlling the flow of money. We can kick, scream, and beg as we seek to forge ahead in our own wisdom. But the true saint looks to the Lord, knowing that when God is ready to move, the money will be available.

The living God has control of all the money in creation. He does not depend on the wealth of man to perform His work. God work is done not by might, not by power, but by His Spirit. This will be especially true during these last days as Antichrist is permitted to exert power in the spirit realm.

Money will not serve to deliver us in the approaching age of physical and moral horrors. Only the Spirit of God will be able to save us and our loved ones.

As difficult as it is in America, let us to the best of our ability cease looking to money to solve our problems and to conduct the ministry. Let us look steadfastly to the Lord Jesus, knowing that He always will pay for what He orders. He does not forsake the righteous. In the days of famine we will be fed, even if the American economy suffers staggering losses.

Only the Spirit of God can protect us from the danger posed by the terrorists. Money cannot do this. We may flee with our gold coins into the remote areas of America. There we will be discovered and robbed. Perhaps we and our family will be murdered, or something even worse may take place at the hands of the demon-driven mobs.

No, the only safety is in Christ. We are not to flee with the unsaved. We are to stand and look to Jesus. He will deliver us just as He has the saints who have trusted Him in time past. They wandered through the earth and survived in caves. But Christ was with them. Money did not save them; the Lord Jesus Christ did.

All of us American should work diligently that we may provide for ourselves and those who are dependent on us, always remembering the poor. We can do this without becoming so involved in the corporate life of America that we have scarcely any strength left to pray, read our Bible, and gather with fervent disciples.

It is up to us to decide. Do we choose to be paupers, if need be, in material things but princes in the Kingdom? Or do we choose to be rich in material things and paupers in the Kingdom?

To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. I know your afflictions and your poverty - yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. (Rev 2:8-9)