Source: ‘The President’s Guide to the Economy’ by Andy Chalkley.
Chapter 56 – Jesus Was a Rebel.
Jesus was a rebel. He made a stand against the increasing financial oppression of his times. At that time, the population was filled with resentment for their Roman occupiers and for the priestly class that collaborated with the occupiers. The action taken by Jesus in tipping the tables of the money changers in the temple was a massive symbolic gesture to demonstrate to the oppressors that the activities of the money changers and the authorities that backed them were wrong and unacceptable. This made Jesus and his followers a major threat to the power and influence of the 1% and a direct threat to their ill-gotten wealth. In the time of Jesus in Palestine, there was no separation of church and state. The temple priests officiated over the religious life of the people whilst also presiding as the judges, rulers and tax collectors. The priests lived a luxurious life supported by a temple tax which every Hebrew was required to pay. What appears to have happened at that time, is as follows:
The citizens were required to pay an annual temple taxes in a specific coin with a specific stamping. Taxes were paid to the temple for the upkeep of temple and its priests. The current temple rulers declared that the only coin acceptable was the silver half shekel. This was a ruling by the local church leaders and not a rule that came from Moses. Money changers would helpfully exchange coins from distant parts for the half silver shekel. The half silver shekel was not plentiful and the money changers had ‘cornered the market’ and manipulated the exchange rate on these coins. (Similar is done on the Foreign Exchange Market in the modern world where nations are lumbered with unpayable debt.) This enabled money changers to raise the price to unaffordable levels. They were ‘making money from money’. By this means, they made exorbitant profits. This manipulation and extortion was a little more sophisticated than the usury of money in the times of Moses. It was still ‘making money from money’, but was more sophisticated than the usury of concern to Moses. The monopolizers had manipulated the supply which affected the exchange rate for the coins. Similar manipulations have occurred through history, particularly with gold money. A similar manipulation occurs today on Forex, the Foreign Exchange Market. The stand Jesus took against the money changers was very much a stand against the monopolization and manipulation of the supply of money. He objected to the ‘making of money from money’ in a manner that disadvantaged the poor. The money changers and those that benefited from the money changing activities needed to get rid of this troublesome man. When Jesus arrived in a town, it is recorded that people came out in throngs to greet him, even though he had arrived on a donkey, a lowly form of transport. Through history, the methods employed against those that threaten a financial system include quiet assassination, quiet poisoning, public assassination, humiliation through the media or the use of the state apparatus. State apparatus can be set up to suit the wishes of those with power and control. The police controlled the Occupy Movement whilst the banks were given assistance to continue their money manipulation and debt system. Not even the police are immune from the activities of the money vultures. The Christian teachings tell us that the moneyed political elite manipulated the authorities to crucify Jesus. Part of this involved turning the people against Jesus. The astute will see this happening in our modern world. Anyone standing against the money system gets short shrift from the media.
For a money system to survive, it has to enable those that rule to continue their rule in a manner that suits the wealthy. If the money system happens to benefit the populace that is a bonus, but it is not an essential for the survival of a money system. If a money system does not benefit the rulers it unlikely to survive. If it benefits the rulers and the populace, then the populace is lucky. This is usually adjusted until the money system only benefits the wealthy.
Historical documents from the Muslim faith tell the story of Jesus differently. Muslim texts say that they nailed the wrong person to the scaffold. Jesus is a prophet in the Muslim religion, but not the son of god. Many Christians at the time did not believe that Jesus died on the cross. Jesus and his twelve disciples were rebelling against what society would have considered normal at the time. Transposed to modern times, Jesus was calling us to rebel against practices and customs that are wrong. He was not as much of a pacifist as the church leads us to believe. In this passage by Luke, Jesus tells his followers to sell their coat to buy a sword:
“Then said he unto them, But now, he that has a purse, let him take it, and likewise his bag: and he that has no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” [Luke 22:36]
The modern equivalent is to have a gun. Jesus was saying many subversive things at the time. We are still intrigued by Jesus. We still look up to him because of what he said and did. He was on a mission for the betterment of mankind. Jesus was a revolutionary and a radical. He was also considerate, kind, and loving. He was going against the rules and practices of the time. He was insubordinate to the powerful temple authorities and the occupying forces. He regularly preached against the government. The church likes us to believe that Jesus died to save out souls. If he died, it was because he stood up against authority when authority was wrong. Over the years, the Christian community and the Christian Church has toned down the rebellious nature of Jesus and amplified the suffering he went through and his peaceful and forgiving nature. At times the nation-states have manipulated his teachings to their own end. Governments prefer a peaceful and forgiving populous and not a populous that is going to rise up against corruption and oligarchy.
Jesus did not achieve his aims in his lifetime. The Occupy movement and Jesus have a lot of similarities. The large-scale implementation of the intentions of Jesus did not occur until around three centuries after the death of Jesus, when Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Many of the sections of the New Testament were written long after the passing of Jesus, so it is difficult to work out how much of New Testament was written to enable the control of people by the state authorities and the church hierarchy. Although the intentions of Jesus were good, many of the actions of the later Christian church were not so good. Jesus had a simple message which I put in these words: “Be good to other people”. His message was similar to that wonderful Australian saying: “Do the right thing.” But he also took a stand and fought back against gross wrongdoing by the government. Although I am a Christian, to my mind, the Christians are far too gullible. Christians have been told that Jesus died to save our souls. I believe this is completely wrong. He died to stop oppression by usury and monetary manipulation. Jesus was a monetary reformer.
The Quran is also worthy of study and is an excellent document. Even the Koran was written after the death of Muhammad. There may have been some manipulation of the wording to suit the warlords in the years after Muhammad. However, it is still a good document. If you are not a Muslim, please do a 
websearch for ‘quotes Quran’ or similar. Then another websearch for ‘Quran usury’ or ‘Quran riba’. This book is worth a read.
Let us consider the origins of religion when humans were first setting up civilization. To enable us to live in groups of humans rather than as wandering hunter-gatherers, we needed rules. Those that made the rules wrapped them up with spiritual procedures. To get people to follow the rules, a religion may promise heaven for those that comply and hell for those that do not comply. So religions tend to encourage what we now call good behavior and discourage inappropriate behavior. The religious people were the rule makers of the time and they were an important part of the creation of civilization. All people of a region need to follow similar rules. It was a very clever system. The people were given a set of guide rules that we now call a ‘value system’. You became your own judge. Your punishment or reward came after you died. If you followed the ‘value system’ guide rules, you went to heaven. If you went against the rules, you went to hell. You are the perfect judge because you know every little thing that you have done. The modern ‘nation-state’ can’t match this system. The nation-state uses an incredibly huge set of ‘laws’ all of which are negative. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. People try to avoid getting caught and they make every attempt to get round the rules. If you do get caught, you get dragged you through a court system and maybe thrown into jail to be abused by other ‘bad’ people. This is following Moses rules of vengeance. The nation-state cannot match the good guidance given by a religion. For this reason, it is better to have only one religion in a nation and for the nation-state to support it. As religion gets destroyed, the jails fill up. The nation-state was not a well thought out invention. The nation-state has little ability to promote cooperation between people and good behavior. Our judicial system starts to be a system used for personal gain and a source of income for predatory lawyers. The more money you have the more justice you get. Legal action is taken by those that can obtain financial gain. The concepts of morals and ‘doing the right thing’ are overridden. Religion still plays an important part in our operation as a civilized society. People from different religions in the same region will be operating from different rulebooks. It is not that one religion is better than another, it is that the people are singing from different song books. Frictions will arise between these different religious groups because of the difference in the rules under which they operate. If a nation has only one religion then there should be little friction due to minor differences in rules and customs. So one might expect that a religion would have religious rules that would tend to say you must follow this religion and not another religion. Historically, any religion that did not get their rules correct would have died out. Only religions that got their guidance rules correct survived over the centuries.
There is another interesting observation about the modern world. The world has been divided up into nation states by drawing arbitrary lines on maps. The nation-state only uses negative rules. If you do ‘this’ you will dealt with by the police and then the judiciary system and then the prison system. The nation-state does not provide a guide to good behavior. The nation-state only prescribes punishments for wrongdoing. It does not provide for people to use their conscience to follow rules, so there are never-ending attempts to avoid apprehension. The nation-state creates a culture of avoidance of being caught whereas a religion creates a culture of not doing the wrong thing in the first place. So in a nation-state, there is a place for religions so that good guidance can be passed from generation to generation. Tensions arise in the nation-state where that good guidance comes from different religions. I am happy when passing through Muslim nations. I have no truck with the Muslims. I get on so well with the Muslims that I joke about their religion and they love it and want to listen to more. They explain what they believe to be wrong with my Christian religion. They are correct in their statements. A few of many include: “Christians can’t keep their families together”. “Christians are all dying from Cancer.”. Whilst in their nations, I follow Muslim customs and I enjoy doing so. I am forgiven minor errors, provided that I am respectful. I find the people of Muslim nations to be generous and hospitable people. Problems tend to occur when you mix religions. Gadhafi said that it is better to have only one religion in a nation. He has a point.
The religions gave the rules for operation in society and so they gave the rules for the use of money. There is much economic wisdom in religious texts. Development of money was one of the features that enabled civilization. Without money, we cannot sustain a civilization. The power structure in a civilization tends to favor those with money and influence. It is possible that a religion is more likely to run a money system for the benefit of the people.
Many religious prophets were money reformers or advocates of the reduction of the financial abuse of money. The Occupy group was pushing money reform and reduction of the financial abuse of money. Mohammed was a money reformer. Moses was a money reformer. Jesus died fighting for money reform. Sometimes churches stray from the ideals of the prophets. A church, by its nature, needs significant money to operate. Be wary that those with the reins of power will distort the interpretation of the religious texts. The religious texts were guide books with a formula to run society.
Just as a nation-state has procedures to enable it to protect itself from predators states, a religion has the same procedures. If another people are deemed to be an enemy by the hierarchy then it is deemed permissible to annihilate the other group. The old testament, in particular, contains a lot of evil practices of the ‘smite thee down’ type. In modern days, we have television propaganda telling us who are the freedom-fighters and who are the terrorists. If it is a Muslim nation, the bombs are reigning down on the ‘bad’ people within a month. If the ‘bad’ people are Christian, the media propaganda takes a little longer before the military moves in to ‘sort’ the matter out. Hopefully, some people will read the words of the deemed enemy to work out the truth. Religions had the same procedure in the old testament that allowed the annihilation of those deemed to be the enemy. One of the weapons was the use of usury. Usury put enemy persons in a position of financial subjugation. This was successfully used against the Canaanites leading to the annihilation of the Canaanites.
The fact that Moses advocates the use of usury to subjugate another nation demonstrates that Moses clearly understood the power of usury:
“You shall not lend in usury to your brother; usury of money, usury of food, usury of anything which is lent on usury.” [Deuteronomy 23:19] [Brother refers to people in the local community.]
Moses allows interest to be charged to foreigners:
“unto a foreigner you may lend upon interest; but unto you brother you shalt not lend upon interest, that Jehovah your God may bless you in all that you put your hand to, in the land whither you go in to possess it.” [Deuteronomy 23:20]
“For the Lord you God blesses you, as he promised you: and you shalt lend unto many nations, but you shalt not borrow; and you shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.” [Deuteronomy 15:6]
“The LORD will make you abound in prosperity,…” [Deuteronomy 28:1]
Moses commands genocide:
“But of those cities that shall be given you, you shalt suffer none at all to live. But shalt kill them with the edge of the sword, to wit, the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, as the Lord you God hath commanded you. Lest they teach you to do all the abominations which they have done to their gods: and you should sin against the Lord your God.” [Deuteronomy 20:16 to 18]
The Western world seems to accept usury as standard practice without realizing the devastating effects created by the unpayable debt. The history books do not record the influence that usury played in the revolutions in Europe and the wars of Europe and the role that usury and money-control played in the creation of empires and destruction of empires. Money systems and the control of money systems has played a role in all wars. Wars need massive funding, but in the aftermath of war, great opportunities exist to change money systems to enable control. At the end of the Second World War, the Bretton Woods conference was attended by numerous bankers along with bewildered political leaders. The world got a debt banking system controlled by private corporations outside the reach of democratic nations states. The First World War led to a great abolition of monarchies that leads to an investigative suspicion that this was the purpose of this awful war. If a sovereign defaults on a loan, the bankers cannot collect. If the king is removed, the debt can be hung on the people through a so called ‘democratic’ government.
The Muslim religion still follows the rules as clearly laid out in the Quran, but its implementation struggles against the usury in the Western world. If Muslims live in a nation awash with usury, they still have to buy houses in an environment where the house prices are inflated by usury.
Jesus Drives the Money Changers From the Temple
Jesus and his disciples traveled to Jerusalem so they could celebrate the feast of the Passover. This sacred city was bursting with the thousands of pilgrims from faraway regions. When they entered the Temple, they saw money changers in the process of currency exchange. Pilgrims from far away carried coins from their hometowns which tended to bear the images of Greek gods or Roman emperors. The temple authorities deemed these to be idolatrous. At the time of Jesus in Palestine, the church and state were the same thing. The priests at the temple in Jerusalem were the religious leaders of the Hebrew people. These same priests were also the rulers and the judges. [4] The priestly class lived in luxurious mansions. [3] This housing had fine mosaic floors, elaborate wall paintings, and exquisite furnishings. [3] The average Hebrew peasant struggled to survive. [3] The pilgrims had to submit to the extortion of the money changers who had cornered the market in the required silver half shekel. The temple also had large numbers of merchants who were selling animals for sacrifice.
It was ruled that only a Tyrian half shekel was acceptable as payment for the yearly temple tax. The money changers took advantage of the pilgrims and extracted an excessive profit.
Jesus became annoyed at what he believed to be the desecration of the holy place. The story goes that he took some cords and wove them into a small whip and ran about, knocking over the tables of the money changers causing the coins to fall to the ground. He drove the exchangers out of the area, along with the men selling pigeons and cattle. He also prevented people from using the temple courtyard as a shortcut. Jesus thus cleansed the Temple of greed and profit and stated: “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.”
Jesus impressed the common people with his teachings. The temple hierarchy feared him because of his popularity.
“Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus.” [Matthew 12:14]
“Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. ‘What are we going to do?’ they asked each other. ‘This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.’ ” [John 11:45-48]
“ ‘Away with him,’ they yelled. ‘Away with him! Crucify him!’ ‘What? Crucify your king?’ Pilate asked. ‘We have no king but Caesar,’ the leading priests shouted back. Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified.” [John 19:15-16]
The Romans had created a system of governance consisting of Roman overseers and Hebrew leaders who controlled the people in the name of Rome. The family of Herod the Great became prominent under this system of governance. The Herod family was detested by the Hebrew people for its tyrannical methods and for its collusion with a foreign power. Herod, as a pawn of Rome, installed his own pawns into the Hebrew priesthood. The election of the High Priest had become political instead of religious. It was advantageous to the Romans that the priesthood support the Roman occupation. The Herods supported the Roman occupation. Not all priests were supportive of Rome but those at the higher levels would have been supportive of the Roman occupation.
One of Herod’s sons, Archelaus, was particularly brutal. Rome replaced him with one of its own, Pontius Pilate, who subsequently got himself written into the history books for his part in the death of Jesus.
The Hebrews, by the time of Jesus, had split into three completely separate and distinct sects: The Pharisees, The Sadducees, and the Essenes. The Pharisees were temple loving people who wished to control. The Essenes were a simpler people living in scattered communities. The Sadducees were a small group who have since disappeared.
The Sadducees were a relatively small group who tended to be elitist. They were mostly members of the wealthy conservative elite. They denounced John the Baptist [Matt 3:7 to 8] and Jesus [Matt 16:6,11 and 12] and opposed Christ [Matt 21:12] [Mark 11:15] [Luke 19:47]. The Sadducees disappeared by about 70 A.D. No writings by the Sadducees have survived.
The Essenes were a religious sect who tended to live communal lives. They rejected the Temple and the Priesthood. They had little interest in politics and were against violence. They tended to live an austere life devoted to spiritual growth and purity. Jesus possibly lived some of his years with the Essenes and certainly his ideas aligned with the Essenes.
The Pharisees formed the largest group. They opposed Jesus and His teachings. They plotted the death of Jesus [Matt 12:14]. Jesus regularly denounced the Pharisees [Matthew 23]. The Pharisees are the sect that became the modern Judaism. [2]
The Essenes
The Essenes considered themselves a separate people. [7] They did not like the activities of the other two sects. This Essene sect believed the others had corrupted the city and the Temple. They led a life that was simple and austere. Some lived in Essene villages whilst others lived in the cities, in community owned buildings which operated as a home, an inn and a hospital. [7] They healed the sick and provided welcome to travelers. They traveled and spread news and preached in surrounding areas. [7] The Essenia Foundation considers them to be the founders of Christianity and of western civilization. [7] This foundation suggests that the Essenes studied all religions to extract the best principles. The had a concept of what was evil on earth. [7] They maintained a refusal to lie or compromise and they would not tolerate evil. [7] They possessed numerous ancient documents and studied them in their schools with the aim of creating a good ethical basis for religion and life in the human community. In general, they were respected for their honesty, pacifism, goodness, and their talent as healers. [7] They had a respect for the earth and all living things and believed in the sharing of material possessions. [6] The Essenes expected a ‘Messiah of Peace’ in line with their mode of living. They sought a simpler, purer, spiritual life and tended to live in the desert. They rejected the political and worldly pursuits of the Sadducees and Pharisees. They were possibly about four thousand in number and were scattered in small communities throughout Palestine.
It is possible that Jesus identified with the Essenes and possibly even spent his youth with the Essenes. Jesus certainly frequently denounced both the Sadducees and Pharisees. He was certainly more aligned with the thinking of the Essenes including their opposition to the Sadducees and Pharisees. [1] This is, of course, very controversial. The arguments about the links between Jesus and the Essenes continues amongst scholars today.
Jesus
It appears that Jesus was well acquainted with Buddhism and other eastern religions. His speaking had similar messages to other eastern religions including Buddhism and Zoroastrianism. There was trade being conducted in these parts all the way through to India. Goods and gold would be transported from India and other regions. Jerusalem would have been a trading center. News from other lands was received with great interest. Jesus had ample opportunity to learn of other religious ways and may have even traveled to India and elsewhere and picked up on the ideals of Buddhism and other religions. [5] Jesus picked up a religious wisdom that undermined and challenged the local thinking at the time.
It is possible that much or part of the story of Jesus was distorted during the early years of the Church. Jesus was probably a very good prophet and possibly not a son of god, as the church portray him. Jesus is a prophet to the Muslims but is not considered to be the son of God. The Muslims believe that the Romans nailed the wrong person to the scaffolding. As Christians, we need to decide whether we side with the Church view of the situation or we interpret the story of Jesus and take example from the man, Jesus. We are much better these days at interpreting situations because we are privileged to such vast quantities of information. Jesus certainly was a good man with a good simple message. I usually explain it to the young as: “Jesus came along and said: ‘You people are doing things wrong. You must start being good to each other’.” I generally think of this a pretty good philosophy for life and have developed this as my way of dealing with people. Irrespective of your opinion on the fine details, it still is a basically good religion and is worth preserving and protecting.
Neither is it reasonable that the people of any group or religion should consider themselves as the ‘chosen ones’ or ‘or more important than others’. This supposes superiority over others that can encourage bad actions to the ‘unchosen’ as has occurred in the stealing of land and misappropriation of resources from other peoples.
Although I believe in the basic good intentions of the church, I also believe it has been led astray at times both by bad governance and individual misbehavior but also at times it has been hijacked in a manner to control populace. Christianity has at times been used in a manner not reminiscent of the way of life as taught by Jesus. Jesus stood up against an authority that was in the wrong. Yet the section of the New Testament titled ‘Romans’ suggests: “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.” They snuck this control element in at Romans 13.
“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
“This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” [Romans 13]
Please Pastors, Christian Leaders, and politicians, stop using Romans 13 as an excuse to justify American war and tyranny. This statement is not of the character of Jesus.
The church is not always in the right and has sometimes supported wrong, but that is not a reason to reject Christianity but a reason to put it right. I, myself, rather like the Christian value system and the general air of “Goodwill to all mankind”. This is particularly noticeable at Christmas. One does not say. “Are you Christian?”, if so, “Merry Christmas”, else “……”. The main problem with this is that it makes Christians gullible. We tend to believe that others will act to us in the same manner. Unfortunately, some religions abhor Jesus Christ. Just search for “All I want for Christmas is a white genocide.” Some religions think people of other religions are of a lower rank. Christian tolerance of others is not reciprocated and it may become the downfall of Christianity. Being Christian in many countries is currently very dangerous. Syria’s Christians fear total genocide.
- It has been estimated that more Christians were martyred in the 20th Century than in the previous 1,900 years combined:
- There were more than 26 million documented cases of martyrdom in the 20th century alone.
- More than 200 million Christians in over 60 nations face persecution each day, and it is estimated that over half of these are children.
Persecution of Christians in the Middle East has already forced tens of thousands of men, women, and children to flee for their lives. It is a 21st century genocide. Pope Francis told the European Parliament in 2014:
“Here I cannot fail to recall the many instances of injustice which daily afflict religious minorities, and Christians in particular….They are evicted from their homes and native lands, sold as slaves, killed, beheaded, crucified, or burned alive, under the shameful and complicit silence of so many.”
The Muslim ISIS is guilty of genocide against Christians. Geoffrey Strickland mentions public declarations by ISIS that advocate the genocide of Christians. This is preached in some mosques:
“…that Christians are enemies of the Muslims and that there is perpetual clash with them; that the crusades have not ended and the ‘Crusader Threat’ continues; that the life of a Christian is worth a fraction of that of a free Muslim male; that Christians are swine; and that Muslims are to hate Christians.”
Christianity is the largest religion in Europe. Christianity has been practiced in Europe since the first century. However, Christianity is declining in Europe. In 1910, sixty six per cent of the world’s Christians lived in Europe. This has fallen to around twenty five percent.
The Armenian Genocide was a genocide of around one and a half million Christians with around another half million becoming displaced.
The Holodomor was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine in 1932 and 1933 that killed an officially estimated seven million to ten million Ukrainian Christians. At its peak, Ukrainian Christians were dying at a rate of 25 000 per day. Nearly one in four rural Ukrainians perished as a direct result. The US Congress 1988 Commission on the Ukraine Famine concluded: “Joseph Stalin and those around him committed genocide against Ukrainians in 1932-1933”. They were starved to death by the Bolshevik Soviet regime under Joseph Stalin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that at least 80 percent of the members of the first Soviet government were Jewish. (as reported in the Times of Israel) “I thought about something just now: The decision to nationalize this library was made by the first Soviet government, whose composition was 80-85 percent Jewish.” Putin said June 13 during a visit to Moscow’s Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center.
The Russian famine of 1921-22 was one of the worst human disasters of the 20th century. It is estimated that at least five million Christians died of starvation and disease during the Great Famine, although the figure maybe closer to eight million. Bolshevik policies magnified the disaster. Russia’s peasants would usually prepare for crop failures by storing a reserve of grain. Civil war and Lenin’s policy of seizing food from peasants caused the devastating man-made famine. In a total disregard for the suffering of the citizens, their granaries had been drained because Bolshevik government had directed that food was to be seized from the poor. Bolshevik revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, known as Lenin, had been in charge of the country since 1917. Lenin had declared: “let the peasants starve”.
When ICRC delegate Georges Dessonnaz began opening soup kitchens for children he found that some of the funds were specifically earmarked for Jewish children. He decided to bring non-Jewish children into the canteens to save them from starvation. [International Red Cross Report]
Christianity was a revolutionary movement dedicated to the oppressed and the poor. I sometimes think that Christianity became a tool in the hands of the elites to control the people. Certainly, the side of Christianity that encourages tolerance was promoted whilst the side that encourages persons to stand up against wrongdoing is not promoted. This is not only the government itself and the wars it supports in our name but also those that run our money system. The money system is our money system in the sense that the money token was invented by humans so that civilized life could operate. Humans live by trading with each other. The money token is essential to civilized life. Those that operate within the financial system for personal gain are operating against the needs of our civilized community. Occupy was making such a community complaint against those that run the financial system for personal gain and political influence and control. Occupy was an Essene type reaction preaching to the people to reject the activities of those carrying out inappropriate activities with our money token system for their personal benefit to the disadvantage of the downtrodden citizens. The money token system is being used as a formidable weapon by the rich and powerful against the citizens of our nations. Occupy was not a specifically Christian organization but it demonstrated a concept of what was right and what was wrong. We do not need a book to tell us what is good and bad. It is already in most of us to know what is right and what is wrong. The money system must be run for the benefit of the society. Everything must be done to make the money system run in the best way possible.
“Nothing must be done to prevent the money system operating for the good of the whole community.”
“All action must be taken to prevent persons from making personal gains from financial influence.”
“It is not acceptable that people make money from money.”
“Jesus did not die to save your souls. Jesus died protesting against those that were using the money system for personal gain and power.”
I usually word this using the expression “Do the right thing.” There is no big book that tells you what the right thing is. We just know what the right thing is. The expression effectively demands that you be good to others, but it also asks you to politely stand up against that which is wrong, whether it be a misguided thug on the street or financial predators ‘making money from money’ and manipulating the political climate to assist them to do so.
[1] http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/jae/jae03.htm [2] http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/sadducees_pharisees_essenes.html “The most important of the three were the Pharisees because they are the spiritual fathers of modern Judaism” [3] Richard Horsley “The Message and the Kingdom” [4] www.thorncrownjournal.com/timeofchrist/religiousleaders.html [5] www.thezensite.com/non_Zen/Was_Jesus_Buddhist.html [6] http://reluctant-messenger.com/essene/ [7] “Who Were the Essenes?” The Essenia Foundation, Canada. http://www.essenespirit.com/who.html
