It would disturb me very much. This lady, a few years ago—some think she’s dead now, this atheist, O’Hare [Madeline Murray O’Hare]…. I don’t know if I could sit in an audience and hear her talk, or not, if she were living. I don’t know if I could sit there and hear her blaspheme God, and ridicule God, because I worship God; I love God. And so, when money becomes a person’s god and when he hears a person talk about it, he gets upset.

I wish I had time to tell you of some of the things that I have experienced in teaching on this subject—not recently, because we’ve grown a lot; we’ve become better; we’ve become more knowledgeable of what the Bible teaches on this subject. But, I was speaking once in Ft. Worth, Texas—this has been years ago—on this subject. And I was standing at the door, trying to act like a Southern gentleman and shaking hands with the people as they left the building. And there was a man who wanted to start an argument with me; his face was red and the veins in his neck were swollen, and his eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head. And so, he was acting so ugly that I went over to the other door, because it was embarrassing to me with visitors coming out and him ahollerin’ and talking like that. And he came over there where I was. And I asked the preacher, after everybody left—I said, “Who in the world was that man that acted like some idiot at the door?” And he said, “That’s the stingiest, most selfish, most covetous man in this congregation. He’s just ??? [can’t understand what was said on the tape—jb], but all know him as a stingy, selfish man. Now, that’s the kind of people that get upset. That’s the kind of people that get disturbed. That’s the kind of people that say, “That’s all I hear anymore in the church is giving, giving, giving!” Well, that’s not true! You’ve been going somewhere else. You didn’t hear that in the church of Christ. No, you’ve never heard much teaching on giving in the church. The whole world knows that! And it’s because riches and Christianity are not compatible, and therefore, through the years, men have not talked about it very much.

So, I want to give you some WARNINGS that God gives us about money. If you have a pencil, I’d like you to write these Scriptures down that you may see the danger of money. And I have an idea that everybody here has some of it [money] on him. We have to have money to live. We buy groceries with it; we pay taxes with it; we pay utility bills with it. We have to have money to exist. But even though we have to have money in order to live, Christ has warned us over and over and over of the potential danger of this money. In other words, He’s virtually said, “I want to tell you about this [money] that you handle every day of your lives.”

The first thing that Christ tells us about money is this: That it is a MASTER—that is, it can become one’s master. In Matthew 6:24, Jesus Christ said, “No man can serve two masters….” Now listen to it carefully—“…for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” The word “mammon” means “money.” You cannot serve God and money.

Now, let me ask you. Why do you suppose Jesus Christ said to the people, “You cannot serve God and money”? “Money” is referred to here as a “god.” And there are two gods—the true GOD and the god of this world, the god of money, the god of material things. And Christ said you cannot serve both of them. So, Christ is teaching us here that money can become one’s master. It can actually control a man’s life, control his thoughts, control his attitude, control his disposition in life. Money is one of the most powerful things in all the world!

Look at all of the sins that come out of Washington, from our own senators and congressmen and representatives and in over 90% of it, money is involved. All these law suits we’re having now—what’s it all about? Money…money. This Martha Stewart [scandal]—what is it about? It’s money…money. All the Enron thing—what is it about? Money, money, MONEY!! People lie, steal, cheat, swindle!!—MONEY!!! It’s a powerful thing! It’s a dangerous thing!

And the reason many members of the church do not give as they should—money has CONTROLLED their lives! It DOES control their lives! And many times, instead of renouncing this powerful, cruel master, they yield to it. Money can become a powerful, cruel dictator in your life, and we need to realize that. We handle it every day of our lives. I have some of it on me—not much! But I have some of it on me. I have to have it to travel; have to have it to eat; have to have it to live. But Christ said, “I’m warning you. It can become your master. It can control you. It will control you to the extent that it will make you ANGRY to hear a man, in any way, condemn this god!”

So, every person needs to realize that this [money] we handle every day of our lives can potentially become one’s master. So, every man needs to ask himself the question, “Do I control my money, or does this money control me?”

Christ also tells us that, not only is money a master, but He says it is a deceitful thing. In Mark 4, and verse 19, Jesus Christ said, “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the Word, and it becometh unfruitful.” Well, the question is, “How can money be deceitful?” Well, money can be deceitful—the man could be making a tremendous salary, and giving maybe $50 or $100 a week, and he thinks he’s a very liberal giver by the amount he’s giving, when in reality, he’s giving very, very little compared to the salary that he makes and the money that he has. This money can deceive him into believing that he’s very liberal in his giving, when really he isn’t. Well why? Because Christ referred to money as being deceitful. And He says that it is so deceitful that it can “choke the Word, and it becometh unfruitful.”