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by
Herbert W. Armstrong
Today, Western nations are the wealthiest people in all history and yet
we are plagued with financia! troubles. Why?
W
HY
should t he most
un iversal bad news
that strikes home to
nea rl y eve r ybod y be t he
fi nancia) wor ries that seem
to plague us a ll ?
lt
doesn 't
make sense.
When you stop to think about
it, never in t he h istory of this
world were any nations so rich
as the English-speak ing, the
Western European nations and
J apan a re today.
Yet nearl y every one of us is
engaged in a constant struggle to
make ends meet. Financia] worries
seem constantly to bear us down–
rob us of real happiness and joy.
Why should this be?
A Cause for Every Effect
There is a reason. You can be free
f rom f inancia! worry. Let me
explain to you something now that
you probably d id n't know about
your income.
lf
there is anything
people are jealous of, it is the
money that they earn . They usual–
ly work hard for it, and they want
full freedom in deciding for them–
selves what they're going to do
with it.
People say, "What 1 earn is
October 1984
mine. 1 can do what 1 please with
it." But is the money that you earn
reall y your own? Don't be too
sure.
Listen to facts about your
income you probably didn't know.
What you earn is not yours. The
man is mistaken who says, "What 1
do with the money that
1
earn is
nobody's business. 1 produce it; it
belongs to me." What you earn by
work performed, by services ren–
dered, from investments made, ls
not yours- not any part of it- that
is, not unti l- and 1 will have to
explain that "unt i
l."
Your Maker who gives you the
very air you breathe tells you that it
all belongs to him, not to you. But
didn't you earn it? Didn't you pro–
duce it? Not exactly. Everything
produced-money and the things
that money can huy-comes out of
the earth. And you didn't produce
the earth. God created that.
You merely applied certain ener–
gy in thin king and in physical
act ion to that which God created
and owned. And where did the
energy that you expended come
from? You didn't create or supply
that. You merely utilized what God
created and supplied. God created
even your thinking processes.
God Almighty created not only
matter, but all force and energy.
And God set them in motion in the
laws of physics and chemistry. He
created the human mind. He sup–
plies even the energy that is used in
thinking and acting. Yes, all has
come from God. And it is God who
sustains, who preserves in motion,
guides and directs all the forces and
energies.
And so God is not merely a Cre·
ator of the long ago. God is the
sustaining, directing, living Ruler
over all today. And so, it's a simple
fact, after all , that it was God's
labor of original thinking, planning
and creating, and of continuous
sustaining and directing, that really
produces all. And, therefore, God's
claim to ownership of all that you
have thought that you produced or
earned is valid. It is a prior claim to
yours.
God Almighty says in Psalm
24:1-2: "The ear th is the Lord's,
and the fulness thereof; the world,
and they that dwell therein. For he
hath founded it upon the seas, and
established it upon the floods."
A nd these inspired words a re
repeated in the New Testarnent in 1
Corinthians 10:26.
God Almighty owns this earth
and everything that exists or lives
upon it. "Whatsoever is under the
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