| HERALD MINISTRIES EDITORIAL PAGES FROM THE DESK OF THE FOUNDER AND EDITOR OF HERALD MINISTRIES :
The Price of Gasoline, God and Preaching the Gospel We are all wondering how much longer we can pay $2.75 a gallon for gasoline, only to have the media tell us that $3.00 per gallon is only a matter of time, actually in some areas it’s already here. So you ask, what does the price of gasoline have to do with God, Christ and preaching the Gospel? Well, if you heard the predictions of higher price gasoline (among other things) you also have heard the term ‘supply and demand’, you’ve heard of inflation and trade deficit. The way our system is set up throughout the world is: when something becomes old or scarce, the price of the item increases, sometimes beyond our ability to pay. We’ve read of “price gouging” during and after a hurricane, blizzard or national catastrophe when something that is needed becomes scarce or almost impossible to get, those who sell these items raise the prices far beyond their actual value. The question is, if this is truly a Christian nation, does this system meet with God’s approval, or is this a system of man’s invention? There are several scriptures in the Bible that refer to how God looks upon the poor, the homeless, the widows, the orphan and the stranger within our gates, and how He looks upon those who take advantage of these less fortunate people, or any people for that matter, especially in times of crisis. In Mark 14:7 Jesus said; “For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good, but me ye have not always.” So being poor is not something new with the history of mankind. In the Old Testament, we also read in Leviticus 23:22 “and when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field, when you reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest. Thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger. I am the Lord your God.” Some say, ‘yes, but I’m not a farmer, so this doesn’t pertain to me.’ However, the Bible also tells us that God is not a respecter of persons. So we see God’s concern for the less fortunate. We also read in the book of Deuteronomy 14:7-8 “If there be among you a poor man of thy brethren within thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God gives thee, thou shalt not harden your heart nor shut thine hand to the poor. But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.” In v. 11 “For the poor shall never cease out of the land, therefore I command thee saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother to thy poor and to thy needy in the land.” Again, what does this have to do with $3.00 per gallon gasoline and the law of supply and demand? Some will say, what does this have to do with our situation in 2005? A lot! Mainly because of the principles that God set forth. The Apostle Paul quoted Jesus in Acts 20:35 “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” In other words, we are to extend out our hands to those in need, not to take advantage of them. Yet, in today’s world the motto seems to be “Do unto others before they can do it to you.” Today’s way of life is ‘when people are truly in need, jack up the prices.’ In today’s world, it’s the stock market, C.O.D.’s, IRA’s, it’s usury or interest. God told ancient Israel they were not to charge a fellow Israelite usury or interest in business dealings. Today everything is based upon interest rates, some that are out of the range of “business”. We find another Godly principle in the writings of the Apostle Paul in II Cor. 9:6-7 “But this I say, He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully. V. 7- Every man according as he has purposed in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver.” So, instead of getting, God’s principles are in giving. The principles of the world seem to be the direct opposite of the principles of God, but small wonder, when Satan, the god of this world controls nearly all the principles of this world, and its systems. (See II Cor. 4:4 and Eph. 6:12.) We have inflation, not because of the scarcity of goods, rather because of the greed and lust of man. Inflation is the tool by which those who have, control the lives of those who have not. In Proverbs 14:7- we read, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” So man’s way is not the way God intended for us to live. There is an old joke about Jack Benny, who in his playacting days, was pictured as a miser and a hoarder of his money. When one man said to him, “But Jack, you can’t take it with you”. Jack thought for a moment and said, “Well then, I’m not going.” But Jack went the way of all mankind, and all his worldly possessions stayed behind. Let
me end this editorial with some advice that Jesus gave in the
Sermon on the Mount. In Matt. 6:19
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth
doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal. V.
20 “ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doest corrupt, and where thieves do
not break through and steal. V. 21
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
What kind of “heart” is in the law of supply and demand?
What kind of heart takes advantage of people when they are most
vulnerable? One wonders what the world would be like if it operated under God’s principles. If prophecy is correct, it won’t be long until the world finds out that God’s way is the only way. Today, you are getting a chance to suffer under man’s way. When the time comes for the world to make a decision, it shouldn’t take them long to decide “Yes, God’s way is the best way. Think about this while you put $3.00 per gallon gas into your automobile. What? You say they are now talking about $5.00 per gallon gasoline. Well, what did we expect? The god of this world still controls most of man’s way of life.
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