Order in Finances
To have order in finances means that someone has their finances ordered according to the principles of God’s word. One key principle is that each person must seek to become completely debt free.
Proverbs 22:7 (HCSB)
7 The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.
The bible teaches that the borrower is a slave to the lender and this is completely true for anyone who has debt. A person in debt is under great financial pressure because much of their earnings are going toward paying debts and paying snow-balling interest payments. Their debt controls them and creates great financial pressure because they are not free to do what they want when they are a slave to debt. If they have emergency needs like car repairs or medical bills then these situations can add even more stress to their lives. No one can progress toward prosperity as long as they are in debt because debt consumes everything that they earn. Having debt is like having holes in their pockets and their money flows out from these holes like dry sand. Therefore, the most vital first step toward obtaining order in finances is to become debt free.
Powering Themselves Out of Debt
Suppose someone has debt in the form of ten-credit cards. The best way to pay off such debts is to start with the smallest debt first and then move from the least to the greatest debt until they are all paid in full. If they pay off the smallest credit card debt first then they will save the minimum payments they formerly had to pay after this credit card is paid in full. Then they can take the minimum payments they previously paid on the first credit card and now apply the same amount of payments to the second card in the series. Once they have paid the first two cards in full then they can take the minimum payments they previously paid on these now “paid-off” cards and can apply them toward the third card in the series. Thus, they progress from paying of the least debts they owe and when they are paid in full, they apply the minimum payments to the next larger debt. So finally, if they have nine credit cards paid in full then they will have the minimum payments they previously paid on nine credit cards debt and they can apply this money toward their final and largest credit card debt. It is easy to see how they can pay off the largest debt they owe quickly when they save the minimum payments which they previously made on nine lesser debts and now apply them to the largest debt. In this manner, they can “Power” themselves out of debt by paying off the smallest debts first and then working their way toward paying off their largest debts last.
This gives them a huge encouragement every time they pay off one of the lesser debts. Thus, they gain some quick victories in the beginning and this energizes them to continue the process (celebrating each step of victory along the way) until they have achieved total debt freedom.
Those who are debt-free should then live on a “cash-basis” and never again spend money that they do not have. They should also create an emergency fund so that if they have a financial emergency (like a car repair or something else) then they will not be forced to use credit cards anymore. In this manner, they can stay out of debt and remain debt-free without being sunk back again into debt bondage by having some unexpected financial emergency.
Debt Cancellation by Bankruptcy
Deuteronomy 15:1 (NASB95)
1 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts.
The biblical principle of debt cancellation is found in Deuteronomy 15:1 in which debts were cancelled once every seven years. This gave former-debtors a chance to start over fresh again. It is this biblical principle which the bankruptcy laws of the United States were originally established upon (back when the nation was still run by godly leaders). Under US bankruptcy law it is permitted that a person can file for bankruptcy once every seven years and have their debts cancelled. However, the only stipulation is that the current US government (which makes the laws) has exempted themselves from having any debts cancelled that are owed to the government. Thus, if someone owes taxes to the government then these taxes are not eligible for bankruptcy and also when the US government later took control over student loans, then student loan debt also cannot be cancelled by bankruptcy because it is debt that is owed to the government.
Dire Financial Consequences
I once met a man whose wife contracted a terminal disease which caused her to die from a long-lingering death. Before she passed away, she had accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical bills. Her husband was working in the hospital cafeteria for minimum wage and there was no way that he could pay these huge hospital debts of his deceased wife when he barely had enough money for essential living expenses. He later met a nice woman and wanted to remarry but he was unable to afford to do anything with these huge debts hanging over his head.
This is an example of when filing for bankruptcy is a good thing to do. The bankruptcy attorney might charge about $3,000.00 USD for his fees to file the bankruptcy but this is a small price to pay if he can cancel hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. In fact, the hospitals in America often charge inflated rates that are much higher than their actual costs. My father had an open-heart surgery in the 1990’s and the cost back then was well-over $550,000.00 USD for one surgery. (It could by many times that amount today). My father asked the doctor why it was so expensive and the doctor told him that there was some “funny-money” involved with this hospital bill because the “Medicare Insurance” only pays 80% of the cost so the hospital inflates the cost greatly so that the total amount will be covered by the 80% insurance payment. Therefore, there is a lot of “blue-sky” in these inflated medical bills and if someone tried to pay for them by his own labor it could take more than his lifetime because the interest multiplies tremendously on these debts continually. So, the man whose late wife ran up huge hospital debt before she died was suffering a financial burden that was no fault of his own. He most certainly experienced the curse of being a debt-slave to this huge hospital debt which he owed.
Again, this is an example of when filing for bankruptcy is the only means that such a man can ever hope to get out of debt and be able to remarry and start his life over again after this tragedy. Bankruptcy is a merciful thing under such circumstances. While it is true that there have been abuses of this system in the past (like when a rich man hides his wealth and then declares bankruptcy just so that he does not have to pay all of the people he owes). But the original intention of debt cancellation was to give people (who are oppressed by debt) some relief so they can start over again. This principle is based upon the seven-year debt cancellation plan of the Bible. It is this biblical debt-cancellation plan (which the US bankruptcy laws were originally established upon) that is intended to help people in need. Bankruptcy laws were not created to help greedy rich people cheat others so they do not have to pay them what they owe. Generally, bankruptcy court will examine how much a debtor owns in assets and cash and property. If the debtor owns any assets then they may have to sell them to pay their debts.
If the debtor does not have enough to pay the debts and cannot sell any assets like land or houses to pay the debts then they will be eligible to have their debts cancelled completely by bankruptcy. This is a good thing for people who do not have the cash or assets to sell to pay their debts.
In the case of cancelling hospital debt, it is also not as bad canceling a debt owed to a working man or vendor or contractor. This is because much of those hospital debts can be inflated “funny-money” so in fact the hospital is not actually losing out on as much (as is listed on their actual medical bill) when it is cancelled by bankruptcy. This is vastly different than a greedy rich man who cheats vendors and working people and does not pay them by fraudulently using bankruptcy as a scam to steal from honest working people (whom they previously did business with). This type of scam could be considered dishonest when their motives for filing bankruptcy are not forthright and their intentions were not good toward the people whom they own money to.
South Korea has similar bankruptcy laws as the does the USA because South Korea also has biblical culture and laws. But a bankruptcy attorney should be consulted (in any country where bankruptcy is filed) so that applicable laws can be applied. Each specific situation of each debtor (in each country) must be considered. Sometimes after a divorce someone may have incurred the debts of their ex-spouse and again these are the types of situations where such debts should be cancelled by bankruptcy. Everyone’s situation is different and most often those in bondage to credit card debt can pay it off by “powering” their way out of debt simply by paying off the least debt to the greatest listed within a series. But if the debts are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and beyond their ability to pay in a lifetime, then they should consider filing for bankruptcy so they can have a fresh start again. Once they are debt-free, they should manage their finances in such a way as never to get back into debt ever again.
Stupid Debt
There is also something that could be called “stupid-debt” in America. This is where someone has huge auto loan payments that cost more than what they pay for housing every month. Such people may live in a trailer house because they cannot afford a home but then the same person is also paying something like $850.00 USD per month toward an auto-loan for their new pickup truck. If they are paying $550.00 USD for their housing and then pay $850.00 USD per month on an auto loan then this is an example of “ignorant” debt. The thing they need to do is sell their expensive truck and pay off the balance of what is owed and then hopefully they have enough cash left to buy a used car that is reliable enough to get them to work. This is the best way to be relieved of “stupid debt” that they should never have borrowed in the first place. This would also save them from paying full-coverage auto-insurance because any vehicle that is bought with loan money will be required to have full-coverage auto-insurance until it is paid off. Selling this vehicle (that carries debt) can save them a lot of insurance money every month. They can then get the minimum-required liability insurance on their used vehicle and save a lot of money. The money saved can be used toward their plan of becoming debt-free. They should not upgrade their vehicle again until they are debt-free and have an emergency fund established so as to keep them from going back into debt again. When they do buy a vehicle, it should be paid for in cash and they should not get into debt again by purchasing new vehicle using an auto-loan.
US Student Loan Debt
There are numerous “horror stories” evident on Utube of people suffering from huge student loan debt in the USA. The biggest problem is these debtors went to school and then took up some “worthless” course of study that did not provide them with employment after graduation. In fact, when the US government got involved with student loans that is when the Universities responded by raising the tuition rates in order to harvest as much of the student loan money as possible (which was being given out by the US government to students). This is the reason that these same US colleges and Universities began to create numerous “nonsense-degrees” just to keep any potential student from “falling through the cracks” because they view the students as sources of student loan money income to make huge profits for their schools.
The rule of thumb here is that no one should to go college and take any of the numerous “fake-courses of study” which do not provide employment after graduation. Only those who study professional degrees like those in medicine or engineering (whose professions require a degree) should go to college. If students take a “real course” of study, then they can get a job and will be able to pay off their student loans after graduation.
But for all of those students who take a “fake-course of study” and just attend college to socialize with their friends, then they are headed toward a great disaster. Many US students were not able to make their student loan debt payments and when they go default on their loans then these debts are multiplied in outrageous manner (many times over)! There is no way they will ever be able to pay these debts off in a lifetime because of the of random multiplication and the snowballing interest added constantly to these default loans. Since these debts are owed to the government, they cannot be cancelled by bankruptcy. That is why these unemployed student debtors (with defaulted loans) have no hope whatsoever of ever paying these loans off. As a result of these growing debts, they can never afford to get married and they will never own anything. The most terrifying thing is that the US government has unlimited debt-collection powers. If these debtors are involved in an accident (and receive insurance money for their hospitalization) then the US government can seize that insurance money from them to pay for their student debts. If these debtors happen to receive inheritance money from their parents, then this money can be seized by the US government for payment of their student debts. If they get a job then the US government can garnish their wages to pay for their debts. Never has there been a better example of the “real-life” situation of the borrower being a slave of the lender as is seen in the cases of millions of US students who went default on their student loans. These student loan debtors are helpless and can lose everything that they have and go to their graves in this miserable condition of financial bondage. This situation all transpired because no one ever warned them about what they were getting into when they signed the papers to assume a student loan to go to school. No one ever told them that a large number of students are taking “fake-courses” of study only because they were naïve and thought to have fun socializing with their friends without considering what would happen to them in the future. What a worthless reason to have their lives destroyed just because they took a fake course of study that offers no employment after college!
Those who wish to go to college should be forewarned about avoiding student loan debt. Prior to the time that the US government assumed control over making student loans, the tuition was reasonable and most students could pay their own way through school by working a part-time job. But after the US government took over, the prices of tuition “shot to the moon” and now no one can afford to go to school without a student loan. There are now millions of young people in the US whose lives have been destroyed forever and there is no escape for them! No one warned them what they were getting into before they assumed these student loans.
For most young people, they would have been better off not going to school at all rather than attending college to take a fake-course of study that offers no employment after graduation. They should have just got a job and stayed out of college unless they were able to take a professional degree like becoming a doctor or engineer etc. Some good advice for many young people is to stay out of college and do not assume any student loan debt. If they already made this mistake, then they should pay off these loans as soon as possible because they cannot be cancelled by bankruptcy. They cannot permit themselves to ever miss a single payment and let their loans go default because they will be punished by having their debt multiplied many times over in random manner and they will be hit with snowballing interest that grows perpetually and can keep them in debt for a lifetime. There are numerous young people in the US who have no hope of becoming debt-free and whose lives are now irrevocably ruined forever. These disgruntled young people are now fomenting violence and want to burn down the entire system because they have no hope in their future and are now perpetual debt slaves with defaulted loans that multiply endlessly with snowballing interests and penalties.
As usual, (whenever the government gets involved with anything) they always make a mess of things. They caused college tuition to skyrocket and now no one can afford to go to school without student loans and so an entire generation is now in danger of being perpetual “debt-slaves” for life.
Debt Free into Prosperity
Once a person is debt-free (or has been warned not to get into debt in the first place), then they can begin to work toward building financial prosperity. Being in debt is like falling into a deep pit or falling down into a deep vertical mine-shaft. When a debt-slave is finally debt-free, then it is like they finally climbed out of a deep pit and are now standing at ground-level. This means that being debt-free is the same as being at “zero-level” because they cannot start building wealth until they are first debt-free. Once they are debt-free then they can start to take the money that was formerly being used to pay minimum payments and begin to invest in something that can earn money for them.
Jewish Principles of Prosperity
Proverbs 22:7 (HCSB)
7 The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is a slave to the lender.
We have already discussed the Jewish principle that the borrower is a slave to the lender. This principle is recorded in the Jewish Torah (the Old Testament in Christian bibles). Thus, it is Judeo/Christian culture which teaches people about finances including the great necessity of becoming debt-free so they can escape the terrible bondage of being a debt-slave (as described in the example of student loan debt).
But there are numerous scriptures in the Jewish Torah and Old Testament of the bible which reveal God’s principles for finance. These principles were given by God to Abraham and his descendants (the Jewish people) and are now available all humanity (as are found in the bible).
Saving for Investments
Proverbs 21:20 (NKJV)
20 There is desirable treasure, And oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man squanders it.
Another Jewish Torah scripture (found in Proverbs 21:20) speaks about savings. Those who are wise will have a saving of treasure (valuable assets or cash) and oil which speaks of daily living expenses. Olive oil was used for cooking, for skin care, and even for burning in lamps at night. It represents daily living expenses since it could be used for just about everything. The “treasure” represents things of value that can be spent like gold or silver and could also include any type of commodity that can be traded. This scripture speaks of the Jewish principle of savings and also how they distinguish that which is for living expenses from that which is intended for investments. Thus, Jewish people are taught from a young age about principles of financial management. A Jewish person knows that it is a foolish thing to squander everything they have (which will result in them coming into complete financial destitution). They are taught how to separate their income into two parts with one part being used for daily living expenses and one part being used for investments (that can make more money).
Why the Jews Prosper
It should also be noted that such Jewish principles (as simple as separating out funds for living expense from funds that are intended for investments) has the power to cause them to prosper. In fact, one statistic says that Jewish people comprise only 6% of the US population but around 67% of the Fortune-500 companies in the USA are Jewish owned businesses. This is a disproportionate number of wealthy Jewish people and the reason behind this is that many Jewish people follow the biblical principles given to them by God (as are taught in their Jewish Torah).
Three Jewish Principles to Make Anyone Prosper
My teaching lesson topics under the category of “Jewish Topics” and under the heading “Parable of Goat and the Mother’s Milk” shows a mystery revealed by God to the Jewish people regarding managing finances. This mystery is hidden for God’s people so that they can follow these principles and prosper. These principles will work for anyone who applies them and most certainly this is evident with the Jewish people who apply these principles (which resulted in a large number of Jewish people having great financial prosperity).
Below are the three Torah-principles that seen in the parable of do not boil a kid in its mothers’ milk:
1. Do not eat your seed, which is the same principle as do not eat your hens.
2. Separate that which is for daily consumption from that which is for investment.
3. Pay your tithes and offerings to the Lord from all increase God gives to you.
Again, see the link “Parable of Goat and Mother’s Milk” for more details.
If anyone will follow the three Jewish Torah principles above, they will not fail to prosper. They are not to eat their seed which means they are not to consume those finances intended for investments. They are to separate out those finances intended for daily living expense from those intended for investments. Never should the two types of finances be mixed together. If they squander everything (including their investment capital) then they will experience financial destitution. The third principle is to honor God with the tenth-part of the financial increase which God has provided for them.
Robbers of God
Malachi 3:8–11 (NASB95)
8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings.
9 “You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!
10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.
11 “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the LORD of hosts.
Those who do not honor God with a tenth-part of their increase are in fact robbers of God. God is quite generous in that he allows them to keep nine out of ten parts and only asks them to give one-part to God. The reason that God asks them to pay a ten-part (tithe) is that if they cannot give one out of ten to God then it means they love money more than God and this is idolatry. If they can honor God with the first tenth-part of their increase then it means they are not given over to worshipping money as an idol. The tithe tests their hearts. But if they cannot give a tenth-part to God then they love money more than God and are cursed with a curse. This is hugely important because if they fail to pay a tithe of their increase (and give offerings from their 90% share) then they will bring a curse of God down upon their finances. A devourer will be released against them and money will flow through their hands like dry-sand through a hole in their pockets. They will have things break down and have to replace them and everything will go wrong for them because their money is cursed by God because they chose to rob God and keep the part that belongs to the Lord. It is for this reason that giving tithes and offerings to God is of utmost importance to stop the devourer from cursing their money. This is why the Jewish people separate their finances into three parts. One part is for daily living expenses and one part is for investments and the third division of finances is for giving to God.
See the link “Giving and Kingdom Finances” for more details.
Jewish and Christian Perspective on Finance
Dave Ramsey is a Christian talk show host and has sold millions of books which teach people how to get out of debt and how to build wealth. Ben Shapiro is a Jewish talk show host and they have many things in common because the Jewish Torah (which contains the book of Proverbs) is instrumental in teaching financial principles of success. Dave Ramsey says that if a person will study the book of Proverbs, then they will have the equivalent of a master’s degree in finance. Below is a Utube link to the Ben Shapiro Show where he interviews Dave Ramsey and gives a lot of good information about biblical wisdom concerning finance and many other pertinent topics.
See the link “Dave Ramsey/The Ben Shapiro Show” for more details.
Baby Steps in Finance
The bible teaches many principles about how to manage money and create wealth. A good example of this is the financial principles taught by Dave Ramsey about how to get out of debt and how to build wealth. An overview of these principles can be seen in the following links:
Total Money Makeover Kindle Edition Amazon
Ben Shapiro and Dave Ramsey on Building Wealth
Again, these books by Dave Ramsey have sold millions of copies and today there are millions of people who testify that they are now debt-free and are building wealth. There are now tens-of-thousands of people who become millionaires by following these simple principles. (Note that the definition of being a millionaire is calculated by taking the [value of their assets and cash] minus [what they owe] which is valued at over one-million USD). So, if they own assets valued at over one-million USD and they are also debt free then they could call themselves a millionaire.
We want to raise up debt-free millionaires among our own members simply by teaching them how to apply the principles of the Bible regarding finances. These principles were first taught by God to Abraham, who taught them to his son Isaac, who taught them to his son Jacob, who taught them to his twelve-sons which make up the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus, the Jewish race today carries the knowledge of God for finances and this has been made available to all humanity through the knowledge recorded in the bible.
Group Wealth Building
It is our goal to invest together as a group to create our own wealth-building assets which are capable of causing our members to prosper and obtain financial security as a group.