| From the Church on the Hill by D. Eric Williams Pastor, Cottonwood Community Church pastor@CottCommChurch.com The self-appointed elite associated with the World Economic Forum tell uswe will own nothing and be happyin the “perfect” world of their imagination. Their Leftist utopia is a place where big business owns allmaterial wealth; commoners are merely lessees. We have some familiarity with this sort of thing when it comes to cars or homes and so may not consider it a real threat. However, the moneyed oligarchy envisions a world where big business owns everything. In their brave new world, you will lease your furniture, your toaster, your clothes – everything!Sound ridiculous? Of course if does. Nevertheless, as this excerpt from a WEFblog publication reveals, it is what the ruling elite believe is best for us: “Welcome to the year 2030. Welcome to my city - or should I say, "our city." I don't own anything. I don't own a car. I don't own a house. I don't own any appliances or any clothes. “In our city we don't pay any rent, because someone else is using our free space whenever we do not need it. My living room is used for business meetings when I am not there. “Once in a while, I will choose to cook for myself. It is easy - the necessary kitchen equipment is delivered at my door within minutes. Since transport became free, we stopped having all those things stuffed into our home. Why keep a pasta-maker and a crepe cooker crammed into our cupboards? We can just order them when we need them” (Ida Auken, ‘Welcome To 2030: I Own Nothing, Have No Privacy And Life Has Never Been Better,’ 2016. Written ahead of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils). Now, this sort of existence may not be to my liking but is it actually wrong? In other words, is this something addressed by God’s Word or is it a matter of indifference? To begin with, there is nothing of “indifference” in God’s creation. All things – all thoughts, words, deeds - public policy - and so on, are subject to God’s will. Moreover, God has made it clear that the right to private property is the norm. To start with, the commandments against stealing and coveting assume private ownership of property; “You shall not steal. . . .You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” (Exodus 20:15, 17, cf. Deuteronomy 5:19, 21). This state of affairs is reaffirmed in the New Testament (cf. Romans 13:9 and Ephesians 4:28 for instance). The ideal of owning a home and real property was typical for the people of Israel during the reign of Solomon: “And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon” (1 Kings 4:25). More importantly, it is the rule in the realized kingdom of God. According to the prophets Micah and Zechariah: “But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken” (Micah 4:4).Again, “in that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree.’ ” (Zechariah 3:10). Thus, abolishing private ownership is an attempt to usurp the biblical norm. It is a form of slavery. It is an attempt to extinguish the image of God in man and short circuit the kingdom mandate. We will return to this subject next week. |
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