“There are many problems in the Christadelphian Brotherhood today, division and reunion being an example among the long list. However, it is entirely possible that our greatest problem is too much prosperity and leisure time! At first glance this may sound unreal and untrue. What — rich Christadelphians? Ridiculous! True we do not have the Rockefeller, Kennedy or Howard Hughes type of wealth among our numbers, yet if we go back to the days of 30 to 33 A.D. when Christ was speaking to the people about how hard it would be for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God, and compare the average holdings and income of the people of that age with the same of our age and among our numbers, we will find that on that basis we are all extremely wealthy.
Our fine homes and powerful automobiles, our boats and trailers, our real estate and other holdings, which are many and varied, yes indeed when compared to the days of Christ and the disciples no doubt we would, as a group, be considered very wealthy! The apostle Paul tells us in I Tim. 6:9 “They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” We know that it is not money or wealth itself that is evil as we see in verse 10, but the love of money.“ He says “is the root of all evil” therefore we should not put our dependence on money or wealth, but on the living God who is able and willing to deliver us out of all evil and to supply our every need.
Paul exhorts us in verse 17, “charging all that are rich in this world that we be not highminded nor trust in uncertain riches, but trust in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy”; knowing also that in the last days that many believers shall fall away from the one faith due to the “deceitfulness of riches choking out the word” Matt. 13:22. Let us remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself in Mark 10:23 RSV “how hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God.”
Surely’ the Master was looking right down the pages of time into our very own days when He asked the question, ‘when the son of man cometh, will He find faith (the faith) on the earth? Luke 18:8. Will there be any looking for and longing for His return? Or will we be too busy in the every-day, affairs of the world, too engrossed in our TV programs or the world of sports, or the theatre and its brilliant stars? Perhaps we might be caught up in the glamour
of world politics or even national and local affairs to the point that we would be caught unawares, and find us totally unprepared, and maybe find the door to the wedding closed in our face, as did the five foolish virgins.
So let us watch, work and pray so that we will not be caught unawares and unprepared for that great day. We have had ample warning by the prophets, the apostles and the Lord Jesus Christ him-
The above was written by a brother many years ago, and it must have sounded like a far-fetched prediction to imagine that the USA and the world in general would go through such a period of prosperity, seeing as how it had just gone through two world wars with a depression sandwiched in between.
How very true his prediction concerning a time of great prosperity has turned out is all plain to see by any who will look, how true he may have been concerning the falling away due to this great period of prosperity is something only each of us, individually, can decide for ourselves.
Now let us refrain from putting our trust in gold, silver and the idols of this world, so that in patience and well doing we may work, watch and pray for the coining of God’s Kingdom. May the King, The Lord Jesus Christ find some good thing in us, and give us a place in that glorious kingdom!
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One