When I was a kid, my old dad told me with all sincerity that he believed the “beast” mentioned in the Bible was what we know as communism. Rather than a heartfelt conviction, down through the years I’ve come to realize his belief was the result of our government’s propaganda. The propaganda battle against communism was still being waged after I grew up, the “powers that be” having learned newer and more deceptive ways to present their arguments thus were able to still deceive people even though we were learning how to see through the former, more obvious lies. Now I’m not promoting communism by any stretch, I’m just an old geezer who has spent a lifetime learning just how thoroughly we have been conditioned to regard the various economic systems of the world.

A long time ago when our ancestors were learning how to hunt and gather, somewhere in the process it became obvious that a system of bartering was needed. In the process of bartering, say you were a primitive farmer and you wanted to trade a basket of wild sea oats to your neighbor who was a skilled hunter, for a deer hide with which you wanted to make shoes for your kids. You had the grain ready, but Nimrod didn’t have a deer on hand, so y’all decided that since everyone liked seashells, your hunter buddy agreed to give you a certain number of his shells to hold until he could bring you a deerskin for which you’d return his shells; voila! Primitive currency was born!

As things progressed, people realized this worked for almost everyone and soon it became apparent that the more seashells a person had in his possession, the greater his influence and thus stature in the tribe. Now there were people around, even way back then who considered themselves to be above all this menial hunting and gathering, so they set about scheming ways to obtain a supply of seashells without putting out the effort of the other tribespeople, the tanners, the tool makers, and hunters had to exert to earn their own currency.

It quickly became obvious that keeping a stash of seashells required some effort, what with people, mostly those schemers mentioned above, stealing your shells while you were out hunting or gathering. Lo and behold, the do nothings “volunteered” to hold everyone’s currency for them. They would keep meticulous records of who owed who, and dutifully maintain these and thus alleviate Nimrod and the tanners of the “great burden” of keeping their currency secure, of course, there would be a cost for all their hard work, which incidentally would preclude them from doing their part of the real work that kept the village functioning. They also learned to complain incessantly of the hard work they had taken on so as to make their tasks seem overly burdensome, but due to their dedication to the success of the tribe, they would undergo such tribulation required to fulfill their tasks, but for only a small percentage of the transactions. Rudimentary banking was born.

In order to obfuscate and make their operations appear to be much more complicated than they actually needed to be, they continuously made new rules governing how the actual depositors would conduct business with them, and it got so that in order to qualify for their job, a person had to be taught in special schools exactly how to perform these unimaginably difficult and complicated tasks.. They also kept raising the required percentage of the deposits they would require. They found that they could loan other people’s currency and by of course, charging a wee bit of interest – which would go to themselves – Nimrod found that he could “borrow” some of the basket weaver’s shells, but the basket weaver didn’t get the interest on the loan – you guessed it – the “banker” reaped the profit from the loan of another man’s money. The interest rates exponentially got higher until the bankers, they guys who refused to do an honest day’s work to begin with, became the very wealthiest of the whole village. They never had to work again, but nevertheless complained incessantly about how hard their job was and always have been heard boasting bout how they “earned” their wealth.

Before this new banking arrangement came along, the various tradesmen and hunters used a bartering system that actually worked, Bill the blacksmith could turn out good horseshoes, but he wasn’t much of a fisherman. He traded his horseshoes to the farmer, who in turn traded baskets of turnips for fresh caught catfish back to Bill, and so forth. This was what we call today by the curse word “socialism”. This was also the economic system established by the early Christian church, whereby all of the brotherhood sold their goods and/or properties, and laid the money at the disciples’ feet to be distributed to the group as needed. They served each other’s needs in brotherly love. No bankers needed. Period.

Nowadays the bankers have evolved to essentially own everything and most all of the money – not because they earned anything, but because they learned how to get their grubs on other people’s money. Today they own governments, ever purchasing legislators who ever pass laws to enrich them ever more. Nimrod got lost in the shuffle. People still needed to eat, but the bankers bought up all of Old MacDonald’s property and their corporate farms produce GMO-laced poison that has glyphosate poison in the produce, but that’s another story.

When the economy fails, like in 2008, because the bankers kept stealing more and more and creating debt, the fault was laid on those poor people who were so greedy they actually wanted to live in houses! The crisis was economically horrendous, and completely the fault of the bankers, but guess who had to pay the tab? You got it, Nimrod and the basket weaver who weren’t “too big to fail”.

This is capitalism, folks. The people who benefit from it the most are the same ones who directed our propaganda system to make my old dad believe that any other system – in his case, communism – was utterly evil. It seems to have worked, but don’t forget what Jesus said about rich men. It certainly wasn’t that they’d become “too big to fail” – in the end, they will have been the greatest failure in all of creation. [Luke 6:24]:“But woe to you who are rich, For you have received your consolation.” Do not envy them, for their downfall and destruction will be unimaginable! No – pray for them.

May the blessings of the Almighty Father find and keep us.

MK