“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
(Luke 16:10-13 ESV)
The love of money leads to all kinds of problems in this world and in our lives. Greed, materialism, selfishness, worry and dishonesty are among these problems. The love of money has another consequence, it always replaces our love of God.
HarperCollins Publishers is the parent company of both Thomas Nelson Publishing and Zondervan. They are the world’s largest Christian publisher of books, audio recordings, video recordings and Bibles. Interestingly, they also publish The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey. HarperCollins Publishers is owned by News Corporation. Keith Rupert Murdoch is the founder, Chairman and CEO of News Corporation, the world’s second-largest media conglomerate. Keith Rupert Murdoch publishes pornography (film and print), yet claims to be a Born-again Christian. Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church is Keith Rupert Murdoch’s pastor. Coincidentally, Zondervan is also Rick Warren’s publisher.
Profit is the goal of all corporations. What are the practical implications of a alleged Christian publisher serving God and Satan, albeit under different subsidiary company names?
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”
(John 2:13-16 ESV)
Keep in mind that the money changers and those selling sacrificial animals in the Holy Temple were doing so to enable worshipers to serve God during the Passover Feast. They had setup a type of convenience store in the courtyard of the Holy Temple, selling livestock for sacrificial offerings and money changers, who changed the standard Greek and Roman money for Jewish and Tyrian money. However, none of this was enough to justify their actions before Messiah Yeshua. This is the only account of Yeshua using physical force in any of the Gospels.
An Old Testament comparison can be found in an incident that took place in the Holy Temple can be found in the time of Nehemiah, when Nehemiah overturned the furniture of Tobiah the Ammonite who had, with the cooperation of Eliashib the High Priest, leased the storerooms of the temple, depriving the Levites of their rations from the offerings, and drove out Eliashib’s grandson who had married the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite (Nehemiah 13).
The Bible says that God is a jealous God. The Bible says that you cannot serve God and money. The Bible says that God is Lord over all. Clearly, God wants all or nothing.
“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
(Revelation 3:16-22 ESV)
Sound Doctrine Ministries 