8/12/2019 1991 Issue 7 - Sound Money: Scriptural Principles to Guide Monetary Policy - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Scriptural

Principles

t

uide onetary

Policy

hy Larry

all

Thispastyearlwas appointed

by

the

high school athletic

booster's

club

to

supervise the concessions during the

basketball

games. My two sons

played

on

the

varsity team and I

felt

a

responsi-

bility

to

help the school in

any way

I

could. Jtisalsoagoodwaytomakemany

new acquaintances.

Oneevening I

was

showing avolun

teermother

how to

operate thepopcorn

machine.

Thiswasherfusttimeworking

in

the concession stand and

she was

very apprehensive and serious as she

followed my instructions. 1added first

one properly portioned measure of salt

to the popcorn. Being in a jocular

mood, I added a secondmeasure of salt

explaining thatoften I did

this . She

then

asked why I would double

the

proper

portion. I responded with a straight

face, Ilecause w sell mOre drinks

this

way. Shelookedalittlesurpnsedatmy

response, especially since I had previ-

ously told her that I was an ordained

minister. Later, as I was showing her

how

to

serve

the

soft drinks I encour

agedher to fill the cups

to the top

with

ice.

I explained how

ice

was less

expen

sive than coke and

this

enabled us

to

make more money. By this time she

must have been wondering if I had

receivedmyordination papers through

some mailordercatalogue.

Maybe

Ihad

taken

my humor a bit

too

far.

Dilution

of

merchandise with water

is

an old trick used

by

unethical sellers

since the fallofAdamandEve.

Adding

an

equal

ammmt

of water

to

a

gallon

of

lemonade will double the revenues

with

no additional

cost

to the seller. Once

customers overcome

the

initial shock

and

become

adjusted to the

taste

(assum

ing business collusion or a

monopoly),

then

dilution

will

have made

the

seller

twice

asrichatthe

expenseof the

buyers.

Another trick used by ungodly

trad

ers

is

tampering

with

weights and mea-

sures. f

am

willing

exchange

my

prize

Bowie

Knife for a pound of

choco-

late

, how

do I know

that

I am getting

a

poundofchocolate. Thesellercarrieshis

own

balance scales

andhis

own

weights

on which

he has

inscribed

each

weight

with an etching of one pound .

f

hat

one pound weight which he catries

actually

weighs

less trum

a

pound,

if

it

has

been diluted with

a bogus metal

weighing less,

then I

am

being

cheated.

Again,

thisbecomescommoninawicked

and ungodly nation.

od

warnedabout

it in the Scriptures.

You shall

do no

wrong in judgment, in

measurement

of

weight,

or capadty.

You shall have

just

balances,just

weights,

a

ust

ephah, and

a

just hin:

I am

the

Lord

your God, who

brought

you Qutfrom

thelandofEgypt.

(Leviticus 19:

3536)

A f lse

balance

is

an abomination to the Lord, but a just

2 , THE COUNSEL of Cbalcedon

October

1991

weight is is

delight. (proverbs 11:1)

The Scriptures warn abgut the un

ethical

business

praciices

of

dilution. It

isasuresignofawickedandunrighteous

nation.

The most diluted commodity in

the

United States

is money.

The

Federal

Reserve

System dispenses moneyin this

countryand

our

eaders

have been

dilut-

ing

the money

supply

for years. It is

a

pollution

as dangerous as any environ-

mental

concern.

It robs our

people

of

theirwealth and threatens to destroy us

as

a nation.

Christians need

to be more aware

about what istakirig place.

We

need to

protectoui5clves.

We also need

to pro

mote

a sound monetary

policy

based

upon the Holy Scriptures.

To

help in this

endeavor Iwill

in

this

shonarticleseek

to deal with three

ques-

tions.

First

I will discuss

the

nature

of

moneyitself. Secondly,

Ishallshow how

moneyis diluted, and thirdly,

the

conse-

quences

of

dilution. Then.

I

hope the

reader

will be

better prepared

to

under

stand the real economic issue of our

day

the

dilution

of our money.

Money

is a medium to

expedite

the

exchange of

goods and services. With

out money we would have

to

teSOrt to

bartering. As

a part-time fanner I

have

a

8/12/2019 1991 Issue 7 - Sound Money: Scriptural Principles to Guide Monetary Policy - Counsel of Chalcedon

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bushel of com which 1

would like to

exchange

for

some

half

inch

limestone

formy driveway. My

local

quarry opera-

tor

does

not

need

abushel ofcom. lhis

creates a problem for me.

He does need

a used lawnmower and

has agreed to

supply me

with

the

limestone

if I can

trade

my

com with

someone who has

a

usedlawnmower.

I

foundsomeonewith

ausedlawnmower buthedoesnotneed

mycom.

However hedoesneedawater

bed

You can see how complicated barter-

ing

becomes. It

takes too

much

time to

match

supply and demand. Money

sim-

plifies

the

whole

process.

As

a

commod-

ity

which

is universally accepted

it

expedites the whole

system

of

ex-

changing goods

and

services. The

quarry operator

will

not

take my

com,

but he will take money be-

cause with money he can

go

pur-

chase

that used lawnmower from

my other friend

who can

now

purchase that water bed .

Money

makes

this

all possible

with a

minimum amount of time and

searching.

Money must be acommodity

which

is

univ

ersal

ly accepted.

Ifmy

friend with the

used

lawnmower will

not accept

money,

then none

of the

exchanges will be possible. In

the

Bible

the

most common

money

used was

gold

and silver.

Gold

and

silver

have

always

been universally

accepted as

adequate

payment for

goods

and selVices

ren-

dered.

Both

are

scarce,

limited in quan-

tity, attractive, durable,

and capable

of

being both weighed and

coined.

A

standard size, weight, and purity of gold

and silver enables us to

eliminate

carry-

ing

scales

and

weights

. 1bus

you now

see the usefulness of

coined

silver and

gold as

money.

How

then

does

one dilute (debase)

standard gold and silver

coins

used

as

money?

Israel

during her days of

apos-

tasy knew how to do

it.

Isaiah

speaks

of

it in

Isaiah 1:22

where Gcd

speaks

of

Israel's money, "Your

silver

has become

dross,

your

drink diluted

with

water."

Mixing of less valuable

m

etals

such as

bronze,

iron,

lead, and tinwith gold was

the

standard method

of

dilution. Gold

replaced

with

dross was then used for

other purchases.

It was

gold obtained

without

creating a

product

or rendering

a

service.

It

was

an

ungodly practice

which

produced

easymoney

by

cheating

others. Th

e

only way

the

value of the

gold could be verified was

by

testing in

the furnace of fire

where

the dross could

beseparatedandthetruenatureofmoney

will be

melted

in the midst of t; andyou

wililmow

that

I,

the

Lord,

have poured

out

My wrath on you."

Most of us carry silver coins in our

pocket

today. Pullout a quatter or a

dime.

Examine

it and you will see evi-

dence

ofdilution. Notice the copper ring

around the

edge

whichextends

from

the

interior. To add futther guilt to the

sin

of

dilution

notice the inscription In

God

We Trust". Amore appropriate inscrip-

tion might

be

"In

Dilution

We

Trust".

You

may

now

be asking about that

real

money, the green paper we

all

carry in our

billfolds.

How did we

; .

' ' ' come

to accept this

as

money and

ffJ our

silv r

lias ecome

dross 11

ascettained.

Gcd

compared the

impu-

rity

of Israel

with

the

dilution

of their

money supplyinEzekiel

22:

1822, "Son

of man

the

house

of

Israel

has become

dross to Me; all of them are bronze and

tin

and

iron

and lead

in the

furnace; they

are the dross of

silver.

Therefore thus

..says

the

Lord God, because all you

have become dross, therefore,

behold,

I

am going to gather you into the

midst

of

Jerusalem.

As

they gather silver and

bronze and iron and

lead

and tin into

the

furnace

to blow

fire

on t norderto melt

it, so I shall gather you

in

My anger and

in Mywrath, and I

shall lay you

there and

melt

you. And

I shall gather you and

blow

on you

with the fire of My wrath,

and

you will

be melted in

the

midst of t.

As

silver

is

melted in

the

furnace, so you

secondly

how

can one dilute dol-

lar bills? A dollar bill

was

origi-

nally

nothing but a warehouse

receipt

whereby

you could

re-

deem

the receipt for

gold and

silver at any warehouse (Bank)

entrusted with the responsibility

of storing

gold

and silver. Rather

thancarryaroundgoldespecially

for large

purchases,

it was easier to

store

the gold in a warehouse and

use

the receipt as money. Thus

we find

the

origin

ofwhat was formerly known

as

gold and

silver

cettificates. They were

nothing

but

certificates

of ownership

which transferred to the holder owner-

ship

of

the gold they represented which

was storedin

the

warehouse.

A

dishonest warehouse

owner soon

learned how to beat the system.

Once

the

public came to trust

him

and the

warehouse receipts as money, he could

simply write

warehouse receipts

without

any gold

backing, and then

he

could

go

out and spend

them.

As long as

people

do

not demand their

gold

his

scheme

would remain unknown.

f there was

everarun onihe

warehouse

(Bank), then

of course he

would

be

in trouble.

f

he

use of gold could somehow be declared

illegal, and the use

of warehouse

receipts

mandatory Oegal tender), then he would

never

have to

worry.

His only

worry

would be that godly men might once

October 1991 THE COUNSEL of

Chalcedon

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8/12/2019 1991 Issue 7 - Sound Money: Scriptural Principles to Guide Monetary Policy - Counsel of Chalcedon

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aga,in discoverwhat was happening and

promote

the redempti