Mammon or Unrighteous Mammon: So What’s The Difference?

Well, be it as it may, it appears to this writer that there are two

systems in place on this earth: God’s economy (being the way of
getting things done in the Kingdom of God) and the world’s economy
of which we Christians know, Satan is it’s god. Both systems use
money, currency or wealth - one to righteousness and the other to sin
or unrighteousness. Actually, simply put, mammon is money. And it
is not the use of mammon which is evil, but the love of mammon, (or
money), which is evil.

In a way, Mammon is to Babylon what Love “should be” in the

Kingdom of God as practiced by Christians. It drives and motivates
people to do or get all they want and value in that particular system.

More plainly put, there seems to be a mammon which is righteous.

Then, there is an unrighteous mammon which is evil. From the
statements of Jesus, there is a mammon used for good and there is
one that is used for evil. And we are to make the distinction and
choose between the two of them as to which we shall serve.

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We also learn in the Bible that mammon is the name of a demonic

stronghold or entity. Whether a power or principality, ruler of the
darkness or spiritual wickedness in high places, mammon takes on an
entity and identity of itself. It is a mindset, paradigm or stronghold
which we ourselves build up over the years or which we have allowed
Satan to impregnate our minds with in his deception.

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Mammon is also defined by many as being greed and covetousness.

Covetousness (or envy), can lead us away from God and encourages
us to trust in our material possessions. When we turn our trust from
God to money, we place ourselves in submission to a new master.
Jack Hayford, (1) refers to Luke 16:13 in the following manner: “Jesus
said that no one can serve two masters—God and money—at the
same time. That makes Mammon a potential “master.’” When we
attempt to serve both God and Mammon, we are unfocused resulting
in instability and double-mindedness being produced within us.
Mammon should be recognized as a god which wishes to usurp the
authority of God in our worship when it leads us instead into the
worship of material possessions.
In essence, Jesus tells us we cannot serve and trust in God in the
Kingdom of God system and at the same time serve and trust in the
world's system or anything else that we can trust in but God.
According to Jane Baer, here is the Kingdom of God system and here
are the results of that system: (2)
Matthew 6:24-34 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and
love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise and be
against the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (deceitful riches, money,
possessions, or whatever is trusted in). 25 Therefore I tell you, stop being
perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you shall eat or
what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater
[in quality] than food, and the body [far above and more excellent] than clothing?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and
yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than
they? 27 And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of
measure (cubit) to his stature or to the span of his life? 28 And why should you be
anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and learn thoroughly how
they grow; they neither toil nor spin. 29 Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his
magnificence (excellence, dignity, and grace) was not arrayed like one of these. 30
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and
tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O
you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry and be anxious, saying, What are we
going to have to eat? or, What are we going to have to drink? or, What are we
going to have to wear? 32 For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and
diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need
them all. 33 But seek ( aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His
righteousness ( His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken
together will be given you besides. 34 So do not worry or be anxious about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for
each day is its own trouble. AMP

Jesus tells us all of mankind will be serving a master in both systems.

Also He tells us that we will have to choose between the two masters
because we can’t serve them both at the same time or operate out of
both systems at the same time. The master of the world’s system is
satan and the master of the Kingdom of God is Jehovah God.

(1) Jack Hayford, “Hayford’s Bible Handbook”

(1) Jane Baer,
http://www.godswordalive.com/article_pages/two_systems_of_finance_and_
wealth.html
(2)
part II
To overcome this spirit, you must operate by the Spirit and
not by your own understanding. You must also know just
what a spirit is for as the Apostle Paul wrote: we wrestle not
against flesh and blood……xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It would also seem from the reading of Luk 16:9 Jesus continued,
"I'm telling you that although wealth is often used in dishonest
ways, you should use it to make friends for yourselves. When life is
over, you will be welcomed into an eternal home.
Luk 16:10 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted
with a lot. Whoever is dishonest with very little is dishonest with a
lot.
Luk 16:11 Therefore, if you can't be trusted with wealth that is often
used dishonestly, who will trust you with wealth that is real?
[notice the play on words, true riches being the wealth that is real.]
Luk 16:12 If you can't be trusted with someone else's wealth, who
will give you your own?
Luk 16:13 "A servant cannot serve two masters. He will hate the first
master and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and
despise the second. You cannot serve God and wealth." GWT
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In the ASV we read:
“And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends by means of the
mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may
receive you into the eternal tabernacles.

10He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much: and he

that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much. 11If
therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who
will commit to your trust the true riches ? 12And if ye have not been
faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your
own? 13No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the
one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the
other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. ASV

Let’s briefly consider the idea of a spirit and how it operates to affect
people. First of all, a spirit is a person who lives without a body.
There are good spirits such as angels and there are evil spirits. Some
spirits can cause direct pain or suffering in people, some can cause
various physical maladies, but mostly a spirit influences people to
think as it wants them to think, and it may even influence people to
think like it actually thinks.

In any case, when we are talking about demonic spiritual influences,

the people under them take on certain characteristics and ideas that
are demonic and so increasingly at odds with our ability to walk in
God’s living truth for which we need to have faith, trust in God to
avenge and provide, to forgive and give freely. Demonic influence
gradually gains control over people, and groups, even communities
and countries by causing the people to adopt the thinking of the spirit
that is influencing them, tempting them to open their hearts to it’s
wrong ideas and ways, and so to believe in what is contrary to God’s
way, truth and life. (2)

It is also a spirit being which attempts to dominate us and usurp God’s

economy on the earth and in our lives.

Let us go on. In the Aramaic languages, of which Jesus conversed in

on a regular basis along with Hebrew, the use of the word mammon
is also used to denote
We also learn in the Bible that mammon is the name of a demonic
stronghold or entity. Whether a power or principality, ruler of the
darkness or spiritual wickedness in high places, mammon takes on an
entity and identity of itself. It is a mindset, paradigm or stronghold
which we ourselves build up over the years or which we have allowed
Satan to impregnate our minds with in his deception.

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