Riches

J. F. Rutherford

• Publisher: Barakaldo Books
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781839744891
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Information which will enable every person to realize in fullness the greatest desire and fondest hopes of humankind.Joseph Franklin Rutherford (November 8, 1869 – January 8, 1942), also known as Judge Rutherford, was the second president of the incorporated Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. He played a primary role in the organization and doctrinal development of Jehovah's Witnesses, which emerged from the Bible Student movement established by Charles Taze Russell.

CHAPTER I—FALSE AND TRUE

DO YOU SINCERELY desire to be rich and very happy? If so, a knowledge of how to gain riches and how to enjoy the same is of the greatest importance to you. If you are kept in ignorance of the true way and permit yourself to rely upon and be guided by the opinion of imperfect man, you can never gain the riches that will bring you peace and lasting happiness. Every person who will learn the right way, and who will then continue diligently to follow that right way, is absolutely certain in time to possess great riches and all attending blessings. The right way is not to be found in human schemes. He who would be truly rich must earnestly seek to gain a knowledge of JEHOVAH GOD and his great treasure house.

Are you willing to devote the necessary time and give sincere consideration to the study of what is written in this book? If so, you will gain a knowledge that will bring to you real peace of mind, because this book does not contain the opinion of a man, but sets forth the truth taken from the Word of God. It will satisfy those who carefully consider it. Millions of honest persons have been turned away from Jehovah God, and from the Bible, because of the misrepresentation both of God and of the Bible. Millions of others have been kept in ignorance of the Bible because selfish men have informed the people that they cannot understand the Bible. The truth is that the ‘Scripture given by inspiration of God’ is for the very purpose of instructing honest and fearless persons in the right way to go. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) The inspired Scriptures make the clear distinction between false and true riches and make plain the reason why happiness is gained and fully enjoyed only by those who find true riches. Before you can intelligently choose the false or the true way of becoming rich you must learn of both ways; then, being free to choose, you will choose one or the other. If you rely upon the opinion or word of any man, you are certain to go in the wrong way. “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.” (Psalm 146:3) If you trust in and rely upon the Word of God, you are certain to go in the right way. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5, 6) The greatest crisis of all time is now upon the human race, and every honest person will now have the opportunity to learn the right way to go in order that each one may freely choose his own destiny. Your opportunity is now at hand.

False riches, consisting of money, houses and lands, acquired by selfish means at cost to others and thereafter used selfishly, are almost always used for the oppression of other persons. In this present time a few men own or possess almost all the money, houses and lands, and the great mass of humankind suffer in need of the very necessities for their daily living. Riches thus selfishly acquired and wrongfully used the Scriptures describe as “filthy lucre”. Selfish men love the power that a great amount of money gives them, and for that reason it is written in the Scriptures that “the love of money is the root of all evil”. (1 Timothy 6:10) The evil is not in the money, but money results in evil because of the love of gain and power that money brings to the one that possesses and wrongfully uses it. If one honestly obtains money and properly uses it in a righteous cause to the glory of God, that money does not result in evil, but in good.

The few men who possess the wealth of the material things of the earth at the present time are not truly happy. In almost all cases such men are proud, haughty, severe, unkind and extremely selfish. While possessing much more than they need, they are always fearful of losing what they possess. The money of the ultrarich is often used to oppress others, and men who thus use it appear to be proud that they have such power. Concerning them God says: “Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens; and their tongue walketh through the earth. And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.”—Psalm 73:6-9, 11, 12.

Now perilous times have come, exactly as God’s Word foretold they would come, and this is due to the fact that we are in the “last days”, when men have become agreement-breakers and unfaithful and seek to exalt themselves at the expense of both the rich and the poor. (2 Timothy 3:1-4) Selfish political rulers, desiring to keep themselves in power, and overreached by other wrongful influence, proceed to “soak the rich” in order to create more political jobs and thus increase their opportunities of keeping themselves in office. Men who are thus endeavoring to wrongfully take away from the earthly rich that which they possess are both unhappy and extremely selfish. Those who possess much material riches now, and the others who are trying to grab the same, are both moved by a selfish desire; and pursuing that course, they are certain to be sorely disappointed within a very short time. “Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery; if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.” (Psalm 62:10) “He that trusteth in his [material] riches shall fall.” (Proverbs 11:28) “As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.”—Jeremiah 17:11.

Such a person becomes a fool for the reason he makes selfish gain, otherwise called “money”, his god and relies on the power and protection that his money might bring to him. He disregards God and true wisdom and by his course of action proves that he is a fool; as the Scriptures declare: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1) By pursuing such a course of action he discloses his motive, which is here represented by “his heart”, and in harmony with this he in effect says that he is a fool. By disregarding God’s provision made for man, and by pursuing a selfish course, man becomes entirely blind to his best interests. The multitudes of people on earth have gone practically crazy by reason of their insatiable desire to acquire material wealth. Such false riches endure but a short time. Man dies, and that is the end of his riches which he has acquired in the wrong way: “Riches profit not in the day of wrath; but righteousness delivereth from death.” (Proverbs 11: 4) “Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away, as an eagle toward heaven.” (Proverbs 23:5) These texts here quoted apply to what is termed “false riches”.

“TRUE RICHES”

To understand the clear distinction between false and true riches is essential to your life and happiness. Only in the Bible is there to be found that clear distinction and contrast. Jehovah God is truly rich far beyond the imagination of humankind. The word “world” means that which is both in earth and in heaven, that is, both the things seen and the things unseen by human eyes. All things belong to Jehovah God: “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1) “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” (Genesis 1:1) “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created,” (Revelation 4:11) To learn of the true riches we must go to the fountainhead of such riches.

Christ Jesus is exceedingly rich. The name originally given him, as set forth in the Scriptures, is The Word of God, that is, the Logos, or One whom Jehovah God uses to announce and to put into execution his commandments. The Word or Logos was the beginning of Jehovah’s creation (Revelation 3:14), and thereafter Jehovah God employed the Logos (his Word) as his active agent in the creation of all things. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was [a] God.” (John 1:1) The literal translation, by the Emphatic Diaglott (interlinear reading), is: “In the beginning was the [Logos], and the [Logos] was with the God, and a god was the [Logos].” That means that Jehovah God is the great First Cause, without beginning and without end, and is therefore “the God”; and that the beginning of his creation was the Logos or Word, who is “a god”, that is, a mighty one. When Jehovah God sent his Beloved One, the Word, to earth, he was given the name “Jesus”. Jesus said: “My Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28) Jehovah God is the Father; Christ Jesus, the Son. Jehovah “God [the Father]...created all things by Jesus Christ”, his Son. (Ephesians 3:9) Concerning Christ Jesus, the Word, it is written: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”—Colossians 1:16, 17.

All things that are done by Jehovah God are done in order and in full harmony with his universal organization. That organization of Jehovah consists of the Logos, cherubim, seraphim, angels, and others, and over all is the great Almighty God. One of the names given to God’s organization is “Zion”, and that organization is symbolically represented or pictured by a woman, which “woman” gives birth to children. (Isaiah 54:1-13) Out of his universal organization Jehovah God takes certain ones that are in harmony with him and builds them up into his capital organization, of which capital organization Christ Jesus, the King of glory, is the Head. The capital organization of Jehovah He specifically uses to carry out his purposes. That organization is otherwise spoken of in the Scriptures as “the kingdom”.

God created the first man, whom he called Adam. Then God created a woman, whom he named Eve; and this man and woman were given the power from Jehovah God to reproduce their kind, that is to say, to cause conception and birth of children. The first man and his wife were a part of Jehovah’s universal organization; that is, they were in the earthly or visible part thereof under the supervision of an invisible overlord. They were in Eden, a place of perfection and beauty. To man God had announced his law, and man was told that the penalty for the violation of God’s law is death. The manner in which man violated God’s law would not be material. The crime consists in the violation in any manner; and the penalty, death. God did not require of man a great thing, but required of him the small thing of declining to partake of certain fruit. The man willfully violated God’s law, and therefore was justly sentenced to death and was expelled from God’s universal organization.

After a long period of time, during which time the organism of Adam was degenerating, the man died. At and from the time of his creation man was rich until he became a sinner, and then he lost all things. (Genesis 3:17-24) The wrongful act of Adam in breaking God’s law, together with the wrongful acts of other creatures involved in that wicked transaction, brought great reproach upon the holy name of Jehovah God. Would Jehovah God take the necessary action to clear and vindicate his holy name before all creatures of his universe? The answer to this question is found in the Scriptures, and now of this you shall learn.

HIS PURPOSE

The name “Almighty God” specifically applies to the Eternal One as the great First Cause, and the Creator of all things created. His name “Jehovah” particularly means his purpose toward his creatures. At the time of the disobedience and fall of Adam and his expulsion from the universal organization of God the great Creator there in cryptic language announced his purpose to bring into existence his capital organization, or kingdom, which in due time shall destroy all lawless ones and establish righteousness in the earth as in heaven, and that all this will be to the vindication of Jehovah’s name. (Genesis 3:15; 12:2, 3; 22:16-18) “God is love” (1 John 4:16); which means that he is wholly unselfish and that all things are done by him unselfishly. The vindication of his name in the mind of creatures does not add anything to Jehovah. What creatures think of the Almighty Creator is of no profit to the Creator. God has announced his purpose to vindicate his name, and that vindication will afford his creatures full and complete opportunity to gain great riches at the hands of the Creator. God is not trying to save creatures, but he affords his creatures the opportunity to avail themselves of the salvation which he has provided. He is the source and fountain of all riches; and for man to have and to enjoy such riches man must know God and know of his provision to gain the desired and true riches. Jehovah makes it possible for all his intelligent creatures to receive riches at his bountiful hand.

Man was created for the earth and in order that he might have and enjoy the fullness of the riches of the earth. The perfect man in Eden therefore was rich, and such riches he might have possessed forever had he continued obedient to his Creator. By his disobedience of God’s law, before man had exercised his power to bring children into the earth, not only Adam lost everything for himself, but his children were born as sinners, imperfect, and without the right to live. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the World, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Romans 5:12) It is written plainly in the Scriptures that Jehovah God created man for the earth and the earth for man: “I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited; I am the Lord, and there is none else.—Isaiah 45:12, 18.

Shall the disobedience of man and the loss of the right to live, and the loss of the right to true riches, defeat the purpose of Jehovah for which he created the earth? The purpose of Jehovah cannot fail, but must be accomplished; and concerning this it is written: “I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.” (Isaiah 46:11) “My word...shall not return unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11) Jehovah would not permit anything to prevent him from carrying out his purpose. God does not change, neither does his law change. (Malachi 3:6) He does not reverse his own judgment or sentence or determination. Seeing, then, that all men, by reason of Adam’s sin, were born imperfect and without the right to live, how could it be possible for any man ever to gain the true riches at the hand of Jehovah God and to for ever thereafter enjoy the same?

REDEMPTION

By his own efforts man could never gain the true and desired riches. It is written: “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9) This scripture in a few words states how it is possible for a man to obtain true riches, which is the greatest desire of all sane creatures. Born in sin, and shapen in iniquity (Psalm 51:5), alienated from God and under the power of sin and absolutely certain of death, all human creatures come into the world in a state of abject poverty. A small percent of the human race, at a loss to their fellow creatures, become rich in the material things of the earth; but these entirely miss the true riches, and their false riches thus obtained avail them nothing in the end. “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: that he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others. Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless, man being in honour abideth not; he is like the beasts that perish.” (Psalm 49: 6, 7, 9-12) Thus is stated the condition of the imperfect human race, entirely helpless and with no ability to gain that which is so greatly desired.

Although God could not set aside his judgment against man and the effect thereof upon the descendants of the first man, yet he provided in his law that he could consistently accept a substitute for the condemned race and thereby relieve man of the disability under which all find themselves. The unselfish provision made by Jehovah for man, therefore, was that a life might be given for a life, that is, a perfect sinless life be given as a substitute for the one who was once sinless and who became sinful and therefore subject to death. (Deuteronomy 19:21) The sinless life that is accepted in the place of the man Adam, who committed sin, must be a perfect human life. It could be nothing more, and certainly nothing less, in order to meet the requirements of God’s law. All the human race being the offspring of Adam the sinner, it is entirely impossible for any of Adam’s offspring to become the ransom or redeemer of his fellow mankind. “Ransom” means an exact corresponding price, that is, the price of exactly the same value as the law requires of the one who committed the sin.

It was the perfect man Adam that sinned, and God’s law required the forfeit of Adam’s life in death; and the judgment of God took away from Adam his right to live, and he died. Nothing could become a ransom for Adam save a perfect human creature, possessing human life and the right to that life. The one who becomes the redeemer or ransomer of Adam and his offspring must stand exactly in the position occupied by Adam prior to sinning and at the time he was perfect when in Eden, and before he had taken any wrongful steps whatever in the commission of sin. The one who would take the place of the sinful man and suffer death in order to provide redemption must be a perfect human creature. If he was part spirit and part human that would not be a price exa...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• DEDICATION
• CHAPTER I-FALSE AND TRUE
• CHAPTER II-JONADAB
• CHAPTER III-HOW TO BECOME RICH
• CHAPTER IV-CAUSE OF POVERTY AND DEATH
• CHAPTER V-LIES
• CHAPTER VI-PRISONERS
• CHAPTER VII-PHILISTINES
• CHAPTER VIII-GREAT MULTITUDE
• CHAPTER IX-JUDGMENT
• CHAPTER X-DUTY AND RESULTS