Wednesday, January 21, 2009

FROM THE BARREL OF MY PEN
By Gonzalo “Jun” Policarpio

GREED: A DEADLY SIN

Bernard Madoff, former chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange, who pulled the biggest Ponzi Scheme of all times victimizing stupid and greedy multi-millionanaires worth $50 billion dollars, used one of the Devil’s temptations against Christ: I will give you the wealth of this world if you believe in me. According to the New Testament account, the Son of God rebuked the Evil One and stopped him for good.

According to current press accounts, Madoff’s believers succumbed to his lies and lost their fortune in a fraudulent investment scheme. That makes the notorious financial scammer a direct scion of the father of lies. A lesson that we can learn from this story is never to believe the Devil or his children.

Greed has always been a vulnerability to some people. It has been said, according to a Filipino whistleblower, that one greedy Filipino bureaucrat once admonished his fellow cronies to “moderate their greed” in stealing money from unscrupulous government transactions. The culprits however were not able put their greed under control and finally were exposed.

So many crimes have been committed because of greed. No doubt the Christian
Church classifies it as one of the “seven deadly sins.”

Greed in essence is the uncontrollable desire to amass wealth even those that do not belong to you. How then can a poor human being free himself or herself from that kind of slavery?

Christ was able to withstand Satan’s temptations despite his poor and hungry physical condition. He knows the Devil cannot deliver because he is a liar. He, being the Son of God, knows that only God can provide because He is the Divine Providence.

Remember as history of mankind will tell us, God never allows one man or woman to amass the wealth of this world for He is the God of Justice and Reason. So the answer on how to free oneself from greed is true faith in God the Provider.

End

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