The Lust That Consumes Us

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (James 4:3, Authorized King James Version).

What went wrong? Why the recent carnage on Wall Street, why the sub-prime mortgage fiasco, and why the rash of bank failures? Why the bail-outs that minimize penalties for really, really bad behavior? Little people have been mortally wounded - people who trusted these institutions with their life savings - with the mortgages on their homes - have been left in the wake of this meltdown.

Where does it all start? For a start, check out the children’s programs on television. What an education! The commercials on children's television programs are one of the seductive, sinister, early stages of consumerism. Consumerism is what makes our lust driven economy work. The commercials receive as much, or even more, rapt attention than the programs themselves. The message of these commercials is blatant and obvious. Children are being programmed, at any early age, to be consumers. They are being trained to consume things on their own lusts. Lust is part of the human condition, no matter what age we might be.

Remember the advice given to Americans after the tragedy of 9-11? "Go shopping," we were told. The purpose of this recommendation was not simply to allow Americans to get their minds off the unspeakable horrors of that day, but it was our government telling us to keep consuming, for surely if we stop consuming our economic wheels will fall off, and we will all perish. Consume or die!

While commercials shown during children's television programs are a problem, there is a bigger, and far more malignant epidemic sweeping across our world. Evil forces are at work in our culture and society – most recently, the needless economic massacre suffered by millions of people, defaulting on loans, losing their homes - people whose lusts did them in, people who had been seduced by consumerism and its minions into attempting to achieve the so-called American dream by the unremitting use of pieces of plastic that fit neatly into their wallets and purses.

I consider the real culprit - human lust. While I don't usually read and study from the Authorized King James, I read several translations and versions of James 4:3 before coming back to the rich, resonant and robust English favored in 1611: Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

I am disgusted with the marketing gurus who, armed with a basic understanding of human lust, are able to motivate, persuade and manipulate the lust of others for their own gain. Am I taking the side of victims? Not entirely - it must be said that the people who decided that their homes were the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow - and decided to use the "funny money" equity in their homes to refinance and re-mortgage and borrow against for that new boat, SUV, exotic vacation - were all big boys and big girls. Adults, not pre-school age children drooling over the latest gizmo or gadget advertised on television, fell for sub-prime loans, hook, line and sinker. And the funny money turned out to be a balloon of hot air, inflated with consumerism, a mirage of lust that turned into a painful and pathetic reality many people are facing today.

But today's adults are always yesterday's children. They are simply products of decades of self-indulgence. When I think of our greedy, me-first, get-it-now-before-you're-too-old-to-enjoy-it self indulgent culture, I think of Ivan Boesky. Ivan Boesky was a Wall Street trader, who, over two decades ago, during a time when today's young adults were consumers-in-training, amassed a $200 million fortune by fraud and deceit. Boesky made investments based on tips from corporate insiders. He was eventually sentenced to prison, but his name came to symbolize the rapacious greed of American big business.

Ivan Boesky gave a speech at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1986, during which he said, "I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself." The character of Gordon Gecko in the 1987 movie, "Wall Street," is said to have been based on a Boesky like character (if character is not an oxymoron in a Bosky context).

Two decades later, in our post-Boesky Wall Street, the greed epidemic continues, unabated. As a result, our once strong economy is today held together by chewing gum, bailing wire and duct tape. But the wrong-headed teaching continues. Our government rewards corporate lust by bailing out ego-driven maniacal banks and brokerage firms that had no self control, demonstrated no moral boundaries, and were simply driven by ravenous lust and greed. What lesson is this sending to our younger generation? Don't worry - go out there and max out your personal credit cards - you can declare bankruptcy - someone else - some anonymous person or group of people - will pick up the tab.

But citizens cannot continue to bear an inflated tax burden that will be required to bail out national and local governments whose only solution to out-of-control spending is to print more money and promise to build an even bigger government that will provide more "services." We all know that "I am from the government and I am here to help you" has become one of the big lies of our times.

Many formerly private sector financial institutions have been taken over by our government. Major banks and brokerage houses have been bailed out, because flushing them into a cesspool of their own idiocy and lust was not deemed to be in the best interests of what remains of our economy. Who will pay the bill for all of this lust? It will be an enslaved people, who continue to chase the American dream by spending - that ye may consume it on your lusts.

Behind this massive debacle of insatiable gluttony are those people who enabled this mess to become what it is today. Wall Street, Madison Avenue, government officials - all of whom were consumed by their own lusts, assuming that there was no end in sight, and that everyone would just get richer and richer. Buying and purchasing like frenzied sharks attracted by blood, American consumers fell into a pit. But the pit was prepared, and there were forces that led consumers into that pit.

Our nation today is dealing with decades of monumental gluttonous, me-first lust - on a grand scale with no end in sight - perhaps never before seen or experienced in human history. Many of our leaders have turned out to be predators, not servants - mercenaries who have spiritually and physically bankrupted the very people they ostensibly were elected or appointed to serve. Our leaders, in both civil and some religious arenas, have afflicted those they are pledged to serve with physical and spiritual debt, insisting on more taxes, more required "tithes" - so that their own lives of lust and greed can continue unabated. Our leaders have preyed on the ignorance and apathy of an American public, while they themselves have sought to feed their ever-increasing voracious appetites at the expense of the masses, while assuring us that they have our best interests at heart. They have amassed fortunes by deceit, larceny and trickery. Well did Peter speak of false teachers, in the spiritual realm, who exploit others because of their own greed "with stories they have made up" (2 Peter 2:3).

While we all enjoy buying things for children, one of the most cherished lessons we can leave with the younger generation is that they do not deserve, nor will they receive, everything their little pea-picking hearts desire. Further, if they were to ever get everything they want, they would not be happy - the fires of lust would burn hotter and hotter, voraciously consuming everything in sight.

We are, rightfully so, in my opinion, concerned about Global Warming. But where is the alarm about unbridled lust? Where is the call to excise the lust-induced cancer of spending and getting and acquiring and consuming? Where is the call to live within our means? Where are the warnings about the meltdown that is being caused by our worship of the gods of consumerism?

We are in the final days of this presidential election. Thank God it's almost over - I am so sick of the partisan rhetoric - let's get it over with, one way or the other! While I would not deny anyone their enthusiasm over a candidate, I am dismayed with the near-messiah like reverence and expectations given to both candidates by their supporters. Neither candidate, and neither political party has demonstrated the resolve and courage to do what must be done, nor, in my mind, should they be expected to. They are just like you and me - imperfect humans.

Our Savior does not come from Wall Street, Madison Avenue, nor will He ever live in the White House. Our Savior is neither Republican nor Democrat. Our Savior turned consumerism on its ear when He came to serve us, rather than seeking our service (Matthew 20:28). Our Savior, although He was rich, became poor, that we might, through His poverty become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).

But we must turn to our Savior in surrender and repentance. We must turn from the gods of consumerism that have turned us into overstuffed, fat, indolent spiritual couch potatoes, greedily consuming resources at a prodigious rate, while the rest of the world looks on us with scorn, disdain, and not a little envy. After all, the rest of the occupants of this planet as humans also driven by lust, would like to waddle their way through life like overstuffed little pigs, consuming and devouring at the prodigious rate of our North American society.

Jesus is not a lust-driven consumer. He is not a user. He will not manipulate us. In fact, He will save us from our lusts. He will save us from those who use and abuse us. He will give us true freedom, freedom in Him - but we must first turn our backs on the gods of consumerism who cannot save us.

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