Counsel On 'Becoming Rich'

Is there a cure for the sad situation in Laodicea? Yes, if those Christians will follow Jesus' counsel: "I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire that you may become rich." (Revelation 3:18a) True Christians "gold," refined by fire and with all the dross removed, will make them "rich toward God." (Luke 12:21) Where can they buy such gold? Not from the local bankers but from Jesus! The apostle Paul explained what that gold is when he told Timothy to give orders to wealthy Christians "to work at good, to be rich in fine works, to be liberal, ready to share, safely treasuring up for themselves a fine foundation for the future." Only by expending themselves in this way could they "get a firm hold on the real life." (1Timothy 6:17-19) The materially wealthy Laodiceans should have followed Paul's advice and thus become spiritually rich.- See also Proverbs 3:13-18.

Are there modern-day examples of those buying "gold refined by fire? Yes, there are! Even while the Lord's day was approaching, a small group of Bible students was awakening to the falsity of Christendom's many Babylonish teachings, such as the Trinity, immorality of the soul, hellfire, torment, infant baptism, and worship of images (including the cross and those of Mary). In championing Bible truth, these Christians proclaimed Jehovah's Kingdom as mankind's only hope and Jesus' ransom sacrifice as the basis for salvation. Almost 40 years ahead of time, they pointed to 1914 as the year marked in Bible prophecy as the end of the times of the Gentiles, when civil and ecclesiastical powers would be shaken.- Revelation 1:10; Luke 21:24-26, King James Version.

Taking the lead among these awakening Christians was Charles Taze Russell, who, in the early 1870's, formed a Bible study class in Allegheny (now part of Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, U.S.A. When he started his search for truth, Russell was in partnership with his father and on his way to becoming a millionaire. But he sold out his chain-store business interests and spent his fortune in helping to finance the publishing of God's Kingdom in all the earth. In 1884 Russell became the first president of the corporation now known as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. In 1916 he died on a train near El Paso, Texas, en route to New York, exhausted by his final preaching tour of the western United States. He set an outstanding example of storing up spiritual treasures in heaven, an example that is followed by hundreds of thousands of self-sacrificing pioneer ministers in these late 1900's. - Hebrews 13:7; Luke 12:33, 34; compare 1 Corinthians 9:16; 11:1.

Next time: Applying Spiritual Eye Salve