The Traveling Merchants

Who are "the traveling merchants of the earth?" No doubt we would today call them traders, commercial giants, wheeler-dealers of big business. This is not to say that it is wrong to engage in legitimate business. The Bible provides wise counsel for business people, warning against dishonesty, greed and the like. (Proverbs 11:1; Zechariah 7:9, 10; James 5:1-5) The greater gain is "godly devotion along with self sufficiency." (1Timothy 6:6, 17-19) However, Satan's world does not follow righteous principles. Corruption abounds. It is to be found in religion, in politics-and in big business. From time to time, the news media expose scandals, such as embezzlement by high government officials and illegal trafficking in arms.

International trading in arms is soaring beyond $1,000,000,000,000 each year, while hundreds of millions of humans are deprived of life's necessities. That is bad enough. But armaments appear to be a basic support of the world's economy. On April 11, 1987, an article in London's Spectator reported: "Counting only directly related industries, some 400,000 jobs are involved in the U.S. and 750,000 in Europe. But curiously enough, as the social and economic role of building weapons has grown, the actual question of whether the producers are well defended has slipped into the background." Huge profits are made as bombs and other weaponry are traded all over the earth, even to potential enemies. Some day those bombs may come back in a fiery holocaust to destroy those selling them. What a paradox! Add to this the graft that surrounds the arms industry. in the United States alone, according to the Spectator, "every year the Pentagon inexplicably loses $900-million worth of arms and equipment." It is no wonder that the merchants of the earth come up for unfavorable mention in Revelation!

As foretold by the glorious angel, religion has been deeply involved in such corrupt business practices. For example, there is the Vatican's involvement in the collapse of Italy's Banco Ambrosiano in 1982. The case has dragged on through the 1980's, the unanswered question being: Where did the money go? In February 1987 Milan magistrates issued arrest warrants for three Vatican clerics, including an American archbishop, on charges that they were accessories to fraudulent bankruptcy, but the Vatican rejected an extradition request. In July 1987, amid an uproar of protest, the warrants were nullified by Italy's highest Court of Appeals on the basis of an old treaty between the Vatican and the Italian government.

Did Jesus have a tie-in with questionable business practices of his day? No. He was not even a property owner, for he had "nowhere to lay down his head." A rich young ruler was advised by Jesus: " Sell all the things you have and distribute to poor people, and you will have treasure in the heavens; and come be my follower." That was fine admonition, for it could have resulted in his getting rid of all anxieties over business matters. (Luke 9:58; 18:22) In contrast, Babylonish religion often has unsavory links with big business. For example, in 1987 the Albany Times Union reported that the financial administrator of the Catholic archdiocese of Miami, Florida U.S.A., admitted to the church's owning stocks in companies that make nuclear weapons, R-rated movies and cigarettes.

Next time: "Get Out Of Her, My People."