Wednesday: Surety and Get-Rich-Quick Schemes
The Bible is very clear that God does not want His children to become responsible for the debt obligations of others. In the book of Proverbs, the Lord has warned us against surety — that is, cosigning or being guarantor for another person.
Read Proverbs 6:1-5, Proverbs 17:18, and Proverbs 22:26. What is the message here?
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Surety usually occurs when a person with poor credit seeks a loan from a lending institution and does not qualify for the loan. The loan officer will tell the unqualified person that if he or she will get a friend with good credit to cosign with him or her, then the bank will grant the loan and hold the cosigner responsible in the event of a default.
Sometimes a fellow church member will come to you and ask you to cosign. Your response should be: “The Bible says I should never do that.” Please understand that the Bible encourages us to be helpful to those in need, but we should not become responsible for their debts.
Parents are sometimes asked by teenagers to cosign for the purchase of their first car. Or older adult children will ask parents to cosign for a business loan. The same answer applies. It is appropriate to help others if there is a real need, but do not become surety for the debts of others. Studies show that 75 percent of those who cosigned end up making the payments!
Read Proverbs 28:20 and 1 Timothy 6:9-10. What’s the warning here?
Get-rich-quick schemes are another financial trap; they are almost guaranteed to lead to financial ruin for those who get caught up in them. When it sounds too good to be true, it surely is. Many people are hurt emotionally and financially. An additional tragedy with these devious plans is that, in many cases, individuals have had to borrow money to become involved in them in the first place. Many lives and families have been ruined by get-rich-quick schemes that end up enriching only the con artists who devise them, at the expense of those who fall into their trap. When a friend, or even a loved one, tries to pull you into one of these schemes, run. Not walk. Run — as fast as you can.
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In our modern world, the number of ways that we can make a quick buck has multiplied. Ponzi schemes, love scams, digital currency speculation, and so on, account for the loss of billions of dollars worldwide. The really scary thing about all of this is that I see so many thinking people taken in by such schemes. The allure of high returns on investments causes a blindness to reality.
I am glad that the lesson points out the danger of going surety for others in a loan situation. Within my own circle of acquaintances, I have seen so many friendships and families torn apart by defaulting. Some have even ended up in prison as a consequence. The 75% figure mentioned by the lesson author is no surprise to me.
Yesterday, school started again for the new year and our grandsons arrived at our house in the afternoon to do their homework (and get free tuition in maths from Grandad). We had a bit of a conversation with our eldest grandson. He is in his last year of high school and sits his university entrance examinations this year. He has the potential and has expressed an interest in doing engineering. But he also wants to earn money to spend on his car. I gave him my usual speech about a car being a hole in the road that you pour money into.
The big idea that we are trying to get through to our grandson at the moment is that money now (easily spent on cars) is not a good substitute for an investment in time and effort in getting a good education. It is essentially a perspective adjustment.
Where do we classify cryptocurrency?
One only needs to look at its wild fluctuations in value to know how to classify it. Cryptocurrency may make sense one day, but at the moment I am happy to be an observer.
If only people would study their Bibles more, then we would not be doing so many stupid things with our money.
I have experienced a lot of worry when it has come to having student loans and trying to pay them off. But I believe God's way of education is the best way, when it provides a way for students to earn their tuition while working. Also, large-hearted individuals who help needy students are worth gold.
But where I see the greatest need is how we raise our children. We need to be training them kindly and not punishing them for things they have not learned. If we could do better with raising our children, I believe they would listen to our advice more and save themselves from heartache. Lord, please help us as parents to be better at training them so they will have the fruit of the Spirit in their lives (love, peace, joy, etc). Galatians 5:22, 23
God bless all of you!
Doesn't this also apply when as a Christian you are asked to bail someone who has been arrested? Lots of persons who have bailed others have found themselves on the wrong side of the law when the person bailed absconds.
While the essence of today’s lesson is true, the part on teens and children is a stretch. This is simply the author’s perspective stemming from a western individualistic society. Many eastern cultures are tight-knit with families and helping their kids kick-start their lives isn’t necessarily unbiblical. Everything is contextual, of course.
Oh how I wish this lesson had been around 2 years ago. My brother was a fairly new member of the church and living on disability (barely enough for a very basic lifestyle) and received some money - not a lot, but equal to about 2-3 years of his meager income.
After he died I was taking care of his things and found out that he spent most of his extra money on “newsletters” from financial advisers who would tell him which investments to make - so he could get rich.
Of course by the time he bought all this advice he had no money to invest, nor to pay off his debts, nor to help his daughter who was working two jobs to stay out of debt with college tuition.
I had to pay for his funeral.
I am thankful for his baptism, and know that in heaven it will all be as nothing, so I have to let it go.
I am also very thankful for this lesson and pray it may help others.
Perhaps we should address this more as we prepare people for baptism.
I want to share an experience from my early days when I was still searching for the God I could trust. Just about 20 years old, living in my hometown, I became involved with a group of young Americans who introduced me to the Muslim faith. I joined and, wanting to show myself committed, I agreed to lend them a substantial amount of money to invest in efforts to draw more young people to that faith.
To my theological, rational, and emotional disappointment, I found out that I had trusted people who were dishonest in all their ways. I separated myself from the group right away after concluding that they were nothing more than thieves out to defraud whomever they could lure into their scheme.
Two years later, recovering in the maternity ward after giving birth to my first child, I became acquainted with a young Moslem women from Turkey, placed in the bed next to me. She was recovering from complications due to her pregnancy and was quite sad. It was difficult talking with each other, but she felt encouraged to look at life a bit more from the bright side when she found out that I was interested in understanding the Muslim faith.
She and her husband had come to Germany as guest workers to earn as much money as they could, sending all extra funds which they could spare to their parents, who had agreed to take care of their children during that time. The plan was to go back to Turkey in a few years of working hard to start a business.
We stayed in touch, and a few months later she asked me if I would be willing to help them obtain a loan of several thousand marks by becoming a co-signer to the loan. An opportunity had come about to open a business in Turkey which their parents would be in charge of until they would return home.
To be honest, I was totally ignorant and not even thinking of any associated risks when agreeing to help out. Sakina and her husband, to their honor, faithfully paid back within three years all they had borrowed; they were very grateful for my trusting them.
Looking back, the first encounter with people representing the Muslim faith turned out to be a great disappointment because they were dishonest people. The second encounter fostered a friendship lasting many years because both of us wanted to be good stewards and representatives of our faiths. Though we never became close friends, we remained in touch with each other until their return to Turkey.
Reading this makes it even more amazing to me that our Creator became surety for the undeserving, unappreciative, selfish, (I could go on) human race. Hebrews 7:22.
There is a Biblical process to help those in need:
Deut 15:1-15 KJV At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the LORD'S release. 3 Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release; 4 Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it: 5 Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day. 6 For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee. 7 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: 8 But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. 9 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. 10 Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. 11 For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land. 12 And if thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee.
13 And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: 14 Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. 15 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.