Gold Meets Global and Biblical Demands for 'Just Money'
When it comes to a means of trade and exchange, it seems that the world has come full circle. It should be no surprise to the faithful: the Bible demands fair trade, which can only be accomplished by using "Just weights and measures". (;
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In ancient times men bartered with grain and livestock as a method of payment. The intrinsic value of barley, spelt, millet … and pigs, goats and oxen was quite evident. There were “sellers” with ample supply and “buyers” with tangible demand. Above all, there was a physical medium of exchange, and the universal value of a hog or a sheep was clearly understood.
By 1200 BC, the need for non-perishable commodities in ancient society brought about the swap of cowrie shells or “cowries” by the Chinese. These were eventually fabricated out of metal for ceremonial exchange starting in about 770 BC.
The first coins, struck in gold and silver, are attributed to the Lydians in Asia Minor or what is now Turkey in about 640-630 BC. It does not become a familiar currency, however, until the Song dynasty, an era of marked Chinese prosperity. With advances in printing, it’s no surprise that paper money first appeared in China as early as 740 BC.
Since the invention of paper money, countless kingdoms, empires and nations have gone on to adopt local and/or state currencies. Some thrived but many failed as a result of war, subjugation and/or liberation, depreciation, default, hyper-inflation, societal collapse and most recently globalization.
The adoption of the Euro in 1999 eradicated 19 national currencies including the German deutsche mark, the French franc, the Italian lira, the Spanish peseta and the Greek drachma. There are now almost 600 extinct currencies including the likes of the Dutch guilder, the British florin, the Moroccan franc, the Libyan pound, the Bolivian peso, and the Mongolian dollar.
Since inception, the overriding goal of money is to provide a universal method of payment that transcends societies, civilizations, and peoples. In this respect, gold and silver were successful earlier forms of currency. They are considered “precious” because they are relatively rare, require deep earth mining, and have multiple uses in culture and in industry. This has been the case from ancient times to modern day, which is why they also served as sound monetary standards.
When governments attempted to exert authority over money by decree; however, many brightly colored bank notes were left on the extinct roll calls of history. It seems the further the world has gotten away from gold, the more volatile money has become. Perhaps this is why central banks continue to hold gold like the United States, Russia, and China.
In this new era of globalization, gold’s role as a single, unifying force of value is perhaps more critical than ever before. Gold continues to be the foremost physical asset in an interconnected, electronic marketplace desperately in need of fundamental and intrinsic worth.
Owning physical gold meets the Biblical requirements for just weights, purity and honest money. As I explain in The Truth About Money, modern banking and currency systems are all patterned after the ungodly Babylonian "debt-based" system.
Sadly, over the last century our modern "debt-based" U.S. dollar has gradually replaced our once great "just weights, gold-backed" U.S. dollar, creating a false confidence in money substitutes. It's time we all take personal steps to restore a sound money system - before our paper wealth turns into what the ancient Chinese called "wind" or "ghost" money.
Believers are called to live out the economic principles in the Word for the sake of future generations as well as to enlighten a darkening world system.
