30 Days of Birth Pangs - Day 9 Greed

2 Timothy 3:1-2 Remember that there will be difficult times in the last days.  People will be selfish, greedy, boastful, and conceited;

Greed... the mantra of the 1980's was "Greed is good."*  In the text, the word is Philaguros which means loving money, avarice.  The English definition is an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.

Greedy Child

We all have that in us... desire, I want... As children, no one teaches us to be greedy, we ARE greedy.  Someone has to teach us to control that.  Parents indulge their children and instead of being satisfied and grateful for what they have become selfish, greedy, and grasping.  This carries over into adulthood.  No one is immune to this.

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Greedy Government and Big Business

Shopping plays on that greed, we WANT.  Walk through your favorite store and pay attention to how you feel.  Get a few extra dollars in your hands and do you immediately spend it or start planning how you will spend it?  Go to a delicious buffet, do you overeat?

What makes last days greed different?  What are the markers that distinguish this greed from other times?

It is the celebration of greed as a worthy emotion, as not something to be tamed, but something to embraced.  As man abandons God, he worships at his own altar.  “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money (Matthew 6:24).

Greedy Pig

We are surrounded by intense greed - within ourselves, our companies, our governments, and sadly our churches.  The entire false gospel contained in the word of faith movement is based on the sin of greed.  Like all these birth pangs volumes could be written, but dear reader, I don't have to tell you.  You live in this world, you know.  In your lifetime has greed gotten better?  If the answer is No, then we are indeed fully in the pangs of this end times sign.


The Rapture Index Score for greed is at an 8 because we still have folks giving to charity, we still have people supporting and helping the helpless.  We have not yet totally descended.

Lovers of Self - Day 1 - Rapture Index Score:  10 out of 10
Perplexities of Nations - Day 2 - Rapture Index Score:  8 out of 10
Mass Animal Deaths - Day 3 - Rapture Index Score:  7 out of 10
Revilers - Day 4 - Rapture Index Score:  8 out of 10
Signs in the Heavens - Day 5 - Rapture Index Score:  9 out of 10
Commotions - Day 6 - Rapture Index Score:  7 out of 10
Scoffers - Day 7 - Rapture Index Score:  10 of 10
Vexed Souls - Day 8 - Rapture Index Score:  10 of 10
Greed -Day 9 - Rapture Index Score:  8 of 10
Total to date:  77 out of 90 or 85.55%

*Disclaimer - the context of the greed is good speech is basically free market capitalism, where a person reaps the rewards of their labor, which is good.  As a matter of fact, it is a hallmark of the Millennium.  Isaiah 65:21-22.

Ethics and a Love of the Game

Thanks to Abigail and Dolley for letting me throw out one of my rants on the world of ethics or lack thereof.

I love college football. I like the pro game, and enjoy playing sports quite a lot. But, college football is the only sport you will consistently find me watching on the television. The USC (Southern Cal, not the real USC Gamecocks of the SEC) football program is one of the most storied programs in all of college football. Along with programs like Notre Dame, Alabama, Texas, Ohio State etc, they have a consistent record of winning. Now Pete Carroll is leaving USC to go back to the Professional game from which he came. He says it is the right opportunity at just the right time. But, really Coach Carroll is leaving under a cloud of shame. USC is being investigated for multiple recruiting violations. Is the coach getting out before the storm hits USC fully? I don't know, but I do see a disturbing continuing trend here.

I turn to sports for an escape, to relive my own glory days,and to be entertained. I don't think any of us turn to sports to see college football programs racked with violations of rules of fair play. I don't want to see Barry Bonds perjure himself concerning performance enhancing drugs, I don't want to hear Mark McGuire cry any more because he injected performance enhancing drugs. We are talking about athletes in their prime. I see their use of drugs to aid their performance as a symptom of their greed. Greed for glory, greed for that next big endorsement deal.

Don't even get me going on Tiger Woods... A guy who reportedly cried about his father's infidelities who goes out and does the same. Talk about a culture of lack of ethics.

For me, I'm done with it. I will continue to play the sports I love, but I no longer care about the big time sports on TV. I may watch with detached interest, but I will not give my money to support the products these guys are endorsing. I hope High School sports are still immune to it, but something tells me that many of these big time high school football programs have also been somehow corrupted by it all.

What does this have to do with this blog? It is a reflection of a cancer in our society. I'm ashamed of it and I hope if We the People, say "enough!" And, if we turn away from accepting this behavior and vote with our wallets by not purchasing the sponsors products perhaps we can cause a change. Naive? Probably. Noble? Perhaps. Worth it? Absolutely.