News September 8th 2004

Updated second edition out!

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Why are the terrorists doing this?

Why is God allowing this?

What is this leading to?

What are some of the causes?

How should Christians respond?

Some have realized that our wealth is not as good a fortress as we thought and that as Proverbs says: Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, But righteousness delivers from death. In other words the cure for our insecurity will lie in repentance and righteousness not in power and wealth.

As an Australian missionary working in the Philippines I think I have tried to put the perspectives of the developed world, the developing world and the Scriptures together in one book to try and answer the above five questions and in particular to inform the Church’s response to the crisis. This is a book for Christians, while it contains some economics in its discussion of globalization and the causes of poverty it is not primarily an economic treatise. It is a pastoral treatise that is meant to guide the Church in her actions toward the world. As such it takes up the classical Christian themes of compassion for the poor, separation from worldliness, proclamation of the gospel, the doing of good, the coming of the Lord, and the prophetic calling of Christians in announcing the righteousness of God to the social structure to which he or she belongs.

To this extent it is quite a standard treatise. In many other aspects it is quite provocative. One of its main themes is that of a dynamic tension between the Market and the Kingdom and how international trade is now, in essence, anti-Christian. I need to make it clear from the outset that “trade” and “business” are generally different. Trade is pure market activity – that is buying, selling, charging interest etc. Business tends to involve production of some sort. Businesses produce the product, which is then taken to the marketplace for sale, and it is the Market that can either make or break them. This Market has become dominant and in doing so, has become unjust. The collapse of biblical civilizations has always been preceded by a time of deeply unjust market forces and predatory international trade. To put it bluntly, we will burn like Babylon unless we change our ways.

I will argue that God’s design for prosperity does not involve unjust speculation or the charging of high rates of interest or the manipulation of currencies. We will look at what Scripture calls “the power to make wealth” – the ability of the saint to create a righteous engine for wealth generation through the diligent application of specific and focused wisdom and knowledge to a productive economic end – in the context of community and just and fair relationships. But I am getting ahead of myself here.

We will also look at the process of radicalization and see how people are being made increasingly angry by the unjust economic practices that come from globalization. Then we will analyze how fundamentalist Islam proves a framework for a deadly reaction to economic injustice and helps turn anger into terrorism. The conclusion will be that when a greedy system oppresses a crazy religion then war is inevitable. (The crazy religion is the extreme fundamentalist version of Islam not Islam as a whole).

The Christian response to the “greedy system” is then outlined in two ways. Firstly developing a proper Christian view of prosperity and showing how it can be achieved with justice and dignity so that we have an alternative to offer. Secondly we develop how the Church can be a prophetic voice on economic issues and globalization. Finally the Christian response to the “crazy religion” is dealt with and the dynamics of dealing with inter-religious peace-making with integrity. Muslims and Christians can never agree or unite but they can at least stop killing each other.

Throughout the book is a stern note of warning “The Lord shall return, repent and do justice or perish.” In that sense the book is prophetic. However I do not set times and dates for the Lord’s return or engage in conspiracy theories. This book is a clear call to economic justice and to peace-making and to the development of a prosperous and effective Church that can engage the world in powerful and practical ways.