Trading Your Life Away

It was July 6, 2012, the “square mile”, London, England. Three of us were standing at “bank junction” above the Bank Circle tube station in a drizzling rain looking at the Bank of England and the sixteenth-century Royal Exchange, the forerunner of the London Stock Exchange. I put my hand on a metal plaque describing the history of those icons of the financial world. Suddenly, my hand froze to the plaque, a brilliant white light surrounded me, and tears began running down my cheeks. I heard clearly in my spirit:

“You have been controlled by the same spirit that controls the City of London - the spirit of mammon. It will begin to come off of you, and, as it does, it will begin to come off the City of London.”

Do you control money or does money control you? Simply put, if money controls you, it is the spirit of mammon. Money controls a man or woman through the mind, will, and emotions - the soul of a person. Greed and fear feed the mind with abnormal thoughts that, if not recognized and disarmed, control a person’s actions. The desire for more or the fear of lack are normal thoughts unless they compulsively run rampant and cause an emotional response. That response will usually be incorrect or inappropriate. When you find yourself trapped in this compulsive cycle, the spirit of mammon is in control of you.

The healthy way to relate to money is when YOU control money rather than money controlling you. When you control money, you see money as a means of exchange - paying for goods and services. The focus is objectively on what the money is doing rather than an emotion tied to your self worth.

The Bible talks more about money than any other subject, so it must be important to the well-being of man and his relationships. Money, in an empirical sense, is simply a means of exchange - a dime or a dollar bill. But a reference to money can be possessively personalized to illustrate one’s wealth or accumulation of assets. It can be a blessing or a curse depending on the spirit from which it is expressed and valued. Money can become part of our psyche. It becomes a spirit within us, creating its own outlook on life. That outlook controls our behavior and can even define who we are.

My life’s “mammon” addiction comes mainly from fear and a spirit of lack. I hold on to what I have out of fear that I can’t replace it. The addiction to mammon also comes out of greed. Ironically, I “lived” my career in the same industry that is commonly known for its extravagant lifestyle of power-hungry, self-seeking greed - Wall Street and London’s “square mile” financial district - “the City”. The spirit of mammon expressed as greed is the same spirit that is expressed from fear and the spirit of lack, but it is in a different package. From either source, it is a motive - a controlling addiction - that distorts reality. Innate internal values of right & wrong become distorted. You can “trade your life away” through greed just as unconsciously, just as destructively, as you can through fear of lack. In either case, the spirit coerces you to believe that you can buy happiness. Later I relate the story of a Wall Street bond trader controlled by money through greed and power. It is a very different perspective than mine on the “buy side” of the bond market - but a destructive addiction, nonetheless.

Is the chase for money your god? If you have a feeling deep inside that you are enslaved, even addicted to an emotionally-controlling drive that wants “more and more”, then you must read the story of my life in the first section below. I tried for thirty-five years to reach the goal of that drive and never found it. Why? In reality, there is no goal. It is the spirit of mammon - a spirit from the pit of hell that deceives you, stealing your identity as a loving, caring human being. It leaves you searching for “peace and contentment” in money that can’t be found. If you find “you” in my story, the final section of the book will give you the opportunity to be set free from this insidious spirit that controls your life.