The thing one can never get enough of!

Have you ever thought about it? What, in your opinion, is the very first and greatest problem of a religious organization? Just think about it for a moment: what could it be? That its members are weak in faith? No. That their numbers are few or many? No. That they have few visitors? No again. Or is it their evil deeds, their callousness, their hatred of one another, their wars, their fraud, their greed, their adultery, their lust-filled eyes, their lies, their intrigues, and so on? No, sir. Let me not draw it out: whatever you may say, their very first, foremost, most prominent problem is always money; the number-one problem of every one of them is this. Even if they eat their meals with golden forks, from golden cups, on golden trays, even if their movable and immovable wealth is many times greater than the annual budgets of the richest states, their first and foremost problem is still money. If they were not of such a mind and spiritual disposition, they would not have come to possess such wealth in the first place.

Well then, have you ever thought about states? What is their foremost problem? Theirs, too, is money.

And the armies, the military—what is their very first problem? Again, money.

What is the terrorist's greatest problem? Money.

And the foremost, greatest problem of the mafias? Money.

The municipalities, the governorships, the schools, the hospitals, the families, the women, the men, the children, the sick, the healthy—what is their very first problem? Money, money, money.

Think about it in your own mind: is your greatest, first problem, whether directly or indirectly, money as well? In all likelihood the answer is yes. Napoleon said: “The greatest enemy is money.” So why does money seem to be the greatest, first, foremost problem of our world? And because of this problem, no one on the face of our earth appears to be truly happy. Fake smiles, false bursts of laughter, hypocritical grins that deceive even ourselves—these are not happiness. When money finally comes into the hands of the person who keeps saying “money, money,” in that moment he says “all right,” and he thinks he has gotten what he wanted. Yes, he got what he wanted, but he could not become happy, and he never will. In fact, money will bring that person far greater problems and unhappiness along with it—and indeed it does.

People lay out all sorts of reasonings and truths: “Just try being penniless—you won't even be able to find bread. Let's see you writhe from hunger. When you're sick, look how much money they demand for an operation; if you don't have it, do you think they'll keep you alive? Let your wife lying beside you, your children, your friends, your nearest and dearest feel that you don't have a penny—see whether they even look you in the face. Without money, could you stand as a religion, a state, a hospital, a mafia, an army?”

The problem is not in being without money; in truth the greatest problem lies in these mentalities. The real trouble, the greatest problem, is in placing money in the foreground as the greatest problem. If we look at the figures, what do you suppose is the greatest problem of the religions, the states, the armies, the people who are rich, wealthy, and have no shortage or lack of money whatsoever? It too is money, more money, still more and more money. Even though money is always the thing placed in the foreground, this problem does not disappear even when one possesses it. In fact, the more one possesses, the more it becomes something desired and craved. Of course, the immediate problem of someone who is destitute, hungry, naked, and in debt is money. But the thing I mean is not a feeling like the hunger of the belly. You know how a person feels the sensation of hunger, and after filling his stomach can no longer look at food—indeed, if he has eaten too much he even vomits; well, the desire to possess money, to crave it, is not that kind of feeling. However hungry you may be in this matter, and even if you eat until you burst and swell, still this hunger for money is of the sort that can never be satisfied.

Now look at our world and ask this question: in this world that we have striven for thousands of years to turn into something far worse than hell, how many, in your opinion, are the number of those who die of hunger? There truly are very poor countries. Alongside an American weighing five or six hundred kilos, there are also people in Africa who are so hungry and thin that a light breeze would knock them to the ground, would blow them away. Sometimes they are not even aware of the hunger of their own bellies. In fact, however lavish a table laden with rich varieties of food you set before them, they cannot eat. And if they overdo it and eat too much, they then vomit it up. Because, just like that 600-kilo man, one must accustom the stomach in this matter too. That poor wretch, on the other hand, if he takes even one bowl of soup in excess, afterward suffers difficulty; indeed his stomach cannot hold it and brings it back up. Even so, in our world we do not hear news of people dying directly of hunger. There are those who die of illness, of germs, and—not directly but indirectly—of lack of nourishment, of neglect. Actually, it is quite possible for us to see this very condition among the household of a home filled with satellite dishes, big-screen televisions, picture-taking cell phones, and many other assorted entertainment devices. They invest the money saved from their teeth and nails into such things. By “teeth” is meant the body's necessary nourishment, and by “nails” its labor with the body. Straining these, that person buys a VCD, a DVD, a computer, even a car. This means that instead of spending their money on the most basic things urgently necessary for life, such as food and drink, people are certainly cutting back on these if necessary and making far greater sacrifices for their entertainment. I have reached this age, and I truly have not seen a person die simply because he did not eat and could not find food. On the televisions they show very poor places, but what percentage of this world's population do they make up? Their very existence is proof of what a disgraceful, unbalanced world we—humanity, those world powers—have built. Let the countries that play the role of masters lording it over that world see the imbalance they have achieved in the world with their dominion, and be ashamed. But to possess a face capable of such shame is unfortunately very far from them! Do not those who drop the latest-model bombs onto the heads of countries fail to drop bread to those poor ones? Because there is no benefit left for them to gain from that poor person. If they do have an interest, then still it is not bread—first a bomb, and then, to make a show of it, bread!

We live in a world where the greatest sums of money are spent on slimming pills, on slimming and beauty exercises, on cosmetic surgeries. I say that with that money alone, the people of an entire country could get by without working at all. Perhaps I am exaggerating? I hardly think so.

By this I mean to say that we possess far more than the things necessary for living. The Apostle Paul says: “Having food and clothing, we shall be content with these.” (1 Timothy 6:8) And in the verse before it he says: “For we brought nothing into this world, neither can we carry anything out.” In all our homes we have layers upon layers to cover ourselves with, and stores of food for days on end. If the truths are of such a nature that they can be seen so clearly, then why is it that the first and foremost problem of the whole world is still always money? All the lies, the filth, the frauds, the murders, the separations, the divorces, the hypocrisy, the terror, the killers, the wars, the injustice, the bribes, those who call the right crooked and the crooked right, the massacres, the tortures, the hatreds, the unhappiness, those who sell themselves, everyone's mistrust of one another, the suicides, and so much more. Most importantly, while we live in a world of humanity that hates God, hates gaining knowledge about Him, and hates walking in His ways; why, even so, is the very first and greatest problem, even of religions numbering many times over the billions, still money? Now, if money were the last problem coming after all these, I could understand it—but why, always, whether in a time of crisis, of scarcity, or of abundance, has their concern always been money in the first place? Have you ever heard of a religious organization saying, “Enough, don't bring any more, don't make donations to us”? Money has never been enough for them, that you should have heard such a thing.

Again, as I said, the real problem lies precisely in this mentality. Because the whole world goes after this mentality, do not expect those religions, those nations, those armies, those states, those mafias, those terrorists, those families, and those individuals to be happy or to give happiness. This condition, which is a problem for them, even if it is not explicitly told to us, lies at the root of the speeches, the laws, the measures taken, and all the practices of the administrators, the authorities, the notables—only this mentality lies there. Whatever they do, they do it in a manner that serves this mentality.

Now decide for yourselves. You know how they say a comparison does no harm; come, let us give such an example so that we may more easily understand what God thinks about us. Suppose you were the creator of the entire universe. Yes, suppose that in creating the earth you created everything, and placed within it, like copper, like iron, like the other metals, gold as well. Suppose that with all of nature, the deep-blue sky, the seas, the countless beauties, the adornments, and the riches, with the foods, the drinks, the birds, the fishes, the animals, you had only one purpose: to create a human being there and to see him become happy.

Suppose that after you created the human being, he then abandoned you, denied you, and went off. Suppose you saw that those hypocrites who claim to know you were, in their deeds, their words, and their minds, in fact very, very far from you and wicked. Suppose that the greatest problem of all humanity, according to themselves, were only one thing—that being gold, that is, money! As if all their sorts of evils, wickednesses, ingratitudes, ill manners, insolences, conceits, and arrogance were not enough, suppose they also shamelessly kept saying, “Our greatest problem is money, gold,” and, day and night dreaming of it, committed every kind of vileness and ugliness. What would you say to that human being, to that humanity? How would you treat them? And yet you had given them the very thing they wanted, in abundance—many times more than needed. But that human being is not satisfied with it. You keep on giving and giving, so that he may understand his own senselessness, that neither life nor happiness nor health is to be obtained by it—yet still he wants it. The more he collects, the more he hoards; the more he piles up, the more he keeps piling, enough to suffice for generations, to leave to descendants. You give so much that he could not finish it even by throwing it out into the street, could not even reckon the amount of it. But no—still, again and again he is not satisfied, his stomach does not turn, he does not say “enough now.” He does not even give thanks. To hypocritically recite long blessings at length before and after meals is not thanksgiving. I am speaking of doing the will of the One we thank. Please decide for yourselves: such an organization, religion, state, human being, world, whoever it may be—what kind of recompense will it receive from the One who created it?

Here, then, is one truth that has cooled me toward all these organizations and their works. Their greatest problem is, in truth, not money itself, but the value they place upon it and the belief that everything must be done in order to possess it. Here is where the real problem lies. Even if some are ashamed to show it outwardly, whoever is of this mentality, and which religion, will lead humanity to true happiness? When I was among the Witnesses, the greatest and first problem in that organization, in those people, in those minds—whether they said it or not—was money. In what organization is this not so? And besides, unlike the others, they do not pass around a collection plate in their congregations to gather money from their members. As for the others—you can figure them out for yourselves now!

But look what God says on this matter:

For the love of money is a root of every kind of evil; and some, by reaching out for it, have been led astray from the faith and have tortured themselves with many pains.

But you, O man of God, flee from these things; rather, run after righteousness, godliness (devotion to God), faith, love, endurance, mildness of temper. 1 Timothy 6:10-11 (Please also open and read from their places the verses Matthew 6:19-34; Mark 10:23; Acts 4:32 through 5:11; 8:18-24)

Many, on the other hand, in order to obtain it, cause others to suffer torments and torture them. And in the verse before it, this truth is written:

Those who are determined to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge people into destruction and ruin. (1 Timothy 6:9)

Toward people I knew or did not know, I opened my heart, my home, my table, my pocket, expecting nothing—and I neither heard nor saw that they appreciated it. They only used this situation in line with their own interests. It was as if every one of them had a scorpion in his pocket. I expected nothing from them. These people, who cannot even ask their wives for a single glass of water for their own guests, ate and drank at our place for years, and even invited their own guests and had us host them. And forget asking for a glass of water—they did not even accept me into their homes, and openly imposed prohibitions. In truth, these people love no one but their own interests. They think only of their own comfort and their own advantages. The thing they hold at the highest point is, again, money and their pleasures. I have experienced such stomach-turning incidents on this matter that I did not even make a single one of them a subject of this book. Even if there are exceptions, all the Witnesses, the religious, the nations, the countries, the people are unfortunately always of the same mind and expectation. Those who think differently, who are abnormal, are perhaps the ones like me.

If you were in God's place, I want to ask once more: “What would you do to this humanity you had created?”