Fritz Springmeier

Chapter 3.2INTEREST TAKINGWhat you will learn:*That the Old Testament and New Testament forbid interest taking*Some of the role interest taking has played for the New Order*Some ideas for Christ-like responses vs. the evil financial system set up today.In 1979, an articulate JW elder, who was an ex-Baptist minister, engaged this Author inconversation about religion, specifically the JWs version of it. This Author's approach was to beatthem at their own game, to outlegalize the legalizers.Having just self-published a book examining how both the NT and the OT Scriptures condemninterest taking, it was only natural that this Author would raise Interest as an issue.The idea behind showing the full brunt of the OT law, and Christ's expectations for us, is thatin showing how demanding the law is, one shows the need for grace. After all didn't Christ saythe law is a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ?For the next two years, this Author raised the issue of Interest taking and the lack of properscriptural understanding about it to the Jehovah's Witnesses. This Author had also mailed out freeabout 500 of my books on Interest taking to various addresses. Judging from the small amountof feedback, it wasn't a hot topic.Today's attitudes within Christendom toward interest are 180 degrees opposite of attitudes thathave been held by essentially all Christians for most of Christendom's history. Who could guessby looking at the Vatican Bank's large assets (over 1 Billion in 1978) and their annual profit in1978 of over 120 million dollars 1 that the Catholic Church forbid interest until 1830?What does Christ think about all of the Vatican's stock analysts, their computers following theeconomic markets, their world-wide banking interests and so forth?Today's attitudes toward interest taking are so different from the past. And not only is thatsignificant in itself, but there has been a wholesale memory loss about the evils of interest taking,undoubtedly facilitated by the One-World-Power's control over the media and religiousinstitutions of learning.The JW elders with whom this Author raised the issue were totally unaware of the strongscriptural indictments against Interest taking. The subject hadn't surfaced until recently. Sincethis Author's book, other Christians have begun to speak out against it. Apparently, the Lord haslaid the issue on more than one heart.THE WT RESPONDS TO THE ISSUE"There's the answer to your questions," a JW said to me when the WT came out with articleson interest taking in the Mar. 1, 1981 issue. They followed with another one in the Aug. 1, 1982issue.It seemed far-fetched to think that this Author precipitated a response from the ToweringWatchtower buildings in Brooklyn, but it wasn't a subject that was being raised by anyone elseas far as I knew. At any rate if it was a response, then it unwittingly did not help the WTsposition with God Almighty. The scriptures condemned interest taking, but did leave one