The Ten Commandments

You Just Can't Stop Stealing, Can You

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Biblical Law

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2012-03-14

Synopsis: Pastor John Weaver expounds the Eighth Commandment, 'Thou shalt not steal,' showing that theft extends far beyond armed robbery to include defrauding laborers, withholding wages, and especially legal plunder by governments. He argues that modern monetary policy, fractional-reserve banking, and deficit spending are forms of theft through inflation and currency debasement. Quoting Bastiat, Jefferson, and contemporary commentators, he warns that the U.S. government is systematically stealing from citizens and will continue until collapse, urging personal preparation and a return to God's law.

[John Weaver] Alright, let's open our Bibles today to the book of Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. I was going to begin a five part series today, but a thought came to my mind in light of a lot of things that are happening today. And I wanted to put a number of things in perspective for you and try to give you a little admonition and a little warning. So, I'm going to be preaching a little different message today. In fact, I will quote more today than I've probably ever done before, at least I haven't done in a long, long time. But I want you to understand what is going on in light of some principles from Scripture. So Exodus chapter 20 and verse 15, one that everyone can quote, the 8th commandment, Thou shalt not steal. The title of the message is, You just can't stop stealing, can you? Everyone hates a thief. And everyone in this room has been stolen from. You may not realize it, you may not know it, but you have been stolen from.

[John Weaver] There's nothing meaner, viler, and lower down than a thief. Especially when a thief steals from someone who is needier and more than deserving than he is. Let me give you an example. Read an article from Trenton, New Jersey. Listen very carefully. A paraplegic homeless man awoke from sleeping in his spot outdoors to find his personal mobility scooter that was charging overnight had been stolen this morning. Police said the victim had a spot on the 600 block of South Clinton Avenue where he slept every night and where he knew there was an electrical outlet where he could charge his motorized cart. Thieves apparently knew it too, police said, as it was taken sometime after the man went to sleep there about 2.15 a.m. Police said the cart was a gray hover-round scooter and it was worth about $2,500. Police said officers searched the area looking for the device but turned up nothing.

[John Weaver] Anyone with any information about this theft or knowledge of the scooter's whereabouts are urged to call police at such and such number. Now can you imagine someone being so low down to steal a scooter from a homeless paraplegic and yet they did. If you have been reading the headlines you will read and find out and discover that there have been an abundance of articles on theft. Articles have been stolen from manhole covers, railroad tracks, in fact in Florida one train was derailed because someone had stolen a section of the tracks. Air conditioning units have been stolen.

[John Weaver] Copper wiring is being ripped off all over. Farmers are losing not only their copper wiring from their irrigation systems, but a lot of the metal as well. Electrical wiring is being stolen. In fact, I just read this past week where they found one man dead who cut into the wrong electrical wire and he was electrocuted. And then there was one article that said 19 metal doors, bathroom doors, from the rest stops had been stolen.

[John Weaver] Now you may say, well it's a sign of the times in light of our economic depression. I could also add it's a sign of the lack of character, morality, and fear of God. When you talk about thievery and stealing, there's only one instance in the Bible that I can think of where men would not universally loathe a thief. In fact, you'll find that in Proverbs 6 and verse 30. Let me quote it. It's very short. Because the scripture says, men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry.

[John Weaver] Now, hunger does not excuse theft. Theft is still theft and it's still a violation of God's law and it's still wrong. And you've got to understand this. If someone is really genuinely hungry, usually there is no need to steal. Just simply ask for food or try to work for food. And if you can't find any work, then very obviously someone's willing to do something. And just to point out, the difference in character between the 1930s and now, and I've said this before, we have a book. If you've never read the book or seen the book, you should purchase a copy. It's so interesting. The title of the book is, We Had Everything But Money. And it's pictures and stories from the Great Depression.

[John Weaver] And it tells there how hobos and homeless people would come and knock on a door. And the first thing they would ask, is there any work that they could do for a sandwich or a bowl of soup? They were willing to work. Of course, in this day and time, most people are not willing to work. But still, you have someone who's usually willing to share or willing to give.

[John Weaver] We understand hunger, and we understand that when people are hungry and are without, they're going to do whatever is necessary to get the food to sustain them and their family. So they'll get it one way or the other, and if it's stealing, they will steal. That's why God says, men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his soul when he's hungry, because we understand hunger. Each of us, probably in that situation, would do whatever we need to do to survive.

[John Weaver] Now when we think about theft, when God says, thou shalt not steal, We mostly think of someone sticking a pistol in our face and saying, give me all of your money. Well that certainly is a certain kind of theft for sure. But I want you to understand that there are a multitude of ways to steal without using force of arms. When we think of theft, we normally also think of individuals who were stealing. God's law does indeed prohibit theft of all kinds.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make a point and listen carefully. If we limit our understanding to theft, and if we limit our understanding of theft to forceful taking by individuals, then our understanding is no better than that of the Pharisees. Because what the Pharisees did is they limited the law of God to physical acts. in order that they might justify themselves. And they thought, just because they had not actually reached out and stolen something physically, then they were not thieves. When the word of God teaches us that covetousness is theft, selfishness, greediness is theft, covetousness is idolatry. Now, let me just remind you something about God's law, and I have message after message on biblical law, so I do not, and I'm not planning on going into great detail, But I do want you to remember that in order to understand God's law in the Bible, you have to understand what is known as case law. In other words, when you read the Bible, when you understand God's law, God does three things for us.

[John Weaver] First of all, He gives us certain broad principles, much like what we know as the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are the basic principles, they are the basic law. Now the Ten Commandments are not all of God's law, they are a summary of God's law, okay? But you have these broad principles like thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not covet. But God gives us these broad principles and then He gives us in the Bible cases that will illustrate those broad principles.

[John Weaver] So when you read through especially the book of Exodus and the book of Deuteronomy, you have a lot of varying case laws. So God gives us the broad principles, He gives us the individual and specific case laws, and then thirdly, there is a practical application from that principle to the illustration to our position and to our life today. I want you to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 25 and look, if you would, at verse 4. Because here is the case law, or at least one of them, one of the main ones, I should say, for thou shalt not steal. You'll find it in Deuteronomy 25 and verse 4. Look at it. And this is just laying the foundation for what I want to share with you today, alright? Look in Deuteronomy 25 verse 4. Here is the case law for thou shalt not steal. God says, thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. You say, how in the world can that be case law for thou shalt not steal?

[John Weaver] We smile when we hear such a verse and the reason we smile is because we automatically think that that verse has absolutely nothing to do with us. We do not even own oxen. Moreover, we do not grind our corn with oxen. And oxen basically have Absolutely no place in our society today and no place in our lives today. Well, let me put it like this. Circumstances change, principles never change. Although we do not have oxen and do not use oxen and do not grind our corn with oxen, the principle is still here.

[John Weaver] Now, what did God say? God said, thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he grindeth out the corn. I want you to stop and think with me how corn was ground in Bible times. Usually, it was stone ground, that is stone upon stone, and they would have a pole coming out, and of course the oxen would be attached to that pole, and he would walk in circles, and as he walked, he would turn the wheels that would grind the corn. Well, occasionally, some of that corn would fall on the floor. The oxen would stop, take a mouthful of the corn and start on his rounds again. Well, the owners got to thinking, well, you know, we can make more money if we put a muzzle on that ox. He would not eat the corn and we'll just sweep it up, put it back on the wheels and we'll have more meal and more grits And we can sell it. God says, no, that's a violation of my law. You can't do that. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he grindeth out the corn.

[John Weaver] What is God teaching us? In other words, if you do not let that ox stop and take a mouthful, you are depriving the ox of the reward of his labor. You're stealing from the ox. I hope you've already begun to see the principle here, and it is that the laborer is worthy of his hire.

[John Weaver] Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 9, let me show you how the Apostle Paul develops this in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, and let's begin reading there with verse 7. Paul asks a number of questions that leads up to his point. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, notice if you would please beginning there with verse 7. He asked, who goeth to warfare any time at his own charges?

[John Weaver] Now, whether you agree with where our soldiers are or not is immaterial. But our soldiers, whether they're in Iraq, Afghanistan, or wherever, are not over there at their expense. They're over there at our expense. Okay? Who goes to warfare at any time at his own charges? The answer is no one. Who planted the vineyard and did not have the fruit thereof? The answer is no one. If you plant a grape vine, you're going to eat the grapes. If you plant plum trees, you're going to eat the plums.

[John Weaver] He says, or who feeded the flock and he did not have the milk of the flock? If you have a flock of goats or a flock of sheep or a flock of cows, if you can call them a flock, call them a herd, I know, same principle. You're going to use the milk and you're going to use the meat. So the answer to all these questions is no. Now watch what he says. Say I these things as a man, or saith not the law the same also? Well Paul said it's not me, it's God's law. Watch verse 9. For it is written in the law of Moses, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn.

[John Weaver] Now, look at this next question. Doth God take care for oxen? Well, He does take care of all of His creatures, but He did not put this in the New Testament just for the oxen's sake. Watch what He said. Doth God take care for oxen, or saith He it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt this is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.

[John Weaver] If I have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your carnal things. So what he is saying is this, the laborer is worthy of his hire. It doesn't matter if you're plowing, you plow and hope, you're looking for your reward. If you're threshing, you're threshing and hope, you're looking for your reward. And the Apostle is saying here, look, we're ministering to you spiritual things, is it any stretch of the imagination that we should reap your carnal things?

[John Weaver] And the answer would be no, once again. So just pointing out how in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, Paul is using this principle, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. Now, look in your Bibles, if you would please, to 1 Timothy chapter 5, because Paul is not through using these principles. 1 Timothy chapter 5, and notice if you would, beginning there with verse 17. 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 17. Look what he says.

[John Weaver] Verse 75, verse 17, Let the elders, or the pastors that rule well, be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scripture says, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward. Now notice what he says in verse 17, Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor. So what is double honor?

[John Weaver] Does that mean you're to come to me and say, pastor, pastor, or that you come to me and say, I asked you to do something. You say, yes, sir. Yes, sir. No, that has nothing to do with that. I mean, certainly that would be a part of honor, uh, or any pastor, but notice what he said. For the scripture said, thou shalt not muzzle. The ox had treaded up the corn and the labor's worthy of his reward. Double honor in this passage literally means double pay.

[John Weaver] In other words, what God is saying is the man who actually labors in the Word and doctrine and teaches it is worth a whole lot more than someone who does not. Let me just try to explain it like this. I found a long time ago, it is easier and cheaper to pay a man more money who knows what he is doing than to hire four or five at a cheaper rate who know nothing about what they're doing. Now if you stop and think about that, I'd rather pay one man 50 bucks an hour that can get the job done in 45 minutes and still make 50 bucks than I had to have five men at ten bucks an hour, and neither one of them know what they're doing, and take four or five hours to do it. This is the principle. God says the laborer is worthy of his hire.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look, if you would, to the book of Luke chapter 10, because our Lord uses this illustration again. Luke chapter 10, and notice if you would, verses 5 through 7. Luke 10, verse 5. Look what our Lord tells. In fact, let's begin reading with verse 4. Look what our Lord tells His disciples. He says,"...carry neither purse, nor script, nor shoes, and salute no man by the way.

[John Weaver] And in whatsoever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the Son of Peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it. If not, it shall return to you again. And in the same house remain But eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his hire, go not from house to house."

[John Weaver] Now, let me explain this principle. Of course, I travel a lot, and there are times that we're in private homes. Sometimes it's the pastor's house in which we're staying because I'm preaching there at his church. And guess what? God tells me, that I can eat whatever's set before me as much as I want. And that's what I'm going to do. If they put black-eyed peas and cornbread in front of me, I'm going to eat that. If they give me T-bone steak, well, I'll eat that. If I could eat two of them, I'd eat two of them. I usually can't, but I'm just simply pointing out the fact. Well, you say you're being a hog. No, I'm not being a hog. If I'm doing the work, the laborer is worthy of his heart. That's what the Lord said. Now look what he said, go not from house to house. I'm not going to say, ah, Dr. Bowen may have better food over here than Henry. Let me leave Henry's and go to Dr. Bowen's.

[John Weaver] No, no, don't go there. But I'm to eat whatever Henry sets in front of me. And I can have as much of it as I want if I'm there laboring in his vineyard. So, the Lord is simply saying the laborer is worthy of his hire. Now, it is theft. to defraud a man of his hire. You got that? It is theft. I understand saving money. I understand wanting the best deal that you can get.

[John Weaver] But let me try to give you an illustration. If I know a job is worth 500 bucks, I know it is worth that. And I look at Frank and I say, Frank, I know you're hungry. I know you got all those kids. I know they're hungry. And I tell you what, I'll let you have this work for 250 bucks. And he looks at me and says, the job's worth 500. And I look at him and say, take it or leave it. And he takes it because his kids are hungry.

[John Weaver] What have I just done? I've stolen 250 bucks from him. The laborer is worthy of his hire. This is the principle that God is stating.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you something. It's not only theft to defraud a man of his hire, it's also theft to withhold that hire for a period of time. Look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy 24. Deuteronomy 24. I'm just trying to show you that there's far more to thievery than just sticking a gun in someone's face. Now watch this. Deuteronomy 24, look at verses 14 and 15. Look what God says.

[John Weaver] Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren or of thy strangers, or that are in thy land within thy gates. Now look what God says. At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it, for he is poor, and set his heart upon it, lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto him." At his day.

[John Weaver] So, let me put it like this. So, Ed comes to my house to do some work for me, and I tell Ed, it's going to take you all week, but if you finish on Friday, I'll pay you on Friday. And Ed says, fine. So Ed comes, and he works all week, and he finishes on Friday, and Friday afternoon he comes to me and says, alright pastor, You said you'd pay me this afternoon and I finished the work and you've approved it. I'd like to have my money." And I say, Ed, I just forgot to go by the bank. I tell you what, you come back next Friday and I'll give it to you. Now, Ed may say, well, all right. But even if he said all right, what have I just done? I've stolen the use of his money for one week. He doesn't use it. I use it. Have you ever wondered why it's almost impossible to get money back from an insurance company or a big company or a big corporation? If there's an overage or if they owe you money, it is like pulling teeth to get it because it'll take you three or four, five, six months.

[John Weaver] And guess what they are doing while you're waiting? They have that money invested and they're making interest on that money and they are stealing from you because they're using that money to make money. It's yours. They just won't give it to you right away.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm just trying to lay out some principles to show you that there's far more to stealing than sticking a gun in someone else, someone's face. Since you have a pretty good grasp of this, let me ask a further question. What is the extent of thou shalt not steal? Let me ask some questions. Does thou shalt not steal simply refer to individuals, families, churches, or does it apply to all indiscriminately?

[John Weaver] Let me be a little more specific. Let me speak plainly. Does the 8th commandment apply to civil government? And the answer is yes. Civil rulers and civil governments are not above the law of God. They are beneath God's law. And theft by government, theft by civil rulers is still theft. It may be legal theft, it may be classified as legal, but it's still theft. What we don't understand is that governments steal in many ways.

[John Weaver] At times, their theft is through use of force such as eminent domain or confiscation of goods under the threat of imprisonment and or death if you do not give up your property. But most of the time, when governments steal, it is under the guise of legality. Let me point this out, and this was the whole title of this message, because of its application to governments. You just can't stop stealing, can you?

[John Weaver] It is true that individuals steal continually, sometimes without even knowing it, because they don't understand the implications of God's law. But it is true that governments steal repeatedly. We have been stolen from in this country over and over by our own government, by our own Congress, and yet we don't even recognize it as theft. Just recently, there was a big charade over should we raise the debt ceiling or should we not? Do you realize that raising the debt ceiling, which they did, is nothing less than theft by inflation. I want to give you just a good quote from Frederick Bastier. If you've never read his book on the law, I would encourage you to do so.

[John Weaver] He lived from 1801 to 1850. He actually died of tuberculosis, and he wrote a lot of this a year or two before he died. He was a French economist, a statesman, and author. And he did most of his writing right before, during, and immediately following the revolution in France in 1848. And this was when France was rapidly turning to socialism. And he was a deputy to the Legislative Assembly.

[John Weaver] And what he would do, he would study and explain and expose each fallacy of socialism he was trying to warn his countrymen and so in his book he gives a section how to identify legal plunder let me rephrase it how to identify legal theft and let me just read it just a couple pages listen carefully but how is this legal plunder to be identified quite simply See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.

[John Weaver] We could never have the Ponzi schemes that the governments have. He didn't say that, I did. All right. He said, then abolish this law without delay for it is not only an evil in itself, but also as a fertile source for further evils because it invites reprisals. If such a law, which may be an isolated case, is not abolished immediately, it will spread, multiply, and develop into a system." Wow. The person who profits from this law will complain bitterly defending his acquired rights.

[John Weaver] He will claim that the state is obligated to protect and encourage his particular industry, But this procedure enriches the state because the protected industry is thus able to spend more and pay higher wages to poor working men. Do not listen to this sophistry by vested interest. The acceptance of these arguments will build legal plunder into a whole system. In fact, this already has occurred. The present day delusion is an attempt to enrich everyone at the expense of everyone else to make plunder universal under the pretense of organizing it. Now listen to this. Legal plunder has many names. Now legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it.

[John Weaver] Tariffs, protections, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wage, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit and so on and so on. All these plans as a whole with their common aim of legal plunder constitute socialism.

[John Weaver] Now since under this definition of socialism, socialism is a body of doctrine, what attack can be made against it other than a war of doctrine? If you find this socialistic doctrine to be false, absurd, and evil, then refute it. And the more false, the more absurd, and the more evil it is, the easier it will be to refute. Above all, if you wish to be strong, begin by rooting out every particle of socialism that may have crept into your legislation.

[John Weaver] This will be no lack task." Then he talks about socialism being legal plunder. I'm going to skip just a little bit. He says, to prevent this, you would exclude socialism from entering into making laws. You would prevent socialists from entering the legislative palace. You shall not succeed, I predict, so long as legal plunder continues to be the main business of the legislature. It is illogical, in fact, absurd to assume otherwise. Then he says this, the choice before us. The question of legal plunder must be settled once and for all.

[John Weaver] And there are only three ways to settle it. Here are the three ways you can settle legal plunder. Number one. The few plunder the many. That's what we have going on right now. Number two, everybody plunders everybody. Number three, nobody plunders anybody. He says we must make our choice among limited plunder, universal plunder, and no plunder. The law can follow only one of these three. Limited legal plunder, this system prevailed when the right to vote was restricted. One would turn back to this system to prevent the invasion of socialism. Universal legal plunder, we've been threatened with this system since the franchise was made universal. The newly enfranchised majority has decided to formulate law on the same principle of legal plunder that was used by their predecessors when the vote was limited. No legal plunder.

[John Weaver] This is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony, and logic. until the day of my death, which was about a year later, I shall proclaim this principle with all the force of my lungs, which, alas, is all too inadequate." So Bastier then differentiates between illegal plunder and legal plunder. So if I stick a.357 Magnum in your face and say, give me your money, that is illegal plunder. If I get to Congress, I get a law passed that you have to give me a certain amount of your money or a certain portion of your property. If not, you go to jail, then that's legal blunder.

[John Weaver] So let me ask you a question. Why did Congress raise the debt ceiling? You knew they were going to do it. I knew they were going to do it. Why did they raise the debt ceiling? The answer is because they just can't stop stealing. Stealing is a way of life for most politicians. They think absolutely nothing of it. They not only steal money, property, and other valuables, but they also steal our children through the multitudinous, needless wars and police actions.

[John Weaver] Here is a direct quote from United States Representative Tom Peralio, who's a Democrat of Virginia. He was speaking to a Jefferson area Tea Party and here's what he said, and I'm quoting. He said, politicians have raided the cookie jar over and over again. That's a problem. But there's one thing I learned up here and I didn't really need to come up here to learn it. The only way to get Congress to balance a budget is to give them no choice. The only way to keep them out of the cookie jar is to give them no choice, which is why, whether it's balanced budget acts or pay-as-you-go, listen to what he said, if you don't tie our hands, we will keep stealing. That's what he said. He acknowledged it.

[John Weaver] Let me ask you a question. I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone and he was telling me about some of the financial things and I said, well, wait a minute. I know how to settle your financial problems. He said, how's that? I said, do like Congress, borrow money. What he said, I've tried to always just pay cash as I go. I said, you're the culprit. Don't you know that we can't live without debt? Congress believes we can't live without debt.

[John Weaver] I said, it's because of you that we're in all this trouble. And he laughed. He knew I was being sarcastic. Do you realize it is absolutely impossible to borrow your way out of debt? You cannot borrow your way out of debt any more than you can drink your way into being sober or fornicate your way into being pure. It's impossible. Do you realize that most people know absolutely nothing about how our government is supposed to work or how it actually works and there is a big difference between those two things. There's a big difference between a constitutional government and a government that makes up the rules as it goes. You say what? Yeah.

[John Weaver] Representative Alcee Hastings of Florida said, and I'm quoting, and you can get the quote for yourself. He says this concerning the House of Representatives, and I quote, there are no rules here. We make them up as we go along. Well, since that is the truth and that is reality, we must admit that our Constitution, our country, and our freedoms have been stolen from us. There is no law.

[John Weaver] Congress is not bound by anything. And therefore, it is a usurped tyrannical body that is not answerable to anyone or anything. It's not answerable to the Constitution. It's not evidently, it's not answerable to our citizens because you contact your congressman, I've done so on numerous occasions, and you get a letter back and he says something like this, I appreciate you contacting me on this issue. I appreciate your views and I will consider them, but please remember that I must vote my conscience in this matter. I didn't send you up there to vote your conscience.

[John Weaver] I sent you up there to represent me. So what am I trying to tell you? It doesn't matter. They really just simply do not care.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to tie this together. I'm talking about government. We don't understand how our government is supposed to work or how it actually works. Neither do we understand the Federal Reserve banking system and our Treasury Department. And the Federal Reserve banking system is neither federal nor reserve. We don't understand anything. Mike Adams wrote an article, some of you may have seen it, but he wrote seven startling things that most people still don't know about the national debt, banking, and the money supply. on August 2, 2011. I'm going to read you some of what he wrote, not all, but just a moment. But he said seven startling things that most people still don't know about the national debt. One thing we don't know is it's all fraud. If you actually knew how we got into debt, do you realize since the Federal Reserve Act, here's basically what happens. If Congress wants money, they contact the Federal Reserve Bank. Say they want to borrow $20 billion. The Federal Reserve Bank contacts the Treasury Department. The Treasury Department prints those bills regardless of the nomination, a million dollar or a dollar, it doesn't matter.

[John Weaver] It costs them about five cents to print those bills. They then send those bills to the Federal Reserve Bank at cost. The Federal Reserve then lends that money back to Congress at full face value plus interest. So, here's what Mike Adams wrote. The United States Treasury is stealing money from you every single day by the simple fact that it keeps creating new money and handing it out to wealthy banksters.

[John Weaver] Let me just stop there. Did you know that 16 trillion dollars was given to international banks. Not in our country. 16 trillion. Supposed to be our Federal Reserve System? And they gave 16 trillion dollars to banks in other countries? I'm quoting now, well technically this is done by the Federal Reserve, which isn't even part of the Federal Government. But it's all done in cahoots with the Treasury, which is eroding the value of your money through these money creation and distribution actions.

[John Weaver] That's why prices keep going up all around you, folks. Food isn't suddenly worth more money. The truth is that your money is worth less. That's how the Treasury and the Federal Reserve steal from you without even breaking into your home. Probably 99.9% of the population have no understanding of this phenomenon. the erosion of currency valuation through the centralized government printing of more currency and yet it is a government scam that has been carried out against citizens of the world time and time again spanning millennia. As history has clearly shown, every nation that goes down the path of printing more money or printing more currency to pay its bills eventually ends up with a runaway hyperinflation scenario followed by economic collapse.

[John Weaver] The United States will be no different. Now listen to what he says. I love this. Politicians can no more solve the problems of big government than arsonists can solve the problems of office fires. Because they are themselves creatures of runaway debt. Spending, how else do you get elected these days? They simply do not possess the cognitive framework from which real financial solutions must stem. And that's true.

[John Weaver] Here's the one point that I want to make. I'm skipping down to fact number five, and here's what he said. The government is going to steal everything from you before it collapses. Oh my, this is a tough one for the people to get their heads around, especially those who naively trust government to act in the interest of the people. The simple truth of the matter, and I've publicly made this prediction before, is that the government is going to steal almost everything you own as it heads toward a total financial implosion. This will include the government theft of private retirement accounts.

[John Weaver] The feds will claim they're taking them over for your protection. Yeah, right. And then one day, they will simply all vanish. Kiss your IRA goodbye. The government theft of precious metals. Within the next three years, watch for a national emergency to be declared, following by government confiscation of gold and silver. The feds will take your gold and hand you paper money in exchange. The paper money, of course, will all be but worthless shortly thereafter. Only the suckers, of course, will actually turn in their metals. Government takeover of your bank accounts. As banks begin to fail in the big collapse, the government will step in and take ownership of the failed institutions just as it did with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which used to be publicly owned companies, but are now largely just government finance operations.

[John Weaver] This will put your bank accounts under the direct control of the White House, which can use executive orders to do things like banning all wire transfers out of the country or limiting daily withdrawals and transfers. Sure, you will still own your money in the bank, you just won't be able to freely access it.

[John Weaver] Now, let me read you how banks work. This is on a banking website. I want you to listen. Here's how banks work. Right straight from the banking website. Banks accept deposits and make loans and make a profit from the difference in the interest rates paid on deposits and charged for loans. Hang on. Banks work because of our trust. We give a bank our money to keep it safe for us and then the bank lends it to someone else in order to make money for itself. Banks can legally lend far more money than they have cash. Still, most of us have total trust in the bank's ability to protect our money and to give it to us when we ask for it. But now listen to what they said. Banks work because of our trust. Isn't that amazing? There's really no money there. I have a question. What happens when there's no trust? What happens when there's no faith? You say, but I trust my bank. Well, have you ever heard of bank runs? Have you ever heard of bank failures?

[John Weaver] Have you ever heard of banking holidays? Did you know that during the Great Depression, the banks were closed and you could not access your money? You could not get your money because there was no money. Everything about the banking and the Federal Reserve notes is based upon trust, confidence, and faith. And when that confidence dissolves, the banks dissolve. If that's not bad enough, Take time and study the fractional reserve banking system. Do you realize if you deposit 100 Federal Reserve notes in your bank, your bank can then turn around and lend from 900 to 1,000 Federal Reserve notes based upon your 100 Federal Reserve note deposit.

[John Weaver] Now, let me point something else out. Just thinking, okay? Let's suppose you go to the bank for a loan. Buying a house, buying a car, I don't care. And your loan is approved. Your next question is going to be asked, do you want us to place that in your account? And what do you say? Yes. There is no money placed in your account. They do not take thousands of dollars out of their registers and put it in your account. You get electronic digits. And when you cannot pay your loan, the bank then forecloses on your house or repossesses your car to resell, thus they're getting something for nothing. because they have basically created money out of thin air. Now listen to this. This is straight from the Federal Reserve Bank, Dallas, Texas. How banks create money. I'm quoting. Banks actually create money when they lend it. Here's how it works.

[John Weaver] Most of a bank's loans are made to its own customers and are deposited in their checking accounts. Because the loan becomes a new deposit, just like a paycheck does, the bank again holds a small percentage of that new amount in reserve and again lends the remainder to someone else, repeating the money creation process many times.

[John Weaver] So you deposit a hundred and another thousand is created out of thin air. and they put that in that bank account and then 10,000 is created out of thin air. Let me try to tie everything together for you because this has been going on in my mind all week long. The Federal Reserve Chairman has been Bernanke and he recently said, and I'm quoting, gold is not money. Here's the direct quote. When asked by Representative Ron Paul on Capitol Hill whether he thought gold was money, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke appeared to need a few moments to think about it. Finally, he responded, no, it's not money. It's a precious metal. Well, gold is not money. That's an interesting concept. It's unbiblical. It's unhistorical. And it's untrue. Do you realize there was a time when banks used to sell gold? Now banks are gobbling up gold as fast as they can. In fact, the Central Bank of Mexico gobbled up over 100 tons of gold in February and March alone of this year. Central banks around the world have added 425.4 metric tons of gold to their reserves last year, the biggest increase since 1964 according to the World Gold Council.

[John Weaver] I want to ask you a question. Henry made me think of this, and I'm going to make him give me the answer. How do banks buy gold? Can they borrow from each other or from themselves? Or can they create money out of thin air to compete against you and me for those precious metals? Remember that quote from the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank that I just gave you a while ago? Here it is. Most of a bank's loans are made to its own customers and are deposited in their checking accounts. Most is not all. How many of you own a ton of gold? How many of you own a ton of silver?

[John Weaver] The reason that you and I have so little of it, if we have any, is because everything we've ever worked for has been stolen from us through either incompetence, inflation, or pure, deliberate, premeditated planning. Theft is theft. I hope some of you read the article by Anne Barnhart. She wrote an article this past week. You can look it up on the internet. The title of it is, We the Stupid. Anne Barnhart is a livestock and grain commodity broker. She's a marketing consultant. She's a a patriot, and she happens to be a Roman Catholic. But she made some astute observations, and let me read to you what she wrote under the title, We the Stupid.

[John Weaver] She says, I stand here in abject stupefaction. The so-called right or Tea Party in this republic is being so thoroughly rolled and defeated that I'm struggling to come up with an adequate violent submission metaphor that does not involve prison rape. And honestly, they think they're winning. Really? You call this winning?

[John Weaver] Now she's talking about what just happened in Congress. Obama gets over two trillion to spend before the 2012 election. There are no real spending cuts. There is a massive tax increase effective January the 1st, 2013. Obama is going to be handed something in excess of two trillion. And he has made it perfectly clear that he will spend every penny of it before the November 2012 election. That's why he kept saying, so we don't have to do this again.

[John Weaver] Meaning raise the debt ceiling again. The debt ceiling would only need to be raised if all the money had been spent. Therefore, he has stated very clearly that he will spend every penny of any debt ceiling increase. He's going to burn through 2 trillion plus in the next 16 months. This was the Obama's regime's plan from day one. Geithner appeared before Congress in early May and told them in no uncertain terms, this outcome has been a known quantity a long time. There are no spending cuts in this plan.

[John Weaver] It is all accounting fraud. saying that you're not going to spend money in Afghanistan 10 years from now is not spending cuts. Even if you accept the $1 trillion in cuts over 10 years propaganda, that is only $100 billion per year, which is essentially meaningless relative to the size of the problem. By the way, let me just stop right there. I'm going to pick up our quote in just a moment.

[John Weaver] But someone pointed out this past week, if you had $2,000 a month income to live on, 2,000 bucks a month. And you said, look, I need to tighten my belt. Things are getting out of hand. And you cut the same percentage that the federal government cut in order to tighten your belt. You know how much less you would have to spend out of your $2,000 a month? 12 cents. 12 cents.

[John Weaver] So this is what she's saying. It's practically meaningless. Let me go on. She says, furthermore, even a minuscule uptick in interest rates which give the massive debasement of our currency is now mathematical certainty. We'll certainly consume that 100 billion per year. It's all a joke.

[John Weaver] Now listen, back to the 2 trillion that Obama's being handed. I honestly think that most people in this country have no understanding of the simple counting numbers. Do you understand how much a trillion is? Now listen, where do you think this money is going to come from? Who has two trillion dollars to loan us? China? Nope, not even close. China's entire gross product is only six trillion. Do you honestly think that China is going to loan one third of their total annual income production? China was a huge creditor to us back when 100 billion was considered a staggeringly large amount of money, which was four years ago. Now 100 billion is merely a rounding error. Do you realize that there's only a handful of nations of this planet that even have a gross domestic product in excess of 2 trillion? If these countries loaned us every penny of their gross domestic product, it would even be 2 trillion. Canada, she points out, 1.57 trillion. India, 1.54 trillion. Russia, 1.46 trillion.

[John Weaver] Now she says, are you starting to understand the scope of what we're talking about? Obama is going to embezzle considerably more than the entire economic output of Canada, India, or Russia to his cronies before the 2012 election, and that is just counting this round of spending, this does not include the other $5 trillion that he's already burned through since 2009. China is not going to lend us this money because they simply don't have anything close to that much money to lend. This $2 trillion is going to come from the Federal Reserve. Where's the Federal Reserve going to get $2 trillion? They're going to print it out of thin air. We're in the midst of the largest currency debasement ever seen in human history There's only one result that can come out of this currency debasement, hyperinflation and total economic and societal collapse.

[John Weaver] Have you forgotten the so-called push tax cuts? Yeah. Those rates are going to expire January the 1st, 2013. Obama will be presumably occupying the Oval Office at the time, assuming that he is not forcibly removed or that the Republic is still intact at that time. Taxes will increase significantly at the point, at that point, and the Congressional Budget Office has scored everything put before them given the fact of the massive tax increase on 1-1-2013. Do you understand that?

[John Weaver] Now listen, when these Republicans and even these so-called Tea Party freshmen tell you that there are no tax hikes in their plan, They're consciously, willfully, knowingly lying to you through their teeth. Finally, I do not understand how it can be possible that conservative writers are still addressing Obama as if he actually is trying to help the economy, but his well-intentioned policies are failing. Now listen, Obama is the enemy. Obama is a Marxist-Communist usurper and puppet from a front for a cabal of Marxist-Communists who are actively trying to destroy the United States of America.

[John Weaver] By the way, I'm going to stop right there. The Communist Party USA has already endorsed Obama for the next four years. Everything they have done, are doing, and will do has a single goal of collapsing and destroying the United States economy, military, constitutional government, and culture. What part of Marxist revolution do you not understand? The Obama regime is not a failure. The Obama regime is not incompetent. The Obama regime has achieved more in two and a half years than anyone could have possibly foreseen. It has debased the currency by 50% of the gross domestic product and guaranteed that our economy will collapse. It has looted the treasury for more than the size of the top 10 economy and embezzled that wealth in the hands of their fellow Marxists in preparation for the final collapse of the United States. It has ground the economy of the United States to a screeching halt.

[John Weaver] It has destabilized the entire Muslim world and ensured that there will be a nuclear war centered around Israel within the decade. Obama regime has no interest whatever in stimulus or getting folks back to work. How can you not understand this? How can we possibly win this war if we refuse to come to terms with the fact that we're in fact fighting a war? God saved the United States of America because the people are far too stupid to do it themselves.

[John Weaver] I'll tell you what, she hit the nail on the head. And the truth is, the governments have stolen, are stealing, and will keep stealing unless we the people and the providence of God stop them. We have been warned repeatedly throughout history and we did not heed those warnings. Let me give you just a couple of them. Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Taylor in 1816 and he says this, I sincerely believe that the banking establishments are far more dangerous than standing armies and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling or theft of the future on a large scale. John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson, he said, all the perplexities, confusion and distresses in America arise not from the defects of the Constitution or Confederation nor from one of honor or virtue as much from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation. John C.

[John Weaver] Calhoun in a speech on May the 27th, 1836 said, a power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various powerful interests combined in one mass and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in banks. And Andrew Jackson, in his speech to the delegation of banksters over the Bank Renewal Bill of 1832, he said it just right. He said, you're a den of vipers and thieves, and I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out. And of course, Andrew Jackson stopped the renewal charter of the Bank of the United States. Napoleon Bonaparte said it like this, when a government is dependent upon banksters for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation.

[John Weaver] since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland. Financiers are without patriotism and without decency. Their sole object is gain. Tom Jefferson said it like this, if the American people It will allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation. The banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children wake up homeless on the continent that their fathers conquered. Just two more quotes.

[John Weaver] Cicero in 55 BC said this, the budget should be balanced. The treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom shall be tempered and controlled, and the assistance of foreign land should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance. No one heeded Cicero and Rome went down the tubes. My last quote before I make an application is by a constitutional attorney and scholar, Dr. Edwin Vieira, who has the classic works on money, pieces of eight. He said this, concerning our money system, our banking system, our governmental system, he said, You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, and that's good enough. It is. It's good enough for them.

[John Weaver] Thou shalt not steal applies to governments, just like it does to individuals, just like it does to families, just like it does to churches. And God is going to hold everyone answerable and accountable. And we're going to learn in this country that you cannot thumb your nose at God and escape the consequences. You cannot ignore the law of God and walk away free. You reap what you sow.

[John Weaver] And the principle of the Scripture is this, if you sin, you suffer. The only thing I'm going to say in light of what I've shared with you today, and especially if they still do a third quantitative easing, your paper money is absolutely worthless. It's getting more worthless every day. The Bible says, the prudent man foresees the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.

[John Weaver] You need to make sure that you have your preparations in order. You say, well, I've got silver and gold. Some of you may, some of you may not, but I've got news for you. You need to be putting away and putting back now what you would spend that silver and gold for later on. Let them have their sorry paper money. And if you don't have food, and if you don't have means of taking care of yourself, we're going to end up just like Germany in 1923. And I've told this before.

[John Weaver] It's one of my favorite stories. When Germany went through the hyperinflation, one woman had a basket full of Deutschmarks on her way to the bakery to buy a loaf of bread. There was a fight going on. She set her basket down and tried to push through to see who was fighting. And when her curiosity was satisfied, she turned around and someone had emptied all of her money on the ground and stolen her basket. The basket was worth more than the money. Tools are going to be far more valuable than paper money.

[John Weaver] Be wise as a serpent. Our Lord says, and harmless as a dove. And it's true. Governments just can't stop stealing. The only government that will be a perfect one is that when the Lord Jesus Christ rules and reigns. And of His dominion, there shall be no end. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We thank You We give Thee praise and we ask, Father, that You would help us as we fellowship together and give us grace that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Give us wisdom and understanding. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

You Just Can't Stop Stealing, Can You

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	JWCqPZM2dRQ
Subject	Biblical Law
Course	The Ten Commandments
Genre	Sermon
Date	2012-03-14
Dictation Name
Book	Book 001: The Ten Commandments — Chapter 14
Source Timed Segments	90

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Eighth Commandment and the Nature of Theft

Weaver introduces Exodus 20:15 and states that everyone has been stolen from; theft is universally despised, yet there are many forms beyond armed robbery.

Alright, let's open our Bibles today to the book of Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. I was going to begin a five-part series today, but a thought came to my mind in light of a lot of things that are happening today. And I wanted to put a number of things in perspective for you and try to give you a little admonition and a little warning. So, I'm going to be preaching a little different message today. In fact, I will quote more today than I've probably ever done before, at least I haven't done in a long, long time. But I want you to understand what is going on in light of some principles from Scripture. So Exodus chapter 20 and verse 15, one that everyone can quote, the 8th commandment,

Scripture Reading — Exodus 20:15

"Thou shalt not steal."

The title of the message is, "You Just Can't Stop Stealing, Can You?" Everyone hates a thief. And everyone in this room has been stolen from. You may not realize it, you may not know it, but you have been stolen from.

Examples of Despicable Theft

He cites a news story of a paraplegic homeless man's scooter being stolen and lists other thefts (manhole covers, railroad tracks, copper wiring) as signs of moral decay.

There's nothing meaner, viler, and lower down than a thief. Especially when a thief steals from someone who is needier and more than deserving than he is. Let me give you an example. Read an article from Trenton, New Jersey. Listen very carefully. A paraplegic homeless man awoke from sleeping in his spot outdoors to find his personal mobility scooter that was charging overnight had been stolen this morning. Police said the victim had a spot on the 600 block of South Clinton Avenue where he slept every night and where he knew there was an electrical outlet where he could charge his motorized cart. Thieves apparently knew it too, police said, as it was taken sometime after the man went to sleep there about 2:15 a.m. Police said the cart was a gray Hoveround scooter and it was worth about $2,500. Police said officers searched the area looking for the device but turned up nothing.

Anyone with any information about this theft or knowledge of the scooter's whereabouts are urged to call police at such and such number. Now can you imagine someone being so low down to steal a scooter from a homeless paraplegic? And yet they did. If you have been reading the headlines you will read and find out and discover that there have been an abundance of articles on theft. Articles have been stolen from manhole covers, railroad tracks, in fact in Florida one train was derailed because someone had stolen a section of the tracks. Air conditioning units have been stolen. Copper wiring is being ripped off all over. Farmers are losing not only their copper wiring from their irrigation systems, but a lot of the metal as well. Electrical wiring is being stolen. In fact, I just read this past week where they found one man dead who cut into the wrong electrical wire and he was electrocuted. And then there was one article that said 19 metal doors, bathroom doors, from the rest stops had been stolen.

Now you may say, well it's a sign of the times in light of our economic depression. I could also add it's a sign of the lack of character, morality, and fear of God. When you talk about thievery and stealing, there's only one instance in the Bible that I can think of where men would not universally loathe a thief. In fact, you'll find that in Proverbs 6 and verse 30. Let me quote it. It's very short. Because the scripture says,

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 6:30

"Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry."

Biblical Case Law: The Muzzled Ox

Using Deuteronomy 25:4 and 1 Corinthians 9, Weaver explains that muzzling the ox while it treads grain is theft of the laborer's reward, establishing the principle that the laborer is worthy of his hire.

First of all, He gives us certain broad principles, much like what we know as the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are the basic principles, they are the basic law. Now the Ten Commandments are not all of God's law, they are a summary of God's law, okay? But you have these broad principles like "Thou shalt not steal," "Thou shalt not kill," "Thou shalt not commit adultery," "Thou shalt not covet." But God gives us these broad principles and then He gives us in the Bible cases that will illustrate those broad principles.

So when you read through especially the book of Exodus and the book of Deuteronomy, you have a lot of varying case laws. So God gives us the broad principles, He gives us the individual and specific case laws, and then thirdly, there is a practical application from that principle to the illustration to our position and to our life today. I want you to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 25 and look, if you would, at verse 4. Because here is the case law, or at least one of them, one of the main ones, I should say, for "Thou shalt not steal." You'll find it in Deuteronomy 25 and verse 4. Look at it. And this is just laying the foundation for what I want to share with you today, alright? Look in Deuteronomy 25 verse 4. Here is the case law for "Thou shalt not steal." God says, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." You say, how in the world can that be case law for "Thou shalt not steal"?

We smile when we hear such a verse and the reason we smile is because we automatically think that that verse has absolutely nothing to do with us. We do not even own oxen. Moreover, we do not grind our corn with oxen. And oxen basically have absolutely no place in our society today and no place in our lives today. Well, let me put it like this. Circumstances change, principles never change. Although we do not have oxen and do not use oxen and do not grind our corn with oxen, the principle is still here.

Now, what did God say? God said, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he grindeth out the corn." I want you to stop and think with me how corn was ground in Bible times. Usually, it was stone ground, that is stone upon stone, and they would have a pole coming out, and of course the oxen would be attached to that pole, and he would walk in circles, and as he walked, he would turn the wheels that would grind the corn. Well, occasionally, some of that corn would fall on the floor. The oxen would stop, take a mouthful of the corn and start on his rounds again. Well, the owners got to thinking, well, you know, we can make more money if we put a muzzle on that ox. He would not eat the corn and we'll just sweep it up, put it back on the wheels and we'll have more meal and more grits and we can sell it. God says, no, that's a violation of my law. You can't do that. "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he grindeth out the corn."

What is God teaching us? In other words, if you do not let that ox stop and take a mouthful, you are depriving the ox of the reward of his labor. You're stealing from the ox. I hope you've already begun to see the principle here, and it is that the laborer is worthy of his hire.

Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 9, let me show you how the Apostle Paul develops this in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, and let's begin reading there with verse 7. Paul asks a number of questions that leads up to his point. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, notice if you would please beginning there with verse 7. He asked, "Who goeth to warfare any time at his own charges?"

Now, whether you agree with where our soldiers are or not is immaterial. But our soldiers, whether they're in Iraq, Afghanistan, or wherever, are not over there at their expense. They're over there at our expense. Okay? Who goes to warfare at any time at his own charges? The answer is no one. Who planted the vineyard and did not have the fruit thereof? The answer is no one. If you plant a grape vine, you're going to eat the grapes. If you plant plum trees, you're going to eat the plums.

He says, "Or who feedeth the flock and he did not have the milk of the flock?" If you have a flock of goats or a flock of sheep or a flock of cows, if you can call them a flock, call them a herd, I know, same principle. You're going to use the milk and you're going to use the meat. So the answer to all these questions is no. Now watch what he says. "Say I these things as a man, or saith not the law the same also?" Well Paul said it's not me, it's God's law. Watch verse 9. "For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn."

Now, look at this next question. "Doth God take care for oxen?" Well, He does take care of all of His creatures, but He did not put this in the New Testament just for the oxen's sake. Watch what He said. "Doth God take care for oxen, or saith He it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt this is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope." "If I have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your carnal things?" So what he is saying is this, the laborer is worthy of his hire. It doesn't matter if you're plowing, you plow in hope, you're looking for your reward. If you're threshing, you're threshing in hope, you're looking for your reward. And the Apostle is saying here, look, we're ministering to you spiritual things, is it any stretch of the imagination that we should reap your carnal things?

And the answer would be no, once again. So just pointing out how in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, Paul is using this principle, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." Now, look in your Bibles, if you would please, to 1 Timothy chapter 5, because Paul is not through using these principles. 1 Timothy chapter 5, and notice if you would, beginning there with verse 17. 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 17. Look what he says.

Applications of the Laborer's Hire Principle

He applies the principle to paying pastors (1 Timothy 5:17-18) and to defrauding or delaying a worker's wages (Deuteronomy 24:14-15), calling such actions theft.

Verse 17, "Let the elders, or the pastors that rule well, be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scripture says, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward." Now notice what he says in verse 17, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor." So what is double honor? Does that mean you're to come to me and say, "Pastor, pastor," or that you come to me and say, I asked you to do something, you say, "Yes, sir. Yes, sir." No, that has nothing to do with that. I mean, certainly that would be a part of honor, uh, or any pastor, but notice what he said. "For the scripture said, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward." Double honor in this passage literally means double pay.

In other words, what God is saying is the man who actually labors in the Word and doctrine and teaches it is worth a whole lot more than someone who does not. Let me just try to explain it like this. I found a long time ago, it is easier and cheaper to pay a man more money who knows what he is doing than to hire four or five at a cheaper rate who know nothing about what they're doing. Now if you stop and think about that, I'd rather pay one man 50 bucks an hour that can get the job done in 45 minutes and still make 50 bucks than I had to have five men at ten bucks an hour, and neither one of them know what they're doing, and take four or five hours to do it. This is the principle. God says the laborer is worthy of his hire.

Now, I want you to look, if you would, to the book of Luke chapter 10, because our Lord uses this illustration again. Luke chapter 10, and notice if you would, verses 5 through 7. Luke 10, verse 5. Look what our Lord tells. In fact, let's begin reading with verse 4. Look what our Lord tells His disciples. He says, "Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes, and salute no man by the way."

"And in whatsoever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the Son of Peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it. If not, it shall return to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house."

Now, let me explain this principle. Of course, I travel a lot, and there are times that we're in private homes. Sometimes it's the pastor's house in which we're staying because I'm preaching there at his church. And guess what? God tells me that I can eat whatever's set before me as much as I want. And that's what I'm going to do. If they put black-eyed peas and cornbread in front of me, I'm going to eat that. If they give me T-bone steak, well, I'll eat that. If I could eat two of them, I'd eat two of them. I usually can't, but I'm just simply pointing out the fact. Well, you say you're being a hog. No, I'm not being a hog. If I'm doing the work, the laborer is worthy of his hire. That's what the Lord said. Now look what he said, "Go not from house to house." I'm not going to say, "Ah, Dr. Bowen may have better food over here than Henry. Let me leave Henry's and go to Dr. Bowen's."

No, no, don't go there. But I'm to eat whatever Henry sets in front of me. And I can have as much of it as I want if I'm there laboring in his vineyard. So, the Lord is simply saying the laborer is worthy of his hire. Now, it is theft to defraud a man of his hire. You got that? It is theft. I understand saving money. I understand wanting the best deal that you can get.

But let me try to give you an illustration. If I know a job is worth 500 bucks, I know it is worth that. And I look at Frank and I say, "Frank, I know you're hungry. I know you got all those kids. I know they're hungry. And I tell you what, I'll let you have this work for 250 bucks." And he looks at me and says, "The job's worth 500." And I look at him and say, "Take it or leave it." And he takes it because his kids are hungry. What have I just done? I've stolen 250 bucks from him. The laborer is worthy of his hire. This is the principle that God is stating.

Now, let me show you something. It's not only theft to defraud a man of his hire, it's also theft to withhold that hire for a period of time. Look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy 24. Deuteronomy 24. I'm just trying to show you that there's far more to thievery than just sticking a gun in someone's face. Now watch this. Deuteronomy 24, look at verses 14 and 15. Look what God says.

"Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren or of thy strangers, or that are in thy land within thy gates." Now look what God says. "At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it, for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it, lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee." At his day. So, let me put it like this. So, Ed comes to my house to do some work for me, and I tell Ed, "It's going to take you all week, but if you finish on Friday, I'll pay you on Friday." And Ed says, "Fine." So Ed comes, and he works all week, and he finishes on Friday, and Friday afternoon he comes to me and says, "Alright pastor, you said you'd pay me this afternoon and I finished the work and you've approved it. I'd like to have my money." And I say, "Ed, I just forgot to go by the bank. I tell you what, you come back next Friday and I'll give it to you." Now, Ed may say, "Well, all right." But even if he said all right, what have I just done? I've stolen the use of his money for one week. He doesn't use it. I use it. Have you ever wondered why it's almost impossible to get money back from an insurance company or a big company or a big corporation? If there's an overage or if they owe you money, it is like pulling teeth to get it because it'll take you three or four, five, six months.

Government Theft and Legal Plunder

Weaver asserts that the Eighth Commandment applies to civil government; he quotes Frédéric Bastiat to define legal plunder as taking from some to give to others, which is socialism.

Let me be a little more specific. Let me speak plainly. Does the 8th commandment apply to civil government? And the answer is yes. Civil rulers and civil governments are not above the law of God. They are beneath God's law. And theft by government, theft by civil rulers is still theft. It may be legal theft, it may be classified as legal, but it's still theft. What we don't understand is that governments steal in many ways.

At times, their theft is through use of force such as eminent domain or confiscation of goods under the threat of imprisonment and or death if you do not give up your property. But most of the time, when governments steal, it is under the guise of legality. Let me point this out, and this was the whole title of this message, because of its application to governments. "You Just Can't Stop Stealing, Can You?" It is true that individuals steal continually, sometimes without even knowing it, because they don't understand the implications of God's law. But it is true that governments steal repeatedly. We have been stolen from in this country over and over by our own government, by our own Congress, and yet we don't even recognize it as theft. Just recently, there was a big charade over should we raise the debt ceiling or should we not? Do you realize that raising the debt ceiling, which they did, is nothing less than theft by inflation. I want to give you just a good quote from Frédéric Bastiat. If you've never read his book on the law, I would encourage you to do so.

He lived from 1801 to 1850. He actually died of tuberculosis, and he wrote a lot of this a year or two before he died. He was a French economist, a statesman, and author. And he did most of his writing right before, during, and immediately following the revolution in France in 1848. And this was when France was rapidly turning to socialism. And he was a deputy to the Legislative Assembly. And what he would do, he would study and explain and expose each fallacy of socialism. He was trying to warn his countrymen and so in his book he gives a section how to identify legal plunder. Let me rephrase it: how to identify legal theft. And let me just read it, just a couple pages. Listen carefully. "But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime."

We could never have the Ponzi schemes that the governments have. He didn't say that, I did. All right. He said, "Then abolish this law without delay for it is not only an evil in itself, but also as a fertile source for further evils because it invites reprisals. If such a law, which may be an isolated case, is not abolished immediately, it will spread, multiply, and develop into a system." Wow. "The person who profits from this law will complain bitterly defending his acquired rights." "He will claim that the state is obligated to protect and encourage his particular industry, but this procedure enriches the state because the protected industry is thus able to spend more and pay higher wages to poor working men. Do not listen to this sophistry by vested interest. The acceptance of these arguments will build legal plunder into a whole system. In fact, this already has occurred. The present day delusion is an attempt to enrich everyone at the expense of everyone else to make plunder universal under the pretense of organizing it." Now listen to this. "Legal plunder has many names." Now legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it.

"Tariffs, protections, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wage, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit and so on and so on. All these plans as a whole with their common aim of legal plunder constitute socialism." "Now since under this definition of socialism, socialism is a body of doctrine, what attack can be made against it other than a war of doctrine? If you find this socialistic doctrine to be false, absurd, and evil, then refute it. And the more false, the more absurd, and the more evil it is, the easier it will be to refute. Above all, if you wish to be strong, begin by rooting out every particle of socialism that may have crept into your legislation." "This will be no lack task." Then he talks about socialism being legal plunder. I'm going to skip just a little bit. He says, "To prevent this, you would exclude socialism from entering into making laws. You would prevent socialists from entering the legislative palace. You shall not succeed, I predict, so long as legal plunder continues to be the main business of the legislature. It is illogical, in fact, absurd to assume otherwise." Then he says this, "The choice before us. The question of legal plunder must be settled once and for all."

"And there are only three ways to settle it. Here are the three ways you can settle legal plunder. Number one. The few plunder the many. That's what we have going on right now. Number two, everybody plunders everybody. Number three, nobody plunders anybody. He says we must make our choice among limited plunder, universal plunder, and no plunder. The law can follow only one of these three. Limited legal plunder, this system prevailed when the right to vote was restricted. One would turn back to this system to prevent the invasion of socialism. Universal legal plunder, we've been threatened with this system since the franchise was made universal. The newly enfranchised majority has decided to formulate law on the same principle of legal plunder that was used by their predecessors when the vote was limited. No legal plunder."

"This is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony, and logic. Until the day of my death," which was about a year later, "I shall proclaim this principle with all the force of my lungs, which, alas, is all too inadequate." So Bastiat then differentiates between illegal plunder and legal plunder. So if I stick a .357 Magnum in your face and say, "Give me your money," that is illegal plunder. If I get to Congress, I get a law passed that you have to give me a certain amount of your money or a certain portion of your property, if not, you go to jail, then that's legal plunder.

Modern Monetary Theft: Inflation and Banking

He explains how the Federal Reserve and fractional-reserve banking create money out of thin air, devaluing currency and stealing purchasing power from citizens.

Now, I want to tie this together. I'm talking about government. We don't understand how our government is supposed to work or how it actually works. Neither do we understand the Federal Reserve banking system and our Treasury Department. And the Federal Reserve banking system is neither federal nor reserve. We don't understand anything. Mike Adams wrote an article, some of you may have seen it, but he wrote "Seven Startling Things That Most People Still Don't Know About the National Debt, Banking, and the Money Supply" on August 2, 2011. I'm going to read you some of what he wrote, not all, but just a moment. But he said seven startling things that most people still don't know about the national debt. One thing we don't know is it's all fraud. If you actually knew how we got into debt, do you realize since the Federal Reserve Act, here's basically what happens. If Congress wants money, they contact the Federal Reserve Bank. Say they want to borrow $20 billion. The Federal Reserve Bank contacts the Treasury Department. The Treasury Department prints those bills regardless of the denomination, a million dollar or a dollar, it doesn't matter.

It costs them about five cents to print those bills. They then send those bills to the Federal Reserve Bank at cost. The Federal Reserve then lends that money back to Congress at full face value plus interest. So, here's what Mike Adams wrote. "The United States Treasury is stealing money from you every single day by the simple fact that it keeps creating new money and handing it out to wealthy banksters." Let me just stop there. Did you know that 16 trillion dollars was given to international banks? Not in our country. 16 trillion. Supposed to be our Federal Reserve System? And they gave 16 trillion dollars to banks in other countries? I'm quoting now, "Well technically this is done by the Federal Reserve, which isn't even part of the Federal Government. But it's all done in cahoots with the Treasury, which is eroding the value of your money through these money creation and distribution actions."

"That's why prices keep going up all around you, folks. Food isn't suddenly worth more money. The truth is that your money is worth less. That's how the Treasury and the Federal Reserve steal from you without even breaking into your home. Probably 99.9% of the population have no understanding of this phenomenon, the erosion of currency valuation through the centralized government printing of more currency and yet it is a government scam that has been carried out against citizens of the world time and time again spanning millennia. As history has clearly shown, every nation that goes down the path of printing more money or printing more currency to pay its bills eventually ends up with a runaway hyperinflation scenario followed by economic collapse." "The United States will be no different." Now listen to what he says. I love this. "Politicians can no more solve the problems of big government than arsonists can solve the problems of office fires. Because they are themselves creatures of runaway debt spending, how else do you get elected these days? They simply do not possess the cognitive framework from which real financial solutions must stem." And that's true.

Here's the one point that I want to make. I'm skipping down to fact number five, and here's what he said. "The government is going to steal everything from you before it collapses. Oh my, this is a tough one for the people to get their heads around, especially those who naively trust government to act in the interest of the people. The simple truth of the matter, and I've publicly made this prediction before, is that the government is going to steal almost everything you own as it heads toward a total financial implosion. This will include the government theft of private retirement accounts." "The feds will claim they're taking them over for your protection. Yeah, right. And then one day, they will simply all vanish. Kiss your IRA goodbye. The government theft of precious metals. Within the next three years, watch for a national emergency to be declared, followed by government confiscation of gold and silver. The feds will take your gold and hand you paper money in exchange. The paper money, of course, will all be but worthless shortly thereafter. Only the suckers, of course, will actually turn in their metals. Government takeover of your bank accounts. As banks begin to fail in the big collapse, the government will step in and take ownership of the failed institutions just as it did with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which used to be publicly owned companies, but are now largely just government finance operations."

"This will put your bank accounts under the direct control of the White House, which can use executive orders to do things like banning all wire transfers out of the country or limiting daily withdrawals and transfers. Sure, you will still own your money in the bank, you just won't be able to freely access it." Now, let me read you how banks work. This is on a banking website. I want you to listen. Here's how banks work. Right straight from the banking website. "Banks accept deposits and make loans and make a profit from the difference in the interest rates paid on deposits and charged for loans. Hang on. Banks work because of our trust. We give a bank our money to keep it safe for us and then the bank lends it to someone else in order to make money for itself. Banks can legally lend far more money than they have cash. Still, most of us have total trust in the bank's ability to protect our money and to give it to us when we ask for it." But now listen to what they said. Banks work because of our trust. Isn't that amazing? There's really no money there. I have a question. What happens when there's no trust? What happens when there's no faith? You say, "But I trust my bank." Well, have you ever heard of bank runs? Have you ever heard of bank failures?

Have you ever heard of banking holidays? Did you know that during the Great Depression, the banks were closed and you could not access your money? You could not get your money because there was no money. Everything about the banking and the Federal Reserve notes is based upon trust, confidence, and faith. And when that confidence dissolves, the banks dissolve. If that's not bad enough, take time and study the fractional reserve banking system. Do you realize if you deposit 100 Federal Reserve notes in your bank, your bank can then turn around and lend from 900 to 1,000 Federal Reserve notes based upon your 100 Federal Reserve note deposit.

Now, let me point something else out. Just thinking, okay? Let's suppose you go to the bank for a loan. Buying a house, buying a car, I don't care. And your loan is approved. Your next question is going to be asked, "Do you want us to place that in your account?" And what do you say? "Yes." There is no money placed in your account. They do not take thousands of dollars out of their registers and put it in your account. You get electronic digits. And when you cannot pay your loan, the bank then forecloses on your house or repossesses your car to resell, thus they're getting something for nothing, because they have basically created money out of thin air. Now listen to this. This is straight from the Federal Reserve Bank, Dallas, Texas. "How banks create money." I'm quoting. "Banks actually create money when they lend it. Here's how it works."

"Most of a bank's loans are made to its own customers and are deposited in their checking accounts. Because the loan becomes a new deposit, just like a paycheck does, the bank again holds a small percentage of that new amount in reserve and again lends the remainder to someone else, repeating the money creation process many times."

So you deposit a hundred and another thousand is created out of thin air, and they put that in that bank account and then 10,000 is created out of thin air. Let me try to tie everything together for you because this has been going on in my mind all week long. The Federal Reserve Chairman has been Bernanke and he recently said, and I'm quoting, "Gold is not money." Here's the direct quote. When asked by Representative Ron Paul on Capitol Hill whether he thought gold was money, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke appeared to need a few moments to think about it. Finally, he responded, "No, it's not money. It's a precious metal." Well, gold is not money. That's an interesting concept. It's unbiblical. It's unhistorical. And it's untrue. Do you realize there was a time when banks used to sell gold? Now banks are gobbling up gold as fast as they can. In fact, the Central Bank of Mexico gobbled up over 100 tons of gold in February and March alone of this year. Central banks around the world have added 425.4 metric tons of gold to their reserves last year, the biggest increase since 1964 according to the World Gold Council.

Warnings from History and Contemporary Voices

Weaver quotes Jefferson, Adams, Jackson, and modern writers like Ann Barnhart to warn that unchecked government theft leads to economic collapse and tyranny.

She says, "I stand here in abject stupefaction. The so-called right or Tea Party in this republic is being so thoroughly rolled and defeated that I'm struggling to come up with an adequate violent submission metaphor that does not involve prison rape. And honestly, they think they're winning. Really? You call this winning?"

Now she's talking about what just happened in Congress. "Obama gets over two trillion to spend before the 2012 election. There are no real spending cuts. There is a massive tax increase effective January the 1st, 2013. Obama is going to be handed something in excess of two trillion. And he has made it perfectly clear that he will spend every penny of it before the November 2012 election. That's why he kept saying, 'So we don't have to do this again.'"

"Meaning raise the debt ceiling again. The debt ceiling would only need to be raised if all the money had been spent. Therefore, he has stated very clearly that he will spend every penny of any debt ceiling increase. He's going to burn through 2 trillion plus in the next 16 months. This was the Obama's regime's plan from day one. Geithner appeared before Congress in early May and told them in no uncertain terms, this outcome has been a known quantity a long time. There are no spending cuts in this plan."

"It is all accounting fraud. Saying that you're not going to spend money in Afghanistan 10 years from now is not spending cuts. Even if you accept the $1 trillion in cuts over 10 years propaganda, that is only $100 billion per year, which is essentially meaningless relative to the size of the problem." By the way, let me just stop right there. I'm going to pick up our quote in just a moment.

But someone pointed out this past week, if you had $2,000 a month income to live on, 2,000 bucks a month. And you said, "Look, I need to tighten my belt. Things are getting out of hand." And you cut the same percentage that the federal government cut in order to tighten your belt. You know how much less you would have to spend out of your $2,000 a month? 12 cents. 12 cents.

So this is what she's saying. It's practically meaningless. Let me go on. She says, "Furthermore, even a minuscule uptick in interest rates which give the massive debasement of our currency is now mathematical certainty. We'll certainly consume that 100 billion per year. It's all a joke."

Now listen, back to the 2 trillion that Obama's being handed. "I honestly think that most people in this country have no understanding of the simple counting numbers. Do you understand how much a trillion is? Now listen, where do you think this money is going to come from? Who has two trillion dollars to loan us? China? Nope, not even close. China's entire gross product is only six trillion. Do you honestly think that China is going to loan one third of their total annual income production? China was a huge creditor to us back when 100 billion was considered a staggeringly large amount of money, which was four years ago. Now 100 billion is merely a rounding error. Do you realize that there's only a handful of nations of this planet that even have a gross domestic product in excess of 2 trillion? If these countries loaned us every penny of their gross domestic product, it would even be 2 trillion. Canada," she points out, "1.57 trillion. India, 1.54 trillion. Russia, 1.46 trillion."

Now she says, "Are you starting to understand the scope of what we're talking about? Obama is going to embezzle considerably more than the entire economic output of Canada, India, or Russia to his cronies before the 2012 election, and that is just counting this round of spending, this does not include the other $5 trillion that he's already burned through since 2009. China is not going to lend us this money because they simply don't have anything close to that much money to lend. This $2 trillion is going to come from the Federal Reserve. Where's the Federal Reserve going to get $2 trillion? They're going to print it out of thin air. We're in the midst of the largest currency debasement ever seen in human history. There's only one result that can come out of this currency debasement, hyperinflation and total economic and societal collapse."

"Have you forgotten the so-called Bush tax cuts? Yeah. Those rates are going to expire January the 1st, 2013. Obama will be presumably occupying the Oval Office at the time, assuming that he is not forcibly removed or that the Republic is still intact at that time. Taxes will increase significantly at that point, and the Congressional Budget Office has scored everything put before them given the fact of the massive tax increase on 1-1-2013. Do you understand that?" "Now listen, when these Republicans and even these so-called Tea Party freshmen tell you that there are no tax hikes in their plan, they're consciously, willfully, knowingly lying to you through their teeth. Finally, I do not understand how it can be possible that conservative writers are still addressing Obama as if he actually is trying to help the economy, but his well-intentioned policies are failing. Now listen, Obama is the enemy. Obama is a Marxist-Communist usurper and puppet from a front for a cabal of Marxist-Communists who are actively trying to destroy the United States of America."

"By the way, I'm going to stop right there. The Communist Party USA has already endorsed Obama for the next four years. Everything they have done, are doing, and will do has a single goal of collapsing and destroying the United States economy, military, constitutional government, and culture. What part of Marxist revolution do you not understand? The Obama regime is not a failure. The Obama regime is not incompetent. The Obama regime has achieved more in two and a half years than anyone could have possibly foreseen. It has debased the currency by 50% of the gross domestic product and guaranteed that our economy will collapse. It has looted the treasury for more than the size of the top 10 economy and embezzled that wealth in the hands of their fellow Marxists in preparation for the final collapse of the United States. It has ground the economy of the United States to a screeching halt."

"It has destabilized the entire Muslim world and ensured that there will be a nuclear war centered around Israel within the decade. Obama regime has no interest whatever in stimulus or getting folks back to work. How can you not understand this? How can we possibly win this war if we refuse to come to terms with the fact that we're in fact fighting a war? God saved the United States of America because the people are far too stupid to do it themselves." I'll tell you what, she hit the nail on the head. And the truth is, the governments have stolen, are stealing, and will keep stealing unless we the people and the providence of God stop them. We have been warned repeatedly throughout history and we did not heed those warnings. Let me give you just a couple of them. Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Taylor in 1816 and he says this, "I sincerely believe that the banking establishments are far more dangerous than standing armies and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling or theft of the future on a large scale." John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson, he said, "All the perplexities, confusion and distresses in America arise not from the defects of the Constitution or Confederation nor from one of honor or virtue as much from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation." John C.

Calhoun in a speech on May the 27th, 1836 said, "A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various powerful interests combined in one mass and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in banks." And Andrew Jackson, in his speech to the delegation of banksters over the Bank Renewal Bill of 1832, he said it just right. He said, "You're a den of vipers and thieves, and I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out." And of course, Andrew Jackson stopped the renewal charter of the Bank of the United States. Napoleon Bonaparte said it like this, "When a government is dependent upon banksters for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation."

"Since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland. Financiers are without patriotism and without decency. Their sole object is gain." Tom Jefferson said it like this, "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children wake up homeless on the continent that their fathers conquered." Just two more quotes.

Conclusion: Personal Preparation and Trust in God

He urges practical preparation (food, tools, precious metals) and reminds that only Christ's reign will bring perfect government; calls for wisdom and godly fear.

And the principle of the Scripture is this, if you sin, you suffer. The only thing I'm going to say in light of what I've shared with you today, and especially if they still do a third quantitative easing, your paper money is absolutely worthless. It's getting more worthless every day. The Bible says, "The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished." You need to make sure that you have your preparations in order. You say, "Well, I've got silver and gold." Some of you may, some of you may not, but I've got news for you. You need to be putting away and putting back now what you would spend that silver and gold for later on. Let them have their sorry paper money. And if you don't have food, and if you don't have means of taking care of yourself, we're going to end up just like Germany in 1923. And I've told this before.

It's one of my favorite stories. When Germany went through the hyperinflation, one woman had a basket full of Deutschmarks on her way to the bakery to buy a loaf of bread. There was a fight going on. She set her basket down and tried to push through to see who was fighting. And when her curiosity was satisfied, she turned around and someone had emptied all of her money on the ground and stolen her basket. The basket was worth more than the money. Tools are going to be far more valuable than paper money.

Be wise as a serpent, our Lord says, and harmless as a dove. And it's true. Governments just can't stop stealing. The only government that will be a perfect one is that when the Lord Jesus Christ rules and reigns. And of His dominion, there shall be no end. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We thank Thee, we give Thee praise and we ask, Father, that You would help us as we fellowship together and give us grace that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Give us wisdom and understanding. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Breadth of the Eighth Commandment

Summary: Theft includes not only armed robbery but also defrauding laborers, withholding wages, and any form of taking what belongs to another.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'there are a multitude of ways to steal without using force of arms' and explains that covetousness and greed are forms of theft.

The Laborer Is Worthy of His Hire

Summary: Using the case law of the muzzled ox, Weaver argues that depriving a worker of fair and timely wages is theft.

Evidence: He cites Deuteronomy 25:4, 1 Corinthians 9, and 1 Timothy 5:17-18 to show that both Old and New Testaments affirm this principle.

Government as Thief

Summary: Civil governments are not above God's law; they steal through eminent domain, inflation, and legal plunder under the guise of legality.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Does the 8th commandment apply to civil government? And the answer is yes.' He quotes Bastiat on legal plunder.

Inflation as Theft

Summary: Raising the debt ceiling and printing money devalues currency, stealing purchasing power from citizens.

Evidence: He calls raising the debt ceiling 'nothing less than theft by inflation' and explains how the Federal Reserve creates money out of thin air.

The Inevitability of Judgment

Summary: God will hold individuals and nations accountable for theft; sin leads to suffering, and ignoring God's law brings consequences.

Evidence: Weaver warns, 'you cannot thumb your nose at God and escape the consequences... you reap what you sow.'

Personal Preparation and Wisdom

Summary: In light of coming economic collapse, believers should prudently store food, tools, and precious metals rather than trusting in paper currency.

Evidence: He cites Proverbs 22:3 ('the prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself') and urges putting away supplies.

Key Arguments

Theft is broader than physical taking

Summary: Limiting theft to forceful taking is Pharisaical; God's law condemns covetousness, greed, and any deprivation of what is due.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'If we limit our understanding of theft to forceful taking by individuals, then our understanding is no better than that of the Pharisees.'

Case law reveals the principle of just compensation

Summary: The command not to muzzle the ox illustrates that withholding the fruit of labor is theft, a principle applied to ministers and all workers.

Evidence: He traces the principle from Deuteronomy 25:4 through 1 Corinthians 9 to 1 Timothy 5:17-18.

Delayed payment is theft

Summary: Withholding wages beyond the agreed time steals the use of the worker's money, as forbidden in Deuteronomy 24:14-15.

Evidence: Weaver gives the example of telling a worker to wait a week for pay and says, 'I've stolen the use of his money for one week.'

Government legal plunder is socialism

Summary: When the law takes from some to give to others, it commits legal plunder, which Bastiat identifies as the essence of socialism.

Evidence: He reads Bastiat: 'See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong.'

Fractional-reserve banking is fraudulent

Summary: Banks create money out of nothing when they lend, devaluing existing currency and enriching themselves at depositors' expense.

Evidence: He quotes the Dallas Federal Reserve: 'Banks actually create money when they lend it' and explains the process.

The U.S. government is intentionally collapsing the economy

Summary: Quoting Ann Barnhart, Weaver argues that the Obama regime is deliberately debasing currency and looting the treasury to destroy the nation.

Evidence: He reads Barnhart: 'Obama is a Marxist-Communist usurper... actively trying to destroy the United States of America.'

Historical warnings were ignored

Summary: Figures like Jefferson, Adams, Jackson, and Cicero warned against banking power and debt, but their counsel was not heeded, leading to ruin.

Evidence: He quotes Jefferson on banking as 'swindling or theft of the future' and Cicero on balanced budgets.

Only Christ's government will be just

Summary: Human governments will continue stealing until Jesus Christ rules; believers must prepare and trust God.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'The only government that will be a perfect one is that when the Lord Jesus Christ rules and reigns.'

Scripture References

Exodus 20:15

Context: The Eighth Commandment, 'Thou shalt not steal,' is the foundational text for the sermon.

Proverbs 6:30

Context: Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger, showing that hunger is understood though theft is still wrong.

Deuteronomy 25:4

Context: The case law 'Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn' illustrates the principle that the laborer is worthy of his hire.

1 Corinthians 9:7-11

Context: Paul uses the muzzled ox law to argue that ministers should be supported materially for their spiritual labor.

1 Timothy 5:17-18

Context: Elders who rule well are worthy of double honor (double pay), again citing the ox law and the laborer's reward.

Luke 10:4-7

Context: Jesus instructs His disciples to eat what is set before them because the laborer is worthy of his hire.

Deuteronomy 24:14-15

Context: God commands that a hired servant be paid on the day of his labor, lest he cry against the employer and it be sin.

Proverbs 22:3

Context: The prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished; applied to preparing for economic collapse.

Historical References

Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850)

Context: French economist and statesman who wrote against socialism, defining legal plunder as taking from some to give to others.

Great Depression (1930s)

Context: Weaver contrasts the character of hobos who asked for work instead of stealing, referencing the book 'We Had Everything But Money.'

Thomas Jefferson (1816 letter to John Taylor)

Context: Jefferson warned that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies and that funding debt is swindling future generations.

John Adams (letter to Thomas Jefferson)

Context: Adams attributed America's distress to ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation.

Andrew Jackson (1832 speech on Bank Renewal Bill)

Context: Jackson called bankers a 'den of vipers and thieves' and vowed to rout them out, stopping the renewal of the Bank of the United States.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Context: Quoted: 'When a government is dependent upon banksters for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation.'

Cicero (55 BC)

Context: Cicero urged balancing the budget, reducing debt, and curtailing foreign aid lest Rome become bankrupt; his warning was ignored.

German hyperinflation (1923)

Context: A woman's basket was stolen while her money was dumped on the ground because the basket was worth more than the currency.

Federal Reserve Act and modern banking

Context: Weaver explains how the Federal Reserve creates money and lends it to Congress at interest, calling it fraud.

Central Bank of Mexico gold purchase (2011)

Context: Mexico bought over 100 tons of gold in early 2011, part of a trend of central banks accumulating gold.

Important Quotes

Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry.

Significance: Weaver uses this Proverbs verse to acknowledge that hunger is understood, though theft remains sin.

Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.

Significance: This case law is the key biblical principle that the laborer is worthy of his hire, foundational to the sermon's argument.

See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.

Significance: Bastiat's definition of legal plunder, which Weaver uses to argue that much government action is theft.

I sincerely believe that the banking establishments are far more dangerous than standing armies and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling or theft of the future on a large scale.

Significance: Thomas Jefferson's warning that deficit spending is theft from future generations, reinforcing the sermon's historical argument.

You're a den of vipers and thieves, and I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out.

Significance: Andrew Jackson's bold condemnation of bankers, used to show that past leaders recognized banking as theft.

The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.

Significance: Proverbs 22:3 is applied as a call to practical preparation for coming economic judgment.

Discussion Questions

In what ways might we be guilty of theft without realizing it, according to the broader biblical definition presented?

Context: Weaver argues that theft includes defrauding laborers, withholding wages, and covetousness.

How does the principle 'the laborer is worthy of his hire' apply to our own employment practices or how we treat those who serve us?

Context: The case law of the muzzled ox is applied to paying pastors and workers fairly and promptly.

Do you agree that government actions like inflation and deficit spending constitute theft? Why or why not?

Context: Weaver calls raising the debt ceiling 'theft by inflation' and quotes Bastiat on legal plunder.

What is the biblical basis for holding civil governments accountable to the Ten Commandments?

Context: Weaver asserts that the Eighth Commandment applies to civil rulers and governments.

How should Christians respond to the reality of systemic financial theft and potential economic collapse?

Context: Weaver urges personal preparation, storing food and tools, and trusting God rather than paper currency.

What can we learn from historical figures like Jefferson, Adams, and Jackson about the dangers of banking power?

Context: Weaver quotes several founders and leaders who warned against banking establishments and debt.

How does the concept of 'legal plunder' challenge our assumptions about the role of government in society?

Context: Bastiat's definition of legal plunder is used to critique socialism and government redistribution.

In what ways does the hope of Christ's perfect government shape our engagement with earthly governments?

Context: Weaver concludes that only Christ's reign will be just, implying a tension between earthly citizenship and heavenly hope.

Applications

Examine personal financial ethics

Summary: Believers should ensure they pay workers fairly and promptly, not defrauding or delaying wages.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'It is theft to defraud a man of his hire' and cites Deuteronomy 24:14-15.

Recognize government theft

Summary: Christians should understand that inflation, deficit spending, and bailouts are forms of theft and not be naive about political promises.

Evidence: He states, 'Raising the debt ceiling... is nothing less than theft by inflation' and quotes Bastiat.

Prepare practically for economic hardship

Summary: In light of coming currency collapse, believers should store food, tools, and precious metals rather than relying on paper money.

Evidence: Weaver urges, 'You need to be putting away and putting back now what you would spend that silver and gold for later on.'

Trust God's sovereignty over nations

Summary: While warning of judgment, Weaver points to Christ's future reign as the only perfect government, encouraging faith over fear.

Evidence: He prays for grace to serve God acceptably and says only Christ's dominion will have no end.

Be wise as serpents, harmless as doves

Summary: Jesus' instruction in Matthew 10:16 is applied to navigating a thieving world with prudence and integrity.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Be wise as a serpent, our Lord says, and harmless as a dove.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:47:38Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T16:01:01Z

Clean Transcript

You Just Can't Stop Stealing, Can You

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Alright, let's open our Bibles today to the book of Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. I was going to begin a five-part series today, but a thought came to my mind in light of a lot of things that are happening today. And I wanted to put a number of things in perspective for you and try to give you a little admonition and a little warning. So, I'm going to be preaching a little different message today. In fact, I will quote more today than I've probably ever done before, at least I haven't done in a long, long time. But I want you to understand what is going on in light of some principles from Scripture. So Exodus chapter 20 and verse 15, one that everyone can quote, the 8th commandment, "Thou shalt not steal." The title of the message is, "You Just Can't Stop Stealing, Can You?" Everyone hates a thief. And everyone in this room has been stolen from. You may not realize it, you may not know it, but you have been stolen from.
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There's nothing meaner, viler, and lower down than a thief. Especially when a thief steals from someone who is needier and more than deserving than he is. Let me give you an example. Read an article from Trenton, New Jersey. Listen very carefully. A paraplegic homeless man awoke from sleeping in his spot outdoors to find his personal mobility scooter that was charging overnight had been stolen this morning. Police said the victim had a spot on the 600 block of South Clinton Avenue where he slept every night and where he knew there was an electrical outlet where he could charge his motorized cart. Thieves apparently knew it too, police said, as it was taken sometime after the man went to sleep there about 2:15 a.m. Police said the cart was a gray Hoveround scooter and it was worth about $2,500. Police said officers searched the area looking for the device but turned up nothing.
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Anyone with any information about this theft or knowledge of the scooter's whereabouts are urged to call police at such and such number. Now can you imagine someone being so low down to steal a scooter from a homeless paraplegic? And yet they did. If you have been reading the headlines you will read and find out and discover that there have been an abundance of articles on theft. Articles have been stolen from manhole covers, railroad tracks, in fact in Florida one train was derailed because someone had stolen a section of the tracks. Air conditioning units have been stolen.
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Copper wiring is being ripped off all over. Farmers are losing not only their copper wiring from their irrigation systems, but a lot of the metal as well. Electrical wiring is being stolen. In fact, I just read this past week where they found one man dead who cut into the wrong electrical wire and he was electrocuted. And then there was one article that said 19 metal doors, bathroom doors, from the rest stops had been stolen.
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Now you may say, well it's a sign of the times in light of our economic depression. I could also add it's a sign of the lack of character, morality, and fear of God. When you talk about thievery and stealing, there's only one instance in the Bible that I can think of where men would not universally loathe a thief. In fact, you'll find that in Proverbs 6 and verse 30. Let me quote it. It's very short. Because the scripture says, "Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry."
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Now, hunger does not excuse theft. Theft is still theft and it's still a violation of God's law and it's still wrong. And you've got to understand this. If someone is really genuinely hungry, usually there is no need to steal. Just simply ask for food or try to work for food. And if you can't find any work, then very obviously someone's willing to do something. And just to point out, the difference in character between the 1930s and now, and I've said this before, we have a book. If you've never read the book or seen the book, you should purchase a copy. It's so interesting. The title of the book is, "We Had Everything But Money." And it's pictures and stories from the Great Depression.
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And it tells there how hobos and homeless people would come and knock on a door. And the first thing they would ask, is there any work that they could do for a sandwich or a bowl of soup? They were willing to work. Of course, in this day and time, most people are not willing to work. But still, you have someone who's usually willing to share or willing to give.
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We understand hunger, and we understand that when people are hungry and are without, they're going to do whatever is necessary to get the food to sustain them and their family. So they'll get it one way or the other, and if it's stealing, they will steal. That's why God says, "Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his soul when he's hungry," because we understand hunger. Each of us, probably in that situation, would do whatever we need to do to survive.
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Now when we think about theft, when God says, "Thou shalt not steal," we mostly think of someone sticking a pistol in our face and saying, "Give me all of your money." Well that certainly is a certain kind of theft for sure. But I want you to understand that there are a multitude of ways to steal without using force of arms. When we think of theft, we normally also think of individuals who were stealing. God's law does indeed prohibit theft of all kinds.
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Now, let me make a point and listen carefully. If we limit our understanding to theft, and if we limit our understanding of theft to forceful taking by individuals, then our understanding is no better than that of the Pharisees. Because what the Pharisees did is they limited the law of God to physical acts, in order that they might justify themselves. And they thought, just because they had not actually reached out and stolen something physically, then they were not thieves. When the word of God teaches us that covetousness is theft, selfishness, greediness is theft, covetousness is idolatry. Now, let me just remind you something about God's law, and I have message after message on biblical law, so I do not, and I'm not planning on going into great detail, but I do want you to remember that in order to understand God's law in the Bible, you have to understand what is known as case law. In other words, when you read the Bible, when you understand God's law, God does three things for us.
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First of all, He gives us certain broad principles, much like what we know as the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are the basic principles, they are the basic law. Now the Ten Commandments are not all of God's law, they are a summary of God's law, okay? But you have these broad principles like "Thou shalt not steal," "Thou shalt not kill," "Thou shalt not commit adultery," "Thou shalt not covet." But God gives us these broad principles and then He gives us in the Bible cases that will illustrate those broad principles.
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So when you read through especially the book of Exodus and the book of Deuteronomy, you have a lot of varying case laws. So God gives us the broad principles, He gives us the individual and specific case laws, and then thirdly, there is a practical application from that principle to the illustration to our position and to our life today. I want you to turn to Deuteronomy chapter 25 and look, if you would, at verse 4. Because here is the case law, or at least one of them, one of the main ones, I should say, for "Thou shalt not steal." You'll find it in Deuteronomy 25 and verse 4. Look at it. And this is just laying the foundation for what I want to share with you today, alright? Look in Deuteronomy 25 verse 4. Here is the case law for "Thou shalt not steal." God says, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." You say, how in the world can that be case law for "Thou shalt not steal"?
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We smile when we hear such a verse and the reason we smile is because we automatically think that that verse has absolutely nothing to do with us. We do not even own oxen. Moreover, we do not grind our corn with oxen. And oxen basically have absolutely no place in our society today and no place in our lives today. Well, let me put it like this. Circumstances change, principles never change. Although we do not have oxen and do not use oxen and do not grind our corn with oxen, the principle is still here.
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Now, what did God say? God said, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he grindeth out the corn." I want you to stop and think with me how corn was ground in Bible times. Usually, it was stone ground, that is stone upon stone, and they would have a pole coming out, and of course the oxen would be attached to that pole, and he would walk in circles, and as he walked, he would turn the wheels that would grind the corn. Well, occasionally, some of that corn would fall on the floor. The oxen would stop, take a mouthful of the corn and start on his rounds again. Well, the owners got to thinking, well, you know, we can make more money if we put a muzzle on that ox. He would not eat the corn and we'll just sweep it up, put it back on the wheels and we'll have more meal and more grits and we can sell it. God says, no, that's a violation of my law. You can't do that. "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he grindeth out the corn."
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What is God teaching us? In other words, if you do not let that ox stop and take a mouthful, you are depriving the ox of the reward of his labor. You're stealing from the ox. I hope you've already begun to see the principle here, and it is that the laborer is worthy of his hire.
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Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 9, let me show you how the Apostle Paul develops this in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, and let's begin reading there with verse 7. Paul asks a number of questions that leads up to his point. 1 Corinthians chapter 9, notice if you would please beginning there with verse 7. He asked, "Who goeth to warfare any time at his own charges?"
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Now, whether you agree with where our soldiers are or not is immaterial. But our soldiers, whether they're in Iraq, Afghanistan, or wherever, are not over there at their expense. They're over there at our expense. Okay? Who goes to warfare at any time at his own charges? The answer is no one. Who planted the vineyard and did not have the fruit thereof? The answer is no one. If you plant a grape vine, you're going to eat the grapes. If you plant plum trees, you're going to eat the plums.
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He says, "Or who feedeth the flock and he did not have the milk of the flock?" If you have a flock of goats or a flock of sheep or a flock of cows, if you can call them a flock, call them a herd, I know, same principle. You're going to use the milk and you're going to use the meat. So the answer to all these questions is no. Now watch what he says. "Say I these things as a man, or saith not the law the same also?" Well Paul said it's not me, it's God's law. Watch verse 9. "For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn."
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Now, look at this next question. "Doth God take care for oxen?" Well, He does take care of all of His creatures, but He did not put this in the New Testament just for the oxen's sake. Watch what He said. "Doth God take care for oxen, or saith He it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt this is written, that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope."
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"If I have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your carnal things?" So what he is saying is this, the laborer is worthy of his hire. It doesn't matter if you're plowing, you plow in hope, you're looking for your reward. If you're threshing, you're threshing in hope, you're looking for your reward. And the Apostle is saying here, look, we're ministering to you spiritual things, is it any stretch of the imagination that we should reap your carnal things?
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And the answer would be no, once again. So just pointing out how in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, Paul is using this principle, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." Now, look in your Bibles, if you would please, to 1 Timothy chapter 5, because Paul is not through using these principles. 1 Timothy chapter 5, and notice if you would, beginning there with verse 17. 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 17. Look what he says.
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Verse 17, "Let the elders, or the pastors that rule well, be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. For the scripture says, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward." Now notice what he says in verse 17, "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor." So what is double honor?
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Does that mean you're to come to me and say, "Pastor, pastor," or that you come to me and say, I asked you to do something, you say, "Yes, sir. Yes, sir." No, that has nothing to do with that. I mean, certainly that would be a part of honor, uh, or any pastor, but notice what he said. "For the scripture said, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his reward." Double honor in this passage literally means double pay.
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In other words, what God is saying is the man who actually labors in the Word and doctrine and teaches it is worth a whole lot more than someone who does not. Let me just try to explain it like this. I found a long time ago, it is easier and cheaper to pay a man more money who knows what he is doing than to hire four or five at a cheaper rate who know nothing about what they're doing. Now if you stop and think about that, I'd rather pay one man 50 bucks an hour that can get the job done in 45 minutes and still make 50 bucks than I had to have five men at ten bucks an hour, and neither one of them know what they're doing, and take four or five hours to do it. This is the principle. God says the laborer is worthy of his hire.
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Now, I want you to look, if you would, to the book of Luke chapter 10, because our Lord uses this illustration again. Luke chapter 10, and notice if you would, verses 5 through 7. Luke 10, verse 5. Look what our Lord tells. In fact, let's begin reading with verse 4. Look what our Lord tells His disciples. He says, "Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes, and salute no man by the way."
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"And in whatsoever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the Son of Peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it. If not, it shall return to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house."
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Now, let me explain this principle. Of course, I travel a lot, and there are times that we're in private homes. Sometimes it's the pastor's house in which we're staying because I'm preaching there at his church. And guess what? God tells me that I can eat whatever's set before me as much as I want. And that's what I'm going to do. If they put black-eyed peas and cornbread in front of me, I'm going to eat that. If they give me T-bone steak, well, I'll eat that. If I could eat two of them, I'd eat two of them. I usually can't, but I'm just simply pointing out the fact. Well, you say you're being a hog. No, I'm not being a hog. If I'm doing the work, the laborer is worthy of his hire. That's what the Lord said. Now look what he said, "Go not from house to house." I'm not going to say, "Ah, Dr. Bowen may have better food over here than Henry. Let me leave Henry's and go to Dr. Bowen's."
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No, no, don't go there. But I'm to eat whatever Henry sets in front of me. And I can have as much of it as I want if I'm there laboring in his vineyard. So, the Lord is simply saying the laborer is worthy of his hire. Now, it is theft to defraud a man of his hire. You got that? It is theft. I understand saving money. I understand wanting the best deal that you can get.
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But let me try to give you an illustration. If I know a job is worth 500 bucks, I know it is worth that. And I look at Frank and I say, "Frank, I know you're hungry. I know you got all those kids. I know they're hungry. And I tell you what, I'll let you have this work for 250 bucks." And he looks at me and says, "The job's worth 500." And I look at him and say, "Take it or leave it." And he takes it because his kids are hungry.
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What have I just done? I've stolen 250 bucks from him. The laborer is worthy of his hire. This is the principle that God is stating.
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Now, let me show you something. It's not only theft to defraud a man of his hire, it's also theft to withhold that hire for a period of time. Look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy 24. Deuteronomy 24. I'm just trying to show you that there's far more to thievery than just sticking a gun in someone's face. Now watch this. Deuteronomy 24, look at verses 14 and 15. Look what God says.
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"Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren or of thy strangers, or that are in thy land within thy gates." Now look what God says. "At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it, for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it, lest he cry against thee unto the Lord, and it be sin unto thee." At his day.
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So, let me put it like this. So, Ed comes to my house to do some work for me, and I tell Ed, "It's going to take you all week, but if you finish on Friday, I'll pay you on Friday." And Ed says, "Fine." So Ed comes, and he works all week, and he finishes on Friday, and Friday afternoon he comes to me and says, "Alright pastor, you said you'd pay me this afternoon and I finished the work and you've approved it. I'd like to have my money." And I say, "Ed, I just forgot to go by the bank. I tell you what, you come back next Friday and I'll give it to you." Now, Ed may say, "Well, all right." But even if he said all right, what have I just done? I've stolen the use of his money for one week. He doesn't use it. I use it. Have you ever wondered why it's almost impossible to get money back from an insurance company or a big company or a big corporation? If there's an overage or if they owe you money, it is like pulling teeth to get it because it'll take you three or four, five, six months.
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And guess what they are doing while you're waiting? They have that money invested and they're making interest on that money and they are stealing from you because they're using that money to make money. It's yours. They just won't give it to you right away.
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Now, I'm just trying to lay out some principles to show you that there's far more to stealing than sticking a gun in someone else's face. Since you have a pretty good grasp of this, let me ask a further question. What is the extent of "Thou shalt not steal"? Let me ask some questions. Does "Thou shalt not steal" simply refer to individuals, families, churches, or does it apply to all indiscriminately?
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Let me be a little more specific. Let me speak plainly. Does the 8th commandment apply to civil government? And the answer is yes. Civil rulers and civil governments are not above the law of God. They are beneath God's law. And theft by government, theft by civil rulers is still theft. It may be legal theft, it may be classified as legal, but it's still theft. What we don't understand is that governments steal in many ways.
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At times, their theft is through use of force such as eminent domain or confiscation of goods under the threat of imprisonment and or death if you do not give up your property. But most of the time, when governments steal, it is under the guise of legality. Let me point this out, and this was the whole title of this message, because of its application to governments. "You Just Can't Stop Stealing, Can You?"
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It is true that individuals steal continually, sometimes without even knowing it, because they don't understand the implications of God's law. But it is true that governments steal repeatedly. We have been stolen from in this country over and over by our own government, by our own Congress, and yet we don't even recognize it as theft. Just recently, there was a big charade over should we raise the debt ceiling or should we not? Do you realize that raising the debt ceiling, which they did, is nothing less than theft by inflation. I want to give you just a good quote from Frédéric Bastiat. If you've never read his book on the law, I would encourage you to do so.
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He lived from 1801 to 1850. He actually died of tuberculosis, and he wrote a lot of this a year or two before he died. He was a French economist, a statesman, and author. And he did most of his writing right before, during, and immediately following the revolution in France in 1848. And this was when France was rapidly turning to socialism. And he was a deputy to the Legislative Assembly.
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And what he would do, he would study and explain and expose each fallacy of socialism. He was trying to warn his countrymen and so in his book he gives a section how to identify legal plunder. Let me rephrase it: how to identify legal theft. And let me just read it, just a couple pages. Listen carefully. "But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime."
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We could never have the Ponzi schemes that the governments have. He didn't say that, I did. All right. He said, "Then abolish this law without delay for it is not only an evil in itself, but also as a fertile source for further evils because it invites reprisals. If such a law, which may be an isolated case, is not abolished immediately, it will spread, multiply, and develop into a system." Wow. "The person who profits from this law will complain bitterly defending his acquired rights."
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"He will claim that the state is obligated to protect and encourage his particular industry, but this procedure enriches the state because the protected industry is thus able to spend more and pay higher wages to poor working men. Do not listen to this sophistry by vested interest. The acceptance of these arguments will build legal plunder into a whole system. In fact, this already has occurred. The present day delusion is an attempt to enrich everyone at the expense of everyone else to make plunder universal under the pretense of organizing it." Now listen to this. "Legal plunder has many names." Now legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways. Thus we have an infinite number of plans for organizing it.
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"Tariffs, protections, benefits, subsidies, encouragements, progressive taxation, public schools, guaranteed jobs, guaranteed profits, minimum wage, a right to relief, a right to the tools of labor, free credit and so on and so on. All these plans as a whole with their common aim of legal plunder constitute socialism."
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"Now since under this definition of socialism, socialism is a body of doctrine, what attack can be made against it other than a war of doctrine? If you find this socialistic doctrine to be false, absurd, and evil, then refute it. And the more false, the more absurd, and the more evil it is, the easier it will be to refute. Above all, if you wish to be strong, begin by rooting out every particle of socialism that may have crept into your legislation."
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"This will be no lack task." Then he talks about socialism being legal plunder. I'm going to skip just a little bit. He says, "To prevent this, you would exclude socialism from entering into making laws. You would prevent socialists from entering the legislative palace. You shall not succeed, I predict, so long as legal plunder continues to be the main business of the legislature. It is illogical, in fact, absurd to assume otherwise." Then he says this, "The choice before us. The question of legal plunder must be settled once and for all."
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"And there are only three ways to settle it. Here are the three ways you can settle legal plunder. Number one. The few plunder the many. That's what we have going on right now. Number two, everybody plunders everybody. Number three, nobody plunders anybody. He says we must make our choice among limited plunder, universal plunder, and no plunder. The law can follow only one of these three. Limited legal plunder, this system prevailed when the right to vote was restricted. One would turn back to this system to prevent the invasion of socialism. Universal legal plunder, we've been threatened with this system since the franchise was made universal. The newly enfranchised majority has decided to formulate law on the same principle of legal plunder that was used by their predecessors when the vote was limited. No legal plunder."
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"This is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony, and logic. Until the day of my death," which was about a year later, "I shall proclaim this principle with all the force of my lungs, which, alas, is all too inadequate." So Bastiat then differentiates between illegal plunder and legal plunder. So if I stick a .357 Magnum in your face and say, "Give me your money," that is illegal plunder. If I get to Congress, I get a law passed that you have to give me a certain amount of your money or a certain portion of your property, if not, you go to jail, then that's legal plunder.
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So let me ask you a question. Why did Congress raise the debt ceiling? You knew they were going to do it. I knew they were going to do it. Why did they raise the debt ceiling? The answer is because they just can't stop stealing. Stealing is a way of life for most politicians. They think absolutely nothing of it. They not only steal money, property, and other valuables, but they also steal our children through the multitudinous, needless wars and police actions.
#48 | 32:03 to 32:44 | cleaned
Here is a direct quote from United States Representative Tom Perriello, who's a Democrat of Virginia. He was speaking to a Jefferson area Tea Party and here's what he said, and I'm quoting. He said, "Politicians have raided the cookie jar over and over again. That's a problem. But there's one thing I learned up here and I didn't really need to come up here to learn it. The only way to get Congress to balance a budget is to give them no choice. The only way to keep them out of the cookie jar is to give them no choice, which is why, whether it's balanced budget acts or pay-as-you-go," listen to what he said, "if you don't tie our hands, we will keep stealing." That's what he said. He acknowledged it.
#49 | 32:48 to 33:42 | cleaned
Let me ask you a question. I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone and he was telling me about some of the financial things and I said, "Well, wait a minute. I know how to settle your financial problems." He said, "How's that?" I said, "Do like Congress, borrow money." What he said, "I've tried to always just pay cash as I go." I said, "You're the culprit. Don't you know that we can't live without debt? Congress believes we can't live without debt."
#50 | 33:44 to 34:22 | cleaned
I said, "It's because of you that we're in all this trouble." And he laughed. He knew I was being sarcastic. Do you realize it is absolutely impossible to borrow your way out of debt? You cannot borrow your way out of debt any more than you can drink your way into being sober or fornicate your way into being pure. It's impossible. Do you realize that most people know absolutely nothing about how our government is supposed to work or how it actually works and there is a big difference between those two things. There's a big difference between a constitutional government and a government that makes up the rules as it goes. You say what? Yeah.
#51 | 34:23 to 35:16 | cleaned
Representative Alcee Hastings of Florida said, and I'm quoting, and you can get the quote for yourself. He says this concerning the House of Representatives, and I quote, "There are no rules here. We make them up as we go along." Well, since that is the truth and that is reality, we must admit that our Constitution, our country, and our freedoms have been stolen from us. There is no law.
#52 | 35:17 to 35:52 | cleaned
Congress is not bound by anything. And therefore, it is a usurped tyrannical body that is not answerable to anyone or anything. It's not answerable to the Constitution. It's not evidently, it's not answerable to our citizens because you contact your congressman, I've done so on numerous occasions, and you get a letter back and he says something like this, "I appreciate you contacting me on this issue. I appreciate your views and I will consider them, but please remember that I must vote my conscience in this matter." I didn't send you up there to vote your conscience.
#53 | 35:53 to 36:35 | cleaned
I sent you up there to represent me. So what am I trying to tell you? It doesn't matter. They really just simply do not care.
#54 | 36:35 to 36:49 | cleaned
Now, I want to tie this together. I'm talking about government. We don't understand how our government is supposed to work or how it actually works. Neither do we understand the Federal Reserve banking system and our Treasury Department. And the Federal Reserve banking system is neither federal nor reserve. We don't understand anything. Mike Adams wrote an article, some of you may have seen it, but he wrote "Seven Startling Things That Most People Still Don't Know About the National Debt, Banking, and the Money Supply" on August 2, 2011. I'm going to read you some of what he wrote, not all, but just a moment. But he said seven startling things that most people still don't know about the national debt. One thing we don't know is it's all fraud. If you actually knew how we got into debt, do you realize since the Federal Reserve Act, here's basically what happens. If Congress wants money, they contact the Federal Reserve Bank. Say they want to borrow $20 billion. The Federal Reserve Bank contacts the Treasury Department. The Treasury Department prints those bills regardless of the denomination, a million dollar or a dollar, it doesn't matter.
#55 | 36:50 to 38:23 | cleaned
It costs them about five cents to print those bills. They then send those bills to the Federal Reserve Bank at cost. The Federal Reserve then lends that money back to Congress at full face value plus interest. So, here's what Mike Adams wrote. "The United States Treasury is stealing money from you every single day by the simple fact that it keeps creating new money and handing it out to wealthy banksters."
#56 | 38:24 to 38:58 | cleaned
Let me just stop there. Did you know that 16 trillion dollars was given to international banks? Not in our country. 16 trillion. Supposed to be our Federal Reserve System? And they gave 16 trillion dollars to banks in other countries? I'm quoting now, "Well technically this is done by the Federal Reserve, which isn't even part of the Federal Government. But it's all done in cahoots with the Treasury, which is eroding the value of your money through these money creation and distribution actions."
#57 | 38:58 to 39:36 | cleaned
"That's why prices keep going up all around you, folks. Food isn't suddenly worth more money. The truth is that your money is worth less. That's how the Treasury and the Federal Reserve steal from you without even breaking into your home. Probably 99.9% of the population have no understanding of this phenomenon, the erosion of currency valuation through the centralized government printing of more currency and yet it is a government scam that has been carried out against citizens of the world time and time again spanning millennia. As history has clearly shown, every nation that goes down the path of printing more money or printing more currency to pay its bills eventually ends up with a runaway hyperinflation scenario followed by economic collapse."
#58 | 39:37 to 40:26 | cleaned
"The United States will be no different." Now listen to what he says. I love this. "Politicians can no more solve the problems of big government than arsonists can solve the problems of office fires. Because they are themselves creatures of runaway debt spending, how else do you get elected these days? They simply do not possess the cognitive framework from which real financial solutions must stem." And that's true.
#59 | 40:27 to 40:52 | cleaned
Here's the one point that I want to make. I'm skipping down to fact number five, and here's what he said. "The government is going to steal everything from you before it collapses. Oh my, this is a tough one for the people to get their heads around, especially those who naively trust government to act in the interest of the people. The simple truth of the matter, and I've publicly made this prediction before, is that the government is going to steal almost everything you own as it heads toward a total financial implosion. This will include the government theft of private retirement accounts."
#60 | 40:53 to 41:33 | cleaned
"The feds will claim they're taking them over for your protection. Yeah, right. And then one day, they will simply all vanish. Kiss your IRA goodbye. The government theft of precious metals. Within the next three years, watch for a national emergency to be declared, followed by government confiscation of gold and silver. The feds will take your gold and hand you paper money in exchange. The paper money, of course, will all be but worthless shortly thereafter. Only the suckers, of course, will actually turn in their metals. Government takeover of your bank accounts. As banks begin to fail in the big collapse, the government will step in and take ownership of the failed institutions just as it did with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which used to be publicly owned companies, but are now largely just government finance operations."
#61 | 41:34 to 42:22 | cleaned
"This will put your bank accounts under the direct control of the White House, which can use executive orders to do things like banning all wire transfers out of the country or limiting daily withdrawals and transfers. Sure, you will still own your money in the bank, you just won't be able to freely access it."
#62 | 42:23 to 42:42 | cleaned
Now, let me read you how banks work. This is on a banking website. I want you to listen. Here's how banks work. Right straight from the banking website. "Banks accept deposits and make loans and make a profit from the difference in the interest rates paid on deposits and charged for loans. Hang on. Banks work because of our trust. We give a bank our money to keep it safe for us and then the bank lends it to someone else in order to make money for itself. Banks can legally lend far more money than they have cash. Still, most of us have total trust in the bank's ability to protect our money and to give it to us when we ask for it." But now listen to what they said. Banks work because of our trust. Isn't that amazing? There's really no money there. I have a question. What happens when there's no trust? What happens when there's no faith? You say, "But I trust my bank." Well, have you ever heard of bank runs? Have you ever heard of bank failures?
#63 | 42:46 to 44:13 | cleaned
Have you ever heard of banking holidays? Did you know that during the Great Depression, the banks were closed and you could not access your money? You could not get your money because there was no money. Everything about the banking and the Federal Reserve notes is based upon trust, confidence, and faith. And when that confidence dissolves, the banks dissolve. If that's not bad enough, take time and study the fractional reserve banking system. Do you realize if you deposit 100 Federal Reserve notes in your bank, your bank can then turn around and lend from 900 to 1,000 Federal Reserve notes based upon your 100 Federal Reserve note deposit.
#64 | 44:13 to 45:04 | cleaned
Now, let me point something else out. Just thinking, okay? Let's suppose you go to the bank for a loan. Buying a house, buying a car, I don't care. And your loan is approved. Your next question is going to be asked, "Do you want us to place that in your account?" And what do you say? "Yes." There is no money placed in your account. They do not take thousands of dollars out of their registers and put it in your account. You get electronic digits. And when you cannot pay your loan, the bank then forecloses on your house or repossesses your car to resell, thus they're getting something for nothing, because they have basically created money out of thin air. Now listen to this. This is straight from the Federal Reserve Bank, Dallas, Texas. "How banks create money." I'm quoting. "Banks actually create money when they lend it. Here's how it works."
#65 | 45:07 to 46:25 | cleaned
"Most of a bank's loans are made to its own customers and are deposited in their checking accounts. Because the loan becomes a new deposit, just like a paycheck does, the bank again holds a small percentage of that new amount in reserve and again lends the remainder to someone else, repeating the money creation process many times."
#66 | 46:26 to 46:48 | cleaned
So you deposit a hundred and another thousand is created out of thin air, and they put that in that bank account and then 10,000 is created out of thin air. Let me try to tie everything together for you because this has been going on in my mind all week long. The Federal Reserve Chairman has been Bernanke and he recently said, and I'm quoting, "Gold is not money." Here's the direct quote. When asked by Representative Ron Paul on Capitol Hill whether he thought gold was money, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke appeared to need a few moments to think about it. Finally, he responded, "No, it's not money. It's a precious metal." Well, gold is not money. That's an interesting concept. It's unbiblical. It's unhistorical. And it's untrue. Do you realize there was a time when banks used to sell gold? Now banks are gobbling up gold as fast as they can. In fact, the Central Bank of Mexico gobbled up over 100 tons of gold in February and March alone of this year. Central banks around the world have added 425.4 metric tons of gold to their reserves last year, the biggest increase since 1964 according to the World Gold Council.
#67 | 46:56 to 48:40 | cleaned
I want to ask you a question. Henry made me think of this, and I'm going to make him give me the answer. How do banks buy gold? Can they borrow from each other or from themselves? Or can they create money out of thin air to compete against you and me for those precious metals? Remember that quote from the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank that I just gave you a while ago? Here it is. "Most of a bank's loans are made to its own customers and are deposited in their checking accounts." Most is not all. How many of you own a ton of gold? How many of you own a ton of silver?
#68 | 48:42 to 49:37 | cleaned
The reason that you and I have so little of it, if we have any, is because everything we've ever worked for has been stolen from us through either incompetence, inflation, or pure, deliberate, premeditated planning. Theft is theft. I hope some of you read the article by Ann Barnhart. She wrote an article this past week. You can look it up on the internet. The title of it is, "We the Stupid." Ann Barnhart is a livestock and grain commodity broker. She's a marketing consultant. She's a patriot, and she happens to be a Roman Catholic. But she made some astute observations, and let me read to you what she wrote under the title, "We the Stupid."
#69 | 49:40 to 50:36 | cleaned
She says, "I stand here in abject stupefaction. The so-called right or Tea Party in this republic is being so thoroughly rolled and defeated that I'm struggling to come up with an adequate violent submission metaphor that does not involve prison rape. And honestly, they think they're winning. Really? You call this winning?"
#70 | 50:38 to 50:59 | cleaned
Now she's talking about what just happened in Congress. "Obama gets over two trillion to spend before the 2012 election. There are no real spending cuts. There is a massive tax increase effective January the 1st, 2013. Obama is going to be handed something in excess of two trillion. And he has made it perfectly clear that he will spend every penny of it before the November 2012 election. That's why he kept saying, 'So we don't have to do this again.'"
#71 | 51:00 to 51:32 | cleaned
"Meaning raise the debt ceiling again. The debt ceiling would only need to be raised if all the money had been spent. Therefore, he has stated very clearly that he will spend every penny of any debt ceiling increase. He's going to burn through 2 trillion plus in the next 16 months. This was the Obama's regime's plan from day one. Geithner appeared before Congress in early May and told them in no uncertain terms, this outcome has been a known quantity a long time. There are no spending cuts in this plan."
#72 | 51:32 to 52:06 | cleaned
"It is all accounting fraud. Saying that you're not going to spend money in Afghanistan 10 years from now is not spending cuts. Even if you accept the $1 trillion in cuts over 10 years propaganda, that is only $100 billion per year, which is essentially meaningless relative to the size of the problem." By the way, let me just stop right there. I'm going to pick up our quote in just a moment.
#73 | 52:07 to 52:28 | cleaned
But someone pointed out this past week, if you had $2,000 a month income to live on, 2,000 bucks a month. And you said, "Look, I need to tighten my belt. Things are getting out of hand." And you cut the same percentage that the federal government cut in order to tighten your belt. You know how much less you would have to spend out of your $2,000 a month? 12 cents. 12 cents.
#74 | 52:29 to 53:12 | cleaned
So this is what she's saying. It's practically meaningless. Let me go on. She says, "Furthermore, even a minuscule uptick in interest rates which give the massive debasement of our currency is now mathematical certainty. We'll certainly consume that 100 billion per year. It's all a joke."
#75 | 53:12 to 53:29 | cleaned
Now listen, back to the 2 trillion that Obama's being handed. "I honestly think that most people in this country have no understanding of the simple counting numbers. Do you understand how much a trillion is? Now listen, where do you think this money is going to come from? Who has two trillion dollars to loan us? China? Nope, not even close. China's entire gross product is only six trillion. Do you honestly think that China is going to loan one third of their total annual income production? China was a huge creditor to us back when 100 billion was considered a staggeringly large amount of money, which was four years ago. Now 100 billion is merely a rounding error. Do you realize that there's only a handful of nations of this planet that even have a gross domestic product in excess of 2 trillion? If these countries loaned us every penny of their gross domestic product, it would even be 2 trillion. Canada," she points out, "1.57 trillion. India, 1.54 trillion. Russia, 1.46 trillion."
#76 | 53:30 to 54:43 | cleaned
Now she says, "Are you starting to understand the scope of what we're talking about? Obama is going to embezzle considerably more than the entire economic output of Canada, India, or Russia to his cronies before the 2012 election, and that is just counting this round of spending, this does not include the other $5 trillion that he's already burned through since 2009. China is not going to lend us this money because they simply don't have anything close to that much money to lend. This $2 trillion is going to come from the Federal Reserve. Where's the Federal Reserve going to get $2 trillion? They're going to print it out of thin air. We're in the midst of the largest currency debasement ever seen in human history. There's only one result that can come out of this currency debasement, hyperinflation and total economic and societal collapse."
#77 | 54:44 to 55:38 | cleaned
"Have you forgotten the so-called Bush tax cuts? Yeah. Those rates are going to expire January the 1st, 2013. Obama will be presumably occupying the Oval Office at the time, assuming that he is not forcibly removed or that the Republic is still intact at that time. Taxes will increase significantly at that point, and the Congressional Budget Office has scored everything put before them given the fact of the massive tax increase on 1-1-2013. Do you understand that?"
#78 | 55:40 to 56:15 | cleaned
"Now listen, when these Republicans and even these so-called Tea Party freshmen tell you that there are no tax hikes in their plan, they're consciously, willfully, knowingly lying to you through their teeth. Finally, I do not understand how it can be possible that conservative writers are still addressing Obama as if he actually is trying to help the economy, but his well-intentioned policies are failing. Now listen, Obama is the enemy. Obama is a Marxist-Communist usurper and puppet from a front for a cabal of Marxist-Communists who are actively trying to destroy the United States of America."
#79 | 56:15 to 56:55 | cleaned
"By the way, I'm going to stop right there. The Communist Party USA has already endorsed Obama for the next four years. Everything they have done, are doing, and will do has a single goal of collapsing and destroying the United States economy, military, constitutional government, and culture. What part of Marxist revolution do you not understand? The Obama regime is not a failure. The Obama regime is not incompetent. The Obama regime has achieved more in two and a half years than anyone could have possibly foreseen. It has debased the currency by 50% of the gross domestic product and guaranteed that our economy will collapse. It has looted the treasury for more than the size of the top 10 economy and embezzled that wealth in the hands of their fellow Marxists in preparation for the final collapse of the United States. It has ground the economy of the United States to a screeching halt."
#80 | 56:55 to 57:53 | cleaned
"It has destabilized the entire Muslim world and ensured that there will be a nuclear war centered around Israel within the decade. Obama regime has no interest whatever in stimulus or getting folks back to work. How can you not understand this? How can we possibly win this war if we refuse to come to terms with the fact that we're in fact fighting a war? God saved the United States of America because the people are far too stupid to do it themselves."
#81 | 57:53 to 58:20 | cleaned
I'll tell you what, she hit the nail on the head. And the truth is, the governments have stolen, are stealing, and will keep stealing unless we the people and the providence of God stop them. We have been warned repeatedly throughout history and we did not heed those warnings. Let me give you just a couple of them. Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Taylor in 1816 and he says this, "I sincerely believe that the banking establishments are far more dangerous than standing armies and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling or theft of the future on a large scale." John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson, he said, "All the perplexities, confusion and distresses in America arise not from the defects of the Constitution or Confederation nor from one of honor or virtue as much from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation." John C.
#82 | 58:23 to 59:39 | cleaned
Calhoun in a speech on May the 27th, 1836 said, "A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many and various powerful interests combined in one mass and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in banks." And Andrew Jackson, in his speech to the delegation of banksters over the Bank Renewal Bill of 1832, he said it just right. He said, "You're a den of vipers and thieves, and I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out." And of course, Andrew Jackson stopped the renewal charter of the Bank of the United States. Napoleon Bonaparte said it like this, "When a government is dependent upon banksters for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation."
#83 | 59:39 to 1:00:40 | cleaned
"Since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland. Financiers are without patriotism and without decency. Their sole object is gain." Tom Jefferson said it like this, "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children wake up homeless on the continent that their fathers conquered." Just two more quotes.
#84 | 1:00:41 to 1:01:21 | cleaned
Cicero in 55 BC said this, "The budget should be balanced. The treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom shall be tempered and controlled, and the assistance of foreign land should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work instead of living on public assistance." No one heeded Cicero and Rome went down the tubes. My last quote before I make an application is by a constitutional attorney and scholar, Dr. Edwin Vieira, who has the classic works on money, "Pieces of Eight." He said this, concerning our money system, our banking system, our governmental system, he said, "You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time, and that's good enough." It is. It's good enough for them.
#85 | 1:01:22 to 1:02:43 | cleaned
"Thou shalt not steal" applies to governments, just like it does to individuals, just like it does to families, just like it does to churches. And God is going to hold everyone answerable and accountable. And we're going to learn in this country that you cannot thumb your nose at God and escape the consequences. You cannot ignore the law of God and walk away free. You reap what you sow.
#86 | 1:02:48 to 1:03:25 | cleaned
And the principle of the Scripture is this, if you sin, you suffer. The only thing I'm going to say in light of what I've shared with you today, and especially if they still do a third quantitative easing, your paper money is absolutely worthless. It's getting more worthless every day. The Bible says, "The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished."
#87 | 1:03:26 to 1:04:05 | cleaned
You need to make sure that you have your preparations in order. You say, "Well, I've got silver and gold." Some of you may, some of you may not, but I've got news for you. You need to be putting away and putting back now what you would spend that silver and gold for later on. Let them have their sorry paper money. And if you don't have food, and if you don't have means of taking care of yourself, we're going to end up just like Germany in 1923. And I've told this before.
#88 | 1:04:08 to 1:04:42 | cleaned
It's one of my favorite stories. When Germany went through the hyperinflation, one woman had a basket full of Deutschmarks on her way to the bakery to buy a loaf of bread. There was a fight going on. She set her basket down and tried to push through to see who was fighting. And when her curiosity was satisfied, she turned around and someone had emptied all of her money on the ground and stolen her basket. The basket was worth more than the money. Tools are going to be far more valuable than paper money.
#89 | 1:04:42 to 1:05:23 | cleaned
Be wise as a serpent, our Lord says, and harmless as a dove. And it's true. Governments just can't stop stealing. The only government that will be a perfect one is that when the Lord Jesus Christ rules and reigns. And of His dominion, there shall be no end. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We thank Thee, we give Thee praise and we ask, Father, that You would help us as we fellowship together and give us grace that we may serve Thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. Give us wisdom and understanding. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
#90 | 1:05:24 to 1:06:09 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:47:38Z

You Just Can't Stop Stealing, Can You

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

Pastor John Weaver expounds the Eighth Commandment, 'Thou shalt not steal,' showing that theft extends far beyond armed robbery to include defrauding laborers, withholding wages, and especially legal plunder by governments. He argues that modern monetary policy, fractional-reserve banking, and deficit spending are forms of theft through inflation and currency debasement. Quoting Bastiat, Jefferson, and contemporary commentators, he warns that the U.S. government is systematically stealing from citizens and will continue until collapse, urging personal preparation and a return to God's law.

Introduction: The Eighth Commandment and the Nature of Theft

Weaver introduces Exodus 20:15 and states that everyone has been stolen from; theft is universally despised, yet there are many forms beyond armed robbery.

Scripture Reading — Exodus 20:15

"Thou shalt not steal."

Examples of Despicable Theft

He cites a news story of a paraplegic homeless man's scooter being stolen and lists other thefts (manhole covers, railroad tracks, copper wiring) as signs of moral decay.

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 6:30

"Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry."

Biblical Case Law: The Muzzled Ox

Applications of the Laborer's Hire Principle

He applies the principle to paying pastors (1 Timothy 5:17-18) and to defrauding or delaying a worker's wages (Deuteronomy 24:14-15), calling such actions theft.

Government Theft and Legal Plunder

Weaver asserts that the Eighth Commandment applies to civil government; he quotes Frédéric Bastiat to define legal plunder as taking from some to give to others, which is socialism.

Modern Monetary Theft: Inflation and Banking

He explains how the Federal Reserve and fractional-reserve banking create money out of thin air, devaluing currency and stealing purchasing power from citizens.

Warnings from History and Contemporary Voices

Weaver quotes Jefferson, Adams, Jackson, and modern writers like Ann Barnhart to warn that unchecked government theft leads to economic collapse and tyranny.

Conclusion: Personal Preparation and Trust in God

He urges practical preparation (food, tools, precious metals) and reminds that only Christ's reign will bring perfect government; calls for wisdom and godly fear.

You Just Can't Stop Stealing, Can You

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	JWCqPZM2dRQ
Subject	Biblical Law
Course	The Ten Commandments
Genre	Sermon
Date	2012-03-14
Dictation Name
Book	Book 001: The Ten Commandments — Chapter 14
Source Timed Segments	90

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Eighth Commandment and the Nature of Theft: Weaver introduces Exodus 20:15 and states that everyone has been stolen from; theft is universally despised, yet there are many forms beyond armed robbery.
Examples of Despicable Theft: He cites a news story of a paraplegic homeless man's scooter being stolen and lists other thefts (manhole covers, railroad tracks, copper wiring) as signs of moral decay.
Biblical Case Law: The Muzzled Ox: Using Deuteronomy 25:4 and 1 Corinthians 9, Weaver explains that muzzling the ox while it treads grain is theft of the laborer's reward, establishing the principle that the laborer is worthy of his hire.
Applications of the Laborer's Hire Principle: He applies the principle to paying pastors (1 Timothy 5:17-18) and to defrauding or delaying a worker's wages (Deuteronomy 24:14-15), calling such actions theft.
Government Theft and Legal Plunder: Weaver asserts that the Eighth Commandment applies to civil government; he quotes Frédéric Bastiat to define legal plunder as taking from some to give to others, which is socialism.
Modern Monetary Theft: Inflation and Banking: He explains how the Federal Reserve and fractional-reserve banking create money out of thin air, devaluing currency and stealing purchasing power from citizens.
Warnings from History and Contemporary Voices: Weaver quotes Jefferson, Adams, Jackson, and modern writers like Ann Barnhart to warn that unchecked government theft leads to economic collapse and tyranny.
Conclusion: Personal Preparation and Trust in God: He urges practical preparation (food, tools, precious metals) and reminds that only Christ's reign will bring perfect government; calls for wisdom and godly fear.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Theft is broader than physical taking

Limiting theft to forceful taking is Pharisaical; God's law condemns covetousness, greed, and any deprivation of what is due.

Weaver says, 'If we limit our understanding of theft to forceful taking by individuals, then our understanding is no better than that of the Pharisees.'

Case law reveals the principle of just compensation

The command not to muzzle the ox illustrates that withholding the fruit of labor is theft, a principle applied to ministers and all workers.

He traces the principle from Deuteronomy 25:4 through 1 Corinthians 9 to 1 Timothy 5:17-18.

Delayed payment is theft

Withholding wages beyond the agreed time steals the use of the worker's money, as forbidden in Deuteronomy 24:14-15.

Weaver gives the example of telling a worker to wait a week for pay and says, 'I've stolen the use of his money for one week.'

Government legal plunder is socialism

When the law takes from some to give to others, it commits legal plunder, which Bastiat identifies as the essence of socialism.

He reads Bastiat: 'See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong.'

Fractional-reserve banking is fraudulent

Banks create money out of nothing when they lend, devaluing existing currency and enriching themselves at depositors' expense.

He quotes the Dallas Federal Reserve: 'Banks actually create money when they lend it' and explains the process.

The U.S. government is intentionally collapsing the economy

Quoting Ann Barnhart, Weaver argues that the Obama regime is deliberately debasing currency and looting the treasury to destroy the nation.

He reads Barnhart: 'Obama is a Marxist-Communist usurper... actively trying to destroy the United States of America.'

Historical warnings were ignored

Figures like Jefferson, Adams, Jackson, and Cicero warned against banking power and debt, but their counsel was not heeded, leading to ruin.

He quotes Jefferson on banking as 'swindling or theft of the future' and Cicero on balanced budgets.

Only Christ's government will be just

Human governments will continue stealing until Jesus Christ rules; believers must prepare and trust God.

Weaver says, 'The only government that will be a perfect one is that when the Lord Jesus Christ rules and reigns.'

Scripture References

Exodus 20:15: The Eighth Commandment, 'Thou shalt not steal,' is the foundational text for the sermon.
Proverbs 6:30: Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger, showing that hunger is understood though theft is still wrong.
Deuteronomy 25:4: The case law 'Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn' illustrates the principle that the laborer is worthy of his hire.
1 Corinthians 9:7-11: Paul uses the muzzled ox law to argue that ministers should be supported materially for their spiritual labor.
1 Timothy 5:17-18: Elders who rule well are worthy of double honor (double pay), again citing the ox law and the laborer's reward.
Luke 10:4-7: Jesus instructs His disciples to eat what is set before them because the laborer is worthy of his hire.
Deuteronomy 24:14-15: God commands that a hired servant be paid on the day of his labor, lest he cry against the employer and it be sin.
Proverbs 22:3: The prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished; applied to preparing for economic collapse.

Historical References

Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850): French economist and statesman who wrote against socialism, defining legal plunder as taking from some to give to others.
Great Depression (1930s): Weaver contrasts the character of hobos who asked for work instead of stealing, referencing the book 'We Had Everything But Money.'
Thomas Jefferson (1816 letter to John Taylor): Jefferson warned that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies and that funding debt is swindling future generations.
John Adams (letter to Thomas Jefferson): Adams attributed America's distress to ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation.
Andrew Jackson (1832 speech on Bank Renewal Bill): Jackson called bankers a 'den of vipers and thieves' and vowed to rout them out, stopping the renewal of the Bank of the United States.
Napoleon Bonaparte: Quoted: 'When a government is dependent upon banksters for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation.'
Cicero (55 BC): Cicero urged balancing the budget, reducing debt, and curtailing foreign aid lest Rome become bankrupt; his warning was ignored.
German hyperinflation (1923): A woman's basket was stolen while her money was dumped on the ground because the basket was worth more than the currency.
Federal Reserve Act and modern banking: Weaver explains how the Federal Reserve creates money and lends it to Congress at interest, calling it fraud.
Central Bank of Mexico gold purchase (2011): Mexico bought over 100 tons of gold in early 2011, part of a trend of central banks accumulating gold.

Important Quotes

Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his soul when he is hungry.

Weaver uses this Proverbs verse to acknowledge that hunger is understood, though theft remains sin.

Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.

This case law is the key biblical principle that the laborer is worthy of his hire, foundational to the sermon's argument.

See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.

Bastiat's definition of legal plunder, which Weaver uses to argue that much government action is theft.

I sincerely believe that the banking establishments are far more dangerous than standing armies and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling or theft of the future on a large scale.

Thomas Jefferson's warning that deficit spending is theft from future generations, reinforcing the sermon's historical argument.

You're a den of vipers and thieves, and I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out.

Andrew Jackson's bold condemnation of bankers, used to show that past leaders recognized banking as theft.

The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.

Proverbs 22:3 is applied as a call to practical preparation for coming economic judgment.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

In what ways might we be guilty of theft without realizing it, according to the broader biblical definition presented?

[Context]

Weaver argues that theft includes defrauding laborers, withholding wages, and covetousness.

[Question]

How does the principle 'the laborer is worthy of his hire' apply to our own employment practices or how we treat those who serve us?

[Context]

The case law of the muzzled ox is applied to paying pastors and workers fairly and promptly.

[Question]

Do you agree that government actions like inflation and deficit spending constitute theft? Why or why not?

[Context]

Weaver calls raising the debt ceiling 'theft by inflation' and quotes Bastiat on legal plunder.

[Question]

What is the biblical basis for holding civil governments accountable to the Ten Commandments?

[Context]

Weaver asserts that the Eighth Commandment applies to civil rulers and governments.

[Question]

How should Christians respond to the reality of systemic financial theft and potential economic collapse?

[Context]

Weaver urges personal preparation, storing food and tools, and trusting God rather than paper currency.

[Question]

What can we learn from historical figures like Jefferson, Adams, and Jackson about the dangers of banking power?

[Context]

Weaver quotes several founders and leaders who warned against banking establishments and debt.

[Question]

How does the concept of 'legal plunder' challenge our assumptions about the role of government in society?

[Context]

Bastiat's definition of legal plunder is used to critique socialism and government redistribution.

[Question]

In what ways does the hope of Christ's perfect government shape our engagement with earthly governments?

[Context]

Weaver concludes that only Christ's reign will be just, implying a tension between earthly citizenship and heavenly hope.

Applications

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