美國的危險方向 及冠冕財務事工簡介

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America’s Dangerous Direction
By Chuck Bentley, CEO, Crown Financial Ministries

In the process of trying to get a handle on their finances, people often ask me, “What role should money play in our lives?” That’s really a good question to consider—and it’s one that the Bible answers. Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (Luke 16:13 NIV).
Jesus was describing the tremendous danger of allowing money to become our master instead of Him. When that happens, the entire course of our lives will be controlled by the wrong master and will be akin to despising God.
Many times, the clearest indicator of the direction a person is moving comes from following the “money trail.” Just a glance at their use of money can reveal the direction they are headed. While this is true for individuals, it also holds true for businesses and governments.
Dr. Yinkann Wen has a distinguished career as an economic scholar. I recently had the privilege of interviewing him as a guest on our MoneyLife™ radio program, and I want you to hear and heed his strong words of wisdom.
By following the money trail, Dr. Wen can clearly see the “dangerous direction” in which America is headed. He believes our current course began with the rejection of God’s financial principles that warn against debt and overconsumption.
This economic scholar, and committed Christian, ties America’s financial crisis to the failure of meeting the conditions set forth for Israel (or any God-honoring nation) in Chapter 28 of Deuteronomy—conditions that require obeying God.
“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 28:1-2 NIV, emphasis mine).
What are the economic rewards for the nation that obeys the Lord?
“You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The LORD will make you the head, not the tail” (vss. 12-13).
Notice the economic consequences are inverted to those nations that disobey the Lord’s commands:
“The alien [foreigner] who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him. He will be the head, but you will be the tail” (vss. 43-44).


Box: [Dr. Wen says that while increased federal debt to stimulate the economy is helpful in the short term, in the long term it is ‘like quenching thirst with poison’]

In view of these conditional promises of God, Dr. Wen comments, “Observed from the statistics, the United States up to the 1970s was the world’s largest net creditor country.” In other words, we were lending to many nations out of our incredible abundance, blessed by God. However, “in 1985, the United States had turned into a net debtor nation, and by 2004 the U.S. became the largest debtor nation in the world.”
The dangerous path we are on is a result of our disobedience to the Lord. Even more dangerous is the “solution” for economic recovery—more federal debt borrowed from foreign nations. Dr. Wen says that while increased federal debt to stimulate the economy is helpful in the short term, in the long term it is “like quenching thirst with poison.”
In addition to his concerns with the excessive debt and overspending by the U.S. government, Dr. Wen notes how individual Americans are in a similar situation. The average American family has high debt and low savings. Fourteen percent of after-tax income is consumed for debt service alone, and the savings rate is less than 5 percent of gross annual income.

What Should Christians Do?

The noted scholar gives this straightforward advice:

1. We should pray to God for the United States and Europe—nations who have historically enjoyed God’s economic blessing—that they would return to God and not continue moving away from Him. We should ask the Lord to grant mercy and a spirit of repentance to reject sin and degeneration and to embrace God’s Word once more.
2. We should use our influence and exercise our civic responsibilities to elect leaders who will rein in government overspending and the sustained accumulation of debt.
3. As individuals, we should return to the teachings of the Bible. Because we belong to God, our resources also belong to Him—we are stewards, not owners.
4. We must remain faithful and obedient stewards of God. In practice, we should increase savings and work to retire every debt, including home mortgages.

And finally, we need to live a contented life, free from the love of money (see Hebrews 13:5).
It is a great privilege for me to announce that both Dr. Wen and his wife, Kweiyin, have joined our staff as volunteers. They will continue to reside in Washington, D.C., and serve as Crown’s U.S. Directors for Chinese Outreach. In addition, Dr. Wen will serve on the Board of Economic Advisors we are establishing. I thank God that He has sent us such capable servants for such a time as this.
Dr. Wen holds a Ph.D. in Political Economy from Johns Hopkins University as well as the designations of Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) in the U.S. and Securities Analyst in Taiwan. He retired from the World Bank as a senior economist after over 20 years of service and returned to Taiwan to teach at National Dong Hwa University in 1996, where he had served as Director of the Graduate Institute of Mainland China Affairs, Chairman of the Department of Economics, and Director of Graduate Institute of International Economics.
In January 2005, he was appointed by Taiwan’s government to serve a five-year term as a Board Director of the Central Bank of Republic of China (Taiwan), which now has foreign reserves of $382 billion (end 2010), and is one of the largest “creditors” of the U.S. national debt. Currently he is an Honorary Professor at the National Dong Hwa University.


Kingdom Magazine, No. 23, March 2011, English Edition. Reproduced from: Money Matters, September-October 2010, pages 4-5, 18, Crown Financial Ministries, Gainesville, GA. Reprint permission was granted by Crown Financial Ministries.



美國的危險方向 【中譯文】
班查克

在試著管理財務時，人們常會問我：「金錢在我們的生活中應該扮演什麼角色？」這真是一個值得思考的好問題－－而且聖經有答案。耶穌說：「一個僕人不能事奉兩個主；不是惡這個愛那個，就是重這個輕那個。你們不能又事奉神，又事奉瑪門」（路加福音16章13節）。

耶穌描述讓金錢而不是讓祂成為我們主人的極大危險。當金錢成為我們的主人，我們整個生活都被錯誤的主人所控制，而且幾乎等於是輕視上帝。

許多時候，一個人行動方向的最清楚指標來自他的「金錢足跡」。只要看他們如何使用錢財就能顯示他們行進的方向。不但對個人是如此，對企業和政府也是如此。

溫英幹博士是一位傑出的經濟學者（請看以下他的簡歷）。我最近很榮幸能在我們「金錢生活」的廣播節目中訪問他，我希望你也留心他智慧的話語。（編者註：該節目於2010年8月18日播出，可上網連結：http://media.crown.org/audio/moneylife/mlflo20100818.mp3。）

透過美國的金錢足跡，溫博士可以清楚地看到美國正朝向「危險的方向」。他認為我們目前的路徑是從違反了上帝的財務原則開始，也就是聖經警告我們不要舉債和過度消費。

這位經濟學者，也是敬虔的基督徒，說美國的金融危機是因為沒有遵循上帝在申命記28章給以色列（或任何聲稱尊榮上帝的國家）的條件－－順服上帝。

「你若留意聽從耶和華─你神的話，謹守遵行他的一切誡命，就是我今日所吩咐你的，他必使你超乎天下萬民之上。你若聽從耶和華─你神的話，這以下的福必追隨你，臨到你身上」（申命記28章1-2節）。

順服上帝的國家在經濟上會有什麼獎賞？

「你必借給許多國民，卻不至向他們借貸。你若聽從耶和華─你神的誡命，就是我今日所吩咐你的，謹守遵行，不偏左右，也不隨從事奉別神，耶和華就必使你作首不作尾，但居上不居下。」（申命記28章12-13節）。

請注意那些不順服上帝誡命的國家在經濟上得到相反的後果：

「在你中間寄居的，必漸漸上升，比你高而又高；你必漸漸下降，低而又低。他必借給你，你卻不能借給他；他必作首，你必作尾」（申命記28章43-44節）。

從上帝那附帶條件的應許來看，溫博士說：「根據統計，美國在1970年代是世界上最大的債權國。」換句話說，因為上帝賜給我們難以置信的豐富，我們就可以借錢給許多國家。然而「從1985年開始，美國變成一個負債國，到2004年美國已成為世界上最大的負債國。」

我們之所以會走在我們現在這條危險的道路上，是我們不順服上帝的結果。更危險的是經濟復甦的「紓困方案」－－聯邦政府向國外借更多錢。溫博士說，增加聯邦債務去刺激經濟在短期來看是有效的，但長期來看是「引鴆止渴」。

除了擔憂美國政府的過度舉債和過度消費，溫博士也注意到美國人民也是類似的情況。一般美國家庭債務高抬，但儲蓄卻很少。單單是還本付息就花掉稅後收入的14%，而儲蓄率卻比稅前年收入的5%還少 。

基督徒應該做什麼？

這位著名的學者給了以下直接的建議：

1. 我們應該為美國和歐洲禱告，這些國家過去享受了上帝所賜在經濟上的福份，現在我們希望他們能回轉歸向上帝，而不要繼續離開祂。我們應該求主憐憫，賜給他們悔改的靈去抗拒罪惡和墮落，並再次擁抱上帝的話。

2. 我們應該運用我們的影響力，並行使我們的公民責任，去選出能抑制政府過度花費和繼續舉債的領袖。

3. 以個人而言，我們應該回歸聖經的教導。因為我們屬於上帝，我們的資源也都屬於祂－－我們是管家，而不是所有權人。我們必須作上帝忠心且順服的管家。在實際行為上，我們應該增加儲蓄並努力工作以還清每一筆債務，包括房屋貸款。最後，我們需要過一個知足的生活，不要貪愛錢財（請看希伯來書13章5節）。

我很榮幸宣佈溫博士和他的妻子吳桂英女士已加入冠冕成為義工。他們將繼續住在華盛頓特區，並擔任美國冠冕華人外展事工主任。此外，溫博士也會在我們即將成立的經濟顧問委員會服事。我感謝上帝在這個時刻差遣這麼一位能幹的僕人給我們。

溫博士在約翰霍普金斯大學獲得政治經濟學博士，擁有美國特許財務分析師（CFA）及台灣的證券分析師證照。他在世界銀行服務超過20年，擔任資深經濟學家，之後在1996年退休應聘到到台灣國立東華大學教書，在該校曾擔任大陸研究所所長、經濟系系主任兼國際經濟研究所所長。

在2005年1月他被台灣政府任命為中央銀行理事，任期五年，該行管理的台灣外匯存底在2010年底已達3,820億美元，也是美國國債的最大債權人之一。目前他是國立東華大學的榮譽教授。


（神國雜誌23期， 2011年3月刊登之轉載文章）原載Money Matters Newsletter, September/October, 2010, pages 4-5, 18, by Chuck Bentley, CEO of Crown Financial Ministries, Crown Financial Ministries, Gainesville, Georgia, U.S.A. 由台灣冠冕真道理財協會譯成中文，刊載於該協會所出版《成長網路》第18期（http://www.crown.org.tw/c/document_library/get_file?p_l_id=2308840&folderId=1532313&name=DLFE-50369.pdf）。中英文均獲准轉載。

原作者 Chuck Bentley 班查克

Chuck Bentley
CEO, Crown Financial Ministries
Following in the footsteps of Crown’s cofounders, the late Larry Burkett and the immediate past CEO, Howard Dayton, Chuck has assumed the CEO mantle of a strategic organization, founded in 1976. It now reaches around the world with staff on every continent, a media presence throughout North and South America, and books and materials serving the spiritual and financial needs of all people.
Chuck was born July 2, 1957 in Wichita Falls, Texas. He and his wife, Ann, have been married for 31 years. Both are graduates of Baylor University. Chuck is frequently a guest speaker addressing both churches and business leaders on biblical financial topics. Chuck and Ann live near Atlanta, Georgia and have four sons, a daughter-in-law, and a new grandson!

班查克 (Chuck Bentley)
美國冠冕財務事工執行長。跟隨冠冕的共同創辦人，故薄瑞克(Larry Burkett)及前執行長戴浩華(Howard Dayton)的腳步，班查克接續了1976年創辦，富有策略性機構的執行長職位。目前冠冕事工已經遍佈全球，每一大洲都有同工。在北美與南美則有媒體廣播，並且出版許多書籍及教材來服事所有對屬靈及財務有需要的人。
班查克在1957年7月2日生於德州威池塔市(Wichita)，他和妻子安(Ann)已經結婚31年，夫婦都畢業於貝樂大學。班查克經常在教會及企業領袖中擔任有關聖經理財方面的講員。他和安住在喬治亞州亞特蘭大市近郊，育有四個兒子，目前一子已經結婚，並且新近得到一位孫子。

Crown Financial Ministries
Crown Financial Ministries (www.crown.org), established in 2000 after merge of Christian Financial Concepts, founded by Larry Burkett in 1976, and Crown Ministries, founded by Howard Dayton in 1985. It is an interdenominational ministry dedicated to equipping people around the world to learn, apply, and teach biblical financial principles. Crown has taught or equipped more than 50 million people in over 80 nations with the life-transforming message of faithfully living by God's financial principles in every area of their lives. The ministry is located in the United States, Canada, Latin America, South America, and Africa, and is expanding into Europe, India, Asia, and Australia.


冠冕財務事工簡介

美國冠冕財務事工協會(Crown Financial Ministries, www.crown.org)成立於2000年，是由兩個機構合併而成，一是1976年由薄來瑞(Larry Bukett)創辦的基督徒財務觀念事工(Financial Concepts)；另一是1985年由戴浩華(Howard Dayton)創辦的冠冕事工(Crown Ministries)。這機構已經成為一個國際性的基督教超宗派非營利組織，也是全球最大的基督教理財及管家職分事工。目前事工已經發展至全球五大洲80多個國家，包括台灣與中國；已經有五千萬以上的基督徒接受其聖經理財教導。台灣冠冕真道理財協會（www.crown.org.tw）成立於2006年，引進美國冠冕的事工理念，運作模式與資源，以服事台灣眾教會。