(Note: I've altered what follows slightly for the benefits of my largely English readership. However what Pastor Emry says applies to banking across the planet and accounts for many of the problems facing humanity today. The article itself was written in 1989, so some of the figures refered too are somewhat dated; nonetheless what is said remains as valid today as it was 2000 years ago, as Paul Bond's last posting The 'Moneylenders v the Truth reveals. Rixon.}

A Study by Pastor Sheldon Emry

"For the love of money is the root of all evil..." 1 Timothy 6:10

THREE TYPES OF CONQUEST

History reveals nations can be conquered by the use of one of three main methods.

The most common is conquest by war. In time, though, this method usually fails, because the captives hate the captors and rise up and drive them out if they can. Much force is needed to maintain control, making it expensive for the conquering nation.

A second method is by religion, where men are convinced they must give their captors part of their earnings as "obedience to God." Such a captivity is vulnerable to philosophical exposure or by overthrow by armed force, since religion by its nature lacks military force to regain control, once its captives become "disillusioned."

The third method can be called economic conquest. It takes place when nations are placed under "tribute" without the use of visible force or coercion, so that the victims do not realize they have been conquered. "Tribute" is collected from them in the form of "legal" debts and taxes, and they believe they are paying it for their own good, for the good of others, or to protect all from some enemy. Their captors become their "benefactors" and "protectors".

Although this is the slowest to impose, it is often quite long lasting, as the captives do not see any military force arrayed against them, their religion is left more or less intact, they have freedom to speak and
travel, and they participate in "elections" for their rulers. Without realizing it, they are conquered, and the instruments of their own society are used to transfer their wealth to their captors and make the conquest complete.

In 1900 the average American worker paid few taxes and had little debt. Last year payments on debts and taxes took more than half of what he earned. Is it possible a form of conquest has been imposed on our people? Read the following pages and decide for yourself. And may God have mercy on this once debt-free and great nation, in Christ, The Author.

THE REAL STORY OF THE MONEY-CONTROL OVER AMERICA AND THE WORLD

Americans, living in what is called the richest nation on earth, seem always to be short of money. Wives are working in unprecedented numbers, husbands hope for overtime hours to earn more, or take part-time jobs evenings and weekends, children look for odd jobs for spending money, the family debt climbs higher, and psychologists say one of the biggest causes of family quarrels and breakups is "arguments over money." Much of this trouble can be traced to our present "debt-money" system.
Too few Americans realize why Christian Statesmen wrote into Article I of the U.S. Constitution:
"Congress shall have the Power to Coin Money and Regulate the Value Thereof."
They did this, as we will show, in prayerful hope that it would prevent "love of money" from destroying the republic they had founded.

MONEY IS MAN'S ONLY "CREATION"

Economists use the term "create" when speaking of the process by which money comes into existence. Now, "creation" means making something which did not exist before. Lumbermen make boards from trees, workers build houses from lumber, and factories manufacture automobiles from metal, glass and other materials. But in all these they did not "create." They only changed existing materials into a more usable and, therefore, more valuable form. This is not so with money. Here, and here alone, man actually "creates" something out of nothing.
A piece of paper of little value is printed so that it is worth a piece of lumber. With different figures it can buy the automobile or even the house. It's value has been "created" in the true meaning of the word.

"CREATING" MONEY IS VERY PROFITABLE!

As is seen by the above, money is very cheap to make, and whoever does the "creating" of money in a nation can make a tremendous profit! Builders work hard to make a profit of 5% above their cost to build a
house.
Auto makers sell their cars for 1% to 2% above the cost of manufacture and it is considered good business. But money "manufactures" have no limit on their profits, since a few cents will print a $1 bill or a $10,000 bill.
That profit is part of our story, but first let consider another unique characteristic of the thing -- money, the love of which is the "root of all evil".

ADEQUATE MONEY SUPPLY NEEDED

An adequate supply of money is indispensable to civilized society. We could forego many other things but without money industry would grind to a halt, farms would become only self-sustaining units, surplus food would disappear, jobs requiring the work of more than one man or one family would remain undone, shipping and large movement of goods would cease, hungry people would plunder and kill to remain alive, and all government except family or tribe would cease to function.
An overstatement, you say? Not at all. Money is the blood of civilized society, the means of all commercial trade except simple barter. It is the measure and the instrument by which one product is sold and another purchased. Remove money or even reduce the supply below that which is necessary to carry on current levels of trade, and the results are catastrophic. For an example, we need only look at America's Depression
of the early 1930's.

THE BANKER'S DEPRESSION OF THE 1930'S

In 1930 America did not lack industrial capacity, fertile farmland, skilled and willing workers or industrious farm families. It had an extensive and efficient transportation system in railroads, road networks, and inland and ocean waterways. Communications between regions and localities were the best in the world, utilizing telephone, teletype, radio, and a well-operated government mail system. No war had ravaged the cities or the countryside, no pestilence weakened the population, nor had famine stalked the land. The United States of America in 1930 lacked only one thing: an adequate supply of money to carry on trade and commerce.
In the early 1930s, Bankers, the only source of new money and credit, deliberately refused loans to industries, stores and farms. Payments on existing loans were required however, and money rapidly disappeared from circulation. Goods were available to be purchased, jobs waiting to be done, but the lack of money brought the nation to a standstill.

By this simple ploy America was put in a "depression" and the greedy Bankers took possession of hundreds of thousands of farms, homes, and business properties. The people were told, "times are hard" and "money is short." Not understanding the system, they were cruelly robbed of their earnings, their savings, and their property.

MONEY FOR PEACE? NO! MONEY FOR WAR? YES!
World War II ended the "depression." The same Bankers who in the early 30's had no loans for peacetime houses, food and clothing, suddenly had unlimited billions to lend for Army barracks, K-rations and uniforms! A nation that in 1934 couldn't produce food for sale, suddenly could produce bombs to send free to Germany and Japan!
With the sudden increase in money, people were hired, farms sold their produce, factories went to two shifts, mines re-opened, and "The Great Depression" was over! Some politicians were blamed for it and others took credit for ending it. The truth is the lack of money (caused by the Bankers) brought on the depression, and adequate money ended it. The people were never told that simple truth and in this article we will endeavor to show how these same Bankers who control our money and credit have used their control to plunder America and place us in bondage.

POWER TO COIN AND REGULATE MONEY

When we can see the disastrous results of an artificially created shortage of money, we can better understand why our Founding Fathers, who understood both money and God's Laws, insisted on placing the power to "create" money and the power to control it ONLY in the hands of the Federal Congress.
They believed that ALL Citizens should share in the profits of its "creation" and therefore the Federal government must be the ONLY creator of money. They further believed that ALL citizens, of whatever State or Territory, or station in life, would benefit by an adequate and stable currency, and therefore, the national government must also be, by law, the ONLY controller of the value of money.
Since the Federal Congress was the only legislative body subject to all the citizens at the ballot box, it was, to their minds, the only safe depository of so much profit and so much power. They wrote it out in the simple, but all inclusive:
"Congress shall have the Power to Coin Money and Regulate the Value Thereof."

HOW THE PEOPLE LOST CONTROL T0 THE FEDERAL RESERVE

Instead of the Constitutional method of creating our money and putting it into circulation, we now have and entirely unconstitutional system. This has brought our country to the brink of disaster, as we shall see.
Since our money was handled both legally and illegally before 1913, we shall consider only the years following 1913, since from that year on, ALL of our money had been created and issued by an illegal method that will eventually destroy the United States if it is not changed. Prior to 1913, America was a prosperous, powerful, and growing nation, at peace with its neighbours and the envy of the world. But -- in December of 1913, Congress, with many members away for the Christmas holidays, passed what has since been known as the FEDERAL RESERVE ACT.
Omitting the burdensome details, it simply authorized the establishment of a Federal Reserve Corporation, with a Board of Directors (The Federal Reserve Board) to run it, and the United States was divided into 12 Federal Reserve "Districts."
This simple, but terrible, law completely removed from Congress the right to "create" money or to have any control over its "creation", and gave that function to The Federal Reserve Corporation. This was done with
appropriate fanfare and propaganda that this would "remove money from politics" (they didn't say "and therefore from the people's control") and prevent "Boom and Bust" from hurting our citizens.
The people were not told then, and most still do not know today, that the Federal Reserve Corporation is a private corporation controlled by bankers and therefore is operated for the financial gain of the bankers over the people rather than for the good of the people. The word "Federal" was used only to deceive the people.

MORE DISASTROUS THAN PEARL HARBOR

Since that "day of infamy", more disastrous to America than Pearl Harbour, the small group of "privileged" people who lend us "our" money have accrued to themselves all of the profits of printing our money -- and more! Since 1913 they have "created" tens of billions of dollars in money and credit, which, as their own personal property, they then lend to our government and our people at interest.
"The rich get richer and the poor get poorer" had become the secret policy of the Federal government. An example of the process of "creation" and its conversion to peoples "debt" will aid our understanding.

THEY PRINT IT -- WE BORROW IT AND PAY THEM INTEREST!

We shall start with the need for money. The Federal Government, having spent more than it has taken from its citizens in taxes, needs, for the sake of illustration, $1,000,000,000. Since it does not have the money, and Congress has given away its authority to "create" it, the Government must go to the "creators" for the $1 billion.
But, the Federal Reserve, a private corporation, doesn't just give its money away! The Bankers are willing to deliver $1,000,000,000 in money or credit to the Federal Government in exchange for the Government's
agreement to pay it back -- with interest. So Congress authorizes the Treasury Department to print $1,000,000,000 in U.S. Bonds, which are then delivered to the Federal Reserve Bankers.
The Federal Reserve then pays the cost of printing the $1 billion (about $1,000) and makes the exchange. The government then uses the money to pay its obligations. What are the results of this fantastic transaction? Well, $1 billion in Government bills are paid all right, but the Government has now indebted the people to the Bankers for $1 billion on which the people must pay interest!
Tens of thousands of such transactions have taken place since 1913 so that by the 1980s, the U.S. Government is indebted to the Bankers for over $1,000,000,000,000 (trillion), on which the people pay over $100 billion a year in interest alone with no hope of ever paying off the principal. Supposedly, our children and following generations will pay forever and forever! (Since this book was printed in 1984, the national debt has grown to today's 1989 total of approximately 3 trillion dollars.)
[Editors note: As of 1996, it was approximately 5 trillion dollars and is now approaching 10 trillion dollars].

AND THERE'S MORE

You say, "This is terrible!" Yes, it is, but we have shown only part of the sordid story. Under this unholy system, those United States Bonds have now become "assets" of the Banks in the Reserve System, which they then use as "reserves" to "create" more "credit" to lend. Current "reserve" requirements allow them to use that $1 billion in bonds to "create" as much as $15 billion in new "credit" to lend to States, municipalities, to individuals and businesses.
Added to the original $1 billion, they could have $16 billion of "created credit" out in loans paying them interest with their only cost being $1,000 for printing the original $1 billion! Since the U.S. Congress has not issued Constitutional money since 1863 (over 100 years), in order for the people to have money to carry on trade and commerce they are forced to borrow the "created Credit" of the Monopoly bankers and pay them usury-interest!
AND THERE'S STILL MORE

In addition to the vast wealth drawn to them through this almost unlimited usury, the Bankers who control the money at the top are able to approve or disapprove large loans to large and successful corporations
to the extent that refusal of a loan will bring about a reduction in the price that that Corporation's stock sells for on the market.
After depressing the price, the Bankers' agents buy large blocks of the company's stock, after which the sometimes multi-million dollar loan is approved, the stock rises, and is then sold for a profit. In this manner billions of dollars are made with which to buy more stock. This practice is so refined today that the Federal Reserve Board need only announce to the newspapers an increase or decrease in their "discount rate" to send
stocks up and down as they wish.
Using this method since 1913, the Bankers and their agents have purchased secret or open control of almost every large corporation in America. Using that control, they then force the corporations to borrow huge sums from their banks so that corporate earnings are siphoned off in the form of interest to the banks. This leaves little as actual "profits" which can be paid as dividends and explains why stock prices are so depressed, while the banks reap billions in interest from corporate loans. In effect, the bankers get almost all of the profits, while individual stockholders are left holding the bag.
The millions of working families of America are now indebted to the few thousand Banking families for twice the assessed value of the entire United States. And these Banking families obtained that debt against us for the cost of paper, ink, and bookkeeping!

THE INTEREST AMOUNT IS NEVER CREATED

The only way new money (which is not true money, but is "credit" representing a debt), goes into circulation is when it is borrowed from Bankers. When the State and people borrow large sums, we seem to prosper. However, the bankers "create" only the amount of the principal of each loan, never the extra amount needed to pay the interest.
Therefore, the new money never equals the new debt added. The amounts needed to pay the interest on loans is not "created," and therefore does not exist!
Under this kind of a system, where new debt always exceeds the new money no matter how much or how little is borrowed, the total debt increasingly outstrips the amount of money available to pay the debt. The people can never, ever get out of debt!
An example will show the viciousness of this usury-debt system with its "built in" shortage of money.

IF $60,000 IS BORROWED - $255,931.20 MUST BE PAID BACK

When a citizen goes to a banker to borrow $60,000 to purchase a home or a farm, the Bank clerk has the borrower agree to pay back the loan plus interest. At 14% interest for 30 years, the borrower must agree to pay $710.92 per month for a total of $255,931.20.
The clerk then requires the citizen to assign to the banker the right of ownership of the property if the borrower does not make the required payments. The bank clerk then gives the borrower a $60,000 check or a $60,000 deposit slip, crediting the borrower's checking account with $60,000.
The borrower then writes checks to the builder, subcontractors, etc., who in turn write checks. $60,000 of new "checkbook" money is thereby added to the "money in circulation."
However, and this is the fatal flaw in a usury system, the only new money created and put into circulation is the amount of the loan, $60,000. The money to pay the interest is NOT created, and therefore was NOT added to "money in circulation."
Even so, this borrower (and those who follow him in ownership of the property) must earn and TAKE OUT OF CIRCULATION $255,931, almost $200,000 MORE than he put IN CIRCULATION when he borrowed the original $60,000! (By the way, it is this interest which cheats all families out of nicer homes. It is not that they cannot afford them; it is because the Bankers' usury forces them to pay for FOUR homes to get ONE!)
Every new loan puts the same process in operation. Each borrower adds a small sum to the total money supply when he borrows, but the payments on the loan (because of interest) then deduct a much LARGER sum from the total money supply.
There is therefore no way all debtors can pay off the money-lenders. As they pay the principle and interest, the money in circulation disappears.
All they can do is struggle against each other, borrowing more and more from the money-lenders each generation. The money lenders (Bankers), who produce nothing of value, slowly, then more rapidly, gain a death grip on the land, building, and present and future earnings of the whole working population. Proverbs 22:7 has come to pass in America. The borrowers have become the servants to the lenders. No wonder God Almighty forbids interest on loans.