Money “Printing” and the Bible
The phrase “money printing” is sometimes used as a nickname for the process of creating money out of a worthless material (or thin air). Even when money creation is done by typing digits into a computer, it’s still sometimes called money “printing.” This issue is especially important because, in the U. S. and around the world, a whole bunch of money printing is going on.
You won’t find the phrase “money printing” in the Bible, and you certainly won’t find talk of creating money with a computer, but the concept is right there in Scripture. This concept can be a bit complicated, but hang with me because this is super important.
God actually hates money printing! He hates it so bad, He calls it an abomination! Again, this issue can be a little hard to explain, but I’ll try to do it in three points.
Point #1: Dishonest scales. Deuteronomy 25:13-16 says that anyone who uses a dishonest (unjust) weight or measure –that person is an abomination.
What does that have to do with money printing? Well, in those days, money was measured by weight. It was made out of gold, silver, or copper, and each coin had a weight to it. Today, we use ounces (oz.), so that’s the term I’m going to use. So, if I wanted to buy some wheat, I would go to the store and ask for a pound of wheat. The cashier tells me that it will cost me one oz. of silver.
I agree that’s a fair price, so she measures out a pound of wheat and puts it on a scale (picture a balance scale). She would then put a one-pound weight on one side of the scale and the wheat on the other, in order to make sure it was really a pound of wheat.
Now, what if she wanted to cheat me? One of the ways she could do that was to make a weight that weighed 1/2 a pound and stamp the words “one pound” on it. So, when she measured out a 1/2 pound of wheat, it would look like it weighed a whole pound, because it weighed the same (on the scale) as the “one pound” weight (that really weighed 1/2 pound). And so, she could make me think I was buying onepound, when in reality, I was only buying a 1/2 pound.
Now, let’s say I wanted to cheat her. She has the wheat and the scale, so I can’t tamper with those, but I can cheat her by tampering with the money. After she weighs out the wheat, she’s going to weigh my coin to make sure I’m giving her a full oz. of silver. (remember, the price of a pound of wheat is one oz. of silver).
But, let’s say I took my one oz. silver coin, and melted it down. Then I added one oz. of a worthlessmetal to the melting pot. Now I can make two coins that weigh one oz. each. But each coin is only half silver and half worthless metal. So, each one oz. coin only has a 1/2 oz. of silver in it.
When I go to the store and give my coin to the cashier, she thinks it’s an oz. of silver. But it’s not. It’s only 1/2 an oz. So, I get a whole pound of wheat for 1/2 an oz. of silver, when I was supposed to give her a whole oz. of silver. By making money out of a worthless metal, I can cheat people.
Point #2: Making money worth less. When you make money out of a worthless metal, you are stealing from others. First, you are stealing by giving people the false impression that your one-oz. coins have one oz. of silver in them, when they only have 1/2 oz.
But you’re not just stealing from the wheat store. You’re stealing from everyone in your town, even if they don’t do business with you!
Here’s why: the more of something there is, the less that thing is worth. Why is paper so cheap? Because there’s a whole bunch of it. Why are big diamonds so expensive? Because they’re rare! If big diamonds grew on trees, no one would pay millions of dollars for a big diamond.
It’s the same with dollars. The more of them there are, the less those dollars are worth. So, if I’m printing lots of money (or making it out of worthless metal), the value of everyone else’s money goes down because there’s now more dollars in my town (or nation). So, money printing makes everyone’s money lose value.
But if I’m printing money, do I care if my money loses value? No! I’ll just print more money! But, of course, this will make other people’s money lose even more value.
Now it may seem like this isn’t a big deal. After all, if more money is being added to a community, won’t everyone be getting richer? The answer is, no.
Let’s say I print a bunch of money in the year 2021, when the price of a car is $30k. I basically get the car for free, because I’m the one making money out of a worthless material (paper). That $30k goes to the car dealer. He saves some of that money in his bank for 5 years because he wants to buy a boat. After he buys the boat, the boat dealer saves some of that money for 5 years because he wants to go on a month-long road trip. On that trip, he spends some of that money at a fancy hotel. The hotel uses some of that money to pay their workers. One of the hotel workers saves some of that money for about 5 years to buy a car.
Only now, the year is 2036, and a car doesn’t cost $30k. That same car now costs $40k. So, even though the money I printed eventually gets to the hotel worker, by the time it does, her money is worth less than when I first printed it in 2021 (because I keep printing money every year). So, she ends up having to use more dollars to buy a car. By printing money, I made her costs go up. But I don’t care about rising costs, because I can just print more money!
I’m getting rich, while everyone else gets poorer (because their money is worth less). This is why God hates money printing. The ones who print money are stealing from everyone else, and it happens in a way that the people being stolen from don’t know it’s happening.
Point #3: Destruction. When people do what God hates, He will always put a stop to it eventually. Isaiah 1:22-25 tells us what God will do to money printers. Some people in Israel were making coins with worthless metals (“dross”; v. 22). In that day, the government (the “princes”) had a deal with the “thieves” (the ones making money with worthless metal; v. 23). The government was protecting the thieves. But God wasn’t going to let this go on; He would soon take vengeance on those money printers (v. 24).
In the United States today, the ones who print money are at the Federal Reserve. They are not really “federal” in that they aren’t part of the government. It’s a private “bank,” and it’s stealing from us all. The government does help the thieves, however; they make sure the Federal Reserve can continue to print money with no accountability. This is very similar to the situation in Isaiah’s day! When will God take vengeance on the “princes and thieves” of America like He did to the ones in Israel? I don’t know. But every nation in history that has had this “abomination” money system has suffered economic calamity.
What you can do about it:
1. Stop voting for “princes” who help out the money printing thieves.
2. Get some money that isn’t “dross.” As more money gets printed, your fake money (dollars) will lose value. Real money (gold & silver) will hold their value better than printed money. It would be good to have some.
3. Prepare for hard times as God brings down this thieving economic system. And work with others in planning for hard times.
4. Learn more about how this evil money system works. And then, teach others in your family and church.