In the pantheon created by Satan—the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4)—few idols have been more effective in enslaving and destroying its followers than Mammon has.
Few are more tyrannical.
Mammon with its glittering allure of worldly wealth and the possessions, ease, prestige, and power within its purchasing power demands unconditional love, unquestionable loyalty, and unending service. Like the one true God (Jehovah), Mammon does not permit divided loyalties.
Therefore, Jesus solemnly states, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24).
Material treasures are the currency of time. As Jesus illustrates in Luke 16, the currency of unrighteous mammon (vv. 9, 11) can be used in two completely different ways: 1) It can be used shrewdly to make friends (v. 9), demonstrate faithfulness (v. 10), and merit a promotion to the ownership of eternal riches (v. 11); or 2) it can be used foolishly to clothe yourself luxuriously, eat sumptuously, heartlessly insulate yourself from the needy (vv. 19-21), and die eternally separated from God (vv. 23ff).
BEWARE of the god called Mammon.
