Gold... It's Always Been Cherished
- Details
- Created: Monday, 01 September 2003 18:48
- Written by Tom Lipp
My dad once told me a story about conditions during WWII when times were much worse than now. He recalled how a prisoner prior to being strip-searched swallowed a gold nugget to hide it temporarily. Naturally he intended to find it again a day or two later.
Gold has always been cherished. It is portable, easy to trade/barter with and internationally precious. I'd like to review the Biblical case for holding gold or precious metals as part of our financial assets.
There is strong Biblical evidence for the permanent value of gold. In the Bible, gold is elevated as something of value and beauty to be desired. It's assayed and distinguished from low grade ore in Gen. 2:12 and Rev. 21:18.Gold is seen in the Garden of Eden, the ark of the covenant and the city of heaven. From my analysis no other earthly commodity with the possible exception of water receives such Biblical prominence.
We must never forget that despite gold's respectable position in the Word of God it has very real limitations.What really strikes me though, as revealing God's plan to underwrite this metal, is the Psalmists statement about the Word of God in Ps. 19:10. God's laws, in all their forms, are to be "more desired than gold, yea than much fine gold." This being the case, how, except perhaps for a short period of time, would God allow gold to become commonplace or worthless? God has elevated His Word to match the importance of His Name. He will not allow the value of this comparative benchmark to drop, otherwise the relative value becomes meaningless. It would be ludicrous for God to say, "My Word is more valuable than wood." It seems to me that God has committed Himself to sustaining the value of gold.
For those familiar with end-times prophecy there is yet another reason to hold gold. Some scholars interpret the mark of the Beast on the forehead or right hand as a method of world domination through restricting commercial transactions. If this unfolds the way it is described in Rev. 13:15-18 then those who hold gold would likely be more able to operate in an underground economy than those who hold no gold. But this is futuristic and open to interpretation.
We must never forget that despite gold's respectable position in the Word of God it has very real limitations.
I'm not advocating greed or a love of money. I'm merely pointing out that God will NOT allow gold to become a low-value commodity. Therefore from a Biblical perspective it seems wise to hold at least some of this stuff in our earthly portfolios. I like to use gold funds as a hedge and counter-balance against traditional equities. It's interesting that in this modern high-tech age, the ancient treasure has performed so well while the tech wreck lost billions for millions. Many dot.com companies went dot.gone. Most blue chip firms have put in lacklustre showings. Let's look at this topic again next month.