September 11th, 2019

We always begin discussions on BANKING PUBLIC POLICY by reminding the history pre-SOVEREIGN UNITED STATES vs OLD WORLD TRADE and banking.  We will discuss ISLAM BANKING history today but remind our US 99% that CHRISTIAN banking as well as ISLAM has forbid what is called USURY.  USURY is what CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA have been doing with ROBBER BARON few decades of NEO-LIBERAL ECONOMICS.

'Usury - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury Usury (/ ˈ j uː ʒ ər i /) is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning, taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is charged in excess of the maximum rate that is allowed by law'.



When we state that a global banking 5% freemason/Greek player is not RELIGIOUS these few decades it is because our economy was expanded to include FAKE RELIGIOUS NON-PROFITS which according to our CHRISTIAN BIBLE----is forbidden and because that expansion is known to bring ROBBERS---ergo, ROBBER BARON.  This is why FREEMASONRY and CHURCH has always been FORBIDDEN.

THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE FORBIDS USURY OR BUSINESS IN OUR CHURCHES.



'Study Bible
Jesus Cleanses the Temple

11The crowds replied, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” Then Jesus went into the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves. 


And He declared to them, “It is written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’ But you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”…'

Below we see ISLAM and KORAN also forbid USURY and have for thousands of years kept USURY and neo-liberal banking from MUSLIM ECONOMICS.  Whether good or bad for MONEY-MAKING----these religious texts forbid this because it is INJUST AND PREDATORY-------NOT RELIGIOUS.  Lots of LYING, CHEATING, AND STEALING happen with USURY.

Here we see the KORAN and ISLAM'S belief of economics and banking -----TRADE AND USURY ARE ABSOLUTELY DIFFERENT.


'Why does God permit trade and forbid usury?

It is because trade and usury are absolutely different. In trade one earns profit as a result of initiative, enterprise, efficiency and hard work. But the interest is not earned through hard work or any value creating process'.


Please glance through this long article just to understand from where our new to US Muslim citizens are coming with how they do business and SHARIA LAW.

Riba in Islamic Banking and Finance


Riba is an Arabic word, and it means: Excess, Increase or Addition.


In Qur’aan and Ha-dee’th it is used for ‘usury’, or ‘interest’ or 'unjust gain' made in trade or business. Riba in Islamic banking refers to an unjustified increment in borrowing or lending money, which is paid in kind or in money, above the amount of loan.


What is Riba in Islamic Banking?



The above definition of riba Islamic finance is derived from the Quran and is unanimously accepted by all Islamic scholar there are two types of Riba, identified to date by these scholars namely 'Riba An Nasiyah' and Riba Al Fadl'.

• 'Riba An Nasiyah' is defined as excess, which results from predetermined interest (sood) which a lender receives over and above the principle (Ras ul Maal)
• 'Riba Al Fadl' is defined as excess compensation without any consideration resulting from a sale of goods. `Riba Al Fadl' will be covered in greater detail later.

Prohibition of Riba:


During the dark ages, only the first form (Riba An Nasiyah) was considered to be Riba. However the Holy Prophet also classified the second form (Riba Al Fadl) as Riba. The meaning of riba Islamic finance has been clarified in the following verses of Quran:

• "O those who believe fear Allah and give up what still remains of the Riba if you are believers. But if you do not do so, then be warned of war from Allah and His Messenger. If you repent even now, you have the right of the return of your capital; neither will you do wrong nor will you be wronged." Al Baqarah 2:278-9

These verses clearly indicate that the term Riba Islamic finance means any excess compensation over and above the principal which is without due consideration. However, the Quran has not altogether forbidden all types of excess; as it is present in trade as well, which is permissible. The excess that has been rendered haram in Quran is a special type termed as Riba. In the dark ages, the Arabs used to accept Riba as a type of sale, which unfortunately is also being understood at the present times. Islam has categorically made a clear distinction between the excess in capital resulting from sale and excess resulting from interest. The first type of excess is permissible but the second type is forbidden and rendered haram.

• "Seized in this state they say: 'Buying and selling is but a kind of interest', even though Allah has made buying and selling lawful, and interest unlawful." Al Baqarah 2:275

Riba in Quran


The Qur'an states the following on Riba:



That they took riba, though they were forbidden and that they devoured men’s substance wrongfully – We have prepared for those among men who reject faith a grievous punishment”


(Qur'an 4:161)


“Those who charge riba are in the same position as those controlled by the devil's influence. This is because they claim that riba is the same as commerce. However, God permits commerce, and prohibits riba. Thus, whoever heeds this commandment from his Lord, and refrains from riba, he may keep his past earnings, and his judgment rests with God. As for those who persist in riba, they incur Hell, wherein they abide forever”


(Qur'an 2:275)


It is because trade and usury are absolutely different. In trade one earns profit as a result of initiative, enterprise, efficiency and hard work. But the interest is not earned through hard work or any value creating process. It is not the reward of labour but is in fact unearned income. Moreover interest is fixed whereas profit fluctuates. In case of trade there is risk of loss also, but in case of interest the lender gets his fixed amount irrespective of the fact whether the debtor earns any profit or sustains loss. God has forbidden interest but has permitted trade.



“God condemns riba, and blesses charities. God dislikes every disbeliever, guilty. Lo! those who believe and do good works and establish worship and pay the poor-due, their reward is with their Lord and there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve. O you who believe, you shall observe God and refrain from all kinds of riba, if you are believers. If you do not, then expect a war from God and His messenger. But if you repent, you may keep your capitals, without inflicting injustice, or incurring injustice. If the debtor is unable to pay, wait for a better time. If you give up the loan as a charity, it would be better for you, if you only knew."


(Qur'an 2:276-280)


“O you who believe, you shall not take riba, compounded over and over. Observe God, that you may succeed.

(Qur'an 3:130)


“And for practicing riba, which was forbidden, and for consuming the people's money illicitly. We have prepared for the disbelievers among them painful retribution.”


Qur'an 4:161)


“The riba that is practiced to increase some people's wealth, does not gain anything at God. But if people give to charity, seeking God's pleasure, these are the ones who receive their reward many fold.


(Qur'an 30:39)


 Riba in Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)Riba is also mentioned in Ahadith and is considered one of the seven major sins:


“Jabir said that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) cursed the accepter of usury and its payer, and one who records it, and the two witnesses, and he said: They are all equal”



(Sahih Muslim)


“It is reported on the authority of Abu Huraira that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) observed: Avoid the seven noxious things. It was said (by the hearers): What are they, Messenger of Allah? He (the Holy Prophet) replied: Associating anything with Allah, magic, killing of one whom God has declared inviolate without a just cause, consuming the property of an orphan, and consuming of usury, turning back when the army advances, and slandering chaste women who are believers, but unwary.


(Sahih Muslim)


Abdullah-bin-Hanjalah reported that the Messenger of Allah said: A Dirham of usury a man devours with knowledge is greater than thirty-six fornications.


(Ahmad, Darqutni)Types of Riba:

• The first and primary type is called Riba Au Nasiyah or Riba Al Jahiliya.
• The second type is called Riba Al Fadl, Riba An Naqd or Riba Al Bai.

The first type was specified in the Quranic verses before the sayings of the Holy Prophet this type was termed as Riba al Quran. However the second type was not understood by the Quranic verses alone but also had to be explained by the Holy Prophet it is also called Riba al Hadees.


Riba An NasiyahThis is the real and primary form of Riba Islamic Finance. Since the verses of Quran have directly rendered this type of Riba as Karam, it is called Riba Al Quran. Similarly since only this type was considered Riba in the dark ages, it has earned the name of Riba Al Jahiliya. Imam Abu Bakr Hassan Razi has outlined a complete and prohibiting legal definition of Riba An Nasiyah in the following words:

• "That kind of loan where specified repayment period and an amount in excess of capital is pre determined.".
• One of the hadith quoted by Ali Ibn Talib (RAA) has defined Riba An Nasiyah in similar words. The Holy Prophet said:"Every loan that draws excess is Riba.".
• The famous Sahabi Fazala Bin Obaid has also defined Riba in similar words: "Every loan that draws profit is one of the forms of Riba.".
• The famous Arab scholar Abu lshaq az Zajjaj also defines Riba in the following words: "Every loan that draws more than its actual amount.".
• One of the hadith quoted by Ali Ibn Talib (RAA) has defined Riba An Nasiyah in similar words. The Holy Prophet said:"Every loan that draws excess is Riba.".
• The famous Sahabi Fazala Bin Obaid has also defined Riba in similar words: "Every loan that draws profit is one of the forms of Riba.".
• The famous Arab scholar Abu lshaq az Zajjaj also defines Riba in the following words: "Every loan that draws more than its actual amount.".

Riba An Nasiyah refers to the addition of the premium which is paid to the lender in return for his waiting as a condition for the loan and is technically the same as interest. The prohibition of Riba An Nasiyah is one of those issues which have been confirmed in the revealed laws of all Prophets (AS). Some of the old testaments has rendered Riba as haram (See Exodus 22:25, Leviticds 25:35-36, Deutronomy 23:20, Psalms 15:5, Proverbs 23:8, Nehemiah 5:7, and Ezakhiel 18:8,13,17 & 22:12). The Quran has also stated the prohibition of Riba in various verses has warned those who persist in practicing it of a war which is certain to be declared on them by Allah Himself and His messenger and has seriously threatened those engaged as writer, witness and dealer in Riba transactions.



According to the above definition of Riba An Nasiyah, the giving and taking of any excess amount in exchange of a loan at an agreed rate is included in interest irrespective whether at a high or low rate. It has been proven through ahadith that the Holy Prophet paid excess at the loan repayment time but since this excess was not paid through an agreed rate, it cannot be called interest. This clarifies that the word "Draws" in the hadith definition "The loan that draws interest is Riba” has been used to highlight the giving and taking of excess amount through an agreed rate in the loan contract. Due to this, Imam Abu Bakr Hasas has added the word "condition" to the definition.



The fact that Riba An Nasiyah is categorically haram has never been disputed in the Muslim-community. In short, the Riba Islamic Finance of today which is supposed to be the pivot of human economy and features in discussions on the problem of interest is nothing but this Riba, the unlawfulness of which stands proved on the authority of the seven verses of the Quran, of more than forty ahadith and of the consensus of the Muslim community.


Wisdom behind the prohibition of Riba An Nasiyah First of all, we should realize that there is nothing in the entire creation of the world, which has no goodness or utility at all. But it is commonly recognized in every religion and community that things which have more benefits and less harms are called beneficial and useful. Conversely, things that cause more harm and less benefit are taken to be harmful and useless. Even the noble Quran, while declaring liquor and gambling to be haram, proclaimed that they do hold some benefits for people but the curse of sins they generate is far greater than the benefits they yield. Therefore, these cannot be called good or useful on the contrary, taking these to be acutely harmful and destructive, it is necessary that they be avoided.



The case of Riba An Nasiyah is not different. Here the consumer of Riba in Islamic Banking does have some casual and transitory profits apparently coming to him, but its curse in this world and in the Hereafter is much too severe as compared to this benefit. The consumer of Riba in Islamic Banking suffers such a spiritual and moral loss that it-virtually takes away the great quality of being 'human' from him. An intelligent person who compares things in terms of their profit and loss, harm and benefit can hardly include things of casual benefit with an everlasting loss in the list of useful things. Similarly no sane and just person will say that personal and individual gain which causes loss to the whole community or group is useful. In theft and robbery for example, the gain of the gangster and the take of the thief is all too obvious but it is certainly harmful for the entire community since it ruins its peace and sense of security.



Hadith on Riba An Nasiyah:

• From Usamah ibn Zayd: The Prophet said: "There is no riba except in Nasiyah [waiting]." (Bukhari, Kitab al Buyu, Bab Bay al- Dinari bi al-dinar nasa'an; also Muslim and Musnad Ahmad) "There is no riba in hand-to-hand [spot] transactions."(Muslim, Kitab al-Musaqat, Bah bay’i al-ta'ami mithlan bi niithlii also in Nas’an).
• From Ibn Mas’ud: The Prophet said: "Even when interest is much, it is bound to end up into paltriness." (Ibn Majah, Kitab al-Tijarat, Bab al-taglilizi fi al-riba; also in Musnad Ahmad).
• From Anas ibn Malik: The Prophet, said: "When one of you grants a loan and the borrower offers him a dish, he should not accept it; and if the borrower offers a ride on an animal, lie should not ride, unless the two of them have been previously accustomed to exchanging such favours mutually."(Sunan al-Bayluqi, Kitab al-Buyu', Bab kulli qardin jarra manfa'atan fa huwe riban).
• From Anas Ibn Malik: The Prophet said: "If a man extends a loan to someone lie should not accept a gift." (Mislikat, on the authority of Bukhara's Tarikh and Ibn Taymiyyah’s al-Muntaqa).
• From Abu Burdah Ibn Abi Musa:I came to Madinah and met 'Abdullah Ibn Salam who said, you live in a country where riba is rampant; hence if anyone owes you something and presents you with a load of hay, or a load of barley, or a rope of straw, do not accept it for it is riba. (Mislikat, reported on the authority of Bukhari).
• Fadalah Ibn 'Ubayd said: "The benefit derived from any loan is one of the different aspects of riba." (Sunan al-Bayhaqi).

Riba Al FadlThe second classification of Riba is Riba Al Fad. Since the prohibition of this Riba has been established on Sunnah, it is also called Riba Al Hadees.


Riba Al Fadl actually means that excess which is taken in exchange of specific homogenous commodities and encountered in their hand-to-hand purchase & sale as explained in the famous hadith: The Prophet said, "Sell gold in exchange of equivalent gold, sell silver in exchange of equivalent silver, sell dates in exchange of equivalent dates, sell wheat- in exchange of equivalent wheat, sell salt in exchange of equivalent salt, sell barley in exchange of equivalent barley, but if a person transacts in excess, it will be usury (Riba). However, sell gold for silver anyway you please on the condition it is hand-to-hand (spot) and sell barley for date anyway you please on the condition it is hand-to-hand (spot).".



This hadith enumerates 6 different commodities namely:

1. Gold.
2. Silver.
3. Dates.
4. Wheat.
5. Salt.
6. Barley.

Six commodities can only be bought and sold in equal quantities and on spot. An unequal sale or a deferred sale of these commodities will constitute Riba Islamic Finance. These six commodities in fiqh terminology are called "Amwal-e-Ribawiya". Does this hadith apply only to the items mentioned in it? Does it concern sales of barley or wheat but not rice? Of dates but not raisins? A complete legal definition differs in every fiqh. Scholars such as Taoos and Qatada hold that Riba Al Fadl includes these specified types only, however a majority of Islamic scholars believe that some other commodities should also be included. In order to answer the question, which other commodities should be included, some fiqhs hold that the characteristics which are common amongst these items can be used as basis (illat) for Riba Al Fadl. An illat is the attribute of an event that entails a particular divine ruling in all cases possessing that attribute; it is the basis for applying analogy. Ribawi goods are therefore goods that exhibit one of the efficient causes occasioning application of rules of Riba in Islamic Banking.


Various schools define these causes differently:


IMAM ABU HANIFA: Imam Abu Hanifa sees only two common characteristics namely:

1. Weight.
2. Volume.

Meaning all these six goods are sold by either weight or volume. Therefore all those commodities, which have weight or volume and are being exchanged, with the same commodity will fall under the rules of Riba Al Fadl.
IMAM SHAFI: The two characteristics observed by Imam Shafi are:

1. Medium of Exchange or
2. Eat-able.

Therefore this law will apply on everything edible or having the natural ability of becoming a medium of exchange (currency).
Imam Maalik: Imam Maalik identified the following two characteristics:

1. Eatables and
2. Preservable

Imam Ahmad Bin Hanbal: Three citations have been related to him:

1. First citation conforms to the opinion of Imam Abu Hanifa.
2. Second citation conforms to the opinion of Imam Shafi.
3. Third citation includes three characteristics at the same time namely edible, weight and volume.

After a detailed study of the above schools of thought, it has been declared by Islamic scholars that if a commodity bears both of the two characteristics namely; it has weight and can be used as a medium of exchange, then the following two kinds of transactions are not allowed when the same goods are being exchanged:

1. A deferred sale of goods (A deferred sale is when the goods are returned/or paid for after some undetermined period)
2. A sale of unequal quantities of the same goods

However, when only one of the two characteristics is present to term the sale as Riba Al Fadl, then exchange of unequal goods are allowed but deferred sale is not allowed. The prohibition of Riba Al Fadl is intended to ensure justice and remove all forms of exploitation through 'unfair' exchanges and to close all back-doors to Riba An Nasiyah because in the Islamic Shariah, anything that serves as a means to the unlawful is also unlawful.



Hadith on Riba Al-Fadl:

• From Umar Ibn al-Khattab: The last verse to be revealed was on riba and the Prophet was taken without explaining it to us; so give up not only riba but also raihah [whatever raises doubts in the mind about its rightful-ness]. (Ibn Majah)
• The Prophet said: "Sell gold in exchange of equivalent gold, sell silver in exchange of equivalent silver, sell dates in exchange of equivalent dates, sell wheat in exchange of Equivalent wheat, sell salt in exchange of equivalent salt, sell barley in exchange of equivalent barley, but if a (riba). However, sell gold for silver anyway you please on the condition it is hand-to-hand (spot) and sells barley for date anyway you please on the condition it is hand-to-hand.
• From Abu Said al-Khudri: The Prophet said: "Do not sell gold for gold except when it is like for like, and do not increase one over the other; do not sell silver for silver except when it is like for like, and do not increase one over the other; and do not sell what is away [from among these] for what is ready." (Bukhari, Kitab al-Buyu', Bab bay’i al-fiddati hi al-fiddah; also Muslim, Tirmidhi, Nasai and Musnad Ahmad)
• From 'Ubada Ibn al-Samit: The Prophet said: "Gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, barley for barley, dates for dates, and salt for salt - like for like, equal for equal, and hand-to-hand; if the commodities differ, then you may sell as you wish, provided that the exchange is hand-to-hand."(Muslim, Kitab al-Musaqat, Bah a-sarfi wa bay’i al-dhaiiahi hi al-,raragi nagdan; also in Tirmidhi)
• From Abu Said al-Khudri: The Prophet said: "Gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, barley for barley, dates for dates, and salt for salt - like for like, and hand-to-hand. Whoever pays more or takes more has indulged in riba. The taker and the giver are alike [in guilt]." (Muslim, ibid; and Musnad Ahmad)
• From Abu Said and Abu Hurayrah: A man employed by the Prophet in Khaybar brought for him janibs [dates of very fine quality]. Upon the Prophet's asking him whether all the dates of Khaybar were such, the man replied that this was not the case and added that "they exchanged a sa' [a measure] of this kind for two or three [of the other kind]". The Prophet replied, "Do not do so. Sell [the lower quality dates] for dirhams and then use the dirhams to buy janibs. [When dates are exchanged against dates] they should be equal in weight." (Bukhari, Kitab al-Buyu', Bah idles arada bay'a tamrin bi tamrin khayrun minhu also Muslim and Nasa’i)
• From Abu Said: Bilal brought to the Prophet some harm [good quality] dates whereupon the Prophet asked him where these were from. Bilal a replied, "I had some inferior dates which I exchanged for these - two sa's for a sa'." The Prophet said, "Oh no, this is exactly riba. Do not do so, but when you wish to buy, sell the interior dates against something [cash] and then buy the better dates with the price you receive.' (Muslim, Kilab al Musaqat, Bab al-ta'amr mithlan hi nritlrlin; also Musnad Ahmad)
• From Fadalah Ibn 'Ubayd al-Ansari': On the day of Khaybar he bought a necklace of gold and pearls for twelve dinars. On separating the two, he found that the gold itself was equal to more than twelve dinars. So he mentioned this to the Prophet who replied, It [jewellery] must not be sold until the contents have been valued separately."(Muslim, Kitab al-Musaqat, Bab hay'i al qda .ah filia kliara-zun wa dhahab; also in Tirmidhi and Nasa'i)
• From Abu Umamah: The Prophet said: "Whoever makes a recommendation for his brother and accepts a gift offered by him has entered riba through one of its large gates."
  (Buluglr al-Maranr, Kitab al-Buyu', Bab al-riba, reported on the authority of Ahmad and Abu Dawud)
• From 'Abdullah Ibn Abi Awfa: The Prophet said: "A najish [one who serves as an agent to bid up the price in an auction] is a cursed taker of riba."(Cited by Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani in his commentary on al-Bukhari called Fath at-Bari Kitab al-Buyu, Bab al-najish; also in Suyut, al Jan, al-Saghir, under the word al-najish and Kanz al 'Ummal, op. cit., both on the authority of Tabarani's alKahir)

Interest and Trade



The Holy Quran says: “Those who swallow usury cannot rise up save as he ariseth whom the devil hath prostrated by (his) touch. That is because they say: Trade is just like usury; whereas Allah permitteth trading and forbiddeth usury…….”(2:275)


Why does God permit trade and forbid usury?

It is because trade and usury are absolutely different. In trade one earns profit as a result of initiative, enterprise, efficiency and hard work. But the interest is not earned through hard work or any value creating process.


It is not the reward of labour but is in fact unearned income. Moreover interest is fixed whereas profit fluctuates. In case of trade there is risk of loss also, but in case of interest the lender gets his fixed amount irrespective of the fact whether the debtor earns any profit or sustains loss. God has forbidden interest but has permitted trade.


Why Is Interest Prohibited?As we have already discussed, interest has not only been prohibited and declared unlawful by Islam but has also been strongly condemned as a criminal offence in this world and a major sin liable to punishment in the Hereafter. According to al-Qur’an, charging of interest amounts to declaration of war against God and God’s Messenger; while according to the Sunnah it is a criminal and sinful act worse than adultery. But no reason for its prohibition has been provided either in the Qur’an or by the Sunnah of the Prophet. This has left the scholars and jurists to find out reasons and explain as to why interest has been prohibited. Regarding reasons of prohibition of interest views differ widely. However, they are unanimous on one single point at least that the prohibition is due to moral, social and economic harms of interest.



Let us briefly underline some of the very harmful effects of interest and decide for ourselves why it has been prohibited.

• Riba in Islamic Banking or usury inculcates miserliness, selfishness, callousness, indifference, inhumanity, greed and worship of wealth. It destroys the spirit of sympathy, mutual help and cooperation, and thus effects adversely the feelings of love, brotherhood and unity among the community. We find around us that the usurers are generally miser, selfish and hard-hearted Shylocks, devoid of milk of human kindness, who exploit the misery of the poor and charge their pound of flesh without feeling any moral compunction for the sufferings of the borrowers.
• Interest breeds idleness and promotes unearned income. Instead of undertaking business ventures and using their business acumen, skill, knowledge and entrepreneurship, people having money start lending it on interest and thus living like parasites. Such easily gained money is generally wasted on vices like gambling, horse-racing, betting, drinking and adultery, and in expenditure on luxurious living, marriage ceremonies and festivities.
• Interest causes many economic evils as well. It leads to hoarding of money adversely effecting its circulation among larger sections of society. It also causes establishment of monopolies, cartels and concentration of wealth in few hands. Thus distribution of wealth in the community becomes uneven and gulf between the rich and the poor widens. The community is divided sharply into two camps - have and have-nots - whose conflicting interests badly effect peace and harmony in the society. Moreover, due to interest economic distortions like recession, depression, inflation, unemployment, etc. are also caused.
• Capital investment is withheld from those enterprises which cannot yield profit equal to the prevailing rate of interest, even though such projects may be very vital for the country and nation. The flow of all financial resources in the country turns in the direction of those enterprises which carry the prospect of a profit margin equal to or more than the current rate of interest, even though such enterprises may have little or no social value.
• Interest charged on international loans has aggravated debt-servicing problem of the debtor countries. It has not only impeded the economic development of the poor nations, but has also resulted into transfer of resources from the poor to the rich nations. Moreover, it is adversely effecting the relations between the rich and the poor states and thus harming the cause of international security and peace.

____________________________________________

The problem for JEWISH BANKING is this:  USURY in TORAH is forbidden against fellow JEWISH citizens BUT it is not forbidden against NON-JEWISH citizens.  So, when global banking 1% WALL STREET go wild with USURY these few decades the JEWISH bankers do not feel they are breaking faith with TORAH.  It is when JEWISH BANKING hits fellow JEWISH citizens with USURY that the TORAH IS OFFENDED.

With all the massive frauds of WALL STREET these few decades why was BERNIE MADOFF one of few banking/finance criminals to end up in prison----that would possibly be that MADOFF targeted JEWISH investors in his crimes.

OLD WORLD KINGS CATHOLIC BANKERS didn't go to prison for massive frauds-----with USURY gone wild.


'Usury - Judaism
judaism.is/usury.html


Catholics are bound to the Magisterium against usury: Since the infallible teaching of the Church is that usury (profiting even a little from a loan of money) is a mortal sin, the Istituto per le Opere di Religione (“IOR” or “Vatican Bank”) is indeed one of the great scandals of our Church'.


'Our Father's Kingdom of America:

Law of Moses Against Usury

kingdomhereamerica.blogspot.com/p/usury.html

Historically Christians were Against Usury

Below are just a few historical events that show Christians were against usury: In 325AD, the First Council of Nicaea made ‘ prohibition of usury among the clergy’ one of the church laws'.


Who is being tied down with all these DEBTS these several decades? 


Islam considers TRADE AND USURY the opposite-----one is good one is bad.  Christianity once felt the same.  Jewish Torah says TRADE AND USURY outside of Jewish dealings is good.



USURY:

By: Executive Committee of the Editorial Board., Lewis N. Dembitz, Joseph Jacobs

In modern language this term denotes a rate of interest greater than that which the law or public opinion permits;


but the Biblical law, in all dealings among Israelites, forbids all "increase" of the debt by reason of lapse of time or forbearance, be the rate of interest high or low, while it does not impose any limit in dealings between Israelites and Gentiles.


Hence in discussing Jewish law the words "interest" and "usury" may be used indiscriminately.

**********************************************************

There are two points to make here:

First, this commitment in religious texts are geared towards followers only.  ISLAM's KORAN forbids USURY against MUSLIMS not non-Muslims.  Jewish TORAH forbids USURY against JEWISH not non-JEWISH.  Christian Bible forbids USURY against Christians not NON-CHRISTIANS.

Second, the US was founded upon PROTESTANT public banking -------AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT I AM MAN -----LOCKEAN principals that ALL US CITIZENS were equally protected under laws to include BANKING CRIMES.  OLD WORLD KINGS being CATHOLIC AND JEWISH BANKING does not see it that way.  When CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA killed our US Federal law enforcement they opened the doors to IGNOR all those LOCKEAN PROTESTANT banking rules------ergo, global banking 1% ROBBER BARON sacking and looting of our US civil society.

So, here is the problem for history repeating itself over these continuous wars and sacking and looting by banking----------OLD WORLD KINGS being CATHOLIC have never recognized PROTESTANTS as CHRISTIAN.  While lots of writings from both PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC sides embrace one another as CHRISTIAN-----when push comes to shove in MAKING MONEY-----

THOSE OLD WORLD CATHOLIC BANKING FAMILIES TEND TO IGNORE THAT 'THOU SHALT NOT USE USURY AGAINST FELLOW CHRISTIANS-----REGARDING WEALTH ACCUMULATED BY PROTESTANTS.

'catholicism

- Does the Catholic Church officially recognize ...christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/12485/...




Catholics do not believe that Protestants who are baptized, who lead a good life, love God and their neighbor, and are blamelessly ignorant of the just claims of the Catholic Religion to be the one true Religion (which is called being in good faith), are excluded from Heaven, provided they believe that there is one God in three Divine Persons; *that God will duly reward the good and punish the wicked; that Jesus Christ is the Son of God made man, who redeemed us, and in whom we must trust ...'

Our US FEDERAL BANKING LAWS were written to assure RELIGION had no place in our US banking protections.  When we allowed US FED/CENTRAL BANK to kill all sovereign US banking to be replaced by only GLOBAL/WORLD BANKING-----in comes all that OLD WORLD TRADE BANKING ethics.


Free Loans for the Working Poor
At the same time, the Torah suggests a positive response to poverty, a return to free-loan associations.



What Is Wrong with Charging Interest?



The Torah prohibits lending to poor people with interest. Why did Jewish law include business loans and how did this effect the law’s original purpose?


Prof. Michael L. Satlow


The Law
The Torah’s earliest collection of laws, referred to by scholars as the Covenant Collection, contains a prohibition to lend money with interest to fellow Israelites:

שמות כב:כד אִם כֶּ֣סֶף תַּלְוֶ֣ה אֶת עַמִּ֗י אֶת הֶֽעָנִי֙ עִמָּ֔ךְ לֹא תִהְיֶ֥ה ל֖וֹ כְּנֹשֶׁ֑ה לֹֽא תְשִׂימ֥וּן עָלָ֖יו נֶֽשֶׁךְ:Exod 22:24 If you lend silver (=money) to my people, to the poor among you, do not act toward them as a creditor; exact no interest from them.[1]The biblical prohibition against charging interest is the only such restriction known to us from the Ancient Near East.[2] What exactly is the Torah prohibiting in this verse?



Let us look at each element of the verse:


1. “My People” (אֶת עַמִּי): What About Not-Israelites?
The simple meaning of the verse is that if an Israelite lends a fellow Israelite money, he may not charge interest, implying that if he loans a non-Israelite money, he may charge interest. Rashi, however, expanding upon on a midrashic reading of the text found in the Mekhilta d’Rabbi Ishmael, rereads the verse to discourage lending to non-Israelites:
וְכֵן מַשְׁמָעוֹ: אִם כֶּסֶף תַּלְוֶה – אֶת עַמִּי תַּלְוֵהוּ וְלֹא לְגוֹי…This is its meaning: “If you loan silver” – loan it to my people and not to a non-Jew…Rashi parses the verse against its plain syntax and even against the Masoretic teamim (cantillation marks),[3] thereby changing the simple meaning of the phrase. Now it means, if you are going to loan anyone money, make sure it is to an Israelite, but this is clearly not the simple meaning of the verse.
Deuteronomy and Loans to Non-Israelites


The verse in Exodus implicitly divides between how a fellow Israelite should be treated financially and how outsiders may be treated. The Deuteronomic law collection makes this point explicit:



דברים כג:כ לֹא תַשִּׁיךְ לְאָחִיךָ נֶשֶׁךְ כֶּסֶף נֶשֶׁךְ אֹכֶל נֶשֶׁךְ כָּל דָּבָר אֲשֶׁר יִשָּׁךְ. כג:כא לַנָּכְרִי תַשִּׁיךְ וּלְאָחִיךָ לֹא תַשִּׁיךְ לְמַעַן יְבָרֶכְךָ יְ-הוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכֹל מִשְׁלַח יָדֶךָ עַל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה בָא שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ.Deut 23:20 You shall not deduct interest from loans to your kinsman, whether in money or food or anything else that can be deducted as interest.


23:20 You may deduct interest from loans to foreigners but do not deduct interest from loans to your country-men, so that YHWH your God may bless you in all your undertakings in the land that you are about to enter and possess. Deuteronomy changes the referent from “my (=God’s) people” to “your kinsman,”[4] Deuteronomy’s favored term for “fellow Israelites,” emphasizing that this law is about the proper way to treat “family.” Moreover, the second verse explicitly notes that Deuteronomy envisions Israelites loaning money to Israelites and non-Israelites alike, but it is permitted to make profit from the latter but not the former.



2. The Poor Among You (אֶת הֶעָנִי עִמָּךְ) or any Israelite?


The verse opens with an ambiguity:


שמות כב:כד אִם כֶּסֶף תַּלְוֶה אֶת עַמִּי אֶת הֶעָנִי עִמָּךְ…
Exod 22:24 If you lend silver to my people, to the poor among you…This phrasing is surprisingly unclear; what is the relationship between the phrase “to the poor among you” and “my people”? This ambiguity leads to Rashi’s interpretation, again found in Mekhilta d’Rabbi Ishmael:



וּלְאֵזֶה מֵעַמִּי? אֶת הֶעָנִי, וּלְאֵיזֶה עָנִי? לְאוֹתוֹ שֶׁעִמָּךְ.Which among my people? The poor.  And which poor person?  The one that is “with you.”Rashi’s reading splits the phrase “the poor among you” into two separate categories, “the poor” anywhere, and “those among you,” meaning local poor. This midrashic parsing, found originally in the Mekhilta but appearing ubiquitously afterwards in Rabbinic literature, is how this verse becomes the basis of the Rabbinic ruling “the poor of your own town come first” (עניי עירך קודמין; b. Bava Metzia 71a).
Financial Straits

The simple meaning is that loans are for the poor, and the second phrase is merely spelling this out. In other words, the Torah is not speaking about business loans here, but assistance for a fellow Israelite in financial straits. This is made explicit in a law recorded in the Holiness Collection in Leviticus:


ויקרא כה:לה וְכִי יָמוּךְ אָחִיךָ וּמָטָה יָדוֹ עִמָּךְ וְהֶחֱזַקְתָּ בּוֹ גֵּר וְתוֹשָׁב וָחַי עִמָּךְ. כה:לו אַל תִּקַּח מֵאִתּוֹ נֶשֶׁךְ וְתַרְבִּית וְיָרֵאתָ מֵאֱלֹהֶיךָ וְחֵי אָחִיךָ עִמָּךְ. כה:לז אֶת כַּסְפְּךָ לֹא תִתֵּן לוֹ בְּנֶשֶׁךְ וּבְמַרְבִּית לֹא תִתֵּן אָכְלֶךָ.Lev 25:35 If your brother, being in straits, comes under your authority, and you hold him as though a resident alien, let him live by your side: 25:36 do not exact from him advance or accrued interest, but fear your God.  Let him live by your side as your kinsman. 25:37 Do not lend him your money at advance interest or give him your food at accrued interest.In other words, this law comes into effect when a fellow Israelite, “your brother,” has a financial reversal and you are the local landowner upon whose largess he is going to have to live. In short, none of the three iterations of the law have anything to say about business interest to fellow well-off Israelites. (More on this later.)



3. What Does “Acting Like a Creditor” (לֹא תִהְיֶה לוֹ כְּנֹשֶׁה) Mean?


The word נֹשֶׁה (nôšeh) puzzled ancient translators and interpreters, and it is the one element of this verse not echoed in Deuteronomy (or Leviticus). The NJPS and the NRSV translate it as “creditor,” which is a neutral, descriptive term.[5] The Septuagint, however, translates it as “like one who presses down” (κατεπείγων) and Targum Onqelos prefers “like an evil one” [6] (כְּרָשְׁיָא).These latter emphasize a moral problem with creditor-like behavior.



The simple point is that a person should not try to collect on a loan that the borrower cannot repay, i.e., not to try and squeeze blood from a stone (to paraphrase a well-known proverb). But what is immoral about people trying to collect money owed them?


Benefiting the Lender or the Borrower?


The Sefer Ha-Chinukh (#73[or 67]), an anonymous thirteenth-century halakhic work that derived no less than three independent mitzvot from Exodus 22:24,[7] explains how not pressuring a borrower will make the lender into a better person:


לקנות לנו מדת החסד והחנינה והחמלהTo help us develop the virtue of kindness and empathy and compassion.Rashi, in contrast, focuses on the emotional harm to the borrower, on the shame that a creditor brings to a debtor who cannot pay. Moreover, Rashi offers a much more expansive meaning for “acting like a creditor,” going far beyond merely not asking for money he doesn’t have:   


לא תתבענו בחזקה, אם אתה יודע שאין לו אל תהי דומה עליו כאילו הלויתו אלא כאילו לא הלויתו, כלומר לא תכלימהו.Do not demand from him with force, if you know that he doesn’t have it, don’t act toward him as someone who lent him money but rather as someone who hasn’t lent him money. In other words, don’t shame him.To be in debt is seen as shame-worthy, and a loan is more dignified than a “handout,” since it is based on the implicit assumption that the person can pay it back. Nevertheless, Rashi says, if the person cannot pay it back, not only may you not demand it from him, but you must pretend that the loan never happened.



4. The Bite of Interest (לֹא תְשִׂימוּן עָלָיו נֶשֶׁךְ)


The word נֶשֶׁךְ is a homograph with the Hebrew root for “bite.”[8] This similarity serves as a trigger for a derash from Rashi (drawing from the Tanchuma):


נֶשֶׁךְ – רִבִּית, שֶׁהוּא כִנְשִׁיכַת נָחָשׁ שֶׁנוֹשֵׁךְ חַבּוּרָה קְטַנָּה בְּרַגְלוֹ וְאֵינוֹ מַרְגִּישׁ, וּפִתְאוֹם הוּא מְבַטְבֵּט וְנוֹפֵחַ עַד קָדְקֳדוֹ, כָּךְ רִבִּית אֵינוֹ מַרְגִּישׁ וְאֵינוֹ נִכָּר עַד שֶׁהָרִבִּית עוֹלֶה וּמְחַסְּרוֹ מָמוֹן הַרְבֵּה.Nešekh – Interest, which is like the bite of a snake who makes a small bite in his leg and he doesn’t feel [anything] and suddenly it bulges and swells to his head. Thus is interest, which is neither seen nor recognized until it increases and causes the loss of much money.By comparing interest specifically to a snake bite, the derash underlines the danger of interest, which sneaks up on people and does them great financial harm.


Two Types of Interest?




The Hebrew term for interest, נֶשֶׁךְ (nešekh), appears in all three of the Torah’s legal collections prohibiting interest, and in Leviticus, it is paired with תַרְבִּית (see also Ezek 18:8, 13; Prov 28:8), which also means interest. This seeming redundancy has led many commentators to understand these terms as two different types of interest.

• NJPS translates נֶשֶׁךְ as “advanced interest” (i.e., paid at the time of the loan or earlier) and תַרְבִּית as “accrued interest” (i.e., paid upon the repayment of the loan or after).

• The Mishnah (Bava Metzia 5:1), however, understands נֶשֶׁךְ as an advance agreement that the borrower will pay back more than the amount of the original loan and תַרְבִּית as paying back the loan of one form of produce with another form of produce that has risen in value, that the borrower did not have on hand at the time of the deal.

Although the verse in Leviticus may very well be including more than one form of interest, it is unlikely that the inverse is the case, namely that Exodus and Deuteronomy meant to forbid only one form of interest. Instead, these sources probably meant נֶשֶׁךְ as a catch-all term for interest. In all three sources, the point appears to be that an Israelite should not apply the “bite” of interest to loans given to his poor brethren.



5. Silver (אִם כֶּסֶף תַּלְוֶה) or Produce?



The verse refers to a loan of silver, but what use would poor people in Iron Age Israel[9] have had for “silver”?[10] As we have little evidence for a market-based economy, silver would most likely be used for big purchases like land (Gen 23:10-16) or slaves (Gen 37:21).  Silver was the kind of loan you would make to a landowner who sought to keep his (or her?) land from being repossessed rather than to the chronically poor. 
Is the term “silver” in Exodus meant to be inclusive of all commodities or exclusively limited to silver?


Including Food Loans: Leviticus and Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy picks up on this ambiguity and expands the list to be all inclusive: “interest from your loans whether in money or food or anything else” (נֶשֶׁךְ כֶּסֶף נֶשֶׁךְ אֹכֶל נֶשֶׁךְ כָּל דָּבָר). Leviticus similarly adds food to the list, “Do not lend him your money at advance interest or give him your food at accrued interest” (אֶת כַּסְפְּךָ לֹא תִתֵּן לוֹ בְּנֶשֶׁךְ וּבְמַרְבִּית לֹא תִתֵּן אָכְלֶךָ).


According to the passages in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, Israelites cannot ask to receive back more than the exact amount loaned of any product, whether it be silver or food or anything else. The added specification in those two passages highlights its absence in Exodus, which may only be envisioning loans to an Israelite landowner in financial collapse, as opposed to loans to the starving poor in need of food. If so, the passages in Leviticus and Deuteronomy expand the rule to include an even more humanitarian goal.[11]


Business versus Personal Loans


The reference to the poor or “being in straights,” the prohibition of acting like a creditor, and the discussion of food loans in Deuteronomy and Leviticus make it clear that the Bible is discussing only personal loans. This is also why the Torah treats loaning with interest as an ethical violation.  



The Tanakh never discusses what we would call business loans, which deal with production rather than consumption.[12] Such loans do not take advantage of poor people in dire straits but reflect a reasonable demand on the part of lenders to ensure that their money is being put to profitable use.



The Amorality of Business Interest: Adam Smith


Charging interest is a necessary part of market life. Like charging rent, business interest is amoral, i.e., neither moral nor immoral, just business. The great economist, Adam Smith (1723-1790), defines interest as a form of “stock,” i.e., part of the ownership and functioning of businesses:



That [revenue] derived from it [stock] by the person who does not employ it himself, but lends it to another, is called the interest or use of money. It is the compensation which the borrower pays to the lender, for the profit which he has an opportunity of making by the use of the money.  Part of the profit naturally belongs to the borrower, who runs the risk and takes the trouble of employing it; and part to the lender, who affords him the opportunity of making this profit.[13]


  
Smith treats interest dispassionately as a standard business reality and a relatively minor form of stock payment. [14]



Extending the Prohibition to Business Loans


It is possible that the biblical authors may have agreed with Smith’s sentiment, since they never speak about business interest one way or the other. However, the rabbis may have seen matters differently, since they applied the biblical prohibition to all forms of interest, including business loans. This is never stated in the Talmud, but simply taken for granted.  



This fact of rabbinic law is stated explicitly in the glosses of R. Moses Isserles (Remah, 1530-1572) on the Shulchan Arukh (Yoreh Deah 160:1):


ואין חילוק בין אם מלוה לעני או לעשיר.There is no distinction between a loan to a poor person or a loan to a wealthy one.The Vilna Gaon (R. Elijah of Vilna, 1720-1797), in his gloss on the Shulchan Arukh (ad loc.), explains R. Isserles’ point:



ר”ל אף על גב דנאמר וכי ימוך כו’ אל תקח כו’ ופשוט הוא בכמה מקומותHis point is that even though [the Torah] states (Lev 25:35-36) “if your brother, being in straights… do not take…”

[this does not mean the prohibition is limited to the poor], and this is clear in many places [where the Rabbis apply the prohibition to any loan]. The Vilna Gaon is certainly correct that this across the board application is clear in rabbinic, as opposed to biblical, texts. Why would the Rabbis read the Torah in such a counterintuitive way, ignoring all the references to the poor and the humanitarian critiques, and apply the prohibition even to business loans?



Greek Antipathy for Interest


Unlike the biblical authors and Adam Smith, Greek and Roman thinkers express great discomfort with all forms of interest, including business interest. As Aristotle writes (Politics 1258b):



Petty usury (ὀβολοστατική, lit., a weigher of obols, 1/6 of a drachma) is most reasonably hated, because its gain comes from money itself and not from that for the sake of which money was invented. For money was brought into existence for the purpose of exchange, but interest increases the amount of the money itself—and this is the actual origin of the Greek word (τόκος means both “offspring” and “interest”): a child resembles a parent, and interest is money born of money. Consequently, this form of the business of getting wealth is of all forms the most contrary to nature. [15]



For Aristotle, interest of any kind is unnatural and morally suspect. The Rabbis of the Mishnah lived in a Hellenistic world and imbibed many of its values. Thus, the Greek antipathy for interest of any kind may explain why the Rabbis understood the biblical prohibition to refer to even business loans.



Turning Loans into Business Partnerships:
The Heter Isqa
Conceivably, had Greek and Roman thinkers not condemned interest in all forms, the halakhah might have allowed business loans to fellow Jews with reasonable rates of interest. But the rabbinic extension of the biblical prohibition led to an impossible situation for people wanting to borrow money for business ventures. 



To remedy this problem—ironically of their own making—the rabbis devised a legal fiction known as the heter isqa (lit., permission to conduct business”), that turns a loan into a business partnership.[16] This legal instrument made the “borrower” and “lender” fictional “partners” in the venture and thus entitled to half of all profits and responsible for half of all losses.  The lender, though, forfeits her or his right to profits in return for a predictable revenue stream.  In practice the deal thus looks like an interest payment, although it is technically a fee or penalty.



  Below is the relevant clause from the Star-K’s heter isqa:[17]
We have agreed to a condition that if __________________ (the Recipient) will give ______ % of the money deposited in his charge per year to _________________ (the Investor), the Investor shall have no further claim to the rest of the profit. The Recipient has been given a wage for his labor.
Although the heter isqa was designed for business loans, it can technically be used for any loan; a heter isqa kelali (“general heter isqa”) is used by Israeli banks automatically for all loans. Moreover, it treats interest as a technical rather than a moral matter.  It brings us much closer to Adam Smith.



Applying the Torah’s Concerns
to Modern Life


The heter isqa can in theory be used in all loans, i.e., even humanitarian loans. But it is important not to lose sight of the Torah’s moral problems with charging interest to the poor and people in financial collapse; charging these people interest on loans is a moral problem that is as real today as it was three thousand years ago.  



Payday Loans

One need not look far to see such immoral lending practices, particularly in the so-called “payday loans.” 


These outrageous loans, usually small and given at high interest rates, target the working poor who have little access to the conventional banking system.  They are to be paid back with the next paycheck but often the interest keeps compounding until the debts exceed the paychecks.[18] They have become a classic case of nešekh (interest) as nešikha (bite), often sneaking up to drown borrowers in debt.  The Torah’s prohibitions should sensitize us to this wrongful behavior and drive us to work against it.


Free Loans for the Working Poor
At the same time, the Torah suggests a positive response to poverty, a return to free-loan associations.


  Such institutions, which were common among immigrant and other groups that were shut out of our banking systems, have largely been marginalized.  But by providing loans to the needy without charging interest they embody the spirit of Exodus 22:24. 



Organizations such as the Hebrew Free Loan Society and Kiva are, to my mind, exemplary in their commitment to a compassionate, ethical, and effective approach to poor relief.[19] But whether we support such institutions or not, our commitment to avoid profiting from the misfortune of others should be unshakeable.

___________________________________________



These few decades of ROBBER BARON sacking and looting and moving in of OLD WORLD KINGS GLOBAL BANKING CATHOLIC AND JEWISH cartels-----saw PROTESTANT churches --Baptist/Methodist et al black, white, and brown getting into INVESTMENT/WALL STREET MANIA.  Where were those RELIGIOUS LEADERS shouting--------stay away from a GLOBAL OLD WORLD BANKING AND TRADING MARKET?

Even people living in CAVES IN JAVA knew these few decades of CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA was filled with fraudulent behavior.  Where was the voice and actions telling our US 99% WE THE PEOPLE------these are not the same BANKING industries upon which our nation was founded?

What we want to say to our NEW to US immigrants---whether JEWISH, PROTESTANT, CATHOLIC, MUSLIM ----is this:

MOVING FORWARD ONE WORLD ONE GOVERNANCE WITH ONE WORLD BANK CENTRAL BANK BRINGS UNITED STATES TO COLONIAL STATUS------WE NO LONGER HAVE OUR US SOVEREIGN BANKING PRINCIPALS---WE HAVE OLD WORLD DARK AGES GLOBAL TRADING AND BANKING STANCES FOUND IN GLOBAL TRADE AGREEMENTS.

Be aware if someone is MUSLIM that while SHARIA and KORAN protects fellow MUSLIMS against USURY and banking excesses------it may not apply in OLD WORLD BANKING CENTRAL BANKS tied to 1000BC ------NOT BASED UPON RELIGIOUS TEXTS.

God is at work in the hearts and portfolios of His people, and all glory goes to Him.


Be aware if someone is CHRISTIAN that the definition of CHRISTIAN varies when MONEY is involved.
Be aware if someone is HINDI-BUDDHIST that the definition of FAIRNESS IN BANKING varies when MONEY is involved.

'with biblically responsible investing best practices, recognizing that investors want alignment between their investments and their deeply held values and beliefs'.


OLD WORLD KINGS AND GLOBAL BANKING 1% TAKE SERIOUSLY ----MAKING MONEY.  THESE GUYS LOOK OUT OUT FOR 'US' NOT 'THEM' ---ANOTHER WAY OF THINKING WHO IS 'US' AND 'THEM'.

Our MUSLIM immigrants around the world went to great lengths to avoid our US and/or Western banking ---having their own underground transfer of money for just this reason.  Beware -------things in DARK AGES are not ALL-AMERICAN.



Biblically responsible investing movement exploding


Biblically responsible investing movement exploding


By Robert Netzly, Voices Contributor | Friday, May 03, 2019


Robert Netzly | Courtesy of Robert Netzly



The Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI) movement is exploding — in a good way.


Demand from Christian investors desiring to align their portfolios to support biblical values is powering asset growth among fund companies and advisory firms focused on providing biblically responsible investment solutions.



Earlier this year, Ambassador Advisors, a $520 million advisory firm serving the Christian investor market, made headlines by converting all of their assets under management to align with biblically responsible investing best practices, recognizing that investors want alignment between their investments and their deeply held values and beliefs.



As Ambassador Advisors’ Chief Investment Officer, Christopher Coolidge, CFA®, puts it, “We believe you shouldn’t have to compromise performance to live your values. There’s more to making money than just making money. Biblically responsible investing allows Christians to apply their stewardship and the belief that all money is God’s money, not only for budgeting and giving purposes, but all the way through investing and legacy planning.”



My own firm, Inspire Investing, which is entirely dedicated to investing in the most inspiring, biblically aligned companies in the world, has increased assets under management from $250 million to over $400 million since the beginning of the year. We were also nominated as a finalist for “Best Thematic ETF of the Year” award in the annual ETF.com Awards.


God is at work in the hearts and portfolios of His people, and all glory goes to Him.



Expanding Biblically Responsible Investing Options


And recently that growth in demand has prompted yet another increase, this time in the supply side of the market with the launch of two new biblically responsible ETFs from Timothy Plan. Timothy Plan is a long-standing leader in the BRI marketplace and offers a fully diversified suite of mutual funds all designed to support biblical values.



Timothy Plan’s new ETFs are welcome additions to the growing lineup of world-class biblically responsible investment options available to Christian investors. The BRI movement is spreading like wildfire around the globe, and we need more high-quality, innovative, BRI solutions introduced to effectively serve this vast market and truly transform the way every Christian invests around the world for the glory of God.



How Big Is The Christian Investment Marketplace?


The size of the Christian investment market in the United States is estimated at over $21 trillion, according to research we have conducted at Inspire Investing. This marketplace includes investors identified by researchers as “Evangelical”, “Catholic” and “Mainline Protestant”, and is based on data sourced from Pew Research, Economic Policy Institute and the US Census.
Notably, this number includes only retirement assets such as 401(k) and IRA accounts, indicating the actual figure could be much higher if non-retirement investment assets were included.



Using the same data set, the total US investor marketplace of retirement assets, including faith-based and non-faith-based investors, is approximately $31.4 trillion dollars in size. Data from the Investment Company Institute’s “2018 Investment Company Fact Book” pegs total US retirement assets at $28.2 trillion at the end of calendar year 2017, adding confidence that these numbers are reliably close.



Sleeping Giant Awakening


The Wall Street establishment has no idea about the size and magnitude of the Christian investor market. Most secular firms dismiss Christian investors as an obscure, irrelevant niche population. But the reality is that Christian investors control more than two-thirds of the retirement assets in the United States, and this sleeping giant is waking up to biblically responsible investing.



Can you imagine the impact we Christians can have if we all just invested our money (God’s money) in alignment with biblical values?



What if we all just stood up and said, “Hey, Wall Street! We’re not going to invest in companies that manufacture abortion drugs, sell pornography, exploit child-slave labor or conduct any other blatantly immoral business practice anymore! We actually believe in the values taught in the Bible and we care about the glory of God, and we want investments that enable us to glorify our God in everything we do!”


Could our voice actually get noticed?


Bringing Down The Wall


The Bible tells the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho, and how the Lord commanded that after the Israelites had marched around the city seven times, “then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat…” (Joshua 6:5).


It’s time for all of God’s people to shout with a great shout and bring down Wall Street’s “wall” of greed, corruption and immorality and usher in a new culture of investing for the glory of God.

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What we see in US FOREIGN ECONOMIC ZONES is this:  all our religious denominations are seeing an EXODUS of members----an article shared yesterday said THERE ARE VERY FEW JEWISH citizens in US.  The same for CATHOLIC citizens as they leave a church filled with predatory priests and corruption.  Same with our PROTESTANT denominations.  LOSING OUR RELIGION is tops these few decades -------when dealing with OLD WORLD KINGS----KNIGHTS OF MALTA TRIBE OF JUDAH-----we are dealing with BANKING which sees 99% of WE THE PEOPLE---whether JEWISH/CATHOLIC/PROTESTANT/MUSLIM as ---

NON-CITIZENS.  NON-CITIZENS HAVE NO RIGHTS ERGO, THEY CAN BE FLEECED.

We will return to shouting against CENTRAL BANKING----US FED----which has been a mantra for most of last century.  Most US citizens did not want this for the very reasons we are dealing with ROBBER BARON FEW DECADES TODAY.  We must have SOVEREIGN US LOCAL BANKING protected by US FEDERAL LAWS to include ENFORCEMENT OF BANKING CRIMES.

Pew survey: Percentage of US Catholics drops and Catholicism is losing members faster than any denomination

• Michael O'Loughlin
  May 12, 2015
  CRUX_CONTRIBUTOR

For years, two truisms dominated coverage of the US Catholic Church: about one quarter of the population is Catholic and each year at Easter, Catholics entering the church offset those leaving it.



But new data suggests a new story.
A report released Tuesday by the Pew Forum finds that the total number of Catholics in the United States dropped by 3 million since 2007, now comprising about 20 percent – or one-fifth – of the total population.



And perhaps more troubling for the church, for every one Catholic convert, more than six Catholics leave the church. Taken a step further, Catholicism loses more members than it gains at a higher rate than any other denomination, with nearly 13 percent of all Americans describing themselves as “former Catholics.”


The report, America’s Changing Religious Landscape, found that in 2014, the overall share of Christians in the United States dropped to an all-time low of just under 71 percent, down about 7 percentage points from 2007.
The big winner in terms of growing numbers is the unaffiliated, or the so-called “nones,” shooting up to about 23 percent of the total population from just 16 percent seven years ago. The 56 million adults not belonging to any faith tradition outnumber both Catholics and mainline Protestants; only Evangelical Christians comprise a larger share of the population.




Big demographic shifts within Catholicism continue to change the face of the church. Hispanic Catholics now comprise 41 percent of the US church, up 6 points from 2007. And the average Catholic is getting a bit older, with the median age of 49 up four years. Immigration from Latin American countries has kept Catholic number stable in recent years, and 39 percent of American immigrants are Catholic.


More than a third of all millennials – those born between 1981 and 1996 – claim no affiliation, and just 16 percent identify as Catholic.



In the traditional Catholic hub of Massachusetts, for example, Catholics still comprise the largest Christian denomination at 34 percent, but the unaffiliated cohort is right behind at 33 percent. The share of Mass. Catholics dropped 9 percentage points since the last survey in 2007, while the unaffiliated grew a staggering 16 percent.



Rhode Island has the highest per capita Catholic population at 44 percent, and other northeast states all have percentages above 30 percent, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. Mississippi, with just 4 percent, has the lowest per capita Catholic population.



The Catholic Church is 54 percent women and 59 percent white. Income wise, the church is fairly evenly distributed across four brackets, though 36 percent of Catholics have an annual household income of less than $30,000. More than half – 52 percent – of Catholics are married, and another 8 percent live with a partner, while 12 percent are divorced.



Though the Pew report shows a population decline in the Catholic Church, it includes an appendix noting that there is uncertainty among demographers about the size of the church.


Additionally, many Catholic leaders contend that Hispanic Catholics are vastly undercounted due to mistrust regarding immigration issues.


The survey of 35,071 adults was conducted in English and Spanish between June and September 2014.
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And here is how our GLOBAL 1% OF ARABIC KINGS deal with ISLAM/KORAN/and USURY---they are setting up their own banking systems ready to ignore SHARIA USURY laws and target whomever they can get.



BANKING BY RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION----NOT ALL-AMERICAN.

Islam has only an obligation against USURY for its own followers---just as JEWISH banking------and CHRISTIAN banking---CHRISTIAN banking very quickly becoming only CATHOLIC banking.


Hot trend in 2017: Rise of Islamic banks on Main St. USA


Published Fri, Dec 2 2016 9:16 AM ESTUpdated Mon, Dec 5 2016 11:16 AM EST


Riyadh Mohammed, special to CNBC.com

In the United States a quiet financial revolution is going on under the radar of the public eye. It’s the rise of Islamic financial institutions — ranging from small community banks in the Midwest to nationwide investment banks and brokerage firms.



The issue has gained attention during the heated U.S. presidential election season after both candidates were suspected of dealing with Islamic banks that fund terrorism. While investigations proved these claims false, it put the spotlight on this fast-growing financial network. Inquests revealed that a Washington, D.C., lobbying group with close ties to Hillary Clinton was paid by a Bengali bank tied to terrorism. In addition, it was found that the Donald Trump real estate organization rented New York office space to Bank Melli, an Iranian bank linked to terrorist groups and Iran’s nuclear program, once it inherited it as a tenant after buying the GM Building on Fifth Ave.



Islamic finance differs from conventional banking systems in that usury and speculation are prohibited. Transactions have to comply with Shariah, the legal code of Islam based on the Koran, and are based on principles of risk and profit-sharing. It prohibits taking interests on loans and funding any business involving products like alcohol, pork or gambling. Islamic banking is more risk adverse in its investment practices, typically avoiding business that could be associated with economic bubbles.



Since 2000, Islamic banks have become a force to be reckoned with. “Islamic banks’ capital grew from $200 billion in 2000 to close to $3 trillion in 2016,” said Ibrahim A. Warde, professor of international business at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. This figure is expected to go up to $4 trillion in the 2020s. There are now more than 300 banks and 250 mutual funds around the world complying with Islamic principles.


The institutions offer everything — from mortgages and traditional loans to investment banking products, including Islamic bonds and equity funds.
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'Ironically, feudalism is making a comeback  in the latest evolution and under the impulse of predatory global capitalism'.

REMEMBER, back in DARK AGES------the 99% of WE THE SERFS AND PEASANTS were not allowed to enter banking trades------that was only for those dastardly global 1% and their 2% OLD WORLD KINGS.

Our US BANKING was founded upon the principle stating the OPPOSITE-----our US BANKS were to serve 99% of WE THE PEOPLE.  


MARXISM as we said is a PARTNER to NEO-LIBERALISM----it is not POPULIST---it is the EXTREME WEALTH EXTREME POVERTY side of global economic policy.  MOVING FORWARD FINAL SOLUTION will have our US 99% WE THE PEOPLE and new to US immigrants caught in these DARK AGES banking structures.

Remember, SERFS in DARK AGES included JEWISH AND CATHOLIC -----those were the only religions in TOWN


'The “market forces” are not physical phenomena; they are the hyenas and vultures from Wall Street who dismantle and then feed on the carcasses of a city or country'.



June 2, 2014


Back to the Dark Ages of Feudalism
by Gilbert Mercier

History never repeats itself, but from time to time, consciously or not, some influential men attempt to force us into the monstrosity of their imaginary time machines to try to reverse decades, and in the case of feudalism, almost a millenium of social progress. The mid-20th century brought the years of collective psychosis of Adolf Hitler’s “thousand year Reich,” and more recently what can be viewed as the United States of America’s imperialist manifesto or so-called “Project for the New American Century”, concocted in 1997 but still in effect today under the current administration, with the self-proclaimed objective to “promote American global leadership” resolutely and by military force, if necessary.

Montesquieu and his colleagues of the mid-18th century, such as Voltaire, Diderot and Rousseau of the Age of  Enlightenment, denounced feudalism as being a system exclusively dominated by aristocrats who possess all financial, political and social power.  During that time, which incubated the French Revolution and built its  ideological foundations, feudalism became synonymous with the French monarchy. To the Enlightenment writers, feudalism symbolized everything that was wrong with a system based on birth privilege, inequality and brutal exploitation. In August 1789, shortly after the takeover of La Bastille on July 14, one of the first action of the Assemblee Constituante was to proclaim the official abolition of the “feudal regime.”


Ironically, feudalism is making a comeback  in the latest evolution and under the impulse of predatory global capitalism. After all, Karl Marx, in the mid-19th century, considered feudalism to be a precursor of capitalism. Typically a feudal system can be defined as a society with inherited social rank. In the Middle Ages, wealth came exclusively from agriculture: the aristocracy strictly assumed ownership of the land while the serfs provided the labor.



The feudal system of the Dark Ages was the social and economic exploitation of peasants by lords. This led to an economy always marked by poverty, sometimes famine, extreme exploitation and wide gaps between rich and poor.  The feudal era relation of a serf to his lord is essentially identical to the relation of a so-called WalMart associate to a heir of the Walton family. If one looks objectively at the power stratum in the US circa 2013, and the one of, let’s say, France circa 1750, it is hard to ignore the startling similarity. For example, attendance at Ivy-League schools in the US is principally an inherited privilege; the same can be said for elected positions in Congress. The concept of dynasties rules, not personal merit.



A powerful network of oligarchs worldwide seems to be pursuing the objective to set back the social clock to before the era of  Enlightenment so as to return us to the Dark Ages of  lords and serfs: a new era of global slavery to benefit Wall Street’s “masters of the universe.” Compared to the Middle Ages, today’s servitude is more insidious: the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and many private banks operate like mega drug dealers. The IMF and World Bank do so with countries, while the banks do so with individuals. Once Greece, Detroit or John Doe is addicted to its fix — loans in this case — the trick is done. After a while, money must be borrowed even to service the debt.



In a recent cynical opinion piece titled “Detroit, the New Greece”, New York Times columnist and Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman reasoned more like a callous Wall Street operator than someone with the self-proclaimed humanist “conscience of a liberal” by casually calling Detroit a “victim of market forces.”



“Sometimes the losers from economic change are individuals whose skills have become redundant; sometimes they are companies serving a market niche that no longer exist; and sometimes they are whole cities that lose their place in the economic ecosystem,” writes Krugman, forgetting Greece in his laundry list of “innocent victim of these mysterious “market forces.” Krugman concludes his paragraph with: “Decline happens,” as if this is a physical phenomenon, like gravity or magnetism. Like most of the leading international economists, Krugman has adamantly supported the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Detroit and Greece are not some sort of collateral damage of “market forces” in Krugman’s “decline happens” scenario. Detroit was demolished wholesale by NAFTA, and Greece was enticed to borrow money to join the EURO zone.



The IMF itself recently conceded that the policies it has implemented for Greece resulted in “notable failures.” The IMF failed to push for an immediate restructuring of Greece’s debt, but didn’t prevent money owed by the country before 2010 to private-sector creditors from being fully repaid at the onset of the fiscal crisis. Greece’s overall debt level remained the same, except it was now owned to the Euro-zone taxpayers and the IMF instead of banks and hedge funds. Both Greece and Detroit were targets of  a predatory capitalism that sought to downgrade and then shut down all public sectors of an economy.



The “market forces” are not physical phenomena; they are the hyenas and vultures from Wall Street who dismantle and then feed on the carcasses of a city or country.


Decline does not just happen; it is engineered by the corporate entities of global capitalism  to maximize profit without regard for human costs. It is ultimately up to us, for the common good of human kind, to put wrenches  into the well-oiled wheels of this global corporate machine that is breaking our backs by grinding and crushing our accomplishments of more than 250 years to return us to the servitude of feudalism.