Make no mistake! This Sunday's Sermon is about class "warfare" as the elite define it. It is about people who work for a living and people who loan money for a living.

"'And in case your brother grows poor and so he is financially weak alongside you, you must also sustain him.  As an alien resident and a settler, he must keep alive with you.  Do not take interest and usury from him, but you must be in fear of your God;  and your brother must keep alive with you.   You must not give him your money on interest, and you must not give your food out on usury,'" Leviticus 25:35-37.

Further, I arranged a great assembly on their account.  And I proceeded to say to them, "We ourselves have brought back our own Jewish brothers who were sold to the nations, as far as it was in our power;  and at the same time will you yourselves sell your own brothers, and must they be sold to us?"   At this they became speechless, and they did not find a word.   And I went on to say, "The thing that you are doing is not good.   Is in not in the fear of our God that you should walk because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?"   And also I, my brothers and my attendants are giving money and grain on loan among them.   Let us, please, leave off this lending on interest," Nehemiah 5:7 3/4-10

In Nehemiah the assembly was speechless because owing a debt with interest was being called slavery. In the end the assembly decided to restore everything to those who had returned, as their due, not as a loan with interest, not even as a loan.

Now I don't even care how you define the word "brother" or how you view the scriptures quoted from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. I am going to look at interest and loans as I believe Gandhi would look at them if he were alive today. I believe that if you read enough by and about Gandhi that you can conclude that many of the things that we all seem to view as unchangeable exist only becuse we accept them. That such things can actually be changed by our own actions, our own sacrifices. I believe he would look at loans, interest, our economy, and class "warfare" as I wrote in the following Branch Item that was published in the "Postal Record". I have used brackets to clarify an article that was limited to 300 words.
 

Burlington, Vermont

Workers can increase the relative value of their labor by decreasing the ability of the rich to increase their wealth by the mere fact that they have wealth. Gandhi wrote that the oppressed willingly participate in systems that oppress them. That they sustain oppressive systems when they are unwilling to make the sacrifices that will end them. That when even one individual refuses to participate in an oppressive system, that individual becomes free of it. [Gandhi "wrote" might better be stated as reading between the lines that Gandhi wrote.]

We devalue our own labor and increase the wealth of those who do not work when we borrow money. The interest we pay allows the wealthy to increase their wealth without working and increases the cost of everything we buy.

When mortgage rates are low, houses cost more; because everyone can afford to borrow more money. When mortgage rates are high, some cannot afford to borrow a huge amount of money and the price of houses drops. If everyone were unwilling to borrow money, the price of houses would be even lower. If houses were selling for less, apartments would rent for less. That would allow renters to save money to buy a house, as long as they did not spend money on a vast array of material possessions. They might also have to sacrifice by delaying the start of a family. When baby-boomers leave their houses, it will be an easier time for a new generation of home-buyers to repudiate mortgages.

If only one individual refuses to borrow, he will still have to pay high prices for the things he buys, but even if he has fewer material possessions he will be free of debt and free of the worries that can plague debtors.

Reprints are available at pwp.surfglobal.net/butterfield/gandhi.html.