The objective of the spirit of mammon is to steal our trust in God. It distorts our vision of God’s truth and His blessings. The spirit of mammon tempts us to trust in either riches or ourselves. Jesus himself experienced this temptation. In Matthew 4: 8-10 when the enemy offered Jesus the kingdoms of the earth and their wealth, Jesus quotes Scripture and responds that He would serve God only. Jesus recognized the seduction and the one who was behind it. Our world has firmly adopted the principles of “behavioural sciences”. The advertising community has studied and analyzed who buys what and why they buy it. As a result, they have learned how to “create needs” within us. They may know more about you and your desires than you do. The rich, young ruler (Matthew 19:16-22) who meets Jesus face-to- face, chooses instead to trust more in his own riches. The world tells us that money matters almost more than anything else does. Jesus tells us it is the least important in the Kingdom of God. Trusting in riches makes us its servants and that is why we must Jesus recognized the seduction and the one who was behind it. 2 2 | u n m a s k i n g m a m m o n Unmasking_Mammon_book_4.5.indd 22 2018-07-11 7:41 AM