The Bible says in 1 John, that “all of the world lies in darkness”. All of the world lies under the influence of spiritual powers.
In Ephesians 6 it tells us also, “we wrestle not with flesh and blood”. Our problems are not with the people around us.
Problems lie with wicked spirits, who contend against us. “We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers…” So very clearly, the Bible over and over and over speaks of the invisible spirit realm.
So we're going to ask the question: what is the Spirit of Mammon?
The name or the word 'Mammon' literally means this: it means ‘riches’; or it also means ‘greed’, has a similar kind of meaning. It means: something that you put your trust in; something you are leaning your life upon; and it comes and dates way back.
Jesus used the word in Aramaic, He used the word Mammon. It was translated to Greek - they never could come up with a word for it, so they just called it Mammon in Greek. They called it Mammon in Hebrew, they called in Mammon in English.
In other words, there's been no attempt to change the name. The name is the original name, going right back to where it was originally used; and where it originates from of course, it comes from the Syrian God of Riches, and that originated out of the Tower of Babel.
Remember in the Old Testament, how there was a group of people wanted to find their own way to heaven, wanted to build themselves a tower, wanted to make their own way. They were full of pride and arrogance, and God came on them and confounded them; so the word 'Babel', or ‘Babylon’ means: confusion.
So this God of Mammon (God of Finances, God of Wealth), that they worshipped, called Mammon - right through history, that God dates right back to the Tower of Babel - it's rooted in confusion, and pride, and arrogance, and independence. That's the roots of the thing; it's just carried on.
If you were to watch or play some of our modern video games or DVD games, you'd be quite surprised how often Mammon is one of the great Gods that turns up in the video games, that you have to contend against. In the game Dungeons and Dragons, Mammon is the arch devil of hell, in one of the levels in the games.
This ‘Mammon’, everywhere through history, has been portrayed as (or is a representative of) a God. Since we understand that things which are worshipped in the Old Testament have spirit powers behind them.
If you track through the Old Testament, you find God's people continually contended with Idolatry; and that the idol of Baal continually was a problem for them.
Chemosh was another; or Molech, where they worshipped and sacrificed their children. The spirit behind that still works today in the area of abortion. So these ancient gods, that Israel fought, all had behind them spiritual power; and that spiritual power is still present today.
We read the Old Testament, we see the natural stories of worship of idols, but it was to try and teach us that behind idols is a spiritual power.
In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul writes: “Those that worship idols, or fellowship with idols, fellowship with demons”, and he says: “you can't fellowship with demons and with God”.
So consistently through history, and right through to today, Mammon refers to wealth and riches; but more particularly to greed.
Greed is an inordinate desire: I need more. I'm not satisfied with what I have, I need more.
You ask the question: how much is enough? The answer's always the same: a bit more. It wouldn't matter how wealthy you are - you ask how much is enough? A bit more. A bit more.
You could ask a poor person how much is enough? They need a bit more to get by. Ask a rich person how much is enough? They need a bit more - same thing, doesn't matter what level of society you work at; and so behind this, operates a spirit.
Key verse, Matthew 6:24 – “No man can serve two masters. He will hate one and love the other, or he'll be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon”.