He summoned all those who owed gallons of olive oil or bushels of wheat to his employer. When they came he brought out their bills. Then he counseled them to change the amounts on their bills so they would owe only a fraction of the true amount.

When the owner heard about this he no doubt was outraged. But he commended the steward for being shrewd enough to provide for his future by making friends of the debtors.

After telling this story, this parable, the Lord Jesus said: "And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of (or by means of) the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail (or it fails), they may receive you into everlasting habitations."

Then the Lord spoke of our need to be faithful "in the unrighteous mammon," saying that if we were not, the "true riches," the spiritual treasures of the Kingdom of God, would not be entrusted to us.

Jesus remarked that we must be faithful with the possessions of another man before we can expect to receive our own inheritance.

After that, Jesus commented that no servant can serve two masters. We cannot serve both God and money.

Let us think about each of the applications the Lord made of this parable.

"Make to yourselves friends of (or by means of) the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail (or it fails), they may receive you into everlasting habitations."

"He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much."

If we have not been "faithful in the unrighteous mammon," no one will entrust to us the true riches.

If we have not been faithful in what belongs to someone else, no one will give us our own inheritance.

No servant can serve two masters. He will choose one over the other. We cannot serve both God and material wealth.

Perhaps the key to the understanding of this story, this parable, is what Jesus meant by the phrase "the mammon of unrighteousness," or, "the unrighteous mammon."

The term cannot mean material wealth because material wealth is not unrighteous of itself. "The unrighteous mammon" must refer to the entire world system, the merchandise and money of it and the people who live by and for money.

The Antichrist system fundamentally is a system of money, of buying and selling. "666" symbolizes man making himself God—three symbolizing God and six symbolizing man. The penalty for not accepting the "mark" of the Beast is that one cannot buy or sell (Revelation 13:17,18). Man makes himself a god by means of money.

Of all the gods of the Greeks and the Romans, the only god Jesus mentioned was Mammon. Material wealth is the god of the Antichrist world system. To have the mark, or name, of the Beast is to be living by money instead of by faith in the God of Heaven.

One of the important choices people make is either to trust in God or to trust in money. It is impossible to serve both God and money.

To be continued.