Mammon works through self-satisfied contentment

Many of you may think that if a person is contended, he or she is not under the spirit of mammon. You may think that you are not under the spirit of mammon because you are truly saved, you donate much money to your local church, and you are a full-time evangelist, as what one modern evangelical thinks.  No! A person can be very very content with what one has and be under the spirit of mammon who is prowling around, seeking to hold more people in bondage and enslavement to him. This is how deceptive mammon is.

You may say that a person who is very content is not under the spirit of mammon because one is contented with oneself with all one has. That is exactly what is means to be under the spirit of mammon. To be content with yourself, thinking that you are rich, when you are poor. Such was the church of Laocidea. It became self-contented, contented with one has, smug behind its possessions like the modern church in the west. You may say it not contentment commanded in Hebrews 13:5: "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee". This is an extremely deceptive argument made, one made by demons! It is true that contentment is commanded by Hebrews 13:5. However, it is what one is content in that matter for "where you heart is, there your treasure is also" (Matthew 6:21).

Those mammonised Christians who use Hebrews 13:5 as an excuse to be self-contented deliberately suppress the whole truth by their own carnality, and calculatedly choose to embrace a half-truth that contentment is all that matters, rather than what one is content in. Jesus had very strong words for those of the mammonised church of Laocidea  regarding their self-contentment: "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Revelation 3:17).

You may still argue that self-contentment in material things is of course wrong, but self-contentment in unearthly, spiritual things is not wrong. This is a fallacy, and not even a  false dichotomy that some of these mammonised Christians would like to make it out to be so that they can justify their pursuit of spiritual things, while expecting their material things that they have to make them feel contented. That is the most deceptive thing one can say, used by those mammonised Christians who calculatedly embrace a half-truth by twisting the Bible, using Hebrews 13:5 as a justification to be self-contented. 

A person can be contended with spiritual things such as studying theology and preaching, and work in full-time ministry, but yet still be self-contented with earthly things. This is not because self-contentment in material things and spiritual things are diametrically opposed. Rather, it is because one has a spirit of self-contentment  in oneself from the flesh that one is self-contented with both spiritual and material things. A person who is self-contented, is self-contented in all things because it is of the person's nature, or in the case of the true Christian, in the person's flesh that has not fully submitted to God in this area and therefore quenches the Holy Spirit when dealing with self-contentment.

Self-contentment is an attitude and it not true contentment. It twists true contentment and make a mockery of true contentment. It is not the opposite of greed, but rather the sister of greed. Self-contentment is an selfish, self-centred, self-directed fleshly desire to feed the flesh, and pride of life. It is not that self-contentment leads to pride, but that self-contentment itself is pride.  Self-contentment seeks to be content only with what one has, and shows it true colours when another confronted with another who shows who content one is content with having more earthly things, and angered with others are truly contented with what they have, despite having much much less. Self-contentment really is envy at its core, and it seeks to cover this up by trying to be content with 'settling for less'. There is nothing self-contented people hate more than those who are truly content and able to be truly content with much much less earthly things. It remind them that they are suppressing their envy by their own desire for contentment, manifesting itself a self-contentment which reminds them of their own carnal fear of lack. 

This explains why the unsaved can be very contented with what they have, despite having, in the relative sense, "very little" that is, in the eyes of the world. The classifications as to how much one has is itself an earthly concept, that of the lust of the flesh and pride of life. However, the unsaved are only self-contented, content with what the have in their own strength. The natural person does not know God, nor can submit to God, and therefore, only seek to find contentment according to one's flesh. Thus, to the natural person, regardless of worldview, philosophy or religion, being self-contended is a virtue, for the natural person does not or cannot know true contentment. He or she can only find contentment  in whole range of things, whether it be money, possessions, luxury goods, family, relationships, friends or careers, but never true contentment. None of these things, including family and children can give true contentment. 

Many professing American and Australian Christians seem to think that having a family and caring for them means that one cannot be under the spirit of mammon. This is a severe misunderstanding as a person can be caring of one's family, but still be not only anxious, but self-contented in what has, smug behind one's family. It does not matter that one sacrifices everything for one's family. As long as the chief end is not to ultimately seek God first, it is done under the spirit of mammon.

The issue is not being content with how much one has, but what one is content is. Each person is other content in Christ, or content in mammon. A person may be truly in Christ, but owing to a lack of total submission of God in this area, try to find contentment in mammon. As such, the person is under the spirit of mammon.  This is the precisely the case of many Christians in the modern west.