In terms of money, wealth and power, are most American Christians modern day Pharisees?

In terms of money, wealth and power, are most American Christians modern day Pharisees?  After reading Money, Possession and Eternity by Randy Alcorn (2003) and #OccupytheBible by Susan Thistlethwaite (2012), I would answer a resounding, YES.

From Luke/Jesus 16:13-14, we read: "You cannot serve [both] God and mammon.  The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all of this, and they scoffed at him."  Luke 11:42: Jesus accused the Pharisees of "neglecting justice and the love of God."

After Jesus declared that a person cannot serve both God and Money at the same time, the bible-believing Pharisees sneered/scoffed at Jesus.  Why?  Because they had been doing both at the same time for a long time, and it seemed to be working well for them.  As both "lovers of money" and "lovers of God," they were running a religious racket.  This blending of religion and materialism was now natural and normal; Jesus was the weird one who questioned the status quo.

Randy Alcorn, a conservative evangelical, is deeply troubled by the widespread American blend of Christianity and materialism; hint: its influence goes far beyond the prosperity gospel.  Alcorn devotes four chapters to the topic of materialism:  The Nature of Materialism, The Dangers of Materialism, Materialism in the Church, and Prosperity Theology.  Because the American church has not been taught in depth the biblical principles on money and possessions, most American Christians are easily seduced by the temptation of materialism.  They, like the Pharisees, readily blend the two as natural and normal.  After all, most of their Christian friends are doing so, and their pastor is silent on this evil.

Randy Alcorn is sure to challenge and offend many of his readers.  So also is Susan Thistlethwaite.  Writing from a much different perspective---Bible, kingdom of God and social/Jubilee justice---Susan will equally challenge and offend most American Christians.  But don't be too quick to sneer and scoff at Alcorn and Thistlethwaite.  Hang in there, read carefully; you might learn some important new biblical truth and how to live them out in today's world.  In fact, both authors excel at modern application of biblical truth.

In 1967, after the Civil Rights laws had been passed and four month before his assassination, Martin Luther King referred to his continuing nightmare---"black brothers and sisters perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity."  If King were alive in 2013, he would assert much the same.  Where has the church been since December, 1967 and November, 2013 on the issue of economic inequality and the systems of oppression that drive it?  Rather quiet, largely silent.  So we need to read Randy and Susan who are blunt, direct, no sugarcoating of the hard biblical truth on money, idolatry and materialism.