The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by Pastor Don Elmore
September 2, 2012
Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 5:1-6
Which of all the movies have you watch the most? I mean which movie have you watched over and over throughout the years? There is one that I have probably watch the most throughout my years and I was shocked when I saw a video on YouTube two weeks ago that this movie contained a political and economic lesson from America history; but more about this later!
John 2:15-16 “And when he [Jesus Christ] had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
And said unto them [money chargers] that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.”
Nehemiah 5:3-6 “Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth.
There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards.
Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.
And I [Nehemiah] was very angry when I heard their cry and their words.”
When one studies the history of the world, most of the books omit the major reason that a nation or kingdom was in prosperity or depression. Up to the 1100’s, goldsmiths served as the bankers. And they manipulated the amount of gold and how much they loaned. But King Henry I of England was in a situation where his gold supply was too low and he needed some money. So he created something new: tally sticks. Tally sticks were used to pay taxes. It worked well as a debt-free money system. Ninety-five percent of English money was in tally sticks. In fact, they worked well in England for over 700 years. This is one reason why Richard Hoskins, editor of the Hoskin’s Report, recommends that we use something like the tally sticks that were used in England!
King Henry also made the Charter of Liberties and the Magna Carta which basically was the voluntary position of stating what his powers were to be. In the year 1265 the first Parliamentary elections began. In the 1600’s serfdom was legally banned. But in the year 1694 the Bank of England was created by the Parliament. The control of the money supply went back to the goldsmith; the bankers. Soon 75% of England’s entire budget was involved with paying off the wars that they had been in. Thus, they had to collect taxes from their Colonies to help with the payments.
The Colonies had broken free from the bankers because they were using Colonial Script. “In the Colonies we issue our own money. It is called Colonial Script…we control its purchasing power, and we have no interest to pay to no one” Benjamin Franklin.
In 1760 England passed the Stamp Act, which said that they had to put a stamp on an item indicating that a tax was paid in gold. Without gold the Colonies could not buy or sell anything. This made almost all Americans very mad.
In 1775 the Colonies issued Continental Currency. It worked very well. But the British ruined the money supply by adding too many bills to the supply by counterfeiting them.
This was the major cause of the Revolutionary War. The English had required the Colonies to pay all of their taxes with gold. They had taken away from the Colonies their ability to provide for themselves their own money supply. “The Colonies would gladly have borne the little tax on tea and other matters had it not been that England took away from the Colonies [their] money, which created unemployment and dissatisfaction” Benjamin Franklin.
In 1781 bankers were given control over the supply of money in the Colonies/States. The Bank of North America was the nation’s first national bank. But the value of the currency soon plummeted by 1785.
Soon men were meeting in secret to devise a new Constitution. But they made many mistakes. The Bank of the United States was given a 20 year Charter—that was one. Two others in banking were that the government could borrow money and emit Bills of Credit.
“I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution…Taking from the federal government the power of borrowing” Thomas Jefferson.
The First Bank of the United States had a monopoly from 1791-1811. In 1811 the Charter was not renewed by a single vote. The English bankers had threatened that if the charter was not renewed then there would be war. And they were good to their word.
But this is not what is taught; in fact, it is not even mentioned: “It was less than 30 years after the final shots of the Revolutionary War; and it again pitted the United States against the more powerful Great Britain. Congress’ declaration of war on June 18, 1812, was spurred by Britain’s seizures and forced recruitment of U.S. seamen, its interference with U.S. trade and British support for American Indians who were blocking U.S. expansion to the Northwest” Cincinnati Enquirer; article on Key War of 1812 Players Had Ties To Region.
By 1814 the British burnt the White House and the Congress Building. The War ended in a draw when England had to pull out since it had to commit too many troops against Napoleon.
In the year 1816 another new bank was chartered for 20 years. But there were a lot of United States citizens who were against the charter Bank. In 1828 they encouraged Andrew Jackson, the hero of the battle of New Orleans, to run for President of the United States; his main issue was that he fought against the national bank. The bank was voted to receive their charter to continue on, but Jackson vetoed it. And the charter died.
“It is easy to conceive that great evils to our country and its institutions might flow from such a concentration of power in the hands of a few [who are] irresponsible to the people. Controlling our currency, receiving our public moneys, and holding thousands of our citizens in dependence…would be more formidable and dangerous than a military power of the enemy…” 1832; President Andrew Jackson.
Nicolas Biddle, who was the head of this bank, threatened a depression if Jackson vetoed the bank’s re-charter. “Nothing but widespread suffering will produce any effect on Congress…Our only safety is in pursuing a steady course of firm [monetary] restriction—and I have no doubt that such a course will ultimately lead to restoration of the currency and the re-charter of the Bank.” Nicholas Biddle.
But President Jackson refused to back down to the threats of the banker Biddle—so America went quickly into a great depression because Jackson vetoed the re-charter Bill. Jackson said: “You are a den of vipers. I intend to rout you out and by the Eternal God I will rout you out.”
President Jackson made a Biblical statement. He called the bankers a “den of vipers.” Same as Jesus Christ had done in His father’s Temple.
Jackson won the battle. The Second Bank of the United States was not chartered. Jackson later paid off the national debt andsurvived an assassination attempt when both revolvers of his assailant jammed.
“The bold effort the present bank had made to control the government…the distress it had wantonly produced…are but premonitions of the fate that awaits the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it” Andrew Jackson.
But there were designs to split the United States into at least two groups of nations. The North was to be under the rule of the Bank of England (Rothschild) and the South under the rule of the Bank of France (Rothschild). But Russia got involved and Lincoln did something else which threw these plans in disarray.
“Have designs already been formed to sever the Union? This great and glorious Republic would soon be broken into a multitude of petty States, without commerce, without credit…loaded with taxes to pay armies…trampled upon by the nations of Europe” Andrew Jackson, 1837.
France invaded Mexico; England invaded Canada. When the War began, President Lincoln avoided an assassination before his inauguration. But President Lincoln felt that he was forced into the War by hidden hands. He needed some money to fight the War, so he went to New York to meet with the bankers. The bankers felt that there was a high probability that the United States would default on the loans; so they offered Lincoln 36% interest. Lincoln was outraged.
So Lincoln ignored the bank loans. He created the money with NO GOVERNMENT INTEREST—the green backs. “The underlying idea in the greenback philosophy…is that the issue of currency is function of the government, a sovereign right which ought not to be delegated to corporations” Dr. Davis Rich Dewey, 1902. Lincoln had published $450,000,000 green backs to help pay his army as they fought the War. A few days after the War ended, Lincoln was assassinated: April 14, 1865. About a year later, the Contraction Act was passed which would begin to retire the green back. “The hard times which occurred after the Civil War could have been avoided if the Greenback legislation had continued as President Lincoln had intended. Instead, there were a series of ‘money panics’—what we call ‘recessions’ – which put pressure on Congress to enact legislation to place the banking system under centralized control” The Truth in Money Book, pp. 123-4.
Between 1866-1886; 84% of the currency was called in. “The drastic decline in the stock of money and the occurrence of a banking panic of unprecedented severity did not reflect the absence of power on the part of the [Federal] Reserve System to prevent them …in retrospect…the contraction could almost certainly have been prevented and the stock of money kept from declining or, indeed, increased to any desired extent” 1963, Professor Milton Friedman.
And near the beginning of this 20 year period of time was the Crime of 1873. Silver was no longer to be used as money—gold only. In 1877, riots broke out in the Midwest, but the America Bankers Association (ABA) urged their membership to continue their disastrous pace. “It is advisable to do all in your power to sustain such prominent daily and weekly newspapers, especially the Agricultural and Religious Press, as we will oppose the greenback issue of paper money…To repeal the Act creating bank notes, or to restore to circulation the government issue of money will be to provide the people with money and will therefore seriously affect our individual profits as bankers and lenders…See your Congressman at once and engage him to support our interest that we may control legislation” 1877, James Buel, Secretary of ABA.
This caused a serious fight in the nation. Who would control the volume of money in the nation? In 1880, James A. Garfield was elected President and he understood how the money was manipulated by the bankers; although he was against Lincoln’s greenbacks.
“Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce…and when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate” Garfield.
So just like what happened to Lincoln, after 200 days Garfield was assassinated. After Garfield’s assassination the “depression deepened, leaving [the] unemployed to face poverty and starvation… Produce was left to rot in the fields…The country was facing poverty amidst plenty, because there was insufficient money in circulation to keep the wheels of trade turning. The country sorely needed the sort of liquidity urged by Lincoln…and the Greenbackers; but the bankers insisted that allowing the government to print its own money would be dangerously inflationary. That was their argument, but critics called it ‘humbuggery’…” 2007, Ellen H. Brown.
In 1891 at the ABA meeting, they planned the next depression in the United States. “On September 1, 1894, we will not renew our loans under any consideration. On September 1st we will demand our money. We will foreclose and become mortgagees in possession. We can take two-thirds of the farms west of the Mississippi, and thousands of them east of the Mississippi as well, as our own price…Then the farmers will become tenants as in England…” 1891, ABA.
The panic came in 1893, because the banks required payment only in gold and that took a lot of America’s gold to England. Many of the inhabitants of the United States wanted silver to be added to the money supply. This made a very exciting election of 1896.
You had the bankers who said that “…we must go forward cautiously and consolidate each acquired position, because already the inferior social stratum of society [the voters] is giving unceasing signs of agitation. Let us make use of the courts…When through the law’s intervention, the common people shall have lost their homes, they will be more easy to control and more easy to govern, and they shall not be able to resist the strong hand of the Government acting in accordance with…the control of the leaders of finance” U.S. Bankers Magazine, 1892.
“[We] must keep the people busy with political antagonisms. We’ll therefore speed up the question of reform [of tariffs within] the Democratic Party; and we’ll put the spotlight on the question of protection [for] the Republican Party. By dividing the electorate this way, we’ll be able to have them spend their energies at struggling amongst themselves on questions that, for us, have no importance whatsoever” U.S. Banker’s Magazine, 1892.
On the other side was the man who was for the reestablishment of the silver coin—William Jennings Bryan who ran for President in 1896. In fact, this great orator started the now regular routine of traveling around the country giving many speeches. He made 500 speeches in four months of his campaign. His average speech was two hours.
“I come to speak to you in defense of a cause as holy as the cause of liberty—the cause of humanity. Never before in the history of this country has there been witnessed such a contest as that through which we have just passed” William Jennings Bryan.
“What we need is an Andrew Jackson to stand as Jackson stood, against the encroachments of aggregated wealth. We say in our platform that we believe that the right to coin money and issue money is a function of government. We believe it. We believe it is a part of sovereignty…Those who are opposed to this proposition tell us that the issue of paper money is a function of the bank and that the GOVERNMENT OUGHT TO GO OUT OF THE BANKING BUSINESS. I stand with Jefferson rather than with them, and tell them, as he did, that the issue of money is a function of the government and that THE BANKS SHOULD GO OUT OF THE GOVERNING BUSINESS” William Jennings Bryan.
“They ask…why it is we say more on the money question than we say upon the tariff question. I reply that if protection has slain its thousands, the gold standard has slain its tens of thousands…When we have RESTORED THE MONEY OF THE CONSTITUTION, all other necessary reforms will be possible, and that UNTIL THAT IS DONE THERE IS NO REFORM THAT CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED.” William Jennings Bryan.
“They will search the pages of history in vain to find a single instance where the common people of any land have ever declared themselves in favor of the gold standard. They can find where the holders of fixed investments have declare for a gold standard, but not for the masses have. If they dare to come out in the open field and defend the gold standard as a good thing, we will fight them to the uttermost…we will answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them, you shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. YOU SHALL NOT CRUCIFY MANKIND UPON A CROSS OF GOLD” William Jennings Bryan.
The bankers were scared. McKinley beat Bryant in the election of 1896 by outspending him 5:1. It was a very close election. But even though he lost, William Jennings Bryan prevented the bankers from getting their national bank for 20 years.
THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ
L. Frank Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the year 1900. It was written and became a very popular children’s book. But one has to know of the history of the United States to understand the meaning of the symbols of monetary policies that are in the book. Later it was written as a theatre play and was made into three different movies: the latest and most popular was in 1939. It was this movie that most people know about the Wizard of Oz. But the movie has changed many of the symbols that were in the book, so most people who watch the movie have no idea about what it is really about.
Yellow Brick Road: Gold-only path way. The shortage of gold help precipitated the Panic of 1893.
Slippers: Dorothy obtained these slippers from the wicked witch of the East. They were originally silver in the book and not rubies, as in the 1939 movie. It represents the power of having silver added to the money supply.
Scare Crow: Farmers: Supposedly the ignorant Western farmers did not understand the basics of economics; but they were able to figure it out; they could control the currency.
Tin Woodmen: Factory or industrial worker: “[The Tin Woodman had] joined the ranks of those unemployed in the depression of the 1890s, a victim of the unwillingness of the eastern gold bugs to countenance an increase in the stock of money through the addition of silver” Hugh Rockoff.
Tin Man Needed oil: Represents that more liquidity (silver) was needed in the system.
Lion: William Jennings Bryan; the lion of the silver movement; but considered a coward as he backed down from the free silver movement after his defeat for President.
“The last character to join the group is the cowardly Lion. This …is…Bryan himself. The sequence is not accidental. Baum is following history in suggesting that the movement was started first by the western farmers, was joined…by the workingman, and then, once it was well under way, was joined by Bryan. The roaring lion is a good choice for one of the greatest American orators” Hugh Rockoff.
The four or five in you count Dorothy’s dog (Dorothy and her little dog Toto, Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Lion) go off to march along the yellow brick road; looking for the powerful wizard who could to fix their situation. This was a parallel to Jacob Coxey’s march on Washington D.C.: To seek redress of millions of unemployed from the depression of 1893.
Coxey was hoping to meet with President Grover Cleveland; but didn’t get to do so. He led a march from the Midwest to Washington, D.C.; with an industrial army full of unemployed men. He was arrested and jail for trespassing.
“Coxey was a greenbacker, and his idea was simple: The federal government should build public works and pay for them by printing money. At the time the idea seemed to be the wildest kind of extremism but given unemployment of 18.4%...few modern economists would be prepared to dismiss such a proposal out of hand” Hugh Rockoff.
Wizard of Oz: “Oz” abbreviation of “ounces”; ounces of gold. The supplier of the money: the Bankers.
Emerald City: The capital or Washington, D. C.; where green (emerald) back money was created by President Lincoln.
Cowardly lion falls to sleep in a field of poppies: Poppies were a source of the opium wars. “Poppies are a source of opium, and falling asleep in the field of poppies symbolized the populist fear that Bryan would fall asleep in the midst of these new issues.” The Lion was rescued by field mice which was an excellent depiction of the populist movement. One mouse has little or no power, but together had a lot of power.
Two wicked witches:
- Wicked Witch of the East: J. P. Morgan; headed banks in New York; received funding from Europe.
- Wicked Witch of the West: Rockefeller; dominated in the West; headquarters were in Chicago.
The Power of the Wicked Witch of the East: The power of the witch was the power to create silver money. When Dorothy lands after the tornado, she inadvertently kills the wicked witch of the East and gets the silver slippers; which was the power of the witch. It was the power to create silver money. Dorothy doesn’t know she has this power until she is told about them near the end of the story.
They are then told that she is to kill the wicked witch of the West: They first defeat the wolves, crows and black bees that were protecting the witch. The wicked witch of the West used her golden cap (symbol of the gold standard) to capture them. Dorothy kills the witch by pouring a bucket of water on her (symbolic of silver money; breaking the hold of the gold of the bankers).Like Dorothy, America had the power all along.
The Wizard of Oz kept the people under his control by creating images that frightened the people until it was all exposed by Dorothy’s little dog. Toto simply looked behind the curtain and began barking until the others paid attention to what the Wizard was doing behind that curtain—nothing but fraud and deceit. The Wizard worked exactly like the bankers and when he was exposed he lost all his power and authority.
After the Wizard is exposed, Dorothy tries to return in an air balloon. But the wizard suddenly leaves, and then the good witch of the South comes and instructs Dorothy of how she can return home. All she has to do is to click her silver shoes three times! And when she get home the silver slippers are gone.
After the Wizard is exposed, Dorothy tries to return home in an air balloon. But the wizard suddenly leaves, but then the good witch of the South comes and instructs Dorothy of how she can return home. All she has to do is to clap her silver shoes three times! And when she gets home the silver slippers are gone.
The Unites States got on the gold standard in 1900. And just like the silver slippers, the addition of free silver was soon forgotten. 1900 was the same year that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written. It has become the most popular children’s story in history. But it failed to give the real solution to the money situation; just a partial one. I will real the real solution for the Israel nations later in this article.
Before writing the Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum held many jobs — one of which was editor of the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer. In 1890, Baum wrote a series of articles to Theosophy, including his views on Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius and Christ. At the time, he wasn’t a member of the Theosophical Society but later he and wife became members. Here is an example of what the author of the Wizard of Oz wrote:
“Amongst various sects so numerous in America today who find their fundamental basis in occultism, the Theosophist stands pre-eminent both in intelligence and point of numbers. Theosophy is not a religion. Its followers are simply “searchers after Truth”. The Theosophists, in fact, are the dissatisfied with the world, dissenters from all creeds. They owe their origin to the wise men of India, and are numerous, not only in the far famed mystic East, but in England, France, Germany and Russia. They admit the existence of God...But despite this, if Christianity is Truth, as our education has taught us to believe, there can be no menace to it in Theosophy” January 25, 1890.
The Wizard of Oz is much appreciated within the Theosophical Society. In 1986, The American Theosophist magazine recognized Baum as a “notable Theosophist” who thoroughly represented the organization’s philosophy: (emphasis mine).
“Although readers have not looked at his [Baum’s] fairy tales for their Theosophical content, it is significant that Baum became a famous writer of children’s books AFTER he came into contact with Theosophy. Theosophical ideas permeate his work and provided inspiration for it. Indeed, The Wizard can be regarded as Theosophical allegory, pervaded by Theosophical ideas from beginning to end. The story came to Baum as an inspiration, and he accepted it with a certain awe as a gift from outside, or perhaps from deep within, himself” American Theosophist, No. 74.
Dorothy is unsatisfied with Kansas and seeks a place without trouble, “Over the Rainbow.” This is her “spiritual” quest, the beginning of her desire for more than the material world or Kansas. She is whisked away by a tornado to the land of Oz where she starts on her journey to the Emerald City wearing the ruby slippers. The ruby slippers were silver and silver slippers are a symbol for the silver chord that links the material world to the spiritual world.
The silver chord is referenced in the Bible but is used by occultists to reference the astral projections. The scarecrow represents intellect, the tin man represents emotion and the Cowardly lion represents courage. All of which is needed to gain enlightenment in Theosophy.
In order for Dorothy to obtain enlightenment she must vanquish the wicked witches of the East and West; a symbol of the world, a horizontal axis of evil and most probably the dark side.
She listens to Glenda, the Good Witch, who is her guide to the light and her vertical spiritual guide (much like people involved in witchcraft today who say there are evil witches and good witches). The Wizard is organized religion; Toto which represents how intuition uncovers he charade. Near the end, Dorothy follows her intuition when she follows Toto instead of staying in the balloon and returns to Kansas through the power of the shoes and her an ability (the god within). Finally, Dorothy retains home successfully combining her material and spiritual side achieving enlightenment.
Both versions are probably true. L. Frank Baum wrote a great story which mirror American History and also expressed his view on occult beliefs. Both do not give the correct solution. Here is the solution that our GOD gives to His People.
THE SOLUTION
The first rule is to obey this command: “I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have none other gods before me” Deuteronomy 5:6, 7.
“Typically, people want a king [or a President, or a Dictator, or a Congress, or a Parliament, or a government] that will feed them and give them security in health and life. God wants us to look to Him alone for these needs. One of the reasons the countries of the people of God are in financial trouble is that the people have put demands on government to be their god and provide their needs” Commentary Life of Christ, p. 226, Everett Ramsey, ThG, DD.
If His people follow what their GOD told them to do, then they would do the following:
- Eliminate the Federal Reserve System and all National Banks. The United States will never have the prosperity that God wants it to have if it is controlled by such a monstrosity.
- Forbid the practice of fractional reserve banking. A security cannot be used to negotiate more loans than the extent of the security, itself. The common practice of making ten loans (or more) to the borrowers when you only have 1/10 of the value of their loans is a complete and total disaster.
Israel was to be a separate people and they were to become the head and not the tail. Israelites were told by their God not to charge their BROTHERS (racial) interest; but their non-brothers (non-racial) they could charge them interest.
"Thou shalt not lend upon interest to thy brethren, interest of money, interest of victuals, and interest of anything that is lent upon interest.
Unto a foreigner thou mayest lend upon interest; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon interest, that LORD thy God may bless thee in all that thou puttest thy hand unto, in the land whither thou goest in to possess it” Deuteronomy 23:19, 20.
Only short-term loans were permitted; no loan could last more than six years. No godly man has the right to mortgage his future indefinitely; his life belongs to God and cannot be forfeited to men. Thus, every kind of debt by believers, whether as charity or for business reasons, must be a short-term debt. The Sabbath is basically and essentially rest rather than worship, and basic to the Sabbath rest is debt-free living. Long-term debts are clearly a violation of the Sabbath, and many churches that profess to be devout Sabbath-keepers are flagrant Sabbath-breakers here. The normal life of the covenant man is to be debt free.
“At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.
And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbor shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother, because it is called the LORD’s release.
Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again; but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;
Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it:
Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.
For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee” Deuteronomy 15:1-6.
And there is God’s law about the Sabbath of the land: the jubilee year. Every 50th years was a jubilee year, inaugurated by the blowing of the trumpet on the Day of Atonement. Since the 49th year was a Sabbath year, the jubilee marked two Sabbaths years in a row.
In the Jubilee year, as in each sabbatical year, debts ran out. The modern statute of limitations on collection of debts is an adaptation of this Biblical law.
In the jubilee year also, the rural land holdings reverted to their original owners; slaves were freed, as on each sabbatical years. The jubilee marked a two-year holiday in which covenant man celebrated the foretaste of the great Sabbath of the new creation. Because the jubilee began on the evening of the Day of Atonement, it made clear the foundation of the new creation, atonement through the blood of the Lamb of the Covenant.
God’s goal is to have His entire covenant People debt-free and also poverty-free; and this is only possible in terms of His law.
May God have mercy on all of our sins against His holy law! May we ask for forgiveness and begin to keep His laws which will provide the true secret to becoming debt-free and poverty-free.
