The lure of the gold

Stuck in snow and ice in South Carolina, I've been ruminating Paul's New Year missive about the Brits in America, with its sordid plot line of filthy lucre and their collective misguided, duplicitous claims of divine guidance when, if truth be told, it's all about the gold.

His accusations are not new, of course and my ipod (actually, iphone) reveals an all too telling corrective, subconsciously placed there to ensure a purer ethical motivation. It's a number from Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, a quartet of hits about money, sex and power - that triumvirate of deadly allurements. The lyrics rap about a magic ring that grants the power to rule the world, forged by the Nibelung dwarf named "Alberich" (think, Trueman) from gold he stole from the Rhinemaidens (think, British disestablished church) in the river Rhine (think, middle England, west of the Cotswolds).  As the dwarf Alberich snatches the gold from the Rhinemaidens, he sings: "Der Welt Erbe gewänn' ich zu eigen durch dich?" which (roughly translated) means "All the wealth of the world is mine, baby!" The gods trick him (think, Van Til, Machen) steal the gold and take it Valhalla (think, Westminster Seminary). Fourteen/fifteen hours later, following agonizing tales of treachery, lies and death, the truth emerges: that there gold is cursed and no good comes of it.

So Paul, I'm armed my man against the lure of the gold. As for Trotter, well anyone who has read his book Republocrat knows his meta-narrative: all of history has an economic explanation. "The love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Tim. 6:10).