Mammon
Money as a competing master
Description
Jesus says in Matthew 6:24:
“You cannot serve God and Mammon.”
Mammon is not presented here merely as money or possessions. Jesus speaks of it as a rival master whom a person can serve instead of God.
Derek Prince teaches that Mammon is a spiritual power operating through money that seeks to gain influence over a person and enslave them. Money itself is not evil. The problem begins when it takes the place that belongs to God and becomes a source of security, worth, protection, or success.
Prince connects Mammon with greed and idolatry. He refers to Colossians 3:5, where greed is called idolatry, and to 1 Timothy 6:10, which warns about the love of money. A person may possess much or little and still remain strongly influenced by money. Bondage to Mammon therefore does not depend on the size of one’s possessions. It may appear both in the pursuit of wealth and in constant fear of lack.
Frank and Ida Mae Hammond distinguish a COVETOUSNESS group that includes, among other things, material lust, greed, and discontent. In later teaching, Frank Hammond also lists Mammon together with greed, lust for money, selfishness, materialism, and the idolatry of money.
Mammon’s influence becomes visible when money begins to direct a person’s decisions. It may lead to hoarding for a sense of security, financial dishonesty, difficulty with generosity, and building one’s worth on possessions and achievements. It becomes especially clear when a person knows what is right but chooses money, position, business interest, or material security instead of obedience to God.
The path to freedom leads through confessing greed, love of money, dishonesty, and idolatrous trust in possessions. If a person recognizes the rule of Mammon in their life, they can renounce it and reject its spiritual influence in the name of Jesus Christ.
A continuing response is to bring finances under God’s authority — choosing honesty, generosity, and obedience even when it carries a material cost. Money ceases to be a master and returns to the place of a tool used in submission to God.
“You cannot serve God and Mammon.”
Matthew 6:24
Sources
Matthew 6:19–24; Colossians 3:5; 1 Timothy 6:9–10 — Mammon, love of money, and greed as idolatry.
Derek Prince — “God or Mammon?”; “The Christian and His Money”; “Choose Whom You Will Serve” — Mammon as a spiritual power operating through money.
Frank and Ida Mae Hammond — “Pigs in the Parlor” — the COVETOUSNESS group.
Frank Hammond — “Warning to America” — Mammon, greed, materialism, and the idolatry of money.