These preachers blame a focus on consumption and the rise of easy credit for the disintegration of a religious tradition of thrift they say dates back to the country's founding. God and mammon. Finding references in the Bible isn't a problem. When Crown Ministries' Dayton first started reading the Bible for financial citations, he was astounded to find over 2,000 references to debt, saving, and charitable giving. Financial author and radio personality Burkett claims that as couples talk about setting financial goals, marriages are saved and people's relationship with God is strengthened.
Churches also benefit from having members heed the biblical mandate to tithe.
But wary of past money scandals among evangelists, Blue and others are quick to point out that they do not instruct people what to do with their money. They are mindful of the guidelines of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, a watchdog group for Christian, nonprofit financial services ministries. He prays for you. He encourages people to get angry about being in debt and then to do something about it. Ramsey, who also counsels people through his firm and his Financial Peace University, says that becoming financially stable is 80 percent behavior modification and only 20 percent knowledge.