C. Thomas Anderson - Becoming a Millionaire Gods Way: Getting Money to You, Not from You

Verses marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

FaithWords Edition
Copyright 2004 by Winword Publishing
Copyright 2006 by Word for Winners
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First eBook Edition: November 2006

ISBN: 978-0-446-54285-2

I DID NOT LIKE THE CHURCH MY FAMILY ATTENDED. THOUGH THE minister and congregation were very nice, there was always an underlying feeling that money and the desiring of money was evil. If you wanted to be rich and financially free, you were made to feel guilty for those feelings. I wanted to be rich and I began to feel very guilty. I had no problem with the other teachings of the church, but I simply could not accept that imposed guilt about money and the love of money.

My poor dad tended to agree with our churchs point of view on money; maybe that is why he did not mind being a member of that church. My rich dad did not go to the same church; he taught me a different point of view about money and God. He said, Money is not evil, but being a slave to money is. Due to lack of financial education at home, school, and church, most people become slaves to money, allowing it to dictate the limits of their lives, but a little financial education could make you a master of money.

Rich dad did not believe money had the power to cause people to become evil either:

Money does not corrupt you. Money only reveals to you who you really are. If you are greedy at the core, more money will only make you greedier. If you are cheap, more money will only make you cheaper. If you are a crook, more money will only make you more of a crook. If you are generous, more money will only make you more generous. If you are poor, more money will only make you poorer (which is why most lottery winners are soon broke). If you are a fool, more money will only make you a bigger fool. And if you are a master of money, your money will grow and prosper yourself as well as those around you because your money is doing Gods work.

So rather than growing up feeling guilty about my desire to be wealthy, I learned from my rich dad how to be a master of money and how to use both my labor and my money to do Gods work. Today, I continue to be friends with the families that attended my family church... the church I did not like. I notice that many of my friends continue to experience that same feeling of guilt, and also a fear that the desire for great wealth will corrupt them. Instead of learning to be masters of money, most seem to have become slaves to moneythey work hard yet are burdened with debt, and they let money tell them what they can and cannot afford.

A mother of a friend I went to Sunday School with even said to me, Robert, we are not like you. We did not sell our souls for money. She went on to say their souls were purer than mine because they had not given in to the temptations money brings. Needless to say, it hurt to be condemned for becoming rich.

My rich dad taught me differently. Many times we talked about the fact that you can become rich without selling your soul. In fact, if the truth be known, there are more poor and middle-class people who sell their souls for money; they work at jobs that kill their spirit, and they never become rich. Money is just money, he would say. Money in itself is not good or evil. It is how we acquire our money and what we do with it that reflects back to us if we are good, evil, greedy, crooked, foolish, ignorant, or masters of money. And yet it is very possible to become rich doing Gods work. Many people do become rich in that way, and they never sell their souls. Just because a person is rich does not mean they are evil, crooked, or greedy.

After Rich Dad Poor Dad was published, I was completely surprised by the number of church and religious leaders who thanked me for my book. I was even more surprised to hear that a few preachers were actually quoting from my book during their sermons! I began to realize how much I had been affected by those religious teachings of my youth, even though I thought I wasnt. I still felt guilty. I still believed the myth that all churches are against people becoming wealthy. I had carried that guilt for years. My eyes were closed and I did not see the other religious leaders who were teaching people to be masters or good stewards of money rather than declaring money to be evil in and of itself.

Because of religious leaders like Tom Anderson, my eyes are open at last. I now realize there are rich preachers and poor preachers, rich churches and poor churches.

Reverend Tom Anderson was one of the first religious leaders to contact me after my book came out. He is also the first preacher to ever ask me to speak to his church, I doubt if my church back in Hawaii would ever ask me to speak because my message about God and money would probably not fit theirs. So it is an honor to write this foreword for Reverend Toms book. I did not choose to write this foreword because Reverend Tom uses my book or asked me to speak to his church. I write this foreword because of who Tom Anderson really is. I would never endorse a book written by someone who was not real. But Reverend Tom is real, and Reverend Tom practices what he preaches. In todays world, that is rare.

Tom Anderson is a master of money who teaches his congregation how to be the same. He is spiritually and financially a rich and generous person. He does not condemn others for being rich. He does not blind people to the power of money. He does not keep people ignorant about the power of money with feelings of guilt. He does not encourage his flock to be cheapinstead he commends them to be generous. Instead of condemning money, he teaches his people to use the power of money in their favor, not against them. When it comes to money, Reverend Tom Anderson walks his talk and practices what he preaches... and that is the highest acknowledgment I can give anyone.

ROBERT T. KIYOSAKI

MANY ARE TEACHING MY PEOPLE THAT THEY ARE TO PROSPER, but no one is teaching them how. I was on my way to Dallas and, as I often do, I was using the time to study and pray. As also often happens on such trips, God spoke to me. He told me to teach this series and write this book.

It began during a visit to the airport gift shop. I picked up Rich Dad Poor Dad, a book by Robert T. Kiyosaki that dramatically changed my thinking about money. I read the book in its entirety during the flight, and its contents stayed on my mind as I prayed.

Mr. Kiyosaki wrote very candidly about the different perceptions between his two dads. His poor dad was his real father, who raised him with the traditional American views of success. He had a good salary, a nice house, and good benefits. He worked hard all his life for the money he made but was always heavily in debt and never really had anything extra. Mr. Kiyosakis rich dad was actually his best friends father who mentored him in the process of investing and gaining wealth. He did this by helping Robert learn how the rich look at money.

What gripped my attention most was the way Mr. Kiyosaki emphasized the fact that gaining wealth is not a matter of getting a good raise or a better jobit starts with learning a different way of looking at money. It involves a drastic change of perception, a whole new outlook on business and investment. It is this difference in perception that sets the wealthy apart from the poor.

Rich Dad Poor Dad