It happened on an ordinary afternoon. Landon Schott was sitting on his couch watching the news when he heard something that stopped him cold. “I heard the Lord speak to me,” he recalls, “and here’s what he said: ‘You serve mammon.'”
The rebuke hit hard. Schott had been in ministry for years, had tithed faithfully since childhood and considered himself a mature believer. Yet God was calling him out, and he believes millions of Christians are in the same position.
What is mammon, exactly?
Mammon isn’t simply money. It’s the spirit that rests on money, a force that, according to Schott, traces back to an Assyrian god of riches borrowed from ancient Babylon. The same spirit behind the Tower of Babel is at work today: the belief that with enough resources, you don’t need God.
The strategy of Mammon is to get you to want, love and fear money more than you want, love and fear God. — Landon Schott
Jesus addresses mammon directly in both Luke 16 and Matthew 6, warning that “you cannot serve God and mammon.” Notably, Schott points out, many modern translations substitute the word “money,” erasing the spiritual dimension entirely. Sixteen percent of Jesus’ teachings address money, wealth or generosity, underscoring just how central this battle is to the believer’s life.
The vision that changed everything
When Schott tried to defend himself before God, the Lord responded with a vision: a set of antique scales, one side holding miracles, the other holding money.
“I saw myself praying prayers my whole life for decades, prayers that sounded like, ‘Lord, I either need a miracle or I need this amount of money.'” He had been placing mammon on the same altar as God, ready to obey whichever answered first. “I fell down on my face and began to repent,” he says.
5 signs mammon controls your life
Schott offers a direct diagnostic. You may be under mammon’s influence if:
- Fear leads your financial decisions, and you’re always afraid of not having enough, even before it’s gone.
- You believe more money will fix your life or bring lasting happiness.
- You delay obeying God with statements like, “I could really serve God if I had more money.”
- Anxiety dominates your thinking about finances, keeping you in a constant state of worry.
- You withhold generosity — or refuse to tithe — because you don’t fully trust God.
Breaking free: 5 practical steps
Freedom from mammon isn’t passive. Schott lays out five disciplines for taking back ground.
1. Give to God before anything else: bills, savings or personal spending. “When you put God first with your money, it’s impossible to serve mammon.”
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2. Honestly ask yourself and close friends whether you’re genuinely generous; if you can’t produce clear evidence, that’s a revealing answer.
3. Schott is blunt about this: stop praying for money. “You are wasting your stinking prayers,” he says. “Pray for his perfect will.”
4. Practice contentment through periodic spending freezes, choosing discipline over desire.
5. Regularly repent for any partnership with mammon, knowing the spirit will continuously seek open doors, especially in seasons of financial pressure.
Greedy people will always find an excuse not to obey God with their money. — Landon Schott
Ultimately, Schott frames mammon as a question of first love. The rich young ruler walked away from Jesus because of money. “A lot of us do this on a regular basis, and we don’t realize it,” he says.
The invitation — and the challenge to us — remains the same: choose who you will serve.
Abby Trivett is a writer and editor for Charisma Media and has a passion for sharing the gospel through the written word. She holds two degrees from Regent University, a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a Master of Arts in Journalism. She is the author of the upcoming book, The Power of Suddenly: Discover How God Can Change Everything in a Moment. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
