Is Investing in Stocks a Sin and a Form of Baal Worship?
I’ve heard from a pastor before suggest that investing in the stock market is a sin as it represents a form of Baal worship.
And… it isn’t just him.
Do a search online with the keywords ‘baal bull stock market’ and you’ll find plenty of people who would suggest investing in the stock market is a sin.
To this… I have to heavily disagree.
Yet, why do some Christians still insist that the Bull of the stock market is a form of Baal worship?
Let me show you why investing in the stock market is not a sin, and how it is not connected to Baal worship at all.
The Meaning of Baal?
First off, who is Baal?
Baal is an entity found within the Bible as well as throughout the ancient histories of Mesopotamia. Baal wasn’t just one being, but was actually several entities.
Usually, the character of Baal is a false god or idol which requires child sacrifices from human beings and all sorts of horrific acts to insinuate evil. The Baal of Jezebel is one example of describing a Baal (1 Kings 18-19 & Psalm 106:37).
Here I count at least 11 Baals found within the Bible, and 3 Baals outside the Bible. This is found in the “Early History of God,” written by Mark S. Smith.
This is where it starts getting complicated when figuring out ‘Who is Baal?’

The Early History of God by Mark S. Smith (pg 79)

The Early History of God by Mark S. Smith (pg 69)
So the Better Question Is, ‘What Is Baal?’
Remember earlier, I mentioned that ‘baal’ usually means a false god.
But… that doesn’t mean that ‘baal’ has only one meaning.
The word for Baal in the Hebrew language also means, ‘Lord’ or ‘Husband’. However, Baal is not always a person or multiple entities either; but can also be a place.
For instance, in Numbers 22:41 it mentions Bamoth Baal as a high place and not an actual person.
Now, let’s look at Jeremiah 31:32, YHWH (The God of the Bible) was like a husband to Israel. The word ‘husband’ in this verse translates to ‘Baal-ti’ in Hebrew.

[Strong’s Concordance baal-ti 1166]
The root word ‘baal’ used here, is to show the other meaning of the word. And that is, ‘baal’ also means the title of the Hebrew God as like a ‘husband‘ to Israel.
So, does this mean YHWH and stock marketing investing is now to be associated with pagan rituals?
Absolutely not!
What Does Baal Mean in Hebrew?
We’ll show you how Baal has nothing to do with God and stock market investing when we look at ancient Hebrew text.
We see in Hosea 2:16, that no longer will the nation of Israel call YHWH by the title of Baal in the coming days. It reads:
On that day, “declares the Lord, you will call me my husband. You will no longer call me my master.”

[Strong’s Concordance i-si 376]
The word ‘husband’ in Hebrew also means ‘I-si’ (I-shi):
This will be the new word to use ‘to address YHWH (God), instead of ‘Baal-ti’ as master; in the coming days.’
The word ‘I-si,’ will replace the old word ‘baal-ti’ when referring to YHWH, as it is written for this future coming prophecy.
Currently however, Baal (baal-ti) is just another way of saying ‘Master’ or ‘Husband‘ in Hebrew as of modern times (21th century).
Notice how none of this ba’al talk has had anything to do with stock investing at all.
The ‘Radical’ Knock Down Blow 🥊
Going back to the topic of Baal, we know YHWH the God (Baal-ti) of Israel did not condone any act of child sacrifice or sin at all.
This shows us there were clear distinctions between all of the Baals of Mesopotamia. There was only 1 real God who was called as Baal-ti. And the rest of the Baals were either false gods or idols.
So why lump all false gods with the title ‘baal’ into the same category as a real God?
We cannot lump all Baals together as one and all the same false gods, and paint that brush stroke across God and stock investing. They are not directly related.
So thank these radical Christians who want to keep you poor by scaring you into poverty.
Now you know where this heresy is coming from…
We got these radical Christian beliefs knocked down at this point with the contrary evidence provided…

What Did Baal Look Like?
This is where some Christians will also add that investing in the stock market is a sin because of the resemblance of ‘Baal’ and the Bull.
In ancient Mesopotamia, the identity of Baal can commonly be referred to as the Bull. The Bull was the status of the chief god in the Canaanite religion.
This gets a bad rep due to the fact that the Hebrews also worshiped the Golden Calf found in the Book of Exodus.
Hence, this is the reason why Christians will associate the Bull of the stock market with Baal worship. Because the Golden Calf seemed to resemble a bull.
So why doesn’t the Bible name the Golden Calf as ‘baal’ then? Why does it not exist?
Thing is, no one actually knows what Baal looked like. So for radical Christians to claim that baal looked like a bull and a calf; is unfounded.
It is only their own speculations and false doctrines they teach.
So we had to swing with haymakers to blast some actual facts and truths this round. 🥊
3…2…1… and K.O. 🛌💤
‘Radical’ Christians out for the count!
The Real Answer to the meaning of: Ba’al.
The word and meaning of baal is a complex one. But, there were multiple Baals for different tribes. The word, ‘baal’ was in ancient times meant: the title of divinity or a lord.
So then…
Is Investing In Stocks a Sin?
Now you see at this point the Bull of the stock market has nothing to do with Baal worship. Which means, investing in the stock market is not a sin.
It may only be considered a sin if you use stocks and money to pursue illegal and harmful activities. That is an entirely different topic all on it’s own (not suitable to go into for this post).
For now, investing in the stock market to make your life better and for those around you is permissible; even required!
What Does the Bible Say About Investing?
Even Jesus preached that one should learn how to invest. If you read the Parables of the Bags of Gold (Matthew 25:14-30), you’ll find out that choosing not to invest will lead you to a life filled with misery and regret.
Here’s the brief story:
A wealthy master entrusted 3 of his servants bags with gold according to their abilities. 2 of the 3 servants invested the gold given to them into the market. The 3rd servant did not.
When the master returned from his trip, he found out about the 3rd servant. The master was then furious that the 3rd servant did nothing with the money he had been entrusted with.
Later, the 3rd servant got kicked out of the master’s estate. The other 2 servants who chose to invest the gold into the market, were handsomely rewarded and remained in the master’s estate.
This parable was preached by Jesus to encourage everyone to invest.

How Did the Bull of the Stock Market Come About Then?
The Bull in the stock market really has a benign meaning. It represents the form of an animal’s attack. For instance, the bull uses its horn to strike its opponent into the air. This is in contrast to the bear in the stock market, which uses its claws to strike downwards at its target.
The terms ‘bull’ and ‘bear’ are merely metaphorical terms to demonstrate the trends of the stock market. If the trend and prices of the market are going up, it is considered as a bull market. If the trend of prices in the market are going down, it is called the bear market.
That is how the Bull came about in regards to the stock market.
Now What?
As you can see, investing in the stock market has nothing to do with Baal worship at all.
People have been investing in the free market throughout the ages. No where in the Bible did it ever say that investing your money is to be considered as sinning or Baal worship.
Request any Christian to say, ‘Jesus was wrong about gold and investing.’ They won’t do it.
If you want more proof from the Bible that investing in the stock market isn’t a sin, be sure to check out Is Money Is the Root of All Evil?