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Simon: It is also to my dismay that some preachers say that “money is the root of all evil.”

Thankfully the apostle Paul was smarter than that and the actual quote from 1 Timothy 6:9-10 (NIV) reads:

“Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

It is immediately evident that he’s not talking about money being the problem, but an unhealthy love of money (Tenderpreneurs spring to mind).  Also, he’s not condemning loving money for its wonderful services to society as a medium of exchange, but loving it as part of a lust for material possessions, or maybe even loving it more than friends and family.  This is in the context of verse 5 where Paul makes reference to people “who think that godliness is a means to financial gain”, probably a reference to people who had infiltrated churches and Christian ministry with the sole purpose of extracting money for themselves or furthering their political or business careers rather than spreading Jesus’ message.