There is much talk and discussion today about helping the poor and downtrodden here in the USA. The only true way to help individuals break free from the tyrannical cycle of poverty, however, is a Conservatism that is rooted in Biblical, Judeo/ Christian truths and absolutes. Such values bestow upon these individuals a sense of reality and purpose in what otherwise would be a meaningless, “burned out” existence. Historically, Judeo/ Christian values have been the only true advocate and hope for the poor since the fall of man (see Genesis 3:17-19).Historically, Judeo/ Christian values have been the only true advocate and hope for the poor since the fall of man.
.The word charity - as taught in the Bible - is the outworking of Almighty God’s perfect love, God's highest and best for an individual by another individual for their eternal betterment and ultimate good. God’s love or highest and best is none other than the Person of Almighty God Himself. This highest and best includes God’s perfect plan and purpose; His solution and deliverance; and His eternal calling and will for His lost creation (2 Cor. 5:17-21 ). He only has the eternal betterment of all in mind. Any "love" that contradicts Almighty God's eternal standard is evil and doomed. This high holy standard is quite sobering, is it not? (Mark 12: 30-33; Luke 10:27; Gal. 5:14). link
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Following the dispersion at Babel some 4300 years ago (Gen. 11:1-9, Rom 1:18-32), the godless outworkings of the reprobate pagan nations created masses of poor and oppressed throughout the ancient world (Rom. 1:18-32). It was not until about seven hundred years or so after Babel’s scattering - when the nations were outworking their godless rebellion and reaping its destructive consequences - that Almighty God gave to Israel the Law through Moses (Exodus 20:1-17). In giving the Law, God made wonderful provision for the poor, understanding their affliction and destitution (Deut. 15:10; Jer. 22:16). The greatest of these was the institution of the Year of Jubilee (Lev. 25:8, 10, 13, 30, 40-41, 47-48, 54; 27:14-24; Isa. 61:1-2). When the heart of the people of God was right (i.e., when they were obedient to the Lord), these charitable practices continued and the poor of the land were taken care of (Lev. 19:19; Deut. 15:7; Isa. 59:10; Jer. 7:5-7). When the people’s hearts weren’t right with God (i.e., when they were disobedient), the poor suffered greatly (Isa 10:1-3; Jer. 5: 28; Ezek. 22:29, 31).When the heart of the people of God was right (i.e., when they were obedient to the Lord), these charitable practices continued and the poor of the land were taken care of.
The Christian charities of America have always been the hallmark of our culture and society. Our nation was founded on the bedrock of Judeo/ Christian values, and the poor of our nation - and of the entire world - have benefited greatly by its fruits. These charities first fed and then taught the poor that they were accountable to Almighty God, and that sloth and idleness was sin (Prov. 10:4; 13:4; 19:15; 20:4; 24:30-31; 2 Thess. 3:10; 1 Tim. 5:13). The non-helpless poor were taught to be accountable and responsible for their actions, and to rejoin society and aid it in its moral out workings here in time. If these were rejected, then the capable poor were to reap their own doings and resulting situations without being pitied (Prov. 20:4; 21:25, 2 Thess. 3:10). The chief emphasis of these charitable institutions was to teach the poor accountability and responsibility to man, society and most of all to Almighty God - to whom they will give an account in the Last Day (Rom. 14:12; 1 Pet. 4:4-5). The Gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-4)was always at the heart of the activities and functions of charity missions. My friends, what good does it accomplish to feed a poor man and fill his tummy when without Christ he will ultimately die in his sins (Mark 8:36; John 6:27)? Oh, how the Devil and the Liberal today has twisted the Holy Scriptures and has turned around the message of the Lord Jesus Christ a full 180 degrees!
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Listen to what Jesus said:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor (Luke 4:18a).
The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them (Matt 11:5).
Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed (John 6:26-27).
Jesus knew that the Gospel Message was the most important need for the indigent poor and the capable poor, not food. Countless examples are given throughout Holy Scripture.
To the capable poor was the Gospel of salvation first to be preached, and then they were to eat!
The capable poor were to be taught personal accountability and responsibility to Almighty God and man so they could feed themselves and benefit society!
The capable poor were to be taught giving is better than receiving!
The capable poor were to be taught to love Almighty God with all their heart, soul, and mind, and their neighbors as themselves!
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America's Two Poor Classes
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Today in America we have two different classes of poor: 1) the American Indigent Poor; and 2) the Capable Poor or the “New American Poor” (i.e., “The Subjective Socially Dependent”).
The American Indigent Poor are those individuals who are truly helpless and indigent. These were born with physical infirmities and birth defects who suffer physical traumas or mental issues and are unable to survive through this life without help from society. Some are our valiant veterans of foreign wars and others are rejected outcasts of society. These individuals need and deserve our charity and help, and most of all we are to let them know that Almighty God loves them and sent His Son for them (John 3:16-17). In the midst of this fallen world (Rom 5:12-19), Almighty God has a wondrous plan for their eternal future. All those who place their trust in Him will be restored and healed in that Day when He restores all things unto Himself (Isa. 35:6; 49:10; John 6:35; 7:38; 1 Cor. 15:42-44).
These hide behind the name of “the poor” and see themselves as the indigent poor class. These have become nothing more than a parasite to the achievements of others and a burden of weight to society and all working-class Americans.
The New American Poor (i.e., the Capable Poor or the Subjective Socially Dependent) are those who through decades of generational dependence on government and social charities have become slothful, immoral, idle and desensitized to life’s demands and responsibilities. These - as we shall see - have absorbed the subjective Liberal Ideology and are fully addicted to and dependent on socialistic government programs. They are quite capable of working. They suffer no infirmities or handicaps but choose the path of dependency and sloth over self-motivation and personal responsibility and achievement. These hide behind the name of “the poor” and see themselves as the indigent poor class. These have become nothing more than a parasite to the achievements of others and a burden of weight to society and all working-class Americans. These are the products of FDR’s New Deal, LBJ’s Great Society and the War on Poverty and Obama's new New Deal. The Left’s good intentions have enslaved countless millions to a life of poverty and narcissistic victimhood.
Today we hear from America’s Left that we need to do more to take care of “the poor” here in America. These “poor” they are alluding to is this class of the socially dependent. They continually offer socialist programs to these without any moral accountability or personal responsibility.
The fact of the matter is, the phrase “The New American Poor” is an oxymoron. In light of those throughout the world who are truly oppressed and made destitute by fascist oppressors in third world countries, the New American Poor live as kings and are treated as spoiled children.
The New American Poor class have access to food shelters and state housing, possesses free revenue (welfare), free health care, free food stamps, cell phones, iPods, TV’s, Nike shoes, designer clothes, cars, toilets, clean water, free school lunches, free education, free day care, pay no taxes, come and go as they please, have full voting privileges and freedoms as citizens, etc. They have countless benefits and rights that the truly oppressed and indigent of the world know absolutely nothing about - let alone hardworking middle class America. The truly afflicted, indigent poor of the world possesses none of these luxuries, yet the New American Poor with their subjective mindset loves to compare themselves to these as though they are on the same par. If one takes an objective view of the case, it is clearly seen that there is absolutely no comparison between the two groups.
We have redefined poor in this country as not having enough to satisfy our wants and desires.
The majority of the New American Poor possesses a subjective mindset which has been placed on them as mighty battleship chains by the Left in this country. The sad fact is they are absolutely oblivious to all the care that has been given to them, for which they are truly unthankful. We have redefined poor in this country as not having enough to satisfy our wants and desires. Only in The Land of the Free could these claims ever be made and these labeled as poor and victims of society. The true Indigent Poor of America suffer as the New American Poor “milk and bilk” the system. Which of these two classes is truly the victim?
The True Heart of the Matter
It would not be difficult to see the true heart of the matter if one was to simple take an objective and realistic view. The issue, however, is too raw and politically charged to be engaged by a great many individuals. The New American Poor today have reaped a whirlwind of dire consequences due to their rejection of divine accountability and their abandonment of fundamental truths and moral absolutes. They have sold their souls to the secular socialist god of Big Government, which demands no accountability or responsibility from them, only their total support and absolute allegiance. The end result of this rejection of divine accountability is the abandonment of absolutes (moral/ spiritual) to an addiction and utter dependency on the Left and its socialistic “Big Government” utopia visions. This has produced the catastrophic consequences reaped by the New American Poor of today.The New American Poor today have reaped a whirlwind of dire consequences due to their rejection of divine accountability and their abandonment of fundamental truths and moral absolutes.
At the beginning of the 1900’s, the NAP began to turn away from Judean/ Christian values (Rom 1:18-32) and charities and chose to be indoctrinated in the ways of liberalism (politically and religiously). Over the past 100 years the secular leftist Democratic Party has kept these masses under their thumb while claiming to be their champions and deliverers. The NAP have taken on the mantle and practices of secularism, liberalism, sloth, idleness, the godless form of liberal/ apostate Christianity and relativism as their ideology and way of life. These have embraced the subjective liberal mindset of the Left and have assumed the subjective victim status as the downtrodden, unprivileged class in America. This “victim status” position has been assigned to them by their Leftist oppressors in Washington D.C.
Today the godless outworkings of secularism, liberalism, socialistic oppression and personal dependency now rule. Our nation’s Christian charities once dominated and did much good until they were abandoned by the NAP and infiltrated by a liberal/ apostate form of “Christianity.” For many years the poor and oppressed from all around the world sought refuge here in the United States, and as they entered New York harbor they saw the door of opportunity with a future of great potential open before them. They were welcomed by the Statue of Liberty and by that great inscription at Ellis Island as they entered the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.
My friend, Almighty God loves the poor! He loves them and does not abandon them. They have abandoned Him. He sent his Son who became a slave to lead man back to God the Father and to deliver humanity from the enslaving, oppressing power of sin (John 3:16-17; Rom 7:24, Phil 2:4-10, Heb 2:14-15). The Lord Jesus Christ, Almighty God’s Son, was inconceivably rich, yet for our sakes He became poor so that we through His poverty might be rich (2 Cor. 8:9)!
The consequences of the New American Poor greatly abound (Gal. 6:8). They have become LAWLESS in all manner of their living. Drug addiction, alcoholism, pornography addiction, a licentious mindset, a ravished family unit, multitudes of fatherless children and single-parent homes, violence, murder, numberless incarcerations, rampant sexual immorality and STD’s, generational psychological and mental trauma from the outworkings of immorality and loss of self respect, narcissistic behavior, callousness and hard-heartedness, laziness and obesity, inner-city dwellings which have become a wasteland flooded with pollution, poverty and drugs, etc., etc. These just begin to describe the miserable conditions resulting from the tyranny and oppression, bondage and slavery in the lives of the New America Poor (NAP). Many scapegoats have been created for the plight of the New American Poor - and some are truly to blame - but the NAP themselves are going to be held personally responsible to Almighty God in that Day. All their scapegoats will be irrelevant in the Day of Judgment. The reality is that only Almighty God can deliver these individuals (NAP) from their current state of poverty, dependency and sloth. Only Almighty God can rescue them from the bondage and outworkings of their circumstances and situation. Only Almighty God has the remedy to deliver their souls from the wrath to come (John 3:16-17; Rev. 6:17).
My friend, hear this very sobering truth backed by the Word of Almighty God. Belonging to the NAP class or the Indigent Poor class is not a virtue to qualify one for Almighty God’s righteous and holy Heaven. The only qualifying virtue for anyone - rich or poor - to enter God’s Heaven is by placing one’s faith in the saving Person and work of Jesus Christ alone (Rom 3:28, 10:4, Eph. 2:8-9). Faith is something we all possess. Red, yellow, black and white, rich, poor, bond or free - all who are outside of Christ must give a personal account to Almighty God at the Great White Throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). No one will have any excuse to use (Rom. 1:20). Almighty God is not a respecter of any person, no matter their class or color (Deut. 10:17; Matt. 16:27; Acts 10:34; Col. 3:25; 1 Peter 1:17).
The Oppressor of the Poor
At the beginning of the 1900’s, the NAP began to turn away from Judean/ Christian values (Rom 1:18-32) and charities and chose to be indoctrinated in the ways of liberalism (politically and religiously). Over the past 100 years the secular leftist Democratic Party has kept these masses under their thumb while claiming to be their champions and deliverers. The NAP have taken on the mantle and practices of secularism, liberalism, sloth, idleness, the godless form of liberal/ apostate Christianity and relativism as their ideology and way of life. These have embraced the subjective liberal mindset of the Left and have assumed the subjective victim status as the downtrodden, unprivileged class in America. This “victim status” position has been assigned to them by their Leftist oppressors in Washington D.C.Over the past 100 years the secular leftist Democratic Party has kept these masses under their thumb while claiming to be their champions and deliverers.
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This attitude and mindset does not come without a devastating price tag. The cost to our culture and society has been horrific. A significant percentage of our NAP population has become dehumanized to the extent of full-blown narcissism, depression, bitterness, callousness (hard-heartedness), jealousy, envy, strife, hatred and violence that has poisoned their hearts and minds. This has progressed to such a degree that they cannot or will not respond to those who truly care about them and seek their betterment. The very ones who sincerely seek to help lift the NAP out of its bondage today are demonized, slandered and labeled as cold-hearted, callous and racist by the NAP, their self-appointed spokesmen and very oppressors of the Left.
The New American Poor have had all personal responsibility removed from them, opening wide the flood-gates of idleness and sloth. It is said that Idleness is the Devil’s playground. How true that is! For man’s sake Almighty God cursed the ground after man’s fall (see Gen. 3:17-18), knowing that with an abundance of idleness man would destroy himself in a never-ending quest to fill his famished soul, thus reaping the destructive evils and vices of personal (self) gratification. The NAP have had all motivation for the hope to succeed beaten out of them. They have had all incentives for living a healthy and happy life totally driven from them. They do not know how to support themselves for their daily needs without looking to Big Government. They have become as a drug addict looking for his next Big Government fix. They are totally addicted to government dependency. They are encouraged in their plight and held there by their oppressors in the Leftist Democratic Party without any escape in sight. The Left uses these subjective, oppressed people as pawns in their ever-growing quest for absolute power and control.
These oppressed are the Subjective Socially Dependent (aka “the New American Poor”). They are told by their Leftist Oppressors that they are victims of life’s lottery and truly hopeless without their aid. They are told by their Leftist Masters that they will never amount to anything of worth without Big Government interceding for them. Their ranks increase daily and they are ever chained to this never-ending circle of poverty and dependency. Once the motivation for achievement and success is driven from a human spirit, all that is left is a shell of a human being: an unmotivated, beaten down, depressed, slothful and eventually doomed individual.
The Socialistic Left has done more to destroy the family unit of the NAP today than any slave trader or violent oppressor could ever do.
The Godless Rich (those who reject Almighty God’s virtues, absolutes and Word) and the Left of this world - with their secular socialism - still have yet to give the Poor a fair shake.
Almighty God has not forgotten the deeds of these individuals and will hold them absolutely accountable for their actions (James 2:1-10). God has provided for the Poor (both indigent and capable) all that they will EVER need in the Person of Jesus Christ. So many that have been delivered from the wasteland of Government addiction can testify to that!
Today the godless outworkings of secularism, liberalism, socialistic oppression and personal dependency now rule. Our nation’s Christian charities once dominated and did much good until they were abandoned by the NAP and infiltrated by a liberal/ apostate form of “Christianity.” For many years the poor and oppressed from all around the world sought refuge here in the United States, and as they entered New York harbor they saw the door of opportunity with a future of great potential open before them. They were welcomed by the Statue of Liberty and by that great inscription at Ellis Island as they entered the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.“Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
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America has always been a bright beacon to the world’s oppressed, and it was our Judean/ Christian
heritage and culture that fueled that burning light. That light today has been nearly snuffed out by the oppressive takeover of godless secular liberalism here in America.
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Almighty God’s Love for the Poor!
My friend, Almighty God loves the poor! He loves them and does not abandon them. They have abandoned Him. He sent his Son who became a slave to lead man back to God the Father and to deliver humanity from the enslaving, oppressing power of sin (John 3:16-17; Rom 7:24, Phil 2:4-10, Heb 2:14-15). The Lord Jesus Christ, Almighty God’s Son, was inconceivably rich, yet for our sakes He became poor so that we through His poverty might be rich (2 Cor. 8:9)!My Friend, do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? He has come to set the captives free (John 8:32, 36; Heb. 2:14-15). Whatever captivity that you may find yourself under today, whatever oppression or addictions bind you, He wants to set you free! He has come to seek and save (deliver) that which was lost (Matt. 18:11; Luke 19:10)! He loves you and wants to deliver you from your transgressions and sins against HIS PERFECTLY RIGHTEOUS CHARACTER. Will you trust Him today? Your destiny is to be with Him forever in eternal bliss, don’t let your pride destroy you as it has done countless others (James 2:5; Matt. 5:3). My friend, place your sole trust in Jesus Christ today. My friend, it’s totally up to you. The ball is in your court. You alone will have to make your decision. Will you have Almighty God care for you (Matt. 6:24-33) or Big Government? May you rightly choose Almighty God and His highest and best for you. He will change your life and you will NEVER be the same!
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matt 6:33).
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Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? (Matt. 6:26)
The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand!
DJP I.F.
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