All my political positions and economic positions come from The Word. I know, for some of you that makes no sense, but I am a child of God and Pastor... I am a student of The Word and I love what Jesus and the prophets had to teach about society and how we are to live in THIS part of God's Kingdom... so I offer this for those of you who do not know what I mean:
We are instructed in Torah, the Prophets, The Gospel of Jesus and the Epistles this -
"You shall not defraud your neighbor, steal or keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning..."
Leviticus 19:13 instructs us to treat laborers fairly with their wages... not lay them off for personal
profit or bust organizations that would help them be treated fairly
"When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides
with you shall be to you as a citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were
aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 19:33,34 instructs us to treat the
aliens in our land as citizens and loved ones, not exploit them for cheap labor because they have
no official papers and therefore no one to which to complain, and not scapegoat them for our
nation's problems and kick them out or round them up like criminals so we feel better about
our control (which is an illusion).
"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather
the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien: I am the Lord
your God." Leviticus 23:22 instructs us to make intentional provision for the poor and aliens in
our land and not keep it all for our selves.
"You shall not pervert the justice due to our poor in their lawsuits. Keep far from a false charge, and do
not kill the innocent and those in the right, for I will not acquit the guilty of that. You shall take no
bribe, for a bride blinds the officials, and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. You shall
not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of
Egypt." Exodus 23:6-9 instructs us to not do tort reform that throws out lawsuits as "frivolous",
and not to let lobbyists bribe officials of government. And, unless you are a pure blooded native
American, you were once immigrants here and should know better than to treat aliens in the land
shamefully.
Why? So glad you asked! "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God,
mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and
widow (most vulnerable in society), and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing.
You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt..." Deuteronomy 10:17
-19 instructs us that God loves them, and those whom God loves we had better love.
"You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who
reside in your land in one of your towns. You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset,
because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them; otherwise they might cry to the Lord
against you, and you would incur guilt... You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of
justice; you shall not take a widow's garment in pledge. Remember that you were a slave in
Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. When
you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it;
it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in
all our undertakings. When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the
alien, the orphan and the widow (the most vulnerable). When you gather the grapes of your
vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. Remember
that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this."
Deuteronomy 24:14-22 instructs us to help the poor, aliens and most vulnerable in society and
not to exploit, abuse, neglect, scapegoat them for our own personal gain as individuals, companies
or a nation!
I remember some "theologians" claiming that the Katrina disaster was a plague from God on
the sinful people of New Orleans. I do not hear them saying that the drought is a plague from
God on farmers and society because we have refused to treat "illegal" aliens with respect...
but have recently started targeting them and scapegoating them... interesting, don't you think?
"Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humbles our selves, but you do not notice? Look,
you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only
to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not
make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it
to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a
fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of the
injustice; to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your home;
when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then
your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your
vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall
call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and God will say, Here I am."
Isaiah 58:3-9 and also read 10-12, Amos 5:21-24 and Mark 7:6-8 instruct us that any piety or
outward shows of faithfulness or worship and praise are meaningless when we are unjust as
individuals or a nation with workers, the poor, minorities, the vulnerable and any in need.
See also Matthew 25:31-46 about how many who think they are sheep will find that they are
goats in the end... and how Jesus takes VERY seriously how we treat the most vulnerable...
Amos 5:10-15 instructs us about those who want to subvert the justice due others in order that
we might exploit the needy in our land for our own wealth and power, and how evil that is.
Amos 6:1-7 instructs us on how those with ease will not be the favored they think they are.
Micah 6:8 instructs us on what God has told us all along is acceptable to God.
Jesus in Matthew 5:42 instructs us to give to those who have no income.
Jesus in Matthew 21 instructs on evil tenants who think they can abuse others in God's Kingdom.
Jesus in Mark 14:7 says that we need to value Him above all, but help the poor as we are able,
always.
Jesus in Luke 10:7 sides with laborers in their pursuit of making a living (I Timothy 5:18).
Jesus in Luke 12 instructs us about being foolishly selfish (Rich Fool).
Jesus in Luke 16 instructs us on the sin of ignoring the plight of those most vulnerable (Rich Man
and Lazarus).
II Timothy 2:6 reads "It is the farmer who does the work who ought to have the first share of the crops." But we don't honor the workers as we do the owners and managers... it is backward according to Kingdom values.
James 2:14-17 instructs us on giving spiritual lip service to love, but not really helping someone,
and how useless that is in the Kingdom.
James 4:1-6 instructs us on how our mean-spirited, ruthless greed and willingness to do whatever
it takes to get what we want as a nation is sinful.
James 5:1-6 instructs us on how corrupt we are for the sake of the wealthy at the expense of others,
and how disgusting it is to God.
We, as a nation are in trouble, NOT because of the sexual sins we are obsessed with or the "liberal"
leanings that many label, but because we have treated people within our own land and those
abroad, people whom God loves, shamefully...
Politicians are voted on, and put into office by the people... and when they represent us in backing
the wealthy and powerful over the poorest in the land, writing laws that hurt the poor and make
it easy for the wealthy and powerful to exploit them...
cut programs that help the poor, rather than "entitlements" that help the rich...
actively engage in class warfare and then claim others are when they stand up to it...
intentionally break organized labor so that people will no longer make a living wage...
engage in voter suppression so that the wealthy and powerful can stay in office...
make it impossible for people to get justice, which they label "frivolous lawsuits"...
send jobs overseas and lay people off and then complain that they should not have to pay their
fair share of taxes because they are "job creators"...
scapegoat, target and oppress resident aliens in our land on whose backs we have gained
inexpensive food and manual labor for years...
keeping the poor and middle class working families from equal healthcare, while benefitting
those in the industry with greater profits and less accountability
keeping people from making a living wage while stockholders and corporate execs already
making 300x what the average worker makes, pursue limitless profit for themselves
not even to mention polluting, destroying and wasting the creation God loves, along with all the
people whom God created who inhabit it... and all for more profit for a few... oops, I guess I
did just mention it :-)
... and the people doing this "confess" with their lips to be "CHRISTIANS"?
No!
The God of the Law and Prophets is clearly not pleased.
Jesus, fulfiller of the Law and Prophets is not pleased.
We need to stop obsessively focusing on the sexual things that Jesus never mentioned, and go after the
REAL IMMORALITY of America, according to the Word of God - Greed and Lust for
Power, Prestige, Position and wealth... which we count as normative behavior in our nation, which
is rarely if ever mentioned in the church, and which is destroying our nation.
We have met the enemy. They are not "out there", and they are not "those people". The
worst enemy we have is US in the U.S..
Pastor Jamie
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