PURPOSE
Why are you reading this? Why am I writing this? What are our purposes for doing this? Do we really know what our purposes are? Before I get into examining that word, I'll tell you my purpose for writing this message. When I was ordained, I was given this charge, and the scripture from 2Tim. 2:15 is my purpose. "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God a worker who does not need to be ashamed, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH." Verses 16 and 17 were not part of my marching order, but a caution of what I would face. "But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer." I have been blessed with a wonderful family and marvelous animals, but all this pales in the seriousness of my charge.
Do you have a purpose? I use the singular here, because if we really study scripture rather than just reading it, you know your purpose. The dictionary defines purpose very clearly and in depth. As Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary explains it, "That which one sets before himself as an object to be attained; intention; resolution, determination." Surprisingly, many people don't know what their purpose in life is or should be. It is clear from scripture that a person desiring to be a Christian must study and attempt to follow the teaching of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. You may claim to be a Christian and say you prayed the "sinner's prayer", but if you have not placed your primary purpose to be
obedient to the very words of Christ, you have missed the mark. You may have any secular or church occupation, family or other interest, but none of these must
overshadow your obedience to His directions.
Most people I know or have met, do not follow much of Christ's teaching, and are very careless in using scripture to support their purpose, which usually is not Christian at all. I am very disappointed to see people who are "church wise" doing this, although direct quotes from scripture to correct their loud and flagrant mistakes are not only ignored, but used against the person who questions the falsehoods. If you are ignorant of history, geography and cultures, you may question some of the guidelines used by epistle writers, but must never question the very quotations by Christ in the Four Gospels. Remember, these are the living words of God given us through His Son. If you try to change them or disobey them, you are defying God and denying your supposed commitment to Him. We are all sinners and Christ redeemed those of us who confess and repent our sins. We will make more mistakes, but we cannot justify not obeying the directions of the Gospels. Look at 1 Sam. 15:22, where we are told "Behold, to obey
is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams." Notice very carefully, we are warned here that no matter what we tithe or how we tithe, it is meaningless unless we are following the purpose of a committed Christian. You can't give enough money to defray disobedience, and every falsehood you speak or pass on as false testimony is unChristian and a sin.
I always reference my teaching with direct quotes from scripture--usually several verses. and often from different books. The same is true as above, with my dictionary quote. Yet, I find people with a predetermined conclusion refuse to even check the rock solid quotes directly from authentic sources such as the bible. I'm not a judge--Christ will take care of that. But, if you insist on using falsehoods, stupid, "I know for a fact", and similar slander rather than seeking the truth which refutes your testimony, I ask that you refrain from calling yourself a Christian. You don't adhere to the word of God, you give false testimony
willingly, and you are fooling yourself if you think you are a Christian. I am going to give you a series of Christian situations, mostly current, where all the facts are in. It's up to you to determine your worth as a Christian.
Very recent: an 87 year old lady in an independent private care home had a problem and couldn't breathe. The nurse called 911, and was told to administer CPR. The nurse must have known that was the thing to do or she wouldn't be a nurse. The nurse refused because the facility owners had a policy that such assistance was not permitted. The 911 dispatcher pleaded for someone--anyone--to apply CPR. By the time an ambulance arrived and took the elderly woman to the hospital, it was too late--she died. Here we have several people to consider for Christian values and teaching. (1)The private care facility (corporation), which
is now legally a "person". We'll explain this later. Score: Christianity 0. person 1. No chance for liability (money). (2)Nurse. Choice between job (money) and saving life. Christianity 0, nurse 1. (3)911 Dispatcher. Represents a secular, government agency and performs the job according to direction. Christianity 1, non-Christian secular agency and government employee 1. The only Christian action was not by the private care givers, but by the hated government agency and employee. Who followed Christ's teaching? Money was the winner, except for 911. None of the money people did their job and certainly did not heed Christ's teaching in the Good Samaritan of scripture (Luke 10:30-37). Back up to verse 27, and you
will see what a Christian MUST do to qualify as a Christian and for eternal life. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." If there is any word of Christ you don't understand, look it up in a dictionary. You cannot separate any part of His direction. It is not any person's place to change the word of Christ. The first response by the facility was that the family had agreed not to try and revive the lady as a precondition of residence. Later they stated the nurse
misinterpreted policy and is on voluntary leave while the case is being investigated. Any professional should understand policy, and it appears both
the facility and nurse are pointing at each other. It would have been much
better for them to act as Christ would have.
Even more recent: A person who must have heart medicine and has only meager social security income, ran low on the needed supply of medicine. The person had a bill from the pharmacy that was due early in the month. The bill had to be paid from social security income, and that money didn't come until the fourth week in the month. The pharmacy was contacted, and the person gave the date of the payment, which was the day the money was due to arrive, and the pharmacy agreed to delay the shipment until the payment arrived. A week later, the person received a latter from the pharmacy stating it would not send the
medicine until the bill of less than $70 was paid. This is interesting because some of the medicine in the order was already paid for by this person's former employer through the employee retirement program. By not sending the "free" medicine they were bullying and stealing. The need of the person was nothing--it was all about money. Next the person received a letter from a collection agency. This was less than a month from the billing. The pharmacy was firm they would not send any medicine--including that already paid for--until the small amount due was received. The person was becoming desperate at this point, and told a medicare representative of the problem. The medicare person was horrified at the situation and said the pharmacy was breaking the law, and medicare would contact the pharmacy to correct the problem. Now, let's score this for Christian evaluation.
(1)Pharmacy, a very large corporation legally classified as a person. Secular, based entire situation on MONEY, illegally withholding medication already paid for to pressure the recipient into sending MONEY. Score: Pharmacy, Christianity 0, person 1. (2)Medicare representative, government agency, government program and employee, Christianity 1, person 0.
These two cases have indicated a trend from Christian principles to love of money, and this is the rallying cry for so many conservatives, led by the Tea Party. I said I'd explain the new status of corporations as "people". That was the ruling of the conservative controlled Supreme Court. None of those judges who voted for this ruling can possibly by any quirk of the imagination be a Christian. Why? Turn to the very first book in the bible, Genesis in the Old Testament, chapter one, verses 26 and 27. "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
over the birds of the air and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His OWN image; in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them." Lest you say you are a New Testament Christian and the Old Testament doesn't apply, how do you explain Christ's many direct quotes from the Old Testament in His teaching? You are again denying the faith.
Explain to me how any corporation is the image of God or Christ. Remember, (I pray) that many, many people saw Christ in the flesh, so we know what the image of God looks like. The Supreme court ruling--not by hated liberals or socialists--shows the total lack of anything Christian. You now say this is all political, and you are correct. It clearly shows a majority of conservatives do not support Christ or His teaching. In fact, this ruling defies what children are taught in elementary science, and would be an excellent example of the intelligence level of Jethroe, a character in the television series of the Beverly hillbillies. In case you don't recall that comedy, Jethroe was a young man in the hillbilly family, and
often bragged about his graduation from elementary school. He said he was going to be a brain surgeon, but missed his calling. He would be a good conservative judge.
Now, lets look at exactly what Christ taught, mainly in parables. You can research any of the Four Gospels, and you will see they all reinforce each other. Christ always taught the principle of treating others as yourself. He never taught it was acceptable to ignore the needs of others. He was a healer, not a condemner. He particularly pointed out that your heart indicated your Christian purpose or standing. We already had the Ten Commandments, and He added an Eleventh because He saw greed and man's rules corrupting the very word of God. It is ironic that the supposed Christian church and people who mislead and depart from the word of God are continuing to ignore and distort the teaching of Christ. If you are a part of this sham game, the examination of Christ's quotes may wake you up.
Our next example is another false claim about being a Christian nation. Ireland is a country so embellished in Christianity that the Catholics and Protestants have been fighting and killing each other for supremacy for years. Recently, an educated and professional young married woman and her educated and professional husband were going to start a family. Something went wrong in the early stages of pregnancy, and blood poison set in. The fetus died, and the women needed to abort the fetus in order to get rid of the poison. Ireland's constitution forbids ANY abortion, and the doctors refused to abort the fetus. They proclaimed their Christianity and watched the woman die a slow, painful death. Score: Christianity 0, government 1. Conservatives claim America is a Christian nation. We had slave owners for almost 100 years and denied
vote to women for over100 years. Score: Christianity 0, government 1. Note that the existing government in America that failed these tests included both political parties at the beginning, while the one-sided failures were at the hands of conservatives, who fall back on their idea of Christian teaching--definitely no connection to the very words of Christ. The claim that liberals or non-conservatives aren't Christians, or that they are socialists is a great way to create division and insure the demise of Christianity.
First, let's look at what Christ tells us about money, since that seems to top the list of so-called Christians. Matt. 6:19-21 warns us to lay up treasures in heaven, not on earth, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matt. 6:24 tells us we cannot serve both God and mammon. One has to be our Christian purpose, not both. I'm not claiming you can't be financially successful; I'm saying money cannot be the purpose in your life. If you're one of the middle class or average Americans, and you moan about the moochers taking your "hard earned" money, you need to do a little research. The statements Romney made about 47 percenters living on entitlements is COMPLETELY false. He obviously doesn't have a clue about working Americans, and the middle class Christians who value money over God have bought into the separation of greed and
envy. Anybody who works, pays taxes right out of their paycheck. If they don't earn enough, there is no money to pay income taxes. People who own property pay all kinds of taxes before they pay income taxes. If they're without a fat pension and living on social security, they run out of income tax money. Most of these people worked their entire life to acquire their property. Local schools, township roads, fire companies (volunteer), local police, local earned income tax--all are paid on the local level, and may drop you below the IRS level. Then take out the state income tax, and you find the IRS again gets nothing. If you pay federal IRS taxes, you are making more money than the average working American unless there are two wage earners in the family. Unemployment money is available only if you have current work history and have paid into the system, which you must do by law. It, like social security, is your money, nobody
else's. Most people on SSI get that money because they have physical or mental problems. Just because you CAN walk in the park, mow your lawn or change your car's oil does not mean you don't have a limiting problem. You do know you must have a doctor's certification to get SSI? There are cheaters, but they are exceptions. Welfare, where people continue to have child after child, the father(s) skip out, etc., is a major problem. We can't seem to get women to stop the multiple children idea, and, of course, there are lots of men who readily accept the free sex. The children must be supported. If you can't use abortion or
sterilization, what can you do? You do know that all taxpayers somehow contribute to this situation? You do know that even Christ and the disciples paid taxes, too? Read Matt. 17:24-27. And knock off that "I work hard for my money". First of all, all money is God's, none is really yours. Second, you are saying you work harder than me or others? Do you work harder than a soldier in a foxhole? Do you work harder than a fireman risking his/her life? Do you work harder than a physician performing a life or death operation? Do you work harder with your mouth? I'm certain you can answer at least one of these questions in the affirmative.
On with our examination of Christ's teaching about money--Matt. 19:16-22. Here a rich young ruler asks what is necessary to gain eternal life. He tells Christ he has followed the Law (the 10 Commandments plus 1). Note Christ makes two specific references. In verse 19, Christ says, "You shall not bear false witness," and in verse 21, Christ tells the man to sell his many possessions and then follow Him. Christ knew where the young ruler's heart was. Next, go to Matt. 19:23-30. I will only quote part of these verses to sum up the total. (V 23 and 24) "Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of
God.'" Verse 29 tells us what our reward (including eternal life) will be.
In Matt. 21:12,13, Christ tells us what He thinks of money in the church and the greed of some businessmen. Note this is a rare instance where Christ was so upset, he became physically violent enough to overthrow tables and chairs, and evicted the merchants. We already read Matt. 17:24-27, where Christ gave instructions to pay taxes. Now, in Matt. 22:15-21, He again explains the responsibility of paying taxes. I've pointed out the grave error some Christians make in not understanding the Parable of the Talents (Matt.25:14-30). The rich man made his money by being dishonest. Verses 24 and 26 tell us the servant
knew the rich man profited by dishonesty, and the rich man, in his own words, admitted he, indeed, was dishonest. The other servants had used their money to turn profits, although whether through honesty or not--we don't know. I pointed out verse 29 did not mean that if you had money, you would get much (abundant) more. If you do not have, that which you have will be taken away demands an explanation. This refers to using what you have (assets) or losing it (the skill in sports, music, etc). The rich man did not have the ability to perform his judgment in verse 30 unless he was in the service of Satan.
How cheap we sell out to Satan is startlingly clear in Matt. 26:15,16. Even if we
don't sell out for as little as 30 pieces of silver, we do sin sometimes for ridiculously cheap reasons. Remember, all sins are equally negative except denial of the Holy Spirit (the power of God). Murder may seem worse to us than false testimony, but they have equal value in sin power. Not realizing this sometimes turns us into a self righteous Christian, and this is frequently clear to others, especially non Christians. That is why Christians are now often referred to as hypocrites, and the conservative movement is stalling. It seems most church leaders, especially pastors, are concerned with teaching right and wrong, and how we should live, ignoring some of the hard-sell teaching of Christ. The most glaring example is the total quiet response to the ruling that a corporation is the image of God. That refutes the warning in Rev. 22:18,19 not to add to or change the words of scripture. I see that most bibles printed after the year 2000 have word or phrase changes. This is 100% wrong. It is rumored these changes were made by a conservative editor because a liberal editor would have used a more "gentle" term of the same meaning instead of trying to "clean up" the words of inspiration by the original writer. In I Kings, 16:11, my study bible quotes, in part, "he did not leave him one male, neither of his relatives nor of his friends." My older bibles--prior to 2000-- state the same verse, in part, "he left him not one
that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinfolks, nor of his friends." Sometimes
cleaning up a simple thing reduces the impact of the message. The original version makes the slaughter's impact more vivid. The change is wrong, but perhaps a liberal editor would have substituted "urinates" --still wrong, but not as vulgar.
The teaching about money deserves a high priority, but does not supersede Christ's Eleventh Commandment which tells us to treat our brothers and sisters as we would treat ourselves. That means we should try to correct problems in their lives, AND do what we are able to help them to survive, even if we have to sacrifice something to accomplish the job. Sacrifice to help, not prolog agony.
Rev. Walbear
Why are you reading this? Why am I writing this? What are our purposes for doing this? Do we really know what our purposes are? Before I get into examining that word, I'll tell you my purpose for writing this message. When I was ordained, I was given this charge, and the scripture from 2Tim. 2:15 is my purpose. "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God a worker who does not need to be ashamed, RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH." Verses 16 and 17 were not part of my marching order, but a caution of what I would face. "But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer." I have been blessed with a wonderful family and marvelous animals, but all this pales in the seriousness of my charge.
Do you have a purpose? I use the singular here, because if we really study scripture rather than just reading it, you know your purpose. The dictionary defines purpose very clearly and in depth. As Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary explains it, "That which one sets before himself as an object to be attained; intention; resolution, determination." Surprisingly, many people don't know what their purpose in life is or should be. It is clear from scripture that a person desiring to be a Christian must study and attempt to follow the teaching of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. You may claim to be a Christian and say you prayed the "sinner's prayer", but if you have not placed your primary purpose to be
obedient to the very words of Christ, you have missed the mark. You may have any secular or church occupation, family or other interest, but none of these must
overshadow your obedience to His directions.
Most people I know or have met, do not follow much of Christ's teaching, and are very careless in using scripture to support their purpose, which usually is not Christian at all. I am very disappointed to see people who are "church wise" doing this, although direct quotes from scripture to correct their loud and flagrant mistakes are not only ignored, but used against the person who questions the falsehoods. If you are ignorant of history, geography and cultures, you may question some of the guidelines used by epistle writers, but must never question the very quotations by Christ in the Four Gospels. Remember, these are the living words of God given us through His Son. If you try to change them or disobey them, you are defying God and denying your supposed commitment to Him. We are all sinners and Christ redeemed those of us who confess and repent our sins. We will make more mistakes, but we cannot justify not obeying the directions of the Gospels. Look at 1 Sam. 15:22, where we are told "Behold, to obey
is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams." Notice very carefully, we are warned here that no matter what we tithe or how we tithe, it is meaningless unless we are following the purpose of a committed Christian. You can't give enough money to defray disobedience, and every falsehood you speak or pass on as false testimony is unChristian and a sin.
I always reference my teaching with direct quotes from scripture--usually several verses. and often from different books. The same is true as above, with my dictionary quote. Yet, I find people with a predetermined conclusion refuse to even check the rock solid quotes directly from authentic sources such as the bible. I'm not a judge--Christ will take care of that. But, if you insist on using falsehoods, stupid, "I know for a fact", and similar slander rather than seeking the truth which refutes your testimony, I ask that you refrain from calling yourself a Christian. You don't adhere to the word of God, you give false testimony
willingly, and you are fooling yourself if you think you are a Christian. I am going to give you a series of Christian situations, mostly current, where all the facts are in. It's up to you to determine your worth as a Christian.
Very recent: an 87 year old lady in an independent private care home had a problem and couldn't breathe. The nurse called 911, and was told to administer CPR. The nurse must have known that was the thing to do or she wouldn't be a nurse. The nurse refused because the facility owners had a policy that such assistance was not permitted. The 911 dispatcher pleaded for someone--anyone--to apply CPR. By the time an ambulance arrived and took the elderly woman to the hospital, it was too late--she died. Here we have several people to consider for Christian values and teaching. (1)The private care facility (corporation), which
is now legally a "person". We'll explain this later. Score: Christianity 0. person 1. No chance for liability (money). (2)Nurse. Choice between job (money) and saving life. Christianity 0, nurse 1. (3)911 Dispatcher. Represents a secular, government agency and performs the job according to direction. Christianity 1, non-Christian secular agency and government employee 1. The only Christian action was not by the private care givers, but by the hated government agency and employee. Who followed Christ's teaching? Money was the winner, except for 911. None of the money people did their job and certainly did not heed Christ's teaching in the Good Samaritan of scripture (Luke 10:30-37). Back up to verse 27, and you
will see what a Christian MUST do to qualify as a Christian and for eternal life. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." If there is any word of Christ you don't understand, look it up in a dictionary. You cannot separate any part of His direction. It is not any person's place to change the word of Christ. The first response by the facility was that the family had agreed not to try and revive the lady as a precondition of residence. Later they stated the nurse
misinterpreted policy and is on voluntary leave while the case is being investigated. Any professional should understand policy, and it appears both
the facility and nurse are pointing at each other. It would have been much
better for them to act as Christ would have.
Even more recent: A person who must have heart medicine and has only meager social security income, ran low on the needed supply of medicine. The person had a bill from the pharmacy that was due early in the month. The bill had to be paid from social security income, and that money didn't come until the fourth week in the month. The pharmacy was contacted, and the person gave the date of the payment, which was the day the money was due to arrive, and the pharmacy agreed to delay the shipment until the payment arrived. A week later, the person received a latter from the pharmacy stating it would not send the
medicine until the bill of less than $70 was paid. This is interesting because some of the medicine in the order was already paid for by this person's former employer through the employee retirement program. By not sending the "free" medicine they were bullying and stealing. The need of the person was nothing--it was all about money. Next the person received a letter from a collection agency. This was less than a month from the billing. The pharmacy was firm they would not send any medicine--including that already paid for--until the small amount due was received. The person was becoming desperate at this point, and told a medicare representative of the problem. The medicare person was horrified at the situation and said the pharmacy was breaking the law, and medicare would contact the pharmacy to correct the problem. Now, let's score this for Christian evaluation.
(1)Pharmacy, a very large corporation legally classified as a person. Secular, based entire situation on MONEY, illegally withholding medication already paid for to pressure the recipient into sending MONEY. Score: Pharmacy, Christianity 0, person 1. (2)Medicare representative, government agency, government program and employee, Christianity 1, person 0.
These two cases have indicated a trend from Christian principles to love of money, and this is the rallying cry for so many conservatives, led by the Tea Party. I said I'd explain the new status of corporations as "people". That was the ruling of the conservative controlled Supreme Court. None of those judges who voted for this ruling can possibly by any quirk of the imagination be a Christian. Why? Turn to the very first book in the bible, Genesis in the Old Testament, chapter one, verses 26 and 27. "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
over the birds of the air and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His OWN image; in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them." Lest you say you are a New Testament Christian and the Old Testament doesn't apply, how do you explain Christ's many direct quotes from the Old Testament in His teaching? You are again denying the faith.
Explain to me how any corporation is the image of God or Christ. Remember, (I pray) that many, many people saw Christ in the flesh, so we know what the image of God looks like. The Supreme court ruling--not by hated liberals or socialists--shows the total lack of anything Christian. You now say this is all political, and you are correct. It clearly shows a majority of conservatives do not support Christ or His teaching. In fact, this ruling defies what children are taught in elementary science, and would be an excellent example of the intelligence level of Jethroe, a character in the television series of the Beverly hillbillies. In case you don't recall that comedy, Jethroe was a young man in the hillbilly family, and
often bragged about his graduation from elementary school. He said he was going to be a brain surgeon, but missed his calling. He would be a good conservative judge.
Now, lets look at exactly what Christ taught, mainly in parables. You can research any of the Four Gospels, and you will see they all reinforce each other. Christ always taught the principle of treating others as yourself. He never taught it was acceptable to ignore the needs of others. He was a healer, not a condemner. He particularly pointed out that your heart indicated your Christian purpose or standing. We already had the Ten Commandments, and He added an Eleventh because He saw greed and man's rules corrupting the very word of God. It is ironic that the supposed Christian church and people who mislead and depart from the word of God are continuing to ignore and distort the teaching of Christ. If you are a part of this sham game, the examination of Christ's quotes may wake you up.
Our next example is another false claim about being a Christian nation. Ireland is a country so embellished in Christianity that the Catholics and Protestants have been fighting and killing each other for supremacy for years. Recently, an educated and professional young married woman and her educated and professional husband were going to start a family. Something went wrong in the early stages of pregnancy, and blood poison set in. The fetus died, and the women needed to abort the fetus in order to get rid of the poison. Ireland's constitution forbids ANY abortion, and the doctors refused to abort the fetus. They proclaimed their Christianity and watched the woman die a slow, painful death. Score: Christianity 0, government 1. Conservatives claim America is a Christian nation. We had slave owners for almost 100 years and denied
vote to women for over100 years. Score: Christianity 0, government 1. Note that the existing government in America that failed these tests included both political parties at the beginning, while the one-sided failures were at the hands of conservatives, who fall back on their idea of Christian teaching--definitely no connection to the very words of Christ. The claim that liberals or non-conservatives aren't Christians, or that they are socialists is a great way to create division and insure the demise of Christianity.
First, let's look at what Christ tells us about money, since that seems to top the list of so-called Christians. Matt. 6:19-21 warns us to lay up treasures in heaven, not on earth, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matt. 6:24 tells us we cannot serve both God and mammon. One has to be our Christian purpose, not both. I'm not claiming you can't be financially successful; I'm saying money cannot be the purpose in your life. If you're one of the middle class or average Americans, and you moan about the moochers taking your "hard earned" money, you need to do a little research. The statements Romney made about 47 percenters living on entitlements is COMPLETELY false. He obviously doesn't have a clue about working Americans, and the middle class Christians who value money over God have bought into the separation of greed and
envy. Anybody who works, pays taxes right out of their paycheck. If they don't earn enough, there is no money to pay income taxes. People who own property pay all kinds of taxes before they pay income taxes. If they're without a fat pension and living on social security, they run out of income tax money. Most of these people worked their entire life to acquire their property. Local schools, township roads, fire companies (volunteer), local police, local earned income tax--all are paid on the local level, and may drop you below the IRS level. Then take out the state income tax, and you find the IRS again gets nothing. If you pay federal IRS taxes, you are making more money than the average working American unless there are two wage earners in the family. Unemployment money is available only if you have current work history and have paid into the system, which you must do by law. It, like social security, is your money, nobody
else's. Most people on SSI get that money because they have physical or mental problems. Just because you CAN walk in the park, mow your lawn or change your car's oil does not mean you don't have a limiting problem. You do know you must have a doctor's certification to get SSI? There are cheaters, but they are exceptions. Welfare, where people continue to have child after child, the father(s) skip out, etc., is a major problem. We can't seem to get women to stop the multiple children idea, and, of course, there are lots of men who readily accept the free sex. The children must be supported. If you can't use abortion or
sterilization, what can you do? You do know that all taxpayers somehow contribute to this situation? You do know that even Christ and the disciples paid taxes, too? Read Matt. 17:24-27. And knock off that "I work hard for my money". First of all, all money is God's, none is really yours. Second, you are saying you work harder than me or others? Do you work harder than a soldier in a foxhole? Do you work harder than a fireman risking his/her life? Do you work harder than a physician performing a life or death operation? Do you work harder with your mouth? I'm certain you can answer at least one of these questions in the affirmative.
On with our examination of Christ's teaching about money--Matt. 19:16-22. Here a rich young ruler asks what is necessary to gain eternal life. He tells Christ he has followed the Law (the 10 Commandments plus 1). Note Christ makes two specific references. In verse 19, Christ says, "You shall not bear false witness," and in verse 21, Christ tells the man to sell his many possessions and then follow Him. Christ knew where the young ruler's heart was. Next, go to Matt. 19:23-30. I will only quote part of these verses to sum up the total. (V 23 and 24) "Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of
God.'" Verse 29 tells us what our reward (including eternal life) will be.
In Matt. 21:12,13, Christ tells us what He thinks of money in the church and the greed of some businessmen. Note this is a rare instance where Christ was so upset, he became physically violent enough to overthrow tables and chairs, and evicted the merchants. We already read Matt. 17:24-27, where Christ gave instructions to pay taxes. Now, in Matt. 22:15-21, He again explains the responsibility of paying taxes. I've pointed out the grave error some Christians make in not understanding the Parable of the Talents (Matt.25:14-30). The rich man made his money by being dishonest. Verses 24 and 26 tell us the servant
knew the rich man profited by dishonesty, and the rich man, in his own words, admitted he, indeed, was dishonest. The other servants had used their money to turn profits, although whether through honesty or not--we don't know. I pointed out verse 29 did not mean that if you had money, you would get much (abundant) more. If you do not have, that which you have will be taken away demands an explanation. This refers to using what you have (assets) or losing it (the skill in sports, music, etc). The rich man did not have the ability to perform his judgment in verse 30 unless he was in the service of Satan.
How cheap we sell out to Satan is startlingly clear in Matt. 26:15,16. Even if we
don't sell out for as little as 30 pieces of silver, we do sin sometimes for ridiculously cheap reasons. Remember, all sins are equally negative except denial of the Holy Spirit (the power of God). Murder may seem worse to us than false testimony, but they have equal value in sin power. Not realizing this sometimes turns us into a self righteous Christian, and this is frequently clear to others, especially non Christians. That is why Christians are now often referred to as hypocrites, and the conservative movement is stalling. It seems most church leaders, especially pastors, are concerned with teaching right and wrong, and how we should live, ignoring some of the hard-sell teaching of Christ. The most glaring example is the total quiet response to the ruling that a corporation is the image of God. That refutes the warning in Rev. 22:18,19 not to add to or change the words of scripture. I see that most bibles printed after the year 2000 have word or phrase changes. This is 100% wrong. It is rumored these changes were made by a conservative editor because a liberal editor would have used a more "gentle" term of the same meaning instead of trying to "clean up" the words of inspiration by the original writer. In I Kings, 16:11, my study bible quotes, in part, "he did not leave him one male, neither of his relatives nor of his friends." My older bibles--prior to 2000-- state the same verse, in part, "he left him not one
that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinfolks, nor of his friends." Sometimes
cleaning up a simple thing reduces the impact of the message. The original version makes the slaughter's impact more vivid. The change is wrong, but perhaps a liberal editor would have substituted "urinates" --still wrong, but not as vulgar.
The teaching about money deserves a high priority, but does not supersede Christ's Eleventh Commandment which tells us to treat our brothers and sisters as we would treat ourselves. That means we should try to correct problems in their lives, AND do what we are able to help them to survive, even if we have to sacrifice something to accomplish the job. Sacrifice to help, not prolog agony.
Rev. Walbear
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