Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
A long time ago, I can remember following a poor couple into a shop to sell some of their goods. It was obvious that they were incredibly poor because of the condition of their vehicle, and the humble clothes that they were wearing. They had made some very ornate and intricately designed craft items out of diamond willow, and a few other things from the forest. I thought they were absolutely beautiful, and you could tell that they had invested a lot of their time in creating them. I thought to myself that these were the types of items that you would find at a million dollar ski resort, or a high profile wilderness getaway. But when they brought them up to the counter, they hadn’t said so much as a word when the owner came out and told them he couldn’t take any of that stuff. Disheartened, they picked up their things and began walking away, but the owner yelled that he would do them a favor, but he could only give them a little bit of money for the items. Because they were so poor, they had to take the what he gave them, but the next week I saw their items hanging on display in his shop for prices that were exorbitant, and far beyond what he had paid for them. It made me absolutely furious in my heart, and I never went there again.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
I have seen many people who have taken advantage of the poor, simply because they know that they need money, so they will wait until they can buy it so cheaply that they can make many times over what they bought it for. This is an absolutely cruel and evil thing to do to people, because they love money rather than helping out their poor neighbors. In complete hypocrisy, they will actually justify what they are doing by claiming that they simply can’t afford it. They will claim that they are the ones who are actually poor, because they can’t make the payment on their $25,000 fishing boat. They will claim that they are the ones who are actually poor, because they can’t afford to remodel their extravagant lakeside home. They will claim that they are the ones who are actually poor because they still owe the bank for their multi-million dollar business. These are some of the most heartless and wicked people that you will ever meet on this Earth, who are going to reap the wrath of the almighty God. This is because they oppress the poor in order to increase their own profit-margin and wealth; lining their own pockets at the expense of the destitute, and condemning themselves to an everlasting lake of fire in the process.
Proverbs 22:16 (KJB) He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.
People can receive a windfall such as winning the lottery or receive a large unexpected inheritance later on in their life. Many others have homes that are filled up with a lifetime of accumulating expensive goods and extravagant possessions. A few of them have created inventions that took an hour to make that sold for millions, or were been born extremely tall, and when they dunked basketballs in the hoop, they received huge royalties and commissions. Who in the world needs hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank? Not a sincere Christian, and that is a fact. If people cannot do anything with their bloated incomes while they are alive on this Earth, it will all count against them on Judgment Day. Sorry folks, wills don’t count in the sight of God, because if death was the only thing capable of wringing wealth from their dead hands, then they will never receive a reward, because they never really loved others in the first place.
Proverbs 21:13 (KJB) Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.
The poor need help right now, not twenty years from now, as they wait for much needed assistance while the wealthy live the high life and party with all of their buddies. Poor people need help today, not somewhere down the road as people with large bank accounts spend their wealth pleasuring themselves in some posh resort, while fishing somewhere up in Alaska. Mark my words, because the following is coming for them. Upon their death, God is going to eat their soul like fire, and it will be far too late for them to do anything about it at that point. They have ripped off the poor and lined their own pockets with the surplus, justifying their own evil hearts by claiming that the poor are stupid. Get ready, because God will consume these people in their own pride, for they shall weep and wail, and there will be no one to deliver them.
James 5:1-6 (KJB) Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
Proverbs 22:22-23 (KJB) Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
It has always amazed me how people who have lots of money will buy the nicest things for themselves out of their abundance, and then give the most worthless junk that they don’t want anymore to their neighbor. I think that somehow they find that comforting, and a means of justifying their own covetousness and greed. But on Judgment Day, everything’s going to be all switched around, and they shall be forever treated the way that they treated others while they were here on the Earth, for so it has been written, and so it shall be done.
Luke 16:19-31 (KJB) There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Luke 12:15-21 (KJB) And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
There are so many hard-working people in this world, yet they struggle and are extremely poor. Maybe they are not too business savvy, or a starving artist. Others have had to deal with extreme difficulties and hardship that has happened suddenly during their life. But everyone must remember that it is not sin in the eyes of God to be poor. The sin is when people who have money, turn away their hearts from others who are in great need of help. They see a need in somebody else’s life and in complete cruelty, refuse to do anything about it. Whether they claim to be a Christian or not, the Lord Jesus despises these kinds of people, and in that state, doesn’t even hear their prayers. This is because their lives are filled with greed and covetousness which is idolatry, because the love of money has become greater in their life than a love for their neighbor. But what goes around comes around, and they shall meet their fate after their death upon this Earth, for the Lord Jesus is watching, and shall treat them the same way that they treated others, on the day when they are cast into into their own everlasting,…..
……Great Oppression
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.
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