Jesus lived a life of humility, born of a woman, and born under the law (Gal 4:4). He lived His life in obedience to Scripture. He trusted the Old Testament Scriptures to be the Word of God, and therefore authoritative in all manners of life. He obviously knew the Scriptures very well, and could call vast portions to memory at a moment’s notice. He believed the prophecies of the Old Testament, that they were going to be fulfilled, and then went on to fulfill every prophecy concerning Himself. Before the first words even left the lips of Jesus Christ, He had fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. In every single act accomplished and in every single word spoken, Jesus Christ was constantly concerned about fulfilling, not destroying, the law and the prophets. He did not hide this fact either. He made it aware to His followers (Matt 5:17), to the religious Jews (Luke 4:21), and to His disciples (John 15:25).

Jesus never disputed the Old Testament. His teachings were completely based from Scripture. His teachings were already found in the Old Testament, but many times He clarified the applications to focus on the heart, rather than on the outward appearance. Jesus expected the religious leaders to know the Scriptures very well and to be applying them to their hearts. When the Jewish leaders and various other Jews would challenge Him with questions, Jesus would rebuke them for their lack of Scriptural knowledge. In seven separate occurrences in the Gospels, Jesus replied to such questions by saying, “Have you not read?” and then went on to allow Scripture to speak for itself. This shows that Jesus believed in the authority and the truthfulness of the Old Testament and that it can and should be applied to one’s own daily life.

Jesus believed in the purity of the Scriptures, and that they needed no addition, nor subtraction. He warned against those who added to and subtracted from the Scriptures, and rebuked those who did. Jesus exposed the Pharisees and other teachers of religious law of holding their own customs and laws above God’s law found in the Old Testament. The Pharisees and other teachers accused Jesus’ disciples of breaking tradition by not washing their hands before eating. However, Jesus replied very sternly to them by quoting Isaiah and saying, “Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men’” (Mark 7:6-7). Jesus showed the dangers of upholding that which was not commanded by God, and gave Scripture the authority above any manmade tradition.

Jesus also believed in the power of the Scriptures. He put a high standard in believing and knowing the Scriptures. When Jesus recounts the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, the rich man in hell begs Abraham to send Lazarus to his family to warn them of the torments of hell. Abraham replies and says that they can listen to Moses and the Prophets, speaking of the Old Testament Scriptures. The rich man is not satisfied with this, and tries to explain that if only his brothers will witness someone from the dead, that they will believe. Abraham, disagrees, and tells the rich man that if his brothers will not believe Moses and the Prophets then they will not be changed by even someone who has been raised from the dead. Jesus, in telling this story, shows just how important the Old Testament Scriptures really are. They are more important than any sign, miracle, or wonder Jesus ever performed. This is exemplified in Jesus’ own life on earth. Before His ministry began He entered into the wilderness to fast and to be tempted by the devil (Matt 4:1). Even though He was impoverished physically, He had internalized the Scriptures and had allowed them to be his nourishment (Matt 4:4). When Satan tempted Him in a number of ways, His reaction was to always use Scripture. He knew them well, and how to apply them. He rebuked Satan with the Scriptures even when Satan himself had used them against Him. Jesus allowed the power of the Word of God to sustain Him in His physical weakness.

Jesus quoted from twenty-four different Old Testament books. He took the Scriptures to mean what they said. He believed the Old Testament to be historically accurate and factual. He affirmed the creation, the flood, Abraham, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his wife, Isaac and Jacob, God’s provision of Manna, the brass serpent lifted by Moses, Jonah and the great fish, Isaiah, and Daniel. He trusted the Scriptures as fact.

Jesus showed the authority and validity of both the Scriptures and His resurrection by explaining how He fulfilled everything that the Scriptures had said about Him (Luke 24:25). In fact, Jesus had expected anyone who had read to Old Testament to have expected for Him to have had to suffer and die and rise again from the dead three days later. Jesus had been in the Scriptures from the very beginning, and He explained it to the two people walking to Emmaus and then later to His disciples. He had been in the Word of God since the beginning because He was the Word of God which became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1,14). Jesus was the Word and the giver of the Word, and for Jesus not to believe in the authority of Scripture would be for Him not to believe in His own authority as God and LORD.

Jesus desired for all to know the Scriptures and to view them as authoritative because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17). The people who challenged Jesus were those who did not have a sufficient knowledge of the Scriptures and therefore insufficient faith; and He properly rebuked them for it. It was His understanding of the authority of Scripture that made Him stand out among teachers “as one having authority” (Matt 7:29). It was the fulfillment of these authoritative Scriptures that proved He was God.

This morning, the youth group will be discussing the lighthearted issue of Heaven and Hell…using Luke 16: 19-31 as our reference.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

¹⁹“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²²“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³In hell,^[c] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

²⁵“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

²⁷“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, ²⁸for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

²⁹“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

³⁰” ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

³¹“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ “

I’ve always loved this story as it gives food or thought on the old, “well if you don’t believe in Jesus before you die, you’re going to hell”. That’s not the message that Jesus is pushing in this little story. But on reading it again (and again) I wonder if Jesus is really talking about hell (the place) at all. At the start of the chapter Jesus is telling a story about wealth and how you can’t serve God and money. He then follows it with a couple of strange laws, which don’t make a lot of sense to me at the minute (but that’s not the point right now.)

He then goes into the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. At this moment he is talking to a group of pharisees who love money (v.14). The parable he tells about hell is about a rich man and a poor man. Maybe, Jesus is using the story to get at the pharisees for their love of money, not to give a doctrine of an eternal hell. That it is simply a way of saying:

“your actions towards others have eternal significance. By holding back your money you are bringing ‘hell’ to this poor man”.

There is also the question of what does Jesus mean when he uses the word hell in this parable? The greek word is Hades which closely resembles the hebrew world sheol (meaning grave). In Jewish faith, the righteous and unrighteous all go to sheol. It is the place of waiting before entering paradise. Many Jewish Rabbis believe that sheol is not a place where you would stay indefinitely, but more a place of shame where you repent for your mistakes and eventually enter paradise (similar in some way to the catholic view of purgatory). Sheol can also mean a present reality where you are out of step with God’s will so whenever we ’sin’, we enter sheol until we repent.

So, maybe the question to ask ourselves from this chapter isn’t, “what can I learn about hell?” but “in what ways do my actions bring about hell for other people and how can I bring about heaven for them instead?”

In what ways am I blocking Heaven from reaching people?

In China, one poor man’s medicinal tonic is another rich man’s tonic for the soul, which is why a proposed ban on eating dogs and cats — part of a draft bill to tackle animal abuse — threatens to end a culinary tradition dating back thousands of years.

While dog meat is commonly available throughout the country, online petitions against dog and cat consumption have attracted tens of thousands of signatures and spurred protests at markets where the animals are bought and sold.

According to the draft, law enforcement authorities are obliged to close down thousands of dog restaurants and butchers which supply the meat. Illegal sale or consumption of pets would incur a maximum penalty of 15 days in prison for individuals or a 500,000 yuan fine for businesses. Public security bureaus would be obliged to respond to hotline calls from the public about violations.

“Whether you judge this as a question of food security or emotions, there is absolutely no necessity in China for people to eat dogs and cats,” said Zeng Li, the founder of the Lucky Cats shelter in Beijing. “We need something more than moral pressure. Beijing’s dog restaurants get their meat mainly from vagrant and stolen dogs. In the suburbs, dogs are hung and slaughtered in front of buyers.”

On the other hand, critics of the proposed ban said it was hypocritical to protect only dogs and cats, and that the government should focus on human welfare before protecting animals. Touché, China, touché.

I almost had a Felix Unger moment — worried that the homemade boccoli I made would not taste good because it had developed a grayish tint after sitting in the fridge for two days.

However, all went well.  Marie and I ate it with red sauce (not the best sauce with which to eat a quasi-rich pasta), and we found it was rich not in the sense of any overwhelming taste, but rather in its wholesomeness.  In other words, a small serving filled us.

I am now looking forward to eating the rich and poor man’s versions.

A Christmas Story

The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. He hadn’t been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away. He had no decorations, no tree, no lights.  It was just another day to him.  He didn’t hate Christmas, just couldn’t find a reason to celebrate.  There were no children in his life. His wife had gone.

He was sitting there looking at the snow that had been falling for the last hour and wondering what it was all about when the door opened and a homeless man stepped through.  Instead of throwing the man out, George, Old George as he was known by his customers, told the man to come and sit by the space heater and warm-up.

“Thank you, but I don’t mean to intrude,” said the stranger. “I see you’re busy.  I’ll just go”

“Not without something hot in your belly,” George turned and opened a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger.

“It ain’t much, but it’s hot and tasty.  Stew.  Made it myself. When you’re done, there’s coffee and it’s fresh.”

Just at that moment he heard the “ding” of the driveway bell.

“Excuse me, be right back,” George said.

There in the driveway was an old 53 Chevy.  Steam was rolling out of the front.  The driver was panicked.

“Mister can you help me!” said the driver with a deep Spanish accent. “My wife is with child and my car is broken.”

George opened the hood.  It was bad.  The block looked cracked from the cold; the car was dead.  “You ain’t going in this thing,” George said as he turned away.

“But mister,  Please help….” The door of the office closed behind George as he went in.

George went to the office wall and got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside.

He walked around the building and opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting.

“Here, you can borrow my truck,” he said.  “She ain’t the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good.”

George helped put the woman in the truck and watched as it sped off into the night.  George turned and walked back inside the office.

“Glad I loaned ‘em the truck.  Their tires were shot too. That ‘ol truck has brand new tires……..” George thought he was talking to the stranger, but the man had gone.  The thermos was on the desk, empty with a used coffee cup beside it.

“Well, at least he got something in his belly,” George thought.

George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would start.

It cranked slowly, but it started.  He pulled it into the garage where the truck had been.  He thought he would tinker with it for something to do.  Christmas Eve meant no customers.

He discovered the block hadn’t cracked, it was just the bottom hose on the radiator.

“Well, I can fix this,” he said to himself.  So he put a new one on.

“Those tires ain’t gonna get ‘em through the winter either.” He took the snow treads off of his wife’s old Lincoln. They were like new and he wasn’t going to drive the car.

As he was working he heard a shot being fired.  He ran outside and beside a police car an officer lay on the cold ground.

Bleeding from the left shoulder, the officer moaned, “Help me.”

George helped the officer inside as he remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic.  He knew the wound needed attention.  “Pressure to stop the bleeding,” he thought.  The laundry company had been there that morning and had left clean shop towels.  He used those and duct tape to bind the wound.

“Hey, they say duct tape can fix anythin’,” he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease.  “Something for pain,” George thought.  All he had was the pills he used for his back.

“These ought to work.” He put some water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills.

“You hang in there.  I’m going to get you an ambulance.”

George said, but the phone was dead.  “Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out in your police car.”

He went out only to find that a bullet had gone into the dashboard destroying the two way radio.  He went back in to find the policeman sitting up.

“Thanks,” said the officer.  “You could have left me there.  The guy that shot me is still in the area.”

George sat down beside him.  “I would never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain’t gonna leave you.” George pulled back the bandage to check for bleeding.  “Looks worse than what it is. Bullet passed right through ‘ya.  Good thing it missed the important stuff though.  I think with time your gonna be right as rain.”

George got up and poured a cup of coffee.  “How do you take it?” he asked.

“None for me,” said the officer.

“Oh, yer gonna drink this.  Best in the city.” Then George added: “Too bad I ain’t got no donuts.”

The officer laughed and winced at the same time.  The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a gun.

“Give me all your cash!  Do it now!” the young man yelled.

His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like this before.

“That’s the guy that shot me!” exclaimed the officer.

“Son, why are you doing this?” asked George.  “You need to put the cannon away.  Somebody else might get hurt.”

The young man was confused.  “Shut up old man, or I’ll shoot you, too.  Now give me the cash!”

The cop was reaching for his gun.

“Put that thing away,” George said to the cop.  “We got one too many in here now.”

He turned his attention to the young man.  “Son, it’s Christmas Eve.  If you need the money, well then, here.  It ain’t much but it’s all I got.  Now put that pea shooter away.”

George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time.

The young man released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry.

“I’m not very good at this am I?  All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and son,” he went on.  “I’ve lost my job. My rent is due.  My car got repossessed last week…”

George handed the gun to the cop.  “Son, we all get in a bit of squeeze now and then.  The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it through the best we can.”

He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a chair across from the cop.

“Sometimes we do stupid things.” George handed the young man a cup of coffee.  “Being stupid is one of the things that make us human.  Comin’ in here with a gun ain’t the answer.  Now sit there and get warm and we’ll sort this thing out.”

The young man had stopped crying.  He looked over to the cop. “Sorry I shot you.  It just went off.  I’m sorry officer.”

“Shut up and drink your coffee.” the cop said.

George could hear the sounds of sirens outside.  A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt.  Two cops came through the door, guns drawn.  “Chuck!  You ok?” one of the cops asked the wounded officer.

“Not bad for a guy who took a bullet.  How did you find me?”

“GPS locator in the car.  Best thing since sliced bread.

Who did this?” the other cop asked as he approached the young man.

Chuck answered him, “I don’t know.  The guy ran off into the dark.  Just dropped his gun and ran.”

George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other.

“That guy works here,” the wounded cop continued.

“Yep,” George said.  “Just hired him this morning.  Boy lost his job.”

The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the stretcher.

The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered, “Why?”

Chuck just said, “Merry Christmas, boy.  And you too, George, and thanks for everything.”

“Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break there.  That ought to solve some of your problems.” George went into the back room and came out with a box.  He pulled out a ring box.

“Here you go.  Something for the little woman.  I don’t think Martha would mind.  She said it would come in handy some day.”

The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring he ever saw.  “I can’t take this,” said the young man. “It means something to you.”

“And now it means something to you,” replied George.

“I got my memories.  That’s all I need.”

George reached into the box again.  A toy airplane, a racing car and a little metal truck appeared next.  They were toys that the oil company had left for him to sell.  “Here’s something for that little man of yours.”

The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150 that the old man had handed him earlier.  “And what are you supposed to buy Christmas dinner with?  You keep that, too.  Count it as part of your first week’s pay.” George said. “Now git home to your family.”

The young man turned with tears streaming down his face.

“I’ll be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is still good.”

“Nope.  I’m closed Christmas day,” George said.  “See ya the day after.” George turned around to find that the stranger had returned.

“Where’d you come from?  I thought you left?”

“I have been here.  I have always been here,” said the stranger.  “You say you don’t celebrate Christmas.  Why?”

“Well, after my wife passed away I just couldn’t see what all the bother was.  Puttin’ up a tree and all seemed a waste of a good pine tree.

Bakin’ cookies like I used to with Martha just wasn’t the same by myself and besides I was getting a little chubby.”

The stranger put his hand on George’s shoulder.  “But you do celebrate the holiday, George.  You gave me food and drink and warmed me when I was cold and hungry.  The woman with child will bear a son and he will become a great doctor.

The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by terrorists.

The young man who tried to rob you will become a rich man and share his wealth with many people. That is the spirit of the season and you keep it as good as any man.”

George was taken aback by all this stranger had said.  “And how do you know all this?” asked the old man.

“Trust me, George.  I have the inside track on this sort of thing.  And when your days are done you will be with Martha again.” The stranger moved toward the door.

“If you will excuse me, George, I have to go now.  I have to go home where there is a big celebration planned.”

George watched as the man’s old leather jacket and his torn pants turned into a white robe.  A golden light began to fill the room.

“You see, George, it’s My birthday. Merry Christmas.”

Luke 16:25-31
“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Over and over again, Jesus keeps warning us about worldly riches and it’s effect on our lives. The issues are not about having or accumulating wealth but rather understanding the purpose of it. In the passage above, we see the end result of the lives of the rich man and the poor man, Lazarus. On earth, the rich man lived a life of luxury that the world envied and in death he lived a life of pain and disaster. On the flip side was the poor man Lazarus who lived a life of pain and longing for his basic needs but in death he lived in the presence of God by the side of Abraham. What is the Lord asking of us today? Are we expected to live lives of beggars or rich men and what is the outcome of our lives?

Several people mentioned in the Bible grew in wealth, became prosperous and were spoken highly about including King David, Abraham, Job, among many others. Therefore Jesus is not condoning prosperity. At the same time Jesus tells the rich young ruler that to attain salvation, over and above living a life of perfect adherence to the law, he needed to sell his riches and give it to the poor. So what then are we expected to do? The issue being highlighted by Jesus here was not the riches that the rich man had but obviously his lack of understanding as to why God blessed him with much. Jesus came to give his own life for our salvation and that is the greatest sacrifice known to man. He does not expect us to sacrifice our lives but to share what he has blessed us with so that we can help share his love in a real and physical way. Jesus said earlier in this chapter that those who can be trusted with little shall be given more and I hope this Christmastime, you are again encouraged to share your joy with those less fortunate without an expectation back and he will bless you with more in his time and ways that you can use for his glory more and more!

In His Loving Service,
Vineet

PS: Sign up for daily devotionals by clicking the email subscription icon at the top right of this page or by visiting http://groups.google.com/group/in-his-loving-service. Share this with your friends and family who need some encouragement.

The Lord's Resources

Heb 13:5 Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee.

1Tim 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Matt 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

Over the last thirty years or so, serving two masters has become one of the most dominant occupations of Christians in the West. Hat-tip to A conservative blog for peace for this link Is Stealing a Virtue? – by Jim Johnston – Heartland Perspectives:

I am profoundly disappointed in Caritas in Veritate, the encyclical issued on June 29, 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI. It contains no fewer than six endorsements of wealth redistribution by government. It must be understood that wealth redistribution by government involves the use of its coercive powers to take resources from those who have earned them and give them to those who have not.

What Jim Johnston says “must be understood” is in fact the core of the Big Libertarian Lie (using “libertarian” in its new-fangled American sense) — that those who are rich “must be understood” to have “earned” their wealth, and that the poor deserve to be poor. That is a profoundly un-Christian notion, and I think the Roman Pope Benedict XVI has more credibility on that score than Jim Johnston. Johnston asks if stealing is a virtue, but what does St John Chrysostom say?

“See the man,” He says, “and his works: indeed this also is theft, not to share one’s possessions.” Perhaps this statement seems surprising to you, but do not be surprised. I shall bring you testimony from the divine Scriptures, saying that not only the theft of others’ goods but also the failure to share one’s own goods with others is theft and swindle and defraudation. What is this testimony? Accusing the Jews by the prophet, God says, “The earth has brought forth her increase, and you have not brought forth your tithes; but the theft of the poor is in your houses.” Since you have not given the accustomes offerings, He says, you have stolen the goods of the poor. He says this to show that they hold the goods of the poor even if they have inherited them from their fathers or no matter how they have gathered their wealth. And elsewhere Scripture says, “Deprive not the poor of his living.” To deprive is to take what belongs to another; for it is called deprivation when we take and keep what belongs to others. By this we are taight that when we do not show mercy, we will be punished like those who steal. For our money is the Lord’s, however we may have gathered it. If we provide for those in need, we shall obtain great plenty. This is why God has allowed you to have more: not for you to waste on prostitutes, drink, fancy food, expensive clothes, and all the other kinds of indolence, but for you to distribute to those in need.

And a hat-tip to Brian McLaren for this link: Richard Stearns and Lamar Vest: Christians losing their way:

Despite the fact that God’s heart for the poor is mentioned in some 2,100 verses of Scripture, many of us simply miss it. In a recent survey of adults in America conducted by Harris Interactive, although 80 percent of adults claimed to be familiar with the Bible — the best-selling book in history — 46 percent think the Bible offers the most teachings on heaven, hell, adultery, pride or jealousy. In fact, there are more teachings on poverty than on any of those topics.

I’m not sure I’d go along with Stearns and Vest in their project to produce a “Poverty and Justice Bible” — that seems to turn the Bible into a political football almost as much as the Conservative Bible Project. It takes the frequently heard polemical phrase “My Bible says…” to a new level of meaning, accentuating the difference between “my Bible” and “your Bible”. And I have very serious reservations about their references to “God’s DNA”. I wonder if they would acknowledge that God’s DNA — all of it — came from the Theotokos, the Mother of God, the virgin Mary? Because that is the only sense in which God has DNA at all.

But I digress.

The main point here is the seduction of Western Christianity into attempting to worship both God and mammon. And it is not confined to “the West”. Recent obituaries of Oral Roberts have suggested that he was the originator of the “prosperity gospel”, though that has been queried, and Kenneth Hagin and Kenneth Copeland are more likely candidates. But no matter how it originated, it is undoubtedly the gospel contextualised for the yuppies and wannabe yuppies of the West. Yet it has also taken root in Africa, where it has contributed to what the late Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Bill Burnett, called “the politics of greed and envy”, which affect rich and poor alike.Those values have spread to Africa, where, though lip service is paid to ubuntu, among the elite ubuntu has in fact been muscled aside by the desire to be rich, and not just ordinary rich, but filthy, stinking obscenely rich.

Well, let mammon worshippers worship mammon — they always have and always will. But Christians are not to serve two masters, or even attempt to. G.K. Chesterton puts it rather well:

Is there any answer to the proposition that those who have had the best opportunities will probably be our best guides?
Is there any answer to the argument that those who have breathed clean air had better decide for those who have breathed foul? As far as I know, there is only one answer, and that answer is Christianity.

Only the Christian Church can offer any rational objection to a complete confidence in the rich. For she has maintained
from the beginning that the danger was not in man’s environment, but in man. Further, she has maintained that if we come to talk of a dangerous environment, the most dangerous environment of all is the commodious environment. I know that the most modern manufacture has been really occupied in trying to produce an abnormally large needle. I know that the most recent biologists have been chiefly anxious to discover a very small camel. But if we diminish the camel to his smallest, or open the eye of the needle to its largest–if, in short, we assume the words of Christ to have meant the very least that they could mean, His words must at the very least mean this–that rich men are not very likely to be morally trustworthy.

Christianity even when watered down is hot enough to boil all modern society to rags. The mere minimum of the Church would be a deadly ultimatum to the world. For the whole modern world is absolutely based on the assumption, not that the rich are necessary (which is tenable), but that the rich are trustworthy, which (for a Christian) is not tenable.

You will hear everlastingly, in all discussions about newspapers, companies, aristocracies, or party politics, this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man. The whole case for Christianity is that a man who is dependent upon the luxuries of this life is a corrupt man, spiritually corrupt, politically corrupt, financially corrupt. There is one thing that Christ and all the Christian saints have said with a sort of savage monotony. They have said simply that to be rich is to be in peculiar danger of moral wreck.

It is not demonstrably un-Christian to kill the rich as violators of definable justice. It is not demonstrably un-Christian to crown the rich as convenient rulers of society. It is not certainly un-Christian to rebel against the rich or to submit to the rich. But it is quite certainly un-Christian to trust the rich, to regard the rich as more morally safe than the poor. A Christian may consistently say, “I respect that man’s rank, although he takes bribes.” But a Christian cannot say, as all modern men are saying at lunch and breakfast, “a man of that rank would not take bribes.” For it is a part of Christian dogma that any man in any rank may take bribes. It is a part of Christian dogma; it also happens by a curious coincidence that it is a part of obvious human history. When people say that a man “in that position” would be incorruptible, there is no need to bring Christianity into the discussion. Was Lord Bacon a bootblack? Was the Duke of Marlborough a crossing sweeper? In the best Utopia, I must be prepared for the moral fall of any man in any position at any moment; especially for my fall from my position at this moment.

So compare the two statements:

Jim Johnston: It must be understood that wealth redistribution by government involves the use of its coercive powers to take resources from those who have earned them and give them to those who have not.

G.K. Chesterton: The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man.

I don’t believe that governments are necessarily qualified to handle wealth redistribution. But that is a side issue, almost a red herring. Jim Johnston’s biggest whopper is where he asks us to believe that the Roman Pope Benedict XVI advocated taking resources from those who have earned them and giving them to those who have not. Jim Johnston needs to show exactly where the Roman pope said that. I suspect that Jim Johnston’s  allegation not only begs the question, but it twists the pope’s words, and tries to misrepresent him as saying something he did not say. Is bearing false witness a virtue?

“Bhagwan ka diya sab kuch hai par man ki shanti nahi hai” [I have everything given by God, but no  peace of mind.....these were the words of a rich person, addressed to a saint.

The saint replied " Bhagwan ka diya to sabkuch hai tumahare paas, par bhagwan nahi hai : ), is liye ab bhagwan ko paane ka khyaal karo , tabh hi man ki shanti hogi : )[You have everything given by God, but you dont have God, So now focus on getting God, only then you will have peace of mind and heart. ]

Dear God,

This has been sort of a tough week. I know we all have them, and so it’s rather expected to feel like we’re struggling with life and worldly obstacles. What impresses me most about Your word, is that You make it so easy for man to understand, just how much You love us and just what we need to do, to have an eternity with our God. It is man’s own selfish desires, that create an illusion for us, that such aspirations are unattainable. I am so grateful that You made a way for all, to come to the saving knowledge of Your gift.

In Jude 20:22, he writes, “Dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt.”

If we over think the principles behind faith, then we are losing the very core of its simplicity. When you say to us, “take up your cross and follow me.” Then we must do that very act. Give up all that we have, even those things which we believe, may ultimately define us as a person. And, truly follow You to the end of time. So often, I find myself speaking out of turn, or thinking about trying to control something that I should leave to Your plans and desires. I often frustrate myself, by attempting to remedy an ill fated situation, because of my impatience.

Perhaps, one of man’s greatest challenges is our obsession with financial security. Some feel that this is the answer to finding happiness and fulfillment. I have to admit, it certainly does make living our life here on earth, a bit easier, when we don’t have to constantly struggle with money problems. Why do we often show envy to those whom do not struggle with this amenity? Why must we strive to gain worldly wealth? I may never understand this….but I am certain that this has been a concern, even at the time, You walked the earth Yourself.

In Matthew 19:24, the Bible tells the story of a rich young man. He confronted You as teacher. This tells me that He understood that Your intellect was of great value. He asked, “What good thing must I do to get eternal life?” In reply, You answered that only One is Good, and that he should obey the commandments. In his mind, he knew that he had not murdered, did not commit adultery, he did not steal. He knew he had not given false testimony, and had honored his Mother and Father, and even loved his neighbor as his self. Upon this, he still asked, “What do I still lack?”  Jesus, Your answer was too much for him to qualify.

   “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  When the rich young man heard this, he went away. You later explained to Your disciples a quote, that has always stayed in my mind.

     ”I tell you the truth, 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.”  Upon hearing this, Your disciples were astonished, as I would be too. Then asking themselves, “Who then can be saved?” Your answer solidified all man’s pondering questions. “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26   This must be important for us to learn, because it is actually recorded again in Mark 10:25.

I admit, wrapping my brain around this one, takes some contortion. My mind’s eye, tries to visualize someone holding a sewing needle, and threading a large hairy beast through its tiny oval opening! Impossible, I say! But, again, I must remember, with Christ, “All things are possible.”  Jesus, give me the grace to overcome my doubts. The mercy to be forgiven when I do not deserve it. And, the love that fills me with a peace that passes understanding.

For all the times, I try to thread a camel…….I must remember that wealth and worldly possessions won’t give me the key to Your heavenly mansion.

……Just a hairy beast with a hump on his back and aggravation!  So I offer all my Love to the master of man and beasts,

Gina

There is much to imitate from the actions of the rich man in today’s Gospel:
A MAN RAN UP (TO JESUS) Don’t miss any opportunity to encounter Jesus. Run, hurry, and hasten to reach Him. So let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus (Heb 12:1).
(HE) KNELT DOWN BEFORE HIM By kneeling down before Him he was expressing reverence and honor and, at the same time, he was imploring His aid. Remember the leper who was cleansed, the man whose son was delivered from a demon, the ruler whose dead daughter was raised, and the Canaanite woman whose daughter was severely demonized: all knelt before Jesus and all received what they sought. Learn from them: kneel down before Jesus and honor and reverence Him.
AND (HE) ASKED HIM Unlike the scribes and Pharisees, whose questions were meant to trick or trap the Lord, the rich man’s question was sincere. The wealthy man had courage. Don’t be afraid to ask the Lord a question. He Himself promised that whoever asks receives (Lk 11:10).
GOOD TEACHER, WHAT MUST I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE? This man knew that there was something more important than wealth and happiness in this life. There was in him a desire for something wealth couldn’t buy. He desired beauty that would not fade, something that was not subject to rust, decay or theft; he longed for what was of eternal value (Lk 6:19-20).
JESUS ANSWERED HIM, YOU KNOW THE COMMANDMENTS
All men know the Commandments for, what the Law requires is written on their hearts (Rm 2:15).
TEACHER, ALL OF THESE I HAVE OBSERVED FROM MY YOUTH To keep the Commandments is so very important. But even if one could keep all the Commandments a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal 2:16).
JESUS LOOKED AT HIM Everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must render an account (Heb 4:13). Your lives, your deeds, the intentions of your heart, all lie transparent to His gaze. A few years ago everyone was home for a visit. Dinner had just finished and I was enjoying just looking at the faces of my adult children. One of my daughters noticed my gaze and said Dad, what are you looking at? I responded by saying, I’ve been looking at you for 28 years and you’re just now noticing? Brothers and sisters, the Lord has been looking upon your faces for your entire lives . . .
JESUS LOVED HIM And that love is an unconditional gift: For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life (Jn 3:16). The eternal life that the rich man, and every man and woman, is looking for is found by believing in Jesus Christ. With the psalmist seek the Face of Christ. My heart says, Your face Lord do I seek (Ps 27:8).
AND SAID TO HIM SELL WHAT YOU HAVE 
The rich man’s disordered attachment to his wealth was exposed before the gaze of the LORD. But for you dear parishioners it is probably enough that you put your Time, your Talents and your Treasure at the Lord’s service. Purchase today that treasure hidden in the field; give everything to acquire the Pearl of great price. So,
GIVE TO THE POOR THEN COME FOLLOW ME. Like the Wise Man in today’s First Reading, the rich man should have preferred Wisdom and deemed riches nothing in comparison with her (Wis 7:8).
HIS FACE FELL AND HE WENT AWAY SAD Here you see how his excessive love of and dependence on wealth. The attitude of wisdom would have been all gold, in view of her, is a little sand and silver is to be accounted mire.
THEN WHO CAN BE SAVED? To the Apostles, and everyone at that time, this seemed like such a contradiction because wealth and honor come from God (1 Chron 29:12).
JESUS LOOKED AT THEM AND SAID, FOR MAN IT IS IMPOSSIBLE BUT NOT FOR GOD Man cannot save himself. Salvation cannot be inherited, no amount of $$$ can purchase it, and you certainly cannot earn it.
ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE FOR GOD
Whether you are rich or poor; whether you are a sinner or saint, Jesus is the only means provided by God for your salvation. His very name means God saves. Turn to Him in a new and fresh way today! Run after Him, kneel before Him, and make your requests known to Him. In turn He will look at you, love you. and speak His word to you!

The way some people talk about money reveals that they believe the government creates and therefore has an inherent right to control wealth.  However, government does not create wealth.  This fact can be easily proven.

Why doesn’t the federal government print a trillion dollars for each of us and give us the money?  If the government did this how much would a loaf of bread cost?

The answers to these questions can be easily found.  This experiment has already been done in real time in Zimbabwe and the Wiemar Republic.  If you Google these governments you will find that rampant inflation occurred.  The money became worthless.  Wheelbarrows full of cash were required to buy a loaf of bread.

By the way, would you happen to have a wheel barrow full of cash laying around?  No?   Well then you might understand why some people object to the government running up trillion dollar deficits and paying them off by simply printing the money.   There is an old saying that those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it.

We have seen this movie.  We know how it ends.  The Weimar Republic became the Nazis and they started World War II.  Oddly enough, some folks don’t want to see that particular movie again.  At least not with themselves in the starring roles.

I have heard the argument that George Bush did a lot of deficit spending.  If it was a good idea when he did it then why is it not a good idea now?

Since when was George Bush made an economic genius?  Excuse me but are you saying that George Bush was the smartest man in the history of the planet so any economic theory he employed must be correct?

Trillion dollar deficts were a mistake on George Bush’s watch and they are a mistake now.

The whole world is threatening to unpeg itself from the dollar.  Printing money or even borrowing trillions from China makes this eventuallity even more likely.

Why do you care?   The next time you go to a store like Walmart, look at where all the goods come from.  Now suppose they no longer wanted dollars for the stuff you buy.   Where would you get your stuff then?    The oil we use to make gas comes from people who used to take dollars for the oil.  Now suppose they didn’t.

The best case scenario is that other nations would decide our fate.  We would no longer be in control.  These other nations would look at our trillions of dollars of debt and our deficit spending and they would mark the dollar down.  How far down?  Who knows.  Remember, we lost control.

The worst case scenario?  Break out the wheel barrow.  Oh.  Right.  You don’t have wheelbarrows full of cash lying around to buy that loaf of bread.  Never mind.  I hear they eat grass in North Korea.

Dollar loses reserve status

Obama Dollar Retreats

How to Bankrupt a Nation

A Constellation of Idiots

Online Job Search

Government Work

Job Search

Job Search for the Older Worker

Health Care Reform

Taking Crazy Pills

Microsoft Certification

How to Lead A Double Life

How to Plan for College

How to Plan an Exotic Vacation

Dollar Fail

The way some people talk about money reveals that they believe the government creates and therefore has an inherent right to control wealth.  However, government does not create wealth.  This fact can be easily proven.

Why doesn’t the federal government print a trillion dollars for each of us and give us the money?  If the government did this how much would a loaf of bread cost?

The answers to these questions can be easily found.  This experiment has already been done in real time in Zimbabwe and the Wiemar Republic.  If you Google these governments you will find that rampant inflation occurred.  The money became worthless.  Wheelbarrows full of cash were required to buy a loaf of bread.

By the way, would you happen to have a wheel barrow full of cash laying around?  No?   Well then you might understand why some people object to the government running up trillion dollar deficits and paying them off by simply printing the money.   There is an old saying that those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it.

We have seen this movie.  We know how it ends.  The Weimar Republic became the Nazis and they started World War II.  Oddly enough, some folks don’t want to see that particular movie again.  At least not with themselves in the starring roles.

I have heard the argument that George Bush did a lot of deficit spending.  If it was a good idea when he did it then why is it not a good idea now?

Since when was George Bush made an economic genius?  Excuse me but are you saying that George Bush was the smartest man in the history of the planet so any economic theory he employed must be correct?

Trillion dollar deficts were a mistake on George Bush’s watch and they are a mistake now.

The whole world is threatening to unpeg itself from the dollar.  Printing money or even borrowing trillions from China makes this eventuallity even more likely.

Why do you care?   The next time you go to a store like Walmart, look at where all the goods come from.  Now suppose they no longer wanted dollars for the stuff you buy.   Where would you get your stuff then?    The oil we use to make gas comes from people who used to take dollars for the oil.  Now suppose they didn’t.

The best case scenario is that other nations would decide our fate.  We would no longer be in control.  These other nations would look at our trillions of dollars of debt and our deficit spending and they would mark the dollar down.  How far down?  Who knows.  Remember, we lost control.

The worst case scenario?  Break out the wheel barrow.  Oh.  Right.  You don’t have wheelbarrows full of cash lying around to buy that loaf of bread.  Never mind.  I hear they eat grass in North Korea.

How to Bankrupt a Nation

A Constellation of Idiots

Online Job Search

Government Work

Job Search

Job Search for the Older Worker

Health Care Reform

Taking Crazy Pills

Microsoft Certification

How to Lead A Double Life

How to Plan for College

How to Plan an Exotic Vacation

Dollar Fail

The three parables in Luke 15 (lost sheep, coin & son) are all driven by the Pharisees complaint that Jesus is welcoming and eating with sinners. The first two parables express the quest God is on for lost souls and the resulting joy when one is found. The third parable is unique. There is no search (the implication is the elder brother – who represents the Pharisees – should have been the one). But, when the lost son – who callously rebelled and then ruined his own life with what the father had given him – returns, the father graciously and immediately welcomes him. The younger son represents the sinners with whom Jesus is feasting. The elder brother’s reaction of anger, jealousy and disdain is the Pharisees. The elder brother has been “with” the father, but he is as lost as the younger b/c he has not truly become like the father in a heart of compassion and desiring the son to return. This is a common malady that plagues those who are religious. The true elder brother is witnessed in Jesus – who is going after the younger brothers.

Luke 16 is focused on the use of earthly wealth through service to others in order to secure our relationship with God. Jesus uses an unusual example: a dishonest steward who owes a great debt to his master that he cannot pay. So he finds other servants and reduces their debt owed the master (though he had no right to do this). Yet, the master praised this dishonesty as a shrewd move. What can we learn from this bad man? Jesus says the world is often wiser than God’s children in the use of resources. He goes onto teach that we should use what we have in the service of others, that they will welcome us into eternal dwellings. This too is a challenging statement. There is a truism here, however. From the beginning, the cries of those who have been mistreated by others have risen up to God (as the blood of Abel did with Cain). In that sense, our treatment of others will have a direct impact on our relationship with God. If we allow our carnal desires (in this case wealth or money) to dominate us and make us selfish – we will lose our souls as the follow-up story of the rich man and Lazarus teaches us.

These texts also show the emphasis Luke is placing (throughout Luke-Acts) on money and the care for the needy, poor and downtrodden.

In Luke 17 Jesus addresses two other critical features of the kingdom: forgiveness of our brothers (real forgiveness) and genuine, humble appreciation for the Lord’s mercy. The Jews, in general, were showing neither of these. At the end of this section Jesus speaks of the coming kingdom – but in the form of Judgment on the Jewish nation, ultimately for their failure to keep God’s covenant (illustrated in differing ways throughout these three chapters). “Where the dead body is, the vultures will gather” – that dead body was Jerusalem & the Jewish nation.

Luke 15-17

When we're in the middle of absolute nowhere, Ninny realizes, that we're almost out of gas!

-Crap, now we have to hide the car on some forest road and later come back to get it! Neni complains.

And so we park on the most abandoned-looking forest road that we can find nearby.

-Grrreat! Ninny groans, -Now we have to continue by foot!

-Well, luckily our boatplace isn’t so far away anymore, Ellie tries to think positively.

Her comment makes it sound like Ellie, Ninny, Neni… and my mysterious double… have several hideouts all over the continent!

-What if someone finds the car? I point out.

-The local cops would find something? Ninny snorts scornfully, -You can't be serious!

-Yeah, they’re like just expecting the criminals to freely run to the police station, Ellie supports Ninny’s opinion.

-Let’s get moving! Neni hustles us.

...and so we start our walking journey. I feel exhausted already to start with!

Soon we depart from the road and keep on running (yes, we're running, don't ask me why!) over a grassy hill.

Ninny, Ellie and their mum certainly are used to run away from cops or something! They seem to be in incredible condition, and I have great difficulties to stay in their speed.

Finally we arrive to a most weird place - a petty pond in the middle of woodlands, with two big boats floating in it! Honestly, it looks quite ridiculous...

I follow Ninny and Ellie to the cabin, where they apparently use to sleep.

We all are more than ready to go straight to bed!

I immediatly start falling into a dream...

...but just before I'm completely asleep I think I hear a muffled voice cry:

-I can’t get through the wall!

But I’m too tired to startle and it certainly was a part of my dream anyway, so who cares.

(author's comment: PLEASE ignore Cessalin's T-shirt I made a bad mistake that I didn't notice until now XD)

 When we’re choking on our horrible, burned waffles, Neni suggests, that we would get our pizes from the rich lotteryseller today.

So first we would walk to our stolen car, then she would give us a ride to the rich man’s house, and while we’re there, she would bring the car to the criminals’ HQ for sale, and then come and pick us up with some other vehicle.

We agree, and after a while or two we're at the mogul's mansion, which indeed is impressive!

We walk in and find ourselves in a great corridor, with a whole bunch of other people.

-So… you’re waiting for your rewards too? I try to start a small talk.

-WAITING is the word! the girl next to me gives out a frustrated groan, -We've been waiting here almost 24 hours now!

Once in a while that man shows up... but only to list more and more excuses why he can't give out the prizes just yet!

-I guess that he's too greedy to give out anything, after all! the girl concludes.

Then Ninny gets a retarded idea:

-Ellie, look! she starts (flinging her arm on my face)…

- ...that girl over there has fallen asleep, Ninny continues with a riskably loud voice, -When it's her turn to receive the reward, I could pretend to be her, and...

-Gimme a break! the green-haired girl (who totally heard Ninny's "whisper") snorls, -My sister is only pretending to sleep to protest the long wait! If her turn would ever come, she'd be wide awake!

But very unexpectedly the mogul steps forth, points at me and inquires:

-Are you Cessalin?!

-Yes… I answer, feeling a bit insecure, ’cause that man is constantly looking and sounding quite angry!

-Follow me! It’s your turn now! the man blurts out.

-Hey, what about me?! the green-haired gril yells in vain.

I follow the red man into an other room...

-This girl promised to give you your reward instead of me, he explains happily.

Ok, so now I understand why he was so eager to give me my prize – because he didn’t actually need to give out anything himself!

But when I notice the girl who's supposed to give me my prize, I'm quite dumbfounded!

Marisha rushes to me: -Cessalin, we need to get out of here! And I have a LOT to tell you!

When I step through the door... Jeg's bug collection seems to simply disappear... along with all the other familiar furniture!

Then the door slams closed, and all that is left from what I recently saw inside the room is the wall pattern of red planks!

The room... wait! How is it supposedly possible, that I just walked into a room in the third floor, and now I'm suddenly on the ground level, outside!

For a fleeting moment I feel so lost and confused, that I even consider going back the same way! But then I realize, that it would be the stupidest idea ever - I just managed to get away from the malignant mawaka, and now I would freely surrender to her after being shocked by only a harmless lawn?!

Well, in lack of better ideas I might as well take a look around!

It looks like I have bumped in the middle of a wedding party! I guess I should leave as soon as possible - this is anyway someone else's yard!

But just when I'm about to drift to a random direction, the bride walks up to me (oops, and I who thought that they can't see me behind the corner!).

-You’re a little early, but welcome to my wedding feast! The bride wishes without any prejudice at all. Warmness and relief fill my innermost – for once I’m WELCOMED to a strange place, without sensing spooky threats or being accused for stealing someones life or something as insane!

I feel so relieved, that I even sit down for a drink with the blue haired woman, who introduced herself as Meldive. Partially my relaxed behavior might be result from sleepiness - I'm little by little getting really exhausted of this neverending day! Back there... at home... the evening was already darkening, when it looks like noon in here - just another prove, that I definitely haven't just accidentally walked out the backdoor in the mawakas house!

-I don’t mind gatecrashers at all, Meldive explains, -I think that they kind of spice up the party!

Finally I can't help my weariness - despite the "refreshing" juice I feel that I'm about to pass out and I have to lie down in the easy chair.

More and more guests are arriving, but their murmur and the soft music in the background doesn't disturb my sleep.

I don't even wake up when the noise relents and the wedding ceremony begins...

...not until everyone starts to clap like freaks for the newly married couple! Then even I decide to give an applause to those hospitable people.

Suddenly I notice a couple of shockingly familiar faces in the crowd! And those doubles of Ellie and Ninny obviously...

...can't behave in a wedding!

If I wasn't totally sure of the reality of parallel dimensions before, now I definitely am!

I plan to go and say hi to the parallel versions of my friends, when a surprising hollering distracts me.

-Come here everyone!!! a plump, red man keeps shouting, -I have lottery tickets for sale!!!

What?! Does he think this is a marketplace or something? And when did that whole table and everything appear there?

But regardless of my despise everyone rushes to the table like if a lottery would be a total thing-to-do in a wedding! I stay aside and wait for a chance to talk to Ellie and Ninny.

But when everyone else have bought their tickets, the lotteryman suddenly walks up to me. I feel that everyone's gazing at me in a most brooding way, when he starts talking:

-You there! Are you going to ditch the lottery, huh?!

-Well, I thought that maybe this time I would... ehm... especially when I don't even know if I have money...

-Excuses, excuses! the lotteryman interrupts me rudely, -Certainly you have some coins in your pockets to pay with…

-And COME ON, the rewards are absolutely exclusive! I can guarantee it myself, 'cause it's I who will give them away! Just in case you didn't know, I'm EXTREMELY RICH!!!

I tried my pockets, and surprisingly the lotteryman was right (is he a clairvoyant?). I have some coins, and under all the pressure I have no choise but to buy a ticket.

Ninny and Ellie apparently are friends with me (or my double – where ever she might be! Brrr, creepy!) even in this dimension, ’cause they gather to watch when I’m picking my lot, giving some random, superstitious advices, like “take the third ticket that your hand touches!”.

-Weird, this piece of paper only says that I need to go to that mogul's mansion to receive my reward personally, I mumble when I have rolled my ticket open.

-That’s what all the tickets say!!! Ninny snorts and seems… ehm… slightly annoyed by the fact.

Then she sits down with Ellie on an outright random little terrace surrounded by grass.

-When there are absolutely zero other benches free in the schoolbus, I sometimes end up sitting next to her… Ninny starts a gossiping session.

-Then she starts chatting about some TOTALLY weird or boring topics, and asks really awkward questions! Ninny goes on, -Like yesterday she suddenly asked: "By the way, what is your horoscope for today?". Like... geez!

-Who are you talking about? I ask of pure curiosity.

-Ninny, of course! Ninny… (or the one who looks like Ninny) replies quickly.

My jaw drops on my knees and I hardly can believe my ears. Weren’t things crazy and confusing enough already?! So now the look-alikes in the parallel dimensions don’t even necessarily have same names as we? Or did I miss something? Was “Ninny” supposedly talking about herself??

Luckily Ninny and Ellie were so into gossiping, that they didn’t notice my baffled face. I don’t want them to know that I’m from a different dimension – it certainly would only cause trouble and confusion.

When I’ve finally recovered, I find myself sorry for that girl (who ever she might remind of) for being a target of mean gossips, so I make a point that might sound as awkward as her talk about horoscopes:

-But... maybe she's just shy and doesn't really know what to say, but feels pressure to say SOMETHING... so she just picks a random topic?

-SHY?! Ellie repeats in a scornful tone, like if being shy would be the weirdest thing she's ever heard of!

-Girls! It's time to go! Ellie's and Ninny's (well, actually I don't even know their names, but I'll call them that in order to keep myself from cracking!) mum comes hollering, -This nice man and his brother promised to give us a ride.

It seems obvious that the twins and their mum expect me to follow with them... and since I have absolutely no idea what else I could do, I don't fight it.

At least there’s something familiar about them, even if it would be only the appearance, and seeing those familiar faces makes me feel a lot more safe than if I was all alone in this strange dimension.

I find it a bit dubious, how excited Neni is over the new sport car of these two (weird) brothers, though...

The drive turns out much longer than I expected! And it's eventually starting to worry me, that I'm not sure about where we are going... not to mention where we're coming from!

It must be more than hundred miles later, when we drive by a 24/7 coffee shop, and Neni insists, that the brothers who have been driving the whole time in turns, would take a relaxing brake.

An other thing that she insists is that we girls can wait in the car while they get some take-aways… As soon as the men have entered the cafeteria, Neni shouts:

-Hurry up, Ninny! (wtf, so her name is Ninny anyway?!) Climb to the front seat! Start the car!

The brothers are just coming out from the café, when we drive by them in their car, leaving them behind.

They don't look exactly happy...

-Eh... did we just steal their car?! I ask perplexed.

-Of course we did, you ditzy! Ellie gives a mischievous laugh, -That's what we DO!

-And we four certainly are the superior con team in this locality! Neni cackles maliciously, -No-one could ever suspect us!

Eh… really?! Those brothers just SAW us steal their car, and probably some random coffee house clients too…

But I decide to keep my mouth shut until I’ve got rid of this adverse company!

I did a random and uncharacteristic thing. The context was that I was explaining to a friend how there are plenty of verses in the Bible uplifting the poor, exhorting charity, and condemning wealth that we should use to combat the twisted I-got-mine-screw-you theology of the Religious Right.

Then I sat down and spent my entire Saturday night researching just those kinds of verses in the Bible.

So below you will find some of the gems, which I pulled out because of the incisive or ferocious language or because of their poetic beauty. The Bible can indeed be used for good, as I hope these verses will demonstrate. I grew up Christian, and my first inklings of social justice concepts came from reading Bible verses such as these. Though I am no longer Christian, I still find them inspiring.

Below the fold, you will find a massive compilation of verses that deal with poverty, charity and wealth.

Job 20:15
He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

Job 36:19
Will [God] esteem thy riches? no, not gold, nor all the forces of strength.

Psalm 9:17
[T]he needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.

Psalm 39:6
Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro:
He bustles about, but only in vain;
he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.

Psalm 72:4
He will defend the afflicted among the people
and save the children of the needy;
he will crush the oppressor.

Proverbs 23:5
[R]iches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

Proverbs 30:14
There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.

Proverbs 31:7
Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

Ecclesiastes 5:12
The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether he eats little or much,
but the abundance of a rich man
permits him no sleep.

Matthew 19:24
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

James 2:6
Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?

James 5:1
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

A hella lot more verses below! The majority come from the King James Bible, except where noted. I went with the New International version whenever the language of King James got too obscure for me.

Deuteronomy 15

³⁴For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

⁷If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:

⁸But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.

⁹Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.

¹⁰Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.

¹¹For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

1 Samuel 2

⁵They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

⁶The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.

⁷The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.

⁸He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and he hath set the world upon them.

2 Samuel 12

¹And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

²The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:

³But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

⁴And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.

⁵And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:

⁶And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.

Job 20

¹⁵He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

¹⁶He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.

¹⁷He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

¹⁸That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.

¹⁹Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;

²⁰Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

Job 24 (New International Version)

¹ “Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?
Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?

² Men move boundary stones;
they pasture flocks they have stolen.

³ They drive away the orphan’s donkey
and take the widow’s ox in pledge.

⁴ They thrust the needy from the path
and force all the poor of the land into hiding.

⁵ Like wild donkeys in the desert,
the poor go about their labor of foraging food;
the wasteland provides food for their children.

⁶ They gather fodder in the fields
and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.

⁷ Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.

⁸ They are drenched by mountain rains
and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.

⁹ The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;
the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.

¹⁰ Lacking clothes, they go about naked;
they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.

¹¹ They crush olives among the terraces ^[a] ;
they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.

Job 27

¹⁶Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;

¹⁷He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.

¹⁸He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.

¹⁹The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not.

²⁰Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night.

²¹The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.

²²For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand.

²³Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

Job 31

¹⁶If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

¹⁷Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;

¹⁸(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother’s womb;)

¹⁹If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;

²⁰If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

²¹If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:

²²Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

²³For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

Job 34 (New International Version)

¹⁷ Can he who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn the just and mighty One?

¹⁸ Is he not the One who says to kings, ‘You are worthless,’
and to nobles, ‘You are wicked,’

¹⁹ who shows no partiality to princes
and does not favor the rich over the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?

Job 36

⁵Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom.

⁶He preserveth not the life of the wicked: but giveth right to the poor.

⁷He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings are they on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted.

⁸And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction;

⁹Then he sheweth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded.

¹⁰He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.

¹¹If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.

¹²But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.

¹³But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them.

¹⁴They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean.

¹⁵He delivereth the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression.

¹⁶Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait into a broad place, where there is no straitness; and that which should be set on thy table should be full of fatness.

¹⁷But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked: judgment and justice take hold on thee.

¹⁸Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.

¹⁹Will he esteem thy riches? no, not gold, nor all the forces of strength.

1 Kings 3

⁵In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.

⁶And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

⁷And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.

⁸And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

⁹Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

¹⁰And the speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing.

¹¹And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;

¹²Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

Psalm 9

¹⁷The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.

Psalm 12 (New International Version)

⁵ “Because of the oppression of the weak
and the groaning of the needy,
I will now arise,” says the LORD.
“I will protect them from those who malign them.”

⁶ And the words of the LORD are flawless,
like silver refined in a furnace of clay,
purified seven times.

Psalm 39 (New International Version)

⁶ Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro:
He bustles about, but only in vain;
he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.

⁷ “But now, Lord, what do I look for?
My hope is in you.

⁸ Save me from all my transgressions;
do not make me the scorn of fools.

⁹ I was silent; I would not open my mouth,
for you are the one who has done this.

¹⁰ Remove your scourge from me;
I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

¹¹ You rebuke and discipline men for their sin;
you consume their wealth like a moth—
each man is but a breath.

Psalm 41

¹Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.

²The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.

Psalm 49

¹⁶Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;

¹⁷For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.

Psalm 52

⁵God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.

⁶The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:

⁷Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.

Psalm 72 (New International Version)

² He will ^[a] judge your people in righteousness,
your afflicted ones with justice.

³ The mountains will bring prosperity to the people,
the hills the fruit of righteousness.

⁴ He will defend the afflicted among the people
and save the children of the needy;
he will crush the oppressor.

Psalm 73

¹Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

²But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.

³For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.

⁵They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.

⁶Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.

⁷Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.

⁸They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.

⁹They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.

¹⁰Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.

¹¹And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?

¹²Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.

Proverbs 13

⁷There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.

⁸The ransom of a man’s life are his riches: but the poor heareth not rebuke.

Proverbs 14

²¹He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.

Proverbs 21

¹³Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.

Proverbs 22

¹⁶He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.

Proverbs 23

⁴Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.

⁵Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

Proverbs 28 (New International Version)

³ A ruler who oppresses the poor
is like a driving rain that leaves no crops.

⁴ Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,
but those who keep the law resist them.

⁵ Evil men do not understand justice,
but those who seek the LORD understand it fully.

⁶ Better a poor man whose walk is blameless
than a rich man whose ways are perverse.

⁷ He who keeps the law is a discerning son,
but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father.

⁸ He who increases his wealth by exorbitant interest
amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.

…²⁷ He who gives to the poor will lack nothing,
but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.

²⁸ When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding;
but when the wicked perish, the righteous thrive.

Proverbs 29

⁷The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: but the wicked regardeth not to know it.

Proverbs 30

¹⁴ There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.

Proverbs 31

⁴It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink:

⁵Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.

⁶Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.

⁷Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

⁸Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction.

⁹Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.

Ecclesiastes 5 (New International Version)

⁸ If you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still. ⁹ The increase from the land is taken by all; the king himself profits from the fields.

¹⁰ Whoever loves money never has money enough;
whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.
This too is meaningless.

¹¹ As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owner
except to feast his eyes on them?

¹² The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether he eats little or much,
but the abundance of a rich man
permits him no sleep.

¹³ I have seen a grievous evil under the sun:
wealth hoarded to the harm of its owner,

¹⁴ or wealth lost through some misfortune,
so that when he has a son
there is nothing left for him.

¹⁵ Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb,
and as he comes, so he departs.
He takes nothing from his labor
that he can carry in his hand.

Jeremiah 17

¹¹As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.

Isaiah 3

¹⁴The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Isaiah 32

⁵The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful.

⁶For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

⁷The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right.

⁸But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.

⁹Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.

¹⁰Many days and years shall ye be troubled, ye careless women: for the vintage shall fail, the gathering shall not come.

Ezekiel 16

⁴⁹Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

Ezekiel 18

¹⁴Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father’s sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,

¹⁵That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour’s wife,

¹⁶Neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment,

¹⁷That hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live.

Amos 5

¹¹Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

¹²For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

Matthew 19

²¹Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

²²But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

²³Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

²⁴And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

²⁵When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

²⁶But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

²⁷Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?

²⁸And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

²⁹And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

³⁰But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

Luke 1

⁵²He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

⁵³He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

Luke 6

²⁰And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.

²²Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.

²³Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

²⁴But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.

²⁵Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.

²⁶Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

²⁷But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

²⁸Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.

²⁹And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.

³⁰Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.

³¹And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

³²For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.

³³And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.

³⁴And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

³⁵But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

³⁶Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

³⁷Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

³⁸Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Luke 12

³²Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

³³Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

Luke 14

¹²Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.

¹³But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:

¹⁴And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

1 Timothy 6

⁵Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

⁶But godliness with contentment is great gain.

⁷For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

⁸And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

⁹But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

¹⁰For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

… ¹⁷Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

¹⁸That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

¹⁹Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

James 1

⁹Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

¹⁰But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

¹¹For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

James 2

¹My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

²For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;

³And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:

⁴Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

⁵Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?

⁶But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?

⁷Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

⁸If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

⁹But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

… ¹⁵If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

¹⁶And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

¹⁷Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

James 5

¹Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

²Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

³Your 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.

⁴Behold, 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.

⁵Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

There was a rich man who ate well,

All his purple garments were swell,

Then came his death day;

Plush things all passed away.

Poor man, he made his bed in hell. Luk 16.22

          – eab, 3/3/05

Attention Please Millionaires!

by Salim Abraham .

The untimely death of Michael Jackson saddened me deeply. We all feel grieved and we will all miss him forever. In a way, it is our failure that we were not able to see his problems, or we were not there to help him recover from his problems. I hear that he was very friendly with Mr. Deepak Chopra and many other spiritual leaders, but nobody was able to help him or even acknowledge his problems.

It is also possible that he was not receptive to their advice or help. Anyway, we lost one of our prodigies in pop music and choreographed dance.
It would be positive if we try and understand the kind of problems many of the so called successful people face. The core problem is their inability to handle success. If you want to live a normal life, you must live a disciplined life. It is like driving your vehicle in one way traffic.

If we follow the traffic rules, we may be able to reach our destination but if we drive our vehicle in the opposite direction without following the rules, we will definitely not make it to the destination. So, in this life, there are unwritten rules which we should follow in order to lead a successful life. But when we attain a huge financial freedom without wisdom, we tend to ignore the unwritten laws of the world and we start to feel that we are some super being and we can lead a life of our own with our money and our financial freedom and this freedom will build a very big wall around us. We will end up as a prisoner in this wall and our connections and love with our loved ones will be cut off and we will find ourselves surrounded by a group of selfish and parasitic people who suck our blood.

And once they are done with it they will just wither away and our loved ones will not have any access to us. This is a very sad state of affairs and the so called rich man walks to his failure.

In the holy book of Ramayana, there is a incident when Lord Rama goes out to the forest to catch the Mareechan (the golden deer) on his wife’s, Sita Devi’s, request. Before leaving, Lord Rama told his brother, Lakshman, to protect Sita and never to leave her alone until he came back. But after a while the Mareechan started to scream in the voice of Lord Rama. From a distance, his brother Lakshman and wife Sita heard the cry and Sita urged Lakshman to go and help his big brother Rama. But Lakshman knew that it was a trick played by Mareechan and refused to go. Lakshman knew that his brother could not be defeated by Mareechan. But Sita insisted that Lakshman must leave her to go find and help Rama, but Lakshman refused, then Sita accused Lakshman of being attracted to her and she alleged the he was hoping to marry his brother’s wife, she also alleged that he wanted Raman to die. This saddened Lakshman and reluctantly, Lakshman left Sita saying that, “I’m very much upset and saddened by your unavoidable fate”. Lakshman left Sita and went in search of his brother Rama. At that time, Ravana came, kidnapped Sita and took her to Sri Lanka in his Pushpaka plain.

This story explains that due to the foolishness of Sita, she, her husband, husband’s brother and lot of others were put to immense difficulty, heartaches, war and led to her own destruction in the end.
In this world, there are a lot of signboards to help and direct us like Torah, The holy Bible, Quran, Ramayana, Bhagavat Gita, Vedas and many other sources. We can travel around this magnificent world and see different places of religious importance and other beautiful places. We may see and engage different types of people, see how they lived, study them and see the wonderful work of our lord. We must use these tools to enhance ourselves. The people who have money have no limits to know these things, but many of them choose the wrong side. They get afraid of the people and they lock themselves inside their bandboxes. All the positive points they have, will then become negative. Their folly is that they focus only on themselves and their comfort. At some point, they feel that everything in this world is made for them and their happiness. But once they start to focus on their inner self and start to look inside them, they will be cured.

Enjoy.

Regards.

Praise God.

Salim Abraham.

Praise God.

Matthew 19:24
“Again I tell 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.”

That’s us, the rich man. I don’t think we want to hear that, but it’s true. I’m reading Rob Bell’s “Jesus Wants to Save Christians,” and found a list of disturbing facts. Here are just a few:

• The U.S. consumes 20 million barrels of oil a day. (Next in line is China, 5.6 million barrels a day.)
• America controls 20% of the world’s wealth with only about 5% of the world’s population.
• Every 7 seconds, somewhere in the world a child under age 5 dies of hunger while Americans throw away 14% of the food we purchase.
• Nearly 1 billion people in the world live on less than one American dollar a day.
• More than half of the world lives on less than $2 a day, while the average American teenager spends nearly $150 a week.
• 40% of people in the world lack basic sanitation while 49 million diapers are used and thrown away in America every day.
• 1.6 billion people in the world have no electricity.
• Most people in the world do not own a car; one-third of American families own 3 cars.
• One in seven children worldwide has to go to work every day just to survive.
• Americans spend more annually on trash bags than nearly half of the world does on all goods

I’m only saying: we’re the rich man. All of us. So, how will you get through the eye of the needle to enter the Kingdom of God?

I am counting on the mercy and grace of Christ. That’s it. There is no other way.

Matthew 19:23-24

(23) Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. (24) And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

“Then bless me oh Lord, with poverty.”

Mankind’s engineering capabilities have grown so far that we are considering building bridges across oceans – once considered impossible due to the magnitude, extreme climatic variations and ocean currents. Often as technological advances are made we forget that there are limits placed that no man is allowed to cross.

One such boundary is found in the gospel (Luke 16.19-31) account of the rich man and the poor man Lazarus. In verse 26 we read Father Abraham speaking to the rich man, ‘between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here (heaven) to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there (hell) to us.’ 

Your  ultimate destination is determined by your choice of a savior. Jesus said, “I am the way… No one comes to the Father except through me”. How more clear can He make himself? Those who reject Jesus’ e offer of salvation will also be rejected and join the rich man in the above the story in hell. No amount of  prayers, masses  or indulgences purchased can bridge the gap for you after you have died, so make your decision to obey God’s command and receive Jesus Christ into your life today. What if this very night your life will be demanded from you! Make sure you are on the right side of the chasm.e