According to the USDA, a record 47.7 million Americans are now living in poverty. A few actual news outlets have reported the very real possibility that by the end of 2012 the numbers in the U.S. could surpass a mind-boggling 50 million Americans living in absolute poverty and collecting the $134.29 average monthly benefit per person, instead of working. In fact, just two months before the presidential election, the media kept a lid on the fact that there were three times more food stamp recipients added to the economy than jobs.
Big government is not just a present threat; it is a growing mindset and worldview. It is important to understand this battle for power. Here is an excerpt from my book, ERADICATE, BLOTTING OUT GOD IN AMERICA.
Social Justice is a code phrase of the left which believes in a classless society and that all differences in wealth and property should be eliminated. It is a political movement that generally believes people are born into an inflexible social order.
Religious liberals have invaded evangelical Christian churches with their version of social justice. They claim to back up their fight for poverty and world hunger by the use of selected Scriptures about helping the poor. Every individual Christian is responsible to obey God’s Word and do what we can to manage our resources to help those in need, and humanitarian efforts should coincide with the preaching of the gospel. Christians need to be the hands and feet of Jesus, but poverty and hunger will never completely be eradicated.
The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have Me (Mark 14:7 NIV).
To liberals, social justice means a level of fairness as defined by them and enforced by the state. Their argument is that the church has not done a good job taking care of the poor – which is true – so the government must step in. The solution should never be government intervention. When government gets involved, who decides how to allocate money? This promotes an unholy alliance between the church and state. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 5 that it is our responsibility to take care of “widows and orphans” and those who are unable to care for themselves.
Christians are to voluntarily tithe to the church and share their finances (distribute wealth) with the needy, not be forced by the government through taxes to unwillingly (redistribute wealth) give to whoever the government decides needs it the most. Can government be trusted to use the people’s money honestly?
If their definition of social justice is implemented and many poor people are fed, this meets their temporary physical need. With government involved, however, it would then be illegal for Christians to share the gospel with the poor to meet their spiritual need.
Life is not fair, but God is good. He is sovereign, all powerful and He hates injustice. However, unfairness is inherent in the human condition. God is just; human beings typically are not. That’s where the church comes in. Jesus did not commission the Roman Government to help the poor and He never advocated taxation on the wealthy to pay for the benefits of the less fortunate. The early church took care of the needs of the poor and also demonstrated how a system of heartfelt, voluntary distribution could work. The communal sharing of the early Christians in Acts chapter 2, for example, was virtually the opposite of the socio-economic Marxism some church leaders are calling for today.
We need to be careful about throwing the word “social” around. What is “socialized” is state-controlled. Here in the United States, we have tried throwing more money at the problem of poverty, and we have found it does not work (See Detroit). When corrupt men are in charge of distributing money, it most often does not get to the people who really need help. Communism has also failed worldwide, and Marxism should have taught the world a permanent lesson.
Over the years our churches and ministries in America have made the average citizen better, have fed countless millions around the world, and financed the spreading of the gospel. Without nations influenced by Jesus Christ and biblical Christianity, the world would be a much darker place, and there would be considerably more poverty both spiritually and economically. Would a system of socialism allow the church to do any of this?
Author and commentator, Erik Rush, the man credited with breaking the story about President Obama’s former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Black Liberation Theology, called social justice Christians another “well-organized group of traitors” to America. Rush said their religion has become superficial:
“As with health-care reform … many are aware that social and environmental ‘justice’ issues are not about justice at all; they are calculated to deliver unprecedented levels of power to the federal government. I declare that ‘social justice Christianity’ is apostasy; its adherents have abandoned their faith for a cause…. While some are misguided Christians, others (like Jim Wallis) are out-and-out Marxist posers. Proverbially, they now stand with the Sadducees and Rome, against Israel. While I pray that God will have mercy on their souls, we must show them no mercy politically.”
Jesus did not teach that the Spirit of the Lord anointed the federal government to preach. That’s the job of the church so the power and will of God can be revealed. In Isaiah 61:1-2, a verse Jesus quoted in the Gospels as well, He gives six reasons for which God had anointed Him and not one of them mentions money:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God…
God calls us to give cheerfully from our hearts (2 Cor. 9:7), but God does not advocate additional tax burdens on the whole of society for any cause. When Jesus faced Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate, He didn’t ask Pilate for financial aid for the poor. Jesus didn’t complain about injustices in Galilee or Nazareth or Bethlehem. He didn’t ask for the Roman government to step in and spread the wealth. In fact, Jesus stated, My kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).
Jesus Christ loved and cared about the poor: He did not abandon them, nor did He feed them immediately with the resources at his disposal. The first thing Christ himself did for the poor was to teach them… Most independent thinkers admit government programs can’t separate the truly needy from those who would cheat and take advantage of the system.
Conversely, private Christian charities and organizations are so much more effective at meeting needs and changing lives instead of basically throwing taxpayer money at the problem. Most charities run a tight ship by necessity and are just the opposite of government when it comes to eliminating fraud and waste while offering compassion to those in need.
America’s free enterprise system is not keeping people poor; it is their best chance for economic advancement. Social justice advocates would have you believe it is the system that is the problem.
The bottom line is, if we don’t preach the gospel and lead souls to Christ, it won’t matter if they’re well fed come Judgment Day. In Romans 13, the people’s taxes paid for governing authorities put in place by God for their good, but the government never had anything to do with practicing compassion or mercy.
Other leaders of the social justice movement… often place emphasis on this present temporary world and minimize the importance of repentance from sin against a holy God. Humanism and socialism – the way of man – will always fail, but God’s ways always succeed.
America finds itself in a dangerous place: we have a media and an administration selling class warfare and massive spending – and people are buying it. Many citizens forget the government is supposed to protect the people, not provide for them.
Socialism has failed miserably throughout the world. History proves it and yet there are some who are willing to give it another try, this time in America. Share the truth! Education is vital and this movement must be stopped in order to save our great Republic under God.
Excerpt: It Could Never Happen in America
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