A Warning

A warning

The poet Charles Bukowski once said “The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence”.

I was reading a little in the book of Luke tonight and came across a passage that stood out to me and it reminded me of Bukowski’s words.

Luke 18:9 Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else. 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ 13 The tax collector, however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’ 14 I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The prophets of old many times were commanded by YHWH to call out the people, or the nation, or a city for their transgressions. In times of prosperity people tend to grow fat and overindulgent of themselves. They grow forgetful of how it was to be poor. They grow forgetful of what it feels like to be looked down upon. They cannot remember the feelings of hunger, or of fear, or of oppression. They may never have experienced being in a foreign land where they couldn’t read or speak the language. Perhaps they have never had the realization that they were undereducated compared to other people around them. 

I am no prophet. I am not a religious scholar. I have no ministerial credential. But, It is time for someone to call out those that call themselves followers of Jesus but are not. I am talking about the evangelical, protestant, Christian Church, in the United States of America. Every day on television and radio I hear their voices. They rail against immigrants coming into “their” country, even though most of those immigrants are fleeing danger and poverty. They have forgotten their own ancestors did the same just a few generations ago. They want to end every social program that tries to reduce poverty or hunger. They call for harsher penalties and treatment of people caught up in addiction. They call social security an entitlement even though most of the people that benefit from it have paid into it their entire lives. They admire and practically worship the wealthy and successful even though those wealthy people cheated their workers and gained their riches through corrupt business practices. They are self righteous and declare that they deserve their power and riches because they worked for it. They forget that the land they  stand on was once the land of native Americans. But those people were mostly killed off and the rest forced onto reservations where many died of treatable diseases or malnutrition even though promises were made to them that they would be taken care of. They forget that much of the hard work done to build the American empire was done by enslaved people brought to this country by entrepreneurs in search of profit and sold to wealthy land owners. Yes, the evangelical protestant Christian nationalist movement is a fat, self righteous and cruel people with blood on their hands. They call survival of the fittest “dog eat dog” practices an American virtue and compassion and mercy weakness. They have become like the pharisee confidant and full of admiration of their own virtue. 

I declare to you a warning. This religion you practice in not the religion of YHWH. It is contrary to everything that Yeshua taught. I will let the words of your own bible condemn you.

 Exodus 23:9 You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt. Leviticus 19:33-34 When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Matthew 6:19 “Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If then your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? 26 Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you of much more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? 28 And why are you anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God does so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. 33 But seek first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels! 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. 43 I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’ 46 And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

These are the true teachings of the one you claim to follow.

Consider yourself warned.