“The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.”
“If you don’t want your tax dollars to help the poor, then stop saying you want a country based on Christian values. Because you don’t.”
- Comedian John Fugelsang (sometimes mistakenly attributed to President Jimmy Carter)
Guest column by earthmother
AKA Jerel M. Giarrusso
As you deliberate – again – about the state budget and taxes and cutting services and all those issues that will have a serious impact on the quality of life for a majority of Louisiana citizens (the folks who voted you into office, not the oligarchs you are beholden to), many of us have some things to say to you. First of all, STOP WASTING OUR TAX DOLLARS ON SESSIONS, SPECIAL SESSIONS, EXTRA SPECIAL SESSIONS. You are stealing your salary, your per diem, and even the light bill at the Capitol, etc., when you blather forever without passing a realistic, workable budget bill.
Citizens have been begging you to do the right thing. Nothing any of us says has an impact on you. All we have are votes, not bribes or threats. We have condemned the corporatocracy, where corporate welfare costs Louisiana more than public welfare. Three years ago, LouisianaVoice published my first letter to you, with the link below, if you want to refresh your memory.
https://louisianavoice.com/2015/06/04/louisianavoice-reader-pens-open-letter-to-all-144-members-of-louisiana-legislature-asks-each-what-are-you-going-to-do/
Many of you claim to be devout Christians. Since a majority of you don’t heed the cries of the mortal voting public, thanks to a little nudge from the Holy Spirit, I’ll try letting God do the talking to you.
I checked to see what the Bible says about taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Here it is:
One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich–both come to poverty. Proverbs 22:16
Next, His ideas about taking from the poor, those who work, caring for the poor, the oppressed – “the least of My brothers and sisters.” God’s thoughts about that topic fill up most of the Old and New Testaments with hundreds of verses exhorting us to love another and care for the less fortunate. It’s not practical to reprint the entire Bible, so a few key verses are printed below. You can read in God’s own words what He expects of us all. That happens to include you.
Before you tell me that God did not say that government has to provide for the less fortunate, but that charities, churches and individuals are commanded to do so:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God… whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God…For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, busy with this very thing. Pay to all what is due them – taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. Romans 13:1-7
The New International Version (NIV) is quoted. That’s a version of the Bible, the tome you tried to make the state book a while back. You might want to actually read it.
Be forewarned, some of this is pretty radical stuff. Following some of these divine directives will cost you some old friends, who will accuse you of being a liberal, a libtard, or a prog, like that’s a bad thing. Better to lose those who would lead you down the road to perdition, and save your immortal soul.
What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26
Another reminder, while you’re listening to folks like the Koch brothers, Americans for Prosperity, LABI and Stephen Waguespack, Grover Norquist, Father God has more juice than any of them. You’re better off in the long run being in the good graces of The Lord than with humans serving the wrong overlord. Satan always comes in last and the Lord God prevails.
I’ll shut up now and let the Lord speak to you in His own words. Please be sure to read to the end.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27
Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered. Proverbs 21:13
Give to the one who begs from you. Proverbs 29:7
But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 1 John 3:17
No one can serve two masters…You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24
Do not rob the poor…or crush the afflicted at the gate, for the Lord will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them. Proverbs 22:22-23
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God;…woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation; …sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; …it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Luke 6:20, 24
Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will protect them from those who malign them. Psalm 12:5
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21
Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him. Proverbs 14:31
They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share. 1 Timothy 6:18
Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor. Proverbs 22:9
When you give a feast, invite the poor…and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection. Luke 14:14
I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy. Psalm 140:12
When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner. Leviticus 19:9-10
A righteous man knows the rights of the poor; a wicked man does not understand such knowledge. Proverbs 11:4
Those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. There was not a needy person among them, for the owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Acts 4:32-35
Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise. Luke 3:11
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? James 2:15-16
I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. 2 Corinthians 8:13-15
Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways. Proverbs 28:6
Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom; she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. Ezekiel 16:49
I command you, “You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in your land.” Deuteronomy 15:11
Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what your possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. Matthew 19:21
As for the rich…do not set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future. 1 Timothy 6:17-19
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see him naked, to cover him? Isaiah 58:6-7
If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18
Open your mouth for the rights of all who are destitute. Defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9
May he defend the cause of the poor, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor! Psalm 72:4
You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. Deuteronomy 24:14
If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you. Leviticus 25:35
It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. Proverbs 16:19
Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy? Job 30:25
The Final Judgment:
34 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 drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[a] you did it to me.’
41 ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matthew 25:34-46
Editor’s note: If you’re a member of the legislature and this made you a little uncomfortable, that was the intent. If it didn’t, then you’re just another political hack, a hypocritical opportunist.
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