Matthew 22:37-40 says; “³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus in the above passage is summarizing the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are a summary of the Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) which are the statutory working out of the Ten Commandments.

Let’s examine the second part of the “Great Commandment”! How do you love your neighbor as yourself? This is a thought/command that many churches either poorly interpret, apply or totally/substntially ignore! For one thing, it takes a lot of effort to both understand, and apply this command.

Let’s take an example. The second table of the law (Ten Commandments) includes the 8th Commandment “Do not steal” That sounds pretty simple, until you start to define what “stealing” is! Larceny is in the hearts of men, and must be restrained, because it is so easy to obfuscate what stealing really is. The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) questions 73, 74 and 75 deal with this commandment. (Pay particular attention to the answer to question #75)

Here’s a for instance; inflation is the increase in the supply of money and credit in relationship to supply and demand remaining constant. More money chasing the same amount of goods and services will drive up the price of those goods and services. It amounts to devaluing the money (currency) so that it will buy less, and thus hurting our neighbor. It is a hidden tax, but it is a tax, and it is the taking of one’s wealth surreptitiously. Is that stealing? In this writer’s opinion, it is! If Christian believers support and tolerate politicians and a private cabalistic banking system that promote inflation, then are they guilty of stealing, or at least supporting stealing? (Refer to WCF SC answer #75)

Another example would be when voters are asked to pass a bond issue. All bond issues amount to borrowing money (Investopedia). When the money is borrowed, there is the principal amount borrowed, brokers get fees to put the deal together, and interest (profit) is paid to the bond holders as well as the principal ultimately being paid back – hopefully. When a bond issue is passed by voters, then all those who are under the legal/political authority of the borrower are now in debt. The debt amounts to money spent now, and to be paid back later by current (and future) generations. There are bonds that are issued and passed for political (government) school districts, municpalities, counties, states, regions, nationally, and now the push is on for globally, and there are also corporate bonds which are privately and freely entered into by those who run the corporations, and if the stock holders don’t like it, they can alwasy sell their stock. Government debt cannot be avoided so easily. Even churches have issued bonds before. (Refer to WCF SC answer #75)

Let’s deal with the government bonds. If 50% + 1 (Majority) vote to indebt 50% – 1 (Minority), then the 50% – 1 are now in debt even though they didn’t want to be, or maybe couldn’t afford to be. Did the 50% + 1 steal from the 50% – 1; in this writer’s assessment, they did! Biblically, spend as you go is a much better philosophy! Proverbs 22:7 “….the borrower is servant (slave) to the lender.” (Refer to WCF SC answer #75)

What about taxation? Taxation is the government taking a certain amount or percentage of someone’s wealth to use for the administration of the government and/or the government’s various programs. Let’s just take one facet of that – welfare! Welfare is the taking of one person’s money (who is assumed to be able to afford it) and giving it to someone else who is “in need”. There is a quote from Karl Marx (Author – The Communist Manifesto*) “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.“ America’s welfare system follows this philosophy closely and assiduously! The problem lay in the fact that some bureaucrat in Washington D.C. is deciding who has the “ability”, and who has the “need”. Under a church authority, that would be done by Deacons who would examine each case individually and hold the church welfare recipient (if their need was valid) accountable for every wisely spent penny. *(It should be duly noted that Communism is Satanic and contrary to the Bible!) (Refer to WCF SC answer #75)

Now, a family earning $50,000 a year may have the “ability” in the eyes of the bureaucrat, and yet that family may have different “needs” from another family earning the same amount of money. Also, the bureaucrat is determining the “need” side of the equation as well. As time has gone by, wants have become “needs”. For example, medical care for transgender surgery, abortion, cosmetic surgery, treatment for medical problems caused by bad diets etc. have now become “needs” that are financed by the government. Also, cell phones, child care, transportation, housing, food etc. etc. have all become “needs”. Yes, food is a “need”, although when you see a receipt dropped in the parking lot (true story) of your favorite grocery store, and on it is evidence of being paid for by a federally subsidized food program, and on the dropped receipt of the person who made the purchase, lobster is listed, then there’s a question as to “need” verses “want”! Is the person buying the lobster stealing from the person who had to pay for it? In this writer’s opinion that person, along with the bureaucrat and/or politician implementing the program, is stealing! Certainly spending someone else’s money, forcefully taken from them, is stealing, but this example goes beyond the pale! (Refer to WCF SC answer #75)

So then, we have to examine whether or not the person voting has to avoid voting for politicians who promise freebies to the “poor”, or just maybe that voter is stealing by supporting that politician. Jesus said in Matthew 26:11 that “You will have the poor with you always.” (If you belive Jesus Christ, then the poor will never be eradicated.) The longest running “declared” war in America is the War on Poverty which has been going on 60 years since 1964. Poverty has not diminished since then, but instead has expanded dramatically, and many people in America, by some estimates close to 100 million are “dependent” upon the government, and nearly half of all Americans (150 million +), according to the Wall Street Journal, receive some sort of government support HERE! (Refer to WCF SC answer #75)

The bottom line, is that our government has made thieves out of half of all Americans. This writer does not know exactly how much corporations rely upon government hand outs either, but it’s a lot; conservatively estimated at $92 Billion! So, we have become a nation of thieves. Politicians take bribes to be thieves for both individual groups (i.e. Blacks, Hispanics, poor) and corporations (i.e. Exxon, Pfizer etc. etc.). Deuteronomy 16:18,19 tell us what happens when bribes become commonplace. (Refer to WCF SC answer #75)

Lastly, it is determined that regulations cost America over $3 Trillion a year according to the National Association of Manufacturers. That works out to roughly $800,000 (if my math is correct) for every man woman and child in America. What that amounts to is another form of stealing because the ability to buy products and services has been made much more expensive and difficult for the average person. As a direct product experience I had recently, an entire industry was forced to change by retooling, redesigning and new equipment and marketing because one child in the last 20 years died from a “misuse” of their product, and the death was attributed to their product design which had been around for a couple of hundred years – law suits and government regulators combined accomplished that! (Refer to WCF SC answer #75)

Were the above listed forms of stealing reduced substantially or eliminated entirely, then the average American would be able to own a nice home, and car debt free, and send their kids to good schools, have good and sufficient medical care, afford good food, and have money left over to save for nice vacations and a rainy day, but, today, that is not the case. Today, two in three Americans cannot comfortably come up with $400 to cover an emergency Bloomberg. What we have today is a society that is swamped in debt, suffering ill health and obesity because of corrupt governement regulated medical and food industrial complexes that do not take into account the people’s well being. This too ends up being another form of stealing, although the average person if they apply themselves, will not necessarily have to fall victim to either of these boondoggles (2nd definition). (Refer to WCF SC answer #75)

Can we do anything about it? Certainly not, if we are ignorant of what is being done to us, and how we are being manipulated to destroy each other through stealing! If enough people know and understand what’s going on, then the people who “rule” us (technically they should be serving and representing us), would have a much different attitude. Does preaching the Gospel help? Yes! Although, a truncated Gospel is somewhat detrimental. Paul preached the “whole counsel of GOD”, and that means the whole Bible, not just the easy stuff, and not just personal salvation. Remember, there was no New Testament at the time of St. Paul or Jesus Christ – they both referred to and relied upon the Old Testament! Romans 13:3,4 says the government is to be the rewarder of good and the punisher of evil – they ain’t going to do that unless we hold their feet to the fire and give them a good reason other than our own personal opinion! The government impoverishing people is evil, and any cooperation with that, is evil as well! Proverbs 24:12 declares that ignorance is no excuse!

So, are you, as a Christian, loving your neighbor as yourself if you support all of the above conditions and stealing? This writer would say “No!” – an emphatic “No!” Review the WCF SC answer #75! Are the churches teaching people about what is stealing and how to love your neighbor as yourself. In this writer’s estimate, not really very well, and maybe not at all from the way things are going! Watch out for the “Social Gospel” and any variation that weakens Christ’s and the church’s influence in our whole culture INCLUDING the political arena.

As an aside, America is a constitutional republic which is designed to restrain miscreant politicians. “…Congress shall make no law…”. Our leaders are representatives who are constrained and restrained by the Constitution. A majority opinion cannot justify overruling the Constitution.

Currently, we have massive immigration (illegal for the most part), and our leaders want to give these people who are here illegally, who know nothing of our heritage and culture, who know nothing of our laws, who do not speak the language, and in many cases have come here to intentionally harm Americans, the vote. What will that do to the church’s witness for Christ?

Are we being judged Deuteronomy 28 by God for our ignorance and “tolerance” which is no excuse Proverbs 24:12. Some would say the Old Testament application does not apply today. So be it. I happen to believe differently! Jesus wrote the Old Testament (He is GOD in the flesh), and between Him and St. Paul, they had no New Testament to which they could refer!

Pensiamento Peligroso