What should we think about Looting
in a time of crisis or disaster?
What should we think of
Looting during times of crisis?
Exodus 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.
Leviticus 19:9-11(a) And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. Ye shall not steal.
Hebrews 10:34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
The recent hurricane Sandy (October 2012), left large parts of New York City, Long Island, and New Jersey in a state of devastation, ruin and chaos. Huge swaths of the area were under water, homes were lost, millions were without power, and many people were plunged in an instant to the point that they lost everything except the shirts on their backs, and the shoes on their feet. It did not take long till the looting began, and wild crowds roamed and combed through the devastation to see what they could salvage, take for themselves and turn to some use. What would you do if you lost everything, and needed a blanket for your child, would you steal one? What would you do if you had no food for you or your family for days on end? Would you go out and steal a bag of potato chips and a bottle of water that was just on the other side of what used to be a door? Or would you let your children starve?
The pat answer that we always hear, and the tendency of our government officials, is to send out the national guard, send out the police, and secure the area to prevent the looters from plundering through the devastation. "Thou shalt not steal" is the basis for such protection of "private property". This is the American way. Free-enterprise means that men have a right to own all of their own stuff, and to capitalize off of those to whom it does not belong. If you own ten gallons of milk, you have the right to sell it for $10.00 a Gallon, if you want! If you can get people to pay for it? There's a sucker born every day. That's what free-enterprise means. It means that what you have, you earned; and what you earned you keep; and what you keep you do not share, but you sell it, so that you can get more! The more you get, the more you sell, and the more sell, the more you have. This conduct is protected by law in the American free-enterprise system, because "Thou shalt not steal" has been interpreted to mean "THOU SHALT PAY". But is this Biblically correct? Is this actually what God intended by the "Thou shalt not steal" commandment?
The tendency is to take the easy way out in this controversy and to try to say that the commandment protects private property and all rights to individual ownership without exception. This argument makes it cut and dry, so that in the case of a father stealing a bag of chips and a bottle of water to feed his hungry children. He is stealing. By law that means we should send out the police to billy club his brains out and take back the chips and water that belong to somebody else. But is that what God intends when he says "Thou shalt not steal? To some people, this law is ironclad, and has no leniency in it all. "Stealing is stealing" they tell us, and it should be punished in order to protect the right of private ownership.
Logically then, if this line of reasoning is correct, we should cut off the hands of anyone who ever stole a paperclip or a pencil, from their place of employment? At the very least we should arrest the offending thief and toss him or her in jail! We should cut off the fingers of anybody who ever put a packet of Sugar of Sweetener in his own pocket, when he was buying a coffee, because technically he did not pay for that extra packet, which he planned to use at some future time. We should punish a family who goes to an eating establishment with two coupons that say "limit one per customer", when they each take a coupon and thus pass off two instead of one. We should punish somebody who says "do you have a piece of paper I can borrow", and then never pays it back.
If "thou shalt not steal" is to be interpreted in the literalistic, cut and dried fashioned; then why do we have "bankruptcy" laws in America that allow citizens and even large corporations to re-neg on paying their legal debts, when they fall into a situation where they simply cannot pay? When you do not pay what you legally owe, it is stealing! Yet, thousands of people file for bankruptcy each years and pay zero! Bankruptcy is even established by law in this country. It is a right. It's all right to steal, as long as you file the proper paperwork! What's up with that? Sometimes its the guy who owns the store full of chips and water, who want the police to bash somebodies brains out if they steal a bag and a bottle...and he is the very one, filing for bankruptcy protection! But he will not protect someone else who has lost everything and just needs to silence the crying of his hungry babies? Obviously this system shows inequity and is faulty. Why is that? if it is based upon such a simple and straightforward commandment?
The reason, is because the intent of our modern laws, do not agree with the intent of the Biblical injunction. "Thou shalt not steal" actually does not mean "Thou must pay". I intend to show you exactly why, this is a gross misunderstanding, and misappropriation of the eighth commandment. In fact this is not a Biblical or Christian doctrine at all. It is simply the ugly head of Americanized anti-socialism, forcing its way into the Bible where it does not belong. It may sound good to state that "Thou shalt not steal" is God's seal of approval on private ownership at all costs, even if it means bashing in the head of a man stealing a bag of chips. (by the way this actually happened, that's why I keep mentioning it.) But is this actually what God expects or intends for the commandment? To answer this, we have to deal with other clear scriptures, which provide the actual Biblical "case law" which cites the various examples of what is stealing and what is not stealing, and what a person has the right to own, and when he has the right to capitalize off of other people. It is not cut and dry, if there are other factors which God intends for us to consider. If you consider only half of God's truth, you have missed the other half, which may actually be the most important half. A half truth thus becomes a whole lie.
1. The Law of Land Ownership (Private Property)
The first bit of Biblical case law which relates to the law of stealing is addressed not to a poor person, who finds himself in dire or desperate straights, due to no fault of his own, but to rich land-owners who are the ones who might be the ones who are guilty of stealing if they do not provide for the poor and desperate. Here what the law says:
Leviticus 19:9-11(a) And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. Ye shall not steal.
God is crystal clear that "land ownership" and "private use" is to occur only in a way that benefits society's poor, indigent,needy and helpless. This is far different than the American system. Which says, if you own it, it's yours, and therefore you have the right to withhold it from the needy and poor without exception. The Biblical idea of ownership is based upon 1Corinthians 10:26 "For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." God is the real property owner. He owns all the natural resources of this planet. The Talmud recognized the sovereign ownership of all land by God, and forbade the idea that people could own it in perpetuity. Man is always seen as "the custodian", but God is "the actual owner" of all things in the correct Biblical view.
Leviticus 25:23-28 "The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. 24 And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land. 25 If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold. 26 And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it; 27 Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession. 28 But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.
As a consequences of God's actual ownership, men are always seen in the Bible not as owners, but as borrowers! We borrow God's resources for our own use, and He allows us to do so, provided that we recognize and honor Him as the true owner. In order to thus honor God and recognize His Lordship over the earth, He laid down several restrictions on private ownership that must always be met. The Biblical idea is one of custodianship, not private ownership. Adam was given dominion, and that differs from ownership. It is a Hebrew word for custodianship. You will notice that these things are far different from the Americanized Cart Blanche idea of unlimited private ownership.
1. The custodian of God's resources, whatever they were, (land, gold, silver, natural resources such as oil, gas, crops etc.) was to pay a tithe to God of 10% of all that He received from holding and using God's property. The tithe was the divine tax placed upon man's use of the earth and it's resources.
2. The custodians were to hold and use the resources only in a way which clearly allowed for the poor, needy and indigent to also use and benefit by the resources according to the laws of gleaning, which said that the caretakers of God's fields and vineyards, must leave all the corners for the use of the needy, poor and indigent. If they took what belonged to the poor, and harvested the portion that God commanded them not to take, then they were the ones guilty of stealing! Notice the last statement of this quote:
Leviticus 19:9-11(a) And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. Ye shall not steal.
This idea means that the rich steal from the poor when they don't pay more than everyone else to help support the poor and needy! They cannot have their cake and eat it too. If they have been blessed beyond others through the abundance of resources which they have received from God's hand, then their hands must be opened more than other people to provide for all the necessities and well-being of the unfortunate and indigent. God's system does not exclude rich people from paying far more than others, in fact it demands that they do just this. The 10% tax (tithe) is fair when imposed on all, because the poor pay on less and it is proportionate. But the four corners of every field which the land holder was not permitted to harvest meant that He was in effect taxed far above the poor, and that His wealth, was in fact distributed to the lower classes, despite His protests or disagreements. The Biblical system is not free-enterprise, unlimited wealth and the national resources held in the hands of a few super-rich. The Bible system, is much closer to the Robin Hood ideal, that we must take more from the rich and give it to the poor, because this is the law of divine righteousness. The land belongs to the Lord, and it is supposed to be sanctified to Him for His use. The 20% of the four corners belongs to the poor, not to the rich land-owner who wants to monopolize and capitalize off those not as rich as himself. God's system is perfect, because it is actually righteous and fair! All other man-made systems are favored by the rich because they are unrighteous, and unfair to the poor, and they give the rich man the chance to get more off the backs of people who cannot afford to pay. The rich however, tend to hate God's system, because it requires them to pay far more than any of the greed based systems. No wonder they hate it? "Why should I have to give away my four corners?" I pay the tithe tax like everyone else? But God says, you have more and that's why you should pay more! God's system is "... For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more" (Luke 12:48). God's ways are not man's ways, and God's thoughts are not mans thoughts. That's why you can always tell how worldly a man is by how much he values his money! If he thinks more of it, than he thinks of the poor, he is a thief at heart, because he would keep back the four corners for Himself! "Thou shalt not steal" is directed to Him First...Lev. 19:11a. "Ye (the rich man who takes the corners that really do not belong to him) shall not steal"!
Abuses of God's resources, through false notions of private ownership,
can involve breaking all three of the following commandments:
"Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy". Thus the seventh year sabbath of the land, in which no crops could be planted. The land rests, to prevent excessive accumulation and greed in the land-holders. He must acknowledge that God owns the resources and not him. And he must honor God by allowing the land and its resources to rest so that they are not excessively plundered. You want to keep that money rolling in so you can keep piling it up. But God says no. Honor the sabbath...every seventh year you will zero production...zero income! Why? Because God's system is holy and right. The land rests to show who is the true owner. The land rests to prevent greed. The land rests to prevent the depletion of natural resources and fertility. God's system is best. You can always tell a worldly man, when he cannot go a day without making a dime. How about a whole year? This also slams the greedy employers who will not even honor a weekly day of rest by closing their stores and establishments on the Lord's day. But that's a whole different study, which I will save for later.
"Thou shalt not Steal". When the land-holder does not allow for the corners to be left for the poor, so they can have their fair share of the Lord's resources, and instead He gleans what in reality if not his, because of greed, He is considered as a thief. "Thou shalt not steal" applies to him, as it applies to stealing from the poor through excess, monopoly and greed.
Failure to follow God's provisions for fairness, equity, equality and justice for the poor and underprivileged, always equates to thievery. But the big thieves are the rich people with fat bank accounts, not the poor slob who has to steal a loaf of bread to feed his kids. Somehow, somebody along the line got this basic law of human decency wrong? It's not the paper-clip thieves we need to worry about it is the super-rich, the mega-corporations, the monopolies, who hoard all of earths resources and keep them back from the poor, who are also supposed to have a share. Sorry, but that's what God says. You can always tell a worldly man, by the way he schemes to get more and by the way he builds his barns and bank accounts bigger and bigger!
"Thou shalt not Kill". As in what the the rich would be doing when they withhold what the Lords says should also go to the poor. Rather than bashing in the head of a poor desperate man, who is trying to provide for his children in the only way he possibly can; the rich resources hoarder, even if he is a business man, should actually be considered a murderer, if he withholds from the poor their right to go in and glean his fields! He murders the innocent and the neglected, when he locks up all four corners of his fields and puts up no trespassing signs, in violation of God's commands that tell Him, he does not, cannot and should not own it all! Greedy accumulation of obscene amounts of wealth is a form of murder, because somebody less fortunate always pays the price. Poor people have to pay $100's of dollars for a seat at a ball game, because the players have to be made obscenely rich off the backs of the less fortunate. Those guys make 10 to 20 time what a brain surgeon make! Movie tickets and pop-corn for a family of four can cost almost $100.00! Because the Stars have to be be made obscenely wealthy off the backs of the poor. Banking executives with multimillion dollar bonuses, for taking your deposits! Wall Street Moguls... Real Estate Tycoons... on and on it goes. The super rich are killing the poor, and then when a disaster strikes, you see them all rally. All the stars come out to do a benefit concert. Oh Isn't that special? Who really benefits? The stars...they get tens of thousands of dollars of free publicity. If they want to help, Then why don't they open their hands up? and actually give away some of their millions? A benefit concert? are you kidding me? I don't support these kinds of people. That's not helping, it's taking further advantage of catastrophic calamities of hurting people! I don't go to any of their benefit concerts, because they benefit the stars, not the people who actually need the stars to show kindness and real generosity. If stars what to actually do something to help in times of crisis, then they should open up their overstuffed purses and packed wallets. Don't tell me about Benefit concerts! The rich get richer even in the midst of the poor getting poorer, because they live and breathe greed. Don't be fooled by their su[perficial acts of kindness performed to be seen of men. I don't support them at all if I can help it. They have way too much, and their lavish lifestyles are obscene, when veteran's who lost limbs for their right to money hording are standing on street corners begging and destitute. I don't pay to go to their movies. I don't go to their ball games. I don't even watch them on TV. They disgust me. They disgust God too. What they hold back, in their greedy clenched fists, could feed hundreds of thousands of children. The people who often do the most, are the ones who have the least. America's system of greedy-enterprise kills millions. You can always tell a worldly man, by how many ways he comes up with to help people, as long as they cost him nothing! (i.e fundraisers!).
3. Term limitations were placed on custodianship, by the 50 year Jubilee cycle (Leviticus 25:13, 28), and by the seventh year sabbath (Exodus. 23:10-11; Lev. 25:1-11), which forbid crops from being planted every seventh year. The land had to rest and the poor had to be given relief from the oppression of the rich. This was to protect the poor from abuses by the rich. It required that redemption privileges be set up, and that property be returned to the poor during the year of Jubilee. All slaves and indentured people were freed. There was always light at the end of the tunnel even for the poorest of the poor. The 50 year Jubilee cycle was designed to protect society from monopoly holdings by a few super-rich individuals. In America this would translate severe limitations to that which we see everywhere in our system. All of the nation's national resources are held in monopoly by large oil companies, mega corporations, and private land owners, super rich billionaires, and other private ownership agencies and banks, who then hold all the rest of us (the poor, the middle class and the under-privileged) hostage. In our American system everyone is held hostage till we all pay the usury prices that the rich demand from us at the pumps, in the grocery stores, and in their big box arenas where they get richer and everyone else gets poorer. They own all the commodities, and we have to pay their prices. That's the American dream? God's system is designed specifically to prevent this form of legalized thievery. It looks nothing like the false American concept of free-enterprise which is based exclusively on greed, which is itself a form of lust and stealing. Sorry if I put a damper on your flag waving rally. But Americanism is hateful at its core, and it never has been Christian. Christ owned nothing and He shared. Americans want to own everything and keep it all. There is no resemblance, not even remotely, between the American ideals and the teachings of the Bible. Jesus was not dressed in Red White and Blue.
I know that I am speaking in a unpopular manner when I show what the Bible actually says. But I am not called to the false ideal of "God and Country", I am called to "God above all". "God above country". Unfortunately in our society we read the Bible in order to justify our own actions, rather than to conform our actions and thinking to what God actually says. This is a grave error and it has led to all the failures in our churches and in our government. The Bible was written to tell us what God thinks about everything that He wants us to know. It was not written as a book for us to go to in order to justify our own humanistic reasoning's, man-made systems, and human inventions. Today the tendency is to go to the Bible to look for "proof that we are right", rather than to see the "proof that we might be wrong". This translates to studying the Bible for "proof-texting" rather than for an honest effort to find out what God really is saying. This is a powerful tool of Satan for the deception of mankind. Satan, always uses the Bible to prove and promote his lies, and his agenda is one of total deception. Sadly we have welcomed him into our churches and into our society with opened arms, because greed, lust, selfishness, money and possessions are the great motivators in the capitalistic countries. Shame on us. We cannot serve God and mammon. And we cannot read God's word with colored glasses, and expect to see as God wants us to see. Free-enterprise is a false system, and it is crippling our world, and it is impoverishing more and more of us to the point where we can no longer even help ourselves. Capitalism is against God and is a completely unrighteous system. No amount of Americanism, God and country, flag waving or voting, can nullify God's word and the divine righteousness which it alone defends and protects. God's system is righteous, because He says so! Not because you approve of it? He does not care what you think. He tells you what you are supposed to think!
You say what does this have to do with looting in a time of crisis or disaster? It has everything to do with it, because you may not be stealing when you loot, if the people whom you are stealing from do not really own what you are taking! The question of ownership has to enter into this discussion. The land holders in the Bible were considered to be mere "tenants on God's earth", and they were required to give large parts of their holdings to the poor, who were also equally entitled to them, not by laws of unlimited private ownership, but by laws of divine righteousness! God gave the rich a huge share, but he also gave the poor all four corners! God robs from the rich to give to the poor. And guess what? That's right. That's perfect. It is a divine system, not a human one. And you cannot improve upon God or His truth. Everything about it is perfect. You can always tell a worldly man, because He thinks that there is something wrong with God's righteousness, if God reaches into His pocket book or piggy bank! He expects God to honor His "do not trespass signs" and his dead bolt locks!
The Bible never supports greed, lust, excess, monopoly, and the general ideas of capitalism, and the so called free-enterprise market economy. In fact those concepts can all be shown to be satanically inspired, evil at their very core, and things which God actually hates. (Read about the great city Babylon the mother of Harlots. She is all about ownership merchandise, lavish lifestyles and pleasure). God values redemption from evil not the promotion of it. So, anyone who starts preaching the American dream, without first checking out God's dream for America, and for all other godly nations, has made a critical mistake. God does not value our system. Instead He demands that we value His! That means on many points if we look at what He actually says in His word, He considers our system, to be completely bogus, corrupt and evil. This is why preachers should never entangle themselves in politics, because the whole system is part of the greater evil satanic system, called the world. The laws of God are not designed to buttress up and support the evil systems of the world and it's corrupt politics. The laws of God are designed to protect men from the world, and from those who would abuse anything and everyone in order to promote their own selfish greed and godless agendas. The Biblical Law protects the poor, the underprivileged, the middle classes, the widows, the children, the orphans, the aged, the sick, the disabled and so forth; and in doing so, it protects society from the super-rich, the elitists, the monopolies, private ownership of God's property, and the unrighteous distribution of wealth to only a few. The Biblical pattern is actually the complete opposite of American Capitalism. It is more closely related to socialism or communism, than to free-enterprise or democracy. Study the Bible and you will not be worshiping the constitution or the founding fathers.
I know that I will be hated and criticized for saying this, but who cares? I will not twist the Bible to suit my own opinions, and neither should you. In fact we all need to examine our modern society and ask ourselves why are we getting into so many more difficult and trying times, and why does it appear so clearly that God is sending disasters like hurricane Sandy upon us? He is obviously judging America, and honest people, God's children, needs to ask why? Then we need to go to the Bible with open hearts and minds and ask what He expects from us, and what must we do as individuals to avert disaster from our shores. America's problems are spiritual first. The problem is that we do not love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. If we did, then we would take seriously everything he says in His word, and not just pick and choose what we want to believe. God's rule should influence our thinking as individuals, as churches, communities, cities, towns and as nations. He should be included in everything, but it starts with the minds, hearts and lives of individuals. That's you and me. So back to the original question. What should we think of looting during times of crisis?
What then should we
think of Looting in
times of crisis or disaster?
To answer this fairly and in terms of what the whole Bible actually says I would like to consider the final text that I show at the beginning of this article.
Hebrews 10:34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
"The spoiling of your goods" is the term in the Bible equivalent to "looting". Some translations read "plundering" or "the plunder of your goods", others say "seizure". One version reads "the confiscation of your own belongings". The ESV says: "when everything you owned was taken away from you". Another version reads simply "You were cheerful even though your possessions were stolen". The idea is the same, no matter which version you read, somebody (a Christian) had all his goods plundered and stolen. He had been looted in some violent action.
Albert Barnes makes this observation in his notes on this verse:
"The plunder of your property. It was not an uncommon thing for the early Christians to be plundered. This was doubtless a part of the “afflictions” to which the apostle refers in this case. The meaning is, that they yielded their property not only without resistance, but with joy. They, in common with all the early Christians, counted it a privilege and honor to suffer in the cause of their Master; see the notes on Phil. 3:10; compare Rom. 5:3. Men may be brought to such a state of mind as to part with their property with joy. It is not usually the case; but religion will enable a man to do it."
The text clearly indicates that there is a correct estimation that all Christians should have toward temporal possessions. Basically we should put no value at all upon them. The things of this world are just borrowed, and if they are taken away, that is of no consequence at all. We are not saying that you should have nothing, and sleep on a stone, as if there were innate virtue in asceticism. We are saying that even if you loose everything you should not place any virtue in having or gaining the whole world.
The Apostles appeared to have had little to nothing when it comes to worldly possessions.
Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. (Notice what Peter did not have any of).
It appears that not having land and money was considered a better option for Christians in the first century, and that is most likely due to two reasons:
...They were victims of persecution and afflictions which often involved seizure of their assets.
...The church in the book of Acts practiced a form of communism.
Acts 4:37 Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
Acts 2:44-45 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
These facts seem to accord perfectly with the actual teachings of Christ the Lord and founder of Christianity.
Matthew 19:21 Jesus 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.
Matthew 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Mark 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
Luke 12:29-34 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. 31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. 32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell 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. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Luke14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Luke 18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
This also accords with the Pauline Epistles where we read such things as:
1Timothy 6:17-19 Charge 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; 18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; 19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Hebrews 11:26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
James also has much to say about this;
James 2:5-6 Hearken, 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? 6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
James 5:1-8 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 3 Your 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. 4 Behold, 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. 5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. 7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
At least as far as Christians are concerned, we should not value our possessions above human life. If a hungry man loots our possessions to feed his children we should "rejoice"! We should ask Him if He needs anything else that we could give. I know that is not the wisdom of the world. The world wants you to beat his head in with a police baton, or fire bullets upon him, but God wants you to rejoice! Why is that? I can think of at least two reasons why.
1). It makes you not love stuff more than you love God or other people.
2). It shows God's mercy and righteousness for the poor and the suffering.
That man would not be stealing your potato chips if all were well with his soul! He is in misery. He is suffering. He hurts! And the whole world wants to punish him as though he were just a common thief? Because our world is not set up after God's perfect pattern, and instead it is based upon a system of greed and godless gain, this man is treated like a thief when actually he is just gleaning the modern day fields to get what should rightfully be his. If the world was following God's order of righteous justice, we would view his act of desperation differently. Men hate God's system, but God's system is actually the only system based on holiness, truth, and mercy. It sounds weird because men love darkness rather than light and our world has been cloaked in deviant systems ever since the fall of man in Eden.
I'm sure that many will read this article and will accuse me of being unpatriotic, anti-American and communistic. But I am none of those things. I am a follower of Christ, and I am called to faithfully present the revealed truths of His word. These truths may not agree with any of us, but they are true just the same. Our world does not operate on God's system. I realize that. But there have been societies and people on this earth, of whom the world was not worthy, who did operate, or who do operate, on God's principles as much as they can. They appear far differently than what we see in America today. The purpose of this article is to open our eyes to God's actual teachings, how we implement them is an entirely different matter... I believe this concerns the mission of the church, and not political action. But that is another story. Suffice it to say that God's system is based on mercy, holiness, righteousness, love, compassion and the fruits of the Holy Spirit. We do not have that system in America, and if God's people will embrace it first, in their own hearts and in their churches, then maybe it will spread to the pagan Babylon world system which is drunk with the blood of martyrs and saints all around us.
I tried to bring this home to myself, and I asked myself, "would I ever break into a store to grab a blanket or food if I lost everything?" "Would I use desperate measures for survival, if my wife or kids were suffering?" and I honestly had to say..."Yes. I would be right out there with the looters, breaking, entering and taking", if my needs were so great that I had no other options. Because when tragedy strikes, the rules have to revert back to God's absolute rules of rightness which say "the poor have every right to glean the corners of the fields, and the rich are the thieves if they try to prevent it." I know that I would risk having my brains beat out or worse, because our system is so far from God's system. Our world and our country are very evil places. But I would also know deep down inside, that God would never call me a thief, or accuse me of breaking any commandment. I might be breaking a law of the land in which I live, but when it comes down to survival, the basic rights of human existence, and God's divine righteousness, I will be considered to have acted righteously and according to the principles of redemption and grace. "The letter kills, but the spirit gives life" (2Corinthians 3:6).
Proverbs 6:30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry.
Looting during times of crisis?
Exodus 20:15 Thou shalt not steal.
Leviticus 19:9-11(a) And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. Ye shall not steal.
Hebrews 10:34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
The recent hurricane Sandy (October 2012), left large parts of New York City, Long Island, and New Jersey in a state of devastation, ruin and chaos. Huge swaths of the area were under water, homes were lost, millions were without power, and many people were plunged in an instant to the point that they lost everything except the shirts on their backs, and the shoes on their feet. It did not take long till the looting began, and wild crowds roamed and combed through the devastation to see what they could salvage, take for themselves and turn to some use. What would you do if you lost everything, and needed a blanket for your child, would you steal one? What would you do if you had no food for you or your family for days on end? Would you go out and steal a bag of potato chips and a bottle of water that was just on the other side of what used to be a door? Or would you let your children starve?
The pat answer that we always hear, and the tendency of our government officials, is to send out the national guard, send out the police, and secure the area to prevent the looters from plundering through the devastation. "Thou shalt not steal" is the basis for such protection of "private property". This is the American way. Free-enterprise means that men have a right to own all of their own stuff, and to capitalize off of those to whom it does not belong. If you own ten gallons of milk, you have the right to sell it for $10.00 a Gallon, if you want! If you can get people to pay for it? There's a sucker born every day. That's what free-enterprise means. It means that what you have, you earned; and what you earned you keep; and what you keep you do not share, but you sell it, so that you can get more! The more you get, the more you sell, and the more sell, the more you have. This conduct is protected by law in the American free-enterprise system, because "Thou shalt not steal" has been interpreted to mean "THOU SHALT PAY". But is this Biblically correct? Is this actually what God intended by the "Thou shalt not steal" commandment?
The tendency is to take the easy way out in this controversy and to try to say that the commandment protects private property and all rights to individual ownership without exception. This argument makes it cut and dry, so that in the case of a father stealing a bag of chips and a bottle of water to feed his hungry children. He is stealing. By law that means we should send out the police to billy club his brains out and take back the chips and water that belong to somebody else. But is that what God intends when he says "Thou shalt not steal? To some people, this law is ironclad, and has no leniency in it all. "Stealing is stealing" they tell us, and it should be punished in order to protect the right of private ownership.
Logically then, if this line of reasoning is correct, we should cut off the hands of anyone who ever stole a paperclip or a pencil, from their place of employment? At the very least we should arrest the offending thief and toss him or her in jail! We should cut off the fingers of anybody who ever put a packet of Sugar of Sweetener in his own pocket, when he was buying a coffee, because technically he did not pay for that extra packet, which he planned to use at some future time. We should punish a family who goes to an eating establishment with two coupons that say "limit one per customer", when they each take a coupon and thus pass off two instead of one. We should punish somebody who says "do you have a piece of paper I can borrow", and then never pays it back.
If "thou shalt not steal" is to be interpreted in the literalistic, cut and dried fashioned; then why do we have "bankruptcy" laws in America that allow citizens and even large corporations to re-neg on paying their legal debts, when they fall into a situation where they simply cannot pay? When you do not pay what you legally owe, it is stealing! Yet, thousands of people file for bankruptcy each years and pay zero! Bankruptcy is even established by law in this country. It is a right. It's all right to steal, as long as you file the proper paperwork! What's up with that? Sometimes its the guy who owns the store full of chips and water, who want the police to bash somebodies brains out if they steal a bag and a bottle...and he is the very one, filing for bankruptcy protection! But he will not protect someone else who has lost everything and just needs to silence the crying of his hungry babies? Obviously this system shows inequity and is faulty. Why is that? if it is based upon such a simple and straightforward commandment?
The reason, is because the intent of our modern laws, do not agree with the intent of the Biblical injunction. "Thou shalt not steal" actually does not mean "Thou must pay". I intend to show you exactly why, this is a gross misunderstanding, and misappropriation of the eighth commandment. In fact this is not a Biblical or Christian doctrine at all. It is simply the ugly head of Americanized anti-socialism, forcing its way into the Bible where it does not belong. It may sound good to state that "Thou shalt not steal" is God's seal of approval on private ownership at all costs, even if it means bashing in the head of a man stealing a bag of chips. (by the way this actually happened, that's why I keep mentioning it.) But is this actually what God expects or intends for the commandment? To answer this, we have to deal with other clear scriptures, which provide the actual Biblical "case law" which cites the various examples of what is stealing and what is not stealing, and what a person has the right to own, and when he has the right to capitalize off of other people. It is not cut and dry, if there are other factors which God intends for us to consider. If you consider only half of God's truth, you have missed the other half, which may actually be the most important half. A half truth thus becomes a whole lie.
1. The Law of Land Ownership (Private Property)
The first bit of Biblical case law which relates to the law of stealing is addressed not to a poor person, who finds himself in dire or desperate straights, due to no fault of his own, but to rich land-owners who are the ones who might be the ones who are guilty of stealing if they do not provide for the poor and desperate. Here what the law says:
Leviticus 19:9-11(a) And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. Ye shall not steal.
God is crystal clear that "land ownership" and "private use" is to occur only in a way that benefits society's poor, indigent,needy and helpless. This is far different than the American system. Which says, if you own it, it's yours, and therefore you have the right to withhold it from the needy and poor without exception. The Biblical idea of ownership is based upon 1Corinthians 10:26 "For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." God is the real property owner. He owns all the natural resources of this planet. The Talmud recognized the sovereign ownership of all land by God, and forbade the idea that people could own it in perpetuity. Man is always seen as "the custodian", but God is "the actual owner" of all things in the correct Biblical view.
Leviticus 25:23-28 "The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. 24 And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land. 25 If thy brother be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of his possession, and if any of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his brother sold. 26 And if the man have none to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem it; 27 Then let him count the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession. 28 But if he be not able to restore it to him, then that which is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.
As a consequences of God's actual ownership, men are always seen in the Bible not as owners, but as borrowers! We borrow God's resources for our own use, and He allows us to do so, provided that we recognize and honor Him as the true owner. In order to thus honor God and recognize His Lordship over the earth, He laid down several restrictions on private ownership that must always be met. The Biblical idea is one of custodianship, not private ownership. Adam was given dominion, and that differs from ownership. It is a Hebrew word for custodianship. You will notice that these things are far different from the Americanized Cart Blanche idea of unlimited private ownership.
1. The custodian of God's resources, whatever they were, (land, gold, silver, natural resources such as oil, gas, crops etc.) was to pay a tithe to God of 10% of all that He received from holding and using God's property. The tithe was the divine tax placed upon man's use of the earth and it's resources.
2. The custodians were to hold and use the resources only in a way which clearly allowed for the poor, needy and indigent to also use and benefit by the resources according to the laws of gleaning, which said that the caretakers of God's fields and vineyards, must leave all the corners for the use of the needy, poor and indigent. If they took what belonged to the poor, and harvested the portion that God commanded them not to take, then they were the ones guilty of stealing! Notice the last statement of this quote:
Leviticus 19:9-11(a) And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. Ye shall not steal.
This idea means that the rich steal from the poor when they don't pay more than everyone else to help support the poor and needy! They cannot have their cake and eat it too. If they have been blessed beyond others through the abundance of resources which they have received from God's hand, then their hands must be opened more than other people to provide for all the necessities and well-being of the unfortunate and indigent. God's system does not exclude rich people from paying far more than others, in fact it demands that they do just this. The 10% tax (tithe) is fair when imposed on all, because the poor pay on less and it is proportionate. But the four corners of every field which the land holder was not permitted to harvest meant that He was in effect taxed far above the poor, and that His wealth, was in fact distributed to the lower classes, despite His protests or disagreements. The Biblical system is not free-enterprise, unlimited wealth and the national resources held in the hands of a few super-rich. The Bible system, is much closer to the Robin Hood ideal, that we must take more from the rich and give it to the poor, because this is the law of divine righteousness. The land belongs to the Lord, and it is supposed to be sanctified to Him for His use. The 20% of the four corners belongs to the poor, not to the rich land-owner who wants to monopolize and capitalize off those not as rich as himself. God's system is perfect, because it is actually righteous and fair! All other man-made systems are favored by the rich because they are unrighteous, and unfair to the poor, and they give the rich man the chance to get more off the backs of people who cannot afford to pay. The rich however, tend to hate God's system, because it requires them to pay far more than any of the greed based systems. No wonder they hate it? "Why should I have to give away my four corners?" I pay the tithe tax like everyone else? But God says, you have more and that's why you should pay more! God's system is "... For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more" (Luke 12:48). God's ways are not man's ways, and God's thoughts are not mans thoughts. That's why you can always tell how worldly a man is by how much he values his money! If he thinks more of it, than he thinks of the poor, he is a thief at heart, because he would keep back the four corners for Himself! "Thou shalt not steal" is directed to Him First...Lev. 19:11a. "Ye (the rich man who takes the corners that really do not belong to him) shall not steal"!
Abuses of God's resources, through false notions of private ownership,
can involve breaking all three of the following commandments:
"Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy". Thus the seventh year sabbath of the land, in which no crops could be planted. The land rests, to prevent excessive accumulation and greed in the land-holders. He must acknowledge that God owns the resources and not him. And he must honor God by allowing the land and its resources to rest so that they are not excessively plundered. You want to keep that money rolling in so you can keep piling it up. But God says no. Honor the sabbath...every seventh year you will zero production...zero income! Why? Because God's system is holy and right. The land rests to show who is the true owner. The land rests to prevent greed. The land rests to prevent the depletion of natural resources and fertility. God's system is best. You can always tell a worldly man, when he cannot go a day without making a dime. How about a whole year? This also slams the greedy employers who will not even honor a weekly day of rest by closing their stores and establishments on the Lord's day. But that's a whole different study, which I will save for later.
"Thou shalt not Steal". When the land-holder does not allow for the corners to be left for the poor, so they can have their fair share of the Lord's resources, and instead He gleans what in reality if not his, because of greed, He is considered as a thief. "Thou shalt not steal" applies to him, as it applies to stealing from the poor through excess, monopoly and greed.
Failure to follow God's provisions for fairness, equity, equality and justice for the poor and underprivileged, always equates to thievery. But the big thieves are the rich people with fat bank accounts, not the poor slob who has to steal a loaf of bread to feed his kids. Somehow, somebody along the line got this basic law of human decency wrong? It's not the paper-clip thieves we need to worry about it is the super-rich, the mega-corporations, the monopolies, who hoard all of earths resources and keep them back from the poor, who are also supposed to have a share. Sorry, but that's what God says. You can always tell a worldly man, by the way he schemes to get more and by the way he builds his barns and bank accounts bigger and bigger!
"Thou shalt not Kill". As in what the the rich would be doing when they withhold what the Lords says should also go to the poor. Rather than bashing in the head of a poor desperate man, who is trying to provide for his children in the only way he possibly can; the rich resources hoarder, even if he is a business man, should actually be considered a murderer, if he withholds from the poor their right to go in and glean his fields! He murders the innocent and the neglected, when he locks up all four corners of his fields and puts up no trespassing signs, in violation of God's commands that tell Him, he does not, cannot and should not own it all! Greedy accumulation of obscene amounts of wealth is a form of murder, because somebody less fortunate always pays the price. Poor people have to pay $100's of dollars for a seat at a ball game, because the players have to be made obscenely rich off the backs of the less fortunate. Those guys make 10 to 20 time what a brain surgeon make! Movie tickets and pop-corn for a family of four can cost almost $100.00! Because the Stars have to be be made obscenely wealthy off the backs of the poor. Banking executives with multimillion dollar bonuses, for taking your deposits! Wall Street Moguls... Real Estate Tycoons... on and on it goes. The super rich are killing the poor, and then when a disaster strikes, you see them all rally. All the stars come out to do a benefit concert. Oh Isn't that special? Who really benefits? The stars...they get tens of thousands of dollars of free publicity. If they want to help, Then why don't they open their hands up? and actually give away some of their millions? A benefit concert? are you kidding me? I don't support these kinds of people. That's not helping, it's taking further advantage of catastrophic calamities of hurting people! I don't go to any of their benefit concerts, because they benefit the stars, not the people who actually need the stars to show kindness and real generosity. If stars what to actually do something to help in times of crisis, then they should open up their overstuffed purses and packed wallets. Don't tell me about Benefit concerts! The rich get richer even in the midst of the poor getting poorer, because they live and breathe greed. Don't be fooled by their su[perficial acts of kindness performed to be seen of men. I don't support them at all if I can help it. They have way too much, and their lavish lifestyles are obscene, when veteran's who lost limbs for their right to money hording are standing on street corners begging and destitute. I don't pay to go to their movies. I don't go to their ball games. I don't even watch them on TV. They disgust me. They disgust God too. What they hold back, in their greedy clenched fists, could feed hundreds of thousands of children. The people who often do the most, are the ones who have the least. America's system of greedy-enterprise kills millions. You can always tell a worldly man, by how many ways he comes up with to help people, as long as they cost him nothing! (i.e fundraisers!).
3. Term limitations were placed on custodianship, by the 50 year Jubilee cycle (Leviticus 25:13, 28), and by the seventh year sabbath (Exodus. 23:10-11; Lev. 25:1-11), which forbid crops from being planted every seventh year. The land had to rest and the poor had to be given relief from the oppression of the rich. This was to protect the poor from abuses by the rich. It required that redemption privileges be set up, and that property be returned to the poor during the year of Jubilee. All slaves and indentured people were freed. There was always light at the end of the tunnel even for the poorest of the poor. The 50 year Jubilee cycle was designed to protect society from monopoly holdings by a few super-rich individuals. In America this would translate severe limitations to that which we see everywhere in our system. All of the nation's national resources are held in monopoly by large oil companies, mega corporations, and private land owners, super rich billionaires, and other private ownership agencies and banks, who then hold all the rest of us (the poor, the middle class and the under-privileged) hostage. In our American system everyone is held hostage till we all pay the usury prices that the rich demand from us at the pumps, in the grocery stores, and in their big box arenas where they get richer and everyone else gets poorer. They own all the commodities, and we have to pay their prices. That's the American dream? God's system is designed specifically to prevent this form of legalized thievery. It looks nothing like the false American concept of free-enterprise which is based exclusively on greed, which is itself a form of lust and stealing. Sorry if I put a damper on your flag waving rally. But Americanism is hateful at its core, and it never has been Christian. Christ owned nothing and He shared. Americans want to own everything and keep it all. There is no resemblance, not even remotely, between the American ideals and the teachings of the Bible. Jesus was not dressed in Red White and Blue.
I know that I am speaking in a unpopular manner when I show what the Bible actually says. But I am not called to the false ideal of "God and Country", I am called to "God above all". "God above country". Unfortunately in our society we read the Bible in order to justify our own actions, rather than to conform our actions and thinking to what God actually says. This is a grave error and it has led to all the failures in our churches and in our government. The Bible was written to tell us what God thinks about everything that He wants us to know. It was not written as a book for us to go to in order to justify our own humanistic reasoning's, man-made systems, and human inventions. Today the tendency is to go to the Bible to look for "proof that we are right", rather than to see the "proof that we might be wrong". This translates to studying the Bible for "proof-texting" rather than for an honest effort to find out what God really is saying. This is a powerful tool of Satan for the deception of mankind. Satan, always uses the Bible to prove and promote his lies, and his agenda is one of total deception. Sadly we have welcomed him into our churches and into our society with opened arms, because greed, lust, selfishness, money and possessions are the great motivators in the capitalistic countries. Shame on us. We cannot serve God and mammon. And we cannot read God's word with colored glasses, and expect to see as God wants us to see. Free-enterprise is a false system, and it is crippling our world, and it is impoverishing more and more of us to the point where we can no longer even help ourselves. Capitalism is against God and is a completely unrighteous system. No amount of Americanism, God and country, flag waving or voting, can nullify God's word and the divine righteousness which it alone defends and protects. God's system is righteous, because He says so! Not because you approve of it? He does not care what you think. He tells you what you are supposed to think!
You say what does this have to do with looting in a time of crisis or disaster? It has everything to do with it, because you may not be stealing when you loot, if the people whom you are stealing from do not really own what you are taking! The question of ownership has to enter into this discussion. The land holders in the Bible were considered to be mere "tenants on God's earth", and they were required to give large parts of their holdings to the poor, who were also equally entitled to them, not by laws of unlimited private ownership, but by laws of divine righteousness! God gave the rich a huge share, but he also gave the poor all four corners! God robs from the rich to give to the poor. And guess what? That's right. That's perfect. It is a divine system, not a human one. And you cannot improve upon God or His truth. Everything about it is perfect. You can always tell a worldly man, because He thinks that there is something wrong with God's righteousness, if God reaches into His pocket book or piggy bank! He expects God to honor His "do not trespass signs" and his dead bolt locks!
The Bible never supports greed, lust, excess, monopoly, and the general ideas of capitalism, and the so called free-enterprise market economy. In fact those concepts can all be shown to be satanically inspired, evil at their very core, and things which God actually hates. (Read about the great city Babylon the mother of Harlots. She is all about ownership merchandise, lavish lifestyles and pleasure). God values redemption from evil not the promotion of it. So, anyone who starts preaching the American dream, without first checking out God's dream for America, and for all other godly nations, has made a critical mistake. God does not value our system. Instead He demands that we value His! That means on many points if we look at what He actually says in His word, He considers our system, to be completely bogus, corrupt and evil. This is why preachers should never entangle themselves in politics, because the whole system is part of the greater evil satanic system, called the world. The laws of God are not designed to buttress up and support the evil systems of the world and it's corrupt politics. The laws of God are designed to protect men from the world, and from those who would abuse anything and everyone in order to promote their own selfish greed and godless agendas. The Biblical Law protects the poor, the underprivileged, the middle classes, the widows, the children, the orphans, the aged, the sick, the disabled and so forth; and in doing so, it protects society from the super-rich, the elitists, the monopolies, private ownership of God's property, and the unrighteous distribution of wealth to only a few. The Biblical pattern is actually the complete opposite of American Capitalism. It is more closely related to socialism or communism, than to free-enterprise or democracy. Study the Bible and you will not be worshiping the constitution or the founding fathers.
I know that I will be hated and criticized for saying this, but who cares? I will not twist the Bible to suit my own opinions, and neither should you. In fact we all need to examine our modern society and ask ourselves why are we getting into so many more difficult and trying times, and why does it appear so clearly that God is sending disasters like hurricane Sandy upon us? He is obviously judging America, and honest people, God's children, needs to ask why? Then we need to go to the Bible with open hearts and minds and ask what He expects from us, and what must we do as individuals to avert disaster from our shores. America's problems are spiritual first. The problem is that we do not love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. If we did, then we would take seriously everything he says in His word, and not just pick and choose what we want to believe. God's rule should influence our thinking as individuals, as churches, communities, cities, towns and as nations. He should be included in everything, but it starts with the minds, hearts and lives of individuals. That's you and me. So back to the original question. What should we think of looting during times of crisis?
What then should we
think of Looting in
times of crisis or disaster?
To answer this fairly and in terms of what the whole Bible actually says I would like to consider the final text that I show at the beginning of this article.
Hebrews 10:34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
"The spoiling of your goods" is the term in the Bible equivalent to "looting". Some translations read "plundering" or "the plunder of your goods", others say "seizure". One version reads "the confiscation of your own belongings". The ESV says: "when everything you owned was taken away from you". Another version reads simply "You were cheerful even though your possessions were stolen". The idea is the same, no matter which version you read, somebody (a Christian) had all his goods plundered and stolen. He had been looted in some violent action.
Albert Barnes makes this observation in his notes on this verse:
"The plunder of your property. It was not an uncommon thing for the early Christians to be plundered. This was doubtless a part of the “afflictions” to which the apostle refers in this case. The meaning is, that they yielded their property not only without resistance, but with joy. They, in common with all the early Christians, counted it a privilege and honor to suffer in the cause of their Master; see the notes on Phil. 3:10; compare Rom. 5:3. Men may be brought to such a state of mind as to part with their property with joy. It is not usually the case; but religion will enable a man to do it."
The text clearly indicates that there is a correct estimation that all Christians should have toward temporal possessions. Basically we should put no value at all upon them. The things of this world are just borrowed, and if they are taken away, that is of no consequence at all. We are not saying that you should have nothing, and sleep on a stone, as if there were innate virtue in asceticism. We are saying that even if you loose everything you should not place any virtue in having or gaining the whole world.
The Apostles appeared to have had little to nothing when it comes to worldly possessions.
Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. (Notice what Peter did not have any of).
It appears that not having land and money was considered a better option for Christians in the first century, and that is most likely due to two reasons:
...They were victims of persecution and afflictions which often involved seizure of their assets.
...The church in the book of Acts practiced a form of communism.
Acts 4:37 Having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.
Acts 2:44-45 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
These facts seem to accord perfectly with the actual teachings of Christ the Lord and founder of Christianity.
Matthew 19:21 Jesus 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.
Matthew 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Mark 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
Luke 12:29-34 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. 31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. 32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell 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. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Luke14:33 So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Luke 18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
This also accords with the Pauline Epistles where we read such things as:
1Timothy 6:17-19 Charge 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; 18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; 19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Hebrews 11:26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
James also has much to say about this;
James 2:5-6 Hearken, 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? 6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
James 5:1-8 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. 3 Your 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. 4 Behold, 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. 5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. 6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. 7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
At least as far as Christians are concerned, we should not value our possessions above human life. If a hungry man loots our possessions to feed his children we should "rejoice"! We should ask Him if He needs anything else that we could give. I know that is not the wisdom of the world. The world wants you to beat his head in with a police baton, or fire bullets upon him, but God wants you to rejoice! Why is that? I can think of at least two reasons why.
1). It makes you not love stuff more than you love God or other people.
2). It shows God's mercy and righteousness for the poor and the suffering.
That man would not be stealing your potato chips if all were well with his soul! He is in misery. He is suffering. He hurts! And the whole world wants to punish him as though he were just a common thief? Because our world is not set up after God's perfect pattern, and instead it is based upon a system of greed and godless gain, this man is treated like a thief when actually he is just gleaning the modern day fields to get what should rightfully be his. If the world was following God's order of righteous justice, we would view his act of desperation differently. Men hate God's system, but God's system is actually the only system based on holiness, truth, and mercy. It sounds weird because men love darkness rather than light and our world has been cloaked in deviant systems ever since the fall of man in Eden.
I'm sure that many will read this article and will accuse me of being unpatriotic, anti-American and communistic. But I am none of those things. I am a follower of Christ, and I am called to faithfully present the revealed truths of His word. These truths may not agree with any of us, but they are true just the same. Our world does not operate on God's system. I realize that. But there have been societies and people on this earth, of whom the world was not worthy, who did operate, or who do operate, on God's principles as much as they can. They appear far differently than what we see in America today. The purpose of this article is to open our eyes to God's actual teachings, how we implement them is an entirely different matter... I believe this concerns the mission of the church, and not political action. But that is another story. Suffice it to say that God's system is based on mercy, holiness, righteousness, love, compassion and the fruits of the Holy Spirit. We do not have that system in America, and if God's people will embrace it first, in their own hearts and in their churches, then maybe it will spread to the pagan Babylon world system which is drunk with the blood of martyrs and saints all around us.
I tried to bring this home to myself, and I asked myself, "would I ever break into a store to grab a blanket or food if I lost everything?" "Would I use desperate measures for survival, if my wife or kids were suffering?" and I honestly had to say..."Yes. I would be right out there with the looters, breaking, entering and taking", if my needs were so great that I had no other options. Because when tragedy strikes, the rules have to revert back to God's absolute rules of rightness which say "the poor have every right to glean the corners of the fields, and the rich are the thieves if they try to prevent it." I know that I would risk having my brains beat out or worse, because our system is so far from God's system. Our world and our country are very evil places. But I would also know deep down inside, that God would never call me a thief, or accuse me of breaking any commandment. I might be breaking a law of the land in which I live, but when it comes down to survival, the basic rights of human existence, and God's divine righteousness, I will be considered to have acted righteously and according to the principles of redemption and grace. "The letter kills, but the spirit gives life" (2Corinthians 3:6).
Proverbs 6:30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry.
© 2012 Rev Earl Jackson www.RevEarlJackson.com
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This article may be reproduced on any website or blog in its entirety without alteration of change, provided that this copyright and a link back to this website is made. Please inform us if you use this article and send us the link to where you have placed it. You may not reproduce this article in any other form, such as hard copy, and it is not permitted to sell it or otherwise use it for money making purposes.