I am glad the Poverty gospel was brought into play here ------To be in poverty is not the will of God ---and anyone who thinks it is God"s will is not familiar with His word -----Poverty comes under the Curse ----as seen here ---
Curse – Hebrew: ‘aror – Curse, to remove the influence of God.
Jeremiah 17
5
This is what the Lord says:
“
Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
8 They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”
Interesting read here ----
Editor’s Note: Today we continue our series of excerpts from IFWE’s forthcoming book, For the Least of These: A Biblical Answer to Poverty. Today’s post begins Visiting Scholar David Kotter's examination of the New Testament's teaching on poverty. Can the advance of the gospel reduce poverty...
tifwe.org
Causes of Poverty in the New Testament
One cause of poverty in the New Testament was those who became rich by oppressing the poor (
James 5:1-4) or by hoarding riches in the face of obvious needs (
Luke 12:15-21). In the first century, creating wealth was difficult because the vast majority of the population was employed in subsistence farming. Riches were commonly accumulated through oppressing workers, exploiting slaves, and taxing people heavily.
A second cause of poverty resulted from laziness or moral foolishness such that an individual failed to create wealth through honest work (
2 Thessalonians 3:11;
Ephesians 4:28;
Luke 15:11-24). Church leaders were instructed to admonish the idle (
1 Thessalonians 5:14) and rebuke the lazy (
Titus 1:12-13). The expectation of believers was to “aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one” (
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12).
A third cause involved sudden disasters that destroyed wealth, or calamities—such as droughts—that inhibited farmers from creating wealth (
Luke 15:4-9). Limited technology and
markets made recovery from loss much more difficult in the first century, and this contributed to ongoing poverty. For example, a shepherd could only expect to increase his flock in the birthing season, whereas a modern factory could make up for lost production using three shifts around the clock.
Problems associated with living in a fallen world – such as old age, illness, or loss of family members – constituted a fourth cause of poverty. Blindness or other infirmities prevented many from working to create wealth. Women were frequently widowed and needed to rely on their children or even grandchildren to care for their needs (
1 Timothy 5:3-4).
I say ----my view --------We still today live in a fallen Cursed world where sin reigns and we have free will to make choices in this life -----We humans think we are all that and don"t need God's input into our choices -----we make bad deals and choices which can lead to our financial ruin ---we rack up huge credit card debt cause we want what we want now ------we don't feel like being with our spouse any more so we leave and put stress and strain on the family unit and cut backs financially are the order of the day with no thought of what it does to our children ----so poverty is the result ----people are also products of following their parents footsteps in staying on welfare -----Business don't want to pay well so Greed plays a big part as well as companies not wanting to pay for benefits to full time workers so they only hire mostly part time workers ---- all these factors in my view contribute to people living in poverty ----
This Pandemic I am sure will put many families in the material and physical poverty group at no fault of their own --physical poverty to me is sickness and disease brought on by the great stresses associated with job loss etc -
So there is material and physical poverty for sure ------which is the negative side of poverty -------worldly poverty is not from God nor is it God's will for us -------scripture makes that very clear -----1 John 2:15-16 says don't love the world or anything in it ----James 4:4 says ---anyone who loves or is friends of the world is an enemy of God ---
Then there is the Spiritual Poverty -------this poverty is on the positive side of this word -----when we are Spiritually poor we are close to God ---and God then can work in our lives to bring us to Spiritual richness -----Jesus died and shed His Blood so we could be brought back to bring Spiritual rich -----Jesus became Spiritually Poor so we could be Spiritually rich ----to receive all Spiritually Blessings ----
WE need to understand that Jesus knew that material and physical poverty would always be a part of this fallen world as this world is under a Curse ----but just because this world is still Cursed does not mean that we as individuals have to live under the curse of this world -----Jesus is our way out ----if we so choose to want to change our status we can do that -----we have free will to choose our path in this life -----receiving Jesus is free ---and the blessings that come with receiving this free gift are great -----God's Grace is mighty and powerful and will and can turn a personal bad situation in a good situation ----- material and physical poverty for each individual can be turned around through their receiving and trusting in Christ not this world or man ----
Deuteronomy 15;11 and Matthew 26:11 ---both say ----
11
There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.
11
The poor you will always have with you,[
a] but you will not always have me.
I say --my opinion ----When the New Earth comes in place of this Cursed earth ---there will be no Poverty --no tears ---no sickness or disease and no more death -----only Spiritual Bliss will be present ------peace --joy --happiness and contentment -----until then I hate to say it but the chaos that is happening now in this wicked world will be in place
