Occupy?
I’ve been looking for a good topic to post over the last few months. There are a lot of things going on in the world of late, but none of it has been enough to inspire a new post. But with the Thanksgiving holiday coming up I got to thinking about the many “occupy” movements in various cities around the country.
One of the significant news points about these movements is that they don’t seem to have a focused purpose or intent (Proverbs 29:18). But after looking more closely I realized that the people involved in these protests actually do have one thing in common, jealousy. The spirit behind this protest is the same one that prompted Ahab to conspire with his wife Jezebel, bringing false accusations against Naboth for refusing to sell a possession that was rightly his, and having him murdered (1Kings 21) .
These “occupiers” call themselves “the 99 percent,” and they demand the ruin of “the 1 percent,” whom they falsely accuse of bringing ruin upon them. They focus on a very small minority of rich people who amassed wealth by cheating, and put that same label against the majority who obtained their wealth rightly through hard work and inheritance. And the worst thing about it is they even have the support of alleged pastors and church members who claim to be Christian.
Do not follow or agree with them my friends. The Bible is very clear about the wrong in these uprisings:
You should recognize the above as one of the ten commandments God gave to the Israelites under Moses, which are the basic foundation for order and morality for many nations around the world including the United States. The “occupy” movement is not about civil rights, it is about jealousy, greed, and lawlessness. Perhaps a much better word to describe this movement would be “trespass,” which the Bible uses synonymous with sin (Romans 5:12-21).
As Christians we are not called to “occupy”. We don’t belong to this world (Colossians 2:20), which is on its way out (1Corinthians 7:31). We are only visitors in a foreign land (1Peter 2:11). Our home is an eternal kingdom (Matthew 6:33) ruled by the King of Kings (Revelations 19:16), which is the only place we should want to “occupy”.
James :)
One of the significant news points about these movements is that they don’t seem to have a focused purpose or intent (Proverbs 29:18). But after looking more closely I realized that the people involved in these protests actually do have one thing in common, jealousy. The spirit behind this protest is the same one that prompted Ahab to conspire with his wife Jezebel, bringing false accusations against Naboth for refusing to sell a possession that was rightly his, and having him murdered (1Kings 21) .
These “occupiers” call themselves “the 99 percent,” and they demand the ruin of “the 1 percent,” whom they falsely accuse of bringing ruin upon them. They focus on a very small minority of rich people who amassed wealth by cheating, and put that same label against the majority who obtained their wealth rightly through hard work and inheritance. And the worst thing about it is they even have the support of alleged pastors and church members who claim to be Christian.
Do not follow or agree with them my friends. The Bible is very clear about the wrong in these uprisings:
Exodus 20:17 - “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (NIV)
You should recognize the above as one of the ten commandments God gave to the Israelites under Moses, which are the basic foundation for order and morality for many nations around the world including the United States. The “occupy” movement is not about civil rights, it is about jealousy, greed, and lawlessness. Perhaps a much better word to describe this movement would be “trespass,” which the Bible uses synonymous with sin (Romans 5:12-21).
As Christians we are not called to “occupy”. We don’t belong to this world (Colossians 2:20), which is on its way out (1Corinthians 7:31). We are only visitors in a foreign land (1Peter 2:11). Our home is an eternal kingdom (Matthew 6:33) ruled by the King of Kings (Revelations 19:16), which is the only place we should want to “occupy”.
James :)
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