By Thomas Williamson
3131 S. Archer Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60608
"Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD
will deliver him in time of trouble." -Psalm 41:1.
"He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath
mercy on the poor, happy is he." - Proverbs 14:21.
"Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same
which I also was forward to do." Galatians 2:10.
"Give to every man that asketh of thee . . . love ye your
enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again."
- Luke 6:30, 35.
We all understand the importance of helping the poor, a subject
which is given great prominence in the Word of God. How shall
we carry out a ministry of material assistance to the poor, on
a practical basis?
Are we required, by the words of Christ in Luke 6:30, to give
to everyone who asks us for money, without assessing the worthiness
of those making the request? Do we have to give money to winos
and junkies, knowing that they will make a beeline to the nearest
liquor store or drug dealer with the money we give them?
The teaching from Christ and from the Bible in general, on giving
to the poor and to those who ask us for assistance, should be
considered in context with all that the New Testament teaches
on that subject.
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians that "Neither did we eat
any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labor and travail
night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you.
. . . even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that
if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that
there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at
all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and
exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work,
and eat their own bread." (2 Thessalonians 3:8-12.
In the context, it is clear that Paul is talking about disorderly
and lazy people who were members of the church in Thessalonica,
saying that they should be disciplined out of the church membership
(2 Thessalonians 3:6).
If we are not under obligation to provide basic necessities like
food to even members of our own churches, if they refuse to work,
then certainly this would apply to non-members and non-Christians
who choose not to work and who apply to us for assistance.
Therefore, I propose that all financial assistance by churches
and individual Christians, on behalf of the poor, be structured
in such a manner as to avoid giving assistance to those are able
to work for a living and refuse to do so. I propose that we avoid
charitable assistance that creates laziness and dependency on
the part of the poor, and that we not lobby in favor of wasteful,
socialistic government programs that create such dependency and
encourage laziness.
We need not feel guilty about assessing and evaluating the worthiness
of those who request financial assistance from us. The Apostle
Paul encourages such efforts to distinguish between worthy and
unworthy recipients of assistance in 1 Timothy 5:9-13 : "Let
not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old,
having been the wife of one man, Well reported of for good works:
if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers,
if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the
afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work. But
the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton
against Christ, they will marry; Having damnation, because they
have cast off their first faith. And withal they learn to be idle,
wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers
also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not."
Paul was talking here about whether or not to give charitable
support to widows who were members in good standing of the churches.
It is surprising but true that Paul counseled caution and discretion
even in helping our own church members. Based on this principle,
it would seem that we are allowed to evaluate the claims on our
pocketbook made by the hordes of winos, junkies, grifters and
itinerant con-men who are constantly trying to sponge off the
resources of gullible religious people. And I believe we are allowed
to "Just Say No" to them.
The fact of the matter is that our financial resources, as individual
Christians and as congregations, are finite and limited. We do
not have enough money to hand out to everyone and support them
in idleness. We have to be discerning as to who is worthy and
who really needs the money.
For the most part, those who receive our charitable assistance
will be fellow Christians: "As we have therefore opportunity,
let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the
household of faith." (Galatians 6:10).
The Apostle John also taught that we should not give our money
to just anyone. In 3 John 5-6 he encouraged giving to financial
needy traveling evangelists: "Beloved, thou doest faithfully
whatsoever thou doest to the brethren, and to strangers; Which
have borne witness of thy charity before the church: whom if thou
bring forward on their journey after a godly sort, thou shalt
do well."
However, in 2 John 10-11, he warned the churches not to financially
assist itinerant preachers who were propagating false doctrine:
"If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine,
receive not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he
that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds."
I believe it is a New Testament principle that we are not under
obligation to give money to everyone who demands it from us. Those
who refuse to work or who propagate false doctrine should not
be helped financially, however poor they may be.
The New Testament gives ample guidance on who should be helped.
Those who have given themselves to the full-time ministry of God's
Word should be liberally supported, 1 Corinthians 9:1-14.The ideal
is that they not have to work full-time for a living, as Paul
did in a pioneer church planting situation. In those days there
were very few established churches with the financial means to
support missionaries, but that is certainly not the case today.
Widows and orphans should be assisted: "Pure religion and
undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless
and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted
from the world." (James 1:27). The death of the breadwinner
in the family creates an urgent need that should be relieved in
a liberal manner. Women who have been abandoned by their husbands,
leaving them with no income and no support, are also a worthy
subject for assistance.
Christians who are victims of persecution should be the objects
of our charity. Hebrews 10:34 refers to Jewish Christians whose
property was confiscated, whether by government fines or by the
action of rioting mobs, because of their Christian testimony.
We should come to the aid of those who have suffered for their
faith.
Victims of natural disasters should be assisted financially.
Acts 11:28-29 tells us of a collection for famine victims: "And
there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the
Spirit that there should be a great dearth through all the world:
which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples,
every man according to his ability, determined to send relief
unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea."
Many Christian organizations helped provide relief for the victims
of the massive tidal wave in SE Asia in December, 2004. The BMA
Department of Missions has organized fund-raising to help victims
of such disasters as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Lebanese civilian
victims of the Israeli bombing campaign in 2006. These and other
disasters, caused by war, earthquakes, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes
and other causes, can have a devastating effect on people who
have worked hard all their lives and suddenly find themselves
with nothing.
These types of needy persons are the ones to whom we should direct
our charitable giving and assistance. Of course, if the charitable
assistance is continued for too long, leading to dependence and
laziness on the part of the recipients, then at some point the
assistance may have to be cut off.
My suggestion is that we as Christians focus our efforts on these
deserving classifications of people who are entitled to our assistance,
and make sure that all of them are taken care of first, before
we start handing out ready cash to all the winos, junkies and
welfare cheats of the world.
Poverty in America - How Bad Is It?
Just how bad is poverty in America? Are there really millions
of Americans who go to bed hungry every night? Should we feel
guilty about that, and should we be lobbying our federal and state
governments to raise taxes in order to expand our welfare programs
and feed the poor?
It should be noted that most government funds spent on welfare
do not go directly to the poor. Most of the money goes into the
pockets of well-paid bureaucrats, social workers and contractors
who make a good living off the poor, and who live a comfortable
life in the suburbs while administering the poverty programs.To
advocate the expansion of such programs may seem pious and compassionate,
but to the extent that some of the poverty money actually filters
down to the poor, it may only encourage laziness and attract more
people to become "poor" so they can take advantage of
all the government generosity.
From my perspective, I do not see a lot of poverty or genuine
need in America. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:8, "And
having food and raiment let us be therewith content." By
that standard, I question whether there are many genuinely poor
people in America. In some cases, people are needy because they
refuse to work or they spend all their money on booze, drugs,
gambling, lottery tickets and pornography.
Over the years, I have had plenty of opportunity to observe poverty
and low-income people in Chicago, close-up. I live in inner-city
Chicago and have been at the same location for 25 years. My zip
code, 60608, is a lower-income area full of people who live under
the poverty line, some of them in public housing projects. The
population of the zip code where I live is 13% white and 87% non-white.
I used to work in real estate sales and management (I still have
my real estate broker's license) and as a housing inspector, so
I have been in the homes of many poor people.I also served as
a landlord to poor people, renting out apartments to them in buildings
that I owned. I have lived in the same house with poor people,
and had friends and girlfriends from poor families.
In all my years living in Chicago, I do not feel that I have
seen a lot of genuine poverty. The "poor" people I have
observed over the years usually seemed to have enough money for
whatever luxuries they wanted, including delivered pizza, televisions,
stereos and extensive collections of popular musical recordings,
stylish clothing, entertainment, whatever.
I have rented to tenants who did not have enough money to pay
the rent, but they did have money for plenty of booze, tobacco,
cable TV, musical CDs, cars, college tuitions, and recreation
of whatever type they preferred. Their apartments always seemed
to be heated to a stiflingly hot level in the winter, in spite
of their alleged poverty.
I remember one lady who was my tenant, who told me she was so
glad that she had divorced her husband and quit her job, thus
making herself eligible for welfare. She told me the government
was taking care of everything for her and the kids, and she showed
me her welfare card entitling her family to free medical care.
They lacked for nothing, and my apartment is still furnished in
part with furniture that this lady on welfare did not want any
more and gave to me. She and her children became more and more
irresponsible in their idleness, and I eventually had to throw
them out.
Then there were the tenants who constantly tried to borrow money
from me, pleading that they had no food in the house. They were
never short on beer and cigarettes, however. I finally had them
forcibly evicted, and then had to spend hours just emptying out
the half-full containers of beer, pop and fruit juice that they
had left piled up in the apartment. There was plenty of spoiled
and wasted food, some of it spilled all over the floor. I threw
out an extensive collection of movie cassettes and hard-core pornographic
posters - they had plenty of money to pay for those, but not to
pay the rent.
I have been inside thousands of houses and apartments in inner-city
Chicago and suburbs, and based on what I have seen, I am not deeply
concerned about any shortage of food and raiment for these people,
who live in an incredibly wasteful manner and leave behind vast
amounts of useful and valuable stuff when they move out or are
thrown out. There are of course some genuine hardship cases that
need our assistance, but many of the "poor" are not
really all that poor.
Another thing we do not need in the inner city is the well-meaning
suburban motorists and tourists who hand out cash to the winos
who beg for money at the major intersections. The winos take the
money they collect directly to the nearest liquor store, and then
loiter and hang out in residential areas, drinking, partying,
yelling and cursing loudly, smashing beer bottles, relieving themselves
in public, obstructing traffic and breaking into garages. They
camp out on the front steps of residents' homes and businesses,
and refuse to move when asked. Their activities are extremely
destructive to the inner city, but they are funded by pious religious
people who think they are somehow doing the Lord a service.
I believe that those who give money to the winos and junkies
may be under the curse of Habakkuk 2:15, "Woe unto him that
giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and
makest him drunken also" and that they will have to answer
to the Lord for it some day. The winos and junkies refuse to work
for a living, and we have already seen from the Word of God that
we have no responsibility to provide for those who refuse to work.
I would invite all Christians who give money to the winos and
junkies to stop and ask, "Have we as Christians taken care
of all the deserving widows and orphans, poverty-stricken Christian
workers, victims of persecution and of natural disasters?"
before giving any money to the winos which will certainly use
it to buy liquor and to destroy the struggling inner-city neighborhoods
where the winos hang out.
I don't believe we are helping to turn the winos to Christ by
giving them the money they need to pay for their addiction to
substances that destroy their minds and souls. If the truth should
be made known, we would know that most winos and beggars have
nothing but contempt for Christianity and the weak-minded Christians
who give them money.
I remember sitting on a park bench in St. Augustine, Florida
watching a procession of priests at an ordination service at the
historic Roman Catholic church. A man and a woman, who were plotting
how to get a handout of cash from the priests, plopped down on
the bench beside me. I heard the man say, "They have to give
us the money - that's what those [expletive deleted] are for."
I hope those Roman Catholic priests were smarter than some evangelical
Christians who think they are helping deserving people and somehow
advancing the cause of Christ by giving money to people who absolutely
will not be spiritually helped in any way by our misguided charity.
The best poverty-fighting program in America is available to
all able-bodied poor people, and it is called "hard work."
Let us be charitable to those who cannot work or who have suffered
disaster through no fault of their own, but let us not give hand-outs
to those who choose not to work. Their laziness is nothing other
than a form of ungodliness and disorderliness (2 Thessalonians
3) which should not be subsidized or encouraged in any way by
Christians.
I hope I have not come across in this article as having a harsh
or uncaring attitude toward the poor. I once was poor myself.
I worked my way out of poverty through hard physical labor, working
57 hours a week over a period of years, in a factory that was
very cold in winter and very hot in summer. I have had many advantages
in life that others have not had, and I realize that not everyone
can work their way out of poverty as easily as I did, especially
in Third World countries.
Since the Bible clearly teaches and commands generosity to the
poor, I will continue to try to help the poor with my donations
to recognized charitable organizations. But I will not knowingly
give to able-bodied lazy people who refuse to work, or to depraved
persons who spend whatever is given them at the nearest emporium
of sin.