I am certain that my opinion to the question title of this blog entry will not find total agreement. In fact, I recall when we discussed this point at the law firm where I was supplying contract services during the Fall 2008 presidential election, it is fair to say that my view was in the minority. Not only was my opinion not the majority, but those who professed to be Christian there (as well as those who called themselves either atheist or agnostic) disagreed strongly with my point of view. But since the issue is directly or indirectly behind many of today’s current national issues, it is worth repeating here.
           I concluded then (and I still believe) that the Bible would say that man will never come close to eliminating poverty without God. Therefore, today’s American body politic (where God is being blocked out of the Public Square) have never succeeded and will never succeed in its’ “War on Poverty.” Many who believe that the Bible says otherwise will point out to what Jesus said to his disciples as to the Final Judgment at the End of the Age found in Matthew 25:31-46. But in order to place these words in Biblical context (as Jesus himself said that nothing will change in the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:18), let us first analyze what God said to Israel in the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy 15:11, God said to Israel (thru Moses) that:

                      “For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hands
                        to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor in your land.”

            God clearly said to “theocratic” Israel (i.e. a nation under Rule of God) that differences in wealth and income will always exist. But since Israel was at that time a theocracy, God was able to instruct them to take care of the less fortunate thru the Rule of Law, which under a theocracy is the same as the Rule of God. God did say to Israel that it is possible to eliminate poverty from the land, but only if they made a free will decision to follow Him as a nation:

                      “But there will be no poor among you, for the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your
                       God gives you for an inheritance to possess— If only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your
                       God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today.” Deuteronomy 15:4-5

           During Jesus’ public ministry, He did have occasion to teach on the issue of poor. But He also confirmed that the poor will always be present among the people, when He said (to His disciples): “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” John 12:8 But there was a big difference between the Israel of Jesus’ day and the nation that entered the Promise Land after 40 years with Moses in the desert. Israel in Jesus’ day was no longer a theocracy, there was a complete separation of church and state. After all, Jesus did say to the Pharisees (who were the religious leaders of the day: “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Mark 12:17
           It was not the responsibility of the Romans to care for the poor from the taxes collected in the name of Caesar. It was the responsibility of those who felt led to follow the Rule of God that were exhorted by Jesus to care for those less fortunate. In that context, it becomes very clear that Jesus was neither exhorting government (in general) nor government that wants no mention or reference to God in its body politic to be responsible for the poor. Now lets look at Matthew 25:31-46:

                         “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne
                          in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people
                          from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his
                          right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who
                          are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the
                          creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and
                          you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and
                          you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
                          Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty
                          and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing
                          clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King
                          will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine,
                          you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed,
                          into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me
                          nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did
                          not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you
                          did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
                          or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply,
                          ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.
                           Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.’

              As long as there is a government that does not want to acknowledge the presence or commandments of God, and wants to determine how to help the poor without following the Rule of God, poverty will never cease to exist in that land! It is the responsibility of communities of faith to look after the poor. It is their responsibility to teach the poor “How to Fish.” And that cannot be done in a manner that is separate from learning of the Rule and Word of God. So any effort of a secular government to end poverty as we know it is bound to fail.

www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_032509/content/01125109.guest.html is the site for the Rush/Levin interview transcript mentioned in my previous post.

          I have decided to rededicate and reopen this blog. I also changed the name of the blog from “Christian Conservatives of Color” to “The Christian Libertarian.” My desire to flush out my ideas in writing is still based primarily on the desire to leave a legacy of thoughts and ideas to the next generations (in general) and to my sons Andrew and David (in particular). First, let me say that I consider myself more of a student (perhaps a Master Student or RESIDENT ADVISOR college dorm type guru) of the subject matter than a teacher/expert. I’m reading a lot about the subject and I hope to have many references and links to things I have read and would like to share. The first book I intend to share thoughts on is “The Revolution-A Manifesto” by Ron Paul. Another book that I do not yet possess, but hope to soon is “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto” by Mark R. Levin.
          But the most important book that I hope to never stray from in my written thoughts is the HOLY BIBLE. And it was an interview I heard yesterday on the radio that finally led me to sit down and write. For those of you that know me personally, my stating that I enjoy listening to Rush Limbaugh comes as no surprise. Well on March 25th, Rush was interviewing (something he does rarely) Mark Levin about Mark’s new Liberty and Tyranny book. And what struck me about the event was Mark’s use in paraphrase (intentional or not) of Scripture in answering the following:

            "RUSH: All right, the last chapter, the epilogue, is entitled, "A Conservative Manisfesto."  I'm going to ask you what I always get when explaining these things to people, "Okay, what can I do as an average citizen? Beyond vote, what can I do?"

             LEVIN: The first thing you can do, the question I always get is, "What can we do?" The first thing you can do is stop saying "we" and say "I."  What you can say is a hell of a lot.  If you're a grandparent talk to your grandchildren, if you're a parent, talk to your children.  You need to educate them and inform them. The fact that most of your kids and mine go to these government schools doesn't mean you don't have a role in their lives.  You have the most prominent and important role of anybody.  Teach them these principles, understand them. Be confident. Teach them the confidence and you should have the confidence to talk to your neighbors or at a social event or a grocery store.  You have these kids when they go to sleep, when they wake up, when they're eating dinner, when you're taking them to the mall or to a movie or to see a friend.  We are a bigger army of advocates than ACORN can ever be.  We are a bigger army of advocates than any other army out there.  If each of us were to use our intelligence and use our ability to articulate these principles--which I hope I will help promote here--they cannot stop us."    (taken from Rush Limbaugh's web site transcript of his March 25th radio broadcast)

         Mark’s response is very similar to what God said thru Moses to the Israelites as they were about to cross into the Promised Land in Deuteronomy 6:4-9:

               “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

                I’m just trying to follow God’s mandate in Deuteronomy by persevering with this Blog.

“But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. I will go wherever you go and live wherever you live.  Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. I will die where you die and will be buried there.  May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” (Ruth 1:16-17, New Living Translation)  This is one of the first immigration stories found in Scriptures (the first being Abraham) and the first voluntary migration that God did not personally direct (Joseph was an immigrant but it was not voluntary).

 

There was an interesting lecture delivered by Congressman Lamar Smith of Texas that was delivered on July 30, 2007 as part of The Heritage Foundation’s “Heritage Lecture Series”.  While I found that the presentation serves as a good foundation, I wanted to lay out something first.  I believe that the political strategy implemented by President Bush through the national Republican Party has effectively left anti-amnesty Hispanics without an outlet to express their views.  Hispanics who are in favor of protecting our borders and not granting a legal status to illegal aliens have no national outlet to express their views.  I am certainly not implying that Hispanics with this viewpoint are in the majority, but I also know anecdotally that I am not the only one. This is one of many reasons why I felt compelled to start this blog.

 

Now back to Congressman Smith’s presentation.  Many Americans of Hispanic descent who are against porous borders and illegal immigration would agree with one of Smith’s themes that: “Legal immigrants play by the rules, wait their turn, and come in the right way.  Others cut in front of the line, break our laws, and enter illegally.”  Their inability to find a national forum to express their views has resulted in allowing those with an agenda of prejudice a free ride to express their negative views on everything Hispanic. This has increased the “chilling effect” on Hispanics who are anti-amnesty from speaking out.

 

Smith mentions a poll that said: “... [A]lmost half the residents of Mexico said they would move to the U.S. if they could.” I believe that.  I also believe that the Mexican government uses illegal immigration to the US as conscious political plan to maintain the status quo in Mexico.  A status quo where the overwhelming part of Mexico’s wealth is concentrated in a very small upper class and policies that develop a middle class workforce under a capitalist model are discouraged. The US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (of which I was once a member) is or should be aware of this, but will not speak to that issue when they engage in the immigration reform debate.

 

In the interest of full disclosure, let me say that when I was actively engaged in the practice of law in New Jersey, I represented many injured workers who were illegal aliens in workers compensation courts.  My experience was that once they were injured doing their job, their employer should not be allowed to have a “free ride” and workers compensation insurance coverage should be provided.  I was especially aware that many employers knew or should have known that these workers were illegal; and, that these employers actually wanted the illegals because they could pay them less and intimidate them to be silent.  Based on this experience, I agree with the Congressman that: “Illegal immigration will never be brought under control as long as the easy availability of jobs remains such a strong magnet.”  We must make it “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” possible for employers to know when a prospective employee is legally able to work; and, punish with civil and criminal penalties those employers who continue to employ illegals.  Congressman Smith along with Congressman Peter King (R-NY) have introduced the “Secure Borders FIRST Act” that keys in on the employer as a key element of America’s recapturing control over immigration.

 

There are other points of the Smith presentation and its description of the Secure Borders FIRST Act that I find need tweaking, but those points are for another day.

 

By the way, once the Border is secured by electronic and physical fencing, a beefed up enforcement mechanism is in place against employers who hire illegals, and a “Marshall Plan” is put in place to return illegal aliens to their country of origin, the US should streamline legal immigration and increase the number of “legal immigrants” who can enter on an annual basis.  Many legal immigrants are the “Ruths” of today; and the Ruth of yesterday was part of the ancestral line that produced Jesus of Nazareth.

 

 

 

 

October 3, 2007 - I think that prior to commenting on the issues of our time (or the issues of All Times), I'd like to state why I believe doing this blog is important.  After all, there are thousands (if not millions!) of Blogs in the Cyberworld and it would not surprise me if there is at least one out there that closely approximates the themes and topics I hope to dwell on.  And if there is, it also would not surprise me if the Blogger (with a similar theme) is witter and more lucid in their style than I.  So why another Blog on Christian (Faith) and/or Conservatives and/or of Color?
    Basically I am doing this for my sons; my oldest is in college and my youngest is a high school freshman.  I am doing this because I have traveled a long and somewhat unique road in the experience called "Americana." I feel it is important for me to share my life experiences and opinions on current events with them, especially since they may not have access to this thought process from any other source.  While I would like to someday write a book or books on my memoirs, I am enough of a realist to know that it may never happen because of life's responsibilities, among other things.  So at least for now, this Blog will have to do
    I also want to expose them to a side of the Internet that they normally just don't explore. I know they know about My Space and Facebook and ESPN; they know how to find their assignments on the Internet.  But they don't know about Townhall.com and Russ Limbaugh, the Counterterrorism Blog, even the great resources found with Christian apologists/teachers such as Ravi Zacharias, R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur.  And they know about great Christian leaders like James Dobson and Pat Robertson, but their exposure to these great men of God are through their parents, not the schools they go to.  Even less so through the mainsteam news media and outlets such as MTV, CNN and all these "reality" shows.
    It is for this reason that I will try to share my thoughts in this format.  While I not arrogant enough to think that anyone besides my family will care what is said here, if you find that there are tidbits worth chewing and digesting, feel free to do so.  I only ask that if you do decide to comment, you can do it strongly but tastefully.  I promise that anything I write will be something that I would allow my boys to read (by the way, I do sometimes insist on their turning off certain programs on cable and I do monitor their Internet surfing).  Eventually, I hope to have links to sites that I would like my sons to have exposure to; but I imagine there must be some Bloggers and/or Internet Rules of Etiquette, so I'll only do that linkage when I have obtained permission.