REFUTATIONS OF VERSES SUBMITTED IN SUPPORT OF POVERTY

CITED IN "TIME" MAGAZINE ARTICLE

"DOES GOD WANT YOU TO BE RICH?"

Those who see poverty rather than prosperity as God's desire for Christians have misunderstood the Biblical verses they quoted to support their position.

Psalm 49:16-20 is not against people who have become rich and honored for their riches but against those who have become rich and honored without the understanding of the purpose of their wealth and their honors (See HomePage). Thus, the concluding line: "A man who is in honor, yet does not understand is like the beast that perish." We have to understand that God has a purpose for wealth in the hands of His people!  (See Home Page).

Matthew 6:19-21 is also misunderstood. The people that Jesus condemns are those who hoard wealth and make their wealth the idol of their hearts and souls, which is idolatry. It is another thing for one to possess wealth, through Godly means or by inheritance, and use that wealth to lay up for oneself treasures in heaven by supporting Jesus' work to bring to all the nations the gospel of the Reign/Kingdom of God on Earth and to help the poor.

Quoting Mark 10:24-26 without Jesus' concluding statement is misleading. At the end of Jesus' conversation with his disciples about riches and the rich, Jesus concluded, saying, "But with God, all things are possible." It is not the possession of wealth, per se, for it is God's gift (Deut. 8:17-18), but not using it for God's purpose that God condemns.

Luke 12:33 is another version of Matthew 6:19-21. The command to sell one's possession to give to the poor (see also Matthew 19:21) was addressed to the dying generation of rich Jews in Jerusalem whose possessions, according to Luke 16:19, ". . . they were about to lose anyway," no doubt, in reference to the judgment that came in A.D. 70 (Josephus, War of the Jews).

Finally, James 5:1-3 was addressed to Jesus' and James' generation - that terminal generation of Jews who were facing final judgment to mark the end of God's especial relation with the nation Israel. Unless they have had repented and entered the kingdom of God, through faith in the resurrected Jesus as their Sovereign and only Savior, before the ourpouring of God's wrath, there was no escape for them. Their gold and silver (corrupted as idols) would become the very reasons for mobs to ravage them, and their corrosion (due to hoarding) would become the witness against them for their rejection of Jesus.

The wrath of God, with the Roman army as His instrument, was poured out on the Jews, on their temple, and on Jerusalem in 70 A.D. to put an end to temple worship and animal sacrifice for the Jews and for humanity forever.

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By: Dr. Isabelo S. Alcordo, Ph.D. (Founder: "Lay Advocacy for Christian Unity, Inc.")

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