I don’t think I’ve ever quoted a bible verse on this blog before, but I came across these passages today, having spent much of it reading about unjust decisions, people deprived of even the most meagre subsistence for months and even years for no sane reason. In the context of the things I’ve had to read, and to write about, lately they seem so apposite, so utterly appropriate, so evocative of melancholy, of weary grief and justified anger, that whatever your faith or if you have none at all, I think you’ll see their rightness. The first is from the book of Isaiah, chapter 10:
Woe to those who enact evil statutes, and to those who continually record unjust decisions, so as to deprive the needy of justice, and rob the poor of their rights… Now what will you do in the day of punishment, and in the devastation which will come from afar?
The second from the book of Job, chapter 22:
Is not your wickedness great?
Are not your sins endless?
You stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.
You gave no water to the weary
and you withheld food from the hungry,
though you were a powerful man, owning land—
an honored man, living on it.
And you sent widows away empty-handed
and broke the strength of the fatherless.
Could anything fit the triumvirate of obscenity with which we’re currently burdened better than these words? I’m tired, very tired – but I’m more angry than I am tired. A lot more.
Shame on them.
Another brilliant, apt and totally justified piece of writing (OK I know it’s from the bible – but you had to find it!!). The more you read about what this government is doing, the more you despair. Let’s pray that it’s not too late to reverse some of their madness after the next election.
Whoever wrote ‘Job’ wrote the book on persecution. It’s almost as if the author had special insight into events centuries on, in a far-flung land. Their words couldn’t be more relevant to our own, modern day Job (Centre Plus), 2013.
Reblogged this on HUMAN RIGHTS & POLITICAL JOURNAL and commented:
N
A none believer but excellent post anyway.
But IDS is a believer, and I think most of us would be incredulous at the numbers of Tories who go to church every Sunday – the hypocrites. These people have no conscience or empathy, and certainly they are not Christian.
I could add that their understanding of Christianity begins and ends with:
″The rich man in his castle
The poor man at his gate
He made them High and lowly
He ordered their estate″
OK, according to Wikipedia, this verse is nowadays ommittted, (though I couldn’t possibly comment, not having been to church for very many years, apart from the odd funeral/marriage)
FOR THE IMMEDIATE ATTENTION OF SIBRYDIONMAWR
You should read the Bible passage about the rich man “who fared sumptuously” while the disabled beggar at his gates covered in sores was ignored. Luke 16:19-31.
That passage is a snapshot of the present polarised world of the haves and have-nots. Selfish rich people – many of whom mechanically attend church in this world – but who will find themselves in Hell in the next world due to their Godless indifference to the poor and the sick banished outside of their own gated estates!
I feel tired too steve after three years. Don’t give up. You are more needed than you think. My father spent 4yrs in POW camp so i think myself lucky that I sit at a Computer
I’m an atheist but you’re right about these verses. They sum the government up perfectly.Another two years of this devastation of lives before we can send them packing. I fear for my autistic grandson who will be 16 this year and leaves school next summer.
Never give up!
(copied from a post by Tom Nuckles)
Lamentations 3:21-26 form part of the lyrics to a familiar hymn, “The Steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness.” ….
“The danger of hymns like this is that they become all too familiar and with that familiarity, we can lose the meaning of the words. We must remember the context out of which the words were written. We need to remember that it is taken from the book of Lamentations. The “weeping prophet” Jeremiah, is lamenting over the destruction of the city of God, Jerusalem. As he writes he is stepping over the dead. Those who remain are either too old to fight in their struggle against the mighty Nebuchadnezzar and his armies, or they are being chained to one another to be led captive back to Babylon.
This is a song of lament. Yes, there is joy for the prophet in the midst of his sorrow. He is saddened over the plight of the people of God, but the hope comes “in the morning” because of Jeremiah’s knowledge of the God he serves. He is the God who has proven time and time again to be trustworthy, and therefore, can be trusted even in one’s present crisis.
Of all the Hebrew words, Jeremiah uses a word that characterizes an important aspect of the nature of God. That word is chesed. In our English Bibles it is translated by many words, including, steadfast love, faithfulness, mercy, goodness, loving-kindness, and devotion. This is one of the most important terms in biblical theology. It speaks not only something of God’s nature, but that His nature is based upon his gracious acts.
During the lamentable times in Jeremiah’s life and ours, why are we able to be hopeful? How can we wait silently for the Lord’s salvation? We are able to do so precisely through our knowledge of the One who has always been faithful to us in the past. Recalling His past unfailing love and compassion will be a present help, no matter how dire our circumstance might appear. Now we can sing…
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end!”
Author: Tom Nuckels
Yes, shame on them!
When I read about the ‘scroungers’, I am reminded of..
“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.”
When I read bout the ‘The Big Society’…
—Ephesians 6:5-6.
• Luke 3:11 – “He replied to them, ‘The one who has two shirts must share with someone who has none, and the one who has food must do the same.’”
• James 2:5 – “Listen, my dear brothers: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that He has promised to those who love Him?” While Recognizing the Persistence of the Problem, God Works Through His People Through the Discipline of Regular Gleaning to Provide for Those in Need.
The Tory mantra is, “if we can look after ourselves we must do so and the resources of the state should be sought as the last resort.”
As a business woman and a volunteer worker I fully appreciate and understand this, but many people in our society do try to better themselves via study and/or work, but they can still be worse off than those on benefits due to variety of reasons; couples are often better off living apart!
The welfare rights people are struggling to get their heads around all the reforms and benefit changes, so I am not even going to try but what I have seen so far does not support the people who really want, and, can help themselves.
The system does not work and is abused, but it is often the wrong people who get caught by the benefit sanction regime and the WCA rules – if you can press a button you CAN work!
I would welcome a simpler and fairer welfare system, that is also robust, compassionate, transparent, proportionate and comprehendible to ordinary people.
Who wouldn’t? If only that was what they were working on 🙁
We will have make sure they do. 🙂
Good always prevails! Unfortunately, the political process is like turning a huge oil tanker – VERY SLOW!.
I sent the same Bible passage from Isaiah 10 to the BBC in December 1997 – the early days of “New Labour”.
New Labour was lurching further to the right on Welfare reforms even then!
The BBC did not broadcast my comments!
Did you also know The Bible is against using workers without wages? Look up Jeremiah chapter 22, verse 13.
Another apt quote is from Proverbs 14:31 “he that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker
I did!
Appropriate verse for this rotten government!
Just a thought!
I can identify breaches within the Civil Service Code of Practice.
http://resources.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/civil-service-code-2010.pdf
Staff can use this code If a civil servant is asked to do something which conflicts with the values in the Code, or is aware that another civil servant is acting in conflict with the values.own department.
http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/CS%20Code%20-%20Guide%20for%20departments.pdf
Certainly there is a need to cut down on spending, but whose fault was it in the first place that the Welfare State was completely out of control. It is fair to say that the system was open to abuse and that something needed to be done a long time ago! Thus it is the job of the government to take responsibility for their own failings by introducing adjustments in a well-thought-out, humane way. The wrong way to go about this – having created a culture of dependency – would be to suddenly drive out the dependents. The process should be more gradual, more humane, and dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
This might sound simplistic but take the example of a pet owner: Those of you who own pets would know better than to turn them to the streets if they were to start taking advantage of you – you should have known better than to spoil them in the first place! As a pet owner, you would have had the choice not to adopt a pet, and let them survive on their own – but having done so, it would be simply irresponsible and cruel to drive them out if they overstepped the mark. They simply couldn’t survive, and would be entirely the fault of the owner who created such a dependency. It would have been kinder not to have adopted them and left them to fend for themselves/ find some other source of provision/ from the outset. Similarly, the way to deal with those who are taking advantage of the welfare system would be to educate them on their ‘entitlements’ and to stop spoiling them! A lot of money could be saved that way. But first you would need to wean them off the dependency, however much it costs. Money isn’t everything. But to drive them out without any means of survival would be totally irresponsible and cruel. Even the RSPCA wouldn’t tolerate it!
I’ve posted your quote and some of these to the conservative party pages on Facebook. They didn’t half get peeved. “Religion has NOTHING to do with politics” they said. But didn’t ban me for the page.
Proverbs 22:22-23 Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them.
Proverbs 31:8-9 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”
Psalm 109
7. When he shall be judged, let him be condemned:and let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office
16. Because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man,that he might even slay the broken in heart.
🙂 Well done – let me know the page address as it might be fun to go and look!
Did this a few weeks ago, not sure if I can find the page now
RE: the points on slavery that were mentioned. I’d like to add that The ‘slaves’ of the Old Testament were actually well-looked after by their masters. There are clear guidelines on how masters ought to treat their servants (‘slaves’). The govt’s plan for the ‘Big Society’ seems to be causing a complete break down of a stable infrastructure. Also this thing about privatizing large institutions and outsourcing jobs can have the effect of reducing vast numbers of employees to destitution and slavery of the oppressive kind that is even banned by law! I think I’ve mentioned this before – and it might sound ridiculous to some – but I recently found out that one of the goals of modern-day satanism is in fact to create a homogeneous society of elites, by wiping out the ‘weak’ or turning them into slaves of a kind (powerless people). Modern day ‘witches’ include regular church-goers who call themselves ‘Christian witches’ – yes they do exist, and can be found in ‘high offices’ including the government and the media. I aslo found out that modern day witches typically rely on ‘behavioural psychology’ (among other tactics, not that behavioural psychology is in itself ‘wrong’) to deceive, oppress and manipulate the masses, driving them to despair. It appears that there are people in this government who are more ‘spiritual’ than they’d like us to think, including those who claim to be ‘traditional’ Christians. They’re not working in the national interest, but solely towards fulfilling their own bizarre agenda, all in the name of ‘austerity’. We can’t know for certain what’s earth is going on, but nothing else seems to make sense of the way they’re going about their strange business!
FAO “Muppet”
Your comments on modern day witches are interesting.
It is not new. Witchcraft is thoroughly condemned in The Bible, eg, “Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you”?
Other Biblical passages that condemn the practice are: 1 Samuel 15:23, 2 Kings 9:22, 2 Chronicles 33:6, Micah 5:12, Nahum 3:4, Galatians 5:20
It is also interesting to recognise the meaning of the word “occult”. It means “hidden” – which of course is what the practitioners of the dark arts – ancient and modern alike – want!
If only more people could awake to the hidden works of darkness used by the ruling elites of this world to deceive the benighted masses. Now that would be an eye-opener!
Thanks! I wasn’t aware about the existence of modern-day witches (nor am I in the business of witch hunting!) until I actually encountered one recently – shockingly -it turned out to be someone you’d least expect to be dabbling in the occult. Then again I’m not surprised. It appears there are several of them, united in these ‘dark’ practices. Many of them are leading ‘lights’ within their industries, offering ‘creative’ advice to the behavioral experiments dept! It’s ‘hidden’ from public scrutiny. The unit itself was spun out of Whitehall as soon as the DWP scandal hit the fan (just b4 the recent elections) – but that doesn’t mean they no longer exist – they’re probably just ‘hiding’ in the private sector, spinning lies to be unleashed on the ‘benighted masses’.
From what I recall, DC set up his so-called ‘libetarian paternalistic’ government not based on traditional Tory principles (hence the internal divisions) but on the principles of ‘Behavioral Economics’ based on Thaler’s Nudge theory- a system which can be used for ‘good’ and ‘evil’ in equal measure – depending on who’s hands it’s in. I read in a Guardian article that DC hosted a dinner for freemasons and also claims to be a Christian – which might indicate that he is in fact ‘spiritual’!
Certainly his agenda seems to be about creating a ‘new world order’ – by destroying the old infrastructures. I know very little about the ‘satanic order’ apart from what I’ve read recently, and it’s not something I like to dwell on. I’m not even sure about the extent to which we need to start worrying about these dabblers – how much of it is ‘spiritual’ or just down to pure ‘nastiness’. At the same time, based on the widespread horrors that are unfolding day by day, I think it’s important that these ‘dark deeds’ be dragged into the light so we can see it for what it is.
Here’s another one- Mene Mene Tekel Peres. From Daniel. Your days are numbered-you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting- your kingdom is divided…..
“Woe to you, Oh Earth and Sea, for the Devil sends the
tory beast with wrath, because he knows the time between elections is short…
Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the
beast that is IDS for it is a human number, its number is twenty fifteen”
Stolen and warped from Iron Maiden; The number of the beast.
FAO Jonathan Wilson
Your frivolous take on the number of the beast from Revelation 13:18 prompts my reply.
It is, nonetheless, seriously interesting to note that the “frivolous” nickname for the IT software behind the (Amber/Red) Universal Credit computer project is, yes, you’ve guessed, “the Beast”!
By the way, the IDS beast might well be removed long before 2015!
IDS should start reading the bible & take heed
Proverbs 28:27
27 Whoever gives to the poor will not want,
but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.
It’s often been said Jesus was a socialist
#I read your blog detailing that the stopping of benefit is counter productive.It reminded me of the Spanish Inquisition where you were punished often with death, not because you didn’t believe in god but didn’t believe in the official way. They killed thousands of people. This government is giving them a run for their money. Benefits stopped because you don’t look for work in the prescribed way.
Bastards