Why the world hates the poor (2): Reminder of their emptiness which comes from not seeking God

Another reason the world hates the poor is that the poor remind them of their emptiness without God. Many people today are working so hard just to pay off their debts, in order to enjoy earthly luxury or comfort. The manner of spirit in which they act is in the spirit of anxiety to obtain their so-called "basic" earthly needs. If a person loses his job today, his family is most likely to be a high risk of facing a foreclosure, which leads to homelessness. Such is the spirit of the modern world.

It is true that on one hand, anxiety comes from pride in the heart. However, the role of the devil and the spirit of mammon, who is  a real demon play cannot be neglected. They actively seek to tempt all people every day into anxiety for earthly things. You may argue that sin does not come from evil spirits, but the heart. This is true. However, there are evil spirits that do seek to tempt and enslave people to sin. 

1 Corinthians 10:20 explains that food sacrifices to idols are really sacrificed to demonic spirits, not the physical object which the idolaters used to worship: "But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils". It is crucial to understand that the idolaters are not really worshiping the physical object they bow down to, as so many people think. 

No! They are really worshiping real demons, which have names and a specific sin or sins that each uses to enslave people and hold them captive to their sins. Different cultures have had a false god or goddess for things that the world seeks for - security (mammon), sex (aphodrite, venus) and war, in order to seek security (ares, mars). Many archaeologists and ancient historians are puzzled are how these false gods and goddesses worshiped by different cultures are so similar. 

Why are they so similar? There is a the same evil demonic spirit behind it that lures people with their beloved sins into deceiving them, blinding them in their love of iniquity, leading them to Hell.

God created each and every single human for his own pleasure (Genesis 1:27; Job 27:10). When Job asked "Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?", he was implying that the wicked will not delight himself in the Almighty because they seek not after God but delight themselves in pursuing the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and pride of life (1 John 2:16).  The wicked come to an end  as Job 27:12-23 explains:

Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain? This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty. If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep. Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay; He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver. He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh. The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not.  Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night. The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place. For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: he would fain flee out of his hand. Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

You may still argue that not everyone is 'wicked' like this person who is described in Job 27:12-23. It is just too easy to dismiss the descriptions of the wicked in the Bible to refer to ourselves because people by nature tend to be self-righteous. The important to note that the Bible does not tell us in this passage what were his actions, whether he was a murderer or adulterer. Rather, it is silent on this. However, we can know what the Bible means by wicked.

Like the rich fool in Luke 12:16-21 who sought to accumulate wealth who was not described explicitly as wicked, all things that the man in Job 27:12-23 pursues are all vanity because he was not rich towards God.  To not seek after God itself is wicked. That is what wickedness means.  Jesus told the Parable of the Rich Fool in response to a person who told Him to ask his brother to give him his "fair share" of "his" inheritance:

And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me.  And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.  

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 

So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Jesus was warning about covetousness and said that a person's life is in found in the material earthly things that one possesses at all (Luke 12:15). Rather, it is found by being rich towards God (Luke 12:21). The rich fool in Luke 12:16-21 was not described as an immoral, unethical person who lives a sexually immoral life and who murdered people. Neither was he described as an man who neglected his family, or who cared not for his family. 

It is dangerous thing to assume that a wicked person as described in the Bible must be sexually immoral or a a murderer. It is extremely dangerous, bordering on being heretical, because this is to read into the Bible one's own (fleshly and humanistic) definition of wicked. It distorts a proper Biblical understanding on evil and what is means to truly serve and love God, as opposed to serving mammon. This understanding is crucial because Matthew 6:24 specifically warns that no one can serve both God and mammon. A person will love one and hate the other. It is that simply. Yet, so many in the true body of Christ, in finding it hard to accept. They try to allegorise it or contextual it by imposing a context on it, so as to argue that it does not apply today, or that it does apply to only certain people, ultimately to do away with that verse that no one can serve both God and mammon. They hate that verse because that part of their flesh has not fully submitted to God on this issue.

As such, for those who them who really deep down find it hard to accept, but want to seen as "good" people who could never mishandle the Bible, downplay this verse by saying that mammon is a 'minor issue' as one modern evangelical tries to tell me. I will not for any moment be deceived into thinking it is a "minor issue". 

The Bible throughout commands people to be content, free of covetousness and earthliness, not to be anxious and trust in the Lord. This itself is teaching about mammon. Modern evangelicals like the one who tries to dismiss mammon as a "minor issue" so as to avoid the issue, out of fear and discomfort with discussion of the issue as it seems, need to read the Bible more carefully and ask for more wisdom and discernment. 

Why is it that people seek after earthly things, even with all the stress, anxiety, anger, frustration and upset it causes them? They seek after these things to feed their lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and pride of life.  You may still argue that not every unbeliever is materialistic, but some are 'spiritual' in that they acknowledge it is not all about earthly needs, but doing good to others. Indeed, this is true, but it is not the issue. The issue is that none can truly find peace and contentment unless one is in Christ. 

A person can be poor but have true peace and contentment because he is in Christ. God designed and created us as humans created in His image to have delight in Him (Genesis 1:27; Job 27:10). He did not create us as humans to enjoy earthly things and live for these things. Just as a television will not function properly if not used for its proper purpose, not submitting to God's will will lead to emptiness. 

The poor in this world does not have access to their "basic" earthly needs. They do not have any material security. Do not be fooled by the worldly definition of 'poor' which means to have lower than a certain income per year per household. or some other human-made measure. Poor, in the Biblical, and therefore true sense, means to have no material earthly security. If the world pities the poor, it is only because of its pride of life, thinking it is so rich, abundant and strong. There is no other reason for the world pitying the poor. 

The poor in the Biblical sense of the term do not need pity any more than a "rich" or "average" person needs. All need the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and be rich towards God, not toward the world. The world looks at the poor and hates it because it remind them of how empty they are without God who they all know to exist and are Created to serve intuitively. All of us know we are to put God first (Romans 2:15) and that it is wrong to not seek after God. All of us actually know it is wrong to seek mammon. Emptiness comes from not seeking after or serving God who we all know Created us to serve Him.

People turn away from God and serve create their idols (Romans 1:23), which come in all forms, and manifest through different pursuits, which may not even be wicked things in themselves such as providing and caring for one's family, and doing community work. The poor are evidence to the world that one is not Created to live for earthly things, and their existence is an indictment of the world which seeks to serve mammon. 

The poor, by the way they live and by God's care for them (Psalm 140:12), indict the world of its evil in serving mammon, by seeking the lusts of the flesh and pride of life. This explains why the world regards the poor to have "deserved" their "poverty" (which is a relative concept). They are blinded into thinking they "deserve" their  earned income on the grounds that they puts the effort, because of their own pride and lust of the flesh. As a result, they think that because they "deserve" their "wealth", those who are not as wealth, "deserve" their "poverty" or their lower income.  All the accumulation of earthly wealth, and thereby rejection of God, leads only to emptiness. The poor remind the unsaved of their emptiness which comes from not seeking after God who they hate. Therefore, the world hates the poor. 

Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished (Proverbs 17:5).