Greed, God and the News.

Photo by: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:RMajouji

I read the New York Times, NBC News and CBC news each day. Of course, I don't read every article; that would take hours. I have dual citizenship and therefore I read a lot of politics and how both the U.S. and Canada are being governed.

Let's face it. The news is usually depressing. Wars, refugees and elections don't lift my spirit. But I've noticed lately the news is making me feel kind of ill. My heart starts hurting then my head and stomach. What I see everywhere is greed.

The worst thing I read about the U.S. is the greed of corporations. They move their operations to other countries and don't care at all about the thousands of Americans left without a job. The thing is, they aren't losing money; they just want to make more and more money. They want to take advantage of the people in other nations like China and Mexico. They want to pay wages no one could live on. The people in China who work in those factories are prisoners - not allowed to leave, working long hours. Many of them commit suicide. And most of us have heard of children in India chained to a wall while they are forced to make goods. I have read the people in Mexico are paid $5.64 per hour.

People who used to make a good living working in factories now work lower paying jobs that usually don't have benefits and a lot of people work a few part-time jobs. Companies have found if they only hire part-time staff, they don't have to give benefits.

The pharmaceutical companies are heartless; they care nothing for poor, sick people. One company was charging so much for epipens that the government had to get involved. I don't know if that is fixed or not, but I did find out a person can get that medication and needles for themselves from their doctor and not have to buy the pen. They were so expensive, only rich people could afford them.

Well, I could cite stories all day long about how greed is making a third world country out of the United States. All the wars since 9/11 has ruined their economy - but hey, that was all about money too. Billions made by Halliburton and who knows who else, and Cheney owns refineries there right now. When ISIS took one of his refineries, I said to my husband, "Watch, he will get it back really fast." And yes, I think it took a week. 

I've got to cut down on reading the news. I can't do anything about these evil people and how they harm everyone. I need to let it go and let God deal with it. He has a lot to say about rich people who harm the poor.

"Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. 

Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 

Your gold and silver are corroded. 

Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. 

You have hoarded wealth in the last days. 

Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields 

are crying out against you. 

The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 

You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. 

You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.

You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you."

What does God say to the innocent?

Patience in Suffering

"Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. 

See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, 

patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. 

You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 

Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. 

The Judge is standing at the door!

Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, 

take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 

As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. 

You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. 

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy."

James 5:1-11

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”   Mark 10:23

"Therefore because you impose heavy rent on the poor and exact a tribute of grain from them, Though you have built houses of well-hewn stone, Yet you will not live in them; You have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine. For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great, You who distress the righteous and accept bribes And turn aside the poor in the gate."   Amos 5:11,12

"The Lord is a God who avenges.

O God who avenges, shine forth.

Rise up, Judge of the earth;

pay back to the proud what they deserve.

How long, Lord, will the wicked,

how long will the wicked be jubilant?

They pour out arrogant words;

all the evildoers are full of boasting.

They crush your people, Lord;

they oppress your inheritance.

They slay the widow and the foreigner;

they murder the fatherless.

They say, “The Lord does not see;

the God of Jacob takes no notice.”

Psalm 94:1-7

The Wrath of God? Why?

Who am I?

Have you ever wondered about the wrath of God?  What makes God angry?

Well, first we will look at the wrath of me, Belle.

I was reading Huffington Post last night and read an article about Pharmaceutical companies that made me so angry I could understand God's anger at sin.

The article began with Martin Shkreli, and how he has been arrested for conning wealthy investors. He was CEO of a drug company; they never said which one, which seems fishy to me. Here are just a few examples from the article.

"Shkreli took over a company with the rights to a 62-year-old drug used to treattoxoplasmosis, a devastating parasitic infection that can cause brain damage in babies and people with AIDS. He then promptly raised its price from $13.50 to $750 a pill.

Last month, Shkreli got control of a company with rights to a cheap drug used for decades to treat Chagas' disease in Latin America. His aim was to get the drug approved in the United States and charge tens of thousands of dollars for a course of treatment.

And the prices of new drugs are sky-high. Pfizer's new one to treat advanced breast cancer costs $9,850 a month.

... Big Pharma has wielded its political influence to avoid cost controls, to ban Medicare from using its bargaining clout to negotiate lower prices, and to allow drug companies to pay the makers of generic drugs to delay their cheaper versions."

You can read this article at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/of-rotten-apples-and-rott_b_8861526.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

When I finished reading, I was full of anger and pictured Jesus turning over the money tables of these corporations.

In Canada, the government tries to keep drug costs down, but guess what happened recently? My husband got an infection. He already has carcinoid syndrome, a rare form of cancer, so the doctors wanted to treat him with this special antibiotic. Well, there was none available. None available? I didn't understand that.

Then my mother needed another vial of Vitamin B12 because she has pernicious anemia. She said they didn't have any at her drug store. I was surprised, so I called around and yes, there was a shortage. I finally found a store that had two vials left so I got there as soon as possible and bought one.

When I got home, I was curious; why was there a shortage of drugs in this first-world country? I went online and found out the drug companies were slowing production. They wanted longer patent times and more money. They didn't care if people died, became sicker, had pain - nothing. All they cared about was money. Money, so they could buy a bigger house, a fancier car and go on vacations to Europe. Money, so they could buy the finest clothes, the best food and pay the nanny. Money, so their kids could go to the best schools, have the latest in technological gadgets and drive their own cars.

Remember Enron?  I heard a tape of two executives of that company laughing about Grannies in California who wouldn't be able to pay their electric bills. I wish Jesus had marched into Enron offices with a whip of cords.

These people had better enjoy their evil money now, because people who do these things for money will not be going to heaven. They wouldn't enjoy it there anyway because there is no money there. Everyone is equal there; there is love all around and through every being in heaven. Life there is selfless instead of selfish.

Who is God?

Well, he is someone who hates this kind of sin more than I do. His wrath is against sin why? Because sin always hurts people. Always. God does not want us to hurt people. Ever. We can't be that good though without God in us, so if you want to be a better person you have to ask God to come into your life and give you a new heart.

And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

“But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.

“ ‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’ ”  Zechariah 7:8-14

The wrath of God is him leaving us to our own devices and reaping the cost.

So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired.  Romans 1:24

But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars.  
Acts 7:42

“But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.  Psalm 81:12

Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the LORD now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture? Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.  Hosea 4:17

God doesn't want to let people go, but he must accept people's decision not to follow him. He works hard and for years on people's hearts, but there comes a day when there is no use in it and he turns away in sadness. 

"But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgement will be revealed. God "will repay each person according to what they have done."  Romans 2:6

God won't punish people by keeping them alive forever in a place called "Hell." No, each person will be punished according to what they have done in this life. Jesus said, "And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn't prepared and doesn't carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly."  
Luke 12:48

After punishment is an unconscious death lasting forever. They will be as if they had never been. "The LORD watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy."  Psalm 145:20

This gives God no pleasure, it is something he must do to preserve the universe; to make the universe finally free from sin and evil.  

"For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”  Ezekiel 18:32