Attitudes Toward The :Poor, Increase In the Number of the Poor, and
the Tribulation of Matthew 24: 29-30
the Tribulation of Matthew 24: 29-30
Bernard Pyron
Matthew 24: 21, 29-30 say “For then shall be great tribulation, such
as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever
shall be.......Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall
the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the
stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken:”
In the tribulation there will be a heightened or more intense form of
the “controversy of Zion” of Isaiah 24: 8. The controversey of Zion
includes the conflict between that Israel who are the children of the
flesh in Romans 9: 8, and the children of the promose who are the
seed, and a spiritual battle between the ministation of death and the
ministration of the Spirit in II Corinthians 3: 7-8, as well as the
conflict between the Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her
children and the Jerusalem which is above, is free ad is the mother of
us all of Galatians 4: 25-26. Paul writes in Galatians 4: 29 that
“But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was
born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
We would expect that in the tribulation there will be suffering, and
to a great extent the source of this suffering is man made. Some of
this suffering will come from the elites as they try to dominate and
control the people.
Revelation 11: 18 says “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is
come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that
thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the
saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest
destroy them which destroy the earth.”
Destroy is from Strong’s number 1311, diaphtheiro, “...to ruin,
corrupt, destroy, perish.”
The environment - the physical world - is ruined and corrputed by
harmful chemicals, and in other ways. Toxins are in our food, air an
water, so that more and more people have cancer or other degenerative
diseases and die young. Chemicals in the water and food dumb people
down, so they are more easily controlled.
Economic recessions and eventually a great economic depression will be
a major couse of suffering. The number of poor people will increase a
great deal, as well as he numbder who are homeless who suffer more.
Wars and violence caused by divisions in society will be the source of
much more suffering.
The movements to abolish our Christian and individual freedom based
dominance by a Marxist-leftist opposition will cause divisions in
society, which also lead to suffering.
Christians will be persecuted by non-Christians, following prophecy
such as in John 16: 2, “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea,
the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth
God service.”
Luke 21: 16 says: "And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and
brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they
cause to be put to death."
"And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates,
and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or
what ye shall say:" Luke 12: 11
And Matthew 24: 9 also mentions martyrdom of Christians. "Then shall
they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall
be hated of all nations for my name's sake."
In addition, some of those claiming to be Christians who follow false
doctrines may cause Christians who hold to the Gospel of Christ to be
persecuted and some put to death.
I want to focus on the probable increase in the numbers of the poor
and of the homeless in the U.S.because of a very possible coming Great
Depression. Scripture defends the poor and their rights.
"Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the
wicked." Psalm 82: 3-4
“Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write
grievousness which they have prescribed; 2. To turn aside the
needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my
people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the
fatherless!” Isaiah 10: 1-2
The federal government and the society began first to deprive the poor
of their rights because the poor are generally more powerless and less
likely to resist than those with some money and position in society.
“The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked
devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy
speaketh right.” Isaiah 32: 7
See: http://stateofworkingamerica.o
“Since 1973’s historical low of 11.1 percent poverty in the United
States, poverty rates generally rise during recessions and drop during
recoveries. The recovery following the 2001 recession, however, saw
poverty increase and then further explode during the Great Recession.”
“The official poverty rate is widely accepted as being inadequate in
capturing those whose earnings make it difficult to make ends meet. To
account for this, many cite the “twice poverty” rate, which is double
the threshold ($44,628 in 2010 for a family of four) and provides a
more accurate measurement of material deprivation. In 2010, the twice
poverty rate was 33.9 percent.”
“The further below the official poverty line you fall, the more
vulnerable you are. Nearly half (44.3 percent) of the poor are in deep
poverty (living on half or less of the official poverty line; this
deep-poverty threshold stood at $11,057 in 2010 for a family of
four).”
http://www.npr.org/sections/it
“The most recent official count from the Census Bureau put the number
of Americans in poverty at 45.3 million as of 2013 (the most recent
year for which the census has measured poverty). That's not quite 5.5
million more people in poverty than there were in 2008, just before
Obama took office. So there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 6
million more people in poverty now than there were before Obama took
office.”
https://www.homeaidatlanta.org
“83 percent of the cities surveyed reported an increase in
homelessness over the past year. On average, cities reported a 12
percent increase in homelessness in 2008.”
If another and worse economic recession begins in 2016 or 2017, the
number of poor people will increase a great deal - and soon after the
number of homeless will also increase.
In addition to the suffering of the poor from not having money to buy
food and shelter, etc, the non-poor may be prejudiced toward them.
Some research on attitudes toward the poor in America say that many
people believe lack of effort and negative personality characteristics
are the causes of poverty, rather than circumstances of a depression..
I have remembered a lost and forgotten publication of mine in the
seventies on attitudes of the non-poor toward the poor. What I
remembered was that a social psychologist in the University of
Wisconsin Psychology Department wrote about or mentioned to me
something I had written on this topic. I also remembered that a guy
who worked in the Social Science Library at Wisconsin showed me a book
in the seventies with a reference to my supposed publication on
attitudes toward the poor.
I found that supposed "forgotten and lost publication" on the Internet.
It was not a publication, but a research proposal to the
U.S. Dept. of Labor, for a grant to support a research project. The
proposal was dated December 6, 1968, Madison, Wisconsin, The
University of Wisconsin, Urban and Regional Planning Dept..
Although my research design was not funded, the
proposal is quoted on pages 82-83 of Chapter 3,
"The Culture of Poverty. What Does it Matter?" by Hylan
Lewis, in the book, The Poor:. A Culture of Poverty, or a
Poverty of Culture' J. Alan Winter, editor. (Grand Rapids,
Mich., William B. Eerdmans, Publisher, 1971.)
I have no idea how Hylan Lewis, a sociologist, got hold of a research
proposal of mine sent to the Department of Labor in 1968. .
My proposal was on the topic of attitudes of the non-poor toward the
poor, and probably was generally within the subject area of the
culture of poverty, which goes back to the work of Oscar Lewis, who
emphasized the poor having high divorce rates, with mothers and
children abandoned; and families headed by women, and that those in
this culture of poverty do not participate in community life or join
political parties; and make little use of banks, hospitals etc. I
could not find an online version of the 1971 book The Poor: A Culture
of Poverty Or A :Poverty of Culture. My proposal was for a lab type
study of attitudes of the non-poor to the poor, but I don;t remember
what it involved.
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