“And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:17.
This is the mission of the Remnant people of Bible prophecy. The coming of the Lord is our only hope, and we have an opportunity to “hasten” this event (2 Peter 3:12). Only when Jesus returns can sin and human suffering finally end. Unfortunately, many Adventists have a hard time understanding this priority. We have an official church statement on “global poverty” that sounds like we are the church of the United Nations’ instead of the church of the living God:
“Seventh-day Adventists believe that actions to reduce poverty and its attendant injustices are an important part of Christian social responsibility … Working to reduce poverty and hunger means more than showing sympathy for the poor. It means advocating for public policy that offers justice and fairness to the poor, for their empowerment and human rights.”
“Seventh-day Adventists join the global community in supporting the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals for reducing poverty by at least 50 percent by 2015. In furtherance of this, Seventh-day Adventists partner with civil society, governments and others, working together locally and globally to participate in God’s work of establishing enduring justice in a broken world.” [1]
Whenever we start promoting the United Nations’ sustainability goals on poverty this is when we begin looking to political/material solutions for poverty instead of biblical ones. First of all, the UN believes that the existence of poverty is due to capitalism [2], nationalism, closed borders [3], climate change [4] and wealth inequality [5].
According to the UN, the struggle for human suffering, hunger and poverty has nothing to do with sin or moral corruption. They tell us that our problems are social and the solution to ending poverty is through socialism, open borders, climate legislation and by redistributing the world’s wealth.
The United Nations doesn’t blame poverty on corrupt dictators, tyranny, social dysfunction or the bankrupt ideologies of socialism. No, instead they are more concerned with America than they are with the failed policies of nations like Venezuela as the cause for poverty and hunger. Western politicians, the United Nations and liberal Christians seem to speak out for poor oppressed people ONLY as they immigrate out of their countries, but where are the denunciations and condemnations against those dictators who steal the wealth and who make those nations uninhabitable?
Seventh-day Adventists have begun linking the work of religious liberty with fighting global poverty. Former ADRA president Jonathan Duffy recently said that religious liberty and poverty are basically the same issue:
“If our goal is to address religious freedom violations, the place to start is addressing poverty,” Duffy stated. He pointed out that poverty is frequently a precursor to religious persecution as the majority turn on minorities as scapegoats during times of extreme social and economic stress.” [6]
Our official statement global poverty is meant to address the plight of the poor, but it never considers the primary causes of poverty. Poverty is not only a material problem. It is spiritual, and its primary cause is sin. Christ reveals that poverty comes as a result of sinful behavior – either by the people, those in leadership or both.
In Luke 15:11–32 Jesus tells us that the prodigal son lost all of his inheritance because of his sinful life. In Matthew 24:45-51 Jesus informs us that poverty is the result of laziness, gluttony and drunkenness. Again, in Matthew 25:24-26 Jesus reveals that poverty also comes because some people just don’t like to work.
Then we have this revelation made by Christ:
“For ye have the poor always with you.” Matthew 26:11.
Jesus was simply expressing a basic truth. People sin, sin will make you poor and therefore you will always have the poor. This is why Jesus gave the following important advice to those seeking material support:
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33.
The cause of poverty is sin and the solution is found in Christ. Trying to balance the scales of prosperity through forced wealth redistribution, laws reducing CO2, open borders or eliminating capitalism will never end poverty. These “progressive” solutions ignore the gospel and underestimate the power of sin. God sent His Son to save us from sin and the church of Christ has been commanded to preach this gospel to all the world (Matthew 24:14).
We help the world when the gospel of Christ is accepted into the hearts and minds of people. The gospel will transform us spiritually and make us responsible, hard-working and productive. This biblical approach is in direct opposition to the “progressive” approach.
If we truly want to see the end of human suffering we would do all we could to hasten the coming of the Lord. When Jesus returns human misery will finally come to an end. But until Christ comes back again we must preach the gospel and do the work of evangelism. We can do no better than to help people discover that a relationship with God that includes obedience to His commandments is the only source of wisdom, prosperity and happiness:
“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” Deuteronomy 4:5, 6.
“That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee.” Deuteronomy 6:2, 3.
“The giving of the gospel to the world is the work that God has committed to those who bear His name. For earth’s sin and misery the gospel is the only antidote. To make known to all mankind the message of the grace of God is the first work of those who know its healing power” (Ministry of Healing, 141).
Sources
[1] https://www.adventist.org/en/information/official-statements/statements/article/go/-/global-poverty/
[2] https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/oct/15/un-climate-report-merely-a-blueprint-for-destroyin/
[3] https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/stateless-people.html
[4] https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/06/1041261
[5] https://thinkprogress.org/u-s-developed-world-income-wealth-inequality-un-report-788b1300e4be/
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