The Ministry and the Poor
THE degeneracy of professed Christianity in these last days is made conspicuously manifest in the truckling of the ministry to the rich. A special characteristic of the last days is the oppression of the poor by the rich, and the word of God plainly points out the terrible retribution that is to follow. Yet those who point to these things, and in warning voice show how they are being literally fulfilled, and the imminence of the dire consequences which the inspired word predicts, are charged by the ministry with stirring up strife between the classes and the masses. Some even go so far as to tell us that the oppressions so prominent on every hand are purely financial issues, to which the word of God has no reference. It seems strange that pointing out the prevailing sins against which God has especially given warning should be characterized as a heinous offence by the very class who are commissioned to sound the warning. Of course it is more agreeable to preach the "smooth things" which people generally prefer (Isa. 30: 8-14), but there is a doom upon the "watchman" who fails to sound the alarm when danger approaches (Eze. 33: 6).