2/3/2012

By now if you have read Part 1 & Part 2, you may be thinking…..where the heck is this guy going with all this?

Well, even though there is still much more to talk about here on all different levels, i guess the simplest way to put it is this:  From now on i will be looking at Homelessness or what we will call Lifelessness (without God)  from Jehovah God and His Son Jesus’s views.  Hmmmm, yeah i know…..geez that doesn’t make ya feel any better either ….right?  Well, here…. i am not going to just go by one or two scriptures in the Bible for example….like the one where God states to “Give Freely” to the poor.   HE also states HE wants HIS people to be responsible to HIM and to be good “workers”, to “obey” HIM, to “Glorify” HIM.  HE also wants people to be extremely accountable for their actions and also their lack of action.   So i will be looking at and explaining our new outlook on helping the Homeless/Lifeless (without God) with all this in mind.

We must Lead.  Lead in the way God instructs us to do in the Bible.  He gives great detail and it is not found in simply one or two scriptures, but rather in studying and learning on what God wants us to build within all of us and how we do that.  It is about sacrifice, humility, patience, doing away with fleshly (worldly) thoughts and desires and concentrating on doing what HE wants.  Glorify HIM.  If we do that HE promises He will do the rest.  And you know what?  I believe HIM.  Yes, i believe in Jehovah God and also in His sent Son, Jesus Christ, but even more so….i Believe both of them.

What they Both want is for us to bring their Sheep and also their Lost Sheep back to them Both.  They want us to Lead them back.

What this does not mean is funneling those in need through the Chronic Assistance Cycle of the nonprofit world, where those in need end up getting trapped in the very system which is supposed to be helping them.  I say funneling, because that is what happens.   Sure, getting ID’s, food stamps, Medicare, housing, clothing, food, and more is all important.  However, there is much much more to it than simply that.  Once they are funneled through so everyone can get their “numbers” satisfied…then what?

If we are to make an Impact, we must spend extensive time with those in need to get to know them.  I mean, really get to know them.  Their desires, needs, like, dislikes and hates and irritants, triggers and much much more.  Sure, some may simply need food stamps or some simple aid for utilities, however most of those in need, need much more…many times much more than they even realize.  That…that is our job as nonprofits to realize.

It is time to take another look at our nonprofit assistance world and make changes.  A lot of changes.  Funneling those in need through the system is not the answer, not the complete answer.  Ten Year Plans are showing their “fruits”, they simply are too grandiose and seem to serve only one purpose and that is to glorify the Mayor of what ever city implements it.  Ten Year Plans are not the answer and waste a lot of time and monies on frivolous, non-productive committees.

As i have stated previously,  God stated “there will always be poor in the land.”  So, trying to end it is simply a fantasy.  You can however, end it for those who want it ended.  However, in the end, it is a fantasy to think we can end even chronic homelessness.

Again, as i stated previously, most of us organizations who assist the needy, the poor, the underprivileged, are at some level Spiritual and state or make reference to the fact we are of God, or Jesus.

With that in mind, it is time to take a good hard look in the mirror, admit to ourselves what is happening to those in need, study once again or harder the Old Testament and New Testaments together and apply not just the 10 Commandments of Jehovah God, but rather the hundreds of HIS Commandments, yes hundreds probably almost 1000.

To God, homelessness in itself is not a problem. Think of the Old Testament and how HE moved His people from here to there constantly, from “camp to camp.”   Sound familiar in today’s world?  Of course it does as our homeless friends set up camps all over the place.  In God’s wooded areas and plain and simple on HIS ground. He created the trees they sleep under and the ground they sleep on.  To God, that is a compliment.   HE takes care of all of us, no matter where we are, no matter what.   It is up to us if we choose to take His help and do something with it.  It is up to us as nonprofit, spiritual organizations to lead HIS Sheep back to Him and Jesus.  Even the ones who do not know them yet or have anger towards them.  It is up to us to assist the homeless friends in need and all those poor and underprivileged in the manner of which God would like to see it done.

Instead of focusing on throwing literally tons and tons of food, clothing, housing, etc…. we need to focus on God and what HE wants.

The following photo is from an article about navy Seals in Afghanistan ands was taken in 2002,  yes.. 2002!  Notice each little thing about how this Afghan is living.  Look familiar?  Could YOU do it?  Do our poor and our homeless do it?   Absolutely!  God, focus on God.  Even Jesus says to.

Soooo, For example:

Matthew 6:26 - Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

In reference to Jesus, He himself stated in Luke 9:58 - And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”  

So is homelessness such an urgent situation as we all try to make it out to be, to Jesus and His Father?  I doubt it!  The nonprofit world has made homelessness huge in order to serve an improper, self-serving agenda.

Wages: As much as i would love to earn a wage at this nonprofit stuff i do, i never have.  IF i did, it would be very reasonable.  There are people in nonprofits, many making in excess of $100,000.00 – over $350,000.00.  Not only does that go against the United States IRS code but it goes again God’s code, God’s Command:

As to Wages:  As Jesus was speaking to His Apostles and “sending them forth” - Matthew 10:5-10 - 5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,  6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’  8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.  9 Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts,  10 no bag for your journey, nor two tunics nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. 

Tents??  Joshua 22:8 - he said to them, “Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.”

2 Chronicles 20:25 - When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their spoil, they found among them, in great numbers, goods, clothing, and precious things, which they took for themselves until they could carry no more. They were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much.

As to Life itself, Clothing and Food  - Matthew 6:25 - Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

As to those to focus on – Matthew 10:11-16 - And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart.  12 As you enter the house, greet it.  13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.  14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.  15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.  16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

The ones who turn from you are the ones God Himself will take care of and someday have someone else try.  Unlike you and i, God never sleeps, HE is always on the watch, always available to those who seek Him and to those He seeks.   Psalms 121:1-8

1 I shall raise my eyes to the mountains.
From where will my help come?

2 My help is from Jehovah,
The Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He cannot possibly allow your foot to totter.
The One guarding you cannot possibly be drowsy.

4 Look! He will not be drowsy nor go to sleep,
He that is guarding Israel.

5 Jehovah is guarding you.
Jehovah is your shade on your right hand.

6 By day the sun itself will not strike you,
Nor the moon by night.

7 Jehovah himself will guard you against all calamity.
He will guard your soul.

8 Jehovah himself will guard your going out and your coming in
From now on and to time indefinite.

These are simply but a few examples of God’s instruction.  I could go on an on and i will in other posts.     You may also go to my  http://jesusisms.wordpress.com/  blog to see more.

And a little something to close this series with:

Psalms 146: 3-10

3 Do not put YOUR trust in nobles,
Nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs.

4 His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground;
In that day his thoughts do perish.

5 Happy is the one who has the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in Jehovah his God,

6 The Maker of heaven and earth,
Of the sea, and of all that is in them,
The One keeping trueness to time indefinite,

7 The One executing judgment for the defrauded ones,
The One giving bread to the hungry ones.
Jehovah is releasing those who are bound.

8 Jehovah is opening [the eyes of] the blind ones;
Jehovah is raising up the ones bowed down;
Jehovah is loving the righteous ones.

9 Jehovah is guarding the alien residents;
The fatherless boy and the widow he relieves,
But the way of the wicked ones he makes crooked.

10 Jehovah will be king to time indefinite,
Your God, O Zion, for generation after generation.
Praise Jah, YOU people!

What is it??   It is a Tzitzit, a tassel requested by God in the Bible for man to wear in order to remember to follow God’s Commands.  Yes, it may be recognized as observed by the Jewish population, HOWEVER, bottom line it is in the Bible and GOD spoke it.

Numbers 15:37-41 – 37 The LORD said to Moses,  38 “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. 39 And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after.  40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.  41 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD your God.”

Yes, as it states in the scripture above, our nonprofit world, The Chronic Assistance Cycle has “whored” after the governments and donors monies to pay excessively high and unreasonable wages, perks, benefits and more.  All while the very people they are formed to assist and have misled end up suffering  and  fall through the cracks.  We have followed our own hearts and our own eyes.  Why?  Because the system as it is has taken God out of the equation and made the people in need think we can all do it on our own.

We cannot.  We must focus on God and His Commands first.

Remember what your 501c3 nonprofit application also stated….  That monies coming in as donations were to benefit the beneficiary (your client, the poor and homeless for example) and it states that you had to acknowledge that your wages would not be “in excess” and “within reason” or “reasonable.”   $100,000.00 – $400,000.00 and above is in excess and not any where near reasonable.  You, are in violation of your nonprofit status, no matter what sector you serve.  Or are supposed to serve that is. 

We must Lead, not Funnel.

Yes, i know you can come back at me with a myriad of excuses.

We must focus on God and His Commands first.   Only then will our poor and homeless friends truly receive the help they need from their human Shepherds.

Disclaimer! ***BTW, although i may not be one of those taking a wage amongst other things… i want to be clear that i myself am not free of my share of guilt in the mindset of “I can take care of it” thinking.  Yes, i got trapped in that also, being the superman, the crime fighter if you will.  But thanks be to and the Glory be to Jehovah as……

I/We must focus on God and His Commands first. 

I pray for ALL of your successes and delights as you resort your ambition and missions and concentrate on Gods Will.

Lance Greene/Founder/Straight Ahead Outreach-Taking back Your life Inc.