The gold bit on your horse, the gold circlet on the wrist of your slave, the gilding on your shoes, mean that you are robbing the orphan and starving the widow. When you have passed away, each passer-by who looks upon your great mansion will say, "How many tears did it take to build that mansion? how many orphans were stripped? how many widows wronged? how many laborers deprived of their honest wages?" Even death itself will not deliver you from your accusers.
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How think you that you obey Christ's commandments, when you spend your time collecting interest, piling up loans, buying slaves like livestock, and merging business with business? And that is not all. Upon all this you heap injustice, taking possession of lands and houses, and multiplying poverty and hunger.
How think you that you obey Christ's commandments, when you spend your time collecting interest, piling up loans, buying slaves like livestock, and merging business with business? And that is not all. Upon all this you heap injustice, taking possession of lands and houses, and multiplying poverty and hunger.
John Chrysostom
Some hard words spoken by an ancient preacher on possessions. While our timeframe has changed and the specifics may be different, I find it amazing how much of this remains applicable to the American church of the 21st century.
Some hard words spoken by an ancient preacher on possessions. While our timeframe has changed and the specifics may be different, I find it amazing how much of this remains applicable to the American church of the 21st century.
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