Why so many "Christian Conservatives" are more CONSERVATIVE than Christian !

It would be amusing, if it were not so tragic, that Conservatives, who love money and capitalism so much, imagine that they can love both God and Mamon, despite the teaching of Jesus, in whom they profess to believe.          "Acre of Diamonds" :         Russell Conwell is one of the most successful prophets of Capitalism.  Before there was radio, between the Civil War and World War I, this American Baptist preacher made a fortune delivering one of the most famous lectures to paying audiences about 6000 times, Conwell then went on to use some of his wealth to found Temple University.         "Con well" lived up to his surname when he answered the following challenge put to him:         "I say that you ought to get rich, and it is our duty to get rich. How many of my pious brethren say to me, "Do you, a Christian minister, spend your time going up and down the country advising young people to get rich, to get money?" "Yes, of course I do." They say, "Isn't that awful! Why don't you preach the gospel instead of preaching about man's making money?" "Because to make money honestly is to preach the gospel." That is the reason. The men who get rich may be the most honest men you find in the community. "Oh," but says some young man here to-night, " I have been told all my life that if a person has money he is very dishonest and dishonorable and mean and contemptible."         My friend, that is the reason why you have none, because you have that idea of people. The foundation of your faith is altogether false. Let me say here clearly, and say it briefly, though subject to discussion which I have not time for here, ninety-eight out of one hundred of the rich men of America are honest. That is why they are rich. That is why they carry on great enterprises and find plenty of people to work with them. It is because they are honest men.         Says another young man, "I hear sometimes of men that get millions of dollars dishonestly." Yes, of course you do, and so do I. But they are so rare a thing in fact that the newspapers talk about them all the time as a matter of news until you get the idea that all the other rich men got rich dishonestly.         My friend, you take and drive me–if you furnish the auto-out into the suburbs of Philadelphia, and introduce me to the people who own their homes around this great city, those beautiful homes with gardens and flowers, those magnificent homes so lovely in their art, and I will introduce you to the very best people in character as well as in enterprise in our city, " Examples of Extravagance :         Republican opponents of taxation love to tell tax-payers: "It's your money. You can spend it better than the government."   But citizens are not only tax-payers; they are also service-recipients. And the less tax revenue the government has, the fewer services it can provide. Does the argument that money is always better spent by individuals than by government stand up to closer scrutiny? Or would the public be better served if people like the following payed more taxes? There are now hundreds of funeral homes catering to those who want to have full-service funerals for their pets. { John 8:37--47 }           "I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. . .  "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing what Abraham did,  but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. . .  "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. . .   Why do you not understand what I say?  You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father's desires. Luke 16: 8--12           ( After relating the parable about the dishonest manager, who planned ahead for his dismissal by "forgiving" his boss's debtors, Jesus) "commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.  And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.  (When "Christian Conservatives" are not ignoring what Jesus taught, they are distorting that teaching, quoting Jesus' parable of the Talents, for example, in defense of capitalism.  Maybe, by the same token, dishonest accountants should take to quoting the parable about the dishonest manager in defense of crooked accountants!)         "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.  If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?  And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?  No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and wealth."  The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they ridiculed him.  So he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God." Luke 18: 22--25           When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me."  But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich.  Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!  Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." Luke 16 : 27--31           He (the beggar, Lazarus) said (to Abraham, the manager of heaven) , 'Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house -- for I have five brothers -- that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.'  Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.'  He said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'  He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'         Not even the persuasive powers of Jesus were powerful enough to separate the well-to-do from their riches.  But the rich now have many churches that so twist the bible and the teaching of Jesus that well-to-do Americans imagine that they can safely enjoy their riches while being "saved".  The teaching of Paul really comes in handy on this score, because of the way that it effectively neutralizes just about everything that Jesus said about what was required to please God and to be saved.  If you want to continue ignoring Jesus' teaching in favor of Paul's, then don't read /www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/salvation ,  where we feature dozens of passages in which Jesus made it clear that what God is interested in is actions (i.e. "works) rather than words (i.e. professions of faith).

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