Profiting From The Sins of Others

Scripture

And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

~John 2:15, LSB

Quote

Woe to those who bring their wares into the house of God to make the sanctuary their own private market place.

~Calvin Miller

The Temple in Jesus day was controlled by the Sadducees. It is very hard to believe, but the Sadducees were corrupt, and the High Priest was a Sadducee. This once highly esteemed office held by Aaron was a spiritual office having to do with sacrifice and worship, but by the time of Christ, it had degenerated into a political office that allowed the Sadducees to profit from public worship. The Sadducees got a healthy kick back from all the Temple vendors. Literally, they turned the outer court of the Temple into a Walmart with banks, livestock pens, bird cages and everything else associated with the sacrificial system. Many Pilgrims came from distant lands to celebrate Passover. It would be impossible for them to bring sacrificial animals. The Temple was set up to accommodate all classes: for the poor, there were doves for sale. For the middle incomers, there were sheep and for the wealthy, there was cattle. The Temple only took Hebrew coinage which meant money had to be exchanged because no one in the Roman world used Hebrew currency. So what you have is a group of greedy people profiting from the sins of others. The more the people sinned, the more they would need a sacrifice, and the more they sacrificed, the more the Sadducees profited.

Not that much as changed. Drugs are a huge problem in Alabama. They are a huge problem throughout the Bible Belt. I’m sure this will sound like sour grapes to some, but the users are not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is the Sadducees {rich elites} who profit from the sale of drugs. They like their ancestors, are profiting from the sins of others. I am not saying that we could stop drugs; that would be a bit unrealistic but we could curb the flow of drugs if we had a mind to do it. They are bringing illegal drugs into this country on both our southern and northern borders and nothing is being done to stop it. One of these days, when the truth comes out, we will find out that some of those who have the power to stop the flow of drugs did not do so because they were making a profit. Use some logic, it would be impossible for users to keep the industry going. Users would destroy themselves and the industry if they were the generators, but they are not. In a way, they are victims. Let me put it this way: those who use drugs don’t profit from them. At the top of the sin chain, in the drug industry, are those who profit from the users.

Extra

June and I made several visits yesterday. We did get to have wonderful visit with Randy and Sue Ransome. We also saw Bill who is home and doing well. LORD willing, I will be attending the grave side service of Ann Edwards today and Vellene’s COLS is tomorrow morning.

I came a gully washer here at 1120 Ironman last night. We didn’t get any bad wind, PTL, but we got plenty of rain.

Extra/Extra

QUOTES FROM YESTERDAY READING

  • God’s desire for each of us in a penitent attitude of heart…Calvin Miller
  • Confession is a clean mirror where we stare at ourselves and see just how far we have fallen… Calvin Miller
  • A man in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, does not talk about himself…Martyn Lloyd Jones
  • If man is man and God is God, to live without prayer is not merely and awful thing, it is a foolish thing… Philip Brooks
  • It is not a sin to cry “Fire” in a burning theater, it is a sin not to… Calvin Miller
  • Love is a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained… C.S. Lewis {God In The Dock}
  • We are by no means under compulsion to abandon free choice in favor of divine foreknowledge, nor need with deny that God knows the future, as a condition of holding free choice. We accept both… Augustine {CITY OF GOD, page 110}

 

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