Did FEMA Create A Latino Youth Army to Kill Americans?

Is FEMA training young Latinos to become their youth brigades, and to use them to kill American citizens?

According to blogger Henry Makow, the photo above is actual proof that FEMA is training Latino Youth to kill Americans. In a recent (2/20/2013) post on the HenryMakow.com web site, Mr. Makow posted the following text right next to the photo above: Take a good look at this picture. The US government is training Latino youth as a kind of Hitler Youth or Communist Red Guard to put down American resistance to NWO/Communist tyranny. 

The Nazis and the Communists were both Illuminati creations. They both had armed forces loyal to the Party to enforce ruthless discipline on the regular armies. This is a renewal of this pattern.  [Please read the rest of his blog, first, which states the article was written by Bruce Lazarus and submitted to him by some guy named John]

I had to hold on to the file drawer next to my computer because I almost fell off my chair!  I could not believe what I just saw and read. How could a renowned blogger such as Henry Makow post such a defamatory article? To boot, Pakalert Press, another web site I subscribe to first ran the article. I looked closer for the source of the story and saw it was sent out by Henry Makow.

I immediately wrote to Mr. Makow to let him know that such an article is not only not true, but is extremely defamatory and can only add fuel to an already existing culture firestorm raging within the predominate community and Latinos. I suggested that he should do some research on this matter because it can only enhance the burning embers of hostility between the two largest ethnic groups in America, whites and Latinos!

Mr. Makow sent me a brief email that stated he posted my concerns and he commented below them:


"Joe
    I appreciate your sensitivities but look at the official DHS picture! I just about fell out of MY chair. All Latino.
http://www.dhs.gov/blog/2012/09/14/welcome-fema-corps-inaugural-class
    Look at the other picture. Mostly minorities. Same uniforms.
The rest is inferred from the pictures and from the Big Picture as we know it.
    That is what my site is all about. We do not rely on FEMA/DHS to announce their intentions.
    They may not even know the ultimate agenda themselves. We need to believe our eyes, not what they tell us. Did you read the links below the article?"

Before I got the above response from Mr. Makow, I chose to do some investigating myself and found the following information on the FactCheck.Org web site:

Did FEMA Create a Youth Army?

Posted on November 30, 2012

Q: Did the Department of Homeland Security create a “standing army of government youth” known as FEMA Corps.

 

A: No. FEMA Corps is a civilian operation within AmeriCorps, a federal community service program. FEMA Corps prepares and responds to disasters. Its members, ages 18 to 24, carry no weapons.

FULL QUESTION

Tell me this is not true.

Homeland Security Graduates First Corps Of Obama’s Brown Shirts – Homeland Youth

Monday, October 15, 2012 18:51

October 7, 2012. Vicksburg . The federal government calls them FEMA Corps. But they conjure up memories of the Hitler Youth of 1930’s Germany . Regardless of their name, the Dept of Homeland Security has just graduated its first class of 231 Homeland Youth. Kids, aged 18-24 and recruited from the President’s AmeriCorp volunteers, they represent the first wave of DHS’s youth corps, designed specifically to create a full time, paid, standing army of FEMA Youth across the country.

 

On September 13, 2012, the Dept of Homeland Security graduated its first class of FEMA Corps youth, aka the Homeland Youth. Image courtesy of DHS.gov.

FULL ANSWER:
 

A few readers sent us this email, which dresses up conspiracy theories with unrelated photographs and selected snippets from a government press release.The gist of the email is that the federal government is stockpiling bullets, instituting martial law and arming youths in President Barack Obama’s army of “Brown Shirts” — none of which is true.

The email attributes the source of the information to an article on www.itmakessenseblog.com. The site’s “We Believe” page claims that “Left wing progressives have infiltrated both the Democrat and Republican Party.” It also says: “modern liberalism and progressivism may still both support many of the same Socialistic, Communistic or Maoist policies.”

The email’s link to the article is broken. And the site no longer carries the article. But the blog has published other pieces that similarly warn of Obama’s ” ‘brown shirt’ brigades” or “civilian national security force.”

This email is the most recent incarnation of a claim we debunked in 2008 and 2010. The conspiracy theory stems from a 2008 speech that then-candidate Obama gave in Colorado. He talked about building up “a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as our military force.
 

But the doomsayers leave out the context: Obama was proposing strengthening civilian programs such as the State Department’s foreign service, the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps. Not surprisingly, this latest claim describes FEMA Corps, a new unit of AmeriCorps, as an “army.”
 

‘Army of Government Youth’?
 

The email says the Department of Homeland Security created a “paid, full time, standing army of government youth.” And the email quotes — correctly — from a DHS press release announcing FEMA Corps’ first graduating class. But that’s about all the email gets right.
 

It contains a photo of young persons dressed in blue uniforms and holding air-soft guns, replicas that fire plastic pellets and are identifiable by their federally required orange tips. That’s the first sign this is no “standing army.” And the photo comes not from DHS — as the email claims — but from a 2009 New York Times article. The story is about a law enforcement education program that is affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America and has nothing to do with FEMA Corps.
 

The Law Enforcement Exploring program teaches crime-fighting skills to persons between the ages of 14 and 20 who are considering a career in law enforcement. The Times profiled a southern California chapter that partnered with U.S. Border Patrol and local police. They simulated a raid on a marijuana field, which the newspaper photographed.
 

FEMA Corps, on the other hand, is a civilian operation for persons between the ages of 18 and 24. It is a unit within AmeriCorps, a community service program.

                    

FEMA Corps, which will grow to 1,600 members, is solely devoted to preparing for and responding to disasters. Corps members work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which dispatchesthem to disaster areas. They recently helped Hurricane Sandy victims in Long Beach, N.Y., registering them for federal assistance.
 

They do not carry guns — much less travel in armored fighting vehicles. In fact, the AmeriCorps handbook, which applies to FEMA Corps, prohibits members from possessing firearms or any other weapon. The email, nonetheless, attempts to connect FEMA Corps to an overblown claim about the government’s recent ammunition purchases.
 

Bullet Baloney

The email cites a “drastic spike” in the Department of Homeland Security’s bullet purchases and asks: “What is the US federal government preparing for?” The email also claims that “federal management agencies are looking more and more like a military army every day.”
 

DHS has indeed ordered hundreds of millions of rounds of ammunition. But there is less here than meets the eye. And that’s according to the National Rifle Association and the office of Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia. The Department of Homeland Security recently contracted to buy up to 450 million rounds over the next five years. But DHS was making a first-time bulk order for all of its law enforcement agencies to save money. Those agencies include the Secret Service, the Transportation Security Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement, among many others.

The NRA describes the assertion as “incendiary.” It says the suggestion that the Obama administration is “preparing for a war with the American people” displays “a lack of understanding of the law enforcement functions carried about by officers in small federal agencies.” The NRA, which is no fan of the Democratic president, concludes that “there is no need to invent additional threats to our rights.”

‘Martial Law’ Malarkey
 

The email also links FEMA Corps to the false claim that Obama issued executive orders that institute martial law and give unchecked powers to FEMA. As we’ve written before, Obama’s orders do no such thing. He issued one executive order that exercised his office’s power to prepare the nation for an emergency.
 

Since the Korean War, Congress has granted the president the authority to make sure national resources — such as the food supply and various industries — will be available to meet national security needs in times of war and other emergencies. That power is granted under the Defense Production Act, a law that dates to 1950 and must be reauthorized by Congress every few years. (The act expires in 2014.)
 

Like presidents before him, Obama issued an order updating the resources covered under that act while delegating authority over those resources to various federal departments and agencies. For example, the order authorizes the secretaries of Defense and the Interior “to encourage the exploration, development, and mining of strategic and critical materials and other materials.”
 

The order doesn’t institute martial law. It doesn’t even mention FEMA.

– Ben Finley

Sources

Press release. “Welcome to the FEMA Corps Inaugural Class.” Department of Homeland Security. 14 Sept. 2012.

U.S. Code, 2003 Edition. “15 U.S.C., Title 15, Chapter 76, Section 5001, penalties for entering into commerce of imitation firearms.” 2003.

Steinhauer, Jennifer. “Scouts Train to Fight Terrorists, and More.” The New York Times. 13 May 2009.

“Program and Resource Guide for Adult Leaders.” Law Enforcement Exploring program. July 2011.

“AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Partnership.” About AmeriCorps. Accessed Nov 2012.

“FEMA Corps FAQ’s.” FEMA. 20 June 2012.

Stilts, Josh. “Sandy victims helped through FEMA Corp by Pittsfield man.” The Berkshire Eagle. 18 Nov 2012.

“AmeriCorps NCCC Memeber Handbook.” AmeriCorps. Jan 2011.

“Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Buy Ammunition.” National Rifle Association Institute for Legal Action. 17 Aug 2012.

Doran, Kevin. “DHS Buys in Bulk to Save You Money.” Office of U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland. Accessed Nov 2012.

Finley, Ben. “Obama’s Executive Orders.” FactCheck.org. 25 Sept 2012.

Jackson, Brooks. “Obama’s ‘National Security Force.’ ” FactCheck.org. 11 Nov 2008.

Novak, Viveca. “Obama’s ‘Private Army.’” FactCheck.org. 7 April 2010.

Obama, Barack. Executive Order 13603. 16 Mar 2012.

POSTED BY BEN FINLEY ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2012 AT 1:16 PM FILED UNDER ASK FACTCHECK. TAGGED WITHAMMUNITION, EXECUTIVE ORDER, FEMA, FEMA CORPS.

ASK FACTCHECK

Click here>>>to Read the full question and answer      

Obviously, Fact Check.Org had already researched this absurd claim by "conspiracy" theorists and had proven it wrong.  The most damning reality about this hoax is found highlighted in yellow above, that contains a link that sends you directly to where the photo originated in a story written by the New York Times on May 13, 2009. I sent all of this information to Mr. Makow and told him his publishing responsibilities were lacking and that he needs to publicly print a retraction on his web site. The following is Mr. Makow's response:

Henry Makow	11:57 AM (6 hours ago)
to me

 

I am busy. It is Sunday. I will reply when I am ready,

henry       


Mr. Makow's response to my concerns and corrections I communicated with him concerning his journalistic irresponsibility, speaks volumes about his arrogance, and the lack of concern to the affect his incendiary postings represent.

I recognize the Internet is rife with bloggers and other self-proclaimed journalists. I am one of these folks. However, while my postings represent my convictions about certain topics, I always seek to post facts to confirm my convictions. I possess over 40 years experience as a working journalist and talk-show host, beginning my career in 1971 at KABC Talk Radio in Los Angeles (considered the flagship talk station in the country). I also served as the Chief News Reporter for nationally renown Pacifica Radio out of its Los Angeles office, as well as a syndicated columnist for Eastern Group Publications, a newspaper chain that publishes over a dozen newspaper in the predominately Hispanic communities in Los Angeles. I don't take my "journalism" credentials lightly. I can frankly state that I have never written nor posted anything in any of my reports nor (more recently) as a blogger for the last seven years, that was not thoroughly checked out for errors. I can be accused of probably posting other people's stories on Facebook, which I later found out were not true. The only reason I re-posted them is because they sounded accurate or else why would large organizations post something that is not true. How naive of me!

I recognize that the Internet has become a place where just about anyone can build a web site or host a blog and write whatever they want. Obviously, the propaganda wars have increased as never before in history, where varying and disparate individuals and groups will print their own opinions, giving it their own spin, for whatever reasons. Sadly, American media is the biggest culprit based on their unwillingness to provide the public all the fact and appear to have an agenda for certain governments and or corporate entities throughout out the world. This is one of the main reasons I began subscribing to many of the freelance writers who were willing to go out on the limb and provide Americans with truth. I subscribe to The Electronic Infitada, VTN Report, MCW News (Media With a Conscience), Rev Ted Pike, David Duke, and WHITT (We Hold These Truths), The Jerusalem Post, and many others too numerous to mention. I have always trusted these folks were telling the truth. Mr. Makow's web site was one of those, as well as PakalertPress, which I viewed as trustworthy.  Once again, how naive of me! It appears no one can access any media, blog or web site for truth.

I will grant Mr. Makow and PakalertPress the excuse that they may have dropped the ball on some of their stories due to time constraints or even laziness. However, this particular story that FEMA is supposedly training young Latinos to become hit squads to kill American citizens  is not only built on the bedrock of the worst case of Xenophobia I have ever seen published in the public square, it represents an incendiary napalm bomb that will inflame ethnic relationships in this country to the point of launching another Civil War.

However, we can stop this insanity before it turns into a human conflagration, by (1st) having Mr. Makow and Pakalert Press to publicly apologize to the Latino community, and (2) by encouraging our fellow bloggers to become more responsible and ethical in their journalism treks, or simply get out of the business.

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. (NKJV) Matthew 12:35-37

For information concerning his books, web sites and other blogs, please click on Joe Ortiz.

Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty by Dave MacPherson!

Many folks have been asking us if we might have access to a great article by Dave MacPherson that was posted by the Powered by Christ Ministries a while back. I checked with Dave and he quickly sent it to us and we are publishing it today for our audience who may have missed it to get a chance to review it. It contains tons of information that you may want to save in order to respond to those poor folks who are still promoting a Pre-Tribulation to Heaven Rapture.

If you would like to comment on Dave's article, return back to this section after reading it and post it below.

Here it is! Click the link below!

Pretrib Rapture Dishonesty by Dave MacPherson

CHRISTIAN STEWARDSHIP: ABJECT POVERTY OR THE BLESSINGS OF MAMMON?

For the (Jewish) children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light, (Luke 16:8).

The subject of money is probably the most examined issue ever to enter the consciousness  of man, and probably the most confusing. Most Christian have heard and (most) understand the Bible verse in 1 Timothy 6:10 that the 'love of money is the root of all evil.' Yet, even after much Bible study, the subject of 'stewardship' is probably the most difficult to grasp, much less put it into practice. Those who have (and still continue to manage) the money they have been entrusted with by God, may not be the richest in the world, but they are aware and convinced that they are more blessed than most people. 

Those who have historically mastered the management  of money and manipulation of the purses in the world-wide marketplace economy [and without stereotyping any one particular group], Jewish folks, have had no competition in this arena whatsoever, in the history of mankind, as Christ Himself confirms in Luke 16:8, above.  Their acumen on Mammon matters has no equal. However, on Judgment Day, the works of each and every person will be judged by fire.

Rather than my trying to parse out all aspects of the issue of money, I will (as I do in many cases) put my trust in (and share) the works of Bible scholars who have studied and mastered this issue with a greater degree of efficiency than I could ever achieve. Remember, I'm the messenger, not the author of God's word. Ergo, I once again turn to Matthew Henry, the classical Bible scholars (of whom I trust about 95% of his work) in an effort to enlighten my fellow brethren with advice that they may or may not have received. But, if they have, these pearls of wisdom cannot hurt to be repeated but to enhance our journey with Christ. Here is a portion of Henry's Commentary on Luke 16:

"We mistake if we imagine that the design of Christ’s doctrine and holy religion was either to amuse us with notions of divine mysteries or to entertain us with notions of divine mercies. No, the divine revelation of both these in the gospel is intended to engage and quicken us to the practice of Christian duties, and, as much as any one thing, to the duty of beneficence and doing good to those who stand in need of any thing that either we have or can do for them. This our Saviour is here pressing us to, by reminding us that we are but stewards of the manifold grace of God; and since we have in divers instances been unfaithful, and have forfeited the favour of our Lord, it is our wisdom to think how we may, some other way, make what we have in the world turn to a good account. Parables must not be forced beyond their primary intention, and therefore we must not hence infer that any one can befriend us if we lie under the displeasure of our Lord, but that, in the general, we must so lay out what we have in works of piety and charity as that we may meet it again with comfort on the other side death and the grave. If we would act wisely, we must be diligent and industrious to employ our riches in the acts of piety and charity, in order to promote our future and eternal welfare, as worldly men are in laying them out to the greatest temporal profit, in making to themselves friends with them, and securing other secular interests. So Dr. Clarke. Now let us consider,

I. The parable itself, in which all the children of men are represented as stewards of what they have in this world, and we are but stewards. Whatever we have, the property of it is God’s; we have only the use of it, and that according to the direction of our great Lord, and for his honour. Rabbi Kimchi, quoted by Dr. Lightfoot, says, "This world is a house; heaven the roof; the stars the lights; the earth, with its fruits, a table spread; the Master of the house is the holy and blessed God; man is the steward, into whose hands the goods of this house are delivered; if he behave himself well, he shall find favour in the eyes of his Lord; if not, he shall be turned out of his stewardship.’’ Now,

1. Here is the dishonesty of this steward. He wasted his lord’s goods, embezzled them, misapplied them, or through carelessness suffered them to be lost and damaged; and for this he was accused to his lord, v. 1. We are all liable to the same charge. We have not made a due improvement of what God has entrusted us with in this world, but have perverted his purpose; and, that we may not be for this judged of our Lord, it concerns us to judge ourselves.

2. His discharge out of his place. His lord called for him, and said, "How is it that I hear this of thee? I expected better things from thee.’’ He speaks as one sorry to find himself disappointed in him, and under a necessity of dismissing him from his service: it troubles him to hear it; but the steward cannot deny it, and therefore there is no remedy, he must make up his accounts; and be gone in a little time, v. 2. Now this is designed to teach us, (1.) That we must all of us shortly be discharged from our stewardship in this world; we must not always enjoy those things which we now enjoy. Death will come, and dismiss us from our stewardship, will deprive us of the abilities and opportunities we now have of doing good, and others will come in our places and have the same. (2.) That our discharge from our stewardship at death is just, and what we have deserved, for we have wasted our Lord’s goods, and thereby forfeited our trust, so that we cannot complain of any wrong done us. (3.) That when our stewardship is taken from us we must give an account of it to our Lord: After death the judgment. We are fairly warned both of our discharge and our account, and ought to be frequently thinking of them.

3. His after-wisdom. Now he began to consider, What shall I do? v. 3. He would have done well to have considered this before he had so foolishly thrown himself out of a good place by his unfaithfulness; but it is better to consider late than never. Note, Since we have all received notice that we must shortly be turned out of our stewardship, we are concerned to consider what we shall do then. He must live; which way shall he have a livelihood? (1.) He knows that he has not such a degree of industry in him as to get his living by work: "I cannot dig; I cannot earn by bread by my labour.’’ But why can he not dig? It does not appear that he is either old or lame; but the truth is, he is lazy. His cannot is a will not; it is not a natural but a moral disability that he labours under; if his master, when he turned him out of the stewardship, had continued him in his service as a labourer, and set a task-master over him, he would have made him dig. He cannot dig, for he was never used to it. Now this intimates that we cannot get a livelihood for our souls by any labour for this world, nor indeed do any thing to purpose for our souls by any ability of our own. (2.) He knows that he has not such a degree of humility as to get his bread by begging: To beg I am ashamed. This was the language of his pride, as the former of his slothfulness. Those whom God, in his providence, has disabled to help themselves, should not be ashamed to ask relief of others. This steward had more reason to be ashamed of cheating his master than of begging his bread. (3.) He therefore determines to make friends of his lord’s debtors, or his tenants that were behind with their rent, and had given notes under their hands for it: "I am resolved what to do, v. 4. My lord turns me out of his house. I have none of my own to go to. I am acquainted with my lord’s tenants, have done them many a good turn, and now I will do them one more, which will so oblige them that they will bid me welcome to their houses, and the best entertainment they afford; and so long as I live, at least till I can better dispose of myself, I will quarter upon them, and go from one good house to another.’’ Now the way he would take to make them his friends was by striking off a considerable part of their debt to his lord, and giving it in his accounts so much less than it was. Accordingly, he sent for one, who owed his lord a hundred measures of oil (in that commodity he paid his rent): Take thy bill, said he, here it is, and sit down quickly, and write fifty (v. 6); so he reduced his debt to the one half. Observe, he was in haste to have it done: "Sit down quickly, and do it, lest we be taken treating, and suspected.’’ He took another, who owed his lord a hundred measures of wheat, and from his bill he cut off a fifth part, and bade him write fourscore (v. 7); probably he did the like by others, abating more or less according as he expected kindness from them. See here what uncertain things our worldly possessions are; they are most so to those who have most of them, who devolve upon others all the care concerning them, and so put it into their power to cheat them, because they will not trouble themselves to see with their own eyes. See also what treachery is to be found even among those in whom trust is reposed. How hard is it to find one that confidence can be reposed in! Let God be true, but every man a liar. Though this steward is turned out for dealing dishonestly, yet still he does so. So rare is it for men to mend of a fault, though they smart for it.

4. The approbation of this: The lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely, v. 8. It may be meant of his lord, the lord of that servant, who, though he could not but be angry at his knavery, yet was pleased with his ingenuity and policy for himself; but, taking it so, the latter part of the verse must be the words of our Lord, and therefore I think the whole is meant of him. Christ did, as it were, say, "Now commend me to such a man as this, that knows how to do well for himself, how to improve a present opportunity, and how to provide for a future necessity.’’ He does not commend him because he had done falsely to his master, but because he had done wisely for himself. Yet perhaps herein he did well for his master too, and but justly with the tenants. He knew what hard bargains he had set them, so that they could not pay their rent, but, having been screwed up by his rigour, were thrown behindhand, and they and their families were likely to go to ruin; in consideration of this, he now, at going off, did as he ought to do both in justice and charity, not only easing them of part of their arrears, but abating their rent for the future. How much owest thou? may mean, "What rent dost thou sit upon? Come, I will set thee an easier bargain, and yet no easier than what thou oughtest to have.’’ He had been all for his lord, but now he begins to consider the tenants, that he might have their favour when he had lost his lord’s. The abating of their rent would be a lasting kindness, and more likely to engage them than abating their arrears only. Now this forecast of his, for a comfortable subsistence in this world, shames our improvidence for another world: The children of this world, who choose and have their portions in it, are wiser for their generation, act more considerately, and better consult their worldly interest and advantage, than the children of light, who enjoy the gospel, in their generation, that is, in the concerns of their souls and eternity. Note, (1.) The wisdom of worldly people in the concerns of this world is to be imitated by us in the concerns of our souls: it is their principle to improve their opportunities, to do that first which is most needful, in summer and harvest to lay up for winter, to take a good bargain when it is offered them, to trust the faithful and not the false. O that we were thus wise in our spiritual affairs! (2.) The children of light are commonly outdone by the children of this world. Not that the children of this world are truly wise; it is only in their generation. But in that they are wiser than the children of light in theirs; for, though we are told that we must shortly be turned out of our stewardship, yet we do not provide as we were to be here always and as if there were not another life after this, and are not so solicitous as this steward was to provide for hereafter. Though as children of the light, that light to which life and immortality are brought by the gospel, we cannot but see another world before us, yet we do not prepare for it, do not send our best effects and best affections thither, as we should.

II. The application of this parable, and the inferences drawn from it (v. 9): "I say unto you, you my disciples’’ (for to them this parable is directed, v. 1), "though you have but little in this world, consider how you may do good with that little.’’ Observe,

1. What it is that our Lord Jesus here exhorts us to; to provide for our comfortable reception to the happiness of another world, by making good use of our possessions and enjoyments in this world: "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, as the steward with his lord’s goods made his lord’s tenants his friends.’’ It is the wisdom of the men of this world so to manage their money as that they may have the benefit of it hereafter, and not for the present only; therefore they put it out to interest, buy land with it, put it into this or the other fund. Now we should learn of them to make use of our money so as that we may be the better for it hereafter in another world, as they do in hopes to be the better for it hereafter in this world; so cast it upon the waters as that we may find it again after many days, Eccl. 11:1. And in our case, though whatever we have are our Lord’s goods, yet, as long as we dispose of them among our Lord’s tenants and for their advantage, it is so far from being reckoned a wrong to our Lord, that it is a duty to him as well as policy for ourselves. Note, (1.) The things of this world are the mammon of unrighteousness, or the false mammon, not only because often got by fraud and unrighteousness, but because those who trust to it for satisfaction and happiness will certainly be deceived; for riches are perishing things, and will disappoint those that raise their expectations from them. (2.) Though this mammon of unrighteousness is not to be trusted to for a happiness, yet it may and must be made use of in subserviency to our pursuit of that which is our happiness. Though we cannot find true satisfaction in it, yet we may make to ourselves friends with it, not by way of purchase or merit, but recommendation; so we may make God and Christ our friends, the good angels and saints our friends, and the poor our friends; and it is a desirable thing to be befriended in the account and state to come. (3.) At death we must all fail, hotan eklipeµte—when ye suffer an eclipse. Death eclipses us. A tradesman is said to fail when he becomes a bankrupt. We must all thus fail shortly; death shuts up the shop, seals up the hand. Our comforts and enjoyments on earth will all fail us; flesh and heart fail. (4.) It ought to be our great concern to make it sure to ourselves, that when we fail at death we may be received into everlasting habitations in heaven. The habitations in heaven are everlasting, not made with hands, but eternal, 2. Cor. 5:1. Christ is gone before, to prepare a place for those that are his, and is there ready to receive them; the bosom of Abraham is ready to receive them, and, when a guard of angels carries them thither, a choir of angels is ready to receive them there. The poor saints that are gone before to glory will receive those that in this world distributed to their necessities. (5.) This is a good reason why we should use what we have in the world for the honour of God and the good of our brethren, that thus we may with them lay up in store a good bond, a good security, a good foundation for the time to come, for an eternity to come. See 1 Tim. 6:17–19, which explains this here.

2. With what arguments he presses this exhortation to abound in works of piety and charity.

(1.) If we do not make a right use of the gifts of God’s providence, how can we expect from him those present and future comforts which are the gifts of his spiritual grace? Our Saviour here compares these, and shows that though our faithful use of the things of this world cannot be thought to merit any favour at the hand of God, yet our unfaithfulness in the use of them may be justly reckoned a forfeiture of that grace which is necessary to bring us to glory, and that is it which our Saviour here shows, v. 10–14.

[1.] The riches of this world are the less; grace and glory are the greater. Now if we be unfaithful in the less, if we use the things of this world to other purposes than those for which they were given us, it may justly be feared that we should be so in the gifts of God’s grace, that we should receive them also in vain, and therefore they will be denied us: He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. He that serves God, and does good, with his money, will serve God, and do good, with the more noble and valuable talents of wisdom and grace, and spiritual gifts, and the earnests of heaven; but he that buries the one talent of this world’s wealth will never improve the five talents of spiritual riches. God withholds his grace from covetous worldly people more than we are aware of. [2.] The riches of this world are deceitful and uncertain; they are the unrighteous mammon, which is hastening from us apace, and, if we would make any advantage of it, we must bestir ourselves quickly; if we do not, how can we expect to be entrusted with spiritual riches, which are the only true riches? v. 11. Let us be convinced of this, that those are truly rich, and very rich, who are rich in faith, and rich towards God, rich in Christ, in the promises, and in the earnests of heaven; and therefore let us lay up our treasure in them, expect our portion from them, and mind them in the first place, the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof, and then, if other things be added to us, use them in ordine ad spiritualia—with a spiritual reference, so that by using them well we may take the faster hold of the true riches, and may be qualified to receive yet more grace from God; for God giveth to a man that is good in his sight, that is, to a free-hearted charitable man, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy (Eccl. 2:26); that is, to a man that is faithful in the unrighteous mammon, he gives the true riches. [3.] The riches of this world are another man’s. They are ta allotria, not our own; for they are foreign to the soul and its nature and interest. They are not our own; for they are God’s; his title to them is prior and superior to ours; the property remains in him, we are but usufructuaries. They are another man’s; we have them from others; we use them for others, and what good has the owner from his goods that increase, save the beholding of them with his eyes, while still they are increased that eat them; and we must shortly leave them to others, and we know not to whom? But spiritual and eternal riches are our own (they enter into the soul that becomes possessed of them) and inseparably; they are a good part that will never be taken away from us. If we make Christ our own, and the promises our own, and heaven our own, we have that which we may truly call our own. But how can we expect God should enrich us with these if we do not serve him with our worldly possessions, of which we are but stewards?

(2.) We have no other way to prove ourselves the servants of God than by giving up ourselves so entirely to his service as to make mammon, that is, all our worldly gain, serviceable to us in his service (v. 13): No servant can serve two masters, whose commands are so inconsistent as those of God and mammon are. If a man will love the world, and hold to that, it cannot be but he will hate God and despise him. He will make all his pretensions of religion truckle to his secular interests and designs, and the things of God shall be made to help him in serving and seeking the world. But, on the other hand, if a man will love God, and adhere to him, he will comparatively hate the world (whenever God and the world come in competition) and will despise it, and make all his business and success in the world some way or other conducive to his furtherance in the business of religion; and the things of the world shall be made to help him in serving God and working out his salvation. The matter is here laid plainly before us: Ye cannot serve God and mammon. So divided are their interests that their services can never be compounded. If therefore we be determined to serve God, we must disclaim and abjure the service of the world.

3. We are here told what entertainment this doctrine of Christ met with among the Pharisees, and what rebuke he gave them.

(1.) They wickedly ridiculed him, v. 14. The Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all these things, and could not contradict him, but they derided him. Let us consider this, [1.] As their sin, and the fruit of their covetousness, which was their reigning sin, their own iniquity. Note, Many that make a great profession of religion, have much knowledge, and abound in the exercise of devotion, are yet ruined by the love of the world; nor does anything harden the heart more against the word of Christ. These covetous Pharisees could not bear to have that touched, which was their Delilah, their darling lust; for this they derided him, exemykteµrizon auton—they snuffled up their noses at him, or blew their noses on him. It is an expression of the utmost scorn and disdain imaginable; the word of the Lord was to them a reproach, Jer. 6:10. They laughed at him for going so contrary to the opinion and way of the world, for endeavouring to recover them from a sin which they were resolved to hold fast. Note, It is common for those to make a jest of the word of God who are resolved that they will not be ruled by it; but they will find at last that it cannot be turned off so. [2.] As his suffering. Our Lord Jesus endured not only the contradiction of sinners, but their contempt; they had him in derision all the day. He that spoke as never man spoke was bantered and ridiculed, that his faithful ministers, whose preaching is unjustly derided, may not be disheartened at it. It is no disgrace to a man to be laughed at, but to deserve to be laughed at. Christ’s apostles were mocked, and no wonder; the disciple is not greater than his Lord.

(2.) He justly reproved them; not for deriding him (he knew how to despise the shame), but for deceiving themselves with the shows and colours of piety, when they were strangers to the power of it, v. 15. Here is,

[1.] Their specious outside; nay, it was a splendid one. First, They justified themselves before men; they denied whatever ill was laid to their charge, even by Christ himself. They claimed to be looked upon as men of singular sanctity and devotion, and justified themselves in that claim: "You are they that do that, so as none ever did, that make it your business to court the opinion of men, and, right or wrong, will justify yourselves before the world; you are notorious for this.’’ Secondly, They were highly esteemed among men. Men did not only acquit them from any blame they were under, but applauded them, and had them in veneration, not only as good men, but as the best of men. Their sentiments were esteemed as oracles, their directions as laws, and their practices as inviolable prescriptions.

[2.] Their odious inside, which was under the eye of God: "He knows your heart, and it is in his sight an abomination; for it is full of all manner of wickedness.’’ Note, First, It is folly to justify ourselves before men, and to think this enough to bear us out, and bring us off, in the judgment of the great day, that men know no ill of us; for God, who knows our hearts, knows that ill of us which no one else can know. This ought to check our value for ourselves, and our confidence in ourselves, that God knows our hearts, and how much deceit is there, for we have reason to abase and distrust ourselves. Secondly, It is folly to judge of persons and things by the opinion of men concerning them, and to go down with the stream of vulgar estimate; for that which is highly esteemed among men, who judge according to outward appearance, is perhaps an abomination in the sight of God, who sees things as they are, and whose judgment, we are sure, is according to truth. On the contrary, there are those whom men despise and condemn who yet are accepted and approved of God, 2 Co. 10:18.

(3.) He turned from them to the publicans and sinners, as more likely to be wrought upon by his gospel than those covetous conceited Pharisees (v. 16): "The law and the prophets were indeed until John; the Old-Testament dispensation, which was confined to you Jews, continued till John Baptist appeared, and you seemed to have the monopoly of righteousness and salvation; and you are puffed up with this, and this gains you esteem among men, that you are students in the law and the prophets; but since John Baptist appeared the kingdom of God is preached, a New-Testament dispensation, which does not value men at all for their being doctors of the law, but every man presses into the gospel kingdom, Gentiles as well as Jews, and no man thinks himself bound in good manners to let his betters go before him into it, or to stay till the rulers and the Pharisees have led him that way. It is not so much a political national constitution as the Jewish economy was, when salvation was of the Jews; but it is made a particular personal concern, and therefore every man that is convinced he has a soul to save, and an eternity to provide for, thrusts to get in, lest he should come short by trifling and complimenting.’’ Some give this sense of it; they derided Christ or speaking in contempt of riches, for, thought they, were there not many promises of riches and other temporal good things in the law and the prophets? And were not many of the best of God’s servants very rich, as Abraham and David? "It is true,’’ saith Christ, "so it was, but now that the kingdom of God is begun to be preached things take a new turn; now blessed are the poor, and the mourners, and the persecuted.’’ The Pharisees, to requite the people for their high opinion of them, allowed them in a cheap, easy, formal religion. "But,’’ saith Christ, "now that the gospel is preached the eyes of the people are opened, and as they cannot now have a veneration for the Pharisees, as they have had, so they cannot content themselves with such an indifferency in religion as they have been trained up in, but they press with a holy violence into the kingdom of God.’’ 

Note, Those that would go to heaven must take pains, must strive against the stream, must press against the crowd that are going the contrary way."

Thank You, Brother Henry!

For information about the author's books, blogs and web sites, please click on Joe Ortiz.