This week's Bible study will be part two of Luke chapter one

The Birth of Jesus Christ Foretold

[Luke chapter 1, verses 26-56]

Today we will take up where we left off last week in our in-depth study of the Gospel of Luke, beginning at verse 26 of chapter one. As we begin, the birth of John the Baptist, Jesus' predecessor, has just been foretold, and the Temple priest Zechariah has been rendered mute by the archangel Gabriel for hesitating to believe what Gabriel said about Zechariah and Elizabeth conceiving because he thought they were both too old. So, while Zechariah and Elizabeth were coping with his inability to speak, we find the archangel Gabriel busy visiting the future mother of our Lord and Savior.

“In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a woman pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said. 'Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.' Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.' 'How can this be', Mary asked, 'since I am a virgin?' The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.' 'I am the Lord's servant', Mary answered. 'May it be to me as you have said'. Then the angel left her.” (Luke 1, verses 26-38)

The 4,000 year old Hebrew calendar is considerably different from the one we use today. Although there are similarities, the Hebrew New Year starts in our month of March, and there are usually 30 days each month. So we can conclude that Gabriel's visit to Mary was sometime in September, although I can only speculate about the date. Mary and Joseph were by all accounts very devout Jews, and so was Jesus during his entire life. Interestingly enough, since our Lord and Savior was evidently conceived sometime between early September and mid-October, that would mean Jesus must have been born sometime during our month of July. I remember when I was very young, I wondered around Christmas time how the poor baby Jesus, along with his parents, survived the late December cold sleeping in that barn, with the infant Jesus lying in a manger in freezing temperatures. Well, the answer is [1^st] they weren't cold at all, and [2^nd] it was summertime. Christmas in December is a human invention of the emperor Constantine from around the year 300AD, when he consolidated the pagan holidays with the religious ones into the calendar we use in modern times.

Joseph, the man who was Mary's husband and who raised Jesus (talk about being held to a higher standard!), was a descendant of King David of the Old Testament (see Matthew chapter one for the genealogy of Jesus). Further down, Mary had “found favor with God”. The Bible doesn't specify anything Mary had done to earn this favor, and maybe that's the whole point of this part of it. Nobody can “earn” favor from God, as if God owed them something. God doesn't work like that. Christianity teaches that only by the blood of Jesus, which he shed on a cross for each of us, can we be saved. God sent his only Son Jesus to save us because without Jesus no one would be able to stand in God's presence. Everyone would perish, and without exception! So Mary did nothing by herself, but I think since she was carrying the infant Jesus in her womb, the very presence of the unborn Christ very likely saved Mary from any judgment by God, since the unborn Jesus and Mary were already one physically as well as in spirit.

“...he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” What was the angel talking about here? He was referring to the very beginning of what we call Judaism today, going all the way back to Abraham in the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament. Abraham's two sons were named Jacob and Esau (for the complete story, see Genesis starting at chapter 17). To make a long story short, Jacob became the father of what later became the Israelites, the people who built Jerusalem, and whose descendants live in modern Israel today, as well as the US and other countries too. Esau, on the other hand, became the father of what became the Arab nations in the Middle East that we know today. So the entire conflict in the Middle east between Arab and Jew originated from within the same family! Now you know why the wars in the Middle East never end. It all stems from a domestic dispute from roughly 3,500 years ago! There's one other thing I want to point out here. Unlike Zechariah, Mary took the angel at his word. She was obedient, not only because she was told to, but because she wanted to. Mary embraced her destiny wholeheartedly, something we can all take a lesson from. And now let's continue where we left off, beginning at verse 39.

“At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed, 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord has come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!' And Mary said, 'My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their innermost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.' Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.” (Luke 1: verses 39-56)

Like our initial study of Luke's gospel from last week, we have another example of the Holy Spirit being mentioned approximately 33-34 years before the Day of Pentecost (see Acts chapters 1 and 2 for the full story of Pentecost). “When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” Not only was Elizabeth filled with the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of our risen Lord, but the baby she carried was filled as well. That baby was none other than the unborn John the Baptist (more about him later in this series). Then Elizabeth said, “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!'” From Elizabeth's exclamation to Mary, we can clearly see that when God says he is going to accomplish something through yourself, which can and does happen to believers, you may as well go ahead and believe it because it is definitely going to occur! When Zechariah was rendered unable to speak in last week's study, we saw what can happen to those who do not believe God when he speaks to them. Moreover, He does not have to speak audibly for any of us to hear him. His Spirit speaks to our spirit in a small, still voice that we must be very quiet to hear. Otherwise, the Spirit of the Lord gets drowned out by our own voice, and that's never a good place to be.

“ And Mary said, 'My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me...” God is always mindful of the humble state of all His servants. “Those who exalt themselves”, Jesus said, “will be humbled, but those who humble themselves will be exalted.” If you put yourself first in this life ahead of everyone else, you will be last in the life to come, and the reverse is equally true. Mary knew the primary reason she was chosen by God to carry the unborn baby Jesus in her womb was because of her humble circumstances, and because she carried herself well and admirably in spite of what must have been a really difficult life, especially by modern standards. Still, Mary chose to embrace her circumstances and her calling, and that's the rest of the reasons God chose her to begin with. “His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.” Once again, the word 'fear' is not really the best translation of that sentence from the original Hebrew or Greek; fear of the consequences of disobedience to God, or having a deep reverence for God, would be the more accurate translation. But the payoff for deep reverence for the Lord is mercy – limitless mercy! That's what the blood of Jesus represents, as we will see when we get deeper into this study of Luke's gospel.

“He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.'” Here it is again – down go the proud and up go the humble. Mary, rather than being proud of herself at being chosen to carry the Son of God until birth, gives all the credit to her ancestors, “ remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever”, a clear reference to her impending marriage to Joseph. The 'Kingdom of God' is quite the reverse of humankind's ways of doing things here on earth. The high and mighty rule with an iron fist globally, while some of the nicest and most humble people live in little apartments, small nondescript houses, and even in tents and shanties, or vehicles of various types. The harder and meaner you are, the richer you get in this life, but not so in the next. That's why economic inequality has become such a problem in modern times. The top 1% has hoarded the overwhelming majority of the wealth for themselves, at the expense of everybody else. Fortunately for humankind, this situation is about to change, but the 7-year Tribulation period prophesied in the Bible (see the Books of Daniel and Revelation) will have to come first, and that has not yet started. So, until next week, keep Jesus in your heart and mind. When we return, we will complete our study of chapter one of Luke's gospel.

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The Human Catastrophe Called Aleppo

Weeping For Aleppo

by Rev. Paul J. Bern

The Syrian Civil War has been raging for five years now. It is, to say the least, a multifaceted conflict. Aleppo is the capitol city of Syria, with roughly the same population as Houston, Texas. One of the primary reasons it's in the news a lot is because the rebel-held, eastern part is one of the hardest-hit areas of the war. We're talking airstrikes and food, water and supply shortages affecting hundreds of thousands of people. There are a thousand reasons why you may not care about Aleppo. The question is, what's the one reason why you would? Things that happen far away, to people we have never known from areas of the world we have no connection to, don't hit us as hard as whatever is happening at home. So if you don't particularly care about the Syrian civil war, or the crisis it's created in places like the city of Aleppo, I think it's high time you did. Even as you read this, the world is watching the exploding humanitarian catastrophe known as the Syrian civil war unfold in real time. But this disaster should surprise no one: It is the natural result of a series of policy decisions that led to the current diplomatic standoff. Step by step, the very nature of humanitarian access and relief has almost been redefined in Syria.

The Syrian civil war has laid bare a great deal, including the world's unwillingness to intervene to stop civilians from being killed in their beds and on their streets, in a conflict that has pinned them down in their homes. Every time those close to the war think things have sunk as barbarically low as imaginable – from bombing convoys to starving towns – things get even worse. For many of those in the US government who have worked on Syria policy for years, the overwhelming sense of frustration has made the bloodshed nearly impossible to watch, in part because of its predictability. Grief-stricken families embracing in the rubble of what used to be their home – a home like any other, and probably similar to yours. Mothers and fathers crouching over their dead children as they sob uncontrollably together. A father and son, crushed in place under the wreckage of another airstrike. And these aren't even among the most iconic images. This is every hour, every day. That's five elementary school classrooms gone in a matter of days. That's more children than you likely know by name. That's only one week of fighting. When we say trapped, we mean Aleppo's citizens literally cannot leave. Roads out of parts of the city are under constant attack. That doesn't only mean people can't leave, it means things can't get in; things like food, water, medicine and fuel. 

 

Take Houston off the map. Yes, the whole darn city. Or Atlanta, or Miami and then some. Do you live in Lansing, Michigan? Destroy it – four times over. That's the number of people who have been killed in five years of fighting in Syria. It's easy to think that, if things were really that bad, someone would surely be doing something about it. That's the whole point. The world is trying and failing. The US can't decide whether to authorize military action against the Syrian regime. Ceasefires designed to help bring aid to people trapped in war-torn areas only last a matter of days. The biggest humanitarian crisis since World War II drags on. The ghosts of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars still looms large in Washington, but the question is, what lessons has it offered? Without question the conflict has prevented the Obama administration from committing sustained resources to stopping the carnage. Officials in Washington who for years argued for greater intervention could never prove that further American action would make things on the ground in Syria better, not worse. And so the status quo prevailed. And that status quo was to do little to address the conflict's root causes, but a great deal to fund help for refugees who were suffering the war's effects. Meanwhile, the carnage has continued. 

 

The United Nations once spoke of a responsibility to protect and defend. In 2009 it said that in the face of war crimes, when a state was miserably failing to protect its population, then the international community was prepared to take collective action in a "timely and decisive manner." Yet there is nothing either timely or decisive about the world's approach to Syria, which has become the theater in which global and regional actors pursue their own goals, with Syrian mothers and fathers trapped in cities under attack paying the price. But this piece is not about dueling political aims; it is about the shared misery of those on the ground and an international community that has failed them. What is life in Aleppo like now? Bombing in plain sight. Hospitals crushed under the weight of the injured and the dying. Food and water supplies dwindling. Medical supplies limited to almost nothing, leaving anesthesia near nonexistent and babies dying without functioning ventilators on the dirty floors of the few overwhelmed facilities that remain standing. And all of it is happening in real time as the city's life and death is captured on social media and shared with the world. And yet the world seems to have stopped watching. And the international community is now shown to be impotent in the face of what the British ambassador to the United Nations termed "war crimes." 

 

That has been the pattern for years, only now the death toll is growing even higher and the "barbarism," to quote Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations, has grown more bold. For those on the ground in Aleppo and other areas under siege, it is clear that no one is prepared to stop the carnage everyone can see and many had predicted. The pictures may be on phones and screens within easy reach, but a solution to ending the bloodshed remains much further away. We don't want to lose hope, but in the end if you look at the situation it seems hopeless, that we can't do anything, so the world is just watching. People keep on dying and the situation continues to get worse and worse, with no end in sight, and no plan to help those children in Aleppo from facing death the next time they go outside to play on their streets. From the very beginning of this on-line ministry, this blog, and this website, I have vigorously opposed and vehemently stood against warfare in all its forms. There is no ideology that can justify mass murder, no economic or governmental policy that justifies terrorizing an entire populace, and at the end of the day that's what warfare is! What's all this killing for, for what purpose? If we pause to step back and examine the reasons for warfare, I see two little words coming to my mind – pillage and plunder. Or, if anyone prefers, criminal activity are two other words that could be substituted. Jesus summed this point up perfectly when He said, “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.”

Of course, I can practically hear all these 'conservative Christians' say these wars are necessary to address the perceived threat of militant Islam. They are likely excoriating me even as they read this (if any of them are actually reading this at all), stating that I'm not patriotic enough, or that if I don't help kill more Muslims they will be at my doorstep to kill me. Problem is, this is the kind of thinking that gets wars started in the first place! Still others would – and do – say that if America doesn't take a more aggressive stance in the Middle East in order to protect and defend “our” oil, that we will be cut off from “our” petroleum reserves and suffer a military and economic defeat of unimaginable proportions. The problem I have with that is the internal combustion engine is at the end of its useful life span. At the very least, America should have converted over to much cleaner-burning natural gas decades ago after the Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970's. At best, the US should have engaged in a crash-program of developing battery and solar-powered cars and trucks, again starting decades ago, but no! There's still too much oil in the ground for the 'big oil' companies to simply walk away from, there's too much profit to be made! Never mind that all those car, bus and truck engines and slowly asphyxiating our planet – the only one we've got! Never mind that more people die from respiratory illnesses caused by pollution globally than from cigarette smoking! We Americans, I conclude, are indirectly responsible for the catastrophe of Aleppo. Those who support 'blood for oil' – mainly the US political, military and corporate systems and their respective organizations and entities, are accessories to the murder of hundreds of thousands just in Aleppo alone, not counting the remainder of Syria. Moreover, the fact that these are primarily Muslims who are dying is, to me at least, completely beside the point! And what is the point? Murder, no matter what the context or circumstances, is wrong. Period, end of story. And so, I sit here at home today and I silently weep. I, too, weep for Aleppo.

This week we begin a new series on the apostle Luke

The Apostle Luke Series, Installment One

[Luke chapter 1, verses 1-25]

Today I will begin a new series of Bible studies, the gospel according to Luke, an apostle of Christ Jesus, who is the Son of God, hallelujah! Chapter one of Luke's gospel is 80 verses long, so I'm breaking this first chapter up into three parts. As we begin chapter one at verse one, we find this gospel being addressed to one “Theophilus” in the form of a very long letter. So who was this guy Theophilus? According to 'gotquestions.org', “The fact is that we really do not know who Theophilus was, which is why there are several different theories as to who he might be. No matter how much evidence there may or may not be for each theory, the simple fact is we do not who Theophilus was because the Bible does not identify who he was. However, from the context of Luke and Acts, it seems clear that Luke is writing to a specific individual, even though his message is also intended for all Christians in all centuries. While both the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts have applications for all Christians, they were probably written to a specific individual whom Luke addresses as “most excellent Theophilus”. Since it seems clear that Theophilus was an actual person, …it is important to note that Luke addresses him as “most excellent,” a title often used when referring to someone of honor or rank, such as a Roman official.... Therefore, one of the most common theories is that Theophilus was possibly a Roman officer or high-ranking official in the Roman government.” So now that we have determined that Theophilus' true identity has been lost in the mists of time, let's begin exploring Luke's gospel.

“Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word. Therefore, since I myself have investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. In the time of Herod King of Judea there was a man named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's regulations and commandments blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.” (Luke 1, verses 1-7)

King Herod of Judea was an appointed dictator and king sent from Rome. The Roman Empire was at its peak during the time this was written, which will become increasingly clear as we continue to read this gospel. The “priestly division” Luke refers to here alludes to the Tribe of Levi. These were the Levitical priests who performed the animal sacrifice rituals that were required in the Old Testament, which was still in force historically speaking, but was about to come to an end with the impending birth of Christ, which had not yet occurred. So Hezekiah was a Levitical priest from the division of “Abijah”, which presumably is a division of the Tribe of Levi (for a more detailed explanation check out Exodus chapters 28 and 29 as well as Leviticus chapter 21 and the first half of chapter 22). Despite their unfruitful marriage, both Zechariah and Elizabeth had remained faultless and faithful to the Lord in everything they did. I find this quite noteworthy in a world where many people change spouses as if they were putting on a new set of clothes.

“Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and a delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, and he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and the power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of their fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.' Zechariah asked the angel, 'How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.' The angel answered, 'I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.'” (Luke 1: verses 8-20)

What is actually occurring here is the fulfillment of Zechariah's responsibilities, which is that only one of the priests is allowed inside the inner sanctuary, one who is designated by what amounted to the pulling of straws. So that day was Zechariah's 'short straw' day to burn incense in the Temple. Only the designated high priest was allowed to enter the Temple to burn incense or make any kind of offering under penalty of death, according to the Old Testament (see the Books of Leviticus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy in no particular order). But, after Zechariah enters the “Holy of Holys”, as the Bible calls the inner sanctuary, something most unexpected happens. “Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and a delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, and he will be great in the sight of the Lord.” So the prayers of Zechariah and Elizabeth, we find out, have been answered by God. Immediately afterwards, the angel who appeared to Zechariah tells him what his son's name will be, and that his about-to-be conceived son will be a servant of the Lord's. If you were about to become a parent, what would you think or say if an angel appeared to you? Needless to say, this is not exactly a commonplace occurrence, which is why Zechariah was so terrified. It probably would have unnerved me too.

“...he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and the power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of their fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” This is one of the earliest mentions of the Holy Spirit in the Bible, particularly for the New Testament. The naming of Elijah, an Old Testament prophet (see 1^st Kings 17: 1 and 2^nd Kings chapter 2), is noteworthy here. Zechariah is being told that his unborn son would take up where the prophet Elijah left off centuries earlier. Zechariah's unborn son, as it turns out, fills Elijah's shoes very well indeed. “Zechariah asked the angel, 'How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.' The angel answered, 'I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.'” This, my dear readers, is what can happen to anyone who doubts God's word. “You don't think you can accomplish the Lord's will for your life”, said the archangel Gabriel? “Fine, because you won't be accomplishing much else until God allows it, because I am going to make you mute until the day of your son's birth”. Never, ever doubt the word of the Lord! If He says something is going to come true, it will with 100% certainty! And now let's finish this week's lesson starting where we left off at verse 21.

“Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the Temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the Temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 'The Lord has done this for me', she said. 'In these days he has shown His favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.'” (Luke 1, verses 21-25)

So Zechariah comes out of the Temple, unable to tell anyone why he had been in there so long. He then goes home, and can't tell his wife either. This must have made Elizabeth at least somewhat perplexed, and I only imagine the one-sided conversation that took place between Zechariah and Elizabeth (“Why can't you tell me what happened? Are you sure you're not hiding something from me? I can tell if you are, you know!”) But by the mercy and grace of God, he and his wife conceive! Moreover, they both know the gender of the child before he was born, something that was unheard of back in those times. But in the end, Elizabeth says a prayer that basically says, “Thank you, Lord, that I have finally conceived a son. You have made people respect me just by letting me get pregnant, for they used to show contempt for me because I was barren”. This goes to show you how much times have changed over the centuries. Back then, women were scorned if they couldn't have children. These days, it's quite the opposite. Single women with children are oftentimes singled out as being 'immoral' or as having insatiable libidos, but I never have agreed with the stereotyping of single women with kids. The majority of them have escaped from abusive or violent relationships, and I will decline to judge them for that. In closing, we'll leave off right here for now, and we'll be starting up at verse 26 next week, where the births of Jesus is announced. So until then, have a blessed and safe week!

Poverty and Race in America, and Why This Is a Must-fix for America

Criminalizing America's Poor and People of Color

by Rev. Paul J. Bern

The number of laws criminalizing poverty and race are increasing as police shootings and homelessness worsens in America. From 2006 to 2012 there was a 12 percent increase in laws prohibiting camping out in public places, a 14 percent increase in laws prohibiting loitering, a 9 percent increase in laws prohibiting begging and a 8 percent increase in laws prohibiting “aggressive panhandling” (I would call that 'frantic begging by some really scared and desperate people'), according to a 2013 report by The National Coalition for the Homeless. At the same time, after a double-digit jump in 2008, homelessness increased by an average of 7 percent from 2009 to 2010, and an additional 7% increase from 2010 to 2012, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Task Force on Hunger and Homelessness.

Since 2012, America's twin social diseases, poverty and racism, have increased even more. At the rate this problem is growing, somewhere between 1 in 3 to 1 in 4 people will be homeless in America in another 15 years or so. That's how severe homelessness is becoming even as I write this. Among families with children, homelessness increased by 14 percent from 2012 to 2015, the last year for which figures are currently available. An average of 33 percent of homeless persons did not receive any assistance at all in 2015 because there weren't enough beds in the shelters, or because homeless shelters would not accept women (or men) with children. So, if you have kids and you wind up homeless in America, too bad for you! You and your children will freeze together in the cold. If you die from exposure to the elements on some January night, at least you'll all go out together. Gee, isn't that nice! And do these shelters who routinely discriminate against single parents and their kids think that God doesn't see what they are doing, or that He doesn't care? You can be sure that God will eternally punish these goody-two-shoes, self appointed public servants most severely!!

In today's economy, cities are facing really tight budgets, so they are often unable to build up or fund housing to meet this need. Many people are being forced to live out on the streets. The lucky ones get to sleep in their cars. The unlucky ones are found the following morning, beaten or frozen to death. In an essay published in 2012 in The Guardian, Barbara Ehrenreich, author of the New York Times bestselling book "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America," tells the story of a 62-year-old disabled veteran who was dragged from a homeless shelter to jail because he had an outstanding warrant for "criminal trespassing," which is how Washington, D.C., defines sleeping on the streets. In some areas of the country, cities are even beginning to crack down on well-meaning individuals who want to hand out free food to the homeless. Las Vegas passed an ordinance forbidding the sharing of food with any "person whom a reasonable ordinary person would believe to be entitled to apply for or receive" public assistance. In Florida, Gainesville law limits the number of people soup kitchens may serve daily. In Phoenix, zoning officials actually stopped a local church from serving breakfast to homeless people.

Then, of course, there are the spate of police shootings. According to Minute News Press, “Though Americans commonly believe law enforcement’s role in society is to protect them and ensure peace and stability within the community, the sad reality is that police departments are often more focused on enforcing laws, making arrests and issuing citations. As a result of this, as well as an increase in militarized policing techniques, Americans are eight times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist, estimates a Washington’s Blog report based on official statistical data. Though the U.S. government does not have a database collecting information about the total number of police involved shootings each year, it’s estimated that between 600 and 1,000 Americans are killed by police officers each year. Since 9/11, over 5,000 Americans have been killed by U.S. police officers, which is equivalent to the number of U.S. soldiers who were killed in the line of duty in Iraq.” In an article from November 11, 2014, USA Today reported, “Police killings highest in two decades”, and I quote, “The number of felony suspects fatally shot by police last year — 461— was the most in two decades, according to a new FBI report. The justifiable homicide count, contained in the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report, has become increasingly scrutinized in recent months as questions continue to be raised about the use of lethal force by law enforcement. National attention has been drawn to cases from New York to Albuquerque, though much of the focus is on Ferguson, Mo., where the restive St. Louis suburb awaits the decision of a grand jury weighing the fatal shooting in August of a black teenager by a white police officer.” In the most egregious example to date that I know of, just this past week the police shot a six year old boy down in Florida. Six years old!!! Moreover, my black brothers and sisters are 2.5 times more likely to be shot by the police than whites. Considering that African-American people comprise about 15% of the US population, that number becomes even more disproportionate.

The phenomenon of criminalizing poverty isn't limited to the homeless, though. Speaking from experience – having been homeless myself up until 7 years ago – I would compare applying for welfare and food benefits – which often entails mug shots, fingerprinting and lengthy interrogations about child paternity – to being booked by the police. In Florida, legislators recently passed a law requiring welfare recipients to undergo drug screenings, according to CNN. In response to criticism from the ACLU over his decision to approve drug testing for welfare beneficiaries, former Florida Gov. Rick Scott told CNN the law encourages "personal accountability." People who can't afford to pay court fees or traffic tickets in Michigan are made to sit in jail. Pay-or-stay sentences are no choice for the poor. They translate to rich people pulling out a credit card and going home and poor people going to jail. It's a modern-day debtor's prison. This two-tiered system of justice is shameful, it's a waste of resources, it is unconstitutional, it is a gross violation of human rights and civil rights, and it urgently needs be changed.

As governments have cut funds to social welfare programs and passed laws that discriminate against the poor and people of color, the experience of America's poor has come to resemble that of a rat in a cage scrambling to avoid erratically administered electric shocks. Officials argue, though, that making it illegal to sleep, sit or store personal belongings in public spaces is not discriminatory, according to USA Today. "If you're lying on a sidewalk, whether you're homeless or a millionaire, you're in violation of the ordinance," said Joseph Patner, a city attorney who represented St. Petersburg, Fla, in 2009 when six homeless people filed a lawsuit against the city. "It's not right for taxpayer money to be paying for somebody's drug addiction," he said. "On top of that, this is going to increase personal responsibility, personal accountability. We shouldn't be subsidizing people's addiction."

Here in Atlanta where I live, it's just as bad if not worse. In the inner city neighborhood just west of downtown where I live and work, anywhere from one-third to one-half of the single-family homes are abandoned and/or boarded up. At least 10 to 20 percent of these orphaned homes are in such bad shape that a bulldozer is the only correct solution. But the majority of the other ones, though they are older dwellings, could be rehabilitated and lived in once again. But, since they are in an admittedly high-crime area, nobody wants them even though they are located only 5-10 minutes away from the mostly-revitalized downtown area. But since they are largely unwanted, many of these abandoned homes are inhabited by squatters who would otherwise be sleeping out in the weather. But as I wrote above, when the city of Atlanta police find people in these dwellings, they are immediately arrested for “criminal trespassing” and hauled off to jail. Few if any of these unlucky persons can bail themselves out of jail, so they languish behind bars until their court date, which can be anywhere from several weeks to several months. The fact that it costs the city an average of $65.00 per day to incarcerate these otherwise harmless individuals doesn't matter to the entrenched powers down at Atlanta City Hall.

To make matters worse, if there are children involved, they are forcibly taken away from their parents and placed in foster homes at best, or even juvenile detention at worst. This exacerbates the cycle of homelessness and poverty while creating new caseloads for social workers, therapists, psychiatrists and probation officers, among others. In so doing, the seeds of rage, addiction and abuse are planted within these impressionable young minds until they wind up being institutionalized as teens or adults, one way or the other. And all this continues to occur because certain wealthy and influential property owners would rather board up these abandoned houses that (allegedly) nobody wants, rather than sell them at a hefty discount for less profit. It is these wealthy and incredibly greedy property owners who should be in jail, not the homeless squatters who have no where else to go!

Is there a solution that we can afford as conscientious Americans? You can bet your bottom dollar there is! I explained it the following way in my 2011 nonfiction book, “The Middle and Working Class Manifesto”. If the US government took all the money it spends in just one day on the military budget for its clandestine presence in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Libya and Pakistan – among other places such as Western Europe – and invested those funds in an interest-bearing account at a bank, credit union or money market fund, there would be enough money to build a new 2,500 square foot house for every homeless person and/or family currently in America, fully furnished and with a year's supply of groceries for a family of four. That's right everyone – just one day's needless and pointless military expenditures would pay for all that! In closing, then, the fairness, compassion and equity of developed countries and their so-called “societies” can best be judged by how well they treat their least fortunate citizens. In that regard, I would say America has got a lot of work to do.

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