And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.
Take thou nor usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.   Leviticus 25:35-36

Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.
For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and thy needy, in thy land.  Deuteronomy 15:10-11

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.
Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.  If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity.
And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Isaiah 58:6-11

He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.  Proverbs 14:31

All the brethren of the poor do hate him: how much more do his friends to far from him? he pursueth them with words, yet they are wanting to him. Proverbs 19:7

Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard. Proverbs 21:13

He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.  Proverbs 22:9

And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
And went to him, and bound him up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him. Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves.
And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go and do thou likewise. Luke 10:20-37

It was a cold winter’s day that Sunday. The parking lot to the church was filling up quickly. I noticed as I got out of my car that fellow church members were whispering among themselves as they walked to the church. As I got closer, I saw a man leaned up against the wall outside the church. He was almost lying down as if he was asleep. He had on a long trench coat that was almost in shreds, and a hat topped his head, pulled down so you could not see his face. He wore shoes that looked 30 years old, too small for his feet, with holes all over them. His toes stuck out. I assumed this man was homeless and asleep, so I walked on by through the doors of the church. We all gathered for fellowship for a few minutes, and someone brought up the man lying outside. People snickered and gossiped, but no one bothered to ask him to come in, including me. A few moments later, church began. We all waited for the preacher to take his place and to give us the Word, when the doors to the church opened. In came the homeless man walking down the aisle with his head down. People gasped and whispered and made faces. He made his way down the aisle and up onto the pulpit. He took off his hat and coat. My heart sank. There stood our preacher. . .he was the “homeless man.” No one said a word. The preacher took his Bible and laid it on the stand. “Folks, I don’t think I have to tell you what I am preaching about today.”

Author Unknown

The huge crowd hushed as he stepped up to speak, “We can’t keep the Christians from going to church.  We can’t keep them from reading their Bibles & knowing the truth.  We can’t even keep them from conservative values.  But we can do something else.  He paused, Everyone listened,  We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding experience in Christ.  If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.  So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can’t gain that experience in Jesus Christ.  This is what I want you to do.  Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining a vital connection through their day!’

“How shall we do this?”, shouted his angels. “Simply, keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent un-numbered schemes to occupy their minds,” he answered.

“Tempt them to spend and spend, then, borrow and borrow.  Convince the wives to go to work and the husbands to work 6 or 7 days a week, 10-12 hrs. a day, so they can afford their lifestyles.  Keep them from spending time with their children.  Tell them they are doing it  FOR their children, Hah, that one works well.  As their family fragments, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work.”

“Over stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear THE still small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, the VCR, and their CD’s going constantly in their homes.  And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays music constantly .  This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ.” “Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers.  Pound their minds with the news 24 hrs. a day.  Invade their driving moments with billboards.  Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogues, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering, free products, services, and false hopes.”

“Even in their recreation, let them be excessive.  Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week.  Don’t let them go out in nature.  Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead.

And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotion.  Don’t let them encourage or uplift each other, keep those who are gifted encouragers, especially busy and worn out.  And above all when they get together keep them from PRAYING for one another.”

“Let them be involved in soul-winning.  But crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ.  Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family unity for the good of the cause.” It was quite a convention in the end.  And the evil angels went eagerly to their assignments trying to cause Christians everywhere to get  busy, busy, busy & rush here & there.

If we are too busy for  God, then we are too busy.

Author Unknown