Who Robs A Food Bank?
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports:
A local nonprofit is in dire need of help after thieves broke into its food pantry last weekend and walked away with office equipment and cleared out its shelves.
Larry Kapchinsky, the co-founder of KidCare International, estimates this has set back the pantry about $20,000. Now he’s asking the community to help them feed needy families this holiday season.
“A whole year of preparing for this season got wiped out in one night,” he said … Kapchinsky said he was in disbelief when the volunteer called to tell him the news. “Who steals from a food bank? We would have given them help if they just asked,” he said.
Kapchinsky says the suspects went into the freezer and took almost all the items, leaving unwanted items in the freezer. Those items went to waste because the freezer door stayed open.
“What they didn’t steal, they trashed,” he said.
Some people would rather resort to desperate measures, including stealing from a food bank, rather than ask for the help they need.
But thanksgiving begins with a willingness to receive. Don’t rob God of the gratitude He is due because you don’t know how to receive what has been freely given to you. And understand that even more valuable than all of the things the world has to offer is the possession of a grateful heart. Gratitude makes us rich. Possessing the whole world, without the proper gratitude toward God, leaves us poor.
“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36).
Finger and Thumb Deception
A pastor and collector of SATURDAY EVENING POST paraphernalia shares the following illustration of the subtleties of violating the eighth commandment, "Thou shalt not steal":
… You may remember the SATURDAY EVENING POST covers that dealt with this particular commandment. The picture I’m referring to shows a woman buying a fresh turkey for Thanksgiving. The bird is lying on the scales and the butcher is standing in back of the counter…apron pulled tight over his fat stomach…pencil tucked behind his ear. The customer, a lady looking to be about 60 years young, stands watching the weighing in of the big bird. In the picture, both the lady and the butcher have pleased looks on their faces…as if each knew a secret joke.
Now, to see the reason for their knowing smiles you have to look closely at their hands. For, the butcher is pushing DOWN on the scales with a big fat thumb and the woman is pushing UP on the other side with a dainty forefinger. Neither is aware of what the other was doing so both apparently think they are getting the best of the other….STEALING without the other even knowing. I don’t remember the caption but I suppose it could be something like: “The case of the butcher’s THUMB and the lady’s FOREFINGER” But, whatever it’s title, it does serve to illustrate our attitude toward the 8th commandment.
*Click here to see a picture of the Leslie Thrasher classic "Tipping the Scales," which adorned the cover of THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, Oct 3, 1936.
He continues:
You see, both the butcher and the lady would resent being called thieves. The lady would never rob a bank or steal a car and if the butcher had a customer to give him a bad check, he would call the police and report a crime. But neither saw anything wrong with a little “finger or thumb deception” that would make a few cents for one or save a few cents for the other. And we are much like these two. We agree that this is a good commandment but we don’t think it really applies to us. After all we are not THIEVES!
Darkness Will Come To Light
Why didn’t the Germans smell the stench of the chimneys?
There were two types of prison camps in the Nazi regime used for the enemies of the Reich. The first was the work camp. There was no gassing of prisoners at those locations; victims were just worked to death. Dachau was the first. It was the model for all of the others very close to Munich. The Germans knew about the work camps because they were in plain view all over Germany. Propaganda had desensitized the populous. Germans were encouraged to openly hate the Jews and blame them for the countries ills. The Jews were considered filth and got what they deserved. It is important to note that mass extermination did not occur in Germany. It is interesting that Dachau did, however, have a gas chamber but never used it. One might wonder why that was so. I think I have an answer.
The answer is in the locations of the second type of camps. These were the death camps. In these camps were the gas chambers and the crematoria. Auschwitz-Birkenau was constructed in the south of Poland, and Treblinka, Sobibor, and Belzec were built in the far east of Poland. All of these were remote. One might ask why the Nazis built those camps so far away from the German population. The Nazis were evil, but they were not stupid.
The local Polish population was well aware of what was going on in their midst. Train cars of people were rumbling into these locations, unloading (like cattle) far more bodies than the camps could possibly hold. The air was filled with a very disagreeable odor of burning human flesh. Many locals worked at the camps. Why didn't they object? The simple fact is that Germany occupied the country, and the Reich would have killed objectors if they spoke up. The population had been overrun and was simply in fear. Hitler had no fear of the Polish people. He did not have to deceive them. He did not need their support. On the other hand, Germans needed assurance that all was well in the Fatherland and that their Fuhrer was noble.
The average German was misled by the great propaganda tools of the Reich. Those who opposed the Reich were marginalized and eliminated. First, those critical of Nazism were called names and were declared enemies of the people of Germany. Later, they just disappeared. The issue was not the propaganda itself. In a free society, there will always be propaganda. The problem was the media monopoly. In public, all was "Wunderbar," the great German Reich was the model of the world in culture, engineering, science, breeding, and finance, but behind the scenes, hidden from the eyes of the people, treachery and tyranny were afoot.
What was the purpose of the locations of the camps? The obvious fact is that the Nazis located the death camps far away from the people's eyes because even Nazis feared how much it would disgust the average German. Men love darkness because their deeds are evil.
America would never be guilty of any such horrors... right?
Well, may I remind you of the "Tuskegee Syphilis Study"? Our federal government and the CDC performed this study. In an area of Alabama, there was a large outbreak of Syphilis. About 600 Poor, uneducated black men were lied to and told that they would receive free medical treatment. They were not to receive any treatment at all. The purpose of the study was to observe the effects of the disease on untreated men. The study was to last only about six to eight months, but when it lost much of its funding, the overseers changed the plans. They could have curred many of these trusting men. Instead of stopping the already villainous practice and treating the men, they allowed them to die horrible deaths while they observed. The study went on for 40 years. Yes, it ended in 1972! This travesty was all in the name of public health.
The Germans never smelled the chimneys because the Nazis hid them. We may not smell the camp chimneys' stench yet, but I sure do smell a rat. Before you roll your eyes in disbelief, be honest enough to admit from history how easily masses are manipulated by first pressure then by fear....and by the way, you might also ask the American Indian if our government was trustworthy before you let your guard down.
Even now, there are people busy hiding the chimneys.
"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13).