Greensy Grumblings

I am cleaning out my filing cabinet this morning.
I have come across some great quotes in my 'clippings' section, but I thought I would post this one:

"We understand God's predisposition for the poor, the message is one of Personal transformation and regeneration through redemption and Social Reformation to address those complex issues which contribute to poverty and keep people poor - laws that deny justice, greed of the industrialists, the lust of men, power.

He [Booth] and his Army recognised that poverty was caused not just by personal lifestyle choices, but by the greed of industrialists and sweatshop owners, the lust of men who prey on young girls, rampant disease in overcrowded tenements, the indifference of those with means, and laws that deny justice. And it is powerlessness, hopelessness, malaise, isolation, voicelessness, lack of community, deliberate oppression, that mars the identity of the poor, whether the unemployed of Whitechapel Road in London, or the untouchables of Kanyakumari in India.

The gospel is good news to the poor because it addresses their powerlessness and shines a light on the web of lies that entangles them in a hopeless status quo. There are chains and bars that must be taken away. There are sinister forces that impose barriers. There are vested interests that do not want the poor to become self-sufficient."

Colonel Herb Rader