William Wilberforce: Avarice and sensuality are the root sins to slave trade

“These two vices of avarice and sensuality, the most powerful and predominant in nature thus corrupt, we tempt, we stimulate in all these African princes, and we depend upon these vices for the very maintenance of the slave trade. Does the king of Barbessin want brandy? He has only to send his troops, in the nighttime, to burn and desolate a village; the captives will serve as commodities, that may be bartered with the British trader.”

From William Wilberforce’s speech on abolition of the slave trade, including his 12 resolutions, delivered before the House of Commons in London – May 12, 1789.

“I determine to forget all my other fears, and I march forward with a firmer step in the full assurance that my cause will bear me out, and that I shall be able to justify upon the clearest principles, every resolution in my hand, the avowed end of which is, the total abolition of the slave trade.”

From William Wilberforce’s speech on abolition of the slave trade, including his 12 resolutions, delivered before the House of Commons in London – May 12, 1789.

“The key to true riches is not to hoard wealth, or to spend it on our pleasures, but to give it away. God blesses the generous, cheerful giver by providing more resources and opportunities for giving. In becoming like Christ, who gave away the riches of heaven so that we might ultimately share in them, we receive far more that we ever give away.”

Tony Payne in Cash Values: Studies about Money (Kingsford, Australia: Matthias Media, 2009) 40.

“We must bring money back to its simple role as a material instrument. When money is no more than an object, when it has lost its seductiveness, its supreme value, its superhuman splendor, then we can use it like any other of our belongings, like any machine. Of course, even if this relieves our fears, we must always be vigilant and very attentive because the power is never totally eliminated.

Now this profanation is first of all a result of a spiritual battle, but this must be translated into behaviour. There is one act par excellence which profanes money by going directly again the law of money, an act for which money is not made. This act is giving.”

Jacques Ellul in Money and Power (Marshall Morgan and Scott, 1986) 110.

“God’s Word teaches a very hard, disturbing truth. Those who neglect the poor and the oppressed are really not God’s people at all—no matter how frequently they practice their religious rituals nor how orthodox are their creeds and confessions.”

Ron Sider in Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005) 58.

Here are the lyrics to a 2:23 video, which my daughter helped produce in San Diego this summer for Operation Christmas Child.

Every year we celebrate
Getting presents is really great
But we all know there’s more than that
Cuz getting them is nice, but giving’s where it’s at
So when you’re wrapping presents with your family
Think about those people who need you and me.

Christmas is here again
Everybody sing it out
Christmas is here again
And you know without a doubt
Join the rhyme and make the time to freely give
So let’s help one another live

As we make our Christmas list
Wondering if there’s something we have missed
People out in the world somewhere
Need to know that somebody cares
So when you’re wrapping presents with your family
Think about those people who need you and me.

Christmas is here again
Everybody sing it out
Christmas is here again
And you know without a doubt
Join the rhyme and make the time to freely give
So let’s help one another

Christmas is here again
Everybody sing it out
Christmas is here again
And you know without a doubt
Join the rhyme and make the time to freely give
So everyone
Join the fun

Help someone
Christmas is here again
Get out there and give.

Operation Christmas Child Musical – Get Out There and Give!
Performed by Christian Youth Theater – Sophie Hoag has blonde hair, is wearing a lime green shirt and appears from 0:20-0:39 and briefly at 1:45-1:46 of this 2:23 video. Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgpGSTdlP1U

C.T. Studd was a rich and famous English athlete who sold his entire estate, gave it away and went to the mission field to serve Christ. He summed up the perspective that motivated him: “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

C.T. Studd (1860-1931) as recounted by Randy Alcorn in Money, Possessions, and Eternity (Tyndale House: Wheaton, 2003) 417.

“God’s will is that our lives should be “a perpetual crisis of dependence on him.” We defeat his will in our lives when we lay up treasures on earth.

The life of faith does not follow automatically when a person becomes a Christian. It requires deliberate action on our part. This is especially true in an affluent society. The believer must put himself in a position where he is compelled to trust God…

It is only as he gets rid of his reserves and other false supports that he can truly launch out into the deep…

God pours out his choices blessings on those who are anxious that nothing shall stick to their hands. Individuals who value the rainy day above the present agony of the world will get no blessing from God…

How utterly in keeping with this age of grace it is for us to sell our prized possessions–our diamonds and other jewelry, our original paintings, our antique furniture, our sterling silver, our stamp collections–and put the proceeds to work in the salvation of souls throughout the world.”

William MacDonald in True Discipleship (Kansas City: Walterick Publishers, 1976) 92-93, 108.

“Wealth takes away the sharp edges of our moral sensitivities and allows a comfortable confusion about sin and virtue. The difference between rich and poor is not that the rich sin is more than the poor, that the rich find it easier to call sin a virtue.”

Henri Nouwen in Gracias!: A Latin American Journal (Harper and Row, 1983) 159.

“Wherefore do you applaud yourself in those vain and silly conceits, as if you were withheld from good works by fear and solicitude for the future? … Yea, confess what is the truth…

You are a captive and slave of your money; you are bound with the chains and bonds of covetousness; and you whom Christ had once loosed are once more in chains. You keep your money, which, when kept, does not keep you…

Why do you watch in loneliness over your riches? Why for your punishment do you heap up the burden of your patrimony, that in proportion as you are rich in this world, you may become poor to God?

Divide your returns with the Lord your God; share your gains with Christ; make Christ a partner with you in your earthly possessions, that He also may make you a fellow-heir with Him in His heavenly kingdom.”

Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200-258) in On Works and Alms 13.