The title says it, but let’s talk about what that actually means. The Church is called to take care of the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized—the least of these. But not the way progressive “Christians” would have you think. No, the modern leftist Evangelical, or worse, these apostate mainline Protestant denominations, have built entire ideologies around twisting this concept to such a grotesque degree that it’s barely recognizable.

These people—whether it be leftist Southern Baptists, the David French/Russell Moore/Curtis Chang “After Party” circus, or the transgender lesbian wearing a rainbow stole standing behind a PCUSA “pulpit”—have constructed a pseudo-gospel. One that paints the lazy, the entitled, and the irresponsible as “oppressed,” demanding that everyone else pick up their slack under the guise of compassion.

First, we need to make one thing perfectly clear. When the Bible speaks of the poor, it’s not talking about people who refuse to work or make foolish decisions with their lives. In fact, Scripture condemns such behavior repeatedly.

Yet, here we are, with so-called “Christians” arguing that we ought to support a welfare state—a bloated system that incentivizes laziness—because, apparently, this is what it means to “take care of the least of these.”

You can practically hear the covetousness dripping from their rhetoric as they demand wealth redistribution, not because they care about justice, but because they simply want what others have. They’re lazy, and they want your hard-earned money to prop up their slothful lifestyles.

The modern leftist Evangelical, of course, wouldn’t put it in such blunt terms. They’ll wrap it up in a veneer of sanctimony, pretending that it’s all about “justice” and “equality.” But don’t be fooled. What’s really at play here is nothing more than old-fashioned greed. It’s the politics of envy dressed up in theological garb.

And let’s not forget—these people love to talk about “oppression” and “marginalization,” as if there’s some vast conspiracy by those of us with a work ethic to keep others down. But here’s the truth they don’t want to hear, in America, if you’re poor, it’s overwhelmingly the result of bad choices. Laziness, sloth, and fatherlessness are the main culprits, not some imaginary system of oppression.

And let’s be honest—by biblical standards, no one in America even truly qualifies as poor. Even the so-called “poorest” among us have access to more resources than most people around the world could even dream of. They have housing, food stamps, free healthcare—luxuries by global and historical standards. But that doesn’t stop these progressives from screaming about “systemic injustice.”

You’ve heard the tired refrain: “It’s not their fault. They’re victims.” Victims of what, exactly? A system that rewards hard work and responsibility? That’s the real issue for them. They don’t want to admit that they’ve failed, that they’ve squandered opportunities, and that their laziness is the reason they’re in the position they’re in. So, they’ve created a cultural bogeyman … systemic injustice.

It’s laughable, really, when you consider how they twist the biblical concept of justice. The Bible condemns true injustice—exploiting workers, cheating the poor, or abusing the helpless. And yes, these things do happen. But what the left has done is hijack this idea to justify their own greed. They want the government to step in and forcibly take from the responsible and give to the irresponsible.

It’s not charity. It’s legalized theft. And what’s worse, they have the impudence to call this “compassion.”

Compassion?

There’s nothing compassionate about incentivizing laziness. There’s nothing compassionate about enabling a culture of entitlement. Real compassion looks like helping people break free from the cycles of bad behavior, not encouraging them to remain stuck in them.

The progressive’s entire worldview is built on this sham—this notion that the “least of these” are some kind of oppressed class that needs saving from the big, bad “straight, white, male,” conservative Christians with a work ethic. But in reality, their cries for “justice” are nothing more than veiled demands for handouts.

They want the benefits of hard work without putting in any of the effort. And make no mistake—this is rooted in sin. Covetousness, pure and simple. They see what others have, and instead of working for it themselves, they demand that it be handed to them on a silver platter.

You know what the Bible says about this? Proverbs 13:4: “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.” Sluggard—that’s the biblical term for such people. They crave what they have not earned. And instead of looking inward, instead of taking responsibility for their own lives, they point the finger at the rest of us. They cry “injustice” when the real injustice is the fact that they refuse to do what’s necessary to improve their situation.

The Church is called to take care of the poor, yes—but let’s define “poor” biblically. True poverty, the kind that the Bible speaks of, refers to people who are genuinely unable to work due to circumstances beyond their control—whether that be age, disability, or some unavoidable calamity.

These people deserve our compassion and help, and the Bible calls us, as Christians, to step in when family or other means of support are unavailable. But let’s not conflate this with the welfare queens and professional moochers who’ve learned to milk the system for all it’s worth. The Bible is clear that if a man will not work, he shall not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). There’s no ambiguity there.

But progressives hate that verse, don’t they? They hate it because it shines a spotlight on their hypocrisy. They want to pretend that their calls for a welfare state are rooted in biblical compassion, but what they really want is a system that enables their laziness. And they have the nerve to claim that conservatives, the ones who actually work hard and take responsibility, are the ones oppressing them.

Here’s the crux of the issue, these leftist “Christians” aren’t just wrong. They’re apostate. They are false teachers. They’ve abandoned the true gospel in favor of a counterfeit—one that replaces repentance and faith with entitlement and covetousness.

They’ve bought into the lie that salvation comes through government programs and handouts, rather than through the blood of Christ. They worship at the altar of the welfare state, offering up your tax dollars as sacrifices to their god of envy.

Let’s call it what it is, the welfare state isn’t about justice. It’s about greed. It’s about laziness. It’s about sluggards demanding what they haven’t earned. And the so-called Christians who push for this are nothing more than false prophets leading others into the same pit of sin they’ve fallen into themselves.

So, the next time someone tells you that the Church is called to support the “least of these” by backing a welfare state, remember this—the real least of these aren’t the lazy, the entitled, or the slothful. The real least of these are the truly oppressed, the truly vulnerable, those who cannot help themselves.

And no government program is going to fix what’s wrong with people who refuse to take responsibility for their own lives. Only repentance, hard work, and the life-altering power of the gospel can do that.