will a man rob god... through wage theft?

“…The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live…”
(Ecclesiastes 9.3)
 
Wherewith shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before the high God?
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;
and what doth the LORD require of thee,
but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?
​(Micah 6.6, 8)

america's mad state of rebellion:
will a man rob god... through wage theft?
​1 march 2022

The Old Testament is the longest of the standard works. In fact, it is longer than all the other standard words combined. Except for a few dozen proof-texts, we Latter-day Saints ignore about 95% of the Book. One of our favorite proof-texts comes from the Book of Malachi. We hear it quoted in Sunday School. In priesthood. In Relief Society. In sacrament services. It would be interesting to know how many general conferences have concluded without having this passage quoted. My guess is, not many.
 
In wonderment at Judah’s failure to “bring… tithes into the storehouse” (Mal. 3.10), Malachi asks his famous question: “Will a man rob God?”
 
So, over and over again we are admonished to pay our tithing. We are assured that we will be personally blessed, the windows of heaven opening wide to flood our narcissistic little worlds with benefits—for this appeal to our self-centeredness is the only way, it seems, to move us to action.
 
Just verses earlier, however, Malachi complains of another theft. This one gets no press. It would be interesting to know whether it has ever been quoted in a single one of the 191 general conferences. My guess is not.
 
“And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts” (Mal. 3.5).
 
Wage theft is as much robbery as shorting the Lord in tithes. Both are a violation of God’s law. Indeed, wage theft is lumped together with sorcery and adultery. Why, then, has this warning against wage theft been so often, almost vigorously ignored while other sins, no more perverted, are incessantly harped on? Is it because many of us do not see wage theft as a threat to our narcissistic lives—as a problem impacting others and so of little consequence to us? And yet, this theft is far, far more pervasive and destructive to individuals and society than a few measly million “saints” giving something less than 10% of their income to fund an already hugely wealthy church. Wage theft harms millions, perhaps billions. It has, in fact, become part of our global cottage industry. It is how business is conducted in 2022. Take, for example, the following example from the United States—by no means one of the most obscene examples of wage theft.
 
“Thousands of part-time workers at the United Parcel Service (UPS) around the US were recently informed that their hourly wages would be cut, eliminating raises implemented in 2021 at some hubs as a means to attract and retain workers in the tighter labor market.
 
“Alex Sanchez, a part-time UPS worker in Ontario, California, for one year, said part-time workers at his hub had their base rate increased in 2021 from $15.33 an hour to $18 an hour.
 
“‘We were told that the raise was permanent,’ said Sanchez.
 
“At the end of January, Sanchez said he was informed that his hourly wage and those of every other part-time employee at UPS would revert back to $15.33 an hour.
 
“UPS reported record profits in 2021 as it increased shipping prices; its profits grew nearly tenfold in 2021 to $12.89bn from $1.34bn in 2020. Its stock price hit a record high in February 2022. UPS is projecting more growth in 2022, with the expectation to hit 2023 financial goals a year early. The company approved a $5bn stock buyback program in August 2021” (“‘This $3 cut takes a toll’: UPS slashes pay for part-time workers as profits grow,” Michael Sainato, Guardian).
 
When we consider the degree to which wage theft takes place in America, and the number of individuals who are victimized by corporate robber barens, our willful indifference toward and ignoring of wage theft is all the more perplexing and, frankly, offensive. It not only makes us complicit in the crime, it leaves the victims of wage theft without advocates and subject to continued and additional violation.
 
Perhaps, one might argue that because God is the greatest of all robbing God is worse than robbing one’s fellow man or woman. But, if Jesus is to be trusted, this is patently false; for he makes clear that whatever we do to even the least of those among us, we do to God (See Mat. 25.31-46). A Book of Mormon king, inspired by the same spirit that inspired Jesus, asserted that “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God (Mos. 2.17). So, robbery of our fellow men and women is the same as robbing God.
 
I don’t know who or how many of those who are reading this right now are guilty of robbing their fellow man and God through wage theft. If there are those who are guilty of such blatant rebellion against God, repent. But, that is not the end of the matter. Those of us who may not be guilty of this crime, may be implicated in the crime through our disinterested silence and our cowardly, selfish refusal to advocate for the millions and billions of workers being harmed by wage theft. We remain complicit in the crime so long as we join in electing and supporting immoral leaders who “decree unrighteous decrees” and “write grievousness” in a vain attempt to turn that which is immoral into something that is moral and to call good what is evil. They, with their business partners, are bandits. They are robbers, who
 
turn aside the needy from [justice],   
   and… take away the right from the poor of my people,  
that widows may be their prey,   
   and that they may rob the fatherless!”
 
And what, what,
 
“what will ye do in the day of visitation,   
   and in the desolation which shall come from far?   
to whom will ye flee for help?  
   and where will ye leave your glory?” (Isaiah 10.1-3)
 
Yes, wage theft is sin. It carries serious consequences. Those who engage in it and those who do and say nothing to challenge its evil will, “with the wicked, lift up [their] eyes in hell, being in torment” (DC 104.18).
 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!