Oppress the Poor? The Bible Calls you Wicked

“The wicked who oppress the poor are like a hailstorm that beats down the harvest.” (Proverbs 28:3, The Message) 

I don't think that we take the Scriptures admonitions to help the poor seriously enough sometimes.  Here Solomon says that if you oppress the poor you are wicked, because it is wicked people who oppress the poor.  

It is one thing to disagree on how the poor should be handled.  Should we make them work (if able) for money handed out to them? There is a good argument that this is not only biblical, but helpful.  One person would make them work, another would just want to hand things out.  This is a disagreement in principle which is no sin.

However, when the poor become a political football, useful for no other reason than to get one elected; or when they are oppressed by the financial powers that be (which often happens in our country), now we have wickedness.  This is when we as followers of Christ should stand up and call the oppressors out.