Granted, I can see why gas prices would go up a little with a hurricane passing through where the nation’s refineries are located.  BUT…

  You can’t tell me that the gasoline that was being sold at $3.56 at 10 AM was worth $4.00 at 2 PM and $4.41 at 4 PM.  And please spare me the economic lesson about supply and demand.  I passed that class in college.  I don’t care what the demand is, right is right and wrong is wrong.  And it is wrong to charge people and extra 40-60 cents a gallon just because there’s a run on gas OR that you can charge that much.  I don’t care what the situation is… it is WRONG to take advantage of people in order to make an buck.

  If anything, the Christian thing to do would be to continue selling the gasoline at the same profit margin until you run out.  THAT would be in keeping with Philippians 1:27, “Whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the Gospel.”

  I don’t have a problem with people earning a living, but I do have a problem with people taking advantage of others in an extreme circumstance to make buck.  That is just sin! 

  Lev 19:35 “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. 36  You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 And you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the Lord.” 

  Deut 25:13 You shall not have in your bag two kinds of weights, a large and a small. 14 You shall not have in your house two kinds of measures, a large and a small.15 A full and fair weight you shall have, a full and fair measure you shall have, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the Lord your God.

There is a difference between selling an item at  twice what you paid for it when is not an item of necessity AND jacking up prices for an item of necessity and thereby taking advantage of people in a time of need.  That goes for gasoline… bread… food… water… plywood or whatever else is deemed a “necessity” at a particular time.  And God is watching…

The problem in America is greed.  It is of self first and everyone else later.  It is a “getting what’s mine” mentality.  What grieves me is that tomorrow morning there will be a lot of people sitting in Sunday School classes… singing in choirs… teaching Sunday School… and participating in worship who benefit unfairly by taking advantage of others.  And God is watching…

Whatever happened to doing what is RIGHT… regardless of whether it is legal or not?  Just because something is “legal” doesn’t mean it is right or in God’s will!  And God is watching…

I know a business man who pays his employees even when he doesn’t have work for them… because they have families and he wants to take care of them.  He isn’t required to do that (And other things).  Truth be told he doesn’t make as much as he could because he does what is right.  Why?  Because he is a believer in Christ.  And God is watching…

I want every price gouger to have a Zaccheaus event.  Luke 19:8-10, “And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.’ 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.  10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

In case we missed it… God is watching…