Teamwork Failures 2

I want us to focus on the modern family unit and marriage.

It is tragic that many a modern woman thinks she is spiritual when she is trashing her captain.

She will thus make spiritually binding decisions and actions without as much as informing her ‘dumb’ husband.

The worse tragedy is that quite a number of modern men think this is fine, some even appreciating it.

The truth of the matter is that the captain is the extension of the coach in the field.

Disregarding or despising the captain is akin to insulting the coach.

Bypassing the captain by going for instructions from the coach is openly rebelling against the same coach you are seeking instructions from since he is the one who appointed the captain.

You may complain against the captain but you have no choice in the team but submit to him.

I am thinking of these women who make their husbands the focus of their prayers thinking that they are very spiritual in so doing. Yet they are doing the exact opposite.

Taking your bedroom issues outside without following protocol is counterproductive because it is insulting to the coach.

Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. (1Peter 3: 1, 2)

It is by submitting to the captain that will draw him to seek the direction of the coach, not questioning his leadership.

A spiritually submitted wife is the most effective evangelist to her husband.

Prayers and fasts and courses on this or the other have a zero capacity of drawing him to a decision to submit to the God you pretend to follow because it is a clear demonstration of rebellion, a rebellion he will instinctively resist.

Reporting your husband to that pastor or bishop for this or the other so that they may pray for your marriage is the sledgehammer you are using to completely kill that marriage.

My sister, that drunk husband; that womanising maniac, that free spending resource waster can only be brought to spiritual sanity by your recognising his position as your undisputed leader, however unqualified he may appear to be.

That same submission is what will show him the need to submit to the One who installed him as the captain of that structure.

Stop looking for pastors and bishops to talk sense to him. Just talk sense to yourself and recognise him as your lord as Sarah did to Abraham.

Then watch him melt. Watch him develop spiritual muscle and leadership that you never imagined he possessed.

Belittling him will kill his spirit.

Submitting to him will arouse the lion in him to protect, instruct and provide for you.

It is a basic inbuilt drive. It is instinctive for the most part.

Being raised to trash the divine order may diminish the drive. But it never kills it.

Give him the chance to lead and bask in the glory of realising a lion out what you saw as a house cat. Because that is what he was created to be.

Though it may be unpalatable for many who have been feeding on strange fair opposed to the divine order, it is the only solution God has for a world gone awry.

And it is good to give a small scriptural example.

Mary, Jesus’ mother was highly treated by the angel to the point that there are people who worship her to date.

Yet do you realise that after Joseph took responsibility for her there is not a single instance where we have God speaking to her, even about her and her Son?

Her responsibility became Joseph’s. Her relationship with God, however rich it was, was transferred to Joseph.

It is possible that handling that responsibility was too much for him that he was not around by the time Jesus became a public figure. And the reason Jesus transferred that responsibility to John when He was dying.

Another example worth noting in this respect is Manoah.

Never in the Bible do we see God explaining to a wife an order He gave her husband.

An example is that Moses was being killed simply because Zipporah did not understand or appreciate circumcision since it was foreign to her culture.

Yet what happens when an angel appears to Manoah’s wife? (by the way does she even have a name?)

Her husband questions the order (seeking clarity is more polite) and its source

God gives him the chance to interact with the same angel some other time, and not even issuing any other order. He simply repeated his earlier order.

That was because he was the one with the spiritual responsibility of raising Samson.

Remember Numbers 30?

Toxic Friendships 3

How do we avoid those toxic relationships?

How do we evade the common purse that offends God?

It is important to look at our fathers of the faith to get our lesson.

Abraham ran away from those partnerships even when the other partners requested them.

Remember when he was seeking a burial place for Sarah?

He refused to be given under any circumstances.

Receiving a gift unites someone with the source of that gift.

Remember also when he rescued Sodom?

Again, he refused his dues, however entitled he was to them.

Remember his argument?

Lest you say that you made Abraham rich.

A gift is a shortcut and a trap. It is the easiest way to unite purses.

Look also at him and Isaac in the case of wells.

They insisted on using water from the wells they had dug instead of sharing the available ones.

And even with Jacob they insisted on building on the plots of land they had purchased instead of the easily available lands as custom may have dictated.

Jacob insists of being paid by his father-in-law instead of sharing the wealth he had helped increase.

A common purse is a covenant with ambiguous terms. It is a covenant with shifting goalposts.

The worst part of it is that once entered it is almost impossible to exit because I continue enjoying the spoils of the same.

Treat this as an opening of our eyes to the devious nature of purses and the corrosive influence they exert.

And it does not only happen when Jehoshaphat meets Ahab.

It might happen when both were in their prime spiritual condition.

But it doesn’t stop when one party backslides or deserts the faith.

What do you think happened to Uzziah’s purse partners when he became a leper? What do you think happened to Asa’s purse friends when he lost God’s favor?

I believe the common purse is the reason repentance becomes very difficult for most, because there are friends who are ready to accompany you to hell due to that purse. There are friends who will stand with you no matter what because you are sharing a common purse.

That is why corrupt governments only change from a revolution, because there are purses supporting even the killers of their people. And they do not support because they agree with what they do. They only support because of the common purse they share.

Probably the most powerful way to avoid common purses as ministers is doing what David did; diverting all the gifts and emoluments to God’s project.

David had the project of building God a temple, a temple he was forbidden from building.

Yet he realised that whoever will build it would require immense resources.

He therefore transferred any extra resource he got, from the spoils of war to tribute to personal gifts, into that single project.

Transferring all giving directed at me to ministry would more or less make me incorruptible. Since corruption at its root is using communal resources to meet personal needs, or transferring communal resources into personal purses.

Incidentally, organisations and governments have that clearly spelt out in their statutes; that anything a leader receives by virtue of his position belongs to the organisation he serves.

There is a case involving a former leader being charged with personalising a watch he had received while on a tour in a foreign country. Simply because at the time he received it he had been representing the country he was then leading.

But few Gospel ministers want it to apply to ministry, though that is the point at which it is most applicable.

And I say this because there is nothing in us as ministers that draws giving to us except our association with God and His work.

Many people equate giving anything to a minister with giving it to God

My person fades into insignificance when taken out of the context of ministry.

Nobody thinks of the tribe of a minister before giving anything to them. Nobody thinks of their filial relationship to a minister before giving anything to them.

Personalising gifts is therefore as corrupt as in the case this former leader is dealing with, only that God never takes us to a physical court.

Allow me to demonstrate the beauty of dealing with gifts David’s way.

Imagine someone giving you a very expensive Bible for your use and you in turn give it to a fellow minister because you realise he needs it more than you do.

You have released three people from the ensnaring a gift normally does.

The giver has no way to connect his gift to you or the final recipient. And you have nothing tying you to the giver or recipient because you have become a channel for both. And I have seen a lot of that happening in my ministry.

I must hold the gift for me to share the purse.

Doing that also gives givers an opportunity to see first hand why you are in the ministry God has called you to and appreciate it.

They can then entrust more resources to you because they know there is nothing personal in your ministry.

They will stop looking for places and issues to give to because they know there is a safe hand to do it.

Of course, it will kill the manipulator because he will know that nothing he gives will stick on your person. He will also be thanked not for his personal gift as manipulators require but as a minister.

Gifts are powerful.

It means that the easier we learn to dissipate their power, the easier it becomes to escape from their grip.

A conduit is not easily polluted due to its way of operating.

A river is always fresh because it is always passing along what it receives.

Lakes and oceans become salty because they continue receiving water yet do not release any, meaning that only evaporation that releases water, increasing the concentration of other materials and sediment.

And I have seen that in the course of my ministry

Many times, God would tell me that the moneys (or portions of them) I receive are not mine and that He will send somebody to take them. And someone would come to me with the exact amount God had indicated was not mine to use.

And the same has also happened with resources where I would be gifted and God indicates that the gift was not mine, many times directing me to the ones needing them.

This releases me to listen to God concerning the things He allows to pass through my hands as opposed to hoarding them to the point of becoming a dead sea.

It is evident many ministers become uselessly salty through the gifts God allows them to handle.

Worse is that it opens them to entrapment by the sources of those gifts.

I know that this is a hard teaching.

But do we have any choice, really?

Positive Mammon 2

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18)

Allow me to focus this topic today on us ministers

And I do this because we know that judgment starts in God’s household.

And I must address us separately because for many of us we do not have the resources to pour into those enterprises, simply because we depend on others to supply our needs.

I do not earn money from ministering. But I know I am not speaking about the majority.

Some of us have no disposable income to do anything apart from the ministry God has called us to.

For example, it would be disastrous for me to take moneys God has availed for me to make books or audio Bibles to feed the hungry just as it would be for someone to take money God has released for a mission to be taken to an orphanage. On the same vein it would be as wicked to take money meant to feed the vulnerable for a mission.

There are churches that have abused designated giving and attracted judgment, and continue doing so.

But this does not absolve us from using mammon for kingdom purposes.

That is what I want us to look at.

A minister is a servant of another. A minister is a steward of someone else’s resources.

It is only that the Lord and Owner of those resources is not physically visible. Nor does He enforce our compliance towards His orders.

Many interpret that as not caring whether His orders are followed or not.

But nothing can be farther than the truth.

God holds us accountable for the last cent He has entrusted to us just as He does for every idle word we speak and every idle minute we waste.

It means God in a more demanding boss than the rest, only that He does not always hold the whip to enforce our obedience.

It is therefore instructive that we learn the basics of what is required of us by way of giving us a focus.

Who does God focus on?

This will guide us as we use mammon positively.

Matthew 25 talks about sheep and goats. This means that this can guide us on our use of mammon.

Needs.

And we see that even in the Old Testament.

Among the signs Jesus gave for John the Baptist to know that He was the Christ was that the poor have the Gospel preached to them.

Two things I want us to look at.

The first is, what is the focus of our ministry? Where is our focus for our ministry.

We would do well to imitate our Lord in that.

He focused on the downs and outs. He focused on the rejects. He focused on the hopeless. He focused on the sick and seeking. He focused on the ones nobody else dared associate with.

Have you ever wondered why Judas had to kiss Jesus for Him to be known to the authorities yet He was such a public figure?

They had probably never seen Him. And that simply because His ministry never took Him anywhere close to them.

Herod longed to see Him yet Jesus never honoured that desire.

That is the reason they needed for Him to be identified.

Where does our ministry take us?

And I am not questioning the executive and golf course ministries.

But according to Jesus, the focus of ministry is the hurting, the ones who are openly expressing their need for someone to rescue them.

The other aspect is our assessment of the giving toward us and the ministry we have been called to.

Again, look at Jesus to get your focus. Look at Him at that offertory.

The one who had given close to nothing in monetary terms is gauged to have given more that all the others who had offered huge amounts.

And we would be wise to use His standard to gauge the giving we enjoy from God’s people.

Most people who give sacrificially have very little to live on, just like that widow with her two mites.

They are in effect giving everything they have.

I remember once a young man gave me twenty bob (equivalent to a quarter during those times).

And he really pressed me to take it because he felt that rejecting it meant that I was rejecting his appreciation for my ministry.

To imagine he had walked the equivalent of two to three times that amount in fare, of course because he couldn’t have afforded it, is unimaginable for most.

That he could have saved himself half of his walk by using that amount for fare should guide our appreciation for that mite since he had literally offered his blood in that gift.

And I have had several other similar incidences in the course of the ministry God has entrusted me with.

Thinking that the thousand-dollar offering is worth more than that quarter is tantamount to walking roughshod on that young man’s blood.

Like the Macedonians in 1 Corinthians 8, he had first offered himself before offering the gift.

The gift was therefore an extension of his sacrifice.

And it is the same way when we give.

We might not feel anything when in plenty we offer a huge gift. But it is quite painful when we have to offer our last coin because it then means we are left with nothing.

I hope we will fill the gaps with more relevant revelation.

Toxic Friendships 2

Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. (Proverbs 6: 4, 5)

We talked about the dangers of sharing a common purse as we were looking at toxic friendships

Sharing a purse is an entrapment whose folly can only be seen by someone outside it.

Remember the case of bishops repenting on behalf of a fellow bishop who had impregnated his parishioner?

Or, have you ever wondered why very intelligent and educated people are swallowed into cults and some very stupid con games?

Common purse.

A common purse unites the parties holding it in ways even blood cannot.

It is a covenant, though not signed or sacrificed for; but a covenant stronger than those legally and spiritually binding covenants.

This means that those other covenants are lower in ranking than the common purse.

And that for the simple reason that it is the uniting of livelihoods. That common purse puts food on the table in more ways than one.

Have you realised that many people are in church because simply for burial purposes?

They will participate in all the church programs so that they will be accorded a befitting send off when they die.

Many people (probably most, if not all) will join one self group or the other with a crisis as the driver.

You will hear them always complaining of this or the other stupid contribution yet are scared to death of getting out.

Yet, if they had saved all those illogical and criminal contributions, they would be more than adequately prepared for any unforeseen eventualities.

But the worst part is that they will give their money and presence in support of a member caught in immoral, even criminal scandals. Like those bishops repenting on behalf of their adulterous bishop.

Simply because they are sharing a purse.

 Purse is amoral.

Your spiritual or moral positions hold zero sway over other owners of that purse.

You therefore cannot pontificate anyone.

However, you are a part of all the other owners of that purse you share.

They have a right to get your complete support even if they do something completely contrary to your beliefs or values.

You must bail them out even if they are caught doing something contrary to your values.

That is how corruption thrives.

Nobody will request you to choose corruption

Many times, it will start with an invitation to make a small investment in a company that can offer services or goods.

And the dividends will start coming steadily.

By the time you realise, you are sunk to your neck in corruption yet can do nothing because you have already enjoyed the loot before knowing where it was coming from. And you can’t abandon the team just because they have been caught. In any case you are part of them since you are a partner in the purse.

Pastors do not transition into motivational speakers because they have accessed a new revelation.

They have simply united purses with an Ahab somewhere. And it is impossible to preach against a purse that you are a partner of just as you can’t preach against yourself.

And I am not talking about a gift, unless it is a gift you requested or demanded as many pastors vary creatively and stealthily do.

But a gift is powerful and requires great sensitivity to the Holy Spirit to be able to avoid being defiled by the giver as Balaam was.

This reminds me of a time I was invited to join a pyramid scheme (normally called multi level marketing) even before I knew about them.

I prayed and God forbid me.

I was invited for a seminar in another one and of course I knew I didn’t need to pray for direction since they were similar.

But my friend, who was very senior in that one made a simple request.

Just pay the subscription and wait for the money. We will do everything else. And it was not even a lot of money.

Were it not for the fact that I had already received God’s order, it would have been very easy to have joined that purse.

And that could have killed any opportunity for speaking against or educating people about pyramid schemes since I would have been part of one.

Relationships are another place where a common purse plays a very pivotal role.

It is impossible to love someone and hate their family

That was the Peor dynamic.

Israel loved Moabite damsels and couldn’t resist their worship.

That is why in the past there needed to be intense investigation before two young people are allowed to get married.

You see, if I love someone from a family practicing witchcraft, I will have witches and wizards as in laws. And as an in law, I must participate in some of their practices since there are spelt out roles for in laws in their system.

Incidentally that is what happened with Jehoshaphat.

In my next post, I will look at how to avoid such traps.

Toxic Friendships

And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD. (2Chronicles 19:2)

I want us to look at friendship by exploring this godly king’s relationship with an ungodly neighbouring king, Ahab.

We do not need to state the fact that friendships are essential to human living and development.

It is also worth noting that even in evangelism and missions, relationships are a very key ingredient to their success or otherwise.

This means that we must develop some sort of relationships with the unreached, even enemies of the cross, for us to effectively reach them.

It is against that background that we are examining Jehoshaphat’s life choices and their fruit.

Neighbours must have relationships.

They will either be at war or in partnership.

An example is Israel’s relationship with the Philistines which was always full of conflict.

We also remember the beginning of the split between Judah and Israel when the Bible states that there was always war between Israel and Judah.

It must have been the thawing of that relationship that brought about this relationship.

When sworn enemies bury the hatchet, they will want to compensate for all the animosity they previously had.

I suspect that was the cause of what I want us to explore.

Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: (Proverbs 1: 14)

That is what we see with Jehoshaphat when asked whether he wants to join him in a war, twice. And not even a clear word from God through prophets is able to dissuade him from joining such a war.

Having one purse introduces a dynamic to any relationship, taking it beyond friendship to partnership.

You become one team with the ones you share a common purse with.

This means that they deserve our support, whether they request it or not, whether they are right or not.

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2Corinthians 6: 14 – 16)

Most people associate this verse only with marriage. But I believe it applies more to other partnerships that it does to marriage.

And that is not to say it doesn’t also apply to marriage.

You see, in marriage, the two become one flesh with one purpose. It is a oneness and not a partnership.

You yoke two separate animals to maximise on their individual strengths.

A yoke of oxen can handle more weight that the combined weight of two unyoked oxen. Yet they will require less food and water than two separate oxen.

But a yoke of oxen will require more training to be able to do a good job. A mismatched or mistrained yoke of oxen will cause more than double the damage.

But the main point in this message is that a yoked team must more or less think and plan in unison to be able to maximise on their strengths.

I am still talking about Jehoshaphat.

Do you realise where he went wrong so early in his life?

He yoked himself to an enemy of the God he loved and worshiped early in his life.

Due to that, were it not for God watching over His promise to David, that partnership could have wiped out his posterity. All because of an ‘innocent’ friendship!

Our friends will definitely influence our lives much more than we think or imagine.

That simple business partnership; that simple pooling of resources; that simple sharing of transport, has a huge impact on how our lives, even destinies shape out.

The background to one of my favourite verses makes it clear

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. (2Chronicles 16:9)

This godly king had seen God when he had not ‘arrived’.

Then a small challenge comes when he can afford someone to fight his battles and he does what most of us would do. He uses his money to hire someone to fight his battles. He uses his team to win without a sweat.

Smart thinking. Or is it?

God calls it foolish and an invitation to war in his life. His effort at stopping a war became an invitation to unending war because it had brough about a toxic relationship.

Simply because that partnership, though to us it appears like just an exchange of money and services, extended to faith. He was simply paying a foreign god to fight for him.

Incidentally, many kings fell into that error when we study Kings and Chronicles.

What am I saying?

It is an open secret that many children start experimenting with sex and drugs with those young and innocent house girls and gardeners whose background was too poor to afford them an education.

Many children get exposed to pornography and homosexuality by family friends they look up to.

Amnon was innocent until his cousin opened his eyes and widened his horizons.

And this young man was on hand to assure David that only Amnon was dead.

This means he had all along walked with the knowledge of the planning of that assassination but did nothing about it, either to talk Absalom out of it or warn the king about it.

But he was a present friend in the palace.

Though it is not written, it is very possible he is the one who advised Adonijah to request for Abishag from Solomon because he looks that kind of person.

Pooling resources.

Friendship.

What is God telling you? 

Positive Mammon

And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Luke 16: 8 – 13)

It dawned on me that mammon can never be righteous. It also can never be neutral

Mammon is an enemy to righteousness, according to Christ’s own teaching.

No wonder it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s hole than for the rich to inherit eternal life.

Why then am I putting positivity on an unrighteous thing?

It is because of what Christ is teaching in this passage.

How can He associate something unrighteous to a safe eternity? How does a wrong thing open the door to heaven as He appears to be saying?

It is instructive to note the parable from where this is coming from.

A steward is accused of impropriety. But stealing may be a more fitting term.

He therefore orders him to clear his desk because he was being dismissed from his position.

What he does is the backdrop of this message. And you will realise that it started with the lord who was in the process of dismissing him commending him.

Reminds me of a story of an ancient king whose direst punishment was an offender being torn to pieces by his dogs as was done for Daniel with lions.

One of his closest servants was condemned to that for breaking one law or the other. Or probably doing something that made the king lose trust in him.

Before he could be taken to the dogs, he requested that he be given ten days with the dogs.

The king thought that it would not do much harm to humour this condemned confidante.

The man then fed the dogs and took care of them.

When the ten days expired, he was thrown to the dogs.

But instead of them tearing him to pieces as per their custom, they started playing with him.

The king sought to understand what had happened and the condemned said thus,

Ten days with the dogs and we have become fast friends. I have served you for years yet you can condemn me to death for a single mistake.

Mammon

I want us to look at situations in the Bible where this truth plays out

We will start with the harlot Rahab.

Like I always say, she was the scum of scums as a harlot in condemned Jericho.

Then some spies come into Jericho looking for somewhere to hide as they do their survey and the script completely changes.

It is possible everybody else they approached for refuge turned them away and reported to the authorities.

But she saw a chance that she could not allow to pass and lodged them, even lying to ensure their safety.

Is it any wonder that she is mentioned all through the Bible?

The next is the Shulamite woman

She saw a tired old man and ministered to him before she knew that he was a prophet.

Not only did she receive a son beyond her wildest dreams and prayers, but she also received him from death.

Not only that. She was able to benefit from that ministry even after Elisha had exited the scene.

Think about the shortie, Zacchaeus.

We are not told that salvation came to his house after his repentance but after offering half of his wealth to the poor as he was entertaining Christ’s huge crowd.

Remember the Roman soldier whose faith touched Jesus in Luke 7?

He had built the Jews a synagogue, a synagogue he was forbidden from entering. And he was seeking for healing for his servant.

Do you realise it was the Jews who were pleading with Jesus to attend to this gentile and oppressing coloniser?

Why was Peter sent to Cornelius?

And why did the disciples refuse to allow Tabitha to rest in peace after her death?

Unrighteous mammon.

They all used unrighteous mammon to make spiritual inroads.

Note that they did not consecrate mammon or even anoint it as some idiotic ministers are doing to continue enjoying the giving of other idiots like them. They simply gave unrighteous mammon as it was and it was able to change the direction of their lives and destiny.

A missionary friend was sent to a foreign nation and the man of peace was nowhere close to what he was preaching in his life or business. But he served my friend appropriately.

He had a health condition that was beyond doctors and hospitals.

Before he left, he prayed for his host and there was perfect healing.

Allow me to give a situation that I know happens many times.

A rich wicked man hears the struggles a minister is undergoing and calls him to his office, asking him to give him a breakdown of everything he needed.

He then decides to humour himself or make fun of the minister by writing him a cheque to cover all his needs, and more.

Who do you think will get heavenly credit for the success of this minister?

Do you think it is the church that sent him?

Think also of this funny story I heard.

A man was praying for a major breakthrough in his business.

Incidentally, every time he would get to the altar, he would find another guy praying very simply, shoes

He looked at him and got annoyed.

Why is this man flooding heaven with such a cheap request? Isn’t he stifling my prayer line by that prayer?

He therefore took enough money from his pocket and not very politely told him to go buy himself shoes to stop interfering with his prayers.

Do you think God was angry with his deed? Do you think the guy praying for shoes cared about the attitude of the giver of those shoes?

That is the message Jesus is passing to us today.

There are people who will get to heaven because they invested their unrighteous mammon into relationships and ministry.

Matthew 25 is testimony to that.

The sheep are wondering why they are in heaven because they were no giving with heaven in mind.

They were not giving to compete with (outgiving) God as preachers nowadays teach. Nor were they giving for accolades.

They were simply meeting the needs around them.

That then opened an account in heaven in their names.

Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. (Mark 10:21)

And you remember that this young man was righteous.

I will also quote Cornelius’s interaction, noting that he also was a gentile

... And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. (Acts 10:4b)

What am I saying?

We could be breaking our backs touching lives by sprinkling the Gospel in bits and pieces when the wicked are securing real estate for themselves in heaven by changing societies, some even funding those same missions we find it difficult to fund through our stinginess.

I know this appears very rude, even wrong.

However, look at this

... That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. (Matthew 21:31c)

What you do with unrighteous mammon has a direct bearing with how you will be received in heaven, at least according to our passage.

As believers, we are answerable to God for how we use our money.

It is actually sin if we do not wait for God’s orders before we spend it.

But the standard for the heathen is different since they do not have the revelation we possess. They also are not led of the Holy Spirit as we are.

This means that their judgment will be more lenient than ours.

The yardstick for our giving is different because we are supposed to know better with the Holy Spirit leading us.

But I think the greater challenge is not just being led but a proper relationship with mammon, unrighteous mammon.

We can’t spread God’s love through unrighteous mammon unless we detach ourselves from its hold on us.

We will not be able to open a heavenly account if God must have our permission before using our money.

Christ must be the Lord even of our pockets and purses and bank accounts if we must have accounts in His heaven.

For believers, it is not about generosity or philanthropy. It is about obedience.

We must be guided to give. We must be ordered to give because it is not ours.

And I think it is called unrighteous mammon because God releases His authority over our money so that we can then willingly surrender it back to Him.

It thus becomes unrighteous all the time it is under our control because He has no authority over it.

Take this as an off the cuff comment.

Calling wealth unrighteous mammon has a very clear implication on how we acquire it.

Any honest pursuit of wealth is legitimate. Please underline the word, honest.

This means that there is no dichotomy to God between secular and spiritual occupations. And I am writing this as a minister God called out of secular employment.

I am not any more spiritual that I am in ‘full time’ ministry than I was when I worked for a media house.

God is the one who called the Levitical class. And He did not do it because they were more righteous than the other tribes.

He is the one who called Aaron to the priesthood. And we can be sure he was not closer to God than his brother Moses.

Remember his sons died because they played with their calling just after their calling was confirmed?

It is God who determines who He will call and why.

An honest publican is more spiritual than a manipulating archbishop.

Compare Zaccheus with Judas. Or the publican and pharisee at the prayer centre.

But this post is about our use of unrighteous mammon.

For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. (Mark 9:41)

There is a reward for the person who quenches the thirst of a minister.

And that does not demarcate between godly and ungodly quenchers of that thirst.

It does not talk about the motive of that quenching. Just like we do not have different levels of thirst.

Just like water quenches thirst, quenching the thirst of a minister invites a reward from heaven.

We might hide behind long words and titles. But the reality is that money can open doors, not only of corrupt offices as we are used to see, but also the doors of God’s rewards.

Look at the money and wealth you have

Do you manage it as your own or are you a steward of another?

Is the money you have yours or are you holding it in trust for another?

If you are holding it for another, how much say does he have on that money?

Can you expect a reward from the actual owner of that wealth in your name?

Can you confidently say that you are going to heaven because you have used that unrighteous mammon to secure eternal rewards?

And do not for a moment think I am nullifying grace.

This is simply the fruit our interaction with grace will produce.

 

Highest Bidder Truth

Recently, there was a story on TV that amplifies this point.

An incident occurred close to my place.

I was able to talk to several (not one or two) eye witnesses to it.

One of them told me to expect a surprise when I watch the news, though I do not watch any news.

The reason he said that is because stories involving those criminals have always been doctored to paint a sanitising narrative on the villains.

And that is exactly what happened.

Friends who watched that news were enraged to see truth butchered so mercilessly.

The evidence was conveniently shifted so that the story could go according to plan.

In one short swoop, the villain is made the innocent victim and vice versa.

The one who was doing his job has to apologise and compensate the offender.

I am reminded of an incident a dozen or so years ago when an estate demonstrated a whole week, even blocking a key road, so that a particular police officer is released.

Since that is so uncharacteristic of Kenyans, I sought to understand why that had happened.

The officer had done a proper job of ridding the estate of pests that had become such a nuisance because they were untouchable, coming from great wealth.

Incidentally, nothing was able to save the officer from jail because the of the influence money had on the case.

What am I saying?

We live at a time when it is critically important to verify what we call truth.

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (John 17:17)

This is because it could well be that what you call truth has been auctioned to the highest bidder. That the narrative you imbibe is the product of some auctioning process.

You could be fighting for a truth that has gone through boardrooms and marketplaces to be acceptable.

It could be that ‘unbiased’ reporting is the product of a purchase.

And being the product of a media school and media, I can confidently confirm that any news we read, listen to or watch goes through the filter called editorial policy that is the preserve of the owner of the media house.

That is why you will read or watch a news item and wonder why the same story has so many variations to the point that some appear completely different stories.

That is why you might follow a news item covering an incident you were part of or witnessed being so different from what you saw happening.

What am I saying?

We need to be very careful with what we follow.

Because what we follow has a way of shaping not only how we interpret issues, but also to shape what we ultimately become.

Truth is not relative, however much we may seek to demonstrate it.

As such, what we may call relative truth is actually auctioned truth, which is carefully packaged lies.

I have started at the marketplace. But my focus is not there.

I want us to look at Biblical truth.

And I do this because a vast majority of believers in our times place a greater premium on proclaimers, teachers, professors of the scriptures instead of the scriptures on their own.

Most are more comfortable quoting their favourite preacher (whatever title he may hold) than they are quoting what the Bible on its own says.

Others even quote women teachers even when the same Bible prohibits them to teach in church.

Do not get angry at me. I am not the one who wrote the Bible. I am just quoting it as you should.

Many believers are consistently reading the trash released by their spiritual brokers even as they neglect the Bible from where those conmen pretend to get their messages from.

The only time some will open their Bibles is to read the verses quoted by such brokers.

I intentionally use very strong words because of the danger following those characters are exposing their followers to.

I am also a teacher and also write books. And I of course write them to be read though I do not sell mine as per my orders.

But my books point to the scriptures and not me. they direct the readers to Christ and not my next release. They seek to build their faith in Christ and not draw them to my conferences and anointed events.

I want to help and guide people to read the Bible for themselves. That is why I include a Bible Reading Plan on the inside cover to challenge them to consider starting to read the Bible for themselves.

And it is the same with my blog.

You see, God has called me to guide people to Him. Like John the Baptist I should decrease even as He increases.

I am the most effective in my ministry when I am most decreased and He is most increased; when I am most invisible and He is most visible.

Jesus is the Truth; not me, not you, not anybody or anything else.

This means that any truth that does not have Christ at its helm is auctioned truth.

Truth with a man of God at its helm is unfortunately the best image I can conjure of that.

And it is because at its best, it is idolatry and at its worst, it is spiritual terrorism.

It is not different if we replaced the man of God with a spiritual structure, however spiritual its foundations may have been.

Only Christ is the truth, unadulterated truth.

He is the truth all other ‘truths’ find their validity.

No wonder even the enemies of the cross extensively quote Christ and the Bible to get any grounds for their opposition.

That is why faith in Christ and obedience to His revelation is the common ground for persecution.

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. (Psalm 2: 1 – 3)

That is why governments refuse to tackle conmen in clerical garb and use their conmanship as their ground for attacking the church of Christ.

Reminds me of a recent happening in Kenya when the government, instead of reining on the conmen using the church to enrich themselves as they preyed on the ignorant chose to block the registration of the churches for a decade or more.

You wonder which is easier between deregistering the openly crooked churches and blocking genuine churches from existing.

You wonder which is easier between prosecuting those endangering their flock through manufactured miracles on TV and blocking the move of God through declaring all churches conmen.

That is auctioned truth for you.

Any truth that does not have Christ at its apex is auctioned truth.

And in the simplest terms it is a lie.