And he said unto them, Take heed,
and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of
the things which he possesseth.
(Luke 12:15)
I felt the
great urge and conviction to write this message due to the great effort being
focused on the populace to throw their good money after bad.
Many
times as I have gone through the city I have come across people weeping after
they have been swindled of their money by card playing crooks. Many times it is
a student who has been wiped of their entire fees and doesn’t know where to
turn to. At times I have even seen grown men weeping like children as money
meant for a project has been conveniently transferred to others who appear to
have better use for it.
A few
months ago I was talking with a pastor who was still feeling the pain of being
conned of his bus fare yet he was schooling in a foreign country long ago. He
had to literally beg for food and the means to get back home for the holidays
and the shame of falling prey to such a foolish prank.
When I
was in school I remember an incident when a form 4 student was conned the
entire fees for his final year. He cried like a baby until the conmen ‘had
pity’ for him probably because he came from their tribe. But they still went
with a substantial chunk of his money as well as play games with his mind for
long enough.
Another
thing I feel you need to know is that to conmen/women it is a job like any
other. You need to know that the card players (karata in Kenya) operate in very large teams to be able to take
care of any eventualities. Some of them are there to bait you by consistently
winning, others to encourage you to press on when you lose and even others to
lose gracefully as you are losing so that you do not suspect anything. But many
are there to make you think that very many people are also playing the game so
that you can feel safe to play. Still others are on the sidelines to watch out
for the police since it is an illegal trade.
I say that
as I have observed them for some time and have been able to identify many of
them as I passed through their haunts. But I confirmed when a few times a
strong man becomes bitterly violent after losing handsomely. That is when you
will see real teamwork and realize that the winners and losers are all in the
same team. Even the women in the team are war hardened and can deal with any
threat properly. And they are rough when they need to. But they are a very
large team.
Let me
highlight a few strategies they use to bait you. The first is mainly to hand
over a lot of money to a ‘winner’ as you are passing. This draws your
attention. Of course they will be congratulating the winner and the winner
might exclaim how easy it was to win. Once you get to their ‘table’ they will
use all means to get you to play. Of course you start by winning once or twice
to be sure to place a huge bet of sorts then you will lose. NOBODY ever won a
game of cards when it is someone’s business, just like nobody ever won a
lottery as what they get is what has been taken from the millions of the losers.
I also need to highlight that once you get to their game they could go as far
as taking money from you by force. Many times they will create some commotion
so that their robbery appears like a conflict, even between them with you in
the centre.
The most
crafty I have seen is throw a card where you are passing and pretend it flew
off unintentionally if they realize you are not interested. They then plead
with you to pick it for them. Interesting enough there are people who are
surrounding their table who can but will not pick. Once you pick you are sunk.
They will profusely thank you and offer some money in appreciation until they
force you to leave your money with them as they will more or less force you to
play. I have seen that a few times also.
I am not
talking about things I have heard. These are things I see almost daily in
Nairobi. It is the cries of the conned that are driving me to write this. It is
the pain I have seen of a traveler who has lost all the money they needed not
only for the journey but also for the purpose of the travel. It is the pain of
the student who has to create a story to convince their parents that the money
was not gambled away. It is the pain of a parent who has to work extra hard to
replace the money for their greedy child to continue with education. I hope
someone’s eyes will be opened to avoid these pitfalls.
But I
will not be true to my calling if I left this at this point. As a minister I
represent God’s side of things and must therefore delve deeper than the
visible. And that is the main object of the article.
Why are
people conned? Why are some people more prone to conmen than others? What do
the conmen use to steal from us?
I will
say confidently that the conman/lady will use only one thing in our
constitution, greed or in other words covetousness. Unless he is able to drive
you to that point he will simply give up.
Simply
said it is my desire to get more than I have that he will use to transfer what
I have to his hands. Look at any conman anywhere and you will realize that is
the script they are following whatever ploy they use.
As I
write I remember another conman I met and was in stitches as I left him. He was
playing the fool who was looking for someone bright enough to ‘con’ him. He
played an illiterate Maasai dancer who had picked something a tourist had
accidentally dropped and left before he could return to him. He seemingly
didn’t know what it was as he couldn’t read and wanted me to help him read what
it contained. Well, the test tube had some sort of crystals with stamps from
South Africa to Zimbabwe certifying that it was 25 carat gold and its weight.
You are a goner once you decide to get involved, worse still if you decide to
con this illiterate ignoramus.
Greed is
the poison of our generation. We encounter it in all our interactions. All the
advertisements are meant to fuel it to frenzy. Radio and TV programs allocate a
huge chunk of their time to feed it, from call in programs to text gambling,
though it is not called such. Billboards are all over.
Win
this, win that by just sending a message to this number. Get this by answering
a question a two year old can answer. Sadly even some Christian stations and
programs run along such lines. They simply fuel covetousness that the devil
knows how to manipulate. In fact I think that is the only tool the devil has
used since the old times. The rest is subsequent to that.
Let your conversation be without
covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I
will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. (Hebrews 13:5)
Remember
Eve. The tree looks good, is desirable for giving wisdom and elevating us to be
gods. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life all
revolve around me getting and being something I presently do not have or am.
And through covetousness shall
they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long
time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (2Peter 2:3)
Some
preachers have also joined the bandwagon of the conmen. Give this seed to get
this breakthrough. Give the other for healing etc. As soon as I see the message
saying your money is safely in my account you will access your miracle. Buy
this anointing oil from Israel to finish your land case. Buy this specially
anointed handkerchief to get your troublesome spouse to behave. I am sorry to
say this but I will need serious Biblical basis to refute my statement. This is
PURE WITCHCRAFT. Sponsor this program and you will get customers was one I
heard as I was writing this.
A
relatively new one is a prophetess who approaches saying God has sent her to
you. As you are wondering another one comes so excitedly to greet the
prophetess who resolved all her issues. She was wondering how to find her to
express her thanks. Even before you digest that another of her ‘beneficiaries’
joins the team with an even more astounding testimony. If you have taken the
bait you will be convinced to get the money you need to be prayed for from the
bank. She is only ministering as God has sent her to you and will not need your
money. You will get it after the prayers. It will be after prayer that you will
realize that they have made off with all your money.
Anything
that drives you from being content only with your relationship with Christ MUST
come from the devil. Anybody who will appear as if they have my answer through
their action alone is an idol, and we know idols are fed from hell. If Gituma
is your sole solution, then he becomes a god, a god that must be destroyed by
fire.
But godliness with contentment is
great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can
carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But
they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and
hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of
money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred
from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1Timothy 6: 6 – 10)
A
minister points people to God, and God alone. You will be blessed as you
support me and the ministry God has called me to. But I will not be the source
of the blessing, God is. It is only as you support what God has instituted that
you will access GOD’S blessings. The blessings will never come from the
minister, however anointed they are. So support me if you can, but it is as you
touch God as you give that He will release His blessing to you. It is not me
who will release your blessing because I don’t hold it anyway. But your giving
will touch heaven, the source of all blessings.
There was a certain man in
Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a
devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to
the people, and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision evidently about the
ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him,
Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it,
Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a
memorial before God.
(Acts 10: 1 – 4)
We don’t
see God talking about the prayer of a man of God, only his prayer and alms. We
don’t even see any substantial man around as alms are given to the poor.
But the
reason we are conned into getting to all those circuses is because the ‘man of
God’ will manipulate you to desire something you do not have and even fan it to
real covetousness or greed. You will then become irrational. Once you get there
it is just a matter of time before you fall into his trap.
This is
also fuelled by a desire for instant answers. I am not willing to wait as long
as God has purposed because others are getting breakthroughs faster than I do.
I have mentored and discipled people who are ‘very far’ in terms of ministry
and support that I feel the urge to get the break too. This can easily lead me
down that path.
Marital
tension is a normal aspect of marriage. Looking for a short cut to resolve
instead of addressing the issues causing it will also open you to these conmen.
Only witchcraft can alter someone’s character without resolving the issues
causing the deficiency. Even God must be given a chance to change someone
before He steps in. No offering or
‘seed’ can do what a decision should do.
A
dispute with neighbors is normal. It is witchcraft if you must buy some oil to
deal with it instead of praying for wisdom and favor to resolve the dispute.
Some pastors have even become better than lawyers and judges because they can
by your buying this or that from them or planting a seed dissolve the case and
in your favor. Again that is plain witchcraft, only that we are so ready for
short cuts that we will not think straight when we are given that solution.
Mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: (Colossians 3:5)
What is
the solution then? Simple connection to Christ will deal with covetousness.
How? you may ask. Once you agree with Christ about your life and take His
solution for all your problems, the first being your sin. Once you ask Jesus to
forgive your sin and take over your life, you are on the way to a life that
draws God’s favor.
You will
then seek to know His will especially through regular intake of His word, the
Bible. Read it. Study it. Memorize it and if you can get it, have an audio
version and constantly be listening to it. Let it be what you listen to in your
car. Let it be the background noise in your home.
When I
was being discipled we had a very famous statement we used though I don’t know
its origin. Garbage in, garbage out.
Choose carefully what you listen to and watch. To some I will advise you to
even throw that radio or TV away because it has become your idol. I have talked
about that in another article on the blog. Determine to kill everything that
feeds your spirit with discontent. Stop watching programs that are displaying
people who are winning lotteries. Stop watching programs being sponsored by
people whose business or products you do not agree with. If you are always
hearing about this or that person who has won this or the other by either
calling or texting, you are setting yourself up on the road to being conned or
conning others to feed that greed.
Avoid
company whose conversation is around who got this or that as that is what they
will plant in your spirit. Decide to saturate yourself with what God delights
in.
This book of the law shall not
depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that
thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then
thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:8)
And these words, which I command
thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently
unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and
when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest
up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as
frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy
house, and on thy gates.
(Deuteronomy 6: 6 – 9)
You can
never go wrong by feeding your spirit with the word of God. You can never sink
into covetousness when you are feeding your heart with what God says. You can
never be discontent with your lot when what guides your meditation is the
constancy of God’s revelation. You will never rush to take that handout that
you have no idea as to its source when God’s word is stored and has a say in
your mind and thoughts.
I will
encourage you to deflect attention from yourself as this is what the devil uses
to feed covetousness. It is very easy to feel I need something somebody else
has if I am thinking only about myself. If I looked around I will be shocked at
how blessed I am as I realize that what I have, however little it is, is so
much as there are many who do not have even that. I will also realize that not
only is it enough for me, it can bless so many others.
I
minister to the disadvantaged and can tell you that first hand. The meal you
call meager can be a family feast to others. The shelter you are complaining
about is palatial to the homeless. The salary you call insufficient would be
enough for a clan. The security you are always complaining about is Eden in
some areas. That health you do not even think about is priceless. Let us focus
on gratitude to God who gives all to us. I have dealt with ministering to the
disadvantaged in my book ‘The Road to Sodom’.
Consider
persons with disability and the picture changes completely. Imagine if you will
be taken wherever whoever wants because you can not see or your limbs do not function.
Imagine your mother being divorced just because she bore you. Imagine you can’t
visit anybody because of incontinence. Imagine people calling you a curse just
because you are different from others. Imagine a stranger giving you a handout
just because they think you are desperate because you have a disability.
As I say
that I want to appeal for assistance for a blind friend who needs a computer
that is compatible with that disability, for example one that can read as one
types. Please get in touch if you are able to provide or know someone who can
provide. I know they are there. I am also involved with disability through the
Handicapped Community Fellowship Ministry. Visit www.handicappedcommunity.org to see how you can be involved.
As I
minister in the city I am grieved by the depths persons with disability are
sunk to especially beg for the rich. Some are even imported from other nations
because the economy of our city is vibrant. But try to put yourself in the
shoes of someone who has to stay without food or clothing to look desperate
enough to compel you to give money that will not benefit them in the least.
Support
ministers whose ministry identifies with what you read in the Bible. Do not
support someone who will use guilt or manipulation to ask for your support. Do
not support a conman like the ones I have mentioned. Above all pray for God to
guide your support. Many people are disappointed when they want me to give them
guidelines to their supporting me when I tell them to just pray for God to give
them direction. Inasmuch as I need support, I know that God is the one I serve
and who will speak to people He wants to support me. I won’t refuse support but
I don’t want to manipulate that support. Probably God is asking you to support
me and the ministry God has called me to. Just pray and seek for clear orders.
That is unless God has asked you or you need some clarification from me as you
support. You see you can never be conned if you prayed before you joined any
money making venture. You will never lose it when you prayed before listening
to a prophetic proclamation. You will never be snared if you will pray before
supporting whichever ministry or minister.
May God
guide your interactions with the world so that they are guided by God’s clear
revelation.
