My Dress My Choice

You know who a hawker is. Now suppose you see a person wearing six watches and holding more and with many necklaces and jingling them as he walks. He also has many necklaces on his neck. What will you assume? He is a walking jewelry shop.

Now suppose you became interested in what he is offering and ask to see his selection and he answers you thus.

‘Why are you treating me like a hawker?’

What will you feel? To say that you will feel confused is an understatement. This guy was a hawker by all appearances. Taking offense when you treat him thus will leave you more offended.

Let us take that to the recent happenings and demonstrations about dressing and undressing in public.

And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. (Proverbs 7:10)

Any dress will send a particular signal to the observer.

Who is a prostitute (harlot)? It is a woman who offers sexual favors for a fee. How does she market her business? Surely she does not place advertisements on the media as the trade is illegal (though I hear most massage parlors are brothels yet counterfeited as legal businesses).

Like the hawker she parades her goods to be seen by her dressing and language if you gave her the chance to speak. But she advertises her trade primarily by the way she dresses. And it is the same with male prostitutes who offer homosexual encounters. They dress their role. I am reminded of this young man who was thoroughly entertained by a tourist until he was taken to his room and asked to offer the ‘goods’. He was shocked to say the least. He asked what on earth made the tourist think so evil of him and was more shocked when the tourist told him that it was so plain that he was a homosexual player because he had an earring. What to him was a fashion accessory had sent a different signal to a ‘customer’.

What happens when a girl has a harlot’s dressing when she is not one? What do people think when they see her? Like the guy I mentioned on this post, she will send very contradicting messages. Your dressing says you are a prostitute though you are not. Arguing your innocence when you are asked for the ‘goods’ you are offering might be looked at as an insult to those customers. And this explains some of the undressing incidents. I have talked to some drivers and this is what came out.

One girl in question, dressed like a harlot is greeted with catcalls or seductive language since her dressing leads people to interpret her intentions. Of course she is very offended for that ‘demeaning’ treatment and hits back with words (and we know women can shoot words). The touts are first shocked wordless. They do not understand this harlot who is denying her profession. An argument ensues and tempers flare and of course the stronger one wins; which means the hypocritical ‘harlot’ is put in her place.

I do not support the undressing. But it is important to get to the root of the matter so that we can address it properly and completely. We may jail all the touts in all the stages but will not be able to conclusively deal with this issue unless we address the core issues.

Our women are dressing badly. If we will use the Bible language, they are dressing like prostitutes. Yet they are terribly offended when they are treated thus. It is a contradiction. And it is a contradiction with dire consequences to all if it is not addressed in time.

Why are so many attractive women not getting married? In a man’s eyes they are prostitutes or are suspected of being so. And we do not marry prostitutes. We simply pay them for sexual favors and leave it at that. We will close their case once we take them to bed as that is why they exist. You can never consider taking a prostitute home as a wife.

In the same vein how many ‘plain’, traditional, backward and conservatively dressed girls fail to get husbands, and not even as second wives even as those progressive ones are desperately looking to be nowadays? A man will play with this beautiful girl, take her to resorts for holidays yet go for the plain looking girl when he wants a wife. Hate me if you will but that is the reality.

Do you want to be treated with respect? Then dress respectfully. Do not dress to attract attention yet take offense if that attention is negative. Though you can attract attention, only the one offering that attention decides the kind he will give.

Consider fast food joints. Who ever goes there to have a meeting over a meal? It is interesting that everybody there seems to be in a hurry to leave, however expensive their meal might be. But a simpler restaurant offering very plain fare will have people eating very leisurely and carrying out conversations over those cheap and plain meals or drinks.

Why is that? The atmosphere of the restaurant is not rushed. No one feels threatened with all the rush as occurs with the fast food joints.

And that is what dressing speaks about you. You might be very homely, reserved and wise and all those other positive traits any woman craves. But your dressing tells men that you are a passageway, in Kiswahili ‘mtu wa kupitiwa’. They will pass through you in a hurry as your dressing says that you handle a lot of traffic. And that is why you are good enough for holidays and dinners yet will never be introduced to any in laws. That is why a man will comfortably pay your house rent and buy you a car so that he can access those sexual favors at will yet never even once introduce you to any of his friends of substance.

You are temporary. They are interested in your body but do not care a whit about you. You are as useful as those looks and sex and as disposable as a toilet tissue once you have run your course.

How many plain girls are exploited? How many are used as sex toys? How many are deceived with marriage that goes as far as the bed of sex? How many are single mothers?

It is very difficult to deceive such a girl. Your whole system will revolt at such an idea. And of course she does not demand so much beyond respect as she does not care for the class you are obsessed with. And she is simple. Just go to her parents if you fancy her and she will become your wife.

And that is what a man reads in your dress. It is deception to think you are marriage material when your dressing says that you are a sex plaything. They will deceive you with marriage just to access the sex you have to offer yet will never want to make that marriage official. And that explains the reason many ‘wives’ appear to the public when their ‘husband’ dies. That man was just exploiting them whatever else he gave. Yet you will find their official wife is very plain and uncomplicated. A man will normally say that he fell into temptation with the glitter that was the other woman. And that glitter is a shame to his image if his family gets to see it.

Change the way you dress and you will be amazed at the kind of positive attention you will receive. Unless you have never seen a woman or even girl who is treated with amazing respect by those same touts who are undressing others. And many times it is their plain dressing that attracts that respect.

But I am not excusing those who have made it their business to be dress cops. They are abominable. They are foolish however offended they may have felt. And my argument is that two wrongs will never make a right.

But that is not much different from the university students who stone innocent people’s vehicles when they experience a power blackout. It is not different from these politicians who block roads for whatever reason to make their voice heard as it might block someone from accessing emergency medical intervention and probable die as you are making that selfish voice heard. It is not much different from these corrupt fellows who scheme to transfer drugs form government hospitals to their own clinics. It is not any different from leaders who fuel and fund insecurity and terrorism so that the government can be blamed. And it is not different from a woman who turns the attention of a man from his offspring so that she can access those goodies meant for his children.

Mob psychology is very idiotic and many times powerful as to be unstoppable. And this is what happens in those stages. People become as bold as lions yet as unreasonable as donkeys. It is very difficult to think individually when in a mob, yet the mob will never be your defense when you are brought to account for those stupid acts you did and those offensive words you spoke when the mob was behind you.

A Biblical example as usual. In Matthew 27 we see a crowd braying for Christ’s blood. Pilate decides to have nothing to do with that. But they scream more. ‘Let His blood be on us and our children’. In fact they acknowledged that Caesar was their king contrary to their Jewish pride so that the crowd psyche can be satisfied. Fast forward a few weeks later (Acts 5: 28) they are pleading with the apostles to stop preaching about Christ’s death as they did not want His blood to be on them. That is crowd dynamics.

Reminds me of this verse;

But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. (Matthew 12:36)

The crowd has no capacity of absolving anyone from personal responsibility. And before God and the law the crowd is divided into its individual members. You are therefore free to use the crowd to gain the courage and momentum to do whatever you have no capacity of doing alone. But it is important to remember that the crowd will not be there when you are facing the consequences of those brave and bold actions and words.

Your dress, woman, is your choice. But remember the ones you dress for also have a choice to judge you as they see fit and their choice is not dependent on you. Allow everybody to have their own choice as you fight for yours. Allow everybody to do as they see fit. But never forget that everybody else has as sovereign choice as you to decide how to react to your dress. And for you who decide that you have the right to punish those you think are not dressed properly remember that that choice is not absolute. There are clear consequences to you as a person even though you used the crowd to gather your courage.

So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:12)

And finally remember that not only will you reap what you sow, whether it is tempting men to lust after you even in church, or dehumanize the person you deem unworthy of being dressed; but you must never forget that you are not only accountable to society now, but you have an account to settle with the impartial Judge of the universe who judges not only the actions but even their source.

Impress and tempt men all you can. Humiliate women all you can. But remember God is not only seeing. But He will judge.

But on the positive side men should remember that one reason the book of Proverbs was written was to help him avoid the snares of a wayward woman (temptress). That it is the fool and the wicked who are affected and ensnared by her. The wise and reasonable will simply avoid her paths, even if they are always walking by your gates.

And the same Bible has excellent advice that is followed by those you call backward and lacking fashion sense but who will never lack husbands and stable homes. And I need to add that some of the same progressive who sought progress in their marriages and thought it was beneath them to serve a husband (yet serve a boss) are the same ones who are left for the backward house servant.

Read the Bible and you will find out that what I have written is guided by scripture. And the scriptures are the surest guidance in life at all time.

Spiritual Detoxification

I am continuing with the message about money speaking and us hearing that instead of the voice of our shepherd.

But I want us to go farther than just money and get to the foundations that make this reality so pervasive in our lives. I want us to draw adequate conclusions that will help us to disconnect from those tendencies.

We fail not because we plan to fail but because we do not prepare adequately to succeed. And many times this occurs long before we get to the conflict itself. The arena of war is the culmination of the preparation we have had for winning, or losing. And there is no greater place for that than the spiritual realm as eternal destinations are determined in those battles.

This post is therefore offering a solution that may enable us to disconnect to Satan’s voice in our life. By now you may have realized that money, mammon and the devil are being used interchangeably. Though money is a tool as I said in the first post, it is its being wielded by the enemy that causes problems in our Christian lives. I am not now addressing money as the tool here, but the wielder of that tool who is the enemy of our souls. Like with David in my last post, there are a few people who use their money as a very potent weapon for God’s purposes even today. These have necessarily demoted money from the prominence the devil seeks to make us apportion it.

Why are some people more prone to some sins than others? That is where I want us to focus today. A structure might develop cracks in its construction. Those cracks become weak points (fault lines) as they expand ever so slowly. Should the structure be knocked, those cracks are the first points at which the structure will start breaking apart.

It is the same way with our spiritual structures and lives. We are prone to fall where we were either conditioned to fall by the spiritual cracks we obtained in our growth or where we first fell. In other words, our past sin many times determines our future falls.

Suppose I was a thief before I became a Christian. My whole system will tremble should I see something lying idle, however redeemed or worshipful I may feel. The greatest danger someone can place me in is entrusting me with church resources because they think I have learnt the lesson better than most due to my past. Lessons alone are not transformational. There must be adequate growth in righteousness before the thief can comfortably trust himself with someone else’s resources.

What I will need is a complete detoxification of my spirit from the corrupting influences of my past. It is after my system has been completely purged from that corroding influence that I should be trusted with someone’s pen. And the key reason is that stealing is of the flesh, meaning it is the natural response of a normal person. It is an offshoot of human nature. Someone does not struggle to steal. Many times it is the fear of consequences that is the restraining factor. But there is a spiritual dimension, and it is the one that causes the addiction to sin.

I grew up on the farms. Once a cat or dog started eating chicken, there was only one solution; kill it. By the way that is what is done to a lion or other wild animal that has tasted human flesh.

Why is that? Sin, like the taste of easily acquirable meat, is addictive. The craving for it grows. A denial of the same, whether by choice or force has no capacity to kill it quickly. And those who smoked or drank will confirm that. It requires more than will power to overcome such cravings.

Now to offend. What about someone who was in secular entertainment? What about the secular musician? What about the secular comedian? What about the secular actor? Does their conversion reverse their craving for the goodies the devil and world offered just because they have prayed the sinner’s prayer?

Who were they serving? They were living by the devil and for the devil (John 8: 44). They were getting their wages from that service. And the devil took good care of them, even if that reward sometimes involved abuse of their bodies. And the fact that they may have prospered means that they had really sunk into the spirit of that world. In other words they had gotten addicted to the demonic system.

The folly of our generation is in assuming music is just music, without spiritual implications. Many think that a secular musician should join the worship teams of the church since he is skilled and gifted. But the question we need to ask is where did he get those skills? Where did he get the gift?

And we even go farther and say that the devil stole music from heaven. Not only is that foolish but it is unscriptural. He was created with music in his makeup. When God threw him from heaven he was thrown the way he was created because sin was found in him. Had God taken music from him it would have been useless as the same gift could have been corrupted by his sin.

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. (Ezekiel 28:13)

God threw him from heaven the way he was. It is therefore a delusion from the evil one himself that we think that he only corrupts music. Music was in his makeup from the time he was created. It is commonly agreed that he was the lead worshipper in heaven before he fell. Why do we think that he lost the gift of music when he left? Is that Biblical?

But I will insist that the lie is actually from hell. He only spiritualizes it so that he can lead God’s people into drinking from his polluted well. Of course we will drink as much as he offers once we have agreed with his lies. Then the other things he offers will not seem as evil as we have already developed a taste for his dainties.

Why does secular music, even entertainment always lead and result in immorality? Why is it that musicians are normally very immoral? The plain fact is that the devil knows the right nerve to touch when he is inspiring his servants the musicians. And we know certain songs draw out certain cravings. It is common knowledge that going with a girl or boy to a particular event will automatically result in both of you going to have sex after the event especially if the right musician or music was there. There are concerts where blood must be shed before it ends. Why is it that way? The devil has been in the business for a long time and knows the right kind of music, from chants in demonic worship to jingles in a political rally to draw out demons (and fleshly cravings) from men.

Some restaurants have used that to full advantage. They will play music, even instrumentals that will draw out a craving for food so that you will spend (eat) more than you had planned. I read a book sometime ago explaining the same thing with supermarkets. They do a thorough research on the human nature and especially weaknesses. They use the findings to make the supermarket irresistible once on gets in. They will arrange things in such a way that one is drawn to the things they do not need. Have you ever noticed that the things you must buy (flour, sugar, bread etc) are placed so far that one has to literally go out of the way to get them? Have you also noticed that the things that you don’t need are placed so enticingly that you will see them everywhere you look?

But it goes farther. Some big names go ahead and use music, and many times music the shopper can barely, if at all, hear, yet music that draws our systems to scream ‘buy, buy’. The music will touch the particular nerve responsible for a particular feeling that will result in a particular action. And sadly to say all that is fuelled by the devil and his intricate knowledge of the human response to particular types of music. There is a touch, just a touch that makes someone go weak at their knees, however strong they normally are. And there is music that weakens resistance to particular temptations, however spiritual we may be. And that is the reason I quote this verse very often.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. (1Corinthians 10:12)

And also

Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)

Someone does not fall because they are weak. There are things that can lead a person to a particular sin. And music is such a potent one.

But it gets even worse. It is not only audible music that moves us. We know that there is sound that our ears cannot sense, yet our bodies can and will respond to it. And those inaudible sounds are the ones mainly responsible to some of those temptations I have mentioned, from shopping to eating to fornication. And modern research has shown that relationship. But it is sad because it is funded by the devil and his system therefore will not point at the end of those cravings or the sin that they lead to or an effective way to counter them.

The subconscious is one other area that is affected by such sound waves. And by subconscious I do not mean unconscious. It simply means I do not have a conscious or logical awareness of that influence. Assuming the absence of something I cannot explain is the reason the devil has always had immense success with music. And playing music at subsonic levels is one such. The message will sink because I do not have conscious awareness of it so have no way of resisting or blocking it. Subliminal is the name of the kind of communication the devil uses to influence us subconsciously.

It is the same reason it is folly to take secular tunes and baptize them with Christian lyrics because the message of the instruments, which is the primary vehicle of the demonic message has not changed. And that is the reason such songs produce a similar dance whether it is in church or disco. The music (instruments) touches the same nerves irrespective of the lyrics. It is no wonder that the church leadership of the not so recent past resisted the playing of particular instruments in church, especially people God had rescued from the secular music scene.

 What do we do with a secular musician who gets saved? Is it wise to get him into singing in church? Are we helping him grow when we ask him to play our instruments because he is now redeemed? What do we expect him to play when he holds the church guitar or drums?

The place this person needs to be taken is farthest from music. He needs to be completely detoxified from its demonic influence in his life. He needs to grow in the knowledge of the Lord enough to be able to discriminate between Christian worship and the worship of mammon that he was exposed to in the secular arena. Exposing them to leading or playing music in church is similar to sending a recently converted alcoholic to the bar to share the Gospel or a smoker to the smoking dens to win smokers to Christ or prostitute to the brothels to win harlots. It is not only impractical, but it is very dangerous to their spiritual wellbeing. And no wonder many secular entertainers who get involved in singing in church will backslide or get back to secular music.

Let me illustrate with an experience. We had been in Marsabit for close to a year after our transfer yet we had never known that there was anywhere someone could buy fish. And as bachelors we had gone the length and breadth of the small town and were convinced there was no fish anywhere. Then comes someone from what Kenyans refer to as the lakeside and after he goes to town and back there is the smell of cooling fish from his house. Of course we thought he had ferried it from down -country. But he continued cooking fish and we realized that he had to have a different source. And were we shocked when he told us that he bought the fish in town – the first day he came!

Why could we not able to know whether there was fish anywhere in town? Our systems were not attuned to fish. We did not know fish apart from when it was cooking. But he had been around fish all his life. He did not just need to smell fish to know of its existence. His whole system could sense fish, living or dead. Was he trained to know where fish was? Of course not. He had just been exposed to fish since childhood.

It is the same with vices. A drug addict will be able to access drugs within two hours of getting to a place they have never been before and where they are complete strangers. And it is the same with whoremongers. You might be in a place and you think there is no prostitution until such a person comes around and they will find a harlot without any struggle and in a very short time.

Simply saying our systems are attuned to things that we expose them to long enough. And it is more spiritual than we may want to believe. A whiff of cigarette smoke releases a spiritual signal that releases a craving for the addiction. It is the same with alcohol and other drugs. And I dare say it is the same with secular music, however wholesome it might sound.

But I know there are people who on their conversion find those vices or substances they were involved in totally repulsive to their whole systems that they could literally throw up (vomit) when they get close to the sounds, smell, sights of their past lostness. But rather than being the grounds of sending them to minister to their former partners in sin, it is meant to give them space to grow enough to make mature decisions when faced with those signals that drew sin out.

But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

And it is no wonder that the Bible instructs us on the kind of people we need to have as leaders.

Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. (1Timothy 3:6)

Though pride is mentioned, it is not the only reason a recent convert should not be given leadership. They need to have first grown in knowledge and experience of the Christian life. They must be purged from their past life lived outside God’s revelation. Then they can face a temptation that in their past brought them down without a struggle and help others succeed because like we have seen they have trained their senses to discern good and evil and handle the demonic undercurrents behind the enticement to sin. In other words they have learnt through experience to distinguish between the voice of God and any other voices, however similar they may be to His voice. They can distinguish between the worship of God and the very similar worship that is directed at self. And only growth in righteousness and the experiential growth of a relationship with God through time can do that. They have purged their lives from their past and all its connections to the world as to be able to notice the faintest shades of evil however righteous they may appear. This is because the devil is chief of camouflages and pretensions. He does not oppose God by being directly opposite but by offering a counterfeit so close to the original that it requires someone highly skilled to know the difference. And the skill required is a growth in the wisdom and knowledge of God over time.

The thrust of what I am saying is that after someone is born again, they should be sufficiently detoxified from their past life to become effectively useful in God’s kingdom. Failure to do that will result in them being unable to deal with the temptations their former cravings had opened them to. That will necessitate them being removed as far as possible from their former lifestyles, especially if their occupations had connections to sin tendencies or company.

We detoxify them not only by removing them from their past sinful lifestyles and occupations but by positively connecting them to new redeemed company and lifestyles that meets God’s approval. That we call discipleship as Matthew 28: 18 – 20 commands.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42)

Not only does lack of detoxification through discipleship limit the converts to a spiritually confused life without growth, it fails to prepare them to be fruitful in their lives. But it gets worse as they become unable to face the challenges that come from the danger autonomy brings. Let me give an example.

I lived in some remote places in Kenya due to poor infrastructure and development. As a result most people felt as if they had even left God behind when they boarded trucks to those places. Personal responsibility was sorely dependent on you as there was no way people who knew you could get there. I knew people who were elders, even pastors where they came from who became drunks, smokers and whoremongers in those places. In fact we discovered a colleague who was such when his wife hazarded her life to visit him. For the duration she was there the guy was as saved as salvation itself. No smoking, no drinking, no prostitutes, no foul language, vibrant and exciting testimonies. Yet that stopped the moment his wife left.

Discipleship not only purges our lives from our past. It connects us to the life giving flow of God’s life in us. It also raises our level of spiritual responsibility at a personal level so that we can then start bearing fruit for God. And that does not happen overnight when we say the sinner’s prayer. It is a process of growth.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: (2Peter 1: 5 – 10)

Let us grow the people God sends our way adequately before entrusting them with the treasure that is the Gospel. But let us also purpose to grow so that we will be able to distinguish the voice of our Shepherd from the voice of the imposter who is actually His enemy. But we can only be able to do so when we detox (purge) ourselves from our past life after we came to the Savior.

Why We Listen To Money Talk

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12: 1 – 2)

Since I posted last week about money speaking, I am sure some are wondering how money can speak to God’s people. And it is a valid concern especially for those who pride themselves in being close enough to God to constantly hear from Him. How then can money draw my guidelines in life?

How did Adam who had a clean and clear relationship with God obey the voice of someone who was speaking contrary to God’s clear order? How did Abraham listen to his wife and act contrary to the voice he had obeyed for all those years? How did David forget God’s commandment when he was at ease yet he had endured worse situations under intense pressure without compromising his faith? How did Elijah wish to die after his greatest triumph?

We are human after all, even the most spiritual of us. That is our default spiritual position. And as fallen men it becomes easier to listen to the lower voice than it is to listen to the higher one. It requires effort to be able to access God’s voice.

Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29: 12, 13)

It is therefore folly to expect to hear Christ with the kind of effort we expend on hearing from mammon. As someone who was in broadcasting engineering I can compare it with using a normal radio to access a satellite signal. It is simply impossible. The fact that they are both radio signals does not cover for the fact that probably the only thing both receivers have in common is being radio receivers.

That is what we do when we think that the fact that we could easily access and understand the language of the world before we got saved means that we can listen and hear God’s voice as easily. This is because we are of the world and it therefore does not need any effort from us to hear when mammon and the world speak.

If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. (John 15: 19)

I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:14)

We also have a problem listening to God because it makes us unpopular. We fear being branded unprogressive, un’cool’, archaic and many other unflattering epithets. And we dread being unpopular. It is not only teenagers who deal with peer pressure. We are born with a craving for attention, any attention. But it is the applause that draws us most so that we will do crazy things to maintain it.

That is why a respectable man will leave his wife of many years for the house girl or his secretary because she treats him with the respect and honor he feels he deserves. That is why a woman will leave all decency to sleep with the watchman or gym instructor because they ‘worship’ the ground she walks on. That is the world. And that is what we are up against when we decide we must hear God’s take on things material.

Not only is it difficult and unpopular to listen to God, but there is no motivation we will get to pursue it outside the scriptures. We love spiritual inertia. We prefer immersing our efforts on things offering worldly rewards. That explains why we will fete people who acquire degrees over those pursuing great spiritual potency, especially if (as) it is devoid of worldly rewards. We are more worldly than we think.

 What is wealth? What qualifies us to be called rich men? What is prosperity? This is because the direction we take in drawing those definitions will determine which voice we will be hearing. With all the preaching commonly dubbed prosperity gospel it is very essential we have the right source. This is because we will be guided by that source whatever we may say.

Examples are in order here. Who between David and Solomon was richer? I can hear some wondering whether I know what I am speaking about. But their stories tell us that Solomon was wealthy whereas David was rich. Explain. I know someone is almost shouting.

Solomon had made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones. It is interesting to know where all this GDP was coming from. We find the answer when the Israelites approach his successor with their request. Please reduce our taxes. The glory of his kingdom was carried on the backs of his people. And that is the reason we see the first act of rebellion for Israel after declaring secession is stoning a tax collector. Everything Solomon did weighed down on his people; from trading to forced labor to extravagant feeding of guests. He used seven years to build the temple with the materials his father had raised yet used fourteen to build his palace. He was so self-focused. And no wonder he could have as many women in his harem as he had.

Contrast that with David. From the time he was a rebel leader we never see him hoarding spoils from the wars he fought. He always shared his portion with others, and not his soldiers. He was always sharing; from grace to his foes to spoils to his friends. In fact it was the fact that he was living in a good house that made him feel guilty that God’s house was in a tent. And that was the same reason we see him spending the rest of his life raising materials, drawing plans and organizing the worship of the same.

But the thing that brings this out is the time he was bringing the ark to Jerusalem.

And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it: and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. And as soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. So all the people departed every one to his house. (2Samuel 6: 17 – 19)

And we are here talking about a city, with enough visitors that had been invited from all Israel to celebrate the placing of the ark of God into the tent David had made.

Allow me to ask the question again. Who was richer between David and Solomon?

This takes us to the differences in the one we allow to speak to us. Mammon seeks to make us selfish or self seeking in all our endeavors. And that is what he seeks to do with anything God gives us if we gave him half a chance.

Those wasteful tendencies I mentioned are not just wasteful. They are in the spiritual realm a diversion of resources from people they are meant to serve just as the many fatted oxen Solomon fed his guests were a great burden to the people he led.

Look at most of those people driving those fuel guzzlers. You will almost without exception find them earning so much whereas the majority of people working under them struggling to make ends meet. Many times the amount of money they spend monthly to fuel that vehicle would be able to pay several lower caliber staff. The allowance they spend to feed their dog is more than the amount used to pay the handler. It is Solomon replayed in our generation.

But how will people know that I am the boss if I drive those useful vehicles? I will throw that question back to you differently. How did people know that Jesus was the Christ? How did the Jews know who to arrest when they started to persecute the church? Christ did not have anywhere to lay His head. The only time He used transportation was when He rode an ass, and a borrowed one at that.

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: (1Corinthians 1:26)

Those questions of relevance are asked from the direction of mammon and worldliness. God will never ask such questions as He looks for different evidence. My relevance to God is many times (probably all the time) directly opposite to my relevance to the world. It then goes without saying that what makes me a success will many times paint me as the opposite in God’s sight.

Mammon seeks to corrupt my sight and ambition to the wrong goals. Whereas God expects faithfulness from any assignment He gives me, mammon will seek to draw me to the opposite direction by enticing me to seek rewards or relevance in the world without caring to know what God expects of me.

Let me give examples. Some years ago I knew of this popular pastor who drove such a guzzler yet his associate could not afford to take his wife to a public hospital to get their baby. Again a few days’ fuel allocation for that vehicle could have effortlessly sorted his associate’s dilemma.

I have gone for many missions. Have you ever wondered why the laborers (evangelists, builders, medical teams etc) will use substandard transport when the ministry bosses (a confusion of terms since ministry is service, the John 13 type) fly or use the most expensive and comfortable rides yet they are going for those missions to see what the workers are doing? They will sleep in hotels when those doing the donkey work sleep in tents and many times cook their own food when the senior ministers eat from those hotels.

I wonder whether you are getting at the thrust of my message. The devil wants us to redefine success.

For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth. (Luke 22:27)

Mammon wants us to aim at the rewards and accolades instead of God’s approval. Then nobody will desire the job of Christ’s minister. Why become an associate pastor when the senior pastor takes all the goodies? Why become a laborer and travel those roads even as the bosses are going by air? Mammon seeks to ‘prove’ to us that serving God on His terms does not make any sense. That living according to God’s revelation is retrogressive. And we have bought that lie completely. Instead of being the salt we have become the meat and made the world the salt. We will rot if we are not rotten already.

That is the reason I started with Romans 12. We do not have a problem because we listen to mammon. Our main problem is that we do not listen to God enough to allow Him define our values and our own being. And that has no short cut. We must seek God with all our hearts to find Him though He is waiting for us. Failing to do that clearly means that we are listening to the devil as Christ told the Jews. We do not choose to listen to mammon. Failure to clearly and fervently listen to God means that we are listening to the devil.

Yet there is honor in going God’s way. I remember going for a mission with many young people. As usual I look for duties nobody is doing instead of those everybody wants to do, many times they are the very menial ones. In fact I had been asked to join the mission to train pastors on discipleship though that was changed at the last moment, I don’t know why. For the whole week I was the electrician until most people thought that the church had hired me to do that. I did not do much else except a few other menial jobs no one else was doing.

After the mission a report was given of a mission I had been part of out of the country. After the service several of those young people came and asked me to confirm that I was the one the pastor had mentioned and I conformed that it was so. They were amazed that their electrician is a missionary. To date they come to me to know what I am involved in. And they respect me so, even coming for guidance on life issues.

Will we continue to allow mammon to define usefulness and success to us? Are we content to have the world giving us accolades for succeeding in their system when there is a higher way? Whose between the world’s and God’s commendation would you rather have?

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36)

That is the black and white view of the whole issue. Worldliness is not only defined by outright sin; adultery, stealing etc. A worldview that is not guided by the scriptures is as bad, maybe worse because one may be feeling so spiritual because I have enough verses to defend my worldliness.

But one does not have to have money to be worldly. In fact the devil does not seek to give many people money for their pursuit of mammon. He gives just a few so that the rest will crave it. Giving to many will counter his purpose as the emptiness of ‘reaching’ will be easily evident. And that is why pyramid schemes (and many have pastors in their leadership) are so attractive. They will have one person so high up making all the money effortlessly because he/ she sold (they say introduced and trained) a few people to the system. Then many will aspire to earn as much money as effortlessly as the leader and will spend all their waking and sleeping time strategizing and pursuing introductions to the system. Yet very many end up completely broken because it is a wasteful and unattainable pursuit.

Inward looking is from the devil as we saw with Solomon. Any pursuit with me at the centre is not from God, whether buying or selling or eating or drinking. We do not live for ourselves, but for Christ who bought us with His blood.

How much time do you spend in God’s word? How much do you reading newspapers and watching TV. The one you spend more time with is the one who defines your worldview.

Will we give God and His word more leeway in our lives? Will we make Christ’s Lordship a reality in our lives?