In the last post I left out
giving a solution to the believer, especially to beat the gambling spirit
before it strikes.
The other day I read about a cry
for many who lost their money in an elaborate gamble. They bought land and
installed greenhouses and then handed it over to ‘experts’ who promised to give
an equivalent of their investment annually in two installments. Imagine that
bottomless source of cash!
Sadly, two years down the line
and not a coin has been paid. Yet the loans have to be repaid.
My heart goes out to a woman who
‘stole’ family money to make that kill. She confessed that she knew that her
husband will finish her once the truth gets out.
Incidentally that was the fate of
many marriages with the pyramid schemes and their multilevel marketing
brothers. And the pyramids were more attractive as the returns came in weeks.
The gamble therefore struck quickly enough.
How do I overcome the gambling
spirit, if I may call it thus?
The first thing is to become a
Christian. Have you ever asked Christ into your life? If not, just ask Him to
save you and become your Master.
Choose to walk with Him by
following His commands. Consistently read the Bible to get to know what God
wants of you. There is a reading plan on the blog or The Bible Club House to
help you read through the Bible in one year.
Decide to walk with Him.
And then decide to listen to Him.
Allow Him the permission to guide all your decisions. Never make a decision
before you have His take on it.
Never make a decision before you
have clearly heard from Him.
Take your time after you hear of
that irresistible offer. That alone will sort you about most of these gambles
called offers. You see, if you must put in your money before consulting your
husband, that in itself is sin even if it is your money. If you must invest
before consulting, it is a giveaway for a foolish investment. Make time your
friend in these things.
Sadly ministers have become pawns
in these gambles as they provide a spiritual legitimacy to a con game.
I have been approached
innumerable times to join such gambles. And they only required a token, more or
less my signature to legitimize whatever evil they were doing. And a minister
must harvest because his visibility is an irresistible magnet to the others.
There was a time someone had even offered to pay the money required for me to
start harvesting from a pyramid scheme. But I prayed it away.
Minister, you are responsible for
more than your life and account. People’s lives are shaped by your every
decision. What you say and do are not like others as God has placed you as a
beacon to guide His people. Unless you are the one who called yourself and even
then you cannot escape that responsibility.
It is therefore important that if
you have in your greed, folly or ignorance led people into such schemes, you
must in all humility OPENLY AND PUBLICLY repent because you may be the reason
some marriages broke and some people were impoverished.
A friend was called by his senior
pastor and given a word like this. If you will ever listen to me, invest in
this scheme. And he was given enough scriptures to back his counsel. Sadly, he
lost all his money, and he was a struggling businessman.
I say this because I remember
warning people about pyramid schemes years ago and their responses. They would
show me cheques in pastors’ names and ask me whether I was the only one hearing
from God as their pastors were in the thick of things. But the song changed
when what I had been warning them against them actualized with their money. The
Bible and not a pastor’s word is the final authority as far as life is
concerned. Unless the said pastor is so immersed in it that that is what oozes
out of his mouth.
Do not be in a hurry to join
anything even if every pore in your body is crying so after a successful pitch.
You see many will parade people earning millions and others who resigned from
their jobs to pursue that irresistible offer. I have been taken to enough
seminars and am therefore speaking from experience. The fact that somebody even
offered you lunch in an exquisite hotel to listen to that pitch is not reason
enough to join before sorting it out with God. That is what has protected me
again and again as the ingenuity of those cons is always out of the world, able
to swallow the most discriminating.
I will close with these verses.
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. But thou, O man of God, flee these
things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
meekness. (1Timothy 6: 6 – 11)
And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly
shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples
were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them,
Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the
kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. (Mark 10: 23 – 25)
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