Of Conmen and Gamblers

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.