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.