Prodigal Explanations

Controversial is a title many people associate with me and the teaching ministry God has called me to.

And it is not because I seek controversy anywhere.

I just seek to make us understand scripture in their natural context, not in our hyperpersonal context many seek to drive.

That is why I ask those ‘controversial’ questions that make many ‘successful’ ministers wince.

Let us look at Luke 15 for instance

The popular teaching (the only teaching I have heard) is that the shepherd left the ninety and nine to look for the one lost sheep.

The assumption driven is that he left them to themselves because the lost one was way more valuable than the ninety-nine.

To imagine such would be absurd.

How can a sane man, leave alone the owner of the sheep, desert the bulk of his flock to seek for the lost one that may already have been consumed by wild animals?

The shepherd did not leave the ninety-nine alone. He could not leave the ninety-nine alone.

The first reason being that sheep cannot survive without a shepherd.

If he left them without another shepherd, chances are that by the time he returned with that lone sheep he would find that ten have wandered away and become lost.

The second scenario is that wild animals would have enjoyed a feast because sheep not only do not know how to fight, they also do not know how to run.

The third scenario is that they would see an enemy, probably a simple dog, and scatter.

And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. (Mark 14:27)

The shepherd therefore did not leave the ninety-nine alone. He either left them with hired shepherds.

Why did he not send the said shepherds to seek for the lone sheep? I know someone is wondering.

Sheep have a connection to their shepherd.

John 10 explains that.

They only know his voice and would therefore respond when he called.

Second is that he is the one who knew them each by name.

The hireling would know that he was in charge of a hundred sheep whereas the shepherd knew each of them by name.

The hiring would count, one, two, ... ninety-nine, one is missing. The shepherd would know the particular sheep that was missing

He also knew their bleat and so would be able to hear it when it responded to his calls or when it was screaming for attention or rescue.

Compare that with a nursery full of children yet a mother would without fail know when it was her child crying.

The hiring would be at a loss in his search because he did not possess the relationship required for that rescue. He wouldn’t have been able to know whether it had joined another flock because not only would he not have been able to identify it, the same sheep would not recognise him or his intentions.

The shepherd would be on his seeking sing the sheep’s favourite songs and call out nicely to the lost sheep by name.

That would have made it possible for it to extricate itself from a new flock it had joined because of the shepherd’s appeals. It could also have bleated if it had been hidden or ensnared in a bush where the shepherd could not see.

The point of what I am saying is that the shepherd did not neglect the ninety-nine to seek the lost sheep.

Why is this important?

Elevating the one lost against the ninety-nine obedient sheep makes the shepherd stupid, to say the least.

He did not go to seek the lost sheep because it was better or of greater worth than the rest. He did not go to seek it because his sheep desperately needed the lost sheep, because I doubt that they had even noticed the lost.

He sought the lost sheep because it was a member of his flock. He sought it because his flock was incomplete without that one sheep.

Taking a coin from a million makes it stop being a million. And nobody would feel that void more than a shepherd who knew each one of them by name.

The parable’s focus was more on the shepherd than it was for the sheep.

It was about the love a shepherd has for each and every one of his sheep.

Look also at the parable of the prodigal son.

I have never heard any preaching saying anything positive about the son who stayed (though I have preached). Many seek to paint him very stupid.

To all the preachers I have heard preaching on this, it is the prodigal son who knew the way, chose right, etc.

But the father is very categorical about the value of his elder son, the one who stayed. I have never heard any preacher mentioning the fact, leave alone explaining why the father was pleading with the elder son

You are always with me. everything I have is yours.

The father was not rebuking his faithful son.

When the prodigal took his inheritance, everything else belonged to the son, even the fatted calf that was slaughtered for the prodigal.

The father was explaining grace and mercy to his faithful son.

The prodigal was not the show stopper. He was someone needing forgiveness and mercy.

But is that the way it is preached?

Yet the problem goes beyond preaching.

That error in understanding; that doctrinal error, has huge implications on how we do religion; on how we practice ministry.

A gangster becomes a believer. A wizard becomes a believer. A Muslim or Hindu becomes a believer. A fraudster becomes a believer.

His testimony is so flowery that before a year is over he becomes a pastor.

This despite the fact that there are many in the congregation who have faithfully served that congregation for decades, some who have even executed the role of pastor over the years and whose pastoral calling is not in question.

Yet they are overlooked when the church needs to employ a pastor just because the prodigal has come back home.

All the rules are broken to accommodate the prodigal son.

In short, the prodigal is given the inheritance the elder son had painstakingly maintained and which legally belonged to him and the elder son is kicked out of his inheritance.

On coming back, the prodigal owned nothing, deserved nothing.

He was clothed with his elder brother’s clothes and fed with his elder brother’s fatted calf.

The father’s concern was that the elder son extends grace to his brother and not to share his inheritance with him.

The prodigal had recovered his sonship. But he did not have any inheritance since he had wasted his.

Only his brother’s grace and mercy could have made that possible.

And even then, it could not have been restoration but mercy because he left nothing.

The reversal of that is the reason there is so much disillusionment in many churches.

A congregation has been giving faithfully for the longest time, running the church’s programs without complaining.

Yet a newbie comes with a single cheque and he suddenly becomes the only example worth emulating, even being entrusted with the finances of the church.

A songster who has sung for the devil all their life joins the church and all of a sudden he becomes the portrait of the church’s ‘praise and worship’ even before being discipled or taking membership.

It appears as if the church had never sung before that moment.

I hope you understand me. 

A Grateful Heart

The second half of my family is all transitioning.

Allow me to explain.

My last born is transitioning to junior school.

My second last is transitioning to high school

And my fourth born is transitioning from high school.

In short, I had three candidates in my house this year just as I had three children in high school during that terrible corona time with very brief terms and compulsory midterms; and all of them were in distant schools.

And of course, the youngest of my first half transitioned into university not so long ago.

That fills my heart with immense gratitude to God who has not only made it possible, but has done a very good job of holding it all together.

I therefore want to call on you to join me in this gratitude wherever you are.

Just thank God for and with me for what He has done and continues to do.

Also, for a long time, I have resisted many calls to use video in my teaching ministry.

But I now feel that the time has come for me to venture into that direction as I have finally sensed the release toward the same. But I will start it with very rudimental equipment, the phone and its camera.

Pray also for that.

Another request with respect with my children transitioning is that I will be picking my daughter from Muthetheni Girls’ on Friday after she sits her last paper.

I will need a car and fuel for that.

I also want to bring my whole family together for a time of thanksgiving after picking her up, preferably that evening and night.

This means we will need some bites since thanksgiving is a time of celebration.

Pray for all that provision.

Pray as God leads. Respond as God directs.

But nothing can stifle the gratitude overflowing in my heart.

God bless you

Childish Fun 2

We were looking at children and their almost magnetic attraction to danger.

We saw that as the product of their lack of vision guided by their lack of experience.

Or do you not wonder why a child must throw everything they get to their mouth? Why do they judge beauty using their tongue?

Their tongue happens to be their most dependable organ, their connection to their narrow worldview.

But a child will most certainly jump to catch the flame of a candle for its beauty for the same reason and burn their fingers in the process.

It is through those experiences that he learns that fire is hot and dangerous; that beauty can burn.

A wise parent does not hide candles from children. He makes sure that he is around when they are holding that flame so that the danger the child is exposed to is minimised.

Many parents have over the years learnt that their screening of their children from danger makes that danger even more attractive.

The child will therefore hide from his parents when he dabbles in that danger that he interprets as unbridled fun. This will many times result in a disaster.

Guarding feeds a child’s curiosity whereas instructing shows them the dangers in whatever they are being warned against.

Telling your daughter that boys are dangerous draws them there almost instinctively. Telling children that alcohol and tobacco are poison is never a deterrent.

Showing them, most effectively by example, is the best way to guide them to avoid those and many other dangers.

Children catch what we do faster and better than what we teach.

At teenage, most, probably all, children will question everything, including their parents’ wisdom and authority.

That is the point at which our lessons in their earlier years will bear their most fruit.

A ‘do not’ parent will most probably have the child doing everything in their power to do exactly what is forbidden.

A ‘watch me’ parent will have developed a more secure teenager who, though they may question the wisdom of their parents, will most likely be more careful in their rebellion because they have explanations and demonstrations why they were told to avoid things their hormones are crying out to experiment.

That is the point at which their greatest and most dangerous experiments are carried out

They will try drugs and sex and crime and lawlessness.

And that simply because they have no concept of danger or consequences. They have no fear of death as to them it is a simple chapter in their lives. Injury is an adventure since there will be somebody to carry the weight of their recovery

Young people have recently overthrown entrenched dictatorships because they do not fear guns. And nobody can kill all of them even if they tried.

No wonder the dictators flee, and will continue fleeing.

Give them a reason to support you and they will do the same without reservations.

Disappoint them and they will stop at nothing to make you pay.

And they have tools and weapons that other generations never had; information, communication, rapport.

What am I saying?

Let us instruct our children in the ways of God. Let us demonstrate to them that our faith reaps better rewards than any adrenaline rush experimentation promises.

And let us pray for them that they will experience our faith and make it their own very early because then they will be in contact with an eternal vision before any other pull is exerted on their choices.

Progress

To say that we love progress might be an understatement.

But not everyone loves it immediately because of the disruptions it causes to the existing structures.

What happened to horses and horse drawn carriages when the cars became widespread? What happened to the vinyl record infrastructure when the cassette tape arrived? What happened to the cassette tape when the CD arrived? And what happened to the CD when music was condensed to small MP3 that could fit thousands of songs in a phone? What happened to the AM broadcasting infrastructure when FM gained ascendence? What happened to the film camera infrastructure when the digital camera arrived?

Successful and thriving businesses became bankrupt overnight.

But many times, that progress may happen to bring some very negative social implications.

Look at the cellular phone for instance.

Though it appears to have broken much ground in accessibility; though it has opened grounds for unfettered access; though it has made shopping and banking easy; though it has made the pursuit of knowledge easy and affordable, it has one the same vein introduced some unforeseen dangers to the social and filial structures.

People who can have conversations with others across the globe are unable to have any meaningful conversation at the dinner table.

People who can access money easily have become unable to plan though their gadgets have all the tools for the same.

People who can spot a lie on the other side of the globe are unable to accurately express themselves because they want to be seen ‘properly’.

People have become false, even to themselves, meaning that community has died as we have all become actors at the game of life.

But this is not the message I am sharing. This is just a wakeup message.

Because God knew about this when He was creating the world. Meaning that the Gospel addresses that aspect of our lives and communities as well.

But allow me to delve into the new thing; Artificial Intelligence, or AI.

And you will allow me to look at just one aspect to get my point across.

In the past, clever characters were able to ‘hack’ into betting platforms and obtain win after win before the gamers realised that they had become the game. And that was before computers, leave alone internet.

Someone would take their time to understand the numbers, programs, procedures to be able to accurately predict the winning tickets and where they could be bought.

And since betting is a science, they would be able to hit the jackpot again and again because they were ready and willing their brains toward that end.

You see, algorithms did not start with the digital age as many think.

These characters would almost fleece the gamers since they would always win big as they would get the jackpot and several other big consolation prizes.

Now imagine with me that a few gamblers go the AI way with their predictions. And we know that gamblers will stop at nothing to win.

Which algorithm will win since we are pitting AI against AI?

Who will clean up the mess?

Internet and social media have killed community for the large part

AI could kill humanity for all it is worth.

You see, social media has taught us to create a false front that our community will love.

AI will stop us from thinking. It will stop us from problem solving.

Now imagine what that will do to an already fractured community!

I might be looking like an alarmist, and probably I am.

But as always, I seek to operate outside boxes. And I also want people to think beyond what they can see.

But probably I am not talking about you.

If so, forget everything I have said.

Childish Fun

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. {perish: or, is made naked} (Proverbs 29:18)

I was thinking about children and fun. And about youth and danger.

A child has no concept of repercussions. A youth has no clear concept of responsibility.

That, incidentally, is not because they are foolish or wicked.

Those things come with experience. They come from burning one’s fingers (or seeing them burnt) many times.

A child will throw a stone to a crowd to observe the resulting chaos.

A child could easily set a bush alight to observe its ‘blaze’. A child can break a chicken’s leg to learn to be a surgeon.

That is why no parent will buy their child a single toy. Because it will be in pieces in a very short time, however expensive it was.

Those risks and dangers are the way a child learns.

The wise parent is the one who will guide his children to avoid danger in their experimentation, since that is what their adventures simply are.

An adult has seen and experienced enough hurt and damage as to be in a position to know how to avoid it again.

That is the meaning of that verse.

But it is not about age and experience that the verse is talking about.

It is speaking about spiritual vision.

How far can you see in the spiritual?

A radar depends on the reflection of the signals it sends all around and their interpretation.

If one can diffuse instead of reflect those signals, that radar would be completely blind. If someone could be stationary or move in very low speeds, the radar would also be completely blind since it is only trained to see an object moving beyond a particular speed.

Why do we not place metal containers in microwave ovens?

They will disperse instead of absolve the energy. Meaning that whatever will be in that container will never benefit from the radiation.

Before I went off grid, I loved using the induction cooker since its energy consumption was very good despite its other challenges.

But it never recognised anything that was not magnetic, even some steel.

I used to carry a magnet when I would look for sufurias and pans for that reason.

Of course, you know that a bat can comfortably speed through the night in total darkness because it was created to use something other than eyes to see.

I am sure some are getting confused

You can only see what you have been trained to see. You can only use the tools you have to accomplish your assignment.

Though a radar can see something very far very accurately, it will be completely blind to something next to it if it is not moving the way radar has been trained to see.

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. (Psalm119:18)

That is the vision I am talking about.

Lack of that vision is the reason people perish.

On the natural, you can only use the lens of your experience. Meaning that you have nothing beyond your experience to guide you.

As you grow, however, you are able to access some other experience apart from yours to guide you.

Being called a village bumpkin is an insult because of what it implies; you have never ventured beyond your village.

But it farther implies that you have no other interaction with anybody or anything outside your village; meaning that your experience is very narrow indeed.

Though you may be an expert in village affairs, you will be completely at a loss if something different from that experience is introduced.

We love and laugh at children because we appreciate their limited experience.

We fear for and stress about our youth because we not only know the power they possess, but because we know the dangers they are plunging themselves into through their ignorance.

Allow me, however, to get us to another dimension.

It is important for us to realise that there is another dimension that we are always wont to overlook.

It is the spiritual dimension.

A wizened old man well versed in the world is a complete village bumpkin in the spiritual.

And it is because he is completely blind to spiritual things.

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1Corinthians 2:14)

He can only see things from the earthly perspective. No wonder he calls spiritual things foolish. They are simply out of his vision.

But the spiritual man has a wider vision because he can see the natural with a spiritual lens.

He not only can accurately see the natural with that eye, he can see it better because he can place it in the frame of an eternal perspective.

We talk about winning a battle and losing a war. What does it mean?

It simply means that the overall winner will allow the loser to gain a few wins so that he can then open himself up to a complete rout.

A board game master (checkers, chess) will consistently offer trophies as baits so that the competitor, in devouring those trophies, will forget to cover his bases.

By the time he realises, or even as he is celebrating all that victory, the master may just need a single move to completely take the game.

Remember the Ai and Benjamite war scenarios?

That is exactly what happened.

They were deceived by their victories that they left their cities completely exposed.

By the time they realised what had happened, they had nowhere to run.

My grandmother told me of a similar battle in the distant past when the only sport that pitted a tribe against another was taking flocks and herds from each other.

An opposing army was seen approaching from very far because this other one was on a hill.

They therefore quickly slaughtered a bull or two and started roasting them.

By the time the opposing army had approached, the meat was ready to eat.

Then the resident army hid around the grounds.

The invading army was perplexed. Yet they could not resist the aroma of such a feast.

Since they could not see anybody around, they concluded that the army had seen them and scattered.

They therefore sat down to the feast of their lives, of course separating with their weapons.

It was at that time that the resident army appeared, completely obliterating them.

Natural sight is limited to the here and now because it has no view of anything beyond death.

That is why this life so encompasses us to the point that we are devastated should anything threaten this life.

That is why people commit suicide when there is a huge fall in their fortunes.

Then you hear someone laughing at a teenager committing suicide because their crush broke their heart or their failing their exams!

But that is the far they can see.

How different is that youth to a magnate taking his life because his investments have evaporated after an economic bubble bursts?

Spiritual vision sees beyond this life. It is an eternal vision.

Only spiritual vision understands sin and can accurately see the cancer it is to our eternity.

Only spiritual vision appreciates persecution and its benefits to the world.

Without spiritual vision, this world is all there is. Without spiritual vision, the grave is the conclusion of the matter.

Only spiritual vision can place restraints on this life. Only spiritual vision can show me the boundaries God has placed on my life.

Otherwise, pleasure is the ultimate pursuit.

But it is a spiritual vision guided by the author of eternity.

It is a spiritual vision guided by His revelation.

This is because there is a counter spiritual vision guided by counterfeit spirituality.

This is where taboos and curses find their power.

They thrive in fear and not obedience. They are driven by ignorance instead of revelation.

True spiritual vision is guided by the word of God, the Bible.

Yet people would rather avoid the Bible than seek to get that vision.

Lack of that vision makes us do some very illogical things.

Allow me to get into current affairs to demonstrate it.

Some twenty odd years ago, no American could have imagined a Muslim holding a position in a kindergarten after they had brought down the twin towers among other terror.

Yet they have just elected a Muslim to be the mayor of the epicentre of that atrocity. And that Muslim is also a recent immigrant as those terrorists were.

It is an earthly vision that will disconnect someone’s faith from their conduct.

I don’t care what you believe as long as you can soothe my ego, seems to be the guiding principle.

I do not know this mayor and so have nothing against him.

I just want us to appreciate the fact that the lack of a spiritual/ eternal vision amkes one lead a very fluid life.

You just need to create an enemy to have a murderer leading you since he is the most brutal.

I was recently listening to an article about Clinton’s impeachment debacle and this came out clearly

He was able to ‘overcome’ because many people did not care what he did in private, even if that private happened in the white house.

But a spiritual and eternal vision operates differently.

That is why the qualifications for a church elder are very high though for most it is a very humdrum position.

I am simply saying that the lack of spiritual vision is childish because it is very short term, the farthest it can go being the grave.

Yet there is an eternity to deal with, an eternity whose rules and rewards are determined by God. The same God who issued the rules to live by.

Will we choose to operate by God’s vision or are we content to live for the here and now?