Saturday, December 11, 2010

MARKETPLACE WARRIORS - RECLAIMING THE 7 MOUNTAINS

A few days ago, I thought deeply about the incredibly enormous quanta of energy that have been expended and combusted by a diverse range of innovative and passionate Nigerians who have desperately attempted to steer the wheel of our national destiny in the direction of solid economic and social prosperity in the face of great systemic opposition. Despite these sacrifices of immense proportions, I’ve been increasingly restless and gravely concerned about the apparent slow paced change and unimpressive progress we have achieved. After searching the Great Book and feeding on the works of great men such as Peter Wagner, Oz Hillman, Yinka Ojo and a few others, my eyes of understanding were opened. My final diagnosis is that a higher percentage of we agents of transformation, development catalysts and change orchestrators are still operating at the lower levels of national influence in almost all of the 7 strategic dimensions of society.

I am an ardent optimist, a dimensionalist leader (i picked this from Tudor Bismark) and a visioner, so I’m not the type that fluctuates from one end of the conviction spectrum to the other just because of mounting environmental pressures. Rather, I stick to my beliefs in and out of season. I totally believe Africa will rise and Nigeria will ultimately take her place among world powers, but the victories that we seek won’t be wrought from a seat of convenience or indifference. It certainly would not be served on a platter of Gold. Power must, and will be wrestled from the enemy.

We have a great assignment and that assignment is to systematically reclaim the 7 “mountains” (Deut 7:1 and Rev 17:9-10). These 7 mountains or 7 nations are the 7 key dimensions and sub-divisions of society that are systematically ruled and administered by authorities in different levels. This is NOT a man made concept. These are original blueprints that were laid down by God himself. We lost control over these areas primarily because of our ignorance over the ages and our inability to practice the principles of Jesus. (The person of Jesus brings salvation, but the principles of Jesus are the blueprints for operating His kingdom).

These areas are:

1. Governance and Public Administration

2. Business and Commerce

3. Media

4. Arts and Entertainment

5. Education

6. Family

7. Faith (Religion).

The 7 nations that were expelled in Deut 7:1 were the counterfeits of each of these 7 dimensions of society.

The sons of the Kingdom have historically occupied the lower levels (small business owners, officers in companies and civil servants in government). A few have managed to attain the medium levels (Managers in companies and Directors in Government), but to a very large extent, we have been locked out of the upper levels.

Our mandate now is to infiltrate the highest levels of influence (CEOs of Corporations, Senators, Governors and even the Presidency). We must utilize supernatural blueprints and build Systems of Excellence and Dynamic Structures that will knock out the current repressive systems and ideologies that the enemy has propagated.

It is only from the peak that we can orchestrate the kind of far reaching and sustainable transformation that will crush all contending forces and opposition.

In essence, there is need for speed and we all have a mandate to take charge and dominate the territories that have been assigned to us. At this point, visions must be enlarged and some of us may have to raise our expectations by exponential proportions. We must never forget that a President is more powerful than 10 senators combined and a CEO is more powerful than 10 managers, therefore our goal must be to take over the highest possible levels in these 7 dimensions.

Here are a few critical foundational insights that can guide us as we battle the repressive systems of our day.

In 1900, less than 10% of Africans considered themselves followers of Christ, but by the year 2000, that number had risen to almost 50%. In 2000, Africa had over 13000 missionaries serving in cross cultural settings around the globe. Despite these impressive numbers, the state of development across the continent today is still a heart breaker, especially when we benchmark ourselves against the rest of the world.

WHY HAVE WE FOUND OURSELVES IN THIS STATE?

The reasons are not far-fetched! The first question we must ask is “what percentage of those of us who claim to be followers of Christ are really Christians?” Paternalism still runs deep and wide. Many including those who ought to know better still hold on to the “Big Brother” culture which says that in every community, family or company, there must be one special benefactor that every other person depends on for sustenance. We always manage to shift responsibility to a few persons and benefactors. Interestingly, this ideology somehow found its way into the church. Many are only Christians when they are in the presence of a particular Man of Faith. Our faith is ‘group faith’. That’s why whenever we are out of church, we become just like anybody else. What we may have failed to realize is that charity and philanthropy will not regulate society, and can never do the work of justice and equity. The greatest heritage we can leave for an incoming generation is to create an atmosphere of fairness, justice and equity. Our ultimate goal must be to build a society where people are only limited by the size of their dreams and desires, and nothing more. We don’t need more charities. What we need are excellent systems that give equal opportunity to all.

An even more despicable evil is our understanding and practice of leadership. We find it hard to equate excellence with leadership and a large number of us do not take a national perspective on Nigeria. Our allegiance is first to our tribe and local interest groups. Some even say Nigeria is too diverse to be united – I consider this such an uninformed viewpoint! America today is exceedingly more diverse than Nigeria, yet they have managed to construct a national identity. This explains why zoning is being discussed at the very highest levels. Zoning is the very anti-thesis of excellence. Today, we find zoning in government, the oil industry, corporations and even the educational system. Zoning is the magical weapon of the enemy to ensure that the very best never rise to the top. It ensures people get the prize not because of their track record and ability, but because of their place of birth and other mundane, inconsequential and irrational reasons.

National Transformation will not happen unless we strike the tipping point of representation at the highest levels of influence and leadership in our nation. Historically, the system has consistently managed to expel intelligent leaders with great ideas and respectable core values. Ben Bruce, Okonjo-Iweala and many others were promptly eased out of office by entrenched interests who felt threatened by organizational transformations that these great minds had set in motion.

THIS TREND MUST BE ECLIPSED!

Having one or two great Governors and a few Senators who have integrity isn’t sufficient anymore. These are not the days of having five or six righteous people in government. If we mean business, then we must invade the very peaks of the mountain. We must secure the very highest leadership positions in business and governance in significant numbers. Only then can we restore ORDER and see the transformation that we most certainly deserve.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

The JEWISH PHENOMENON & MARKETPLACE APOSTLES (Mind-Shift Series)

“......there is a church on Sunday (the nuclear church) and there is Church from Monday to Saturday (the extended church). These are not two churches. They are just instances and manifestations of God’s community on different platforms but with the same mandate and rule-book …..therefore if we have apostles and prophets in the nuclear church, we likewise have "sent ones" in the other and perhaps bigger church, which holds her meetings from Mondays to Saturdays in the market place. These are chosen ones who have been called into the ministry of APOSTLES OF THE MARKETPLACE. They are not less spiritual, less competent, less potent or less strategic as their peers in the nuclear church”

One of the subjects I enjoyed in school was Technical Drawing. I particularly liked drawing orthographic projections of 3D objects. A typical projection consisted of 3 views or perspectives – front, side and plan views – which when combined together, could be used to re-construct the original 3D object. A single view of an object would constitute a partial truth, which is often times misleading. This simple analogy provides great insight into one of the most significant challenges facing the soldiers of God’s kingdom today.

John Beckett, in his book Loving Monday identified two different mind-sets by which God’s people approached life – Greek worldviews and the Hebrew Mindset. Beckett argued that the Greeks couldn’t get away from the concept of dualism, the idea of higher and lower planes of ideas and activities. Plato (A foremost Greek philosopher) was one of the clearest on this. He sought to identify unchanging universal truths which he placed in the higher of two distinct realms. The higher realm he called ‘form’ – the realm of eternal ideas. The lower realm he called ‘matter’ – the realm of the temporal and physical. The problem starts when Plato decides to place ‘work’ and ‘occupation’ in the lower realm.
This is how many of us regard work. We see it as a necessity of life for earning a living, but also see it as something inferior in comparison with the high road of “Christian ministry”. Many have been programmed to make clear distinctions between: Spiritual vs. Worldly, Sacred vs. Secular, Church vs. World, Clergy vs. Congregation.

However, what we may not have realized is that the bible was not written from a Greek worldview, but from a Hebrew one! Greek thinking tends to compartmentalize and stratify all of life. On the other hand, Hebrew thinking tends to connect and integrate all of life. Greeks see little relationship between cosmic forces (spiritual) and daily life. Hebrews think spiritual forces and daily life are constantly interacting.
Traditional Christians believe the Hebrew-oriented bible, but our Greek side wants to separate secular from spiritual. In doing so, work falls into the secular, while Christian ministry falls into the spiritual.
For Hebrews on the other hand, both work and Christian ministry honor God. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for worship, “Avodah”, is also translated “work” in the bible. Imagine the concept of work being a form of worship!

Steven Silbiger, in ”The Jewish Phenomenon” points out that for Jews, wealth is a good thing , a worthy and respectable goal to strive toward. What’s more, once you earn it, it is tragic to lose it. Judaism has never considered poverty a virtue. The first Jews were not poor, and that was good. The Jewish founding fathers - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were blessed with cattle and land in abundance. Asceticism and self denial (in the sense of starvation and lack) are not Jewish ideals. With your financial house in order, it is easier to pursue your spiritual life.
This idea is vastly different from traditional Christian attitudes towards wealth and business. In fact, I believe the body of Christ in general has been under the spell of a pernicious spirit of poverty that has been passed through the generations since the monastic movement of the middle ages. We may not be able to grasp the dignity of wealth and work until we’re delivered collectively and individually from this evil spirit.

Here are remarkable statistics on Jewish-Americans, who comprise only 2% of the American population.



1. 45% of the top 40 of the Forbes 400 richest Americans are Jewish (2006)
2. 20% of professors at leading American universities are Jewish
3. 40% of partners at leading law firms in New York and Washington are Jewish.
4. 25% of all American Nobel Prize winners are Jewish.
5. Less than 0.1% of American prison inmates are Jewish.
6. The % of Jewish households with income greater than $50,000 is double that of non Jews in the US

Data like these force us to ask questions like “how did this come about?” The answer is that these Jews think like God! In order words, Jews have a Hebrew mindset. They are not under the oppression of a Greek-oriented monastic heritage like many of us gentile Christians are.

Romans 12:2 makes clear that we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We need to think differently. We need to start by shifting out mental paradigm from the Greek worldview to the Hebrew worldview.

Our Greek mindset has caused us to fall into the trap of what Ed Silvoso, the author of “Anointed for Business”, calls the “4 lethal misbelieves” concerning church ministry and business. They are:

1. There is a God-ordained division between clergy and congregation
2. The church primarily operates within the temple (church building)
3. People involved in business cannot be as spiritual as those serving in traditional church ministry
4. The primary role of market place Christians is to make money to support the vision of “those in the ministry”

As we engineer and propagate a Mind-Shift into full view and perspective of God’s intense desire for kingdom influence in the workplace / governance / business, we will further distance ourselves from such evil traditional beliefs and embrace True Kingdom ideals.

The kingdom of God includes but is not limited to our current idea of the church. The kingdom exists wherever there are those for whom Christ is their King. It has no geographical or political boundaries. That’s why Jesus said that the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). Every single Christian has a mandate to advance God’s kingdom in his sphere of influence. I dare say that some of what we do in advancing God’s kingdom would be done in the nuclear church but much of it would be done outside of the 4 walls of the nuclear church .i.e. in the marketplace.

There is a church on Sunday (the nuclear church) and there is Church from Monday to Saturday (the extended church). These are not two churches. They are just instances and manifestations of God’s community on different platforms but with the same mandate and rule-book. Christ’s definition of the Church (Mt 16:18) is Ekklesia which simply means the people of God – nothing more, nothing less!

Therefore if we have apostles and prophets in the nuclear church, we likewise have the sent ones in the other and perhaps bigger church, which holds her meetings from Monday to Saturday in the market place. These are those who have been called into the ministry of APOSTLES OF THE MARKETPLACE. They are not less spiritual, less competent, less potent or less strategic as their peers in the nuclear church.

….to be continued!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

MIND-SHIFT Agents of the GREEN REVOLUTION

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) are United Nations treaties that Nigeria has ratified since July 29, 1993. On December 9, 2003 Nigeria went a step further and ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. Under international law, we are legally bound as a nation to provide and guarantee to every citizen, these inalienable, indivisible, equal and interdependent rights. With over 500 billion dollars in revenue from oil, do we as a nation have any excuse for the state of our people today? Can we describe our actions so far as consistent gross violations of these treaties? Who should be held accountable? What should we do next?

The mission before us as nation states in Africa is of immense proportions and involves creating a MIND SHIFT amongst our people in order to birth a new desired economic and political order. In Nigeria, it is a daunting task, but a possible one and we can accomplish this through the coordinated actions of great revolutionary Nigerians in what we’ve now termed the GREEN REVOLUTION!

I addressed a group of SSS-3 students of Bonny National Grammar school on March 19, 2010 (on the platform of MIND SHIFT CONSORTIUM) and shared with them a picture of what they could, and will turn Nigeria into in a thoroughly engaging 90 minute session. I was overwhelmed by the sheer energy and conviction exhibited by these young Wole Soyinkas, Philip Emeagwalis, Mark Zuckerbergs and Sergey Brins in the making.
Despite the impossible situation in this school that had only 8 government-employed teachers (for a student population of more than 500 students, often depending on corpers and part-time teachers to make up the huge vacuum), I saw highly intelligent students with hope written all over their faces. I did not need any more convincing that the Corporate Titans and National Leaders of the New Nigeria were here, and all they require is a MIND SHIFT to help focus their energy accurately for their strategic roles and responsibilities in building this country from the ground up. They are very much aware of the challenges, and are ready to take them on. However, these brilliant young Nigerians require guidance and adult supervision, which every available mature revolutionary should be more than willing to provide to every single youngster.

What is a SHIFT? To SHIFT means to move somebody or something from an old position to a new and different position.

The old position in Nigeria – Indifference, tolerance of evil, complaints, ineffective talk and occasional action

The new position in Nigeria – Aggressive campaigns, mass action, revolt against incompetence, demand for accountability, zero tolerance for election rigging

I’m a firm believer (meaning that I advocate and execute corresponding action in line with my professed belief) in the fact that African nations have the inherent potential to develop, and ultimately come out of poverty of mind, soul and the environment. I may not be able to predict accurately how soon, but I’m certain development is inevitable. What I can guarantee is that after a critical-mass of revolutionaries has been attained, then the inflection point (change that even the worst international critics cannot gainsay) is within striking distance or ‘killing range’( as U.S. Secret Service agents love to call it!)

The root cause of underdevelopment and poverty isn’t really the lack of infrastructure and basic amenities. Maybe it isn’t our political leaders, corporate thieves or rebel groups. If sky-scrappers, educational facilities, water treatment plants and power stations suddenly appeared all over our continent today, would they be there 5 years from now? Or perhaps, if the proverbial geographical exchange takes place between Africa and the U.S. (i.e. all Africans go to America, and all Americans come over to Africa), what would happen in a few years? These are hard questions that need answers.

I believe the critical difference between prosperity and poverty is in the underlying thinking and attitudes of a people - a product of their culture and values. I’ve heard preachers say that it is an extremely harder task to change a man’s point of view, than to cast out devils from a possessed individual. I believe that assertion is accurate. Therefore, we have a task to break the hold of tradition over our people, and help them transit from apathy to having a sense of responsibility for their national outcomes.

One of the other missing links in our efforts to salvage our nation, in my judgment has been Coordinated Action!

Coordinated Action is a series of intense, fierce, aggressive, unrelenting but peaceful activities wrought by a movement of resilient people demanding for their inalienable rights. They are led by a decentralized but very tightly integrated leadership. Simple examples are the Gandhi and MLK movements of India and the U.S. respectively.

I do believe we are now maturing as a people, faster than ever before and are making the critical alliances that will have the reach and power to topple and destroy the enmeshed leviathan of big-stouting and pepper-souping political cults and power bases in our society (to borrow some expressions from Patrick Obahiagbon).

I’ve been doing some intense study on the history and economic development of nations (emphasis on African nations) and the plethora of post colonial events and upheavals that have shaped and evolved the present day society before us today. Many of us are familiar with the peculiar African trends and it’s predominantly a tragic one, but I do believe it’s important for us to understand the waves of revolutions that have taken place so that we can accurately judge the impacts they’ve had on our society.

We’ve had Oil, diamond and natural resource conflicts in Angola, Nigeria, Sudan, DRC, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra-Leone and others. We’ve had eternal dictatorships in almost every African state. We’ve had hundreds of rebel groups fighting their respective (and sometimes neighboring) governments. We’ve witnessed Apartheid and extreme oppression by national leaders resulting in ethnic deprivations, hunger, forced migrations, extreme living conditions, mass executions and even genocide. (I remember Burundi/Rwanda. One foreign government kept describing the mass executions in Rwanda as “acts of genocide” and then one puzzled journalist asked thus – how many acts of genocide does it take for us to have one genocide?) We’ve also had resource rich regions experiencing un-imaginable levels of under-development and neglect. The list is endless.

However, I’m not certain all these past experiences and nightmares have had the right effect on a higher percentage of our vast populations. There is still that visible conservative and laid back attitude that pervades the continent. Many still embrace archaic, ineffective and wasteful traditions that have no place in the present age. We seem to hope for a better tomorrow by committing our future into the hands of a heavenly being who will one day hear our cries and send down help from glory. I believe in the spiritual (because it is even more real than the physical), but the law of the human medium cannot be violated. In explicit terms, everything that would happen in society and in this physical realm would have to be wrought through the hands and abilities of human beings. (Things may change after the messianic return takes place, but today is here and it beckons on us to take action!)

The truth is that the help we seek has long been around us, and has merely awaited our recognition. In simple terms, our day of deliverance is in our control and will come when a sufficient number of us tire-out, and decide to revolt against all forms of incompetence. People power is something no government in the entire universe can defeat. This is evident in the Orange revolution (Ukraine 2004/2005), the ROSE revolution (In Georgia - 2003) and the revolt against Slobodan Milosevic (In Serbia – 2000).

Critical lessons from these revolutions (such as in Ukraine) is that we can firmly resist and denounce the incumbent lethargy in our political and economic systems, and bring about change without bloodshed. Sustainable change however constitutes a different challenge that must be addressed concurrently. I was bewildered by the recent happenings in Ukraine. The same Victor Yanukovych that the Orange revolution prevented from rigging the presidency in 2005 has now become president in 2010. It seems a sustainable MIND SHIFT may not have taken place amongst the Ukrainian people, because I don’t understand how a widely reported ex-convict could gain the presidency in a free and fair election. I may not have the moral grounds to analyze the internal matters of Ukraine, but I believe there’s an important lesson for us in here.

Our GREEN REVOLUTION is here. We are the players on ground and coordination must begin in earnest. The mind shift and succession planning required to prevent us from allowing our new gains to be eroded in future must be built into our youngsters from now. We must take ownership of this process, and establish multiple platforms for Coordinated Action.

In the words of William Jefferson – I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

YOU WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE for Your Nation (Nigeria)!

When a young child goes out and commits a crime, who is held accountable? Is it the child, or is the adult parent who ought to know better?
Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it far from him.
Teach a child the way of the Lord, and when he grows, he will not depart from it.
Clearly, the scriptures above tell us who to hold responsible.

The mutallab boy almost single handedly brought disrepute to our nation, but thank God the plot was unsuccessful (and i know it was the prayers of the saints that stopped that from happening because the price would have been to enormous to pay, for us as a nation).

Now my question is should the Father be absolved of any blame just because he reported his son earlier? I think not. The son has forever brought the father's name to disrepute and i'm certain the father will only find peace when he comes to Christ.

I was seeking God's face about the condition of our Nation, and He spoke to me expressly that those who know better (which is His Church - consisting of you and I) would be held accountable for the current condition and end result of our nation. We would be held more accountable for the right things we didn't do, rather than the evil things we did.

Jer 25:8 Therefore the Lord almighty says this: "because you have not listened to my words, i will summon all the peoples of the north, and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of babylon....".
Wait a minute! did God just call that pagan unbeliever his servant??? Yes he did.
God called him His servant because He was going to use him to execute judgement (not because the pagan king was a righteous man).
I've learnt that the Lord raises national leaders for two purposes:

1. To deliver people and bring about prosperity. (e.g. Joshua and Moses)
2. To execute judgement! (e.g. Nebuchadnezzar)

It's that simple. I believe any, and every leader has been appointed by God, and is there for a purpose. I'm saying expressly that Obasanjo and Yar'adua were 'anointed' by God to lead this country. The question you and i ought to ask is for what purpose? I don't claim to know just yet, but that's an assignment for everybody.

We have sinned greatly as a nation. We have stolen, killed, maimed, cheated and done the worst things imaginable to our brothers. We have institutionalized sin. These things cannot just be swept under the carpet. They have to be dealt with. By who? I believe by the 'adults' who know better. We must realize that the world doesn't know any better, so it's in their nature to steal, kill, maim, destroy, vandalize and hate just like their father. If they weren't doing that, it would be strange and unnatural.
But the problem is not with the food. The problem is with the tasteless SALT. The problem is not with the darkness - the problem is with the dim LIGHT.
The 'adults' are unequivocally you and I - The Church. We are the ones who know what is right, but have refused to do it. Instead, we have become commentators, and have adopted worldly principles instead of taking the lead and showing the world how to live. we have joined the rat race that leads no where.

"The world shall see your works, and give glory to your Father in heaven!"
The people can NOT see our prayer, fasting, church building, endless services, night vigils, tongues,..............the list is endless.
Why? Because they cannot see spiritual things. They are blind. They can only see physical things that they can relate with.

They can see our social development, they can see our giving to the poor, they can see our selflessness, they can see our exemplary leadership, they can see our resistance to corruption, they can see our CSR and Advocacy, They can see our Mushin makeover, they can see our educational institutions, they can see our honesty and integrity, they can see our desire to help them get a better life, they can see our dedication to our jobs, they can see our excellence on the job, they can see our attention to detail, they can see our respectful and intelligent children, they can see our outstanding academic performances, they can see our Harvard and MIT degrees, they can see our multi-billion dollar businesses built upon strong values, they can see our advanced innovative, creative and conceptual abilities, they can see our professional and clean dressing, they can smell our perfume, they can see our shining suits, they can see the beautiful cars we use for ministry and give away freely (not for oppressing them)..............the list is also endless.

2010 is a year to demonstrate the effects of being Xtians. We are the Church, and we will be held accountable for our Nation.