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!

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.

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.

Information + EMOTION => desired action!

Now that’s an awkward title for an article, and I believe most would agree with me, but symbols could be quite powerful and I’d like to “think outside the box” (or is without a box now!?) and do differently. So that’s my title!

STORY 1: There are over 5 million unemployed youths and graduates in Nigeria today, and we believe government, individuals and organizations have a compelling moral obligation to tackle this escalating economic predicament that threatens the persistence of the Nigerian state. We have many graduates that do not have jobs, and are wasting away by the millions. At the last count, over 5 million graduates were found to be unemployed. If nothing is done about this, then we are at risk of failing as a nation and branding ourselves as a classic reference for a failed state where nothing worked, most were downtrodden and remained perpetually at the rear of the social ladder with no hope of redemption.
END of STORY 1

You would agree with me that this is quite an interesting story (partly true and maybe worrying too), that warrants light-speed attention and planning and ought to jump-start all parties into instant action! If you would rightly observe, this story is quite familiar and does not seem to have the edge required to challenge the intended audience, by force-shifting their transmission from the deplorable “Parking” state to “Drive”, or better still “Turbo Drive +” (for those of us that drive Mercedes, and I’m not talking about v-boot here).
Many would probably sigh, think for a few minutes, discuss with a few friends, unanimously condemn the situation together and then utter the expected statement – God is working, things will get better by God’s grace – AMEN, and that’s it! We move on to the ‘real’ issues of life.

……but we’ve been using this same christianese phrase for donkey years, though I think it’s hypocritical and has yielded little or practically no result – infact, things have gotten worse, but we still keep saying the same thing. Maybe God should be held responsible, or what do you think? Or could it be that the responsibility is really ours, and that we’ve just found a convenient way to shift it to someone up there who we all know hardly speaks audibly, at least in physical terms). Now I’m starting to get emotional, and I’m digressing too.

Let’s get back to the main point! STORY 1 doesn’t linger, doesn’t stick in the memory of the intended audience, and definitely produces little action.

STORY 2: Chukwuemeka is a bright young student who read Mechanical Engineering as an undergraduate at Ahmadu Bello University. He graduated with honors, completed his mandatory NYSC Youth Service program in Abuja, and subsequently returned to University of Jos because he was not retained where he served, and could not secure a job after several unsuccessful attempts at tests and interviews. He could not afford the fees for a Master’s degree and since he had no one to look to for help (His father is late and his mother sells vegetables in the village), he resorted to selling telephone recharge cards. The odds of him getting a good job are fast declining, given the fact that most employers have age limits and would always prefer to employ “fresh” minds.

Ladies and gentlemen, there were 2 million examples of Chuwuemeka in Nigeria in 2000, but today, we have at least 5 million. Chukwuemeka is your cousin, your neighbor, your recharge card vendor, and maybe your brother. Tunde had a similar experience as Chukwuemeka, but has since resorted to Fraud and armed robbery. I do not pray for this, but at this rate, there’s a good chance your son could grow up to become just like Chukwuemeka, or worse still Tunde. What we do right now will determine what happens next.
END of STORY 2

Wow! So this is what is really happening, and there’s a good chance my son can become like this??? The answer to that is………..well……………, YES!!!!

Those are the kinds of questions that would race through the minds of those in your audience, and I could almost guarantee that you’ve just successfully launched your “Network Marketing business”. People will talk even more, and many will certainly ACT. Remember what we really want is for people to

JUST DO IT!

Stories are real, personal and they stir up emotions, hence everyone can relate to them. Statistics and theories are real too, but they are impersonal and unemotional. At best, they make us exclaim WOW…...but that’s where it ends.
How we love to quote the stats and present data, but they seem to never work when they stand just by themselves.

Next time you want to communicate and get results, tell good stories and support them with the stats.

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SIMPLE INTERVENTIONS

When I was younger, I often dreamed that God would “just bless me” with immense wealth, such as would enable me ‘make a huge positive difference’ in my society. It didn’t require detailed investigation and intelligence to recognize that there were enormous human needs all around me, but I often felt helpless and constrained thinking that I didn’t have enough to make an impact.

That feeling of being drowned and overwhelmed with the myriad of visible challenges of friends and neighbors often meant I did significantly less than I was actually capable of doing at that time (regrets!).
In terms of the sheer quantity of help needed by people in my sphere of influence today, there hasn’t been much of an improvement (in fact, it has increased exponentially!).

Many more people need clothes, food, portable water, shoes, school fees, laptops, internet access, admission, parental care, health facilities, cars, employment, rehabilitation, encouragement, financial support, accommodation, recommendations……and that list is virtually endless.

I do believe that the most pressing need of men is spiritual reform, but how can we communicate genuine concern for the souls of men, if we ignore their most pressing needs? (looking at it from their own perspective). Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs indicates the desire to live and persist as the most fundamental, and that is in fact, practically authentic.

MLK said above all, I see ministry as a dual process. On the one hand, I must attempt to change the soul of the individual so that their societies may be changed. On the other, I must attempt to change the society so that the individual soul would have a change. Therefore, I must be concerned about unemployment, slums and economic security. (from The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jnr)

“Make a difference’ or ‘make an impact’ are buzz words today that readily challenge us to act and do something positive for another (or the society), but I wonder how much of an impact these words have had on us. I would rather recommend a return to the traditional “help that person beside you” phrase. It’s simple and straightforward. There’s no grandiose grammatical construct to hide behind, in such simple but yet powerful phrase.

Today, I’m glad I’ve learned from past mistakes, and readily recognize that I’m ALWAYS in a position to help someone, and pull another one up. There are enormous needs around us, and they present themselves on a daily (perhaps hourly) basis, but many of us still frequently pass on these opportunities. It’s quite easy for us to forget that the privileges we have is by no means a product of our abilities, but by the supreme placement and GRACE of GOD, who expects us to extend the same without reservation to all starting with those around us.

I no longer waste precious moments thinking of hitting a jackpot of a billion dollars In order to help someone. The little I’ve got is sufficient to help that person right beside me. If 1% of Nigerian families could adopt just one child from the orphanage, I doubt we would have any need for orphanages (they would have become museums in a matter of seconds!)


A few tips on how to help someone:

Make a habit of giving pedestrians a free ride in your car (it’s not always dangerous to do that!).

Pay schools fees of kids around you, that you know ought to be in school, but can’t afford it.

Send your house-maids to school.

Give way to traffic on the left.

Stop at Zebra Crossings

Don’t throw garbage out of your window.

Never use abusive or curse words on anybody, but encourage and bless instead.

Buy a couple of shirts for someone.

Buy good books and text books for people (Very important!)

Make a habit of giving your good but old clothes to people you know have just a few clothes.

Make a habit of keeping only stuff you really need, and give away everything else!!!

Visit the orphanage and homes of the physically challenged at least twice a year.

Sponsor Primary, Secondary and Tertiary education for one or more persons.

Buy laptops and computers for students and other people around you.

Earmark a fixed percentage of your income as donations to charities and other foundations.

Support ministries that you believe are genuine.

Pay your tithe.

and many more ways of making a difference (Sorry! i meant "helping someone"!)

You see – it doesn’t take meticulous planning or the brain of a rocket scientist to make simple interventions!