Sons of the Age; A Curse to Corruption

Division and subtraction are distinctive characteristics of darkness.  Addition and multiplication are the prime qualities of Light. It is not that which goes into a man that corrupts him, but that which comes out of him. Therefore, your produce provides the basis for your evaluation.

Now, what is corruption? Encarta defines corruption as the dishonest exploitation of power for personal gain. It further described it as extreme immorality, depravity, degeneracy, perversion, debasement, dishonest shenanigans, venality, misdemeanor and vice.

My 2011 unabridged definition of corruption reads thus: 

Corruption is the unprofitable exchange of nothing for something. It is the art or act of extracting value from a person or system without returning or depositing something of equivalent or even greater value back into the original source (the system or person). Corruption is a holistic description of unbridled theft, which I consider as one of the ultimate transgressions. To practice corruption is to steal, kill and destroy value.

Let’s bring it home now and do some mathematics. Corruption = Unproductivity! 

I guess you’re asking how. 

How about this: Corruption = Apathy = Laziness = Entitlement Mentality  = Waste = Unproductivity.

I employed the principle of equivalence and reflexivity here. Indeed, all these words are approximate synonyms. In summary, if you conduct forensic analysis, you would discover that they are all members of the same household.

Now what is unproductivity? To be unproductive is to discard value and waste capital. It means you have little or nothing to show for the resources entrusted into your hands. To put it more accurately, unproductivity means your output is less than the input. For example, If $500 was entrusted into your hands, and we return after an agreed period to find $490 in your hands, you have compromised value. That my friend, is unproductivity and by implication, corruption.

PS: Please note that we have employed money as a store or representation of value in this example. 

If a parent invests $10,000 in a child’s education and the child graduates with a great academic performance and a life transforming social experience, the child has proven to be profitable investment because the competencies acquired and the qualifications obtained are exceedingly worth more than $10,000. In actuality, they cannot be bought and are hence, priceless. A child that chooses to do otherwise brings great pain and has abused the confidence entrusted in him. Such child is no good unless he makes a 180 degree turn in good time and hastens to redeem lost time.

At this point, I would like to state categorically that corruption (unproductivity) has viral and cancerous tendencies. It eats up everything in its path. It constantly seeks to expand its reach by contaminating everything around it. It is never satisfied. It always seeks to conquer new territory. It loves to network and open “service centers“ around the globe. Corruption is like an entrepreneur. It quickly evolves and swiftly replicates itself because by operating this way, it becomes entrenched and deep seated making it near impossible to be dislodged by any opposing force.

After critically examining the nature of corruption as we have done in the previous paragraphs, we do understand there is only way to stop it. Curse it and kill it dead all the way it to its root! Corruption is not a disease that can be managed. You either kill it or leave it to live and flourish. There is no choice here. It is one-way traffic. If you allow it to lead you, it takes you into a cul-de-sac.  If you manage to get in front of it, you either kill it or it converts and dumps you in its trunk.

In order to effectively wage war against and defeat this cancer, you need two things going for you. God and Men! Let’s look at the biblical responses to corruption and unproductivity. 

In Gen38:8-10, Onan (one of Judah’s sons) wasted his seed in an attempt to stop his late brother from having descendants. God did not beg or appeal to him, rather He killed him dead. 

In the parable about the Kingdom and Talents (Matt 25:14-15), The Master gave one of the three servants one talent with which to trade and invest. He yielded zero profit and returned one talent to his Master. Basic economics tells us that 100 naira today is not equivalent to 100 naira tomorrow. A natural law of depreciation (they call it inflation) takes its toll. God called this a wicked thing and immediately pronounced the ultimate judgment against this unproductive servant.

In our third and final example, Jesus (God Incarnate) encountered a Fig Tree (Mk 11:20-24) that had leaves but no fruit. Even though this tree was out of season, it ought to have bore fruit because the natural order of growth for fig trees in the Palestine area is for fruit to come out first before leaves. This fig tree had an appearance of increase but a closer look at it revealed it was an epitome of unproductivity. This fig tree challenged and rebelled against its owner and creator.

How do we know this? Immediately after the cursed fig tree died and withered down to its root, Jesus declared “whosever shall say to this mountain…and believes…..shall have whatsoever he says”. 

Jesus compared the fig tree to an opposing mountain standing in his way. That is the the nature of corruption. It stands in your way and attempts to limit and destroy you. Jesus had given the fig tree all that it needed to produce but it brought forth nothing! Jesus cursed it immediately and it withered.

We have seen that unproductivity and corruption ought to be judged at the speed of light. Where ever laziness, unproductivity, corruption, lukewarmness,  averageness, incompetence and indifference is detected, it ought to be swiftly exterminated.

He that has little, even that which he has shall be taken away. To do nothing with something, to ignore an opportunity to create abundance, to look down rather than look up, is to challenge God. We have a duty to eliminate waste and unproductivity where ever we see it. 

Our mantra should be zero waste. 

Our motto should be CIP (Continuous Improvement in Performance).

Corruption and unproductivity is the antithesis of the first commandment and the ultimate inhibitor and antagonist to reproduction and multiplication.

Division and subtraction are the core values of darkness. This explains why the devil took away a staggering 1/3 of God's angels. He stole value from God. That's why God chose us and called us sons. Sonship does not have anything to do with the male gender. Son ship means to bear the nature and character of the source. We are called sons of God because we bear fruit and make disciples of all nations. We don't divide his body and ostracize his chosen. We always leave a place better than we meet it.

This is Jacob, the generation of them that seek Him, the generation of them that seek His face. This is a new age. Desperate times require desperate measures. We have forcefully advanced since the days of John the Baptist and we are not about to relent. Yesterday’s methods cannot dislodge today’s devils. We must retrieve the axe head and sharpen the saw. A new age requires a new kind of wisdom (Eph 3:5). Whenever a new age arrives, a new set of sons are deployed. Revelation, Wisdom, Insight and Strategies that were hidden in times past are now being revealed unto the sons of this age for tearing down corruption and building new nations.

I AM ONE OF THEM!

Missions: How contemporary interpretation has distorted its true meaning

The sole reason for Christ's incarnation, and subsequent crucifixion and RESSURECTION has been to establish His Father's kingdom upon the face of the earth by being a witness unto The Truth and redeeming All of mankind from Sin and Death.

In essence, He came to pursue and accomplish a pre-earthly and pre-determined mission, that had already been finalized by the Father before time began => 1Pet 1:20
From His birth to His ascention, christ pursued the Father's original intent absolutely devoid of any form of variation. He had a mission, and pursued it with ALL that He was given.

As disciples of Christ (xtians) we have been handed a specific mission - Go on and be effective witnesses in this lost, earthly and ephemeral world.
In essence, our faith isn't just designed to be a part of our lives, or what we do on particular days, or what we come together to do. Simply put, our faith ought to encompass the totality of our lives.

I came across a question recently that got me thinking: which of these has ownership of the other - The church or the mission?
Better still - Which is Christ's principal objective - To establish a church, or to save the world's lost?

We live in times where churches globally, place adverts and commercials in media in a manner that makes it difficult to differentiate her from commercial organizations and businesses. Some go a step further to advertise available "products" and "services" that should be difficult to ignore by any rational citizen. However, subtly, the true message of redemption and complete brokeness required for a transformed life is gently obscurred.
Before veering off-course, let's return to "The church and Missions" and see which ought to drive the activities of the other.


Alan Hirsch gives us critical spiritual insight into defining "MISSIONAL"

- DEFINING MISSONAL

It has become increasingly difficult to open a ministry book or attend a church conference and not be accosted by the word missional. A quick search on Google uncovers the presence of "missional communities," "missional leaders," "missional worship," even "missional seating," and "missional coffee." Today, everyone wants to be missional. Can you think of a single pastor who is proudly anti-missional?
But as church leaders continue to pile onto the missional bandwagon, the true meaning of the word may be getting buried under a pile of assumptions. Is it simply updated nomenclature for being purpose-driven or seeker-sensitive? Is missional a new, more mature strain of the emerging church movement?

It's time to pause and consider the origin and meaning of the word that is reframing our understanding of ministry and the church. This tree diagrams the roots of the word missional and how its reach has expanded into different areas of ministry. Alan Hirsch, a self-described "missional activist," also provides a concise definition of the ubiquitous term.
There are consequences when the meanings of words become confused. This is particularly true within a biblical worldview. The Hebrews were suspicious of images as conveyors of truth, so they guarded words and their meanings carefully. Part of theology, therefore, includes guarding the meaning of words to maintain truth within the community of faith.

This is why I am concerned about the confusion surrounding the meaning of the word missional. Maintaining the integrity of this word is critical, because recovering a missional understanding of God and the Church is essential not only for the advancement of our mission but, I believe, also for the survival of Christianity in the West.

First, let me say what missional does not mean. Missional is not synonymous with emerging. The emerging church is primarily a renewal movement attempting to contextualize Christianity for a postmodern generation. Missional is also not the same as evangelistic or seeker-sensitive. These terms generally apply to the attractional model of church that has dominated our understanding for many years. Missional is not a new way to talk about church growth. Although God clearly desires the church to grow numerically, it is only one part of the larger missional agenda. Finally, missional is more than social justice. Engaging the poor and correcting inequalities is part of being God's agent in the world, but we should not confuse this with the whole.

A proper understanding of missional begins with recovering a missionary understanding of God. By his very nature God is a "sent one" who takes the initiative to redeem his creation. This doctrine, known as missio Dei—the sending of God—is causing many to redefine their understanding of the church. Because we are the "sent" people of God, the church is the instrument of God's mission in the world. As things stand, many people see it the other way around. They believe mission is an instrument of the church; a means by which the church is grown. Although we frequently say "the church has a mission," according to missional theology a more correct statement would be "the mission has a church."

Many churches have mission statements or talk about the importance of mission, but where truly missional churches differ is in their posture toward the world. A missional community sees the mission as both its originating impulse and its organizing principle. A missional community is patterned after what God has done in Jesus Christ. In the incarnation God sent his Son. Similarly, to be missional means to be sent into the world; we do not expect people to come to us. This posture differentiates a missional church from an attractional church.

The attractional model, which has dominated the church in the West, seeks to reach out to the culture and draw people into the church—what I call outreach and in-grab. But this model only works where no significant cultural shift is required when moving from outside to inside the church. And as Western culture has become increasingly post-Christian, the attractional model has lost its effectiveness. The West looks more like a cross-cultural missionary context in which attractional church models are self-defeating. The process of extracting people from the culture and assimilating them into the church diminishes their ability to speak to those outside. People cease to be missional and instead leave that work to the clergy.

A missional theology is not content with mission being a church-based work. Rather, it applies to the whole life of every believer. Every disciple is to be an agent of the kingdom of God, and every disciple is to carry the mission of God into every sphere of life. We are all missionaries sent into a non-Christian culture.
Missional represents a significant shift in the way we think about the church. As the people of a missionary God, we ought to engage the world the same way he does—by going out rather than just reaching out. To obstruct this movement is to block God's purposes in and through his people. When the church is in mission, it is the true church.


(Alan Hirsch is a missional activist and the author of The Forgotten Ways.)