Unrighteous Wealth (14) Pharisee and the Tax Collector

We think of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector is parable about hypocrisy, but this not quite right. Hypocrisy is pretending that you are better than you are. The Pharisee was not pretending. He thought he was better, but he was wrong about righteousness.

This parable is part of a series of parables about unrighteous wealth. Jesus directed it towards people who “trusted in themselves that they are righteous”. The Pharisee explains the basis for his righteousness. He tithed a tenth of “everything that he acquired”. Jesus said that he did not go home justified as righteous before God.

The reason is that tithing on wealth does not make it righteous. The righteousness of wealth depends on how it is acquired, not on how much is tithed. Acquisition of wealth must be consistent with God’s Instructions for Economic Life. The Pharisee failed to meet that standard, so he was benefiting from unrighteous wealth. It looked fine on the outside, but he was actually no better than a tax collector.

The tax collector was not an innocent bureaucrat. Tax collectors were instruments of the Roman Empire. They extracted as much wealth from the people as they could get. They paid what the owed to the Romans, and kept the rest for themselves. Being a tax collector was a good way to becomes rich, but it was unrighteous wealth. The tax collector in the parable know that and asked God for mercy.

The message of the parable is that the person who acquires unrighteous wealth is no better than the tax collector. They might do good things with their wealth, but that does not change their character.

This is a serious warning for modern Christians. They are easy about how the obtain their wealth, but they assume that tithing and other Christian activities makes it right. It does not.

Unrighteous Wealth (13) Lazarus and the Rich Man

Jesus expanded on the dangers of unrighteous wealth in the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Most Christians see this parable as teaching about heaven and evil, but this misses the point of the parable because it follows on from the parable of the Shrewd Manager, in which Jesus articulated the concept of unrighteous wealth. The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus continues this theme. Jesus was warning that the soul of the person who owns unrighteous wealth is in serious danger. It is almost impossible for them to get into the kingdom.

The rich man lived in luxury, but thought that he was okay. He assumed he was inheriting the blessing of Abraham. He ignored Lazarus because he assumed that he was cursed because he was such a poor man. He thought Lazarus was a bludger.

Like many poor people, Lazarus would have enjoyed a few scraps of food from the rich man’s rubbish bin, but he was shut out from that too. No trickle down from this table. Only the dogs licked his sores, but there was little comfort in their attention.

When the two men died, the rich man discovered the was wrong. He had received his good things, but now he was in agony.

Why did this man end up on the wrong side of the great divide? Jesus does not say explicitly, but his listeners would have understood the reason. The rich man wore a robe of purple, which pointed to an establishment role linked to the privilege of the Roman Empire. His wealth was unrighteous wealth

The rich man asked that Lazarus would come and dip his finger in water and cool his tongue. He had done nothing to comfort Lazarus, and he still thought of himself.

The rich man asked Abraham to send someone to his brothers to warn them. Abraham said that the law and the prophets had warned them and that should be enough. The instructions for economic life contained in the Law of Moses defined the nature of unrighteous wealth very clearly. The prophets explained and confirmed the nature of unrighteous wealth. The law and the prophets contained everything that the rich man’s brothers needed to know.

The rich man had ignored the teaching of the law and the prophets and got on with becoming rich. He thought that he was inheriting the promise of Abraham, but he was ignoring God’s standard for righteous wealth. This left him on the wrong side of the eternal divide.

Lazarus had experienced the bad things condemned by the law, so he arrived at a place of blessed. He was the true son of Abraham.

If we want to understood the nature of unrigheous wealth, we should do what the rich man and his brothers did not do. We should study the law, and the insights of the prophets into the teaching of the law.

Unrighteous Wealth (12) Land

God hates the accumulation of large tracts of land and wants it evenly distributed. He created the earth for all humans and wants every person to own a bit of it, so they have the capacity to feed themselves. When Israel entered the land, he told Moses to divide it equally between all people. That means that large landholdings are unrighteous wealth.

The accumulation of houses is unrighteous wealth. The prophets spoke against those who accumulated land and houses.

Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land (Is 5:8).

When Jesus challenged a ruler enquired about eternal life, the man claimed to have kept all the commandments since he was a boy (Luke 18:21). Jesus explained that he was wrong. He had honoured the Ten Commandments, but he had ignored God’s instructions for economic life. He was not entitled to accumulate land. To be righteous, he needed to sell his land and give it away. This would fulfil the land laws of Leviticus 25.

Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Luke 18:23).

Luke records that the man became sad, because “he was very wealthy”. They only to become wealthy in Jesus time, was through collusion with the Romans, so his was unrighteous wealth.

In the modern world, residential housing is a popular investment. This demand pushes up the price of dwellings, which makes it difficult for young people to buy a house. Investment in housing is unproductive. It does not increase the productivity of the economy. People who are saving for their retirement should invest in productivity activities not residential dwellings.

If people who own more than one house or residential lot were to sell them, the price of houses would fall dramatically. Young people would find houses easier to afford.

Unrighteous Wealth (11) Church

In the last century, millions of people in the western world have come to faith. This should have resulted in a massive continuous jubilee, as the new Christians gave away their unrighteous wealth, but that never happened. The consequences are serious.

• The poor have been robbed of blessing.
• The gospel has been hindered.
• Wealth has been stored up for judgment (maybe this is the reason for the current grumpy economic growth).

The jubilee of giving has not occurred because the church has taught the false doctrine of tithing to the church and ignored Jesus teaching about giving away unrighteous wealth. The church has taught Christians that if they tithe on the income from their unrighteous wealth, it does not need to be given away. Share your unrighteous gains with us, and you will be okay. What a handy teaching. I do not know of any church that has taught that unrighteous wealth must be given away. Jesus teaching has been ignored.

The consequence is that the church has robbed the poor. The church has gained a tenth of the income from unrighteous wealth, and the poor have got nothing. Not quite what Jesus had in mind. I think it means that a significant proportion of the property of the church is unrighteous wealth.

Unrighteous Wealth (10) Barnabas

Barnabas brought his money to the apostles when he realised it was unrighteous wealth.

Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet (Acts 4:36-37).

Barnabas was a Levite and Levites were not entitled to own land in Israel (Num 26:62). When he came to faith in Jesus, the illegal ownership of land would have weighed on his conscious. He probably could not return the land to its rightful owner (Lev 25:13), so he sold the land and gave the money to the apostles for distribution to those in need.

The word used for possessions in Acts 2:45, 4:34 and Acts 5:1 is "ktema" or "ktetor" This is not the word generally used for possessions in the New Testament (uparxis). These nouns are derived from the verb "ktaomai". It means "acquire" or "gain control over". It refers to property that has been acquired, not bought. "Ktema" refers to unrighteous wealth that has been acquired by wickedness. The property sold by Christians like Barnabas and Ananias had been acquired as a reward for unrighteous activities.

The generosity of the early church was not proto-communism as is often suggested. It was the practical outworking of the Jesus teaching on unrighteous wealth.

Unrighteous Wealth (9) Discerning

There are no simple rules to distinguish between righteous and unrighteous wealth. Some wealth will be obvious. The shrewd manager had worked for the rich man, so he knew how much of his wealth was earned in unrighteous ways. People who have served sin should be able to recognise the fruits of sin. The Holy Spirit will reveal this to the person who seeks honestly.

Unrighteous wealth is not an objective standard that can be decided by a judge. Nor can it be decided by other Christian or elders. Only the person who holds the wealth knows how it was obtained, so they must decide whether it was unrighteous wealth or not. An elder can explain to new Christian what it means, but they must assess their own wealth and decide its status. Only the property owner can decide how much of their wealth is unrighteous. This is a personal issue.

Zacchaeus decided that half of his wealth was unrighteous wealth and gave it away. Likewise, the property owner must decide themselves what they will do with their unrighteous wealth. They can ask Christian elders for advice. They can ask deacons for assistance, but their response must be a personal choice, not compulsion.

Most unrighteous wealth will be obvious. If it is not obvious, we can leave it to the Holy Spirit. He will convict the new Christian, if his wealth is unrighteous and needs to be “got shot of”. We can trust the Spirit to do this task.

Christian elders must not get into the business of forcing new Christians to give away their wealth, whether it unrighteous or not. The Ananias and Saphira incident probably occurred because people were coming under inappropriate pressure to give wealth away (Acts 5:1-10). This teaching is not the basis for compulsory income redistribution either by the church or by political power.

Unrighteous wealth can usually be discerned by examining the way it was acquired. It will have been obtained through deception, theft, manipulation or dishonesty. In Jesus time, it was often acquired through collusion with the political and religious powers. That problem has not changed, but the form will be different.

Unrighteous Wealth (8)

Many people who come to Jesus will have unrighteous wealth. They and their family before them will have engaged in activities that are contrary to God’s guidelines for economic life to accumulate wealth.

The message of this parable is that new Christians with unrighteous wealth should give it away immediately. If they hang onto it, they will be corrupted by the unrighteous spirit that clings to it.

Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches (Luke 16:10-11)?

If they cannot be trusted to do the right thing with their unrighteous wealth, they cannot be trusted with the treasure of the Spirit. Many people come to faith with significant wealth; think they can use the wealth to advance the kingdom. This does not work. Jesus said,

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money (Luke 16:13).

Those who try to use their unrighteous wealth for the kingdom will end up serving money.

Righteous wealth can be used for the kingdom. However, we must be careful. It is easy to fall in the trap of trying to convert unrighteous wealth by using it in the Kingdom of God. This is a huge issue for the western Church. If we are open to the Spirit, Christians will realise that more of their assets are unrighteous wealth than they realised.

The shrewd manager knew about Home Churches :-) He adjusted the debts, so that

People will welcome me into their homes (Luke 16:4).

This is the source of Christian blessing. Living close to other Christians, who will share what they have brings greater blessing than unrighteous wealth.

Unrighteous Wealth (7) Allegiance

The shrewd manger was making a shift in allegiance from the rich man to the people who owed him money. This represents the shift in loyalty we make when we become a Christian. The shrewd manager understood that a person shifting allegiance must make a total break.

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other (Luke 16:13).

Many Christians fail to do this. They hang onto some of the things that were important to them in their old life. This divided loyalty is dangerous.

We are ambivalent about the shrewd manager, because we think that he was dishonest to change the values of the debts owed to his master, but we do not understand the situation.

The shrewd manager knew that most of the wealth of the rich man was “unrighteous wealth”. It was stolen from other people, through various tricky activities by him and his parents. Therefore, the shrewd manager was not robbing the rich man of his wealth.

The wealth he took from him had been stolen from someone else. The shrewd manager had worked for the rich man, so he knew how he had gained his wealth. He was not stealing from the rich man, because the wealth of the rich man was unrighteous wealth. He was making restitution on his behalf. As the agent of the rich man, he was doing what the Torah required.

The shrewd manager had given his allegiance to the wrong person. He seemed to be in a good place, but when he least expected it, the rich man turned against him for no reason. That is the way it is for those who give allegiance to the devil. Life seems good for a start, but when they are vulnerable, the devil attacks ruthlessly and tries to destroy them. They need to shift allegiance as soon as they can. Changing allegiance means getting rid of everything linked to the old life, including unrighteous wealth.

Unrighteous Wealth (6) Government,

Jesus did not give governments responsibility for confiscating unrighteous wealth. Confiscated wealth remains unrighteous wealth. Unrighteous wealth that Government transfers to another person remains unrighteous wealth. The only way to escape the clutches of unrighteous wealth is to give it away.

• When the state confiscates unrighteous wealth, it remains unrighteous wealth.

• Unrighteous wealth must be given away to become righteous wealth.

When a person becomes a Christian, one of the first things that we should expect is that the Holy Spirit will convict them about the unrighteous wealth that they own. They should be encouraged to give it away.

When unrighteous wealth is given away, it is transformed into righteous wealth. In the book of Acts, people sold their property and laid the proceeds at the apostle’s feet. They were most likely getting rid of unrighteous wealth. That fact that Ananias and Saphira had trouble giving up their wealth indicates that it was probably unrighteous wealth.

Unrighteous Wealth (5) Judgment

The other remedy for unrighteous wealth is judgment. God has promised that those who accumulate unrighteous wealth will be destroyed. The Psalmist looked at the prosperity of the wicked and was envious.

For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from common human burdens (Ps 73:4-5).

God gave him a glimpse of their future.

Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors (Ps 73:18-19).

They will be cast down to ruin.

The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously;
those the Lord blesses will inherit the land, but those he curses will be destroyed (Psalm 37:21-22).

The wicked will eventually lose their wealth.

The house of the righteous contains great treasure,
but the income of the wicked brings ruin (Prov 15:6).

Those who gain unrighteous wealth will often prosper for a couple of generations, but their downfall inevitably comes.

The shrewd manager was called to judgment. He was asked to give an account for his management. He knew that the deeds he had done on behalf of the rich man were immoral. He executed judgment against the rich man by writing down some of the debts.

Restitution is always preferable to judgment, because it is voluntary.

Unrighteous Wealth (4) Restitution

The New Testament prescription for unrighteous wealth is to give it away. Jesus message was that unrighteous wealth should be given away.

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys (Luke 12:33).

Jesus frequently told his hearers to give away their possession, because unrighteous wealth was so common. The shrewd manager understood this.

If it is known who the unrighteous wealth was stolen from, restitutions should be fourfold as required by Exodus 22:1. If it was general conniving, the response is extremely generous giving, particularly to the class of people who have suffered. Zacchaeus is an example of new believer giving away his unrighteous wealth.

Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount (Luke 19:8)

He gave away half of his wealth and promised to pay fourfold restitution to anyone who had stolen from.

Zacchaeus did not need to ask Jesus what to do. Being a good Jew, he would be familiar with the message of the Torah and understand the Instructions for economic life. When he realised that Jesus loved him, he spontaneously put these instructions into practice. He made fourfold restitution for money that was stolen. He gave generously from money that had been obtained through general unrighteousness.

The giving that Jesus was expected was not in discriminant giving. That would be pointless. The wealth should be given to neighbours and “one anothers”, who need help to get back on their feet. The giving should be designed to help struggling people get into a place where they can manage for themselves.

The ministry of the deacon was established to facilitate this giving. Deacons were people who were skilled in managing their households and their work. They channelled much of the giving because they and their spouses were able to teach others how to manage their households better, so that they did not get into trouble again.

Much of the wealth held in the western world is unrighteous wealth. If there is a gospel advance in the next few decades, we should see a massive amount of unrighteous wealth being given away. This would be an amazing event that would transform the world.
Large holdings of unrighteous wealth and a few people with righteous wealth are a consequence of gospel failure.

Unrighteous Wealth (3)

If a person works hard, and saves some of their earnings, their savings are righteous wealth. If they use their saving to buy assets that make them and other people productive, those assets are righteous wealth. If a person starts a business that supplies goods and services that people need at a market price, without coercion, deception or manipulation, the retained earnings of the business are righteous wealth.

On the other hand, business that relies on any of the following produces unrighteous wealth.

• limited liability laws,

• monopoly rights,

• government privilege,

• debt and inflation,

• exploitation of workers,

• cheating,

• coercion,

• theft,

Unfortunately, much modern wealth is unrighteous wealth. Christians should understand the difference, but many hold unrighteous wealth that is blighting their lives.

• Some Christians have unrighteous wealth that they accumulated before the came to faith.

• Some Christians have inherited unrighteous wealth. It is still unrighteous, because the process of inheritance does not change its character.

• Many Christians are engaged in activities that produce unrighteous wealth.

There are only two ways to transform unrighteous wealth.

1. Giving it away (preferably from those from whom it was taken, but that is not always possible.

2. God’s judgment (which is compulsory giving).

I will describe these further in the next two posts.

Unrighteous Wealth (2) Definition

The key message of the parable of the shrewd manager is the distinction between “righteous wealth” and “unrighteous wealth.

So if you have not been trustworthy in handling unrighteous wealth, who will trust you with true riches (Luke 16:11)?

This parable is the first of a series told by Jesus that builds on this distinction.

Righteous wealth is gained through hard work, honest trade and diligent investment. We can use righteous wealth to advance the kingdom, but it still has limited value. True riches are found in Jesus.

Unrighteous wealth is “mammona adikia”. It could also be translated as “wealth of injustice”. It refers to wealth obtained through activities that are contrary to God’s will, particularly those that are unjust. Jesus did not define unrighteous wealth, because this had already been done in the Law and the Prophets. We are not familiar with the expression, but when his listeners heard it, they knew what he meant. He was referring to wealth held contrary to the Instructions for Economic Life.

The following are the main categories of unrighteous wealth.

1. Anything that is stolen becomes unrighteous wealth.

2. Lending to people that cannot afford the interest and then seizing the assets that has been pledged as security when they default is unrighteous wealth. This has been an easy way to gain wealth in every age.

3. The accumulation of houses and land is unrighteous wealth. The prophets spoke against those who accumulated land and houses.
   

   Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land (Is 5:8).

   In the modern world, residential housing is a popular investment, but this can be unrighteous wealth.

4. Property and profit received through collusion with political powers is unrighteous wealth. People with political power often protect their positions by providing land and property to their supporters. The people who had become rich in Jesus times gained their wealth through their place in the Roman political system. It was unrighteous wealth. Once these people had chosen Jesus as their King, they could not retain land and property that represented loyalty to King Herod or Caesar, so they sold it. They would probably have lost their property anyway, once their new loyalty became clear.

5. In the modern world, governments often give a group of people monopoly power over an aspect of the economy, eg import licenses, mining licenses. This enables them to become very wealthy, but this is unrighteous wealth.

6. Limited liability laws allow business to take excessive risks and then leave their creditors (often small contractors) carrying the burden when they default. Wealth gained through limited liability could be unrighteous wealth.

7. Wealth obtained through debasing the currency is unrighteous wealth, whether it is done by a counterfeiter or a government.
   

   See how the faithful city
   has become a prostitute!
   She once was full of justice;
   righteousness used to dwell in her—
   but now... your silver has become dross (Is 1:21-22).

   Those who become wealth through debasing or inflating the currency are creating unrighteous wealth for themselves.

   In the modern world, people have found less direct ways to take advantage of inflation and debt. Many people have become wealthy through investing in real estate to benefit from the capital gains that come through inflation of property prices. These gains are often amplified by using borrowed money to pay for the properties. Large returns are earned through an activity that produces very little for the economy.

   The high returns are dependent on continued price inflation that is caused by the government manipulating the currency. Collecting capital gains caused by inflation is sharing in the deceitful activities of currency manipulators. Wealth obtained from capital gains obtained by highly leveraged investments in real estate is unrighteous wealth.

The shrewd manager understood the nature of unrighteous wealth.

Unrighteous Wealth (1) Parable of the Shrewd Manager

The parable of the shrewd manager is hard to interpret, so it is mostly ignored. The translations do not help much, because they dull the meaning of the parable by talking about worldly wealth. However, the parable has a very important message. To understand it, we need some context.

The shrewd manager was asked to give an account for his management. He was accused of not watching his master’s wealth carefully enough. The accusation was probably correct. The rich man was corrupt, so it is not surprising that his manager did not care about his property.

The shrewd manager knew that much of the rich man’s property was unrighteous wealth. He owned land and made his money by renting it out to tenant farmers in return for a share of their production. One tenant had to pay a thousand bushels of wheat each year for his use of the land. Another who rented an olive grove had to give 3000 litres of oil each year.

These deals were stacked in the property owner’s favour. The tenant did all the work and carried all the risk. If the weather was bad and the crops failed, the tenant still had to give the full payment to the landlord. In a really bad year, the entire crop might be enough to meet the claim of the property owner. The landlord would take the crop, and add the deficit onto the payment due from next year’s crop. Tenant farmers were usually poor.

Operating this way was contrary to the Torah. God had distributed that land equally among the people. Every family in Israel was given a share of the land. The allocations are listed in Joshua 13-19. If a family fell into debt, there was a process for restoring their share of the land back to their children (Lev 25). Accumulating land was strictly prohibited, so the prophets condemned it.

Woe to you who add house to house
and join field to field
till no space is left (Is 5:8).

The rich man had probably gained control of his land by cooperating with the Roman invaders.

The rich man’s wealth was unrighteous wealth. Therefore, the shrewd manage believed he was justified in changing the amounts owed by the tenants. The shrewd manager had signed the original agreements, so he knew the rents specified were quite arbitrary. He had pushed them up to as much as he could get. They were arbitrary when they were agreed, so arbitrary changes were justified. He had authority to change the agreements up until the day he was fired. However his objective had changed. He reduced the amounts owed to make friends for himself.

The rich man commended the shrewd manager for being shrewd. He had gained his wealth by being shrewd, and slightly corrupt, so he appreciated shrewd.
Jesus summarises the message of the parable in Luke 16:9.

I tell you, use unrighteous wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

Jesus said that Christians should use their unrighteous wealth or wealth of injustice to make friends for the Kingdom. The only way to do this is to give the unrighteous wealth away.

Dirty Poltitics

The general election in New Zealand is about a month away, so the election campaign is heating up. An investigative journalist has released a book called “Dirty Politics” that uses leaked emails to illustrate some of the underhand tactics that have been used by various members of parliament from the governing party. The general message of the book is that we used to have good politics, but now they have gone bad.

People are shocked, but I am not. The book just reveals the nature of the system. Political power attracts the spiritual powers of evil, so politics is always dirty. Modern technology is just making it harder for the powers of evil to hide. Nasty stuff is normal, because the spiritual powers of evil that work in the political system are nasty.

The following is an excerpt from a book called the Authority of God that I am working on.

When the people of a city or nation submit to their political leaders, they give them authority over their lives. If the powers of evil get to control the people at the top of the political hierarchy, they gain authority over all the people submitted to them. Concentration of political power leverages the authority of the powers of evil.

The spiritual powers that control political leaders are called “principalities and powers” in the Bible. Some, like Prince of Persia, take the name of their nation (Dan 10:20). They have immense authority on earth, despite their defeat on the cross, because people submit to the leaders controlled by them. Political leaders have legal authority of their people, so attacking them gives the principalities and powers control over cities and nations.

Focussing on individual people is a very inefficient way for the powers of evil to use their shrinking power. If an evil spirit gains control over one person, it can make that person’s life miserable, but that is all. By getting control over a political leader, the same spirit can make an entire nation miserable. The powers of evil amplify their power by attacking people with political authority.

The power of evil is mostly an illusion, but concentrating on a few powerful people has allowed the forces of evil to magnify their pathetic power. Controlling human political power has amplified their authority out of proportion to their strength.

• When principalities and powers gain control over the political leaders of a city or nation, they gain authority over all the people who submit to them.

• When political authorities ignore God, they give the principalities and powers authority over their city or nation.

• Politicians are committed to the power of coercion, so they align naturally with the principalities and powers. They unwittingly collude together in a silent partnership, because they need each other.

• When new people gain political power, they are quickly overwhelmed by the principalities and powers, so they just go along. Democratic change usually fails, because any new government is dominated by the same spirits.

Christians often assume that only evil nations are controlled by the powers of evil. It is easy to point at a nation like Iran and see the “Prince of Persia” at work. However, it is much harder to see the principalities and power that control our own nation. Nevertheless, they are there, because all political power attracts principalities and powers. If Christians submit to the political authorities in their city or nation, they give the associated principalities and powers some authority in their lives, even if they do not know who they are. They are for more dangerous that those we often point our fingers at.

The election campaign here is getting nasty. However, it is not a struggle to see which political party will control the nation. It is an exercise by the spiritual principalities and powers to make sure that they remain in control.

Port Hills

Christchurch is flat except for the Port Hills in the south. Today we took a gondola ride to the top of the hills.  We got a great view of the city, and could see the snow-covered southern alps in the distance.

Over the other side of the hills is the port of Lyttelton. The main access to the port is through a tunnel under the hill.

Blessed Economist enjoying the view.

More Demolition

Looking south east from the corner of Hereford and Manchester Streets. Earthquake damaged buildings being cleared for the eastern frame.

Ahab Complex (5) Consequences

The consequences of the Ahab/Jezebel complex are as follows.

1. Isolation
   God was not with him.

Vulnerability:Pastors can get isolated from their spiritual support.

2. Spiritual drought
   1 King 17:1.
   
   Vulnerability: Spiritual poverty.

3. Blown about like a reed
   Swaying like a reed in the water. 1 Kings 14:15
   Like sheep without a shepherd 1 Kings 22:17
   
   Vulnerability: Open to the Jezebel spirit (1 Kings 16).

4. Illness
   1 Kings 14:1; 13:6; 21:4
   Rev 2:22
   
   Vulnerability: Many sick in the church.
   

5. Depression, Suicidal
   Rev 2:22
   1 Kings 16:18; 21:4.
   
   Vulnerability: Many pastors are depressed.

6. Failure
   God began to reduce the size of Israel In those days.
   2 Kings 10:32.
   
   Vulnerability: Many churches are declining.

7. Died of Wounds
   Ahab was defeated
   1 Kings 22:35-37; 2 Kings 9:24; 8:28,29.
   He was routed. 2 Chron 13:12,15.
   God executed judgement on house of Ahab 2 Chron 22:8.
   
   Vulnerability: Many pastors die of their “wounds”.

8. Humiliation
   Blood licked by dogs
   1 Kings 14:10,11; 16:4; 21:24; 22:38; 2 Kings 9:10,36.
   
   Vulnerability: When pastors fall they are usually humiliated.

The full set of notes on the Ahab Complex can be found here.

Ahab Complex (4) Attitude to the Prophetic

Ahab had an ambivalent attitude to the prophetic.

1. User
   Ahab used other people for his purpose.
   1 Kings 21:3-11; 22 1-4: 18:5, 22:26
   He used a woman to do his dirty work
   1 Kings 14:2; 21:5-16; 19:1
   He was willing to use prophets when it suited.
   1 Kings 13:6, 14:2, 20:3.
   
   Vulnerability: Many pastors like to have pet prophets. Some use woman to achieve their goals.

2. Court Prophets
   They can be relied on to support what the leaders say.
   1 Kings 22:10-13,22,23.
   
   Vulnerability: Many churches have tame/pet prophets.

3. Hostile to Prophets
   Ahab attacked the prophets when challenged. He tried to destroy them
   1 Kings 13:4; 18:9, 14, 22:26,27
   He raised hand against the prophets
   
   Vulnerability: Many prophets have been destroyed by Pastors.

4. False Accusations
   He made false accusations against the prophets
   1 Kings 18:17, 21:20.
   
   Vulnerability: It is easy to spread rumours about prophets.

5. Rejected Prophetic Challenge
   Ahab was unable to accept a challenge.
   1 Kings 17:1, 13:4.
   
   Vulnerability: Many Pastors do not like being challenged.

Ahab Complex (3) Authority

Ahab had an interesting relationship with authority.

1. People Pleaser
   Jeroboam was appointed by the people not God
   1 Kings 12:20
   Ahab was willing to let the people decide.
   1 Kings 18:19,20
   1 Kings 12:20; 13:33; 20:32, 34 20:4; 18:19,39.
   
   Vulnerability: People pleasing is a danger for pastors.

2. Outsider
   Ahab came from a lower level position
   His mother was a widow 1 Kings 11:26
   God exalted him 1 Kings 14:7
   Jeroboam, Zimri, Baasha, Omri, Jehu were all outsiders who went to the top.
   This leads to insecurity
   1 Kings 11:28; 1 Kings 15:27; 16:9, 16:16.
   
   Vulnerability: Most pastors come from outside the church, invited by the people. They have to win acceptance of the people. This leads to insecurity.
   
   In the New Testament, leaders are raised up from within church. They were known and come with credibility. They did’nt have to establish themselves.

3. Deception
   Ahab used pretence, deception to achieve what he wanted
   1 Kings 14: 2,6; 22:30.
   
   Vulnerability: Many Christian leaders wear a mask. This covers up insecurity.

4. Factions
   Ahab and Jeroboam took advantage of the factions to consolidate their position
   1 Kings 12:19; 16:21; 18:21.
   
   Vulnerability: Pastors can be tempted to manipulate factions.

5. Usurper
   Ahab took a position that was not his by right.
   2 Chron 13:5,6. 1 Kings 16:9
   He plotted, conspired and took a position given to the house of David.
   
   Vulnerability: Jesus is the chief shepherd = senior pastor.
   It is dangerous to take that title.

6. Opportunist
   Ahab took advantage of people’s weakness to get his own way.
   2 Chron 13:6,7
   1 Kings 16:9, 15:27.
   
   Vulnerability: Pastors often surround themselves with weak leaders.

7. Ruthless
   Ahab dealt severely with predecessor’s heirs
   2 Kings 15:29, 16:1.
   
   Vulnerability: How do you treat the people loyal to your predecessor?

8. Control
   Ahab desired control
   1 Kings 13:4.
   
   Vulnerability: over-control is a temptation for all leaders.

9. Power Struggle
   Ahav won a power struggle. He prevailed
   1 Kings 16:22, 18:20.
   
   Vulnerability: joining power struggles is a temptation for all leaders.

Ahab Complex (2)

God held a plumbline against the house of Ahab and it failed the test. The house was not upright.

The Bible teaches quite a bit about the weaknesses in Ahab’s character. It provide important lessons for church leaders. These weaknesses leave church leaders vulnerable to the Ahab spirit, which opens the way for the Jezebel spirit. I have listed the vulnerabilities in the notes.

1. Populism
   Ahab walked in the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat (1 Kings 16:31)
   

   Jeroboam = the people increase, multiply
   Nebat = look.

   Ahab and Jeroboam looked to the people. They were populist leaders.
   
   Vulnerability: Insecure leaders find populism hard to resist.

2. Presumption
   Ahab thought to himself, he devised schemes in his heart
   1 Kings 12:28,29, 22:8, 12:33.
   
   Vulnerability: Many Christian leaders copy the ideas of other men.

3. Compromise
   Ahab was enticed into compromise when he should have stood firm.
   1 Kings 12:28,29; 16:31,33: 20:32,34; 11:40 II Kings 17:21; 8:18; 2 Chron 21:13 (prostitute themselves).
   
   Vulnerability: Just as harshness is always a temptation to prophets,
   compromise is always a temptation to pastors.
   

   Ahab = Brother is father

   Everyone was Ahab’s brother
   Hiel rebuilt Jericho in Ahab’s time 1( Kings 16:34).

4. Tolerate
   Ahab tolerated evil.
   Rev 2:20, 1 Kings 16:31, 20:4; 20:33.
   
   Vulnerability: This is risk for pastors in church without prophets. The problem is not Jezebel, but leaders who tolerate evil for the sake of peace.

5. Comfort
   Ahab enjoyed the comforts of the flesh
   1 Kings 16:9; 18:41; 21:1,2; 22:34; 21:16.
   
   Vulnerability: Enough said.

6. Jealous
   He was troubled by covetousness and jealousy
   1 Kings 21:2; 11:26,27.
   
   Vulnerability: what if some of your sheep go to another church. Will you be threatened.
   

7. Money
   He used money to achieve results, bribery
   1 Kings 13:7; 20:3,4; 21:2.
   
   Vulnerability: Money problems are common in churches.

8. Anger
   Ahab was sullen and angry (vexed NASB)
   1 Kings 20:43; 21:2.
   
   Vulnerability: sullenness and sulking are a slippery slope.
   

9. Threats
   Ahab used threats and intimidation to control people.
   1 Kings 18:10,11.
   
   Vulnerability: Controlling guilty or vulnerable people is easy for pastors/leaders.

10. Up and Down
    Sometimes Ahab was hard-hearted. Other times he was humble – a convenient humility
    1 Kings 20:25-29.
    
    Vulnerability: inconsistency is risky.

11. Rebellion
    Ahab ended in rebellion
    1 Kings 11:26; 12:19; 16:20; 21:25;
    He set up idols
    1 Kings 12:31; 21:26.
    
    Vulnerability: Some church programmes can become idols.

12. Resisted the Kingdom of God
    2 Chron 13:8,12
    Rev 2:26,27.
    Those who persevered in Thyatira were promised the Kingdom of God
    They would have the Morning Star, ie they will defeat Satan (Is 14:12).
    
    Vulnerability: there is not much interest in the kingdom among church leaders.

Ahab Complex (1)

Christians get worked up about the Jezebel spirit, but before there can be a Jezebel there must be an Ahab.
Ahab brought Jezebel to Israel.
The church must understand this.

There were a set of behaviours that were repeated again and again in Israel.
These behaviours opened the way for the Spirit of Jezebel
They started with Jeroboam

House of Jeroboam

This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth (1 Kings 13:34)

Because of this, I am going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam (1 Kings 14:10).

These curses reached a climax in Ahab (2 Chron 22:8; 2 Kings 10:30).

Genealogy

Jeroboam
↓
Nadab
→ Baasha
↓
Elah
→ Zimri
→ Omri
↓
Ahab

Not a Wimp
Ahab has been totally misunderstood by Christians. We think of him as a wimp, but this is wrong. His father Omri was the commander of the army, and you only got that job in those days, if you were physically tough and totally ruthless. Omri killed off all the opposition to become king. Ahab was Omri’s son, so he would have been brought up tough (1 Kings 16:16).

Kings did not last long in those times, so Ahab’s twenty-two year reign was a record (1Kings 16:22). He built palaces and a fortified city (1 Kings 22:39). He was a very successful warrior-king at time when war was fought hand-to-hand. Ahab was mean, tough and strong, and had killed his share of men. He was a bully, not a wimp.

Ahab married Jezebel for political convenience. He needed a peace treaty with her father and their marriage was part of the deal.

Ahab was a hard, tough, mean political and military operator, who expected to get his own way. When he asked for something, people would jump to get it. This is why was sulking over the Naboth incident.

The Jezebel spirit cannot get a hold in church, unless an Ahab spirit that already exists among the leadership opens the way.

The full set of notes on the Ahab Complex can be found here.

Praying Medic

I have just read a book called Divine Healing Made Simple by the Praying Medic. I found it the most interesting book on healing since I was given a copy of Healing by Francis McNutt in the 1970s.

My book called Healing: Insights for Christian Elders describes the spiritual basis for the healing of Christians and non-Christians more clearly, but Praying Medic's wisdom is unbeatable. He shares numerous experiences that illustrates the wisdom that he is imparting. Everyone interested in Christian healing would be encouraged by this book.

Centennial Pool

The Centennial Pool in Oxford Terrace a few weeks ago.

Now it is nearly gone.

Building in Christchurch

Further round in Cambridge Terrace, foundations are being dug for a new building.

The new building next door is nearing completion.

Demolition in Christchurch

The former Ernst and Young House on Cambridge Terrace is coming down.

Served but not Served

My father knew many men who had been sent to World War 1. Chris Cooper was one of them.

The farm next door was owned by a man called Chris Cooper. He had five children. His land was across the road from ours, a half a mile down the road.

Chris Cooper bought the farm when he returned from the first war. He paid 20 pound an acre, which soon proved to be far too much. Life was always a struggle for him. He had “trench feet” from standing in water and could not walk properly. His wife died in childbirth, so he had to look after the five children himself. When she died, he lost interest in the farm.

Chris was a good friend with Mr Butterworth who lived over the river. They would get together every day and just sit and smoke and talk. A track was worn through the riverbed where they walked across each day.

Chris had to keep his horses in a paddock that was very swampy. They seemed to get a lot of worms from drinking swamp water and were always dying. The farm was only 200 acres so it was too small to be economic. He could not afford lime, so his crops were always poor and full of weeds.

He was eventually sold up by the bank. Twice the sale was cancelled by pressure by members of the Farmers Union, but this time there was no stopping it. Chris would have been left with nothing, after struggling for many years (and serving his country).

Chris and his five children went to live in an empty farm cottage belonging to a farmer friend. Some years later, I met Chris in town where he worked as a cleaner in the Timaru Post Office.

Selling up the farms of returned servicemen became common during the 1930s.

The “selling up” of farmers was taking place as banks and mercantile firms were foreclosing on farmers who owed them money. The first I remember was Harry Webb in the Craigmore soldier settlement. Uncle Bob had taken me to the sale. I remember Mr Webb, standing before the farmers gathered for the sale, bitterly declaring that the nation had been pleased with him when he went overseas to fight in the 1914-18 war, but now when he was fighting for his survival financially, they seemed to have forgotten about him. He was quickly shut up and the sale went on.

Baxter (8) Hospital

After several days they left the train and marched through the countryside. After about a week on the road, he collapsed from exhaustion and was left behind. He was lying a hole half-conscious, when a couple of English soldiers found him and took him the an English dressing station. After being given some food, he was put on a trained and sent to a field hospital.

I came to consciousness to find myself lying in bed in what was evidently a hospital ward. When I  had last been conscious of my condition I had been stiff with mud and dirt under the en wrapping blankets, and very lousy. Now the bed was clean, and, what was more surprising still, I was completely deloused. I had not the faintest recollection of the process by which this state had been brought about, or, indeed, of anything at all, since the train. I asked how long I had been there and was told two days. I felt weak indeed, but my head was now perfectly clear and I had no more lapses into unconsciousness. Only too clear; for it was not long before I realized what sort of place I had come to. It was a ward for mental and nerve cases.

I never found out whether it was a separate hospital or a special section of a general hospital. In the ward in which I found myself there was a terrific din going on. Men without a vestige of control were wailing and crying over their wounds, in many cases self-inflicted. Others suffering from delusions were holding forth on imaginary grievances.

One voice rose above all the rest. It belonged to a man who had been badly shell-shocked and who was quite oblivious of his surroundings. He would lie for hours at a stretch on the broad of his back, singing until he frothed at the mouth and grew purple in the face. Then the orderlies would seize him and shake him. He would give one blood-curdling yell and stop, to begin again the next morning. It was apparently useless to try to stop him until he had reached a certain stage, and it took him the same time to reach that stage every day. He seemed to compose his song as he went along. Dozens of verses, all variations on the same theme.

I was greatly distressed to find myself in such a place.

Some seemed to be normal and healthy.

One man I talked with seemed to be perfectly normal and well. He told me he had gone to the colonel and asked for leave to go over to England to place certain verses of scripture before Lloyd George. He was convinced that if he could only point these verses out to Lloyd George he, LG, would then know how to stop the war and would, of course, immediately bring it to an end. He had been put under observation and had still clung to his idea, with the result that a label had been tied round his neck with ‘mental' on it and he had been dumped here. He was simple-minded and earnestly religious, no more mental than he had ever been. Thousands of people have thoughts like this but, unlike him, they don't think them strongly enough to put them into action, especially not in the army - so they don't land in mental hospitals.

Self inflicted wounds

There were a number of men there with self-inflicted wounds. Some of them were quite uncontrolled and cried continually over their wounds and their future fate. The man in the bed next to me had a very bad hand. It was being drained with tubes and the dressing was a painful process. His nerve was completely gone and he would cry and call out the whole time it was being dressed. One day the surgeon, while he was dressing the hand, said to him, "You wouldn't do this again, would you, if you had another chance?" He cried "No! No!" But he had worked himself into such a state that it took a long time to get him quiet again.

Another man, who had been a showman, had put a bullet through his ankle. When he went before a board they asked him if he would promise not to do that sort of thing again. He told us he had said, "No, but I make you a promise that next time I’ll put it through my nut!"

One man - there were many such cases - had cut his throat. It had been stitched up and had left a hideous scar. He used to look at himself in the glass of one of the windows and wail, "How can I go home with this? How can I look my mother in the face again?"

When Baxter's health recovered he was returned to a hospital in London, before being sent back to New Zealand at the end of the war. Even there, he was hounded by the army for a while.

Archibald Baxter lived until 1970. His son, James K Baxter becomes one of New Zealand’s greatest poet.

Baxter (7) Beaten

Baxter was beaten up by officers for his conscientious objection.

He ordered me again and I refused. "You -!" he shouted, and struck me in the face, knocking me down. I got up and he ordered me again. I refused. He kicked me and struck me another blow, knocking me down. This time I did not rise quickly, and shouting, "Come on, none of that!" he dragged me to my feet, knocked me down again and kicked me several times about the body. His anger increased by the murmurs of the men with him, he gave me a final kick, the effects of which I felt for a long time after, and ordered the men to bring me out.

"I'll kill the bastard yet!" he shouted.

They carried me out and laid me down gently on the duckwalk. "Lift him up as high as you can," he ordered, "and drop him on his back on the boards." They lifted me high on their arms and lowered me to the ground ever so gently, keeping hold of me all the time. Three times, cursing, he ordered them, and three times they lowered me in the same way to the ground.

It was a brave act on their part for though, technically, they had obeyed the order, they were incurring the wrath of the captain and there were many ways in which he could make it unpleasant for them afterwards.

Then, at his orders, they carried me out into the parade ground and set me on my feet. But my legs wouldn't support me. I fell and lay against my pack. I felt completely dazed and had little idea of what was happening.

The Ypres campaign was eventually broken up and Baxter was sent back towards the Somme. For the first part, they travelled by train, but Baxter was not attached to a platoon, so he was not given any food.

After several days they left the train and marched through the countryside. After about a week on the road, he collapsed from exhaustion and was left behind. He was lying a hole half-conscious, when a couple of English soldiers found him and took him the an English dressing station. After being given some food, he was put on a train and sent to a field hospital.

Baxter (6) Trenches

The officers and soldiers in the trenches treated Baxter well. They had heard about his stand, and seemed to respect it. I presume that many felt they were being used on a foolish cause, and wished that they had had the courage to make the same stand. The real hostility came from the officers who remained well back from the front line.

My life dragged on from day to day, each day much the same. Rations were often short up there. The other men supplemented them from the canteen, but I was unable to as I had no money, what I had having been taken from me by the police.

Every day I went up the lines with a man in charge of me. One morning we started off, following the duckwalk in a zigzag course among the shell holes. As usual there was a certain amount of shelling going on. At a corner we came to some bodies lying side by side, wrapped up ready for burial. We walked on, glancing at them as we passed. I thought of them as individuals, of what their lives had been before, of the friends and relatives who would, in time, get this news. Not sentimentality, just as much fact as these corpses lying beside the track. I had felt the same about a dead German we had seen in a shell hole further hack, lying with his arms spread wide and the rifle still beside him. Just after we passed the corner a shell passed close to us and struck a bank a few yards to our left. We were knocked down by something - we did not know what.

When the earth heaved up by the explosion had fallen again we pressed on and found that the duckwalk had been blown up in places. Arriving at the brow of a little hill we - the man who was detailed for my escort and I- found we had lost sight of those in front. We were walking in twos with about ten yards between each pair. Presently we saw some of them in the distance. We left the duckwalk and took a short cut over some low-lying ground to catch up with them.

Halfway across my companion shouted "Gas!", adjusted his box respirator and helped me with mine. I do not know whether it was defective, but I found I couldn't breathe in it, at any rate while I was moving. At the last gasp, my labouring lungs unable to draw another breath, I pulled it off, thinking I might as well take my chance with the gas as die by suffocation then and there. I could smell nothing, but there was a dark blue haze floating among the shell holes. The other man persuaded me to put it on again. It was just as bad as ever, but by the time I was forced to pull it off again we were pretty well out of the area affected by the gas shells. It must, however, have had some effect on me. For weeks afterwards I coughed up black stuff.

We could see the other men going up a hill a little ahead of us. Afterwards heard that that hill was in dlrect view from the German lines. Shells were bursting between us and the men ahead. We paused for a moment, doubtful what to do, then went on. Shells began to fall behind us. As we hurried up the hill they came thick and fast and gained on us. When we got to the top of the hill we met the other men corning back. The shelling was closing in on us from both sides. We were surrounded by a perfect storm of shells. We all stood for a moment huddled together, the last thing we should have done.

The officer in charge of the party was standing close to me as the storm closed over us and I heard him call out "Every man for himself as he jumped over a bank. I had a quickened sense that something frightful was happening. The earth seemed to be like the waves of the sea, and struck me again and again. I felt a strange swaying motion, another bump and then utter darkness and suffocation. There was a violent tugging at my legs and before I could realise that I had landed head-first in the mud at the bottom of a shell hole, I came out choking and spluttering but able to breathe.

One of the two men with me in the hole - they had tugged me out - plunged his arms nearly to the shoulders into the mud, retrieved my helmet and slapped it onto my head. The shelling was still going on. One of the men said, "Come on, it's not good here," and we scrambled out. I gave one glance up, saw dark fragments falling through the air, and looked down again. We were knocked down several times, but not one of the three of us was directly hit. We came right on a little door that seemed to lead into the earth. It was a small dug-out over the top of a shaft. One man was there at the windlass.
"It's no good here," he said. "It won't stand a shell and I am expecting it to go any minute.

He directed us to a place about a hundred yards further on. At that moment a shell almost blocked the entrance. We scrambled out and found the other shelter, a wooden drive with steps leading deep underground. For the present we were safe. The others took out their cigarettes and pushed handfuls into my pockets. I did not know them and I thought it probable that they did not know who I was. I did not feel I could take their help and comradeship on false pretence, so I told them I was refusing service.
Don’t you worry”, they said. “We know all about you”, and they offered me more cigarettes.

Twenty-eight men went out, only eleven returned.

Baxter (5) Trenches

Baxter was sent up to the trenches too.

I remained with the Otagos and had nothing more to do with him. From that time I received the same food as the other men. A day or two later I saw him departing, no doubt to make his report to Simpson. He had done his best and the unpopularity he had gained in the doing of it - the camp cooks collected and counted him out the night after he had dragged Briggs - probably seemed to him most unjust. After all, he was only carrying out his orders.

Next morning I was standing in the hut alone, the others having gone out, when two men came to me and said they had orders to take me up the lines. "Very well," I said. "You can take me up, but I'm not taking on anything when I get there." All the way up they discussed my position and attitude in a very friendly manner. When we got up there the men in charge of me were told by a sergeant that he intended to give me no orders and, on their asking what they were to do with me, he laughed and said they could show me round. Accordingly they took me about and told me the names of the different positions; pointed out the crooked German lines and many gun positions. We spent the whole day in this way. They showed me how to duck from shell explosions and how to take cover when it seemed that none existed.

At night I went back to the camp. At this time I always slept and got my food with a hut full of men - seventeen of us there were. I found them perfectly friendly. The position of the objectors was the talk of the camp and the anger of the men was aroused against the provost-sergeant.

I lived a strange life at that time. I would not serve in the army and yet I was at the front. In one way I was isolated and alone, and yet I lived the life the soldiers did. I lay in holes and trenches with them round by Hellfire Corner, hour after hour until the shelling slackened or drove us out. I was only seeing a glimpse of the war, but it was enough to bring home to me its terrible reality.

I remember before I reached the front meeting men who had been there and thinking they looked hard and strange. Their faces had a drawn look and they seemed to have eyes like eagles. Now that I was amongst them I did not notice this. They seemed ordinary, but new arrivals looked as gentle as sheep.

I will not attempt to describe the battle front above Ypres, but will try to convey the impression it made upon me. It looked as though a herd of prehistoric monsters had chewed and rooted up the earth for miles around. Not a sign of anything green and not a chance for anything to grow. It was part of the front that had been taken and retaken so often that it presented an appearance of indescribable chaos. Everywhere there was mud and slush and men always floundering through it by tracks and duck walks that were always being blown up. I was told that a million men had fallen there. The cemetery of a million men! It was still being shelled and the yawning mouths of the countless shell holes were ready to suck in the living men who moved day and night among them like maggots in the slime.

I would often stand alone at night gazing at the red glare along the front while everything vibrated to the ceaseless roar of the guns. Thoughts came to me as I stood. Every day the war lasted only made things worse for the world. Victory in the field seemed to me the worst that could happen, no matter which side won - not for lack of patriotism, but because I honestly believed it would be the greatest bar to enduring world peace. At times everything was blackest gloom without one ray of hope. The war might go on for years. I believed it could be stopped any day and that the feelings of all the peoples would be joy and relief. Why should it go on?

I discussed the war frequently with the men I happened to be with. They were not war-minded