Compromise (3)

Good day all and so sorry for my inability to post the concluding part of this series last week. In the spirit of the season, I humbly seek your understanding. I wish you all compliments of the season, Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2008. Do enjoy the remaining part of our series on compromise until next week when we have a new topic for discussion.............

Now what happens when we refuse to compromise? Sometimes it leads to pain and involves a lot of sacrifice but ultimately, it ALWAYS leads to achievement, success and accomplishment. Refusal to compromise is usually alluded to when we use such words as courage, persistence, determination, etc. Anytime we refuse to settle for anything less than what we believe in, then that is refusal to compromise.

Examples abound in scripture on refusal to compromise. Abraham, our father in faith refused to compromise to doubt God’s word concerning sacrificing his only child Isaac when God asked him to do so. He believed God was going to give him another child and he was accepted by God as righteous and that sealed his covenant with God (Gen. 22: 1-18).

David refused to compromise to the threat of the Philistines and God gave him victory over Goliath of Gath and the philistine army, though he was just a little lad (1 Sam 17: 22-54).

Noah did not compromise his faith in the command of God that he builds an ark to save himself and his family from the impending destruction of the world God was planning. He obeyed God and he and his family – eight of them – were saved (Gen. 6: 5-22).

Even though he was sold into slavery by his siblings, Joseph did not compromise his faith to sleep with his slave master Potiphar’s wife. He suffered the pain of imprisonment for a while but rose by God’s special grace to become the second most powerful man in the whole of Egypt, a foreign land! (Gen 39: 1 – 41:46). There are many stories of refusal to compromise seen in scriptures in Heb. 11.

In our time, we see refusal to compromise resulting in great achievements: Henry Ford was able to produce the first 8-cylinder engine by refusing to compromise to his worker’s claims that it could not be done.

England’s former Prime Minister Winston Churchill refused to compromise and surrender to Adolf Hitler’s war threats in spite of Hitler having conquered much of Europe, and the war was eventually won against Hitler’s forces.

In his bid to save many of his patients who were dying from surgical infections (though unknown at the time), Joseph Lister, a surgeon, refused to compromise to his colleagues tauntings and criticisms for over 16 years between 1865 and 1881 and was eventually able to discover the importance and use of antiseptics that we know today.

Thomas Edison who had only three months of formal schooling and was sent home to his mother as one who would not amount to much, did not compromise and give up. Today, his refusal to compromise with his mother’s support has placed him in history as one of the greatest inventors with over a hundred such inventions as the incandescent bulb, telegraph, and so on.

No matter what it is you choose to become in life, always remember that true wealth derives from non compromise in what you have set out to achieve. There is a story of a man who travelled from Africa to the United States in search of greener pastures.

Though he was married back in his home country, he needed to get a permanent stay in America so he entered into a union with an American lady who now insisted contrary to their original agreement that he must sleep with her before she signs the documents to give him his stay in America.

This man was a supposed Christian and after seeking advice from a wrong source, he compromised and went ahead and slept with the lady and behold, she had HIV, which passed to him and he eventually died and lost all his dreams.

If you are still not moved by that tragic story of compromise, then what do you say about our first parents Adam and Eve who compromised, disobeyed God’s command and that singular act has resulted in death entering the world and mankind losing the eternal joy found in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3: 1-24)?

Never seek to compromise your situation in your pursuit of wealth, fame or recognition. There is always regret lying in wait for such a person. Concluded.

© copyright Gabriel Ama.

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Compromise (2)

The next question we need to ask at this point is, what fuels or drives compromise? Issues like values, beliefs, discouragement, greed, fear of the unknown, peer pressure and bad influence come to mind. In Saul’s case, it was fear of his soldiers. Influence was the cause of compromise in Samson’s case.

In Ahab’s case, it was greed and bad influence that caused his compromise. In the case of Whitney Houston, it was fear of losing her husband’s love and bad influence. In Winnie Mandela’s case, compromise was caused by fear of the unknown, discouragement and bad influence. Patricia Etteh compromised because of greed and fallen values.

The compromise in the examples on corporate organisations was fuelled by greed, fear and fallen values.

Talking of values and beliefs, we see a world where things that were once considered abominable are now fashionable: women dressing half-naked and young men wearing falling pants without belts, cheating in examinations by students and their parents with active connivance of teachers, publicly displayed gay marriages and gay ordinations of so called “men of god” (certainly not the God of heaven and earth)

The word of God condemns in very strong terms any gay relationship (Romans 1: 18-28). Note especially verses 26 & 27. So those who think the word of God has no message for gay people should read this particular scripture quotation and if they choose to ignore it, too bad.

As is the case with human nature, one can be doing the wrong thing for a long while out of a false belief and see nothing wrong in it. A typical example is seen in racism. One person sees himself or herself as being superior to another because of skin colour and begins to taunts and call the other person names like nigger, black monkey and so on and so forth.

The word of God makes it clear that God created man in His own image and after His likeness (Gen. 1: 26-27). God never created anyone less than another. This false belief and segregation has led to compromise on the part of those claiming to be superior to others. Unfortunately too, some other people have compromised and accepted themselves as inferior.

This false belief led to several hundreds of years of slave trade in Africa and still continues in another form nowadays. How unfortunate!

No matter the excuse given for one’s compromise as earlier defined as “bringing to a dishonourable position or to bring to shame”, we have clearly seen how it ALWAYS leads to devastating consequences

………. to be continued

(c)copyright Gabriel Ama

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Compromise

This week’s topic is a very touchy one since it will have people on either side of the divide trying to take a stand on what they believe. However that may be, let us not forget the main thrust of this blog….true wealth secrets.

From the public view, the word compromise is one that is difficult to define because of human way of doing things. Before I write further on the issue, let us look at what the word of God says in 1 John 1: 5-7, “This is the word which came to us from him and which we give to you, that God is light and in him there is nothing dark.

If we say we are joined to him, and are walking still in the dark, our words are false and our acts are untrue:
But if we are walking in the light, as he is in the light, we are all united with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son makes us clean from all sin” (Bible in Basic English).

From the word of God above, we see clearly that to be joined to God Who is light is to walk in His light in our words and deeds. In the light of this scriptural revelation, it is clear that the definition of the word compromise that means “to put into a dishonourable position or to bring to shame” is at variance with the word of God.

Whatever you want to become or achieve in life, whether fame, fortune, recognition, etc, compromise of any kind as defined above should not be a part of you. In the scriptures, we see how compromise of God’s command caused very devastating consequences for people.

We see compromise in the priest Eli who refused to take drastic action against his sons Hophni and Phinenas who were committing a terrible sin against God. This caused them their lives, priesthood of God forever and a generational curse of death before old age (1 Sam. 2: 22-36; 3:10-14).

Saul, king of Israel compromised and that caused him his kingdom forever (1 Sam. 13: 13-14 and 1 Sam. 15: 13-23). Even when Saul later did what God asked him to do, it was too late (1 Sam. 15: 32-35). Samson compromised because of Delilah, a Philistine, and it cost him his eyes and eventually his life (Judges 16: 15-31).

Compromise to evil urgings of his wife Jezebel caused Ahab, King of Israel his dynasty forever (1 Kings 21: 1-25). Even though Ahab repented, the damage had already been done because God’s word cannot be changed once it has been spoken (1 Kings 21: 27-29).

Compromise caused Amaziah, Priest of Bethel his priesthood, his life and his family’s life (Amos 7: 10-17).

In our world today, we see how compromise to her ex-husband’s hard drugs urging caused Whitney Houston her physical and mental health. Dr. Samuel P. Langley, professor of mathematics and astronomy should have entered history as the man who achieved flight in aeroplanes. After two failed attempts, he compromised and gave up due to the scathing remarks he got from the press over his efforts.

He died a very demoralised and defeated man after suffering a stroke. Today, the world remembers two men of little education, Orville and Wilbur Wright as the men who achieved manned flight in the aviation industry.

Compromise caused Winnie Mandikizela Mandela her marriage after waiting for 27 years for her ex-husband to return from incarceration because of the useless men she associated with. It could be very easy to say that what happened to her could have happened to anyone, but what can we say of those who are able to resist evil urgings? Are they anymore human than the rest of us? No, they just have self discipline, which is required to resist such!

Patricia Olubunmi Etteh, first female and former speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, lost the prestigious position because she compromised her office in a contract award scandal and gave a very bad name to women in that country who have been calling for more female representation in public office.

In the corporate world, we see compromise when Arthur Andersen, a formerly acclaimed and respected accounting firm connived with Enron Energy company executives to defraud hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting investors of their hard earned income. The result? Those involved are currently serving jail sentences.

We also see compromise in the activities of Siemens and Nigerian government officials in the bribery scandal of 10 million Euros to get telecommunication contracts from the Nigerian government. The result? The Nigerian government revoked the existing contract entered into with Siemens.

We can go on and on about the dangers of compromise and the resultant bad taste it leaves in the mouths of those involved

……………..to be continued.

(c)copyright Gabriel Ama

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You Don't Have To Survive (2)

Last time we left on trying to find out what wisdom is. Well, I must say here that most people have an idea about wisdom being something abstract.....something that cannot be fully explained but is just there, something that comes with experience in life. 

I would simply define wisdom as a "force" that drives people to do things. And I want to note categorically that wisdom does not come with age as most people erroneously believe.

Why do I say that? It is because those who have wisdom are those who have deliberately looked for information to make a difference in their lives! It is not everyone who is old that does that. 

It is only those who have made a conscious decision to look for wisdom that find it, and that is the only way to get it!

If you doubt what I say here, then look at Sacred scripture in Proverbs 24: 5-7, " A wise man is strong, Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength; For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counselors there is safety. Wisdom is too lofty for a fool; He does not open his mouth in the gate". (New King James Version). You can see clearly that no reference is made to age when talking about wisdom here and note verse 7 that says wisdom is beyond the power of foolish people!

Basically, there are two kinds of wisdom - human or worldly wisdom and divine wisdom. We see human wisdom at work in works of ingenuity and works of evil as well.

Human wisdom is seen in works of ingenuity in all advances man has made to better his life, defend himself or entertain his fellow human being or to earn a living, be it technologically, scientifically, artistically, socially, culturally: Internet, aeroplanes, motor vehicles, motorbikes, trains, ships, telecommunications, architectural and engineering masterpieces, medicine and surgery, scud missiles, nuclear reactors, electricity, photography, literature, etc.

On the other hand, human wisdom is equally seen in man's evil works borne also out of man's desire to entertain, destroy, defend or prey on his fellow man: pornography, nuclear bombs, machine guns, witchcraft, examination malpractice, assassinations, calumny, rape, arson, armed robbery, treachery, murder, gangsterism, occultism, ritual killings, adultery, etc, etc.

One may wonder how some of the evil things mentioned in the preceding paragraph are results of human wisdom. Well, do note that all actions derive from thought. Your thought determines your feelings, which in turn determines your action. There is no evil action that is not derived from thought......even an angry person who decides to hit someone or hurt the person first thought about it before doing it!

Divine wisdom is wisdom derived from above, from God our Father. With divine wisdom, there is only one course of action: positive with guide from the Holy Spirit. With divine wisdom, one cannot make mistakes or take wrong decisions for the simple fact that it is guided not by human thought but by Providence.

Sacred scripture makes reference to divine wisdom in Proverbs 24:13-14, "My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off" (King James Version).

Sacred scripture talks about finding divine wisdom. So how do we find divine wisdom if it is a force that drives man's action as earlier defined? Again sacred scripture provides the answer in 1 Corinthians: 17-30, "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption-- (New King James Version)

Notice the distinction made in the scripture quotation about human or worldly wisdom and divine wisdom. Notice especially verse 30 that says Christ Jesus is the wisdom from God. 

So the implication for anyone who wants to find divine wisdom is to find Christ! How do we find Christ? It is in His teachings contained in sacred scripture, the Word of God.

My dear reader, please note that everyone needs divine wisdom if you must advance in life. And that is why I said you do not have to survive. 

Survival is about struggle in life and is traceable to ignorance of what to do to make a difference in your life and how to go about it. With Divine wisdom as your guide, you will surely achieve in life.

(c) copyright Gabriel Ama

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