Tag: gambling

Professions and Businesses That An Earnest Christian Should Avoid

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God’s People, Do Not Choose the Wrong Career – Part 2

The second part of a message that will provide some deep insights to every young man and young woman pondering their career path, and may even bring a new perspective to people who are already well-established in a profession.


 

Every profession and every business in this world has been infiltrated by Satan. I do not mean taken over by Satan or run by Satan, but affected and tainted by the devil to a greater or lesser extent. There is deception and evil influence – again to a greater or lesser extent – in every sphere of human endeavor. Listen to these declarations in the Scriptures:

that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.   Rev 12:9

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”   Lk 4:5-7

I suppose not everyone who reads these verses pays close attention to some keywords in them. Some of the keywords are, ‘Devil, kingdoms, world, authority, glory, worship’. But the keywords that tend to be glossed over make, literally, a whole world of difference. These words are, ‘whole, all, whomever’.

First, the Devil deceives the whole world. Second, he has been given all authority and glory of all the kingdoms of the world and he can give it to whomever he wishes to give.

While every profession and business on earth has been tainted and influenced by Satan to a greater or lesser degree, there are some that Christians should avoid at any cost. I am, of course, not referring to occupations involved in illegal business, such as smuggling or dealing in pirated or pornographic goods, and the like, which are obvious to any Godfearing person as downright sinful occupations.

Professions which are not that obvious include those in a nation’s armed forces and in the glamor industry such as acting and modeling (unless one can join them in some aspect that doesn’t involve compromising with God’s law), about which I wrote in part 1 and 2 of this message series. In this message I will mention a few other professions that God would not approve your entering – professions which are even less obvious to many Christians in their intrinsic sinfulness than military service or an acting career.

Moneylending Business

God’s people can certainly lend money to whomever they want to. It is when they make it a business that it turns to an unrighteous way of earning an income. No man or woman of God should lend money to anyone in need and then exact interest on repayment. To do so is a direct violation of God’s law. Even working in an organization whose business is making money by charging interest is not a good choice of employment because you are contributing your time and effort to perpetuating an evil scheme in human life.

Whoever increases wealth by taking interest or profit from the poor amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.   Pr 28:8

Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is just and right…He does not lend to them at interest or take a profit from them…He follows my decrees and faithfully keeps my laws. That man is righteous; he will surely live, declares the Sovereign Lord.   Eze 18:5,8-9

I consider moneylending such an accursed profession that I will have nothing to do with even the people associated with it. Some years ago a marriage proposal came for my daughter. It was brought to us by some relatives who knew the boy’s family well. The parents were extremely wealthy and highly respected in my community, and their son was a good looker and well mannered. It would have been the dream proposal for many a parent looking for an ideal husband for their daughter. But the moment I heard the name of the boy’s family, I said sternly to the ones who brought me the proposal that they should not mention this subject to me ever again. The boy’s parents were the founders of one of the largest moneylending institutions in the country. Numerous are the suffering poor who have been left poorer and suffering more because they could never redeem what they had pawned in their dire need, which was then usurped by this family of usury takers. But the relatives who brought the proposal could never understand my stance, and could only shake their heads in disbelief.

Have nothing to do with the usury profession and do not even associate closely with usury takers, and God will delight in you and he will bless you for your faithfulness in keeping all his decrees and laws.

Debt Collection Agency

Now what’s wrong in being employed by an honest-working debt collection agency? There’s nothing wrong with an organization itself that is founded to help other organizations redeem their hard-earned money from elusive clients. The wrong is in the way that an agency uses to collect the debts.

I don’t know if there is anywhere on earth a single collection agency that doesn’t use ungodly tactics to get their money. Companies, when all their reminders, pressures and threats finally exhaust, hand over the bad debt to a collection agency, even if they have to part with half the redeemed amount, which is the usual agency fees.

And how do debt collection agents attempt to get back the money? Would they go to a debtor, sit down with him, sincerely try to find out why he is defaulting, and then work out a solution satisfactory to both parties? Now a solution in most cases would mean either allowing the debtor to repay on a scheme that would not further compound the debtor’s financial misery, or keeping on giving him more time to repay. Is that how most debt collectors act towards the defaulters? They will use every legal, but ungodly, way to retrieve the money. And if they think they can get away with it, they will often use even illegal ways to get it. The degree of oppression they inflict upon the debtor varies from country to country – but the ways of intimidation are almost always those which no true Christian would resort to.

Gambling Industry

The gambling industry is one of the world’s largest sources of corporate and governmental revenue, and one of mankind’s greatest sources of addiction. So great is the revenue it generates to a nation’s exchequer that the government in several countries, including mine, has monopolized the lottery business.

Casinos and horse races are venues where daily millions of people around the world converge to bet their money away. Don’t put your money on the stakes, no, not even occasionally for fun. It is a tool of the devil to destroy God’s people, a tool that the enemy uses just as he uses alcohol, drug, pornography, and other addictions to destroy lives and tear families apart. No follower of Christ should work in an establishment that makes money by gambling in any direct or indirect form.

Even futures trading is a gambling business. This business involves speculating – actually gambling – on the price movement of commodities in the market. How can one conscientiously make money on trading that is based on future likelihoods in the market place when God’s Word states that no one can be sure of even what tomorrow will bring?

Some Other UnGodly Professions

You should be wary even of businesses that involve the ‘pyramid’ scheme of making money. It is not a right scheme for a believer to earn his livelihood.

Selling timeshare properties is another profession you should be wary of.

Research online about pyramid and timeshare businesses and you will see that in many, perhaps most, cases they end up with their customers dissatisfied and feeling cheated of their money. Not in all cases, but enough to dissuade a Godly person from entering these professions.

Under no circumstance should a person who considers himself a true Christian work in an abortion clinic.

Don’t be involved in industries manufacturing or dealing in products that cause human destruction or harm – such as armory and tobacco.

Sometimes a person may take up a noble profession such as teaching, but within that profession there may be aspects of work that promote unGodly beliefs. For example, a Bible believer may have to teach the devil’s lie about evolution to es students in biology class. By doing so, isn’t the believing teacher implanting a there’s-no-Creator teaching into young impressionable minds? But evolution is an essential part of all secular biology texts, and teaching it is mandatory in most public schools. So, should a conscientious Christian refuse to teach certain sections of the school curriculum that compromise es core beliefs? Now that would mean such a person is overrighteous and is not using wisdom. Such overrighteousness leads to the person losing his job and destroying his opportunity to be a good provider to his family.

Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise – why destroy yourself?  Ecc 7:16

So should a person teach evolution and still remain a faithful Christian? In all such job conundrums, seeking wisdom from God is the only answer. Perhaps the biology teacher can skip this one subject in es teaching program. Or while teaching this subject, e can remind the students that this is only the opinion of people who do not believe in God’s creation and they are studying it only for the sake of the syllabus. This principle, along with deep pondering and prayer, can be applied to many other dubitable professions, or professions in which exist doubtable practices.

Let me conclude this series of messages with one profession that can be a controversial subject even among faithful people of God. I am mentioning it here only as my personal opinion, and if you disagree with me I am not going to say you are wrong. But I think I too have reasonable guidance of the Holy Spirit and what I say on this subject may not be far from the truth either.

Male Gynecologists and Obstetricians

You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness.   Lev 18:16

Are male gynecologists exempted from this law of God? Or does it mean that they may uncover the nakedness of every woman who is not a brother’s wife in the course of their professional duty? And who, by the way, are the brothers and sisters of a Christian gynecologist?

But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers.   Mt 23:8

Of course, the verse in Leviticus refers specifically to uncovering in a sexual context, and not to the case of child delivery or medical care. But for those people who desire to keep God’s law to the utmost even in the least area, this law about uncovering also applies generally to uncovering a woman’s nakedness in any context.

Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.   Mt 5:19

Moreover, male gynecologists, even with Christian thought control, may not always be able to view and touch a naked lady, even with a bulging tummy, and not feel carnal sensations on occasion. If I am wrong in my perception of this profession, may the good Lord correct me; he hasn’t yet, even though I have been pondering this issue in my spirit for several decades.

If any man of God is pondering the medical profession as his career, and if gynecology is what he thinks is best suited for his aptitude, then I strongly urge him to take this matter to God in fasting and prayer before he decides to follow this course.

What I counsel men of God in this profession, I counsel women also. No woman, if she is a doctor or nurse, should behold a naked man, other than her husband, or probe his private parts for medical examination. Where you are constrained by your profession to do so, then take up the matter earnestly with your Father in heaven, and he will show you a way out that a human mind thinks impossible, so your life can be chaste and without blemish even in the least areas of your conduct.

And to all other Christians pondering their life path, I give the same final counsel. Take up your job preference to your Father in heaven in earnest prayer, and he will surely guide you to the right decision. It is to his glory to lead you to a profession that is pleasing to him and that will glorify him in all that you do in it.

Oh, before I bring this subject to a close, let me share this joke, which if you think beyond the funny aspect, has a most serious matter for everyone to think about deeply about male doctors and female patients.

Teacher, to her elementary grade student :  What do you want to become when you grow up?

Li’l Johny :  Doctor !!

Teacher :  Why?

Li’l Johny :  Coz it’s the only profession where u can tell a woman to take off her clothes and ask her husband to pay for it.

 

Pappa Joseph

 

 

You will remain trapped in your troubles…until you surrender unconditionally –  Part 2

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In Part 1 of this message, I mentioned some of the most prominent fruits of the unsurrendered and of the surrendered life. So, I ask again, where do you stand today in following Christ? Have you completely surrendered your life to Christ, or are you still holding on to some things and refusing to let go of them even if you know they are the very things which are blocking you from the wondrous blessings of God?

My child in the Lord, if you have not completely surrendered your life to your Savior, you will find that certain troubles – certain sins and weaknesses, certain entrapping circumstances – are continuing to afflict you mercilessly and preventing you from total peace of mind. All your pleas to God to release you from this prison of afflictions are not going to make any difference to your life if you have not made an unconditional surrender. If you are facing serious persistent troubles in your life that never seem to go away, no matter how much you prayed to your Deliverer, then it is only because you want God to deliver you while you are still wanting to hold on to something in your life that is detestable to him.

What is keeping you from the peace of Christ? What is that secret sin you may be committing regularly, even though you know in your heart that you are breaking God’s commandment each time you do it? Is it pornography that you are secretly watching? Is it a drinking or gambling addiction? Is it stealing from your company, or some other form of dishonesty? Is it fornication or adultery or homosexuality, or some other sexual sin? Many Christians do not indulge in deviant acts in practice but they indulge in them to the full perverted extent in their imaginations. In God’s sight, a person who never commits adultery or any other sin in the physical act but entertains it in es thoughts, is just as sinful as the one who practices it outwardly. Is it resentment in your heart toward someone who has done you a great wrong? Or covetousness, which means desiring something that you are not legitimately supposed to desire – perhaps someone else’s property, or his business, or, perhaps, even his wife? Perhaps you are obsessed with making money or becoming successful, which when done without first surrendering your life to God, becomes idolatry? What is the accursed thing in your life that is preventing God from releasing you from your trouble?

Whatever it may be, your God and Savior has only one desire in you: ‘Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Jer 3:22

Once you make up your mind to put away that hidden evil, the full force of the Omnipotent Power is released to enable you to surrender it and follow Christ. If you have tried to give it up in the past and could not, there is a definite reason. Here, let me now reproduce for your encouragement one of the greatest insights on dealing with a sinful thing in your life. It’s a passage from the book ‘The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life’, by Hannah Whitall Smith. This is a book which every person desiring to live the abundant life of Christ should read. It is available free online, and you may find it by writing that title in your search engine. But here I want to give you an extract from that book relating to the subject I am sharing with you.

And now, having shown the way of deliverance from failure, I want to say a little as to the causes of failure in this life of full salvation. The causes do not lie in the strength of the temptation nor in our own weakness, nor, above all, in any lack in the power or willingness of our Savior to save us. The promise to Israel was positive, “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life”. And the promise to us is equally positive. “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way of escape that ye may be able to bear it.”

The men of Ai were ‘but few’, and yet the people who had conquered the mighty Jericho ‘fled before the men of Ai’. It was not the strength of their enemy, neither had God failed them. The cause of their defeat lay somewhere else, and the Lord Himself declares it, “Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them; for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs upon their enemies”. It was a hidden evil that conquered them. Deep down under the earth, in an obscure tent in that vast army, was hidden something against which God had a controversy, and this little hidden thing made the whole army helpless before their enemies. “There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel; thou canst not stand before thine enemies until ye take away the accursed thing from among you.”

The teaching here is simply this, that anything allowed in the heart which is contrary to the will of God, let it seem ever so insignificant, or be ever so deeply hidden, will cause us to fall before our enemies. Any root of bitterness cherished towards another, any self-seeking and harsh judgments indulged in, any slackness in obeying the voice of the Lord, any doubtful habits or surroundings, any one of these things will effectually cripple and paralyze our spiritual life. We may have hidden the evil in the most remote corner of our hearts, and may have covered it over from our sight, refusing even to recognize its existence, of which, however, we cannot help being all the time secretly aware. We may steadily ignore it, and persist in declarations of consecration and full trust, we may be more earnest than ever in our religious duties, and have the eyes of our understanding opened more and more to the truth and the beauty of the life and walk of faith. We may seem to ourselves and to others to have reached an almost impregnable position of victory, and yet we may find ourselves suffering bitter defeats. We may wonder, and question, and despair, and pray; nothing will do any good until the accursed thing is dug up from its hiding-place, brought out to the light, and laid before God. And the moment a believer who is walking in this interior life meets with a defeat, he must at once seek for the cause not in the strength of that particular enemy, but in something behind, some hidden want of consecration lying at the very centre of his being. Just as a headache is not the disease itself, but only a symptom of a disease situated in some other part of the body, so the sin in such a Christian is only the symptom of an evil hidden probably in a very different part of his being.

Sometimes the evil may be hidden even in that, which at a cursory glance, would look like good. Beneath apparent zeal for the truth, may be hidden a judging spirit, or a subtle leaning to our own understanding. Beneath apparent Christian faithfulness, may be hidden an absence of Christian love. Beneath an apparently rightful care for our affairs, may be hidden a great want of trust in God. I believe our blessed Guide, the indwelling Holy Spirit, is always secretly discovering these things to us by continual little twinges and pangs of conscience, so that we are left without excuse.

But it is very easy to disregard His gentle voice, and insist upon it to ourselves that all is right; and thus the fatal evil will continue hidden in our midst causing defeat in most unexpected quarters.

A capital illustration of this occurred to me once in my housekeeping. I had moved into a new house and, in looking over it to see if it was all ready for occupancy, I noticed in the cellar a very clean-looking cider-cask headed up at both ends. I debated with myself whether I should have it taken out of the cellar and opened to see what was in it, but concluded, as it seemed empty and looked nice, to leave it undisturbed, especially as it would have been quite a piece of work to get it up the stairs. I did not feel quite easy, but reasoned away my scruples and left it. Every spring and fall, when house-cleaning time came on, I would remember that cask, with a little twinge of my housewifely conscience, feeling that I could not quite rest in the thought of a perfectly cleaned house, while it remained unopened, for how did I know but under its fair exterior it contained some hidden evil. Still I managed to quiet my scruples on the subject, thinking always of the trouble it would involve to investigate it; and for two or three years the innocent-looking cask stood quietly in my cellar.

Then, most unaccountably, moths began to fill my house. I used every possible precaution against them, and made every effort to eradicate them, but in vain. They increased rapidly and threatened to ruin everything I had. I suspected my carpets as being the cause, and subjected them to a thorough cleaning. I suspected my furniture, and had it newly upholstered. I suspected all sorts of impossible things. At last the thought of the cask flashed on me. At once I had it brought up out of the cellar and the head knocked in, and I think it is safe to say that thousands of moths poured out. The previous occupant of the house must have headed it up with something in it which bred moths, and this was the cause of all my trouble.

Now I believe that, in the same way, some innocent-looking habit or indulgence, some apparently unimportant and safe thing, about which we yet have now and then little twinges of conscience, something which is not brought out fairly into the light, and investigated under the searching eye of God, lies at the root of most of the failure in this higher life. All is not given up. Some secret corner is kept locked against the entrance of the Lord. And therefore we cannot stand before our enemies, but find ourselves smitten down in their presence.

In order to prevent failure, or to discover its cause if we have failed, it is necessary that we should keep continually before us this prayer, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts; and see if there be any evil way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”.

Finally, let us never forget for one moment, no matter how often we may fail, that the Lord Jesus is able, according to the declaration concerning Him, to deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, that we may “serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life”.

But it is very easy to disregard His gentle voice, and insist upon it to ourselves that all is right; and thus the fatal evil will continue hidden in our midst causing defeat in most unexpected quarters.

You may have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, and may be sincerely striving to live a life fully pleasing to him, but at the same time there may be some or many troubles that have been clinging to your life for a long time, which, no matter how sincerely and earnestly you wish to be released from, refuse to leave you. Then, very likely, there is a detestable thing in the sight of God that you are keeping hidden in your heart. And he is not going to lift even his little finger to release you from your persistent problems until you surrender that habit or obsession or whatever that accursed thing may be.

What is it that is preventing your release from whatever has been afflicting you for long? If you are not sure, go on your knees, and pray like David did, ‘Lord, look deep into my heart, and see if there is any little accursed thing that is offending you, and show me what that is’.

Once you are convinced there is something hidden in your life, or something obvious which you are postponing giving up, then act immediately without a moment’s delay. Make a firm decision then and there to give it up. That is the point you begin to cross the Jordan. Now there is no more turning back. You will soon reach the other side of the great river of your life and be fully liberated. The crossing may take a while, perhaps a few days, a few weeks, a few months, perhaps even a few years in some extreme cases, but the victory is sure. God’s release begins the moment you put your feet into the waters of the transition to the new life.

Hear what Oswald Chambers says to all people of God:

But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide – for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.

Don’t slacken on your determination to remove that accursed thing. Even if you fall several times during the crossing, do not lie in the waters but get up quickly and keep going. Even if you fall seventy times seven in a day while crossing the Jordan of your life, God encourages you to get up and get going Mat 18:22. The devil will howl at you that it is in vain and that you can never give his accursed gift back to him and that you have to carry it with you to your grave. Tell him that your Savior has already carried it to his grave with him and you have been forever released by his blood. You say exactly that to the Great Discourager each time you fall, my child, and see how he flees with his tail (if he has one) flung between his legs at the mention of Christ’s blood.

If you continue to hold on to what you know you have to surrender, God is not going to give up on you. He is even ready to afflict you two or three times more, if necessary, until you surrender to him unconditionally.

Behold, God works all these things, twice, in fact, three times with a man, to bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life.  Job 33:29-30

Why prolong your suffering and continue your bondage to sin? Surrender absolutely the first time itself, and enjoy your liberation earlier.

Once you have surrendered unconditionally, you have passed the greatest test in your life, and thereafter any trials are just minor finishing touches to your life. This is the point where God, through his Son Jesus Christ, releases you from the devil’s inextricable grip on your life.

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.  Jn 8:36

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.  Gal 5:1

If today through this message our heavenly Father is calling you to surrender your life to his Son Jesus, then, beloved child of God, don’t postpone your decision for another day. That’s exactly what the Enemy wants you to do – postpone your decision – so this message will lose its impact in your consciousness as you go about the cares and chores of your daily life. The seed of understanding you have received today may either be plucked away from you as soon as you finish reading this message and get up to do something else, or it may last for a few hours or days and then be forgotten, or it may from today start to bear fruit in your life (read the parable in Luke 8:5-18). It all depends on how fervently you desire to surrender your life unconditionally to God.

Therefore take heed how you hear.  Lk 8:18

Lord God, bless this son or daughter of yours who has read this message, and if he or she has been having persistent trouble in es life, then grant em the fervent desire and the power to surrender es life unconditionally to you so that he can be free indeed forever! Amen.

 

Pappa Joseph