I read recently that Kenny Loggins wrote the song, This Is It, in 1979 for his father about whether to choose cancer treatment. A year or so later, a young man I knew shared about a spiritual struggle he was going through. He said this song inspired him to “stand up and fight”.

Given the spiritual cesspool our country has fallen into, this song is a wake up call for God’s people. We have our “backs to the corner”. God is saying to us 

Are you gonna wait for a sign, your miracle?

Stand up and fight.

(This is it)

Make no mistake where you are

You’re goin’ no further

Until it’s over and done

One way or another

No one can tell what the future holds

Your back’s to the corner

You make the choice of how it goes

What is a viceroy? I don’t mean a cigarette from the 1930s.

What kind of person is a viceroy?

Let’s break down the word. By vice, I don’t mean a habit of rebellion against God’s ways: prostitution, drugs, eating too much, or drunkenness. I’m not talking about any reason to call the vice squad. Vice means “second in office”. Second to any president is a vice president. Second to a full Admiral of the Navy is a Vice Admiral. Roy is not just a man’s name. It is the Norman word for king from which we get the word “royal” – of the king.

Let’s break down the word. By vice, I don’t mean a habit of rebellion against God’s ways: prostitution, drugs, eating too much, or drunkenness. I’m not talking about any reason to call the vice squad. Vice means “second in office”. Second to any president is a vice president. Second to a full Admiral of the Navy is a Vice Admiral. Roy is not just a man’s name. It is the Norman word for king from which we get the word “royal” – of the king.

God made Humanity His viceroys on Earth. He said, “Now let Us conceive a new creation—humanity—made in Our image, fashioned according to Our likeness. And let Us grant them authority over all the earth—the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, the domesticated animals and the small creeping creatures on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26, The Voice)

He spoke to Adam and Eve, “Then God blessed them and gave them this directive: “Be fruitful and multiply. Populate the earth. I make you trustees of My estate, so care for My creation and rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that roams across the earth.” (vs. 28)

Psalm 115:16 says, “The heavens above belong to the Eternal, and yet Earth has been given to Humanity by Him.” This works for unbelievers, as well. When God visited the tower that disobedient men decided to build to the heavens, He said “This is only the beginning of what they will do. Soon they will think they can accomplish anything and everything on their own.” (Genesis 11:6)

(Note that God planned the creation of the heavens and the Earth. He planned for Humanity’s rulership over the Earth. He put into Humanity to plan their rulership. He planned for Humanity’s redemption “…from the foundations of the Earth.” Rulership requires planning.)

To His disciples, Jesus said,  

“Remember this: whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven. And this: if two or three of you come together as a community and discern clearly about anything, My Father in Heaven will bless that discernment. For when two or three gather together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:18-20)

He meant this for His chosen people. 

“…for on this rock I will build My ecclesia. The ecclesia will reign triumphant even at the gates of Hades. I give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven.” (Matthew 16: 18-19)

The Enemy and his minions will not conquer us who really believe. Rather, we will conquer him and take territory he holds illegally.

The Enemy tricked Adam into trading masters. Adam and Eve were ruling under God’s authority as Creator. Then they gave in to the Enemy’s lies and disobeyed God’s one prohibition. In doing so, Humanity came under the Enemy’s rule.

“Doesn’t it make sense that if you sign yourself over as a slave, you will have to obey your master? The question before you is, What will be your master? Will it be sin — which will lead to certain death — or obedience — which will lead to a right and reconciled life?” (Romans 6: 16)

Adam rejected the life, peace, and rest of the Creator’s reign. This resulted in the wages of death, fear, and toil in poverty.

The Enemy does not own the Earth. “The Earth and all that’s upon it belong to the Eternal. The world is His, with every living creature on it.” (Psalm 24: 1) The Creator still owns the Earth while Humanity rules as His viceroys. We have free will to submit to God… or to the Enemy.

The Enemy still uses deception to get humans to believe his words against God. This makes them act as cruelly as the Enemy would have them. This is why evil is in the world: rape, murder, slavery, cancer, poverty, Monday mornings, and “acts of God,” – which are not the actions of God. 

God is not at fault. He does not cause evil. That is the Enemy’s work through deception of Humanity. Neither does God prevent evil. This is Humanity’s job as viceroys.

Judgments are the natural consequences of people breaking laws built into Creation: gravity, diets and exercise, sexual relations, social interactions. “Cursed is the ground. For the rest of your life, you will fight for every crumb of food from the crusty clump of clay I made you from.” (Genesis 3:17) There would no longer be easy taking of provision. Rather, Humanity would face lack and would toil in the sweat of the brow. We would have earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, and floods. 

Evil can be stopped or diverted by humans. We have been deceived into thinking we have no control. Jesus came to show us otherwise. Acting as God’s viceroy, He 

• turned water into wine
• told His students to feed thousands with a few fish and loaves
• healed the sick, cast out demons, preached God’s provision
• calmed storms and walked on water.

This was His second most important work. He reminded His students we have that same authority.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela led thousands against the evils of prejudice and race laws in the US and South Africa. William Wilberforce led thousands against the evil of slavery in Great Britain.

It works for “ordinary” people as well. During a thunderstorm, lightning and power loss missed the rural house of Rabbi William Holbrook. It became a light in a sea of darkness.

God’s plan is to bring His Kingdom back to Earth. However, He must find humans who will believe His Word instead of the apparent facts.

Jesus was walking to the house of Jarius to heal his daughter, who was ill.

Right at that instant, one of Jairus’s household servants arrived. He said, “Sir, your daughter is dead. It’s no use bothering the Teacher with this anymore.”

Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid. Just believe. She’ll be well again.” (Luke 8:49-50)

Jesus went on to heal the girl, apparently raising her from death.

God looks for people who will speak His will and their desires and will behave accordingly. He had men write down His Word, His thoughts. “All of Scripture is God-breathed; in its inspired voice, we hear useful teaching, rebuke, correction, instruction, and training for a life that is right” (2 Timothy 3:16) The Bible is for us to study and to build up our faith. It is for preaching and teaching how to live as God’s viceroys on Earth.

God is looking for humans who will go to all ethnic groups with His Word, peoples of the same speech, thoughts, and customs:

Nationalities, races, neighborhoods, families

Professions, social groups, political parties, gangs.

God wants to find humans who will bring His Kingdom to all areas of life and society.

Economics, politics, relationships, government and law

Sex, entertainment, religion, warfare

Health, finances, morality.

He wants to find people who will go to serve, who will meet the needs of other people His way… out there in the world, each according to individual and corporate purposes.

God wants His people to make plans, to call upon His power to fulfill those plans, to step out and work to complete those plans as His viceroys on the Earth.

Shalom

Since the moment the Creator said that the ground was cursed due to Adam’s rebellion, Humanity has toiled to produce what is needed for survival and a good life. Some people have learned the economic principles built into Creation and have prospered. They walk in the ways of 

• delayed gratification, saving, and investing
• sowing and reaping 
• hard work (not toil) and persistence
• and pursuing one’s purpose while serving others.

So many others don’t follow the principles of economics built into Creation. They either are ignorant of such laws or have not been taught what they mean. They disobey these laws either because they fear loss of control over their finances or they have been taught against these principles or they are simply self-willed, self-reliant. They don’t look to the Creator for His care – His provision. 

The results of their disobedience are failure and lack. They spend money on worthless things, go into debt, and enter financial bondage. They spend their lives toiling for Mammon, the spirit of financial security. 

These are people without self-control. They spend their hard-earned income on unhealthy foods or drugs leading to ill health, on toys and activities that steal time and lead to lack of income. They soon lack money for worthwhile things.

So these people go into debt. With their many credit cards, they make promises of future payments for present purchases. When crises come, they use this easy “solution” to cover costs. (This is much like government spending.)

This way of spending becomes a trap. As Proverbs 22:7 says, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.” Such people enter into a cycle of debt. They have to make payments to deal with past bad situations: things like debts, ill health, high interest rates, and breakdowns, instead of investing in worthwhile things. The Bible calls this the work of the Devourer.

There are people who live in poverty. For whatever reasons, they are unable or unwilling to work and produce wealth. They ask for and get help beyond the financial crises that inevitably come their way. This leads to dependence and an attitude of entitlement. They believe people owe them help just because they are in need.

These people have little sense of self-worth. They maintain no sense of trying to overcome life’s obstacles. They give in to the temptation to take advantage of the system.

Socialists enable such attitudes by requiring the government to meet the needs of the poor. And who is to enrich the government for this purpose? The rich, the successful, those who have “too much”.

Are you one of these people?

How can you get out of the rat race of struggle to pay bills, to avoid the stress of toil, to live a good life?

First, believe that God wants you to have a good life. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” God rewards with a prosperous life those who believe in Him and trust in His provision.

He is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides. Jesus said, 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matthew 6:25-26

Jesus ended by saying, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

Second, do the work God calls you to do. Living a prosperous life takes not only mental belief but also trust that leads to obedience.

Every person on Earth was born with a purpose, a calling from God, a WHY, as Simon Sinek says. God has some important work for each person to complete, some problem in society that person is meant to solve.

Growing up, children have dreams about some work they eagerly look forward to doing. Adults often try to squelch those dreams but the dreams persist. This is God’s call on those children’s lives… their WHY.

When a person realizes their WHY, when he or she enters into the work he or she is meant to do, they come to love that work. They are amazed that people would actually pay them to do it. However, I believe that those who work out God’s purposes for them – those who work to serve others – will produce things of value that others will gladly pay for. Or, as John Maxwell has said, “Find something you would like to do so much, you’d gladly do it for nothing; then learn to do it so well people are happy to pay you for it.” THIS is God’s way of creating wealth.

Third – and maybe the most difficult to understand and believe – give… generously. As Jesus said in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

In 2 Corinthians 9:7-8, Paul said, 

“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (That is quite all-encompassing.)

Or Malachi 3:10-11 says in the English Standard Version, 

“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts.”

Paul said in Ephesians 4:28, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” The reason? As Paul said in Acts 20:35, 

“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

How can you give? Jesse Duplantis teaches four ways to give.

First, tithe in obedience as Malachi 3:10-11 above says. This is ten percent of all income and the first test of faith in God’s provision. In return, He will rebuke the Devourer and open the floodgates of Heaven.

Second, give firstfruits in generosity. Deuteronomy 26:1-3 says, 

“When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in office at the time, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’”

Jesse Duplantis says every time you get an increase of income, give the first payment of it to God. This proves you can be trusted with God’s money. The return He gives is to bless the rest of the increase.

Third, in compassion, give alms, what a person in crisis needs. However, do this secretly, telling no one else. Don’t embarrass that person in their need. 

“But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:3-4) 

In return, God will repay you the same. “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.” (Proverbs 19:17)

Finally, sow seed in faith. 

Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev.
Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. (Psalm 126:4-6)

Sow into those in ministry; give them money or time or other things of value to help with their work. Paul wrote:

“…because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now… It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me.” (Philippians 1:5, 7)

The return is 30-, 60-, even 100-fold. 

Gary Keesee of Faith Life Church in New Albany, Ohio, discovered he could use these principles on a Faith Hunt to harvest deer every year. Before that, he would hunt for hours and maybe see no deer to shoot. Then God taught him he could sow into a ministry and claim what he wanted. He had to be carefully specific what he asked to receive. When he sowed into ministry and claimed what he wanted – even writing down what he sought, he could go hunting and within an hour what he had claimed would appear for harvesting.

Here’s the process that works by faith:

• Select a need or want. Write down what needs be paid for or harvested. Be specific.
• Select a ministry to help, not for alms but to partner with them.
• Decide how much to give. “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.” (2 Corinthians 9:6)
• Give, believing for that specific want. Even write a letter to that ministry, asking them to believe with you for your specific want.

This may sound like following a formula that God must also follow. No, He is sovereign and will still do what is according to His purposes. He may delay answering for reasons on your end. Seek Him with questions and He will answer. But always hold to faith in His goodness and His love and care for you.

To sum up:

• God has set into Creation economic laws that, when followed, provide for people’s needs and wants. 
• So many people do not follow those laws. Instead, they fail to produce or spend on worthless things and activities or go into debt. They turn to others, especially the government, to help then continue to rely on that help and become bound in poverty.
• God wants to provide but trust and obedience to His ways is required.
• These ways include the person finding his or her WHY or purpose in life, doing the work to produce value according to that WHY, and trading it for the wealth others are willing to give for the value.
• His ways include giving… generously.
• And the four ways to give are with the first tithe, first fruits, charity, and sowing into God’s workers.

INTRODUCTION

Hello. My name is John Paul DeWalt. I like to be called John-Paul.

Today I wish to follow the example of Jesus of Nazareth as foretold by the prophet Isaiah. He read from the beginning of Chapter 61.

The Spirit of the Lord, the Eternal, is on me.

He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

Jesus went on to read about comforting the broken-hearted, releasing captives, and proclaiming the year of God’s favor. I believe that whatever else the Father has me doing, He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. My reason for being is to teach the poor how to create wealth and to renew their minds and hearts so they can walk in Kingdom prosperity. May He make it so.

Today I want to share how poor people can create wealth and become rich.

MY PURPOSE 

When a grateful and loving woman broke an alabaster jar of ointment and poured it upon Jesus, Judas complained about the waste. He said the ointment could have been sold and the money given to the poor.

Jesus replied, “The poor will always be with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you want. But I won’t always be with you.” (Mark 14:3-7, John 12:3-8)

One implication of the Master’s words was that poverty is inevitable. There will always be those who fall short of the purposes God has for them and they will suffer lack because of it.

On the other hand, Paul wrote, “You know the grace that has come to us through our Lord Jesus the Anointed. He set aside His infinite riches and was born into the lowest circumstance so that you may gain great riches through His humble poverty.” (2 Corinthians 8:9) The apostle was saying that – as in many other things – Jesus traded places with us. He took the place in poverty we deserve so that we may enter into the riches He so well deserves.

As Dr. Myles Munroe said in the YouTube video, How to Fulfill YOUR PURPOSE Fearlessly, “Jesus not only saved you from your sins. He also saved you to fulfill His purposes for you.”  

I say that those who work out God’s purposes for them – those who work to serve others – will produce things of value that others will gladly pay for. THIS is God’s way of creating wealth.

With this blog. I want to share with you what I believe about the poor creating wealth and leaving poverty behind. I have an idea, the teaching of which is God’s purpose for me. I see myself working out this idea, creating wealth for myself, and leading an organization of leaders who will bring about the fulfillment of this idea and purpose.

I plan to share 

• how this idea came about
• why I believe God is behind it 
• how it can happen
• the need for individual personal improvement
• the need for social change
• and the Water-Walking Mountain Movers organization I intend to build to teach and bring to fruition this idea.

HISTORY OF THE IDEA

Many years ago when I was a young man, I read a couple books on economics in which I perceived Truth. Harold Lindsell, the editor of Christianity Today, wrote Free Enterprise: A Judeo-Christian Defense. I followed that with The Capitalist Manifesto by Louis Kelso and Mortimer Adler. 

Lindsell proclaimed that Jesus did not teach socialist or communist values as liberation theologians would have us believe. Those are the way of force, whether through ballots or bullets. Rather, the Master’s parables uphold the values of private property and freedom in how to use it, including helping the poor.

In The Capitalist Manifesto, the authors showed that those who grow rich are those who have and use assets to create wealth. Slaves and those who toil for others receive only subsistence living for their labors. Those who reap the rewards from investment of assets are able to do such leisure work as the arts, politics, and religion. 

Kelso and Adler also proclaimed it unjust that assets, the means to create wealth, are concentrated in the hands of a few powerful, rich people. Justice requires that assets, the opportunities to invest and create wealth for oneself, be redistributed among the masses. Just as universal suffrage spreads political power more equally, universal ownership and investment of assets would spread economic power more equably.

About that time in my life, I tried to create wealth through network marketing. I joined an established company that was converting to ordering over the Internet and I saw a bright future in their network marketing system. I, however, was such an unsociable person with a poverty mentality, that I quit after two attempts.

I entered a kind of Egypt of surviving by working in a factory. My wife of twenty years became ill and died so I took in a roommate with whom I related poorly. Then the home I rented for most of those twenty years was sold from under me.

I came to the point of facing an addiction and turning to God for help. He began to show me better ways of relating to people.

He also began blessing my life. I purchased my first house. I met and married my second wife, who began to upgrade my life as well as my house. She introduced me to another network marketing company with a wide open market in utilities everyone uses. 

With that company came lessons in personal improvement. Through the teachings of such motivational speakers as John Maxwell, Darren Hardy, and Myles Munroe, I laid hold of my purpose for existence. I discovered my WHY:

1. to teach poor and needy people how to use assets with which to create their own wealth and leave poverty behind
2. to teach these people personal improvement so they can hold on to their wealth
3. to convince pastors and leaders of helping agencies to use biblical ways to help the poor
4. to create an organization of Water-Walking Mountain Movers to do the above.

So why make such a big deal over creating wealth?

GOD WILLS IT

In his video talk, Understanding THE PURPOSE for Your Life (1), Dr. Myles Munroe said that the success of all that God created protects His reputation. His name is on those He created and their success is for His name’s sake. Yahweh promised economic blessings for those who obeyed His laws and followed His ways. He pronounced economic curses on those who broke His laws and rebelled against Him. Israel broke His laws concerning rest for the land every seventh year. So Yahweh had the whole nation carried off into Babylon. “This exile fulfilled the Eternal’s message through Jeremiah that Israel would lie quietly at rest and be desolate for seventy years to make up for the generations where they did not observe Sabbath.” (Leviticus 26:33-35, 2 Chronicles 36:21)

The laws Yahweh gave to the nation of Israel were intended to protect the weak and vulnerable against exploitation, to uphold the rights of property owners, and to limit the harshness of punishments levied against wrongdoers. Yahweh especially made provision for those who did poorly in the marketplace and went into debt. He commanded that the successful help the unsuccessful in four ways: gleaning, lending, seventh-year tithes, and advocacy.

Part of His instructions concerned people who did not do well and fell into debt. To protect the rights of property owners, He allowed for debtors and thieves to be sold into bondage. (This was not the full slavery such as Europeans in the New World perpetrated on African blacks. That was contrary to God’s expressed will.)

This economic bondage was for a limited number of years, after which they were to be set free with the tools needed to create wealth for themselves. I believe this time in bondage was a kind of apprenticeship during which the person could learn from a successful master how to do it well. Land sold to pay debts could be used to enrich successful landowners. However, at the fiftieth year Jubilee, the land had to be returned to the original family.

Before the fiftieth year, assets – the land and the labor of those in bondage – would naturally become concentrated into the hands of the successful landowners. However, at the Jubilee, the next generation of the original family was given back their assets and their freedom in order to make a new start. From this I take the principle, along with Kelso and Adler, that while the means of creating wealth naturally become concentrated into the hands of rich and powerful people, justice requires that those assets be redistributed so that the poor can again have equal opportunity.

HOW IT CAN HAPPEN

THIS is the basic theme of The Capitalist Manifesto. Those with assets and free market opportunities are able to invest and reap the rewards of their investments. These people become successful and wealthy. Assets naturally flow to and are used by these successful, wealthy people and make them wealthier. These assets become concentrated in and controlled by the hands of the rich few. However, it is injustice to keep opportunities out of hand of the poor. Justice would have assets distributed to poor people for more equal opportunities to invest and create wealth.

In today’s society, we need to find ways to get assets into the hands of the poor. An automatic thought is to have the government seize assets upon the death of a business owner, maybe returning half to his or her family, and distribute the rest among the poor. This is a Marxist idea that would not benefit the poor for long. Like so many lottery winners, they would be unable to handle the riches involved. The government already forces the rich to surrender their earned wealth for use by the poor. It is neither good nor helpful to the poor.

Yahweh’s Old Testament laws called for voluntary distribution of assets from the rich to the poor, especially at Jubilee. Maybe a philanthropist like Warren Buffet or Tony Robbins would be willing to do this. I doubt many others would. And, of course, poor people would not have the capability to hold on to wealth given to them.

A third option is to teach poor and needy people how to use assets they do have. These days, so many people have cell phones. So many people have places to live. So many people have possessions and abilities they could use as assets for creating wealth. With the right teaching and coaching, poor people can learn what it takes to create and keep wealth.

In his TED Talk, The poor know how to overcome poverty, Robert Hacker said that, through the Internet, poor people gained unlimited access to information. They extracted insight from the information, began economic activity, and became entrepreneurs. 

NEED FOR PERSONAL IMPROVEMENT

Studies of winners of huge lottery payments have clearly shown that so few of them had the ability to hold on to their new wealth. They simply did not have the success mentality – the character traits – needed to keep it.

People are poor because they have a poverty mentality. The hardships of life that brought them into poverty war against the qualities of risk-taking, persistence, and pursuit of one’s purpose that would lift them into success and wealth. Generations of those so impoverished are ignorant of the ways of success. Decades of government aid have bred into them expectation of dependence and entitlement.

The poor need to learn the principles of personal improvement:

• the possibility of success and wealth
• the need to pursue a purpose
• the need to serve others
• the need for wisdom and persistence
• the need to take responsibility for one’s self.

NEED FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

More than a need for individual personal improvement is the need for changes in society’s mindset. Our culture is permeated with the concept of entitlement and government control of market forces. We seem to think that 

• No one is allowed to suffer.
• No one is allowed to die.
• Wealth must be equally distributed.

Our society needs to be convinced of the values of Capitalism and free markets. People need to be taught the benefits of taking risks and being responsible for one’s actions… or inactions. 

The legal system needs to encourage – not enforce – distribution of assets in a free marketplace. It must allow for inevitable loss, suffering, and death. It must encourage biblical charity.

People’s minds and hearts need to learn about 

• the pursuit of purpose
• wisdom in investing and business practices
• generosity and servanthood
• encouragement and persistence in working towards one’s dreams

ORGANIZATION OF WATER-WALKING MOUNTAIN MOVERS

One lone man cannot change society and people’s minds and hearts. Not even William Wilberforce could bring about the abolition of slavery in Great Britain by himself. I expect the movement to fulfill my vision will continue beyond my death. Therefore, I plan to raise up an organization to carry this dream to completion.

Just as David could not fight against the giant Goliath by himself, just as Zerubbabel could not level a mountain by himself, so God Almighty must be the prime mover in this enterprise.

“This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ 

says the Lord Almighty.

“What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. 

Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’”

(Zechariah 4:6-7)

I envision a large organization of people who will be used by God to not only overcome the high hills of their own poverty and lack of success but also to remove huge mountains in society. It took a large team of porters and guides to get Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, to the top of Mount Everest.

I see within Water-Walking Mountain Movers the hands of leaders, life coaches, motivators, and pastors, who will point poor and needy people toward success and will teach them personal improvement. I hear the voices of prophets who will encourage risk-taking, pursuing one’s purpose, and adding value to others. I will work beside entrepreneurs who will teach wise investing and business practices and will educate in the skills required for success. I hear the call of legislators and preachers who will work for social change and for government non-interference in the marketplace.

MY DREAM

I have a dream! 

I have a dream that one day, I and the people who are with me 

will help poor people to use assets to create wealth for themselves!

I have a dream that one day, I and the people who are with me 

will teach poor and needy people how to become the kind of successful people

who can not only create wealth for themselves but also can hold on to that wealth!

I have a dream that one day, I and the people who are with me 

will turn the minds and hearts of our culture from enabling people in their poverty

to helping the poor to leave its bondage.

Shalom

“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”

Chicken Little took an acorn on the head and went around proclaiming the end of the world.

Twelve spies came back from exploring the Promised Land. Ten of them returned fearful.

They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.”

And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13: 27-28, 32-33)

Because of this fearful report, the whole community of Israel refused God’s call to invade Canaan. They called for new elections and a return to bondage in Egypt. Instead, God gave them forty more years of wandering in the Wilderness until that whole generation died. Then their children invaded the Promised Land.

So often, people look at the troubles in their lives, at the scope of the dreams God calls them to fulfill, at the immensity of the obstacles to overcome and they react in fear. They focus on the size of the problems instead of the enormity of the God Who calls them to fight and to overcome… with His help.

Because of this fearful disobedience, they are left to die rather than be used to do God’s work.

“Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” (Psalm 95:8-11) 

 

A blog post in hebrew4christians.com pulls together other Scriptures to encourage faith-filled rest in God. Unable to copy the author’s words, I can give you only this link.

However, he quotes such Scriptures as

• Psalm 46:10

• Isaiah 30:15

• 1 Peter 5:7

He summarizes God’s promises that if we will only rest in Him – trust in His ability to make things happen – He will pull us through, cause us to overcome, complete His work through us.

If you wish more information and encouragement for overcoming your fears – for facing your giants, purchase my novel, Joshua and Caleb: Journey to the Promised Land, which tells of Israel’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt and the spies’ journey into Canaan.

Click the link below and pre-pay a low price for my Joshua and Caleb novel, which comes out November 12.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/900792

This past weekend, I watched two chasing-the-dream movies. Secretariat tells the story of a housewife who inherited her father’s horses and chased the dream of raising and racing one through the Triple Crown to save her father’s legacy. Million Dollar Baby is about a young woman over thirty who wanted to leave poverty by fighting her way to championship. Both women had to overcome much opposition to make it to their final showdowns. With their different spiritual values, they experienced very different outcomes.

Penny Chenery Tweedy held on to her dream despite family opposition, the threat of bankruptcy, and a million-dollar way of escape. Big Red (aka Secretariat) suffered one defeat due to an abscess in his mouth. He then fulfilled Penny’s dream by winning the Triple Crown – the Belmont Stakes by an unbeatable 31 lengths. This Disney movie honored God with its value of feisty hope and the 1969 song Oh Happy Day.

In the other movie, Maggie Fitzgerald fought her way to the title match in her class. She suffered a broken neck when her dirty-fighting opponent punched her after the bell rang. Her family wanted only her assets. Frankie Dunn, her trainer/manager, visited and cared for her in the nursing home. In the end, he honored her request for death.

This movie dishonored God with its hopeless, humanistic answer to Maggie’s tragedy. Frankie’s priest’s warned Frankie he would lose his soul if he followed the path of murder. The priest failed to offer the help and healing available from his God and Savior.

I remarked to my wife after the movie ended that I had been spoiled from enjoying it by listening to Bill Johnson. This leader of Bethel Redding Church preaches the Kingdom of God on Earth as experienced in signs and wonders, healings, and other miracles. As impossible as it might have seemed, a more hopeful life – if not a healing – was available to Maggie. Just ask Joni Eareckson Tada.

Sex slavery, incest, attempted rape. One Christian friend has said she’d never read my novel, Joshua and Caleb: Journey to the Promise Land, because of these. However, these events are essential to the plot.

When the time comes to upload the novel to Smashwords for conversion into an e-file, I will be asked whether it requires a Mature rating. Is it unsuitable for general or family audiences? I have to admit, it is.

Part of my theme is how Yahweh delivers Israel not only from bondage to the people of Egypt but also from the sins of that people, incest included. Part of my theme is to show how the people of Canaan are disobeying the Law and justice of Yahweh. One reason the Israelites will invade is to bring Yahweh’s judgment on the people there.

Therefore, I describe the near-nakedness of slaves at different parties in Egypt. I show the Canaanites dishonoring parents, committing theft and murder, and worshipping a fertility goddess. I have Caleb’s wife in an on-going incest relationship in Egypt and in the Wilderness.

None of this is explicitly described so as to make the story erotic but I show the existence of such rebellion against Yahweh and His Law. I believe Christian writers must acknowledge these issues in society and show that God has better ways.

Therefore, I show Joshua tempted by an adolescent girl but rebuffing her because he loves Yahweh’s Law as well as his wife. I show Caleb speaking sympathetically to a fellow cuckold in Canaan. And I explain Yahweh’s judgment on the Canaanites for such rebellion and immorality (Leviticus 18) .

A formless tunic covered the twisted, slender frame of Caleb ben Jephunneh as he sang. The hunch of his back caused him to bend over the lyre he strummed.

El Shaddai is my hiding place

El Alyon is the stronghold of my heart

He keeps me safe, come what may

Oh, how I love Elohim, my God!

A shadow fell across Caleb’s closed eyelids and he opened them. His master stood over him with fists on his hips. Benipé scowled.

“Is that a new song?”

“Master?” The middle-aged man didn’t scramble to his feet, as other slaves were required. Benipé understood how difficult it was with his twisted right arm and leg. Instead he watched Caleb sweep long, graying, red hair away from blue eyes and turn his head to look up.

“Did you just create that song?”

“No, master.” The musician had created it days before when crying out to the Lord about Sarah’s plight and their bondage to this man.

“You say you cannot create new songs for festivals and parties where we entertain but you sing something to your foreign god that I’ve never heard.”

Caleb shrugged. “How many songs to El Shaddai do you know?”

“Very few.” Benipé crossed his arms. “I still think you could create songs for us if you wanted.”

Caleb lowered his eyes and head. “As you say, master.”

The troupe leader nudged a pillow in front of Caleb and sat on it. “Tell you what: You create a new song for the festival of Tekh next week and I’ll grant you some small wish.”

The musician grinned. “Meaning you would not set me free.”

“Correct. An extra day of rest, some meat for your supper.”

Caleb looked directly at his master. “Don’t let some man take Sarah off for personal attention.”

Benipé lurched back. He started to reach for the switch he used on his slaves but Caleb’s steady look stayed his hand. He rose to his feet.

“That’s no small wish. All my customers get what they request.”

“While your slaves get only heartache.”

Benipé said, “Be glad I don’t beat you for your insolence.” Then he walked away.

Late that afternoon, Caleb hobbled his way to the hovel where he lived with Sarah. In a sack, strapped like a pouch over his shoulder, he carried the week’s ration of millet from the master’s storehouse.

Once inside the makeshift door, he laid aside his walking stick, hoisted the sack onto the bare wood table, and hung his lyre on its peg on the wall. A look toward the curtained-off bedchamber told him Sarah was at the baths. She would be getting cleaned for that night’s party. Caleb shook his head to dispel the image of her dancing naked for the client’s guests. He sniffed an armpit and decided he should wash as well.

The crippled man pulled off his tunic.

He struggled to lift a stone jar full of water to the table with his good left arm. Then he carefully poured some water into the washbasin.

He cleaned himself as well as he could despite his curled right hand. He was glad his movements were limited more in his fingers than in his shoulder and elbow.

Finished, he carried the basin outside and tossed the water. He returned to dress in a freshly washed linen tunic.

Caleb moved his legs quickly, struggling to keep up with Benipe’s troupe of musicians and dancers as they stepped through the streets of Heliopolis. With his crippled hand, he cradled his lyre and stool against his curved torso as his left hand supported him on the walking staff.

Beside him, Sarah walked as upright as a statue, her pace slowed to match her husband’s. A traveling cloak hid her small, statuesque body but passers-by stopped to admire the beauty of her face and dark hair.

At the client’s home, Caleb set the stool in a corner out of the way of slaves hurrying with preparations for the party. He groaned as he collapsed on the stool and sat panting with the lyre in his lap. Only then did he turn his head to look up at the arrangements.

Several couches and low tables formed three sides of a rectangle. The open end faced the doorway through which early guests began to arrive. Sarah and the other dancers sat in another room, readying their costumes and waiting their turns to perform.

Lamp stands stood in front of richly colored cloths that draped the walls. His breathing eased, Caleb looked to the corner in which the musicians sat tuning their instruments. The harpist heaved to his feet and carried his stool and instrument over to join them.

Benipé finished conferring with his client, the host of the party, and came over to speak to the musicians. “Nothing special is desired for this evening. We’ll start with the usual songs of thanksgiving to the gods for their blessings and go on from there.”

The troupe leader looked at the nodding heads topped with aromatic cones already lit. He raised his staff and beat the tempo for the first of the songs.

Later, Caleb strummed the last chord on his harp and watched the bevy of young, female dancers scurry away to the applause of the party guests. Benipé glanced at the harpist over the heads of the other musicians and murmured the name of the next song.

Caleb shifted around on his stool so he could still watch the master but avoid seeing his wife in the open area between the tables. Having witnessed one of Sarah’s performances and its effects on male guests, he did not want to see it again.

In the waiting room, the dancer raised her arms over her head, her hands crossed at the wrists so her palms met. Lifting one knee and pointing her toes, she slowly extended and straightened the leg to place her foot flat on floor. Repeating with the other foot and rolling her hips, Sarah strode out to stand between the tables. A long, orange veil covered her long, dark hair and wrapped her small body to the ankles.

Benipé thumped four measured beats on the floor with his staff and the musicians began to play. Sarah spread her arms and waved them to the beat of the music while slowly unwrapping the veil from her undulating body. Beneath, she wore nothing but a sheer linen skirt that hardly hid her nakedness.

Dropping the veil, Sarah danced between the tables, thrusting and rotating her hips and upper torso, crooning the words to a bawdy song. At times, she danced to a guest, caressing his face in smiling invitation. As the music swirled toward completion, she danced behind the honored man and caressed his hair, his face, his chest, all the while singing about the pleasures of love. Without missing a beat, Sarah took his hands, pulled him to his feet, and danced out of the room with him.

Caleb stumbled tiredly through the entrance to his home. His sour mood was not helped by the sight of his wife’s brother seated on a stool at the table.

“Where is she?” Perez ben Yakov demanded. He didn’t rise to lean over the stooped musician. He didn’t have to.

Caleb turned his head to look on the same level with his seated brother-in-law. “She is continuing to entertain one of the master’s clients tonight.”

Perez snorted. “Only one of them?”

Caleb turned away and hung his lyre on its peg then limped over to the cupboard for a drink of beer. He didn’t offer any to the other man.

When he turned back, Perez still glowered at him. Caleb asked, “What do you want me to do? Refuse her to the master and his guests? How long do you think I’d live after that?”

“Coward!” Perez rose and stepped toward the doorway.

The stooped man mumbled, “Just because you can’t have her tonight…”

Perez stuck his head back in through the doorway. “What did you say?”

Caleb turned and looked up at the larger man. “I just said you’re welcome to go rescue her… as you always do.”

Perez scowled and disappeared. The musician smirked at the jab he’d given his brother-in-law. Perez had been unable to protect his sister from the Egyptian rapists who had also injured her husband. Blows to the head had crippled Caleb’s right side. His fingers had curled into a claw and his leg and back had turned so he hobbled stiffly.

Taking back a husband’s care for his sister, Perez had returned to taking a husband’s favors. Caleb had objected to his master but Benipé had merely shrugged.

“This is Egypt. Brothers often marry their sisters, especially among the exalted ones.”

Sarah had tried to soothe him. “Please, Caleb, don’t make trouble with my brother. You know how aggressive he can be when thwarted. I don’t want him to cause you more harm.”

Caleb had given her a pained look and turned away.

Much later, Sarah skulked back into the hovel. She immediately pulled the loose robe off her small body, poured water into the washbasin, and rapidly washed all over. Finished, she picked up the basin and turned to see Caleb watching her. Blank-faced, she carried the basin outside and returned. Her back to the bed, Sarah pulled a clean tunic over her dark head. Then she lay on the bed apart from Caleb.

He reached to put his good arm around her for comfort. She stiffened and he withdrew.

“I love you, Sarah.”

She snorted quietly. “I wish you could show it by keeping the master’s clients away from me.”

“As my Creator lives, so do I,” he sighed. “It hurts me to hear you say that. It hurts worse that you need to.”

Sarah sat up and held her knees to her chest. She rocked back and forth.

After a while, she wiped her hands across her eyes. “I know I should be grateful that you gave of your health to defend me. It just angers me that it wasn’t enough… that it’s not enough now.”

Caleb turned onto his hunched back and cradled the claw of his right hand with his supple left one. He massaged the tight muscles in his forearm in an attempt to relax their pull on his fingers. Inwardly, he thanked God Most High he could use them still to pluck the strings of a harp or lyre.

He looked at his wife. “I wish you would let my good arm comfort you. I have the need to hold you as much as you need to be held.”

Sarah paused in her rocking. “If only it would help. Only if it stops will things be better.” She resumed rocking.

“And I would give my good arm and leg for that to happen!”

Sarah sighed and lay down again. This time she scooted back against him and reached to pull his good arm around her. “Why, Caleb? Why must I go through this? Why must you go through seeing me go off with other men?”

His arm tightened. “I don’t know, Princess. I wish I did. All I know is someday soon, El Shaddai will remember His promise to Abraham and rescue us from slavery in Egypt.”

Some time later, Caleb sighed as he lay on the floor of his hovel. He gently beat his head against his sound left hand and the claw of his right.

 “How long, O Lord, will You keep Your people in bondage to their oppressors? How long will You continue to allow these Egyptians to mistreat Your chosen ones? How long must Sarah and I endure abuse at the hands of wicked men?

 “El Shaddai,” he groaned, “Your promise to Abraham goes unfulfilled. Because it does, Your people suffer from the cruelty these Egyptians inflict upon them. Because of that, my wife is forced into wickedness and pain. How long, Elohim, must we go on?”

Caleb remembered a storyteller speaking of El Shaddai’s promise to the patriarch. God himself had passed between the halves of a heifer, a female goat, a ram, and two birds. The Creator declared,

Know this: your descendants will live as outsiders in a land not theirs; they’ll be enslaved and beaten down for four hundred years. Then I will punish their slave masters; your offspring will march out of there loaded with plunder.

Caleb remembered the storyteller’s astonishing words.

And he believed! Believed God! God declared him “Set-Right-with-God.

The musician clenched his left hand into a fist.

“Help me, O Lord, to have the faith of Abraham. Help me to believe You will deliver us as You promised.”

He waited for a time, listening to the silence in the hovel, hearing only the beating of his heart. Finally, he rose, lay on his bed, and cuddled his trembling wife.

I want to thank my son-in-law, Jadaé Fox, for the idea for this post. He recommended I give readers the opportunity to look over my novel’s Table of Contents.

Part 1: Bondage in Egypt

Prologue

Chapter 1      Suzerainty Treaty with Egypt

Chapter 2      The General’s Feast

Chapter 3      Hoshea and His Wife

Chapter 4      Unfriendliness and Failure

Chapter 5      Musician in Bondage

Chapter 6      Moses and the Promise of Freedom

Chapter 7      Plagues and Preparations

Chapter 8      Passover

Part 2: Journey to Sinai

Chapter 9      Military Matters

Chapter 10    Crossing the Sea of Reeds

Chapter 11    Hunger, Thirst, and Amalekites

Part 3: Establishing a Nation

Chapter 12    The Character of Hoshea and Caleb

Chapter 13    Epiphany on Sinai

Chapter 14    The Golden Calf

Chapter 15    Suzerainty Treaty with Yahweh

Part 4: Mission to Canaan

Chapter 16    Preparations for Departure

Chapter 17    Encounters in Beersheba

Chapter 18    Training, Tricks, and Troublesome Dreams

Chapter 19    Clashes of Will and Sword

Chapter 20    Canaanite Farms of Iniquity

Chapter 21    Surprises in Hebron

Chapter 22    Fight and Flight

Chapter 23    In the Cave

Chapter 24    On the Run

Part 5: The Return

Chapter 25    Arrival and Celebration

Chapter 26    The Spies Report

Chapter 27    Sacrifice for Freedom

Chapter 28    Disobedience and Judgment

Chapter 29    Despair and Hope

Epilogue

 

Aa-ee! A cry tore from Joshua. His arms came up to cover his anguished face as he hunched his back and beat his head against angry fists.

I stood at my factory workstation, bending slender aluminum tubes and musing over something I had read in scripture. The Israelites had refused to go up into Canaan because they feared the giants there.

Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt? (Numbers 14:3)

As a result, Yahweh declared that the whole nation would continue to roam the wilderness until everyone in that generation was dead. Only Joshua and Caleb would live to lead the next generation into the Promised Land.

I imagined Joshua’s angry roar at the unbelievers. “You people have condemned me to forty years of useless wandering! I’ll be an old man before I get the plot of land Yahweh has set aside for me!”

This was, for me, the start of my imagining the story of Joshua and Caleb. I saw Joshua as an anti-social, gruff-mannered administrative type much like my own dark side. I imagined Caleb as a musician who loves to worship El Shaddai but avoids conflict much like my light side. Because he was a descendant of Kennizites, an offshoot of Midianites and not of Israel, I could start Caleb’s backstory in Canaan and have him returning to family.

Soon after I began to write and organize ideas, I read Christopher Vogler’s book, The Writer’s Journey. This introduced to me the mythic structure of the hero’s journey or quest.  I decided that not only did Joshua and Caleb each have his own hero’s journey but that Israel also did. And it became clear that Joshua and Israel would fail their quests. This made necessary a second book about training the next generation into an army God could use.

Though the story of Joshua and Caleb would end in the tragedy of failure and judgment, I knew I had to leave readers with hope. Caleb would speak of God’s love and the ultimate fulfillment of His promises.

What mental image or thought has been a spark to your own creativity? What have you done to bring out that idea?