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Christian Youths and the Business World

By

Peter Anyebe

It is my hope in this presentation to achieve the following two, 2 objectives:

Prepare the participants in this seminar for a descent life as business men and

women

Challenge them to be business people who have the knowledge of life and

godliness

In this way the mixed multitude that forms this group of participants would have

been ministered to. This includes those who still have to make decisions for

business, and those who are already business people. The fulfilment of these

objectives will take the form of pulling down the stronghold that 1Timothy, 69-10

has

mounted in the church; 2Corinthians, 104-6

:

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare,

and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in

destruction and perdition.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which

some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and

pierced themselves through with many sorrows

The plan is to get this audience to operate within the following limits:

Desire the position of a bishop; 1Timothy, 31 rather than to be rich. Bishop is

used as a synonym of elder.

Love God; with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and

with all your mind rather than money; Luke, 1027

.

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Business people who function in the knowledge of life and godliness would operate

within these limits, as outlined in the series below:

Essentials

Elder

Entrepreneur

Head

The Bible demands that Christians are head, and not tail; Deuteronomy, 2813

:

And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you

shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the

commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you

today, and are careful to observe them

But this can happen only when Christians keep His commandments. Else

Deuteronomy, 2843-44

would become operative:

The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher

above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.

He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be

the head, and you shall be the tail

Compare these scriptures with Isaiah, 915

presented below:

The elder and honourable, he is the head; The prophet who

teaches lies, he is the tail

Being elder and head would therefore be synonymous with heeding God’s

commandments, and being careful to observe them. For Christians this would mean

operating in the new covenant described in Jeremiah, 3133

:

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But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their

minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and

they shall be My people

When people study God’s word or listen to it expounded, they let Him put it in their

minds. When they make decisions based on the word or laws, they let Him write it

on their hearts. Recall that the mind comprises the following three, 3 components:

The Will, referred to in scriptures as strength

The Intellect, referred to as mind, and

The Emotion, referred to as heart

The emotion is the seat of desire. But the desire remains dormant until a decision is

made to achieve it. Then all the strength or will-power that is required for the

achievement is given, according to the level of commitment. The strength is used to

construct the path or way, for the achievement of the desire. When 100% of the

strength is utilised, which represents full commitment, it would be possible to derive

the five, 5 essentials that are required to construct the standard procedure. The

pathway deviates from the standard procedure as the commitment to the project

drops. Diagrammatically:

Will:

Motive Strength,

C’ (A)

Emotion (Heart?):

Purpose (Desire?)

Process

(L)

Desire and Process are both

stored in Heart Memory,

L = F2 (Émile Coué)

Intellect:

Thought, (F)

Process or Pathway, f0

A Model of Learning

One way by which strength is usurped to indicate the lack of full commitment is in

offence; Acts, 2416

; Matthew, 187. When people take offence, a decision has actually

been made. And the strength that is required to execute the associated revenge is set

aside, to minimise the strength that is available for other activities. Another is fear;

following which strength is reserved for flight or fight. In all these, it is the number

of essentials that can be identified that is affected. And this is important because this

capacity determines the growth along the human resource hierarchy outlined

below:

Entrepreneur

Management

Leadership

Labour

Thus, fresh graduates are employed into organisations as labour. They grow to

become leaders in their professions, according to their capacities to identify the five,

5 essential elements of the profession. In this case, leadership is associated with

domain expertise, which makes the person a reference point in that profession. This

prepares them for management, which is concerned principally with strategy.

Domain expertise is required to link organisational strengths and products with the

opportunities in the market. Given these leadership and management skills, people

would be prepared for entrepreneurship.

Notice that the entrepreneur is at the head of this series. Moreover, it is feasible for

the Christian to attain this headship, being associated with the capacity to perform at

task by the standard procedure, which derives from the ability to identify essentials.

Essentials define the nature of God, with whom there is no variation or shadow of

turning; James, 117

. Then people would possess this capacity by the following two, 2

ways:

When they have received the gift of the Holy Spirit at baptism; Acts, 238

When they understand nature

Following Romans, 120

:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are

clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His

eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse

However, the gift of the Holy Spirit only creates a potential, which must be

operationalised in the new covenant. And the full operationalisation of this covenant

has awaited a fuller understanding of scriptures, since knowledge is actually on the

increase; Daniel 124:

But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time

of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase

In 1905, Einstein reduced nature into the energy equation, E = MC2, where E

represents energy, M is mass, and C is the speed of light. Recently, this writer has

reduced humans and society into mathematical models respectively as follows: L =

1/A F2 and Rn = F√n. Following that society is the product of the activities of

humans in nature, these three, 3 concepts would define the limits of knowledge.

Then knowledge would be complete, within these limits, which would then be

inclusive of anything that can be known.

The common feature that connects these concepts is energy. What humans do then is

convert natural energy, E into the form that is expended in creating society, F. This

means that society is better when the knowledge of nature is optimum, and decreases

accordingly. Society is better or worse according to the stability, security, and chaos

that characterises it. This is determined by the amount of entropy, F that people

contribute, in addition to the natural entropy defined by the second law of

thermodynamics. Nature is designed to wrestle humans, Genesis, 3224-25

. While it

tends from greater order to greater disorder, going down stream like a flood; humans

are expected to go up stream, against the flood. It is the energy that is acquired from

overcoming this challenge that is contributed to build society. Diagrammatically:

When people are diligent as demanded in 2Timothy, 215

therefore, their contribution

of entropy would be minimised:

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who

does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth

The scriptures are meant to ensure this diligence; 2Timothy, 316

:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable

for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in

righteousness,

that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for

every good work

In conclusion, when people become entrepreneurs because of the desire for riches,

they tend to become victims of the love of money; and subsequently, contribute evil

and equivalent entropy to the society. But when the decision to do business is

predicated on the desire to become elder and head, then love would be total and for

God; culminating in the capability to reduce phenomena into their essentials, which

is the kernel for success in business. Such entrepreneurs would introduce entropy, F

that is within the limits of the second law of thermodynamics. They would be

puritans; and neither elites nor peasants. The peasants leave no marks on nature.

They are not able. But the elite, they are, who degrade.

L = 2F ± 1

F

The Growth Model