One of the defensive mechanisms adopted by a chameleon is camouflaging. A chameleon is capable of changing its colours according to the environment. Supposedly, this is designed to make it difficult for its predators to detect the chameleon’s location. A chameleon’s changing patterns provide one of this universe’s spectacular phenomena. But, can chameleon behaviour be adopted as a true datum for safety and survival?
Camouflaging grants temporary comfort but is most dangerous for knowledgeable individuals. It can be easy for the knowledgeable ones to become lukewarm when surrounded by ignorant people. Rather than change the environment, the knowledgeable ones succumb, when behaving like chameleons. While knowledge ought to be considered advantageous, the most dangerous aspect of knowledge includes adopting chameleon behaviour.
When the magnitude of wickedness reaches alarming proportions, it becomes difficult to separate righteousness from evil. This makes it the only reason ethical people should keep raising the bar, rather than take comfort in succumbing. Sodom and Gomorrah became so corrupted to the extent that God decided to destroy the entire populace in those cities.
It had to be Abraham’s prayer that Lot was salvaged when God had resolved to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah entirely. Otherwise, Lot’s righteousness had been camouflaged by the sinful conditions of those cities. Lot’s family would have also been destroyed, as God had decided to destroy everything associated with those cities.
For their safety, a few righteous people have a proclivity to be camouflaged among the evil people, to avoid detection. Similarly, when a minority, evil people often get camouflaged among the righteous people. Righteousness and evil are the two opposites that are intolerant of each other. The more evil exists, the more it becomes necessary for the righteous people to identify with the evil people, to avoid detection.
This has been the condition affecting good Christians in Zimbabwe. There is no doubt that there are people who can be considered good Christians in a corrupt environment. Those people become stretched to the limit when their condition of being good Christians is tested. As long as evil exists abundantly, it becomes impossible to separate righteousness from evil.
Under those circumstances, false Christianity thrives, whereas true Christianity becomes the most dangerous. False Christians become chameleons, to attract favour from an evil system, exposing true Christianity to also become vulnerable. Persecution becomes an order of the day for true Christians. However, true Christians have no reason to bemoan such conditions. Jesus advised His disciples that the moments of persecution should be gratefully accepted. There is no other sign, proving Jesus’ followers are on the right path.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12 NKJV).
This world promises joyous living, as long as succumbing to its conditions, when desiring comfortable lifestyles. This suggests a pattern of conforming rather than being transformed. Those of this world are justified when conforming to the conditions of this world. Conforming guarantees the attainment of happiness in this world. However, the opposite is true, for those purchased by the blood of Jesus.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1-2 NKJV).
From the beginning of the world, nothing has changed. Whatever the magnitude of sinful conditions, causing Sodom and Gomorrah to succumb and attract God’s wrath, is still with humanity today. Human behaviour is motivated by Earthly conditions. Survival requires conforming. But for those choosing to be transformed according to Godly attributes, the worldly experiences can be very unpleasant. In the province of Christianity, there is deep knowledge, although inaccessible to ordinary Christians.
Christianity offers better living standards when compared to other conditions of living. However, while such standards are attractive, they subtract the Heavenly promises, as illustrated in the parable of the wedding banquet in (Matthew 22:1-14). When gauging one’s Christian worth, the disqualification can be measured according to the fear of death. It takes a highly knowledgeable person to appreciate that the temporary comfort offered by this world is not anything to write home about.
People can fight and kill each other over material resources, but still leave this world with unresolved problems of livingness. To the majority, seen walking around, death is a mystic subject requiring avoidance. Any talk about death is taboo to the majority of those still living, whose death is also unavoidable. Death is feared, to the extent that talking about it is construed as dangerous.
To the knowledgeable ones, death ought to be an exciting topic. Engaging in death topics means discussing what happens after death, rather than discussing what happens before dying. While most people take comfort in the denial of death reality, death is an exciting topic, to the knowledgeable. Life after death enables the real possibility of attaining the purpose of existence.
Knowledge troubles the physical body while enhancing the spiritual body. The purpose of living is to defeat the cravings of the physical body. False Christianity teaches that the only purpose of living is to acquire material blessings, which hold no spiritual value. Jesus engaged in a titanic spiritual battle with Satan dangling the splendor of the worldly Kingdoms.
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him (Matthew 4:8-11 NIV).
Nothing is as exciting as a promotion, to those without knowledge. However, it was a promotion that Jesus rubbished in the above Scripture. Jesus could not fall into the devil’s schemes, because he was knowledgeable. The splendour of worldly kingdoms could have tricked anyone without the afterlife knowledge. Which of the people of this world could avoid such a lifetime opportunity?
The opportunity to attain the position of being above other fellow humans can be exciting. Achieving things considered great, for personal gratification, is fantastic. Such dreams spell reason for making death unwelcome—revealing how dreary the limited knowledge amounts. The Christian mockery of all time suggests that the whites came with the Bible to stupefy blacks, to obtain their gold. This sounds credible to the uninformed.
The radical revolutionaries continue to highlight the same gospel, even after attaining independence. This places Christianity in a very unfavourable light. The alternative viewpoint is that mineral resources are less important than human beings. Wearing expensive clothing and driving the most beautiful cars does not add anything to the value of a human being.
The informed people know of nothing dumber than placing mineral resources ahead of humans. If true that white settlers came with the Bible to stupefy blacks, their behaviour would suggest the reverse. Those white missionaries would have been stupider than blacks. The value of Jesus cannot be compared to minerals. The blacks ought to be happier with Jesus than with mineral resources.
Jesus’ utterance that if one has faith as little as a mustard seed, nothing becomes impossible, says it all. In other words, with Jesus, everything becomes available. This statement should not be mistaken for advancing miracle crusades. This datum is anchored on the principle of knowledge and wisdom.
Without wisdom, gold is worthless, yet, with wisdom, gold is also unnecessary. Surrendering gold for wisdom is the greatest investment, ever to be made. For those unsure of this datum, the analysis of Jesus’ parables amplifies the meaning of stupidity.
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:15-21 NIV).
It shouldn’t be surprising that the above fool’s behaviour is assumed to be wisdom by most people. Others would not even be afraid to suggest that Jesus is the one to be regarded as a fool. The idea of accumulating wealth portrays wisdom, according to that fool. Surprisingly, such people would not even be willing to examine historical records, let alone consider Jesus’ messages.
The suggestion that knowledge is more important than gold, cannot sell to ignorant people. What is marketable to most people is accumulating wealth that would enable a person to purchase a golden casket at death. Hence, it cannot be surprising that the funeral undertaking business is the most profitable in the entire world.
Ignorant people cannot figure out the stupidity of investing in death, rather than investing in life. From this conclusion, one can realize that, in this world, nothing is as expensive as ignorance. Living in this world makes ordinary people cherish ignorance, rather than cherish knowledge. Acquiring knowledge in this life is not exciting at all.
Nothing is as frustrating as observing people preferring to perish in ignorance than accessing the abundant knowledge, at one’s disposal. The frustration coming with observing one’s people inflicting suffering upon themselves, because of ignorance, is extremely unbearable. What makes it even more frustrating is being mocked by such people, wallowing in abject stupidity.
Hell remains an unknown factor, but, the planet Earth appears as fitting the condition of hell to the knowledgeable people. This is when considering, devastating wars, threatening nuclear armaments, blatant criminality, corruption in the justice system, filthy sexual activities, diseases, boastfulness in money laundering, etc. However, Earth is heaven to those in such hellish conditions.
Ignorant people wouldn’t tolerate anyone exhibiting vast knowledge. If holding something of value to share with one’s friends, one is mistaken for a boastful individual. The only reason Jesus was killed was His knowledge. The gruesome experience of Jesus on the cross is unfathomable to the physical body, but splendid to the spirit.
Salvaging a dying humanity is the sole purpose of living in this world. But, sharing unpleasant experiences of helplessly observing those in authority, seemingly rejecting knowledge, due to obduracy, thereby condemning the vulnerable, is extremely unpalatable. One thing yet to settle in the mind of the knowledgeable is whether there is any advantage in attaining knowledge in this life.
Accessing knowledge ahead of others appears advantageous to the naïve, unaware of the twinge that goes with it. If the first-century apostles could appear to narrate their experiences, only a few would accept Christianity. The life of a true Christian cannot be likened to the pleasures of what is observed among the clerical leaders of today. True Christianity is a different story.
The definition of Christianity remains hidden from most people, as long as they associate it with a good life on Earth. Christianity means surrendering everything associated with this world. That sacrifice includes the person’s physical life. While Jesus was experiencing the most excruciating pain on the cross, He grieved for the most vulnerable, instead:
And a great multitude of the people followed Him, and women who also mourned and lamented Him. But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and your children” (Luke 23:27-28 NKJV).
There is no reason to grieve at the death of knowledgeable people, except grieving for the ignorant people dying in misery. Indeed, there is danger in accessing knowledge in this life. Hence, many people would rather die in ignorance, rather than be subjected to the humiliation of accepting Jesus as their personal Savior. That danger is lamentable in physical eyes, but a pleasure in spiritual eyes.
Andrew Masuku is the author of Dimensions of a New Civilization, laying down standards for uplifting Zimbabwe from the current state of economic depression into a model for other nations worldwide. A decaying tree provides an opportunity for a blossoming sprout. Written from a Christian perspective, the book is a product of inspiration, bringing relief to those having witnessed the strings of unworkable solutions––leading to the current economic and social decay. Most Zimbabweans should find the book as a long-awaited providential oasis of hope, in a simple conversational tone.
The Print copy is now available at Amazon.com for $13.99
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