No other corruption is worse than bribing a freedom fighter to join the white supremacist looters. The question is on how a genuine freedom fighter fails to see the façade when approached by such white looters for bribery? The new black business tycoons prefer portraying themselves as adorable philanthropists. But unwilling to account for the exploitation of the considered dumb workers, sustaining their business empires.
The clarion call for African people has always been to move away from servitude and become entrepreneurs. This is said in view of envying the so-called business tycoons, with the history of brazen looting in the African continent. One is deemed successful when wielding the abundance of wealth, even when emerging from the background of impoverished communities.
The unmitigated respect and adulation are always given to those with monetary wealth, where those without money, are treated as cogs. This is notwithstanding that there cannot be a successful business, without faithful workers. As now exposed in the public domain, through the Jacob Zuma saga, the leaders of the liberation struggle got awarded free shares in white business enterprises.
Having become incorporated in the ranks of the white supremacists, freedom fighters suddenly became opposed to the oppressed majority. Entrepreneurship is premised on the idea of controlling other people. In Zimbabwe, the phenomenon of Kuda Tagwirei is misunderstood. But it portrays a borrowed mentality from the looters of the African continent.
Conglomerate businesses are owned by just a few, expected to then control the considered less privileged majority. This is wicked but is a system that drives the world economy. The idea of exploiting other fellow humans was never the idea of God and is what describes sinful humanity.
Sadly, Christianity also uses Jesus’s name when making it appear as if God approves of the idea of exploiting the disadvantaged people. In modern Christianity, the teachings of Jesus are abused for purposes of exploitation. Pseudo Christians focus heavily on Satan, causing problems for humanity. But Jesus revealed that God’s unmitigated competitor is money.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:22-24) (NIV).
Nevertheless, by mentioning money as God’s competitor, it becomes necessary to reveal God’s nature. Most people hold imaginary concepts of who God is. Yet it is impossible to talk of God, without putting fellow humans into perspective. The apostle John clarified this, in one of his epistles:
“We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” (1 John 4:19-21 NIV).
It must be noted that the actual exploiters of humanity are highly respected in society. It is, actually, the poor people who honor those driving expensive cars and wearing fancy clothing. They are respected, only for their flamboyancy, as also highlighted in the Book of James.
“My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?” (James 2:1-4 NIV).
James revealed a common phenomenon, associated with worshiping wealthy people. Money is necessary, for any person to be listened to. Hence, in politics, we have those brazenly using money to access political positions. The purpose of the acquisition of money is to exploit ordinary people.
In Christianity, exploiters hide behind fanciful clerical titles, to gain general respect from other people. The only way to identify pseudo-Christianity is by titles accorded to Christian authorities. For those desiring to know the truth, they need to simply take seriously the teachings of Jesus:
Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28 NIV).
In the capitalistic environment, managers portray admiration in authoritarian positions. This is also embellished as the acceptable Church governance in Christianity. Church leaders make authoritarianism appear as approved of God, although clearly condemned by Jesus (Matthew 23:8-12). Hence, Jesus ruthlessly denounced money-lovers in Matthew 6:22-24.
Amazingly, the defenders of such evil characters are lay members, comprising the poor majority. Leaders use financial leverage to access authoritarian positions. Bear in mind, Jesus castigated the idea of showing-off, when exercising benevolence. He approved of an idea that makes it impossible to be honored for benevolence (Matthew 6:1-4).
When dissecting evil from righteousness, all problems start with adulating other fellow humans. The basic truth lies in the equality of humans, having been created in God’s image. A janitor on the shop floor is not different from those superintending over the organization’s activities.
Currently, genitors are treated as servants, while those superintending are executives, with easy lifestyles. The common belief is that executives are supposed to be treated respectfully while exposing genitors to discomfiture. However, when referring to Christians, Jesus said:
“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28 NIV).
Gentiles were not associated with the Jewish religion. Their conduct was directed by the whims of human nature, whose agenda was making other people smaller. This is premised on the idea of invalidating other people while exalting self.
Jesus exposed that blunder of all ages. One cannot comfortably invalidate other people, also created in God’s image, and still assume being Christian. That is a direct contravention of what the apostle John also wrote:
“We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” (1 John 4:19-21 NIV).
Jesus introduced the idea of treating other humans as self. John showed that it is impossible to love God, when unable to love those created in God’s image. The word ‘despise’ cannot be found in the vocabulary of those aware of having been created in God’s image.
Looking at it from that angle, the accumulation of wealth is impossible without exploiting others. Many people justify their favored personalities, in the likes of Strive Masiiwa, among those highly honored. This is when comparing Strive with characters like Kuda Tagwirei, for instance.
On the level of humanity, Strive Masiiwa may be justified to receive the honor, buoyed, by his well-known charitable activities in Zimbabwe. However, Jesus offered the standard, also revealing the reasons for secretive giving:
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 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 6:1-4 NIV).
We cannot all be like Strive, who also cannot be like any of us. In other words, it is possible that Strive Masiiwa’s achievements could be accessed by anyone when granted similar conditions and background. Some children are born to poor families, yet others are born to rich families.
Others are born to educated families, where others are born to uneducated families. The dividing line is a matter of circumstance, rather than a privilege. All things work together for good, for those who love God, as long as called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). It is a question of what one does with the circumstances one finds oneself in.
Jesus perfectly illustrated this, using the parable of Lazarus and Rich man (Luke 16:19-31). That parable is as unpopular as was unpopular to the Pharisees of Jesus’s time (Luke 16:14-15). Nothing is left for speculation. Except comparing Jesus’s words to those from any other informant.
Strive Masiiwa is commonly portrayed as representing ethical business conduct. From their state of abject poverty, Africans cannot be blamed for ululating the achievements of people like Strive Masiiwa. To them success is about wealth accumulation, competing with the so-called world’s richest capitalists.
Unfortunately, such a description of success is way below the axiomatic standard of Jesus. Strive Masiiwa may be considered better than the likes of Kuda Tagwirei. But Masiiwa’s success is also as inferior as anything of this world is inferior. For instance, the wealthy Pharisees who sneered at Jesus are long forgotten about, unlike Jesus, still highly adored, even today.
It is impossible for Jesus to be categorized among the forgotten ones of this world. Although unpopular during His time, Jesus continues to be worshipped. He stood on the basis of truth, that humans are created in God’s image. Of course, Jesus was the Messiah, deserving honor, but not different from any of us.
All humans ought to be categorized with Jesus. They were created in God’s image, as also deserving to receive God’s honor. This is the information that will never be accessed through the wealthy people of this world. The wealthy people are stuck in assuming that the accumulation of wealth is what is necessary for survival.
Humans should never be categorized on the basis of their circumstantial backgrounds. Others appear dignified. Yet others appear as stupid as Kuda Tagwirei, in terms of focusing on the accumulation of wealth. But that does not take away the fact that all were created in God’s image. They all deserve to be accorded with the same honor, as created in God’s image.
The display of stupidity by some people needs to be handled by availing truthful information to them. But those with truthful information are hated, as to be killed, just as Jesus was killed. Maintaining truth is the only valuable purpose for surviving on this planet. See [The state of rightness, as opposed to wrongness].
The simplicity of all this is in that humans should never be categorized according to race, gender, or whatever other circumstantial condition. No one is privileged, in this world, as long as others would be in darkness. Jesus was more privileged than anyone of us. But Jesus had to be dehumanized on the cross.
It is possible that a successful person could forego all his privileges of wealth, in order to help his impoverished people. That is common sense. But Jesus abdicated all privileges, including dehumanization on the cross, not only for His family but for the entire humanity.
Those reading this information should discard the naivety that this is popular information. But the same readers should also be persuaded to appreciate that, although unpopular, there is no hope without such information. Jesus’s ministry is encoded on this data, more than on popular Christian teachings.
Only a few can understand, just as there were very few people who understood Jesus. Although desiring that many people buy into God’s truth, against falsehood, nothing shows that God’s word was ever popular. Our human frailty is sustained in lacking hope and faith in Jesus. Money remains as God’s only formidable opponent, compared to anything else, envisaged in this sinful world.
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. In a simple conversational tone, most Zimbabweans should find the book as a long-awaited providential oasis of hope.
The Print copy is now available at Amazon.com for $13.99
Also available as an e-copy at Lulu.com for $6.99
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