Greed, Self-Centeredness and CorruptionSample

The reign of King Solomon Solomon's father, David, had exhibited a Kingdom culture of caring and sharing, which had united the tribes of Israel into a nation. It was the opposite of his predecessor, King Saul, who ruled with a Babylonian culture of greed, self-centeredness and corruption. So when God appeared in a dream to Solomon, Solomon asked God how to rule His people righteously. Read 1 Kings 3:7-14. Simply put, Solomon was not driven by greed and lust for power. He wanted to provide Kingdom solutions for his people, and God applied His favour. Solomon went on to build Israel into a great nation of massive prosperity and human flourishing because he governed wisely, God’s way. He built the Temple, the Palace, the merchant navy, roads, housing, all kinds of infrastructure and it was a period which became known as the Golden Age of Israel. There was no slavery, no unemployment, no poverty, no social distress, no corruption and the kingdom of God prevailed to such an extent that the surrounding pagan nations came in their droves with caravans of gold and gifts to ask how Solomon had done this. This is why Solomon wrote Proverbs 13:22 – “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children; And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous”. Most importantly the Queen of Sheba came to see Solomon also bearing lavish gifts. Sheba, or Saba, was the land of Ethiopia – remember Saba was where Nimrud came from - the very seedbed of Babylon! Her nation was a complete basket case and had experienced decades of economic meltdown, poverty, starvation, homelessness, crime, violence, insurrections, and general human misery. Babylon was not working and here she was asking Solomon how he created this marvellous society and governed such a successful country. She went home with Solomon's advice and wisdom, and completely reformed Ethiopia into a Kingdom nation. One of the oldest orthodox Christian groups in the world is still there because of her reforms. But some years later it all crashed once again! What went wrong with Israel? Well, Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, all of whom worshipped pagan Gods. Remember all pagan religions came out of Babylon so the culture of the women Solomon was intimately fraternising with overtook him and he adopted their religions and their toxic marketplace culture and ideologies. This was the Babylonian culture of greed and corruption infiltrating once again. Solomon was so taken with his women that he failed to teach his heirs the wisdom he had learned. By the time his son Rehoboam became king he was indoctrinated with the pagan religions and fell back into the Babylonian culture of greed and self-centeredness as well. Because he was so driven by profit and lust for power Rehoboam began to overwork and underpay his labourers. Very soon he created a disconcerted class who turned against him and sought other leaders who offered them a better deal, and this created a completely polarised political system which ultimately split the nation into two separate kingdoms. For 450 years God’s people were split into two hostile kingdoms and this led to its downfall at the hands of none other than the Babylonians in 587BC! This is happening again right now. When will we learn? There is only one way to change this toxic culture: fix the root cause and provide Kingdom solutions. We must change the Babylonian culture from greed and self-centeredness to a Kingdom culture of caring and sharing in the marketplace. This is the only way you will ever defeat socialism and the current neo-Marxist ideology that is sweeping the West. And that leads us to what is happening around us today.