business – Perspectives

Not for profit?

Posted on 31st May, 202431st May, 2024
by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Money is at one level a ‘nothing’, at another level simply a set of figures on a spreadsheet / computer screen – even the ‘gold standard’ is a little arbitrary, and ‘money’ at another level when tied to ‘mammon’, greed or outright consumerism manifests as a power. It is quite amazing that Jesus drew the line at ‘God or mammon’ and that the ‘mark of the beast’ manifests as to who can buy and sell, and with the fall of Babylon it is the merchants who are the ones who weep. A rather narrow, but extremely helpful, focus.

There is something within humanity that pushes for progress thus demonstrating great creativity, but the push for progress comes at a cost – the ‘eating the future’ path that homo sapiens has pursued.

I have a very practical eschatology, be as clear as possible, don’t speculate and try to twist Scripture to fit into any prior view (not written to us), but pray and aim toward as much of heaven on earth as possible. Hence if there is to be an antiChrist let’s minimise the effect of such a rule rather than accept it all as a universal fate. I am agnostic about a future antiChrist, but affirmative that we will always be in a battle. ‘Let your kingdom come!’

I wrote about kingdom business cannot have profit as the bottom line. I am also aware we live within this creation and a denial of this creation can take us into the unreal vision of utopia, or in theological terms over-realized eschatology. However…

Maximising profits is not a starting point. Don’t harvest to the edges of the fields, leave opportunity for the widow, alien and outcast to benefit (glean). Jubilee (and the Sabbath / the Sabbath year of rest) put a major limitation on how far progress can go. Care for the land and also care for those who need a new start are written in to Jubilee. The laws were social as much as they are spiritual.
Jesus broke the hold of mammon with respect to his own work. Giving the care of the money to a thief took care of that issue. (The planned, strategic ‘loss’ of money surely has to be part of ‘kingdom’ business?)
Work and money are not put together in Scripture – certainly I see Paul as pulling them apart. Work is a creational term, how do we work within this world for the benefit of creation, work is a prayer for the kingdom of God to come.
Resources are there to release not reward. Wages (and bonuses) are there primarily as a reward for what has been done, and what has been done to enhance the corporation, whereas a kingdom-oriented economy promotes the release of the giftings that people have.

There is a ‘b-corp’ movement that suggests a prioritising (bottom lines) of people, planet and then thirdly profit is the way to go. This approach might be improved on but if held to it is certainly something that lines up better against Scripture than placing the word ‘Christian’ in front of business with the same bottom-line remaining.

People. Not assets to get the corporation to a greater level of success (and when I write corporation we can easily see how some expressions of ‘church’ have become not a manifestation of heaven but of the world around). How to see corporations as a tool to develop all kinds of people to their potential is so necessary, and to acknowedge that some might be developed beyond the corporate setting they are in.

Planet. Not there to be exploited – and this is where ‘future eating’ manifests, with the sacrifice of the next generation for blessing now – the very spirit of Moloch. Abortion is a complex issue but certainly rampant forms of capitalism are a factor in the widespread abuse of abortion. Campaigning and praying are not enough… as always seed needs to be addressed as an eternal creational principle is of seedtime and harvest.

Profit. Not illegitimate. But profit as the only bottom line, profit that simply impoverishes others… No, no, no.

All the above might / might not be interesting and if the Lord is returning in the next (say) 50 years might prove to be a simply ‘well, whatever, here comes Jesus to bail us all out’. But if Jesus does not return int the next 50 years and we are serious about ‘longing for the day of the Lord’ we might be able to contribute to some new manifestations. I also believe we entered ‘the great unravelling’ probably with some intensity in around 2020 (my sight of this is about from 8 months ago – around 3-4 years late!) and much that has been seen as progress will emerge to have seriously diminished resources to simply continue with old models.

In the ‘spiritual’ realm it is here. I have had a series of dreams concerning the prophetic going back 11 months – old models, protocols, contexts, manifestations are over, they have reached their sell by date. I am currently tracking that I have had similar experiences regarding healing over these past two months – old manifestations are over. I am sure there is much more to come… The unravelling is not stopping there. The abuse of democracy, the polarisations within society… I have written since 2010 about the end of the hegemony of the US dollar as the currency of exchange – I expected that to take place by 2020. I now realise that the physical manifestation follows the practice, and I suggest that there has been an increase of international payments in currencies other than the dollar, a new currency will arise displacing the dollar.

New forms of warfare are here. Not simply with conventional weapons, but through the realm of the media. Always warfare is for the space between our ears. Hence ‘fake news’ is both true and false. Calling out what is broadcast, and silencing what is broadcast.

There is a new world already here. The world of my grandparents and of their grandparents were not too dissimilar. The worlds that we inhabit and the one that 2 generations on from us are vastly different. By all means cast a vote for whoever one is considered best, but any ‘make xxx great again’ is missing the mark – certainly for us believers who long for the coming of the kingdom. We serve the God who is – so important cos I have to connect now, today; the God who was – wow that gives confidence to us; and the God who is to come – nice change of language in John as the future is not something we move towards, it comes to us… and it is coming ever more rapidly.

That coming future is not ‘hell on earth’, certainly not if we explore with heaven what can come from the throne of God. That coming future will bring (it always does) a stop to some aspects of the Babel project of the tower that reaches ever upwards. As I move toward the second half of my life(!!!) I await with great anticipation, and pray that I will not be shaken by what can be shaken.

Gayle is away…

Posted on 29th May, 202429th May, 2024
by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Choice of sub-title:

how sad am I?
my companion is a dog.
can I keep the apartment clean?
getting on with work unhindered.
will I do more Zooms than she normally does?

Actually this post has nothing to do with her being away (on work) but a way in to tie why I am interested and committed to her work and how it relates to my previous post of miracles and great patience… in other words, posts need a title and I need a way in to write what I want to write, so quickly moving on…

Gayle has been working into the business world seeking to bring about (firstly) culture change within some pretty much hard headed ‘bottom line is profit’ corporations. She is uniquely qualified for this – not qualified by academic study – but by the timing, opportunity and her history coming together in this time. I have long had the focus on how do we see genuine transformation, not simply can we stick ‘Christian’ in front of business, and then take a proportion of the profit and put it into mission work. That might be a step in the right direction, but I think beyond that I am asking how can we see society itself transformed. A number of aspects push me that way:

Paul did not (my opinion and reading) help catalyse Christian communities to keep them separate from the wider world so that one day they might catch the bus and go to heaven, but that they were formed as the body of people who were present to shape the wider community – yeast in the bread. I consider his lectures over two years in Tyrannus’ hall went considerably beyond a set of spiritual laws, but given the resurrection of Jesus it led to an outline of what ‘new creation’ looked like. The vision he carried which was in opposition to the propaganda of Rome was so profound that even ‘Asiarchs’ who did not ‘convert’ wanted to preserve his life.

I can only respond to ‘let your kingdom come on earth as in heaven’ as having a final fulfilment and also present manifestations, hence I look for areas where there will be some evidence of that ‘on earth’, and certainly not through a ‘christianising’ way as we might find within the popular ‘seven mountains of influence’ ideology.

New inventions that speak (to those of faith) of the deposit of the creative God in humans, with great patience, that does not rob the future for today’s prosperity, but follows the pattern laid out of ‘seedtime and harvest’. That would be ‘apostolic’. New economy, not based on the trade of ‘buy and sell’ thus reducing the scope for the antichrist spirit to be present. I am looking for signs… signs in the corporate world of an apostolic spirit being present. And if slow to come… I will need patience, and probably also putting my ‘tackety’ boots on to see if those corporate strongholds won’t just move out of the way!

So Gayle is away, and when I first encountered some of what she is now involved in I said to her – this is not for me (beyond my understanding and ‘pay grade’) but it will be like a hand in glove when you encounter this. I am not away, but the impact of what she (and I am sure a growing number globally) is involved in is where my focus lies. I have many questions, the core one (at the moment) being can we really see a shift without confronting the corporate spirit within organisations… of course I would love to get my hands into that one! But moving on quickly, miracles and patience. Innovation – producing a before and an after – might be pushing into the ‘signs and wonders’ realm but the patience is so lacking. Indeed the Western drive for progress comes at a cost, and it is there that we have to consider what the OT confronted – Moloch – is very present. Why sacrifice of children? It was to get the favour of the gods now, so the future was sacrificed. Now, now, now – the opposite of patience. Progress – and profit – but at what cost? And the idea of not believing in ‘gods’ is not a journey we have made: ideologies.

I do believe we have entered what I term ‘the great unravelling’. A train wreck is taking place, dots not connecting in what has been built within ‘the church’, particularly within the charismatic, happenning end of our faith. But it will not stop there. Manifestations will appear in the economic realm (the area where the signs take place when there is a shift of powers spiritually), so major bank failures, new economic polarities that spark conflict. In other words much of the Western world’s security will be shaken… the sacrifice of the future for prosperity now is running out of road (homo sapiens have sadly become future eaters).

My date of birth confronts my fantasies! One fantasy is that I am nowhere close to entering the second half of life… DOB says ‘wake up’. That together with what I wrote above leads me ‘Gayle is away, and I am focused on what is rising that can sow into a future transformation’.

I do believe we can see a change to economic structures, to the empty shell of the democratic process, to the increasing gap between rich and poor, to the issues of racism and immigration. Changes not simply within the Christian world, but that the leaven will infect the whole loaf.

Different approaches

Posted on 6th December, 20236th December, 2023
by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

I have been reflecting (arguing within my own head?) about how there are different approaches to engagement and focusing in on the business world, as that is where Gayle is focused in at this time. I don’t know if it would be helpful to put it on a spectrum though one approach I consider is dubious / out of bounds so to put it on a spectrum would not be helpful, but for a moment let me suggest we might use that as a way in.

Involved in business but it is a ‘trojan horse’ as the real issue is the spread of ‘the Gospel’.
Kingdom business that has a different set of values toward mammon, employment, fair wages, working condition, effect on the planet, thus the business is explicitly Christian.
Involved in business and immersed not with the agenda of evangelising, but of helping create an environment for healthy inter-relationships, that promote humanisation and each person becoming the best (a better?) version of themselves.

No guess for which one I remove from the spectrum! The first gives me enormous difficulties as the real motivation is hidden. Of course in situations where one is called to be involved in a geography where there is no freedom for Christian expression of faith business might be the only way in. And in every situation, regardless of the approach, we should always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us. If our hope is not ‘I go to heaven and not hell’ (not the hope of the NT) we need to work out what our hope is and how we express it. Assuming we can get beyond life is evangelism to good news is living energised by the Spirit, then of course all of life becomes sacred and nothing we are involved in becomes ‘secular’.

There is significant space for the second approach, but sticking the adjective ‘Christian’ or ‘kingdom’ in front of business is not enough. By our fruit we are to be known. As indicated in the bullet point on some very key issues there has to be a difference. Maximising profit was always prohibited in Scripture; marginalised benefitting from what we are involved in, at no cost to them, was always desirable; and we need to add – though biblically it was always there – the improvement of the planet is highly necessary. If such a business is ‘Christian’, truly kingdom (not perfect, but redemptive within all aspects of the world God has made, thus moving things in a ‘New Jerusalem’ direction) then we might be able to use the metaphor of ‘light’ to describe it. That certainly was a metaphor to describe the calling of Israel and one that Jesus used of himself and gave to the disciples. Light to light up a path, to show the way. So I think there is a place in God’s economy for this approach.

The third approach is a challenge. Salt enters (for salt would be the metaphor for this) and is largely unseen. But the purpose of the salt is to bring about change, and if the focus biblically is on the salt of the dead sea it was to promote good growth (high in phosphates hence a fertiliser) and to hinder disease (used to protect the environment from human excrement). If that was the central purpose of salt (we can add the savouring of food etc…) then what we have here is the binding and loosing activity – what is permitted and what is forbidden.

No surprise that I favour the last two. All of the above challenges our world-views, our eschatology and our views regarding the good news of Jesus. Or maybe we can reverse that: our world-view, eschatology, and our view of the good news of Jesus will help us critique how we consider we should be involved in the world.

The right question

Posted on 21st February, 202021st February, 2020
by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Had an interesting 24 hours. We have been seeing this year as opening up new things. We have been in Spain 11 years, this being the beginning of our 12th. We think (good word… thoughts are where we stumble forward, walk as blind people (last post), heaven is MUCH clearer!!) that maybe we can see a pathway that opens that will set the next 10 years. And in 10 years time I might be ready to revisit the question Sue asked me when I was 39 . That question was ‘what do you want to do when you are 40?’ My reply, ’40 is nothing, I will still be bumbling along so maybe let me get to 55 and we talk again.’ Well 55 came and went, and as Gayle can testify, he was still bumbling along… so now maybe I can consider in 10 years time. 75 and a level of possible non-bumbling, a small semblance of wisdom and a poquito of maturity? Maybe… if not we just postpone it another 10 – 20 years, kick the can down the road… again. I have noticed the great thing about discovering how immature one is is that there can always be growth. Imagine having arrived at 40 to having already entered the ‘second half of life’ AGGGGHHHHH!!! So I consider I am in a good place as I aim to get sight of the second half of life around 2035.

Anyway the past 24 hours. First we had an evening FaceTime to a certain European nation seeing what might work for later in the year for us to be there. 12 hours later Gayle’s phone rings with an anonymous call showing up on the dial from the same nation. We presume it is from the night before and maybe with a further question or suggestion. But no, totally unrelated. Someone else had tracked us down seeing if we would have any space to input a (very interesting indeed) setting in April that is scheduled to take place in Madrid. Then a few hours after that a WhatsApp to see if a few months later we could make a contribution to another gathering, again scheduled for Madrid.

So the 24 hours… Coming to the threshold at the beginning of the year it opened with two invites to business-related events. The combination of coincidental events mentioned in the last paragraph – both into business related contexts.

It could be coincidental – no point trying to force something together (oh dangerous, almost a second half of life response there!!); it could be full-on God… or as I have found sometimes is the case could be God is moving something around and as that happens all kinds of doors rattle but the door that eventually opens was not one of the ones that was rattling at the beginning. (Or just another example of bumbling along, walking blind?)

In one situation I had a wonderful response that, there probably are theological differences between us but they would like to push ahead. I prefer where there are theological differences as it helps show where I am right, they are wrong and how I can correct them (see I told you I am still going to achieve stardom in this first half of life). Actually, if you keep reading you will realise that last sentence is a joke, so please don’t quote me!

Difference is important. I am certainly not correct on all my perspectives, and certainly cannot be correct at all points as it is pretty self-evident that my life is all too often sub-NT. There is a core to unity – the glory of God covering the earth as the waters cover the seas. That seems to be enough for us to push forward together. But having said even that can show where we differ. How we define glory, what we expect pre-parousia etc., can show up so many differences.

We really need difference to show us we are not right. A few days ago I reflected on ‘are you for us or for our enemies?’. If that was the wrong question and it relates to us and our ‘enemies’, I don’t think God is going to answer us when we ask ‘are you for me, the one correct at every point, or are you for those Calvinists?’ (not to offend, and always a little humour, but as I have found it very hard to spell that word for decades I thought it might be appropriate to enter the word here, to indicate I am now able to spell the word). Wrong question. Well who is more right? Wrong question.

Will I be able to correct those I don’t agree with? Wrong question. Will I be provoked and want to respond when I sit with people who have convictions that are alien to mine? Sure, cos of your immaturity, but wrong question. Will I have to learn a little genuine humility on such a journey? You might just if you learn how to listen and respect others who are probably further on than you are.

OK I think I get it. But surely by 2035 I will be so far ahead that I will then be the reference point for one and all. Silence. Now I am just wondering if the silence indicates I am at last getting the right question lined up. I wonder…

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