Politics and redistribution in business

Apostle Steve Lyston, Contributor

Doing business of any kind in this area, whether on a personal or national level, carries with it a great deal of uncertainty.

The question then becomes, 'Who do I trust?' Different persons say different things, depending on which section of the fence they're sitting. Some say that the economy is improving, some say it's not! The bottom line is that business influences every sector. It is business that influences which political party goes into power, and what they will get in return. We must recognise that regardless of who the people favour, a businessman's only concern is which party will generate the most profit for him. Everything for the business sector is a business decision and it must be a win-win situation.

Many people are crying out that crime is a problem, but for many businessmen, crime is not a problem - it is an opportunity! Reduction of crime would affect many sectors positively, but who says it is so for a businessman? Crime is a business, too! If crime is reduced to zero, then many professions would cease to exist!

Creating problems

A good politician or businessman will create a problem and then recommend solutions that they can offer in order to benefit. In other words, create the chaos and then get paid to clear up the chaos!

Regardless of the political platform a politician runs on, to them it's a job. The poorer a nation is, the greater the opportunity for a businessman. Just like education - we speak about upgrading the education system, but at the other end of the spectrum, if everyone is educated to a level, then it will mean less control for them. The poorer and less educated some people are, the more dependent they are on others who are knowledgeable and wealthy. They will encourage persons to study sociology and they end up using the same principles of sociology to pull the wool over the eyes of these students and keep them in educational bondage. The teachers of sociology will tell their students 'culture shapes the society and society shapes the culture' and this confusing 'chicken and egg' situation is deliberated at length, to no fruitful end!

Additionally, everyone says " ... the Church should be united". Some well-meaning, pure-hearted persons may desire this to be so but, while a politician and a businessman says so publicly, when election time comes around they use the Church as a political tool to win the 'church people', even to the point of pretending to be Christian! They know that Christians are not reading their Bibles as they should, nor discerning good from evil - so they find a popular Christian leader through whose mouth they speak.

Accountability

Luke 16 speaks of the unjust steward. He was not properly managing His master's assets and goods. There was time for accountability and his job was on the line. But because of his worldly wisdom and the fact that he did not want to go back to the normal life, he wanted to ensure that if he lost his job, he could still maintain his status. So he called in all the debtors to make deals - modifying invoices and arranging quick pay-offs of lesser amount.

This shows us that each steward has certain authority, regardless of their business position, to set prices, reduce/modify loans and interest rates and give other benefits. At the end of the day, the master commended him.

With that in mind, does it mean then that only when someone's job is on the line that they suddenly know how to assist those indebted to them? So maybe the banks, other lending agencies and the Government should call in all the debtors, especially the poorer ones, and reduce their debts by 50 per cent. They may just be commended by their masters and keep their jobs.

Sometimes people will not care about a thing or about the people around them until retribution hits them. And it is only at that time that they will make an effort to effect changes.

Apostle Steve Lyston is a biblical economics consultant and author of several books, including 'End Time Finance' and 'The New Millionaire'.