Over the last few years, a lot has been happening in this our country of Zambia. Enough drama that, people elsewhere, would only see in a lifetime.

Life for the ordinary Zambians has become unbearably hard. The pinch is being felt even for the fairly well to do.  You see, when you have a lot of people living below the poverty levels, the rich will not be spared because the have nots will ask from those that have. That is why it is difficult to live a life of endowment in an impoverished land, unless you do not possess a heart.

If you do possess a heart, you will keep reaching out to help – if not one, then the other. You will constantly keep sharing. The Bible puts it this way “He who gathered much had nothing left over and he who gathered little had no lack”. At least that is the way things should work.

There are some, even in families, that feel that they should be the only ones to prosper. This mindset is not good.  As long as your neighbor is in lack, then you will not enjoy what you have gathered. Let us try and give each other a hand up. This is also the reason why we buy from those ladies selling cassava or bananas on the road, even when we do not need them – to be of help to them.

Returning to the happenings in the nation, we have had the issues of

• Seer 1
• Tribal comments
• Ritual killings
• Gassings
• Vigilante groups torching and killing whosoever they deem to be perpetrators of the gassings and ritual killings

One does not need to be a keen observer to note that the country is in a state of flux. The situation that we find ourselves in is not good. A lot of the issues we find ourselves faced with can be taken in hand if the relevant authorities would speak or act timeously. Why do we wait for a situation to deteriorate before we begin to speak or to act?

I would like to share a very important lesson from scripture.

Never Allow Vacuums
1 Kings 1:1-6
Now Kind David was old, advanced in years; and they put covers on him, but he could not get warm. Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young woman, a virgin, be found for our lord the king and let her stand before the king, and let her care for him; and let her lie in your bosom, that our lord the king may be warm”. So they sought for a lovely young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The young woman was very lovely; and she cared for the king, and served him; but the king knew her not. Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king”; and he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. (And his father had not rebuked him at any time by saying “Why have you done so”

The lesson in this is what I would love for us as Zambians at whatever level, to learn from.

While David was busy with Abishag – he was not doing what he was supposed to be doing, passing on the baton to the rightful person as per God’s instructions. Because of this, someone else who ought not to ascend to the throne made HIMSELF king. King David only had to ‘SAY’ something to stop Adonijah from doing what he was doing, but he did not. David had the authority. He was the king! Adonijah saw the vacuum and decided to fill it.

In the matter of the gassings, we have had a deafening silence from those with the authority to speak or act and control the situation. Because of this, the situation has been getting progressively worse.

​Leadership has not been provided and so others are arising to provide that leadership because of the vacuum. We heard Dr. Nevers Mumba rising up and providing leadership in this regard. He issued a statement and then declared a fast for Sunday 16th. If those that ought to do not provide the leadership, someone else will.

Then we heard the Government declaring a fast for the same day and now shortly after that the churches have made another declaration for a 3 day fast 20th to 22nd February.
This matter requires not only prayers – but requires action as well. 

The Vigilante Groups
Judges 17:6 states…
In those days there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Chapter 21:25 repeats this.

I live in what used to be called Valley View but is now known as Mutendere East. This used to be an area where 5 acres plots were allocated to some people but the MMD cadres overrun, took over peoples plots of those that had not yet built or taken possession, demarcated those plots into 12 X 15 meter plots and sold them to the very willing public. I give this background because I am literally on ground zero with regard to observing what is going on.

Every night, you hear the noises of someone being caught and burnt or the vigilante groups of drunken youth going about looking for someone to lynch. I am almost sure that what is going on here is what is pertaining on the ground in other parts of the city and the country.

People are being killed every day – merely on suspicion of being a ‘gasser’.  The other day, a lady (Mika Mwambazi) was stopped on Great East Road by a group of men that looked like they were high on something, demanding to search her vehicle.  Fortunately for her, she drove off but not before one of the men shattered her rear windscreen with a brick.  She probably saved herself from a gang rape or even being killed. She drove straight to the police station and reported the matter.  I wonder whether the police did anything about this.

The vigilante groups are taking matters in their own hands because they see a vacuum. If we are not careful, those vigilante groups will occupy our streets and turn into a law unto themselves. They will turn into criminal gangs and will not be controlled. Why are we not curbing these activities now?

Why must we, as citizens leave in fear in our own homes and in our land?

​Where is the voice of authority in all this?  May those in authority please occupy their space well and take charge?

Mob Action – Our Responsibility

When a suspected ‘gasser’ is caught guilty or not, a mob descends on them and takes the law into their own hands. This person is beaten to a pulp and burnt by the mob – men, women and children! Since when have Zambians become bloodthirsty people? They bay for this person’s blood and are actually proud of their accomplishments after the deed is done.

Dear Zambians, if this issue needs to be sorted out, we must get to the root of the matter. The only way we can do so, is by interrogating the very people you are killing. So even when these people are arrested by the police, you follow and torch the police post. 

What sort of thinking is that?

• That dead person will now not reveal who sent them, that’s for sure
• That police post will have to be rebuilt at some point using tax payer’s money

If a mob can lynch people based on mere suspicion, then we are all (including those lynching others) vulnerable to that same suspicion and subsequent lynching. If only those in authority could speak to the public and educate them, they would understand. Please occupy your space, speak out.

Effect of the burnings on the Zambian people

Let us not, for a minute, think that our society is going to be left unscarred as a result of the mob actions we are taking. We laughed the South Africans to scorn over their xenophobic attacks. We thought that they are heartless people.  What is the difference with what we are doing?

Our national conscious will become seared and killing will become the order of the day and will become meaningless. Most of the people being killed are innocent. Their blood will cry out from the ground to their Creator.

​We shall not come out clean in this whole thing.

Those in a position to do something – please speak out; do something before we go into deeper trouble than we already are! There is a spiritual consequence to pouring out blood. Let the church rise up strongly and condemn these acts, let the political leaders speak, let the police speak out and act, let the public speak out. May the voice of reason rise in Zambia!

Division along political lines

The country is deeply divided along political lines. Everything seems to boil down to the fact that one is either in support of the ruling party – the Patriotic Front, or in support of the main opposition – the United Party for National Development.

As Zambians, we seem to have lost the capacity to reason as we support our preferred parties and candidates.  Even when they do something wrong, we seem to support them blindly. Even when the other side does something that is right, we boo them.

I have seen a trend on Facebook where we have some people that continuously pour scorn on the ‘other side’ as if their life depends on it. Views of their naysayers are deemed to be nonsensical and not to be entertained at all – even if they are logical. Remember that we are a multi-party nation and people are entitled to their opinion. It is not he that speaks the loudest that carries the day. Remember that you are not the ultimate repository of wisdom, yours is just ONE of the opinions. When you do express it, please do so in a less derogatory manner otherwise you begin to sound like a clanging symbol.

Rather than just pouring scorn on the other side, debate and show cause as to why your view should carry the day. That is maturity. Let us not do politics like that fellow citizens. Let us not fall into the “we are always right” trap and point fingers at one another. Let us reason together. Let us occupy this space like mature people.

​May those that are heading their parties give guidance to their members.

Division along tribal lines

I am of the view that this is a tool that is being used by politicians to support their candidature. My appeal to Zambians is that, let us not allow this. Outside of the political arena, we do very well as One Zambia, One Nation.

I would even go as far as to say – let us decampaign anyone promoting voting on tribal lines whether they are in our preferred party or not. Let us agree that Zambia is bigger than any political party. The political parties found Zambia and they will most likely, leave it. Before the political parties were, Zambia was.

​Let the voice of reason prevail in the nation!

The Seer 1 Saga 

In Africa, we are a deeply spiritual people – whether Christian or otherwise. We believe in “something.”  Africans are by their very nature superstitious people. This then is the reason why someone will come and say to you that when you see a cockroach in your house or a fly sitting on your wall, it could be a force of darkness sent against you. You must bind it – and since you have no way of knowing whether this is true or not, you go ahead and do so. We also believe that to ‘sit’ or occupy a certain position – Chieftainship, Ministerial post, Presidency or even at CEO level, you must be protected and re-enforced with certain powers.

The problem with this is that when you go to get those powers, you will rely more on those powers than on your ability and capabilities in order to deliver. You feel that the ‘powers’ will see you through.  Needless to say, that your delivery will be below par.

We heard Seer 1 stating the fact that certain people had gotten powers from him and that he would name them unless they returned the powers.

So far, I have only seen one fairly unknown person mentioned. 

Why did Seer 1 not engage these people privately before coming to rant in the public? Why did we, as Zambians, pay so much heed to this incident? The whole nation was interested with these goings on as we were baying for the revelations of those that went to get powers especially by those looking for the downfall of some of those that we hope will fall.  Even I held my breath! 

How many man hours were lost in the process?

The Law of Correspondence states that “Your outer world is a mirror of your inner world”. It is also stated “As it is on the outside, so it is on the inside”.

​If you took a typical poor man and gave him a million dollars, it is more than likely that within five years they will be worse off than before, in short they will have lost all the money they were given. Why? Because the Law of Correspondence can be summed this way, “your outer world always corresponds with your inner world”. If you give that poor man money, although his outside may be rich in appearance, he does not have the corresponding intrinsic wealth on the inside that would help him retain that wealth. Money always follows value? Remember the previous laws we studied? The Laws of Belief, Expectation and especially Attraction?

Nature cannot be cheated. You may temporarily change the circumstances outside but you cannot change the true value of something except it is altered internally – with significant addition! So, sooner or later, the money does not stay, there must always be a balancing of the equation, nature abhors a vacuum! If the value within is less than the value without, money will leave (hemorrhage) until there is a balance.

In short, the poor man will waste his money on things that do not see a return on that investment until they become dead broke and back to square one. Why? Because they do not have the value factor that keeps the money coming back and even attracting more money!

Have you ever wondered why whenever people borrow to start a business, the failure rate is extremely high (at over 90% default on repayments and repossessions at almost the same rate)? The answer lies in this law. The business simply hasn’t yet manifested the potential wealth into actual external value that generates the cash flow necessary to pay off the loan.

In short, they are not yet tested. Their value is yet to manifest. Meantime, the loans become due within 30 days of borrowing, which is too soon.

​So, in simple terms, no matter how much money you give a poor man, as long as they do not drastically alter their inner values and being (remember Be – Do – Have), they will always inevitably get back to being broke and poor!

Interestingly though, this illustration is also true with rich people. If you took your typical self-made millionaire and strip away all his wealth and then drop him in the middle of the poorest neighborhood with nothing but the clothes on his back, guess where he will be in another five years?

You guessed right, he will either have gotten back all his wealth or else will be on the way to doing so. Why? Because of the same reason with the poor man, his intrinsic inner values are greater than the outside, and this means that the money and wealth must start flowing on the outside to correspond and match with the inside.

Truly the roots determine the fruit. Riches may come to anyone, but only wealth stays with those that have the true inner corresponding value that keeps it. This is why personal development is so important. You want to be wealthy? Then begin to change your inner world! You must unlearn everything that you knew before and then relearn what will get you on the journey toward lifetime wealth.

Begin to think positively, think rich, and mimic the habits and behaviors of the rich. Learn and do exactly what they do. In fact, Anthony Robbins shows that if you mimic the activities of successful people to a tee, it is only a matter of time before your replicate their results.

This is truly proof that the Law of Correspondence works! Your station and position in your life is in correspondence with your inner world! Is your inner world inundated with messed up poverty programming? Are you a victim of your environment? Is your background such that you have chosen to hold on to all that bad thinking? Or are you going to do something about changing it right now?

Again, if you want to change your outer world, change your inner world!

​It is the law of correspondence that showed me clearly that our wealth and riches do not require outside circumstances – no, they instead require inner changes that get us started on the “be-ing” what we want to see. If we want wealth, then we need to get thinking like the wealthy, then we also need to add value internally.

So then, your future is in effect a blank cheque, you get to decide how much you want on yours. Do you want to remain poor, in effect; keep thinking and doing whatever it is you have been doing in your past. But if you want to become rich and go on to become wealthy, you have what it takes – change your thinking, change your inner value!

Unless you crawled out from under a rock, I am certain you have at least heard about this particular law as it was made famous by a special documentary presentation entitled “The Secret” which was launched on Oprah, not to mention the fact that it has been peddled by virtually every bookshop under the personal development section!

In the same book and documentary, one law that is studied at length is this “Law of Attraction”. This law is not new as it has been discussed by many and is also tackled fully by Napoleon Hill in his groundbreaking book “Think and Grow Rich” and “The Law of Success”. In fact he is the first one to present it in a detailed way and then Norman Vincent Peale came and elaborated on this concept further with his own bestseller “The Power of Positive Thinking”.

​There is an underlying pattern.

What you allow your mind to dwell on – expands. It starts with thoughts; these thoughts become feelings (we know all this because we tackle it under the Laws of Belief and Expectation). When we dwell on and think so much about something, it will dominate all our thoughts, these thoughts affect all our actions which affect our results.

​But there is something even more subtle but is very true, if we think about something all the time, we then tend to speak about it as well. When it becomes an obsession, then in time we give that item enough power to literally materialize!

In Matt 12:35 Jesus declares literally that if one has a heart filled with evil, it will “fling” forth evil whilst a good heart will bring forth good things. The Greek word ekballo signifies bringing into existence through ejection, as in forcing out, expelling, plucking out or thrusting out! Now think about it for a moment. Proverbs 18:21 declares that death and life are in the power of the mouth. Here the word used for “power of the tongue” (yawd) literally means an open hand! This signifies a hand that has ability to manipulate and either draw or send away whatever is spoken.

Think about it!

God created all humanity by His Word. We are created in the image of God thus we are technically gods but with a small “g”. If God could create by His Word, then we can to a minor degree create by our words.

When we speak by faith that which we believe and mean it, then it immediately has power to manifest! Not only will it manifest, but it will even draw all resources necessary for it to take place. Jesus says…

Mark 11:23 (NKJV)
23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says’

​Notice the word “says” occurs three times? Nothing is by chance in the Bible. The fact that Jesus declares repeatedly “says”, tells you that what we believe and speak, shall surely happen.

Now, the strange part about this Law of Attraction is that it too is neutral, if your belief system is negative and tempered with much negative thoughts and experiences and you believe these negative thoughts, you will attract the very thing you fear into your life. How many times have you heard people say “Just as I thought!” or “My worst fears have been fulfilled!” You have heard of “self-fulfilling prophecies”, right? These are statements you make or think about yourself (whether positive or negative) that in time happen exactly the way you say it.

You always attract what is in harmony with your thinking or thoughts! It seems our minds emit “vibes” or “energy” in the ethereal plane that has power to lock in with like-minded energy which in turn begins to move “things” from the “unseen” world into the “seen” world.

​Why does God ask us to pray always, to make supplications, to bring petitions before Him? Our prayers bring into play this Law of Attraction and work in conjunction with God to bring about the good we seek. On the other hand, if we always focus on the negative, speaking failure and misery, we activate these energies in the ethereal plane (heavenlies) and sooner or later, they materialize. 

And by the way, when speaking these words, if you pray from a negative standpoint then the words you pray manifest, even if you don't want that. For instance, if you are ill, don't pray or speak words like "I banish sickness and cancel death and decay from my body - in Jesus' name!" Instead pray or speak words like this, "I call healing and invite life, health and wellness into my body - in Jesus' name!"

Since all is neutral in the universe, the very words bring about their manifestation - so be very careful with what you speak even in your prayer time.

In order to attract the right things, you must become the right things! Be what you want to see, think what you want to see, feel what you want to see, speak what you want to see and sooner or later, you will attract and thus become that which you want to see!

​Next week we will be looking at the Law of Correspondence.

In the 1960s a teacher was given a roster showing the actual I.Q. test scores of the students of one class, and for another class a roster in which the I.Q. column had been (mistakenly) filled in with the students’ locker numbers. The teacher assumed that the locker numbers were the actual I.Q.s of the students when the rosters were posted at the beginning of the semester.

After a year it was discovered that in the first class the students with high actual I.Q. scores had performed better than those with low ones. But in the second class the students with higher locker numbers scored significantly higher than those with lower locker numbers!

Isn’t it amazing that many people end up settling for what life and their environments throw at them instead of what potential they have inside? This challenge is what has made the majority of people live lives without expectation, settling for events and circumstances to do the bidding. This is further exacerbated by the comments and opinions people have of them, as if opinions ever mattered to an achiever!

Reminds me of an interesting cartoon I saw the other day that shows a fourth-grade boy standing toe-to-toe and nose-to-nose with his teacher. Behind them stares a blackboard covered with math problems the boy hasn’t finished. With rare perception the boy says, “I’m not an underachiever, you’re an overexpecter!”

See, average folk always seem to care much about what people think, and what the news and economic indicators say. They are always worried about failure, and they tend to get worked up with what would happen if things did not work! Their focus is so placed in the negative that they inadvertently activate the Law of Expectation which basically states…
​

​So therefore what people say about you has an effect, but what you say about yourself has quadruple the effect. Listen, what kind of internal dialogue do you have within you? Is it positive, filled with expectation and always willing to see the brighter side of all events in spite of whether it is a step forward or a drawback?

Mindsets or Paradigms

Steve Covey of the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” fame defined this term as being how one looks at something which then goes on to affect the way they think and subsequently act. Many people never achieve much in their lives because they have mindsets that are fixed on the negative. They go a step further and always expect failure even before they start. This has even been justified by quotes like “hope for the best but expect the worst”! What a terrible quote! I would rather say “Expect the best but have a contingency for any eventuality”. 

When you create a positive statement like that, your mind starts to see things differently. This then means that instead of saying “I am broke”, you say “I am temporarily set back”. Instead of “There is no money” say “There is plenty of money and I just have to figure out how to get it to come to me”. Instead of “It is impossible” say “It is difficult but achievable with the right knowledge and experience”.

Never allow yourself to be a haven of negative thought as this will always activate the negative side of the Law of Expectation. When you feel hopeless, it always affects your belief cycle which inevitably affects your output. This hopelessness is most prevalent in the hearts of those that are financially challenged or what the world calls “the poor”. I do not refer to poor in spirit, but poor in means. We all have the capacity and abilities within us to become wealthy if we choose to. If our desire is to amass wealth, then we need to work on the Law of Expectation so that we always are able to utilize it thoroughly.

Be especially watchful of what people within your environment (friends, relatives, news, people around you) always say about money and ideas to generate money.

Instead of allowing these negative words around you all the time, find people that are positive and likeminded, probably a club, or group, or team, or what Napoleon Hill calls a Mastermind Group and then connect to them, speak and share with each other, form a team and work with each other so that you negate the comments and info that your environment keeps throwing at you.

How? By your actions and results because you know better! Next we will be looking at the Law of Attraction.