But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
- 1 Corinthians 5:11
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
- Ephesians 5:5
In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
who are caught in the schemes he devises.
He boasts about the cravings of his heart;
he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord.
In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
His ways are always prosperous;
your laws are rejected by him;
he sneers at all his enemies.
He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.”
He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.”
His mouth is full of lies and threats;
trouble and evil are under his tongue.
He lies in wait near the villages;
from ambush he murders the innocent.
His eyes watch in secret for his victims;
like a lion in cover he lies in wait.
He lies in wait to catch the helpless;
he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
- Psalm 10:2-9
By justice a king gives a country stability, but those who are greedy for bribes tear it down.
- Proverbs 29:4
Boilerplate
I’m Harold Dykstra. I’m retired, but I go to food bank distributions all over Tracy and talk to people that need someone who will listen to their story. My time is well spent. A police lieutenant suggested that I write down the conversations that I had with an angel. I did not know she was an angel at the time. The angel, for a little over a year, indwelled a life-sized posable action figure my children bought me, so that I would not be perceived as travelling alone. And in a way, she was training me for what I do while talking to the needy. She probed my heart to find out what I believed and how I express love for others. She changed my life. Oh, excuse me, angels have no gender, but the angel indwelled a doll named Bountiful Babs. After seeing the angel in that form for over a year, I cannot see her in my mind in any other form.
This Week’s Question
In the last episode, Babs was in search of the sheep from the other sheep pen. Really, she wanted to know about what I glossed over when I talked about John 10 and how the good shepherd (Jesus) had a voice that His sheep knew.
The next day, Babs did not care whether I would be hung up in meetings all day or not, she went with me for the hour-long drive to the next customer. When I set up these centralized hotels, she enjoyed staying at the hotel and meeting people, the hotel staff and the guests at the hotel. If she ran out of people who would become her friends, she might leave the hotel and go shopping. She had no money to buy anything, but asking the sales people about this scarf or that perfume started conversations. In one little town, hundreds of miles from Tracy, she met five people who were born and raised in Tracy, a freakish coincidence (unless it was a God Made Coincidence – GMC), but it was a great conversation starter.
My point is that coming with me was unusual in these circumstances.
It did not take her long to ask questions.
Babs asked, “Harold, do you cheat people when you make sales?”
I winced, “No! What gave you that idea?”
Babs said, “You were watching a hockey game on the television. So, I got dressed and went to the lobby to talk to the desk clerk. She is very interesting to talk to. She is from Czechia. But she was tied up with guests. I went into the breakfast area. I sat at a table next to where this guy in a fancy suit. He was on his phone bragging to his wife or his boss that he had made a million dollars in sales that day by selling things to this local manufacturing plant. But he bragged about how they did not need any of it. He bragged about how he said that what he sold them could do this, that, and the other thing. He had it on speaker, and the woman said that it couldn’t do any of those things. Then this guy just laughed.”
Babs started to leak salty water from her eyes again. She came with me because she felt “broken.”
She asked, “Harold, have you ever sold anything, and you knew what you sold could not do what they asked for?”
I concentrated on the road.
“Harold?”
I focused intently on the road.
She shouted, “Harold!? Do not tell me you lied to a customer. I can’t be your travel buddy, if you cheat people!” I glanced and the tears were in full production.
I fumbled for something to say, “Ummm, Babs, a salesperson is taught to always say ‘yes.’ It is possible that they do not really need what they are asking for. So, it doesn’t matter. But it always matters to me, Babs. Let’s say that it is a computer-based training program that they want a comprehensive test at the end of the training with the results that can be printed. But our software can only handle a twenty question quiz with no printout. I will say ‘yes’ and then I will call up my programmer friend to ask him how difficult it is to do that. Almost all the time, he will say that anything is possible, but he might need a little extra added to the sales price to cover the programming. Sometimes, he says it can already do that, but no one ever asks for it. And only once have I ever called a customer back to apologize and say that what they asked for could not be done at this time.”
As she sniffled, “What did the customer say when you admitted that you lied.”
I corrected, “I admitted that I was unclear of the capacity of the programming, and then they said that the other competitor couldn’t do that either. We then made a small change to what they were requesting and I committed to nothing until the programmer gave me a thumbs up and we got the sale. Babs, honest, when we first got together, I told you that I loved my customers, and I wanted what was best for them. When something does not work or they find out they did not need what I sold them, like your salesman was saying, then they quickly do not trust me. That customer that I called up to say we could not do what I thought we could do has been one of my most loyal customers after that. Honesty works, Babs.”
“But you still lie by always saying ‘yes’ when you might find out the answer should be ‘no.’ How can I trust you?”
I swallowed hard, “Babs, I only say ‘yes’, and then not everything. The idea is to build confidence with the customer. I repeat back all those things I said yes to at the end. That showed that I was listening. Then I add a caveat that if I misrepresented anything, they would get a call within a week. Usually the next day. The customer knows the routine about saying ‘yes’ but I add even more trust when I admit that, ‘Hey, I am just the salesperson. Your detailed request might be something that we have not thought of before.’ That way, they await the detailed proposal. If what they specifically asked for is not there, I would have already called them to say that piece of the puzzle was not possible. I never sell a spare part, like yesterday, without knowing it could perform as the customer expects. So, I only say ‘yes’ when it comes to a project that we will have to develop. That gives us time to make their request a reality. Understand?”
Babs then asked, “What about 1 Corinthians 5:11. I had a cup of yogurt at the next table with this cheater. Was I being bad?”
I shrugged, “Were you sitting at his table? Were you sitting on his lap? Were you whispering sweet nothings into his ear?”
Babs growled, “No, no, and no!”
I shook my head, “I do not think you have anything to worry about the sentence that Paul added in that verse about not even eating with that bad person. I think Paul’s point there is that if you dine with them, you are establishing a relationship. In effect, you condone and support their bad behavior. But you just denied sitting with him, and you said in the beginning that you were at the next table. You’re safe. Besides, we are forgiven if we love and believe in and trust in Jesus.”
Babs stared out the window, “Yeah, that works for humans, but I don’t know about ‘other living’ like me. I have to stay on the straight and narrow.”
“I have no idea how God handles or takes care of the ‘other living.’” I admitted. “But what about Ephesians 5:5? What do you think of that?”
Babs looked at her lap as if there were answers there, “I ask you the questions, Harold. I want you to teach me.”
I laughed, “Okay, Babs, the Apostle Paul groups the greedy there with the immoral and impure. The Apostle Paul had preached in Ephesus for a long time. They knew what he meant by these three monsters being grouped together. Let’s take your smarmy salesman last night. He was greedy. He had no problem lying. He had no problem taking advantage of someone who did not know enough to be in that situation. If they knew enough, they would know they did not need what he was selling. See, I paid attention to what you were saying, and I paid attention to the traffic around me at the same time.”
Babs giggled, “Don’t get cocky, Harold.”
I added, “And you made this guy sound like he was very cocky. What if I said that the woman, he was talking to was not his wife nor his boss, but a hooker he met the night before? Remember what Psalm 10 says about the wicked man. They take advantage of the weak and they bless the greedy. The people who are just greedy are weak. They see the cash and then before they know it, the wicked man has taken advantage. This is not just about money. Money is only one way of controlling and manipulating others. Remember, the salesman got them to buy what they did not need.”
Babs scrunched her nose, “Maybe. And maybe I was giving him the benefit of the doubt.”
I asked, “Did he make a pass?”
Babs swallowed, “All he said to me was whether I would be at the hotel tonight. Was that a pass?”
I nodded, “Probably seeing if you were interested, making his plan for a conquest, figuring out his best pickup line. When you become greedy, impurity and immorality quickly follow. The idea of them being idolatry is that anything that does not help us love Jesus more can be considered a form of idolatry, but that which causes increased immorality and impurity is definitely idolatry, and greed is loving money instead of loving God. He’ll be in the breakfast area tonight about the same time. Do you want me to go with you or do you want to stay in the room tonight? Your choice of television programs.”
Babs giggled, “You know what I want. I want the television off so that we can talk more.”
I nodded, “You got it!”
“And, Harold,” Babs asked, “What is this about Proverbs 29:4 saying that justice provides stability, but greed is connected with bribes? How does that work?”
I chuckled, “You would add more complexity just as I am pulling into the customer parking lot. Can we do that lesson on the way home?
“Goodie,” she said excitedly. “Don’t worry about me. I have a few things to read.”
Credits
All these conversations remind me of my conversations with my wife. We would talk about anything and everything. And most of the time, it sounded like a discussion in a Sunday school class.
My wife was in the Charleston, SC area while I was teaching a class nearby. She walked to two strip malls, easy walking distance from the hotel, and there were two customers who had been born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and four store owners. The “Terrible Towel” on the wall behind the cash register had started the conversations, but then again, Terrible Towels mean they are Pittsburgh Steeler fans, not necessarily from Pittsburgh. After that day of simply walking from one store to another, we noticed that there seemed to be Pennsylvania vehicles and South Carolina vehicles along that route. Probably people visiting friends who had moved south for a warmer climate or visiting relatives back home. If my wife and I had the choice, not considering where the grandchildren lived, we would probably move there too. We loved the people, the cuisine, and my wife loved the craftiness of the people in the market – not to buy something they made as much as to figure out how they made it.
Satan and all the fallen angels go into the lake of fire. There is nothing in the Scriptures that allow for an angel redemption. Thus, Babs being ‘other living’ is indeed in a situation of staying on the straight and narrow, but remember that her conversations with Harold are preparing Harold for when other humans ask similar questions.
And as for always saying ‘yes,’ I was in a sales call with my boss and the salesman. They said ‘yes’ to a lot of things that I luckily wrote down, and even more luckily, the programmer figured out how to make it happen because until we got back to the office, the software could not do any of those things, and neither ‘manager’ was listening while they were saying ‘yes’. Maybe that was why I was there.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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