Last Lessons #55 – NON-PROFITS

Last week was my last blog on the Ten Commandments, but I thought I should leave you with a smile appropriate to this generation.  I received this quotation from one of my former missionary friends:

“Technically Moses was the first man to download files from the cloud using a tablet.”

Now on to the next subject. 

“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.  Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”  Matthew 6:2-4

I suppose that because I have been involved with three non-profit organizations (two of which I started), sometimes people ask me how to start a non-profit.  Usually, I am thrilled when a person asks for my advice concerning non-profit (501c3) organizations because it means that they want to help others who are in need.  That’s good!  Of course, it’s easy to tell an inquirer the legal process for starting a non-profit, but I like to help them to think through what they are doing so that their organization will be successful.  For example, I would ask them:

·        What do you want to do?

·        Why do you want to do it?

·        Who will lead it?

·        What are your resources?

·        What would be the non-profit’s distinctives?

One of the non-profits that God has used me to start is the Rafiki Foundation.  My husband, my brother, and a former BSF staff member went through all the above steps and officially registered Rafiki as a 501c3 organization in 1987.  Rafiki was started in an upstairs bedroom in our house – small beginning!  Then we began to write down what would make Rafiki distinct from other non-profits.  It was important to know what we would stand for and why.  We have quite a list now and they are written down for all our board members, staff members, and missionaries to see.  We also publish our Statement of Faith on our website. 

However, if you are interested in starting a non-profit, I would suggest that before you start a new organization that you look to see if someone is already doing what you want to do.  Then consider joining them rather than duplicate what someone is already doing.  Find out all you can about them before you support them whole-heartedly.  There are many scam organizations out there, so be careful!  You should know I am going to suggest the two non-profits that I work with:

1.      The Rafiki Foundation whose goals are to teach the Bible and operate Christian classical schools throughout the world.

2.      The Rosemary Jensen Bible Foundation whose goals are to send Bibles to Africa and Sunday School lessons with Bible commentaries throughout the world.

The Rafiki Foundation has a website that gives you all the information you need.  The Rosemary Jensen Bible Foundation does not have a website because we want all donations to go toward Bibles or Bible commentaries. If you want to know more about the RJBF, let me know and I will send you information.  You can get my email address and phone number from Rafiki.

I trust that God will lead you regarding non-profits.  I have learned that he will guide you if you ask him.

Last Lessons #54 - COVETING

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”  Exodus 20:17

What does it mean to covet?  In the context of this last of the Ten Commandments, to covet means to strongly desire something that belongs to someone else.  Sometimes we confuse coveting with being jealous.  Usually being jealous is wanting to be like or being better than someone else.  Envying is more akin to coveting because to envy means to want what someone else has.  Whether we think of desiring to be better than someone, or having more than someone else, covetousness always leads to sin. 

Coveting a person’s spouse can lead to adultery. Coveting another’s employee (servant) can lead to bad business. Coveting someone’s possessions (ox or donkey) can lead to stealing. Wrong desire always precedes the wrong action. 

Covetousness will lead individuals to anger, hate, theft, slander, and even murder.  Covetousness will lead countries to riots, crime, genocide, and war.

It is not wrong to want things.  What is wrong is to want something that belongs to someone else.  James makes it clear that when we want something we should ask God for it, not take it from someone else. 

“You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.”  James 4:2

Christians are not to covet.  Instead, they are to ask God for what they want and then listen to if, when, or how he wants to give it to them.  

What I have learned during my lifetime is that when I want something, that I need to work for it.  The Bible says that those who are not willing to work, should not eat and Christians are commanded to do their work quietly and to earn their own living (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12).  Work is good.  It is a gift from God and we are to do all our work as unto the Lord.  What I have also learned is that when I can “pay my own way”, I am not so tempted to covet and take from someone else.

It is so sad when we do not teach our children to work for what they want to own.  That is why many adults today want to spread the wealth and take what someone else has worked for in the form of socialism. 

I want to finish my blog this week on a different note.  In light of the disaster in Afghanistan and the crisis it has caused, I am asking you to please read up on Islam.  Islam is a religion, not just a culture.  It is a false religion, and it wants to make all people Muslims.  We do not hate Muslims, we pray for their conversion to Christ.  But we do hate Islam because it is against Christ.  The new name for Afghanistan (The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) indicates a full-blown Muslim country that is based on Sharia law.  PLEASE learn what this means to women.  Pray for God to save the people of Afghanistan. 

Last Lessons#53 - LYING

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Exodus 20:16 

“A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies.”  Proverbs 14:5

It seems that we cannot trust anybody to tell the truth today.  Our politicians say one thing when they want to be elected and something else after they are elected.  Media pundits report the news with opposite statements.  How can they both be true?  It’s easy to be cynical and wonder if any media news reports are true at all.  We live in a culture of lies.  But God does not lie, and his Word does not lie, and Christians must not lie. 

“Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”  Colossians 3:9-10

Most Christians feel guilty when we deliberately tell a lie, but we do not see ourselves as liars when we do not keep our promises or when we do not keep our word.  Those things do not seem so bad as telling an outright lie.  But the Bible says otherwise.  Look at Matthew 5:33-37 and especially James 5:12 which says:

“But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.”

No Christian should have to swear to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”  Christians should always tell the truth.  Our word should be enough, and we should always keep our word.  And when we make a promise, we should keep it.  When something unexpected happens and we cannot fulfill a promise, we should explain to the person to whom we made the promise why we cannot keep our word, asking them to forgive us. 

It’s all a matter of trust, isn’t it?  Sadly, we have found that we cannot always trust politicians.  Some have found that they cannot trust a spouse.  Children cannot always trust their parents to keep promises.

There is only one who is trustworthy – God.  No one else is completely trustworthy.  That does not mean that we should not aim to be trustworthy and to always keep our promises.  The goal of a man should be to be known as a “man of his word.”  One of my goals is to be a “woman of her word.”

I have learned that the Bible is the only place where I can find truth.  It is the place around which I should organize my life because I can trust God’s Word. 

Who and what do you trust?

Last Lessons#52 - STEALING

“You shall not steal.”  Exodus 20:15

“You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself?  While you preach against stealing, do you steal?”  Romans 2:21

We can steal in a number of ways.  We steal:

• Money – when we pick somebody’s pocket
• Possessions – when we break in and take jewelry
• Reputation – when we gossip about a person
• Time – when we make demands on others
• Emotional energy – when we constantly talk about our troubles
• Position – when we steal an election! 

I will not go into all the ways our government steals from us.  That would take the whole page!  I have suggested Al Mohler’s Briefing (The Briefing with Albert Mohler – it’s free on your computer) to you before and he goes into all the political news, including how our government steals from us by mis-using our taxes. 

Instead, I will mention the ways we can steal from our government.

• Cheating on our income tax
• Taking food stamps when we don’t need them
• Applying for welfare instead of working when we can work

The Scripture has something to say about that:

“Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”  Ephesians 4:28

We should all be concerned when people in our country would rather take stimulus money or be on welfare rather than get a job.  We, as Christians, should not be one of them!

But to me the most grievous way we steal is when we rob God. 

“Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.”  Malachi 3:8-9

God makes it clear when he says that we rob him when we don’t give to his church or his work in the world.  But he also makes a wonderful promise:

“Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”  Malachi 3:10

I learned this lesson early in my life.  From my very first job, I tithed.  I have never regretted it and I have never been in need.  God is faithful to his promises.  Not only that, I have also seen God open the windows of heaven so that I can “have something to share with anyone in need”. 

The truth is that joy comes from giving.  Guilt comes from stealing.