THE WEALTH TRANSFER REVISITED
The wealth transfer has hit the charts, now a regular part of pop Christian culture chatter.
Companies are being birthed with the vision of creating vast amounts of money destined to build the church, with a crescendo to advance the final harvest. Committed business owners are tapping opportunities with unusual returns with the intent to accelerate the spread of the Gospel. Rumblings of technologies disrupting the balance of power in the world’s economic system have earned frequent focus in circles of intercessors, as teams are mobilized to hasten it all. Ministries are aligning themselves with super-achievers they discern will spearhead venues of abundance.
Yet, with the cresting of the wave — triggered by all this expectation — and the flurry of intriguing, promising activity, have been and will be efforts that fall short. Sadly, the mounting focus has drawn far too many from the ranks of the uninitiated. Well-intentioned though they might be, are ones enticed, without being given a calling from God.
While avoiding throwing out the baby with the bath water, there is a need to revisit this issue of the wealth transfer.
It was in the mid-1990s that the Lord led me to begin praying into the scripture in Proverbs 13:22 that “the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous.” There is both a principle and a prophetic dynamic operating in this scripture. For four years I wrote about the various dimensions of the wealth transfer that I was gleaning from my prayer closet.
Then I began realizing something. The context of what I had been praying for was a top-down wealth transfer — which I believe there will be. But that revelation initiated a time of inquiring of the Lord about the other side to this dynamic: the bottom-up wealth transfer.
The Bottom-Up versus Top-Down Dynamics
From Genesis and the Torah, the Psalms, Proverbs and the Prophets, to the parables of Jesus and the writings of Paul are a multiplicity of scriptures on the bottom-up component of the practical issues of wealth. The Bible contains a richness of wisdom on entrepreneurial practices, on operating a small business, together with principles on how a business grows and prospers, and the dynamic and role of the entrepreneurial community.
One segment of the Torah in particular, the book of Deuteronomy, is a treasure trove of principles on how you run a God-centered entrepreneurial community. These extraordinary insights from God’s Word became the starting-point for the God’s economy business startup program I developed and still impart to believers in lands of persecution.
So, as I began pressing into both sides to the wealth transfer — the top-down and the bottom-up dimensions — I began realizing more. There is a process involved in this wonderful dynamic that the Body has begun progressively embracing during the course of the last couple of decades plus. THEN, during a time of prayer pondering the process, I got one of those unexpected words that the Lord tends to interject. That word was this: “the wealth transfer is not about money.”
It may involve money, but money is not the prime focus. This is where it is vital to have a grasp of the two sides of the transfer. The biblical top-down transfer is patterned after the alliance of Joseph and Pharaoh, and of Nehemiah and Artaxerxes, in which the resources of a righteous, benevolent ruler are made available for God’s purposes through a trusted, believing administrator.
The bottom-up transfer relates to the tz’dakah generosity from the hands of a community of God’s people. Paul spoke of communities that “gave beyond their ability.” (2 Cor 8:3) At the same time Jesus spoke of levels of stewardship (Matt 25:15) that are to be viewed within the context of each individual’s ability.
Peter then gives insight (1 Peter 4:10) into this very Jewish premise of community responsibility with the words: “As each has received a gift, let him minister it to others, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” Years ago, our pastor explained the meaning behind the word “manifold” — that it was like an endless dispenser that keeps producing as we actuate it, not unlike what happened when Jesus fed the five loaves and two fish to the crowd of 5000 families.
In Romans 10:2 (Amplified) the Apostle Paul wrote: “I bear them witness that they have a [certain] zeal and enthusiasm for God, but it is not enlightened and according to [correct and vital] knowledge.” Paul’s summation of his own people is very much the issue as the wealth transfer has become popular and trendy. It has attracted a lot of zeal and enthusiasm that needs to be enlightened and tempered according to correct and vital knowledge. To grasp what the Spirit of the Lord is doing and avoid the counterfeits and false starts is going to first require a more seasoned grasp of the purpose of this wealth.
That purpose begins with a glimpse into the leadership God is anointing for the task. For key players in both the top-down and bottom-up transfers, it will involve leadership mantles that trigger unique, holy alliances with the world around them, that have at their foundation the fear of the Lord.
Leadership Releasing the Fear of the Lord
The role of leaders is one of the least understood factors when it comes to the process of the wealth transfer. Sam Walker, author of “The Captain Class” has conducted in-depth research into the dynamics of the leaders who are behind the sports teams that consistently win their sport’s highest titles. Interestingly, he observed it is not the teams with the Michael Jordon superstars, but the ones with selfless captains who nurture the team members, ahead of their own prowess, to make the teams something of a multiple of the talents of its individual members. Joseph the Patriarch fit this profile and the result was him orchestrating the largest wealth transfer outlined in the Bible. The Centurion who approached Jesus would agree.
Unlike the authors who conclude that Joseph ‘s 13 years in slavery were to perfect his character, what the Lord was doing was imparting to Joseph the spiritual authority to be able to exercise dominion over the principalities of Egypt. This preparation uniquely built the anointing and spiritual authority in Joseph that would trigger the fear of the Lord. Without this anointing and authority Joseph would have lived in cycles of forcing issues that would have fallen short of the very significant mantle that he was to wield. Many genuinely called modern-day Josephs have already stumbled because of their unwillingness to weather the required spiritual preparation and to wait on God’s timing, by forcing issues.
The first shall be last and the last first. God is not looking for Michael Jordan superstars, but rather selfless captains, whose purposes serve not their own glory, but nurture the mantles of the team members — and in the context of the transfer, the community — ahead of the their own desires and ambitions to make those in the wake of their leadership as multipliers of the talents of its individual members.
Did not Jesus point out that the one who seeks his own glory does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of Him who sent him is a man truth, there is nothing false about it. Jesus also noted that those who were able to humble themselves as little children would be deemed the greatest in the Kingdom. He referred to it as servant leadership.
The top-down transfer will involve alliances with Pharaoh-type power brokers, who having been impacted by the fear of the Lord, will entrust the use of their resources to serve the restoration of and protection of God’s people. The bottom-up transfer will be community “lights on the hill which cannot be hidden,” which become self-supporting social systems, protecting and taking care of their own. In doing so, the reality of God is demonstrated and the world around them is drawn to the Kingdom.
Working in cultures in which believers are persecuted, we’ve witnessed the change in perception that comes from those observing when the spirit of poverty is broken and believers who had been poor become self-supporting community “lights on a hill that cannot be hidden,” who operate in the power of God. This is a mere glimmer of the dimensions that will begin being manifested of what God is orchestrating. The grand-strategy of what God is unfolding involves set-times and will involve restoration that is global in nature.
Set-Times and Restoration
The wealth transfer indeed will be an integral part of the clash of all ages — which is about the restoration of God’s redemptive dominion and order. Jesus revealed that during this time that many false prophets would emerge, as well as many promoting themselves as His superstars. All this will involve a swath of the church falling into the trap noted with the mode of the Laodiceans in Revelations — those who had become rich, in need of nothing and full of themselves and their self-absorbed, self-satisfied myopic religious views.
Yet, in all this it will simultaneously reflect the restoration of the truth noted by Paul to the Ephesians of the foundation being driven by the apostles and prophets, Jesus being the cornerstone. This punctuates the spiritual level of the leadership that was so evident in the prophetic stewardship, anointing and apostolic authority operating in Joseph.
It will be a new realm, never before seen. The context is described throughout Revelations. During these days there will be an increase in the demarcation between Light and darkness as deep darkness covers the earth, while the Light of the Lord’s glory arises over those whose lives are in sync with the focus of His restoration. Especially in Isaiah 60, we catch a glimpse tied to the significance of the focus of the restoration of Israel, in which the “wealth of the seas shall be turned to them and the riches of the nations will come.”
With the restoration of Israel will be an alignment to release the mobilization of specific community building efforts that serve to break the back of the bondage of oppression, affliction and hunger (Isaiah 58). Engrained in Jewish thinking and tradition is this priority given to giving a helping hand to the poor and needy in order that within the community of God’s people, that there be no poor within their community.
Those aligned with God’s throne-room purposes will see the authority and anointing of Joseph to bring unusual multiplication of resources — in some cases like the multiplication of the loaves and fishes — actuated in their roles of serving in their Pharaoh-type alliances. All this will be part of the restoration in being a “light on the hill that cannot be hidden.”
Abiding Before the Mysteries
Throughout the word of God are references to the mysteries of God and the mysteries of His Kingdom. Even as Isaiah observed: “His ways are higher than our ways.” The matters of set-times and restoration involve mysteries that believers need to recognize and approach with awe. Some will not be understood until their set-times. Yet, far too many want to force issues by oversimplifying and doctrinizing matters that God has appointed for His own timetable. Some of those mysteries, such as “the” mystery of God noted in Revelation will not be revealed until the time of the end when the Angel sounds the seventh trumpet.
According to Jewish tradition one of the mysteries that will trigger the coming of Messiah involves that of the lost tribes of the House of Israel. It refers to the time when following the reign of Solomon that the tribes consisting of the House of Israel separated themselves with the House of Judah in Jerusalem and went to Assyria to escape what they deemed to be the bondage they had been under.
Most were subsequently scattered to the nations, some as far away as India, Mongolia and China — assimilated and further dispersed. Yet many retained elements tied to scriptural practices of their faith. An abundance of scriptures refer to when the Lord will bring back from the nations these “lost” tribes from the House of Israel, a time when “the House of Judah and the House of Israel will again walk together with the Lord.”
Should these Jewish views have validity and be in keeping with their scriptural alignments, they would bear significantly on the change that might be expected from the mysteries involving the restoration of Israel. To the point, when discerning the times and throne-room agendas, there are yet unveiled mysteries that lie before us.
As we approach these times of climax, a gap between Light and darkness globally will be evidenced in the struggle over the prevailing worldview resulting in a major shift in power. Just as in the days of Joseph, alternate economic systems will accompany the wealth transfer, as the systems held together by the bondage of corruption lose their foundations.
This is why this move of God will involve alliances, not unlike the Joseph-Pharaoh alliance, within economic seats of power in the world’s systems. This demarcation will be marked by the response of individual nations to Israel, as Jesus noted when the nations eventually are separated into sheep and goat nations.
The kingdoms of the world that the evil one tried to tempt Jesus with will move toward the climax when God inherits the nations (Ps 86). Paul pointed to it as the time that creation longs for the release from the bondage of corruption that has held it captive since the fall.
As the darkness descends, not unlike the response of the nations to Israel, there will be a separation of those who will rage against God and those who will reach for Him. It will be a time not unlike that described in the book of Acts when “great fear came upon all who heard these things, so that at the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people and believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.” It will be the restoration of the spontaneity, contagious faith and miraculous power that was operating in the early Church.
Summary: the Counterfeit and the Real Transfer
So, at the forefront of this holy strategy of change from God’s throne-room will be a time of restoration. Evident in the game-changers will be an unusual anointing recognized as from God, with the prophetic and the authority that goes with ministering words from on high to secular people of authority and resources — along with the required stewardship marked by an alignment of operating in-sync with God’s set-times. These mantles will be accompanied by the wisdom to anticipate opportunity and build wealth that serves to inoculate God’s people from the impact of the bondage of corruption of the world’s system gone askew.
What the wealth transfer is NOT:
- A Western Phenomenon
- A Prosperity Doctrine
- Divine Benevolence.
What the wealth transfer IS:
- A Cross-Generational Spiritual Maturing
- A Community-Driven Movement
- Holy Alliances Defining Spiritual Alignments Globally
- A Bottom-Up Top-Down Economic Impact that Triggers Multiplication
- An Unraveling of the Foundations of the Bondage of Corruption
- The Restoration of Israel, the Kingdom and God’s Order
The big picture will unveil a progressive power and dominion shift. The focus will target the restoration of Israel and result in an unprecedented move of God breaking the bondage of corruption in its wake. The result will be the restoration and alignment needed to establish God’s Kingdom on the earth.
The Change
The spiritual underpinnings of World War II was a precursor to the coming clash of all ages. What has been underway since that time has transformed the focus and method in the Church’s role of extending God’s redemption and love in both the practical and supernatural. There has been radical change from the anemic Church of the mid-forties as the Body we know today has been progressively transformed with vibrancy and purposefulness.
Today’s Body has been prepared to penetrate the fabric of society and build community to impact nations as a light on a hill. The story of God blessing Isaac with supernatural crops during a time of famine triggered the fear of the Lord in the hearts of the surrounding rulers and brokers of power. It prompted Abimelech to go to Isaac with his advisors seeking his favor, noting that “we have seen that God is with you.”
Yet, to build community and impact nations is going to require an adjustment of mind-set in terms of the strategy and means of accomplishing these initiatives. Since the time of WWII, the Body has undergone a series of genuine moves of the Spirit that has immersed and prepared the Church — in the areas of the supernatural, intercession, the prophetic, but also in its strategic outlook and approach. Now, as the Spirit of the Lord continues to move and the paradigm continues shifting, this process is reaching a stage of maturity as the Body recognizes its role in the change in the economic and community building arenas.
The wealth transfer is about a transformation of power and dominion. It is about a pathway out of the oppression, affliction, poverty and corruption that have run rampant in societies and segments of societies that have been ruled by the godless. It is about righteous dominion as God begins bringing restoration and redemption through prepared ones mindful of the things of God. It is about setting the foundations for this power shift in the economic arena as the stimulant to a time without precedent with the greatest move of God’s Spirit the world has yet to see. When the Church fully aligns itself with God’s heart and stops chasing money, mammon’s back over God’s work will be broken and the release will begin.
The scripture in Ezekiel 12 points to “every vision being fulfilled.” The shift in mind-set of the purpose of the wealth transfer will begin by recognizing it as being “other-directed,” a means by which the community of God’s people is strengthened and mobilized to bring order out of the chaos. From this will come the shift in power, authority, anointing and wisdom to be one under the hand of God during a time of great disruptions and change. Then for those whose hearts are abandoned to the Lord and have been weaned off the things that once held them captive, for those who have been tested in the fires of affliction and have come through without the smell of smoke, whose devotion is evident to all around them — it will be to these that the windows of heaven will be opened to be entrusted with supernatural wealth and the treasures of darkness as game-changers.
_________________________________________
Morris Ruddick has been a forerunner and spokesman for the higher dimensions of business leadership since the mid-90s. As founder of Global Initiatives Foundation and designer of the God’s Economy Entrepreneurial Equippers Program, Mr. Ruddick imparts hope and equips economic community builders to be blessed to be a blessing where God’s light is dim in diverse regions around the globe.
He is author of “The Joseph-Daniel Calling;” “Gods Economy, Israel and the Nations;” “The Heart of a King;” “Something More;” “Righteous Power in a Corrupt World;” “Leadership by Anointing;” and “Mantle of Fire,” which address the mobilization of business and governmental leaders with destinies to impact their communities. They are available in print and e-versions from www.Amazon.com, www.apple.com/ibooks and www.BarnesandNoble.com.
Global Initiatives Foundation (www.strategic-initiatives.org) is a tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 non-profit whose efforts are enabled by the generosity of a remnant of faithful friends and contributors whose vision aligns with God’s heart to mobilize economic community builders imparting influence and the blessings of God. Checks on US banks should be made out to Global Initiatives and mailed to PO Box 370291, Denver CO 80237 or by credit card at http://strategicintercession.org/support/
Likewise, email us to schedule a seminar for your group’s gathering on the Joseph-Daniel Calling or on anointing the creative in business.
2019 Copyright Morris Ruddick — info@strategic-initiatives.org
Reproduction is prohibited unless permission is given by a SIGN advisor. Since early 1996, the Strategic Intercession Global Network (SIGN) has mobilized prophetic intercessors and leaders committed to targeting strategic-level issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For previous posts or more information on SIGN, check: http://www.strategicintercession.org