03.04.09 The 7th Consequence of Engaging in Corruption
Inviting Curses and Ill-health
Are you aware that by engaging in corruption, some people have evoked curses upon themselves, knowingly or unknowingly? In fact, Deuteronomy 27:25 explicitly predicts curses for those who participate in such activities, as Daudi discovered after combining fraudulence with church. That scripture says(AMPC): Cursed is the one who takes abribe to slay an innocent person... whileIsaiah 5:22-23 goes further to say (NKJV):22Woe to men… 23Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man! The word ‘woe’ means ‘great sorrow, distress or troubles’.
If you ask around, you will discover that it is common for the fraudulent to endlessly suffer from stress-related diseases and conditions; such as the hypertension that Daudi was diagnosed with. That is not surprising since Ezekiel 22: 12-14 warns that not only may a corrupt person’s heart fail to withstand the intensity of God’s wrath; but the person may suffer from physical weakness and loss of courage as a result. That eye-opening scripture reads (NKJV): 12In you they take bribes to shed blood.. … 14Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? The Contemporary English Version says14When I’m finished with you, your courage will disappear, and you will be so weak that you won’t be able to lift your hands… As you may imagine, it is not uncommon for such people to live in constant fear of being found out, convicted, arrested; and the like. Sleepless nights are the order of the day with some taking liquor or sleeping pills as a routine; just so as to put a ‘pause’ on thoughts. All these are precursors of stress-related health conditions and other maladies.
If the corrupt person happens to be a church goer, his or her situation could even be worse given that such people often make one mistake: they forget that they can never be the devil’s best friend! Come to think of it, how can the devil leave them alone when they bind, rebuke and call fire against him on the one hand while using his corrupt tools to prosper themselves on the other? Should those people really blame the devil if they wind up on hell’s ‘most wanted’ list? That could explain why some church-going, yet corrupt people have a list of spiritual issues and unexplained health challenges.
That said, the pursuit to become rich, being one of the underlying factors that pushes people into corruption, has condemned many to the seemingly rich-yet-cursed life of James 5:1-6. In the Amplified Bible, that scripture says: 1Come [quickly] now, you rich [who lack true faith and hoard and misuse your resources], weep and howl over the miseries [the woes, the judgments] that are coming upon you. 2Your wealth has rotted and is ruined and your [fine] clothes have become moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. You have stored up your treasure in the last days [when it will do you no good] ...5On the earth you have lived luxuriously and abandoned yourselves to soft living and led a life of wanton pleasure [self-indulgence, self-gratification]; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
The Contemporary English Version of this harsh scripture reads (CEV): 1You rich people should cry and weep! Terrible things are going to happen to you. 2Your treasures have already rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3Your money has rusted, and the rust will be evidence against you, as it burns your body like fire. Yet you keep on storing up wealth in these last days…5While here on earth, you have thought only of filling your own stomachs and having a good time. But now you are like fat cattle on their way to be butchered. 6You have condemned … innocent people, who couldn’t even fight back.
As if that is not enough, the Message translation of Job 15:27-35 states how a life built on bribes will just ‘go up in smoke’. It says (MSG): Even if they’re the picture of health, trim and fit and youthful, They’ll end up living in a ghost town sleeping in a hovel not fit for a dog, a ramshackle shack. They’ll never get ahead, never amount to a hill of beans. And then death—don’t think they’ll escape that! They’ll end up shriveled weeds, brought down by a puff of God’s breath. There’s a lesson here: Whoever invests in lies, gets lies for interest, Paid in full before the due date. Some investment! They’ll be like fruit frost-killed before it ripens, like buds sheared off before they bloom.The godless are fruitless—a barren crew; a life built on bribes goes up in smoke. They have sex with sin and give birth to evil. Their lives are wombs for breeding deceit.