GREED

One would never have placed greed as a sin as grave as say murder or stealing or adultery.

But recent events suggest otherwise.

One would never imagine the Chinese middle men to add a toxic chemical like melamine, used in the making of plastics, to raw milk. What these middle men did was to collect raw milk from the milk collecting stations, add water to the milk to give more volume to the milk and then add melamine to the milk to restore and enhanced the high protein level of their milk product and then on-sell them to San Lu. This company, in which NZ Fonterra has a 43% interest, then produces the infant powdered milk .

In quality checks, the protein content of the milk powder is tested for by measuring its nitrogen levels. These greedy middlemen realize that they can fool quality checks by adding nitrogen rich melamine to their watered down their milk in order that they can reduce the cost of milk and produce a fatter profit margin.

Business people can be smart. But if they are greedy and lack integrity, they will be very smart to exploit every loophole to make the extra buck.

But in the end, it was tantamount to murder as thousands of babies became seriously ill and a couple of babies have died in China.
Also the reputation of China's food industry is seriously damaged.
People start to question all the other Chinese food products that is sold all over the world.

Another example of greed is that demonstrated by some whizz kids from the financial institutions. Now I must say that many try to make a living with their financially creative ideas . And they deserve the good pay because they make millions for their companies. But when they start to put together instruments that are collateralized and make them appear of little risk but in reality very risky, then their greed and lack of integrity must be answered for.

I know of a case whereby marketeers try to sell investment properties to pensioners. They assure the not so financially savvy pensioners to second mortgage their homes in order to invest in another sure property bet. But then the investment property company failed and the pensioners lose their deposits and don't receive the second property that they thought they owned and yet they have to pay a higher mortgage for their first home. And some are forced to sell their original homes when they cannot service the higher debt.

Yet another example of greed.
One Australian marketeer tried to interest me in an Australian Time-share resort facility. They called me in Auckland. When I turned down his investment proposal, he became pushy and rude to me.

Greed possesses some of us.
Money, more money and possessions become our pre-occupation.

It is alright to have possessions.
But do not let possessions possess us.

MELTDOWN IN FINANCIAL SYSTEM

In Jun 08 (see post of 7 Aug 08), I had sensed the worst of the NZ economy and property market is not yet here.

Little did I imagine that the US and UK economies would go into a near meltdown this week (Mon - Wed). If Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG were not rescued, the impact on the US and the world's financial markets would have been unimaginable because of the knock-on effects.

A report from Wealth Daily I received highlighted that investors in the 25 US financial corporations alone (see below for detailed list) have lost almost a trillion dollars (in market capitalization).

Noting that Fed's bailout of AIG at US$85 or kiwi $129 billion is just under the size of the NZ GDP of NZ$136 billion (NZ Herald 18 Sep 08, pg B1), the US$1 trillion loss (NZ$1.5 trillion) suffered by investors is 11 times the NZ GDP. Wow ... Mind-boggling numbers.

FALL IN MARKET CAPITALIZATION OF 25 US FINANCIAL COMPANIES

Here's a list of the losses in market capitalization for 25 of the biggest financials since their rough peaks in October 2007. (From Wealth Daily of 19 Sep 08)

The losses include:

• A I G -Then: $178.8 billion... Now: $5.46 billion. Down 96.95%
• Bank of America -Then: $236.5 billion... Now: $123.4 billion. Down: 47.82%
• Citigroup -Then: $236.7 billion... Now: $76.34 billion. Down 67.75%
• Merrill Lynch - Then: $63.9 billion... Now: $30.2 billion. Down 52.74%
• Fannie Mae - Then: $64.8 billion... Now: $0.45 billion. Down 99.3%
• Morgan Stanley - Then: $73.1 billion... Now: $41.1 billion. Down 43.78%
• Wachovia - Then: $98.3 billion... Now: $19.44 billion. Down 80.22%
• JP Morgan Chase - Then: $161 billion... Now: $130.2 billion. Down 19.13%
• Capital One Financial - Then: $29.9 billion... Now: $16.9 billion. Down 43.48%
• Washington Mutual - Then: $31.1 billion... Now: $3.64 billion. Down 88.3%
• Lehman Bros. - Then: $34.4 billion... Now: $0.80 billion. Down 97.6%
• Goldman Sachs - Then: 97.7 billion... Now: $40.6 billion. Down 58.7%
• Wells Fargo - Then: $124.1 billion... Now: $111.25 billion. Down 10.35%
• National City - Then: $16.4 billion... Now: $2.8 billion. Down 83%
• Fifth Third Bancorp - Then: $18.8 billion... Now: $7.9 billion. Down 57.6%
• American Express - Then: $74.8 billion... Now: $37.5 billion. Down 49.87%
• Freddie Mac - Then: $41.5 billion... Now: $0.16 billion. Down 58.7%
• Suntrust Banks - Then: $27 billion... Now: $16.07 billion. Down 58.7%
• BB&T - Then: $23.2 billion... Now: $18.4 billion. Down 20.69%
• Marshall & Ilsley - Then: $11.6 billion... Now: $4.48 billion. Down 61.3%
• Keycorp - Then: $13.2 billion... Now: $5.68 billion. Down 56.97%
• Legg Mason— Then: $11.4 billion...Now: $4.96 billion. Down 56.49%
• Comerica— Then: $8.3 billion...Now: $4.74 billion. Down 42.89%
• Countrywide Financial: Then: $11.1 billion...Now: $0.00 billion. Down 100%
• Bear Stearns— Then: $14.8 billion...Now: $ 0.00 billion. Down 100%

Together these 25 companies alone have lost investors in US a total of $992,690,000,000 over the last 12 months... or nearly 1 trillion dollars.

Easy For The Lord

I was reading 2 Kings 3 and there was a verse that struck me.

The background to this verse is that Moab had rebelled against Israel (2 Kgs 3:5).

Three kings of Israel, Judah and Edom then marched out against Moab and they didn’t expect much trouble.

But then their water run out and the battle advantage swung to the king of Moab.

They had not inquired of the Lord earlier but now, in their dire circumstances, the kings of Israel and Judah turned to the Lord through prophet Elisha for help.

Then in 2 Kings 3:17, the Lord spoke through Elisha that the valleys will be filled with water and Moab will be handed over to them.

The verse that struck me was this:
2 Kings 3:18 This is an easy thing in the eyes of the LORD

Whatever the dire circumstances – this is an easy thing in the eyes of the Lord.

TEAR FUND

I have sensed a leading to want to visit Manila Philippines for a missions trip and at the same time, I sensed a desire to sponsor a child now that our four children are almost all getting into full adulthood and independence.

And PTL that TEAR FUND has a project in Manila so that when I have a chance to go for a missions trip, I can also visit Joshua, the boy whom we are sponsoring. We were earlier neutral but when we received the sponsorship pack yesterday, we are so excited to see his photo - a boy of 7 years old smiling even though he lives in difficult circumstances. His parents only have a chance to be "sometimes employed as a laborer."

The need is great all over the world.
And in the midst of Paul's letter to the Galatians on fundamental principles of our faith like justification by grace through faith, we have this verse:

Gal 2:10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Let us remember the poor and here is a chance of doing something practical about it.

Do visit Compassion / TEAR Fund Website for further information at:
http://www.tearfund.org.nz/

Listening

Are We Listening?

I was meditating on King Ahab (1 Kings 18-22).

Although he was a wicked king and did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any before him (1 Kgs 16:30), God sent not just one, not just two, but three prophets of the Lord to speak to him.

First, God sent Elijah to demonstrate to King Ahab that all the worship to Baal and Asherah were of no use as they were but lifeless idols. The frantic prophesying (1 Kgs 18:29) by prophets of Baal couldn't move their so called god to hurl fire on their sacrifice.
But Elijah called on the true God who answered with fire to burn the water-soaked sacrifice. This was a clear indication of whose God is the true God. And Ahab could see that. And Ahab could not stop the people from responding to Elijah's command to seize and slaughter the 450 prophets of Baal.

Second, God sent a prophet to speak to Ahab about his disobedience for setting an enemy king free (20:42). This is reminiscent of what king Saul did (1 Sam 15).

Third, God sent Micaiah to warn King Ahab not to go into battle against the King of Aram (1 Kings 22:17-28).

The question is: Will Ahab listen?

The problem with Ahab was that he listened to the wrong people.

a) He listened to the urgings (1 Kgs 21:25) of his evil wife, Jezebel and then condoned her scheme of framing Naboth with false charges in order to possess Naboth's vineyard. She got two scoundrels to be false witnesses to charge Naboth with blasphemy and treason (1 Kgs 21:13). Naboth was stoned to death.
God sent Elijah to speak to Ahab and amazingly Ahab repented and God was merciful to him in delaying judgement (1 Kgs 21:28-29)

b) Ahab listened to false prophets (probably the 400 prophets of Asherah who didn't turn up at Mt Carmel) by going into battle against the Arameans (1 Kgs 22). He didn't listen to the prophet sent by God - Micaiah.

I marvel at God's mercy and warnings to Ahab - God sending three prophets and numerous warnings. But did Ahab listen?

The reflection questions for us then are:
1. Are we listening?
2. Are we listening to the men sent by God?