What If I Told You God Is Money

(Chapter taken from the unedited Mbuyangwana manuscript)

This was it: Mbuyangwana’s moment. Mbuyangwana had finally made it. Eureka!!! Me, Mbuyangwana, a financial expert? Tje banna! Things happen in this life, don’t they? From Mbuyangwana to diaboya ngwana!. How many people in the world had waited for this moment? The moment of power; that shift from obscurity to stardom. Mtswala, everybody in the world dreams of that miracle – that undeterred access from closed gates to automatic sliding doors.

Ribelatti approached to shake my hand and usher me to one of the couches on the stage.

“Mbuyangwana,” he said, smiling at me intently. “Welcome to the show.”

The audience members were clapping for me.

“To everybody watching via television, this is your favourite life-changing show, Beyond Beflom: Change Your Medulla, Change Your Moolah. In the studio today, as promised, we have our self-declared Manifestation Guide, author, poet and lyricist, Mbuyangwana van der Beflom; he is here to tell you all about what he calls The Divine Triangle of Money,” he said, turning to me.

“Mbuyangwana, for those in the audience who have never seen you in person before, how do you describe the phenomenon that happened to you, financially?” asked Ribelatti, cutting to the chase.

Without contemplating, I heard myself speak:

“Thank you Ribelatti, thank you for inviting me to the show,” I said.

“Thank you for the RSPV,” he said, laughing. I laughed along.

“Before I answer your question, let me first take my hat off to the audience members. You guys are a lovely bunch of awesome people…” I said, as the audience began clapping and yelling sounds of appreciation.

“I was going to say give it up to yourselves but I see I was awesomely overtaken,” I said, my words sandwiched by clapping.

“With that settled, let me come back to your question Ribelatti. I want to say this controversial statement: One day I woke up, held a coin in my hand, brought it closer to my eyes, and then I saw God,” I said.

Instead of clapping, there were muffled sounds revealing that the audience members were totally dumbstruck. I understood what was going on. I was the financial expert and I expected this kind of reaction.

“Okay, okay, let me get this clearly. You looked at a coin and saw God?” Ribelatti asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “I looked at a coin and there he was, God Almighty.”

There was silence and bewilderment.

“But aren’t you concerned that Christians will skin you alive for what you’re insinuating? How do you expect anyone to react after saying you saw God’s face in a coin? I thought the Bible says that Jesus asked his disciples to tell him whose face they saw in a coin, and they said it was Caesar’s. But you say it’s God’s?” asked Ribelatti, challenging my financial expertise.

There was still silence in the audience. I could imagine what those who were watching via television could have been thinking.

“Alright, let’s clarify this. I brought the coin closer to my eyes and saw God. I did not see God in the coin, but I saw God in the entire plan of creation through the coin before my eyes. The coin merely served as a lance through which I saw what God was up to. The coin is nothing but a token representing the entire plan,” he said, already holding a coin in his hand.

Curiosity swept through the audience like an electrical current. I didn’t even fret. I knew what I was doing. I actually liked this new me. Everything was just effortless. I continued to speak.

“Many times, in fact, everyday, generally, we look at the things around us and we fail to see God in them. We look at our own limbs, our own faces in the mirror, our family members, but we fail to see our Creator. We fail to recognise the reason for us being here. We fail to see beyond what the eye can reach,” I said, and there was several hands clapping. Others were still waiting to get the point.

“That’s powerful Mbuyangwana. That’s exactly what this show is about, seeing beyond the mundane. We believe that one has to look at life, or Beflom, and see beyond what one’s naked eye can see,” said Ribelatti.

“Indeed, the secret, from the old prophets in the Bible to John the Baptist, Jesus and Paul, is to look beyond and be able to see. We need to look through what I call the God Infrared. For we look not at the things that are seen, but at what is behind the visible. A sick person must develop the ability to see beyond sickness and see overflowing health. A person in debt must look at their debt and see beyond it. They must see financial freedom or else they’ll forever languish in debt. We need to look at the coin and see beyond it, see the God behind all life systems,” I said.

The audience members were becoming uncontrollable.

“Wow, wow, wow,” said Ribelatti.

“We are going to take a short break and when we come back Mbuyangwana will take a question from an audience member. Don’t move,” he said, pointing a finger at the camera. There was music and the audience members clapped madly.

“You’re doing great,” said Ribelatti, as a crew member handed me a glass of water. I said my thanks and gulped it down. Ribelatti and I had a brief chat and I found that I was no longer intimidated by him. I saw him as my brother in that beautiful flow of life. I felt I was one with him; and with everybody in the audience and the studio.

Moments later we were back on air and the audience did what they knew how to do best.

“Welcome back to Beyond Beflom: Change Your Medulla, Change Your Moolah,” said Ribelatti, looking at the camera. The audience members were clapping on cue. Then he turned and looked at me. There was an audience member on stage, already seated on the third couch.

“Mbuyangwana, we are now joined by our audience member, Skepsel. She wants to know, does God really care about money? In other words, what’s God got to do with money?” said Ribelatti, gesturing for me to speak.

“Well, Skepsel my sister, welcome to the stage. I must say that you’ve really asked a good question. Many believe that money is the devil himself. That’s only because they are looking at the coin and that’s all they see,” I said.

“God has everything to do with money. Money is part and parcel of God and he allowed it to function in the world purposefully,” I said, stopping to allow a question from Skepsel.

“But how do we know that? How do we know that money is part of God? How do we prove it scripturally and otherwise?” she asked.

“That’s another good question,” interjected Ribelatti. “At what point, Mbuyangwana, do we say we really know that money is part of God?”

“Well, at the point that you start to look beyond the coin. First of all, you must ask yourself a question, ‘What is a coin? What is a bank note?’ Once you get the answer, you will understand that money is part of God. You see Skepsel, these things, coins and bank notes, are nothing but tokens that represent a greater power than most are willing to fathom – the power of the Almighty.

“The coin is like a policeman’s warrant of arrest. You see, in a democratic state, the warrant doesn’t have independent power to have people arrested; it is a token that represents the power of the laws that society has constitutionally agreed upon, whether reluctantly or otherwise. Therefore, the mystery is in agreement. We have agreed that a coin, or bank note, can be exchanged for goods and or services. And we also have agreed that goods, and or services, can be equally exchanged for a coin or bank note,” I said.

There was an apprehension in the studio. People’s eyes were widely open, looking at me, perhaps beyond me. Skepsel’s eyes had questions darting at me like an archer hunting down some loose prey.

“With all due respect Mr Mbuyangwana, I get all that. My question is: what does this have to do with God? What’s God got to do with our worldly agreements?” she asked.

From where I was sitting, I could tell she was a Bible-bashing church-goer, but beyond that I could see she was a truth-seeker.

“Again, good question my sister,” I said. “Agreements are the foundation of every religion, faith movement or any organised formation that share a belief in a Creator. In the Bible, agreements are famously known as covenants. God had several covenants with his people and some individuals. They had a deal, an agreement. It’s just semantics. We have different kinds of agreements. A covenant is a long-lasting agreement that cannot be easily broken, or that if broken, has dire ramifications, just like a legal contract.

“Now money is an agreement of economic trade among human beings. The coins and bank notes are the symbolic tokens that represent that agreement, among other tokens that are not in wild circulation. What we don’t realise is that whenever human beings agree towards something, God becomes part of the agreement – he endorses it. Actually, humans become like God, who knows no impossibility.

“That’s why Jesus says wherever there’s a congress of two or more of his disciples gathering under the strong tower of his name, he is among them. And whatsoever they touch or agree on, whatsoever they bind in the world, shall also be bound in heaven. And whatsoever they loose shall be loosed as well. That is the power of agreement and it sure smells like God because it has been endorsed from on high. In other words, God respects our agreements,” I said, and most of the audience members nodded in agreement.

“We’re going to take another short break and when we come back we will do like we always do in this show and have another audience member come to the stage and take our expert on. Let’s clap our hands for Skepsel as she takes her seat. We’ll be right back, don’t move,” said Ribelatti.

Skepsel got off the stage and a big guy with big beards and long hair was ushered to the stage. A minute or two later we were back on air.

“Welcome back to Beyond Beflom: Change Your Medulla, Change Your Moolah. Joining us on stage is our audience member, Gatvolmetjelle. Give it up for him as he asks our expert, is God then not unfair?” said Ribelatti, gesturing for Gatvol to speak.

“Hi, Meneer Mbuyangwana. I want to know, since money is such a great part of God, don’t you think God is being unfair to those of us who don’t have this money? Isn’t he unfair when you look at all the poverty that is in the world? I do not want to be a nuisance, but the majority of God’s worshippers are suffering while a lucky few, perhaps devil worshippers, enjoy all the proceeds of the agreement you are talking about?” he asked. Ribelatti gesturing for me to speak.

“That’s a fair question, and no, you are not being a nuisance at all. You came here for clarity and that’s what I’m going to give you Mr Gatvol. Look, when an agreement is made and you sit there and disagree, will this agreement work in your favour or will it work against you? Being disagreeable and stubborn against the reality of the God-endorsed reality of money is just looking at the coin and failing to recognise the Almighty Power that remains beyond it.

“Is God fair in all this? Yes, hundred percent. It is people who are unfair to themselves. When God endorsed the money agreement, he did so in order to bring his divine plan into fruition. A tree that does not bear fruit is cut and thrown into the fire. Those who do not stick to the agreement will suffer the consequences. Through this agreement God wants to help humanity recognise him in themselves. He wants us to see God in other human beings as well.

“Our problem is that we scream that Greater is the One in me than the one in the world and forget that the same Greater One is in others as well because they were all created in his image. How do I say Greater is the One in me and fail to see the Greater One in you? Why is it that the Greater God becomes insignificant when I look at you? It’s because I fail to look beyond your humanness and your frailties. So, in essence, God’s identity becomes wobbled up due to my myopic view of life.

“This social agreement is our bond and God has therefore given money the power to function, in line with our agreement, such that whosoever disagrees will become a victim of the money agreement. The question that you need to ask yourself Mr Gatvol is this: ‘What is the divine function of money? What is it about money that God is trying to achieve in our lives? Are we as society able to see God beyond coins, papers and digital transactions that we use in exchange of goods and or services?’ The answer is simple. We have generally failed to recognise the divine power of money.

“What we see is just money being exchanged for goods and services and that’s it, nothing else. You should purify your mind of all the money dogma you have been given and ask yourself, why do we really have to pay for goods and services? Once your mind has been purified, you will find your answer: we pay for goods and services as a form of appreciation for what we receive in turn. We are all one another’s servants and I must never expect to just receive payment from you without me having served you first. It is through payment that we appreciate one another’s services to one another,” I paused to answer a question while the audience members clapped ecstatically.

“Meneer Mbuyangwana, I hear your point. It makes a lot of sense. However, it doesn’t look like appreciation is the main reason people pay people in this world. Other people are not appreciated for their services and others are appreciated more than others. Why do some businesses make more money than others? And what about the workers who are always less appreciated while they are the ones who work harder to make sure that service is provided to clients and customers?” asked Gatvol. Ribelatti gestured for me to go ahead.

“Well, another good question. Firstly, let me say that I believe it is evil for big companies to under-appreciate the services offered by their workers or employees. I’m talking here about the Divine Triangle of Money, which is based on three cornerstones, and one of those cornerstones is appreciation. These evil companies take advantage of the ignorance of the workers and under-appreciate them while pocketing humongous profits. The problem is that a majority of the society, which is poor, has forgotten why we started trading amongst ourselves to begin with.

“Let me take you back a little bit. I want you to see where the agreement came from. If you had a herd of sheep and I had a herd of goats, I would give two or three goats in exchange of a sheep, depending on how valuable we thought each animal was. If somebody else had a herd of cattle, I give him five or six goats in appreciation of an ox from his kraal. If you had good wine and I had a field of mealies, we’d trade in appreciation of what the next person was willing to share with us. In other cases I would work on your mango fields in exchange for a bucket full of mangoes at the end of the day. Through the mangoes you would show that you appreciate my service.

“Then, something happened. The standard measure for exchange resulted in uneasy cross-trade among people who possessed different goods. We started to trade based on precious stones until we depleted the mines and increased the volume of goods that had more value than their reserves. Soon in came currency, which is a trade principle based on trust. To this day we still trade based on trust. We trust the bank to give value to our currency and the back trusts us back and we as society also trust one another. The coin and the paper are nothing else but tokens of our trust,” I said, and the audience members were nodding trustingly.

I was wowed myself. I never knew that I knew so much about money. It was a magical experience because this was totally beyond Mbuyangwana. I had never spoken like that in my entire life and I had never thought in such a fashion. Whatever had taken over my mind was amazing. If this was the reason I had come to Beflom, then it was a palatable fate. Financial gurus in the earth taught this wisdom in legalise and investment parables. I guess I had come to Ribelatti’s show for me, not just for the audience. I had learned a lot from what was coming out of my mouth.

“Now back to the issue of companies under-appreciating employees. The Bible teaches that you reap what you sow. We should also consider the fact that if you sow ignorance, you will reap its fruits. We need to understand that for every ignorant action there is a penalty. What these companies are doing is to exert penalties on their employees. The low pay that people get is a penalty for their ignorance. As I stated earlier, the violation of an agreement can lead to dire ramifications. Many people violate the agreement by undermining or neglecting its value. Imagine this: you send your teenaged child to bring you a glass of water from the kitchen, and the child agrees. That’s an agreement. As soon as the child leaves you they enter the kitchen, only to come back with a box of matches. Then you remind them that you sent them to get water, not matches. They go back reluctantly and come back with an apple. You then realise that this teenager is undermining you. They were not listening to you when you were talking to them. In the same manner, most of us undermine our agreements. This is evident in how we undermine the contracts we sign. Those are agreements, but we predominantly sign contracts without even reading them. This is an indication that we undermine whatever agreement we enter into and then we get into trouble only to find that the contract does not protect us.

“In the same way companies penalise people who undermine the agreement by signing on to lower pay and bad working conditions. Our reluctance to fully understand our agreements is the reason there is so much disagreement in this world. Disagreement is the reason why there is no peace in the world. Agreement is powerful that when a man sleeps with a woman who does not agree to the act we call that rape, because there is no agreement. So, we are living in a world where rape is rife, where we do things that directly violate, undermine or neglect the agreements we make. People make vows when they get married, only to turn and break the vow because they undermine the power of their agreement and they wonder why there’s so much adultery and divorce in the world.

“To conclusively answer your question Mr Gatvol, we have broken our agreement about money. When a company exerts a penalty of ignorance on an employee, who do you blame? Perhaps both. Imagine that you are in a taxi and you have already paid the driver the money needed for the trip. However, as soon as you get off the taxi you give him fifty bucks to appreciate his good service. Now, what do you call that? There was no need or compulsion for you to pay him extra money, but you did. This scenario tells us that we have two types of appreciations in the world. The first is what has today become Compulsory Appreciation. This is the type of appreciation where you are forced to appreciate goods or services. This is the social agreement. Yet, when you extend yourself you operate from what we call Genuine Appreciation. Here nobody is pushing you to stick to the agreement. You have gone beyond it and shown appreciation from the depth of your heart.

“Our problem is that companies pay people for the sake of Compulsory Appreciation, not Genuine Appreciation. In the same way, employees don’t give their all when providing services; they just do it in order to receive their Compulsory Appreciation. That kills the whole spirit behind the divinity of money. It’s like the institution of priesthood, which was initially a holy institution, but later turned into an institution of selfish agendas and an excuse to have power over others. People ruin God’s intended purposes and pervert them to satisfy their hollow egos. For us to be able to see God beyond the coin, we need to revisit its purpose,” I said.

“We’ll go for a short break and when we come back, Mbuyangwana van der Beflom will give us a closing view,” said Ribelatti.

A wave of hands swept through the audience as Gatvol took to his seat. After the break everybody was wondering how I would wrap up for the day. They all looked like they had consumed curiosity pills.

“Welcome back to Beyond Beflom: Change Your Medulla, Change Your Moolah. Our studio is very hot today. Our guest has set the cat among the pigeons and we are left catching the feathers. It is very interesting to learn that there is a spiritual link to money. Mbuyangwana, could you please give us a summary and comprehensively explain the Divine Triangle of Money as we close,” said Ribelatti. The audience members were clapping again.

“Thank you Ribelatti. It’s all about sight and insight. It’s about what you see beyond the unseen. When I look at a coin or paper money, I do not just see something I can buy stuff with. I see a divine token that represents three powerful principles, what I call the Divine Triangle of Money. Money is not just inanimate material that can only benefit us physically. Money, in all its forms represents, One: The Divine Principle of Agreement, Two: The Divine Principle of Appreciation and Three: The Divine Principle of Trust. Through these principles, the society has come together as one, to agree on value, service and trade. The society then came together again, this time to appreciate the efforts of those who offer value, service and trade. Finally, the society learned how to trust that value, service and trade, which have all been offered in line with agreement and appreciation.

“What you need to learn is that in-formation is the key to entering the door of financial success and enjoying the fruits of value, service and trade. I have mentioned the word ignorance during the show. This word does not just mean lack of knowledge; it also insinuates abundance of ill knowledge. Where does that ill knowledge come from? It comes from wrong in-formation of wrongly interpreted in-formation. I call it in-formation to emphasise the fact that what goes into you can form something out of you. Jesus says that which goes in does not harm a man but that which comes from him. If you eat, there’s nothing wrong with the food, but if you vomit, then there is. In-formation means there is a formation that happens on the inside of you. Now, that formation is not harmful, but what comes out of it can be harmful.

“When something forms in you it is in-formation. The in-formation can either cause you de-formation or trans-formation. De-formation means you lose form from within your mind and you cannot function intellectually or your mind can only think deformed thoughts. Trans-formation means you have changed for the better within and your mind has gone beyond ordinary form. This means your thoughts and actions will be extraordinary – they transcend ordinary form.

“Many see money as evil because they are de-formed within their minds through wrong in-formation or wrongly interpreted in-formation. In order to enjoy a trans-formed mind, you need to understand the Divine Triangle of Money. These three principles will change the way you interpret money. Finance is the language that cements. It seals all worldly communication and secures it. Whenever people agree on a mission, the question of money always comes up. Where is the money going to come from? It doesn’t matter whether it’s a nation seeking to go to war with a volatile enemy; a guerrilla battalion or a terrorist group seeking to exert vengeance on an enemy country; an activist organisation seeking to lobby for peace and stability; a church or religious group that seeks to spread its gospel or a non-profit entity or a multi-national corporation. Money is money and its language is clear: pay up or forget it,” I said, standing up on my feet. The audience members were also up on their feet.

“Everywhere you go people speak the language of money, both those who value it and those who hate it. Even political parties have to prove that they will be able to raise funds to develop and better the lives of their citizens before they can ask to be voted into power. It’s all show me the money and I’ll show you the way. This in-formation is awakening the Greater One in you. When you have good knowledge and wisdom, your attitude towards money changes and you begin to manifest wealth. Those who hate money do so because of their mental deformity. How can you hate money but still go to work for money in order to feed your kids? How do you expect your kids to thrive when they eat money that has been produced from labour poisoned by reluctance and a heart full of grudges?

“Don’t love money, appreciate it. My people perish because of lack of knowledge or because of abundance of ill knowledge. Three things happen when people lack knowledge or have abundance of ill knowledge: they get sick, starve and die. Through sickness, poverty and death people perish. If we knew how to heal, sickness wouldn’t overwhelm the human race. If we knew how to prosper, poverty wouldn’t side-step us. If we knew how to live perpetually, death would not be proud,” I said, with hands clapping.

“In conclusion, let me share a powerful verse with you. Do not comfort to the standards of this world, but be transformed in your thinking through the renewal of your mind. You are living in a world where the standard is poverty, debts and financial illiteracy. A majority of the world is in violation of the Divine Triangle of Money. Ruri, ruri I say to you, see beyond Beflom: change your medulla and change your moolah. The laziness to change will keep you, your family and your friends in chains of lack. Tell yourself today that enough with the mediocrity; take up thy bed and walk. Walk to the path that God is leading you, a path of pure knowledge. Let us rise to the service of our fellow mankind. When you wake up tomorrow morning, I want you to hold a coin in your hand, bring it closer to your eyes and see God,” I concluded.

The standing ovation had become very intense. I was feeling very ecstatic and so was everybody. While they nodded in agreement, appreciation and trust, there was a mist that began to cover the entire studio. Then I heard loud drumming. Then the mist cleared…