Looters in Business Suits

The old man learned that one or two of his farm neighbors had their homes looted during some recent floods. It was sad to see the surprised and bewildered expression on his face as he said to the news reporter, “Oh ya can’t do that. That’s not right.” In his late seventies, he was a man who lives by a moral and ethical code which clearly tells him what’s right and what’s not, as it does for most people of his era. It’s the code which has told him all his years that if he walks out the front door leaving it unlocked, all will still be intact when he gets home. I was reminded of the time when city people confidently left money in the letter box for the early morning milk and bread men.   

The right and wrong moral and ethical code that served western society well for generations is dying out with his generation. Why? Because it was founded and based upon the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments … which have been slowly but surely kicked to the curb since the early 1960’s. I was brought up under that code, but by the time the mid-sixties came around I too was kicking them to the curb and would have continued to do so had the Lord Jesus Christ not revealed Himself to me in June 1985. Those faithful to the code were/are not necessarily Christians but they were/are good living, honorable people and the looter’s (thief, stealer) behavior shocks them before it disappoints them.

These are the people quick to come to the aid of others in need; they’d give you the shirt off their back if you asked for it. They lived through the tail end of the 1930’s depression or through the Second World War, so they can readily identify with hard times and suffering; they can’t identify with thieves who violate others going through similar things. In other words, they think everyone lives pretty much by the same basic moral and ethical code they live by and will give in troubled times too, not steal and plunder! Many of them are still the back-bone of their communities after many long years, having picked up and ran with the baton placed in their hands by those gone on before them.

But it’s not only looters of farm property that concerns such people, having them quickly respond with, “Oh ya can’t do that. That’s not right.” Looters in business suits are a far greater source of concern for them. Bankers, business people, financial advisers, real estate agents, insurance agents, State and Federal political leaders and ministers, legal and judicial people, medical and health professionals, aged care administrators. There are many in these fields who possess the same mentality as the farm looter, it’s just that they use more sophisticated means on how they go about looting you, that’s all. Rip-off merchants, liars, deceivers and swindlers are what we call them; low-life, criminal, worthless trash might be more apt for some.

The bulk of these looters are the children and grandchildren of old men such as this one, but like me they threw out those codes during the 1960’s and onward, and adopted new ones for themselves. “Look after number one” is an example, as is, “God helps those who help themselves.” They have no respect or even belief for God, but it sounds good when they hear themselves saying it. For those with University or Tertiary qualifications a vast number of them embraced Marxist/Collectivist/Atheist evolutionary humanist thinking and philosophies and this is what they live by today. Marx would be proud of this criminally conditioned breed of Pavlovians. He would rejoice to witness them no longer dependent upon free will, ethics, morals or conscience.

Of course, you and I both know it’s not only the old man’s generation the looters in business suits are going after; their target is anyone and everyone, whether he or she lives with dependence upon free will, ethics, morals or conscience or whether they don’t. And so, for those younger who are living by the same code as the old man, you must come to terms with the reality that the criminally conditioned Pavlovian mind does not operate in the same way as yours does. If you don’t come to terms with this, then you are going to be forever puzzled, confused, frustrated and angry when you get ripped off and when you hear of it happening to others. Take political leaders, for example. They promise, “We will…..,” but they don’t; “We won’t…..,” but they do.

“How can they look into those camera lenses and lie to us the way they do? Ya can’t do that. It’s not right,” says the person whose moral and ethical code is founded and based upon the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments. Especially is he/she disturbed when such lies come from the leader they voted into office, “that’s why we threw the other mob out!” The voter is yet to learn that whilst there appears to be different ideologies at the grass roots level between those Left and those Right, at the highest level there are no differences between them. The fact that spokespeople for both sides continue to talk and act as though there are differences is merely part of the manipulating method each uses to loot us when their turn comes around.  

Some of Australia’s greatest looters in business suits in recent years have shown up to be Insurance people. In the State of Queensland it is reported Insurance Companies received an extra $1.1 billion in profits after the 2011 floods, with huge premium increases boosting balance sheets. Worse. The industry’s price hikes were even levied on residents who were unaffected by the floods. No wonder residents are accusing these companies of using the floods as an excuse to inflate premiums. One couple who suffered almost 1 meter of water through their home opted out of flood cover last year after their Insurance Company raised their annual premium from $1600 to $8500.

“It isn’t fair,” said a spokesman in relation to paying more to insure property that didn’t flood. He’s in league with the old man who said, “….That’s not right.” Looters in business suits couldn’t care less about what’s “fair” or what’s “right.” “What’s in it for me?” is all they care about; they’re dull and senseless to anything considered fair or right. They have closed up their fat hearts….. Psalm 17:10. Their eyes bulge with abundance Psalm 73:7. Their heart is as fat as grease….. Psalm 119:70. That’s God’s assessment of them and it remains as such while they live and work devoid of any reverence or fear for Him. The decision makers in these Insurance Companies make any rat-bag farm looter look like a Sunday school kid.

When the old man was a young man, it was a time when lots of personal business transactions took place with little more than a handshake to seal the deal. It was still a time when most people believed, “a man’s word is his bond.” In principle, many old people (as well as their kids) still believe that to be the case today and that’s why they’re easily conned at seminars by those offering financial or property investment schemes, aged care schemes and the like. They get seduced by the slick talk, the eyeball to eyeball discussions and the firm handshakes encouraging them to take the next step. They go home on an emotional high looking forward to the next meeting with him.  They don’t know he’s a looter in a business suit and wouldn’t believe it if you told them.

It pleases me every time I learn of looters in business suits becoming prisoners in prison suits. Some of them appear to be the most unlikely of people, especially those who are not much younger than the old man. They’ve been looting people for years believing they’d never get caught and now here they are almost at the end of their working looting life with heads bowed in shame and tears flowing from their wife and family. He is not in shame because of any ethical and moral violation because he has no ethics or morals. No, he’s in shame because he got caught; his concern from here on in has to do with his reputation … convict, inmate, criminal, jailbird, con man, con artist. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall Proverbs 16:18.

However, looters in business suits who do jail time are rare. The Old Boys network  swings into action on their behalf when things get too rough. Many in the network are experts on how to muddy the waters through denial, counter-blaming, confusion, counter- accusation etc. So just as long as their colleague is not out there “acting like a common criminal” everything will turn out fine for him. In the meantime, while his mind is  planning who and how he loots next, it’s also planning how to build his reputation to be acknowledged as a pillar of society down the track … maybe even score a medal or some kind of award for dedication and  commitment to public service. He’s seen by his peers as a people person, so, “why not?” he asks.   

“This is the 21st Century, not the Dark Ages,” says the enemy of Judeo-Christian principles, completely ignorant of all reality that he’s imprisoned in Satan’s dominion of darkness Colossians 1:13. Darkness is a powerful New Testament image; it speaks of crime as well as ignorance. Satan, who was once an angel of light, is now darkness itself; he is a ruler of the darkness of this world Ephesians 6:12 and he blinds the minds all who don’t believe the gospel 2 Corinthians 4:4. He keeps them in darkness, he increases the darkness of their minds and he delights in all their works of darkness. So powerful is this ruler of darkness in the lives of people, nothing less than the almighty power of Jesus Christ can deliver out of his hands.

So, this also applies to allies of Judeo-Christian principles. Good living, honorable people can be living in darkness too. In other words, if Jesus Christ, the light of the world is not their Savior and Lord then they’re living in darkness every bit as much as looters in business suits, even though they are far better citizens in society. Therefore, they too need the light of life if they want to enter heaven when they die John 8:12. Sadly, most of them don’t accept that because they believe they’re already good enough. God is not looking for goodness, He’s looking for righteousness. Only Jesus is qualified to give it. “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 5:20.