The Principality of Entrepreneurship

The principality of entrepreneurship is the eighth principality of Satan. The objective of this principality of Satan is to cause mankind to believe that they can accomplish things by their own power and might; and its attendant power is the spirit of entrepreneurship. This prince has at his disposal ten captains— tradition, haughtiness, anger, capitalism, hate, vindictiveness, competitiveness, heresy, contentiousness, and stubbornness—and all lower ranking principalities and powers like lying, disobedience, emulation, bitterness, etc. to use to fulfill his objective. John Calvin explains the fallacy in believing in one's own power and might:

In examining ourselves, the search which divine truth enjoins, and the knowledge which it demands, are such as may indispose us to every thing like confidence in our own powers, leave us devoid of all means of boasting, and so incline us to submission. This is the course which we must follow, if we would attain to the true goal, both in speculation and practice. I am not unaware how much more plausible the view is, which invites us rather to ponder on our good qualities, than to contemplate what must overwhelm us with shame - our miserable destitution and ignominy. There is nothing more acceptable to the human mind than flattery, and, accordingly, when told that its endowments are of a high order, it is apt to be excessively credulous. Hence it is not strange that the greater part of mankind have erred so egregiously in this matter. Owing to the innate self-love by which all are blinded, we most willingly persuade ourselves that we do not possess a single quality which is deserving of hatred; and hence, independent of any countenance from without, general credit is given to the very foolish idea, that man is perfectly sufficient of himself for all the purposes of a good and happy life. If any are disposed to think more modestly, and concede somewhat to God, that they may not seem to arrogate every thing as their own, still, in making the division, they apportion matters so, that the chief ground of confidence and boasting always remains with themselves.

Then, if a discourse is pronounced which flatters the pride spontaneously springing up in man's inmost heart, nothing seems more delightful. Accordingly, in every age, he who is most forward in extolling the excellence of human nature is received with the loudest applause. But be this heralding of human excellence what it may, by teaching man to rest in himself, it does nothing more than fascinate by its sweetness, and, at the same time, so delude as to drown in perdition all who assent to it. For what avails it to proceed in vain confidence, to deliberate, resolve, plan, and attempt what we deem pertinent to the purpose, and, at the very outset, prove deficient and destitute both of sound intelligence and true virtue, though we still confidently persist till we rush headlong on destruction? But this is the best that can happen to those who put confidence in their own powers. Whosoever, therefore, gives heed to those teachers, who merely employ us in contemplating our good qualities, so far from making progress in self knowledge, will be plunged into the most pernicious ignorance.2

Idols and Businessmen?

As idolatry abounds in churches, and the church leadership aids the church in propagating idolatry, then the people become centered on seeing a physical representation of deity. The church will desire the leadership to not only represent God but to be gods in a sense.

That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. (Isaiah 30:9-11)

Church leaders, in an effort to live up to the standards set forth by the people, will accept what we call the spirit of entrepreneurship. Here we discuss the characteristics of the physical entrepreneur to explain how this spirit operates in the church. The church leader possessed by the spirit of entrepreneurship feels as if he has to be a corporate leader in the body of Christ. It is of no surprise that they act this way in this era of mega-churches, church marketing, and television fund-raising. These church leaders will treat their church as a business; their focus is the generation of revenue (tithes and offerings) not the generation of disciples of Christ. "With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches" (Ezekiel 28:4-5). As a business, the expectation of the flock is for satisfaction from the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur, in turn, will attempt to satisfy his "customers." The problem, however, with this principality is that the person ensnared with it forgets God and sets his heart on pleasing the people to further his enterprise: he is at heart a narcissist—focused on loving himself. "The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty" (Daniel 4:30)? And the people reciprocate by "honoring" him with praise, titles, allegiance, and money ... the idolatry already present in the church gets a focal point. Let us look at the scripture below that helps us understand this spirit better:

Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. (Deuteronomy 8:11-17)

The spirit of entrepreneurship drives the leader to pursue popularity and prosperity rather than pursuing godliness. "And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king" (Esther 5:11). Despite good intentions, in some cases, he is driven to see only how he can profit from the people: he is an opportunist. But in order to do that he also seeks to satisfy the people's needs himself—something only God can do (Philippians 4:19)—by exerting his own power and might (flesh) over submission to the Spirit of God: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD" (Zechariah 4:6). His unbelief—"thou forget the LORD thy God"—is evident by his inability to cease from his own works. "For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his" (Hebrews 4:10). "And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:18-19). This conflict often causes the possessed leader to have a love/hate relationship with the church. How often do we see pastors who seem to hate and love their churches at the same time? There are more cases than not. As one pastor told us about his church, "Sometimes I can't stand to come here." The entrepreneur is most often narcissistic, self-righteous, a renegade (maverick/risk-taker/gambler), motivated by money, insensitive, vindictive (even sadistic), devious, and competitive. These traits work well in the world; however, they spell disaster in a church; especially in the lives of church leaders. Here is a list of characteristics10 one should expect to see in a leader possessed by the spirit of entrepreneurship:

  • Entrepreneurs do not function well in structured organizations and do not like someone having authority over them.
  • Entrepreneurs believe they can do the job better than anyone else and will strive for maximum responsibility and accountability.
  • Entrepreneurs thrive on their own self-confidence.
  • Entrepreneurs have a never-ending sense of urgency to develop their ideas. Inactivity makes them impatient, tense, and uneasy.
  • Entrepreneurs devote their energy to completing the tasks immediately before them.
  • Entrepreneurs tend to be too trusting and may not be sufficiently suspicious in their business dealings with other people.
  • Entrepreneurs are more concerned with people's accomplishments than with their feelings.
  • Entrepreneurs' lack of sensitivity to people's feelings can cause turmoil and turnover in their organization.
  • Entrepreneurs tend to handle people problems with action plans without empathy.
  • For many of them, their need for control makes it difficult for them to delegate authority in the way that a structured organization demands.
  • Entrepreneurs relish a sense of accomplishment and enjoy the financial rewards that accompany it.

As do secular entrepreneurs, church leaders possessed by the spirit of entrepreneurship often have the same high need for control and generally delegate poorly. As such, the other leaders in the church suffer from lack of spiritual and leadership development: they hit the proverbial "glass ceiling": "The term glass ceiling refers to situations where the advancement of a qualified person within the hierarchy of an organization is halted at a particular level because of some form of discrimination ... This situation is referred to as a "ceiling" as there is a limitation blocking upward advancement, and "glass" (transparent) because the limitation is not immediately apparent and is normally an unwritten and unofficial policy."11 Many of these other leaders, after years of frustration, will often leave to go to another church in which they hope there is no glass ceiling or they will leave to start their own church. Some that start their own church use tactics similar to Absalom (2 Samuel 15): they steal away members to form their own church. They often tempt them with promises of advancement and/or better attention to their needs (see "The Principality of Sedition").

The Ultimate Gambler

In addition to haughtiness, vindictiveness, and competitiveness, the principality of entrepreneurship has at its core the very nature of a gambler. "Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes" (Haggai 1:6). Gambling and entrepreneurship are functionally the same in the world. An entrepreneur is a risk-taker by nature: the words maverick or renegade are often used to describe an entrepreneur. Most businessmen, especially in the secular world, trust luck and the system of capitalism to succeed. They are basically rolling the dice of life. Throughout this book, we attempt to show that rolling the dice with God leads to perdition. Jesus explains, "thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Matthew 4:7), meaning that we are to come to God in earnest trusting him for who he is. We cannot attempt to control him by testing him. Let us compare the traits12 of the gambler and the entrepreneur:

  • Gamblers create an acceptable fantasy world where the gambler feels free, challenged, powerful, influential and respected.
  • Gambling decisions are based on a series of mistakes in decision making.
  • Gamblers rebel against the rational world of logic and moderation.
  • Gamblers show unconscious aggression towards those in authority.
  • Gamblers secretly want to lose to punish themselves.
  • Gamblers feel that they are in control.

These traits are eerily similar, especially, the fact that gamblers do not do well with authority. Gamblers, like renegades, reject conventional rules; they revel in operating outside of the norm. This explains why entrepreneurs feel they can satisfy the people on their own. They tend to want to be the authority thereby rejecting God's authority and therefore rejecting the Word of God (Hebrews 1:2-3). To satisfy the people's needs, the entrepreneur will lead from his own bag of tricks. He will gamble with the people's souls because he believes he can win. He will create his own philosophy and attempt to make the people believe in him. Have you ever noticed that people seem to defend the pastor more than God? If he makes a lot of money, they will say, "I want my pastor rich." They defend him because they live off of him. He feeds them from his own understanding. He is not teaching them the Word of God. "For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right" (Isaiah 32:6-7). Additionally, gamblers tend to live in the past, glorying about their heydays. Things that push at the boundaries imposed by the Word of God like illicit sex, violence and cursing (profanity) may be associated with this principality.

  • A married gambler may secretly lust after another woman. "Innocently" flirting with her, yet knowing he can't have her.
  • Gamblers may relate tales of being in "near death" situations. Which in their pride, they felt they could handle.
  • Gamblers may curse as a way to express their power and to challenge authority.

An examination of Haman in the book of Esther will illustrate many of the characteristics outlined for a person infused with the principality of entrepreneurship. Haman's promotion by king Ahasuerus kicks off a chain of events that highlight tradition, haughtiness, anger, capitalism, hate, vindictiveness, competitiveness, heresy, contentiousness, and stubbornness.

After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence. ... And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath. And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had showed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. (Esther 3:1-2, 5-6)

Conclusion

To sum it all up, the entrepreneur is a salesman. One of the tasks of a salesman is to make a prospect believe that they need the "product" he has to offer. The salesman convinces them of their need despite the fact that they have been able to function without the product thus far. This brings up another issue; we have preachers creating new rules claiming that God has given them special revelation about how to be blessed. For example, there are preachers that say if you give a special "seed offering" to them that you will receive a special blessing from the Lord (see "Giving"). They use gimmicks like a special "Tabernacle Offering," "Passover Offering" or "Firstfruits Offering" to try to make you believe that what they are telling you is biblical. Asking for money is just one of the many ways that the spirit of entrepreneurship attempts to deceive people in the body of Christ (see "Tithes & Offerings" and "Live of the Gospel"). But scripture is clear, material gain will never bring what we want it to bring, "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity" (Ecclesiastes 5:10). True wealth comes through the Lord: "By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life" (Proverbs 22:4). "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work" (2 Corinthians 9:8). By creating new rules, they keep the people focused on them and not the power of God; "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works" (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

The entrepreneur's "product" usually comes in one or more of the following areas: "good" preaching and/or teaching, and/or "spiritual" power. Good is relative. "Good" preaching and teaching as perceived by a "tainted" audience (see "The People") can be anything. The "audience," also known as the people of God, is supposed to decide, usually on the basis of how pleased they are, the goodness of the preaching. Its goodness is not based on its connection to the Lord and his Word; but rather, what the people think of it. "Good" preaching entertains the audience and identifies with their worldly problems; further, "good" preaching often includes "prophecies" of a coming solution: "Your break-through is coming!" "Good" teaching brings worldly solutions to bear to fix what is perceived to be natural problems. A "very good" teacher or preacher uses the Word of God to validate the worldly solution (see "Preach Another Gospel"). As we have seen throughout the church, ministers all over the place are veering away from the Word of God to preach their own doctrine. Furthermore, these entrepreneurs often exhibit "spiritual" powers that often go unverified. They may speak in unknown tongues; they may have the "gift of interpretation"; or they may have a "gift of healing." More often than not, the healing was not true healing but a temporary abatement of the problem: it has been shown to be generally attributable to euphoria and/or hypnosis. Some crafty entrepreneurs blame relapses on the person's subsequent sin (John 5:14) or lack of faith (Mark 10:52).

A person entrenched with the principality of entrepreneurship is headed down the path to destruction: they believe that they need to stand between God and the people. The principality gets rooted as a strong hold in the mind of the person causing them to believe that they can accomplish things by their own power and might without relying on the Spirit of God. What's more, the additional powers of the principality of entrepreneurship like tradition, haughtiness, anger, capitalism, hate, vindictiveness, competitiveness, heresy, contentiousness, and stubbornness all work to forge additional strong holds of false practices. The infected person is now susceptible to believing and speaking lies, to believing in the traditions of man over the Word of God, to viewing Christianity as a vehicle for merchandising themselves, to resist being content: minding high things, to joining Satan in accusing others to God, to devising wicked plans for self-aggrandizement, to gravitating towards hate not love, to believing that they are better than others, to raising up strife, and to resisting change to their ways: "they ceased not from their own doings" (Judges 2:19). We will see in the next section how the entrepreneur eventually operates towards complete rejection of God's Word.

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