Righteousness Among Non-Christians

Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand all.

Proverbs 28:5

His workshop is a gathering point for many continental car owners in the community of Rawang. Together with his sons, Mohd Faisal (not his real name), operates a modest car repair shop in Bandar Rawang Putra, providing after-market services to car owners seeking maintenance and support for aging vehicles that are already outside factory warranty.

With the extra money he earned, Faisal held a durian feast a week ago, to celebrate together with his pool of loyal customers. He gave back to his community by showing appreciation and recognition to those who supported him.

Since day one I knew this man, I have been learning a lot from Mohd Faisal, his principles in life, his resolute character and his honesty in dealing with people. He never cheats his customers, he remains steadfast to providing the best quality of products and services, and he is firm and stern with those doing business with him.

Yesterday, I was at his workshop, sending my car over to have a damaged steering rack repaired. When I arrived, I saw him in conversation with another workshop owner, both of them apparently caught in a small argument. Faisal was querying the other man, asking why he walked up to his storeroom, carted some used spare parts into his vehicle, without Faisal’s permission. The man clearly took advantage of Faisal’s leniency, and assumed that Faisal would have agreed to sell him the used parts at his demanded price.

This made Faisal annoyed, as he neither gave permission nor agreed to sell anything to the man. Faisal argued with him, made him removed and placed back several used parts back into his storeroom, while he negotiated and sold the rest of what is taken, to the man. The comical part was, the man who was determined to get what he wants initially, then broke down and became apologetic. He knew what he did was wrong. He knew he deliberately twisted the conversations between Faisal, his sons and himself, and in the process of apologizing to Faisal, he tried desperately to cover up his wrongdoings by adding more confusion to the conversation between Faisal and himself.

It was a simple case of one person trespassing into the territory of another, broke the rules of management and how things are done at Faisal’s property. He took things into his own hands because of his own greed. And clearly, I could see between the lines, that it was not the carting away of the used parts from his storeroom, that upsets Faisal. It was how the other man manipulated his speech, twisting facts with lies and confusion, that made Faisal angry with him. It was a clear-cut case of knowing what is right, and not doing it, and while Faisal consistently remained stern and firm with him throughout. In Malay language, this issue is known as “ketegasan”, loosely translate as being resolute in deed and action. Mohd Faisal as I knew him in person, had all these resolute characteristics that are associated with true righteousness.

When it was my turn to speak to Faisal, he was still fuming from the encounter. He told me, he was angry because the old man “taukeh”, kept giving him excuses and lies, while trying to cover up his act of entering his storeroom without his permission. Faisal said, the taukeh don’t even have any decency to speak a sentence of truth. I said to Faisal, from my observation, that man is far from him, in terms of knowing and doing what is right, therefore trying to educate him into doing what is righteous, for now is pretty much a waste of time, let alone arguing with him and going nowhere.

To the embarrassment of the taukeh, the commotion ended with Faisal instructing one of his sons to lock up the storeroom, and never to allow that taukeh enter again in future. And Faisal told the taukeh off, by cautioning him in front of other people present in his shop – never to step into his storeroom again.

But otherwise, Faisal treats his customers and client with respect, honor, and he always sought to do what is right. This person is a walking example of a righteous man, as how I would assess him based on true biblical principles. He follows rules and he breaks no rules. Likewise, in turn, he expects others to do the same. He may not be a Christian, but he does what God does; he upholds righteousness and expects people around him to do the same; i.e. not break any rules. And among those who conduct themselves harmoniously, Faisal’s kindness and gratitude towards them is unmistakably evident.

True Value In Righteousness & Its Misconceptions

When a person like Mohd Faisal and the people associated with him does what is right, emulate and practice true righteousness, the benefits of his deeds bring tremendous value to himself and the folks around him. Conversations between Mohd Faisal and others become sincere. His words are noteworthy and what he says then can be treated as reliable. Thus, he set himself out as a person who can be trusted and relied on. Anyone who bring their cars to him for repair works, need not worry about being overcharged or being shortchanged in any way. The honesty in Mohd Faisal’s character, gives birth in others, of having unquestioned confidence in him.

His business no longer becomes a fake front with neat signboards that promises but not delivering. Although the looks of Faisal’s of workshop appears no different from other workshops in the same area, but inside, his business is prospering and ever growing. He is the tenant of not one but several units of shop houses in Bandar Rawang Putra, making him one of the largest continental cars’ workshop in the community of Rawang. And the underlying secret to Faisal’s success, is non-other than his honesty. In biblical terms, this is true righteousness, that is seen and done.

He stays away from dishonest people and those who lie, cheat and manipulate. He doesn’t care who they are, whether they are suppliers, co-workers, other workshop operators who deal with him or even customers. As long anyone is untrustworthy, Faisal stays away from them and makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with them. And associating with Faisal is akin to being around with people who bear much fruit in life, and in turn, they play a very persuasive role in encouraging people to do likewise.

But, in the context of Christianity, this type of righteousness is widely and often termed as being self-righteous. And to some of these religious bigots, bearing fruit only equates to having lots of money or being able to support their own kids to finish tertiary education at a pretigious university outside their home country. However, I beg to differ. And the following bible verses indicate clearly between what is true and what is false, concerning real righteousness.

In Romans 10:3, Paul clearly stated “For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God”. According to Scripture, the traits of self-righteousness are those who do not subject themselves to the righteousness of God, and seeks to establish their own. And there are no two ways of going about defining what Paul had said; we are expected to subject ourselves to the true righteousness of God, do what He commanded us to do, strive in our walk to be perfect like God, and not seek to establish our own kind of self-righteousness.

What Paul said also clearly defined what is self-righteousness; they are deeds originating from the ways of men who seeks to establish their own ways as righteousness. If one is financially well-off, his source of income could only come from one of these two ways; either he is blessed by God or what he owns is stolen property. This is wealth and resource, and this should not be equated to the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

The principles set and followed by Mohd Faisal are therefore not to be misconstrued as self-righteousness, because the honesty and truthfulness he carries with him, are in fact attributes found in God’s true righteousness. In what Faisal does, there is clear, indisputable and visible light that cuts across darkness in this world. By practicing God’s true righteousness, even though he is not a Christian, but he reaps the rewards of doing what is right, and it is obvious to me that he is always being blessed by God. The Bible says, the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry (Psalm 34:15). This Scripture is true, and applies to all, regardless of whether the person is a Christian or not. If preachers tell you that God’s blessings are privy only to Christians, then please show where in the Bible which says that.

While, in our churches, we are taught that self-righteousness is simply all classes of right that we cause to perform with our own hands. As long as a man does what is right before men and God, his deeds shall be defined as self-righteousness. How futile and foolish I find these reasoning as nothing more than mere excuses. As though a Christian can go to heaven, even if he is committed not to do what is right all his life, but as long as he accepts Jesus in his heart and calls himself a Christian, he is assured of a place in heaven. As though Jesus Christ is in the business of begging to be accepted by men. To these false Christians, the act of declaring that they are Christians, automatically qualifies them to godly righteousness, according to the merits of their false churches. To them, by saying and not doing, is godly righteousness.

Standards Of Christ Are The Same As The Father’s

Jesus said it in His own words, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, BUT HE WHO DOES THE WILL OF MY FATHER IN HEAVEN. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

Therefore, the high standards of God’s holiness is not only being upheld by Jesus Himself, but He also clearly warned us that unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, (i.e. the hypocrites who do not do what they say and say not what they actually do), we will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20).

To follow Christ means to do as He does and to emulate the perfection of the Father in heaven, just as Christ Himself does that. Jesus also said, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)

But to the Christians, they believe that this pure, perfect righteousness from God, is attainable by them without action and truth, and as long as they declare their allegiance to Christ, they are automatically entitled to godly righteousness, as opposed to self-righteousness according to their own broken definition. And on other days apart from Sundays, they’ll go on with their daily routines, to sin and to offend others as though these ills no longer have any repercussions on them anymore.

So, in the man-made institutions, if you are a professing Christian who goes to church, you are instantly recognized as righteous, regardless of your conduct. And to those who sought to do what is right, they are instead treated as self-righteous people, which according to these man-made churches, does not qualify them for salvation. It is as though, these preachers in churches, have removed the authority from Christ, and placed it upon themselves, the decision on who gets to go to heaven or otherwise.

Jesus also declared in Matthew 12:32, “And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” And from the way I see it, a person who practices true righteousness like Faisal, although He is not a Christian, probably stood a better chance to be forgiven than those who call themselves Christians, but yet who repeatedly do offensive things to grieve holiness and the Holy Spirit. The true meaning of what Jesus said, therefore can be easily concluded by people who know how to use their brains to think, instead of relying on fabricated interpretations by false preachers from these false churches.

Misdemeanor, Spreading From One Church To Another

Last Sunday, the preacher speaking from the Diakonia Christian Church in Rawang, spoke about the imminent crisis plaguing its church members; why bad things are happening to them, why there seems to be no end to their issues, why their enemies are succeeding, why evil people (evil according to their own futile thinking) are prospering and thriving. She sought to allay fears, to preach and to bring comfort to members of that church.

Like other fallen churches in Rawang, now Diakonia appears to be following the same paths of destruction. Instead of undertaking repentance and the full course to restore justice, their leaders are doing what the other false preachers and false prophets around them are doing; they have descended into blaming others for their own iniquities, and twisting Scripture to assure themselves that they are still on the correct tracks with God.

As though, when sickness overcomes them, it was their enemies who came in person to transmit dangerous diseases to them (Micah 6:13). Or when people among them fail in their businesses or lose their jobs, it is their enemies who drop by at their workplaces to rob them in broad daylight (Jeremiah 15:13).

Soon, when massive floods, hails and meteors strike them, or even if the toilet bowls in their homes clog up, they too will blame all the calamities on their enemies. After that, they go back to their churches on Sundays, and repeatedly beg God for mercy. These preachers knew wrath could only originate from God, but yet they chose to attribute the causes to their enemies and blaming them. But with their mouths and prayers, they cling to reckless hope like cowards, that God shall soon take away all these terrible things from them, at the expense of others coming down to the petty desires these preachers, of not wanting to see others succeed.

They even lie through their teeth. Some preachers, among them, claim that they are prominent corporate figures from the past. But quick checks done on their background, reveals nothing much on their credentials, except for one who was probably a CEO of a company for a year or two, and that’s it. And with such miniscule record, this is what this particular preacher capitalize on to claim that he was once a successful corporate figure. Well, this is essentially; they do not say what they do, and they do not do what they say they do. To me, he appears no more than a bragging fool, who use Christianity and his title as deacon in the church, to cover up his past failures, but yet liking much to portray himself as successful among his peers. A modern hypocrite on the verge of mutating into a full fledge prosperity gospel preacher. What else?

I have spoken enough on similar grounds, and I shall no longer speak further to show them what is written in the Scripture concerning sin and pastors. To use the word stupid on another person is rude, but stupid is possibly the only right word to describe these people who call themselves preachers; they do nothing edifying, other than constantly giving Christianity a terrible reputation, while peddling false hopes to other believers.

Before they speak again at the pulpit, they should pay Faisal a visit and learn from him, how to do what is right instead of shooting themselves in the foot every week. Because the Jesus that these preachers preached, does not appear to be the same Jesus described in the Bible. These preachers are similar to the dishonest taukeh mentioned above; they do not understand what is right and it is a waste of time trying to explain what is right to them.

Despite the Bible in Proverbs 28:5 stating clearly that evildoers are those incapable of understanding what is right, but yet these preachers from Diakonia Christian Church Rawang, chose to conveniently call those who does what is right as evil people instead. Well, not knowing or not doing what is right is already bad enough, but to call evil as good, and good as evil, these are the ultimate tenets of blasphemy against holiness and the Holy Spirit. No more evidence required. And they are still scratching their heads why God’s wrath is all over them, while their perceived enemies are thriving and prospering. Do you agree now why these people deserve to be called stupid?