Can you be Christian and work in the corporate world?

I have been pondering this question for some time now, and there have been two recent things that have made it more pertinent to try an answer. One, I have become much more spiritual and closer to God over the last 2 years, and the further we progress on our Christian journey the more we see the world as CS Lewis described,

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

The second reason is, I’ve worked in the corporate world for the past 25 years and I’ve watched it become more and more morally corrupt. Put simply, the corporate world is a Godless place. There is little Truth to be found (even solid hard numbers can be contorted any-which-way depending on what story needs telling), the Good (the form of Being) is similarly deformed and has become anything but Good, and there is absolutely no Beauty to be found anywhere — the soulless work environment, and the uninspiring work produced (more and more this has become standardised, removing the need for individuality, and will only get worse as Artificial Intelligence takes over), renders Beauty obsolete. In short, the whole corporate ethos is one built on anti-good, that of power, status and wealth. That is not to say there aren’t good people to be found working within the corporate world, there are, and many are there for good reasons (such as family and personal growth), but more and more the “spirit” of the corporate world is becoming a horrible ogre, tainting innocent souls and beating them into its servitude, and in doing so, co-opting them to bow down to the small “g” gods of power, status and wealth. No one wants to be at bottom of the heap, and as these small god principles become more and more prevalent the temptation to engage with them is too much. I know because I’ve also been blinded by this darkness.

The ogre analogy is an apt one — the corporate giants are modern day Nephilim, who once roamed the land pre-flood days in biological form, today they seem to have captured a much better way to corrupt through the spiritual possession of large corporations. This might sound fanciful but it only takes a glancing look at the major shareholders of these large corporations to find a small few gigantic “entities” have their tentacles within many corporations — acting as an over-lord, wielding its demands for a higher share price and more dividends. At the local level, company A might seem to be in competition with company B, however the shareholder allocation of both companies says differently — for the ogre, what does it really matter if a client moves to the competitor? For all that client has done is change buildings and fancy logo, the ogre loses nothing if his large equity is stacked in both company A and B, and so his unlimited power to demand more is cracked like a whip— more efficiency, more cost-cutting, more profits, more, more, more …

And so what is a Christian to make of this? How do you justify voluntary entering the belly of the beast everyday? Particularly when the corporate philosophy of power, status, wealth are waiting eagerly to corrupt you. And make no mistake — they are waiting, and if you choose not to participate then you will be looked upon as an outsider, you will be shunned, torn down, backstabbed, bullied, because your attempt at resisting will not be tolerated, you are not playing by the rules of the game, your ethics and morals are to be mocked,

“If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.” (John 15:19)

Yes, yes indeed.

As I noted above, there are good people to be found in the corporate world, though my experience has been, the higher you climb, the stronger the Nephilim spirit is — beckoning to let it possess you, luring you to become more powerful, demand more status, lust for more wealth, and at some point you don’t care who you need to stomp on get it. We are a product of our desires and environment. I have meet some truly horrible people on my corporate journey, and for years I treated these people with hate and contempt, I despised their very existence, but as I’ve moved close to God, and objective Truth reveals itself, these people are not to be despised but rather pitied. They have fallen hook, line, and sinker to the “spirit” of the corporate world, they have become slaves to the ogres, and unable to see any form of Truth, Goodness or Beauty, they mindlessly ohm to the mantra of corrupted good. They desperately need saving.

And so, I find there is really only one answer to “should Christian’s work in the corporate world?” And that answer is … leave the decision to God. The corporate world might be absent of God, but this is a deliberate shutting of the door by the powers that be, but there is no door strong enough for God not to pass through. Your calling might be to engage in the 9 to 5 corporate lifestyle, and there could be a million different reasons why God is wanting you to so, however you absolutely need to be awake and aware when entering into enemy territory. For me, I feel my time is fast approaching an end to this Godless environment, it’s truly has become a mean spirited place, one where you must absolutely put on the whole armour of God to shield you from becoming what you engage with.

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.” (Henry Miller)