WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.980 --> 00:00:07.719 Welcome to Financial Issues, where we help you steward faithfully 2 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:11.560 by honoring God with your investments. Now listen in as 3 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:14.380 we give you the practical tools and advice you need 4 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:17.199 to become a biblically responsible investor. 5 00:00:22.820 --> 00:00:25.719 This is Financial Issues, where we help you defund darkness 6 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:28.969 and fund the light by investing with God. Biblical integrity. 7 00:00:29.010 --> 00:00:31.870 Great to have you today on the show, folks. Today's show, 8 00:00:31.890 --> 00:00:34.390 we're going to talk about this. If the founder of 9 00:00:34.429 --> 00:00:37.490 a company holds beliefs that we'll just say are rather 10 00:00:37.549 --> 00:00:41.670 suspect or weird or interesting or maybe evil, does that 11 00:00:41.750 --> 00:00:45.189 make the company dirty? Not biblically responsible. We'll discuss in 12 00:00:45.229 --> 00:00:47.250 just a moment. Seth Udinski here with you. Sam Case, 13 00:00:47.549 --> 00:00:49.310 your host, Mark Manilla. The gang's all here. 14 00:00:49.390 --> 00:00:51.770 Mark, ready for another show, brother. Excited to have you. 15 00:00:52.490 --> 00:00:53.929 Absolutely. Good morning, everyone. 16 00:00:54.740 --> 00:00:56.250 And excited to have you all as well today, folks. 17 00:00:56.270 --> 00:00:56.969 Hey, give us a call. 18 00:00:56.990 --> 00:00:58.049 The number is 610-363-1110. 19 00:00:58.109 --> 00:01:02.829 That's how you join the live broadcast. If you've got questions, 20 00:01:02.869 --> 00:01:08.640 we got answers. Again, the number 610-363-1110. So our topic 21 00:01:08.659 --> 00:01:10.959 of the day, guys, centers around a question from Katie. 22 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:13.920 She's a partner. She's asking a great question. Here's how 23 00:01:13.939 --> 00:01:14.260 it goes. 24 00:01:14.709 --> 00:01:16.890 Peter Thiel, now for those who don't know, Peter Thiel 25 00:01:16.930 --> 00:01:22.150 is the founder of Palantir, views transhumanism as a movement 26 00:01:22.189 --> 00:01:26.500 that seeks to radically transform humanity, which he believes aligns 27 00:01:26.579 --> 00:01:30.340 with certain aspects of Christian theology. He argues that while 28 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:34.459 transhumanism focuses on changing the body, it also requires a 29 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:37.920 transformation of the soul and the whole self, suggesting a 30 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:41.920 deeper connection to Christian ideals of human potential and resurrection. 31 00:01:42.359 --> 00:01:46.099 My question is, why is Palantir on the biblically responsible 32 00:01:46.180 --> 00:01:48.340 list because of this. Sam, you want to give us 33 00:01:48.379 --> 00:01:51.709 some context here of what Peter Thiel has said about 34 00:01:51.750 --> 00:01:53.109 this idea of transhumanism? 35 00:01:53.170 --> 00:01:53.709 Sure, sure. 36 00:01:53.890 --> 00:01:57.109 It's a really interesting and kind of nuanced conversation. How 37 00:01:57.170 --> 00:01:58.579 much do you want me to go into it? Just 38 00:01:59.219 --> 00:02:01.090 do a deep dive? Yeah, go for it. 39 00:02:01.260 --> 00:02:02.439 Go for it. What do you think, Mark? Okay, so 40 00:02:02.459 --> 00:02:03.900 we got Peter Thiel here. He's kind of this. 41 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:08.590 really interesting libertarian-esque venture capitalist. He's been involved in so 42 00:02:08.629 --> 00:02:12.610 many different companies like Meta, PayPal, but today we're talking 43 00:02:12.629 --> 00:02:15.729 about Palantir. He's one of the five co-founders, and he 44 00:02:15.770 --> 00:02:18.370 serves as the chairman of the board of directors. So 45 00:02:18.389 --> 00:02:21.939 that's Peter Thiel. Now we're talking about his idea connected 46 00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:25.740 to transhumanism. And what this is, is basically a philosophy 47 00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:30.180 that we can use technology and science to expand the 48 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:35.599 limitations and weaknesses of humanity, kind of go beyond those limitations. 49 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.740 And in the more extreme versions of it, maybe even 50 00:02:38.860 --> 00:02:43.930 transcend humanity itself becomes something that's post-human. So that could 51 00:02:43.949 --> 00:02:45.969 be good or bad, right? So you could see a 52 00:02:46.030 --> 00:02:49.830 world where it helps cure diseases. Maybe you lose an eyeball, 53 00:02:49.870 --> 00:02:52.129 you get a robot eye in its place. That's kind 54 00:02:52.169 --> 00:02:54.990 of cool. But then there's the really, really, really evil 55 00:02:55.090 --> 00:02:58.780 sci-fi version of that where we're using eugenics to create 56 00:02:58.840 --> 00:03:00.280 something other than humans. 57 00:03:00.659 --> 00:03:03.099 So what does Peter Thiel think about this? He's kind 58 00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:03.539 of mixed. 59 00:03:03.560 --> 00:03:06.060 He thinks this can be a good thing, but he 60 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:08.580 does recognize that it can be a really, really dark 61 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:11.819 thing as well, and has suggested that some might be 62 00:03:11.879 --> 00:03:14.990 tempted to view it as a replacement of Christianity because 63 00:03:15.030 --> 00:03:19.189 it does, in a way, promise new, perfect bodies, but 64 00:03:19.310 --> 00:03:23.250 he ultimately says it's insufficient. He said, quote, the critique 65 00:03:23.370 --> 00:03:27.509 Orthodox Christianity has of transhumanism... is these things don't go 66 00:03:27.610 --> 00:03:31.300 far enough. Transhumanism is just changing your body, but you 67 00:03:31.379 --> 00:03:34.580 also need to transform your soul. You need to transform 68 00:03:34.740 --> 00:03:37.800 your whole self. He went on to say the transhumanists 69 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:41.039 are not ambitious enough. From a Christian point of view, 70 00:03:41.319 --> 00:03:44.789 these people are not ambitious enough. So I guess the 71 00:03:44.849 --> 00:03:47.430 question would be, is he saying the transhumanists need to 72 00:03:47.469 --> 00:03:50.229 be more ambitious, or is he just saying, hey, there 73 00:03:50.310 --> 00:03:53.449 are limits to what this technology can do? And that's 74 00:03:53.490 --> 00:03:55.050 the whole controversy in a nutshell. 75 00:03:56.050 --> 00:03:58.340 So, Mark, what do you think with beliefs like that? 76 00:03:59.069 --> 00:04:01.840 Does that make a company like Palantir one that is 77 00:04:01.879 --> 00:04:05.280 not biblically responsible if those beliefs are even nefarious? And 78 00:04:05.300 --> 00:04:06.819 we can see some of them are and some of them, 79 00:04:07.139 --> 00:04:08.819 you know, you can kind of see where he's coming from. But, Mark, 80 00:04:08.860 --> 00:04:09.900 what do you think about all this? 81 00:04:09.939 --> 00:04:12.479 Well, let's let's pull this in a bit here. 82 00:04:12.939 --> 00:04:15.800 We just spent a couple of minutes talking about what 83 00:04:15.860 --> 00:04:21.540 some guy ponders about and and how that applies to 84 00:04:21.620 --> 00:04:26.060 his companies. I haven't seen how it applies to anything 85 00:04:26.100 --> 00:04:28.689 to his companies, and I don't think we need to 86 00:04:28.750 --> 00:04:31.829 really worry about that. But Katie, the key distinction is 87 00:04:31.889 --> 00:04:35.290 between the personal beliefs of an individual associated with a 88 00:04:35.350 --> 00:04:38.740 company and the corporate actions of the company itself. 89 00:04:39.139 --> 00:04:40.439 I actually had somebody say. 90 00:04:40.500 --> 00:04:46.100 Well, Mark, you won't invest in Chinese companies because They're 91 00:04:46.139 --> 00:04:50.279 domiciled in China, and the CCPs put somebody on the 92 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:53.189 board of all of them, and you say they control it. 93 00:04:53.290 --> 00:04:54.970 So isn't this the same thing? 94 00:04:55.310 --> 00:04:59.540 Why would we put somebody who believes that Christianity or 95 00:04:59.579 --> 00:05:04.629 Christianity what Jesus did by taking on our sin can 96 00:05:04.689 --> 00:05:07.970 be taken away and you can just be perfected through 97 00:05:09.350 --> 00:05:14.699 gears and IT. Well, no, I don't even know what 98 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:17.439 he believes. Nobody really does, and he probably doesn't either, 99 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:22.370 for one. And two, he's just another investor in the corporation. 100 00:05:22.459 --> 00:05:24.230 He only owns about 7% of Palantir. 101 00:05:26.050 --> 00:05:30.029 There's literally thousands, if not millions of people who own 102 00:05:30.110 --> 00:05:33.970 stock in this company. So he really doesn't have control 103 00:05:34.029 --> 00:05:37.100 over the company for one. And two, he's not pushing 104 00:05:37.160 --> 00:05:40.139 his ideals. I'm not even sure these are his ideals 105 00:05:40.220 --> 00:05:40.540 or just. 106 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:44.259 Thoughts to ponder as he tries to figure out life. 107 00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:45.339 Musings in his diary. 108 00:05:45.819 --> 00:05:46.819 There you go, yeah. 109 00:05:47.300 --> 00:05:50.759 So I think that we're trying to impose something on 110 00:05:50.839 --> 00:05:53.439 him to begin with that we're not sure of, because 111 00:05:53.490 --> 00:05:56.769 he doesn't have, he hasn't filled out a form saying, 112 00:05:56.829 --> 00:06:00.329 this is my belief, I believe Christianity is wrong, and 113 00:06:00.370 --> 00:06:03.509 therefore we need to eliminate Christians and only put in 114 00:06:05.779 --> 00:06:11.519 robots and body parts of robots. But, you know, that's 115 00:06:11.579 --> 00:06:14.709 going way too far to begin with anyway. I really 116 00:06:14.790 --> 00:06:17.490 think that we need to judge a company by its products, 117 00:06:17.569 --> 00:06:23.069 its policy, its benefits, its charitable giving, things like advocacy 118 00:06:23.209 --> 00:06:26.870 and other corporate activities. Where is it giving its money 119 00:06:26.910 --> 00:06:30.259 and what is it pushing on society? I don't see 120 00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:33.500 that in Palantir here. I think the board of directors 121 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:36.160 so far have done a good job of staying out 122 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:41.160 of the woke-ism and imposing their own ideology on everybody 123 00:06:41.259 --> 00:06:44.759 who is a partner in that company. So I don't 124 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:48.759 see it there. I guess maybe to clarify this a 125 00:06:48.800 --> 00:06:52.480 little bit, when we look at a company, we're looking 126 00:06:52.519 --> 00:06:56.060 at what that company does, not with what somebody on 127 00:06:56.079 --> 00:07:00.649 the board believes, unless somebody Those beliefs are being imposed 128 00:07:00.850 --> 00:07:04.209 through the company, and they have that much power. They 129 00:07:04.250 --> 00:07:08.709 have 51% ownership or 51% voting rights to do it, 130 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:12.220 and they're using it for that position. When they do that, 131 00:07:12.259 --> 00:07:14.360 we would move on, just like we will away from 132 00:07:14.379 --> 00:07:18.379 the CCP, who hates America, who's trying to destroy us, 133 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:23.620 and who's every company that they own, they control. They control, 134 00:07:23.740 --> 00:07:26.870 first of all, because they're the government, they put people 135 00:07:26.939 --> 00:07:31.029 on the board and they impose all the CCP agenda 136 00:07:31.389 --> 00:07:35.110 on every corporation that is domiciled in China and any 137 00:07:35.149 --> 00:07:37.569 that they can take over in the United States and 138 00:07:37.649 --> 00:07:42.240 have over 50% of the ownership in a company or 139 00:07:42.689 --> 00:07:46.040 influence in a company through voters' rights. And I say 140 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:52.300 influence because sometimes, like Peter, for example, here with Palantir, 141 00:07:53.259 --> 00:07:56.430 Peter only has about 7%. But the way the stock 142 00:07:56.509 --> 00:07:59.709 is structured, he actually has a much larger, like 20 143 00:07:59.709 --> 00:08:04.279 or 30 percent voting power. It's still not dominant. So 144 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:07.459 he still has checks. There's still checks and balances there. 145 00:08:08.949 --> 00:08:11.379 And what if, Mark, so I could imagine a situation 146 00:08:11.389 --> 00:08:15.399 where someone is dominant and let's say they are pro-abortion, 147 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:18.819 but they're not using their influence to promote abortion in 148 00:08:18.860 --> 00:08:19.360 the company. 149 00:08:19.620 --> 00:08:21.660 That would still be clean, right? Just to make a 150 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:22.540 more direct example. 151 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:23.600 What would still be clean? 152 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:24.730 The company? The company. 153 00:08:24.750 --> 00:08:25.519 Yeah, absolutely. 154 00:08:25.810 --> 00:08:29.449 If the company is not implementing anything of the beliefs 155 00:08:29.649 --> 00:08:33.570 of some of the stockholders, even the larger stockholders, it 156 00:08:33.610 --> 00:08:37.139 wouldn't matter at that point. The company is staying within 157 00:08:37.179 --> 00:08:43.090 the boundaries of those things that we consider biblically responsible. Seth, Sam, 158 00:08:43.590 --> 00:08:45.429 the three of us, out of the three of us, 159 00:08:45.620 --> 00:08:48.659 one of us probably will sin today, right? 160 00:08:48.679 --> 00:08:48.799 Right. 161 00:08:49.549 --> 00:08:50.389 Well, it's not me. 162 00:08:50.409 --> 00:08:53.940 Well, it's not me. I mean, come on. I guess 163 00:08:53.980 --> 00:08:57.120 I'm the last man standing. 164 00:08:57.139 --> 00:08:58.919 That was probably the sin right there, right? 165 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:02.919 Does that mean financial issues now is a sinning corporation 166 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:06.740 because somebody who works for them, somebody who is part 167 00:09:06.759 --> 00:09:08.639 of the company sinned today? 168 00:09:08.759 --> 00:09:09.000 No. 169 00:09:09.399 --> 00:09:12.600 The company itself is judged on the merits of what 170 00:09:12.659 --> 00:09:17.019 it does and what it imposes and what and how 171 00:09:17.110 --> 00:09:21.549 it handles the responsibility to, well, if we were a 172 00:09:21.610 --> 00:09:24.029 publicly traded company, to its stockholders. 173 00:09:26.370 --> 00:09:28.590 Mark, that's a really— Not by the individual sin. 174 00:09:28.929 --> 00:09:30.070 Yeah, for sure. 175 00:09:30.850 --> 00:09:33.350 I hope for our listeners, and Katie included, that that 176 00:09:33.429 --> 00:09:39.009 can free you, folks, from the worry that we might 177 00:09:39.070 --> 00:09:42.429 have of wondering, oh, I heard this about so-and-so company. 178 00:09:42.470 --> 00:09:44.370 Does that mean they're no longer biblically responsible? 179 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:46.980 If your standard, like you said, Mark, if your standard 180 00:09:47.019 --> 00:09:49.600 is perfection, you can't invest in any company. 181 00:09:50.019 --> 00:09:52.360 There's not a perfect one out there. They're run by sinners. 182 00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:53.659 That's the bottom line. 183 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:55.570 But like you said, Mark, we're looking at what the 184 00:09:55.629 --> 00:09:58.600 company does with shareholder dollars. Uh, I think some of 185 00:09:58.659 --> 00:10:03.559 Peter Thiel's beliefs are frankly are cuckoo, absolute cuckoo, uh, but, uh, 186 00:10:03.620 --> 00:10:04.480 his company is clean. 187 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:05.500 And so we. 188 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:09.539 Can say, uh, from what I've read and what I've heard, uh, 189 00:10:09.629 --> 00:10:13.889 cuckoo or not there, most people don't realize we're already there. 190 00:10:14.409 --> 00:10:16.210 How many people have artificial legs? 191 00:10:16.269 --> 00:10:22.179 How many people have, uh, have implants, have mechanical implants 192 00:10:22.220 --> 00:10:25.480 to help them walk, to help their shoulders move, to 193 00:10:25.539 --> 00:10:27.639 help them relieve pain in their back. 194 00:10:28.350 --> 00:10:29.909 You know, right now, I read. 195 00:10:29.789 --> 00:10:33.230 An article yesterday, within the next 30 days, they're going 196 00:10:33.250 --> 00:10:36.649 to have implants that give blind people the ability to see, 197 00:10:36.929 --> 00:10:40.480 actually see, They've been in testing, and now they're actually 198 00:10:40.500 --> 00:10:42.100 going to do the implants. 199 00:10:41.659 --> 00:10:42.279 In the humans. 200 00:10:42.360 --> 00:10:45.600 So is that a bad thing? I don't think so. 201 00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:47.480 But I'd like to hear your opinion. 202 00:10:47.500 --> 00:10:48.019 610-363-1110. 203 00:10:48.080 --> 00:10:48.860 We'll be right back. 204 00:11:08.269 --> 00:11:08.389 610-363-1110. 205 00:11:08.429 --> 00:11:13.750 Yeah, if you've got comments about transhumanism or biblically responsible 206 00:11:13.789 --> 00:11:16.450 investing or anything financial, we're here. 207 00:11:16.330 --> 00:11:18.029 For you, folks. We'd love to be able to help 208 00:11:18.100 --> 00:11:18.409 you out. 209 00:11:18.649 --> 00:11:19.649 It's a variety show today. 210 00:11:19.669 --> 00:11:20.080 It is. 211 00:11:20.379 --> 00:11:22.980 It is a variety show. That's right, Sam. We're gazing 212 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:26.139 into our Palantirs, as it were, so we can see across. 213 00:11:26.669 --> 00:11:28.549 The areas of Middle Earth. That's a Lord of the 214 00:11:28.590 --> 00:11:29.570 Rings reference. That's silly. 215 00:11:29.690 --> 00:11:33.970 Anyway, 610-363-1110. Folks, today's show brought to you in part 216 00:11:34.009 --> 00:11:37.120 by Samaritan Ministries. If you want to get off the 217 00:11:37.179 --> 00:11:40.139 rat race of big health care and join truly a 218 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:43.039 wonderful Christian health sharing group, Samaritan Ministries is the place 219 00:11:43.080 --> 00:11:43.360 for you. 220 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:45.720 That's what we have here at the ministry. It's excellent. 221 00:11:45.740 --> 00:11:50.090 Samaritanministries.org. learn more about them there. Markets yesterday, guys, were 222 00:11:50.149 --> 00:11:52.909 down slightly. So we saw a sticky inflation reading, but 223 00:11:52.970 --> 00:11:55.809 really the markets were looking for still what seems to 224 00:11:55.830 --> 00:11:58.789 be their Lord and Savior, NVIDIA, which of course we 225 00:11:58.830 --> 00:12:00.830 all know is anything but that because they are dirty, 226 00:12:00.990 --> 00:12:05.429 not biblically responsible. But Wednesday's bell saw the Dow down slightly, 227 00:12:05.470 --> 00:12:07.850 the S & P down slightly, the NASDAQ down slightly. 228 00:12:08.490 --> 00:12:10.610 NVIDIA was reporting earnings after the bell. So it was 229 00:12:10.629 --> 00:12:12.740 kind of just a wait and see moment. And Sam, 230 00:12:12.769 --> 00:12:14.820 it looks like they did really well from what we're seeing. 231 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:16.500 Yeah, that's exactly right. 232 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:17.950 Yep. Yeah. Yeah. 233 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:22.009 So better than expected fiscal second quarter stock jumping four 234 00:12:22.049 --> 00:12:24.909 percent on the company's forecast for the fiscal year. 235 00:12:25.789 --> 00:12:27.230 Why are we talking about NVIDIA? 236 00:12:28.129 --> 00:12:30.549 You know, Mark– Are they clean? Well, that's what I 237 00:12:30.570 --> 00:12:32.929 was going to say is they're absolutely filthy. 238 00:12:33.490 --> 00:12:35.549 But, Mark, it does– They're off the table. 239 00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:38.460 It does bring to mind a question, though. I think 240 00:12:38.620 --> 00:12:39.679 there is something here. 241 00:12:40.139 --> 00:12:43.360 When we talk about the markets and investors, everybody seems 242 00:12:43.399 --> 00:12:45.320 to want to look for a savior. It was Nvidia 243 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:48.039 for so long. Now it seems like it's Micron, which 244 00:12:48.110 --> 00:12:50.350 also is not clean, by the way. They're also filthy. 245 00:12:51.710 --> 00:12:54.570 Why is that, Mark? Why do investors just love to 246 00:12:54.629 --> 00:12:57.269 kind of put all their hopes on one specific stock 247 00:12:57.409 --> 00:13:00.830 or maybe one sector and just ride or die that sector? 248 00:13:00.850 --> 00:13:03.500 And if it goes up, everybody celebrates. Some people don't 249 00:13:03.529 --> 00:13:05.480 celebrate because they're like, it didn't go up enough. I 250 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:06.379 wanted it to go up more. 251 00:13:06.679 --> 00:13:07.399 Why does that happen? 252 00:13:07.419 --> 00:13:08.779 Well, here's my concern. 253 00:13:08.860 --> 00:13:11.679 Anytime we talk about a stock that is dirty and 254 00:13:11.720 --> 00:13:15.679 we use it as a weather vane for the market 255 00:13:15.740 --> 00:13:19.779 or anything else, we are endorsing that company completely. 256 00:13:19.899 --> 00:13:22.830 We are promoting that company, and I believe. 257 00:13:22.509 --> 00:13:25.350 That if it's off the table, we really shouldn't be 258 00:13:25.710 --> 00:13:29.679 discussing it that much. We should find whatever clean version 259 00:13:29.720 --> 00:13:36.299 of that or clean, biblically responsible leader in that industry 260 00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:40.610 is and utilize that. That's the way my mind thinks. Now, 261 00:13:40.750 --> 00:13:43.000 I know we don't just totally ignore the rest of 262 00:13:43.009 --> 00:13:43.379 the world. 263 00:13:43.419 --> 00:13:45.480 We're in the world. We're not of the world. I 264 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:45.899 get that. 265 00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:48.879 But we got to be very careful because we're programming 266 00:13:48.940 --> 00:13:52.169 our brains to fall into all the things the secularists 267 00:13:52.590 --> 00:13:55.409 want us to. We have 692,000 different news things talking 268 00:13:55.470 --> 00:14:03.419 about the stock, and none of us who are involved 269 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:06.870 in honoring God want to have anything to do with it, 270 00:14:06.940 --> 00:14:09.389 so why would I spend my brain space on it? 271 00:14:09.779 --> 00:14:12.240 God calls us to be focused on those things that 272 00:14:12.279 --> 00:14:15.659 are right, that are pure, that are clean, that are 273 00:14:15.700 --> 00:14:18.519 of good report, not on those things that are ugly. 274 00:14:18.620 --> 00:14:19.950 And therefore, I think. 275 00:14:20.129 --> 00:14:24.289 Instead of following the news that the rest of the 276 00:14:24.330 --> 00:14:27.730 world is doing, we should stay close to what we 277 00:14:27.789 --> 00:14:30.879 should be doing, and programming our minds with the purity 278 00:14:30.899 --> 00:14:35.460 and cleanliness and righteousness of God instead of buying into 279 00:14:35.480 --> 00:14:39.639 the secularism. And most of the time, the secularism is wrong. 280 00:14:40.019 --> 00:14:44.100 One stock doesn't make a market anyway, so that's generally. 281 00:14:43.740 --> 00:14:44.519 Why I wouldn't do that. 282 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:48.019 Is it okay to mention that there's some tech leaders 283 00:14:49.129 --> 00:14:52.330 that are still going strong? 284 00:14:52.590 --> 00:14:55.350 Sure. There's nothing wrong with that, but that's a report 285 00:14:55.409 --> 00:14:58.269 on the tech sector. not on an individual stock. 286 00:14:59.889 --> 00:15:03.909 I guess I'm just kind of, I don't know, sensitive 287 00:15:03.929 --> 00:15:07.809 to these things. After 35, 40 years of preaching what 288 00:15:07.850 --> 00:15:12.570 it means to be a steward, studying and realizing that 289 00:15:12.690 --> 00:15:16.730 most people, even those good stewards, you know, the financial 290 00:15:16.789 --> 00:15:21.049 issue partners and people like that still are inundated daily 291 00:15:21.309 --> 00:15:25.610 with things that keep distracting them from being a steward. 292 00:15:26.019 --> 00:15:29.159 by looking at other things and tempting them there. I mean, 293 00:15:29.539 --> 00:15:34.870 if you had a child and that child was diabetic, 294 00:15:34.929 --> 00:15:38.529 would you daily hang sugar treats in front of them 295 00:15:38.570 --> 00:15:40.490 and tell them you can't have them and talk about 296 00:15:40.750 --> 00:15:42.690 how they taste and what they're doing? 297 00:15:43.169 --> 00:15:45.039 Absolutely not. That would be wrong. 298 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:49.100 That's why I think that maybe talking about things like 299 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:50.419 NVIDIA is not a good idea. 300 00:15:52.230 --> 00:15:54.210 You know what's funny, Mark, is what you're saying there 301 00:15:54.250 --> 00:15:59.090 is exactly proving my point. I think there's a temptation for, 302 00:15:59.190 --> 00:16:01.710 and it's even there for us as well, is to 303 00:16:01.809 --> 00:16:04.629 look at that one shining stock to be our savior. 304 00:16:04.769 --> 00:16:07.590 And like what you said, the point is we have 305 00:16:07.669 --> 00:16:11.250 to have the equipment, the tools to be on guard 306 00:16:11.289 --> 00:16:13.269 against that so that we don't fall into the traps 307 00:16:13.330 --> 00:16:14.210 that the world does. 308 00:16:14.549 --> 00:16:16.029 And that was kind of more what. 309 00:16:16.190 --> 00:16:18.480 I was asking is how do we avoid the trap 310 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:21.279 of seeing stocks like that and thinking, okay, I'm going 311 00:16:21.299 --> 00:16:23.460 to let my emotions follow that. I'm going to see, okay, 312 00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:25.620 I'm just waiting with bated breath for the next earnings 313 00:16:25.659 --> 00:16:28.139 report from Micron or for an Nvidia or something like that. 314 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:29.500 How do we stay focused? 315 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:31.340 Because the whole world's screaming it at you. 316 00:16:31.500 --> 00:16:32.279 Yeah, that's exactly. 317 00:16:32.299 --> 00:16:35.340 I mean, you turn on every, every single big, you know, 318 00:16:35.379 --> 00:16:37.360 your CNBCs, your market watches, all that. 319 00:16:37.740 --> 00:16:39.019 They're all talking about it, you know? 320 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:42.980 Well, and again, this is one of those things that, 321 00:16:43.580 --> 00:16:45.879 what do we focus on? What does the Bible tell 322 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:48.139 us to focus on? That's what we need to be 323 00:16:48.200 --> 00:16:51.870 focusing on. If we renew our mind by going to 324 00:16:51.899 --> 00:16:54.950 his word and then realizing he says, if it's of 325 00:16:55.009 --> 00:16:59.230 good report, if it's pure, if it's righteous, if it's, I. 326 00:16:59.190 --> 00:17:01.009 Forget the exact verse. Do you have it off the 327 00:17:01.049 --> 00:17:04.250 top of your head there, Seth, the verse on on 328 00:17:04.269 --> 00:17:06.670 what we should be focused on. Anyway. 329 00:17:06.930 --> 00:17:09.369 Well, I mean, yeah, certainly, you know, the scripture talks about, 330 00:17:09.390 --> 00:17:11.089 I think it's first, I think mentioned earlier this week, 331 00:17:11.089 --> 00:17:13.369 2 Timothy 1.7, God does not give a spirit of fear, 332 00:17:13.410 --> 00:17:15.119 but power, love, and sound mind. 333 00:17:15.230 --> 00:17:16.559 Philippians 4.8, finally. 334 00:17:16.579 --> 00:17:19.599 Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever 335 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:22.880 is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, 336 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:26.519 if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. 337 00:17:27.180 --> 00:17:32.750 And then in James 3.14-17, it tells us, What is 338 00:17:32.809 --> 00:17:35.210 wisdom from above and what is wisdom of the world? 339 00:17:35.730 --> 00:17:39.170 I think the biggest mistake as a steward I have 340 00:17:39.210 --> 00:17:43.970 made is by entertaining myself, by following the worldly things, 341 00:17:44.109 --> 00:17:47.309 focusing on those things instead of focusing on what God 342 00:17:47.390 --> 00:17:51.089 calls me to focus on. And because of that, it's 343 00:17:51.250 --> 00:17:52.890 caused me to stumble over time. 344 00:17:52.930 --> 00:17:56.369 It's caused me to be confused at times. 345 00:17:56.589 --> 00:17:59.079 And I don't want to do that for those that 346 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:01.359 were here to serve, our fellow stewards. 347 00:18:02.369 --> 00:18:04.109 Well said, Mark. 348 00:18:04.130 --> 00:18:04.690 610-363-1110. 349 00:18:04.950 --> 00:18:06.109 Mark, a question from Anne. 350 00:18:06.170 --> 00:18:08.890 She's saying, I'm expecting to get a distribution of funds 351 00:18:08.930 --> 00:18:12.559 from selling some property owned by myself and four other siblings. 352 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:14.200 We're going through a realtor. 353 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:18.259 What is the best and safest way to receive the distribution? 354 00:18:18.660 --> 00:18:20.619 And is it safe to put the distribution in my 355 00:18:20.680 --> 00:18:22.740 savings account until I can figure out what I owe 356 00:18:22.779 --> 00:18:24.859 in taxes? Mark, I was a little confused about this 357 00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:27.069 question because I'm not so sure how much control Anne 358 00:18:27.150 --> 00:18:30.430 has over the method of receiving the distribution. That seems 359 00:18:30.490 --> 00:18:33.619 more to be up to You know, whoever's controlling that, 360 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:35.359 I'm not sure that it's her, but how would you 361 00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:36.259 help her with this, Mark? 362 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:39.519 Yeah, who's ever controlling? We don't have that information. 363 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:42.940 She did mention there's a realtor involved, so a realtor 364 00:18:43.319 --> 00:18:48.059 probably sold the property for the kids, I guess, is a. 365 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:48.559 Good way to. 366 00:18:49.160 --> 00:18:53.900 put it and uh but it generally wherever you close 367 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:59.420 at the the mortgage company uh the title company there's 368 00:18:59.480 --> 00:19:01.819 different ways they can do it i once owned a 369 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:04.980 title company so i know you could wire the funds 370 00:19:05.059 --> 00:19:08.089 you could electronically transfer them or you could write checks 371 00:19:08.180 --> 00:19:10.710 there's all sorts of ways you could do it you 372 00:19:10.990 --> 00:19:13.049 should step up and just say hey this is what 373 00:19:13.089 --> 00:19:17.829 i want to do so um Yeah, let's break this down, though. 374 00:19:18.109 --> 00:19:22.579 And I think putting the proceeds temporarily in a FDIC 375 00:19:22.630 --> 00:19:25.880 insured savings account or money market at your bank is 376 00:19:25.900 --> 00:19:28.539 a good idea. How it gets there is between you 377 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:32.240 and the title company and those involved. Unless, you know, 378 00:19:32.940 --> 00:19:36.960 I would really, if possible, ask the realtor to make 379 00:19:37.049 --> 00:19:39.970 sure or the title company to make sure individual checks 380 00:19:40.049 --> 00:19:42.680 are cut for each of you. I don't know your 381 00:19:42.680 --> 00:19:47.670 relationship with your siblings or whatever, but um that's best 382 00:19:47.779 --> 00:19:51.079 instead of giving it to one who one person and 383 00:19:51.119 --> 00:19:53.299 then having them divided because you don't want to start 384 00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:57.319 family feuds or something like that um if it's more 385 00:19:57.380 --> 00:20:00.000 than 250 000 then you might put it in in 386 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:05.130 several banks um and there's something else uh When I'm 387 00:20:05.170 --> 00:20:08.630 reading this, it sounds like an inheritance to me. There's 388 00:20:08.750 --> 00:20:11.029 kind of an imposition in there that makes me think 389 00:20:11.069 --> 00:20:14.609 that you may have received an inheritance here. So I 390 00:20:14.650 --> 00:20:16.390 want to bring up the fact that if you did, 391 00:20:16.730 --> 00:20:19.640 you're going to want to know what that property was 392 00:20:19.740 --> 00:20:24.359 worth on the day that the person who left it 393 00:20:24.420 --> 00:20:30.210 to you, if this was an inheritance, was worth. Because Oftentimes, 394 00:20:30.250 --> 00:20:32.930 there's a step-up basis there, and it can limit the 395 00:20:32.970 --> 00:20:36.029 amount of tax to very little compared to having to 396 00:20:36.069 --> 00:20:39.769 go back to what the property was worth when it 397 00:20:39.809 --> 00:20:42.809 was originally bought. So I don't know if you all 398 00:20:42.869 --> 00:20:46.170 went together and bought a property or if it was inherited. 399 00:20:46.230 --> 00:20:49.130 There's a big difference in the tax implications there. 400 00:20:49.630 --> 00:20:54.720 So, yes, putting it in a money market or a 401 00:20:54.940 --> 00:20:58.119