Latest / KNEO Podcast / Financial Issues - 2026 10 02 Financial Issues

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Financial Issues - 2026 10 02 Financial Issues · KNEO Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Financial Issues, where we help you steward faithfully
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: by honoring God with your investments. Now listen in as
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: we give you the practical tools and advice you need
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to become a biblically responsible investor.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: This is Financial Issues, where we help you defund darkness
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: and fund the light by investing with biblical integrity. Welcome, folks,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: to our Friday show. It is Focus Friday. We want
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: to answer as many questions as you can. We've got
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: a lot of questions lined up. Plenty of time to
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: take your calls as well. The number is 610-363-6000. 1110.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: We'll have overtime later on in the show as well.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Make sure you have access to financialissues.org, the FISM app,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: or any of our social streams. We also got several
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: guests joining me later in the show. It's going to
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: be a full show. We're glad that you have joined us.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: I'm Seth Udinski. That's Sam Case in the control room.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Jam-packed, Seth.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: And we're ready for some fun. Jam-packed Friday. It's going
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: to be delightful, Sam. Nothing like Fridays at FISM. It's
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: a good time. Good time. I'm enjoying too, Sam, seeing
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: the leaves changing as I'm driving into the studio. I
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: wish the weather was a little bit cooler because it
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: still feels like summer out there. It's going to be
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: 85 today.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: This is terrible because you wake up in the morning,
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: it's 45 degrees and then it's 90 midday and then
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: it falls back down to 45. So you just never
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: can win.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: That's October in Pennsylvania for you, folks. You can go
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: to the beach one day and it might snow the
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: next day. That's the way it goes. We're in the
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: same day. Yeah, we're the same day. You just never know. 610-363-1110.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Our verse of the week. Let me remind you one
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: more time, folks. Hebrews 13, 5. Keep your life free
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: from the love of money and be content with what
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: you have. For he has said, I will never leave
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: you nor forsake you. No better reason to be content
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: than knowing that the Lord is with us and he
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: always will be. Well, let's go to the markets now here, Samuel.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: So on Thursday, the markets fell to open quarter four. Actually, no,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: they did not. So they fell in the beginning, but
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: then they ended the day positively. It was really flat.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: They were basically flat the whole day. The Dow Jones
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: ended up flat. The NASDAQ was flat. The S &
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: P was really kind of the lone winner of the day.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: It was up a fifth of a percent. Actually, the
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Russell 2000, not bad as well, up about a third
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: of a percent. But this morning, the markets are feeling
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: really good. The fourth quarter has now kicked into high gear.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: The Nasdaq futures pricing in to open up about a
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: percent and a quarter. The S & P and the
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Dow up almost a full percent. And I'm seeing oil
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: is down as well, nicely, almost 4% down. Brent crude
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: oil now below $ 99 a barrel, excuse me, actually below
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: $ 100 a barrel. Oil is West Texas Intermediate, that is,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: is below $ 90 a barrel. So that's really good to
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: see there. It's a happy day, Sam, and we love
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: to see happy days. Except, it seems, for the jobs
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: numbers that we got this morning, or so we're told
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: by our ruling overlords at CNBC. Sam, what can you
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: tell us about that? Well, you know.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: It's nothing to write home about, but I don't think
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: it's the end of the world either. Non-farm payrolls increasing
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: by 29,000 jobs last month after a downwardly revised 133,000
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: rise in August. Payrolls do have a tendency when the
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: Labor Day holiday falls late in the month, as it
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: did this year, to be a little bit lower than expected.
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: But there have been no signs of broad increase in layoffs.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: The unemployment rate increased slightly, 4.2% last month. from 4.1%
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: in August. So not great, but definitely not the end
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: of days.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Sure, sure. Yep, I think that's the right way to
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: put it, Sam, especially as we look at these news headlines.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Always good to see. Yeah, it might not be great,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: but We're fine. We're just fine. It's a good day today, folks.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: And you know what? It was an interesting day on
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: the markets yesterday because we are seeing the... Sam, I've
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: called Micron like kind of almost the new NVIDIA in
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: many ways, not in terms of performance as much, but
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: more in terms of this seems to be that darling
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: tech stock that everybody's looking for. And it did report earnings.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Was it yesterday or was it the day before? It
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: was yesterday.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: Well, Well, the thing about Micron is it's one of
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: those shorthand things. They use it to represent the entire
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: data storage industry because it's very similar to SanDisk, WDC.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: So I think it's kind of a shorthand. If I'm
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: not mistaken, it was the number one gainer last year, too.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: So there is a reason people look to it.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: Yep, yep, absolutely.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: So how did they do yesterday, Sam? So it's interesting,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: because they actually did really good. Before I get into
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: all of this, I do want to be up front.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: Micron is not BRI, but so many of their competitors are.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: I do want to talk about this. And what happened
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: with Micron does paint a very good lesson for us
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: going forward, something we've been harping on a lot in
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: this show.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: But first... Let's find out what happened.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: So Micron, blockbuster blowout earnings nearly quadrupling from a year ago.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: But what happened? Well, initially not much.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: In fact, the stock fell by about 1% after already
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: gaining more than 200% this year.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: A couple reasons for that.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: The beat was smaller than previous quarters, and investors were
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: kind of asking, okay, let's So it's doing very well,
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: but are we going to be able to get as
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: much gain, get as much juice out of it as
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: we have been in the past? Meanwhile, its margins were
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: also down a little bit as well. That did rebound
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: later in the day because people realized their forward outlook
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: was actually pretty good. But still, it's amazing that quadruple
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: earnings didn't really have any of a splash in the market.
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: So the bottom line here is if something's been shooting
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: to the.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Moon, anything.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: better than going to Mars, I guess, or less than
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: going to Mars is not going to impress people too much.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: So bottom line, something that Mark, we've all been saying
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: for so long, if you have winners, don't rely on
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: them winning forever. You want to take those wins, capitalize
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: on those wins and not rely on them in the future,
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: especially with the Sandus, the WDCs, the places like that,
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: because they've run up so much that anything less than
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: a 10 out of 10.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Is probably going to disappoint. Absolutely. Sam, that's such great
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: advice there. I think you're exactly right. And it is important, folks,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: to know, again, we're talking about Micron, NVIDIA, all those.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: They are not biblically responsible. They are dirty. However, we
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: can look at these dirty companies as kind of a
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: metric for how the clean companies are doing. Sam, you
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: mentioned a couple of them as well, and they have
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: shot through the moon, as many of our partners know,
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: especially those who are a little more aggressive. So it's
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: a good lesson. Yeah, you got to prune your winners, folks. Absolutely.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: If those branches start to get unruly... Mark has shared
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: this analogy before that you might have a branch in
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: your garden or a plant that is so strong and
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: big that the actual branch starts to get too heavy
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: by the vibrant fruit that's holding it, and it could fall.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: And that'd be disastrous.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: Well, it's also expectation creep, right? We've talked about expectation
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: creep for our lifestyles, about what we expect to be
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: able to buy because other people.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: have a.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: Fancy car, I should be able to have a fancy
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: car too. Well, there's something kind of similar with the
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: market here too. If a stock like Micron, SanDisk, some
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: of these big dogs on the market right now, perform
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: anything less than stellar because they've been stellar all along,
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: we get overinflated expectations. So anything less than perfect is
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: going to be a disappointment, even though the actual earnings
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: might be really, really good, as was the case with
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: this stock.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Absolutely. Sam, that's some good insight there for sure.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: You know, folks, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: And Sam, maybe I'll ask you this as well. I'm
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: certain that we'll be talking with Mark about this when
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: he gets back. But do you think that this new
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: kind of MO of the markets, where it seems like
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: these darlings who do really well in their earnings reports
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: just can't meet expectations, do you think that started because
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: of NVIDIA's run-up from 2023 up until really kind of
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: last year, maybe a little before? where it just kept
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: on firing on all cylinders, hitting those reports. Everybody was
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: going bananas about it. And eventually, you know, they just
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: kind of got tired of it and then looked for
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: another one. Do you think that we can ever get
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: back to that, where there's one stock that does that again?
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Or has the bar been set so high that now
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: if you have a Micron or a SanDisk or something
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: like that that does really well, they can't reach it
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: because of how high it is?
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: Maybe.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: I mean, some of these have a high asking price, too,
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: although their pegs and PEs are pretty good.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: That might be the case.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: I'll say with Micron, though, it doesn't seem to be
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: having the NVIDIA effect where if it doesn't do well
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: or if it does great, it's not like the whole
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: market changes around that. I was looking at its competitors'
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: prices yesterday, doesn't seem like they were too affected by
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: what was going on with Micron.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And if you see something like that, where you
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: have a good earnings call, but it misses the expectations,
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, I feel like I've almost been... you know,
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: kind of coached into thinking like what happened with Nvidia,
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: where if it would miss the expectations, even if it
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: was a good earnings call, quote unquote, the markets would
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: go bananas. It'd be like the sky was falling. Well,
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: they did fine yesterday. Not only did they do fine yesterday,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: but they're looking great today. So it seems like they've
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: shaken that off a little bit. And hopefully that could
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: be a good sign for the markets that they are resilient.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: And maybe, maybe there's not as much of this savior
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: complex with looking for one singular stock or even one
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: singular sector. A lot of strong companies in that space. Well,
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: and I will say too, Sam, this year, I mean,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: you've been hearing Mark pound the drum on this one, folks.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: We've seen some good sector rotation. I mean, we really have.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: Tech is still the leader for sure, but we have
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: seen some strength go out from those other ones. And
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: a really good thing that we have seen too is
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: that when money leaves one sector, it's not necessarily running
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: all to safety, but it's going to other sectors. I
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: think that's a good thing. And hopefully we can see
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: some more of that there. Sam, thanks for bringing that
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: up there. Yeah, folks, the lesson, prune your winners, keep
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: them good, keep them in a good spot. Certainly not
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: selling off those winners. I mean, there's always a balancing
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: act of letting your winners win, letting them ride, but
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: also pruning them. So it's a good thing to do.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: That's why I think the rule of thumb is how
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: much have they taken over your actual portfolio, not just
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: how much have they run up individually. You might have
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: a stock, I don't know, you're a penny into it
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: and it ran up 500%. It still might only be
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: 2% of your overall portfolio. So you might want to
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: take that into account.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: That's good. Hey, Sam, we did also get the 10-year
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: treasury yield, a little bit of a seesaw here. You
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: want to give us those numbers real quick before the break? Yes,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: let's do that real quick here, Seth. So yeah, it's
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: quite the wild ride.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: 10-year treasury yield hit 5.34%, the highest since 2002. Meanwhile,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: 30-year reaching a 24-year high, although both did pull back
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: by late morning, but it was quite the ride.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: It is quite the ride indeed, folks, being here with
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: us at Financial Issues. We're grateful to have you. Hopefully
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: you'll give us a call at 610-363-1110. Several special guests
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: joining us later on, including Dr. Alex McFarlane. You don't
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: want to miss that interview. He's a great interview, and
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: I'm excited to have him on in about 15 minutes.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: We'll be right back with more Financial Issues after this. Folks,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: you can check us out at financialissues.org and join our
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: live chat there. It is lively this morning, as it
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: always is. We're thankful for all of you. Hey, today's
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: show is brought to you. We're not mentioning any of
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: our sponsors today, but rather it's all of you. It's
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: our partners, our listeners, our monthly soldiers. Can't do what
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: we do without you. Thank you all so very much,
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: not only for your support every day, but for the
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: support you just showed us with our campaign that just
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: ended two years ago. We saw the wonderful ripple effect
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: of the financial issues family come in, and it resulted
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: in over $ 120, 000 of gifts, as well as 61 monthly soldiers.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: We blew through our goal with that one and came
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: quite close to our monetary goal that we set, which,
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: as we've told you several times over this campaign series,
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: was more icing on the cake. So it was just
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: a wonderful, wildly successful campaign. And we're so thankful for
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: all of you and making this ministry possible.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: But buttercream icing too, the good icing, not that overly
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: sugary kind.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: That's right. That's right. So financialissues.org, learn more about it there, folks. Hey, Sam,
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: let's kick off Focus Friday here after our conversation in
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: that last segment. with a question from Oscar. Oscar's 30
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: years old. Let's get it started with him.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: Oscar, how might I join the retirement plan my employer provides,
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: which matches up to 3% given no BRI options exist?
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: I aim to benefit from the matching contribution. Thanks and
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: God bless. Oscar, that's a wonderful question. I'm grateful for
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: your heart to be biblically responsible there.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: And I know many people have asked this as well.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: So you're asking a great question. And again, a lot
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: of people have faced this also. The question is, should
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: I sacrifice the growth potential of using a 401k that
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: is not BRI just to remain biblically responsible? That's a
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: tough question. Honestly, that's really tough. In fact, I'd love
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: to even hear your thoughts in the chat there, folks.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: You think it's okay to do that. For some, their
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: conscience allows for this. Some will go the method of,
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: I'm just going to contribute the amount up to whatever
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: the point is that I get the match and then
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: nothing more. And I'm going to hold my nose while
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: I do it and not look at the funds. But
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: then there are others. And Oscar, my guess is the
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: reason you're asking the question is because you might fall
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: into the latter category where the answer is clear that
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: you will not invest to dishonor God whatsoever. no matter
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: what kind of sacrifice it means. You might be sacrificing
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: a lot of good returns over the next 30 so
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: years until you're 59 and a half and you can
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: start withdrawing on that, but you're not going to invest
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: in a way that dishonors God. And I commend you
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: for that. And I stand with you there also. Now,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: in your case, praise God, there's not necessarily the need
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: to pass on your 401k if you weigh out all
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: the options before you and if you actually bark up
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: these trees. Let me give you two options, Oscar, okay?
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: Option number one is to ask your employer to put
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: your 401k into an all-money market fund. ask your employer
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: to put your 401k into an all-money market fund. You
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: will probably not get the same level of returns that
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: you would if it's in their specific mutual fund choices,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: but frankly, that's okay.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: You're still getting 100% return on that 3%.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: You're getting 100% on the 3%. And if it's in
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: a money market, you can guess around 3% to 4%
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: on top of that per year. That's pretty good. To
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: remain biblically responsible, that's pretty good. So the question will
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: be whether your employer offers this type of option. Many
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: I know do. I'm sure some don't. But that would
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: be the tree-eyed bark up first is ask your employer,
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: can you just put this in the money market fund?
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: I don't want to be invested in any of your
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: index funds or mutual funds because they're filthy. But put
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: it in the money market fund and be content with
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: the 103% return, God willing, that you'll get or 104%
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: or so. Because remember, we're factoring in that 100% return
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: you get with the 3%. So that's great. Now, if
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: that fails you... then it would be time for you
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: to throw down the gauntlet as it were. And I
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: would request firmly that they offer a biblically responsible option
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: for you. And we have a resource for that actually
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: on our website that can help you with this. It's
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: our 401k ask, we call it. It's a letter that
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: we've drafted that you can personalize to present to your
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: HR department to say, hey, none of your options allow
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: me to invest with biblical integrity as a Christian. Can
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: you please provide something for me like a Timothy plan
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: or something like that? So I'd check that out. I'd
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: personalize it. I'd copy it onto your own document, put
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: your name in it, your employer's name, all that stuff.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: And maybe even a request for an official meeting face-to-face
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: with your supervisor or your HR department. Be respectful with it, absolutely.
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: Be Christ-like, but be firm also. Sam, can you point
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: out to Oscar where he might find this on our PDF?
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: Very easy to do. Go to financialissues.org, financialissues.org. Top of
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: the page, resources. It's going to have a drop-down menu,
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: stewardship downloads. It's going to be on that page, completely free,
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: both for... partners and non-partners alike, so anyone can access
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: this document. There's also a ton of other goodies there too,
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: so you'll want to peruse to your heart's content.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. It'd be a good thing to do. Oscar, what
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: a great question. I'm so grateful that you desire to
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: invest with biblical integrity. And listen, I commend your desire
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: as well to get this match. I think you should.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: I really think you should. And again, for some, their
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: conscience will be okay with holding their nose and taking
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: the 3% match That's not how I feel personally, and Oscar,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: I'm guessing that's probably not how you feel too because
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: you asked the question. So try those two options. Ask
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: your employer for the money market fund. If that fails,
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: then set up a meeting and show them this letter
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: and ask for a biblically responsible option for you as
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: a Christian. And listen, maybe I'm overly optimistic, but I
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: can't imagine that an employer would not at least be
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: willing to hear out one of their employees simply on
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: the principle of religious freedom. If they came to them
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: and said, hey, I can't utilize this employee benefit because
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: of my convictions. I feel like the fear of a
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: lawsuit alone would at least give you a fair hearing.
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: So hopefully that happens for you, Oscar. God bless you, brother.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: And let us know how that goes. We appreciate that.
• 16:58
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: George in the chat said if there's a money market
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: or government bond fund, then I would do up to
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: the match.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: So that's an option. Absolutely.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: A government bond fund is a great idea, too. And
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: many of the bigger 401k providers, I think, should offer those.
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: You would think for people who want to be more conservative. Yeah, absolutely. 610-363-1110.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: Let's go to the phones, guys. Let's talk to Matt.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Matt called yesterday. We weren't able to get to him,
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: but we're grateful to get to him today. He's calling
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: from Minnesota. Matt, good morning, brother. You're live on Financial Issues.
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: Good morning. How are you guys doing?
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: We're doing great, brother. What's on your mind?
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: Got a question on government funding. Treasury notes. Um, when
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: you go to buy those, you'll see, let's say I'll
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: say $ 25, 000 and you'll see, um, one that's that the
• 17:48
  Speaker 5: note was issued at 1% and the next one is
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: issued at say 4%, but they're selling it. Um, and
• 17:55
  Speaker 5: your yield is going to be right now. It could
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: be like 480, 4.8, 4.9. Sure.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Depending on how long the treasury note is. Yeah.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: So my question is on that, how does that handle
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: when you get a bigger discount on it because the
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: note interest is lower? How is that handled? Is that
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: taxed like a capital gains because it's really not interest
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: you're gaining?
• 18:24
  Speaker 6: It's?
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: You know, Matt, that's a great question that you've asked.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: And I'd say if there's any specifics about how the
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: difference between those percentages are, I'll tell you what I'll do.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: I'll do some digging on that and follow up with Mark.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: What I can tell you, brother, is that Treasury notes
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: are taxed fully at the federal level, but they're completely
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: exempt from state and local taxes. And the way that
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: they're taxed normally is you just report a Form 1040
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: via the Form 1099 INT. And that's basically how they're taxed.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: You receive that at the beginning of the year. If
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: you hold it until it matures, then it's just the
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: regular capital gains tax implications. If you trade it early
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: on the secondary market, brother, then you might trigger some
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: extra capital gains rules. Does that help at all, Matt? Yep.
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: Awesome.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Awesome.
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: Good.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: So I'll tell you what, what I'll do. I will
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: follow up a little bit more on the specifics of, of,
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: of that question. And you can just keep those things
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: in mind that I, you know, told you there as, as, as,
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: as we were kind of, you know, talking about that.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: Sound good, brother.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: Sounds good. Thank you.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: Thanks for your question, Matt. God bless you, brother. Appreciate
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: it so much.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, folks, that's an important thing for you to remember.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: If you decide to trade your treasury notes early, you
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: could actually trigger some extra capital gains. The interest rates,
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: if they've dropped and you sell your treasury note for
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: more than you paid for it, then the profit then
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: becomes subject to federal and state capital gains taxes. And
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: it'll be short-term or long-term depending on whether you held
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: it for.
• 19:58
  Speaker 7: Over a year.
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: If you sell it at a capital loss, then you'll
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: just experience a capital loss, which you can use for
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: offsetting some kind of tax loss harvesting there. But that's
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: kind of how that works there. Matt, it's a good question,
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: and I'm so grateful that you asked it, brother. Phone
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: number 610-363-1110, folks. We've got time. If you want to
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: get into the call queue, we would love to get
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: to speak with you. Sam, let's do this here. I'd
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: love to get to Bailey's question, but I don't think
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: we're going to have time. Well, I'll tell you what.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: I have a follow-up from George.
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: He's talking about the situation of talking to your employer
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: about your 401K. Please, Sam, go ahead. He said, I
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: ran into the problem with your employer talking to them.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: Sometimes they say that, quote unquote, management is outside the
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: company and they tell you that they don't have as
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: much influence as you might think. He said he ran
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: into that with his own company, American Airlines, at one point.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: My question is, can't you just talk to the quote
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: unquote management then that's outside the company?
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: I mean, George, that and you know what? It's so
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: frustrating when that happens, isn't it? Just passing the buck.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: It probably means they just don't want to deal with it.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: Exactly right. And so that, George, then I would be
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: so this would be a situation where, say, you know,
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: you decide to set up the meeting. You have the
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: conversation with them and maybe they hear you out, but
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: they say, listen, it's not our problem. You got to
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: talk to the management over the 401k manager is. I
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: would say then you have the right as an employee
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: to respectfully say, OK, can you point me in the
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: in in in the direction, please? And maybe even I
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: also think you could call them to account a little
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: bit and say, listen, you're the H.R. department. Isn't this
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: your job? Like, seriously, is it isn't this your job?
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: And obviously, respectfully, I mean, you don't want to put
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: your employment into question if it's not necessary to do so.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: But I would say as an employee, you have the
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: right to follow up, to ask. You are human resources.
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: These are the resources. And I'm a human. You need
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: to help me.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. Now, we could get into a whole rant
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: about human resources.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: George did say he did eventually resolve this as the
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: money was eventually managed by Fidelity.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: So I imagine he was able to talk to them.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: So what you probably did, George, you can tell us
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: in the chat, you probably followed up. You barked up
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: the trees and you ended up going to Fidelity yourself
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: and talking to them, which may be. your only option.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: If human resources decides to do what most human resource
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: departments is do sadly and pass the buck. And I'm not,
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: I'm not dunking on all human, human resources, please. Uh,
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: but some of them do do this. He can, we
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: don't have one here.
• 22:21
  Speaker 7: That's right.
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: We don't get away with it.
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: It's got, yeah, it's exactly right. Uh, sometimes you got
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: to take matters and you, you know, you got to
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: take matters in your own hands, respective respectfully. So, Yeah, George,
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: it's a tough one when that happens. But again, that's
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: part of good stewardship, isn't it, folks? I mean, we
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: talked yesterday on the show about being thorough, about thoroughness,
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: about combing through everything, about knowing the state of your flocks.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: This is part of it, too. If you work for
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: a company that has a 401k plan, I would argue
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: that as a Christian, you have a responsibility to know
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: exactly what that 401k is invested in. And if it's
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: invested in something dirty... You got to do something about it.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: You got to do something. Maybe it's figuring out in
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: your own conscience what to do. Maybe it's going and
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: requesting for a money market or government bond fund. Or maybe,
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: you know what, maybe it is saying, you know what,
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: if they're not going to if they're not going to
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: work with me. then I will abstain from investing in this,
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: and I will request for it to be invested by me.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: I'm going to pitch a fit. No, don't do that.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: You don't have to do that. But listen, there is
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: a time to take a stand for things, folks. And
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: I think when it comes to where your money is
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: invested in, there's no better time. There's no better time.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: Because after all, it's not your money. It's God's money.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: And you don't want God's money being invested in things
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: that God hates. Good questions, guys. 610-363-1110. I hope you'll
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: give us a call. We've got overtime coming up. We've
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: got a couple guests here as well. Alex McFarlane joins
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: us shortly. Can't wait to speak with him. Be right back.
• 24:10
  Speaker 7: 610-363-1110.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: We're grateful to have you today, folks. I'm so thankful
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: that you've joined us on our Focus Friday show here
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: at Financial Issues. Listen, I have a very special guest
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: in this segment. So pleased to bring a great American
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: pastor and apologist of our generation, Dr. Alex McFarland.
• 24:27
  Speaker 8: Dr.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: McFarland is a nationally known author, pastor. He's host of
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: the Exploring the Word show on American Family Radio. He
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: speaks at hundreds of Christian events and conferences and debates.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: other venues to teach biblical truths and preach the gospel.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: I'm so grateful he's joined us on the show, and
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: we're grateful to have him here today.
• 24:47
  Speaker 8: Dr.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: McFarland, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us today, brother.
• 24:50
  Speaker 6: Oh, thank you.
• 24:50
  Speaker 7: It's always a great privilege, and I appreciate you having
• 24:53
  Speaker 7: me on.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir. Absolutely. Well, let's begin our conversation here, brother,
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: with something that is close to both of our hearts,
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: I know. It's the magical, mythical world of Narnia. I
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: penned an op-ed earlier this week that's right now in
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: the Christian Post on Netflix's attack on Aslan, the Christ
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: figure of Narnia. in its upcoming adaption of the beloved C.S.
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: Lewis classic. For any listeners who don't know that, of course,
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: Empire Magazine put out a picture recently of the picture
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: of Aslan, and I gotta say, he looks like he's
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: been transed. Obviously, Meryl Streep is voicing him a woman,
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: and so it seems like what they're doing is purposeful.
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: Dr.
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: McFarlane, what do you make of this, not only as
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: a fan of the series, but also understanding what these
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: stories mean for Christians?
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: Oh, well, God bless you. As many people know, C.S.
• 25:40
  Speaker 7: Lewis was one of the great apologists of the 20th century.
• 25:43
  Speaker 7: He lived 1898 to 1963. He was an atheist until
• 25:48
  Speaker 7: he became a born-again believer as an adult while he
• 25:52
  Speaker 7: was a professor at Oxford.
• 25:55
  Speaker 6: This is no exaggeration.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: C.S.
• 25:57
  Speaker 7: Lewis was one of the most literate, brilliant people of
• 26:01
  Speaker 7: the 20th century.
• 26:03
  Speaker 6: In fact, Over my right shoulder is.
• 26:05
  Speaker 7: His textbook on medieval literature that is still used today.
• 26:11
  Speaker 6: Now, what was very significant was.
• 26:13
  Speaker 7: Among his great philosophical, historical, and apologetics works were his
• 26:19
  Speaker 7: children's books, which have sold millions of copies. The Chronicles
• 26:23
  Speaker 7: of Narnia, which Aslan represents Jesus Christ, actually owned a
• 26:28
  Speaker 7: handwritten letter of C.S. Lewis that I gave to a
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: friend but about how Aslan represents Jesus. Well, Netflix, as
• 26:39
  Speaker 7: is so often the case, they want to improve on
• 26:42
  Speaker 7: what was already near perfect.
• 26:44
  Speaker 6: And making Meryl.
• 26:45
  Speaker 7: Streep, Aslan, kind of making Aslan effeminate, that's just the,
• 26:54
  Speaker 7: I guess you might call it, deconstruction and revisionist history
• 26:59
  Speaker 7: that so much of the woke world wants to take
• 27:01
  Speaker 7: to everything And I hope it bombs. I hope it's
• 27:05
  Speaker 7: an utter failure because it's not true to Lewis's work.
• 27:09
  Speaker 7: And were he still alive, he would not have stood
• 27:11
  Speaker 7: for it.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: Alex, you're exactly right. And this would be a time
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: where I would say, hey, believers, it's time to pray
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: the imprecatory prayers against this. Alex, are you surprised by
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: this or is this par for the course for you?
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: from what Hollywood does. And of course, Netflix is in
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: many ways the worst of the worst in Hollywood. We
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: tell our listeners, don't invest a single cent in companies
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: like Netflix because they profit off of things that dishonor God.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: Are you surprised at all by this?
• 27:40
  Speaker 7: I'm not surprised because lost people that are in the
• 27:43
  Speaker 7: dark do sinful things and stupid things. You know, Macmillan
• 27:50
  Speaker 7: Publishing a few years ago, this is about 10 years ago,
• 27:53
  Speaker 7: Macmillan has published Lewis's books in America. And Lewis's books,
• 28:00
  Speaker 7: which so many of them like Mere Christianity, The Abolition
• 28:05
  Speaker 7: of Man, Miracles, they are defenses of Christianity. And they
• 28:11
  Speaker 7: contain things like truth. Well, Macmillan wanted to revise and, quote,
• 28:18
  Speaker 7: soften Lewis's books a few years ago. And from you know,
• 28:23
  Speaker 7: the followers and fans like myself, there was kind of
• 28:25
  Speaker 7: an outcry and I don't think they did, but here's
• 28:29
  Speaker 7: the deal. When we come upon truth, we can either
• 28:34
  Speaker 7: stand on it or stumble over it. And the idea
• 28:37
  Speaker 7: that Jesus is the one and only way to heaven,
• 28:40
  Speaker 7: the idea that males are not females, the idea that
• 28:45
  Speaker 7: there is objective moral truth. In other words, Well, God's revelation.
• 28:53
  Speaker 7: The modern world finds that just so unpalatable, hard to swallow,
• 28:57
  Speaker 7: and rather repent and ameliorate our lives in light of
• 29:01
  Speaker 7: God's truth. They want to change it and twist it.
• 29:05
  Speaker 7: And besides leading people into falsehood, it makes bad art.
• 29:10
  Speaker 6: I mean, the greatest art.
• 29:12
  Speaker 7: Literature, and music came about out of a Christian worldview.
• 29:17
  Speaker 7: Whether it be the Chronicles of Narnia, or To Kill
• 29:20
  Speaker 7: a Mockingbird, or Moby Dick, or the works of Shakespeare,
• 29:25
  Speaker 7: the great art, literature, and music. For example, Canon in D,
• 29:31
  Speaker 7: Johann Pachelbel, Canon in D. You hear it at virtually
• 29:35
  Speaker 7: every wedding you go to. Well, that was an offertory
• 29:38
  Speaker 7: piece written one and done. Play it while you take
• 29:42
  Speaker 7: up the collection. I mean, isn't it amazing that the
• 29:48
  Speaker 7: just basics of a Christian worldview are cherished treasures in
• 29:56
  Speaker 7: human history? And that's because God, our creator, Jesus our
• 30:01
  Speaker 7: Savior is of infinite goodness, truth, and beauty. And so
• 30:07
  Speaker 7: rather than revise and try to improve on perfection, the
• 30:11
  Speaker 7: modern world would do well to turn to Christ, humbly
• 30:15
  Speaker 7: bow before Christ, and worship, not deconstruct and revise.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: Well, Alex, you know, the work that you do, it's
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: such an honor to see the work that you do
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: and how you and your team glorifies the risen Jesus
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: Christ for who he is. not trying to change him
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: to fit whatever narrative or woke ideology surrounds us today.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: But the gospel work you guys do, brother, it's just amazing.
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: And I thank you so much for it. Alex, let's
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: move to another topic today, the surge of Islam in
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: the West. I think this is something that Lewis had
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: a pulse on as well and certainly would have had
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: something to say too. But you said earlier this week,
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: and I quote, Islamic Sharia laws, dangerous ideologies are rapidly
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: gaining influence, coexisting alongside the principles of our constitutional republic.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: Christ is over all of life and we must resist Islamism. Alex,
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: what have you seen that has really concerned you the
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: most about the rise of Sharia law in America?
• 31:10
  Speaker 7: Well, you know, it's ironic that 25 years after 9-11,
• 31:13
  Speaker 7: and by the way, I thought 9-11 would thoroughly discredit
• 31:18
  Speaker 7: Islam in the minds of most people. And oddly enough,
• 31:25
  Speaker 7: you know, this attack, 9-11 that left 3,000 New Yorkers dead,
• 31:29
  Speaker 7: compromised our national security. The Pentagon building was harmed. And
• 31:34
  Speaker 7: in fact, you and I haven't even discussed this, but
• 31:37
  Speaker 7: one of my neighbors from North Carolina, Sandy Bradshaw, died
• 31:42
  Speaker 7: in Flight 93 that crashed in the field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
• 31:50
  Speaker 6: Since 9-11, we've heard this. George W.
• 31:54
  Speaker 7: Bush, that was, I think, knowingly misleading the American people,
• 32:00
  Speaker 7: W kept saying Islam is a religion of peace and
• 32:03
  Speaker 7: the jihadists are not the true Muslims.
• 32:07
  Speaker 6: That is utterly, absolutely false.
• 32:09
  Speaker 7: In fact, I've interviewed four people this year from Tehran
• 32:13
  Speaker 7: who are talking about how in Iran, so many are
• 32:18
  Speaker 7: leaving Islam and becoming Christian. But one college professor that
• 32:23
  Speaker 7: I interviewed called George W.
• 32:25
  Speaker 6: Bush an idiot. for saying what he said, that Islam
• 32:28
  Speaker 6: is a religion of peace.
• 32:30
  Speaker 7: Well, American academics for the last quarter century have said, well,
• 32:35
  Speaker 7: you know, Islam is part of American life. Islam is
• 32:42
  Speaker 7: a beautiful thing. That is utterly false. 1400 years of
• 32:46
  Speaker 7: Islamic history have shown us that it is a murderous, bloody,
• 32:51
  Speaker 7: genocidal regime. You know, Barack Hussein Obama that, by the way,
• 32:59
  Speaker 7: if you want to learn about architecture, folks, there's a
• 33:02
  Speaker 7: genre called brutalism. And the Obama Museum in Chicago is
• 33:08
  Speaker 7: brutal on a number of levels.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: Brutally ugly, right?
• 33:13
  Speaker 6: It's pretty ugly.
• 33:15
  Speaker 7: But Obama said Islam was, quote, part of the fabric
• 33:19
  Speaker 7: of America from our beginning. That's false.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: I mean, so.
• 33:25
  Speaker 7: We've seen Islam insist upon itself, and we've seen willing
• 33:31
  Speaker 7: thought leaders and celebrities give tacit approval to Islam. But
• 33:39
  Speaker 7: here's the thing that 1400 years of history have shown us,
• 33:42
  Speaker 7: 50 years of history since the 1979 overthrow of Iran
• 33:47
  Speaker 7: by the Ayatollah Khomeini, that Islam yields at nothing. And
• 33:52
  Speaker 7: I want to say to everybody watching, Whether or not
• 33:55
  Speaker 7: you're a Christian, I wish everybody believed in Jesus, but
• 34:00
  Speaker 7: even if you're not a Christian, we all have a
• 34:02
  Speaker 7: vested interest in the West and the USA not falling
• 34:07
  Speaker 7: to Islam because Islam is really much, much more a
• 34:13
  Speaker 7: political regime than even a religious worldview.
• 34:18
  Speaker 6: And I was at the beach. Now, listen to this.
• 34:21
  Speaker 7: We're doing a series of conferences at, well, all over
• 34:24
  Speaker 7: the country, but Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, we rent theaters.
• 34:28
  Speaker 7: There's a lot of theaters down here, kind of like Branson, Missouri.
• 34:32
  Speaker 6: Yeah. I saw women in 100 degree heat.
• 34:36
  Speaker 7: This summer at the beach in burkas, head to toe,
• 34:40
  Speaker 7: in sweltering heat. How can liberal 21st century feminists be
• 34:46
  Speaker 7: okay with this? No human rights, abuse of women, racism
• 34:52
  Speaker 7: against the Jews. We can't let Islam grow in the United.
• 34:56
  Speaker 6: States of America.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: Amen, brother. Alex, I wish we had more time to
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: discuss this. You've inspired me and I'm sure many of
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: our listeners today to stand firm in the gospel in
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: both these topics. And we are so grateful for your work, brother. Folks,
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: that's Dr. Alex McFarlane. So grateful for him today. We
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: will share his information. We can learn more about him
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: in our chat. And we are so grateful for him
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: joining us today.
• 35:19
  Speaker 8: Dr.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: McFarlane, thank you so much, brother. God bless you and
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: God bless your work. More financial issues right after this.
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: The opinions and recommendations expressed on this program do not
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: necessarily represent the opinions of the station or any of
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: the program sponsors. Additionally, all products or services offered by
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: the program sponsors may not be known by the program.
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: Folks, we're so happy to have you today. Just a reminder,
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: we've got overtime coming up. Al, thanks for waiting in
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: the call queue, brother. We'll get to you as soon
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: as we can. Real quickly here, the markets have opened
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: and everything appears to be going swimmingly on Wall Street.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: Green where we like it and red where we like
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: it as well. Oil is down now over 4%. Brent
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: crude oil is down about 3%. And the stock market's
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: all up in the 1% range, with the Nasdaq leading
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: the way at 1.5%. So, folks, Pew Research Center recently
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: reported that 37% of U.S. adults say religion is gaining
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: influence in American life. That's the highest share since 2002. Still,
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: 61% say religion is losing influence. Now, Pew also found...
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: sharp partisan differences over religion's public role, underscoring a national
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: debate over how faith should shape government culture and public policy.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: I have a special guest joining me today on the show.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: I've got Barry McGuire. Barry is the founder and president
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: of Ignite America. And you know, for Barry, this debate
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: points to a more fundamental question, whether Christians will personally
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: live and share their faith rather than depending on politics
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: to restore biblical values. Barry, welcome to our show, brother.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: Thank you for joining me today.
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: Well, uh, great. Thank you having me on.
• 37:08
  Speaker 8: And yeah, it is, um, I'd say it's the worst
• 37:11
  Speaker 8: of times and the best of times right now because
• 37:14
  Speaker 8: the world's falling apart and, you know, the terminology affects
• 37:17
  Speaker 8: some of those, um, those.
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: Stats, um, religion, what's a religion.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: Um, right.
• 37:24
  Speaker 8: Most people talk about religion, religion. I think God hates religion.
• 37:28
  Speaker 8: You know, it's about us trying to earn his favor.
• 37:31
  Speaker 8: We can't earn God's favor.
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: He loves us.
• 37:35
  Speaker 8: And, um, And most people don't know that. And so
• 37:38
  Speaker 8: we spend our time loving on people. And, you know,
• 37:44
  Speaker 8: the number one thing to do is share faith.
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: We all know that.
• 37:46
  Speaker 8: It is the Great Commission. It is what he calls
• 37:49
  Speaker 8: dear love him and love our neighbors as ourselves. But
• 37:53
  Speaker 8: we're not doing it. the world is lost. They're not
• 37:57
  Speaker 8: going to church. They're going to stay lost. Somebody tells
• 38:00
  Speaker 8: us that's us, but who's going to tell them unless
• 38:02
  Speaker 8: they're being sent. They're not being sent. Pastors, what is
• 38:05
  Speaker 8: the last time you heard your pastor say, I equip
• 38:07
  Speaker 8: you for ministry.
• 38:08
  Speaker 4: And you go to the world. You know, we're not
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: hearing that from the most popes.
• 38:12
  Speaker 8: My, I have Jack Hibbs for a pastor and Calvary
• 38:15
  Speaker 8: Chalmichita Hills. He says it every Sunday, but, but most don't.
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: And so our.
• 38:19
  Speaker 8: Ministry ignite is, um, mirroring our lives. Karen and I
• 38:24
  Speaker 8: have been sharing our faith every day for 50 is
• 38:27
  Speaker 8: our 50th year.
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 38:28
  Speaker 8: And, and we have more fun and, and our lives
• 38:32
  Speaker 8: have been amazingly successful. And I mean that in the
• 38:36
  Speaker 8: best possible way. I mean, joy, I mean, having joy
• 38:39
  Speaker 8: every day. And I discovered back in 1973, this scripture
• 38:44
  Speaker 8: that I think it's one of the best of the
• 38:46
  Speaker 8: whole Bible. It's, it's the last parable of the fig
• 38:49
  Speaker 8: tree where he says, we here of course the tree
• 38:53
  Speaker 8: we're the branch and and most watching us right now
• 38:57
  Speaker 8: they're branches but they're not bearing fruit you know they're
• 39:00
  Speaker 8: just kind of going through it and getting beat up
• 39:03
  Speaker 8: by the world the world is starving for truth and
• 39:07
  Speaker 8: so when we bear fruit we love on people he
• 39:09
  Speaker 8: says they'll know you're my disciple by your love when
• 39:12
  Speaker 8: you love on people people open up so quick 100%
• 39:17
  Speaker 8: of the time when you're in the line at Starbucks,
• 39:19
  Speaker 8: wherever you're at, put your phone away and look at
• 39:22
  Speaker 8: people and want.
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: To love them.
• 39:24
  Speaker 8: When they see you smiling, they want to talk. And
• 39:27
  Speaker 8: within five minutes, they'll open up. and give you a
• 39:31
  Speaker 8: window into.
• 39:32
  Speaker 4: Their soul, they will do that. You know, I don't
• 39:35
  Speaker 4: know where God is. I wish I knew God like
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: you do. You know, God doesn't love me. You know,
• 39:39
  Speaker 4: they say things.
• 39:40
  Speaker 8: And then the Holy Spirit, he gives you the words
• 39:43
  Speaker 8: to say, that's the supernatural part.
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: Everybody said, well, I don't know what I'll say. You
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: don't have to worry about it. It was the Holy Spirit.
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: It really happens.
• 39:50
  Speaker 4: The scriptures are true.
• 39:52
  Speaker 8: He gives you the words to say. The person's being
• 39:55
  Speaker 8: changed on the other side. And then you realize at
• 39:58
  Speaker 8: that moment, folks, I don't know how else you can
• 40:00
  Speaker 8: do this in life. You know, you're right where God
• 40:03
  Speaker 8: wants you. He orchestrated that conversation. He's given you the
• 40:07
  Speaker 8: words to say the person's being changed in front of you.
• 40:10
  Speaker 8: That's intimacy with God. And quite frankly, you could have that.
• 40:16
  Speaker 8: And Karen, I have it several times every day. And
• 40:18
  Speaker 8: so we have a smile every day. I actually wrote
• 40:20
  Speaker 8: a book on it because it ignites your life.
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: I mean, it just.
• 40:24
  Speaker 8: Nothing bad things happen. I had a, we had a
• 40:27
  Speaker 8: 49 year old daughter die. I was dying in the hospital.
• 40:30
  Speaker 8: I had a joint venture partner throwing me out of it.
• 40:33
  Speaker 8: I mean, we've been through life struggles, but we never
• 40:35
  Speaker 8: lost our joy because we know Romans eight 28 actually works.
• 40:40
  Speaker 8: He says, everything works for good when you.
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: Live for my purpose, not ours. It's not about car wax.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 40:47
  Speaker 4: When I get to heaven, it's not going to matter
• 40:49
  Speaker 4: how many bottles of car wax I sold.
• 40:51
  Speaker 2: Folks, talking to Barry McGuire, Barry, of course, the founder
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: and president of Ignite America. Barry, you had said recently,
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: you know, America's spiritual future will not be decided only
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: in voting booths, courtrooms or legislative chambers. It'll be decided
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: across dinner tables in workplaces. neighborhoods, wherever Christians have the
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: opportunity to show God's love and explain the hope that
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: they have in Jesus. I love that, brother. You know,
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: I actually pinned an article recently It's called Christless Conservatism
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: Can't Save America. I basically made a lot of the
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: same points you just did in that you're telling us
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: here that, you know, our political movement fundamentally means nothing
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: if we don't understand that this is really all about
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: the gospel. It's about heart change, good stewardship. What we
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: talk about on this show all the time is about
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: gospel heart change that starts in your own heart and
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: then it spreads to everything else. We're a financial show,
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: so we talk a lot about money, but it spreads
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: to politics and it spreads to worldview, but it's all
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: about heart change. Would you agree with that?
• 41:46
  Speaker 4: A thousand percent.
• 41:49
  Speaker 8: We have one goal. God has one goal. He gave
• 41:53
  Speaker 8: us this incubator, boot camp, whatever you want to call it.
• 41:58
  Speaker 8: There's only one reason for life from God. He didn't
• 42:00
  Speaker 8: make us for earth. He made us for heaven. He's
• 42:03
  Speaker 8: given us this time on earth to figure out who
• 42:05
  Speaker 8: he is, to receive him or not receive him. If
• 42:08
  Speaker 8: we receive him, join the team and help him get
• 42:11
  Speaker 8: as many others into heaven as possible. Nothing else matters.
• 42:14
  Speaker 8: I worked 50 years. I worked I worked 10 hour
• 42:17
  Speaker 8: days for decades. You know, I built a little bitty
• 42:20
  Speaker 8: business of the biggest in its category, but I did
• 42:24
  Speaker 8: it not with that. Would that be my goal? My
• 42:28
  Speaker 8: goal was to use my business as a platform.
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: To lead people to Jesus.
• 42:32
  Speaker 8: So when I was in sales presentations back 30 years ago,
• 42:36
  Speaker 8: nobody knew who I was and they would turn me down.
• 42:39
  Speaker 8: I would love fund them. And I would thank them.
• 42:42
  Speaker 8: I'd say, you know, I've taken copious notes.
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: I'm learning. You're mentoring me. Thank you. I love you.
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: Anything I can pray for you about.
• 42:49
  Speaker 8: Because I knew as long as I'm doing that, God's
• 42:52
  Speaker 8: going to ultimately at his time, he make things good.
• 42:55
  Speaker 8: When my joint venture partner is going to throw me
• 42:57
  Speaker 8: out of my business, I was 65 years old. And
• 43:00
  Speaker 8: I found out the next morning, he's throwing me out
• 43:02
  Speaker 8: of my, he took control of my board. So I
• 43:04
  Speaker 8: was going to be outside the business that I built.
• 43:07
  Speaker 8: You know, can you imagine my reputation's gone? My income's gone.
• 43:10
  Speaker 8: Everything's gone. And I just said to God, I ask
• 43:14
  Speaker 8: you for nothing because you.
• 43:16
  Speaker 4: Know, I live for your purpose. That's all you all
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: day long. And, and I know what I live for
• 43:21
  Speaker 4: your purpose. You make it good.
• 43:22
  Speaker 8: And within five, eight minutes at most, he turned my
• 43:25
  Speaker 8: joint venture partner upside down and he was cussing me out.
• 43:28
  Speaker 8: It was on a star phone conference call. So he
• 43:32
  Speaker 8: couldn't see me. And I'm just like, God, I had nothing. Folks,
• 43:37
  Speaker 8: if you want to be successful in business, forget about
• 43:41
  Speaker 8: honoring your business and honor him. He directs your steps.
• 43:44
  Speaker 8: He brings the people in your life.
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: I got a lifetime of miracles. And you know what?
• 43:48
  Speaker 8: I have a financial planner. His name's Tony Amaradio. He's
• 43:51
  Speaker 8: an amazing guy, loves the Lord. And every time he
• 43:54
  Speaker 8: sits with me on a quarterly basis, he says, God,
• 43:57
  Speaker 8: I can't bear it. Don't ever expect a quarter.
• 43:59
  Speaker 4: Like this again. I don't know what it is.
• 44:01
  Speaker 8: I don't have anybody else getting these kind of returns,
• 44:03
  Speaker 8: but God must really love you. And it gives me
• 44:05
  Speaker 8: these reports. And so from on a financial account, when
• 44:09
  Speaker 8: my treasure is not my money, I'm using my money
• 44:12
  Speaker 8: for God.
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: I'm using my money for this ministry. I'm using everything.
• 44:15
  Speaker 8: I'm doing now, even though I pedal car wax, it's
• 44:18
  Speaker 8: requires car wax, right? But my goal, my joy every
• 44:22
  Speaker 8: day is moving. Everybody folks, when you move everybody, I
• 44:25
  Speaker 8: promise you, you'll never have a bad day.
• 44:27
  Speaker 4: Again, if you, if you focus on moving.
• 44:30
  Speaker 8: Everybody, everybody from your wife and your husband, throughout the
• 44:34
  Speaker 8: day you know that everything you say and do is
• 44:37
  Speaker 8: moving everybody watching you closer or further away from god.
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah it's well said barry that is so well said
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: and So we're all in.
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: The same boat here. How are you? You have influence.
• 44:50
  Speaker 4: How are you using your influence?
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: Well said. Well said. Can't say it better than that, brother. Hey, Barry,
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: we're so grateful for you joining us today on the show. Hey,
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: how can our audience quickly, how can they learn more
• 45:01
  Speaker 2: about Ignite America and follow what you guys do?
• 45:04
  Speaker 8: Well, if I throw that on the screen, igniteamerica.com will
• 45:08
  Speaker 8: tell you all about it. We give these cards out
• 45:10
  Speaker 8: on the other side, seekinggod.com. We give these out free
• 45:13
  Speaker 8: of charge. You can't give us money, by the way, folks.
• 45:15
  Speaker 8: It's just about ministry. We give these cards out. You
• 45:18
  Speaker 8: order these cards for our website. We'll send them to you.
• 45:20
  Speaker 8: At the end of every one of those brief conversations,
• 45:22
  Speaker 8: you say, would you like to know more about God?
• 45:24
  Speaker 8: And they always say yes. And you say, do I
• 45:26
  Speaker 8: have something for you? This card, this is a website, seekinggod.org.
• 45:30
  Speaker 8: And by the way, all those of you watching this
• 45:32
  Speaker 8: right now that don't know the Lord, write down seekinggod.org.
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 45:36
  Speaker 8: You don't need Mark or me or a pastor in
• 45:40
  Speaker 8: your privacy-owned home.
• 45:41
  Speaker 4: You can find the Lord. If you want financial stability,
• 45:46
  Speaker 4: you need Mark.
• 45:48
  Speaker 8: But above that, you need the blessings of God, and
• 45:50
  Speaker 8: he'll bless you.
• 45:51
  Speaker 4: He makes everything work together for good when you live
• 45:53
  Speaker 4: for his purpose.
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. Barry, thank you so much once again, brother.
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: It's igniteamerica.org. Is that correct? Igniteamerica.org?
• 46:04
  Speaker 4: It's actually igniteamerica.com.. com.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: Igniteamerica.com. So check that out, folks. Barry, thank you so
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: much for the work that you do in spreading the gospel, brother.
• 46:13
  Speaker 2: It was such a joy to have you on the show,
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: and I'm so excited to hear that you and your
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: ministry are really standing shoulder to shoulder with us and
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: what we try to do. Again, folks, it's all about
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: the gospel. That's what we're trying to do here. Hey, listen,
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: we've got overtime coming up in just a moment. Al,
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: thanks for waiting in the call queue. We're going to
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: get to you. as soon as we come back from
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: this very short break. For the rest of you who
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: have to leave us though, we hope you have a
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: wonderful weekend, a wonderful day of worship on Sunday. May
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: the Lord bless you and may you be found good
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: and faithful stewards. Thank you for loving God. Thank you
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: for choosing to invest with biblical integrity. For the rest
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: of you, financialissues.org slash watch. Of course, the FISM app
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: and our social streams also. Catch us for overtime coming
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: up in just a moment.
• 46:58
  Speaker 6: We'll see you then.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: If we ever forget that we're one nation under God,
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: then we.