April 14, 2025 • 37 mins
The rapidly evolving trade war between the United States and China has many believers anxiously wondering how to respond. When former President Trump announced his sweeping tariff policies—imposing a 10% universal tariff on imports with even steeper rates for specific nations—China immediately retaliated with tariffs of their own, escalating to 125% on some American goods.
But beyond the political rhetoric and economic theories lies a deeper question for Christians: How should our faith inform our response to these developments? This emergency episode of Faith and Failures cuts through the noise to examine what Scripture actually says about trade justice, economic anxiety, and loving our global neighbors.
Drawing from passages like Proverbs 11:1, "The Lord detests dishonest scales," we explore how God views trade relationships while balancing the biblical mandate to love our neighbors—even those across borders. As believers, we must resist the temptation to copy-paste negative behaviors of a few onto entire populations or fall prey to politically-driven stereotyping.
The conversation moves beyond theory into practical wisdom for weathering potential economic storms. From establishing a proper budget to supporting American-made products, from serving vulnerable populations to maintaining peace when markets fluctuate, this episode provides concrete steps for living faithfully amidst economic uncertainty.
Most importantly, we're reminded that our ultimate provision comes not from global supply chains, government policies, or even American manufacturing—but from God Himself. As Jesus taught, "Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."
Whether you're concerned about rising prices, job security, or the broader economic implications of this trade war, this episode offers biblical grounding and spiritual perspective to help you navigate these challenging waters with faith rather than fear.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is up?
Welcome back to another episodeof Faith and Failures.
I guess I would kind ofconsider this podcast a little
bit of an emergency podcast.
If you listened to the lastepisode that came out the first
Monday of this month.
I am dialing back podcastsperiod and only releasing one a
(00:23):
month, but hopefully with somegood content.
But I've had a lot of questions,a lot of people kind of
reaching out to me, asking mepersonally, one-on-one, what I
think about a lot of the Trumptariffs that's going on.
And here's what I think.
I think there is a lot ofpeople out there putting out
(00:43):
Christian content that arewanting you to click and listen
to a story or the clickbait withthe thumbnail and they don't
really give you any substance.
So I kind of want to look atthe terrorist situation, what's
going on, and then I want tokind of as believers, I want to
(01:04):
look at what does the Word say,what does the Bible say?
How should we be viewing thethings in our culture, in our
world that is going on, becauseeverything that happens in the
world affects us Christians,because we're living in it.
So on April 2nd so this is kindof a few days behind, but just
(01:28):
a week or so ago that wasconsidered Liberation Day
President Trump signed anexecutive order imposing a 10%
universal tariff on nearly everyimported good, with steeper
reciprocal rates for nationsthat restrict us products, which
(01:51):
personally that makes sense,like if you're not going to
allow us to bring our productsinto your world but you are
charging us to bring yours intoours Kind of uneven, if you ask
me.
So the products 20% on the EU,24% on Japan, 32% on Taiwan and
(02:14):
25% on South Korea.
Now, what China did, most ofyou probably already know this,
and so I'm not trying to be anews source, but I am trying to
be a Christian that is concernedfor our world.
And I believe sometimes, asChristians, we detach ourselves
too easily from political issues, from political stances, and
(02:35):
then we end up not reallystanding for anything.
But this is my policy for mychurch I will preach against sin
, but I will not preach againstpolitical parties.
So it's my job to deliver theword of God, to deliver a
message from God, and to giveyou the tools to make that wise
(02:59):
God conscious, like you areaware of what God wants you to
do by the obvious text in theword.
It's not my job to tell you howto vote.
It's not my job to tell you whoto follow.
It's not my job to tell you howto run your house, but it is my
job to deliver the word of Godand tell you that this is the
(03:20):
example, this is the standardthat the word says.
Now, how you apply, that iscompletely your responsibility.
What you do is not myresponsibility.
My responsibility is to showyou what you are allowed, what
you are supposed to do in yourlife, in your house and, yes,
even in your politics.
So this falls under that.
(03:41):
That's why I'm doing thisepisode.
So China immediately retaliated.
So this falls under that.
(04:09):
That's why I'm doing thisepisode.
So China immediately retaliated, of course, because they are
one of the biggest industriesthat we I mean up to 104% and
then later raised them to 125%,while it says they paused most
other new levies for 90 days togive allies time to negotiate
levies for 90 days to giveallies time to negotiate.
So markets dropped on theannouncement by rebounding when
(04:30):
the pause was revealed,illustrating the policy's high
stakes volatility.
So this is a big deal right nowbecause we import so much from
china, but china is such aimport.
So much from China, but Chinais such a beast in this area
that they manufacture so muchfor cheap for us so that we can
(04:51):
sell it.
I think they really they knowtheir power right now because
they kind of have us backed in acorner because they're such a
massive import company.
Not export, import, theymanufacture and we bring it over
here.
Now, whether you call thiseconomic self-defense or big
(05:16):
government meddling, or eitherway, this has moved everyone's
attention, especially those ofus who see the world through
scripture, which, as believersif you're watching this podcast,
I hope that you do nationalsovereignty and personal
responsibility.
So we're going to walk throughthis a little bit and I want to
(05:38):
break down what the word says ofhow we should be looking at
things, because, I mean, some ofus, some of you, may not have
voted for trump.
You, you may have voted forTrump.
Some of you are like yes,finally, he's doing something.
I think like in the mid 80s hehas said the exact same thing.
His parade has not changed.
It's the same exact thing thathe's been saying since he was on
(05:59):
Oprah, I think, in like 1986.
And so he hasn't changed a songat all.
So he's doing what he said hethought the world should do Now,
why he didn't do it the firsttime around, I don't know.
Maybe he thinks he can make morechange and make more of a
difference doing things likethis.
So if you don't know what atariff is, it's pretty much
(06:20):
we're being taxed one way orunequally than we are taxing
them, like you have to pay tocome into our country, or pretty
much what that means, and so wevastly outweigh specifically
China they are one of thebiggest ones vastly outweighs on
the one way street in theirfavor.
(06:41):
So we have to pay more thanthey do in this exchange that we
have of import and export withthem.
That being said, trump hasdefinitely made some waves and
personally I don't think Trumpis going to back down.
Now what I hope happens andwhat usually in situations like
(07:02):
this, I think does happen when,uh, because there's always like
that first, like blow, like yougot the first hit, uh, and then
you hit back, you like tit fortat, and I think cooler heads
will prevail in that they'llunderstand that there's not a
there, we can't.
It's just going to keep goingup and up and up and up and up
(07:23):
for both sides and nobody'sgoing to do anything, and that
doesn't benefit anybody.
So, eventually, what willhappen?
I think, honestly, trump'strying to make a statement.
I think China's trying to makea statement, and what I hope and
what I think is that they willall come to the table with
something that will.
I know Trump now.
I don't know if this is hisbargaining chip, I know it's not
(07:44):
his reason, but he hadmentioned in an interview that
something about TikTok.
You know, there's a big stinkabout TikTok.
A year or two ago, whateverthat was they shut it down just
for a small time, but Chinaowned, so I don't know if he's
trying to strong arm them intoturning things.
I don't know, as a believer,that, um.
(08:05):
Does this worry me at all?
Uh, we're going to look at somefactors in a minute that it
could cause some worry, and thisis the main reason for this,
for this longer video, or forthis, uh, emergency video.
I wanted to get you to not beworried because here's what
happened.
Be worried because here's whathappened.
(08:28):
Here's what happens if importsstop.
We saw this in 2020 with, uh,covid-19.
If import and export stops,then that clogs up our money,
that clogs up our way of life.
Um, like, that's how the worldfunctions.
We all move in this kind ofsynergy type thing, where things
are flowing in, things flow outand there's a healthy balance
(08:48):
to it.
But this will because China issuch a massive piece of that
flow it will definitely clog upthe drain and, like I was saying
, I think when they both come tothe table and they sit there
and they really hash it outinstead of trying to win a pee
contest, I think everybody willcome out better because and
(09:10):
Trump's not wanting to, from allthat I've seen he's not wanting
to stop export and import andworking with them.
He's trying to make a point likeif, like they won't even let
american products into theircountry, but yet we, then
there's no telling what they,what they let in their products.
Uh, when they bring them in,like we don't, I'm sure they,
(09:35):
you know, do their due diligenceand and all that stuff.
But like what?
How much?
Even with the phones, with allthe stuff, like, how much can
they spy on us?
We know facebook does.
Like you talk about somethingand your phone will pop up an ad
on something that you justtalked about.
We're being spied on constantly.
Now, this is not a conspiracytheory podcast, but I'm just
(09:56):
saying, like as a believer, weneed to be aware of things and
not stick our head in the sandand not pretend like, oh, surely
they and this is is so naiveand you can say truth without
being like a jerk they listen towhat we say.
They are a hundred percentpaying attention to our lives.
(10:16):
You can say certain, probablycertain phrases, or on an open I
know in an open phone line youused to could I don't know about
cell phones, but they probablygot that tap too and people
probably will show up at yourdoor.
I'm not going to try it.
I mean, I don't encourage youto try it either.
So it's the government first ofall.
(10:43):
I don't know what the end resultis going to be, but I do know
this that, as believers, whetheryou like Trump, whether you
don't like Trump, in the newpresidential Oval Office
situation, you probably didn'tknow that the tariff situation
(11:09):
was so unevenly balanced, and wehave been.
I mean the deficit that Americahas.
We will never be able to pay itoff and the people in charge
continue to spend all of ourmoney and we get taxed on every
little thing and they can justbuy and do whatever they want.
(11:29):
It is such a jacked up, unfairsystem.
So why do I think that tariffswill be good?
Here's what I know.
In the beginning stages ofpivoting and correcting things,
it usually makes life prettydifficult and hard and it can
(11:50):
feel like you've made the wrongdecision.
Understand the concept that ifwe stop going outside of the
country and start producing andmanufacturing here, it will help
have jobs but at the same timethings will rise in price.
(12:15):
It's not all things, but somethings because now they're being
made in America with Americanwages, which cost more, and so
the product may end up costingmore.
Now, if we're having the samestuff the product is made out of
, it may be just a wage sidethat makes it a little more
expensive, but it shouldn'tincrease it that much Because
(12:38):
the price they put on things Iused to sell at a company called
ETX Apparel and I would buythings wholesale and sell them
for retail and my wife was soupset of how much I could charge
for something from the pricethat I bought it.
A lot of it would be Chinastuff.
So I don't know exactly howthat's going to affect the
economy, but I do know thatbringing jobs back to America
(13:02):
and getting things in-house is alot healthier for us to not be
dependent on others and thatwill keep it to where we can.
I mean, there's nothing betterthan being able to actually do
stuff in-house, because youdon't have all the extra junk
that you have to go through andred tape.
(13:22):
House, because you don't haveall the extra junk that you have
to go through and red tape andthere's no hangups because it's
all flowing inside of our houseinstead of trying to get people
outside to get with us,especially with the culture
barrier and everything else.
So a couple of things I havewritten down here is that in
this whole process, the samewhen we had wars in Iraq and we
were all the people over theMiddle East, and I remember it
(13:45):
was 9-11.
I had a friend in high schoolthat he's half white and half
Egyptian and his and I thoughtit was so weird.
You know I didn't understandanything.
I thought it was so weird thathis dad when it happened that
day, like him and I, always hungout and we'd run around
together.
But that night after ithappened, he made my friend come
(14:10):
home and stay home.
I don't remember if you madehim stay for multiple days or
what it was, but I know thatnight he could not come out
because he was afraid somebodywas going to come and attack and
like, we copy and paste aculture's bad behavior or a
specific sect of a culture,their bad behavior, and we copy
(14:31):
and paste it on everyone wholooks like that or is from that
area.
It's just like the radicalmuslims.
People automatically assumethat if the women are walking
with a thing on their head or aguy's got a turban, he's a
terrorist, and that's not thecase.
What you're doing is you'reyou're copying and pasting other
people's bad behavior on peoplethat have nothing to do good
people and it's going to be easyto do in this whole tariff
(14:57):
thing.
And we do the same thing inpolitics.
Oh my gosh, we always talkabout like other people, like
you, you immediately assume ifsomebody says a democrat that
they think abortion is right andthat's not the case, always can
be.
It's a majority of their little.
You know the trans thing andall that cutting and mutilating
kids and that's kind of their.
(15:17):
That's been their song for thelast four years heavy, um.
So when someone that's why youhave people that are Democrats,
politicians that are Democrats,that they are defecting over to
the conservative side because,like when JFK was president and
things, I think a lot of it wasflipped.
I don't know much about theRepublicans back in that day but
I do know that, like Stephen ASmith, people like that he said
(15:41):
I think he said his mom was aRepublican but she would vote
Democrat.
She was a quiet, which I don'tknow why.
Like it doesn't, it shouldn'tmatter, it shouldn't make you
lose friends or gain friends.
It shouldn't make people hateyou or love you Like it
shouldn't be.
We have created this culture inour own system and it's
severely flawed to where wethink strictly in politics or
(16:03):
church denomination.
Like you got to take a side.
It's so stupid, it's ignorant,is what it is anyways, get off
of that.
But we must remember in thisprocess and all this stuff going
on, whether whatever side ofthe aisle or maybe you're in the
middle of the and I have a lotof conservative viewpoints and I
(16:27):
am a registered Republican, butI am not so foolish enough to
think, because someone is aRepublican, that they hold all
the values that I do and callthemselves Christians, like I
see all the time online.
There's one, there's some blondegirl.
She's always like wearing Ithink she's big on Twitter or X,
(16:47):
whatever.
I don't get on there anymorebecause they house porn on there
.
But she calls herself aconservative.
She's outspoken, she's a bigboobed blonde girl.
She's always wearing revealingstuff and I'm like like, don't
call yourself like a Christianwhen you dress like a hooker.
Like those two things shouldn'tbe in the same room together.
(17:09):
As far as like the way youpresent yourself and so stuff
like that really frustrates meand so I don't that she says
she's a conservative, but to meI'm.
I'm old school when it comes tothat kind of stuff.
And I say old school, I'mbiblical.
You should cover your body.
You should cover up.
Your boobs shouldn't be hangingout.
You shouldn't have cleavage.
(17:30):
Get a bigger shirt or wear aundershirt that comes up tight.
They sell them.
Don't wear leggings and stuffthat shows your woohoo, and then
you blame the guy for being apervert when you're the one
showing it off.
That's all I'm saying.
Remember to love your neighbor.
Okay, we cherish the borders.
That's a big thing, a big topicright now.
(17:50):
We cherish borders and thesovereignty of those borders
rightfully so.
But we can slip into dismissingthe welfare of foreign people,
like, like immigrants affectedby those policies.
For instance, like I just saidabout the Muslims a minute ago,
(18:10):
sometimes we take the borderissue, and especially being a
white American or even blackAmerican, because you usually
don't have black people tryingto come to the border.
It's hispanic, um, the, themedium-toned skin stuff, and you
got people that are just like,yeah, get them all, throw them
all back, and that and it's it'sreally hard to decipher who's
(18:34):
good, who's bad, who's trying todo what?
If they're smuggling and drugs,are they?
Are they killing and raping?
Are they doing all these things?
It's hard to decipher that, butit is our job as Christians to
not immediately go down thatrabbit hole of they are all
rapists, they are all murderers,they're all gang members,
(18:54):
because they're people just likewe are.
So we have to remember to loveour neighbor and do it with
justice, with justice in mindgod is just but also through the
eyes of mercy and grace, and Ilike to.
What I like to do is is take,take their situation and put
myself in it.
That helps me think about thewhole thing differently because,
(19:20):
like, for instance, you have afamily who's actually excuse me,
coming here for, like, tryingto be refugees, and they're
trying to do it the right way.
Well, some people will justtake those people, group them in
with everybody else who's doingsomething bad and just say send
them all back, when in realityvery few of us are original uS
(19:41):
people.
Another issue that we can runinto and this happens a lot, it
happened a little bit well, alot of it in COVID that we get
fear driving our hearts and ourminds take place and things
(20:05):
begin to slow down and normaleveryday items that we had at
our fingertips now are no longeravailable to us.
It could kind of fear, a fearcould grip us and drive us into
that scarcity mindset where wegot to get, get, get, get before
anybody else so that I don'tlose.
We experienced that with toiletpaper.
Higher prices can nudge ustowards a hoarding mentality,
(20:28):
forgetting that God not globalsupply chains, but God is our
provider.
We can survive without China,we can survive without all these
other people that theterrorists may make them not
want to work with us anymore ornot want to deliver to us
(20:52):
anymore.
Don't think and we do this withour spiritual walk we will bend
to certain things because wethink we can't do without and we
don't want to do without.
That's not the case.
Another one is delegatingvirtue to government.
Now think about this.
People did this with Trump, andthen the other side did it with
Biden and probably Harris too.
(21:14):
Another did it with Obama.
We may assume that tariffsalone will fix the injustice and
balance the scales whenScripture calls us me and you
may assume that tariffs alonewill fix the injustice and
balance the scales whenscripture calls us me and you to
act justly and generously, inspite of whatever Washington is
doing.
(21:36):
So I understand that sometimesit could feel, and I felt this
way before.
You feel like you can't doanything because you're just a
person out in the world Like you.
Just you feel like you can'thave, you don't have a voice,
you feel like you can't reallyspeak up.
You could do what I do.
If you have a phone, you can dowhat I'm doing right now for
free and voice your opinion, getthe word out, and it's it's
(22:00):
very easy and simple to get theword out to people that you will
never meet or see.
But the virtue, the honor,character, morality, it should
never come from or be the source, should never be our leaders,
(22:26):
it shouldn't be from the WhiteHouse, it shouldn't be from your
pastor.
It shouldn't be anywhere, butfrom God and from the Word and
from the Scripture.
So what does the Bible say?
Well, let's read some Scripturethat I hope will leave you with
a little bit of encouragement.
So Proverbs 11, 1, ofencouragement.
So Proverbs 11, 1,.
The Lord detests the use ofdishonest scales, but he
(22:46):
delights in accurate weights.
Romans 13, 1 through 4,.
Everyone must submit togovernment authorities for all
authority.
This is hard for some people,especially when you don't like
the person that's in power inplace, for all authority comes
from God.
The authorities are God'sservants, sent for your good,
but if you are doing wrong, ofcourse you should be afraid, for
(23:08):
they have the power to punishyou.
1 Timothy 5.8.
But those now, if you want to,what we just read in Romans
about authorities being over youand stuff, if you would like an
episode specifically on thatand when is it okay and when is
it not okay according toscripture, of when we are
allowed to retaliate and when weare allowed to buck up and push
(23:29):
back, that would be a goodepisode.
So if you're interested in that, drop a comment below and let
me know you're interested.
1 Timothy 5.8,.
But those who won't care fortheir relatives, especially
those in their own household,have denied the true faith.
Such people are worse thanunbelievers.
That's pretty intense.
(23:51):
Matthew, chapter 6, 31 through33.
So don't worry about thesethings saying what will we eat,
what will we drink, what will wewear?
That's import, export, if Iever heard it.
These things dominate thethoughts of unbelievers.
So it's saying like if we arebelievers and we trust we truly
trust in God, we lean on him.
Then we don't have the sameworries and struggles and
(24:16):
anxieties that the world does,because we understand where our
supply comes from.
These things dominate thethoughts of unbelievers.
But your heavenly fatheralready knows all your needs.
Seek the kingdom of God aboveall else and live righteously,
and he will give you everythingyou need.
Deuteronomy 24, 14 and 15,.
(24:52):
Never take advantage of poor anddestitute laborers.
Pay them their wages each.
So it's talking about if youowe somebody, if somebody's
worked for you, pay them.
Don't hold back on that.
So you may be.
People do this with theirtithes and they're giving at
church.
You may think, well, I havethis over here to take care of,
so I can't do that right now.
Put it on credit, you know, putit on my tab.
(25:13):
But it's saying take care ofyour debts.
If you owe somebody, pay them.
If you promise the Lord you'regoing to do something with your
tithes or offering, do that.
Don't have control over it.
Don't try to manipulate orcontrol what it does, but do
(25:35):
what you promise and what theword says that you should do
with your money.
So let's talk about some actionswe're about to wrap it up.
Some actions, some commonthings that you can do that will
help you.
And sometimes, like, we havethings like this a lot,
especially with the new turnoverof a president, because that's
(25:57):
probably the highest it'sdefinitely not the highest
controlled, but the highestranking office, I guess, in the
world or in the United States.
So how should believers handlethings like this, not only this,
where we're not sure how thingsare going to go.
China bumped it up even more,from 104 to 125.
(26:18):
How do we continue to keep ourmind right?
So one big thing social media isamazing.
It keeps us connected, even atgreat distances.
It allows us to see into thelives of others and we can be a
part of each other's lives.
My grandparents can see mylittle baby girl, even though
(26:39):
we're miles away.
My dad we can get on the phonewith FaceTime and we can show
the baby to my mom and myteenager and let them see each
other, even though we're not inthe same room.
Technology is amazing, but praybefore you post on social media.
You need to take a.
I tell my leaders this all thetime.
(26:59):
If I get in an issue withsomebody or they upset me, I
tell them.
If I fall off the map for 24hours it's because I'm thinking
and praying about what next Ineed to say to you, because I
don't want.
God values relationships somuch.
He values a reputation of achurch, of a body, of a person
so much, especially when we saywe represent him.
(27:21):
We need to take good, tendercare of that reflection, of that
portrayal of God.
Pray first, post later beforecelebrating or denouncing the
tariffs or a president orwhatever.
(27:42):
Democrats, republicans, beforedoing all that junk, if you got
stuff in your personal life,before you post it everywhere,
pray about it Because, listen,it's better for you to face your
problems and Facebook them.
Nothing is ever solved from youranting on Facebook.
It just it doesn't solveanything.
And actually, nine times out often, probably ten times out of
(28:05):
ten it makes you look like theaggressor.
It makes you look angry and itwill damage the testimony and
all the good God has done inyour life because of the way you
appear online to people whoreally don't even know you.
So pray and then post, or oryou know what I usually find out
(28:26):
Sometimes, if I just pray, Iend up not posting.
Pray Romans 13 over your leaders.
Then speak with grace and speakwith truth.
Okay, it's okay to have anopinion, but don't be so quick
to run out there with youropinion to try to slaughter
other people in front of otherpeople.
You know what I mean.
Like it'll make you feel goodin a moment, but it can damage
(28:51):
the reputation of God andbelievers and your church and
your house and you in front ofother people because you are
slandering or trying todigitally murder somebody or a
group of people in front ofstrangers or people that know
you and it may make them notwant to be around you because
(29:12):
you're damaging, you're soundingmean, you're sounding rude.
So pray.
Pray before you post.
Another thing that a lot ofpeople don't talk about in
church audit your budget.
If you're worried about howthis is going to affect
everything, if it's going tomake things more expensive.
Start, fine, tuning your money.
Where does your money go?
(29:33):
If you can't answer thatquestion and I'm guilty of this
too I'm listening to the accountand I'm like, oh, we're doing
good.
And then I realized we didn'tpay our mortgage yet.
And I'm like, why did we notpay the mortgage?
And I'm like, wait a minute.
If the mortgage comes out,where did all our money go?
And so I started payingattention to what in the world
is going on.
Why is our money disappearingso quickly?
(29:57):
Sometimes it's just that time ofthe month where you end up
spending more than you normallywould.
If you get groceries at thebeginning of the month to kind
of span out, or you have peoplecome over there's things that
always.
But you need to know where yourmoney goes.
And when you have control ofyour money and you're more aware
of your money, your moneydoesn't control you.
And so when times get tough,you have a nest egg.
When times get tough, you havebackup money.
(30:18):
You have funds.
Like, if you, every few months,need to ask help for money,
then your budget's not, or youdon't have a budget at all.
Budget is not a bad word, it'sparameters where you can know
what you can spend and you knowwhat not to spend.
So if you save, you tithe, yougive and you spend All these
(30:41):
things, things.
Spending is not bad, butspending like you're in congress
or like you're one of thepeople on capitol hill, you're
gonna run out of money andyou're gonna end up in debt and
you're gonna get deeper anddeeper and deeper, because if
you borrow five dollars and youput 25 interest on top of that
and you can't pay it off everymonth, now you have a
accumulative debt that keepspiling when all you wanted was
(31:04):
this little thing right here andit costs you so much more.
That's why, if you can't handlecredit cards, you need to pay
them off and cut them up and donot use them again until you
have the.
I use credit cards, but it israre.
We have one Discover card thatwe pay off every month and that
is like for bigger purchases.
We'll do that, but if we don'thave the money to back it up, we
(31:26):
don't use it.
Does that make sense?
So it's like I'll get thepoints and all the little things
they try to hook you with andso you can get this many rewards
and this and that, all themiles and the cash back, blah,
blah, blah.
And if you do the math on whatthe cash back is, you will be so
mad at yourself for thinkingyou're getting a reward for
using their money, especiallywhen you can't pay it off and it
(31:47):
ends up stacking up becausethat cash back ain't going to do
nothing for you.
Five percent you know what fivepercent is?
Let's do it like this you spenda hundred dollars, ten percent
is ten dollars, five percent isfive dollars.
So out of spending a hundred100, you got $5.
Just do the math, it'll makeyou mad.
(32:11):
So, rising cost tighten up yourentertainment.
What are you spending money onevery month that you really
could do without?
Could do without.
So another thing you can do andthis is kind of hard because
(32:32):
sometimes american made stuff ispoo-poo but try to buy american
made things like kind of seekthat out.
Um, etsy is a good place if youneed stuff like it's people in
america.
They're, they're making things,they're, they're, um, actually
themselves.
A lot of them are manufacturingit themselves and making it.
So support local produce.
Local produce, uh, localbusinesses.
(32:53):
We have a few of those in tylerhere.
We have a few of those inlongview here.
So instead of doing the bigchain thing, which is mostly
china stuff they buy for cheapand they come and sell it to you
for triple, quadruple, ahundred times the price and they
have it as luxury.
But if you buy American, if youbuy what you know that is a
(33:14):
local place, you will besupporting local things and so
that pours money back into thelocal economy.
So that's how that whole systemI was talking about earlier,
that's a flow in, flow out.
If we do it locally, just likeTrump is trying to do I believe
he's trying to get things and doit locally that right there
(33:35):
will stimulate money through thesystem and that's what we want.
That's what keeps that evenflow going in and out, in and
out, and we have consistency.
And another thing you can doadvocate for honest trade.
Write your representativesurging them to pair protective
terrorists with transparentmetrics so dishonest scales
(33:58):
can't creep in anymore.
Can't creep in anymore, okay,which I think that's a lot of
what Trump is doing.
He's bringing a lot of light tothings that nobody even knew
existed or a problem that nobodyeven knew was there.
Another thing you can do isserve the vulnerable.
If you have more money, helpothers that are below you that
can't manage the money they'realways needing help.
Help them get on a budget, helpthem understand how to make
(34:19):
their money work for them.
This is a part of discipleshipthat I think the church
sometimes disconnects from isthe money talk.
We don't want to talk aboutpeople's money, we just want
them to give it, and I thinkthat cuts our own throat.
That really messes us up wherewe could have had a lot more
success, but instead we ended upjust not wanting to touch on a
(34:44):
touchy subject, and that's whyyou have churches that don't
talk about sin.
They don't talk about a lot ofthings because they want you to
just to give and you to feelgood about where you are instead
of actually challenge you tobecome disciples of Jesus Christ
and for you to actually want tochange and want to get closer
to God instead of pacifying you.
So you can start a benevolencefund at your church.
(35:05):
Benevolence means the peoplethat don't have like.
We have one in our church, soif people can't pay their bills
or something like that, we pullfrom that account and I have a
certain amount that I just sayhey, write a check and we'll
give it to them.
So, uh, cause there's going tobe people that may be laid off,
there may be a supply chainissues, there's going to be
(35:28):
blowback, there's going to beissues and ripples when the
pebbles thrown in the pond Likeyou can't.
You can't change anythingwithout it not affecting
anything where it's not reallychanged.
It's the same thing.
So think about it in a logicalstandpoint.
Don't get upset, even even ifit's.
You know.
If you're, if you aren, youaren't a, a trumper or whatever.
You're not a conservative.
(35:48):
Um, just think logically aboutwhat's going on.
Like in reality, we do needmore jobs here in america, we do
need more things to be americanmade so that we can be
self-sufficient, and I thinkthat's really what trump is
trying to do.
But overall, the overwhelmingthing that I want you to get
through your mind is don't letthese swings and pendulum swings
(36:12):
and all these things manipulateyou into anger, get you
frustrated.
A lot of things will work outif you just ride it out.
So don't blame one person,don't blame one party, don't get
angry at a group of people andlabel everybody as the same and
this and that.
Just be mature.
Don't let things get you soupset.
Don't think about the things somuch down here, but just think
(36:33):
about heavenly things, and thatwill keep peace when there's
chaos around you.
Peace and joy in your mind andyour heart, and you will be able
to get through it because youknow where your supply comes
from.
It's not from China, it's notfrom Trump, it's not from the
White House, but, as a believer,it should be from the Lord.
(36:57):
So thank you so much for joiningme today.
I want to say that I appreciateall of you across all mediums.
If you have TikTok, you canfollow me, stephen Tillman, the
same with Instagram, and we alsohave a Faith and Failures.
And if you're watching onRumble, make sure you subscribe
thumbs up.
If you're watching on YouTube,the same applies.
I appreciate all of you.
Thank you, god bless, and Iwill talk to you later.
(37:20):
Faith and Failures.
What is up?
Welcome back to another episodeof Faith and Failures.
I guess I would kind ofconsider this podcast a little
bit of an emergency podcast.
If you listened to the lastepisode that came out the first
Monday of this month.
I am dialing back podcastsperiod and only releasing one a
(00:23):
month, but hopefully with somegood content.
But I've had a lot of questions,a lot of people kind of
reaching out to me, asking mepersonally, one-on-one, what I
think about a lot of the Trumptariffs that's going on.
And here's what I think.
I think there is a lot ofpeople out there putting out
(00:43):
Christian content that arewanting you to click and listen
to a story or the clickbait withthe thumbnail and they don't
really give you any substance.
So I kind of want to look atthe terrorist situation, what's
going on, and then I want tokind of as believers, I want to
(01:04):
look at what does the Word say,what does the Bible say?
How should we be viewing thethings in our culture, in our
world that is going on, becauseeverything that happens in the
world affects us Christians,because we're living in it.
So on April 2nd so this is kindof a few days behind, but just
(01:28):
a week or so ago that wasconsidered Liberation Day
President Trump signed anexecutive order imposing a 10%
universal tariff on nearly everyimported good, with steeper
reciprocal rates for nationsthat restrict us products, which
(01:51):
personally that makes sense,like if you're not going to
allow us to bring our productsinto your world but you are
charging us to bring yours intoours Kind of uneven, if you ask
me.
So the products 20% on the EU,24% on Japan, 32% on Taiwan and
(02:14):
25% on South Korea.
Now, what China did, most ofyou probably already know this,
and so I'm not trying to be anews source, but I am trying to
be a Christian that is concernedfor our world.
And I believe sometimes, asChristians, we detach ourselves
too easily from political issues, from political stances, and
(02:35):
then we end up not reallystanding for anything.
But this is my policy for mychurch I will preach against sin
, but I will not preach againstpolitical parties.
So it's my job to deliver theword of God, to deliver a
message from God, and to giveyou the tools to make that wise
(02:59):
God conscious, like you areaware of what God wants you to
do by the obvious text in theword.
It's not my job to tell you howto vote.
It's not my job to tell you whoto follow.
It's not my job to tell you howto run your house, but it is my
job to deliver the word of Godand tell you that this is the
(03:20):
example, this is the standardthat the word says.
Now, how you apply, that iscompletely your responsibility.
What you do is not myresponsibility.
My responsibility is to showyou what you are allowed, what
you are supposed to do in yourlife, in your house and, yes,
even in your politics.
So this falls under that.
(03:41):
That's why I'm doing thisepisode.
So China immediately retaliated.
So this falls under that.
(04:09):
That's why I'm doing thisepisode.
So China immediately retaliated, of course, because they are
one of the biggest industriesthat we I mean up to 104% and
then later raised them to 125%,while it says they paused most
other new levies for 90 days togive allies time to negotiate
levies for 90 days to giveallies time to negotiate.
So markets dropped on theannouncement by rebounding when
(04:30):
the pause was revealed,illustrating the policy's high
stakes volatility.
So this is a big deal right nowbecause we import so much from
china, but china is such aimport.
So much from China, but Chinais such a beast in this area
that they manufacture so muchfor cheap for us so that we can
(04:51):
sell it.
I think they really they knowtheir power right now because
they kind of have us backed in acorner because they're such a
massive import company.
Not export, import, theymanufacture and we bring it over
here.
Now, whether you call thiseconomic self-defense or big
(05:16):
government meddling, or eitherway, this has moved everyone's
attention, especially those ofus who see the world through
scripture, which, as believersif you're watching this podcast,
I hope that you do nationalsovereignty and personal
responsibility.
So we're going to walk throughthis a little bit and I want to
(05:38):
break down what the word says ofhow we should be looking at
things, because, I mean, some ofus, some of you, may not have
voted for trump.
You, you may have voted forTrump.
Some of you are like yes,finally, he's doing something.
I think like in the mid 80s hehas said the exact same thing.
His parade has not changed.
It's the same exact thing thathe's been saying since he was on
(05:59):
Oprah, I think, in like 1986.
And so he hasn't changed a songat all.
So he's doing what he said hethought the world should do Now,
why he didn't do it the firsttime around, I don't know.
Maybe he thinks he can make morechange and make more of a
difference doing things likethis.
So if you don't know what atariff is, it's pretty much
(06:20):
we're being taxed one way orunequally than we are taxing
them, like you have to pay tocome into our country, or pretty
much what that means, and so wevastly outweigh specifically
China they are one of thebiggest ones vastly outweighs on
the one way street in theirfavor.
(06:41):
So we have to pay more thanthey do in this exchange that we
have of import and export withthem.
That being said, trump hasdefinitely made some waves and
personally I don't think Trumpis going to back down.
Now what I hope happens andwhat usually in situations like
(07:02):
this, I think does happen when,uh, because there's always like
that first, like blow, like yougot the first hit, uh, and then
you hit back, you like tit fortat, and I think cooler heads
will prevail in that they'llunderstand that there's not a
there, we can't.
It's just going to keep goingup and up and up and up and up
(07:23):
for both sides and nobody'sgoing to do anything, and that
doesn't benefit anybody.
So, eventually, what willhappen?
I think, honestly, trump'strying to make a statement.
I think China's trying to makea statement, and what I hope and
what I think is that they willall come to the table with
something that will.
I know Trump now.
I don't know if this is hisbargaining chip, I know it's not
(07:44):
his reason, but he hadmentioned in an interview that
something about TikTok.
You know, there's a big stinkabout TikTok.
A year or two ago, whateverthat was they shut it down just
for a small time, but Chinaowned, so I don't know if he's
trying to strong arm them intoturning things.
I don't know, as a believer,that, um.
(08:05):
Does this worry me at all?
Uh, we're going to look at somefactors in a minute that it
could cause some worry, and thisis the main reason for this,
for this longer video, or forthis, uh, emergency video.
I wanted to get you to not beworried because here's what
happened.
Be worried because here's whathappened.
(08:28):
Here's what happens if importsstop.
We saw this in 2020 with, uh,covid-19.
If import and export stops,then that clogs up our money,
that clogs up our way of life.
Um, like, that's how the worldfunctions.
We all move in this kind ofsynergy type thing, where things
are flowing in, things flow outand there's a healthy balance
(08:48):
to it.
But this will because China issuch a massive piece of that
flow it will definitely clog upthe drain and, like I was saying
, I think when they both come tothe table and they sit there
and they really hash it outinstead of trying to win a pee
contest, I think everybody willcome out better because and
(09:10):
Trump's not wanting to, from allthat I've seen he's not wanting
to stop export and import andworking with them.
He's trying to make a point likeif, like they won't even let
american products into theircountry, but yet we, then
there's no telling what they,what they let in their products.
Uh, when they bring them in,like we don't, I'm sure they,
(09:35):
you know, do their due diligenceand and all that stuff.
But like what?
How much?
Even with the phones, with allthe stuff, like, how much can
they spy on us?
We know facebook does.
Like you talk about somethingand your phone will pop up an ad
on something that you justtalked about.
We're being spied on constantly.
Now, this is not a conspiracytheory podcast, but I'm just
(09:56):
saying, like as a believer, weneed to be aware of things and
not stick our head in the sandand not pretend like, oh, surely
they and this is is so naiveand you can say truth without
being like a jerk they listen towhat we say.
They are a hundred percentpaying attention to our lives.
(10:16):
You can say certain, probablycertain phrases, or on an open I
know in an open phone line youused to could I don't know about
cell phones, but they probablygot that tap too and people
probably will show up at yourdoor.
I'm not going to try it.
I mean, I don't encourage youto try it either.
So it's the government first ofall.
(10:43):
I don't know what the end resultis going to be, but I do know
this that, as believers, whetheryou like Trump, whether you
don't like Trump, in the newpresidential Oval Office
situation, you probably didn'tknow that the tariff situation
(11:09):
was so unevenly balanced, and wehave been.
I mean the deficit that Americahas.
We will never be able to pay itoff and the people in charge
continue to spend all of ourmoney and we get taxed on every
little thing and they can justbuy and do whatever they want.
(11:29):
It is such a jacked up, unfairsystem.
So why do I think that tariffswill be good?
Here's what I know.
In the beginning stages ofpivoting and correcting things,
it usually makes life prettydifficult and hard and it can
(11:50):
feel like you've made the wrongdecision.
Understand the concept that ifwe stop going outside of the
country and start producing andmanufacturing here, it will help
have jobs but at the same timethings will rise in price.
(12:15):
It's not all things, but somethings because now they're being
made in America with Americanwages, which cost more, and so
the product may end up costingmore.
Now, if we're having the samestuff the product is made out of
, it may be just a wage sidethat makes it a little more
expensive, but it shouldn'tincrease it that much Because
(12:38):
the price they put on things Iused to sell at a company called
ETX Apparel and I would buythings wholesale and sell them
for retail and my wife was soupset of how much I could charge
for something from the pricethat I bought it.
A lot of it would be Chinastuff.
So I don't know exactly howthat's going to affect the
economy, but I do know thatbringing jobs back to America
(13:02):
and getting things in-house is alot healthier for us to not be
dependent on others and thatwill keep it to where we can.
I mean, there's nothing betterthan being able to actually do
stuff in-house, because youdon't have all the extra junk
that you have to go through andred tape.
(13:22):
House, because you don't haveall the extra junk that you have
to go through and red tape andthere's no hangups because it's
all flowing inside of our houseinstead of trying to get people
outside to get with us,especially with the culture
barrier and everything else.
So a couple of things I havewritten down here is that in
this whole process, the samewhen we had wars in Iraq and we
were all the people over theMiddle East, and I remember it
(13:45):
was 9-11.
I had a friend in high schoolthat he's half white and half
Egyptian and his and I thoughtit was so weird.
You know I didn't understandanything.
I thought it was so weird thathis dad when it happened that
day, like him and I, always hungout and we'd run around
together.
But that night after ithappened, he made my friend come
(14:10):
home and stay home.
I don't remember if you madehim stay for multiple days or
what it was, but I know thatnight he could not come out
because he was afraid somebodywas going to come and attack and
like, we copy and paste aculture's bad behavior or a
specific sect of a culture,their bad behavior, and we copy
(14:31):
and paste it on everyone wholooks like that or is from that
area.
It's just like the radicalmuslims.
People automatically assumethat if the women are walking
with a thing on their head or aguy's got a turban, he's a
terrorist, and that's not thecase.
What you're doing is you'reyou're copying and pasting other
people's bad behavior on peoplethat have nothing to do good
people and it's going to be easyto do in this whole tariff
(14:57):
thing.
And we do the same thing inpolitics.
Oh my gosh, we always talkabout like other people, like
you, you immediately assume ifsomebody says a democrat that
they think abortion is right andthat's not the case, always can
be.
It's a majority of their little.
You know the trans thing andall that cutting and mutilating
kids and that's kind of their.
(15:17):
That's been their song for thelast four years heavy, um.
So when someone that's why youhave people that are Democrats,
politicians that are Democrats,that they are defecting over to
the conservative side because,like when JFK was president and
things, I think a lot of it wasflipped.
I don't know much about theRepublicans back in that day but
I do know that, like Stephen ASmith, people like that he said
(15:41):
I think he said his mom was aRepublican but she would vote
Democrat.
She was a quiet, which I don'tknow why.
Like it doesn't, it shouldn'tmatter, it shouldn't make you
lose friends or gain friends.
It shouldn't make people hateyou or love you Like it
shouldn't be.
We have created this culture inour own system and it's
severely flawed to where wethink strictly in politics or
(16:03):
church denomination.
Like you got to take a side.
It's so stupid, it's ignorant,is what it is anyways, get off
of that.
But we must remember in thisprocess and all this stuff going
on, whether whatever side ofthe aisle or maybe you're in the
middle of the and I have a lotof conservative viewpoints and I
(16:27):
am a registered Republican, butI am not so foolish enough to
think, because someone is aRepublican, that they hold all
the values that I do and callthemselves Christians, like I
see all the time online.
There's one, there's some blondegirl.
She's always like wearing Ithink she's big on Twitter or X,
(16:47):
whatever.
I don't get on there anymorebecause they house porn on there
.
But she calls herself aconservative.
She's outspoken, she's a bigboobed blonde girl.
She's always wearing revealingstuff and I'm like like, don't
call yourself like a Christianwhen you dress like a hooker.
Like those two things shouldn'tbe in the same room together.
(17:09):
As far as like the way youpresent yourself and so stuff
like that really frustrates meand so I don't that she says
she's a conservative, but to meI'm.
I'm old school when it comes tothat kind of stuff.
And I say old school, I'mbiblical.
You should cover your body.
You should cover up.
Your boobs shouldn't be hangingout.
You shouldn't have cleavage.
(17:30):
Get a bigger shirt or wear aundershirt that comes up tight.
They sell them.
Don't wear leggings and stuffthat shows your woohoo, and then
you blame the guy for being apervert when you're the one
showing it off.
That's all I'm saying.
Remember to love your neighbor.
Okay, we cherish the borders.
That's a big thing, a big topicright now.
(17:50):
We cherish borders and thesovereignty of those borders
rightfully so.
But we can slip into dismissingthe welfare of foreign people,
like, like immigrants affectedby those policies.
For instance, like I just saidabout the Muslims a minute ago,
(18:10):
sometimes we take the borderissue, and especially being a
white American or even blackAmerican, because you usually
don't have black people tryingto come to the border.
It's hispanic, um, the, themedium-toned skin stuff, and you
got people that are just like,yeah, get them all, throw them
all back, and that and it's it'sreally hard to decipher who's
(18:34):
good, who's bad, who's trying todo what?
If they're smuggling and drugs,are they?
Are they killing and raping?
Are they doing all these things?
It's hard to decipher that, butit is our job as Christians to
not immediately go down thatrabbit hole of they are all
rapists, they are all murderers,they're all gang members,
(18:54):
because they're people just likewe are.
So we have to remember to loveour neighbor and do it with
justice, with justice in mindgod is just but also through the
eyes of mercy and grace, and Ilike to.
What I like to do is is take,take their situation and put
myself in it.
That helps me think about thewhole thing differently because,
(19:20):
like, for instance, you have afamily who's actually excuse me,
coming here for, like, tryingto be refugees, and they're
trying to do it the right way.
Well, some people will justtake those people, group them in
with everybody else who's doingsomething bad and just say send
them all back, when in realityvery few of us are original uS
(19:41):
people.
Another issue that we can runinto and this happens a lot, it
happened a little bit well, alot of it in COVID that we get
fear driving our hearts and ourminds take place and things
(20:05):
begin to slow down and normaleveryday items that we had at
our fingertips now are no longeravailable to us.
It could kind of fear, a fearcould grip us and drive us into
that scarcity mindset where wegot to get, get, get, get before
anybody else so that I don'tlose.
We experienced that with toiletpaper.
Higher prices can nudge ustowards a hoarding mentality,
(20:28):
forgetting that God not globalsupply chains, but God is our
provider.
We can survive without China,we can survive without all these
other people that theterrorists may make them not
want to work with us anymore ornot want to deliver to us
(20:52):
anymore.
Don't think and we do this withour spiritual walk we will bend
to certain things because wethink we can't do without and we
don't want to do without.
That's not the case.
Another one is delegatingvirtue to government.
Now think about this.
People did this with Trump, andthen the other side did it with
Biden and probably Harris too.
(21:14):
Another did it with Obama.
We may assume that tariffsalone will fix the injustice and
balance the scales whenScripture calls us me and you
may assume that tariffs alonewill fix the injustice and
balance the scales whenscripture calls us me and you to
act justly and generously, inspite of whatever Washington is
doing.
(21:36):
So I understand that sometimesit could feel, and I felt this
way before.
You feel like you can't doanything because you're just a
person out in the world Like you.
Just you feel like you can'thave, you don't have a voice,
you feel like you can't reallyspeak up.
You could do what I do.
If you have a phone, you can dowhat I'm doing right now for
free and voice your opinion, getthe word out, and it's it's
(22:00):
very easy and simple to get theword out to people that you will
never meet or see.
But the virtue, the honor,character, morality, it should
never come from or be the source, should never be our leaders,
(22:26):
it shouldn't be from the WhiteHouse, it shouldn't be from your
pastor.
It shouldn't be anywhere, butfrom God and from the Word and
from the Scripture.
So what does the Bible say?
Well, let's read some Scripturethat I hope will leave you with
a little bit of encouragement.
So Proverbs 11, 1, ofencouragement.
So Proverbs 11, 1,.
The Lord detests the use ofdishonest scales, but he
(22:46):
delights in accurate weights.
Romans 13, 1 through 4,.
Everyone must submit togovernment authorities for all
authority.
This is hard for some people,especially when you don't like
the person that's in power inplace, for all authority comes
from God.
The authorities are God'sservants, sent for your good,
but if you are doing wrong, ofcourse you should be afraid, for
(23:08):
they have the power to punishyou.
1 Timothy 5.8.
But those now, if you want to,what we just read in Romans
about authorities being over youand stuff, if you would like an
episode specifically on thatand when is it okay and when is
it not okay according toscripture, of when we are
allowed to retaliate and when weare allowed to buck up and push
(23:29):
back, that would be a goodepisode.
So if you're interested in that, drop a comment below and let
me know you're interested.
1 Timothy 5.8,.
But those who won't care fortheir relatives, especially
those in their own household,have denied the true faith.
Such people are worse thanunbelievers.
That's pretty intense.
(23:51):
Matthew, chapter 6, 31 through33.
So don't worry about thesethings saying what will we eat,
what will we drink, what will wewear?
That's import, export, if Iever heard it.
These things dominate thethoughts of unbelievers.
So it's saying like if we arebelievers and we trust we truly
trust in God, we lean on him.
Then we don't have the sameworries and struggles and
(24:16):
anxieties that the world does,because we understand where our
supply comes from.
These things dominate thethoughts of unbelievers.
But your heavenly fatheralready knows all your needs.
Seek the kingdom of God aboveall else and live righteously,
and he will give you everythingyou need.
Deuteronomy 24, 14 and 15,.
(24:52):
Never take advantage of poor anddestitute laborers.
Pay them their wages each.
So it's talking about if youowe somebody, if somebody's
worked for you, pay them.
Don't hold back on that.
So you may be.
People do this with theirtithes and they're giving at
church.
You may think, well, I havethis over here to take care of,
so I can't do that right now.
Put it on credit, you know, putit on my tab.
(25:13):
But it's saying take care ofyour debts.
If you owe somebody, pay them.
If you promise the Lord you'regoing to do something with your
tithes or offering, do that.
Don't have control over it.
Don't try to manipulate orcontrol what it does, but do
(25:35):
what you promise and what theword says that you should do
with your money.
So let's talk about some actionswe're about to wrap it up.
Some actions, some commonthings that you can do that will
help you.
And sometimes, like, we havethings like this a lot,
especially with the new turnoverof a president, because that's
(25:57):
probably the highest it'sdefinitely not the highest
controlled, but the highestranking office, I guess, in the
world or in the United States.
So how should believers handlethings like this, not only this,
where we're not sure how thingsare going to go.
China bumped it up even more,from 104 to 125.
(26:18):
How do we continue to keep ourmind right?
So one big thing social media isamazing.
It keeps us connected, even atgreat distances.
It allows us to see into thelives of others and we can be a
part of each other's lives.
My grandparents can see mylittle baby girl, even though
(26:39):
we're miles away.
My dad we can get on the phonewith FaceTime and we can show
the baby to my mom and myteenager and let them see each
other, even though we're not inthe same room.
Technology is amazing, but praybefore you post on social media.
You need to take a.
I tell my leaders this all thetime.
(26:59):
If I get in an issue withsomebody or they upset me, I
tell them.
If I fall off the map for 24hours it's because I'm thinking
and praying about what next Ineed to say to you, because I
don't want.
God values relationships somuch.
He values a reputation of achurch, of a body, of a person
so much, especially when we saywe represent him.
(27:21):
We need to take good, tendercare of that reflection, of that
portrayal of God.
Pray first, post later beforecelebrating or denouncing the
tariffs or a president orwhatever.
(27:42):
Democrats, republicans, beforedoing all that junk, if you got
stuff in your personal life,before you post it everywhere,
pray about it Because, listen,it's better for you to face your
problems and Facebook them.
Nothing is ever solved from youranting on Facebook.
It just it doesn't solveanything.
And actually, nine times out often, probably ten times out of
(28:05):
ten it makes you look like theaggressor.
It makes you look angry and itwill damage the testimony and
all the good God has done inyour life because of the way you
appear online to people whoreally don't even know you.
So pray and then post, or oryou know what I usually find out
(28:26):
Sometimes, if I just pray, Iend up not posting.
Pray Romans 13 over your leaders.
Then speak with grace and speakwith truth.
Okay, it's okay to have anopinion, but don't be so quick
to run out there with youropinion to try to slaughter
other people in front of otherpeople.
You know what I mean.
Like it'll make you feel goodin a moment, but it can damage
(28:51):
the reputation of God andbelievers and your church and
your house and you in front ofother people because you are
slandering or trying todigitally murder somebody or a
group of people in front ofstrangers or people that know
you and it may make them notwant to be around you because
(29:12):
you're damaging, you're soundingmean, you're sounding rude.
So pray.
Pray before you post.
Another thing that a lot ofpeople don't talk about in
church audit your budget.
If you're worried about howthis is going to affect
everything, if it's going tomake things more expensive.
Start, fine, tuning your money.
Where does your money go?
(29:33):
If you can't answer thatquestion and I'm guilty of this
too I'm listening to the accountand I'm like, oh, we're doing
good.
And then I realized we didn'tpay our mortgage yet.
And I'm like, why did we notpay the mortgage?
And I'm like, wait a minute.
If the mortgage comes out,where did all our money go?
And so I started payingattention to what in the world
is going on.
Why is our money disappearingso quickly?
(29:57):
Sometimes it's just that time ofthe month where you end up
spending more than you normallywould.
If you get groceries at thebeginning of the month to kind
of span out, or you have peoplecome over there's things that
always.
But you need to know where yourmoney goes.
And when you have control ofyour money and you're more aware
of your money, your moneydoesn't control you.
And so when times get tough,you have a nest egg.
When times get tough, you havebackup money.
(30:18):
You have funds.
Like, if you, every few months,need to ask help for money,
then your budget's not, or youdon't have a budget at all.
Budget is not a bad word, it'sparameters where you can know
what you can spend and you knowwhat not to spend.
So if you save, you tithe, yougive and you spend All these
(30:41):
things, things.
Spending is not bad, butspending like you're in congress
or like you're one of thepeople on capitol hill, you're
gonna run out of money andyou're gonna end up in debt and
you're gonna get deeper anddeeper and deeper, because if
you borrow five dollars and youput 25 interest on top of that
and you can't pay it off everymonth, now you have a
accumulative debt that keepspiling when all you wanted was
(31:04):
this little thing right here andit costs you so much more.
That's why, if you can't handlecredit cards, you need to pay
them off and cut them up and donot use them again until you
have the.
I use credit cards, but it israre.
We have one Discover card thatwe pay off every month and that
is like for bigger purchases.
We'll do that, but if we don'thave the money to back it up, we
(31:26):
don't use it.
Does that make sense?
So it's like I'll get thepoints and all the little things
they try to hook you with andso you can get this many rewards
and this and that, all themiles and the cash back, blah,
blah, blah.
And if you do the math on whatthe cash back is, you will be so
mad at yourself for thinkingyou're getting a reward for
using their money, especiallywhen you can't pay it off and it
(31:47):
ends up stacking up becausethat cash back ain't going to do
nothing for you.
Five percent you know what fivepercent is?
Let's do it like this you spenda hundred dollars, ten percent
is ten dollars, five percent isfive dollars.
So out of spending a hundred100, you got $5.
Just do the math, it'll makeyou mad.
(32:11):
So, rising cost tighten up yourentertainment.
What are you spending money onevery month that you really
could do without?
Could do without.
So another thing you can do andthis is kind of hard because
(32:32):
sometimes american made stuff ispoo-poo but try to buy american
made things like kind of seekthat out.
Um, etsy is a good place if youneed stuff like it's people in
america.
They're, they're making things,they're, they're, um, actually
themselves.
A lot of them are manufacturingit themselves and making it.
So support local produce.
Local produce, uh, localbusinesses.
(32:53):
We have a few of those in tylerhere.
We have a few of those inlongview here.
So instead of doing the bigchain thing, which is mostly
china stuff they buy for cheapand they come and sell it to you
for triple, quadruple, ahundred times the price and they
have it as luxury.
But if you buy American, if youbuy what you know that is a
(33:14):
local place, you will besupporting local things and so
that pours money back into thelocal economy.
So that's how that whole systemI was talking about earlier,
that's a flow in, flow out.
If we do it locally, just likeTrump is trying to do I believe
he's trying to get things and doit locally that right there
(33:35):
will stimulate money through thesystem and that's what we want.
That's what keeps that evenflow going in and out, in and
out, and we have consistency.
And another thing you can doadvocate for honest trade.
Write your representativesurging them to pair protective
terrorists with transparentmetrics so dishonest scales
(33:58):
can't creep in anymore.
Can't creep in anymore, okay,which I think that's a lot of
what Trump is doing.
He's bringing a lot of light tothings that nobody even knew
existed or a problem that nobodyeven knew was there.
Another thing you can do isserve the vulnerable.
If you have more money, helpothers that are below you that
can't manage the money they'realways needing help.
Help them get on a budget, helpthem understand how to make
(34:19):
their money work for them.
This is a part of discipleshipthat I think the church
sometimes disconnects from isthe money talk.
We don't want to talk aboutpeople's money, we just want
them to give it, and I thinkthat cuts our own throat.
That really messes us up wherewe could have had a lot more
success, but instead we ended upjust not wanting to touch on a
(34:44):
touchy subject, and that's whyyou have churches that don't
talk about sin.
They don't talk about a lot ofthings because they want you to
just to give and you to feelgood about where you are instead
of actually challenge you tobecome disciples of Jesus Christ
and for you to actually want tochange and want to get closer
to God instead of pacifying you.
So you can start a benevolencefund at your church.
(35:05):
Benevolence means the peoplethat don't have like.
We have one in our church, soif people can't pay their bills
or something like that, we pullfrom that account and I have a
certain amount that I just sayhey, write a check and we'll
give it to them.
So, uh, cause there's going tobe people that may be laid off,
there may be a supply chainissues, there's going to be
(35:28):
blowback, there's going to beissues and ripples when the
pebbles thrown in the pond Likeyou can't.
You can't change anythingwithout it not affecting
anything where it's not reallychanged.
It's the same thing.
So think about it in a logicalstandpoint.
Don't get upset, even even ifit's.
You know.
If you're, if you aren, youaren't a, a trumper or whatever.
You're not a conservative.
(35:48):
Um, just think logically aboutwhat's going on.
Like in reality, we do needmore jobs here in america, we do
need more things to be americanmade so that we can be
self-sufficient, and I thinkthat's really what trump is
trying to do.
But overall, the overwhelmingthing that I want you to get
through your mind is don't letthese swings and pendulum swings
(36:12):
and all these things manipulateyou into anger, get you
frustrated.
A lot of things will work outif you just ride it out.
So don't blame one person,don't blame one party, don't get
angry at a group of people andlabel everybody as the same and
this and that.
Just be mature.
Don't let things get you soupset.
Don't think about the things somuch down here, but just think
(36:33):
about heavenly things, and thatwill keep peace when there's
chaos around you.
Peace and joy in your mind andyour heart, and you will be able
to get through it because youknow where your supply comes
from.
It's not from China, it's notfrom Trump, it's not from the
White House, but, as a believer,it should be from the Lord.
(36:57):
So thank you so much for joiningme today.
I want to say that I appreciateall of you across all mediums.
If you have TikTok, you canfollow me, stephen Tillman, the
same with Instagram, and we alsohave a Faith and Failures.
And if you're watching onRumble, make sure you subscribe
thumbs up.
If you're watching on YouTube,the same applies.
I appreciate all of you.
Thank you, god bless, and Iwill talk to you later.
(37:20):
Faith and Failures.
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