Financial Issues - 07.23.2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Financial Issues, where we join reality with truth,
helping you make the most of your money by honoring
God with your investments. Now listen in as we give
you the practical tools and advice you need to become
a biblically responsible investor.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hey, good morning, folks, welcome to Financial Issues. We're live
this morning. Great to be here with you all, Seth,
you Dinski with our studio a team, and my dear
friend Mark Manila financial expert joining me this morning.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Mark.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Great to have you, brother, Glad to be here.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
What a great day, What a great day.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Fun.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
We're gonna have some fun, brother, I'm excited. Folks, got
busy show today. Later in the program, I'm gonna have
John Kerniglia of Sat seven Media Ministry. He'll join me
to discuss what's going on with Christians in Iran. You
don't want to stay tuned for that. We'll also get
your partner questions and comments. Yesterday had a fascinating conversation
concerning retirement. If we have time, we'll talk talk about
that as well. Grateful for each of you. Quickly, before

(01:03):
we get started with our conversation with Mark, I want
to let you all know we do have a conference
call tomorrow, folks, Tomorrow, Thursday, July twenty fourth, twelve pm
Central time, one pm Eastern time. Make sure that you
check out the alert that was sent out. I believe
yesterday for that conference call, maybe it was Monday. Check
that out. Also, some very wide words concerning CD eighty
six partners. Take a look. Make sure that you act

(01:25):
accordingly there. All right, Mark, I'm excited brother again, folks.
Mark Manila, and he's an investment expert. He was the
host of the More than Money radio show for about
twenty years. Mark, I always enjoy our conversations, and I'm
excited for this one today because the topic is a
really good one. It's finding peace in choppy, raging markets. Now, Mark,
let me ask you this, brother, are the markets I mean,

(01:46):
I don't usually assume that the markets are going to
be choppy or crazy or get spooked or anything like that.
Aren't they nice and calm? Aren't they nice and easy? Here?

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
That's exactly right. Obviously that's not true. We know that
the markets can go get spooked, go bananas.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Let's get start with a jungle. The market's a jungle.
It always has been, always will be. Yeah, Yeah, the
market is just totally a jungle, always has been, always
will be. And you know, it's made for to take
advantage of people who don't know what they're doing. It's
made to hurt people. But really, what I'm talking about
is the piece that surpasses all on understanding. How do

(02:24):
we keep that? How do we keep that when we
see our retirements are hanging out there and we see,
let you know, the markets go down to five ten
percent in a week or a day even, and or
we start seeing volatility spiking and dropping and spiking. You know,
sometimes we just follow things too closely. Some people would say,

(02:47):
sometimes it really comes down to two things. Because the
markets are getting crazier, and I believe they're going to
get crazier and crazier as twenty four to seven news
and everything else is about us, We're gonna we're gonna
see it get worse and worse. And we have AI
now taken over the majority of trades. We have what

(03:08):
I think I read it was like eighty percent of
all trades done now are done by algorithms instead of individuals.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
So saw something like that. That's bananas.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
It's gonna get it's gonna get crazier and crazier. So
I thought, you know, maybe something helped financial issues partners
and everybody on how to how to maintain peace and
choppy waters is to take a look at that, because
we will see choppy waters, and there's so many things
today that can do it. You know, forty years ago,
if something happened in politics, you may not have heard

(03:38):
about it for a.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Week or two.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Right today you hear about it. Oh, I don't know,
at least three seconds.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Half five seconds, three seconds.

Speaker 3 (03:45):
Yeah, absolutely, And so politics to new. Remember remember in
March when when Trump said something about, well we might
have a recession this year, the Dow Jones reacted immediately
and dropped like two percent. Yeah, you know, just from
a little statement somebody made like that. You know, new
laws enacted. We see the big beautiful deal. How do

(04:07):
you think that's going to impact things. Well, there's gonna
be industries that are going to grow and there's gonna
be industries that are gonna fall because of it, you know,
because it supports new things and gets rid of some
ugly old things. And I mean it's just funny. You
hear Trump saying are you tired of winning? Yet? Well,
winning causes volatility as well. Yeah, all sorts of things.

(04:29):
What about wars, No, we wouldn't have any of those,
would we certainly not. Economics, economics, you know, interest rates,
somebody says something about firing somebody, or or interest rates
not going down, or interest rates going down, or it
doesn't matter. Everything affects the market, this jungle we call

(04:50):
the stock market. And you know, national disasters, they affected,
terror activities. Everything affects market. So how do you keep
that peace? You know, that's the question. How do you
maintain peace even in times of of market trials and turmoils?
And I thought maybe it'd be a good idea to

(05:11):
talk about that today.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Absolutely absolutely. You know, market reminds me. I often liken
it to the way I was just telling you my
son had a little party last night around two o'clock
this morning, so I'm a little sleepy this morning. But
I kind of liken the markets to a small child
like that, my four year old daughter, my three year
old son. The way they look at the world is
they're controlled by short term emotions. If something happens immediately,

(05:34):
it ruins their ruins their life, it seems like, and
I feel like the markets are the same way.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
And they don't know that this is just some momentary exactly.
And you know, not to call investors babies or anything,
but it's kind of like that. But it'd be like
a baby gorilla something a man eaten gorilla. Because really,
I always tell people, anybody can navigate the jungles if
they've been trained in, if they if they got the resources.

(06:02):
Never going a loan and never go in unprepared, you know,
make sure you have everything put together, because the markets
are there to take money from some people and give
it to others, and so it's there to eat you
live really if you don't know what you're doing. And
that's what's really cool about the partnership. Yeah, you know,
you got a team back there preparing, setting camp, making

(06:25):
sure we're heading in the right directions, things like that.
So anyway, yeah, you know, So maintaining peace, I came
down to two things that help you to maintain piece.
And the first really is understanding what you own. I mean,
it's that simple. If you don't know what you own,
you're always worried about what you own, you know. I

(06:47):
know there have been times in my past when I'd
see something come up in the news, and I'd go,
oh no, do I own that?

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Still?

Speaker 3 (06:54):
Did I do? I? Oh no? And I'd be running
to the computer to see what you know, that kind
of stuff. But it's very important to know what you
own in a deeper way than just the you know,
just the ticker symbol. It's important to know that you
own good stuff, good solid stuff. And I'd like to
talk about that for just a minute if we could.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, please do Mark, Okay.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
So what we look at here is that that if
you know what you own, that means you know that
it's a take it. Like, like we talked about choppy waters.
It's choppy waters. You want to own a ship that's
made solid, right. You want to make sure it can
not only float, but it can cut through those waves
and do everything. And that's the type of thing you

(07:37):
want with good stocks during choppy waters as well. You
really want to make sure it has solid profitability, you know,
the ability to to just keep moving forward. And if
profitability pulls back, it's still positive. It's still moving forward.
You know, it's growing and it's above average. So that's

(07:59):
one of the things I have, like five different UH
metrics really for good stocks during choppy waters. Profitability, growing
and above average strength. Strength means you know, it has
the cash and cash flow to take care of any
interest coverage. Because during rough times, weak ships those who

(08:20):
can't pay their interests, they get called on by banks,
they get they get bad news and people start selling
off and they end up at the bottom. You know,
so you want you want strong cash and cash flows,
low debt. You know, you want to make sure your
current ratios are right from the from the income, and
you want to also make sure that there's room for

(08:41):
growth in this company. Has this company hit its peak?
And I know a lot of people say companies ever
hit their peak? Well, yeah they can. If if you
make if you make a product that becomes obsolete and
you haven't adopted or are created new products or have
anything in the line, you're going to go out of business.
You also want to look at valuations. You know, you

(09:03):
want your stock to be reasonably priced. Okay, now a
lot of people's eyebrows just went up. I could see
them all listening and watching. Reasonably priced. What does that mean?
You know? You know, we got Nvidia that's gone through
the ceiling. We have all sorts of of stocks that
are have valuations where the peas are just crazy. Right, Well,

(09:25):
I'm not talking about every stock in your portfolio, but
it's good to know that if you have some where
the valuations are just you know, outrageous, that there's a
good chance when the markets get real choppy and stay
choppy or drop real hard, that stock's going to take
a hit. You have to be ready for that. And

(09:45):
it's okay if if the rest of it is solid
in many ways, because it's good chance it could recover
as well.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
That's right.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
So, but knowing what you own you're at peace with
is like, okay, you know, like I got got a
third of my portfolio and really stable, strong ships. I mean,
they're made out of the best steal, they got nuclear engines,
they're just powerful. They're gonna, they're gonna, they're gonna weather this.
And then I got a few you know, bostled wood
little dinghies that I'm speculating with, and that's okay. You know,

(10:14):
I can get rid of them quickly, or I can
let you won't hurt my portfolio too. But but in general,
these are the things you want to see, you.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
Know, Mark, That's that's so well said. You know, it
reminds me, and we're coming to a break here, so
I have to pick this up on the other side.
But it really does remind me of one of our
core tenants here as being well diversified. If one of
your one of those stocks that you mentioned takes that hit,
you got the other ones that can carry it. That's
so important, folks. I hope you can remember that here. Mark.
We'll pick this up on the other side of the break.
I'm enjoying this conversation a lot here in Geria Wisdom

(10:44):
folks got Mark Manilla on with me for the first
part of the show today. Excited to have him. More
financial issues around the corner right after this break. Hope
you'll stick with us you like that.

Speaker 4 (11:02):
Security is offered through ga Repel and Company, a registered
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expressed by Shanna are hers alone and are for informational
purposes only and do not necessarily represent those of GA
Repel or the outlet on what you are listening. You
should consider how the information applies to your situation prior
to personally implementing it, and consult any financial professional you

(11:26):
work with to make sure it's applicable to your financial plan.

Speaker 2 (11:32):
You know, folks, I'm so grateful for my friend Mark
Manila joined me today given some great insight on the skill,
really the learned skill of having peace in the markets.
You know, folks, the markets are volatile, but you can
do really well in them. We would actually encourage you
to be in the markets. We would encourage you to invest. Mark,
you had shared I believe five characteristics of a well

(11:54):
made company, and you likened it to a ship you
shared for them.

Speaker 3 (11:57):
What's the fifth The fifth one is divid And this
is not like strength or valuation or anything like that.
This is more like a life saver if you think
about it, because in choppy waters, when when there are
no capital gains, when there is no growth going on,
or when that it's so volatile that it goes sideways,

(12:17):
which I've seen a lot of sideways markets, a lot
of summers where the market went nowhere. But if you
have a good dividend paying stock, it keeps it afloat.
It gives you the two to four percent or better,
you know that kind of thing. Yeah, and that's that
can be really important during flatter times or volatile times.
I mean another way to look at it. If you

(12:39):
have a good high pain dividend in a strong stock,
let's say it's seven percent. Maybe the valuation is way
too high or something. But when that valuation comes down
during panic mode, that that seven percent, it's got to
drop seven percent just to get down to broke.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
You know, I appreciate that. Yeah, absolutely, man, let's let's
move here, brother to you know, you had you had
teed this up a little bit in that last segment.
What are the keys for us as biblically responsible investors
in finding peace in the midst of these chopping markets?
My guess is, and please correct me if I'm wrong, Mark,
I don't think that the solution is to just run

(13:20):
and hide.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yeah, stick your head in the sand, right right, exactly
exactly what would you tell us?

Speaker 2 (13:26):
What is that solution?

Speaker 3 (13:27):
Not at all?

Speaker 1 (13:27):
You know?

Speaker 3 (13:28):
The key to everything? You know, what is that? The
Bible school teacher, every time he asked the question, the
answer with gen that's right, Yeah, yeah, of course that's
always the answer. Well it is here too. It's it's
God's word. And you know, I'd like to submit that
there's just so many great verses about the piece that
we can realize if we stay focused like Philippians four

(13:49):
six and seven. And I'm going to read it just
so I you know, when I memorize things, I've been
through so many different versions when in my early days
as a Christian in and as I grew and later. But
Philippians four worth six and seven, do not be anxious
about anything. But in every situation, well stop there for
a second. Every every means every and not some. But

(14:11):
in every situation good markets, band markets, emotional, you know, wars.
It doesn't matter. By prayer and petition with thanksgiving, and
this is a big part of that. Everybody misses that
in there we should be always given thanks no matter
if the markets are up or down, no matter if
He's increased or decrease your wealth. God knows exactly where

(14:34):
He needs you at this time to bring the most
peace to you and to bring them closer to closest
to Him. Present your request of God, and in the
peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. That is so
powerful that verse. It says so much what we're supposed

(14:56):
to do. Stay focused on Christ, present our petition to
if we're worried. God, I'm worried. We don't have to
worry that. God's going to say, you, silly man, why
don't you trust me? He created us, He knows us.
It says, come to me, bear it all, and then
let me know what you want. And you know, if
it's within my will, I'm going to do it for you.

(15:16):
And if it's not, I'm going to do something better
for you, you know, and we can embrace that peace
that surpasses all understanding by doing.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
That, absolutely, Mark, let me ask you a hypothetical question here.
I actually have two for you.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
The first one is this, how would you counsel someone who,
let's say they tried investing and it didn't work out
for him. Maybe they were spooked, Maybe they bought high
and they sold low. Maybe they kind of went in
at a bad time, they got out of it, they
tried to time the markets. How would you counsel someone
like that to kind of come back, to stay the course,
to not be afraid? Because my guess is if someone

(15:52):
goes through that, there's a good chance that they might
not try investing anymore. How would you counsel it?

Speaker 3 (15:56):
Yeah, and I've met quite a few people over the
years and that has had happened to them. And it's
an incredibly good question, seth, It really is. And let
me start with saying the counsel wouldn't always be to
come back. And here's why. If you're at peace where
you're at, if you go before the Lord and you

(16:17):
bear your heart to God and you get to a
place of peace, then it's okay not to be in
the market. That's not going against anything in the Bible
not to be in the market. In fact, you never
know what God has for you. He's the only one
who knows tomorrow. What if tomorrow or a week from now,
or let's say the markets do collapse again, and your

(16:37):
market was all in there because you didn't want to
be a scaredy cat and you didn't want to people
saying you didn't trust God during this, so you went in.
But the market's collapse and now you have and just
for illustration purposes, only half of what you had. And
you find out your brother, your sister, your aunt, your uncle,
your mom or dad needs a lump sum equal to

(16:58):
what you had been in the market to keep their house,
to keep their for medical or for something. You see
God knows what we need. It's being at that place
of peace that's really important. So if you're never at
peace when you're in the market, is it because you
don't have enough information? Is it because you don't have
good counsel, godly counsel like the investors' partners get here?

(17:25):
Or is it because? Or is it because God's telling
you something and your path is different than everybody else's.
So even though everybody else is making hay in the
market and doing great, doesn't mean that you should be
at this time. You need to be at peace. That's

(17:45):
the sleep factor God gives us when we make a decision.
Whenever we make a decision, we need to do it
from peace. In James three, fourteen through seventeen, it talks
about the wisdom above and the wisdom of the world,
and the wisdom from above is first peaceful, gentle, willing
to yield. That's very important. That's very important to know.

(18:08):
So first you got to make sure it's not your
lack of understanding or our godly counsel that's keeping you there.
And the second you need to get to a place
of peace to get if it is your lack of wisdom,
if it is your lack of understanding of the markets.
Then find somebody to help you. Don't go into the
jungle alone. Go with somebody who's doing all the research

(18:30):
for you, who's looking at things, who understands the market,
who's lived through downturns and upturns, who's been there, that
can counsel you and help you understand how to design
a portfolio to fit those expectations till you can get
to that point where you do have a peaceful sleep
factor built in into your portfolio.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
Great words, brother, All right, here's my second hypothetical for you.
Imagine you come across a potential investor who has some
time to invest. They might be in their twenties or thirties.
That also might be older, but they have good health
and they have, you know, a good long time horizon
to be able to get in. They also have some
money to invest. But here's the key. He's afraid he'll
lose it because he thinks the markets might tank when

(19:11):
he gets in. He's he's already fearful before he even
gets in. Maybe he's a little bit prone to fear,
prone to greed as all of us are being sinners.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
What should he do well? First off, get the answer
is Jesus again, get back to get back to the line.
But you need to realize that we don't make decisions
from fear. We make decisions from a place, a piece.
We have to go there first. So it sounds like
you were talking about my brother by the way.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
Oh yeah, I don't know your brother.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
But if he's out of the market and he gets in,
I look at getting out because as soon as he
gets in the market goes out. I think he controls
the markets. Act. If he says buy a stock, I
sell it. But no, you know, the reality is that's
Murphy's law. It's also the enemy's way of gearing you
out of being productive. Is the moment you start to

(20:03):
do something, the moment you start to pant in your idea,
the moment you start to develop a business, you're gonna
hit stumbling blocks to discourage you from doing well and
moving forward and utilizing the resources of God in a
way that glorifies him and helps others. You know that's
always going to happen. Know that's part of it. Know
that nothing happens or I've never experienced and I don't

(20:26):
know anybody who has. And God's word tells us it
reigns on the just and unjust alike. So know that
you're going to have trials and tribulations, but no, if
you're walking in the will of God, he gives you
the strength to overcome or a way out of those things.
And most of the time they're just micro lessons to
help you do better in the growth of what you're doing.
So don't be afraid go a little at a time.

(20:50):
Start Start by getting your wroth Ira setup or something
like that. And and and you know you can only
put in what five to seven thousand right now a
year thousand key, yeah, yeah, So you know it's not
like it's all your income or anything. You can start
there and you can start watching if you want to.

(21:10):
And then again I would be educate yourself. Make sure
that you're you know, for one hundred thirty five dollars,
is that one hundred thirty partners get in for one
hundred thirty five dollars a year?

Speaker 2 (21:21):
Is that right? Yeah, it's actually one hundred and thirty two, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
One hundred. I mean for that money, you're getting buy alerts,
sell alerts, you're getting holdings, you're getting screening for biblical principles.
You have people there you can talk to, so you
could go in with a small amount, not all of it,
put the rest in something safer or wherever you feel
would be good. Right now, even CDs or money markets
are paying four percent for decent amounts. You can do

(21:47):
that and and watch it and work it, and then
slowly move stuff into maybe another account as you get
more confident, as you see the markets either steady or
pull back real hard. If they pull back real heart,
real hard, that's a good entry point, by the way,
for most people. So you don't have to rush it,

(22:08):
and you don't have to feel bad about not being in.
Like we said in the first question, you can just
move forward with it and at a slow pace. Start
a little account. I had when I was managing millions
upon millions I for people and other advisors. I had
people who just just couldn't handle some of the volatile markets.

(22:30):
They couldn't sleep at night. So we did this with them,
and it was really fun because they they I told
them to go open up their own accounts somewhere and
just play with it, but livesten and talk to me
if you got an idea for a stock call and
we'll talk about it if you got an idea for
an investment, one step at a time, and then slowly
we would I would educate them about how to analyze

(22:52):
the markets, the general markets, stocks in general, the asset classes,
that's just everything, you know, the end, and how to
determine whether it's a goodbye time or but or not.
And over time they became confident and all their money
moved into the market.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
Eventually, Mark, you know one thing that we can count on. Actually,
I'll say two things that we can count on. These
are not the only two things, one of them being
the markets will be choppy at some point, and the
other thing, much more important, is that the Lord is
on the throne nonetheless and that he will bless the
obedience of his people. Mark man I just appreciate you
so much, brother, sharing your insight with us, and I
look forward to the next time I get to talk

(23:28):
to you on the show. Thanks for joining me today, brother,
it was a blessing.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
Well, thank you so much, and just remember follow God first,
be on his path and everything else will come together.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
Well said, Thank you, Mark. Folks again, that's Mark Manila
Investment Expert. Grateful to have him on the show with me.
We'll have him on again sometime soon. If you have
to leave us, hope you have a great rest of
the day. For the rest of you. More financial issues
coming up, right if this, folks do, hope you enjoyed

(24:07):
my conversation with Mark. That's always a blessing to have
him on. I appreciate that so much. The chat is
lively today. We'll address it in just a minute. Good
to see you all in there. So much gosh, there's
so many of you in there, and it's you know,
it's difficult to talk at the same time as trying
to look through and read some of these chat comments.
So it's just the fun of being able to do
this show. I wish I had two more sets of eyes.

(24:29):
That'd be awesome, But at any rate, that's that's what
we're sitting with here.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
You know.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
We talked about the volatility of the markets and that
last segment, folks, and sure enough, the markets tend towards
that way, whether good or bad. Yesterday they were somewhat muted,
which is always nice to see that. So by the
closing bell yesterday, the Dow Jones finished positive about two
fifths of a percent. The Nasdaq mirrored it in the

(24:53):
negative about two fifths negative. The S and P was
right about at the flat line there, so they kind
of they were digesting everything. Again, that's happening, just like
some of what Mark talked about in politics, in the economy,
different things like that. And this morning, sure enough, a
political announcement has driven the markets upwards. This morning, Donald
Trump announced that it's some good news there's a fresh

(25:15):
trade deal with Japan. The agreement includes reciprocal tariffs of
fifteen percent on the nation's exports to the US. The
President also said the United States is meeting with European
officials to push a trade deal with the EU as well.
And sure enough, the markets are like in all of that,
they're opening positive this morning. Dal Jones is up a
half percent, SMP is up about a third, and the
NASDEC up about a quarter. So that's kind of the

(25:37):
way it goes here, folks. And our hope and prayer
for us here is that we can equip you to
be able to have that steadfast, steady spirit so you
can weather the storms of whichever the way the market goes,
whether they go up or down. Folks, did want to
remind you our show today brought to you in part
by our friends at the Timothy Plan. I so appreciate
Timothy Plan and everything that they do and helping us
keep that steady, steadfast mindset with the markets, but also

(26:00):
offering completely biblically responsible investment options. So I want you
to check that out if you have time today Timothyplan
dot com. All right, folks, let's do a little heart
to heart here if you don't mind chat, especially with
our chat, but with all of our audience. So yesterday
I had Bob Barbera on the show. We discussed the
biblical perspective on retirement. I noticed in the chat there
were a lot of opinions about this, some negative, some

(26:21):
positive about some of what was shared. I would like
to chat with your blessing try to bring some clarity
to what we said yesterday that may have been confusing.
I've even seen some chat comments today to see some
people kind of wondering about it. So let me try
to clear the air as best I can here. Okay,
and we can try to do that together, and if
you've got questions about it, put them in the chat
as well. Let me say this first off, right off

(26:42):
the bat, retirement is not sinful, nor is it evil.
I'll say that again, retirement is not sinful nor is
it evil. In fact, I would argue, we would argue
here at the Ministry, based on our investment strategy, you
should prepare for retirement. That's a good stewardship responsibility. You

(27:05):
should prepare for the day when you can no longer work,
or you choose not to work. That day might come
sooner than you think, might come later than you think.
You should have a plan set up to be able
to do that. You have a responsibility to do that.
You should start that when you're young. Folks. Full disclosure
for you. Guess what I am currently investing from my

(27:25):
retirement right now using the FIM growth fund model. Obviously,
I don't think it's sinful. I don't think it's evil.
Of course. I saw there were some chat comments yesterday
that some people thought what we were saying is that
retirement is somehow bad or evil. That's not it at all.
That's not what we were saying at all. I apologize
if there was any confusion with that. What we were
saying is that retirement, like wealth building in general, can

(27:49):
be sinful. It can be How can it be sinful? Well,
it's pretty simple when it's abused for selfish gain. The
reality is, folks, many people treat retirement as a time
to catch up on things that you wanted to do
but couldn't do when you were working, Things that you
missed out on during your days of work. Not all

(28:10):
of those are bad things, but some of them are
like being lazy, like sitting around not doing anything. What
we were addressing yesterday is the proclivity to do those
things in retirement. In the same way that wealth can
be used for good or evil, or cars can be
used for good or evil, or guns can be used
for good or evil, or leisure can be used for

(28:31):
good or evil, retirement can be as well. That's the
only point we're making yesterday. Retirement is not sinful. It
can be a wonderfully good thing, but it must be stewarded. Well,
that was the point that I wanted to make yesterday.
I'll share this with you, folks, personal testimony here for you.
A couple About a year and a half or so
before I came to the ministry, this was about six
years ago, I had previously worked a job at a church.

(28:55):
I was on staff at that church for about ten years.
It was my home church. I was on staff there
for ten years. The final six of those years were
almost full time or full on full time. I was
in ministry, I was going for my Master's of Divinity.
I was really busy during that time. But then in
twenty nineteen I decided voluntarily to leave that job, and
I had some things in the work for other jobs,

(29:18):
but they weren't starting quite up yet, and some of
them didn't pan out, as it turned out, and so
I entered a season similar to what many enter in retirement.
It was not retirement, obviously, because I was young and
I still needed to work at some point, but my
wife was working at the time. I made a little
extra side money here and there, doing various things. But
I was in a similar way to many people who

(29:39):
are retired. And you know what happened. I didn't steward
it well, I didn't. I wasted a lot of time.
I wasted time that I could have been investing. I
wasted time that I could have spent money. The proclivity
to sin was easier and higher because I was not
doing anything. The point I'm trying to make with this, folks,
is that work is a good thing. God created work

(30:01):
for us, not only for us to find fulfillment and potential,
but also to keep us from the sin that naturally
comes with not doing anything. Now, let me say this,
the Fim family is profoundly good at making the most
of their retirement. And I'm not saying this to butter
you all up, all right. If I thought that you
were not good at it, believe me, I would tell you.

(30:24):
I've got a little bit of dan Celia in me
with that, not as much, but a little bit, Okay,
I would tell you. But here's what I hear all
the time from folks. You send me emails you mentioned
in the chat. You go on missions trips, You spend
time with your kids and grandkids, You serve in your church,
You start businesses after you've semi retired or retired. That
is wonderful, That's awesome. What I could have done better yesterday,

(30:46):
I think, folks, was clarify that from the beginning and
really make the point that the conversation Bob and I
had yesterday was really addressing the temptation towards selfishness in
retirement which faces all of us. And number two also
the few listeners in our audience who maybe did need
to hear what we had to say yesterday and might
be looking at retirement the wrong way. If you're one
of those listeners, I hope what we said yesterday was

(31:07):
convicting to you. But if you're not one of those,
I hope you can forgive me for that for thinking
that I was talking directly to you. Certainly not. However,
I won't apologize for what we said. The Bible does
have a massive emphasis on work being good, an idleness
being dangerous, and you've got to make the most of
your retirement and beyond guard against what comes with retirement

(31:28):
is a built in proclivity to waste those years. I'm
not saying everybody does, but it's a built in proclivity
towards that. Let me clear one more thing up here
for us, folks and guys. We might push off the
AG to the website today. I think we'll probably need
to do that, which is totally cool. If you want
the AGG report today, check it out on the website
or the app. Let me clarify what you're allowed to

(31:50):
do in retirement, Okay, And I'm not making the rules here,
all right, I'm just talking with you face to face,
man to man or man to woman or man to audience. Actually,
the beauty of retirement is that what you are allowed
to do is whatever you want. You're now free from
your nine to five job. You have much more time.
You have the income that you saved up where you
don't need to work to make that income. But that's

(32:12):
also why it can be so dangerous. But you're allowed
to do whatever you want. But let me give you
an example of some things that you can do, and
I would argue you should do. Number one. You should
spend lots of time with your spouse, your kids, and
your grandkids. You should spend a lot of time with them.
You now no longer have to give eight and a
half hours of your day to a company. Your post

(32:34):
work calling might be I'm going to be a full
time grandparent. That is awesome. That's awesome, that's so cool.
You can also do activities you enjoy. You can go
to the beach, you can play golf, you can go skiing,
you can take a cooking class. You can go on
dates with your spouse. You can go see a baseball game.
You can join the church softball team. You can take
music lessons, you can give music lessons, you can collect coins,

(32:55):
you can surf, you can ski, you can do any
of those things, folks. It's wonderful. There's nothing sinful about
them those activities. What becomes sinful is when the activity
itself is sinful. I wouldn't tell you to go into
prostitution or become a pornography addict in your retirement. That
is sinful. But you can do those other things and
do them as unto the Lord. You can ski unto
the Lord. You can cook under the Lord. That's wonderful.

(33:15):
You can also do a different kind of work. Might
be volunteer work, might be part time work. I'll give
you an example. I know some people who are like
you know what.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
I know.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
I have to work a career job. I know I
have to pride for my family, but I just want
to work in an ice cream parlor. I just want
to work in an ice cream parlor. I can't do
that because I won't be able to make enough money
to do that. But when you're retired, go for it.
Work in an ice cream parlor. That's wonderful. Make a
part time salary. You don't need the money. You're doing
it because you love it. That's awesome. Another thing you

(33:46):
can do is serve in your church. Folks. There's a
reason why in my church, and my guess is in
yours as well. A large majority of our lay elders
are retired or semi retired, are paid elders. Our pastors
are not retired, they are full time pastors. But our
lay elders, our volunteer elders, are retired or semi retired.
Many of them are, not all of them, but many

(34:06):
of them are. The reason for this is they have
more time on their hands. I cannot. I have three
young children, I have a full time job. I have
a wife that I'm serving, I have a full time
ministry in my home. I cannot serve the church the
way a retired man can. I should serve in any
way that I can. But my first ministerial calling is
to my wife and children. That's my first ministry, and

(34:27):
oftentimes that takes That's a full time job on top
of the full time job I have here. So serve
in church, Serve in your giftedness, offer counsel, teach a
Sunday school class, serve on worship team. If you're a
godly man, become an elder. I think all those things
are great, folks. I hope that can offer you some clarity,
and I apologize for any confusion that we might have

(34:48):
shared yesterday. Your retirement can be such a good gift,
but it's a gift that needs to be stewarded. Well,
it's a gift from God, folks. Hope that makes some sense.
I appreciate you all letting me the opportunity to share
that with you. Coming up next, we've got John Kerniglia,
president of SAT seven Television. He's going to give us
some insight on the plight of Christians in the Middle

(35:09):
Eastern world. If you've got questions, send him to me,
put him in the chat as well. I appreciate you
all so much. We'll be back more financial issues records.

Speaker 4 (35:27):
The opinions and recommendations expressed on this program do not
necessarily represent the opinions of the station or any of
the program sponsors. Additionally, all products or services offered by
the program sponsors may not be known by the program.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
Folks. Welcome back. It's great to be here with you
this morning. As always, I've got a special guest on
the program joining me today, John Kerniglia. John is the
president of SAT seven SAT seven is a multi media ministry, television,
different media outlets, and they're doing some great work, particularly
in getting the word out about the plight of Christians
in a hostile world. John, Welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
Thanks you great to be with you.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
It's great to have you. Brother. Let's begin right away here.
You're an expert in the plight of Christians in a
hostile world, as we just mentioned, specifically in the Middle East.
That's where I'd like to begin. In the country of
Iran now, as you know, historically been one of the
most hostile regions in the world for Christians. Interestingly enough,
people don't know this. I'm actually a historian by schooling

(36:29):
once a Christian land that way way back, probably more
than fifteen hundred years ago, before the tide of Islam
swept through in the seventh century. What is the plight
of Christians in this region today?

Speaker 5 (36:40):
John, Yeah, Seth, it's really hard, I think for Americans
to wrap our heads and our hearts around what Jesus
followers in Iran and across the Middle East are facing. Yeah,
it's important to remember that because you know, we drive
to Starbucks, we pass a half a dozen churches on
the way there. Right, So it can be really hard
to under stand this. But in a country like Iran,

(37:03):
and in fact across the Middle East and North Africa,
in twenty five nations saith, you've got six hundred million
people three and a half percent or Jesus followers. So
people in the region are an extreme minority facing persecution
every day.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
And John, what specific types of persecution are they facing?
My mind immediately goes to obviously what we saw throughout
Church history, particularly in the age of the Early Church.
You see martyrdoms. But what else is happening?

Speaker 5 (37:33):
Yeah, well, you know, we hear stories all the time
of people coming to faith in Iran. I've got a
story of a sixteen year old teenager named Emir. He
goes to the doctor in Tehran. The medical doctor confesses
secretly to the doctor that he loves Jesus and is

(37:54):
a Christian, and the doctor warns him that you could
be sentenced to death for your belief. And his mother
very upset about him abandoning the faith of his forefathers
and threatening to disown him from the family. That's an
everyday occurrence seth in a place like Iran for new believers.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
That's you know, it does remind me, John, of what
our Lord said speaking about how we you know, basically,
how the the Gospel may cause even a divide among
family members, and what a terrible, terrible thing. What other
types of persecution do people face in these regions and
specifically things that you know might be different than what

(38:38):
we face here.

Speaker 5 (38:39):
Sure well in the workplace, for example, you know most
of us have the responsibility to provide for our families,
to put food on the table and a roof over
our heads. I've met many first generation Muslim background believers
in the Middle East to North Africa who lose their jobs,
their livelihoods. They're sort of branded in a negative way,

(39:02):
of course, and employers don't want to touch them. And
so now you've got families facing food insecurity, threats to
proper housing as well.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
And John, I know you speak often about the plight
specifically of children in these regions. Folks, I know this
is a very sensitive thing, especially if you have children.
I've got three young children of my own, John, and
it's difficult to ask this question, but I'd like to
ask it anyway, and for you to go as deep
as you'd like. What are some of the dangers specifically
facing Iranian Christian children.

Speaker 5 (39:36):
Yeah, well, let me just broaden it a little bit,
Seth and say, you know, we see people in the
region marginalized. I mean, we see it all over the world.
Of course, what we have come to accept in the
West as human rights or biblical truths about the way
God created women and children in his image, you and

(40:00):
I and our listeners accept those to be fact and
truth as they are. In some regions of the world,
we see some horrifying things that are culturally accepted in
the region with regard to how women are treated, perhaps
his property, perhaps as objects of sexual desire, even within families.

(40:21):
And we speak out in love. So in other words,
in our programming on Set seven, what we emphasize more
than anything else is that everybody who walks this earth
set was created in the image of God, the creator
of the universe, as a holy temple, and that shakes

(40:42):
people into rethinking that the practices, the historic practices towards
women and children.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
And John, one question that I had just as a
follow up for that you had mentioned the horrible things
done to women. Is it true in many of these
Muslim dominated countries that oftentimes women are for into you know,
child marriages meaning they're nine, ten, eleven years old being
married off to forty fifty year old Muslim war lords.
Is that something that we just assume is happening or
is that something that is actually happening.

Speaker 5 (41:11):
Well, in my career of ministry over decades, yes, I
have become familiar with cultures and traditions where that is
that is the normal cultural practice, par fine, and so
we as believers have an opportunity to point people to Jesus,
the creator of the world, to understand that we are

(41:33):
his holy temples, that we are to reflect His glory
among the nations.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
That's our call, and John, I want to get to
specifically how you guys do that At SAT seven. Before
I asked that question, though, let me ask this, how
has the recent escalation in conflict between Iran and Israel
impacted Christians in the region. I'm sure it has, but
I would love to know how. As you know, that's
a region of the world that Muslims, Christians and Jews

(42:00):
have been battling in some ways for the last you know,
fifteen hundred years. But what are the ways that Christians
have been impacted by that conflict between Jews and Muslims.

Speaker 5 (42:12):
Yeah, well, in Palestine, in Israel, in Iran, and in
other countries throughout the region. All people, all human beings,
are facing consequences of the war. So when bombs fall,
they are they're hitting all sorts of people of all

(42:35):
three major religions. So to answer your question directly, Seth,
there are Jesus followers in Palestine who have been impacted
by the bombing. There are Jesus followers in Tehran. Same thing.
I mean, all over the world we see this, you know,
you see it of course in Ukraine and Russia as well.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
Yeah, absolutely, all right, John Teller listeners. So SAT seven TV,
you guys have a platform, you guys have been given
gift to steward. How do you guys bring the gospel
to the nations, particularly in light of what we just
talked about. How do you use Sat seven TV to
help get the word out to help fight back against
this darkness that we see.

Speaker 5 (43:13):
Yeah, yeah, so it is our heart to bring light
where there's darkness. We do that in love. We don't
do that in judgment or condemnation. It's very intentional on
our part. We have four satellite channels reaching about fifteen
million viewers a year in twenty five nations. These channels

(43:34):
can't be blocked or censored by anybody. So that distinguishes
satellite from the Internet. We've heard, we've been reading about
and hearing about the Internet being shut down by nations.
You can't do that with satellite. Satellite. You know, Americans,
we hear satellite. We hear of it as a we
think of it as a premium product. In the Middle

(43:54):
East to North Africa, ninety five percent of people who
watch television use satellite. And so on our four channel SETH,
we have three hundred programs addressing a whole wide range
of issues of the day, all threading through the gospel
good news of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And

(44:16):
so in Iran alone, we have about a million people
that we reach annually in Iran presenting the gospel good news.
And so if you're in Iran watching us, call and
you have questions Seth, it's not just a one way thing.
We've give you a phone number, you call in and
we have a whole team ready to answer your questions.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
John, that's amazing. That gets me really excited to know
that there are other folks out there in similar spaces
as we're in here at financial issues. We have a
radio and TV ministry as well, trying to get the
word out of biblically responsible investing. It's great to stand
shoulder to shoulder with you guys, brother. I think we'll
have to close with this question, John, how can Christians
in the United States lift up and support maligned believers
in Iran and in other places that we had you

(44:59):
know mentioned, Especially considering the fact that some might not
be able to go on mission, how can they still support?

Speaker 5 (45:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can't hop on a plane and
go to some of the places that we've been talking about. Set. Yeah,
but what you can do is so much more powerful
and important than that. I'd say a few things. Quickly,
pray persistently, Pray unceasingly for all people across the Middle
East and North Africa that they would be drawn to

(45:26):
the Lord. The Lord is presenting himself through dreams and
a whole wide range of ways that people are coming
to learn about him. So pray continuously even for your enemies,
as Jesus teaches us to do. Pray for everybody in
the Middle East to North Africa, and pray for the
Christians there's millions of Christians in the Middle East to

(45:48):
North Africa who are on the ground witnessing. Pray for
their safety, Pray for their protection and their boldness.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
John, I appreciate you so much. Quickly, brother, how can
our listeners learn more about SAT seven TV and follow
the work that you do?

Speaker 5 (46:02):
Yeah, check us out on the web. You can google
us SET seven USA dot org and learn more about
the different ways that you can participate in our ministry.
We welcome you. It's going to take the entire body
of Christ bring the Gospel into the Middle East.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
John, I appreciate you so much, brother, Thank you for
the work that you guys do. You're wonderful stewards of
the Gospel and it's an honor to get to promote
the work that you guys do here on our show.
God blessed brother, Thank you, Thank you assuming absolutely Folks Again,
John Kerniglia, President of SAT seven Multimedia Group, wonderful to
hear what they're doing and bringing the Gospel to the
darkest corners of the world. Boy, it was a delight

(46:38):
to be here with you on the show. As always, folks,
remember everything you have belongs to the Lord. Let's be
found good and faithful stewards with what God has given
to us. Until next time, I'm Sethidinski. Remember it's all his.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
We'll see you next time.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
If we ever forget that we're one nation under God,
then we will be a nation gone under Thank you
for joining us. This has been an FI s m