0:00:00 - 0:00:23OK, I wanna, I wanna share some free flowing thoughts about charity. I have in my mind kind of a scaffold of where I want to go with this and let's just see where, where this water takes us. So, um I'm gonna divulge some personal details here and hopefully if if anyone involved watches these videos are
0:00:23 - 0:00:47not offended by my take on the situation. Um But from time to time as I'm contemplating, um I guess discussing with the Lord, the situation of certain people, it makes it very clear to me that there are others who would learn from these things and you know, we have to balance privacy with benefit to
0:00:47 - 0:01:10others. But hopefully there aren't any details here that are identifiable except to the people involved. I only think there's probably one person who might watch this. In fact, I'll, I'll send this to him because it's in lieu of replying to a message that I got from him in a sense, it's, it's lateral
0:01:10 - 0:01:39anyway, but the theme we'll discuss here is real charity. Life changing charity. So, um so I have a friend in France and uh as is the case with most of my friends, I think these days uh I met him via this ministry will say for lack of a better word. And uh so blogs, books and videos and not knowing him
0:01:39 - 0:01:58terribly well. One day out of the blue, I guess in his perspective, out of the blue, I said, hey, do you want a job? I think we could get you a visa and bring you over here and he was floored and I threw him enough details that, you know, it was something that could be fleshed out as an actual plausible
0:01:57 - 0:02:28possibility in his mind. And uh he was, he was really, um I don't know, he's really affected by what he saw as a, as a gesture of extreme generosity. But um he, he had read some of the things I wrote about. There are only being two promised lands right now. Um The United States and Israel and although
0:02:28 - 0:02:50both places are going to go through some serious stuff, some of which we're seeing right now. Um They are the two places the Lord has appointed and therefore the, the, well, I don't want to get too detailed here anyway, that that's where people should be. If you believe in God, you ought to make your
0:02:50 - 0:03:16way to the United States or Israel. And I should probably say North America instead of the United States. I have a friend in Canada who's just over the border and we've had discussions about this. Uh in detail. And um I gave him many reasons why, where he is is just fine. But um anyway, um yeah, we'll
0:03:16 - 0:03:39avoid more detail there. So, but just generally speaking, the United States, Israel and uh I lined up a lot of things that, you know, and he knew right away that this was not something that was going to be convenient for me. I had to set aside significant resources which were limited at my company. Um
0:03:39 - 0:04:05small company, very limited resources um to make that happen. I had to do some research and take time to do research on H one B visas and go through that process of applying for the lottery. And uh contrary to the odds, um he had a, he had a very good chance of getting it and he did not get it. But as
0:04:04 - 0:04:25you know, one of the tricky things about it is we're up against a deadline. There just wasn't time to do full, let's get to know each other to the full extent one would before this would be pursued because it's an annual thing, there's an annual application deadline and the deadline was very soon after
0:04:24 - 0:04:53. Uh I explored this idea, we'll say with the Lord. So um you didn't get it. And in our discussions subsequently, it became evident that his Children and his wife really weren't interested and um he was, he was interested, but probably not to the level of what would be required to perceive receive and
0:04:53 - 0:05:20value the actual blessing. So um because there, you know, to go into details here, um it obviously it's a challenge to uproot your life and move to a different country. Uh He was fluent in English. His wife was OK at English. But that, you know, there's a huge culture shift, there's a language change
0:05:19 - 0:05:45and especially with certain cultures such as French culture, it's very different from American culture and especially in the domain of work. So attitudes towards work are vastly different in the United States versus France. Uh And then the social differences are huge as well. So it was seen as an immense
0:05:44 - 0:06:17cost. Um And so this, there are kind of two topics on this video. One is life changing charity. The other is how God helps us to see the true value of choices. Um So it turns out that over time um getting and getting to know each other better. Uh My French friend revealed that that uh his wife had had
0:06:16 - 0:06:39a series of dreams where she saw very bad things happening in their homeland and those very bad things, all of a sudden there were real time because this has happened some time ago, the real time indications that this wasn't so far fetched and it's, it's something that had really bothered her. And, and
0:06:39 - 0:07:03so it's interesting because here's a problem that's revealed, here's continuing evidence that it is actually a problem and that the magnitude is at least as intense as it seems, maybe greater than it seemed. Here's a potential solution to that problem, but it seems like the cost is too high. And so supposing
0:07:03 - 0:07:29that these things were meant to line up if you were the Lord, what would you do about it? And remember the, his goal is to maximize the opportunity we have to, to, to exercise the greatest faith because that's where the greatest joy comes from. Those two intensities are coupled. So, um and to preserve
0:07:29 - 0:08:01the agency of people at all times, well, what you do is you turn up the knob that controls the extent to which the consequences of reality are revealed to a person, which means through their experience. So, um you know, I texted him because with the, this business in Israel right now, um the folks in
0:08:01 - 0:08:33Gaza um are calling for worldwide shenanigans to take place this Friday. Uh Tomorrow, I'm recording this on October 12th and um there are a lot of ideologically oriented people in that vein in Paris. And so, um and Paris has had major problems with these folks in the past because they're multigenerational
0:08:32 - 0:08:53immigrants who have not merged into French culture. And uh they don't enjoy the same, yeah. Imagine this. They don't enjoy the same lifestyle as those who have. Um That's funny, you live a different law and don't have the same effect. Wow. Who would have thought that you'd have a different experience
0:08:52 - 0:00:00. Maybe you should adopt the beliefs of those that, that live better lives than you. But they don't think that way. Uh, no one does. It's a human problem. No one seems to anyway. Um, so I said, hey, I hope things don't get too bad there. He said, I hope so too. And, uh, and then I realized actually,
0:00:00 - 0:09:40I mean, that's a, that's an idiom we say, but I don't actually mean that I hope things don't get bad there. I don't have a reason to hope that they won't get bad there. I expect things to get bad there. Um I hope people learn the most that they should out of it. So it's interesting and I believe I may
0:09:39 - 0:10:00have spoken about this before. I guess there's no harm in saying it again. Why does God give us dreams of the future? Why, why does he give us any kind of prophecies of the future? Well, one key reason is that we can prepare our hearts and minds to make the right choices. And one component of that's
0:10:00 - 0:10:26very important is so we more accurately assess the cost of the right choice versus the benefits of the right choice compared to any other choice. And so there's an enumeration of choices and evaluation of choices. That's the reason prophecy changes that because what it does is it brings into the present
0:10:25 - 0:10:49, a greater awareness of the consequences of the future. That's a prophecy does So if I say, well, like from the, from the book of Mormon, well, let's go with the Bible, right? So Hezekiah receives these tremendous promises from the Lord through Isaiah and then um the sun stands still, the the sun dial
0:10:49 - 0:11:15stops moving. And so the evidence of the future promises being fulfilled is brought down to the present and attached to the sundial here and now not moving. And so the appropriate thing to do is to say because this is happening, I'm going to have greater belief in this thing that was told me about the
0:11:14 - 0:00:00future. That's whose only connection is because the same agent has said both things. And I don't understand why this is so hard for people to get right? But uh you know, Moses, if a dude can strike a rock and water comes out, you should probably believe him when he says, and God also told me, right,
0:00:00 - 0:12:14at least believe him a little more than you did before. So I fully expect bad things to happen in Paris and many other places in the near and distant future for this and many other reasons. But um back to charity. So there's a an element of charity that is I, I guess we could character II, I think I
0:12:14 - 0:12:38can tease out three sort of emotional um core motivations for, for charity and in charity, I'm talking about giving money to other people doing good for other people. And I know that word can mean different things. That's the context right here right now. So there's this idea of helping people, which
0:12:38 - 0:13:02is great. There's this idea of God expects me to give some of my money to other people, to the poor. And it's sort of this, the, the scriptural word is maintenance. The phrase is maintenance of the poor. It's, it's like uh the poor you always have among you. It's, it's how you deal with that. Um And
0:13:02 - 0:13:23, and that's important, that's, that's sort of just a regular amount, kind of question like how much, what percent kind of idea. And the reason that percent is there is to protect good people who would otherwise give all to a problem that can never be fixed that way. And, and they end up doing less good
0:13:22 - 0:13:44because they're sending their money to s to something less than what the greatest good is that they could do. That was not said well, but you get the point. So the maintenance of the reprobate, poor, reprobate, meaning it ain't gonna be fixed like a reprobate, sinner is, is just beyond hope. They're
0:13:43 - 0:14:03just gonna keep sinning. The reprobate poor are the poor that never go away that nothing you do will ever change their situation. You can alleviate their suffering somewhat in the moment, but it's just going to take continuous donations. Um They'll never become self sufficient. They'll never change their
0:14:02 - 0:14:29behavior. They'll never change their attitudes. It's just, you're always going to be taking care of these people. Uh, ok. Fine. Right. They're still God's Children. So, um, so there's that, the first one we started on is like I want to help people. And then, um, the third one is the, well, I guess the
0:14:28 - 0:14:47third one is God expects me to give and I'm not going to talk about that because we shouldn't obey God for that kind of reason. It, it should be love. Uh But whatever you could talk about that and it would be worth talking about that, but I'm not gonna spend the time. So let's go back to that first reason
0:14:47 - 0:15:06, which is actually helping people because the second reason, the maintenance of the poor doesn't really help them. It alleviates their suffering, but it doesn't change their condition. So it's treating the symptoms of the disease, not the disease itself. The first is actually curing the disease. So
0:15:05 - 0:15:35um my whole life, I, in in fact, I've shared, I think details of this at some point. Uh II, I grew up poor. I know I've mentioned that um when I was first introduced to the Lord, um meaning, meaning, I guess um it's so funny how it's so hard to describe the simplest of ideas because the language has
0:15:35 - 0:15:55all been occupied by lesser things. So I could say when I was introduced to Christianity for real, but that, you know, people would assume that that means what other people would say when they said that and that's much less than what I mean. Anyway, once I realized that God was real, we'll put it that
0:15:55 - 0:16:19way. Once I realized God was real, I started reading the scriptures. I remember very vividly a moment where I was reading in, in Mosiah and uh the bit about having the desire to help people, but not the means. And I didn't know what a covenant was. Um But I had this overwhelming desire in my heart and
0:16:19 - 0:16:53I said, Lord, I have nothing. I've never had anything. I've been broke my whole life and my parents have been broke their whole lives. Um And uh, I know where I'm starting. I know we, I know where my baseline is. So, um, cause I was, I was 18, I was an adult and I said, um, anything you send my way from
0:16:53 - 0:17:30this point on it's yours, you know, use it to the greatest extent they understand, to bless other people. And, um I really meant it and I've kept, and, uh, you know, I'd say great cost, but it's just been a great pleasure in retrospect. You know, sometimes it's kind of hard, uh, especially, you know
0:17:30 - 0:18:08, the giving is never hard. It's the, um, the observation of how people misuse it that hurts. But, um, anyway, I've stayed true to that. And, um, what I've learned in some years since then, a very intense living of this principle includes the idea that I, I strongly believe that the good that you do
0:18:08 - 0:18:38is highly correlated to the distance at which you do it inversely. So if you wanna do the greatest good, you need to be at the closest distance. So a lot of times, you know, it's hard enough to convince people to, to part with money. Um Most people are extremely stingy and selfish, but every once in
0:18:38 - 0:19:05a while you get someone who in the moment at least feels some concern for others or so with some people, it's more sustained, which is wonderful, it's wonderful. But another um axis of this, another dimension of this is how up close and personal they want to be because just as the number of people who
0:19:05 - 0:19:35are interested in giving decreases as the amount given increases, they number of people who are interested as the level of personal involvement increases, that also reduces. And it, but in both cases, it's exponential. So two exponentials compounded is like a super exponential, right? So um hardly anyone
0:19:35 - 0:19:59wants to do wants to be all in up close and personal. And some of you understand why? Because you've dabbled in this, at least others have done more than dabble. Not, not to minimize that. But uh I had a discussion with a friend about something related on this and he said, you know, anyone that signs
0:19:58 - 0:20:22up for this gleefully obviously doesn't have any idea what they're doing. And I said, yeah, and I've heard that actually said about several things. He was specifically talking about the broader principles of charity. But I've heard other people, I heard a polygamist say this about polygamy and I believe
0:20:21 - 0:20:44her and she, she, she thinks it's a good idea for her. I mean, she doesn't have any regrets and she's years and years on. But she says, you know, anyone who knows anything about this wouldn't sign up for it unless their hearts are full of the love of God. And I, I said, yeah, I can imagine. I don't know
0:20:44 - 0:21:15, but I can imagine so anyway, back to charity. So, um, there are very few people who wanna be up close and personal with this and who are all in. Um, so going back to my friend's friend, it costs a lot of money to go through immigration paperwork and, uh, and do all that, but it costs even more to invite
0:21:15 - 0:21:41a stranger from another country and his family to come live in your house because there are no houses available places for them to live available where I am and all that stress on my wife and kids. But mostly my wife and potential strain if it doesn't fit just right. And this is something. If you've
0:21:41 - 0:22:03never invited people into your home before, you have no idea what this is like. Now some of you, you've had an in-law move in or a parent or a sibling or whatever, maybe you've even like, pseudo, adopted some niece or nephew or, or maybe you've really adopted kids and I know some of you have so integrating
0:22:03 - 0:22:26new people into your home, it's hectic, it is hectic and it's something that is very dangerous, it's wrought with danger of, of many types. And so this is a really high cost. Right. And, you know, it's interesting, it's one thing to do something with high cost, not having any clue what it's going to
0:22:26 - 0:22:51be like, it's another doing it knowing exactly what it's going to be like if you do it anyway. So, um, and then there's the, the corporate side of this where, you know, I have a business that I, my livelihood is, is strongly coupled to the success of the business and, and now I'm going to decide to use
0:22:51 - 0:23:10finite resources for this purpose. And, and in this case, there was absolutely a business case for making this happen. I won't get into that but just take my word for it, but it was still a huge risk, you know. So, um, it could have not worked out. And then what do you do? Because now you've moved someone
0:23:10 - 0:23:31internationally and they have no other place to go and they can't do you any good from a corporate perspective. Now, what did it take to make this offer? Well, had to have a house with space for, for a bunch of extra people. Um, some would say that you can never have enough space for a bunch of extra
0:23:31 - 0:23:52people in your home because that's how disruptive it is. But, you know, whatever we squeeze them in had to have a business, had to have creative control of that business, had to have resources to financially make this happen, had to have the idea which is harder than you think. Not enough credit is given
0:23:52 - 0:24:14for creative work. Um As far as faith goes, people don't realize the value of the idea. You know, Paul talked about how do we have faith? Unless we have a preacher, there are people on this planet, you can read about it. M I seven who don't have preachers and they still get the ideas. And that's because
0:24:14 - 0:24:41they're ministered to by heaven, which is something that is rare is in the instance, the instance of this is rare to find someone for whom this occurs with regularity is insanely rare and no one gives credit to that at all. So that's a shame because, because if you don't perceive the value of something
0:24:40 - 0:25:14, you won't receive the joy from it. Um So uh yeah, I guess we, we've drilled this to death, right? So what's the difference between me doing all that and me say giving $2000 to an orphanage or something? There is uh I I've worked a lot with orphanages and uh child oriented charities that are international
0:25:13 - 0:25:43in, in places that are deeply poor that are destitute and um, that, that for like a decade, I was deeply into that. So, um, what's the difference between these things? Well, the other day I took some apples to a neighbor's house said he wants, he wanted some. So I brought him a big box of apples and
0:25:42 - 0:26:08there outside were two other neighbors, a couple who are elderly and they've been in ministry their whole lives use air quotes because I'm not sure what good they've actually done. But, you know, that's what they've spent their time doing and they had with them, a pastor from Kenya and we said we'd like
0:26:07 - 0:26:33you to meet our friend and then they proceeded to babble for like an hour nonstop. Hardly even taking breaks to suck in air about, um, the plight of this pastor and his people. And of course they're asking for money and if you've been involved in any kind of African orphanage, uh, type thing, the story
0:26:32 - 0:26:55is always exactly the same if we just get more land, if we just get a vehicle, if we just get this or that, all of our problems will be solved. And the root cause of all of our problems is just, we need more money and, um, a lot more could be said about this, but we'll leave it at that. So I'm sitting
0:26:55 - 0:27:14here knowing that I know about 100 times more about this situation than either these people who won't stop talking to me. Um, and I can't get in a word edgewise. And even if I did, they strongly believe that because they've been pastors their whole life, they may know more about this than anyone else
0:27:14 - 0:27:37could. And especially me. I mean, what do I know? I'm just an excommunicated Mormon in their eyes. Right. So, um, he's also lost his job because of his religion. They know that too. So, these are the same people who, uh, months after the fact called me because they needed something from me because they're
0:27:37 - 0:27:57old uh can't do this thing for themselves. And in passing said, we heard about what happened to you. We prayed for you. And I said, well, that's nice. Why didn't you stop by and talk to me or call me even? So, thanks for your prayers. But it's a shame you weren't willing to do anything yourself. You
0:27:57 - 0:28:21just kind of put that on God to take care of. And uh I thought they of all people would understand the value of persecution but whatever. Uh So yeah, so, so that happened and um I was thinking to myself, you know, if we didn't have such dumb immigration laws, I'd be the first in line to say how many
0:28:20 - 0:28:42orphans do you have? Great, bring them to my place, bring them to my place. Let's set something up, we can teach these kids. My wife is a pheno phenomenal teacher. We'll teach these kids, we'll train them up to be productive. In society we'll prevent malnutrition, which that's one of the many things
0:28:42 - 0:29:04that people that get involved in this don't understand. I mean, it's complex. It's not that complicated though, but you know, a kid who grows up in M in M with malnourishment during critical years and it's, it stops at a very young age. It's too late. They will always have a room temperature IQ which
0:29:04 - 0:29:23isn't sufficient to ever support yourself. You'll be dependent upon others for the rest of your life. And in the story of this orphanage and they are doing so great because they keep admitting more orphans and they're still all just eating one meal a day. So guess what? You're just gonna end up with
0:29:23 - 0:29:46more orphans because all these people are gonna grow up and have kids and they won't be able to support any of them. So, you know, anyway, we could, we could rant about the inefficiency of how all this is handled. But um you know, I'd be the first in line to actually address these problems with my own
0:29:45 - 0:30:15blood, sweat and tears and you don't have a fortune. But if I had a fortune uh with whatever resources I have, um but I can't give this guy money because I know, and you know, the first thing I did was I went to the Lord and I said, look, you know, I already have an opinion on this and you know why it's
0:30:15 - 0:30:33because of the things you've led me through and taught me, but just checking in because everything I know is incomplete or incorrect. Maybe this is an exception. Maybe I'm missing out on something. Maybe this is the time for you to teach me some new thing beyond the limits of my previous understanding
0:30:32 - 0:30:58. So you give the word and I don't know how much cash we have in our house. I'll give it all to him. And if, if he'll take a check, you just tell me what to do and everything is yours. And he showed me all the reasons why I shouldn't give any money to this guy, which, you know, it broke my heart because
0:30:57 - 0:31:25I wanted to help him any way I could. And we went down the hierarchy of ways I could help and there wasn't anything left in the window they had to receive. So I saw, you know, these pastors were gonna take this guy to different congregations and pray for him, which really irritates me. You know, they
0:31:25 - 0:31:43even pulled this when they were talking to me. Oh, we just want people to pray for him and success for his ministry. I'm like, no, he's here for money. You want people to give him money and there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with that. But why are you pretending that this is something
0:31:43 - 0:32:13other than what it is? If all we're doing is praying for him, he doesn't have to be here and no one's got to cut a check and we don't have to pass an offering played around but just say what you're doing. Good grief. Don't, don't uh church it up. Oh, gosh. So, um, anyway, so it turns out that there are
0:32:13 - 0:32:34, the problem is never the problem. Right? What you think is the problem is never the problem. If it was, you'd have solved it already. There's a missing puzzle piece and it's a representation question. How do you formulate? How do you represent the problem? And the problem is never money. The problem
0:32:34 - 0:32:56is never money. Uh The problem is almost always a person. The problem is almost always a person. Uh Meaning the lack of a certain person or a person isn't the kind of person he or she needs to be yet. And, and that's, that's what it really comes down to. Now. There are many circumstances where money
0:32:56 - 0:33:19changes hands and it makes things better. Obviously, the opposite is also true. But the money is never the problem. Just like, I mean, with this guy, for example, let's pretend that his lack was money and that giving him the 15,000 he was trying to raise um would have solved all of his problems. Let's
0:33:19 - 0:33:40just pretend that for a second. Now the problem is still not money. You say, what do you mean he's going to go to these congregations and ask for money? No, the problem is that those people prefer their own well being to the well being of those orphans, that's the problem. The problem is that they prefer
0:33:40 - 0:34:03their fancy houses and their nice food, the benefit they receive from that to the benefit of saving the lives of these destitute orphans that eat corn mush once a day and that's all they get. That's the problem. And so if you want to solve the problem, you have to change the hearts and minds. And in
0:34:03 - 0:34:31this case, there have to be people who say, you know, even if I'm not going to part with my house and my steak, I've got Surplus beyond that. Tell me who I need to make the check out to and then you can come up closer to having a house and stake for yourself. Now, the problem is so that's a big enough
0:34:31 - 0:34:53problem because there are people who will do that. I've told a story before of a man named Jeff and I don't have contact with this guy. I have no idea what's going on in his life. But I'll tell you when I knew him, I, I felt the love of God through me for this man because I was raising money to go to
0:34:53 - 0:35:16a part of Africa to open this place for a charity who had asked me to do it, but also who didn't have any money to send me. And I didn't have any money. I was a broke graduate student with a young family. And, uh, he came to me and he said, I heard you raising money for this. I said, yeah, he said, well
0:35:16 - 0:35:36, how much have you raised? I told him and I don't remember the figures, but I had raised, like, people had donated like 5% of what I needed to go or something. It was a small percentage and it was a substantial amount because I, I told the charity, I said, look, I'm willing to go, but I'm not willing
0:35:36 - 0:35:59to go without my family because I'm just so busy all the time. I, I'm in the National Guard, I'm a grad student. I can't take more time away from them. I'm willing to give myself, but I can't take from them. And they said that's fine, just raise the money and we, you can all go. And I said, fine. And
0:35:58 - 0:36:26so there was a lot of plane tickets is what it came down to. We weren't really paying any money for anything else. It was just the plane tickets. He said, how much money do you need? And I told him and he said, do you think you're gonna get it? And I thought about it because we were really far off. But
0:36:25 - 0:37:00I knew we would. I said something like the Lord will provide because, and this wasn't just like wishy washy. I hope he does. I said he'll find a way. If it's his oil, he'll find a way. And Jeff pulled out his checkbook and he wrote me a check and I couldn't believe it at the time that exceeded my expectation
0:36:59 - 0:37:34of any person. And I tried to, like, I don't know, say something about it and he's just kind of shoot me away. Like, and then he left that, that I don't know if that might be the last time I ever talked to him. And, uh, he did it for all the right reasons. He, he wasn't looking for attention, he wasn't
0:37:34 - 0:38:02looking, you know, he just said I have this to give and I wanna do it. So there was a person but not enough money. And so I took a person to fix that problem and enable the first person me to go and do what no one else was willing to do. The charity could not find anyone to go and do this. What, what
0:38:02 - 0:38:33I did if you care, I was going over to uh screen Children for malnutrition. And so we, we gathered up, we went all across Zimbabwe and, and uh we went to one place in Mozambique and um, we weighed and measured kids and then the ones that had issues, we set things up so we could get uh treatment for that
0:38:32 - 0:39:10basically is what we do. And so we, because there was a person willing to help, I was able to go and touch 3000 kids face to face, hold them in my hands, put them on the scale, hand them back to their moms. It, there, there has to be rubber to hit the road. So the most effective charity does not happen
0:39:09 - 0:39:44at a distance. Um The next point we have to transition to which is highly related is this idea of Melchizedek being appointed to receive the tithes. What is that all about? Have you ever asked or how did that happen or why? There's a lot to be said about this. But, um, when I talk about the orphanages
0:39:43 - 0:40:07and, um, the real issues there and what it would take to really fix them or dress them as better, better, a better way of putting it. Um, maybe now this is the time to, to dump some more about what the problems are. Ok. Well, a lot of that money. So, again, these are people, these are kids who are malnourished
0:40:06 - 0:40:26chronically and their brains are getting stunted and they're gonna be borderline retarded for the rest of their lives because they don't get enough vitamins and minerals at regular intervals. These people don't understand the need to eat the vitamins and minerals. They don't know what they have to eat
0:40:26 - 0:40:49to get them. And so all they eat is corn mush, maybe some beans, maybe some vegetables every once in a while. But the principal focus is on the corn. And, uh, that's, that's really not the best way to go. So they don't know that you cannot possibly get the nutrients, you need as a developing child in
0:40:49 - 0:41:10one meal a day, your body can't process them. So, um, instead of doing the most important thing, which is changing what they're eating and when, which by the way, they don't need any money to do. They need a person to teach them and they need a willingness to believe they can grow all the stuff. They
0:41:10 - 0:41:32need to prevent malnutrition in a tiny little plot on the land they already have. But they don't, because they believe their culture has taught them that what they need is money and that their problem is that they're not like rich people, relatively rich. They would consider you abundantly wealthy no
0:41:32 - 0:42:02matter how poor you are. If you live in, in the United States, you're watching this. So, um with the money they get, I'll tell you how they spend it first off. They hire teachers to teach first world school to these Children. So here's a group of kids that doesn't even know how to solve malnutrition
0:42:01 - 0:42:25, which sounds way fans and doesn't know that they need to eat two meals a day. They don't know where malaria comes from. They won't wear nets at night, they won't tra nets over their, their beds at night. Um They don't understand where A I DS comes from. And uh but the most pressing problem is for them
0:42:25 - 0:42:49to learn algebra, to learn how to write poetry or something. Now, meanwhile, they spend the funds that they have, they, they, if they have a school, they have to have uniforms because that's the way they do it over there. That's the European model. You have to have uniforms. And so those uniforms cost
0:42:49 - 0:43:13way more than all the other clothes they wear. So it takes up a massive amount of the money. So how is this ever gonna get fixed using that model? By the way, most of the orphans are not actually orphans at all. They have parents, but the parents are more than willing to take advantage of an institution
0:43:13 - 0:43:36that's gonna feed their kids and teach them for free because most schools, there are private schools and they charge tuition and the parents don't have money to take care of their kids. So of course, they're gonna send their kids to a school that's free, that also feeds them their one meal a day. So
0:43:36 - 0:43:55that's the problem. The kids go home at night because they have a home for the most part, there are real orphans in places like you know, the giant continent of Africa, there are real orphans. But this is not a situation like and this is one of the main problems is when you face, when you hear about
0:43:55 - 0:44:12stuff like this, you fill in all the gaps with your own experience and you think if someone's that bad off really all they need is a leg up. All they need is a little bit of money because anyone that bad off here, all they would need is a little bit of money and they'd be fine. No, it's not the same
0:44:11 - 0:44:36there. It's very, very, very different. And, uh, people find out like, like when you, when you invite massive amounts of immigrants from other countries into your hometown, you find out they don't think the same way as people already there. They don't do the same things for the same reasons. So it takes
0:44:35 - 0:45:01a certain caliber of person to actually perceive the real problems and to find out by going to find out by actually going there and not for like a weekend. Do you remember? Were they called Potemkin Villages or something where uh when people would go to tour North Korea, outsiders, they'd actually have
0:45:01 - 0:45:22fake cities set up their fronts, like the building only existed on the facade and they drive them through these cities that were manicured and they're fake, but to present things as better than they are. And uh it's very possible if you just go there for a moment that that's what you see. But if you
0:45:22 - 0:45:40stay there, you see what the real problems are, but that takes a massive sacrifice. And as hard as it is to find people to give you money, it's way harder to find people to give up their lives. And to say, oh, you can't live in your giant cabin that you go to every other weekend and see your grandkids
0:45:39 - 0:46:07and life's just a party because you made it big. Um You have to go live in a destitute place where a fly can land on you and lay eggs and now you're gonna die. You know, people don't sign up for that. So, um one reason that Melchizedek was appointed to receive the tides is because he could see and solve
0:46:07 - 0:00:00the problems better than anyone else. And yet again, we find that many of the issues in the, the larger, larger uh view of the gospel, many of the issues are related to the fact that we've extracted out this idea of hierarchy, this idea of differences between people, we pretend everyone is the same.
0:00:00 - 0:47:09And so all that's needed is money. I've heard that message before, heard that message before it turns out that there's a cost to things, to all things that is not limited to money. Charity in its purest form is up close and personal. So not all people are willing or able to do that. So if you're working
0:47:09 - 0:47:39a 9 to 5 job and you don't have an abundance of money and or you have little kids and, and, and right, one of your kids is, is uh has medical necessities that require you to be in a certain place. The list goes on and on. You can't be that person to be on the ground. And so this is where the transmission
0:47:38 - 0:48:08of money helps, but it's not, it's, it's, it's never uh a lateral transfer with charity. The tra the transfer of money is never a lateral transfer. Um, because if you have surplus, then whether it was like dropped out of the sky as a gift from God or acquired through your uh exceptional skill and decision
0:48:07 - 0:48:32making and whatever you have something that the person you're giving it to does not. And they have something when it's done, right. They have something that you do not have in terms of the ability to administer that. And maybe that's a willingness to be there. But I think more often than not, it has
0:48:31 - 0:49:01to be something connected to capability as well. So, um, these are things that are really important to think about because no one is doing this right? And the time is coming for us to do it more correctly. That's, that's coming very quickly. And it's really important because we all have gifts and money
0:49:00 - 0:49:23is a gift. But whatever our gifts are, it might be that, you know, between your talent and practice, you are really good at singing or whatever the case may be. Um, we have to get better at orienting those gifts to the greatest good. And if, if your idea of using your gift to singing is like every once
0:49:23 - 0:49:44in a while at church, I sing a song. What did he do? Right. What would he do? You haven't begun to te to taste, you haven't begun to even taste what you can do for the Lord with the gifts he's given you and whatever they are, it doesn't matter. And so we need to find ways to get that more directly onto
0:49:44 - 0:50:19the Lord's purposes. And, um, that includes learning how to be a part of life changing charity. Um I'll give one other example from my own life here. So, uh, my wife is from South Africa. It's a failed state. And, um, that began in the mid nineties, well, began a little before then when the CIA orchestrated
0:50:17 - 0:50:43a uh an international canceling of South Africa because they practiced apartheid. And uh everyone decided that they didn't like that idea. So, um understandably, right, not defending that. Um but they made some enormous mistakes in how they transitioned out of that. And basically the current state of
0:50:43 - 0:51:06the state is a direct result of that. And so it's too far gone and it's done and the writing was on the wall a long time ago. But people like to stay with what they know and they don't want to face the fact that they made enormous mistakes and that's human nature, right? So people who could leave left
0:51:05 - 0:51:30and then the folks who couldn't, were just kind of stuck there. So, uh my wife and I decided that we would leverage the resources, we had to help her youngest brother get out of there. And so he needed a path to citizenship or whatever to get some path through immigration to come here. Um And long story
0:51:30 - 0:51:55short, through really putting myself out there uh in my university position at the time and using a big chunk of the resources I had accumulated through, through really hard work there and a lot of sacrifice, um I was able to persuade him and his wife come over here and he was a student and through getting
0:51:55 - 0:52:20a degree in a completely unrelated field than what he already had advanced degrees in. Uh, he ended up with a way to be here to live in a place that's right up his alley as far as, uh, you know, the way Montana is, is a real good match for his interests and personality. And, uh, he's got a job where
0:52:20 - 0:52:41he's making as a family. They're probably making two, if not three times as much as they ever could have in South Africa. Although they were doing decently well, there all things considered. Um, but they don't have to worry about his wife getting raped every day, uh, or some random person breaking into
0:52:41 - 0:53:03their house and killing them. So, and this isn't a stretch. Uh, they went back for a visit after concluding his studies and something very close to all of that actually happened. So, um, it happens all the time there. It's a terrible, terrible violence stricken place. Uh, that no one should ever go to
0:53:02 - 0:53:33anymore. But, um, that costs a lot to orchestrate. Um, so what dollar value would you put on pestering someone for five years or something to make something happen or going above and beyond again and again and again, for years to accumulate grant resources to have the money to fund such a thing or whatever
0:53:33 - 0:53:57sacrifices were taken to build the political capital to admit a student uh and vouch for their quality that did not meet the requirements of the program because of their prior academic training. Uh and on and on and on again, open your house deal with all that. Um So you can't affect outcomes like that
0:53:57 - 0:54:24when you're just doing things from afar with some money, you need someone on the ground that's going to be up close and personal and not just to be there as a body, but like I said, to do all these things to be in a position where you can actually help you have something to give. That's not just a person
0:00:00 - 0:00:23OK, I wanna, I wanna share some free flowing thoughts about charity. I have in my mind kind of a scaffold of where I want to go with this and let's just see where, where this water takes us. So, um I'm gonna divulge some personal details here and hopefully if if anyone involved watches these videos are
0:00:23 - 0:00:47not offended by my take on the situation. Um But from time to time as I'm contemplating, um I guess discussing with the Lord, the situation of certain people, it makes it very clear to me that there are others who would learn from these things and you know, we have to balance privacy with benefit to
0:00:47 - 0:01:10others. But hopefully there aren't any details here that are identifiable except to the people involved. I only think there's probably one person who might watch this. In fact, I'll, I'll send this to him because it's in lieu of replying to a message that I got from him in a sense, it's, it's lateral
0:01:10 - 0:01:39anyway, but the theme we'll discuss here is real charity. Life changing charity. So, um so I have a friend in France and uh as is the case with most of my friends, I think these days uh I met him via this ministry will say for lack of a better word. And uh so blogs, books and videos and not knowing him
0:01:39 - 0:01:58terribly well. One day out of the blue, I guess in his perspective, out of the blue, I said, hey, do you want a job? I think we could get you a visa and bring you over here and he was floored and I threw him enough details that, you know, it was something that could be fleshed out as an actual plausible
0:01:57 - 0:02:28possibility in his mind. And uh he was, he was really, um I don't know, he's really affected by what he saw as a, as a gesture of extreme generosity. But um he, he had read some of the things I wrote about. There are only being two promised lands right now. Um The United States and Israel and although
0:02:28 - 0:02:50both places are going to go through some serious stuff, some of which we're seeing right now. Um They are the two places the Lord has appointed and therefore the, the, well, I don't want to get too detailed here anyway, that that's where people should be. If you believe in God, you ought to make your
0:02:50 - 0:03:16way to the United States or Israel. And I should probably say North America instead of the United States. I have a friend in Canada who's just over the border and we've had discussions about this. Uh in detail. And um I gave him many reasons why, where he is is just fine. But um anyway, um yeah, we'll
0:03:16 - 0:03:39avoid more detail there. So, but just generally speaking, the United States, Israel and uh I lined up a lot of things that, you know, and he knew right away that this was not something that was going to be convenient for me. I had to set aside significant resources which were limited at my company. Um
0:03:39 - 0:04:05small company, very limited resources um to make that happen. I had to do some research and take time to do research on H one B visas and go through that process of applying for the lottery. And uh contrary to the odds, um he had a, he had a very good chance of getting it and he did not get it. But as
0:04:04 - 0:04:25you know, one of the tricky things about it is we're up against a deadline. There just wasn't time to do full, let's get to know each other to the full extent one would before this would be pursued because it's an annual thing, there's an annual application deadline and the deadline was very soon after
0:04:24 - 0:04:53. Uh I explored this idea, we'll say with the Lord. So um you didn't get it. And in our discussions subsequently, it became evident that his Children and his wife really weren't interested and um he was, he was interested, but probably not to the level of what would be required to perceive receive and
0:04:53 - 0:05:20value the actual blessing. So um because there, you know, to go into details here, um it obviously it's a challenge to uproot your life and move to a different country. Uh He was fluent in English. His wife was OK at English. But that, you know, there's a huge culture shift, there's a language change
0:05:19 - 0:05:45and especially with certain cultures such as French culture, it's very different from American culture and especially in the domain of work. So attitudes towards work are vastly different in the United States versus France. Uh And then the social differences are huge as well. So it was seen as an immense
0:05:44 - 0:06:17cost. Um And so this, there are kind of two topics on this video. One is life changing charity. The other is how God helps us to see the true value of choices. Um So it turns out that over time um getting and getting to know each other better. Uh My French friend revealed that that uh his wife had had
0:06:16 - 0:06:39a series of dreams where she saw very bad things happening in their homeland and those very bad things, all of a sudden there were real time because this has happened some time ago, the real time indications that this wasn't so far fetched and it's, it's something that had really bothered her. And, and
0:06:39 - 0:07:03so it's interesting because here's a problem that's revealed, here's continuing evidence that it is actually a problem and that the magnitude is at least as intense as it seems, maybe greater than it seemed. Here's a potential solution to that problem, but it seems like the cost is too high. And so supposing
0:07:03 - 0:07:29that these things were meant to line up if you were the Lord, what would you do about it? And remember the, his goal is to maximize the opportunity we have to, to, to exercise the greatest faith because that's where the greatest joy comes from. Those two intensities are coupled. So, um and to preserve
0:07:29 - 0:08:01the agency of people at all times, well, what you do is you turn up the knob that controls the extent to which the consequences of reality are revealed to a person, which means through their experience. So, um you know, I texted him because with the, this business in Israel right now, um the folks in
0:08:01 - 0:08:33Gaza um are calling for worldwide shenanigans to take place this Friday. Uh Tomorrow, I'm recording this on October 12th and um there are a lot of ideologically oriented people in that vein in Paris. And so, um and Paris has had major problems with these folks in the past because they're multigenerational
0:08:32 - 0:08:53immigrants who have not merged into French culture. And uh they don't enjoy the same, yeah. Imagine this. They don't enjoy the same lifestyle as those who have. Um That's funny, you live a different law and don't have the same effect. Wow. Who would have thought that you'd have a different experience
0:08:52 - 0:00:00. Maybe you should adopt the beliefs of those that, that live better lives than you. But they don't think that way. Uh, no one does. It's a human problem. No one seems to anyway. Um, so I said, hey, I hope things don't get too bad there. He said, I hope so too. And, uh, and then I realized actually,
0:00:00 - 0:09:40I mean, that's a, that's an idiom we say, but I don't actually mean that I hope things don't get bad there. I don't have a reason to hope that they won't get bad there. I expect things to get bad there. Um I hope people learn the most that they should out of it. So it's interesting and I believe I may
0:09:39 - 0:10:00have spoken about this before. I guess there's no harm in saying it again. Why does God give us dreams of the future? Why, why does he give us any kind of prophecies of the future? Well, one key reason is that we can prepare our hearts and minds to make the right choices. And one component of that's
0:10:00 - 0:10:26very important is so we more accurately assess the cost of the right choice versus the benefits of the right choice compared to any other choice. And so there's an enumeration of choices and evaluation of choices. That's the reason prophecy changes that because what it does is it brings into the present
0:10:25 - 0:10:49, a greater awareness of the consequences of the future. That's a prophecy does So if I say, well, like from the, from the book of Mormon, well, let's go with the Bible, right? So Hezekiah receives these tremendous promises from the Lord through Isaiah and then um the sun stands still, the the sun dial
0:10:49 - 0:11:15stops moving. And so the evidence of the future promises being fulfilled is brought down to the present and attached to the sundial here and now not moving. And so the appropriate thing to do is to say because this is happening, I'm going to have greater belief in this thing that was told me about the
0:11:14 - 0:00:00future. That's whose only connection is because the same agent has said both things. And I don't understand why this is so hard for people to get right? But uh you know, Moses, if a dude can strike a rock and water comes out, you should probably believe him when he says, and God also told me, right,
0:00:00 - 0:12:14at least believe him a little more than you did before. So I fully expect bad things to happen in Paris and many other places in the near and distant future for this and many other reasons. But um back to charity. So there's a an element of charity that is I, I guess we could character II, I think I
0:12:14 - 0:12:38can tease out three sort of emotional um core motivations for, for charity and in charity, I'm talking about giving money to other people doing good for other people. And I know that word can mean different things. That's the context right here right now. So there's this idea of helping people, which
0:12:38 - 0:13:02is great. There's this idea of God expects me to give some of my money to other people, to the poor. And it's sort of this, the, the scriptural word is maintenance. The phrase is maintenance of the poor. It's, it's like uh the poor you always have among you. It's, it's how you deal with that. Um And
0:13:02 - 0:13:23, and that's important, that's, that's sort of just a regular amount, kind of question like how much, what percent kind of idea. And the reason that percent is there is to protect good people who would otherwise give all to a problem that can never be fixed that way. And, and they end up doing less good
0:13:22 - 0:13:44because they're sending their money to s to something less than what the greatest good is that they could do. That was not said well, but you get the point. So the maintenance of the reprobate, poor, reprobate, meaning it ain't gonna be fixed like a reprobate, sinner is, is just beyond hope. They're
0:13:43 - 0:14:03just gonna keep sinning. The reprobate poor are the poor that never go away that nothing you do will ever change their situation. You can alleviate their suffering somewhat in the moment, but it's just going to take continuous donations. Um They'll never become self sufficient. They'll never change their
0:14:02 - 0:14:29behavior. They'll never change their attitudes. It's just, you're always going to be taking care of these people. Uh, ok. Fine. Right. They're still God's Children. So, um, so there's that, the first one we started on is like I want to help people. And then, um, the third one is the, well, I guess the
0:14:28 - 0:14:47third one is God expects me to give and I'm not going to talk about that because we shouldn't obey God for that kind of reason. It, it should be love. Uh But whatever you could talk about that and it would be worth talking about that, but I'm not gonna spend the time. So let's go back to that first reason
0:14:47 - 0:15:06, which is actually helping people because the second reason, the maintenance of the poor doesn't really help them. It alleviates their suffering, but it doesn't change their condition. So it's treating the symptoms of the disease, not the disease itself. The first is actually curing the disease. So
0:15:05 - 0:15:35um my whole life, I, in in fact, I've shared, I think details of this at some point. Uh II, I grew up poor. I know I've mentioned that um when I was first introduced to the Lord, um meaning, meaning, I guess um it's so funny how it's so hard to describe the simplest of ideas because the language has
0:15:35 - 0:15:55all been occupied by lesser things. So I could say when I was introduced to Christianity for real, but that, you know, people would assume that that means what other people would say when they said that and that's much less than what I mean. Anyway, once I realized that God was real, we'll put it that
0:15:55 - 0:16:19way. Once I realized God was real, I started reading the scriptures. I remember very vividly a moment where I was reading in, in Mosiah and uh the bit about having the desire to help people, but not the means. And I didn't know what a covenant was. Um But I had this overwhelming desire in my heart and
0:16:19 - 0:16:53I said, Lord, I have nothing. I've never had anything. I've been broke my whole life and my parents have been broke their whole lives. Um And uh, I know where I'm starting. I know we, I know where my baseline is. So, um, cause I was, I was 18, I was an adult and I said, um, anything you send my way from
0:16:53 - 0:17:30this point on it's yours, you know, use it to the greatest extent they understand, to bless other people. And, um I really meant it and I've kept, and, uh, you know, I'd say great cost, but it's just been a great pleasure in retrospect. You know, sometimes it's kind of hard, uh, especially, you know
0:17:30 - 0:18:08, the giving is never hard. It's the, um, the observation of how people misuse it that hurts. But, um, anyway, I've stayed true to that. And, um, what I've learned in some years since then, a very intense living of this principle includes the idea that I, I strongly believe that the good that you do
0:18:08 - 0:18:38is highly correlated to the distance at which you do it inversely. So if you wanna do the greatest good, you need to be at the closest distance. So a lot of times, you know, it's hard enough to convince people to, to part with money. Um Most people are extremely stingy and selfish, but every once in
0:18:38 - 0:19:05a while you get someone who in the moment at least feels some concern for others or so with some people, it's more sustained, which is wonderful, it's wonderful. But another um axis of this, another dimension of this is how up close and personal they want to be because just as the number of people who
0:19:05 - 0:19:35are interested in giving decreases as the amount given increases, they number of people who are interested as the level of personal involvement increases, that also reduces. And it, but in both cases, it's exponential. So two exponentials compounded is like a super exponential, right? So um hardly anyone
0:19:35 - 0:19:59wants to do wants to be all in up close and personal. And some of you understand why? Because you've dabbled in this, at least others have done more than dabble. Not, not to minimize that. But uh I had a discussion with a friend about something related on this and he said, you know, anyone that signs
0:19:58 - 0:20:22up for this gleefully obviously doesn't have any idea what they're doing. And I said, yeah, and I've heard that actually said about several things. He was specifically talking about the broader principles of charity. But I've heard other people, I heard a polygamist say this about polygamy and I believe
0:20:21 - 0:20:44her and she, she, she thinks it's a good idea for her. I mean, she doesn't have any regrets and she's years and years on. But she says, you know, anyone who knows anything about this wouldn't sign up for it unless their hearts are full of the love of God. And I, I said, yeah, I can imagine. I don't know
0:20:44 - 0:21:15, but I can imagine so anyway, back to charity. So, um, there are very few people who wanna be up close and personal with this and who are all in. Um, so going back to my friend's friend, it costs a lot of money to go through immigration paperwork and, uh, and do all that, but it costs even more to invite
0:21:15 - 0:21:41a stranger from another country and his family to come live in your house because there are no houses available places for them to live available where I am and all that stress on my wife and kids. But mostly my wife and potential strain if it doesn't fit just right. And this is something. If you've
0:21:41 - 0:22:03never invited people into your home before, you have no idea what this is like. Now some of you, you've had an in-law move in or a parent or a sibling or whatever, maybe you've even like, pseudo, adopted some niece or nephew or, or maybe you've really adopted kids and I know some of you have so integrating
0:22:03 - 0:22:26new people into your home, it's hectic, it is hectic and it's something that is very dangerous, it's wrought with danger of, of many types. And so this is a really high cost. Right. And, you know, it's interesting, it's one thing to do something with high cost, not having any clue what it's going to
0:22:26 - 0:22:51be like, it's another doing it knowing exactly what it's going to be like if you do it anyway. So, um, and then there's the, the corporate side of this where, you know, I have a business that I, my livelihood is, is strongly coupled to the success of the business and, and now I'm going to decide to use
0:22:51 - 0:23:10finite resources for this purpose. And, and in this case, there was absolutely a business case for making this happen. I won't get into that but just take my word for it, but it was still a huge risk, you know. So, um, it could have not worked out. And then what do you do? Because now you've moved someone
0:23:10 - 0:23:31internationally and they have no other place to go and they can't do you any good from a corporate perspective. Now, what did it take to make this offer? Well, had to have a house with space for, for a bunch of extra people. Um, some would say that you can never have enough space for a bunch of extra
0:23:31 - 0:23:52people in your home because that's how disruptive it is. But, you know, whatever we squeeze them in had to have a business, had to have creative control of that business, had to have resources to financially make this happen, had to have the idea which is harder than you think. Not enough credit is given
0:23:52 - 0:24:14for creative work. Um As far as faith goes, people don't realize the value of the idea. You know, Paul talked about how do we have faith? Unless we have a preacher, there are people on this planet, you can read about it. M I seven who don't have preachers and they still get the ideas. And that's because
0:24:14 - 0:24:41they're ministered to by heaven, which is something that is rare is in the instance, the instance of this is rare to find someone for whom this occurs with regularity is insanely rare and no one gives credit to that at all. So that's a shame because, because if you don't perceive the value of something
0:24:40 - 0:25:14, you won't receive the joy from it. Um So uh yeah, I guess we, we've drilled this to death, right? So what's the difference between me doing all that and me say giving $2000 to an orphanage or something? There is uh I I've worked a lot with orphanages and uh child oriented charities that are international
0:25:13 - 0:25:43in, in places that are deeply poor that are destitute and um, that, that for like a decade, I was deeply into that. So, um, what's the difference between these things? Well, the other day I took some apples to a neighbor's house said he wants, he wanted some. So I brought him a big box of apples and
0:25:42 - 0:26:08there outside were two other neighbors, a couple who are elderly and they've been in ministry their whole lives use air quotes because I'm not sure what good they've actually done. But, you know, that's what they've spent their time doing and they had with them, a pastor from Kenya and we said we'd like
0:26:07 - 0:26:33you to meet our friend and then they proceeded to babble for like an hour nonstop. Hardly even taking breaks to suck in air about, um, the plight of this pastor and his people. And of course they're asking for money and if you've been involved in any kind of African orphanage, uh, type thing, the story
0:26:32 - 0:26:55is always exactly the same if we just get more land, if we just get a vehicle, if we just get this or that, all of our problems will be solved. And the root cause of all of our problems is just, we need more money and, um, a lot more could be said about this, but we'll leave it at that. So I'm sitting
0:26:55 - 0:27:14here knowing that I know about 100 times more about this situation than either these people who won't stop talking to me. Um, and I can't get in a word edgewise. And even if I did, they strongly believe that because they've been pastors their whole life, they may know more about this than anyone else
0:27:14 - 0:27:37could. And especially me. I mean, what do I know? I'm just an excommunicated Mormon in their eyes. Right. So, um, he's also lost his job because of his religion. They know that too. So, these are the same people who, uh, months after the fact called me because they needed something from me because they're
0:27:37 - 0:27:57old uh can't do this thing for themselves. And in passing said, we heard about what happened to you. We prayed for you. And I said, well, that's nice. Why didn't you stop by and talk to me or call me even? So, thanks for your prayers. But it's a shame you weren't willing to do anything yourself. You
0:27:57 - 0:28:21just kind of put that on God to take care of. And uh I thought they of all people would understand the value of persecution but whatever. Uh So yeah, so, so that happened and um I was thinking to myself, you know, if we didn't have such dumb immigration laws, I'd be the first in line to say how many
0:28:20 - 0:28:42orphans do you have? Great, bring them to my place, bring them to my place. Let's set something up, we can teach these kids. My wife is a pheno phenomenal teacher. We'll teach these kids, we'll train them up to be productive. In society we'll prevent malnutrition, which that's one of the many things
0:28:42 - 0:29:04that people that get involved in this don't understand. I mean, it's complex. It's not that complicated though, but you know, a kid who grows up in M in M with malnourishment during critical years and it's, it stops at a very young age. It's too late. They will always have a room temperature IQ which
0:29:04 - 0:29:23isn't sufficient to ever support yourself. You'll be dependent upon others for the rest of your life. And in the story of this orphanage and they are doing so great because they keep admitting more orphans and they're still all just eating one meal a day. So guess what? You're just gonna end up with
0:29:23 - 0:29:46more orphans because all these people are gonna grow up and have kids and they won't be able to support any of them. So, you know, anyway, we could, we could rant about the inefficiency of how all this is handled. But um you know, I'd be the first in line to actually address these problems with my own
0:29:45 - 0:30:15blood, sweat and tears and you don't have a fortune. But if I had a fortune uh with whatever resources I have, um but I can't give this guy money because I know, and you know, the first thing I did was I went to the Lord and I said, look, you know, I already have an opinion on this and you know why it's
0:30:15 - 0:30:33because of the things you've led me through and taught me, but just checking in because everything I know is incomplete or incorrect. Maybe this is an exception. Maybe I'm missing out on something. Maybe this is the time for you to teach me some new thing beyond the limits of my previous understanding
0:30:32 - 0:30:58. So you give the word and I don't know how much cash we have in our house. I'll give it all to him. And if, if he'll take a check, you just tell me what to do and everything is yours. And he showed me all the reasons why I shouldn't give any money to this guy, which, you know, it broke my heart because
0:30:57 - 0:31:25I wanted to help him any way I could. And we went down the hierarchy of ways I could help and there wasn't anything left in the window they had to receive. So I saw, you know, these pastors were gonna take this guy to different congregations and pray for him, which really irritates me. You know, they
0:31:25 - 0:31:43even pulled this when they were talking to me. Oh, we just want people to pray for him and success for his ministry. I'm like, no, he's here for money. You want people to give him money and there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with that. But why are you pretending that this is something
0:31:43 - 0:32:13other than what it is? If all we're doing is praying for him, he doesn't have to be here and no one's got to cut a check and we don't have to pass an offering played around but just say what you're doing. Good grief. Don't, don't uh church it up. Oh, gosh. So, um, anyway, so it turns out that there are
0:32:13 - 0:32:34, the problem is never the problem. Right? What you think is the problem is never the problem. If it was, you'd have solved it already. There's a missing puzzle piece and it's a representation question. How do you formulate? How do you represent the problem? And the problem is never money. The problem
0:32:34 - 0:32:56is never money. Uh The problem is almost always a person. The problem is almost always a person. Uh Meaning the lack of a certain person or a person isn't the kind of person he or she needs to be yet. And, and that's, that's what it really comes down to. Now. There are many circumstances where money
0:32:56 - 0:33:19changes hands and it makes things better. Obviously, the opposite is also true. But the money is never the problem. Just like, I mean, with this guy, for example, let's pretend that his lack was money and that giving him the 15,000 he was trying to raise um would have solved all of his problems. Let's
0:33:19 - 0:33:40just pretend that for a second. Now the problem is still not money. You say, what do you mean he's going to go to these congregations and ask for money? No, the problem is that those people prefer their own well being to the well being of those orphans, that's the problem. The problem is that they prefer
0:33:40 - 0:34:03their fancy houses and their nice food, the benefit they receive from that to the benefit of saving the lives of these destitute orphans that eat corn mush once a day and that's all they get. That's the problem. And so if you want to solve the problem, you have to change the hearts and minds. And in
0:34:03 - 0:34:31this case, there have to be people who say, you know, even if I'm not going to part with my house and my steak, I've got Surplus beyond that. Tell me who I need to make the check out to and then you can come up closer to having a house and stake for yourself. Now, the problem is so that's a big enough
0:34:31 - 0:34:53problem because there are people who will do that. I've told a story before of a man named Jeff and I don't have contact with this guy. I have no idea what's going on in his life. But I'll tell you when I knew him, I, I felt the love of God through me for this man because I was raising money to go to
0:34:53 - 0:35:16a part of Africa to open this place for a charity who had asked me to do it, but also who didn't have any money to send me. And I didn't have any money. I was a broke graduate student with a young family. And, uh, he came to me and he said, I heard you raising money for this. I said, yeah, he said, well
0:35:16 - 0:35:36, how much have you raised? I told him and I don't remember the figures, but I had raised, like, people had donated like 5% of what I needed to go or something. It was a small percentage and it was a substantial amount because I, I told the charity, I said, look, I'm willing to go, but I'm not willing
0:35:36 - 0:35:59to go without my family because I'm just so busy all the time. I, I'm in the National Guard, I'm a grad student. I can't take more time away from them. I'm willing to give myself, but I can't take from them. And they said that's fine, just raise the money and we, you can all go. And I said, fine. And
0:35:58 - 0:36:26so there was a lot of plane tickets is what it came down to. We weren't really paying any money for anything else. It was just the plane tickets. He said, how much money do you need? And I told him and he said, do you think you're gonna get it? And I thought about it because we were really far off. But
0:36:25 - 0:37:00I knew we would. I said something like the Lord will provide because, and this wasn't just like wishy washy. I hope he does. I said he'll find a way. If it's his oil, he'll find a way. And Jeff pulled out his checkbook and he wrote me a check and I couldn't believe it at the time that exceeded my expectation
0:36:59 - 0:37:34of any person. And I tried to, like, I don't know, say something about it and he's just kind of shoot me away. Like, and then he left that, that I don't know if that might be the last time I ever talked to him. And, uh, he did it for all the right reasons. He, he wasn't looking for attention, he wasn't
0:37:34 - 0:38:02looking, you know, he just said I have this to give and I wanna do it. So there was a person but not enough money. And so I took a person to fix that problem and enable the first person me to go and do what no one else was willing to do. The charity could not find anyone to go and do this. What, what
0:38:02 - 0:38:33I did if you care, I was going over to uh screen Children for malnutrition. And so we, we gathered up, we went all across Zimbabwe and, and uh we went to one place in Mozambique and um, we weighed and measured kids and then the ones that had issues, we set things up so we could get uh treatment for that
0:38:32 - 0:39:10basically is what we do. And so we, because there was a person willing to help, I was able to go and touch 3000 kids face to face, hold them in my hands, put them on the scale, hand them back to their moms. It, there, there has to be rubber to hit the road. So the most effective charity does not happen
0:39:09 - 0:39:44at a distance. Um The next point we have to transition to which is highly related is this idea of Melchizedek being appointed to receive the tithes. What is that all about? Have you ever asked or how did that happen or why? There's a lot to be said about this. But, um, when I talk about the orphanages
0:39:43 - 0:40:07and, um, the real issues there and what it would take to really fix them or dress them as better, better, a better way of putting it. Um, maybe now this is the time to, to dump some more about what the problems are. Ok. Well, a lot of that money. So, again, these are people, these are kids who are malnourished
0:40:06 - 0:40:26chronically and their brains are getting stunted and they're gonna be borderline retarded for the rest of their lives because they don't get enough vitamins and minerals at regular intervals. These people don't understand the need to eat the vitamins and minerals. They don't know what they have to eat
0:40:26 - 0:40:49to get them. And so all they eat is corn mush, maybe some beans, maybe some vegetables every once in a while. But the principal focus is on the corn. And, uh, that's, that's really not the best way to go. So they don't know that you cannot possibly get the nutrients, you need as a developing child in
0:40:49 - 0:41:10one meal a day, your body can't process them. So, um, instead of doing the most important thing, which is changing what they're eating and when, which by the way, they don't need any money to do. They need a person to teach them and they need a willingness to believe they can grow all the stuff. They
0:41:10 - 0:41:32need to prevent malnutrition in a tiny little plot on the land they already have. But they don't, because they believe their culture has taught them that what they need is money and that their problem is that they're not like rich people, relatively rich. They would consider you abundantly wealthy no
0:41:32 - 0:42:02matter how poor you are. If you live in, in the United States, you're watching this. So, um with the money they get, I'll tell you how they spend it first off. They hire teachers to teach first world school to these Children. So here's a group of kids that doesn't even know how to solve malnutrition
0:42:01 - 0:42:25, which sounds way fans and doesn't know that they need to eat two meals a day. They don't know where malaria comes from. They won't wear nets at night, they won't tra nets over their, their beds at night. Um They don't understand where A I DS comes from. And uh but the most pressing problem is for them
0:42:25 - 0:42:49to learn algebra, to learn how to write poetry or something. Now, meanwhile, they spend the funds that they have, they, they, if they have a school, they have to have uniforms because that's the way they do it over there. That's the European model. You have to have uniforms. And so those uniforms cost
0:42:49 - 0:43:13way more than all the other clothes they wear. So it takes up a massive amount of the money. So how is this ever gonna get fixed using that model? By the way, most of the orphans are not actually orphans at all. They have parents, but the parents are more than willing to take advantage of an institution
0:43:13 - 0:43:36that's gonna feed their kids and teach them for free because most schools, there are private schools and they charge tuition and the parents don't have money to take care of their kids. So of course, they're gonna send their kids to a school that's free, that also feeds them their one meal a day. So
0:43:36 - 0:43:55that's the problem. The kids go home at night because they have a home for the most part, there are real orphans in places like you know, the giant continent of Africa, there are real orphans. But this is not a situation like and this is one of the main problems is when you face, when you hear about
0:43:55 - 0:44:12stuff like this, you fill in all the gaps with your own experience and you think if someone's that bad off really all they need is a leg up. All they need is a little bit of money because anyone that bad off here, all they would need is a little bit of money and they'd be fine. No, it's not the same
0:44:11 - 0:44:36there. It's very, very, very different. And, uh, people find out like, like when you, when you invite massive amounts of immigrants from other countries into your hometown, you find out they don't think the same way as people already there. They don't do the same things for the same reasons. So it takes
0:44:35 - 0:45:01a certain caliber of person to actually perceive the real problems and to find out by going to find out by actually going there and not for like a weekend. Do you remember? Were they called Potemkin Villages or something where uh when people would go to tour North Korea, outsiders, they'd actually have
0:45:01 - 0:45:22fake cities set up their fronts, like the building only existed on the facade and they drive them through these cities that were manicured and they're fake, but to present things as better than they are. And uh it's very possible if you just go there for a moment that that's what you see. But if you
0:45:22 - 0:45:40stay there, you see what the real problems are, but that takes a massive sacrifice. And as hard as it is to find people to give you money, it's way harder to find people to give up their lives. And to say, oh, you can't live in your giant cabin that you go to every other weekend and see your grandkids
0:45:39 - 0:46:07and life's just a party because you made it big. Um You have to go live in a destitute place where a fly can land on you and lay eggs and now you're gonna die. You know, people don't sign up for that. So, um one reason that Melchizedek was appointed to receive the tides is because he could see and solve
0:46:07 - 0:00:00the problems better than anyone else. And yet again, we find that many of the issues in the, the larger, larger uh view of the gospel, many of the issues are related to the fact that we've extracted out this idea of hierarchy, this idea of differences between people, we pretend everyone is the same.
0:00:00 - 0:47:09And so all that's needed is money. I've heard that message before, heard that message before it turns out that there's a cost to things, to all things that is not limited to money. Charity in its purest form is up close and personal. So not all people are willing or able to do that. So if you're working
0:47:09 - 0:47:39a 9 to 5 job and you don't have an abundance of money and or you have little kids and, and, and right, one of your kids is, is uh has medical necessities that require you to be in a certain place. The list goes on and on. You can't be that person to be on the ground. And so this is where the transmission
0:47:38 - 0:48:08of money helps, but it's not, it's, it's, it's never uh a lateral transfer with charity. The tra the transfer of money is never a lateral transfer. Um, because if you have surplus, then whether it was like dropped out of the sky as a gift from God or acquired through your uh exceptional skill and decision
0:48:07 - 0:48:32making and whatever you have something that the person you're giving it to does not. And they have something when it's done, right. They have something that you do not have in terms of the ability to administer that. And maybe that's a willingness to be there. But I think more often than not, it has
0:48:31 - 0:49:01to be something connected to capability as well. So, um, these are things that are really important to think about because no one is doing this right? And the time is coming for us to do it more correctly. That's, that's coming very quickly. And it's really important because we all have gifts and money
0:49:00 - 0:49:23is a gift. But whatever our gifts are, it might be that, you know, between your talent and practice, you are really good at singing or whatever the case may be. Um, we have to get better at orienting those gifts to the greatest good. And if, if your idea of using your gift to singing is like every once
0:49:23 - 0:49:44in a while at church, I sing a song. What did he do? Right. What would he do? You haven't begun to te to taste, you haven't begun to even taste what you can do for the Lord with the gifts he's given you and whatever they are, it doesn't matter. And so we need to find ways to get that more directly onto
0:49:44 - 0:50:19the Lord's purposes. And, um, that includes learning how to be a part of life changing charity. Um I'll give one other example from my own life here. So, uh, my wife is from South Africa. It's a failed state. And, um, that began in the mid nineties, well, began a little before then when the CIA orchestrated
0:50:17 - 0:50:43a uh an international canceling of South Africa because they practiced apartheid. And uh everyone decided that they didn't like that idea. So, um understandably, right, not defending that. Um but they made some enormous mistakes in how they transitioned out of that. And basically the current state of
0:50:43 - 0:51:06the state is a direct result of that. And so it's too far gone and it's done and the writing was on the wall a long time ago. But people like to stay with what they know and they don't want to face the fact that they made enormous mistakes and that's human nature, right? So people who could leave left
0:51:05 - 0:51:30and then the folks who couldn't, were just kind of stuck there. So, uh my wife and I decided that we would leverage the resources, we had to help her youngest brother get out of there. And so he needed a path to citizenship or whatever to get some path through immigration to come here. Um And long story
0:51:30 - 0:51:55short, through really putting myself out there uh in my university position at the time and using a big chunk of the resources I had accumulated through, through really hard work there and a lot of sacrifice, um I was able to persuade him and his wife come over here and he was a student and through getting
0:51:55 - 0:52:20a degree in a completely unrelated field than what he already had advanced degrees in. Uh, he ended up with a way to be here to live in a place that's right up his alley as far as, uh, you know, the way Montana is, is a real good match for his interests and personality. And, uh, he's got a job where
0:52:20 - 0:52:41he's making as a family. They're probably making two, if not three times as much as they ever could have in South Africa. Although they were doing decently well, there all things considered. Um, but they don't have to worry about his wife getting raped every day, uh, or some random person breaking into
0:52:41 - 0:53:03their house and killing them. So, and this isn't a stretch. Uh, they went back for a visit after concluding his studies and something very close to all of that actually happened. So, um, it happens all the time there. It's a terrible, terrible violence stricken place. Uh, that no one should ever go to
0:53:02 - 0:53:33anymore. But, um, that costs a lot to orchestrate. Um, so what dollar value would you put on pestering someone for five years or something to make something happen or going above and beyond again and again and again, for years to accumulate grant resources to have the money to fund such a thing or whatever
0:53:33 - 0:53:57sacrifices were taken to build the political capital to admit a student uh and vouch for their quality that did not meet the requirements of the program because of their prior academic training. Uh and on and on and on again, open your house deal with all that. Um So you can't affect outcomes like that
0:53:57 - 0:54:24when you're just doing things from afar with some money, you need someone on the ground that's going to be up close and personal and not just to be there as a body, but like I said, to do all these things to be in a position where you can actually help you have something to give. That's not just a person
0:54:23 - 0:54:40, right. Hopefully, at least some of this makes sense. Um But I for a second thought this wasn't even recording. That's why I was looking around. I was like, where's the stop button? Ok. I hope these thoughts give you something to think about.