Wealth, Character, and Apostasy - What Many Billionaires Have in Common

A Christian heritage has led many people to incredible wealth...although most of them end up apostatizing. Now, Elon Musk is the world's first trillionaire...but was his wealth obtained as honestly as we think? Spoiler alert....Mars isn't going to be successfully, sustainably populated anytime soon. Sam Rust joins Kevin to discuss wealth, the Christian heritage that is often behind it, and the things that matter most for building (and keeping) it.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:06

This is Generations Kevin Swanson with you, and today Elon Musk is the world's first trillionaire. Depending on the day, but Elon Musk is the world's first trillionaire, largely due to the Lemmings rushing off to fund SpaceX after the firm went public. SpaceX is working on a settlement on Mars and a few other bad ideas. The concern is that this Earth could run out of resources or destroy itself by nuclear war or get hit by an asteroid. The odds of a one-kilometer asteroid hitting us every million years or so, rather low, the odds of a 50-kilometer asteroid hitting us would introduce a human extinction, but that occurs every 100 million years. And uh there's also no way nuclear war will destroy all life on Earth, according to my rough calculations. If every nuclear warhead on Earth was detonated over cities, that would only destroy 135,000 square miles or 0.34%. That's 0.34% of habitable regions of the earth. Now, that would be about 6% of the world's population, so it'd be tough, yeah. Devastating. Absolute worst case would be about 30%. But that wouldn't be the first time God allowed this sort of judgment upon the earth. The bubonic plague reduced Europe by 30% in the 1400s, you remember. Also, population increase is not a problem for now. Our current food-producing technology could feed 20 billion people, and the idea that Mars or anywhere else in this solar system might provide a place for growing food is a pipe dream cubed. Growing enough food on Mars for just 100 people would call for two to five acres of enclosed growing space and extremely powerful energy systems. Mars has weak sunlight, deadly cold, low pressures, radiation, toxic percolates in the soil, and no breathable atmosphere. So the farm would need lights or large greenhouses, insulation, air pressure, water recycling, nutrients, and constant repair. Also, the soil on Mars lacks organic matter, helpful microbes, earthworms, insects, that kind of thing, usable nitrogen and balanced nutrients, not to mention the toxic salts, which would need to be removed or neutralized. Elon Musk has uh built his entire program on an extremely bad worldview, and this is the root problem. Uh Elon has uh bet the world's markets, the world economy, on this very bad worldview. Elon has his own view of metaphysics based on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxies. He's quite free to discuss this, by the way. You can find it everywhere on the internet. Elon seeks a purpose for life that is not self-derived, as might be the case with the existentialists. He seeks the ultimate answers by broadening the human consciousness in the increase of human brains, I mean the quantity of human brains, by populating the earth and other planets. He believes that the answers might or do, or we're pretty sure they do exist somewhere in the universe, and can be obtained by the human brain or brains. It's just that we need to a larger collective human consciousness to get to it. So Elon believes that these answers exist apart from divine revelation. He holds to this belief for all he is worth, and he's worth at least a trillion dollars. We've already wasted a trillion dollars of government debt on space exploration, a small station on Mars with six to eight astronauts would cost us three to five trillion dollars. A colony capable of surviving without constant support from Earth would require thousands of people, heavy industry, mining, chemical plants, machine shops, semiconductor manufacturing, uh, agriculture, hospitals, replacement parts, and methods of transportation. Such a project would cost twenty to fifty trillion dollars, which is the gross world product. For what? A thousand people, point zero zero zero zero zero one percent of the Earth's population. It's not gonna help us. If Elon wants to preserve humankind, he's gonna have to find a more habitable planet. Well, the only problem there is that the next station is 75,000 years away by rocket ship traveling at 38,000 miles per hour. Okay, Elon, I hate to break the bad news to you, buddy, but it's Earth or bust. It's trust God, he knew what he was doing when he put us here, or don't trust God and do something stupid like this. And one more thing, Elon, if you're listening, contrary to the humanist manifesto one, man is not in control of his own destiny. He can't possibly gain absolute control. Only God is in sovereign and absolute control over the entire universe. And technology stands the fear of God will only end of futility and destruction. The beginning of true knowledge and wisdom in the field of science remains the fear of God, Proverbs 1.7. And I shudder to think of what technological man will do with his science after he has jettisoned all fear of God. And another thing, Elon, everybody else who's listening to this, and that is that the beginning of knowledge can only come from God Himself. First acknowledging God's existence and then trusting God for his truth, not to find knowledge and wisdom to the ultimate answers in life anywhere else in the universe by any kind of collective consciousness. I'm sorry, it ain't happening. It's gonna come by divine revelation. And one more thing, Elon, character matters. I I know, I know. In the 2020s, the largest companies in the U.S. are led by men who were of questionable character, especially when it comes to family matters. Jeff Bezos was divorced in 2020. Bill Gates was divorced in 2021, the same year Elon Musk was unmarried and loose, and the chief executive officer of Apple was also a homosexual. The leadership of a company is by far the most important factor contributing to the success of the company. Now, I know character doesn't matter anymore for investors. It just doesn't. Character doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't matter for billionaires, doesn't matter for the largest, most powerful companies in the world, and it certainly doesn't matter for investors. Profitability also doesn't matter anymore. What matters is hype, wild-eyed futurism, guys who read science fiction novels and hitchhiker's guides to universes, and uh and government favoritism, of course, as well. Tesla trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 361. That compares to Toyota at 10 and GM at 30. SpaceX trades at a PE ratio of infinity because SpaceX doesn't make any profit. SpaceX is overvalued by at least four times. Tesla is overvalued by at least 10 times, I would say more like 20 times, and that would cut Elon's wealth from 1 trillion to about $100 to $200 billion. Tesla also cheats the American public and the other car companies by its collusion with liberal governments like California. In 2020, Tesla's regulatory credit revenue actually exceeded its net income, meaning the company would have reported a net loss without those credits. See, automakers that don't produce enough qualifying zero emission vehicles often must buy credits from companies like Tesla to comply. So in 2020, Tesla's regulatory credit revenue actually exceeded its net income. Also, last year, 52% of Tesla's net income came from this credit peeled off from other car makers. It's a redistribution of wealth. It's sort of a gun to the head to the other car makers and forcing them to redistribute their money into the pockets of Tesla. Well, over the last five years, $10 billion of Tesla's $42 billion of profit was skimmed off of other car makers using the regulatory credit program. Now, add to that the $10 to $12 billion of consumer tax credits used for Tesla purchases, and fully half of Tesla's $42 billion profit came from government favoritism. That means Tesla's price to earnings ratio isn't $361. It's closer to $720. And that's why the overpriced stock in America is Tesla and SpaceX. And Elon Musk is the most outstanding fake billionaire, I mean fake trillionaire the world has ever seen. Well, we've said it before. This is a house of cards, my friend. It's a house of cards economy. The Wilshire 5,000 per GDP is running at 236, about four times the average when investing was less insane than it is today. About a 75% to 80% correction is in order right about now. So we're cruising on the capital left us by a Christian heritage. We're running this economic vehicle on fumes now. But what did Elon Musk, John D. Rockefeller, J. Paul Getty, and Warren Buffett have in common? All billionaires, all raised out of Christian families, and they squandered that heritage. Today, how does the Bible look at wealth? And Sam Russ joins me for this uh conversation. Sam, we're talking billionaires today on the program. Welcome to the program, Sam. It's it's good to have you with us. And we want to talk about wealth today.

SPEAKER_00 9:27

I'm excited to be here, Kevin. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, it was surprising as I I I went in, I was searching the roots of Elon Musk, and you know, where does this guy come from? And uh and and where do these other guys come from? You know, Walton and John D. Rockefeller and the really what I went to was uh the the list, the short list of what I felt to be the most successful businessmen in the history of America, and probably the history of the world. And now there are a few flash in the pan billionaires, uh, but you know, take the richest men in the world who produced a sustainable wealth, and what do you find? There were Christian roots. This is incredible. I I didn't realize this that uh that Elon Musk's mother said, My three children were christened in the Methodist Church. I taught them at the Episcopalian Sunday school. I went to a Protestant Sunday school and was married by a Christian minister, on and on. Okay. So that's Mae Musk. Okay, so he he's raised with a Christian heritage. Of course, the Walton family, everybody knows about them, right? Sam Walton um creates the largest company on earth. I think Walmart's still number one. Okay, this is the biggest, most successful company ever. Walmart. Sam Walton uh grew up off of uh JCPenney, and J.C. Penny, as I recall, was a Christian. You know, the the the guy, the original J.C. Penny is a Christian. Sam Walton's trained uh in the J. C. Penny organization. And then and then he, of course, you know, teaches Sunday school, and he's he's big in his Presbyterian church as well. Um he established the Walton Family Foundation and the rest is history on that. John D. Rockefeller's mother was a devout Baptist. Uh in fact, she was thrifty. She taught her son, you know, basic stuff on tracking money and and organizing money. It wasn't his father, it was actually his mother's father actually wasn't a very upstanding guy, but his mother was faithful, you know, pious Baptist background. And and John, John D. Rockefeller actually turns out to be a bit of a liberal Baptist, yes, but he he taught at the Baptist Sunday school for years and years. So again, what we're looking at is people with a Christian heritage. Warren Buffett, you know, the was it the Omaha uh Oracle, they call him, the Omaha Oracle. Uh Warren Buffett, again, I think he's number eight or nine right now as the most uh wealthy guy in the world, raised by Presbyterian parents. Again, uh J. Paul Getty is another probably the most successful, the first billionaire in the world. J. Paul Getty's dad, believe it or not, started from poverty in 1903, bought the lease to 1,100 acres of Oklahoma Indian Territory for $5,000, struck oil. When he died, he was worth like $10 million. He passed that on to his son. He was a Methodist and a more religious man than his only son. He left Getty just $500,000 of his, I guess, $10 million, and he's rather displeased with his son because his son had been divorced. So that was that was a huge uh problem for J. Paul Getty's father, who was a devout Methodist. So, okay, so that's the short list of of what I guess I perceived to be some of the most successful men ever. Every one of them came from a Christian heritage. Does that surprise you, Sam?

SPEAKER_00 13:30

Not really, Kevin. Uh, I mean, this is happening in the context of Western civilization, which up until the last 30, 40 years was primarily Christian. And so most of these you know titans of industry that we see around us today, and we could add other names to the list, like the Kathy family, um, the the Laterno family. Laterno, um, those will be a couple more, even going back a little bit further. The the Mather family, the Lloyd family, which started Lloyds of London, the Barclay family, which started the Barclays Bank also in England. Like those are long-standing families that have Christian roots, um, Christian and were Christian for many, many years. Um, I think God made the world in a certain way, right? And and Proverbs is full of this. Proverbs are axiomatic, they're not always going to apply to every situation. But generally speaking, there's a lot of wisdom contained there. And if you live by biblical principles, that will generally result in better outcomes. And it definitely results in better character. Um, and there's a pretty high correlation between character and outcome in free societies, of which Western civilization is one of the freest that there's been. So no, I'm not surprised that when you have a free society based in Christian morality um that upholds God and character formation, that that would result in an outsized number of wealthy individuals.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

You know, when I give my uh introduction to homeschool seminar, which I've done to, you know, 20 countries and probably 48 states in America, I always come to the preeminence of character and faith in education. And I refer to the book of Proverbs. You know, it's a book of Proverbs, it doesn't focus as much on geometry as it does on faith and character, trust in the Lord with all your heart, you know, go to the Aunt You Sluggard, consider her ways to be wise. And and then I refer to the Thomas Stanley books, so The Millionaire Next Door and the uh uh other millionaire books that were actually popular in the 1990s. And uh he actually interviewed 722 American millionaires and asked them, what were the most important factors that you think contributed to success in the American free marketplace? And uh it was really interesting that you know, education, academics, the fact that you know I got 4.0 in my college or I got a PhD in chemistry, that shows up like number 28 on the list. But when it comes to what was really, really, really important to these millionaires and billionaires, uh, was number one was tell the truth. So that, you know, and we're looking at a pretty large sample size. So we, you know, we're not looking at, I mean, sure, there there could be some people say, yeah, you know, I I shaded my way to the top. You know, there's there's a couple of those guys in there. But but on average, on average, number one factor for millionaires uh for you know what brought about their success in the American free marketplace was uh to tell the truth. Number two was self-discipline, number three, hard work, you know, go to the aunt your sluggard kind of thing. And then uh number four was getting along with others, or you know, just the ability to interact well with others. And that's of course every other verse in the book of Proverbs. And the number five principle was getting a supportive spouse. Incredibly, you know. And then, you know, you're thinking, well, now where would that be in, say, the book of Proverbs? And sure enough, you know, chapter 31 shows up. You know, uh, my son, be sure you get a supportive spouse, or price is far above rubies, and here are qualifications. So you know, the the book of Proverbs, and then usually end this section by saying, Isn't it amazing what God learned from millionaires? Uh or or was it the other way around, you know, testing the epistemological uh commitment? What what what is what where is our authority and where is it coming from? And it turns out, yeah, it's you know, God's principles as laid down in the book of Proverbs, turn tur turns out to actually be the means by which economies are built. Which is what was your point.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And and it should be no surprise then that that gets co-opted by movements like the prosperity gospel, right? That that turn Jesus into a therapeutic figure who can give you wealth and happiness. Uh of course, Christ can do and often does do both of those things, but in a much more real sense than than what figures like Kenneth Copeland and some others promulgate. But I think sometimes as Protestants, and in particular here in the American context, we we rebound against that prosperity gospel impulse, and we want to head towards a life that ends up being more pietistic, more dualistic, and influence uh you know, emphasizes being spiritual and ascetic. And some people are called to be ascetics. Um, that's that's a tradition that that goes all the way back to the early church fathers and the patristics, that's all the way through, but not everybody is called to that. Um and and there's we are called to be good stewards of what we've been given. And in here in America, we've been given tremendous opportunity um to be successful just by virtue of being born here.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

And the key word is steward there. And and do let me qualify, Sam, that you know, wealth is not the only metric of success. I usually I you know follow that very quickly. There are much more fundamental issues until it comes to success. But a big part is to identify your fall calling, identify the gifts and talents that God has given to you, and then steward them well, to steward those talents well. And that's the point that Jesus makes in the parable of talents. Uh the other, the other point is that you know, not not everybody who is going to be, you know, have a supportive spouse, diligent, self-disciplined, gets along with others, um, and and uh tells the truth. You know, a guy like that might might volunteer to be a pastor, you know. And I I'm here to tell you guys you're not gonna get wealthy uh being a pastor. So, you know, you could have all those qualifications and then choose the calling or receive the calling uh from from God to be a pastor, kind of the lowly pastor guy in your local community, and uh and that's okay. And that's okay. In other words, not everybody who who winds up with those particular character traits are going to wind up becoming millionaires. But in the business world, it turns out that if you're in the business world and you're diligent and you have self-discipline and you have a supportive spouse and you tell the truth, you're probably gonna be successful. I think that's that's the lesson here, Sam.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Yeah, yeah, especially in the context that we live today or the context of the last 200 years in America. That's that's certainly been the case. Um, you you implement basic wisdom principles, and that's gonna result in in fantastic outcomes, both spiritually most importantly, but also in the tangible world. Um, but it's interesting to see how our culture today is fostering envy for those that have more, right? Christian or not. Envy is so incredibly divisive. Um, and there's we're seeing a wave of that, uh, particularly on the left, as more socialists are being elected, and and socialism is being uh now a winning platform in some areas across our country. And it's built uh centrally on the fact that nobody deserves what they've got, um, which in one sense is true. As Christians, that resonates with us. And this goes back to some other conversations we've had about the importance of thinking categorically. Um, none of us deserves to draw breath as those who have sinned against God, but God has paved a way for us, both particularly in salvation, but also through his common grace. Um, but for us to sit in judgment on our fellow man in those ways, it's just very interesting that that's being put forward by our society today.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

And don't forget the 1 Samuel 2 7 principle. The Lord makes some people poor and makes other people rich. He causes some people to be more important and puts other people uh lower. And and uh so that it's a principle. And of course, Karl Marx didn't like that verse. You know, I think he probably ripped that one out. But uh but God does give us the power to gain wealth. That's Deuteronomy 8, 11 through 18, uh, as well. That you know, the source of this and ultimately the character and ultimately the faith and ultimately any sort of gifts and talents that Elon Musk or anybody else has received, you know, versus the trash collector who comes and picks up your trash every Friday morning. Okay, God gives these people the gifts that they've been given. God gives them the background, God gives them the Christian background. You know, some people are blessed with an amazing Christian character that goes back four, five, six, seven generations and uh and and and then you know it explodes into some pretty amazing wealth in that generation. The warning from Deuteronomy verse 11 is very, very powerful. I want to read this for you, and I need your comment on this, Sam. Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments, his judgments, his statutes, which I command you today, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, your silver, your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, when your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, then you say in your heart, My power and my hand has gained me this wealth, you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth. So the wealth itself was not bad. It was okay. God gave you all that. It's what you it's the way you thought about it, the way you you, you know, responded to it that made the difference. Thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Yeah, I think of two pagan kings from by from the Bible, Nebuchadnezzar and Herod, right? And both of them, you know, puffed themselves up. After in Nebuchadnezzar's case, he had direct communication with God. There's he knows and acknowledges king over all the earth. And then he raises himself up. And what happens to both of them? God humbles them. In the case of Nebuchadnezzar, seven years as an ox. In the case of Herod dying in front of all of his guests and being eaten by worms live. Um but that's that's so important, not just for kings, of course, um, but for us as Christians to keep in mind that that that wealth ultimately comes from the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

The Lord is good, he gives, he takes his away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Yeah. Why don't you comment on what happened to Warren Buffett? I mean, raised by Presbyterian parents, now he's his foundations are the, I think, the largest donors to abortion in the world today. Warren Buffett's at the top. I mean, he is there. Uh, you take J. Paul Giddy, uh, definitely moved away from a Christian perspective. Elon Musk has done the same thing. Um what happens to these guys?

SPEAKER_00 24:02

I think there's some unique challenges that come with wealth, just like there's some unique challenges that come with being poor, right? They're they're different, but they they are unique to that station in life. And um I I think particularly when you're uh when you're exceptionally wealthy, you're gonna be in circles where the the the drive, the pressure to conform is just immense. Right. There's just a to be on the in circle, that's how you you learn about interesting opportunities. That's that's a pathway to success. Uh there's it's not a secret society, it's just that's what happens in any kind of culture, is you've got these circles of people, and there's circles of successful people. And as America has inclined away from its Christian heritage, more and more of those circles are are run and defined by people who are are not Christian, who don't believe in God. And and that I think you become idolatrous of money, perhaps. You become idolatrous of your own image. You you want to to have this idea that yes, you know, the oracle of Omaha or or whatever. I I don't know Warren Buffett. I've read some about him. Um, but I think it's it's a temptation common to man, right? Is that that you achieve these heights, you lose sight of what's really important, and you throw yourself into a thing that probably God probably has gifted you in. There's no doubt that God has gifted Warren Buffett in investing and an analytical mind. Um, but he's turned it up to 11 while neglecting some of his other responsibilities, as we see evidenced by by his family life.

SPEAKER_01 25:37

Yeah. Um, so how do we apply this? Um, you know, by God's grace, actually I'm doing better than my dad did. I mean, my dad was a very poor missionary in Japan. And uh I would say all six of his children are doing better. But to to say I'm doing better than my dad, I mean, my my dad is probably barely making, you know, in today's money, uh, 32,000 a year kind of thing. So raising six kids on this. And so so all six of us children have done better financially than my father, no question about it. Um but how do we raise our children not to be spoiled by wealth or not to worship wealth, to to be good stewards of the wealth, to maintain faith and character and dependence on God and and gratitude to God in the process. How do we do this? Have you thought through this? Yourself.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Yeah, it's something that that my family has talked about. Uh I come from a line of entrepreneurs. Um and it we go back to Deuteronomy, you've already cited that. Uh, but what were they called to do when when Moses is before God and he's giving the blessing to the people? Um, it's to remember, right? You're to teach your these things I've set up before you as a sign.

SPEAKER_01 26:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

That you may remember the Lord your God and what he did in bringing you out of the house of Egypt and into a land for you and your successive generations after you. And you know, that's Passover is all about remembering uh so much of the Bible, not just Old Testament but New Testament. You know, what do we do in remembrance of Christ? We're we're we're given these signs to call to mind the faithfulness of God. And so that's that's first and foremost what we must do. You know, Proverbs 13, 22 is an important verse. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. That inheritance is not restricted to wealth, it's much, much bigger than that. There's a spiritual inheritance that we as Christians ought to give, but it also includes a physical inheritance. And I think it's it's so incredibly sad that here in America there's a growing movement of people, both Christian and not, who don't have any interest in giving an inheritance to their kids. They would rather give it away upon their death because in the rationale is something like, well, I worked really hard to get for what I had. I don't want to deprive my kids of the opportunity of working hard to get theirs. That's maybe the best possible lens that you could put on that kind of thought process. And I just think it's so incredibly backwards. Think about from a Christian perspective, we're called to think in generational terms and think of what you can do for a children if you give them the character to manage wealth and the wealth that goes along with that. The character is by far the most important. But when you marry character with resources, you can affect change. Uh, we've talked a lot about founding fathers this year with uh America's 250th. So many of the critical founding fathers also were very wealthy. Uh John Hancock, uh one of the wealthiest men in the colonies. Many of the founding fathers that signed the Declaration of the Independence, they were they comprised the top 50 most wealthy men in the colonies. Um, and that's one of the reasons that the American Rebellion was successful. Um, so there's we don't want to bin wealth or wealth accretion as a concept. We just have to make sure that we're putting it in its right place in the hierarchy of loves. It's obviously we shouldn't love money. Um, we should love our family, we should love God, we should pass all of those things along with our wealth down to that next generation.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

And don't forget John Winthrop. I mean, you know, the Puritan colony would not exist. It would have died out. Uh it had it not been for the wealth that John Winthrop brought here. And then, you know, he funded the food that continued to come on successive ships in order to keep that colony alive for, you know, what, three, four, five years as they got things started. If it wasn't for John Winthrop, there wouldn't be an America as as we uh know it to be today. So, and he was a wealthy man that used his wealth well well. So, friends, uh, again, this is uh something that we we want to steward well. Uh, let me read one more passage I think very, very important, and that is 1 Timothy 6, 17. Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in the uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. So there it is. Not not not to say that wealthy man should not be wealthy, just simply don't trust in those riches, but continue to trust in the living God, who has given us these things to enjoy, and let let them do good, be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. And so, really, actually, wealthy people can be a huge blessing to the community all around them. I think we see that with Sam Welt Walton. I mean, you know, hey, my son works for Sam Walton, or at least his progeny today, because uh he's got a job, you know, a really good job. And I'm sure the other, you know, 180,000 employees of Sam Walton are very much appreciative. Think about all the families and all the children and all the grandchildren, all the others that are enjoying the benefits of what Sam Walton built there, Sam.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

It's really incredible. I just today had a meeting with my C12 chapter. C12 is a Christian organization that's uh essentially a training ground for business leaders, um, but it's explicitly Christian and in ways it it helps give perspective to business owners on how we can both become better business owners, better businessmen, but also be better fathers, be better husbands, be better churchmen. It's it's about all of Christ for all of life. And and that that organization has grown tremendously over the last 10 years or so is people are realizing, wait a second, I'm a Christian in all my environments, not just at church on Sundays. And uh, it's amazing the amount of influence that Christian businesses have to this day here in America. I mean, you've listed off a lot of the famous ones, um, but so many of the backbone of our economy, so many of those businesses are run by Christians that are seeking to live out the Great Commission in the sphere that God has given them.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

Friends, I want to encourage you to this resource, How the World Runs and Your Part in It. I wrote it for 14-year-olds, but it's really for anybody. I tried to summarize as many of the biblical verses I could find. Jesus parables, the book of Proverbs, uh, probably 700 Bible verses in this, in this on how the world runs and your part in it, really to prepare our young people for life, uh, what the Bible says about successful businesses, work life, home economies, and national economies, a book about the practical things of life and economy for everybody. What is success? How does one sell products and services with Christian integrity? How would a young person pay off an entry-level house by 26 years of age? How does the believer get along with difficult people in the workplace? On and on. Just how do you prepare our young people for the economy? And how can we be faithful as stewards in the economic sense? Encourage you to this. Of course, we have a workbook for it as well for uh roughly ninth grade level, but how the world runs and your part in it, very important part of our ministry. And friends, today we want to uh also encourage you to support this ministry. We have done our best to bring a biblical worldview to every area of life. As Sam mentioned, that's really the focus of this ministry is to equip uh the men and women of God to every good work and to equip our children to be successful in faith and stewarding the spiritual heritage and the economic heritage in gifts and uh steward their own talents that uh God has given to them. So uh so we want to we want to do this, and we've attempted to do this through the years as a radio program that actually began on some FM stations in Colorado Springs and Denver some 22 years ago. So still doing this. 5,515 programs later, we're still at it, and uh we are we are asking for your support if you agree with the sorts of things that uh we're doing and seeing that we are equipping families, hundreds of thousands of families in various ways with our various media outlets. Uh if you find this helpful to yourself or you find this useful to others, please consider supporting our program. We're hoping to double our outreach over the next year, and uh we need your help to do it, uh to get out there just a little more, to be faithful, actually, to steward the gifts and the uh the things that God has already given to us. So if you'd like to help us with this, please consider supporting our program at generations.org slash give. And you can designate our uh Generations Radio program, the uh Worldview program, the Homeschool Summits uh program that actually reaches hundreds of thousands of families and gets uh I'd say we've gotten tens of thousands of families started in the uh on the homeschool journey through the years via the homeschool summits program. So I encourage you to support that. Plus the international program as we reach out to as many as a hundred countries around the world. We've been to 20, and we are investing very, very intensely in four to five countries where homeschooling is exploding onto the scene. So we want to be there with them to equip them to give them some of our uh experience or know-how that uh we've collected through the years. So if you believe in some of the things we're doing as a generations ministry, encourage you to check it out at generations.org slash give. Sam, we're just you know trying to trying to get just a few more people uh behind us. It's important, I think, for us to team up on efforts like this to get others you know excited about the ministry and to to help out as best as they can.

SPEAKER_00 35:12

Yeah, certainly, Kevin. I I think that we've seen that organizations can make a huge difference and and small ones at that, right? Whether that's generations or you think of political movements, like a small but organized group of people can affect great change. And I'm I'm excited to see what God is doing at Generations and similar ministries across the country. I think that we're at a moment where there's a lot of opportunity. People are waking up to the fact that uh life is more than just stuff. Um, and and they want to live faithfully. They they want to live well. So many people, I'm talking to more and more people that want to live well, and we're doing a lot of work here at Generations to point people on that path towards Christ.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

Yeah, yeah. And uh thankfully, you know, the intro seminar uh for our homeschool conference here in Denver in June doubled over last year. I stepped out in front of this large room. I think there were some three to four hundred people stuffed into this rather small room to hear some introductory, you know, vision concerning biblical worldview, uh, family discipleship, and some of the key themes that we like to bring to bear. And the reception was phenomenal. I walked the aisles afterwards and met probably close to a hundred of these uh eager parents. And you know, I think the fields are white. People are wanting more of this. And here's the big thing I don't think they're trusting the government to take care of business anymore. They're not they're not thinking, hey, I'm gonna hand my kids over to the local public schools, to government officials, government-trained organizations, and uh assume everything's gonna turn out well. That's not happening anymore. So we're taking advantage of a huge opportunity that's before us right now. And I think Generations is uniquely equipped uh uh to do that. So, friends, prayerfully consider support. Obviously, your prayers are important. Continue to pray for us as we enter into this next year of what we consider maybe the most uh the most intense and most uh um improved year of growth that we have seen in the 22 years of ministry. So, again, if you'd like to uh contribute to the generation's ministry, it's generations.org slash give. And uh this is Kevin Swanson and Sam Rust, and we would invite you back again next time as we continue to lay down a vision for the next generation. This has been a production of the Generations Media Network. For more information, go to generations.org slash media.