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“Borrowers pay $12 Billion in Fees and Interest Every Year” Revealing a Biblical Perspective on Predatory Lenders
Today, debt appears to have become an everyday word that is commonplace. In the increase of loans, another type of loan is being seen, “Payday Loans”. Instead of a home loan that is paid back in 15-30 years, or a short term 12- month loan, these Payday Loans are given based on someone’s incoming paycheck. If you cannot afford an annual loan, then a 2-week loan is surely out of the question. Proverbs 22:7 reveals, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”
According to reports, “Nationwide, borrowers pay $12 Billion in Fees and Interest Every Year”. In addition, “There are more than 20,000 payday lenders in the United States. In Alabama, there are four times as many payday lenders as there are McDonalds restaurants.” Because of the exorbitant interest rates of these loans, some borrowers will pay more in interest then they will the total amount borrowed!
We must begin to live within our means and stop enjoying the blessings of tomorrow today. The people that are struggling are the very ones that are being taken advantage of. Instead of having a business that brings income based on excessive usury fees or fines, there is wisdom. One particular man, gifted with many business skills, listed GOD as the CEO of his company. He would be brought into boardrooms of many different companies to give advice on how they could run their business. He refused to be on any corporate board that used such fees to bring in income. It matters how we are receiving our income.
Allow your wisdom to increase regarding the perspective of finances and debt, and so much more. Also shared in this segment: usury fees, insufficient funds, high interest fees, mortgages, predatory lending, and debt. Greg and Steve shared in this segment.
“One in a Billion Chance” We are Really Here or are We part of Virtual Reality? Adults are actually having this conversation
Have you ever asked yourself if the reality you experience every day is actually real or if it just virtual imagination? Is your life real or is it just a simulation? Is life a game or is it actually happening? Crazy as it sounds, people are actually legitimately having this conversation.
At the Code Conference, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors and co-creator of Pay Pal, was one of the speakers. When “Josh” approaches the microphone, he presents this question: “Sort of a philosophic concept, that a sufficiently advanced civilization would be able to create a simulation… that’s like, our existence. So the theory follows that maybe we’re in that simulation. Have you thought about this?” As Musk responds, he begins his reasoning as to why this “simulation” does exist by beginning with the existence of “Pong”, “Now 40 years later, we have photo realistic, 3-D simulation with millions of people playing simultaneously, and it’s getting better every year.” Musk continues to share, “If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then the games will become indistinguishable from reality”. As Musk concludes his response to Josh’s answer, he states, “There is a one in billion chance that this is base reality…Either we’re going to create simulations that are indistinguishable from reality, or civilization will cease to exist.”
Think about this: no matter how advanced computers may appear to be, the only information that computers know is what humans put into them. According to Mark Zuckerberg, “Facebook will be smarter than humans in ten years.” Just because we know information, does not necessarily mean that we are smarter or have wisdom. The full exchange and response from Musk on the conversation of virtual reality and reality, and so much more. Also shared in this segment: reality, technology, and faith. Greg and Steve shared in this segment.
‘Virtual Reality Inside our Brains Will Be Here by 2020” Ray Kurzweil gives Predictions for 2020 and 2099
Can you imagine what 2020 is going to be like? What about the year 2099? We have witnessed so much technology advance exponentially, to hear what Ray Kurzweil’s predictions are may surprise you, or they may not. He is the author of How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed. In regards to our everyday shopping experience, there will be nothing normal about it based on how we presently see shopping for goods.
When Kurzweil was asked this very question, he responded by saying, “Well, I think that you’ll be walking into a virtual store; and most products will be virtual, even food and clothing.” As we have presently seen the introduction of 3-D printing, this will be greatly advanced, according to Kurzweil. “We’ll be able to download a design for clothing and then print it out.”
No more will we travel to a physical location of a store in order to try on clothing. That’s old news. “We’ll be able to take a three dimensional scan of our bodies and actually see in 3-D, an avatar of ourselves, and see how the clothes look.” Not only will the interaction of shopping be entirely different, but so will the interaction between people. “Once virtual reality goes inside our brains, and that will be here by the late 2020’s…the computer will actually create the environment, and then we can be virtual actors in a virtual environment.”
The everyday occurrence of eating won’t be the same either. “We can eat in a virtual environment and have that sensual experience because our brain is receiving these signals as if they were coming from the real world, but it’s actually the virtual world.” Kurzweil continues to explain that we will not be limited to our very own bodies but will have different bodies in the virtual world.
As the conversation switches gears to discuss currency, the recent development of Bitcoinis discussed. Kurzweil expounds on the topic, ‘So, we won’t need to handle currency or even physical devices around, we’ll be able to pay for things virtually.’ Kurzweil continues, ‘The nature of currency is interesting, I mean, what is currency? It’s an agreement system between people that everybody respects. Even terrorists who have very different views of society, and mainstream society; everybody respects money. It’s a big system of agreements that we have…Certainly payment is already going online.’
In the area of energy, Kurzweil highlights a staggering realization regarding solar energy. “Solar Power is doubling every two years, it’s already over 1 percent of our energy. People say ‘Oh, 1% is kind of a fringe player’, but they are ignoring the exponential growth. 1% is only 7 doublings away from 100% and its doubling every two years.”
Presently, people are getting more and more caught up about new technology and the information that it provides. But, sooner or later, we are going to have to choose to remain where we are, intellectually, then choosing to go the way of allowing ideas such as virtual reality to be entered into our brain. Just because we have information doesn’t necessarily mean we have wisdom.
Considering these times, the Lord gave Greg a dream of being in a cubicle surrounded by other cubicles. In this environment, he was diligently working at a computer. He suddenly realized that this data was being entered into the computers was used to control people. None of the workers were allowed to talk, but each cubicle had a whiteboard. As Greg received this revelation of the information, he began to write on his whiteboard, “This is the number of the beast and his number is 666.”
Instead of seeking information, we must seek the wisdom of God through an abiding relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ. We are in the days that we must consider these advancements with wisdom. Revelation 13:16-18 reveals, “It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.”
It is imperative that we know and discern the voice of the Father. If we do not know His voice, we cannot walk in His ways and will fall. Hear the full exchange with Ray Kurzweil about the coming developments in technology, the importance to understand information versus wisdom, how to have an abiding relationship with the Lord, and so much more. Also shared in this segment: avatars, 3-d printing, currency, consumer goods, Bitcoin, sunlight, renewable energy, water technology, clean water, engineering, Google, blogging, artificial intelligence, and eBooks. Greg and Steve shared in this segment.