Devotional

Love: Actions and Truth

We've heard the expression many times that ‘actions speak louder than words’. This saying is truly supported by 1 John 3:18. Think about the fact that when you read the Gospel of John, which John the Apostle also wrote, he refers to himself often as ‘the disciple Jesus loved’. Yet nowhere in scripture do we read Jesus saying ‘John, I love you’.  I believe it wasn’t necessary because Jesus demonstrated His love to John with His actions and in truth.

Actions

Are your actions ‘speaking’ louder than your words to those around you? The way you treat your parents, spouse, siblings, children and co-workers is a test of this. Why not ask someone that knows you well if this is the case or not, and take their response as constructive feedback. There are always aspects of love we can sharpen, and the Holy Spirit gives us the power to do so.  

Let’s lead with love, the first seed of the fruit of the Spirit. Check out our recent article on One Fruit, Nine Seed as a reminder. Let’s demonstrate love the way Jesus did to those rejected by society, like He did to the woman caught in adultery.

Truth

Don’t skip over the second part of this verse that clearly says love must be demonstrated ‘in truth.’ We, unfortunately, live in a culture that is fearful of speaking Biblical truth for fear of ‘offending’ someone. This has even led to several countries, including Finland, U.K and Canada, passing or considering laws to restrict elements of the Bible by deeming it ‘hate’ speech. Notice what God calls ‘love’, Satan calls ‘hate’. 

Jesus declared: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32).  We have a responsibility as Christ followers to love with the truth of the Gospel, to set captives free.

Financial Update

Hardware Wallets for Securing Digital Assets

Benefits of a Hardware Wallet

You bought the crypto, but do you own it? The rule is simple: "not your keys, not your coins." Leaving funds on an exchange means you just hold a corporate IOU. Software wallets are better, but keeping keys on internet-connected devices invites hackers. Hardware wallets fix this by keeping your private keys entirely offline.

If you purchase a hardware wallet it’s recommended to buy directly from the vendor  to avoid tampered devices. When it arrives, inspect the tamper-evident holographic seal over the USB-C port to ensure nobody has compromised the hardware during shipping. Never buy a hardware wallet from eBay or unauthorized resellers. The one I use and and recommend as a great solution is the Trezor Safe 7, which we’ll look at as a good example.

Usability and Multi-layer Security 

It’s critical that accessing and using your hardware wallet is simple yet secure. The Trezor Safe 7 features a massive 2.5-inch color touchscreen. It feels much more like a modern smartphone than a clunky security tool, making it incredibly easy to read addresses. Let's be honest, setting this up for the first time can be nerve-wracking, so you need a product that makes the process relatively painless.

With a hardware wallet your primary backup is referred to as a Seed Phrase. For the Safe 7, this is a standard 20-word phrase that acts as your master key if the device is lost or broken. For ultimate security, you can add a Passphrase. This custom addition acts as a 21st word that creates an entirely hidden wallet within the standard wallet. If an attacker physically forces you to open your standard wallet, your main funds remain perfectly concealed in the hidden passphrase wallet.

Durability and Future Proofing

Writing your Seed Phrase on paper cards is fine, but paper burns in a fire and turns to mush in a flood. I recommend safeguarding those 20 words using a solid metal plate to ensure your backup survives real-world environmental disasters.

In addition, it’s important to ensure your hardware wallet is future proof. Quantum computers cannot break modern cryptography today, but they might eventually. When purchasing a hardware wallet, look for one that allows the firmware to be upgraded in the future to support post quantum algorithms.

In summary, delegating the custody of your digital assets to a centralized exchange because setting up hardware is "nerve-wracking" is a dereliction of duty. A good steward does not outsource the primary risk of their wealth to an opaque third party. 

Matthew 25:24-27, also teaches us about using our talents wisely. When it comes to digital talents, such as crypto, we need to make informed decisions rather than blindly gambling with it.

Contributed by Aleem, who also created a short explainer video:

Tech Update

AI Security Alarm Bell

An AI security alarm of sorts went off last week in Washington.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Fed Chair Powell summoned the chief executives of the nation's largest banks to an urgent meeting to discuss urgent cybersecurity threats. The alarm was triggered by the preview release of Anthropic's Claude Mythos, their latest general purpose AI model. 

Anthropic said the model had already found "tens of thousands" of high-risk vulnerabilities across every major operating system and web browser. While this sounds like a great way for companies to find and fix software security vulnerabilities, it also opens up for bad actors to exploit the known vulnerabilities with cyber attacks before the fixes could be applied. For example, internal testing showed Mythos could turn 72% of discovered vulnerabilities into working exploits in Firefox's JavaScript shell, compared with less than 1% for the company's previous best model. 

It all sounds like a bit of a cyber security arms race in my opinion. Attacks on our financial systems could obviously lead to dire consequences for institutions and the public alike as our entire financial system is digital. No one would want to wake up one morning, log into their bank account and find a zero balance because it was hacked. You might argue that’s why we have FDIC insurance. The fact the federal government is so concerned is because they see the potential for widespread fraud - which means if they have to pay we all pay.

To end on a positive note, there is only so much the average investor can do to safeguard you digital investments. Trust God as your ultimate provider and protector while also applying God given wisdom. Basic elements of this include: 

• Utilize a virtual private network (VPN) service on your desktop and mobile devices

• Use secure browsers when logging into your financial accounts

• Having strong passwords that you change periodically

• Utilize 2 factor authentication for logins

Also consider signing up for identity protection and credit monitoring service that actively monitors and reports in real time.

Health Nuggets

The Secret to Living to 100: Higher Total Cholesterol

It seems lately more and more reports are coming out regarding the truth about cholesterol. According to Dr. Nathan Bryan, people who live longest have a total cholesterol of 240-260. He also says: "Cholesterol does not cause heart disease, so why target it?”

Herbalist Barbara O’Neill, from Australia, also challenges the mainstream cholesterol narrative.  She says: “Forty years ago, a cholesterol level of 300 was perfectly fine. I’d like to suggest to you that it's perfectly fine today.  If you go above the 190, what are you told? You’ve got to go on cholesterol-lowering medication. Are you ready for the side effects of cholesterol-lowering medication, side effects such as: Alzheimer’s, dementia, muscle wasting, memory loss and breast cancer?”

A massive Swedish study tracking over 800,000 people for 35 years revealed that most centenarians had HIGHER Levels of total cholesterol. The higher your LDL (which helps fight infection), the longer you live. People are not told that cholesterol is a crucial fat-like molecule ‘of life’ (lipid), given to you by GOD, so that your body can make hormones for you.

Dr. Wallach states that Statin drugs shred the cholesterol that makes up 75% of your brain’s insulation. He adds: “Alzheimer’s is a PHYSICIAN-CAUSED disease. Not ‘Old Age’. 145% explosion in deaths. Doctors are literally manufacturing Alzheimer's. Please do your research before taking any medication prescribed by your doctor.

Source: thehealthbot on X

Note: Health Nuggets are opinions and not medical advice.

Trivia Corner

Test your wisdom and knowledge of the Bible.

Seen Heard and Known Fundraising Dinner

If you live in the NC Triangle area, we wanted to let you know that Seen, Heard and Known ministry is holding a fundraising dinner on May 28th. You may recall we shared about its founder, in Grant’s Story last fall.

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