Devotional

Unashamed

Romans 1:6 says “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

Charlie Kirk was a Christian martyr like that of Stephen in the book of Acts.  That was the download I received the day after his assassination, before I woke up in the morning.  Throughout the day several others online reinforced this message. 

The horrific murder of Charlie runs parallel with the horrific account of Stephen’s stoning in Acts 7.  As terrible as this tragedy was last week, we are truly at a turning point in America and globally - a prophetic parallel to the name of the organization Charlie started.

Charlie lived a life that exemplified Jesus in everything he did. He was truly ‘not ashamed of the gospel’ as he boldly proclaimed his faith, which drove his allegiance to Biblically sound truths that have been washed over by modern society.

What are we to do in the wake of this tragedy as a Christ follower, and how can we live ‘unashamed’?

Pray

Prayer is the most powerful response we have to any situation that is not logically explainable. Pray for our nation to not fall into decay. Pray for justice. Pray for the 200 million youth and young adults that followed Charlie. Pray for his family and the organizations responding to carrying on his work, including thecharliekirkshow and turningpointusa.  And much harder, pray for the assassin and anyone or entity that was behind him directly or indirectly.   Remember that Acts 7 records: “Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.” Yes, Saul, who was the greatest Christian terrorist of his time, converted to become the greatest influence in spreading the gospel directly and through the books he wrote in the Bible.   No one is too far gone from turning to Christ.

“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16)

Speak Up

This is not a time for Christ followers to retreat and throw a pity party.  WE are still alive and able to carry Charlie’s message of hope founded on the Gospel.  We have the opportunity now to encourage others to turn to Jesus.  In fact, there should be a greater sense of urgency in doing this. If people you know don’t know Jesus, share how he transformed your life and why you are not in despair. Your personal story can be the greatest influence on others. 

Take Action

We should all ask ourselves: “What is God calling me to do and how should I respond?”.  Follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit and be bold and unashamed - this is your mandate as a Christ follower. Charlie’s platform was usually in hostile campus environments. Where is your platform?  Where has God planted you? For some, this may be sharing your faith by starting a small group, inviting a friend or coworker out to lunch, or launching some form of outreach outside your church walls. 

We live in an exciting time in church history!   

The tragic ending of Charlie’s journey on earth is about to unleash an amazing awakening that will ripple until Christ returns.   Let’s boldly pray, speak up, and take action in a way that is unashamed of the Gospel.

Financial Update

Digitalized Assets: The Next Big Shift in Finance

The traditional world of finance is currently undergoing a massive shift.

One of the most exciting developments right now is the idea of digitalized assets—taking traditional assets such as stocks, bonds, or even real estate, and creating a digital footprint for said asset on the blockchain.

It’s essentially like owning the same stocks you buy through a brokerage, but instead holding them as tokens in your crypto / Web3 wallet.

A Deeper Look
Digitalized assets are a bridge between old-school finance and the new world of blockchain. A share of Apple stock, for example, could exist as a token you can trade 24/7. 

You’d still have the same ownership rights, but the way you trade, store, and move that stock would be different—faster, cheaper, and way more flexible than today’s systems.

Real estate, ETFs, bonds, and even art can be wrapped into tokens and reproduced into Web3. The idea is simple: make traditional assets work in the same fast, borderless way we’re already used to with crypto.

Real Life Applications
If you’ve ever tried wiring money overseas or waited days for a stock trade to “settle,” you know the current system can be slow to process. Banks and brokers are middlemen in almost everything. Blockchain removes a lot of that friction. 

With digitalized assets, trades can settle instantly, markets can stay open 24/7, and investors anywhere in the world can get access without jumping through endless hoops.

Picture someone in South America being able to buy U.S. stocks directly on a blockchain, no Wall Street account needed. Or a real estate owner splitting a property into tokens so dozens of people around the world can invest in it for as little as a few dollars. That’s the kind of global accessibility and liquidity that has never really existed before.

Where Opportunities Merge
The crypto market today is worth a couple of trillion dollars. But traditional financial assets? Stocks alone are worth over $100 trillion globally. 

Real estate is closer to $300 trillion. If even a small slice of that moves onto blockchain, the digital asset market could explode far beyond what crypto looks like today.

And this isn’t just a “maybe one day” idea. Big players are already moving. BlackRock and other institutions have started experimenting with tokenized funds and bonds. Banks are testing digitalized securities. The wheels are in motion.

We’ve seen the internet transform communication, shopping, and media. Blockchain is now doing the same with ownership and value. Digitalized assets are the natural next step—connecting the old financial world to the new.

For investors and builders, this isn’t just another passing crypto trend. It’s a structural shift that could potentially present a plethora of opportunities for those early adopters.

Health Nuggets

Benefits Of Polyphenols 

Polyphenols are found in foods like fruits (berries, apples, grapes), green and black tea, dark chocolate, good quality red wines, nuts and seeds, olive oils containing high number of polyphenols (great locations for the finest oils come from the regions of Greece, Italy and Southern Desert of Morocco – my personal favorite). They also improve blood flow and protect cells from injury and degeneration.

In nature, polyphenols help plants absorb sunlight, fight disease, deter pests and defend against stress like UV radiation and pathogens. They influence color, flavor, and other sensory properties in plant-based foods. No wonder they are good for our health!

The benefits of eating foods rich in polyphenols supports health by:

• Acting as antioxidants.

• Reducing inflammation (helps with arthritis pain), may help lower the risk of chronic illnesses and support heart, brain and metabolic health.

• Prevention of diseases such as certain cancers, diabetes and cardiovascular and neurodegenerative conditions.

Most of the ultra-processed foods have seed oils in them which can cause a multitude of health problems due to the polyphenol being stripped through processing and refining methods. These oils are sesame oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, flaxseed oil, soybean oil and cottonseed oil. High consumption of foods prepared with these oils can lead to health problems.  Select a good organic extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil for your salad, cooking, and sautéing, for frying I recommend using Beef Fat – Tallow, and for baking, I recommend using coconut oil.

 Your heart will thank you for it!

A TABLESPOON OF POLYPHENOL-RICH OIL FIRST THING EVERY MORNING, ON AN EMPTY STOMACH, WILL DO YOU GOOD….EVEN HELP LOOSE WEIGHT!

Note: Health Nuggets are opinions and not medical advice.

Tech Update

Deepfakes

There has been an alarming amount of exploitation happening as a result of AI generated ‘deepfakes’.  A deepfake refers to a variety of AI content, including image, video and audio, that are artificially created to mimic another person close enough to make the recipient believe it is the real person.  

Some of this can be purely amusing as I’m sure you have witnessed on social media.  However, malicious actors are using it for criminal activity, including conning people into giving money to who they believe to be a legitimate co-worker, friend or family member.   

Deepfakes in the News

An example of this occurred in Hong Kong last year when a finance employee was duped into transferring multiple payments totaling over $25M to who he believed was his CFO.  The employee even joined a video call to ‘verify’ the request wasn’t a scam, but it later turned out the person on the video call was in fact an AI generated deep fake.

This is not just an issue of corporate concern.  Just recently, an Ontario senior was scammed of $15K when he believed his Premier was making a legitimate pitch to invest in a mutual fund, which he did.  It was later confirmed it was a deepfake of Premier Doug Ford that duped him.

There have been other cases of people receiving frantic phone calls from family members needing money that turned out to be audio deepfakes.

How to Protect Against Deepfakes

In general, always check and verify unsuspected requests you get for money or to give personal information away.  

Email and Voicemail 

If you receive an email from your bank requesting you call back, don’t automatically trust the number in the email, but verify the email and the number first, or you may end up talking with a deepfake agent. The same goes for voicemails you receive asking you to call back. 

Video 

Video deepfakes are getting really hard to detect.  Many people are being duped into believing online digital video content from ‘trusted sources’.  Make sure you look at the video for visible clues such as facial expression, eye movement and lip synchronization for hints of being synthetic and not actual.

Audio

There is plenty of this online and a lot of people are making money simulating audio content.  I recently listened to a deepfake Billy Graham sermon that sounded just like him.  More critical concerns are phone calls from people you know.  Always ask questions about past events or details on topics only the two of you would know if you suspect you are being scammed by a deepfake.  Check this article for some good tips, including creating safewords.

When the topic of deepfake comes up, I sometimes find myself cringing on the thought of being duped into believing something that is a lie.  However, I am reminded that the Holy Spirit lives in me and is with me always.  He is also described by Jesus as the Spirit of Truth.  What an amazing assurance that the Holy Spirit can be my guide to detecting what is true from what is false, including deepfakes.

Trivia Corner

Test your wisdom and knowledge of the Bible.

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