Put your money where your mouth is

By: American Decency Staff

About ten years ago, a supporter of this ministry called wanting to meet with me to talk about investments.  This godly man was a former pastor and now worked as a financial planner.  To my shame, I put him off, not wanting to take time away from the busyness of ministry.    However, he was persistent and we finally had that meeting. Now, I was one who didn’t pay much attention to investing, the stock market, and personal financial planning.  However, my wife and I had a few investments from a modest family inheritance.  These had been placed in a fund which we were told was morally “clean.â€Â However, as this financial consultant and I met, he analyzed my so-called “cleanâ€Â funds and found that my investments were supporting companies that supported abortion and pornography!  I was appalled!!  Here I was fighting the evil of pornography and my money was helping to empower it! This encounter a number of years ago led me to become a staunch proponent of morally-clean investing.  In fact, I now serve on the board of directors for The Timothy Plan.  The Timothy Plan® is a family of mutual funds offering individuals a biblical choice when it comes to investing. The Timothy Plan® avoids investing in companies that are involved in practices contrary to Judeo-Christian principles and has a goal of recapturing traditional American values. The Timothy Plan is America's first pro-life, pro-family, biblically-based mutual fund group.  (For more information go to http://www.timothyplan.com/) I am not alone in my experience.  I am sure there are millions of Christians who are like I was – unaware of the filth and sinful practices their investments are funding. In recent months I have spoken several times to a pastor who is valiantly trying to raise this concern within his denomination – and facing some opposition from fellow pastors – after discovering the church denomination’s pension fund was invested in the very same sinful practices they as pastors preach against! Read of his account here in an article from WorldNetDaily: Apple Computer is known for its open support of homosexual activism; Johnson & Johnson is a leading provider of abortifacients; and Google's support of probably the most abortion-loving White House administration ever is well-known. So why is a Christian church denomination using its pension fund to invest in those companies? That's the question raised by a Wesleyan pastor who says his church is sponsoring immorality by its choice of stocks that comprise the church's pension fund. Rev. Dale Walker pastors a Wesleyan church congregation in Tennessee and also operates a financial management firm. He said he became concerned in June 2008 when he discovered that companies that promote pornography and operate casinos were among those in which the church denomination's pension fund had investments. He first went to his district superintendent and then he took the issue to a pastor's forum. "I went to that pastor's forum to share our concerns from the church and I sincerely thought in my heart they did not know about this. As I shared my concerns, I was interrupted by some of the speakers that day as I spoke," Walker explained. … Read more: Is your church killing America? http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=330389#ixzz1Udolf7n8 God’s Word calls us to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.â€Â (Ephesians 5:11) That command certainly should apply to our investments. I urge you to examine any investments or pension plans you may have and make sure your funds are not supporting evils such as abortion, pornography, gambling, and other sinful practices that go against biblical principles. The Timothy Plan is one source that can recommend a Christian financial advisor to help you.  For more information go to:  http://www.timothyplan.com/ProActive/frame-ProActive-consultants.htm The statement below from The Timothy Plan’s “Call to Actionâ€Â gives you an idea of their zeal for upholding biblical morality The culture war has a new battlefront. While cultural conservatives focused their efforts on schools, churches, state houses, and Main Streets, environmentalists, animal rights activists, homosexuals and feminists wielded their power as corporate shareholders to change corporate policy. Meanwhile, unwitting pro-family conservatives invested billions of dollars in companies that promote abortion, pornography, gambling, and other social pathologies. Recently, cultural conservatives have begun to join the fight on Wall Street, the new battlefront of the culture war. When Americans dislike a company, they choose to boycott its products in the expectation that falling revenues would influence the company to change its policy.  Boycotting is a noble way of demonstrating marketplace democracy. It gives consumers the ability to vote with their dollars in an effort to cause corporate, social and/or economic change. However, boycotting alone is a commendable yet incomplete action. Boycotting coupled with the avoidance of stock or bond ownership of such companies is a much more effective approach. By "de-funding" these companies, concerned American's can begin voting with their investment dollars at the Wall Street level. http://www.timothyplan.com/ProActive/frame-ProActive-calltoaction.htm ========================================================== Your support is important to our ability to make a difference. Donate online at: https://secure4.afo.net/ada/donate.php American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. American Decency Association Bill Johnson, President P.O. Box 202 Fremont, MI 49412 ph: 231-924-4050 www.americandecency.org http://www.twitter.com/billwjohnson

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