No secret key to wealth
24/02/24 01:25
Here is a simple thing about me that I’m pretty sure that those who read my journal already know. I am not an influencer. I do not have a large number of people who follow me on any digital platform. In addition to maintaining this web site, I have a few social media accounts. I have a Facebook account and I rarely post anything. I look at other’s Facebook posts to keep up with a few friends and I have responded to messages from friends in Facebook Messenger. My Facebook account is linked to my Instagram account to which I have posted less than 10 times. When I post on Instagram, the photo or video appears on Facebook. I have a YouTube channel on which I posted a daily prayer on the pandemic. The last of those posts was posted on my last day of working at First Congregational United Church of Christ of Rapid City, SD on June 15, 2020. Since then I have posted two very short videos, one promoting an event at First Congregational Church in Bellingham and another brief video of Nooksack Falls posted to show our grandchildren where we were and what we were doing. No video that I have ever posted garnered 100 views. I have not gone viral. I do not have hosts of followers.
My journal is primarily a personal adventure. I write for the joy of writing. I would be keeping a journal even if I was not posting it to my website. What you are reading are words that I have written on my laptop while sitting at my library table in my home and posted to an account that I pay for out of my own funds. I do not receive any income from the Internet.
There is a distinct advantage to not being famous or popular on social media. There is no one interested in creating deep fakes of my images or my ideas. There is no money to be earned from pretending to be me. That hasn’t totally prevented scammers from trying. When I was working as a pastor, there were multiple occasions when people would create fake Facebook accounts and fake email addresses and, pretending to be me, sent messages to people whose email addresses were associated with me on the church website or who were listed as my friends on Facebook. They appealed to those people for funds, generally in the form of giving gift card codes. Although I am aware of a single incident where a friend fell for one of those fakes, no one has generated any significant amount of money by pretending to be me.
If you receive an email in which I am asking for money, check the sender’s address. It hasn’t come from me. And those scammers aren’t finding very many people to contact by looking for names associated with me on the Internet.
Those who have a lot of followers and fans have experienced some pretty bold attempts at using their names, pictures, videos, and other postings by unauthorized people to get money from unsuspecting victims. Celebrities including Piers Morgan, Nigella Lawson, and Oprah Winfrey have had their images altered to make the false impression that they have endorsed a self-help course. The faked advertisements promoted “Genie Script,” and a “manifestation” course sold for $37 by Wesley “Billion Dollar” Virgin. The fake videos claim that Genie Script is a “missing” Hebrew Bible scripture of just 20 words that could - supposedly - change a person’s life.
While I am no expert at social media and I have no intention of using it to generate income and furthermore have no intention of becoming wealthy through any get rich quick scheme, I am a student of the Bible and know a bit about the history of Biblical texts. There are no missing pages from the Hebrew or Greek scriptures. When ancient texts are discovered, they are most notable not for the new information they contain, but rather for the sections and words that are missing. Ancient texts are fragmentary. They have been damaged by time and exposure to the elements. They may contain clues to how scriptures were used by ancients, but they do not contain old secrets that have been used to allow possessors to become wealthy.
Genuine faith does not lead to worldly riches. It is not magic. There are no magic words in scripture. For a couple of hundred years there have been a few preachers of various forms of prosperity gospel who promise that if people follow them and believe what they say they will become rich. One thing about prosperity gospel preachers is that while the preachers may occasionally experience financial success, they don’t make their followers any richer. Their financial gains are based on extracting money from their followers. I promise you, reading my journal will not make you rich. And there is no 20-word fragment of scripture that produces magical results. Genuine faith does not work that way.
Most prosperity gospel thinking can be traced to late 19th century America. It suggests that healing and prosperity are available to Christian believers if they have enough faith. While Jesus did heal people, he did not dole out healing only to those who gave him money. Nor did he set some requirement of a certain set of beliefs in exchange for his compassion.
You will find that I rarely post links to other web pages in my journal. While I do read a fair amount of material published on the Internet, I try to apply the same critical thinking skills that I apply to other documents that I read. I have a healthy skepticism about claims that cannot be supported. The times when I do include links in my journal are times when I am attempting to give credit for ideas that are not my own and have come from other sources. I have also given links to trusted websites that offer information and do not attempt to extract profit.
So be careful. The Internet is filled with fakes and scams. Find a real person who has earned your trust for financial advice before investing your money. And if you do want to continue to read my journal posts, please feel free to do so. I won’t make you wealthy, but it may occasionally make you laugh.
My journal is primarily a personal adventure. I write for the joy of writing. I would be keeping a journal even if I was not posting it to my website. What you are reading are words that I have written on my laptop while sitting at my library table in my home and posted to an account that I pay for out of my own funds. I do not receive any income from the Internet.
There is a distinct advantage to not being famous or popular on social media. There is no one interested in creating deep fakes of my images or my ideas. There is no money to be earned from pretending to be me. That hasn’t totally prevented scammers from trying. When I was working as a pastor, there were multiple occasions when people would create fake Facebook accounts and fake email addresses and, pretending to be me, sent messages to people whose email addresses were associated with me on the church website or who were listed as my friends on Facebook. They appealed to those people for funds, generally in the form of giving gift card codes. Although I am aware of a single incident where a friend fell for one of those fakes, no one has generated any significant amount of money by pretending to be me.
If you receive an email in which I am asking for money, check the sender’s address. It hasn’t come from me. And those scammers aren’t finding very many people to contact by looking for names associated with me on the Internet.
Those who have a lot of followers and fans have experienced some pretty bold attempts at using their names, pictures, videos, and other postings by unauthorized people to get money from unsuspecting victims. Celebrities including Piers Morgan, Nigella Lawson, and Oprah Winfrey have had their images altered to make the false impression that they have endorsed a self-help course. The faked advertisements promoted “Genie Script,” and a “manifestation” course sold for $37 by Wesley “Billion Dollar” Virgin. The fake videos claim that Genie Script is a “missing” Hebrew Bible scripture of just 20 words that could - supposedly - change a person’s life.
While I am no expert at social media and I have no intention of using it to generate income and furthermore have no intention of becoming wealthy through any get rich quick scheme, I am a student of the Bible and know a bit about the history of Biblical texts. There are no missing pages from the Hebrew or Greek scriptures. When ancient texts are discovered, they are most notable not for the new information they contain, but rather for the sections and words that are missing. Ancient texts are fragmentary. They have been damaged by time and exposure to the elements. They may contain clues to how scriptures were used by ancients, but they do not contain old secrets that have been used to allow possessors to become wealthy.
Genuine faith does not lead to worldly riches. It is not magic. There are no magic words in scripture. For a couple of hundred years there have been a few preachers of various forms of prosperity gospel who promise that if people follow them and believe what they say they will become rich. One thing about prosperity gospel preachers is that while the preachers may occasionally experience financial success, they don’t make their followers any richer. Their financial gains are based on extracting money from their followers. I promise you, reading my journal will not make you rich. And there is no 20-word fragment of scripture that produces magical results. Genuine faith does not work that way.
Most prosperity gospel thinking can be traced to late 19th century America. It suggests that healing and prosperity are available to Christian believers if they have enough faith. While Jesus did heal people, he did not dole out healing only to those who gave him money. Nor did he set some requirement of a certain set of beliefs in exchange for his compassion.
You will find that I rarely post links to other web pages in my journal. While I do read a fair amount of material published on the Internet, I try to apply the same critical thinking skills that I apply to other documents that I read. I have a healthy skepticism about claims that cannot be supported. The times when I do include links in my journal are times when I am attempting to give credit for ideas that are not my own and have come from other sources. I have also given links to trusted websites that offer information and do not attempt to extract profit.
So be careful. The Internet is filled with fakes and scams. Find a real person who has earned your trust for financial advice before investing your money. And if you do want to continue to read my journal posts, please feel free to do so. I won’t make you wealthy, but it may occasionally make you laugh.
