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Faith Or Finances
Empowered greetings. aith or Finances is a topic that Christian en-
trepreneurs often wrestle with. They believe that they have to choose between their faith and their finances; between doing ministry and making money with their God-given gifts.
There is a belief that you can’t serve God and makes massive amounts of money without making money your God. I contend that these two concepts of faith and finances should work in harmony with each other. However, it is im- perative that you understand and have clarity of the Biblical principles that govern the two.
If the truth be told, because you are a believer and serve God, you should make massive amounts of money. Why do I say this? It is because accord- ing to Genesis 1:28, God has blessed you to be fruitful and to multiply. Both of these terms signify increase.
Proverbs 10:22, says, it is the blessing of the Lord that makes you rich. When you are rich that denotes that you have an abundance of a particular source. Jesus came on the scene to give you abundance in every area of your life. This in- cludes abundance physically, spiritually and abundance fi- nancially. See II John 2 as a point of reference.
The same level of faith that you have for your salvation should be the same degree of faith in operation for you to re- ceive a revelation about your financial situation.
It is the will of God to bless you and your business endeav- ors. God will not only give you the desires of your heart as they are in alignment with His will, but God will also give you the power to get wealth ac- cording to Deuteronomy 8:18.
If the Christian entrepre- neur would govern themselves
by taking time daily to medi- tate on the word of God and follow the instructions given therein Joshua 1:8 assures us that they would be prosper- ous and successful.
As a Life and Business Suc- cess Coach to Christian Women Entrepreneurs, I wanted to write today’s col- umn to cancel the assignment of the enemy that keeps so many bound to belief that hav- ing an abundance of money is evil and not a part of God’s plan for their life. People are staying stuck in a financial rut because of what they don’t know. Now that you know, it’s time to do better and serve God with your faith and your finances.
For more insight on build- ing a financially sound busi- ness or lifestyle, connect with Selphenia on her Social Media platforms. Let her know you read this column; there might be a surprise for you if you do.
Call Facebook:
813-603-0088 Selphenia Nichols Success Coach To
Women
Instagram: @Selphenia Twitter: @queenofsuc- cess1
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Kaine And Pense: A Debate Of ‘Nice’
hough they interrupted each other mercilessly, they
never lost their civility.
Now, having gotten that out of the way, let’s move on to
what must have been one of the most-milk-toast debates broadcast in the past half century, not because issues weren’t introduced and comments weren’t responded, but because at the end of a 90 minute seesaw, the world was quite aware that the Republican vice presidential candidate was as far away from being a brother of Trump’s ideology as was the planet Jupiter from the center of the sun.
So, what did they talk about? Better still, what did they agree on? EVERYTHING! Both Tim Kaine and Mike Pense agreed on the idea that community-policing was a brilliant way of solving violence on America’s streets. They believed in the spirit and legacy of immigration as a foundation of America since both men came from an immigrant heritage.
We listened as candidate Kaine stole Pence’s thunder by admitting that he (Kaine) was a “strong 2nd Amendment.” And even when they fought (when Kaine crawled all over Trump’s rendition of “To Russia with Love”), they were cor- dial. But in truth, there were three debaters on stage, Tues- day night.
One of them went by the name of interruption, who was assisted by a moderator who would’ve done better selling brownies.
So, if (God forbid), we were obliged to choose the next occupant of the Oval Office based on the results of this re- cent vice-presidential debate, no doubt we would be in deep trouble. Who won? Who knows? But one thing’s for sure. Were we to meet each one of them at a local pub, we’d buy him a Bud, or seated at a local church, we’d gladly share his pew. But as for an indicator as to who would make a better Vice Commander-In-Chief (?), we’ll pass.
Blackness Is More Than Skin Deep
have a question. What is it that actually defines whether or not a person can be identified as a profound stal- wart of Black ideals and iden-
tity?
Is it the darkness of his or
her skin, the style of his or her hair or an elevated level of con- sciousness that separates them from the rest of the pack? If any one of these characteristics is the acceptable standard then I wonder what it means when one of these "Blacker than the rest of us" brothers or sisters chooses someone from outside his or her own flock as a love interest?
We have all seen or run across these types of people haven't we? The images of the dreadlock wearing, afro-cen- tric brother, who can talk about Marcus Garvey's back-to-Africa movement all day while failing to ever men- tion the blonde girlfriend wait- ing for him back at his apartment, and the all natural sister, who occasionally rocks a Erykah Badu head-wrap
and loves the music of Jill Scott just as much as she does her Abercrombie & Fitch wear- ing white husband, are so com- mon these days that the mere visual of these odd couplings have become humorously cliché.
Of course, this isn't an in- dictment against miscegena- tion. I am a firm believer in every man or woman being able to choose whoever makes them the happiest. But I would also be lying if I said I wasn't puzzled by what comes off, at least to me, as evidence of an extreme contradiction.
I hate to use the term hypocrisy. But it's hard not to place this seemingly duplici- tous behavior in the same cat- egory with classic examples of character flaws like the Mus- lim convenience store owner who openly sells liquor, the church pastor who sleeps with members of his congregation or the dude who only stops eat- ing pork while he's in prison.
My lack of understanding for these quasi-"Black Pride"
nationalists probably stems from the fact that I learned a long time ago that it's practi- cally impossible for any Black person who's aware of his or her place in history, and who has a sincere love for who he or she is, to lock in emotionally, spiritually or mentally with anything other than a person who mirrors his or her own re- flection.
I mean with everything going on that directly affects Black people, for me person- ally, it's hard to imagine being able to share the pain and frus- tration that often comes over you with anyone other than a Black woman. While, I'm sure, a white wife or girlfriend would try to empathize the best that she could, at the deepest of levels, she would be hard pressed to ever truly com- prehend.
This is why I could never take on those brothers or sis- ters, whose visage is authenti- cally African but whose mentality is textbook Euro- pean, seriously. They may look the part and play the role but, at the end of the day when the curtain closes, they're ulti- mately forced to reassure the smiling blue eyes waiting for them in the wings that it was all just an act.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can TEXT C.B., II, at (+18133080849).
Paying No Taxes: Trump Is Not Alone!
Now that America’s attention is focused on how Donald Trump could get away from paying any income tax for nearly two decades even though he may well have made a
profit during that time period, let’s share corporate income tax loophole information with you that began in the 1980s.
Historically, after the Civil War, Republicans became known as the “Party of Business... favoring business protec- tionism and adopting the philosophy of what was good for business was good for everyone.”
Thus, our 74,608 page-long tax code reflects that philos- ophy with tax breaks and loopholes crafted by Republicans and some Democrats and that benefit corporations and wealthy Americans.
Indeed, Trump is not alone. According to several sources, the majority of American businesses paid far less than the current 35% corporate tax rate or nothing at all. Be- tween 2008 and 2012, 26 of the Fortune 500 companies were profitable, yet, they paid no taxes. Together, all of the companies paid taxes only at the 19.4% rate; one third of them paid an effective tax rate of less than 10%, and 39% of them paid zero or less in federal taxes in at least one of those years.
In 2015, 27 companies in Standard and Poor’s 500 reported paying no income tax expense, despite reporting pre-tax profits. One well-known transportation company reported a $3.2 billion income tax credit despite reporting $4.2 billion in earnings before taxes, resulting in the company’s $1.5 billion tax bill being erased based upon its normal corporate tax rate.
By the way, 45.3% of Americans don’t pay taxes and wealthy Americans pay more than 50% of all income taxes, even though they only account for 2.7% of all taxpayers. So, in spite of Trump’s not paying any income taxes, he is not alone. Perhaps, his tax-paying status will result in a push for a universal flat tax rate, where everyone pays some taxes if only 10 or 15 percent. Uh-huh.
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