Hello C3 Family!

Weekly Rant - How much is too much?

How much wealth is too much wealth? A question has had me wondering for some time now. I personally gave up a seemingly easy path to wealth to run C3 and manage other Christian Ministries, but that was a decision based on what I was doing, not what I was accumulating. 

I am sure the answer is different for each individual, but it is something we all should be asking ourselves. The pitfalls of consumerism and materialism are just too plentiful and too dangerous for us not to be asking the question. 

• Is it ever okay to own a mansion?
• A $100K car?
• How many times should we be going out to eat per week, month, year?
• Even if we have the means, how much should we be willing to spend on weddings, college educations, and funerals?

These questions are taken for granted by the majority because even though are economy is struggling at the moment, we still live in the most affluent place at the most affluent time in all of human history. As I have said before, the poor in America are very likely to be overweight and that is an economic wonder (putting it nicely).

If you were given a million dollars today, or even 10 million dollars, what would you do with it? Most people I ask this question to start telling me about great vacations they would go on or their dream home they would build, but are these what the Body of Christ should be thinking about?

Think about building the treasure in Heaven. If given some obscene amount of money today, then biblically speaking, you should probably pay off your debts and then give the rest to the hungry, homeless, and otherwise impoverished or use it for evangelization like building something beautiful. Someone please build a NEW Gothic cathedral...Please!!

Again, I know the answer is different for everyone. If you're the president then you need a very expensive bullet proof car, if you are the impoverished among us then you should probably use that money to build a business or at least buy some shelter and food. But if you are eating good and have a roof over your head, then isn't keeping our excess not in keeping with the Gospel?

Top Stories

• IPresident Joe Biden is gearing up to block Japan's Nippon Steel from acquiring US Steel. This deal is being called a national security issue since steel production ownership would move out of the US and into the hands of a foreign power. Both Republicans and Democrats have opposed the deal, but US Steel says it is the only way to secure that mills won't be shutdown. 

• Troubling economic data for AI investors sparked a mass sell-off which hurt AI behemoth Nvidia the most. Plus, Nvidia just got subpoenaed as part of the investigation into the chip maker about how it wields its massive power. 

• Former OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever just raised $1B for his "Safety-Focused" AI startup.

• The Labor Market is worrying a lot these days since US Job openings fell more than expected in the Summer. Also, The Biden Harris administration inflated the number of new jobs by 818,000. What a typo!! If by typo you mean lie. 

• Verizon may be on the verge of buying Frontier Communications. 

• Linda Sun, a former top aide to New York Gov, Kathy Hochul and Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo just got arrested for "engaging in numerous political activities" for the Chinese Government. 

• Donald Trump, if elected, may take Elon Musk up on his offer to start a Government Efficiency Commission. Donald Trump is thought to make his case to the economic club of New York by saying "The commission would conduct ‘a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government’ and make ‘recommendations for drastic reform." I personally do not completely trust Elon Musk or Donald Trump, and I kind of like the inefficiency of the government. My proposed plan would be to just stop offering free stuff and stop taxing, but that is probably to pie in the sky. 

• According to new polling data only 31% of Catholics attend Mass once per week (which means only 31% of catholics are actually practicing). Overall Catholics are leanings towards Harris over Trump in the polls, yet the biggest issues for voters are the economy, border security, and abortion. We humans is kinda dumb...