WisconsinChristianNews.com Volume 26, Issue 5 Sound Financial Planning and Giving in Faithful Stewardship Page 34
By Attorney Alan Spiegel, McLario, Helm, Bertling & Spiegel Law Offices (See display ad on Page 40 of this issue of WCN) September 2025 With each an- nouncement of a new law or adminis-
is the fact that the advisor is not at all aware of what resources the ad- vice-seeker has at his or her dis- posal. There is an enormous difference in financial complexity between a man with $50,000 in as- sets and a man with $5 million in assets, and there is an equally enormous difference between an 18-year-old with $10,000 and an
share it with them honestly to equip them to equip us well.
feet of Jesus with their resources.
As with resources, communicat- ing motives is necessary to prepar- ing and executing a financial or legal plan. As such, we must take the time to clarify our motives in our own hearts and minds so that we can communicate them to the advisors we have chosen, allowing them to understand and fulfill those motives. Our Goals Once our resources and our mo- tives are established and commu- nicated, our goals are relatively easy to set. The wise decision- maker will seek counsel with goals in mind but will understand that a wise advisor may need to adjust those goals in light of our resources and motives, for God’s purposes. Make clear goals, but understand that they are only signposts to con- firm that we are pursuing our mo- tives with our resources, and they are likely to change as circum- stances change. There are a lot of clever advisors and smart advice available in pub- lic and private settings, but only a small amount of wisdom. As stew- ards of time, money, relationships, and other resources, we must seek wisdom so that we can steward well and see what God can do with our wisely laid plans.
Our Motives The second problem with advi- sors who don’t know us, including advisors who market themselves as Christian, is that they don’t know our motives in making financial plans. Most assume that the goal of
trative order affecting our finances, advisors at all levels of wisdom do their best to steer their listeners to various courses of action. Some are motivated by misunderstandings, some are motivated by fear, and most are motivated by greed (often the greed of the advisor). With all of these voices at a fever pitch, it is tempting to tune them all out and stay on whatever course we have been on. Good stewardship, how- ever, requires more thorough con- sideration of (1) our resources, (2) our motives and (3) our goals. Once those three things are in clear view, wise decisions become much easier to reach, and a wise perspective be- comes much harder to lose. We will examine each of these three factors and highlight how a Godly perspective on each will allow a more peaceful and God- honoring stewardship, regardless of our present lot in life. Our Resources One of the many problems with online advisors is that they, by na- ture, have no relationship with the person who is seeking their advice. The first consequence of this lack
81-year-old with $10,000.
every individual is to accumulate as much wealth as possible during their life. After twenty years of ad- vising Christian individuals and families about financial and estate planning matters, I have no doubt that this is far from the most im- portant priority for many of my clients. They don’t wish to waste assets, and they wish to steward them well, but the rate of return is much less important to many of them than being the hands and
In each situation, the resources (time or assets) available to a per- son should dictate a specific plan, but the advisor has no idea of the level of those resources. If we wish to equip our advisors well, they must be aware of what resources are available to us, and it is our job to make them aware. We must cer- tainly find advisors we trust with our sensitive information, and then
McLario.com
Preachers Ushering the Unsaved Into Heaven
SonsOfLibertyRadio.com
By Bradlee Dean, Sons of Liberty September 2025
lically illiterate as to believe that because you profess the name of Christ, no matter how you live your life, when you die you are automatically going to Heaven (Hosea 4:6). I have seen it several times. I knew a woman who
“And ye have not His word abiding in you: for whom He hath sent, him ye believe not. Search the Scrip-
tures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which tes- tify of Me. And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life.” – John 5:38-40 What happened to the law that is the school- master that is to bring us
was without natural affec- tion towards her own chil- dren. Her children were a problem coming into the world as were they a problem when she went out from the world. Her boyfriends even took precedent over her own
unto Christ (Galatians 3:24)? What happened to re- pentance before God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21)? What happened to the people in this country that understand the message of real grace such as “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11)? What has happened to “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16) and for “holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14)? Most in America don’t even know what it means to be born again (John 3:3), and why? It’s because they have never been converted (Psalm 19:7). If grace does not transform you, you are not saved by grace (Matthew 1:21). They don’t know what regeneration, or the renewing of the Holy Ghost means in them growing up in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ the Lord (2 Peter 3:18). Why? It’s because they have no desire for the Bread of Life (John 6:35). Do you remember the man that ended up in Hell begging to warn his brothers about Hell? What was the reply? *Luke 16:29-31). What happened to the common faith of bringing forth fruit, which those who belong to the Lord live out to the glory of Christ, and that on a daily basis (Matthew 5:16; John 15:5)? Of course, men in this country have become so bib-
children. She was an adulterer, a fornicator, a liar and a gam- bler. Her house was under financial debt two-fold. As a matter of fact, when she died, her children had to pay for her funeral. Then, the hireling, not a preacher (make distinction; John 10:12) gets up in front of everyone at the funeral and tells the people that she was a wonderful mother and that she is now in a better place. “She is now in Heaven,” said he. Friends, the Word of God declares just the opposite. She was not Heaven bound, she was Hell bound! Jesus said in Matthew 7:23: “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.” Those that continue in sin, which is transgression of God’s moral law (1 John 3:4), will die in their sin (Ro- mans 6:23); I ask the reader, where do sinners go (John 8:24)? It is not the sin that goes to hell, but the sinner. In conclusion, Jesus asked the question, “And why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Matthew 6:46). 1 John 2:4 is clear, “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
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