European-American
Evangelistic Crusades, Inc.
June
2000 Newsletter
John S. Torell
This
month I am going to deal with a subject that I have never before written on, but
in private counseling I have dealt with it to a degree. It is the subject of
preparing for death. The Bible tells us that all of us will have to face death,
unless we are living at the very end of times and taken up by Jesus.
And
as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: . . . Hebrews
9:27
During the
last few years a number of close Christian friends have died and gone to be with
Jesus. My last friend to leave was Tom Muller who died on June 11, 2000.
There are
several aspects that most Christians never think about while they are living and
in good health: what is going to happen to the family, what effect will this
have on the kingdom of God and is it possible that the kingdom of Satan can
benefit from the death of a believer in Christ? I want to start the discussion
with the last question first.
HOW THE
DEVIL HAS DECEIVED THE CHRISTIANS
Have you ever asked
yourself this question: How have the World Government leaders been able to keep
their wealth from generation to generation? The few families who are running the
World Government for the last 400 years just keep going and going from
generation to generation: the Rothschilds, the Warburgs, the Bronfmans etc.
WHERE DID ESTATE TAXES COME FROM?
In 1898 the World Government convened
a congress in the city of Basel, Switzerland, where the final manifesto on how
to secure control over the entire world was presented and approved. One of the
methods chosen to enslave all people under a World Government regime is
taxation. Here is a portion from their approved text:
"The
tax upon the poor man is a seed of revolution and works to the detriment of
the State, which in hunting after the trifling is missing the big. Quite
apart from this, a tax on capitalists diminishes the growth of wealth in
private hands in which have in these days concentrated it as a counterpoise
to the government strength of the people - their State finances......
"A
tax increasing in a percentage ratio to capital will give much larger
revenue than the present individual or property tax, which is useful to us
now for the sole reason that it excites trouble and discontent among the
people.....
"Purchase,
receipt of money or inheritance will be subject to the payment of a stamp
progressive tax. Any transfer of property, whether money or other, without
evidence of payment of this tax which will be strictly registered by names,
will render the former holder liable to pay interest on the tax from the
moment of transfer of these sums up to the discovery of his evasion of
declaration of the transfer. . . ."
One hundred
two years later it is obvious that what was proposed was appropriated, since in
all nations the progressive tax is the law of the land. Sales tax is levied on
all products sold and estate taxes remove a large chunk from the family and
transfers it to the State. Thus the common people are prohibited from building
up any savings from generation to generation. When a person dies, the heirs must
pay taxes on their inheritance.
It is
noteworthy that just recently the American Congress passed a law repealing
inheritance taxes and immediately the World Government told President Clinton
that this is unacceptable. Therefore Clinton immediately issued a statement that
he would veto this bill. Since the media is controlled by the World Government,
very little has been spoken about this. After all, if the people found out the
truth, it would spell trouble for the World Government.
HOW THE
WORLD LEADERS AVOID THEIR OWN TRAPS
Leaders in the World Government do not pay
any taxes, despite their enormous wealth. For hundreds of years they have been
able to tax and steal from the masses of people on the earth, while they set
their own rules. Here is how it is done:
Switzerland : Centuries ago, the secret
banking system was set up in this nation to hide the assets of the super rich
world elite. It does not come free; there is a hefty charge to have a Swiss
account, but it is very small compared with the taxes in the various nations. It
is ironic that the riches of dictators like Stalin and all other dictators of
the Soviet Union and their leadership had bank accounts in Switzerland and so
did the German Nazis. Arab heads of state do not trust their own banks; their
wealth is in Switzerland. Every major Mafia boss, drug dealers from all over the
world, heads of state from all nations, the rich and the famous, including the
CIA and most of the Intelligence services from the different nations keep secret
bank accounts to hide their dirty dealings.
There are
some other small nations willing to hide wealth for people, such as Monaco,
Luxemburg, the British channel islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark,
and lately some of the small Carribean island nations, including Belize.
FOUNDATIONS:
The assets of the super rich are transferred to Foundations, which then run the
businesses, regardless if they are factories, banking or trading companies.
There are no inheritance taxes for a foundation so the people who founded it can
then pay themselves salaries, purchase homes, cars, airplanes, boats, etc. which
are used by them, but there are no taxes to be paid, since they do not own them
personally. The leadership of the foundation can then channel the money into all
kinds of projects which will benefit the World Government. This is how the
destructive left wing organizations are making a living and thus advancing the
plans of the World Government. (This is how the Mormon Church is set up. The
Mormons brag that they have no salary paid clergy. What they do not tell the
public is that the Twelve Apostles and some other elite leadership are furnished
large upscale homes at no cost, free transportation, free food and clothing,
etc.)
TRANSFERS:
The families making up the World Government do not wait for a person to die and
then transfer the inheritance to the next generation. If they did, they would
have to pay taxes. Instead, one child is selected to be the heir of the family
estate and while the parents are still living, the estate is handed over to the
heir. The parents will still run the family business, but when they die off,
there is no transfer at all. (You have just witnessed this in Syria, where
dictator Hafez al-Assad died this month. For years Assad had been grooming his
oldest son to take over, but this son was killed. The 2nd son in
line, Bashar, was recalled to Syria from England and groomed to take over .
In the United States
they developed "Living Trusts." A trust can be revocable or
irrevocable. The assets of a family are transferred to a Living Trust. The
father and the mother become "Trustees", and then children and
grandchildren can be added. Whatever kind of enterprise is involved, the
Trustees run the business like normal and pay themselves salaries which they
have set. A Living Trust must pay regular taxes, but are totally exempt from
inheritance taxes. When a trustee dies, the remainder of trustees elect a new
leader, unless this has been specified beforehand, there are no forms to file
with the State, and the next generation of trustees take over. Thus the family
assets are not lost in taxes. When the grandchildren have become trustees, they
can form a new Living Trust, to which they transfer all of the assets and
include their children and grandchildren.
Is it any
wonder that Jesus said this:
And
he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a
steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.
And he
called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an
account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.
Then
the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away
from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.
I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put
out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
So he
called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first,
How much owest thou unto my lord?
And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And
he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.
Then
said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred
measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.
And the lord commended the unjust steward,
because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their
generation wiser than the children of light.
And I say unto you, Make to yourselves
friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may
receive you into everlasting habitations.
He that is faithful in that which is least is
faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in
much.
If therefore ye have not been faithful in the
unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
And if ye have not been faithful in that
which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? Luke
16:1-12
"SET
YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER"
These were the words
spoken to King Hezekiah by the prophet Isaiah. The king was sick and the prophet
told him that he was to die. Hezekiah began to weep and pray to the Lord, and
God extended his life for 15 more years. But he still had to set his house in
order.
Many
Christians do not want to talk about their death in the future. For some reason
some of them feel that it is unbelief to do some kind of preparation. Others
claim that they are going to live until Jesus comes back for them in the great
catching away as described in I Corinthians 15:51-58 and I Thessalonians 4:13-18.
The apostle Paul believed with all his heart that Jesus would come back in his
lifetime. My great grandmother who lived in the 1800's believed so strongly that
Jesus was going to come back in her lifetime, that she placed her bed so she
could watch the eastern sky from her bed. But so far Jesus has not come back and
the Bible says that no man knows when this will happen. (Matthew 24:36)
Other
Christians become depressed when they think that someday they are going to die,
others get real upset with family and relatives who they say "are just
waiting for me to die, so they can grab my possessions." Instead of
taking action while they can, these Christians just drag their feet day after
day, month after month, year after year, until one day they die and leave the
family with the mess.
IT IS
IRRESPONSIBLE AND CRUEL NOT TO PREPARE
As a pastor, I have
witnessed many times people who die and nothing has been prepared. Not
only is the surviving family grieving over the loss of a loved one, they now
must face the unpleasant task of dealing with a funeral director, buying a
casket or having cremation. The funeral industry know how to exploit the
grieving. They insinuate that if they want the best for the loved one who died,
they should buy a top of the line casket, plus many little extras they have, not
to forget the grave or an urn to entomb the ashes. Before long, the price is
getting up above the $10,000 mark.
Once the
funeral is over, comes the next unpleasant surprise for the surviving family.
They must now go to court to get the estate settled, and if there has been a
long illness and large bills for hospital costs and the person who died is on
Medicare or Medical (California), here comes the demand from the State, "we want
our money for the hospital costs." The surviving spouse must now fill in a form
listing all the remaining assets. If this was the last parent to die, the State
will demand property to be sold to pay off all hospital and care costs. If the
family has a larger estate there will be estate taxes to pay. Some children have
been forced to sell all assets just to pay the inheritance tax. All this pain is
caused by the person who died because he/she chose not to prepare.
I know of a
widow in our ministry, who lost her husband some 15 years ago. The man had been
a pastor/evangelists for many years and he was very cruel to his family. When he
died, he left his wife and son with nothing. The wife had to borrow money to pay
for the funeral and it took her ten years to pay the loan. The man’s relatives
demanded a "decent burial" but refused to pay for it. The man left no
life insurance, and since his wife was elderly and sick, she had to survive on
his small Social Security check. People in our church have for the last 15 years
supported this woman or she would have been living on the street.
WHAT A
RESPONSIBLE CHRISTIAN SHOULD DO
Early in life, take
out a life insurance policy that is large enough to pay for your funeral.
When
people get married, the husband should carry a larger life insurance that
will not only handle a funeral, but also give at least two years support for
the wife and children.
Most
people do not live in the same place all their lives, but move, sometimes
from State to State. Regardless of this, when a man and woman get married,
they should make a decision of what they want to do with their bodies at the
time of death. It is prudent to buy a cemetery lot or if cremation is going
to be used, to decide where the ashes will be stored. (I do not recommend
scattering the ashes over the sea as this was done to criminals and ungodly
people living in Israel. Jeremiah 16:1-4). Many respectable funeral homes
are selling a "funeral package in advance," which can be paid for
over time with installments. Thus, when the time of death comes, there are
no decisions to be made, it is all pre-arranged and paid for
Instead
of making a testament (will), I recommend a "LIVING TRUST," that
is revokable. There are attorneys who specialize in setting up Living
Trusts. If the children do not turn out to be following Christ, they can be
excluded from the trust and at the same time others can be added in. But
once you have this Living Trust in place, you have cut the State out from
deciding what to do with your estate and stopped the World Government from
getting taxes from your estate.
As a
Christian you do not want to leave your estate to be used in the kingdom of
Satan. If your children or family are not Christians, or if they are living
a carnal life, you know that they will spend your estate on pleasures and
foolishness. When you get to heaven, you do not want to find out that your
children "rocked & rolled" with what you left them. If this is
the case, you want to find some type of ministry where you can invest your
hard earned money to win souls for Christ. Here again you must be
very careful and investigate the ministry to see if it has integrity and
that it is really doing the will of God.
Early in
life, you should start to groom an heir to your life ministry. You do not
have to be in a full time ministry to groom someone. God told every person
in Israel how they should prepare their children (Deuteronomy 6:1-25) If you
do not have any children, find someone younger than you, who you can train
for the kingdom of God. Make disciples!
SATAN’S
PEOPLE WORK ON LONG TERM GOALS
This is something
that the Christians have not understood. Nimrod knew that the rule of Lucifer
over this world would probably not come in his lifetime. (Genesis 10:8-10) But
Nimrod was willing to sacrifice his life to get it started. For thousands of
years men and women have lived on this earth, dedicated to continue to build on
something which they they will never see come into existence during their life
time. Old line families like the Fuggers (1300), the Rothschilds and the
Warburgs have labored generation after generation so that some day their
descendants will be able to live when Lucifer becomes ruler of this earth. In
the Bible we find this teaching in Revelation 13:1-18.
The Devil’s
servants (slaves) are willing to give their lives for him. This is the reason
that Communism survived in the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1990, and in China from
1948 and continuing. This is how Hitler built his 1000 years Reich which only
lasted 12 years and then was reduced to rubble.
CHRISTIANS
NEED TO WORK ON LONG TERM GOALS
Many Christians that
I know only live for today. They are simply drifting from day to day. Whatever
they feel for the moment, that is what they will do. The Devil loves this and
keeps them going in circles. They never accomplish anything, never finish any
projects. They call this life style "being led by the Spirit." What
they have not understood is that God is "NOT THE AUTHOR OF CONFUSION."
(I Corinthians 14:29-33)
When we read
the Bible, we can see that God is a God of order and He is building a very
elaborate kingdom. The question is, are you going to be part of His kingdom or
are you going to be "a loose canon that drifts all over the deck of the
ship"
The
Christians in America do not have a very good track record. All the major
universities in America were born out of flaming revivals and were created to
educate young men and women to serve Christ in this nation. Satan perverted the
next generation and today these schools stand as breeding grounds for infidels
and perverted people, like the Clintons.
During the
last 200 years as God was working in the hearts of men and women, great revivals
began and gave birth to colleges and Bible schools. The evangelist
Dwight L.
Moody gave birth to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and BIOLA in Los Angeles.
Today they are burnt ash heaps teaching unbelief and liberalism to young people.
Seminaries,
born by the work of humble pastors who gave all they had to educate another
generation to preach a pure Gospel, are today flourishing institutions, void of
all Biblical soundness and producing a crop of "light weight
preachers," who have no belief in the Bible, but should rather be called
"Social Behavior Engineers." WHY? Because the previous generation did
not safeguard their estates and thus they were lost!
To my
knowledge there is only one institution in America which has been able to hold
its position, and that is the "Bob Jones University," now in the
leadership of the third generation." I do not agree with their stand on the
Holy Spirit, and they have some wrong teaching on the question of race, but when
it comes to all other Biblical standards, they are "holding the fort."
They took a lot of heat when Governor Bush spoke there. Then all
"hell" broke loose for them.
WHAT I
AM DOING
I do not have to be a genius to figure out that someday
Jesus is going to call me home. Since I do not know when Jesus is going to come
back, I will do what he said, "OCCUPY TILL I COME!" (Luke 19:12-26)
God has given me a number of very sincere Christian men and women and I have
been training them and grooming them for some time. This is an ongoing work
which I will continue until Jesus comes for me. I want the work that I am doing
to survive me, and be brought not only into this century, but into the next and
then until Jesus comes back, whatever comes first. But for this to happen, I
must labor and make sure that there is another generation coming behind me that
can continue, and then to drill into their heads that they must do the same, or
it will be lost with them. This is how Jesus himself set up his program for the
church. You may read it yourself in Matthew 28:18-20.
I pray to God
that some of you reading this letter will wake up, if you have not already done
your preparations. Very few people today have ears with which to hear. I want to
close by giving you this scripture reference: Matthew 13:1-23
KNOW THIS! YOU
ARE EITHER BUILDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD OR YOU ARE BUILDING THE KINGDOM OF SATAN
THROUGH DEFAULT!
In this newsletter I wrote about
revocable and irrevocable Living Trusts. A brother in Christ and a close friend
of mine who has worked for a Government agency as a lawyer, wrote to me
and told me that there were some facts that needed to come forth, so that people
would have correct and complete information on the subject. Due to his sensitive
work for the Government, he asked me not to use his name. I have known this
brother in Christ for almost 20 years, and he has been a regular supporter of
our ministry for almost that long. His letter follows:
Thursday, June 22, 2000
Dear John:
Your latest newsletter regarding how
to save estate and gift taxes was very good.
However, I want to clarify the use
of the Living Trust.
This is a very complicated field and
one should contact an attorney who is highly experienced in estate planning.
There are several in the area who are very good. They are expensive, but as the
old saying goes, "the expensive attorney is the best attorney."
You are absolutely correct that the
Living Trust can save money for the family when one person and/or the spouse
dies.
Basically, the Living Trust does not automatically do this for one.
It is a question if one puts the
trust out of his or her control. For instance, the Living Trust can be revocable
or irrevocable. Because people do not like to lose control over their
money, the revocable trust is the most popular. Rarely does one see an
irrevocable trust.
The Revocable Trust can be revoked
on a person’s deathbed or at any time between that moment and the creation of
the trust.
The Irrevocable Trust is an outright
gift. There must be an annual gift tax return filed if this gift is made in any
year that is more than $10,000. A good way of depleting an estate to avoid
transfer taxes is making gifts of $10,000 or less annually to all the people the
donor wishes. No gift tax return is required unless the gift is $10,001 or more.
In the Irrevocable Trust, the donor
must have made a completed gift and must have relinquished all control over the
gift.
Congress has passed several laws
where one can gift property to the children and have a life estate (the right to
enjoy the income or to live on the property for life). For instance, one can
deed his residence to his children and retain a life estate with the right to
live in his own home although he has given up his title and ownership.
Now: the Revocable Trust can also be
used to save taxes. It depends upon the remainder man interest. If the remainder
man is a child, (or remaindered are the children), there is no saving of estate
taxes.
If the remaindered are the children,
then the entire trust is includible in the estate. That is because the trustors
have a revocable interest at the time of death.
However, if the remainder man is a
charity or a church, then it is tax-deductible to the estate. In other words,
the Estate Tax Return will include the entirety of the trust and then will list
the amounts given as charitable gifts as deductible items.
Presently, for the years 2000 and
2001, there is a $675,000 Unified Credit in every estate (this amount is
increasing every year until it becomes $1,000,000). As much as this amount can
be placed in a "Bypass" Trust and passed to the children free of
taxes. It is not unusual to see appreciating property (i.e., real estate) placed
in the Bypass Trust where the recipient is young and likely to enjoy a long
life. Fixed assets such as bank accounts are likely to be placed in the trusts
belonging to the surviving spouse.
Thus, in many instances, the Bypass
trust passes to the children while the balance passes to a qualified charitable
trust or directly to a charity with no further restrictions. Then, the entire
estate trust is free of taxation. To have access to a charitable remainder,
there are many rules that must be followed to make it a qualified charitable
gift: so, see your attorney.
I have seen such returns where
millions of dollars were not taxed because of such a charitable deduction. In
one such case, all of a farm was given to the county to create a county park.
The above is very simplistic.
I do not advise your readers to make
out their own trust. Each situation is different and each family is different
and has to be "tailor-made" to fit the circumstances.
Sincerely yours,
A Church Member
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