It was news to me, and perhaps it was news to you too, or perhaps you didn’t even know about how something known as a Charity can be anything but Charitable.
What do you think of when you think of Charity? It tends to be doing good and helping others, and maybe those familiar with the King James (Authorized) Bible know that it is frequently mentioned there but in modern versions is usually translated as Love.
Special Status
This definition of charity referring to people doing good deeds and showing love then led to a more legalistic definition of Charity. A Charity became an organised group of people doing charitable works. Wiktionary defines it this way
- An organization, the objective of which is to carry out a charitable purpose.
If we continue down the list of definitions then it becomes a bit more tangible:
Goods or money given to those in need.
Benevolence to others less fortunate than ourselves.
An attitude of kindness and understanding towards others.
So we, the people, understand charity to mean benevolence (kindness or generosity) toward those less fortunate.
But legally, it is an organization that carries out a charitable purpose.
This organization is afforded a special status, as long as it does not make a profit then it continues to benefit from its special status.
Many organizations today do not make profits. It is actually not difficult to not turn a profit. Whatever your profit might be, you simply reinvest it into the organisation. This results in ever-increasing growth and is good for the organization and is also good for shareholders. Another way to not turn a profit is to reward the directors (or other staff) with ever-increasing remuneration or bonuses.
Inheritance Planning
Charitable Trusts can be used to avoid inheritance tax by wealthy individuals. The Trust becomes the owner of the assets instead of the individual and then the individual can appoint directors at their discretion. Often this is family members and these family members will be paid for their duties at the trust.
The individual receives positive press for generously donating most of their wealth to “charity”, and at the same time they receive income tax deductions for any donations they make to this charity, even though it is in their name.
The trust can be invested in the stock market and can continue to grow its assets and generate further income.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a classic example. The foundation is the largest charity in the world, yet it has a massive stock portfolio, the value of which has only grown over time.
Many of the charitable donations are also questionable at best, when it comes to their charitable purpose, such as their charitable donation to Mastercard to increase financial services in Kenya. If there were no conflict of interest you could simply say this was misguided, but on the contrary, they actively make donations to for-profit companies in which they hold shares. Tim Schwab writes the following in The Nation:
We found close to $250 million in charitable grants from the Gates Foundation to companies in which the foundation holds corporate stocks and bonds.
Although the motivations behind such philanthropy are not clear, what is clear is that the beneficiaries are not always the poor.
Estimates from Tax Specialists reveal that Bill Gates could personally be saving tens of billions of dollars in tax through his foundation whilst at the same time using donations to lobby for additional benefits for billionaires and their personal charities.
Who Benefits
The benefit to the wealthy individual is clear, they save tax, generate positive headlines, and influence public policy all in the name of charity.
Surely the poor and those in need benefit too. That is the definition of charity right?
The definition of charity now is, as we saw earlier, the pursuit of charitable purposes. Those charitable purposes can often be anything you can get away with.
This is clearly seen in Bill Gates’ donation to the fee-paying school that his children attend.
Also in running vaccination campaigns, which could be called advertising and/or lobbying, on behalf of the drug company that you have shares in.
Over a 5 year period the Gates Foundation endowment grew in value faster than it gave the money away. When a charity cannot give money away fast enough, clearly something is up with the charity.
Although outwardly they seek healthcare for the world’s poor, they are promoting vaccination as the route to health, and at the same time campaigning for strong Intellectual Property rights for vaccine makers so that the prices remain high.
Curtis Research has found that the Gates Foundation is pushing for Genetically Modified seeds in Africa and the use of industrial chemicals to the profit of US and European businesses instead of promoting cheaper, natural agriculture.
The BMGF’s programme is not a neutral, charitable strategy for which the world should be thankful that a rich man is deciding to spend his money on good causes.
In a recent interview, Matt Kennard describes the findings that he has written up in a new book, The Silent Coup.
Foreign Aid is largely not benefitting the poor but is benefitting the richest people in the world, the corporations.
— Matt Kennard
Matt Kennard goes on to describe how government foreign aid is used for lobbying on behalf of the largest US and European corporations in Third World countries. And that aid often goes to 5-star hotels and gated communities and is justified by saying that rich investors need places to stay when they visit this country.
Again, this independent research has found that it is largely the corporations and the investors that benefit from aid and not the needy.
Government Sponsorship
While Governments talk about fighting exploitation, helping the poor, and criminalizing modern slavery and all the rest of the forms of exploitation around the world. They are actively promoting a “Green” agenda. This green agenda is focussed largely on replacing traditional forms of energy production to those labelled as acceptable. This includes Solar, Wind, maybe Hydroelectric, and of course electric vehicles whose energy source is derived from this energy production mix.
While nuclear might be an acceptable form of energy production requiring a locally available skilled workforce and very little raw material; it has been demonized for too long. Maybe it has been demonized for the very reason that it enriches the locals rather than those of another country.
Photovoltaic cells are primarily produced in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The raw silica comes from either the US or the North East of the PRC (in a region known for the forced labour of Uyghurs). It is further processed and packaged elsewhere in China before being exported to Europe and the US. This is documented in the UN’s own report. Followed immediately after with Cobalt mining.
Cobalt is an important ingredient in lithium-ion batteries, used by mobile phones and other portable devices around the modern world. But proliferating in demand as electric vehicles receive generous government subsidies. Also, green energy demands storage because energy production is reduced on cloudy days and non-windy days.
Hydroelectric power is a well-known problem, as populations are displaced to make way for energy production. At least here you might argue that the local population benefits from the project in terms of employment and electrification. But that’s another topic.
Proliferation of Sin
When Western governments move into town it is well-known that various forms of immorality increase. We could go back centuries and see how governments allowed or facilitated the Slave trade, Opium trade, alcohol trade and I dare to say sex trade.
Western merchants spent long periods at sea and often took local women as prostitutes. Local women could be bought for clothing or alcohol, items that were readily available to the sailors.
In the modern-day there are fewer sailors and they are away from home for shorter periods. But the same tendency to exploit a local population remains. These days Peacekeepers stay long periods away from home. In the locations where they stay prostitution increases.
Following the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence of child trafficking as over 1000 children were evacuated by aid agencies without proper paperwork or oversight.
Charitable Solutions
Obviously, I’m no journalist, and I don’t do my own research into these problems. That was never the intention of The Great Deception Blog. The intention is and remains to bring publicity to deceptions and provide a place where, for want of a better word, conspiracies can be catalogued.
As a Christian I’m waking up to the realisation that the world is a more nefarious place than I first thought. Humans are not basically good, and being left to their own devices, will somehow make things better. Humans are consistently devising new (or possibly old) ways to exploit and enslave others whilst feeding their own insatiable thirst for pleasure.
Left with a vacuum, it is often the wicked who will rise up to fill that void. Almost every time that the US has moved to liberate a country; after they leave, the country is in a worse condition, not a better condition than before. This is true of Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya etc.
The solution then is for the Christian to be the solution.
Be the change you want to see in the world
— not M. Gandhi
For centuries now Christians have been going out as missionaries with the primary objective of seeking converts. Often they did not bring just spiritual transformation.
Missionary Examples
William Carey is known as a Bible translator and missionary to India but as a missionary he was prodigious. He translated parts of the Bible into Bengali, Hindi and Sanskrit (among other languages) and prepared dictionaries and grammar books of these languages. He translated horticultural and other textbooks and started a printing press to distribute these books. Later he taught linguistics at the local University, eventually becoming its dean.
Hiram Bingham I was a missionary to Hawaii and there he led many people to Jesus. But he also established schools and was responsible for encouraging legal reforms banning prostitution and drunkenness.
David Livingstone started as a missionary to Africa but became consumed with exploring Africa. His explorations and detailed accounts along with accurate maps and notes resulted in many more missionary outposts being established throughout inland Africa.
Amy Carmichael started as a missionary but quickly began establishing orphanages in India. These orphanages were often populated by children rescued from temple prostitution.
More recently Mother Teresa gave us an example of service to the poor and rejected in society. Her mission was to be Jesus to the people and to see Jesus in the people. She spoke very little of the Gospel but people nevertheless could recognise Jesus in her.
Conclusion
So this article, thinly veiled as a conspiracy, is somewhat of an introduction to where I feel directed to go. It has been several months since I wrote about a conspiracy because deep down I am not an Alex Jones and I don’t want to be. I want to be a Mother Teresa, or a William Carey, or any of those other missionaries.
The picture at the start of this article is a photograph I took on a recent trip to Uganda. It became clear to me there that there is still much work to do in Africa. They are 90% Christian, but they are not thriving.
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
I have realised that the work of Christians is not just to explain the Gospel, but it is to be Jesus’ hands and feet in the world.
So much aid work and so much money goes into profit for sinners. I want to see work being done to bring abundance to the world’s poor.
As I contemplated this thought I believe God gave me inspiration through the account of Abraham in the book of Genesis. In chapter 14 we read of Abraham going to fight against some local kings who had taken his nephew along with his family, servants, possessions etc. Abraham wins against these other kings and then returns home. Lot we know lived in Sodom, and the king of Sodom wanted to reward Abraham for the return of his people and property. Abraham however rejected this reward saying:
I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’
I believe the King of Sodom is alive and well. I believe the King of Sodom would seduce the world with his wealth whilst at the same time spreading the sin from Sodom. Abraham rejected this offer.
I see Africa standing at this same juncture; the King of Sodom will offer its wealth together with its sin. The countries of Africa face a choice to accept the offer, or to reject it as Abraham did.
So what I will do is establish a charity called Abraham’s Legacy, or ABLE (for short). It will focus on delivering aid to the point of need in Africa and beyond. It will be an educational charity that will teach skills to the unskilled that enable them to bring themselves out of poverty.
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