The Heart of a Father: A Head for Business and a Heart for People

By Karl Thompson

A book on the heart of a father can be multidimensional. The two areas that I will focus on are faith and finances, which are key to becoming productive citizens. God placed us on earth to occupy and have dominion over it. We were created to be citizens of God’s kingdom. Therefore as believers we have dual citizenship status. Despite geographic boundaries we have one common homeland called earth and one common fatherland called heaven. Citizenship has responsibilities. It requires strong faith in God, our creator. On earth we are required to carry out responsibilities as part of our dominion mandate. We are required to meet our financial responsibilities and respect and love each other. That means we must be financially educated. We must demonstrate prudent use of the gifts that he has given us, and attest to his goodness. Man has yet to demonstrate true citizenship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 31, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796077131

Karl Thompson

Karl Thompson is a former Wall Street banker who is on a mission of purpose. He has an extensive business background as a banker, entrepreneur and consultant in marketing, finance and advisory services that is based on over 35 years of experience. Karl Thompson believes God is the author of our lives. He and his wife, Angela, own a successful global marketing company that spans many countries with thousands of distributors. He is a husband and father, with three children. Email him at [e-mail]

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Copyright © 2020 by Karl Thompson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. [Biblica]

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Rev. date: 12/26/2019

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Fathers are multidimensional citizens

Citizenship is God’s gift to man, ownership is our gift to him

Magna Carta: God is the King of Kings

The US Constitution and the Bill of Rights

True citizenship is a function of faith and financial literacy

Dual final frontiers: faith illiteracy and financial illiteracy

True wealth is about souls won, not dollars accumulated

Fill our heart with the right God imbued purpose

1 HEARTFELT CHANGE

A change of heart

Our heart: the core of our circulatory and spiritual being

The heart of the matter

2 OUR FATHER: GOD WITH AND IN US

A man after my own heart: let us follow HIS heart

The ultimate example

Founding father: evolving legacy

Functioning father: spiritual rudder

Save our nations

Imagine all the people

3 OUR CHILDREN: LEGACY

Fathers open the eyes of their children, God enters the door to their hearts

Children are containers

Children look for signposts of strength

4 OUR WIFE: HELP MATE

Creating a pipeline of wealth with our wife

Our wives have a direct line to God

5 OUR VISION: GOD PURPOSED

Fathers create a God-purposed vision for the household

Envisioning is empowering

Vision

A vision thing: our value proposition is the Great Commission

A vision is multigenerational

Division: dissing the vision

The burn and the burden

Heartache can lead to earthquake

The hearth of God’s fireplace

6 PEN YOUR STORY

There is a book inside of us

Dear younger me

The pen is mightier than the sword

Actually the pen created the sword

Take heart but do not take it to heart

Come plainly to God instead of complaining

Soul is well and heart is swell

Open this book and open your heart

7 BRAVE HEARTS VS BLACK HEARTS

Background: forging process for what is ahead

Young hearts running free

Resilience and resource

Expectation and belief

It was a sad day when Ricky passed away

School days: he who has the golden plums makes the rules

Jesus’ sermon on the mount: the golden rule

Wall Street: he who has the gold makes the rules

A band of brothers seeking to dominate

Courage is not for the faint of heart

8 GOD’S PROTECTION FOR PROVISION

Prayer with heart: highway to the danger zone

Hand Of God: at the wheel

Divine exit from the ravine

Escaping flash floods and cloud bursts

Psalm 91: Our 911 to God

Psalm 91 (KJV)

Sitting on the dock of the bay

In time to save his intestine

On top of the world

The bombs exploded

The Twin Towers imploded

Ground Zero: reduced to rubble

Our Triple Tower of strength

Psalm 121 (KJV)

9 OUR IMPERATIVE: OCCUPY AND ENFORCE

The tortoise and the hare

The tortoise and the hare: Take 2

Snuggles

The squirrel and the lizards

A lesson to be learned

10 OUR FINANCES: HEART OF THE BATTLE

Financial challenges are at the heart of the battle for the hearts of the people

Finances in a fallen world

Founding Fathers with big hearts but big gaps in judgment

Our finances: State of Emergency or State of Grace

There are two systems of finance

The Babylon system

Living on the edge: edging God out of our economy

Financial illiteracy

The cashflow death valley

God’s system

Demand creates supply

The financial markets: undulation and fluctuation

God has the most reliable economic indicator

The desire to be lighthearted weighs heavily

God’s blessing: the power to prosper

Free Cashflow: at the heart of our finances

11 CASHFLOW FORMULA

Cashflow = (Wisdom+Action+Resources+Skills) or (W+A+R+S)

Man of WAR and Men of WARS

WARS secure our wealth

12 PERSON OF WISDOM / PRISONER OF WAR

POW: Person of Wisdom or Prisoner of War

God-based intelligence

Our sons

Wisdom seeds

The folly of betting

The wisdom of building: a WAR chest

From Structured Finance Units to Sustainable Family Units

LBO: Love, Belief and Obedience

HIS wisdom is on the way

Heart Surgery: righteous restructuring

13 A FORMIDABLE GUIDANCE SYSTEM

Setting goals is a God thing

Anointing

Our purpose

Our pose versus our purpose

Our value proposition

Profit from a prophet

A prophet’s reward

Invasion of prophecy

Saved to serve

Delayed but not denied

God has charted the course for us

Success

Change you or choke you

As a man thinketh in his heart

Mindful of mind saturation

Lazy and lost in our language

Forgive or forego

Waste not want not

14 IMPACT PLAYERS: SAVED TO SERVE

A call to action

Wisdom and understanding applied

Seek ye first the kingdom of God

Has he told you lately that he loves you?

15 PRAYER OF SALVATION

Discovering our God given assignment

Salvation is a heartbeat away

Stop, look, listen to your heart

A mirror image

Obedience

Forgiveness

Bitterness and the cashflow death valley

16 DETERMINED TO DESTROY CHAOS

Designed to destroy chaos

Warriors for peace: an army is rising up

Praise is our WAR cry

Worship is our WAR ship

Mark’s men: marking time or marking the day

Mandate for God’s date with man.

Blood on the streets

The Word is the sword

Remove the boulder from our shoulder

Climb and maintain

Built to suit and built to last

17 RESOURCES: SUBMIT TO SECURE

The power of zero: submit our finances to secure our resources

All God’s: assets and equity

Human beings: performing assets

Human beings: non-performing assets

18 GIVE FROM OUR MAKING

Give thanks

Give, do not give up, give in or give out

The blessing from tithing is WISDOM and KNOWLEDGE

Proceeds from tithing

God is our ultimate source

Work is our Garden of Eden

Your LLC: Live for a Lifetime Capital

The business of work is the blessing of work

The division of labor has divided people

Land, labor and capital

19 SKILLS MINT THE CURRENCY OF HOPE

Our spiritual skills bank

Reality check

The right to earn is a gift

Money flow

Earning: toiling versus creating

The financial markets: where financial skills kill financial illiteracy

Financial markets are integral to our relationship with God

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest

Financial intermediaries: wealth transferors or divertors

A targeted tour of the financial markets

20 RETIREMENT AT BIRTH

Preparing for retirement begins at birth

21 THE PENCHANT FOR A PENSION

The quest for financial security

Financial security: moving beyond Olive oil

From farm lands to cities

There can be no prosperity without financial security

Coming to America

The coming of age in America

Company Pensions: nothing much to speak of prior to Social Security

22 GREAT REALIZATION GREAT REVELATION

The Great Depression and The Great Recession lead to the Great Realization

The path of protest instead of purpose

State Led: The state of old-age pensions after the Great Depression

The Great Shift

Seismic Shock Waves: The Stock Market Crash & The Great Depression

Banding together to aid each other

A glimmer of financial security

Retirement: considered years of lost income instead of the Golden years

23 SOCIAL SECURITY: SOCIAL INSECURITY

Social Security fund is at risk of becoming bankrupt

The traditional three-legged stool of retirement is shaky

Five percenters: retiring on budgeted revenues

Revenues to the max

Where is the nest egg?

Living a purpose filled life

No overflow: outflow is greater than inflow

Key takeaway: pen your own pension plan, create our own security overflow

24 CORPORATE PENSIONS: IN DISARRAY

Corporate pensions and the 401 (k): an array of options or disarray!

Heart rending loss of 20% of 401(k) investment

A recurring problem of market vulnerability and retirement inadequacy

A single person can impact a multitude

The bottom line: amassing funds to last a lifetime

25 FROM ANNUITY TO ETERNITY

Retirement: permanently changed

New retirement new reality

Bridging the gap between lump sum and stream of income

Serving self in the face of artificially scarce resources?

Types of annuities

Options at the end of accumulation

Indexed annuities

Shadowing the market: climb and maintain

Variable annuities: buyers beware!

Annuity: compelling benefits

Retirement assets are expected to double by 2030, annuities will be a major part

26 INSURANCE AND BLESSED ASSURANCE

The church introduced insurance to America

Insurance: a sophisticated financial tool

The full hundred ($)

The full hundred plus

Insurance metrics

The economic and social function of life insurance

Insurance policies and annuities can meet most financial needs

Banks: follow the money trail, BOLI

What your banker or stockbroker should share with you!

Corporations have taken over the father role and are monetizing families

Watch what financial institutions say but observe what they do

Foreign nationals can create wealth for their families through insurance

27 WHAT ARE YOU TRADING?

Money: what a riot!

We need to understand money

Households are taking control of their financial future

28 TRADE WARS

We must master how money is exchanged

Foreign exchange is not foreign anymore

We are witnessing the democratization of the financial markets

Participate with the major players

Many of us already participate in the foreign exchange market

The mother of all markets

29 THE ERA OF EXCHANGE IS UPON US

Trading with light switch reliability

Trade not aid

Foreign exchange metrics

A global network

30 TRADING: TALENT MULTIPLIED

Jesus’s parables on stewardship: talents and minas

Matthew 25:14-30(KJV)

Luke 19:11-26(KJV)

Trading: multiple sources of income

61.8: A trading principle and God’s number for man

31 ECONOMICS: A NEW PERSPECTIVE

Development economics: a new perspective - From IMF to IMP

IMPs: bringing the knowledge of the financial markets to the people of the world

Millennials: triggering the wealth transfer

Millennials and STD

Baby Boomers: a second chance

Edu-attainment replaces entertainment

A whole new world: a single tap, a multitude of payment options

144,000 years to double your money

Business model is cost effective

The transfer of wealth: foreign exchange and economic transformation

Wealth transfer metrics

32 LATINO AND CARIBBEAN HERITAGE

Forefathers in common: the Latino American and Caribbean experience

The timing of the transfer of wealth

33 WHERE TWO OR MORE ARE GATHERED

Where two or more are gathered…

Home is where the heart is

Power of the people

Many hearts make light work of the network

Subscriber base

From old line distribution to online distribution

Subscription based network model

Fathership: connect with the heart then ask for a hand

Aligned in our divine purpose

A strong believer

Extend your hand but guard your heart

Heart to heart: a handshake can lead to heartache

Sticks and stones…. really?

See Christ in the crisis and he will take you through your crisis

Shaken and stirred: pouring our heart out

RIP: Regret Into Perpetuity

RIP: Rest In his Peace

How great thou heart

34 BREAK THROUGH IS COMING

Change our values

Change our vision

Season of change

Sustain change

All things become bright and beautiful in HIS time

More than enough

The birth of a legacy: leave in versus live out

Giving back in order to advance

God’s mandate: stand by me

Rejoice: our choice

2020 Vision

About the Author

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.

(John 14:1KJV)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank God for the inspiration that was required to write this book, and the gift of three wonderful children. All the credit goes to him.

To my wife of more than thirty years, Angie, without whom I would not have had the opportunity to be the father to our dear children, Gina, Jordan and Jayda.

To my parents, Bebsie and Glenna, who raised me, and raised me up so that I could stand for something.

To Howard and Peter, my brothers who are extremely dedicated fathers, for the many memories and experiences.

Teacher Susie Martin, you have been a true blessing to our family. I have so much heartfelt gratitude to a lady who has a heart of gold. This topic will lead to other books.

The illustration on the front cover symbolizes our God-mandated responsibility to our children. To nurture and protect them and train them up in the way they should go so that when they are older they will not depart from it. They will in turn do the same for theirs. Achieving and demonstrating the heart of a father is a continuous and multi-generational journey.

INTRODUCTION

Fathers are multidimensional citizens

A book on the heart of a father can be multidimensional. It could cover a range of topics, for example faith in God, finances, relationships, careers, sports, the teenage years of discovery and many others. These areas relate to our preparation to be productive citizens where we live. In writing this book, I felt that it was important to focus on select areas, others can be discussed in subsequent books. The two areas that I will focus on are faith and our finances, two extremely important heartfelt components that are critical to our existence as productive citizens. I have written this book from my perspective. If I have fallen short or erred in any statement, know that my heart is in the right place. I am not perfect, but I am purposeful.

Citizenship is God’s gift to man, ownership is our gift to him

God placed us on earth to occupy and have dominion over it, not over each other. All of us were created to be citizens of God’s kingdom. Therefore as believers we have dual citizenship status. Many individuals consider dual citizenship as the status of those who were born in their fatherland and naturalized in their new homeland. For example many of us have come from other countries to live in this great nation of America. The reality is that despite geographic boundaries, oceans and separate continents, we have one common homeland called earth and one common fatherland called heaven. That is the only dual citizenship that matters. With citizenship come certain responsibilities. In our homeland on earth, we are required to carry out certain responsibilities as part of our dominion mandate. We are required to meet our financial responsibilities. That means we must not only be educated, we must be financially educated. We must also respect and love each other and please God with our prudent use of the gifts that he has given us, and attest to his goodness. We must ensure that the government on earth is by the people and for the people, by voting. As believers and citizens of God’s kingdom, we must pray, read God’s word as articulated in the Bible, and advance the kingdom while on this earth.

Magna Carta: God is the King of Kings

Medieval Europe is that period between the fall of the Roman Empire in the West (5th Century) and the Renaissance period (around the 15th century). It was a very turbulent and transformative period in history, popularized by the Magna Carta, which was signed by King John of England in the 13th century. The charter’s great achievement was to place the monarchy – the executive power – under the law. Therefore in England, the king, who ruled by self-proclaimed divine right, was placed below God and the law. God’s handiwork was present on earth. King John was shaken up and as result he was forced to give man a fair shake. Man was now entitled to due process, by the judgment of his peers. King John had pursued expensive and unsuccessful military campaigns into France and was unduly taxing the nobles and clergy, who were determined to protect their rights, pockets and feudal customs. So they shook him up! This charter was a turning point in British constitutional history, and is viewed by many as the bedrock of life in the free world. To be sure, Jesus is the solid rock of life in the free world; all other ground is sinking sand.

The US Constitution and the Bill of Rights

Since the Magna Carta we have witnessed the introduction of hallmark legislation across the world, which are designed to protect our rights as citizens. For example, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These documents enable us to impact manmade institutions by advocating for God and his kingdom and attesting to his goodness, based on protected freedoms. Therefore true citizenship is dual citizenship.

True citizenship is a function of faith and financial literacy

The nature of a believer’s dual citizenship requires true citizenship behavior. It requires strong faith (Forsaking All I Take Him) in God. He allows us to meet him at the altar of our heart, to acknowledge that he is the king of kings and that we can go straight to him. He has made the way for us and He requires us to show others that He is the way, the truth and the life. True citizenship behavior also requires us to demonstrate financial strength for the benefit of the kingdom. Given the prevailing level of faith and financial illiteracy and relative paucity of resources when it comes to advancing the kingdom, man has yet to really demonstrate true citizenship. It is time to embrace our heritage.

Dual final frontiers: faith illiteracy and financial illiteracy

I believe that we must finally and decisively confront and conquer the dual final frontiers of faith illiteracy and financial illiteracy. One could convincingly state that space is not the final frontier. We can send a space