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US Congressman Steve Stockman of Texas is preparing to introduce a new bill, the ‘Virtual Currency Tax Reform Act’, which, if passed, would tax bitcoins as currency instead of property. Currently, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) views bitcoin and other digital currencies as property. When someone sells their bitcoin or makes a purchase in bitcoin, they are subject to a 15% capital gains tax. Any wages paid out in digital currencies must also be reported to federal tax authorities.

For the U.S., Jerusalem Has No Connection with Israel By Julio Severo A recent Jerusalem Post article notes, “Since the founding of Israel, U.S. presidents have declined to state a position on the status of Jerusalem.” For the U.S. government and its leftist Christian presidents, Jerusalem has no country. Yet, why are even U.S. conservative presidents included in this negative picture?             For God’s Word, those born in Jerusalem are always born in Israel. But why does the United States, a nation founded on Christian principles and capable of providing great leadership to the world, choose to ignore Israel’s special...

The Lionel Pincus & Princess Firyal Map Division is very proud to announce the release of more than 20,000 cartographic works as high resolution downloads. We believe these maps have no known US copyright restrictions.* To the extent that some jurisdictions grant NYPL an additional copyright in the digital reproductions of these maps, NYPL is distributing these images under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. The maps can be viewed through the New York Public Library’s Digital Collections page, and downloaded (!), through the Map Warper. First, create an account, then click a map title and...

The most repeated prophecy in the entirety of the Gospel record is often hidden behind the definitive article. The definitive articles from the Greek text have been translated: THIS, THAT, and THE - but they all definitively define THE PROPHET who was prophesied by Moses. This is THE PROPHET the Almighty promised to send, and THAT PROPHET is the one who would speak only that which he heard from heaven. It is THIS PROPHET that we must shema (hear and obey). There is not a more repeated prophetic declaration in the Gospel record than the recognition that Yeshua is THAT...

Why Does The Christian Post Espouse Leftism in Brazil? By Julio Severo The U.S. version of The Christian Post rightly addressed the recent World Vision flap on gay “marriage” by quoting prominent evangelical leaders. Their responses were mostly conservative. The first World Vision (WV) stance favoring this faux marriage was universally disapproved among conservative Christians. Its repentance was welcome. In no way, the Christian Post condemned these conservative leaders and their views. In a strange twist, the Brazilian version of The Christian Post decided not only to publish nothing from its U.S. version on the WV flap, but it...

Does the IRS really want to you to track your capital gains on bitcoin every time you buy a sandwich or a sweater in the digital currency? After our analysis of the Internal Revenue Service guidelines on bitcoin, released in March, some people expressed surprise. They were amazed that the IRS could seriously be applying capital gains rules to something that the bitcoin community sees as a currency, and which in many cases uses as such. “This can’t be good for bitcoin”, said one commenter privately to Coindesk. ” If it’s not a currency, then how are you supposed to...

For Judges to judge, there must be a standard against which all actions are judged. The Book of Judges is preceded by Moses’ reiteration of the Torah just before the nation of Israel proceeds into the Promised Land. The law, the standard of righteousness by which Israel is to govern themselves as a people, is repeated and amplified one last time before the death of Moses. It is in this final instruction of Moses that we find the context to the Book of The Judges, which is a prophetic shadow picture of the day and hour in which we live.

A new report by researchers at ETH Zurich University in Switzerland has concluded that the now-bankrupt Japan-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox may have lost only 386 bitcoins ($203,000) due to issues stemming from transaction malleability. The finding provides new evidence that Mt. Gox’s continued claims that issues with the Bitcoin protocol were the primary reason for its insolvency are perhaps misleading or untrue. Released on 26th March, the report was authored by Christian Decker and Professor Roger Wattenhofer, both of the university’s Distributed Computing Group (DCG). Overall, the authors found that only 302,000 bitcoins could have ever been involved in...

After Pressure, World Vision Reverses Policy on Hiring Gays By Julio Severo After a backlash from Evangelicals, World Vision, an international nonprofit ministry, has reversed its decision to allow those in same-sex marriages to be employed. Organization board leaders said in a letter to supporters Wednesday that they had made a “mistake” by changing its policy. “We are brokenhearted over the pain and confusion we have caused many of our friends, who saw this decision as a reversal of our strong commitment to Biblical authority,” the board said in the letter. The quick reversal was result of a firestorm...

World Vision to Hire Married Gay Christians By Julio Severo The prominent Christian relief agency World Vision said Monday it will hire Christians who are in homosexual marriages, a dramatic policy change on one of the most divisive moral issues facing Christian churches. World Vision President Richard Stearns told that his organization will be changing its employment policies with regard to individuals in a homosexual lifestyle. The organization previously required its some 1,100 employees at the American branch to abide by a policy that required fidelity within marriage and abstinence outside of marriage, and only recognized marriage between a...

The Bitcoin Tipping Point is coming and it will be the Big Bang of disruption in financial services, money and payments as we know them! I often think about the “tipping-point” in Bitcoin’s journey to mass adoption and regularly as myself several questions. When will it be noticeable and what will trigger it? Has it already begun or if not, how far away are we? How do you define or measure “mass adoption” of Bitcoin? A bitcoin meme of Morpheus and Neo posted online recently got me thinking again about how Bitcoin’s true exit most likely itself. Once a significant...

The prophet David gave us an insightful overview of the Torah, “He made known His acts unto Israel – His ways unto Moses.” Moses pled for the Almighty to reveal Himself to him, so the Almighty moved Moses into the cleft of the rock and covered him with His hand as the glory of YHVH approached. Moses was only allowed to see Him after He passed by. So it is, that we are seldom allowed to see what He is doing – or going to do – but in “hindsight” we can see His “ways” that so profoundly affect our...

Notoriously tight-lipped bitcoin exchange and CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index member BTC-e is now allowing customers to withdraw funds to Visa and MasterCard debit and credit cards, with some exceptions. The company blog post, issued on 21st March, indicated that the new program is now available to customers in any country, using any currency. All customers will pay a 5% fee for the service. The new functionality is noteworthy as it will allow customers to send money to debit and credit cards issued by two of the largest and most commonly used international card issuers. At present, the transfer of funds...

A new report suggests that Mt. Gox, the now-bankrupt Japan-based exchange said to have lost 850,000 BTC in customer funds may actually still be in possession of 200,000 BTC ($118m at press time). The news, published by Yahoo Japan, allegedly comes from the exchange’s bankruptcy lawyer who suggests the bitcoins were found on 7th March in a wallet used by Mt. Gox prior to June 2011. The 200,000 bitcoins would equate to just over 23% of the entirety of the funds presumed lost by the company in the wake of widespread theft that is said to have occurred on the...

What we see in the book of Judges are prophetic shadow pictures for our time. Everything that was recorded was done so for you, so you may know the truth. Soon prophecy will be fulfilled, Babylon will fall, and your understanding of the prophetic shadow pictures will be what keeps you standing in the end.

Remember the internet in 1996, everyone kinda knew what it was about. It was something big, new, and vast—but what exactly it did for you was unclear. Bitcoin is in a similar state: It’s fairly new, unclear, and holds enormous promise just like the early Internet. The only difference is you can actually buy a piece of the Bitcoin network. This article is for the professional that has a reasonable savings (whatever that means to you) and at least a basic understanding of investing. You may likely invest in stocks, bonds, real estate, your own business, and many other things....

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US wants to combat anti-homosexuality movement worldwide By Julio Severo The Associated Press reported on February 26 that the United States, “troubled” by an anti-homosexuality movement in Uganda and across much of the world, is launching a new effort to combat what Secretary of State John Kerry described as a “threat to human rights.” Comparing a Ugandan anti-homosexuality law to oppressive government crackdowns on German Jews in the 1930s, Kerry said that according to the AP report, he was going to direct American ambassadors to look at “how we deal with this human rights challenge on a global basis.”...

Michael Rood begins to explore the book of Judges in this week's episode: The Last Judges. The context and lessons gleaned are vital even for our lives today. The people ask for a king, and they get one. But man ruling over man will eventually cause disaster. If only the people had understood they had a king all along...

Almost half of the states have open primaries. Why do states like Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas have open republican primaries? It's like having a death wish to turn purple, blue, and asphyxiated by democrat and independent voters. One of the first things the Tea Party needs to do is turn more states into closed primaries. The theory is that open primaries will bring more voters to our tent. I don't buy it. Or maybe the republican brand name is so bad that people don't want to register as republicans and be stigmatized. But then you would...