It wasn't a bad week for me. I started out being 10% down on the value of my stocks and ended being 8% down.

Exactly! so you are speculating on the stock exchange rather than investing. mel

I am investing my money in God's work. No moth or rust can attack it. The signs are all around us. I don't know how people can make plans for this world.

Well, when I decide to fill up my tank with gasoline I am speculating that the price won't fall later in the day. Life is full of speculation. Yes, investing requires speculation. When we buy stock we are basically loaning a company our money. If the company does well the value increases. If the company doesn't do well, the stock decreases. There is nothing unChristian about investing in the market provided we are not investing in firms with immoral practices. There are Christian investing firms that invest in companies deemed as being acceptable.

I was planning actually, to sell some gold this week, but I couldn't find it. I called the gold dealer here in town and asked about selling gold, and he said it would have to be cleaned and weighted before he could give me a price. I wanted to get rid of it and put the money into our church's building fund.

It was the fillings from my dad's teeth, which had been replaced with amalgam fillings long before his death. . .

(Sorry)

My Stock Market retirement fund is down $35,000. about 20 percent, But I am in for the long haul for the next 20 years or so. I am not concerned yet? This does teach me one thing. Five years from retirement I think I am moving all my stocks into treasury bills unless the economy is in a boom.

There was a time in NAD in that they talked and preached investment. It is still done in the growing divisions. Investment in the kingdom to come.
EGW talks about Gold:
---
"The Lord has given me instruction at the meetings I would attend I would find men encouraging our people to invest their money to work mines. I am bidden to say that this is a device of the enemy to consume or to tie up means that is greatly needed to carry on the work of God. It is a snare of the last days, to involve God's people in loss of their Lord's entrusted capital, that should be used wisely in the work of winning souls. Because so much money is invested in these very uncertain enterprises, the work of God is sadly crippled for lack of the talent that will win souls to Christ. . . . {CS 243.1}

"Last night in vision, I was raising my voice in warning against worldly speculations. I said, 'I invite you to take shares in the greatest mine that has ever been worked.' {CS 243.2}

"If we will invest in God's mining stock, the return is sure. He says, 'Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.'. . . {CS 243.4}

"'Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.' {CS 243.5}

"My brother, will you make an investment to secure the heavenly pearl of great price? . . . This is mining stock, in which you may invest without running a risk of disappointment. But, my dear friend, we have not a dollar of the Lord's money to invest in mining enterprises in this world."

Maybe its a good time to read Counsels on Stewardship again.

I wanted to sell some gold this week, and called a gold dealer to see if he would buy some. He told me he would, but that it would have to be cleaned before he could give me an estimate of its value.

It is some of the fillings of my father's teeth, and I want to give the money to our building fund. But when I went to look for the filings, they could not be found. Guess I'll have to look a bit[e] harder. :)

The price of gold has fallen a lot the last couple of weeks. It is probably best to wait until it goes back up some. Now is not a good time to be selling any commodities. It is probably good to be buying them but not selling.