My job includes talking to folks in hard financial situations. Many times, I get to hear their plan for getting out of the financial strain that they have been experiencing. If the plan works quickly, then my contact with them is brief. For those who experience ongoing struggles, I end up talking with them for much longer periods of time.

There is one fellow I have talked to almost every month for over two years. Let’s call him Rob, since I can’t use his real name.  For a while, the story was the same, I will mail the check next week. For the most part, he did exactly what he said he would do and the conversation was once or at the most, twice a month. Rob has been very pleasant and positive. He has been cheerful, polite and almost always ending his conversation with – “Thank you, brother.” For those unfamiliar with this phrase, in the South, it is a term generally used to acknowledge you as a “brother in the Lord.” Looking back I can’t remember at what point that started or what would prompt him to say it. But, I let him continue and do not add to the comment.

Over the last few months, Rob has added a statement to his plans to pay. One day he said, “When this things RV’s, I am going to pay-off my car!” It was as if he was continuing in the middle of a conversation he had been having in his mind. Not being familiar with the term “RV”, I let it pass and decided to see if he mentioned it again. The next month, he said it again. By the third month I was feeling ignorant, but, still did not ask him. Finally, after several months he added a tidbit saying “My pastor said this thing will RV soon…” OK, I am all over this being curious what a pastor meant by “RV”.

So, I asked him what he was talking about. Rob explained it like this. He asked me first if I knew what “dinars” were. I had an idea we may be talking about currency, but, I waited too long to respond. He blurted out that dinars were the currency of Iraq. His pastor had helped him invest in some and they will RV at some point. (RV- re-value.) When the currency re-values, he will make enough to pay off several thousand dollars in debt and maybe even retire. He was so excited and so confident. I asked him if he meant that Iraq was going to index their currency and he said yes. Rob made sure to mention he had not “invested” in a lot of dinars but, felt sure it was enough to make HUGE profits.

At this point, I did not have to hide my excitement for his soon to be windfall of thousands of dollars. Actually, I was flooded with a ton of thoughts and emotions pretty much all at once. But, being aware that he was excited and not being willing to throw a wet rag on him, I politely excused myself and made note when his real paycheck was coming so he could send a real check to pay for his past due car loan. Let me explain the emotions and thoughts.

First, I did not enjoy having Scrooge thoughts. So, I did a little research and emailed a friend of mine who I knew had studied financial matters since our time in college. Within a few minutes, I found enough warnings online to justify my Scrooge thinking. Quoting from one source-

“There is in fact speculation that the Iraqi Dinar will be revalued, but no one knows for sure when and if so, at what price.   The new dinar is real, and right now you can pick up 1170.00 Dinar for $1 US dollar. It has been increasing in value, but at a snail’s pace and it is a big gamble. If you’re looking to buy Iraqi Dinar, then make sure you read our news, understand the risks and buy from a seller with a long history of positive feedback.” (source link: http://www.denar.org/)

I was not happy with that source and waited for a return email from my friend. Today, I received it and here is a quote,

“It is Iraq’s currency; right (not Iran?)? For now there are unregulated dealers who will sell you the currency, but would they buy it back, and at what price? I wouldn’t “invest” in currencies unless you are planning a vacation to the country in question. I think your instinct that this could be a scam is correct. Even if legitimate – it is very risky. Might do better at a casino!”

My friend also provided a link to a more reputable source than I had found. Here is a quote and the link-

“As you may have noted from my earlier posts in this blog, the Iraqi dinar is a currency issued by the struggling government of Iraq. It’s not traded on any legitimate foreign exchange, although there are plenty of dealers around the world, which are largely unregulated.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasik/2012/06/19/iraqi-dinar-soars-again/  

So, now I am perplexed on two fronts. Do I share this information or do I let him figure this out on his own? My thoughts are to let him figure this out with his pastor. Maybe it will be a learning curve for them both. (Unless the pastor was the unregulated dealer!) I think I will ask more questions of Rob and see what he knows and if he has doubts by now.

Second, how I can I look down on him when I have been engaged in the past in things just as “risky” and/or downright silly. That is why I recognized the extreme naiveté. I have been there. In a just few minutes, I found enough information to make me doubt the validity of the whole foreign currency deal ever doing the “RV” any time soon and certainly NOT to the advantage of a retail “investor”. That was more time than I took to research Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) before I invested my time, my money and my life for about sixteen years! As Rob trusted his pastor because of his spiritual position, so, I trusted my pastors in 1992 in their recommending my wife and I go to WOFF and experience the move of God! Because of blind trust and a lack of good information, Rob may lose a couple thousand dollars. I lost much more.

We have discussed it here before. WOFF did not account for the spending of the money that they took from their members. For years, I was a part of a group that would take and take and not tell how it spent the money it took in. Who made that decision to keep the spending choices secret? You tell me. Now, I am not saying Rob is under mind control with his pastor. No, that is something I cannot confirm. But, the blind trust to get involved in such a risky financial deal with your pastor does not bode well for the future for Rob. I just hope his losses turn out to be a financial education he will never forget. My time inside WOFF has turned out to be a financial, spiritual and emotional education that I will hopefully never forget. It is possible that my days of unfounded blind trust in spiritual leaders are over. For certain, that was part of my past naiveté. What a costly way to learn that lesson. I am hoping better results for Rob.

It looks like mixing “financial opportunity” with “religion” is a dangerous combination for both leaders and church members. Do you agree? Sad to say – that kind of hocus pocus has been going on for a long time before Jane Whaley and WOFF.

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