Taco Bell announced Tuesday that it is opening new branches that will only take digital payment – CASH WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

This is a massive move by Yum! Brands, Inc. and will make things more difficult for Christian missions.

Yum!, a spin off from Pepsi Co., is one of the largest fast food chains in the world, operating brands like KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill. Based in Louisville, Kentucky, Yum! has 43,617 restaurants in 135 nations and territories worldwide.

Covid-19 pushed the entire world closer to a cashless society, but the more cashless the world goes, the more control banks have and the harder things are for missions.

One of the most powerful things Christians can do today to help the persecuted church is not donating money, but spending money – using cash.

It might be hard to believe, but spending money – real CA$H money – might be the single best thing that you can do to help the persecuted church. Shopping at a cashless Taco Bell is not going to help.

Here’s why.

Sending mission funds into closed nations is growing more and more difficult. Why? Because banks are tightly controlling transactions. In the last 20 years, banks have gone from begging for our business, to today being a part of the governing body that demands control over the way we live our lives. They have done this largely by pushing for a cashless society.

You can help missionaries in closed countries by spending cash and defending the use of cash, pushing back against groups like Taco Bell that want to go cashless.

Cashless societies, though convenient, have more oversight over the financial activities of citizens. They see what citizens buy, when they buy, how they buy, and how often. Every transaction is recorded… and controlled. Cash is too anonymous. Too many things can be purchased without government oversight; that is why governments are pushing so hard to eliminate it and companies like Taco Bell are helping.

You can show your support by continuing to use cash, as well as actively pushing against social pressure to adopt a cashless society.

Here is an elderly man in the UK that is an absolute legend!  He is fighting to keep cash as a legal tender.  Perhaps we could all learn from him.

 

It is not easy. Living cash-free is more convenient, but the longer cash is a legal tender, the longer BTJ can continue to support projects in nations where they are illegal. Christian activities like Bible printing, missionary support, Bible training, etc, are illegal in most of the nations between China and Jerusalem. They cannot be legally supported, so funding is brought in illegally.

Only ten years ago, it was no problem to withdraw $100,000 USD from a bank account in Asia, put it into a suitcase, and smuggle it across the border to missionaries in China, but those days are long gone.

Now, the smuggling operations are a lot more complicated.

Oddly enough, it is not the banks in closed countries that has caused the problem. Instead, it is the American banking system and large corporations like Yum! that has caused the biggest problems for missionaries.

The western world unleashed massive banking regulations in the name of “anti-terrorism.” Instead of catching terrorists, it did more to stop the Gospel from going into closed countries.

Besides government control, businesses like Visa and Mastercard are clear beneficiaries of going cashless, enjoying $138 billion earnings in service fees alone each year. Tech companies providing cashless payment services clearly profit from users’ personal data and financial transaction profiles.

Businesses increase their prices to cover their costs for using the digital payment system fees, which make products more expensive.

Cashless only transactions by Taco Bell are also unfair to the poor and homeless who might have bad credit, no phone, no home address, no job, and have problems securing a credit card or bank account with favorable rates. They don’t have cashless systems and are automatically excluded from shopping at Taco Bell in a cashless world.

Cash is not outdated. Not yet anyway. Your help is needed.

Continue to use cash. Continue pushing against government regulations and corporations like Yum! that propose cashless societies. Here is a story that shows the importance of cash:

Why should we pay cash everywhere we can with bank notes instead of a credit card?

• I have a $50 banknote in my pocket.
• I go to a restaurant and pay for dinner with my $50.
• The restaurant owner then uses the bill to pay for the laundry.
• The laundry owner then uses the bill to pay the barber.
• The barber will then use the bill for shopping.

After an unlimited number of payments, it will still remain a $50, which has fulfilled its purpose to everyone who used it for payment and the bank has jumped dry from every cash payment transaction made…

• But if I come to a restaurant and pay digitally – credit card
• Card and bank fees for my payment transaction charged to the seller are 3%, so around $1.50
• Card and bank fees for laundry = $1.50
• Card and bank fees for barber = $1.50

After 30 such transactions, the $50 dwindles down to only $5 in value, with $45 of it becoming the property of the bank and card companies.

Using cash not only helps missions, but it helps secure privacy and maintain value of hard-earned money.

Today, financially supporting mission activities in China is a lot more complicated than it has ever been in the history of Christianity and prayers are needed!