PAYPAL UNDER INVESTIGATION:

COULD DESTROY THEIR ONLINE BUSINESS

By

Neal Horsley

(Christian Gallery News Service, April 2, 2003) A U.S. Attorney's office has alleged that PayPal violated laws regarding the processing of online gambling payments, and is asking parent company eBay to hand over nine months of the gambling-related earnings in settlement. eBay, which acquired PayPal in October, has halted the practice of processing online gambling payments. The company also issued a filing in which it says the most recent controversy could hit the service hard. PayPal stated, “"Any finding of a civil or criminal violation by PayPal, or potentially any settlement, could also endanger PayPal's ability to obtain, maintain or renew money transmitter licenses in jurisdictions where it requires such licenses to operate, which would materially harm our business," according to the filing.

You do not have to be a business expert to understand that if a company like PayPal cannot “obtain, maintain or renew money transmitter licenses” when they are in the business of transmitting money, then that company is in danger of being destroyed.

When I encountered this news about PayPal I was thrust into a dangerous temptation situation, one that I think might be instructive for anyone trying to actually obey the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me explain. PayPal made itself my personal enemy and the enemy of the teaching ministry I am a part of when it first refused to allow me to sell my books, etc. through their PayPal online stores. Later, when PayPal literally seized my online bank account and refused to process payments of any kind for me or Pathway Communications, the company I own, I realized that PayPal, as a company, was determined to use its awesome online de facto banking monopoly to stop effective Christian teachers, like me, from maximizing their Internet ministries.

Anyone who knows how much time and effort PayPal has spent trying to keep me from doing business on the Internet can understand why I was tempted to be delighted when I heard that PayPal, this huge multibillion dollar corporation, was in danger of being destroyed by its own greed. But God gave me the grace to resist that temptation by reminding me that my rejoicing over PayPal’s troubles was the worst thing I could do, especially if I really wanted to see them pay the last penny for all the trouble they have caused me and all the other Christians like myself who PayPal has censored for doing nothing but attempting to obey the Lord Jesus Christ.

Excellent insight into the willingness of the God of the Bible to exact punishment from those who fight against His servants can be found by examining, Proverbs 24:17-18: “Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: ¹⁸Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.”

Did you get that? Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls because it will take the Lord’s attention off punishing your enemy and turn it on yourself thereby allaying the eye of God’s wrath against your enemy. The point is, if you’re really serious about deterring your enemy from being an enemy of God, be careful to resist the temptation to rejoice when you see them being punished. That way they will get all that’s coming to them from God.

So I want to go on record noting that I have not given in to the temptation to take pleasure in the knowledge that PayPal is beginning to experience just a taste of what it is like to encounter the wrath of the God who is a consuming fire. But I do confess it was quite a struggle to avoid giving in to rejoicing. I suspect that struggle will continue if PayPal continues to have the screws tightened around their reprobate reality. So I covet your prayers on this matter because I do think PayPal deserves to feel the total fulfillment of God’s displeasure against those who would deter His servants.

Selah

*Previous Articles About PayPal:

PayPal Seizes Horsley Bank Account

PayPal Shuts Down Horsley Online Shop

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