God's Word First

This notice discloses the privacy practices and terms of use for gods-word-first.org.com. Your usage of this website denotes acceptance of the terms set forth in this public document.

Here’s the short version of what would normally be a very long legal document: If you don’t want your private information made public then don’t give it to anyone! If you do then whatever happens after that is on you.

Basically that’s it; Personal Responsibility. Sounds simple enough, right? But sadly for most of the world it’s not. So we have to write all the following just for them. Here we go…

A Deeper Explanation for Those Who Need It

Any private personal information that you disclose is at risk of exposure no matter how many promises are made by even the most pious and trustworthy among us. Because mistakes happen and nobody is perfect. And because there are evil hackers out there knocking on the back doors of websites all day and all night trying to get in and steal whatever they can. So then, if you disclose information in any way and something happens with it that, andyou don’t like it, then that’s all on you. Because YOU gave out your private information in the first place.

But here’s the thing. You're the visitor and/or customer. We're the ministry in business serving visitors and customers. We want to develop a trusting relationship with you so that you buy from us and/or come back often to enjoy our bible study resources. And that hopefully you'll see ads from our sponsors and feel compelled to patronize their sites. So that all our products and services have a positive impact on whatever way you hope to benefit. And then in exchange for that we make some money. Because without customers a seller has no business.

So it's our standard practice that we take care of our visitors and customers and protect their private information. We're not going to share it with anyone we don’t have to because we want to keep your business all to ourselves! Makes sense, right?

But you can’t trust everyone with your private information. Especially your government!

Did you know that the various governments of the world are primarily responsible for the most data breaches divulging the largest amounts of private information to known hackers and other criminals?

And it happens with no remorse or consequences. It's true, look it up. And what you can find is only what the media knows and wishes to disclose. How much more private data that we don't know about do you think got lost, mishandled or stolen over the years? That they kept quiet from us? Probably way more than you'd be comfortable knowing about. And so here they are dictating to small businesses (who actually value you as a customer) that we need to keep your information safe from ourselves or face dire and extreme consequences.

That certainly meets the definition of irony, doesn’t it?

Hopefully that makes things clear for you in a simple, concise and fully transparent manner. If not, and you want more details then read on.

Here Comes the Mandated Long Version

Since the EU government along with the USA government is forcing us to write all this we’re going to do our best to comply and give them what they want to see.

First of all, and quite frankly the ONLY thing I feel is an actual improvement and mutual benefit in this whole BS GDPR fiasco, is that they insist on privacy policies being Concise, Transparent, Intelligible, Easily accessible, In clear and plain language, and Free of charge.

Basically they want us to do away with all that legal mumbo-jumbo that few people can understand. On this we can probably all agree. So in the following we’ll do our best to meet or exceed all those criteria.

Ready – Set -Go

Boring (but important) Legal Stuff that You Should Know

Personal Data is hereby defined as anything that can identify you (or any other person) as a specific individual. Nobody within our company is forcing you to visit our website or interact with us in any way. So then any interaction with us is by your own choice. And you agree to all the terms and conditions set forth above and below and take full personal responsibility for any outcome.

This Privacy Policy and Terms of Service notice will notify you of the following:

Information Collection, Use, and Sharing

We only collect or have access to information that you voluntarily give us via email, opt-in form or other direct contact from you. There will be no selling or renting of this information to anyone.

We will use your information to respond to you, regarding the reason you contacted us. Your information will not be shared with any third party outside of our organization, other than as necessary to fulfill your request.

Unless you ask us not to, we may contact you via email in the future to tell you about specials, new products or services, or changes to this privacy policy.

Registration

In order to use certain parts of this website, it might be required that the user must first complete a registration form. During registration a user is required to give certain information (such as name and email address). This information is used to contact you about the products/services on our site in which you have expressed interest. At your option, you may also provide demographic information (such as gender or age) about yourself, but it is not required.

Orders

We request information from you on our order form. To buy from us, you must provide contact information (like name and shipping address) and financial information (like credit card number, expiration date). This information is used for billing purposes and to fill your orders. If we have trouble processing an order, we’ll use this information to contact you.

Sharing

We may or may not share aggregated demographic information with third party vendors. This may or may not be linked to any personal information that can identify any individual person. For example, we use an outside shipping company to ship orders, and a credit card processing company to bill users for goods and services. These companies do not retain, share, store or use personally identifiable information for any secondary purposes beyond filling your order.

Links

This website contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of any other site that collects personally identifiable information.

Surveys & Contests

From time-to-time our site requests information via surveys, contests or other promotions. Participation in these is completely voluntary and you may choose whether or not to participate and therefore disclose this information. Information requested may include contact information (such as name and shipping address), and demographic information (such as zip code, age level). Contact information will be used to notify the winners and award prizes. Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of this site.

Your Access to and Control Over Information

You may opt out of any future contacts from us at any time. You can do the following at any time by contacting us via the email address or phone number given on our website:

• See what data we have about you, if any.
• Change/correct any data we have about you.
• Have us delete any data we have about you.
• Express any concern you have about our use of your data.

Security

We take precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and offline.

Wherever we collect sensitive information (such as credit card data), that information is encrypted and transmitted to us in a secure way. You can verify this by looking for a lock icon in the address bar and looking for “https” at the beginning of the address of the web page.

While we use encryption to protect sensitive information transmitted online, we also protect your information offline. Only company personnel who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, billing or customer service) are granted access to personally identifiable information. The computers/servers in which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment.

If you feel that we are not abiding by this privacy policy, you should contact us immediately.

Our Privacy Policy aims to let our users know:

1) What personal information we collect.
We collect whatever information you supply us with.

2) How and why we collect it
To do business with you.

3) How we use it.
To complete your purchase, to service your contract and to stay in touch with you.

4) How we secure it.
You information is saved in various ways. Basic contact information is usually stored in a spreadsheet. Depending on how you provide the info to us it may also be stored in the method of transmittal. Such as email, text message or chat messaging. If info is transmitted to a third party, such as a bank, credit card processor or email opt-in form then it’s your responsibility to check and agree with their privacy policies first before sending them your private information.

5) Any third parties with access to it.
At time of writing this privacy policy we use the following third party companies:

a) GetResponse for opt-in forms,
b) Stripe for purchases and credit card processin
c) PayPal for purchases and credit card processin
d) Google for traffic analytic
e) Google for on page advertising under their Adsense program

6) If we use cookies.
To the best of our knowledge we do not intentionally use cookies. Although our third party services probably do. So check with them about that. Also be aware that your browser and your internet service provider are probably tracking you with cookies and other tracking methods. Understand that we have no control over them. But you do. So be aware, be informed and take steps to be empowered.

7) How users can control any aspects of this.
If we manage any info that you want to control in any way, such as modify or delete then you can either log in to your account with us to access such info or contact us and we’ll take care of your request for you. If it’s with third party vendors then contact them.

7 GDPR Principles

We make our best efforts to implement and satisfy these 7 GDPR Principles:

1. Be proactive to prevent data breaches rather than just react when one occurs
2. Place higher value on privacy than on heavy data collection
3. Integrate and embed privacy into designs and updates
4. Don’t view profit as more important than privacy
5. Implement full lifecycle protection for collected data
6. Be transparent with our users in our Privacy Policy and legal agreements
7. Place the user first when it comes to their data

The 8 Rights of Users

We respect the GDPR’s list of the 8 Rights of Users when personal information is collected:

1. To be informed – Provide transparent information about data processing
2. Of access – Let individuals access any data you’ve processed from them
3. Of rectification – Let individuals rectify incomplete or inaccurate data
4. To erasure – Individuals can request you delete their data
5. To restrict processing – Individuals can block the processing of their data
6. For data portability – Individuals can reuse their data for other services
7. To object – Individuals can object to the processing of their data
8. In relation to automation – Individuals are protected from automated decision making processes

We demand that our data controllers must:

• Conduct Data Privacy Impact Assessments
• Get appropriate consent before collecting data
• Implement Privacy by Design
• Respect the 8 rights of users

Data processors must:

• Keep written records or data processing activities
• Have appropriate security measures in place
• Notify data controllers of breaches

Personal and Sensitive Personal Information

The GDPR covers two categories of protected information: “personal” and “sensitive personal.”

Personal Data

Similarly to the old legislation, personal data under the GDPR law refers to anything that can be used to identify a person, including but not limited to the following:

• Email addresses
• First/last names
• Mailing addresses
• Financial information
• Photos/videos
• Online identifiers (IP address, cookie strings, etc.)

If we collect this type of information, we must:

• Comply with all six privacy principles, and
• Satisfy at least one Personal Data Processing condition

Sensitive Personal Data

Under GDPR law Sensitive Personal Data is considered more sensitive and thus comes with greater protections and more stringent regulations.

Sensitive personal data includes but isn’t limited to the following:

• Health data
• Sexual orientation
• Religious/Philosophical beliefs
• Political views
• Genetic data

If we collect this type of information, we must:

• Comply with all six privacy principles, and
• Satisfy at least one Sensitive Personal Data Processing condition

Six Privacy Principles

We do our best to follow these six privacy principles which can be found in Article 5 of the GDPR.

1. Lawful, Fair and Transparent – Data processing must not violate the GDPR tests. We are open about what we’re collecting and our process matches up with what we claim.
2. Limit of Purpose – We only collect data for specified and legitimate purposes and no others without further consent.
3. Minimize Collection – We limit the amount of data we collect to what’s adequate and relevant for the purpose.
4. Be Accurate – We ask data providers to make sure the data we collect is accurate and kept up to date.
5. Limit Storage Time – We keep data for no longer than necessary and remove data upon request or after it’s no longer required.
6. Protection and Confidentiality – We handle data carefully so as to secure it against loss, damage and destruction.

Personal Data Processing Conditions

We must satisfy at least one of the following if we collect personal data:

1. Consent
2. Necessary for performance or prep of a contract with subject
3. For legal obligation compliance
4. To protect vital interests when consent isn’t possible
5. For performance of public interest task or exercise of vested official authority
6. Needed for purpose of legitimate interests

Sensitive Personal Data Processing Conditions

Here are the ten processing conditions that we must satisfy at least one of the following if we collect sensitive personal data:

1. Have explicit consent of subject, unless reliance on consent is prohibited by EU/Member State law
2. Necessary for fulfilling obligations under employment, social security, social protection law or collective agreement
3. To protect vital interests when consent isn’t possible
4. Processing is carried out by not-for-profit for members/former members and there is no third party disclosure
5. Data is made public by subject
6. Necessary for legal claims or courts
7. Needed for reasons of substantial public interest under law, with safeguard measures in place
8. For medical purposes on the basis of law or contract
9. Necessary for public health interests such as cross-border threats
10. Necessary for archiving purposes in public interest, science or research

Wrapping it Up

Okay so that’s all we can think of at the moment. Should be enough right? But if we missed anything then let us know. Because we’ll be happy to include it so you can be informed and so we can stay up to date on the legal aspect.

We’re always looking for ways to improve ourselves. And we do our best to comply with anything that keeps us legal. And because we want to do what it takes to make sure you, our web visitor and hopefully customer, is super happy with us. We want your trust and your business for the long run. God bless you!