Strange question to ask someone reading a post on a blog. Obviously if one is reading one is awake. The question actually applies to our awareness of just how quickly times are a changing. For those of us who have accepted Christ, this change should have us wide awake. Every aspect of our culture is experiencing radical redefining. Christians and churches are not exempt.
When I look at my two sons, I wonder what in the world will they have to deal with in the days ahead if Christs return is delayed? When I think of future grandchildren - wow the world will be different. I am not as much scared as I am concerned. I wonder if we realize the tools and grounding that will be needed to survive the coming turmoil. We know that in Christ we are over comers and more than victors. Yet our tool belts will need to be properly filled and we will need to be properly equipped to obtain the victory. What is your like?
As we approach a new day of worship and spiritual growth, ask yourself some tough questions: Are you prepared and are you equipping? This is were we need to wake up. The time is now. Time to apply and reach as many as possible. Time to prepare our children for their own children. Time to make huge strides in adjusting our ministries to meet the above needs. it is NOT time to live in fear and panic. It is time to make the most of what God has given us and rise to the occassion.
As we approach church tomorrow, or tonight, go awake! Go ready to celebrate. Go ready to grow! If you serve in a ministry role - give it your all! You are making a impact period! Make sure it is a good one!
Yours and my future grandchildren indeed are the one's who's futures we are impacting today!
Let's wake up! See you in church!
Blogging for the purpose of Spiritual Growth and Edification
Showing posts with label Liberty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liberty. Show all posts
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Sunday, December 30, 2012
The Importance of Hobby Lobby vs Obama Care
On Friday, Hobby Lobby decided to ignore the US Governments threat of fines for not following the mandate in Obama Care to provide free birth control in their medical insurance for employees:
“They’re not going to comply with the mandate,” said Kyle Duncan, general counsel of The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the company. “They’re not going to offer coverage for abortion-inducing drugs in the insurance plan.”
Opinions on both sides are all over the internet and in the news shows. There are even some Christians decrying the decision.
Is this stand important? If so, why?
Yes this decision is important!
1. Free birth control is NOT a medical insurance necessity. It is a choice made by a person. Lumping this mandate into the Obama Care package is an attempt to make something necessary that any normal thinking person knows is not.
2. Hobby Lobby is defending the rights of the unborn! While everyone else is so concerned about their own rights and choices, Hobby Lobby has drawn a line in the sand and decided to stand with the unborn when few else are doing so.
3. Hobby Lobby is NOT denying medical insurance to anyone. They are simply saying that if you desire to use birth control and chose to do so, then you pay for it. Why should any person or company be required to fund a choice made by another individual that DOES NOT fit under "medical" necessity. I understand if it is prescribed for health reasons unrelated to pregnancy and this could be and is covered now. But to fund birth control because people chose to participate in sex and do not want the consequences is absurd.
4. Hobby Lobby has a right as a company to chose the medical plan they desire to offer employees. Period! The Government does not have the right to tell us what we have to provide.
5. Hobby Lobby and any other corporation have the right to NOT fund murder! The US Government is doing all it can to ignore this and forcing it's beliefs of abortion NOT being murder on those of us who do believe it is! I understand that we are "funding" abortions with tax money. It sickens me. But that funding DOES NOT open the door for nor justify increase funding by individuals when their beliefs/conscious says NO! If people do not like the coverage Hobby Lobby offers, they can chose to work somewhere else.
6. The mandate forces corporations, free corporations, to act as religious neutral. The US Government has NO right to do so. Free corporations are in fact free. Free corporations have a right to decide how they will fund and what they will fund. When the government is allowed to remove this freedom, it has thus opened the door to tell people, businesses, non profits, schools, churches, etc. what they can and cannot do. This is NOT an American idea and clearly violates the US Constitution First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Every American today needs to read the above carefully. The Obama Care mandate clearly violates the First Amendment. Clearly. No law can be made that prohibits the free exercise thereof...!
7. Thank God for David Green and family! I pray their tribe increase. I pray that more Christians will awaken to the travesty that is upon us. We have been lulled to sleep for years hearing preachers telling us this day is coming. Well, this day has already come. We are now in over our heads into the attacks on Christianity by the US Government while the same Government guarantees religious liberty to thugs who have sought to kill Americans. Terrorists have more religious liberty today in America than American Christians have.
8. Republicans and Democrats are equally at fault! This is NOT a slam at just one party. This is the progressive movement that has entered into the thought lines of both parties. Politics will not produce a solution. Politics is the chosen method for implementing the problem!
Even one Hollywood Liberal Film Director acknowledges this fact. I do not agree with Oliver Stone on much, but the following comment highlights where we are, even to a liberal. I disagree with his blanket assessment of the Bush years! But for a known and proud liberal to accurately nail the events of the current administration and decry them is fact alone that points to the depth that we as a nation have fallen.
The US is codifying thousands and thousands of new, political laws that compel citizens to live according to the State's desires. America was established as a Republic by the people and for the people! We are NOT a state led nation.
Read the following statement from Oliver Stone:
I think under the disguise of sheep’s clothing President Obama has been a wolf. Because of the nightmare of the Bush presidency that preceded him, people forgave him a lot. He was a great hope for change. The color of his skin, the upbringing, the internationalism, the globalism, seemed all evident. And he is an intelligent man. He has taken all the Bush changes and basically put them into the establishment, he has codified them. That is what is sad. So we are going into the second administration that is living outside the law and does not respect the law and foundations of our system and he is a constitutional lawyer, you know. Without the law, it is the law of the jungle. Nuremburg (sic) existed for a reason and there was a reason to have trials, there is a reason for due process – ‘habeas corpus’ as they call it in the United States.
Yes, this issue is more than important!
What will we do about it?
What will you do?
“They’re not going to comply with the mandate,” said Kyle Duncan, general counsel of The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the company. “They’re not going to offer coverage for abortion-inducing drugs in the insurance plan.”
Opinions on both sides are all over the internet and in the news shows. There are even some Christians decrying the decision.
Is this stand important? If so, why?
Yes this decision is important!
1. Free birth control is NOT a medical insurance necessity. It is a choice made by a person. Lumping this mandate into the Obama Care package is an attempt to make something necessary that any normal thinking person knows is not.
2. Hobby Lobby is defending the rights of the unborn! While everyone else is so concerned about their own rights and choices, Hobby Lobby has drawn a line in the sand and decided to stand with the unborn when few else are doing so.
3. Hobby Lobby is NOT denying medical insurance to anyone. They are simply saying that if you desire to use birth control and chose to do so, then you pay for it. Why should any person or company be required to fund a choice made by another individual that DOES NOT fit under "medical" necessity. I understand if it is prescribed for health reasons unrelated to pregnancy and this could be and is covered now. But to fund birth control because people chose to participate in sex and do not want the consequences is absurd.
4. Hobby Lobby has a right as a company to chose the medical plan they desire to offer employees. Period! The Government does not have the right to tell us what we have to provide.
5. Hobby Lobby and any other corporation have the right to NOT fund murder! The US Government is doing all it can to ignore this and forcing it's beliefs of abortion NOT being murder on those of us who do believe it is! I understand that we are "funding" abortions with tax money. It sickens me. But that funding DOES NOT open the door for nor justify increase funding by individuals when their beliefs/conscious says NO! If people do not like the coverage Hobby Lobby offers, they can chose to work somewhere else.
6. The mandate forces corporations, free corporations, to act as religious neutral. The US Government has NO right to do so. Free corporations are in fact free. Free corporations have a right to decide how they will fund and what they will fund. When the government is allowed to remove this freedom, it has thus opened the door to tell people, businesses, non profits, schools, churches, etc. what they can and cannot do. This is NOT an American idea and clearly violates the US Constitution First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Every American today needs to read the above carefully. The Obama Care mandate clearly violates the First Amendment. Clearly. No law can be made that prohibits the free exercise thereof...!
7. Thank God for David Green and family! I pray their tribe increase. I pray that more Christians will awaken to the travesty that is upon us. We have been lulled to sleep for years hearing preachers telling us this day is coming. Well, this day has already come. We are now in over our heads into the attacks on Christianity by the US Government while the same Government guarantees religious liberty to thugs who have sought to kill Americans. Terrorists have more religious liberty today in America than American Christians have.
8. Republicans and Democrats are equally at fault! This is NOT a slam at just one party. This is the progressive movement that has entered into the thought lines of both parties. Politics will not produce a solution. Politics is the chosen method for implementing the problem!
Even one Hollywood Liberal Film Director acknowledges this fact. I do not agree with Oliver Stone on much, but the following comment highlights where we are, even to a liberal. I disagree with his blanket assessment of the Bush years! But for a known and proud liberal to accurately nail the events of the current administration and decry them is fact alone that points to the depth that we as a nation have fallen.
The US is codifying thousands and thousands of new, political laws that compel citizens to live according to the State's desires. America was established as a Republic by the people and for the people! We are NOT a state led nation.
Read the following statement from Oliver Stone:
I think under the disguise of sheep’s clothing President Obama has been a wolf. Because of the nightmare of the Bush presidency that preceded him, people forgave him a lot. He was a great hope for change. The color of his skin, the upbringing, the internationalism, the globalism, seemed all evident. And he is an intelligent man. He has taken all the Bush changes and basically put them into the establishment, he has codified them. That is what is sad. So we are going into the second administration that is living outside the law and does not respect the law and foundations of our system and he is a constitutional lawyer, you know. Without the law, it is the law of the jungle. Nuremburg (sic) existed for a reason and there was a reason to have trials, there is a reason for due process – ‘habeas corpus’ as they call it in the United States.
Yes, this issue is more than important!
What will we do about it?
What will you do?
Remember this: Every nation that has ever fallen, has fallen from within!
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
If we do not fight the culture...?
I have suspected for some time now that a day would come in the USA when we would see more than rhetorical attacks against Christianity and Biblical principles. I suspected that these attacks would come in my life time. I did not suspect that these attacks would come so soon. But enter the Chick Fil-A saga. And here we are.
When Dan Cathy acknowledged his beliefs about marriage he ignited a storm that has brought Americans to a crossroads. As a citizen, Cathy simply simply stated that marriage should be between a man and women. As a citizen he has every right to say what he believes. But there are those in America who disagree with that right depending upon the content of what is said.
The crossroads is not tricky. As a country we will either take a right hand turn and once again be a Republic of freedom and constitutional law or we will turn left, and lose our freedoms while traveling down a road mixed with tyranny and the absence of religious freedom. Yes, the crossroads is now in front of us. We are waiting for the moment. The decisions of which way we turn are upon us.
Why now?
Over the past few years the fight for right and wrong has been hit with apathy and left leaning ideology. The hits that came were NOT from those outside of Christianity. Our attacks have come from within Christianity. Gone are the leaders who rallied us in the past. Their replacements have presented a different model. A model that frowns on culture wars and embraces naively the idea that people will accept all the differences and NO one will be harmed. We have been told by these few that discrimination will not occur. For once we cease the war, our love will earn the respect of those different from us.
They have been and are WRONG!
We have paved the road that has brought us to this crossroads. We ceased from fighting. We compromised our beliefs. We joined the culture. And we are paying for all the above dearly.
Men and women died so you and I could be free. No politician or elected official has the right to tell a business owner or church or group of Christians, what they can and cannot say. NOT in America.
Or can they?
This is the crossroads. If Chick Fil-A is attacked for her owners remarks, then why not go ahead and attack churches of all types? You think I am crazy? Think about the following. In Chicago where the mayor is a former presidential Chief of Staff (who claimed that chick Fil-A was NOT welcome in Chicago) their zoning laws are allowing a strip club to go up next to a catholic home for the elderly run by nuns. Just a few years ago the outcry over this type of decision would have been more than vocal. Today, there is silence.
There is something wrong here! Terribly wrong!
Though I am Baptist, I praise the Catholic church for fighting against many of the provisions in the healthcare reform bill. Many Baptist have been silent. Are Catholics now going to be targeted in the manner of Chick Fil-A? Ask the priests and Bishops of the Catholic churches what they teach about same sex marriage. Are they no longer welcome in Chicago, Boston, or San Fran? Are Baptists next? We see defense of criminal non profit groups like Acorn and yet we see attacks on non profits who support values and Biblical principles.
If we do not get back into the fight we will lose the right to do what we are doing now as ministers and churches. If we do not get back into the fight our children will live in a country with freedom only as a history point (if they even mention it at all). And if we do not get back into the fight, we will have NO ONE to blame but ourselves. For the weapons used against us were NOT more mighty. We just ceased from using our weapons and thus allowed strongholds to build up in our lives, communities, and culture.
It is true that Christianity has always been more productive when freedom was lacking. I do not for one moment think that fighting the culture will solve all the problems. But I do know that abandon the fight will bring about attacks on Christianity like we in America have never seen nor experienced. We are forgetting the real issues at stake. We are forgetting we are salt and light. We are blowing that which was bought and paid for with blood and ultimate sacrifice. How dare we.
We cannot afford to sit out the fight any longer!
When Dan Cathy acknowledged his beliefs about marriage he ignited a storm that has brought Americans to a crossroads. As a citizen, Cathy simply simply stated that marriage should be between a man and women. As a citizen he has every right to say what he believes. But there are those in America who disagree with that right depending upon the content of what is said.
The crossroads is not tricky. As a country we will either take a right hand turn and once again be a Republic of freedom and constitutional law or we will turn left, and lose our freedoms while traveling down a road mixed with tyranny and the absence of religious freedom. Yes, the crossroads is now in front of us. We are waiting for the moment. The decisions of which way we turn are upon us.
Why now?
Over the past few years the fight for right and wrong has been hit with apathy and left leaning ideology. The hits that came were NOT from those outside of Christianity. Our attacks have come from within Christianity. Gone are the leaders who rallied us in the past. Their replacements have presented a different model. A model that frowns on culture wars and embraces naively the idea that people will accept all the differences and NO one will be harmed. We have been told by these few that discrimination will not occur. For once we cease the war, our love will earn the respect of those different from us.
They have been and are WRONG!
We have paved the road that has brought us to this crossroads. We ceased from fighting. We compromised our beliefs. We joined the culture. And we are paying for all the above dearly.
Men and women died so you and I could be free. No politician or elected official has the right to tell a business owner or church or group of Christians, what they can and cannot say. NOT in America.
Or can they?
This is the crossroads. If Chick Fil-A is attacked for her owners remarks, then why not go ahead and attack churches of all types? You think I am crazy? Think about the following. In Chicago where the mayor is a former presidential Chief of Staff (who claimed that chick Fil-A was NOT welcome in Chicago) their zoning laws are allowing a strip club to go up next to a catholic home for the elderly run by nuns. Just a few years ago the outcry over this type of decision would have been more than vocal. Today, there is silence.
There is something wrong here! Terribly wrong!
Though I am Baptist, I praise the Catholic church for fighting against many of the provisions in the healthcare reform bill. Many Baptist have been silent. Are Catholics now going to be targeted in the manner of Chick Fil-A? Ask the priests and Bishops of the Catholic churches what they teach about same sex marriage. Are they no longer welcome in Chicago, Boston, or San Fran? Are Baptists next? We see defense of criminal non profit groups like Acorn and yet we see attacks on non profits who support values and Biblical principles.
If we do not get back into the fight we will lose the right to do what we are doing now as ministers and churches. If we do not get back into the fight our children will live in a country with freedom only as a history point (if they even mention it at all). And if we do not get back into the fight, we will have NO ONE to blame but ourselves. For the weapons used against us were NOT more mighty. We just ceased from using our weapons and thus allowed strongholds to build up in our lives, communities, and culture.
It is true that Christianity has always been more productive when freedom was lacking. I do not for one moment think that fighting the culture will solve all the problems. But I do know that abandon the fight will bring about attacks on Christianity like we in America have never seen nor experienced. We are forgetting the real issues at stake. We are forgetting we are salt and light. We are blowing that which was bought and paid for with blood and ultimate sacrifice. How dare we.
We cannot afford to sit out the fight any longer!
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