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Eleventh Sunday of Kingdomtide Value of Children-B Nov 16

12 Nov

While children come as a blank slate and need training in obedience and caring for others, our society believes that they know what to do and should be left to themselves to find their own way. In fact, any kind of discipline is viewed as abuse. Yet they wonder why children act like wild animals. The  Church views children as gifts from God and views their training and discipline as an important responsibility of parents. While children should attend Sunday School and learn about God, they learn how to live that out by watching those around them. In the past, children spent most of their time at home and learned by watching their parents. Our public schools and society in general reflected Christian values and reinforced what children learned at home. Today, parents are often scarce and feel they have little time to give their children, leaving the training of their children to teachers, babysitters, and even other kids. Yet they wonder why children don’t share their values. Children are involved in a lot of after school activities and spend very little time with their parents. In addition, schools and our media do not reflect Christian values. While church used to be a big part of most families, many families have no church background and have not been raised in a Christian atmosphere. As a result, they need to learn the value of children and how to train them in love. It is important that the church models love for children and trains parents in good parenting.

 

 

Eleventh Sunday of Kingdomtide Value of Children-A Nov 16

12 Nov

In early history, children were prized because they were necessary for the preservation of the family or group. In fact, women (who produced children) and children were so prized that they were often kidnapped or taken as captives of war from neighboring groups. Over the years, they were often valued to help out on the farm and farm families had a lot of children. As cities have grown, the value of children has declined. At various times in history, they have lost their value and various means of aborting unwanted children or killing them after birth, were developed. However, at no time in history has it taken on the proportions it has today. Lately, children have been looked down on as a burden on society because they don’t support themselves. Over recent years, we have seen the overall value of children change from valuable labor to excess baggage. Without God, everything and everyone has value only if they contribute to society. From that standpoint, unborn babies, young children, those who are chronically or terminally ill, the elderly, and those suffering serious injuries are expendable and even a burden that should be eliminated. Our society views children as having no economic value. Children  today are often viewed as “accidents” or byproducts of making love rather than as gifts from God. In addition, the constant promotion of abortion gives the impression that children are disposable. Yet many people wonder why children have low self-esteem.  Environmental activists seek to restrict the birthrate to preserve nature and groups like Planned Parenthood seek to restrict the birth of populations they don’t like, such as Blacks and Hispanics, and the poor. They look at whether they can contribute what they cost to maintain or will they restrict our opportunities?  We have no way of estimating what the future economic contribution of a child will be. Many non-White and poor White orphans have gone on to make great contributions, when given the opportunity and the education. Many people have overcome great trials to accomplish more than anyone could have believed. I was paralyzed from the waist down at age two and they said I would never walk again, yet I not only was able to walk again, I went on to accomplish far more than many people thought possible. God values all life because He created it for a purpose. When it no longer has a purpose here, God will end it. We have no right to judge the value of a life solely on what it can contribute financially. Many people contribute a great deal to those around them long after they can no longer contribute financially. Christians recognize that each person is created by God for a purpose and to take that life is to destroy God’s creation. Many individuals contribute a great deal that cannot be measured in dollars and cents and God created them regardless of their skin color and nationality.

 

Economics-A-T

12 Nov

Democrats continue to try to blackmail Republicans to give in to Obamacare subsidies. It is a tactic they have used in just about every budget since Obama took office. They demand massive new expenditures for worthless programs to benefit their supporters and then force a government shutdown and hold the American people for ransom until the Republicans give in. They don’t care how many they hurt as long as they get what they want.  Republicans have tried to hold out to maintain a balanced budget but eventually give in to save the people hurt by the shutdown. This time the Republicans have refused to give in to blackmail and are refusing to budge. They care about the people who are hurt but know we can’t go on giving in to blackmail because every time we allow massive new spending it pushes the country that much closer to bankruptcy. The issue is the same old one Democrats have been pushing since the housing crisis. Then the banks and automakers were faced with closing. Now it is the people without health insurance. The Democrats put the money into the banks to keep them afloat and they paid big dividends to their stockholders. That does not help because the people still owed the money to the banks so the businesses stay open but have to be continually subsidized until the people are able to pay back what they owe. If the money went to the people in the form of vouchers, they could pay off the banks so the banks could stay open and the people could still support the banks. The money went to the car manufacturers so they could still pay the workers but there is no work because the people couldn’t afford to buy cars. If the money went to the people in a voucher, they could buy cars and the workers would have work and get paid. In the first instance only the companies benefit but in the second, everyone benefits. It is the same way this time. The subsidies were to help the insurance companies through Covid. The Covid shutdown is over but they still want to continue the subsidies draining billions of dollars from the treasury to help the insurance companies. The subsidies have no guarantee that the companies will lower insurance rates and they have not lowered the rates. Obamacare was supposed to help people that could not afford insurance but it only made things worse. For instance, if a family paid $200 a month for insurance, the government offered a $200 subsidy so the insurance companies jacked the price up to $400 a month and the government paid $200 to the insurance company and the people still paid $200. The insurance companies have been raking in massive profits while the people still suffer. The only difference is that everyone’s taxes went up to cover the subsidy  so they are worse off then before. If the money went to the people, they could bid among the insurance companies who would have to keep their prices low or lose customers. It is all about power. The rate hikes drove those people who could not afford to get insurance to apply for subsidies making them dependent on the Democrats to keep the money flowing. The more people dependent on the Democrats, the more votes they can count on in upcoming elections.

 

 

Prepare now for Advent

07 Nov

Preparing For Christmas-Children are beginning to think about Christmas as stores are ramping up their Christmas advertising. Yet Christmas is more than getting presents. It is a celebration of when God gave us the greatest gift of all.  Advent is a time when we begin to prepare our hearts for celebrating when Christ came to save us and begins on December 1st this year. I have an Advent booklet available to help parents teach their children about Christmas. It has a short Scripture for each day of Advent which helps to remind us of what Christmas is about and includes pictures that go with the daily Scriptures that the kids can color, cut out, and glue to construction paper. It provides a time the family can get together and learn from God’s Word which hopefully will become a regular family practice all year round. The pictures can be hung on the Christmas tree or on cords strung around the room. It is an electronic file that I would be glad to E-mail to you free and can be printed off. E-mail me at neighborhoodministriesnwoh@gmail.com and use heading “Advent booklet”.

 
 

study course-Time, Truth, and Education

07 Nov

For more information, see our study course

https://www.udemy.com/course/the-value-of-time-truth-and-education/?referralCode=C26C56C7A09175208154

 

Tenth Sunday of Kingdomtide Nov 9

07 Nov

Time, Truth, and Education –God places great value on time, both past, present, and future. We must remember past events and learn from them, we must experience His presence in the present through celebrating the past, and we must look forward to the future when He will fulfill what He promised. God told the Jews to  celebrate three events as a way of doing that and to do it forever. Many say we are not under the law any longer and do not have to celebrate them, however that is only partially true. They were designed to teach the major tenets of the faith. By celebrating them, it reminded the Jews of what God had done and showed them what God would do. They continued to celebrate them, but forgot the meaning of them, so they did not recognize Jesus when He came.  God has fulfilled two of the celebrations so we no longer look forward to their fulfillment, yet they should now be a part of our experience and worth celebrating. We celebrate our birth, why not celebrate being born again. We celebrate when God gave the law to guide the Jews, why not celebrate when the Holy Spirit came into our lives and became our teacher and guide. I am glad Jesus came to save me and that the Holy Spirit came to guide me, and I celebrate those events. Do you? God has not fulfilled Rosh Hosanna. Jesus said he will come again and take those who are His, to be with Him. However, He said if we are not ready when He comes, we will be left behind, so it is important to remember that He is coming and to be ready. How can we be ready, if we don’t remind ourselves that He is coming. If we forget, we will not be ready and we will be left behind like the Jews that forgot He was coming the first time. Just about everything I do is designed to prepare myself and those who are willing to listen, to walk with Jesus. What do you spend most of your time for? Time is important. The time to prepare is now. When time ends, there won’t be a second chance.

 

 

study course-Reaching the Lost

07 Nov

Jesus told His disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, starting in Jerusalem. Often churches today send out missionaries to far off lands but fail to reach those who live near the church. Many church members tell me they would like to reach those around them but don’t know how. Pastors are often not taught how in seminary. When I approach churches about supporting neighborhood evangelism, they often aren’t interested. As a social Worker and pastor, I have often been asked by churches to help them develop programs to help those in need, both spiritually and physically. I have been working to reach the lost and helping churches to minister to the needy for over 50 years. We are currently offering our course “Reaching the Lost” for free until 12/8/2025 to the first 100 who sign up at  referral code https://www.udemy.com/course/reaching-the-lost/?couponCode=DE2D88C

 

 

Study Course-Reaching the lost-prom-video

07 Nov

 

The Courts-B-L

07 Nov

We are seeing courts that are way out of their jurisdiction. Courts are to mitigate disputes and enforce laws, however courts are taking upon themselves to try to run the government. We saw it before  when a district court claimed it had jurisdiction to  halt acts of the President. The Constitution only authorizes one court to have jurisdiction over the President and that is the Supreme Court. District courts are restricted to their district and cannot make rulings that apply nationwide. Other district courts may cite their rulings in cases applying to their district but are not compelled to. The Supreme Court reprimanded the district courts for exceeding their authority but it has not stopped them from trying. Now a district court has ordered the President to pay SNAP benefits during the government shutdown. First of all, the President is a higher authority then the  District court and doesn’t have to take orders from District courts and second, the courts can’t just tell him to pay the benefits without legislative approval. The courts cannot authorize government expenditures. That is reserved for Congress.  President Trump worked out with the Dept of Agriculture to pay the October benefits from their emergency fund and secured private donations to pay partial benefits during November in the hope that the Democrats will end their childish refusal to approve the budget until they get the added funds they want. The President can’t just authorize expenditures without Congressional authorization though President Biden did it openly in clear violation of the Constitution which is why we are in the financial mess we are in. The courts have no authority to force the President to solicit private funds to pay the governments bills until the Democrats give in. The  benefits have to be authorized by Congress and there is no authorization until Congress approves the budget or an emergency authorization. Republicans have  floated bills to pay the armed services, the federal employees, the air traffic controllers, SNAP recipients and others until they can get the budget passed but Democrats have refused  to approve them because it would weaken the leverage they have to blackmail the Republicans into approving  vast new expenditures.

 

 

 
 

Politics-AB-BD

31 Oct

Democrats complain President Trump is putting a ballroom into the Whitehouse. Others did all kinds of renovations for at far more cost, all at taxpayer expense, and nobody said anything. In fact, Trump is using his money and donations from private donors with no tax money. While they put in ball courts and other frivolous things, he is putting in a place to hold State dinners. It is shameful that the United States, the largest most powerful nation in the world, has to erect a tent on the lawn or rent a hall someplace with all the cost and problems of security, if they want to host a State dinner or other major affair. President Trump isn’t doing it for his own enjoyment, he is doing it for the good of the country. He serves without pay and generally looks out for the good of the American people. He has sacrificed a great deal to take a job that continually causes him grief and he has been constantly been slandered by liberal politicians and media. While he makes mistakes, he is only human, his desire appears to be to help the American people. I don’t agree with him on some things but I feel he is doing what he feels is needed to restore the American dream for Americans. President Biden left him a terrible mess financially and socially and he has had to take measures no President should have to take to keep the country afloat. I have seen many presidents but never one as generous as President Trump.