Meeting A Need-If there is a need in your area and there is no one meeting that need, you may consider organizing a ministry through your church or in your community. The small groups may check to see if there are nearby residents needing lawns cut, snow shoveling of simple repairs. If the group doesn’t have anyone available, they can ask neighboring groups. Some needs may be beyond the resources of the local small group. Churches often claim they don’t have the resources. In the mid-1970’s, I belonged to a house church consisting of only six families. They became concerned about the large number of suicides in the area after I told them about the hour, I had spent the previous week on a railroad bridge with a teenage girl who could not decide whether to jump. They set out to organize a crisis hotline and contacted Contact International and with their help laid plans for a crisis phone line for the county. In only 12 months, the members of that church gathered 129 volunteer phone workers and trained them, and secured enough voluntary contributions to support a phone bill of almost $1500 a month, plus cover utilities and rent for an office, to provide a place where people could call toll-free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from anywhere in the county. They went on the phones only a year after I sat on the railroad bridge with the girl. They provided continuous phone service 24 hours a day and seven days a week for 49 years with no government funds. They drastically cut the suicide rate in their area. If a church of only six families can do that, what can a church of 100 or more families do?
Voting-1-A-G
Citizen groups should not have to sue States to get them to release voter records to determine if they are cleaning rolls and the federal government should not have to monitor polling places to insure they verify ID’s. Voter records are public records and are supposed to be available for public review. States like California, New York, and other States that make it easy to vote, have been fighting attempts to review their voter rolls to verify eligibility. Past reviews have shown millions of illegal immigrants registered and millions of names still on the rolls of those who have died or moved out of State and are no longer eligible. Democrats have controlled California for years and have fought attempts to require ID verification at the polls as well as encouraging mail in voting. That allows plenty of opportunity for them to scan the rolls for those who aren’t going to vote, such as those who have died and those who moved out of State. They can then have those who are ineligible, vote using those names or to manufacture fake ballots. In a recent mayor election in Los Angeles, it has taken weeks since the election to count the ballots. It looked like the Republican candidate was ahead when suddenly a large number of ballots mysteriously appeared. All of the ballots were for the Democrat candidates and put them ahead of the Republican candidate. None of the ballots were for the Republican candidate. It is statistically impossible. Out of a random selection of ballots, there should have been at least one vote for him since the polls showed he was the favored candidate. It has apparently taken them several weeks to manufacture enough fake ballots to eliminate the Republican candidate and they it appears that they were determined to keep counting until they succeeded.
Voting-1-A-F
Even with ID laws, it is not completely safe. Fake ID’s are easy to get and a lot of teens get them so they can buy beer and cigarettes. If a political party knows someone is registered but won’t vote, they can make fake ID’s using the names and addresses of registered voters for someone to pose as those people and vote in their place. By registering a lot of inner-city people who probably won’t vote, they have a goldmine of potential for fake ID’s. If you have to vote where you live, someone will recognize if you come back to the same voting place several times using different names and ID’s but if you can vote by mail, on multiple days, or wherever you want, you can go to several different polling places or go on several days, and vote under different names without anyone realizing it, making it easier for a dishonest party to “stuff the ballot box” with fraudulent ballots. Most States today issue ID’s for those that don’t drive. Poor Blacks often get welfare and have to have ID’s to get it. As a result, voter ID laws do not provide a barrier to them voting, like they used to. It does require that people prove they are eligible to vote and are not trying to vote illegally. The most common fraud is when someone claims to be someone else who is registered but not likely to vote, either because they have died or because they moved out of State and are no longer eligible to vote in the State. Many States have laws requiring them to clean out voter registration lists and remove anyone who hasn’t voted in three years to eliminate those who have died or moved out of State so people can’t use those names to vote illegally, however that still leaves a window where someone can try to vote claiming they are someone who is already listed on the rolls, but is not likely to vote because they either died or moved out of State.
Voting-1-A-E
Democrats are fighting attempts to enact or maintain voter ID laws saying they prevent people, particularly minorities from voting. It is not strange that a large number of illegal immigrants are found on the voter registration rolls in States that allow online and mail registration since it doesn’t allow face to face verification of identity. It is also not surprising that many of them might vote in States that also do not require voter ID’s at the polls. Further problems arise when States allow registering at driver’s license offices and do not verify citizenship before issuing driver’s licenses. Hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens are being allowed to stay in the U.S. and States like California are now allowing them to get driver’s licenses, so the potential for fraud is unimaginable. California recently enacted a law which will automatically register you to vote when you get a driver’s license or renew one unless you opt out. Since California also has enacted a law allowing people to get driver’s licenses without verifying citizenship, a review of the rolls show over four millions illegal immigrants were registered and over a million voted in the 2020 election. Pennsylvania also allows you to register to vote when you renew your driver’s license. A review of Pennsylvania’s voter roles have shown over 100,000 non-citizens registered to vote. There was no check to see how many have voted but it isn’t hard to think that a lot of them probably did since it is unlikely they would register to vote if they did not intend to vote, unless someone signed them up to vote, knowing they would not vote, so their names could be used to allow someone else to vote illegally. Voters should note those who voted against The Save Act and vote against them in the next time they come up for election.
Third Sunday of Pentecost June 7
Meeting your neighbors Years ago, stable neighborhoods were friendly places where neighbors knew each other and socialized frequently. These days, few people know their neighbors, even in stable neighborhoods. As residential areas have been separated from shopping and office areas, many neighborhoods have become bedroom communities where people come home to eat and sleep. They shop, work, and attend school elsewhere. Few people sit on the porch or walk the neighborhood anymore. Where neighborhoods used to be filled with kids and they used to roam the neighborhood freely, there are often few kids and few roam the neighborhood anymore. We have become a mobile society where people live in a bubble and have few meaningful contacts. Members should be encouraged to get to know their neighbors. While many members think their neighbors have their own churches, very few do. There are probably neighbors who could use encouragement and support. Neighborhood Vacation Bible Schools, Bible studies, and children’s Bible clubs can help bring neighbors together. Small groups can become a door to attract neighbors to church or provide Bible teaching to those who attend church but whose church does not provide it.
Politics-AB-AN
They say that socialism will solve all our problems and make everyone happy but can’t explain why everyone is moving out of States dominated by socialists like California, New York, and others. People are leaving in droves. Almost 2/3rds of those who are still in Oregon have voted to separate from their State and join Idaho and 2/3rds of those who are still in California have voted to break away from their State and form a new State. Many companies have closed or pulled out of New York, California, and similar States due to high taxes and regulations. Forty five out of fifty three refineries in California have closed and most of the stores and businesses that we hear about closing are in States and cities dominated by socialists. That doesn’t sound like they are happy people.
Politics-AB-AM
My mother used to tell me that the proof is in the pudding while Jesus tells us that you will know them by their fruits. Many things look good but produce bad results and many things don’t look as good but produce good results. God wants what is good for everyone but our personal desire is to benefit me. Socialism promises that everything will be shared equal and that sounds good. But if you have six people and only one pie, no one will get all of it without taking it from the others. It will lead to fighting among the people. However capitalism says that if everyone contributes a pie, we have to give up a little, but everyone gets what they want and there is no fighting. They say that socialism benefits everybody because they get everything free but forget to tell you that you end up paying far more for it in taxes than if you buy it yourself. You just don’t realize you are paying more because it is hidden in taxes and you don’t see the real cost. The joke about the $75 toilet seat is not a joke. The government pays far more for things then if you bought it yourself. When I worked for the Area Agency on Aging, our agency paid a company $56 to mow a lawn when I could have got a company to do it for $15 or $20, but the government wouldn’t pay them because those companies didn’t have a contract with the government. It was so difficult to complete the paperwork for a contract that only very large companies could afford to do it. That is just for the goods and services. That doesn’t include the administrative costs which amount to about $3 for every dollar spent for goods and services.
Politics-AB-AL
God said He placed before us life and death and urged us to choose life. God told Adam and Eve that they could anything in the garden except the fruit from one tree and they would have eternal life. If they ate of that tree, they would die. Satan told Eve she could have that beautiful fruit and it would make her wise and there would not be any bad consequences. We face the same choice today. God has laid before us a plan to give us the best of this world but the powers of this world tell us that we can have the forbidden fruit and be happy without having any bad consequences. Their promises are as much a lie as those Satan told Eve. God’s ways lead to happiness and prosperity while the world’s ways lead to poverty and death. The media tells us that 3% inflation under Trump is bad while 8% inflation under President Biden was good. They also tell us that the economy was good under President Obama and President Biden when companies were laying off workers and moving overseas due to higher taxes and increased regulations and the fact that they spent millions of dollars on social programs to buy votes and funnel millions of dollars to their friends and their campaign funds. On the other hand, they are telling us that the economy is bad under President Trump where tariffs are bringing back jobs, decreased taxes and regulations are allowing businesses to expand, and the war in Iran is to prevent them from detonating atomic bombs in the United States. Like in the Wizard of Oz, you need to look behind the curtain and follow the money.