Sharing Christ Most Christians do not talk about church or the Gospel outside of church for fear of offending someone, so most people don’t know whether their neighbors attend church or not. While many Christians assume their neighbors attend a church somewhere, the fact is that most probably do not. If your neighbors attend church, their church may not provide fellowship and support and they may welcome friendship with other Christians, or their church may be too far away for them to participate in many church activities. If they do not attend church, they may be seeking a church but not know anyone who belongs to one providing an opportunity to invite them. Many of their neighbors have not had any contact with a church and do not have any reason to seek one. Those without Christ often live day to day, their only hope is to survive until tomorrow. They will not know that Christ can made a difference in their life until they see that it has made a difference in your life. As you visit your neighbors, you can witness to them about the benefits of attending church and may even get a chance to tell them about Christ.
Sanctity of Life-A-2-I
The Attorney Generals of 22 States have called on the FDA to reverse its new policy on abortion pills. Until recently the drugs were considered so dangerous that they could only be administered in a hospital setting with an attending physician present. However, the FDA has issued new guidelines at the urging of President Biden that allow it to be sold over the counter by licensed pharmacies with no medical supervision. It is hard to imagine that the previous restrictions are suddenly no longer needed. If it was felt to be that dangerous before, why isn’t it considered dangerous now? All pregnancies can cause severe bleeding and infection if the afterbirth does not come away clean. Abortion drugs increase the risk because the child is forcefully expelled and not a natural birth. Most natural births are attended by a doctor or midwife who can spot problems but the drugs can now be purchased over the counter or by mail and taken in the privacy of their own home where there won’t be any doctor or midwife present and the woman may be completely alone with no one available to summon help in case she has a medical emergency. The woman does not even need to consult a doctor before purchasing it to see if she is at risk of complications. It is irresponsible to dispense such dangerous drugs with no medical supervision.
Politics-AB-W
President Biden also authorized pharmacies to sell abortion drugs and Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy both declared that they will do so. Both did declare however that they would obey State laws and not sell them in States where it is not legal. The danger lies in the area of employee conscience. While federal law protects doctors and nurses from being forced to perform abortions when it violates their conscience, President Obama and President Biden both pressured hospitals to force doctors and nurses to perform abortions even if it goes against their conscience, and pressured hospitals to perform abortions, even when it violates their policy, in violation of federal law. It is probable that President Biden will pressure the pharmacies to force their pharmacists to dispense abortion drugs even when it violates their conscience as well. That is nothing new to them since President Obama threatened States with a federal lawsuit if they cleaned up their voter rolls, even though federal law requires them to do so. To prosecute States, hospitals, and individuals for obeying federal and State laws is a travesty of justice.
Politics-AB-V
President Biden continues to show his contempt for law by trying to override State pro-life laws. Executive orders do not have the force of law and do not take precedence over State and federal laws. The Constitution gives the States authority over anything not delegated to the federal government and abortion and heath care are not included in those things delegated to the federal government. In addition, the Constitution does not authorize the President to override any laws by executive order. Congress is delegated with making laws and the Supreme Court is delegated with insuring that they do not conflict with the guidelines set down in the Constitution. The President’s sole legislative power is to approve or veto legislation passed by Congress. The President is responsible for appointing the directors of the federal departments and overseeing and managing them. He is to see that they carry out the laws passed by Congress but does not have the authority to authorize them to violate those laws. President Biden authorized the postal service to deliver abortion drugs to residents of States that prohibit abortions and authorized the Veteran’s hospitals to perform abortions in States that prohibit them in violation of the laws of those States.
Third Sunday of Epiphany-Feb 22
Luke 10:29-37 Get To Know Our Neighbors-One of the greatest problems to spreading the Gospel in America is the lack of contact between Christians and non-Christians. Even in settled neighborhoods where people own their homes, there is often little contact beyond polite waves over the fence and unfortunately, Christians are caught up in it as well. The best way to start is have members visit their neighbors to get to know them. Visiting one a week is not taxing but in five weeks will enable them to get to know the five families around them. We need to make deliberate efforts to spend time with our neighbors and get to know them. Visit them and take them cookies or a cake or invite them over for a backyard Bar B Q to allow time to get to know them. Do they go to church, if so where? Do they have family nearby to help in times of need? Are there needs the church family can help with? We will not know unless we get to know them. Others may have needs and not know who to turn to. Establishing contact enables you to help them find solutions to their needs. Many may not have needs when you visit, but as you maintain contact with the neighbors through periodic visits, the neighbors may experience situations they cannot handle and may turn to you for help. Since many families are isolated today and have no family nearby, a sickness, loss of job, or even death may require more resources than they can muster and provide an opportunity for the church to show Christ’s love. As Christ points out, our neighbors include more than just those who live around us. They are people we interact with every day at school, at work, and as we shop. We often see them but rarely take the time to get to know them.
Sanctity of Life-GC-A
The first bills passed by a new Congress indicate their top priorities. Democrats in the last 3-4 Congresses have chosen to start their sessions by passing legislation that would open all elections in the country to widespread fraud by repealing all safeguards to protect the elections against fraud. They didn’t become law because Republicans opposed them. The Republicans opened the new Congress this month by passing a bill that would bar killing babies that are born alive. We aren’t talking about babies in the womb that you can lie and say they aren’t babies and people will believe it if they don’t know any better and aren’t allowed to see the ultrasounds. These are babies that are born and seen by doctors and nurses. They are breathing on their own. To kill them is cold-blooded murder. Republicans passed the bill after California enacted legislation to allow doctors to kill a baby up to 28 days after it is born. The bill won’t get enacted into law because the Senate won’t pass it and President Biden will not sign it, but it puts legislators on record. Liberal congressmen showed just how determined they are to kill babies. They condemned the bill as extreme and stated that Americans do not support it. The fact is that the majority of Americans oppose abortion and are overwhelmingly against killing live babies after they are born. If the American people were to vote on the bill, they would pass it without question. If the Congressmen who voted against the bill get reelected in the next election, it will mean either Americans no longer have any backbone to stand up for what they believe, or they are so greedy, they will sell their children in return for government handouts. The only other reason would be that the elections are fixed so the people don’t get to express their will.
Government Finances-II-L
No one talks about who is holding the loans of our government. We can only print so much money without fueling inflation. President Obama kept a lid on inflation by borrowing heavily, but that can only be controlled so long. President Trump cut taxes so the economy began to bounce back but if we don’t control the debt, it will drain all our resources. President Biden has resumed the massive spending extensive government giveaways fueling inflation. Liberal politicians continue to push massive spending bills. When we reached our debt limit, liberal politicians pushed to increase the debt limit. It is easy to vote to do it but ignores the fact that we will reach the point where we can’t pay the interest, let alone the principle on the loans. They waited until the deadline where we risked a government shutdown if it wasn’t passed, and blackmailed conservatives into passing it to avoid a government shutdown. That is not how to run a government. The government should seek to find reasonable solutions, not blackmail its opponents to accept unreasonable ones. Another danger is that our creditors call in the loans. If we have a hard time paying the interest, we definitely can’t pay the principle. China is one of the biggest holders of American debt and can easily use that to get preferential trade agreements and shape American policies in the Far East. The worst part is that China is getting overextended as well and selling the loans to the Arabs. That leaves us vulnerable to manipulation by the Arabs. They know that if they suddenly call in those loans, China would have to call in theirs, and we could not pay them, leaving us open to blackmail or worse yet they could simply shut off the funds which would cause our economy to collapse. Once it does, they can simply walk in and take over. Everyone needs to contact their Congressman (whether Democrat or Republican) and demand they cut spending and try to get the debt under control and in the next election, elect Congressmen committed to balancing the budget.
Government finances-II-K
The two most prominent systems that most people are familiar with are Communism and Democracy. First, all the so-called Communist governments you have ever known, Russia, China, Cuba, etc. were never Communist, where everyone is equal and the people elect their leaders, but there is no private ownership, the group holds everything in common. Leaders are chosen by the people from the people and are accountable to them. They were Socialist dictatorships, where the government owns everything. They portrayed themselves as Communist nations to make themselves look respectable. Hippies in the 1970’s fell for the deception and supported the North Vietnamese, backed by the Chinese, who were trying to overrun South Vietnam, because they believed they were Communist nations. They opposed the Americans who were trying to help the South Vietnamese defend themselves, because the media portrayed the Americans as the aggressors who were trying to take over Vietnam. The Hippies finally forced America to withdraw from Vietnam, which allowed the North Vietnamese to take over South Vietnam. Most kids I went to school with listened to the media and had no idea what was really going on in Vietnam. Second, America is not a Democracy where the people rule directly, it is a Republic, where the people elect representatives. Direct rule is impossible with the population we have so we elect representatives to rule for us. It is important to watch to make sure they represent us fairly and replace them if they don’t.
Government finances-II-J
Most people think of politics as a system of power and control but don’t realize that at the basic level, it is tied to economic systems. Increases or decreases in government spending, regulations, and taxes effect the economy. The bigger the change, the bigger the effect. Inflation is caused when there is a lot of available money and very few goods available. President Biden authorized massive spending programs and authorized the printing of massive amounts of money. In addition, he authorized several large stimulus programs making a lot of additional money available. On the other hand, he has increased taxes and government regulations on businesses to slow inflation by reducing the amount of money available. However, the increased taxes caused businesses to cut back on production due to increased production costs. That reduced the amount of goods available further fueling inflation. The result is the massive inflation we now see. When I was in school, we had to take a course in basic economics but increasing liberal policies have dropped the course from most schools. As a result, few people today know how to make a budget or balance a check book and it is hurting our families and ultimately our country. Many are easily misled by our media which supports the radical socialist agenda. While I deal extensively with the economic systems in my book, “Truly in the World, But Not of it-part-B” under “economics” and under “government”, I will provide a brief overview so that you will know what I mean when I talk about democracy and Socialism.
Legislation-H-C
Democrats voted to add 80 billion dollars to the IRS to add 87,000 new IRS agents as part of their Inflation Reduction Act. It was buried in the massive bill so nobody would notice. Increased government spending has to be supported with increased taxes, or it just adds to our debt. The implication is that the increased agents will crack down on tax fraud and net increased revenue. That is doubtful since President Obama hired thousands of new FBI agents who spent a great deal of time trying to dig up dirt on his political opponents to influence the election and insure his reelection and IRS agents were diverted from seeking tax fraud during the 2016 election to investigate conservative organizations that were applying for non-profit status, in order to threaten them not to speak out against government abuses. Coupled with the media censorship of conservative organizations, it prevented voters from hearing from organizations dealing with the problems our society faces, in order to influence voters to vote for their programs. As a result, all they heard from was politicians who seem to be out of touch with the problems we face. Given President Biden’s record, it isn’t hard to estimate what the new agents will be doing. Republicans just pushed through a bill to cut IRS spending to prevent them from hiring the new agents. It will not have any practical effect since it would have to passed by the liberal Senate and signed by President Biden, and that probably won’t happen, however it will force liberal politicians to justify their stand. Unlike the budget bill, the issue will be out in the open. If voters are smart, they will pay attention to who votes for the bill and who votes against it, and vote accordingly in the next election..