Resolving Disagreements And Conflict Within The Church Congregation

One of the sad realities of church life is that disagreements and conflict seem to be present among Christians just as much as non-Christians. The unity and peace of the Church may be destroyed over the color of choir robes and other “indifferent” matters. Jesus prayed to the Father: 22 “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17) Churches today are still striving to obtain the unity of oneness that Jesus spoke of. We have this high calling to be a witness to the world in our relationships with other Christians. Why is this so difficult and what do we do about it?

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. . . . God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. (1 Corinthians 12:14-26)

The body of Christ (the church) is made up of many members. The people found in your local church have different talents and gifts. They also have different personalities and backgrounds. They have similar and different problems that they face each day. Each has a personal point of view through which they evaluate what is taking place within the church; and because they are sinners, continuing in need of growth in grace, they each have their own personalized church agenda. Unfortunately, that agenda may not always be Biblical or pursued in a Scriptural manner.

Nevertheless, the church is blessed by the gifts and talents which God distributes throughout the congregation. This same diversity of gifts and people, however, can also be the source of disagreements about how worship and other areas of ministry should be conducted in the body of Christ. We may all be Christians, but we are still works in progress. The level of Christian maturity and holiness varies from one Christian to another. None of us are without sin. Nor do we make the best decisions consistently. Often, these disagreements destroy the unity and bond of peace within the church.

So, what do we do when we find ourselves or the members of our congregation in conflict?

23” So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:22-24)

All conflict within the church must be approached from the teachings of the Scriptures. This is important because our worship of God is spoiled by disunity and unforgiveness.

For instance, conflict is a source of anger which is the response of a person’s frustration with things not going the way he believes they should. His anger may be justified or not. How he handles his anger determines his level of maturity as a Christian.

26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. (Ephesians 4)

Imagine that we disagree with the way a certain ministry is being done or a decision that our church officers have made. What are we to do? Do we remember the commitments we made when we joined our church?

In our church denomination, new members covenant with God and His Church by affirming questions asked in front of the congregation. One of those questions asks: “Do you submit yourself in the spirit of love to the government and discipline of this church, and seek the peace, purity and prosperity of this congregation so long as you are a member of it?”

When we disagree over an issue in the church, we must not forget our vows.

We should also ask ourselves, “Is this disagreement over an ethical/moral issue? Does it concern the truth of the Scriptures?” If it is either, it certainly raises the level of seriousness with which the issue should be approached.

If, however, the issue centers on one way of doing something versus another way of doing it, I would recommend that we tread softly (This is my primary concern in this article. I believe that most disputes within the church are based on personal preferences.). This is when we should ask ourselves, “Why do we join a church?” A person should not become a member of a church for its great music program or because its youth ministry takes the kids on great field trips. We should choose to become a member of a church because of its faithfulness to the Word of God. Otherwise, we have made music or the youth ministry our god (idol).

16 Never be wise in your own sight. . . . 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. (Romans 12)

8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. (1 Peter 3)

5 Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5)

Have we considered that we might be wrong? Have we considered that we have made this issue more important in our lives and thinking than it is to God? Heaven forbid, but it is easy to make such a dispute more important than God and His Word.

Through the church, God builds a Christian community. God desires for us to continue in that community and avoid “church hopping.” A legitimate reason to leave a church (for example) is that the Word of God is not being taught or immorality is openly practiced and the leadership of the church fails to enforce church discipline. The process of settling differences of opinion may be difficult, but when it comes to “indifferent” preferences – we must allow the Holy Spirit to bring us to reconciliation; not winning an argument or getting our way. Through this community, God is using other Christians to shape us for His purposes. A brother in Christ may rub us the wrong way, but God has placed him in our church life for a purpose. We should pray to understand what God is teaching us through His providential care.

17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27)

How do we solve disputes with our fellow Christians? Jesus provides us with an appropriate response (even if sin is not involved):

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. (Matthew 18)

What if our disagreement is with a ministry or administrative policy of the church? In this case we should go first to the person who is the immediate supervisor over the area about which we are concerned. This should be done with humility. If this does not resolve the issue, go to your pastor and ask for counsel as to whether you should ask to be on the agenda at the next church officers’ meeting. Ask yourself if you are willing to submit to your church officers’ decision no matter what the outcome. Follow the appropriate steps and remember not to gossip in the meantime.

5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. (James 3)

9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. (James 3)

Gossip is one of Satan’s most effective tools – particularly when there is disagreement over an issue in the church. Why are Christians, of all people, so willing to believe the worst about a person or issue before they have all the facts? When another person disagrees with our personal agenda, do we automatically assume they have a character flaw and wrong motive? The fact is that we all, Christians and non-Christians, continue to have character flaws throughout our lives. We are all sinners in need of a Savior. Yet, we ignore our own character flaws because we are self-centered and we try to hide behind the flaws we so quickly point out in others in order to keep our own selfish motives from being revealed.

Without the facts, some people in the church will sadly spread and believe the most vicious rumors without checking directly the facts for themselves. Instead of going to the persons directly involved and getting the whole story, there is too much of a tendency to accept second hand information as the absolute truth and then go about sharing it as a “prayer request” with others. How many church officers have been confronted by a disgruntled member of the congregation accusing someone or some practice in a particular church ministry as being scandalous? Then, when the facts are checked, the complaint is found to be false because the accuser did not know all the circumstances and facts. The disgruntled member failed to go directly to the person responsible and check the facts.

What do we do when we find out that we have repeated false accusations or rumors to others? Do we go to each person we spoke to afterwards and ask them to forgive us for spreading lies? Do we go to the person who was the subject of our illegitimate rants? We should. We should fall down on our knees and ask God to forgive us for slandering our fellow Christians.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1)

Have we prayed for God to change the person or persons’ minds we are in disagreement with or to please change us? Are we allowing the circumstances to help us grow in our Christian maturity and faith? Have we prayed for reconciliation, unity, and peace in this matter? Have we prayed for God’s Will to be done? Are we willing to accept God’s Will?

9 “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6)

Do we personalize our disagreement into a dislike of the person or persons involved? Mature Christians separate their feelings towards the person from their feelings about a disagreement. We must be willing to believe that a person has honorable reasons for disagreeing with us.

5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (1 John 5)

If we are experiencing conflict within our church, we must examine ourselves and our motives. We must humbly accept the possibility that we could be wrong or the issue is really an “indifferent” (unrelated to ethics, morals, or Scriptures) matter that may not be as important as we think it is. There may also be many other ways than our’s for dealing with the area of concern.

Problems in the church can be resolved when we allow ourselves to be guided by Scripture and the Holy Spirit. We may also begin to see that what we think of as a problem is not really a problem at all. If we are truly submitted to the authority of Scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we may see that the problem is really us. We have been declared justified by God and yet we all continue to sin. Let us not forget to remove the plank from our own eyes before we begin surgery on someone else with a sharp tongue.

.1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! (Psalm 133)

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” (John 17)

Just as Christ prayed, we should always pray for our church, its officers, and the congregation. We must pray for the peace, purity, unity and prosperity of our church consistently. We must remember to ask God to conform us to His purpose in order that we may be useful members of the body of Christ. God is faithful.

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4)

If we follow the Biblical principles above, will we still experience conflicts and disagreement within our church? I am certain that we will. However, if these Scriptural teachings are taught and consistently applied in our churches we should experience these problems less. Christians are not a perfect people. On the other hand, should problems arise; mature Christians will quickly resolve them by applying these Biblical teachings.

Government’s “Substantial Uncertainty”

From: Gary L. Bauer

[Yesterday], the Senate Finance Committee voted 14-to-9 in favor of a massive healthcare “reform” plan sponsored by Senator Max Baucus (D-MT). Let me make a few observations. Every Democrat, along with Republican Olympia Snowe, voted for it. All the other Republicans voted against it.

In analyzing the Baucus bill, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) suggested that the plan would probably cost $830 billion and save the government about $80 billion over ten years. But the CBO looked at “conceptual language,” not the actual legislative language. In other words, the CBO didn’t see the real bill, and it admits that “those estimates are all subject to substantial uncertainty.” Evidently “substantial uncertainty” was good enough for 14 Senate liberals. . . .

[Yesterday’s] Wall Street Journal reports that the American Medical Association, the American Hospital Association and the insurance industry are having second thoughts about their support for ObamaCare as key details are being determined. That’s good news. Too bad it took them this long!

As the Journal notes, there’s an old saying in Washington, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” Every industry and trade association wanted to be at the table and on good terms with this new, historic presidency. Some industries cut deals with the administration behind closed doors. But business is learning the hard way that soaring popularity is not an automatic prescription for sound policy. Deals can be denied. When socialists run Washington, D.C., business is on the menu whether it’s at the table or not.

Yesterday, the insurance industry released a study conducted by the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. The study found that under ObamaCare health insurance premiums will go up, not down. If ObamaCare passes, families would pay $4,000 more than if Congress did nothing at all. Predictably, the White House and its liberal allies like AARP are firing back, calling the report an attempt to “sabotage” the plan and “deplorable scare tactics.”

Forget the insurance industry’s study. Look at life experience! As we have reported, a number of states have experimented with key elements of ObamaCare, and all of them have experienced higher costs. Other industrialized nations with socialized medicine have seen their healthcare costs rise faster than ours. There is no evidence that government can do anything more efficiently than the private sector.

Read more here. . . .

Not Evil – Just Wrong

Not Evil Just Wrong is the film that reveals the true human cost of Global Warming hysteria. It shows how Global Warming alarmism and the tax increases that go along with it are going to increase costs for working families during one of the worst recessions in living memory.

Al Gore and his allies want to ban fossil fuels in the developed world. This would devastate the American economy and drive jobs to India and China.

GET MORE INFORMATION HERE. . . .

A Culture Of Death

From: The Desk of Mark Alexander:

Considering the prospect of Socialists in charge of dispensing health care from cradle to grave, I was reminded, by none other than Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, that when one is in need of health care, one should not depend on folks who advocate a “culture of death.”

In [a recent] interview . . . Ginsburg said that she thought “at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.”

This comment was not some senile blunder from an aging jurist noted for nodding off during High Court deliberations.

In fact, Ginsburg’s candid assessment of the Left’s advocacy for abortion as a means for controlling propagation of undesirable ethnic groups is based upon the writings of atheist social activist and leftist icon Margaret Sanger.

Some 50 years before Roe v. Wade, Sanger founded the American Birth Control League, which later became Planned Parenthood, now the largest perpetrator of abortions in the U.S.

Sanger asserted that ministry to the poor, a fundamental tenet of Christianity, is responsible for excessive numbers of “unwanted” ethnic breeds. “Those vast, complex, interrelated organizations aiming to control and to diminish the spread of misery and destitution and all the menacing evils that spring out of this sinisterly fertile soil, are the surest sign that our civilization has bred, is breeding, and is perpetuating constantly increasing numbers of defectives, delinquents, and dependents. My criticism, therefore, is not directed at the failure of philanthropy, but rather at its success. These dangers are inherent in the very idea of humanitarianism and altruism, dangers which have today produced their full harvest of human waste.”

Ah, yes, “human waste.”

Sanger characterized the poor as “human weeds, reckless breeders, spawning … human beings who never should have been born.”

Read more. . . .

The Purpose Of God’s Word

Quoting David Platt (Pastor of the Church at Brooks Hills in Birmingham, Alabama):

“The purpose of God’s Word is to transform us into the image of Christ. The Word radically changes the way we live. This is why it’s more important for me to preach Leviticus than to give them tips on parenting. The reality is that Scripture is not a guidebook for a lot of the things folks are going through. It’s given to us for one purpose: to make us look more like Christ. When we look more like Christ, then when we’re walking through grief or a parenting challenge, we find ourselves in touch with Holy Spirit of God, who is able to walk us through those things we’re battling day in and day out. No other book in the Christian bookstore can get them in touch with the Holy Spirit of God.”

Cap-And-Trade-And-Healthcare

From the pen of David A Ridenour:

If you worry about what Congress could do in its health care legislation, you should be terrified by the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill, which could cost millions of Americans their health insurance.

Nearly 15 million Americans are now looking for work, bringing the official unemployment rate to 9.7% – the highest in 26 years. If the Senate passes Waxman-Markey, that rate will go much higher. . . .

The Heritage Foundation provides a . . . comprehensive estimate, projecting a family of four would pay an additional $4,609 per year by 2035. Annual job losses would average 1.15 million between 2012 and 2030, with job losses rising to nearly 2.5 million in 2035.

Higher unemployment rates mean more uninsured. In 2007, employers provided health insurance for 63 percent of Americans under age 65 and paid for nearly 90 percent of all private health insurance policies.

Continue reading. . . .

The Politics Of Moral Relativism

From: The Pen of David Goetsch

The political codification of moral relativism in America has devastated our culture, a culture that is increasingly characterized by drug use, divorce, fatherless children, teenage suicide, abortion, child abuse, broken families, promiscuity, child pornography, gang violence, homosexuality, crime, sexually-transmitted diseases, road rage, indoctrination instead of education, and a national self-centeredness that borders on narcissism. This bleak picture of American culture is the result of man exalting man above God and practicing the religion of secular humanism.

Politics is the venue in which the principles of moral relativism and the law of God clash most visibly and in the most practical ways. The First Commandment requires that we know God and acknowledge Him to be the only true God, and our God. We are forbidden to worship or glorify anyone or anything else. We can serve God or we can serve man, and politics is one of the most critical venues in which this crucial choice must be made. Choose to serve man as the left has and the result is a debased culture characterized by such things as divorce, abortion, drug use, pornography, crime, violence, homosexuality, suicide, child abuse, and fatherless families. Choose to serve God, and the result is a culture in which these self-inflicted societal wounds are healed as we love our neighbor as our self.

Read more. . . .

Jesus And The Poor

In The Words of Gary DeMar:

Alan Colmes, who co-hosted with Sean Hannity on FOX’s “Hannity and Colmes,” claims that Jesus “believed the rich should give to the poor.” Obama and most of Congress seem to agree. Let’s assume that Colmes’ analysis of Jesus is correct on this point. This is a far cry from saying that productive people should be taxed and that the government should redistribute their income to the less fortunate (Prov. 6:6–11; 13:4, 18; 19:15; 20:13; 21:25–26; 24:30–34; 28:19). A person who refuses to work is not to be assisted: “If anyone will not work, neither let him eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). For any government agency to violate this principle is in violation of the eighth commandment: “You shall not steal” (Ex. 20:15). Civil government is not exempt from God’s law. To believe otherwise means there can be no objection to socialism, communism, or any other ism.

The Gospel narratives do not call on the Roman Empire or Israel to help the poor except by limiting the State’s power (Luke 3:13–14; Matt. 22:21). Jesus makes it clear that it’s the individual and the collective responsibility of the believing community to help the poor within their circle of influence. The goal should be to get people out of a temporary condition of poverty; the goal is never to subsidize poverty.

Continue reading. . . .

Chipping Away At The Work Ethic

In The Words of David Goetsch:

A nation’s culture defines what is normal and acceptable in society; how we view right and wrong, who are heroes are, and what we want our children to believe. Culture is based on the values that are widely accepted by society and that we want to transmit from generation to generation. Many things affect a nation’s culture, but few affect it so directly and profoundly as politics. This is because the transmission of culture from generation to generation depends on a nation’s institutions (i.e. the family, church, schools, government agencies, the media, and so on). Few things affect these institutions more than politics. As things stand today, this is bad news.

Consider just one example of how politics can affect culture. A positive work ethic based on Biblical teaching has long been one of the cornerstones of American culture. In 2 Thessalonians 3:10 we read, “if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” Proverbs 10:4–5 says, “He who deals with a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes one rich.” Proverbs 14:23 states, “In all labor there is profit.” The great reformers, Martin Luther and John Calvin, translated these and other verses into what eventually became known as the Protestant work ethic. America’s founders adopted the Protestant work ethic as their own because it stressed such Scriptural values as thrift, diligence, self-reliance, self-discipline, responsibility, accountability, deferred gratification, and hard work.

The Protestant work ethic served America well for decades until politicians began to chip away at it with an ever-increasing number of laws and public policies that promote an entitlement mentality.

Continue reading. . . .

Great Privileges And Advantages

Quoting Henry Marchant:

“And may God grant that His grace may really affect your heart with suitable impressions of His goodness. Remember that God made you, that God keeps you alive and preserves you from all harm, and gives you all the powers and the capacity whereby you are able to read of Him and of Jesus Christ, your Savior and Redeemer, and to do every other needful business of life. And while you look around you and see the great privileges and advantages you have above what other children have (of learning to read and write, of being taught the meaning of the great truths of the Bible), you must remember not to be proud on that account but to bless God and be thankful and endeavor in your turn to assist others with the knowledge you may gain.” (Member of the Continental Congress, Federal Judge)

Christian Pro-Life Activist Assassinated For His Beliefs

Hundreds of people gathered in front of Owosso High School Sunday for a vigil in response to the shooting death of James Pouillon, 63, a long-time and well-known local pro-life activist.

“Not only did my dad die for these babies, he met them in heaven,” said Pouillon’s daughter, 26-year-old Mary Jo Pouillon, according to The Associated Press.

Pouillon was shot and killed Friday morning. Police have said they believe the suspect, Harlan Drake, 33, targeted Pouillon because of his vocal anti-abortion demonstrations.

“I do think he died for the cause of Right to Life,” said Monica Migliorino, of South Lyon, director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, the organizer of Sunday’s vigil. “Because of his Christian faith, he stood up and died for the cause of life and for his faith.”

Continue reading. . . .

Movies, TV, And Nudity

Quoting John Piper:

There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.

I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity. There is a reason for these differences. The violence is make-believe. They don’t really mean those bad words. But that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.

I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). What the eyes see really matters. “Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Better to gouge your eye than go to hell (verse 29).

Brothers, that is serious. Really serious. Jesus is violent about this. What we do with our eyes can damn us. One reason is that it is virtually impossible to transition from being entertained by nudity to an act of “beholding the glory of the Lord.” But this means the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation.

All Christ-exalting transformation comes from “beholding the glory of Christ.” “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Whatever dulls the eyes of our mind from seeing Christ powerfully and purely is destroying us. There is not one man in a thousand whose spiritual eyes are more readily moved by the beauty of Christ because he has just seen a bare breast with his buddies.

But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.

A Recycled Health Care Speech

From the David Horowitz Freedom Center:

The president’s health care speech last night consisted of discredited canards bookended by emotional manipulation. Between his distortions, token gestures for opponents, and lengthy bouts of tongue-lashing, Barack Obama signaled he will continue pushing forward toward socialized medicine. However, it seems likely he will move incrementally through a final bill that will nationalize health care a year after the next presidential election. . . .

The bulk of his speech consisted of recycled falsehoods long since dismissed. To note the highlights, one can begin with the moment that caught everyone’s attention: Obama’s denial that “our reform efforts would insure illegal immigrants. . . .

Obama did lie. The Congressional Research Service found, “Under H.R. 3200, a ‘Health Insurance Exchange’ would begin operation in 2013 and would offer private plans alongside a public option…H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on non-citizens—whether legally or illegally present, or in the United States temporarily or permanently—participating in the Exchange.” The Democrats’ plan contains no requirement that patients verify citizenship, just as the National Council of La Raza requested this summer. . . .

More egregious is his promise that nationalized health care would not result in, well, nationalized health care. ”Let me be clear,” the phrase he characteristically utters while muddying the waters. “It [the “not-for-profit public option”] would only be an option for those who don’t have insurance. No one would be forced to choose it, and it would not impact those of you who already have insurance.” A seismic change in the insurance landscape will affect everyone with insurance, and everyone who pays taxes. The Congressional Budget Office found at least 3 million Americans will move from employer-provided insurance to the public “option” by 2016, because their employers will drop their coverage.

Obama vowed, “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits, either now or in the future.” The Lewin Group reported the House health bill would run a $39 billion deficit in its first decade, rising to more than $1.1 trillion in its second. . . .

Read more. . . .

The Death Panel

Written by Andrew Klavan:

The people behind the long table do not know what they’ve become. The drug of power has been sugared over in their mouths with a flavoring of righteousness. Someone has to make these decisions, they tell their friends at dinner parties. It’s all very difficult for us. But you can see it in their eyes: It isn’t really difficult at all. It feels good to them to be the ones who decide.

“Well, we have your doctor’s recommendation,” says the chairwoman in a friendly tone. She peers over the top of her glasses as she pages through your file.

You have to clear your throat before you can answer. “He says the operation is my only chance.”

“But not really very much of a chance, is it?” she says sympathetically. Over time, she’s become expert at sounding sympathetic.

“Seventy percent!” you object.

“Seventy percent chance of survival for five years—five years at the outside—and even that only amounts to about 18 months in QALYs: quality-adjusted life years.”

“But without this procedure, I’ll be dead before Christmas.”

You try to keep the anger out of your voice. The last thing you want to do is offend them. But the politicians promised you—they promised everyone—there would never be panels like this. They made fun of anyone who said there would. “What do they think we’re going to do? Pull the plug on grandma?” they chuckled. The media ran news stories calling all rumors of such things “false” or “misleading.” But of course by then the media had become apologists for the state rather than watchdogs for the people.

In fact, the logic of this moment was inevitable. Once government got its fingers on the health-care system, it was only a matter of time before it took it over completely. . . .

Continue reading. . . .

The Plan To Deny Parents’ Rights

Quoting columnist Chuck Norris:

“Dirty secret No. 1 in Obamacare is about the government’s coming into homes and usurping parental rights over child care and development. It’s outlined in sections 440 and 1904 of the House bill (Page 838), under the heading ‘home visitation programs for families with young children and families expecting children.’ The programs (provided via grants to states) would educate parents on child behavior and parenting skills. The bill says that the government agents, ‘well-trained and competent staff,’ would ‘provide parents with knowledge of age-appropriate child development in cognitive, language, social, emotional, and motor domains … modeling, consulting, and coaching on parenting practices,’ and ’skills to interact with their child to enhance age-appropriate development.’ Are you kidding me?! With whose parental principles and values? … Do we really believe they would contextualize and personalize every form of parenting in their education, or would they merely universally indoctrinate with their own? … One government rebuttal is that this program would be ‘voluntary.’ Is that right? Does that imply that this agency would just sit back passively until some parent needing parenting skills said, ‘I don’t think I’ll call my parents, priest or friends or read a plethora of books, but I’ll go down to the local government offices’? To the contrary, the bill points to specific targeted groups and problems, on Page 840: The state ’shall identify and prioritize serving communities that are in high need of such services, especially communities with a high proportion of low-income families.’ … Is all this what you want or expect in a universal health care bill being rushed through Congress?”

Health Care Bill Requires Free Translation Services For Non-English Speaking Patients

Health Care Reform legislation now pending in Congress would require doctors and hospitals to provide interpreters and translation services free of charge to non-English speaking patients.

That will add $billions to the cost of health care and give immigrants even less incentive to learn English.

The “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act,” H.R. 3200, Section 1221 (b) says Medicare health care providers that fail to “substantially provide language services to limited English proficient beneficiaries” face severe fines and penalties.

This is outrageous. Medicare is already bankrupt. Now medical providers also will have to provide free translation services.

Read more. . . .

Nationalized Health Care Surrender Or White House “Bait And Switch”?

Is the White House really retreating on the issue of “Obamacare”?

From The Foundry:

However, as with the various other “compromise” ideas now floating around Congress, what really matters is the contents of the package– not the words on the label.

If by health care “co-op,” Congress means allowing private associations to collectively buy health insurance for their members or operate a health insurance exchange, or allowing people to buy health insurance from a non-profit, member-owned private insurer, then those would be positive, pro-consumer developments.

However, simply slapping the word “cooperative” onto a new “insurer,” but then specifying that the government — not the policyholders — picks the board of directors (as Sen. Schumer wants), or that taxpayers will subsidize it, or that it has to pay doctors and hospitals at Medicare rates, would just be an exercise in trying to disguise a “public plan.”

Read more. . . .

Liberal Myths

From: The Pen of John Hawkins

Almost every program the Left supports to “help” the poor in this country is surreptitiously designed to de-motivate them and keep them dependent on the government. The Left saps their will to work with welfare and food stamps, the Left reduces their income and puts them out of jobs by encouraging illegal aliens to enter the country, and the Left fights voucher programs that would allow poverty-stricken students to go to the same schools as the rich Americans. . . .

Liberals love to talk about education, but education in what? Global warming? Gay marriage? Self-esteem exercises. . . .

The liberals will tell you they’re the best friends Hispanic immigrants have ever had because they believe anyone who manages to sneak across the border should be made into a citizen. Meanwhile, Hispanic immigrants in this country who spent years waiting and spent thousands of dollars in fees to get through a bureaucratic nightmare because they loved and respected this country, are being played for chumps. It’s ironic really: liberal support for illegals puts Hispanic Americans out of jobs, takes food off of their families’ tables, and makes a mockery of their willingness to obey our laws — and then the liberals demand that they be treated like heroes by the same people they’re selling out so they can hire gardeners and nannies on the cheap. . . .

Continue reading. . . .

Top Ten Ways For Youth Leaders To Hinder The Youth Ministry

Death Panels Are Real

We Must Not Let Up!

From columnist James Simpson:

“I went to Senator Ben Cardin’s town hall meeting last Monday and came across a woman who had worked as a nurse in Britain’s public health system. She provided a personal anecdote that is little peek into what is to come should we adopt the Democrats’ plan. Catherine Midkiff, RN RSN, has been a nurse since 1979 and lived in the UK in 1991 and 1992. She earned $10 per hour there, compared to the $22 per hour then being earned by nurses in the US. As an agency night-shift nurse she earned more than staff nurses. Those women had to live in a dormitory on site as their pay would not afford them private residences. She said at St. George’s Hospital she worked on a seniors ward where 23 elderly men and women shared the same room. When she asked where the code card was, her British counterparts laughed, saying, ‘Oh you must be from America…’ For non-seniors, most British hospitals put six people in a room. Wait lists are extremely long. An elderly British citizen she knew came to the US to get heart surgery after waiting a full year in the UK system. Others weren’t so lucky. She said for many years, British hospitals had no trauma centers and thousands died as a result. For his part, Cardin simply perpetuated the smear against Obamacare protesters, claiming they were Republican stooges spreading disinformation. However, there were over 2,000 of us and only a handful of ACORN, union and party thugs. That we are no longer being fooled is becoming more and more apparent. The Dems control both houses of Congress so this remains an uphill battle, but if enough get the message that their careers are on the line, these utterly self-serving pols may actually come around to our point of view, simply for sheer survival purposes. We cannot let up. Not for a minute.”

Governmental Authority And The States

In The Words of Ken Connor:

How will the federal government fund the bailout mania that appears to have no end in sight? It’s simple. Bureaucrats will work day and night to find creative ways to extract more and more money out of the people. Of course, when there is more money flowing into Uncle Sam’s coffers, there is less money circulating in households and in communities. That translates into an ever growing dependence on the federal government for the performance of functions that should rightly rest with individuals and their respective state governments. Indeed, the bloated visage of the federal government has become so fixed in the nation’s psyche that effective challenges to its legitimacy seem utterly futile, if not downright impossible. Political constructs like “universal health care,” “free education for all” and “a hybrid in every driveway” are now viewed as unassailable moral dictates of the American creed to be mandated, managed, and administered by bureaucratic elites in Washington, D.C. Those who would dispute the legitimacy of this statist dogma are no longer invited to have a seat at the table.

History teaches us, however, that this massive government growth and consolidation of power at the national level cannot continue without detrimental consequences for the American people. Thankfully, some are beginning to reexamine the role that the states should be playing in these issues. A review of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution reminds us that the federal government was never intended to have the power it now possesses. The bounds of its authority and its role in America’s political system are explicitly enumerated, while the bulk and remainder of governmental authority is allocated to the states. In addition to the system of checks and balances put in place to ensure stability between the three branches of the central government, we have a federal system by which the states are to exercise power and check the abuse of power by the central government.

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Charges Filed Against School Employees For Saying A Blessing Over A Meal

Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman of Santa Rosa County, Florida are facing criminal contempt charges for allegedly violating a court order prohibiting prayer. According to the ACLU the two men were responsible for a prayer of blessing over a meal at an appreciation luncheon for former booster club members and other adults who helped with a field house project. A trial is scheduled for September 17. If convicted, Mr. Lay and Mr. Freeman could be fined or jailed and lose their retirement benefits of plus 30 years.

Last year the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the school district, claiming that some of the employees “endorsed” religion. Without hearing legal argument, a federal court entered the Consent Order, which unconstitutionally infringes on the rights of teachers, administrators, and students. The ACLU then complained that Mr. Freeman and Mr. Lay violated the order by saying a blessing over the meal.

This is a country that was founded based on Christian principles and yet now anything remotely construed as Christian is subject to legal harassment and persecution. I wonder if a Muslim or Hindu had prayed a blessing over the meal whether it would have received similar objections. Wake up Americans! The ACLU and other secular progressive barbarians are at the gates.

The Climate Change Swindle

Backing Up Or Going Forward With Obamacare?