Seniors and Obama's Healthcare Proposals

I guess I'm a little surprised that more senior citizens aren't concerned about this new government ran healthcare system that the President is pushing. Under the current situation, seniors probably have the best access to free medical care as anybody through Medicare and Medicaid. But will that continue if these new proposals go into effect? Not likely.

Currently there are approximately 800,000 doctors struggling to care for some 250 million Americans with insurance. And when I say struggling, I mean it... my personal doctor has so many senior patients I have to wait days to see him when I need to. So, what is going to happen when 50+ million more patients are added to the system without a growth in the number of medical professionals? Doctors who are already swamped are going to be even more swamped. Forget waiting days or a few weeks to get much needed tests or check-ups... we will be waiting months, and in some cases years. We see this happening right now in Canada and England.

Did you know that there is a 25% high death rate in Canada for colon cancer than the USA? Why? Because of limited colonoscopies. Did you know that the death rate for cancer is 16% higher in Canadan than the USA? Why? Again, limited procedures... limited space... limited doctors. When there is an overwhelming demand and minimal amount of service providers of course rationing is going to take place.

So, when a 40 year old and a 65 year old both need knee replacements, who will most likely get it?

When an elderly person and a young person both need hip replacement, who will most likely get it?

Who will have priority in the operating room, a 70 year old diabetic or a 35 year old healthy individual?

I know our current system is not perfect... believe me, I can't stand paying over $600 a month just so I can get reduced rates when I go to the doctor every once in a blue moon! But if the gov't has any kind of track record for running anything... it is terrible!! And I just hate to see what's going to happen when they do this. Of course, we can already see what's going to happen... just look at the countries who are already doing this. I marvel at how moronic some people can be!

Church - Having It Your Way

Tonight, I attended our local associational meeting of Baptist churches to hear about what God is doing in Eastern N.C. in the way of church planting. I'm excited to see how God is working, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that we have 6 different church plants or missions going on right now in our association. That is awesome because I didn't think there were that many.

One of the defining characteristics of most new churches being planted that I see (and older churches for that matter) is that each is targeting a specific group of people. If you like hard rock sounding music with a worship experience that feels like a concert, then we have a church for you. If you like high-church, liturgical worship that is very reverential, then we have a church for you as well. Maybe you like Harley's and tattoos... we have a church for you. If you like cowboy hats and spurs... we have a church for you. And in a way it is really good that we have so many different types of churches, because there are so many different types of people.

However, at the same time, I mourn a little that Christians have become so consumer-minded when it comes to church than really doing what is, I believe, more Biblical. Because in my humble opinion, I believe that the church that we should really belong to, worship with, and serve with, is the church where we live. Rather than our own preferences being the primary motivation, what about the community we're already a part of by living there? In other words, it's about being in a community and loving & serving that community of people no matter what type of people live there. I mean, I know people who will drive more than 30 miles away 2-3 times a week to attend a church that has more to offer them. What about the community in which they live? What about their brothers and sisters in Christ living 2 doors down the street? Maybe they need encouragement... maybe they need help. When did it become all about "me" and "what I want" rather than being about Christ and what He would desire?

Please understand this post, I'm not knocking new church plants or the pastors and people who are starting them. There are entire people groups out there in our own culture, that churches like mine just aren't reaching and probably won't reach b/c we're just too different. But for those of us who are established disciples, I believe we would do well to re-examine our motivations when it comes to selecting a church. Isn't the New Testament attitude more like "what can I offer," rather than "what can I get?" It reminds me of the situation in which a woman told her pastor that she was moving her membership to a bigger church because their current church just didn't have a good youth group to offer her children. To this the wise old pastor said, "Well, mam... until someone stays and builds a youth group, they'll never be one."

Proud to be a Southern Baptist

Last week, I attended the annual Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville, KY. I had a good time and once again, I can gladly say that I am proud to be Southern Baptist.

One of the things I am most proud of is the fact that for the vast majority of Southern Baptists, the main thing is still to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ all over the world. This was demonstrated in several ways last week in Kentucky:

1) Before the convention ever took place, many Southern Baptists were hitting the streets of Louisville helping those in need, passing out food, and sharing the love of Jesus with those who needed to hear it. And God greatly blessed our efforts. In those brief couple of days, there were over 1,000 decisions made to follow Christ. Praise God! It makes me very proud to be able to say that when we come to a city to meet, we don't just have our meetings and leave... we really try to bless that city!

2) Another demonstration of Southern Baptist's commitment to the Great Commission was seen in the motion that was made and passed, which authorized the current SBC President, Dr. Johnny Hunt to appoint and head a "Great Commission Task Force" to study and evaluate everything going on in the SBC, in order to report back at next year's convention with recommendations concerning how we can get even more focused and even more intentional about carrying the good news about Jesus all over the world.

Something else that I am proud of is the Resolution that was passed concerning President Obama. While we as Southern Baptists are proud of the fact that enough racial reconciliation has been accomplished in this country to make it so a black man can be elected president, at the same time there are quite a few of President Obama's policies that are just wrong and ungodly, and these things were denounced in this resolution. For example:

1) his decision to provide federal funding for embryonic stemcell research...

2) his actions to provide more funding for organizations doing more late-term abortions and less funding for abstinence education... and

3) his overwhelming support of the whole homosexual agenda, even evidenced as recently by the proclaiming of June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.

Even just today, I was reading in news story that Obama made the statement that many Americans still cling to "worn arguments and old attitudes." Well, maybe so Mr. President but these "old attitudes" are BIBLICAL attitudes. These were issues that we needed to speak out against and so I'm glad we did.

My Traveling Partners

This is why I listen to audio books when I travel. :)

Strawberry Picking!

Strawberry picking is really hard work...

But so worth the effort! :)

Obama & the National Day of Prayer

I know it's in the news right now how a lot of people are upset that President Obama is not really observing the National Day of Prayer like former presidents have done in the past, but you know for me (and this may surprise some people coming from me), but its really not that big of a deal for me. I guess most people, knowing that I'm a conservative Christian pastor would expect me to be very upset, but I'm really not. And here's why?

First of all, much of these National Day of Prayer Ceremonies are nothing more than a lot of political show. If someone is not living as a devoted believer on a daily basis, with prayer being a regular part of their lives anyway... then what good is it to all of a sudden to pretend to be one, one day out of the year? In my opinion - none at all.

Second, I generally do not like these National Day of Prayer Ceremonies because they are so ecumenical in nature. To me it is simply theologically dishonest and hypocritical to hold hands with people of many varying faiths and pretend to all be praying to the same God. The most dramatic example probably being Christians and Muslims both participating at the same time. Here you have two faiths that couldn't be more opposite, supposing and pretending to be brothers uniting together for prayer. The book of Amos 3:3 states, "Can two walk together unless they are agreed?" And the obvious answer is no, they can't. Even Christians and Orthodox Jews can't honestly meet together for prayer as brothers. Biblically we can only go to God in prayer through Jesus the Messiah, and they reject Jesus as the Messiah. So, all these different religious groups coming together for such purposes as prayer or worship or even missions with no basis in truth, in my opinion is not theologically honest or Biblically correct. Now agreeing to work together for some kind of specific social reform like world hunger, abortion, or the traditional view of marriage is completely different; I have no problem with that. But when you start talking about praying together and worshiping together, thats different b/c each one is making the implication that the other faith is just as valid as theirs, and that is not always true.

So, for me it's not a real big deal that President Obama is not participating in this event. The only little thing that does bother me about it is the question... why is he doing this and who is he doing it for? Let's face it... he's a politician, he's supposed to do things like this, especially since he's made the claim to be a born again Christian. Now, of course, I don't believe he's a Christian anymore than Job's turkey, but he himself has made the claim, so why is doing this? What is his motivation for breaking this presidential traditional? Is there a certain minority group of the population that he is doing this for? These are the only things that I wonder about. Maybe he's finally revealing his true self... an Unbeliever. If so, I respect him for at least being real.

New Sec. of Heath Seems More Preoccupied with Death

It is so ironic that Obama's new appointment for the Secretary of Heath and Human Services be a person so obviously preoccupied with DEATH. But that is precisely the case with Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of Kansas, who's avid support of abortion rights, especially late-term abortion, is so blatantly clear.

The following report is taken from an article written by Bradley Mattes, Executive Director of the Life Issues Institute:

As Governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius has worked to oppose: parental notification before a minor daughter can have a surgical abortion, waiting periods before having an abortion, and informed consent. She has vetoed pro-life legislation that would have afforded women basic health care protections in abortion facilities, as well as one requiring specific medical reasons for a late-term abortion. Just before becoming Secretary of HHS, she vetoed a bill that would have required that abortionists provide statistical information to the state when doing late-term abortions.

Kathleen Sebelius has strong ties to the notorious late-term abortionist in Wichita, KS, George Tiller (also known as “Tiller the Killer”). Women from throughout the nation come to him for late-term abortions. He has faced multiple federal charges for doing illegal late-term abortions.

Ms. Sebelius’ confirmation hearings revealed that she underpaid her taxes by thousands of dollars. She also greatly under-reported the campaign contributions given to her by George Tiller. It was three times more than she reported under oath. She also failed to report that George Tiller had personally given $200,000 to a political action committee to elect her. Governor Sebelius even held a secret party at the governor’s mansion in honor of this late-term abortionist.

Kathleen Sebelius is not just pro-abortion, she’s a pro-abortion activist, with a special advocacy for late-term abortion. 

It's comforting to know that the person so responsible for matters of health and life, seems more bent on ending life than preserving it.