Since the vote for government funded healthcare is the topic of the day, and I was drawn into a friendly debate on Facebook, I wanted to make what I hope is a succinct argument regarding why I do not support government healthcare and why things are breaking apart. Our healthcare situation is better than most, much better, but I do not purport to believe that it doesn't have its problems. Costs are out of control, and if you self-pay, it can get very expensive, but we are in this situation because of our sin in general, not because government isn't fulfilling its proper role. However, health care is not a right. It is a business, but greed rules these days, and when a nation is not righteous, everyone suffers. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. (Psalm 33:12), and therefore, suffering is the nation whose God is not the Lord.
During my Facebook debate, I read the comment: "Thank God it is happening." And this was my reply.
"I cannot thank God that it is happening, because it is happening the wrong way and could very well bankrupt our nation. When healthcare quality drops and much of what we enjoy now is no longer readlily available, even those who could have paid for it will not be able to get it. Sadly, ill advised avenues are not justified by a perceived noble outcome.
Our constitution does in no way provide for the government to be the provider of its citizens' health care needs. The very framework of our nation provides the freedom for people to be able to provide for themselves. However, things are breaking apart. That is because we are fulfilling the prophetic words of our second president, John Adams: 'Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.'"
I am not looking forward to the changes we are now going to see. I am not saying that I am unhappy that people will get "free" healthcare, but we will soon see that nothing is free. The burden upon businesses will close many business' doors. Availability of current American-quality healthcare will drop. Get ready for waiting in line, as is done with all government programs. If you've ever received government benefits, you know about the wait times. And now, it is your surgery that you will be waiting weeks or months for. That is, if you are eligible. Rules will eventually have to be enacted to regulate the vast demand (after all, the largest group of elderly in our nation's history, the baby-boomers, are entering their later years right now) and some, most likely the elderly, will be ruled ineligible in order to free the funds for the younger, "productive" group.
As I said a few days ago, this opens a can of worms that no American who understands history wants to see. And therein lies our problem. We have fulfilled John Adam's declaration. Let us pray.
This is my prayer:
"Father, in Jesus name, as a nation, we are no longer a moral and religious people. Our constitution is being challenged because as an immoral and unreligious people, we no longer find it adequate. We do not want to serve You, believe You for our needs to be met, or obey Your commandments for life and liberty, and therefore, we cannot prosper and be in health as our soul prospers. Our collective soul is not prospering. Lord, we need two things. We need revival among Your people. We need American Christians who will once again seek righteousness. Lord, your people are well versed in seeking their dreams, but we are no longer exhorted to first seek You and your righteousness. Lord God, revive Your people, and revive Your pulpits. Revive the proclamation of truth. Secondly, we need Your mercy. We ask for ungodly leaders to be removed from office, and we ask for God-fearing men who will stand for the unborn, for the protection of Your definition of marriage, between one man and one woman, and for preservation of our true historical values. We pray that our children will be taught the truth concerning our history and our founding fathers, that our heritage would be restored and preserved. Lord, perhaps there is only a remnant of people who will agree with You and Your word. If so, we ask that you protect, empower and make those who believe and speak truth to be a force to win others to You."
Thomas Sowell has some thoughts I believe you need to read. Please find them here:
Thomas Sowell on Health Care
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty
It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt.
--JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN, “Election of Lord Mayor of Dublin,” speech before the Privy Council, July 10, 1790.—The Speeches of the Right Honorable John Philpot Curran, ed. Thomas Davis, pp. 94–95 (1847).
OBAMACARE!
How is it that our nation could be willing to accept nationalized, shall we say socialized, health care when the idea of the government providing our personal needs was absolutely anathema from the perspective of our founding fathers? A little insight from the book of Judges might help us see:
Judges 2:10 (King James Version)
10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
It was shocking, but God's people had actually forgotten all the astonishing miracles He had done for them in acquiring their freedom from the 400-year tour in bondage country. How could this have happened? It happened as a result of His people shirking their responsibilities in training their children in the truth and ordinances of God. He had commanded that they teach them diligently to their children, but they had-- obviously-- not done so.
And so, similarly, there has arisen another generation in our nation which knows not the price paid for the freedom Americans enjoy. The quarts, the gallons of men's blood shed to ensure our liberty. The viewpoints of those who remember how precious it is to have freedom of choice, freedom of speech, and freedom to elect a national governing body are disappearing, indeed, they have all but disappeared.
Eternal vigilance? We now know not what we would be eternally vigilant for. Our eyes turned inward we moan, "Government, help me." The arisen generation sees the role of government quite differently than did our ancestors. The stories haven't been passed on. The viewpoints, the knowledge and the world-view have neither been imparted nor deeply etched into the now arisen generation; We lost those when we turned our children over to the state.
By sending our children to the state to be discipled (we call it "education" today), the state has steadily groomed our children, raking off the fallen leaves of knowledge which preserve the soil of our heritage. God have mercy on us. Parents, may your eyes be opened and may you bring your children home from the discipleship of the state. God commissioned parents to train, educate and shape the world-view of their children. We alone can impress the vital importance of eternal vigilance to the next generation. Let the remnant be trained, and may God grant us mercy to continue in freedom.
--JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN, “Election of Lord Mayor of Dublin,” speech before the Privy Council, July 10, 1790.—The Speeches of the Right Honorable John Philpot Curran, ed. Thomas Davis, pp. 94–95 (1847).
OBAMACARE!
How is it that our nation could be willing to accept nationalized, shall we say socialized, health care when the idea of the government providing our personal needs was absolutely anathema from the perspective of our founding fathers? A little insight from the book of Judges might help us see:
Judges 2:10 (King James Version)
10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
It was shocking, but God's people had actually forgotten all the astonishing miracles He had done for them in acquiring their freedom from the 400-year tour in bondage country. How could this have happened? It happened as a result of His people shirking their responsibilities in training their children in the truth and ordinances of God. He had commanded that they teach them diligently to their children, but they had-- obviously-- not done so.
And so, similarly, there has arisen another generation in our nation which knows not the price paid for the freedom Americans enjoy. The quarts, the gallons of men's blood shed to ensure our liberty. The viewpoints of those who remember how precious it is to have freedom of choice, freedom of speech, and freedom to elect a national governing body are disappearing, indeed, they have all but disappeared.
Eternal vigilance? We now know not what we would be eternally vigilant for. Our eyes turned inward we moan, "Government, help me." The arisen generation sees the role of government quite differently than did our ancestors. The stories haven't been passed on. The viewpoints, the knowledge and the world-view have neither been imparted nor deeply etched into the now arisen generation; We lost those when we turned our children over to the state.
By sending our children to the state to be discipled (we call it "education" today), the state has steadily groomed our children, raking off the fallen leaves of knowledge which preserve the soil of our heritage. God have mercy on us. Parents, may your eyes be opened and may you bring your children home from the discipleship of the state. God commissioned parents to train, educate and shape the world-view of their children. We alone can impress the vital importance of eternal vigilance to the next generation. Let the remnant be trained, and may God grant us mercy to continue in freedom.
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