The Widow's Might screening in Wichita, KS -- Friday, July 30, 2010 @ 9pm
Our friend Cameron, one of the stars, will be at the showing. I first saw this movie at the 2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival where it won the $101,000 grand prize for "Best of Festival." It's fabulous for everyone, young and old.
Vision Forum's Baby Conference: Symposium on the Future of Healthcare in America Summary (part 1)
I enjoyed the great privilege of attending the Baby Conference last week. Here are some notes from an important panel discussion regarding the future of health care in America.
Wesley Strackbein, Vision Forum Employee and Panel Moderator
We must, first, understand the times (I Chron. 12:32). The church, generally, has responded to changes in technology, government policy, and so forth, impotently. We have allowed secularists, God-haters, and a brave new world vision, to define the issues. We are in the back seat rather than taking the lead. We realize God is sovereign, but as His representatives on earth, we are expected to obey. The first step is to understand the times.
Secondly, we must have an answer to give (II Pet. 3:15). We are to be always ready with answers that we find in God’s Word. A key presupposition is biblical sufficiency (II Tim. 3:16). Many Christians can see the problem, know they need to give an answer, but don’t think the Bible has the complete answer. We can’t just give any answer, but an answer founded upon Scripture. Proverbs 21:30 shows us that apart from God’s Word, our intentions will come up short.
Thirdly, we must show moral courage and follow God’s Word (Prov. 7:2). Anthony Comstock, a courageous defender of moral order in his day, said, “Give me a man who dares to do right and one ready at all times to discharge his duty to the community and to God.” He saw a problem and was a faithful Christian to confront it. He stood with courage against evil times.
We are entering a perfect storm, which is a simultaneous occurrence of weather events that are more powerful because of their combination. Factors include:
Social Security Act of 1935
FDA approval of the pill in 1960
Social Security Amendments of 1965: Medicare and Medicaid
Medicare Prescription Reform of 2003
Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010
These have laid the groundwork from a government perspective. We have looked to statist goal for who will provide for our family. We don’t look to the future and plan ahead, but rather disengage and become passive. This is coupled with a selfish lifestyle that limits children. Also, as a debt-based culture with much consumer debt, we are unprepared for challenges.
Phillip Longman said the ongoing decline of birth rates is the biggest trend affecting 21st century societies. Robert Samuelson said the boomers are retiring, which will strain the system. Longman points to debt, people looking to pets that will be of no avail to care for them, and other dire cultural trends. WorldNetDaily recently reported that health care rationing is coming, as Obama appointed a health care czar who is in favor of redistribution and rationing. Berwick said rationing is inescapable, so the key is to do it “with our eyes open.”
We have made choices to have the government provide for our needs and not to have children, so the system will go bankrupt. The system is going to blow up. The Bible says the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, so we have to fear Him and act with humility. Don’t cower, but look for answers. In the years of plenty of Joseph’s day, they prepared. What can we do as families and the church? There is an unprecedented evangelism opportunity. In terms of I Timothy 5:8, we must provide for our own. We must have a plan and solutions. The elderly will be most affected by the crisis, but it will affect everyone. Don’t let the NY Times editorial page define the issues. Lead the charge.Think about your own family’s needs first. Secondly, think about your grandparents.
What if … God is giving us this opportunity to take cultural leadership and evangelize our country and the nations as never before? The countries of Europe are even a few years ahead of us. We must not cower back but must take leadership. We can out-give the world. Look for VF to work on putting together resources regarding the crisis and solutions ahead. _____________________________ James Lansberry, Vice President of Samaritan Ministries
Wesley just gave us the good news. As we look forward, we see a ticking time-bomb. Medicare is underfunded to the tune of $80 trillion. We set up a system that was never designed to be able to take care of all needs of our elderly for the rest of their lives, and now we have technologies to make their lives longer. Because government pays for about all of it, costs have skyrocketed. From an economic and political, rather than medical standpoint, we have to say that the church has dropped the ball with regard to healthcare. In 1965 the church abdicated charitable care to the government. Rent-seeking politicians can now seek their own profit in a system that was never designed to provide charity.
Charity can never be provided by government but is always voluntary. The government can only steal. Anytime the government does anything it will always become politicized. The government pays out to the politically correct and politically connected.
Last year we exacerbated the problem with the “protection and care act,” which is a misnomer. The provisions drive costs up. One of the most dangerous aspects is that all preventative care has zero co-pays. The costs will only go up drastically. Health care will become more and more expensive and controlled over the next 20 years.
We have to look forward into the future, and we can say a few things with nearly absolute certainty: Health care will become more expensive, Medicare will turn down people in need, and there will be many more in need of the Gospel. Medical missions in the US need to become a priority before the baby boomers peak and the system collapses. We have to get ready with funds, personnel, and charity. Our parents and grandparents will have claims denied, and the government will not keep its promises.
The solution: Do not tax people further. It is impossible and wrong to try to make the system work. It is wrong to rob to provide charity. We need to make great sacrifices of our own desires to have the funds, personnel, and time, to reach out to those who are struggling around us. We need young men who are chemists to produce helpful medicines, doctors to provide charitable services, and charity in our churches. We will be able to help those in our community who have nowhere else to turn.
Medicare and Medicaid still exist because we have refused to do what we should. Churches send their members to the state for funds. Christ’s church is sending its children to leviathan. We are defaming His name. We need to place charity as a huge priority.
The issue is not funding or people. The problem, the biggest obstacle, is that when we begin to do what God tells us to do, no one will come and we will lose. People will go down the street to government rather than facing Christ. We will have to put the pieces in place, and just patiently wait for the government to fail. We will then have the opportunity to provide the face of Christ to the poor, sick, elderly, and infirm. The government will have to stop taking people for treatment.
We see glimpses of government failure, e.g., Katrina. Wal-Mart figured out how to get water to refugees when the government miserably and utterly failed.
We know the story of the Samaritan who provided two denari for the innkeeper, which was 40% of a week’s pay, without even thinking about it. We should have money ready for use when needs come along. We don’t know when someone will need us. Our “neighbor” might be someone we have not yet met. It is someone we meet face-to-face with a legitimate need, whom we can help with the Gospel. When we help someone with a legitimate need, they come face-to-face with the Savior. The church will then blossom as we love the needy. We have to put our house in order and be ready.
The patient care act will fund abortion and create tremendous problems. The bright spot is that we can still use medical sharing organizations as exemptions from the individual mandate. Most insurance companies already pay for abortions, not just when the mother’s life is in danger either, and the bill forces all insurance companies to pay for abortion. There will be no other option.
Think about how to pursue godliness in the health care arena. It will mean volunteering in clinics and teaching children. It will mean being realistic about what is out there and what is not. Think about your own long-term care. If you are under 40, Medicare will definitely not be there. If you are not 70 or older, Medicare will likely collapse during your lifetime. We must look at charity with faith and liberty in mind. Otherwise, we won’t be able to solve the problems. Even if the GOP repeals the act, it doesn’t change the insolvency collision course. They are not going to cut prescription benefits or Medicare. Seniors vote. No matter who is in power, it will get worse. Our only hope can be in Christ. He will work through us, His church, for His glory.
Fears about overpopulation are rising. According to a recent poll, seventy-two percent of the population is worried, up from 65% in 1990. The early Christian apologist Tertullian had to address similar concerns in his day, around 200 AD. Malthus renewed concerns in 1798 with his thesis that populations increase geometrically (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 …), while resource supplies only increase arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 …).
Malthus was proven gloriously wrong between 1800 and 2000, as world population increased 6-fold and world resources increased 80-fold; life expectancy increased from 30 to 65. Although Malthus rightly recognized that poverty can often result from lack of character, his wicked solution was to eliminate the poor by means of placing their cities near swamps to perpetuate disease, encouraging uncleanly living, withholding charitable assistance, and similar measures.
From Malthus, who gave us “survival of the virtuous,” Darwin learned in 1838 about the struggle for survival among ostensibly rapidly increasing populations competing for limited resources. In time, Darwin would refine Malthus’ thesis into “survival of the fittest.” Galton, a relative of Darwin, devised the practice of “eugenics” to deliberately select and breed a superior race. Chesterton rightly described eugenics as “survival of the nastiest,” and Hitler was the most consistent practitioner in history.
Sanger, also heavily influenced by Malthus, gave us “survival of the smartest.” She paved the way for social programming, including forced sterilizations in many states, starting in the 1920s and continuing through 1981. Sanger believed in extermination of the lesser races to make room for those she considered to be superior. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in the 1927 Buck v. Bell case regarding forced sterilization, infamously declared in his 8-1 majority opinion, “Three generations of imbeciles is enough.”
The social programmers would come to discover that propaganda through the media and schooling establishments is more effective than coercive measures to reduce populations. For example, China’s one-child policy, enforced in a horrifically totalitarian manner, has resulted in a birthrate of 1.6. South Korea, without any coercion, has reduced its birthrate to 1.1, the lowest in the world. Statistics show that higher levels of schooling correlate with lower birthrates. The key is not education and intelligence, but that the women have been more effectively propagandized in the established system with a narcissistic and existentialist worldview.
Here is an important principle of history we should learn: When men apostatize from a foundation and upbringing in the faith, as did Malthus, Darwin, Galton, Nietzsche, and others; the synthesis of backgrounds—mixing the city of God with the city of man—leads to something like the nephilim of Genesis 6. The most fearsome and horrific men are the apostates from Christianity. They believe they can predestine history in the absence of a sovereign God to carve out a pretended meaning in a chaotic world.
Overpopulation is not and never has been the problem. The great famines of the 20th century were created by communists, Islamists, and animists. Worldviews and character are the best predictors of prosperity or desolation, as the real issues are spiritual and moral. Men have been immature and are not taking dominion. They are immoral, fat, and lazy. We have wicked economic systems from men like Keynes, which have led to massive debt and will result in inevitable collapse.
Psalm 33 is our hope. We do not fear man, and we do not trust in princes or horses. We serve and fear the sovereign, living God alone, Who frustrates the counsel and schemes of the wicked and preserves His people in famines. As hopelessness spreads around us, we are hopeful that Christians will disciple the nations; we in the homeschool movement will serve as the monasteries in our new dark age; and we will restore godly liberty in family-based economies rather than relying on the state and godless corporations.
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to deliver two messages on the biblical doctrine of justification. My goal was to expound on the historic and biblical teaching of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. James Buchanan explains the importance of this doctrine:
[The biblical doctrine of justification] is an attempt to solve the deepest problem, and to answer the most anxious question, which conscience continually prompts men to raise, but which their minds strive in vain to determine--'How shall a man be just with God?' or, 'How can God be just,' and yet 'justify the ungodly?' That great problem may seldom occur to those that are habitually unmindful of God, and of their relation to Him; and should it be suggested to their minds, it will probably be lightly dismissed, as long as they cherish slight views of sin, and have little or no sense of their solemn responsibilities and prospects as subjects of the righteous government of God. ... The Gospel of Christ alone has presented that problem in all its magnitude, and in its just proportions; and the Gospel of Christ alone has offered a solution of it, based on a full view of the Attributes of God,--of the unalterable requirements of His Law,--of the principles and ends of His Moral Government,--and of the state, character, and prospects of man, as a dying yet immortal being, chargeable with past guilt, and still depraved by inherent sin. (James Buchanan, Justification, pp. 405-406, Banner of Truth, 1997 -- reprinted from the 1867 original)
. . .
The mere statement of such a problem, and of its indispensable conditions,--including the glory of God, the honour of His law, and the ends of His moral government, as well as the pardon of sin, and the salvation of sinners,--is peculiar to the Gospel of Christ, and may well be regarded as a proof of its superhuman origin: but the solution of it, by the Incarnation, Substitution, and Satisfaction of the Son of God Himself, is such a marvellous manifestation of divine wisdom as 'it could never have entered into the mind of man to conceive.' For none other than the infinite mind of God was capable of such a conception, either of Love, or of Justice, as that on which it is based; and far less of carrying it into effect in the stupendous work of Redemption. It may be esteemed as 'foolishness' by those who have never seriously considered, or sufficiently realised, the conditions of the great problem; but no sooner is any one brought, under the teaching of the Word and Spirit of God, to apprehend them aright, and to apply them in earnest to the case of his own soul, than that which hitherto seemed to be 'foolishness,' is seen to be the 'wisdom of God.' Hence,--while the very repugnance with which it is regarded by many affords ample evidence that it could never have been invented by men,--the best and most convincing evidence of its divine origin is discerned, when it is seen to be worthy of the infinite perfections of God, as well as adapted to the most urgent wants of man; and when 'He who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shines into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.' (Ibid., pp. 407-408).
Justification is not a subjective, inward, progressive moral change within us, but rather an objective, forensic (legal), one-time declaration from God's sovereign tribunal that our sins are pardoned and we are accepted in His sight. The best theologians have always been careful to maintain this distinction between justification and sanctification. The sole ground of our acceptance is not anything righteous wrought within us or done by us, but the extrinsic, perfect righteousness of Christ that is reckoned or imputed to us by God's legal act. By faith, the sole instrument of justification, we receive and rest in the person and work of Christ alone, renouncing any confidence in ourselves. We do not place our faith in faith itself, but in Christ and His work.
Last week I preached the first of two messages on the biblical doctrine of the atonement. The source of the atonement is God's love and His own eternal purpose, stemming from His free will. Nothing above or outside of God required Him to make provision for the redemption of a people for Himself, but He chose to do so from eternity for His own glory. Atonement is a covering for guilt, and from the Old Testament we learn that expiation involved the removal of guilt (liability to punishment) accruing to sin; sacrifice was the provision for the removal of this guilt. Christ fulfilled His office of Priest by offering Himself up as a sacrifice, once and for all without spot to God, securing eternal salvation for all who believe. Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will preach on the propitiation, whereby Christ was given by the provision of the Father to appease God's wrath; reconciliation, whereby Christ removes the alienation between God and sinners; and redemption, whereby Christ purchases or ransoms His people out of bondage. I will conclude with a discussion of the extent and efficacy of the atonement, demonstrating that limited atonement is an inescapable biblical reality; either the extent or the efficacy of the atonement is limited, and Christ's priestly work of oblation is no less effective than His present work of intercession for His people. The atonement is efficacious to secure expiation, propitiation, reconciliation, and redemption for all, throughout the world, for whom it was intended. This was a particularmultitude of people, whom God chose from eternity.
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