PERILOUS TIMES--# 4

For the first time since Social Security came into being in 1935, more is being paid out than comes in.

Technically, the fund isn’t broke. It holds trillions of dollars worth of IOUs the federal government owes but can’t pay because politicians borrowed the SS money and spent it. The U.S. government will need another loan to make up the difference between what comes in to Social Security and what goes out.

We also know Medicare is going broke, as well as many individuals, small businesses, corporations, financial institutions, banks, cities and states. The President already has said $50 billion will be cut from Medicare under the new health care bill, and though it’s been denied, we know care for the elderly will be rationed because Baby Boomers now are going into Medicare.

On March 21, when Congress passed the health care bill, some economists said it would bankrupt America or put the nation so far in debt many folks will pay 60 percent of their income in taxes---and saddle another generation and maybe more with massive debt. Taxes begin immediately, but most benefits won’t be implemented for four years. But the nation appears to be nearly bankrupt without health care added.

Behind this law was politicians’ call for “Social Justice” and the “right” of every person to health care. Those for government health care feel a certain “righteousness” for providing healthcare for the uninsured, especially with the term "Social Justice."

Taking care of the needs of everyone on U.S. soil sounds good. Yet, there are programs already in place for the uninsured and underinsured such as Community Health Centers where patients pay on a sliding fee scale according to income. We also have Medicaid, and the millions who could pay for insurance, but choose to spend their money for something else.

we do need changes in the system that allows lawyers to prey upon pharmaceutical companies, doctors, hospitals and file huge malpractice claims, taking a large chunk of the awarded money themselves. Torte reform would limit such claims to reasonable amounts to help the affected people and should limit the amount attorneys receive for handling the cases.

We also need health care to be available across state lines, and to have at least some stricter regulations for insurance companies.

The economy and the health-care law aren’t the only worrisome events in our nation. A number of people in the current administration have radical ideals of Saul Alinsky and the Cloward-Piven strategy. Both would collapse our current system of capitalist government and take away many of our freedoms.

Some say the C-P strategy has been creeping into our political system since the 1960s. This week Congress is debating controlling Wall Street and American business. When the government controls Wall Street, health care, student loans, own car companies, and keeps appointing judges that legislate from the bench, politicians probably will control the population.

Most likely, students attending Christian colleges will be denied loans if the health care bill is not overturned (for some reason it was attached to health care), and possibly all students will be told where they can attend college.

Political commentators say this administration is using “Social Justice” as a way to reach people of faith so they’ll fall into the maze moving us away from freedom, through socialism to Marxism and communism. Contrary to what they want you to believe, Jesus did not take away people’s coats or their money so he could transfer wealth to the poor. He told US to GIVE of our own free will, and that’s what Christians have done since the beginning.

I agree with commentator Glenn Beck that what we need is "Equal Justice", not "Social Justice." Dictators in the last century used Social Justice, and other nice sounding words to grasp power, redistribute wealth and control people. Those thought inferior or disagreeable were shot or incinerated.

The first time I saw television news, Castro’s men were mowing down Cubans with machine guns in front of burial pits. That is where Castro’s “Social Justice” was carried out. Castro's Social Justice is why many Cubans risked their lives swimming or jumping in overloaded boats trying to reach the United States.

Freedom is a precious gift. The Pilgrims came to America not to discover a land of opportunity, but for religious freedom.

What are we doing with our freedom in these perilous times? Are we in church when we can be? Are we openly witnessing to the lost and loving them into the Kingdom? Are we reading and memorizing the Word in case our Bibles are taken away as they have been in other nations?

As one of my favorite pastors says, “Remember our future doesn’t lie in the hands of politicians—it’s in the hands of God.”

We can't forget that. But we can vote, and “Walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” Ephesians 5:15-17.