As I was preparing to write my weekly article, I came across a brand new report: According to the USDA, a record 47.7 million Americans are now living in poverty. A few actual news outlets have reported the very real possibility that by the end of 2012, the numbers in the U.S. could surpass a mind-boggling 50 million Americans living in absolute poverty and collecting the $134.29 average monthly benefit per person instead of working. In fact, just two months before the presidential election, the media kept a lid on the fact that there were three times more food stamp recipients added to the economy than jobs.
Big government is not just a present threat; it is a growing mindset and worldview. It is important to understand this battle for power. Here is an excerpt from my book, ERADICATE, BLOTTING OUT GOD IN AMERICA:
Social Justice is a code phrase of the left that believes in a classless society and that all differences in wealth and property should be eliminated. It is a political movement that generally believes that people are born into an inflexible social order.
Religious liberals have invaded evangelical Christian churches with their version of social justice. They claim to back up their fight for poverty and world hunger by the use of selected Scriptures about helping the poor. Every individual Christian is responsible for obeying God’s Word and doing what we can to manage our resources to help those in need, and humanitarian efforts should coincide with the preaching of the gospel. Christians need to be the hands and feet of Jesus, but poverty and hunger will never completely be eradicated.
The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have Me (Mark 14:7 NIV).
To liberals, social justice means a level of fairness as defined by them and enforced by the state. Their argument is that the church has not done a good job taking care of the poor – which is true – so the government must step in. The solution should never be government intervention. When government gets involved, who decides how to allocate money? This promotes an unholy alliance between the church and state. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 5 that it is our responsibility to take care of “widows and orphans” and those who are unable to care for themselves.
Christians are to voluntarily tithe to the church and share their finances (distribute wealth) with the needy, not be forced by the government through taxes to unwillingly give to whoever the government says needs it the most (redistribute wealth). Can government be trusted to use the people’s money honestly?
If their definition of social justice is implemented and many poor people are fed, this meets their temporary physical need. With government involved, however, it would then be illegal for Christians to share the gospel with the poor to meet their spiritual need.
Life is not fair, but God is good. He is sovereign, all powerful; and He hates injustice. However, unfairness is inherent in the human condition. God is just; human beings typically are not. That’s where the church comes in. Jesus did not commission the Roman Government to help the poor, and He never advocated taxation on the wealthy to pay for the benefits of the less fortunate. The early church took care of the needs of the poor and also demonstrated how a system of heartfelt, voluntary distribution could work. The communal sharing of the early Christians in Acts chapter 2, for example, was virtually the opposite of the socio-economic Marxism some church leaders are calling for today.
We need to be careful about throwing the word “social” around. What is “socialized” is state-controlled. Here in the United States, we have tried throwing more money at the problem of poverty, and we have found it does not work (see Detroit). When corrupt men are in charge of distributing money, it most often does not get to the people who really need help. Communism has also failed worldwide, and Marxism should have taught the world a permanent lesson.
Over the years, our churches and ministries in America have made the average citizen better, have fed countless millions around the world, and financed the spreading of the gospel. Without nations influenced by Jesus Christ and biblical Christianity, the world would be a much darker place; and there would be considerably more poverty both spiritually and economically. Would a system of socialism allow the church to do any of this?
Author and commentator Erik Rush, the man credited with breaking the story about President Obama’s former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and Black Liberation Theology, called social justice Christians another “well-organized group of traitors” to America. Rush said their religion has become superficial:
As with health-care reform … many are aware that social and environmental ‘justice’ issues are not about justice at all; they are calculated to deliver unprecedented levels of power to the federal government. I declare that ‘social justice Christianity’ is apostasy; its adherents have abandoned their faith for a cause…. While some are misguided Christians, others (like Jim Wallis) are out-and-out Marxist posers. Proverbially, they now stand with the Sadducees and Rome, against Israel. While I pray that God will have mercy on their souls, we must show them no mercy politically.
Jesus did not teach that the Spirit of the Lord anointed the federal government to preach. That’s the job of the church so the power and will of God can be revealed. In Isaiah 61:1-2, a verse Jesus quoted in the Gospels as well, He gives six reasons for which God had anointed Him; and not one of them mentions money:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God…
God calls us to give cheerfully from our hearts (2 Cor. 9:7), but God does not advocate additional tax burdens on the whole of society for any cause. When Jesus faced Roman prefect Pontius Pilate, He didn’t ask Pilate for financial aid for the poor. Jesus didn’t complain about injustices in Galilee or Nazareth or Bethlehem. He didn’t ask for the Roman government to step in and spread the wealth. In fact, Jesus stated: My kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).
Jesus Christ loved and cared about the poor. He did not abandon them, nor did He feed them immediately with the resources at his disposal. The first thing Christ himself did for the poor was to teach them… most independent thinkers admit that government programs can’t separate the truly needy from those who would cheat and take advantage of the system.
Conversely, private Christian charities and organizations are so much more effective at meeting needs and changing lives instead of basically throwing taxpayer money at the problem. Most charities run a tight ship by necessity and are just the opposite of government when it comes to eliminating fraud and waste while offering compassion to those in need.
America’s free enterprise system is not keeping people poor; it is their best chance for economic advancement. Social justice advocates would have you believe that it is the system that is the problem.
The bottom line is that if we don’t preach the gospel and lead souls to Christ, it won’t matter if they’re well fed come Judgment Day. In Romans 13, the people’s taxes paid for governing authorities put in place by God for their good, but the government never had anything to do with practicing compassion or mercy.
Other leaders of the social justice movement… often place emphasis on this present temporary world and minimize the importance of repentance from sin against a holy God. Humanism and socialism – the ways of man – will always fail, but God’s ways always succeed.
America finds itself in a dangerous place; we have a media and an administration selling class warfare and massive spending – and people are buying it. Many citizens forget that the government is supposed to protect the people, not provide for them.
Socialism has failed miserably throughout the world. History proves it; and yet there are some who are willing to give it another try, this time in America. Share the truth! Education is vital, and this movement must be stopped in order to save our great Republic under God.
Photo credit: terrellaftermath
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Washington’s Spending Addiction And Fiscal Deception
There has been plenty of confusion and misinformation about the national debt, the fiscal cliff, and new taxes on Americans thanks in part to the use of clever White House talking points and a complicit national media. Let’s clear up some of the current issues with facts and truth by looking at the numbers.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the latest fiscal cliff deal will add an additional $4 trillion to the national deficit. This is not a good way to begin 2013. What we do know is that the 150-page Obama-Biden-Reid ‘Tax And Spend’ increase passed the Senate and House with few details getting out to American taxpayers. Only ignorant and under-informed citizens still believe that there is any accountability in the Obama administration or that they’re attempting to govern with transparency.
With new Obamacare taxes already kicking in as of January 1, this is not a good sign. We constantly heard the president and his minions say that “taxes will not increase for the majority of Americans,” especially for those making less than $250,000 a year.
What we now know is the farcical fiscal deal doesn’t just hit the wealthy hard; taxes now increase for 77% of Americans because the temporary payroll tax cut was not extended, causing the Social Security tax to jump 2%, from 4.2 to 6.2 percent. We are now taking home anywhere from $50 to $189 less every month.
Already, many poor and middle-class folks have reacted in anger or shock, including some Democrats who believed it would not affect them. The average American family making $50,000 a year will be hit with around $1,000 due to tax increases.
How quickly we forget that in just one term, President Obama increased the national debt as much as all prior Presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush combined.
Before continuing, let’s recall a 2008 quote from then-Senator Obama who blasted President Bush for adding $4 trillion to the national debt – even though most Democrats and Republicans agreed to the spending in the hopes of avoiding a crash of the U.S. banking system and economy:
The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt from $5 trillion dollars for the first 42 presidents — number 43 added $4 trillion dollars by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion dollars of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $30,000 for every man, woman and child.
Hopefully, more open-minded Americans now see the hypocrisy of Obama claiming that the Bush administration’s spending was both “irresponsible” and “unpatriotic.”
To raise taxes on people in all tax brackets (not just “the rich”) was a mind-boggling move in what many call a recession, but this is exactly what they enacted. Cuts were not considered, now was the national debt of $16.4 trillion; so the hard-working people in America lose.
Before we detail some of the pork, it needs to be pointed out that the bill seems to take direct aim at married couples, penalizing them with hundreds of dollars in what might as well be called fines. Heterosexual marriage is practically being discouraged against. Families are the backbone of the free market system and key to getting the economy growing again. We’re now seeing evidence that this administration has much more invested in growing government than the private sector.
Senators received the fiscal cliff bill at the last minute and voted on it without reading through the legislation. Who can forget the Obamacare bill being shoved through Congress (while Nancy Pelosi infamously said “You have to pass it to find out what’s in it.”)? What did Pelosi think of the fiscal cliff resolution? She said it was “a happy start to a new year.” The bill contains $25.1 billion in cuts, however; big government liberals are thrilled because the same bill also increases spending by $330 billion over ten years.
Basically, the deal contains $10 in tax increases for every $1 in spending cuts. Imagine trying to operate a family budget or small business using this method.
President Obama approved of the temporary band-aid as he continued his Hawaiian vacation on the taxpayer dime. He successfully piled America’s fiscal problems onto taxpayers, further showing he never cared about cutting spending. This is who half of American voters chose to reelect.
Also seeing major tax increases are those earning $400,000 and couples that make $450,000 – sounds like a marriage penalty to me – including capital gains and dividend taxes. Moreover, deductions are now limited for individuals making more than $250,000 ($300,000 for couples). It seems like the Left no longer only considers millionaires “rich.”
Our government is adding about $4 billion a day to the national debt while the new ‘spending money we don’t have’ deal provides generous tax breaks, perks, and pork to selected corporate friends. The list includes:
$12.1 billion for the wind-energy (green) sector, $430 million for Hollywood film producers, $222 million for rum distillers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, $331 million for railroad operators, $650 million tax break for manufacturers of energy-efficient appliances, and $59 million to algae growers for biofuel efforts.
Meanwhile, unemployment has barely budged, food stamps have massively increased, and U-6 Total unemployment remains at 14.4 percent.
If any good news can come from Republicans caving again, John Boehner told the Wall Street Journal he will never again negotiate with Obama behind closed doors because the president has shown his true red colors, and his actions don’t match his public statements.
At one point several weeks ago, the President said to me, ‘We don’t have a spending problem.’” Once he got over his shock, the House Speaker fired back, “‘But Mr. President, we have a very serious spending problem.’
In keeping with the motto of not letting a good crisis go to waste, even the Senate wouldn’t even help hurricane Sandy victims without dealing themselves millions in new pork. Nearly a quarter of the $60-billion package goes somewhere else than directly to the victims or the infrastructure actually damaged by the hurricane. No surprises here. Both parties are at fault.
It seems our leaders in Washington keep doing the same things over and over again and expect different results. It’s fiscal insanity. Democrats now say the fiscal cliff is just the tip of the taxing iceberg while Republicans say they’ve compromised enough. According to The Hill, the President’s party is pushing for another trillion in “new revenue” before the year is out. Revenue (government income) to them means taxing the people. Americans are taxed enough already. Have we now gone past the point of no return? How much more will the people take?
Photo credit: Jessie Owen (Creative Commons)