PHIL

Dennis Miller tickles me.  He has said "we need to have a talk about free speech".

Of course, the Phil Robertson/A&E "dust-up" IS a freedom of speech issue.  But speaking candidly, does anyone believe that's the heart of it?

We all sense that Phil has pulled out a silver bullet.

So regarding the larger issue of morality, it doesn't matter what I think.  Or what you think.  Or even what Phil thinks.  It matters what God thinks.

It's pretty ironic how people with little Bible knowledge tie themselves up in a knot trying to explain how Phil is unChristian...while quoting Scripture.  They are ripping their britches and don't even know it.

We will all answer to THE Authority who has already written His position paper on the subject.  We might instead be about figuring out what He says.

Listen, Friends.  We all tell our teens "the guardrails are there to protect you".  And so it is with us.  God is FOR US just as you are for your kids.  You don't offer them drugs or destructive behaviors because you love them.  We all either live self-determined lives, or submitted lives that believe the Way set out the best way.

There will be peacemakers with a twisting stomach who read this and they wish we didn't have things that divided us into camps.  Jesus tells us to choose.  And he says something interesting in the book of John.  "If anyone hears my words and does not obey them, I do not judge him.  For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world.  The one who rejects me and does not accept my words HAS A JUDGE; the word I have spoken will judge him on the last day."

God wants our best and we should want that, too.

NOTES FROM THE MAGNIFICAT

Yesterday we loved a Mark Henry sermon on a favorite passage of Scripture (Luke 1:46-55).  Here are some thoughts from the notes.

Christmas has birthed many songs.  From majestic pieces such as Handel's Messiah and Bach...down to the 2013 season's offering ("Duck the Halls") from the bearded Robertson's.

Songs can be found for every style, but no one sings sweeter than Mary.

Mary responds to God in her magnificat after her pregnancy is acknowledged by cousin Elizabeth.  Luke gives us a look into this young girl's heart as Mary sings thanks for her unique assignment.  This is an ordinary girl from an ordinary village...with extraordinary faith.

*EVERYONE'S SOUL MAGNIFIES SOMETHING; MARY'S SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD.  To magnify something is to give it far more than usual space in my life so that my desires are shaped around it, resulting in joy or sadness.  For example, if I am materialistic, my happiness comes in acquiring a pile of "things" and my sadness comes if I can't have things.  The same is true for a workaholic or alcoholic or someone on a power trip or any number of placeholders.

I ask myself...am I magnifying anything above God in my life?

*MARY IS STRUCK WITH THE RICHNESS OF GOD'S GRACE TO HER.  Mary is a poor maiden, chosen from all the women in the world to bear the Messiah.  That gives her a moment much like believers have at salvation.  They look down at their sinfulness and up at God's holiness and feel most unworthy.  And so did Mary.  She wondered how a holy God could use her to accomplish His purposes.  

In verses 46 and 47, Mary says "My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has begun to rejoice in God, my Savior, because he has looked upon the humble state of his servant."

Mary calls God her Savior and is blown away by His goodness to her.  Am I doing the same?

*MARY HAS AN EXALTED VIEW OF GOD, NOT OF HERSELF.  From verse 48, Mary marvels that generations will call her "blessed".  Still, the statement is not self-focused because the very next verse she doesn't say "mighty is my name".  Instead, Mary shows her grasp of Scripture by going into great detail about God, describing HIM as mighty.

"He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His name.  He is merciful from generation to generation to those who fear Him.  He has demonstrated power with His arm; He has scattered those whose pride wells up from the sheer arrogance of their hearts.  He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up those of lowly position; He has filled the hungry with good things, and has sent the rich away empty.  He has helped His servant Israel, remembering His mercy, as He promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

Am I making more of Him and less of me?

MARY SUFFERED FOR THE MESSIAH LONG BEFORE HE SUFFERED FOR HER.  Don't you know as Mary protested her innocence and said she was pregnant by God...the villagers must have rumored about her?  Isn't that how small towns are?  "She's such a liar!" "How promiscuous...who does she think she's kidding?"

Mary was probably 15 years old.  What would it be like if everyone in town was whispering about you?  

Have I run to God in full embrace of His purpose and glory in my life?  

MARY SINGS OF GOD'S GRACE TO THE DISGRACED.  From verse 50, Mary says God gives mercy to those who fear His name.  And living such a God-respecting life brings good from God, but disgrace from the world.  Ever hear the term "fanatic" or "judgmental" or "right-wing fundamentalist"?  

According to verses 51-53, God challenges and defies and overthrows the systems of this world, scattering the proud and arrogant and bringing down the mighty from their thrones.  His "Great Reversal" lifts up those of lowly position as He says "the last shall be first".  He takes those whom the world views as of little value and gives His grace, filling the hungry with good things, but sending the rich away empty.  He lifted Mary and she worships Him because He gives grace to the disgraced.

Am I willing to suffer the world's disgrace for His name?

From verses 54,55 MARY PUTS GOD'S PROMISES TO ISRAEL IN VIEW.  She remembers the promise of Genesis 12:3 that God made to her ancestor Abram that He would bless the world through Abram's seed.  

Mary was saying that the same salvation was being brought to pass in her and would be spoken of for generations to come.  And while God's greatest saving purpose would be brought to fruition at the cross, we are graciously included in Israel's blessing by the Messiah's coming.

Am I believing what God has promised?

Here's a closing thought that we liked.  If you put a bug under a microscope, something small gets bigger.  But if you put a planet into a telescope, a large thing becomes even larger.  We want to be telescopes that bring God into view for others.  

Mary believed God and was such a telescope for Him as she sang her song of praise.  She wasn't singing about herself, but about God's promised grace and mercy from the Christmas Child.  Have you found that grace?

KNOCKOUT

This morning Drudge has a headline "Senate Knockout Game".  That's because yesterday the Senate changed their rules and chucked 225 years of procedure.

Nah.  We don't need those pesky filibusters anymore that give the minority a voice against the majority.  It's just too important to break the log jam and get something done.

Besides, didn't BOTH parties talk of doing away with the nuclear option? Yes.  Republicans threatened, but Dems did it.

Now it's full steam ahead.

Surely we remember the promises and positions that really appealed to our right/center country during the election of 2008...

We heard candidate Obama call for more transparency in government, less division, racial healing, pie-in-the-sky healthcare where bureaucrats weren't between us and our healthcare, the closing of Gitmo, enhancing our status in the world...and ending the war in Afghanistan.  He said all the right things and they were appealing and we voted on the basis of them.  Did we get any of those promises?

It seems we've gotten nothing but  smoke and mirrors in the place of transparency...major division of rich/poor and black/white...deception about healthcare...warrantless monitoring....persecution of enemies waaaaay beyond what Nixon could envision...worldwide derision...an explosion  of Al Qaeda...and lies.  We still have the twins (Gitmo and Afghanistan).

Someone wrote..."Mr. President, tear down that website".

Where shall we rest?  On which promise should we stand that is not based on sand?  Which conviction has not swiveled 180 degrees from all the campaign bravado?

In the last five years, if our Constitutional professor didn't favor a law, it just wasn't enforced.  Think of DOMA, immigration, Clinton's welfare legislation, and now his magnanimous offer to not enforce the law when we were "allowed" to keep our insurance policies for another year.  The courts have called him on his power grabs (such as when they struck down his appointee to the Labor Relations Board).  Now after the Senate rules-change yesterday, the courts can be "fixed" by a simple majority rule.

Here is a LINK that calls Obamacare to accountability.  But who will call the courts to accountability?  The Supreme Court?  Yesterday's action did not include authority over Supreme Court judges, but how long will it be until the Senate passes something including them?  We are talking about major changes for years.

Sometimes progress isn't really progress.

GRACE SPACE

Max Lucado says we are to enjoy THE SPACE OF GRACE.

Have you ever experienced that?  Have you felt the relief pour over you when someone forgives you?  Has anyone cut you slack when you didn't deserve it?

Mike and I are so grateful for each other.  Our anniversary is this week and we are privileged to have the blessing of going through life together.

But it wasn't always this way.

Back when the kids were little, we had lost our feeling for one another.  Differing expectations were a huge thud of a speedbump that  seemed impassable.  We were eating one another alive with arguments that repeated like Groundhog Day...before retreating to our corners.

I remember what true despair felt like.  We neither wanted a divorce, but both felt hopeless and clueless about how to fix things.  We were very new in our faith, and someone recommended a Christian counselor.  There were two times during those sessions that I will never forget because it felt like the clock just froze.

In one of the frozen moments, I was prattling on about how I was not being listened to and how right I was.  The counselor asked "Susan, do you want to be right or get better?"  Yes, that went straight to its target.  Still does.

Another time paralysis had to do with my bossiness and Mike's time away from our family.  The counselor told Mike I had become his "holy spirit".  It was true that my specialty was guilt ladling.  Mike was sent home with the assignment of listening to what the Lord would have him do about his time-consuming hobby.

At the next session, when Mike was asked "What did the Lord say?  Did He ask you to give up hunting?"...it was an E.F. Hutton moment.  The counselor and I swiveled in our chairs for his answer.  Slowly, Mike responded that he was willing to give it all up, but he didn't think he was being asked to quit.

At that point, I could either trust God was speaking to my husband and my husband has hearing correctly...or I could bow up.  That was the first time I can REALLY remember leaning back into God's control and letting go of my grip.  Immediately, the little voice chided "Sure he would say that!  What a fool you would be to believe it!"  What an irritating little accuser-voice.

That decision to choose to believe God was at work on behalf of the both of us was essential.  My steerage of the family was not honoring to God's design any more than Mike's abdication of his headship.  We both saw that clearly and our forgiveness of one another came quickly.

Even though forgiveness was quick, it still took time to plow through old habits.  But now we could be  THANKFUL that there was a plan for relationships that WORKED and a power source to work the plan.  Who knew the Bible had marriage principles?  In Jeremiah it says that the Author of that plan works it for our good to give us a hope.  We say YES to that.

Here we are with forty-three years under our belt.  At night when we hold hands and talk to the One who saved us (both spiritually and relationally) the past has no hold over us.  Mike hunts (abeit less) and I'm glad to be his earthly first place...so I gladly pack his lunch and enjoy my time.

We've found our retirement years to be full of the space of grace.

SCRAMBLED EGGS

Ever tried to unscramble eggs?

A former president who keeps promises that suit him has urged the current president to keep his promise to the American people and let them keep their healthcare.

With no other options, the current president agreed.

This morning, the insurance companies are meeting with the president.  That meeting might have been helpful BEFORE the presser yesterday.

Think the insurance industry doesn't need to chew a Rolaids?  They spent three years trying to come up with something to fit the command from on high.  Now it's "Oh, NEVERMIND".  Now all they need to do is just give people back their substandard, illegal, nonexistent plan.  Right.

Imagine how this is disrupting the market.  And imagine the pall the insurance companies must sense, knowing the next step is to blame THEM for the chaos that will ensue when they have to charge for what the boss ordered. 

The president's party may find it prudent to jump ship now, but they will need to own up to their dirty deed in 2010.

That's when Republicans brought a resolution to the floor to block the regulation that would narrow the grandfather clause.  Republicans warned the regulation would result in cancelled policies.  EVERY DEMOCRAT VOTED TO BLOCK THIS RESOLUTION.  

In fact, there were many earlier voices (called "extremists") who called for caution or a delay of the Affordable Care Act until the act could get its act together.  That wasn't possible.  It was the law of the land.

So we went full throttle into the land of Oz, only to call caution back from the dead.  The president gave us this wonderful "fix" coupon yesterday, but it is really only a pause button, good for one year.  Meanwhile, Americans want to know where the president got the power to do all this law changing?

The power comes from a lonely man.  THIS POLITICO ARTICLE says he doesn't consult his cabinet.  We know he doesn't consult Congress.  He plays a LOT of golf with junior aides.  An article out yesterday said some time back he told his staff to quit bringing him so many decisions to make.  That may explain why he doesn't know anything about any of the scandals in his administration, but it sure doesn't reflect well on his leadership.

The curtain has been pulled back and we are seeing the truth..but THE BIG LOSER IS THE FABRIC OF OUR REPUBLIC. 

THE PROBLEM

What has the nation stepped in with the Affordable Care Act?  What is the problem with it?

The problem is not that the website is glitchy.  Surely that can get fixed.

The problem is not that we paid hundreds of millions of dollars for the website and have nothing to show for it.

Rep. Trey Gowdy says for all that money, we got a sundial and abacus.  Charles Krauthammer partially disagreed with that analogy because he said an abacus works.

The problem is not that it has unintended consequences such as it soon will EXCLUDE more folks out of their policies than the original 30 million we were looking to INCLUDE.

Bureaucracy always ends up with unintended consequences.

The problem is not only that the ACA is based on a pile of purposeful prevarications (try saying that three times) such as keeping a doc/keeping a plan/saving $2,500.

That did seem a lot like Ron Popeil's snake oil, though.












The problem is not that after 3.5 years and $600 million dollars to make/promote it, the website never met ANY of its deadlines and repeatedly failed security tests, but constantly got passed along like a non-reader in high school.

Sheryl Atkinson @CBS reported this week that the man from CMS who was in charge of the website never knew of the internal memos talking about the identity theft vulnerability.  And the underling who signed off on that vulnerability waiver?  He retired last week.

The problem is not that "per-hour" navigators can be hired from illegals and the Affordable Care Act's regulations do not require that these navigators have a background check.

All that above stuff could be fixed.  Perhaps.  Now here is what the problem really is...

IT'S A PROBLEM...that people BELIEVED the promises of the Affordable Care Act.

We thought you could expect doctors to accept less money and stay in the system...we thought you could add 30 million people into the existing doctor pool without complications... and we thought it would all cost less?  Peachy keen.

IT'S A PROBLEM...that the ACA is KILLING the economy and job growth by demands made on employers.

AND IT'S A PROBLEM...that the ACA is KILLING the middle class by raising taxes and reducing income (by going to part-time employment or losing jobs altogether)...followed by government dependence.

The problems have happened as a result of two things.  The insurance industry needed a facelift and got an amputation.  And the federal government had a plan to become the single payer, and we now are in the process of that goal being realized.

C'mon now.  Doesn't it seem unlikely that we couldn't launch a website?  Listen to this take:

"From Pearl Harbor to the German surrender was 3 years, 5 months, and 1 day; from the passage of the ACA to it's launch was 3 years, 6 months, and 10 days.  We could mobilize men and tanks and planes, jeeps, submarines, cruisers, destroyers, torpedoes and ammo...turn the tide in North Africa, invade Italy, D-Day, Battle of the Bulge, and Race to Berlin...while at the same time fighting Japanese in the Pacific.  But we couldn't launch a website." Even factoring in incompetence, the failure seems unlikely.

What seems more likely is the plan has been working from the beginning.  First, people can't get into the website and are frustrated.  People who squeak through find high prices and get more frustrated.  Insurance companies are strangled by regulations and cancel, causing panic.  And government tightens the noose on self-insured businesses.  Without insurance, there will be chaos and a clamoring for government to do something.  Voila!

And when government becomes the single payer, how will people be able to afford "free"?  What does government always do?  

Government will answer with their familiar solution of throwing money.  They offered subsidies to Congress  and that's what the unions wanted.

What me worry?  The government gets the check.

Have we all gone mad?  Pay everyone's healthcare with what?  Americans are losing more money and the country goes into more debt while the health of the economy is hanging by a thread.

Let's remember this all began with the ORIGINAL DECEIT that the "Affordable Care Act" was constitutional.  The Supreme Court said government had no right to compel Americans to either buy something or pay a fine, but then John Roberts threw out a lifeline.  He said it COULD be considered constitutional if it was called it a tax (which, of course, the president had said all along it WASN'T).  No one ever wants more taxes, but lipstick was put on that pig and the ACA squeaked through.

Liberty took a black eye that day.  It is highly unlikely that a sixth of our economy could be based on something crooked that hides in the skirts of "doing good for others".  This unhappy American chapter is not about compassion, but about power over people.  Now the government has all our information... so HIPPA, begone!

PANTS ON FIRE

Everyone knows God is love, but does the Lord hate anything?  Here's what Proverbs 6 says:

"There are six things that the Lord hates, even seven things that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift to run to evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who spreads discord among family members."

Did you notice "lying" mentioned TWICE?  It would seem safe to assume that because God is truth, He will not abide the corruption of what is true.

When we were told that whopper about keeping our doc/insurance plan, we heard NOTHING about it coming with an "if" clause.

But White House conversations (registered in the Federal record) prove it was known what their legislation would do back in 2010.  In fact, they DESIGNED the regulations to push people out of their plans.  We are headed to single payer, all to become charges of the state.

So it was boldfaced and purposeful.  The president bought re-election and support for his plan by telling people they would save $2,500 on their plan.

Another big seller promised was that you could keep your plan.  We fell for that promise because we liked our plan and wanted to keep it.  Huh?  We liked our old one, but needed a new one?

Little did we know that we would be complicit in our own insurance demise.

Why aren't insurance companies talking?  Good question.  You don't hear a peep out of them.  Perhaps they were told EVERYONE would be required to have a policy...even the uninsured...and saw all the new customers.  Now they've been required to not divulge the cancellation numbers.  Surely they can foresee being run out of the business.

Now seniors are paying for maternity plans.  Young people are thought to have extra money to support the health needs of seniors.

Those may be the humorous aspects of what's happening, but it's not funny that the administration thinks Americans are too stupid to understand how good the ACA will be for everyone.

We get it; we just don't think it will work...and we don't think we can afford it.  Welfare didn't work and welfare is breaking us.  The website didn't work and it cost in the hundreds of millions.  How long can government throw money at a problem?

There's an interesting thing being said now to scratch dirt up over the lie.  Democrats and Bill Maher say the lie was brilliant political strategy.

So THAT'S where we've come?

Get a pass for telling a boldface lie in order to do something for the country that they don't want and you have to disguise to get elected.  The end justifies the means.

Disgusting.

People who think lies go unpunished are mistaken.  God keeps a record of our deeds.  So while your base may be celebrating your accomplishment, Mr. President, the reality is that your word just lost market value.

"Keep your doctor...IF"?  Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have much in common.  They both torture two-letter words.