President
Trump, National Health Care and Jesus
by Pastor
Paul J. Bern
The
ongoing debate here in America ever since Donald Trump announced he
was a presidential candidate back in 2015, and that he was going to
“repeal and replace Obama-care”, has reached a crescendo as of
this past week as everybody knows. Moreover, the resulting infighting
and partisanship, all of which is manufactured, amounts to little
more than a systematic division of the American people by design.
What many do not yet realize, however, is that this manufactured
division of the people has already become weaponized. We see evidence
of this glaring anomaly in American society every time Republican
goes against Democrat, liberals butt heads with conservatives, and
where ever hate groups of various kinds clash with each other. This
is also evident whenever we see citizens clashing with the police.
I've got some surprising news for those who hate the police, and
especially those who shoot police officers – the police aren't the
problem, they're merely part of the symptoms. The real problem is
with those at the top. Put your guns down before they kill you!
The
Bible has things to say about treating people brutally and government
oppression of its citizens, as well as the enslavement of people for
financial gain. The Bible says in the Book of Proverbs chapter 29,
verse 7, “The righteous
care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such
concern”.
That's God's take on
poverty in a nutshell. “The
poor you will always have”,
Jesus said not long before His crucifixion, “but
you will not always have me”.
The poor are humankind's responsibility, starting with the churches,
and the churches have shirked their responsibility to render
assistance to their surrounding communities by allowing the
government to step in. This is the exact opposite of Christ, who
healed thousands. During the early part of his 3 ½ year ministry his
immediate predecessor, John the Baptist, had become imprisoned for
refusing to stop preaching about Jesus. While awaiting sentencing for
his “crime”, for which he received the death penalty, he inquired
about his cousin Jesus and the status of his ministry, as the Bible
relates it. “When John
heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask
him, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone
else?' Jesus replied, 'Go back and report to John what you hear and
see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy
are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is
preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on
account of me.'” (Matthew 11, verses 2-6)
Jesus
didn't merely take responsibility for his ministry, he seized on it
as if each one of us is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform
great works on his behalf. Because, you see, that's exactly who He
is, and Jesus continues to do everything in the above 4 verses.
Although we have state of the art medical care here in the US, even
so the US has – globally speaking – by far the most expensive
medical care and the highest priced prescription drugs. American
medical care generates the highest profits because America charges
its citizens the highest prices by far. Jesus, on the other hand,
never charged anybody one stinking penny! Moreover, in case anyone
hasn't noticed, the
very people who call national health care “socialism” are the
ones who are profiting off the existing system the most. They're
afraid they'll lose their cash cow.
Jesus
also had lots to say about these same rich people and their cash cows
(such as Wall St. and the Federal Reserve). But, one of his most
famous and beloved comments comes from the Sermon on the Mount when
the Redeemer of our souls said: “Do
not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust
destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for
yourselves treasures in heaven,where moth and rust do not destroy,
and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6, verses 19-21)
The more attached we become to our material stuff and our accumulated
wealth, the farther away we get from God. But it's more than just
stuff. We can become more attached to our spouse or significant
other, to our children, to our careers, and even to recreational
activities like water skiing, snow boarding, our boats and
motorcycles, or fitness training. There is absolutely nothing wrong
with any of the above. But we must always put our personal
relationship with Christ first (which should not be confused with
religious belief) because it's invariably the most important! I
cannot overemphasize this crucial point!
But
God gave all of us brains to think and reason with, and we know when
we're being had. No
more will working Americans, together with its multitudes of
unemployed, stand and stare or sit and grumble about having upside
down loans on our houses and cars, and being the only developed
nation on earth that refuses to provide national health care and
higher education to its citizens! Exactly the opposite occurs in
America, where financial institutions extract an ever greater portion
of American wealth (in the form of student loans, unconstitutional
taxes, etc.) and concentrate it into the hands of a small minority of
multimillionaires! It is time for the middle and working classes to
put our collective foot down and say ”no more”! The time has
arrived for us to take back our country by any and all means
possible! Yes, I know the Bible says we must obey the laws of our
land (see Romans 13, verses 1-7). I am not suggesting for even one
moment that we should stop doing this. But nowhere in the Bible does
it say that Jesus expects us to be doormats for everybody, either
(see Mark 11, verses 15-18). Didn't God force Pharaoh to let the
Israelites go from their captivity? Did God not motivate Rahab the
prostitute to hide the spies sent from the Israelite encampment from
the king of Jericho (see Joshua chapter 2)?
In
much the same way, I believe the American people are being motivated
by God in our modern times. Our ride to being set free from the
slavery of low wages and high debt is now boarding at the gate. It is
time for political power to be taken out of the hands of corporate
America and their invading hordes of lobbyists and to place it back
into the hands of “we the people”, the true owners of this great
country of ours (talk about obeying the laws!). And we will do so
knowing that God, history and our founding fathers are all on our
side, because they left us with a sacred document known as the
Constitution of the United States that guarantees us that right. Our
free speech and freedom of expression that are guaranteed under the
First Amendment, as well as our right to keep and bear arms and to
form militias that are guaranteed under the Second Amendment, will
not be compromised or trampled upon. Neither will our rights in the
court systems, which are routinely violated for the sake of profit.
We will demonstrate in the streets, we will besiege government
buildings, we will bombard our congressional representatives with
phone calls and emails, we will form new political parties, we will
organize and build more labor unions, we will blockade wealthy
neighborhoods, we will organize peaceful public events and
non-violent sit-ins, we will call general strikes and consumer
boycotts, and we will not stop until the balance of power in this
country undergoes a paradigm shift back into the hands of
hard-working Americans, as well as the millions of people who want
jobs, health care or higher education but can't get any of them!
Let
there be no mistake, America is ripe for mass civil disobedience,
even for outright revolution, and I say it's about time. The
conditions and circumstances in which the middle and working classes
find themselves has become intolerable! Personally, I am a very
patient and thoughtful man. I work hard each day to be slow to speak
and quick to listen because I know from experience that there is much
wisdom to be derived from living my life this way. But by the same
token, I am a Christian man and Web evangelist who stands against
oppression, social injustice and economic inequality, and whose
patience is at its end. Just as surely as Jesus preached against the
political and religious establishment of His day, in like manner I
will do the same in the present day in order to emulate the man I
regard as my personal Savior. So, if you truly care about the
deteriorating state of our nation, if you are really concerned about
the issues that we are faced with collectively as a people, and if
you want to make a stand against social and economic injustice, and
since it's in all our best interests to do so, you owe it to yourself
to stand up in the face of power and say, “That's it! You're
done!!” You know why? Because if Jesus Christ were to return this
very day, that's what He'd say. And the ones who are having the
homeless thrown in jail for begging for spare change would be the
first ones Christ would send straight to hell!
To
find books on these topics and other Christian nonfiction, please
visit http://www.pcmatl.org/#!books-and-donations/c17et
Thanks so much!
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