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For several technical reasons I have moved my blog to WordPress.

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In Praise of a Government Doing Nothing

President Obama insists that he "has to do something."

The President believes that gun violence is out of control (it's not) and that more government regulation of the 2nd Amendment will deter criminals (it won't).

He believes he needs to take some kind of executive action to create more gun regulation because Congress won't do anything about it.

And that is precisely where he misses the point.

There is a good reason that Congress has not acted upon any of the onerous gun-control measures that President Obama wants to implement: "We the People" don't want them!

There is a Republican majority in both houses of Congress now because we have elected them in response to President Obama's alarming political power-grabs. A lot of folks who voted for "hope and change" now have seen what that looks like . . . and have decided they don't really want a socialist utopia after all.

So the President will undoubtedly besiege us with Executive Orders during this last year of his reign. We can only hope that Congress acts appropriately to reel him in when he gets too far out of bounds.

But the fact that President Obama is frustrated is good news for those of us who cherish liberty. It proves the Constitution is still in force. It shows that even a determined leftist like President Obama can only get away with so much before "We the People" catch on.

And Congress is demonstrating that sometimes doing nothing is the best way to protect our freedoms. The Second Amendment is not broken, so there is no need to fix it.

How to Know When God is Finished with You

Try this simple test at home.

Grab a small mirror. Hold it up to your mouth and exhale slowly.

Now check the mirror. If the glass has fogged with moisture, that indicates that you are still breathing.

If you are still breathing, you are still living. And if you are still living, then God is not finished with you yet.

You may have trouble believing this. You may think that you have lived too wrong, for too long, for God to still be interested in you. You may think you are just past it, and God has washed his hands of you.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Before you were ever conceived, you were a gleam in God's eye. Your life was scheduled on God's calendar from the beginning of time.

The Bible says you are fearfully and wonderfully made. God had a perfect plan when he created you.

But guess what ... you blew it, didn't you? You haven't served God faithfully. In fact, you have probably failed him miserably. Deep down in your heart, you know that the only thing God owes you is a good swift kick in the butt.

Welcome to the club, Bubba. It's called "being human."

We all have blown it. We all screw things up. We all have disrespected our Creator.

This fact causes many people to despair, which is exactly what the devil wants you to do.

But the amazing reality is that God never quits. He never gives up on us, even when we have given up on ourselves. God tracks us down like a hound on the hunt, and we can never get away from him.

Of course, if you are stubborn and foolish, you can continue to diss God. He created you with a free will, and you can choose to keep running away from him. But the longer you run away from him, the harder your stubborn heart will become.

Until one moment, when you take that last breath, and you descend into eternity separated from God ... then you will realize that it really is too late. Forever. That is when the real despair begins, and there is no remedy for it then.

But if you are reading this, there is still hope. You still have time to make things right. You still have time to make a U-turn.

Nothing brings God more joy than when one of us lost souls comes to our senses and comes to him for mercy! Jesus even declared that "there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:10, NIV)

God isn't finished with you yet. He still has great plans for your life.

You were not put on this earth just to suck up valuable oxygen. Aren't you tired of just fogging the mirror? Don't you want to know why God created you?

Only Jesus has those answers. Only he knows the beginning from the end.

And there is only one way for you to find your purpose. Come face to face with Jesus and ask him to save you.

A prayer like this will open the doors of heaven:

"Dear Jesus, I want to know you. I am sorry I have run away from you for so long. Please forgive me! Please help me to understand how much you love me. Thank you for dying for my sins. Thank you for never giving up on me. 

"Today I give my life to you, Lord, and I ask you to show me how you want me to live. I cannot do this in my own. I need your forgiveness and your guidance and your power in my life. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for helping me to find your mercy."

Don't We Have the Right to Protect Our Home?

America is our home. 

Since this is our home, we get to pick who comes in. We can open our doors to anyone we choose.

We should act in our own self-interest when choosing whom we invite inside. If we’re smart, we’ll invite people we get along with.

But, we are under no obligation to let anyone in. This is our home. We can do what we think is best.

America has a long history of welcoming immigrants. That is a beautiful thing. And we have benefited from immigration in past years for one important reason: We were picky about who we allowed in.

In years past, our immigration laws were strictly enforced. When immigrants arrived here, we knew who they were, where they came from, and why they wanted to immigrate. They had to follow a legal process.

They weren't put on welfare. They were given no special consideration. But they were granted the same gift that every native-born American gets: OPPORTUNITY.

If you are willing to work, you will make it here. Millions of immigrants have proven by their success that America truly is a land of opportunity.

And of course, since we are a generous people, we have also invited many refugees into our home over the years, and made special accommodations for them. Millions of people from all over the world have found a safe haven here.

So I think we can safely ignore the shrieking accusations of racism from the political Left. They claim that Conservatives are racist and paranoid because we want to reinstate an orderly process of immigration and assimilation.

But the only reason so many Americans are upset about immigration today is the fact that it is totally out of control.

Why is it considered unreasonable for the average working-class citizen to insist that his government enforce the immigration laws that are already on the books?

President Obama has consistently failed to enforce our immigration laws. As a result, the chaos on our southern border has gone from pitiful to pathetic to dangerous. If our government had simply done its job, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

For some years now, our government has known that Jihadist training camps are operating in Venezuela. Once trained, these terrorists travel north through Central America and enter the United States via our porous southern border. But no one in the White House seems concerned.

Narcoterrorism-Hezbollah-Venezuela  

Is There A Terror Network on America's Doorstep?

How many Al-Qaeda and ISIS sleeper cells are there in the United States at this moment? Nobody really knows. But we certainly make it easy for them to invade.

Former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson posted a story on 11/18/2015 that Border Patrol agents had detained 8 Syrians, 5 Pakistanis and 1 Afghan in one day.

One day.

How many made it through that day without being caught?  How many make it past the border every week, every month? Again, nobody knows.  

But FBI and Border Patrol agents are concerned. Shouldn’t we be also?

Syrians Nabbed at Southern Border Stoke Terror Fears

 Afghani and Pakistanis Caught Entering US at Mexican Border

And in addition to terrorists, we are also threatened by well-armed criminal enterprises. 

There has been an ongoing infiltration of powerful and violent Mexican crime syndicates across our southern border for decades now. They grow stronger and penetrate further into our territory every year.

These brutal organizations systematically victimize thousands of innocent Mexicans crossing the border every year through kidnapping, extortion, sex-slavery and other cruel tactics.

The lives of American citizens living near the Mexican border are increasingly jeopardized by this crime wave surging from the south.

Millions of Americans are upset about this, and rightly so.

"We the people" have demanded that our government fix this problem, but up to now "they the elected" have ignored us.

The situation has become so distressing that frustrated voters are flocking to an untested political rookie like Donald Trump simply because he is the only candidate who makes border security a top priority.

There is a simple solution to this: We need (figuratively speaking) a tall fence and a wide gate. We need to invest whatever resources are necessary to secure our borders.

We need to strictly enforce our immigration laws so we can screen out the criminal element that is currently taking advantage of our lax security standards.

I don't think most Americans care if a reasonable number of LEGAL Mexican immigrants move up here to join us every year, but we do have the right to control who comes in, and in what numbers. We can only effectively assimilate so many people at a time.

Most of the Mexicans coming to the United States are simply people who want jobs and a better life for themselves and their families. They are just the kind of folks we need here.

But we also need to know who they are, where they come from, and how they plan to support themselves once they move in. Is that too much to ask of a guest requesting entry into our home?

We must stop this out-of-control invasion that makes it so easy for terrorists, drug-smugglers, human sex-traffickers and other sordid criminals to wander into our home at will.

The present chaotic situation at our border is like a humongous neon sign flashing to terrorists all over the world: ENTER HERE! THE INFIDELS ARE CLUELESS!

I believe we absolutely have the right to protect this nation that we call our home. It is a legacy passed down to us from our parents.

Our children and grandchildren live here, and they are depending on us.

We have a right, and a duty, to keep them safe.

Where, Oh Where, Have My Brain Cells Gone?

Back in my prime I could walk and chew gum at the same time. I was able to remember what I had for breakfast. I could even remember my phone number.

Sadly, those days of astonishing mental prowess are long gone.

When I turned 60 last year I took stock of my life (I only do this once a decade; that is about all the introspection I can stand) and I realized that something was missing -- the memory cells I used to have in my brain.

I decided to document the symptoms of my memory loss so I could discuss them with my family doctor.  But then I lost the list.  And forget the appointment.

I forget the simplest things, and at the worst times! Names? Oh, those fell out of my head years ago.

Appointments? All I can say is it is a good thing the doctors' offices do those robo-call reminders the day before. In fact, I may be the reason they started.

I try not to let this upset me. After all, how much does it really matter? I've got maybe 10 or 20 years left to stumble through this life, and how much do I need to remember anyway? And if I could remember it, who else would want to hear about it?

But I did become alarmed earlier this summer when I was in the hospital recuperating from an operation. On the third day after surgery I was still taking strong pain meds, but I thought I had totally recovered from the anesthesia. I thought I was back in my right mind.

Then my cell phone rang.

I could feel my brain cells tingling, as if they were trying to transmit a message. Finally it came through. I said to myself, "The phone is ringing. I should pick it up."

I finally picked it up and looked at the screen. A few more brain cells lit up. "Hmmm," I thought, "My son is calling me."

I stared at the phone some more. It was still ringing. What should I do? I felt some more brain cells firing and I told myself: "I should answer that phone."

And then came the moment when I realized the cheese had slipped off of my cracker. I was holding the phone, staring at the screen, seeing my son's name right next to the big green circle that said "ANSWER"... and I could not remember how to do it!

As if on cue, the phone stopped ringing. I sighed with relief. Maybe I could collect my thoughts now that that annoying noise had stopped.

I laid back on the bed. I thought real hard. I furrowed my brow. I clicked my heels together three times and repeated: "There's no place like home, there's no place like home..."

Finally, after several minutes of excruciating concentration, I remembered that I could go to the "call log" screen and look for his name. Then I could tap on it and my phone would automatically call him back.

I was so proud! I managed to return that phone call all by myself without any help from T-Mobile tech support.

I believe I am doing better now as my recovery has progressed, but it still seems like quite a few brain cells have gone AWOL. Maybe some of them will return, like the Prodigal Son, after they have exhausted themselves in carousing and wild living.

Or maybe they have run away to join the circus, and won't even bother to send a postcard.  Maybe I have recovered as much of my mind as I am going to get.

I must confess that this sneak preview of my looming debilitation has left me feeling vulnerable. Once again I am reminded how short and fragile this temporary earthly life really is.

All I ask for when the time comes is a nice corner room with a view at the Shady Acres Home for Weary Bloggers, preferably overlooking a tranquil pond. The rest will do me good.

And also, a name tag please,  just so I can remember who I am in case anyone asks.

America Faces a Time for Choosing

“Without God, there is no virtue, because there is no prompting of the conscience. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, we will be a nation gone under.” - President Ronald Reagan

Jonathan Cahn, in his amazing book The Harbinger, makes the case that America is now in the midst of a time of divine judgment, and that we are still ignoring the voice of God as he calls us to repentance. We have not learned from the experience of 9/11.

That awful national wake-up call had a few brief positive results. We found a new appreciation for the liberties and blessings that we had taken for granted. There was a refreshing spirit of patriotism and self-sacrifice sweeping across the country. For a few short months, there seemed to be a stirring of some national spiritual awakening.

There were thousands of special worship services across the country in the days following the attacks. For the first time since D-Day in 1944, a U.S. President declared a National Day of Prayer. On the Sunday after 9/11, churches across America were packed with people seeking consolation and guidance from God. 

Sadly, it did not take us long to put our thoughts of God back up on the shelf and once again turn our attention to self-gratification. We soon went right back to business as usual.

Learning to Trust When Life Goes Bust

Please allow me to share my tale of woe.

The past five years have been tough for the Smith family. Lots of unpleasant things have happened to us.

Forgive me if it sounds like I am looking for sympathy...that is not my intent.  But I do believe that this true account of our season of trials provides a great excuse to brag on the Lord a little.

March 2011 – I had my second heart attack (see Another Routine Day in the ER) which maxed out our health insurance out-of-pocket expenses for 2011. (Out-of-pocket maximums that have more than doubled since the implementation of Obamacare, but don’t even get me started on that!)

Summer of 2012 – a dear friend of mine, a very sweet woman whom I had worked with for 12 years, became gravely ill with cancer and had to undergo a year’s worth of chemo, radiation and surgery.

November 2012 – I had emergency gall bladder surgery right after Thanksgiving. I was one sick little puppy before and after that procedure! (See My Birthday Trip to the Emergency Room.)

December 2012 – I had another surgery right before Christmas to remove a small cancerous tumor from my bladder. This surgery was followed by check-ups every three months with an urologist who used a “not-slender-enough-to-suit-me” scope to inspect my bladder and search for any recurrence of the cancer. (I will leave the unpleasant details of these inspection procedures to your imagination.)

Needless to say, we again maxed out our out-of-pocket medical expenses for 2012!

January 2013 – My wife Peggy slipped on some ice and broke her right ankle. It was a compound fratcure that laid her up for over six months. It was a stressful time…loss of half her wages, hospital bed in the living room, multiple surgeries and follow-up visits (in the winter)…you get the picture. She was in a lot of pain during most of this time, and her ankle will never be the same. Arthritis has set in, and her cartilage is gone.

The x-ray of Peggy's right ankle upon arrival at the Emergency Room.

God Promises What We Cannot Imagine

Has any person in human history ever experienced greater joy, and yet endured more painful heartache, than Mary the mother of Jesus?

There is a scene near the end of The Passion of the Christ where the Roman soldiers are lowering Jesus' body from the cross. They place him into the arms of Mary as she kneels speechless before them.

The scene ends with a haunting image of Mary cradling the corpse of her mutilated, crucified son in her lap. She has no tears left to cry. The awful events of the day have wrung her dry. 

Numbed with grief, she stares off into space as her gown is soaked by the blood that is still seeping from the ghastly wounds in Jesus’ lifeless body.

How could this be?

The Real Spin on the Sin We're Living In ...or... Why the Only "Safe Sex" is Biblical Married Sex

How did we, as a society, ever get to the point where we have to debate the definition of marriage? We got here by walking away from God one step at a time, that's how. 

Anyone who truly believes that the Bible is the word of God is forced to acknowledge the reality of sin.

We are fallen sinful people living in a fallen sinful world.

"Sin" is not a popular word in politically correct post-Christian America.  But God speaks pretty plainly in Scripture about the reality of our human condition, and "sin" is the word he uses repeatedly to describe our moral shortcomings.

If you do not believe in sin, then you do not believe the Bible.  And it is OK if you do not believe the Bible.  We live in a free society and freedom of conscience is enshrined in our Constitution.  Your right to believe whatever you want to believe is guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Of course, the First Amendment cannot guarantee that whatever you want to believe is true.

The Baby That Changed The World

The Bible says that God sent his son to this earth "in the fullness of time" - at just the right moment in history, chosen by him in eternity past.

Israel was a dark place when Jesus was born. The pagan Roman Empire ruled God's chosen people with an iron fist. The Jews had been waiting for centuries, clinging to the prophetic promises that a Messiah would come who would redeem Israel and rule the world with divine justice from his throne in Jerusalem. They envisioned a mighty warrior coming to save them from their enemies. The prophets had said that the Messiah would come in power and majesty to deliver his people from destruction.

So the Jews were looking for a king. But they had mis-understood the prophecies. Yes, the king was coming, but not yet in his full majesty. That final glorious revelation of the Messiah was reserved for a later date in history. It was time for the Messiah to appear, and indeed he did, but not as the conquering King of Kings. First the Messiah would arrive on planet earth like all the rest of us, a helpless baby, crying his way into the world.

One Morning in Lego Land

I spent a recent Saturday morning assisting my daughter-in-law's father Andy on a perilous mission - escorting our two young grandsons to the Lego KidsFest at the Indianapolis Convention Center. It was going to be a special day of grandfather/grandson bonding.

Andy and his wife Carol originally planned to take the boys themselves, but when Carol was unexpectedly delayed out of town, Andy asked me to step in and help him. Despite my misgivings, I couldn't bear the thought of leaving a fellow grandfather alone with Zeke and Malachi in such a mob scene. And it could be fun, spending some quality time with the boys and a few thousand other young children frolicking amongst the Legos. What could go wrong?

My son and daughter were quite amused at the thought of me embarking on this expedition.

"Dad is going to the Lego fest?" my daughter Stephanie asked her mother. "I can't quite picture that."

My son Steve laughed at me out loud. "Spending the morning with a few thousand kiddies at the convention center? Have fun, dad."

What Really Happened in Ferguson?

Historically, black Americans have had a tough time living here.

The horrors of slavery are almost unimaginable to us today. Later, when slavery was abolished after the Civil War, blacks had to endure ingrained racial prejudice, Jim Crow laws, lynchings, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, and segregation.

After World War II, when the Civil Rights movement began to really build up some steam, the struggle between black and white America reached a fever pitch. I was a goofy white grade-school kid in the 1960s, and I vividly remember the TV news coverage of the peaceful Civil Rights marches in the South, and the often violent push-back from white police departments.

Black Americans have a painful history with the white power structure. The distrust built up after centuries of abuse and mistreatment is hard to get past. I get that.

Even today, racism still rears it's ugly head much too often. I have a black friend who was seriously hassled last year while traveling through French Lick, Indiana. I'll spare you the details, but the cops gave him a really hard time, and ended up impounding his car, for totally bogus reasons. Had he been white, none of what happened to him would have happened.

This is just another example of the kind of "slow drip" soft racism that keeps black resentment simmering towards American society. I get that, too.

The Most Dangerous Place to Be

There are some people in the world who just seem to be born with their act together.

They are self-confident, disciplined, talented, hard-working, ambitious and successful. They live a moral, respectable life and make a positive contribution to society.

They create businesses or provide high-demand professional services. They volunteer in their communities and take care of their families. The world is a better place because they live in it.

But prosperous, successful people have one incredible difficulty to overcome if they want to enter the Kingdom of God – they have to forsake the pride of their self-reliance.

If you are a successful Type-A go-getter, it is easy to fall into the trap of self-justification. It is tempting to think that you have earned your way into God’s good graces. You might convince yourself that you have made it on your own and you don’t need anything from God.

That is a very dangerous state of mind.

Jesus once told a parable about a rich man who had just reaped an abundant harvest from his fields and was congratulating himself for his great success.

“A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. In fact, his barns were full to overflowing – he couldn’t get everything in. He thought about his problem, and finally exclaimed, ‘I know – I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones! Then I’ll have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Wine, women and song for you!”’
“But God said to him, ‘Fool, Tonight you die. Then who will get it all?’
“Yes, every man is a fool who gets rich on earth but not in heaven.”
 (Luke 12:16-21, Living)

The Key to Faith

Pastor Robert Morris is one of my favorite Bible teachers. Check out this great post he recently wrote about the simple key to finding your personal faith in God. READ MORE

Is It Really God's Fault?

 A person’s own folly leads to their ruin, 
     yet their heart rages against the Lord. - Psalm 19:3 (NIV)

Do you know people who are always complaining?

No matter how much they try, things always seem to go wrong? Do they whine about how unfair life is? If it weren’t for bad luck, they wouldn't have any luck at all?

It is amazing how often people with this attitude will blame their troubles on God. They say things like, "I don't know why God is punishing me this way,” or, "If God is supposed to be so good and loving, where is he? Why is my life so messed up?"

The people who say these kinds of things are missing an important point: You cannot blame God for the condition of your life if you have never allowed him to be in charge of it.

If your life is a train-wreck, you need to ask yourself, “Who has been running the locomotive for all these years?”

Have you honestly been seeking God’s direction for your life? Have you been reading your Bible to see what God has to say to you? Have you been living in obedience to him? Have you bothered to drag your lazy butt out of bed on Sunday morning and pay your respects to the Lord at a Bible-believing church?

If your honest answer to the above questions is “No,” then you have no one but yourself to blame for whatever condition your life is in.  If you insist on running your own life, God is under no obligation to bless you.

If you ignore God, reject his instructions, and then your life sucks - how can you blame God? If you had listened to him in the first place, you wouldn't be stuck where you are now.

If you are tired of the dead-end, hopeless road you are traveling, why don't you consider the possibility of making a change in management? Face the facts, buster -- you're not doing such a hot job of doing things your own way.

“My hand has made both earth and skies, and they are mine. Yet I will look with pity on the man who has a humble and a contrite heart, who trembles at my word." But those who choose their own ways, delighting in their sins, are cursed. God will not accept their offerings.
   Isaiah 66:2-3 (Living Bible) 

Let go of your stubborn pride, and ask God to take control of your life. He wants you to offer your life to him — and let’s face it, without the grace of God, you wouldn’t be able to draw your next breath anyway. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

God has reached out to you with the ultimate act of love: the sacrifice of Jesus’ life on a cross, a sacrifice given so that you could have an opportunity to join God’s family. All God really wants you to do is surrender to him.

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. You will find me when you seek me, if you look for me in earnest.”
  Jeremiah 29:11-13 (Living Bible)

 
A simple prayer like this is all you need to begin your new life:

“Dear Jesus, I am asking you into my life right now. I have lived my life without you for long enough. Please forgive me for all the wrong things I’ve done. Help me to live a life that pleases you. I want to put you in charge of my life from now on. Lord, help me to trust you. Help me to follow you. Thank you for dying for me, and thank you for saving me in answer to this prayer today.”

Once you have given your life to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, you will need to find companionship with other believers who can help you grow in faith and understanding. As a baby Christian, freshly born again, you will have a lot to learn.

The Lord is good and glad to teach the proper path to all who have gone astray; he will teach the ways that are right and best to those who humbly turn to him.
  Psalm 25:8-9 (Living Bible)

Please don’t let anyone mislead you. You will still face problems and trials. But you will be heading in the right direction.  Jesus will correct you when you stray off course, and he will guide you to your destiny. When you follow God, he ensures your ultimate success.

The Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: "I am the Lord your God, who punishes you for your own good and leads you along the paths that you should follow."
  Isaiah 48:17 (Living Bible)

Comic of the Week

Barack Obama Owes Me $6,000

Remember the promises President Obama made about his "affordable" health care reform?

Remember how he said we would all save $2500 per year on our premiums? Obama also promised, “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.”

Our president scores four noses on the Pinocchio scale in just that one paragraph!

Michelle Malkin posted a column recently (Obama Lied, My Health Plan Died) detailing the loss of her family's personal health insurance coverage. She also gives a few examples of the many tweets being posted around the country by people who have shared her experience:

Linda Deright posted her letter from Regency of Washington state: “63 percent jump, old policy of 15 yrs. cancelled.” Karen J. Dugan wrote: “Received same notice from Blue Shield CA for our small business. Driven into exchange and no info since online site is down.” Chris Birk wrote: “Got notice from BCBS that my current health plan is not ACA compliant. New plan 2x as costly for worse coverage.” Small-business owner Villi Wilson posted his letter from HMSA Blue Cross Blue Shield canceling his individual plan and added: “I thought Obama said if I like my health care plan I can keep my health care plan.”

Millions of Americans are losing their coverage. Millions more have experienced the sticker shock of 50% to 100% increases in their premium rates.

However, the steepest hikes to our insurance costs have been slipped in under the radar. In preparation for the sky-rocketing expense of Obamacare, health insurance companies have been ratcheting up the out-of-pocket expenses to policy-holders.

In addition to a steep rise in the deductible threshold, most health insurance policies have DOUBLED the out-of-pocket maximum limits in the past year.

Last year it cost me $6,000 to hit the max on my out-of-pocket expenses. In 2013 I maxed out again, but this time it cost me $12,000.

In just one year, I am $6,000 poorer because of Barack Obama.

I am not alone. Millions of Americans are already suffering because of the so-called Affordable Care Act. I am personally acquainted with several people who are paying $10,000 to $12,000 in out-of-pocket expenses for medical bills this year.

It used to be that people held community fund-raisers if they had no insurance and needed help to pay their medical bills. Now people WITH insurance are fund-raising because they cannot afford their maximum out-of-pocket expenses.

I have to wonder: How many of the people struggling with their medical bills this year supported Barack Obama in 2012? I would really like to know, because a vote for Obama in 2012 was essentially a vote for Obamacare.

I hate to sound so snarky, but if you helped to elect this Socialist President of ours, I will have a hard time ginning up any sympathy for you when you can't pay your medical bills. Elections have consequences, and you are getting exactly what you voted for.

The media crucified Ted Cruz and Tea Party Republicans for their recent efforts to de-fund Obamacare and pull the plug on this disaster. The de-fund effort failed, and now we can all see the results.

Every catastrophic prediction made about Obamacare is coming true right before our eyes.

So how is that "hope and change" thing working for you now?

Deadly Women and a Living God

While visiting with a friend recently, I happened to catch an episode of Deadly Women that he was watching on cable TV.

During the course of the program, there were several different crime stories about women who had committed horrible murders and were later caught and imprisoned.

The last segment of the show told the story of a psychotic young woman who had destroyed two innocent lives. One night, during a burglary and home invasion, she and her boyfriend burst into the bedroom of an elderly married couple and murdered them with a pick-axe. A detective who was interviewed on the program described it as the most gruesome murder scene he had ever encountered.
 
Police investigators later got a break in the case thanks to the female killer's cold-blooded bragging. Sometime shortly after the murders, she was at a local bar, getting drunk and desiring to impress her companions. She wanted them to know how tough she was, so she told them about how she had used a pick-axe to impale a couple who was sleeping in bed. Someone in the group tipped off the police, and psycho-killer-girl was soon arrested.

The woman was convicted and sentenced to death. No surprise there. But something truly incredible happened while she was in prison awaiting her execution. Psycho-killer-girl met merciful-loving-God.

On death row, with plenty of time on her hands, the former drug addict and prostitute started reading the Bible. One lonely dark night, her heart broken with remorse, she humbly surrendered her life to Jesus Christ and asked him to forgive her.

In response to that invitation, Jesus introduced himself to that miserable repentant sinner and gave her what he offers to every one of us: the unmerited gift of forgiveness and eternal life. In that moment, she was redeemed. She became a new creation. She was born again as a child of God

Several employees at the prison were interviewed for the program, and all of them testified to the dramatic turn-around in this young woman's life. Practically overnight, she went from being a dangerous, confrontational inmate to behaving like a model prisoner.

Everyone who knew her was amazed at the transformation. It got to the point where other prisoners on death-row were allowed to meet with her to attend Bible study. Even the guards came to regard her with genuine affection. Some of them admitted to crying on the day she was executed.

After her conversion, this redeemed convict admitted to her crimes, and apologized to the court and the victims' family. She accepted her death sentence as just. She testified to anyone who would listen about the boundless grace and love that Jesus Christ had extended to her. She was ready to die.

On her final day, as she was being strapped down to the table to receive her lethal injections, she was praying, praising God, and singing hymns. She had no fear of death, because she knew that she belonged to the Good Shepherd who had conquered death on the cross of Calvary.

Stories like this are a reminder to us all that God is no respecter of persons. Jesus died for sinners. That includes you and me and everybody else. 

No sin is so great, no pit is so deep, no life is so lost, that the love of Jesus cannot rescue. If you have ever swallowed the devil's lie that you are so wicked as to be beyond the mercy of God, you have been deceived.

"But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."  (Romans 3:21-24 NIV)

Barack Obama is no Ronald Reagan

President Obama is fond of comparing himself to great men in history, such as Lincoln, FDR, and on more than one occasion, Ronald Reagan.

Obama has stated that he would like to go down in history as a transformative leader like Reagan. A noble aspiration, to be sure, but Obama has forgotten that last portion of his oath of office where he swore to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Among his many admirable attributes, President Reagan had a profound respect for our Constitution and the rule of law. When Reagan wanted to accomplish a policy goal, he cajoled, negotiated and pressured Congress to work with him to make it happen. If, as was often the case, too many Democrats in Congress opposed his initiative, Reagan would simply go over their heads and appeal directly to the American people.

Reagan trusted the people to understand the worthiness of his ideas, and to apply sufficient pressure to their representatives to help push his agenda through Congress.

And it worked. That's why they called it the "Reagan Revolution." Reagan presented his ideas to the American people, and he persuaded them to support his agenda.

Reagan was dubbed "the great communicator" and rightfully so. Reagan used his bully pulpit to do what presidents are supposed to do, which is lead by persuasion.

President Obama is working on a revolution of a different kind. Unlike Reagan, Obama has repeatedly demonstrated his disdain for the Constitution and contempt for the rule of law.

President Obama prefers to rule by executive fiat. He weaves and dodges around the Constitution every chance he gets. Obama cherry-picks the laws he wants to enforce, and ignores the laws that "get in his way."

After cramming Obamacare down our throats, over the objections of a majority of voters, President Obama began granting waivers to selected union supporters and companies owned by dependable Democratic campaign contributors. There was no authorization in the law for waivers to anyone. Obama just did it, and he got away with it.

Recently, Obama decided to unilaterally waive Obamacare’s cap on annual out-of-pocket expenses for another year. This exemption for selected health insurers is not allowed for in the law as written, but again, our current president just makes it up as he goes - and gets away with it again.

Obama's favorite play is the "end-run-around-Congress" and so far it is working out well for him. (For the rest of us, not so much.)

Can't get Congress to pass a carbon tax that will shut down coal-fired power plants and cause electricity rates to skyrocket? Instruct the EPA to classify carbon-dioxide as a hazardous waste and regulate it without the approval of Congress.

Can't get Congress to pass the DREAM act? No problem, simply order the Justice Department to ignore enforcement of immigration laws. When your name is Barack Obama, the rules don't apply to you!

Obama's contempt for the rule of law is well documented. Unfortunately, you won't read about it in most of the national media outlets, since they are only interested in scandals that involve conservatives or Republicans. Can you imagine the outcry if the NSA snooping scandal or the Benghazi cover-up had occurred during President Bush's term?

My fear is that President Obama's real legacy will survive to haunt us for many generations to come.

He has established a dangerous precedent, at least for future liberal Democrats elected to the Presidency: You are above the law. Make the rules up as you go. Congress will not constrain your lust for power.  The media will not hold you accountable. You don't need no stinkin' Constitution.

Since the limits on power specified by the Constitution are pretty much the only things that prevent a president from becoming a dictator, shouldn't we common folks be a little more motivated towards protecting our Constitution from abuse?

Barack Obama will never be another Ronald Reagan. To the contrary, he is the closest thing to a tyrant we have ever had.

He has become our first lawless president.