Health Care

Thought I would share this email I received from Rev. Benny Still. This is so true.

Doctor's Letter to the Editor( Jackson , MS ) - Healthcare Issue

I found confirmation of this article in the Clarion Ledger in Jackson , MS before sending it on. Wish this was an article on the front page of every newspaper in America in large bold letters. I know that there are similar incidents in the ER of all hospitals.

This was a "letter to the editor" in yesterdays (August 29) Jackson, MS newspaper.

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Dear Sirs:
"During my last night's shift in the ER, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient with a shiny new gold tooth, multiple elaborate tattoos, a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and a new cellular telephone equipped with her favorite R&B tune for a ringtone.
Glancing over the chart, one could not help noticing her payer status: Medicaid.
She smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and, somehow, still has money to buy beer.
And our president expects me to pay for this woman's health care?
Our nation's health care crisis is not a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. It is a crisis of culture - a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. A culture that thinks "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me".
Life is really not that hard. Most of us reap what we sow.

STARNER JONES, MD

Liberal Ideologies

I challenge you to read the following statements with an honest and reasonable mind. Now, I know you liberals could probably come up with your own list, but hey, this is my blog and I can post what I like (at least for now). By the way, this list was sent to me via email and here it is!
1. You have to be against capital punishment, but support abortion on demand.

2. You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity.

3. You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding Americans are more of a threat than U.S. nuclear weapons technology in the hands of Chinese and North Korean communists.

4. You have to believe that there was no art before Federal funding.

5. You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by documented cyclical changes in the earth's climate and more affected by soccer moms driving SUV's.

6. You have to believe that gender roles are artificial but being homosexual is natural.

7. You have to believe that the AIDS virus is spread by a lack of federal funding.

8. You have to believe that the same teacher who can't teach fourth graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.

9. You have to believe that hunters don't care about nature, but loony activists who have never been outside of San Francisco do.

10. You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it.

11. You have to believe that Mel Gibson spent $25 million of his own money to make "The Passion of the Christ" for financial gain only.

12. You have to believe the NRA is bad because it supports certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.

13. You have to believe that taxes are too low, but ATM fees are too high.

14. You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, and A.G. Bell.

15. You have to believe that standardized tests are racist, but racial quotas and set-asides are not.

16. You have to believe that Hillary Clinton is normal and is a very nice person.

17. You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried is because the right people haven't been In charge.

18. You have to believe conservatives telling the truth belong in jail, but a liar and a sex offender belonged in the White House.

19. You have to believe that homosexual parades displaying drag,transvestites, and bestiality should be constitutionally protected, and manger scenes at Christmas should be illegal.

20. You have to believe that illegal Democrat Party funding by the Chinese Government is somehow in the best interest to the United States

21. You have to believe that this message is a part of a vast, right wing conspiracy.

22. You have to believe that it's okay to give Federal workers the day off on Christmas Day but it's not okay to say "Merry Christmas."

Now, that is what it takes to be a good liberal.

Remember me

This is a piece written by Rev. Benny Still, Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Grand Bay, AL and a dear friend.

"When one of the thieves being crucified with Jesus acknowledged Him as the Son of God and Savior of all Mankind, he asked Jesus to REMEMBER him when He came into His kingdom. Jesus told him, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise!" (Luke 23:42-43)

In studying the ancient cultures of the day...and doing some background work on the word "REMEMBER," we discover that actually its connotation is the opposite of the word "DISMEMBER".

Here in the South, when something upsets us or frustrates us, often you'll hear us say, "that just tears me up!" When we are all torn up over something, we need time to somehow get ourselves back together. We back up and regroup and try to analyze the situation(s) and deal with our problem and "pull ourselves together!"

I've read that one of the punishments used for crimes committed in ancient times and in medieval times often involved the perpetrator being drawn and quartered--DISMEMBERED!!! Physically torn apart...torn to pieces resulting in their horribly painful deaths!

So, apparently the thief on the cross who trusted Jesus on that "Good Friday" so long ago knew that his life, for all practical purposes, was just about over...and that he had lived a life that resulted in the dismemberment of all that he held dear. For him to ask Jesus to "REMEMBER" him...tells me that he realized that Jesus could put him back together...wherever the pieces had been scattered...whatever the problems that had dismembered his spirit...he could totally rely on Jesus.

Some of you reading this may have lost limbs, appendages (fingers/toes/ears) etc. and you know of the phantom pain that such loss brings. Some of you have lost family members, seen children and grandchildren and spouses go astray. You understand personally what it feels like to have your soul/spirit/heart to be torn asunder...DISMEMBERED...if you will!!! May I suggest to you today as we get ready to celebrate the resurrection of our Master from the grave this Sunday morning...on Easter...that we ask Him to REMEMBER us too?

The late Dottie Rambo wrote, "Pick up the broken pieces and bring them to the Lord...He will put them back together and make your life complete...Just bring the broken pieces to the Savior's feet!!!!" What a joy to know that when we are "dis-membered" He is ready and willing to RE-member us and make our lives complete!!!

Happy Easter...and be sure and attend the Christian Church of your choice this weekend!

Is your head buried?

Having worked with teenagers in and outside the church the past 10 years, I am thoroughly convinced that many parents and leaders within society and especially the church live as the proverbial ostrich, with their "heads buried in the sand." We are living at a time when the average American teenager loses his/her virginity before they are 16 to 17 years old (http://www.findarticles.com/; http://www.smallbitsandpieces.blogspot.com/; cfcamerica.org reported that a study of 10,000 teens by the Tyra Banks Show revealed that 15 is the average age that girls are having sex and 14% of those lose their virginity at school.) We see that suicide takes the life of a teenager every 100 minutes (http://www.youthnoise.com/). Need I even mention the school shootings, unbridled violence, and alcohol and drug use that is so rampant among our youth. Our nation morally is in a mess. We are now a secularized society that has proudly removed God and the Judeo-Christian values from the foundations of education and government and have reaped the harvest of the seeds of a humanistic worldview that has been sown. Our kids are taught that there are no absolutes concerning morality, that man is just the result of time + chance + matter (a theory which is taught as a fact) and all truth is relevant. The institution of the family, which has survived every culture since the dawn of creation, is now being destroyed, not only by the homosexual community but even more so by the heterosexuals with their no fault divorces and a divorce rate that hovers around 50 % (http://www.divorcerate.org/). Considering all that I've mentioned, is it any wonder why teenage suicide is so high, or they lose their virginity so young (which leads to emotional struggles), or they turn to drugs, alcohol and violence. Most want to be loved, longing for a relationship with their parents (who in most cases are absentees), or they want to feel that they have a purpose here (which evolution cannot give). Humanism and atheism has failed and left our nation in a moral midnight. But, as a Youth Minister, I am deeply disturbed by the absence of Christian parents in the lives of their kids. We turn our children lose for 30 hours a week at a public school, allow them 40 hours a week with godless media, and wonder what is wrong with our children. We never take the time to train them in a biblical worldview, to build a relationship with them or even pray with them as a family. Rather, we will let them receive a worldview indoctrination from the latest Hollywood movie which portrays sex, violence and a good dose of 40 plus profanities. If we don't lift our heads out of the sand, and draw near to Christ and His Spirit and allow Him to guide us in our parenting, then be prepared, our children will be among the casualties that result from the secular worldviews that are destroying the hearts and minds of millions. I post this, not with a rage of indictment, but with a heart of deepest concern. God help us to rise up in such a time as this and be the men and women you have ordained us to be.

Simple view of our Nation.

Well, hope everyone is doing well. This blog is not something I wrote but rather an email I recieved from my best friend since second grade. Read it with an open mind.
" I believe the time has come to take our lives back from the politicians. I believe that the time has come to assert some of our God-given "response-abilty" . I think the time has come to stop treating the future of our society like American Idol or a sunday gridiron matchup, playing Monday morning armchair quarterback to the affairs of our nation, screaming "my team is better than yours" while living a vicarious fantasy thru someone else...cheering and rooting for them to "win". It's time for adults to quit acting like kids and learn the ability to make good moral based unselfish responses to life and the world around them and, in turn teach these abilities and principles to their children. It's time to develop a sense of self worth that aligns itself with that of our Creator and Father. You are not the car you drive. You are not the contents of your wallet. You self worth is not based on your knowledge of each individual stat of each player in the National Football League. Turn off the myspace...turn off the TV...read...read...read. Educate yourself. Spend more time building that which matters...you're intelligence and your character and teach that to your children. It's time for men to get off the breastmilk and learn to eat meat. If change is the word of the day...well so is neoteny (immaturity in adults). Man-children and women-children running around acting like playschoolers handling the affairs of the world. Enough is enough. Use more than 10% of your brain. Quit trusting someone else to do it for you. And for goodness sake, stop acting like you're making a difference because you stand up for something one day every four years. If you live to be 80 yrs old that means you stood up for something 20 times and that sir is weak and irresponsible. Change has become the"catch" phrase in this election and there is no doubt that we need it, but true change comes from us as individuals."
That is the truth.