Crosstalk Updates

Health Care Endgame

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:34:24 -0600

James Lansberry is president of the Alliance of Health Care Sharing Ministries and also is vice president of Samaritan Ministries International. The Alliance was formed to track and address public policy developments that could affect member ministries. Among those are Samaritan, and Medi-Share, both of which provide health care cost-sharing arrangements among persons of similar and sincerely held beliefs.

While there is almost universal agreement that changes need to be made to our current system of health care, especially the insurance component, most Americans are against passage of a massive government takeover bill, as is being promoted by President Obama and the Democratic leadership in congress Their current strategy is to force the House of Representatives to pass the Senate bill as it is, with no changes. The President's goal is for the House to pass the bill before he leaves on an international trip on March 18.

This pressure on the House has been coupled with a vague promise to address House criticisms (on abortion, for instance) in a second, separate bill, through a rarely used process (called "reconciliation") that was originally created to deal only with budget and tax issues. Reconciliation was never designed as a vehicle for substantive public policy.

But in reality, if the House passes the Senate bill, the promised reconciliation likely will never happen. Since the Senate version will have passed both houses of Congress, it will quickly move to the president's desk and he will sign it before the ink is dry. And the government takeover of health care will be complete.

The Senate Democrats will have no incentive whatsoever to consider any House proposals. Why would they? The bill originating in and passed by the Senate will have become the law of the land. Even if a “reconciliation” bill were to be introduced in the Senate, less than 50 Senators have been voting “pro-life”, so the promised removal of abortion funding would most likely be defeated.

The bill currently under consideration, which is the Senate-passed version of health care, includes many provisions which Lansberry says must be opposed. Among them:

--The government will take over 1/6 of the American economy, and put government bureaucrats between you and your family's health care providers.
--It will cost $2.3 trillion over 10 years when fully implemented and dump a huge debt on the shoulders of our children and grandchildren—this according to an analysis by the Senate Budget Committee.
--It creates more than 110 new agencies and bureaucracies in the federal government. --It will cut $500 billion from Medicare and $170 billion from Medicare Advantage, resulting in rationed and inferior medical care for senior citizens.
--According to the National right to Life committee, it is "the most pro-abortion single piece of legislation that has ever come to the House floor for a vote" and contains numerous "federal pro-abortion mandates and federal subsidies for abortion".
--It will require taxpayer funding for abortion, and will even require purchasers of private plans to pay a monthly fee to pay for other people's abortions.
--It contains no conscience protections for health care providers who do not want to be coerced into performing abortions.

Slaughter of the Dissidents

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:33:43 -0600

Dr. Jerry Bergman has taught biology, genetics, chemistry, biochemistry, anthropology, geology, and microbiology at the college level for over 32 years. He has 9 college degrees, and over 800 publications in 12 languages, plus 30 books and monographs.

Being politically incorrect can be fatal to anyone’s career--especially when you’re a scientist and your brand of political incorrectness is doubting Darwin.

That’s the subject of Slaughter of the Dissidents, Dr.Jerry Bergman's latest book. This book exposes the anti-Christian persecution that permeates academia and therefore all our institutions. It is the first of five books in a series, with the others also being released, or nearly completed.

Dr. Bergman states that we are seeing a fundamental challenge to our civil rights and freedoms in the way Darwin skeptics are being treated in the academic community, and all across America. He says it is time to correct our understanding of the First Amendment, because this discrimination against those who disagree with Darwin is just a small sample of what can happen to anyone, when our those rights are distorted or ignored.

And despite claims to the contrary, many renowned, respected scientists, who have earned doctoral degrees in their specialties from top-ranked universities like Harvard, do not support the theory of evolution, and are not afraid to say so.

Callers asked questions about specific aspects of creation and evolution theories, including "punctuated equilibrium", a literal six-day creation, and the difference between the slow development postulated by evolution, and creation "ex nihilo" (out of nothing) by God who clearly has the power to do so.

Radical Rulers

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:35:15 -0600

Robert H. Knight is a Senior Writer for Coral Ridge Ministries and a Senior Fellow with the American Civil Rights Union. His latest book is Radical Rulers: The White House elites Who are Pushing America Toward Socialism.

Robert Knight's book, and this Crosstalk program, took a close look at a number of those placed into positions of power and leadership in the Obama administration, starting with Barack Hussein Obama himself. The record shows that throughout his life, Barack Obama has been mentored by--and later has surrounded himself with--individuals who promote socialist ideas, and often advocate activist and aggressive actions in society and in politics to bring them into fruition.

While there have been a few appoints of "czars" by previous administrations to assist in areas not covered by official government agencies or departments, Barack Obama has appointed nearly 40 such "czars" to advise him, and essentially to take control of most areas of our society. Unlike Cabinet officers, most of these "czars" are not "vetted" by the U.S. Senate, and do not require their approval to serve in the Obama administration.

The radical positions of those appointed by Obama were discussed, including:

--Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff
--Mark Lloyd, now at the Federal Communications Commission, who wants conservative talk radio shut down
--Kevin Jennings, the "safe schools czar", who once counseled a student who had been propositioned by a homosexual, to accept it and "use a condom"
--Van Jones, White House environmental adviser, who resigned after his activist past became known, including charges that the Bush Administration orchestrated the attacks on 9/11
--plus Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy, Cass Sunstein, and others.

Amazingly, even though much of Barack Obama's past was known during his campaitn for President, the major media outlets largely ignored it. And little was revealed about his "czar" appointees, in some cases not even mentioning them until they made news by withdrawing their nomination or resigning under fire.

Best of Crosstalk (First Aired March 3, 2010)

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:32:16 -0600

President Obama is saying he might break out the “nuclear option” when it comes to passing nationalized health care. In this case he’s referring to reconciliation. Reconciliation is the process of passing a bill with just 51 votes as opposed to the normal 61 votes it usually takes in the Senate in order to obtain cloture.

Here’s how it works: The House and the Senate have to pass the same version. Each has passed their own (different) versions at this point in time. This means that lawmakers have 3 options:

1. They can start over, or 2. they can go into Conference Committee and work out the differences between the two bills. This latter option involves merging the two bills into one. The problem with this option is that when it comes out of conference, it would need 61 votes to go to what’s referred to as “cloture”. The Democrats don’t want this option because they don’t have the necessary 61 votes.

Option #3 is the “nuclear option” known as “reconciliation”. This is where the Senate sends its version over to the House and the House passes it. It’s questionable whether there are enough votes in the House to pass the Senate version because some Democrats don’t like what’s missing from the Senate version. However, Nancy Pelosi is saying that if the House will give her the required number of votes to pass the Senate version, it will go to Obama for his signature and at that point it becomes law. She’s basically saying that she’ll come around later with a series of House bills to change or amend the health care bill to make House liberals happy.

Brannon also presented two audio clips. The first one is of a host from MSNBC claiming that the Tea Party movement is giving cover to those who want to kill Black-Americans and Jews.

The second audio clip features Congressman Ron Paul and his son. They comment on how the U.S. appears close to an economic collapse and why the idea that nationalized health care is affordable and won’t add to the national debt is a dubious projection at best.

News Friday

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:48:13 -0600

Vic Eliason began this edition of Crosstalk with an audio cut from Americans United for Life Action. The speaker gives an outline of what she feels is the real “end game” for health care reform and what needs to be done to stop taxpayer funding of abortion.

President Obama and the Democrats have set March 18th as the target date for a vote on the pro-abortion Senate health care bill. This means Christians have about two weeks to respond to legislators and communicate their views on this issue. The phone numbers to accomplish this are listed below.

Vic also asked for listener comment on some other stories and issues including:

--Illinois is considering a presumed consent organ harvesting bill. This would allow doctors to harvest organs from citizens that have not given explicit consent to have this done.
--Spy chips hidden in 2.5 million waste bins.
--The idea that the government is the servant of the people may be fading away. We see this as many of today’s civil servants are part of a protected privileged class while at the same time, middle-Americans struggle.
--A bumper sticker says, “Pray for Obama--Psalm 109:8”
--51 critical questions that people want answered by our president.

Evangelical Churches in Foreclosure

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 16:41:59 -0600

Just like many American homeowners, communities are beginning to experience a growing number of churches that are going into foreclosure, a phenomenon that is not going unnoticed by the secular media.

As Ingrid explains it, ultimately, this is not merely about real estate that churches (and Christian schools) can’t afford. It goes much deeper than that. Claiming that they believe in Jesus, what we have are sick churches and sick Christians that are operating like functional atheists. Instead of getting on their knees exclusively, they instead went directly to the bank, mortgaged their other properties, and now they’re up to their eyes in trouble.

As Christians, we need to be grateful to God for what we have instead of always desiring that which is supposedly bigger and better.

From that perspective, Ingrid mentions an article as well as a video, both of which can be seen by going to http://www.crosstalkblog.com.

--The first is an article by John MacArthur entitled: How Did We Make Such an Evangelical Mess?

--The second item is a 3 minute video by In Jesus Name Ministries that details the persecution of Christians in Orissa, India.

Nuclear Option on Healthcare Bill?

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:37:13 -0600

Here’s how it works: The House and the Senate have to pass the same version. Each has passed their own (different) versions at this point in time. This means that lawmakers have 3 options:

Brannon also presented two audio clips. The first one is of a host from MSNBC claiming that the Tea Party movement is giving cover to those who want to kill Black-Americans and Jews.

Bible for Porn Trade /Christian Student Discrimination

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:47:19 -0600

Vic Eliason opened the phone lines to allow listeners to comment on the following topics of concern to Christians:

--A Texas college campus is locked in a fierce debate after atheist students operate what they call a “smut for smut” campaign that allows the trading of bibles and other religious texts for pornography.

--16 year old Nathan de La Garza, who attends Washington Park High School in Racine, Wisconsin, was sent to the principal’s office for carrying his Bible on his pastor’s recommendation. The assistant principal felt that such an expression of faith could lead to a fist fight.

God’s War on Terror

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:45:34 -0600

Walid Shoebat was born in Bethlehem, and is a former Muslim and PLO terrorist. He became a Christian after reading the Hebrew Scriptures during an attempt to convert his wife to Islam. He is now an advocate for Israel as he exposes the threat of radical Islam through books, media, and speaking engagements around the world.

This Crosstalk is a presentation that Walid gave in November of 2009 at a VCY America rally.

As a young Muslim, Walid grew up believing that the Old Testament had been changed by the Jews and the New Testament had been changed by Christians. In other words, the Bible had become corrupted.

In contrast, Walid shares how the Islamic religion took pieces from the Apocrypha, pieces from the Bible, added its own ideology into the text and created a corruption of the Bible. In essence, those who did the real corrupting have accused the innocent of corruption.

Much of Walid’s presentation focuses on the lack of critical thinking in the Muslim culture that allows this kind of confused and deceptive thinking to proliferate. He gave an example of this when describing what took place after the Pope declared that Islam should not be spread through violence. Walid noted that Muslims took to the streets and expressed the alleged “peaceful” nature of Islam through sheer violence.

He saw a similar type of violence errupt when he began to think critically about the terrorism and violence of Islam. Eventually he became a Christian and shed the mantle of hatred. It’s at that point that others began to accuse him of being a racist, bigotted, Islamaphobic Christian.

Walid’s presentation also covers the following:

--The Islamic vs. the Christian meaning of “intercession”
--How to obtain the real meaning of the word “jihad”.
--What Islam means by someone’s “constitutional right”
--Some interesting Bible references concerning the anti-christ and his relationship to the religion of Islam and Muslim nations.

Best of Crosstalk (First Aired February 25, 2010)

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:38:23 -0600

Pastor Larry DeBruyn is a graduate of Taylor University, and Dallas Theological Seminary, where he received the Charles A. Nash Award in Church history. He has ministered in churches for 41 years, the last 22 at Franklin Road Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is the author of the book, Unshackled: Breaking Away from Seductive Spirituality.

According to pastor DeBruyn, the new spirituality is really the old spirituality; the same spiritual system that Abraham was brought out of. Fast-forward to the 17th chapter of Revelation and it talks about Babylon, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth. This is the type of spirituality that’s repackaged itself and has been know by many as New Age spirituality.

The idea of “oneness” is a key to understanding all of this. Some people don’t want to recognize that there is the reality of the universe and the reality of God above. Monism, which is another word for oneness, says that all reality is one. It attempts to eliminate the category distinctions concerning the “above” and “below” and instead merge them into one. This is how we end up with people that falsely teach that everything around us, and even you…are God.

We see an excellent example of this teaching and how it’s trying to deconstruct and reshape Christianity in the book, The Shack, by William Paul Young. This book has been in the top-ten of the New York Times best-seller list for paperback trade fiction since June of 2008. It’s an allegory that tugs upon the emotions of the reader because of the tragedy that's described when the main character's daughter is kidnapped, raped and killed.

The Shack is a literal laundry list of false doctrines and representations including:

--God doesn’t need to punish sin.
--Sin is its own punishment.
--God embraces universalism.
--God is an overweight African-American woman.
--Jesus is not The Christ.
--There is no penal, substitutionary atonement of Christ.

Discernment is the key and there’s much that can be learned in this area as Ingrid and pastor DeBruyn discuss the details on this edition of Crosstalk.

Signs of the Times and the Return of Christ

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:18:19 -0600

Dr. Ed Hindson is a distinguished Professor of Religion and Dean of the Institute of Biblical Studies at Liberty University. He’s authored a number of books including: Global Warning, Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics and the Zondervan King James Bible Commentary. Dr. Hindson is also a Bible prophecy speaker and host of "The King is Coming" telecast.

Dr. Hindson was the speaker at a VCY Rally in October of 2009 and this broadcast features portions of his presentation.

Dr. Hindson describes how Bible prophecy is not written to scare us, but to prepare us; so that we will be ready when the Lord returns. It’s not written to frighten us, but to invite us to give our lives to Christ while there’s time and hope.

His first main point of emphasis was on the idea that time is running out for the world. He pointed to a recent gathering of world leaders; a gathering designed to bring about solutions to the problems of the world. The problems, however, still remain.

From there Dr. Hindson goes to the Word of God, laying more groundwork for the importance of prophecy. He looks at the 16th chapter of Matthew and explains how Jesus challenged the Pharisees and Sadducees who had missed all 109 of the first prophecies concerning his first coming. He then contrasts that text with Luke 21 which describes the signs of the second coming; signs that challenge us as believers today to be ready.

In light of all this he warns how we should watch out for false predictions as he cites numerous examples from the last century. Even today he describes how the New Agers have a prediction, supposedly based upon the Mayan calendar, that on December 21, 2012, the world will either end or we will have the dawning of a great new age.

Dr. Hindson believes we are close to the end of the age. Here are several points he uses to defend his position:

--Israel must be back in their Promised Land. They have been for 60 years.
--Tension in the Middle East; particularly against Israel
--The failures of worldwide peace attempts
--The threat of nuclear weapons

More interesting, Scripture-based information concerning Bible prophecy is available by listening to this broadcast or by ordering Dr. Hindson’s complete rally presentation.

Seductive Spirituality and "The Shack"

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:30:45 -0600

The Shack is a literal laundry list of false doctrines and representations including:

Discernment is the key and there’s much that can be learned in this area as Ingrid and pastor DeBruyn discuss the details on this edition of Crosstalk.

The Fight to End the Electoral College

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:45:33 -0600

As the program began, Jim reported that Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle signed into law the "Healthy Youth Act". This act forbids any school district in Wisconsin that has a human growth and development curriculum from teaching an abstinence-only curriculum. It also allows Planned Parenthood to come into classrooms and teach comprehensive sex education.

Trent England is the Director of the Save Our States Project.

There is a nationwide movement by a San Francisco based organization known as National Popular Vote. This organization is attempting to change the electoral college system that elects our president without any change to the Constitution.

Why is that important? According to Trent, America’s founders understood that human nature is always a threat to civil society. In response, they set up a Constitution that had some checks and balances and the electoral college is one of those.

Basically, during a presidential election, each state is voting for electors. Each one of the candidates has picked individuals that they want to be their electors and if that candidate gets the most votes in that state, their electors are elected and they cast the electoral votes to decide who becomes president. The presidential candidate that wins is the one that obtains the greatest number out of 270 possible electoral votes.

The beauty of the electoral college system is that it allows small states and smaller population areas to have an equal say in the electing of our president. It also keeps any election problems, such as recounts, within the states where those problems exist. This prevents the possible need for a massive national recount that could occur under a popular vote system.

According to Trent, the movement to change this long-standing system is going on beneath the radar. He notes that National Popular Vote is very well funded; however, their funding is not being used to educate the public and inform them about what they’re doing. Instead, much of their money is being spent on “behind the scenes” lobbying of legislators.

Presently, five states have passed this as legislation: Maryland, Illinois, Hawaii, New Jersey and Washington.

Planned Parenthood Sex Abuse Cover-Up in Milwaukee

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:49:45 -0600

Lila Rose is a 21-year-old UCLA student and President of Live Action Films, a pro-life, non-profit group that is exposing Planned Parenthood's cover-up of sexual abuse of minors nationwide.

As an undercover student journalist, Lila, along with Live action Films, has released undercover video of a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, abortion clinic showing a Planned Parenthood staffer counseling a purportedly 14-year-old girl and telling her not to tell anyone about her 31-year-old boyfriend. It also shows the counselor coaching her how to obtain an abortion without the consent of her parents.

In Wisconsin, sex between an adult and a minor under age 16 is a felony. Health care professionals are required to immediately report such cases to law enforcement. The law specifically includes abortion providers in this requirement.

If health care passes, Planned Parenthood will be getting millions of tax dollars to cover up child sex abuse cases like this. Jim reported that according to Pro-Life Wisconsin, Milwaukee Planned Parenthood alone received over a million dollars in 2007 under the Wisconsin Family Planning Waiver Program.

This latest case is the 10th clinic where Live Action Films has been able to document the cover-up of sexual abuse against minor girls, yet Lila reported that it’s been very rare to have an attorney general or district attorney look into these cases.

Also explained is the Judicial Bypass System. In many states, along with the reporting laws for sexual abuse, there are laws that require that if a minor comes to a clinic seeking an abortion, her parents or a legal guardian must be involved because this is an invasive surgery. The system does allow minors to bypass the parental consent process via the help of a judge or Child Protective Services in cases of abuse. However, according to Lila, Planned Parenthood applies the bypass rule to any girl seeking an abortion who doesn’t want her parents to know.

Jim also presented the following:

--A WorldNetDaily audio clip from Vanessa Cullins, the Vice President for Medical Affairs at Planned Parenthood, saying that all of us should expect to get a sexually transmitted disease.
--A press release from Operation Rescue that brings news about dozens of apparently late term fetuses that were found frozen at a Philadelphia abortion clinic.
--Tomorrow, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle is expected to sign the Healthy Youth Act into law.

Obama to Ram Healthcare Bill Through

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:41:55 -0600

Bob Adams is Executive Director of the League of American Voters, a national organization dedicated to educating voters on their elected leaders' support for the common sense values of free enterprise, family and national security.

Bob is also an advisory board member of of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a board member of the Arizona Latino Commission, and a board member of Birthright of Charlestown, West Virginia.

President Obama has published his own version of the health care plan by taking two Democratic bills passed by the Senate and House and combining some of the features.

This move comes in the face of decreasing public support as well as Republican opposition that’s been strengthened by recent victories in Massachusetts, Virginia and New Jersey.

Ingrid describes some of the features of the new plan that include increased fees on name-brand pharmaceuticals, a comprehensive database on all health care claims, raising the percent of income assessment that individuals will pay if they choose not to become insured, and more. In other words, choice in health care is basically obliterated.

According to Bob, this new attempt by Obama is not about health care reform, improving our system or about adding more patients. Instead, he believes it’s all about creating a gigantic government infrastructure to take over one-sixth of the economy.

Reconciliation in the Senate appears to be the game-plan for success to get this rammed through by the Obama administration, so Bob concludes that if this plan is going to be defeated, it will have to happen in the House of Representatives.

Bob says that many House and Senate members aren’t answering their phones or looking at e-mails because they’re “determined to ram this down our throats.” In response, the strategy of the League of American Voters is to target 23 House Democrats with television ads because he believes that when such ads run repeatedly in their districts, it gets their attention.