As Christians, our faith should not be in the Government or anything else for that matter. It should be in CHRIST and Christ alone. People need to seek the Lord for help. He is our provider. The Bible tells us as Christians to help the poor, widows, orphans, and people in need. This is NOT the responsibility of the govenment. It is the churches responsibility. However, the church (all denominations) have slacked off and been too busy building their own Kingdom instead of the Kingdom of God. Many pastors are NOT shepherding they are hirelings and don't care for the sheep unless they can benefit them. I believe this is a dangerous place to be. If we want to see transformation in the Government -it must begin in the Church. Individual Christians need to start being the church and give to people in need instead of trusting the institution to do it for them. Many pastors are living in million dollar homes while families in their church are hurting. This is sickening. The body of Christ must wake up and stand up for righeousness. We cannot vote for people out of selfish motives. We must put God Fearing people into office that are there to serve not be served.

Additional quesiton, does government jobs (military, police, fire, other) included in a handout?
The difference between a handout and a hand-up depends on the person reciving the assistance. We should look to the Church first (Acts 2:46). However a friend who is close is better than a brother in a distant land. The Bible was written before such a thing as government assistance. In reading the Levitical law, there was a substistance program for those who had nothing (glean not your fields). Let us not forget that one of the matriarchs of faith was a recipiant of this (Ruth).
It is a matter of focus. Are we relying on the Government to solve our problems, or are we relying on God and allowing God to use the government as His hand and not just the hand of another man. Government is a tool of God, not an end in and of itself (Romans 13:1-7).

I think that it is fine for any person to accept assistance from the government. However, where I have a problem is when the church seeks handouts (via a car wash, bingo night, bake sale, yard sales, raffles, etc). The church is the one that is supposed to be helping out, but I constantly see signs of the church seeking a handout. God provides our every need and doesn't require His church to go looking to 'the world' for a charity. Our church has two 'give-a-ways' each year, where church members and even non-church members bring in used (and even new) items to give out. It's a yard sale with no payment accepted or required. We have free movie nights and other free events, where no money is collected. God is our provider. We have no building fund, yet our church continues to grow by leaps and bounds. We continually use what God has provided to reach out to the community. That's why our bank account balance sits close to zero. The back-up plan for the church should be God. He's all we need. If we give, we will be rewarded ten-fold.

Steve,
First, we need to define a term to answer your provocative questions.
A Christian to me means a follower of Christ who regularly attends church, is probably in a Sunday school class, and reads his Bible daily.
It does not mean a nominal Christian who hasn't been to church in 10 years.
This Christian will logically have a circle of friends who can help him in his time of need, be it job loss, financial stress, etc.
Also, church attending Christians will be up to date on contemporary thinking, such as Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" book.
Anyone reading this book will most likely pay off his debt, lower his lifestyle and sleep better at night.
I love the old saying, "We wouldn't worry about what others think of us if we knew how seldom they do!"

Steve, I think you asked a question in a way to get a desired response. Should Christians take government "handouts"? Would it be fairer to say government assistance?

My concern with the bigger discussion is that many Christians in reality oppose helping the poor and are more focused on money than things of God. Jesus gave one description of the Judgment Scene (Matthew 25) and it seems that the goverment leaders (functionally) are more familiar with this text than many Christians.

Hey Steve! I need to weigh in on your question. I never wanted to be on some sort of government "handout". Being brought up by a father who lived in during the Depression, he taught us kids that ANY handout was to be shunned! He was a "pick ya self up by your bootstraps" kinda' guy. Many times in the past, I worked 2 or 3 jobs because I was taught to work hard.

However, 9 years ago, my 37 year old husband died of cancer. My husband was also brought up in the old fashion way of "a day's work for a day's pay". After, his death, I was left with an one year old baby and no way to care for her without leaving her in the hands of others(whether family or daycare centers) who did not follow biblical standards for raising children. The saving grace of it all, was my husband's Social Security Death Benefits which allows me to be a stay at home mom. My husband also worked 11 years with the same company, and earned a 4 year health insurance for his small family after his death. God provided!

Thank GOD I am able to raise my child in the fear of the Lord without having to worry about what she was learning while I'm out trying to make ends meet. It hasn't been easy, but I have been able to give her what she needs. Mostly, a Godly heritage and a deep faith in the Lord.

God Bless~
S

We've recently wrestled with this issue. My husband was laid-off from his engineering job three years ago, and now works as a self-employed carpenter. I was laid off in May, and have not been able to get hired, not even in a temporary position. My job was the one that provided health insurance, and we can't afford COBRA so we've been uninsured.

When I talked to our church's financial advisor, he recommended we apply for gov't assistance (yes, the church is helping us, too), specifically for Medicaid coverage of our kids. I was really really unhappy at that idea, but he reminded me that my husband and I have been paying into the system (taxes) for twenty-some years, and we'll be paying into it again once we get back up on our feet, so we're still net contributors. He referred to it as "getting God's money away from the government and back into His kingdom."

In general I'm opposed to people living their lives on welfare. I agree that the church needs to not abandon its responsibilities to the gov't. Christians are not called to sit on our butts and siphon money away from other people; however, when the need is there, and the assistance is available, well, take advantage of it. It's nothing to be proud of and something to be gotten away from as soon as possible, but still.

And I'm pretty sure I can spend that money more wisely than the government can, left to its own devices.

These resource redistribution policies are a new way (80 years or so) to take control of the people. They have slowly through fear and greed taken what was once done by God and mans love of God to help others in time of need and turned man to look to government to meet their every need. While the government in turn takes away our freedoms and rights out of fear that if we say anything they will come after us by using the license(SSN, TAX EXEMPTION CERTS,501C3) the give us to control us and shut us down .Don't think so try to pray in school or at a government meeting. Read the Bible in school or try to correct somebody who is in the wrong.When was the last time you tried to do something that involved money and they didn't ask for your SSN.
WHO DO WE REALLY FEAR GOD OR MAN ?

I am in the construction industry which has gone through the worst time I can remember. I went from 52k in '07 to 9k in '09. About 4 years ago my wife and I decided that we were not going to be slave to the lender anymore and went through Dave Ramseys class. We sold our house and paid cash for land, paid off all our dept and we rent a small home until we can pay cash to build a small home. We have 2 children and my wife homeschools them. She is an engineer, but we feel our childrens education is more important than an income. I work two part time jobs just to pay the rent. We rely on GOD to provide as we stand stedfast in obedience to his teaching. We do not have insurance so we do everything we can to stay healthy. We give to Ceasar (government)what is Ceasars, and want nothing from them! We give to GOD what is GODS and rest in his provision. Thank you Jesus for your mercy and grace.

Here is the argument the author of this article uses to defend his ridiculous opinion: “A majority voting for a welfare program supported by tax money is inconsistent with Christian behavior, for it abolishes the act of choice (free will) of all those who voted against the program. (Such matters should never be brought to a vote for no man has the right to force others to support a welfare project.) True charity, without choice, is an impossibility, and when attempted, negates the concept of Christian love.”

Boris says: Of course this argument is ridiculous because we all have to pay for things we’d rather not. For example I don’t want my tax dollars wasted on these illegal incursions in Iraq and Afghanistan or to support Israel’s policy of apartheid in Palestine. No man has a right to force others to support an undeclared, unprovoked and illegal war. I don’t want tax revenues going to religious cults like Teen Challenge either. Plus I don’t appreciate that I have to pay higher taxes to make up for the deficit in revenue caused by the fact that Christian churches and organizations pay no taxes. I don’t have a choice in these matters either. The author of this article also complained about the government’s use of force. He would have no problem with the government using physical force on women who do not want to be pregnant though. Dr. Johnson would have no problem with the government forcing women in this country into becoming government owned breeding animals. The hypocrisy and sheer willful ignorance of the far right, the fundamentalist Christian community is just off the charts.

I don't think Steve thinks about the things he says. Suppose a working Christian becomes disabled and can no longer work. This person has paid taxes and deserves a disability pension. Duh.

Ed R
I don’t think anyone is surprised by your comments. Many Christian pastors have been saying the Holocaust was God’s will for years; John Hagee is one of many of them. Everything is God’s will right? 20 to 30 thousand innocent children die of malnutrition or easily curable diseases every day. God’s will correct? Adolf Hitler wanted to form a society in which all people worshiped Jesus and considered any questioning of such to be heresy. “We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.” -Adolf Hitler, in a speech in Berlin on 24 Oct. 1933. The Nazis didn’t just murder 6 million Jews, 5 million other Aryan pagans and atheists were also rounded up and murdered for their non-belief in Christ. Do you think the murder of those unbelievers was God’s will too?

For me the Holocaust is proof enough that there is no God. As a person of Jewish ancestry I don’t so much want to judge you as what you said. You’re delusional. What you said is dangerous. It’s the kind of thinking that has kept human beings killing each other ever since we’ve been civilized enough to know better. The mind that can justify the atrocities supposedly ordered by the God of the Old Testament can justify the Holocaust and any other atrocity as long as they believe it’s “God’s will.” With or without the Holocaust there should not be a nation of Israel. The Jewish people have no right, divine or otherwise to any of the land they currently occupy. History is not going to look kindly on American support for the current Jewish policy of apartheid in Palestine.

You said: “The Exodus, and the events leading to the Exodus were told to Abraham before his death.” The problem with that is that none of the events of the Exodus are told to us by the Egyptians. Historical narratives never contain word for word dialog with people, or gods and people speaking in complete sentences. When we read dialog in a narrative we are always reading fiction. There are no exceptions to this rule. The Bible is religious fiction, not history. A catastrophic event such as the Passover event in which every Egyptian first-born child and animal all died on one night could not have gone unnoticed and unreported in the large collection of historical inscriptions we have from ancient Egypt. Such an event, had it really occurred, would have left a mountain of historical as well as archaeological evidence; same with the supposed subsequent forty year wondering in the desert. Yet for these two events we have not even one shred of evidence that they ever really happened. Anthropologists and archaeologists can trace the travels of hunter-gatherers who lived in that desert region 30,000 years ago but can’t even find a potsherd from the millions of Israelites who supposedly wandered the same desert for 40 years only 3000 years ago.

If government is a tool of God then clearly it is the job of Christians to obey the laws, and the laws of this government clearly state that abortion is legal. So Christians need to respect and honor that law, right? In the Bible God commands them to not to disobey, which entails attempting to get the law overturned. If God wanted abortion to be illegal he wouldn’t have appointed authorities to make it legal. So the proper Christian position on abortion is pro-choice correct? Or perhaps the government isn’t really a tool of God but you’re a tool of God who speaks for God and government.

Would Jesus ask people to send him money on a radio program?

ISIAIh 41 BRING forth your IDOLS did they PREACH to you see they can't speak they can't DO ANYTHING all they do is cause confusion. Jeremiah 10 they nail thier IDOL down like a scarecrow it can't move cant speak can't move must be carired these are nothing but the WORK of CON men. spalms 115 graven images have eyes but cant see have ears but cant hear have noses but cant smell and those that make them shall become like them. john 10 jesus christ sais his sheep hear his voice and another voice thy will not follow and if another person tries to preach to them they WILL FLEE from him. jeremiah 5 the priests bear rule on thier own authority what will you do when your judged my word is not inside them. Now here is the kicker john 5 son of man voice goes back in time mathew 16 jesus christ claims to be the son of man. ?1 cor2 mind of CHRIST preached internally and john 16 sais the spirit of truth comes in the future. Ezekiel 13 lying prophets of ISRAEL my word is not inside them saying god sais god sais god sais wrote hoping mankind would CONFIRM thier WORDS. all of this is EASILY verifiable.

My response is more of a question, and I am seeking God's guidance in this area. Currently I am attending a very small church (20 members) and all these are hit hard by a poor economic area (no jobs, no hope of jobs). Add to that the fact that my husband left almost a year ago, after saying I and the children were a total embarrassment to him and he no longer wanted to be seen with us. He left to live out of state for the sake of a job. He has been sending us food money and paying our bills, but lately he has been doing this less and less and prices are increasing. He has been an abusive man in every sense of the word, using God's word as a tool to continue his abuse, because he claims salvation. Now, knowing this situation, that it is irreconcilable (for reasons I will not state here), the rising cost, his reducing support and the fact that I have myself and 5 children to support, do you think that, as a Christian who loves, serves and trusts Jesus Christ, I should avail myself of medicaid and food stamps? My husband is against it, but my son needs a root canal and I can't bear to watch him take 15+ ibuprofen a day for pain.