confusion

2013-09-20 Need to know

ACH Study Groups

Ben & Fran Gilmore – Cofounders

7659 Gingerblossom Drive

Citrus Heights, CA 95621

916-722-2501 histbuff@garlic.com

www.ACHStudyGroups.com

September 20, 2013

This is a letter to our friends –

Need to know

Good people across the nation routinely “glaze over” when the news shifts to “government.” It is NOT because they aren’t interested and don’t sense responsibility. It is, I believe, because they do not understand, and see no purpose investing time in confusion and futility. They can’t do anything to change it anyway.

The next few days’ events will significantly change your family life-style, for good or bad, well into the future. You need to know! This post is to help you understand.

There is a set of rules of action, (laws) in place to govern everything that exists. Families, churches and nations are all governed (directed, regulated, controlled, restrained) by sets of laws.

In America, the laws are made by men and women “We the people” send to Washington, D.C. Lawmakers are called legislators. They are divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives called the “House”. (Senators & Representatives) Both groups MUST sign off on a law (bill) before it goes to the President who signs it into law, or rejects it.

Comment – I have found many who do not know these basics. Please stay with me.

The law says that all spending bills MUST ORIGINATE in the House. Then the Senate must either agree, or send an alternative bill back to the House and they designate a conference of both groups to iron out the differences until both bodies can signoff and send it to the President. A key point- Not a dime of government money can be spent without a law that begins in the House. No House authorization – No spending!

For a long time now, there has not been an annual budget bill authorizing any government spending! The law requires one each year. The Senate has refused to send an alternative budget back to the House to iron out differences! I suspect, because the Senators do not want to have to vote to cut spending and lose the votes they “buy” with government money.

Each year they wait until the very last minute, then pile all the proposed spending bills into a gigantic continuing resolution (a “CR”) that “authorizes the government to keep on doing what it is doing without a budget bill! They say, “If we don’t pass the CR and sign it into law, the government can’t write checks. The sky will fall! Babies will starve!”

Politicians are frightened of “starving babies”. Rather than do what they were hired by the people to do, i.e. debate and make the hard decisions (as we do in our families) they put off the hard choices. In this way, they have kept the voting groups happy and bankrupted our great nation.

Two days ago, having been bombarded with calls and letters from, “We the people”, the Republican Representatives met in a closed meeting and demanded that the Speaker of The House, John Boehner (R-TN) [i.e. Republican from a district in Tennessee], put the issue to a vote. The Republicans have a majority of the seats in the House.

They passed a CR spending bill that authorized everything except funds for Obamacare. Obama care is a disaster. It is a blatant effort to socialize the American medical industry, doctor and hospital services. If allowed to begin next month, it will create chaos. It was passed a while back without being read! They said, “Pass it so we can read it and see what it says!”

The Democrats control the Senate. News today will carry stories of efforts to get the Senators to agree and send the House version CR to the President. I doubt they will.

Next, the Senate will likely put Obamacare funding back into the CR and a conference of both houses will try and iron out the ONLY difference – Obamacare funding. If the House Republicans stand firm, there will be no CR sent to the President – UNLESS – the Senate bends and allows defunding of Obamacare.

Senators have a big problem. 1/3 of them are up for election in 2014! How they vote on Obamacare will be the first question voters will want to know!

The Democrats and the President will begin shouting demagoguery (A demagogue – or rabble-rouser is a political leader in a democracy who appeals to the emotions, prejudices, and ignorance of the less-educated …).

They are saying the House CR has no chance of passing. They are saying the nasty Republicans are shutting down the government. (No mention that the Senate has refused for years to pass a budget bill!) On the contrary the House CR keeps the government open EXCEPT for Obamacare, which “We the people” do not want!

Both sides – those wanting limited government under Constitutional law – those wanting ever bigger government control over everything we do – are in a great struggle. How it turns out depends upon the resolve of just under 600 politicians making up the Senate and the House.

Some of them are men and women of principle. Others are swept along by the forces around them. They need to hear from you NOW, this weekend. PLEASE Flood the e-mails, phones, mails with encouragement to do what is right because it is right and let the chips fall as they may!

Simple Google searches will locate your Senator and your Representative. If you have never contacted those who represent you in Washington, there has rarely been a better time to begin!

2013-09-20 Need to know Read More »

A Challenge

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What follows is a sincere plea from my heart to yours.

Once we were a people who prided themselves upon being unique. Has it ever occurred to you that, nothing God creates is a duplicate? Further – nothing exists without a set of rules that limit and govern it.

Reason is a gift from God to humans. It is among the items in each life-adventure “tool chest.” Use it or lose it!

Let’s begin

God is the uncreated creator.

Have you ever paused to reason why that is a true statement? Once “We the people” understood and focused on that. If we are not to live in confusion, frustration, anger, and ultimate hopelessness – We MUST first apply our individual reason to the above statement. It is not enough to accept the word of a trusted parent, religious leader, or friend.

If you are to experience your life-adventure as you were placed here to do, you MUST think this through for yourself! God has no step-children! Such reasoning has been removed nibble by nibble, until we are no longer challenged to reason for ourselves. Others are happy to do it for us!

· Wisdom may be found in the Bible (biblically).

· Wisdom may be found in history (historically).

· Wisdom may be found through observation and reason (governmentally).

Why do you trust wisdom from the Bible? It is NOT enough to say, “I trust the one who told me the Bible is God’s word.” Have you observed the evidence and applied your own reason to draw a wise conclusion? Would your conclusion hold up under cross examination?

Are you prepared to illustrate wisdom in His-story? Discussing evidence of providential history has become rare these days. If we are to see our current situation as it truly is – We must see it in the context of God’s hand in human history.

Are you prepared to demonstrate wisdom through observation and reason? There is a cause and effect to everything. I label it, “Thinking governmentally.” Others might call it, “critical thinking.”

All three of these sources of wisdom are valid and useful – if – we will study them and use them. Things of value come with a price! That is one way of judging value!

It appears to me – American society in general, is ill-informed and almost illiterate in all three of these forms of wisdom. We have been lulled into our individual “comfort zones” and we will fight to defend them! In doing so – I guarantee – You will be missing the exciting adventures available to you! You may also be failing to fulfill your part in His-story.

A Challenge

On June 3rd, We will begin our next online course in PRINCIPLES OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT (PAG). This is NOT a course on the Constitution. This is a course in building wisdom –and understanding – upon a solid first cause.

I guarantee – This course is outside your “comfort zone.” That is the “challenge.”

Read the syllabus and student comments on our web site. Phone or e-mail to chat about it.

You are encouraged to forward this “challenge” to other adults and teens.

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A Challenge Read More »

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Ben Gilmore 1929-2023

On March 30, 2023 Ben Gilmore, the co-founder of ACHStudyGroups (co-founded with his wife Fran), went to be with the Lord in Glory.

A Memorial: https://www.mykeeper.com/profile/BenGilmore/