Scrolling around...September 23, 2013

Henry Blackaby and the Positive Power of Social Media
We received the information early Friday morning that well-known Christian author and speaker Dr. Henry Blackaby was missing. Because of his close relationship to LifeWay professionally and to many of us personally, we made the decision to change the blog schedule at ThomRainer.com and related social media so we could get the word out about Dr. Blackaby.

The hours that followed were tense and ultimately extremely gratifying. We would soon learn that Dr. Blackaby had a heart attack and became disoriented. Christians around the world were able to hear through social media of his latest purported location according to his credit card charges. Of course, we were praying that he was the one actually using the credit cards—and he was...
Henry Blackaby to Have Surgery after Heart Attack

Lower Health Insurance Premiums to Come at Cost of Fewer Choices
Federal officials often say that health insurance will cost consumers less than expected under President Obama’s health care law.  But they rarely mention one big reason: many insurers are significantly limiting the choices of doctors and hospitals available to consumers.

From California to Illinois to New Hampshire, and in many states in between, insurers are driving down premiums by restricting the number of providers who will treat patients in their new health plans.
      

When insurance marketplaces open on Oct. 1, most of those shopping for coverage will be low- and moderate-income people for whom price is paramount. To hold down costs, insurers say, they have created smaller networks of doctors and hospitals than are typically found in commercial insurance. And those health care providers will, in many cases, be paid less than what they have been receiving from commercial insurers...NYT

Obama Administration appeals Hobby Lobby/HHS mandate case to the Supreme Court
...On Wednesday the administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court ruling granting Hobby Lobby an exemption from the mandate, which requires employers to provide co-pay-free coverage for contraceptives, sterilization and abortion-causing drugs for all females of childbearing age enrolled in their company’s health plan.

More than 60 company owners have sued the Obama Administration over the directive, arguing that forcing them to pay for procedures and drugs their faiths hold to be immoral violates their constitutionally-protected religious freedom.

In the Hobby Lobby case, the company’s owners sought an exemption from the mandate because it requires coverage for so-called ‘emergency contraception,’ which works at least some of the time by making the uterus inhospitable to an already-fertilized embryo, inducing early abortion – something that goes against the owners’ Christian faith. Initially, a lower court rejected their case, but in July, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned their decision and Hobby Lobby was granted an injunction...

Powerful typhoon kills 20 in southern China, swipes Hong Kong
A powerful typhoon hit Hong Kong and the southern China coast on Monday, killing at least 20 people on the mainland, crippling power lines and causing flooding and gale force winds...

W.Va. Episcopal Church to bless same-sex couples
...Klusmeyer said he gave the issue much thought and prayer before making the decision, which he announced in Flatwoods at a three-day convention of the Diocese of West Virginia.

Klusmeyer said the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia is following the example of three other Christian organizations -- the Evangelical Lutheran Church, United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church in blessing the unions.

"There will be some [church members] who are elated and some who will be very disappointed," the bishop said.

There are 'parameters' to the church's blessings for gay unions, which are to begin on Dec. 1, at the start of the next Christian calendar, he said. The priest in charge and the congregations of individual churches must decide whether the church will bless the couples. Couples must be baptized and active members of a particular congregation for a minimum of six months...

Abortion Nation
America is only 1 of 4 countries to allow abortions post-viability...

Late-Term Abortionist Says Women Have Abortions “To be Good Mothers”
There’s one key reason a woman chooses to abort her baby: to be a good mom – at least according to Susan Robinson, a third trimester abortionist featured in the documentary film “After Tiller.”...

Is everybody wrong’ about health care except Obama?
That, in three simple words, was the question a reporter asked President Obama last week.

“Yes, they are,” the president said with a straight face. “People will look back and they’ll be asking, ‘What was the argument about? Why is everybody fighting this so much?’”

Why? Well, here, Mr. President, are just a few of the many, many reasons...

The IRS Hit List Democrats Don’t Want You To See