Double-digit rate hikes for Obamacare; Votes Switched From Trump to Hillary in Texas...more

It’s official: Double-digit rate hikes for Obamacare  ...Before taxpayer-provided subsidies, premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across the 39 states served by the federally run online market, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. Some states will see much bigger jumps, others less.

Moreover, about 1 in 5 consumers will have plans from only a single insurer to pick from, after major national carriers such as UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Humana (HUM) and Aetna (AET) scaled back their roles.

“Consumers will be faced this year with not only big premium increases but also with a declining number of insurers participating, and that will lead to a tumultuous open enrollment period,” said Larry Levitt, who tracks the health care law for the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation...

Assisted-suicide law prompts insurance company to deny coverage to terminally ill California woman ...“For a while, five months or so, we’ve been trying to get me on a different chemotherapy drug for the infusions, because my doctor felt that it would be less toxic than some of the other drugs that we were going to be using,” Ms. Packer said in a video distributed by The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network on Monday.

“And I was going back and forth, and finally I had heard back from them, and they said, ‘Yes, we’re going to get it covered, we just have to fix a couple of things,’” she continued.

But shortly after California’s End of Life Option Act, which authorizes physicians to diagnose a life-ending dose of medication to patients with a prognosis of six months or less to live, went into effect, Ms. Packer’s insurance company had a change of heart.

“And when the law was passed, it was a week later I received a letter in the mail saying they were going to deny coverage for the chemotherapy that we were asking for,” Ms. Packer said...

Albert Mohler Sees God’s Sovereignty in a Time of Darkening Skies Southern Baptist theologian and Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler spoke to a Christian Legal Society meeting in Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia on Thursday, Oct. 20, concerning the current crisis confronting Christian life in contemporary America, and what Christian lawyers, in particular, might consider in their now crucial roles. He began by noting that every Christian should be a “would be lawyer,” and vice versa. There will be “many moments of common urgency.”

Mohler quoted Matt. 16:1-4. “The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. But he replied to them, ‘When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?’”

We need “Christian leadership in a time of darkening skies,” Mohler said. The current situation is “changing with aggressiveness and hostility.” It is tempting to respond with self-pity, or a hardening of hearts. But we must recognize the “sovereignty of God” who has “brought us to this time.”

Mohler pointed to twentieth century Evangelical theologian Carl Henry, who warned of a coming “barbarism” from the 1960s through the 1980s. “Denial of human liberty” is a result of abandoning the Christian worldview. Similarly, he pointed to other prominent thinkers who have said the same. Alexander Solzhenitsyn told the Harvard graduating class of 1978 that “men have forgotten God.” British ecclesiastical historian Christopher Dawson said that Western civilization is cut off from its sources. Elton Trueblood described Western civilization as a “cut flower” civilization, i.e., a civilization still blooming, but cut off from its roots.... Raymond and I just returned from a week in DC mostly to attend the CLS national conference-very high caliber...

Iranian Pastor Imprisoned for Faith is Set Free  A Christian Iranian pastor who was imprisoned for his faith has been released after first being arrested back in 2006.

According to ChristianNews.net, Pastor Behnam Irani who leads the 300-member Church of Iran in Karaj was initially targeted in 2006 while he was leading a Bible study. Then in 2010 he was arrested and accused of “action against the state” for his refusal to stop holding Bible studies...

I pray every day. It's changed my life ...There's no need to lead a monastic life to pray the Hours. I have them all on an app on my phone, and there is another app that pings me when I wake up, every three hours thereafter, and then when I go to bed. Praying each time takes but a few minutes. It's probably only half an hour over the day. In a way, it feels like "more" since it is woven throughout the day. But at the same time it is less demanding, since I never need the sort of 20-minute block that's hard to find when you have a job and a family. Paradoxically for a practice almost 2,000 years old, the Hours fit perfectly within the cracks of a hectic, modern life.

Countless people are anxious to feel profound experiences through prayer, or worry that their prayer experience is "dry" or feels pointless. It is indeed possible to have spiritual experiences through prayer, the great masters tell us, but that is not what matters. Instead, prayer should be pursued simply for itself, as an offering to God. And the way to know whether your prayer "works" is if it makes you more like Jesus or not...

Mel Gibson’s New Christian Film Receives 10 Minute Standing Ovation  Actor-director Mel Gibson’s new Christian-themed film received a 10 minute standing ovation at a film festival where it was shown.

The film is called Hacksaw Ridge and tells the real-life story of Private Desmond T. Doss who joined the army during World War II to save lives instead of to kill others, due to his Christian faith and beliefs.

Doss initially suffered ridicule from fellow army privates and officers for his pacifism, but eventually gained respect due to heroic deeds, despite his refusal to carry or use a weapon...

Report: Votes Switched From Trump to Hillary in Texas
Residents of at least two cities in Texas are complaining that they voted for Donald Trump only to see the voting machine switch their ballot to Hillary Clinton.

Early voting for the 2016 presidential election started yesterday for people in some areas who have been given the opportunity to avoid the long lines on November 8.

However, in Amarillo, a woman was shocked to see her ballot flip from Republican to Democrat...