The Patriot Post® · Socialists Try to Steal Jesus Again
Texas Democrat Senate candidate, James Talarico, continues his efforts to hijack the Bible to promote his socialist agenda. His latest claim is that Jesus would endorse a massive new government-run health care system. He wants to turn Christ into the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
He told a church crowd, “If you read our scriptures, if you read the New Testament, what does Jesus spend most of his time doing? It’s not preaching, it’s not teaching, it is healing. Healing the sick … And in Matthew 25, scripture says that’s how we will be judged and how we will be saved. By healing the sick, by feeding the hungry, by welcoming the stranger, by visiting the prisoner.”
Talarico has been a Presbyterian seminary student. His distortion of the Gospel might seem persuasive to some Christians. That’s what he is counting on. If left-wing candidates like him can confuse enough Christians, they can win even in conservative states. He is also hoping his other bizarre statements distorting God’s word are not remembered. And, of course, the liberal media will help him. He once described himself as a “Christian who hates Christianity.” And perhaps most disgusting of all, he has even used the Bible to justify abortion, the killing of a baby made in God’s image. The Democrat Party is one hundred percent committed to abortion on demand. God tells us to choose life.
When speaking of his support for government-run healthcare, Talarico said let’s “finish the work of President Obama,” referring to Obamacare. But Obamacare has not delivered on its promises. Its costs have skyrocketed way beyond the estimates used to sell the program. It was supposed to solve the problem of the uninsured, but it didn’t. Socialized health care has never worked anywhere it has been tried. The number of doctors decreases, and waiting times for treatments increase.
Let’s look again at his use of Jesus to justify bigger government. Christ in His ministry never once promoted big government. During His ministry Christ was living under the biggest government in the world – the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire saw Him as a possible revolutionary!
While Christ wants us as Christians to help the poor, He never urged government to take money from one group of citizens and give it to another group.
Talarico distorts the beautiful verses in Matthew 25. This is what Jesus said in verses 34 through 40.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 "The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”
Notice the last sentence. The word “you” appears three times. Who is the “you” referred to? The big government of Rome? No! The “you” are Christ’s followers. He is telling us and the church that we should be compassionate to the needy. Nothing in this teaching or in the Gospel justifies massive new government programs. Christ was not a “fan” of big government. And Christians should remember that big government, inevitably, will take away religious liberty.