Washington DC Adventists Pray for U.S. Government Shutdown to End
by
AT News Team, October 3, 2013
Wednesday night at Capitol Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church, within blocks of the deadlocked United States Congress, Adventists and their neighbors came together to pray for an end to the government shutdown stalemate. The prayer meeting was covered by WJLA Channel 7, the ABC television outlet in the nation's capital.
"Tonight, there are large numbers of employees who are home, not because they choose to be, Lord, but because they were shut out," the TV reporter heard as part of the prayers. Pastor Gene Donaldson stated that the shutdown is affecting many of his members, and he prayed for compromise among the members of congress. "We believe that a spirit of unity must prevail," the pastor said. "Lord, we pray for all of those who are looking at mortgage payments today."
"You're really being told that you're not worth it, that it doesn't make any difference whether you come to work or not, … and that's what hurts," the news report quoted Dr. Johari Rashad, a furloughed 37-year-old federal employee with the Office of Personnel Management who was part of the prayer meeting. The question on the mind of most of those at church was, How long will this last?
Journalists in Washington generally agree that it is very unlikely the impasse will be resolved this week. "I think we're going to see a lot more jockeying, a bit more posturing, but actually reaching a conclusion? I have a hard time seeing that right now," the television station quoted Darren Samuelsohn of Politico.
Steve Hopkins, an EPA employee at the prayer meeting, said the situation is very frustrating because he has already had unpaid days off due to budget cuts. It amounts to wage reductions for the families involved. "You cut back as much as you can cut back, and then you try to cut back a little further in case it happens next week too," he was quoted by the news report.
Hopkins stated that there are some good people he knows who are leaving government employment because of how they are being treated. "When a good job opportunity comes along that pays quite a bit more than the federal government, they say, 'Why should I put up with this?'"
The congregation has 604 members, many of them young adults who work in government and related nonprofit organizations, the news media, etc. The church building is packed on Sabbaths and includes large numbers of visitors, out-of-town tourists and new arrivals from across the country. It is located seven blocks due east of the Capitol building where Congress meets and the Supreme Court building. It is affiliated with the denomination's Allegheny East Conference which stretches from Newark, New Jersey, to south of Richmond, Virginia, along the Atlantic Coast and inland into the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains and includes many historically African American congregations as well as some with no ethnic majority and Hispanic, Korean, West Indian and other immigrant churches.
Everybody suffers sooner or later when the government shuts down. Hope the shutdown ends soon,
This country is broke. No money to pay the bills is what this is all about. This will get really ugly sooner or later as we can't keep borrowing and expect to not get in trouble. Now there is talk of not being able to make the payment on the debt and still mr. president wants to borrow more.
Is it prophecy being fulfilled?
You know, just as I was about to post something about the incredible strangeness of praying in a situation like this, as though some immortal, omnipotent creator / master / ruler of the universe and beyond would actually care about a laughably temporary, tiny political situation in one small country on our very small planet, I see a post like Tanner's about prophecy.
Really? If the "prophets" had visions of a week-long political tit-for-tat thousands of years down the road that will end (and be forgotten) virtually as soon as it began, I submit to you that you should consider alternative sources of information — like non-fiction, for starters.
Tim,
I think I asked this as a question to see if someone would point this out. I guess you did..I guess your answer is NO.
Truth is truth..This country can't afford what it's trying to do. I saw on the news one day where a person said only 47% of this countrys people have jobs and those try to support those who do not. This is not working and something needs to change and it probably will not in a week or two.
I also heard them talking of perhaps default on debt. How can we keep going like this and borrow more with out consequences?
I do not see this as being over any time soon. And yes it's the ugly truth.
The US government is in danger of being bankrupt at the rate of spending by the present regime. Unfortunately some will pay the economic price by the partial shutdown of governmental operations, however, we have to take a stand and declare enough is enough. Our country is one that is built on democracy and not on dictatorship. We are mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren. The irony is, we fought to break down the barriers of communism & socialism and here we are embracing the very socialistic ideas we were so much against. I am dunfounded that Seventh-day Adventist Christians would support the liberal agenda of the current government. People need to stop listening to the biased media and do some independent research for themselves. Wake up SDA'S and stand for truth & liberty. We are slowly loosing our liberties in this country. We are a peculiar people awaiting the soon return of our Lord & Saviour. The question confronting all of us today is. Has God changed the Biblical priciples upon which his truth is based?
I am not sure if we are really in touch with facts in some of these comments or just venting an emotional reaction. Since WWII Federal spending has averaged about 20% of the gross economic production of the country (GDP) and it has gone up and down based on the condition of the economy. During the Great Recession is got up to 25% and in the most recent year it was headed back down at 23% Now, perhaps you might say, "Cut it in half." But, it turns out that if you cut the Federal share of GDP that much, you actually hurt the economy and reduce the productivity of the nation. (For example, when the Army buys Jeeps, that money goes to a company that uses most of it to hire workers, purchase parts, etc.)
Forbes magazine (a conservative business journal) published an analysis by Daniel Mitchell from the Cato Institute, a very conservative think tank. He found that the increases in spending for the terms of each of the last 8 presidents were as follows: LBJ 5.9%, Nixon 2.8%, Carter 3.9%, Reagan 2.5%, Bush 1.8%, Clinton 1.5%, Bush 5%, Obama 1.8%. Mitchell refigured the numbers a couple of other ways, but it did not change the relative differences of these eight presidents.
Do you think that these numbers justify the conservatives in congress deciding to shut everything down and threaten to destroy the international credit rating of America? I don't want to leave a lot of debt for my grandchildren, but how do we do that without crashing the econcomy? If the Federal government slashes spending and that means that millions of people become unemployed, how will they find work? Are there potential start-up companies waiting around to suddenly hire those millions of people? Let's say that those millions of employees could be transitioned from government-funded activity to privately-funded activity in 12 months (which seems impossibly quick turnaround time from my experience); who will pay for feeding those families and keeping roofs over their heads for 12 months?
Maybe it would have been better if the U.S. had never become so dependent on Federal funds. (Frankly, I find libertarian ideas about a free economy appealing.) But, we are out on a limb; how do we back off without crashing the system? And (bigger question) is it really possible to maintain the very complex, technologically-advanced civilization that we are used to without a big government? Is than an example at any point in history, anywhere on the globe, of a civilization as complex and large as our operating with half as much as we spend on government?
I don't know the answers to those questions, but most of the comments that I hear on this subject seem to clearly come from people who are equally without knowledge. What I do know is that when the Federal government cuts back, the local town and county governments suffer and some of my neighbors lose their jobs and it takes many months (more than 12) for them to find another job and that job pays less. This is true whether they were employed by a private business or a government agency or a nonprofit organization. I don't see anyone who is doing better because of cutbacks. If someone could point out someone who is doing better because of cutting back, it would help me feel differently about the whole thing. RigAht now, all I can conclude is those who feel that "spending is out of control" and "the government must be made smaller" are simply chanting simplistic slogans that are disconnected from reality. Maybe someone can help me answer these questions.
As to be "dumfounded that Seventh-day Adventist Christians would support the liberal agenda," the reality is, Winston, that the majority of Adventists around the globe vote for politicians with even more "liberal" agendas than the current American president. The millions of Adventists around the globe are not in the same place in terms of their understanding of economics and politics as are American political conservatives. Does that mean that God made a mistake in calling them into the membership of the Remnant church?
The knee jerk reaction from too many, dare I say, Adventists (?) is to condemn the "socialist" government
for the problems, especially the current ones.
A congressman a few days ago read some interesting remarks by congressmen when both Social Security and Medicare was enacted. The gist: the country has lost its foundation and we are fast becoming like the European nations.
Does anyone believe that Social Security or Medicare could ever be repealed? In a year or two when the Affordable Care Act is operating, it will be the same: the millions who will be covered under this plan–those with pre-existing conditions (that's everyone over 50), children with long-term care needs, and more, will not be able to understand how we functioned without it. The "socialist" European nations are aghast that U.S. citizens have no universal health care, leaving millions to forego needed treatment and die for lack of coverage.
Doesn't anyone remember when Gingrich shut down the government in '95? There was no recession then and today, just pulling out of the worst since the Great Depression, a longer shutdown will cause the government to lose its ability to borrow and we will become a debtor nation–to China.
Americans have eagerly voted to go to war, spend billions on the military, but are extremely resistant to offer a hand to its own citizens. For shame!