God, The Government, and Governor John Kasich

In his latest turn on Fox News Sunday, Ohio Governor John Kasich spent a lot of time talking about God:

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I'm a believer, as a conservative, that everybody has a God-given purpose. Then: It is our job on a temporary basis to try to give them a chance to fulfill their God-given purpose by helping them. Finally: I was in Utah, Chris, and I was walking through the capital, and I saw a bunch of inmates. I shook every one of their hands, and you know what I told them? "God has a purpose for you, Remember that the Lord has a purpose for you. Be hopeful. Kasich offered these welcome words in the midst of this country’s rapid secularization; gracious remarks, yet pronounced in a forced fashion. The focus should be on God-given, not Government-giving. When discussing the critical importance of helping the less fortunate, Kasich used that ubiquitous word "we” to justify government programs. Who is "we"? Are they choosing to use their time, money, and resources to help others? And we are demanding, we are doing to demand personal responsibility.

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Once again, who is "we"? Are all the people whom the Buckeye governor is referring to aware that they are paying for big government proposals? Was there something more to all of this What God talk? Perhaps Kasich should seek a pastorate, or become the Congressional chaplain. Maybe he is playing the religious card to win over Iowa voters. His frequent referrals to the deity seemed forced, not faithful, or even heartfelt. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace reminded viewers that Kasich was promoting ObamaCare with the Bible, particularly Matthew 25. Ohio Watchdog reported the governor’s comments in one state: “Now, if you ever read Matthew 25, I think, ‘I wanna feed the hungry and clothe the naked. . .   “Now, I don’t know whether you ever read Matthew 25, but I commend it to you, the end of it, about do you feed the homeless and do you clothe the poor. . .   Kasich cited Matthew 25 when defending his ObamaCare expansion during a Fox News interview aired Jan. 22, during a Jan. 22 Hugh Hewitt interview and during an NPR interview aired Friday. Regarding ObamaCare critics, Kasich told NPR, “I don’t pay much attention to narrow ideologues.” Free market critics, including Catholic apologists, resoundingly rejected the Big Government agenda which Kasich wrested from the Scriptures. Besides, what does Matthew 25 say? 34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.  . . . On a crucial note regarding Biblical exegesis, every statement uttered by Jesus while on earth must be read in light of the Old Covenant, with a deeper understanding that Jesus would fulfill this covenant completely (Matthew 5:17, John 19: 30), thus ushering in a New and Everlasting Covenant (Matthew 26: 28; 1 Corinthians 11: 25; Hebrews  12: 24). When Jesus taught on the Sermon on the Mount that men should cut off their hands and feet instead of committing sin, Jesus as Prophet was restoring God's standard to the pristine, impossible whole where it belonged, bringing man to the end of himself, and his need for the Savior. For this reason, Paul mentored his younger charge Timothy about "rightly dividing the Word of Truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). Rightly dividing the Word of Truth rests on understand the Old Covenant  and the New Covenant, the one which Jesus provided, promised in the Old Testament, revealed in the New: "10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. "12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12) The New Covenant is God's Promise to take care of each of us, not the Government's mandate for us to take care of others with our own resources. The New Covenant is God justifying man through His Son, not governors justifying Big Government takeovers. The New Covenant is about salvation through a Savior: not the government, but Christ Jesus; not Governor Kasich, but He on whose shoulders the government rests (Isaiah 9: 6). There is nothing in the Bible which defends government "charity" subsidized by forced taxation, but rather posits that all things belong to God, and yet He freely gives us all things (Romans 8: 31-32). God does not force, but invites us to give: "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver." (2 Corinthians 9: 7) Notice that every man "purposes", makes the decision on his own, and gives willingly. Governor Kasich should be commended for balancing his state's budgets, running a surplus, and presiding over phenomenal job growth. His national circuit on passing a Federal Balanced Budget Amendment through a Convention of States is notable, and noteworthy. As for his flawed, even preserve self-justification of ObamaCare through the Bible, Kasich fails to make a convincing case. If the Ohio Governor cares about God-given purpose and rights, he would give up the forced subsidy of health care, which is costing his state two billion dollars, and get back to letting private citizens and charities reach out and help the downtrodden.

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