Rise in food stamp use represents opportunity for the Church

The Daily Jot


Daily reporting and analysis of current events from a biblical and prophetic perspective.




Wednesday, June 1, 2011


Rise in food stamp use represents opportunity for the Church



The original food stamp program started in May 1939 as an experimental program during high unemployment in the era of the Great Depression. The program was stopped in 1943. Another pilot was conducted over a three year period when John F. Kennedy came into office. It wasn't until the socialist Great Society programs of Lyndon Johnson that food stamps became a permanent program in 1964. Now its known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and recipients on the government dole have grown some 61 percent in the past four years, to a record of over 44 million Americans, costing taxpayers more than $68 billion, according to ABC News.



Did you know that 14% of Americans are now receiving taxpayer funded food assistance? That food stamp participation has grown so rapidly demonstrates--to me--two things: First that socialism in the United States is approaching a critical mass, something that was never intended to be a part of the American experience. And my second is derived from the first: That the Christian church in America is failing in its duties. When Johnson and his Democratic controlled Congress expanded the government's role in providing for the social needs of Americans, the Church in America at the time was applauding the wonderful humanitarian concept about the war on poverty. This was a pivotal moment for our nation.



The Church was all too eager and willing to abrogate its Christ-commanded responsibility to the government, translated: taxpayer. This, in my opinion, was a major marker in the downfall of Christianity in this country and the ultimate rise and institutionalization of secular humanism. It coincided with evolution being taught in the public schools as scientific fact rather than theory; with the eventual removal of teacher-led prayer in school, the sexual revolution and abortion. If it was a socialist leaning Congress passing such legislation that codified the secular humanist movement in America, it was the Church abrogating its responsibilities that opened the floodgates.



Even today, the Church in America is more focussed on strange doctrines of man, or self indulgence of what people think God wants for them instead of from them, or the government providing social justice than it is even trying to fulfill its duties as prescribed by Christ. There are many examples, one found in Matthew 25:35, 36, "For 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: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me." The rise in food stamp use is an excellent opportunity for the Church in America. There is great blessing in caring for one another--it builds both the recipient and the giver.



Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!

Bill Wilson