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When Will They Ever Learn?
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
If you're old enough to remember the 1960s, you are probably familiar with Pete Seeger's song "When Will They Ever Learn?" It's a plaintive cry about the craziness and futility of life, love and war - "Where have all the young men gone? Gone to soldiers every one! When Will They Ever Learn? When Will They Ever Learn?"
We see repeated examples of this in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament: the Lord told Moses to make a covenant with the Israelites to forsake their idolatry, so they swore an oath that they will forsake idolatry and worship only the Lord... then in the very next chapter, they're back worshiping idols and sacrificing their babies to those false gods. A little later, the Lord revealed Himself to the young Samuel and said that the wicked sons of Eli the priest, Hophni and Phineas, would be killed because of their sins and their father Eli would die. This in fact came about. You would think that the new prophet Samuel would have learned a serious lesson from this and he would be careful to raise his own sons to obey the Lord. But Samuel's sons commited just about the same wicked acts as Eli's sons and came to a bitter death. When Will They Ever Learn?
A little later again, Saul is annointed by Samuel as king of Israel and is commanded to worship only the Lord and forsake idolatry and witchcraft, but he disobeys and comes to a bitter end. David replaces Saul as king but falls into the grave sins of adultery with Bathsheba, a non-Israelite woman, and murder of her husband Uriah. David sincerely repents and the Lord forgives him, but even though the guilt is removed, the baby he fathered by adultery dies. Then David tells his son Solomon to stay away from non-Israelite women and Solomon promises to obey, but when he becomes rich and famous, he marries dozens of foreign women. When Will They Ever Learn?
The stories of the kings of Israel and Judah who came along after Solomon are more often than not the same sad tales of sexual sins and idolatry (these two evils are intrinsically linked together). Then along would come a king like Asa; "Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David his father. He put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made" (1 Kings 15:11-12). The Lord would restore the prosperity and security for the short time these good kings reigned, but when their descendants fell into sin and ruined the economy, foreign enemies would invade and conquer, carrying the Israelites off into captivity.
When we come into the New Testament times, we frequently find the same cycle of sin and punishment, repentance and restoration. We've just celebrated Easter, Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, when with great braggadocio Peter declared that even unto death he would never deny Christ. Then right afterward, he denied Christ three times! Judas also pretended to be a loyal follower of Christ while secretly stealing money and finally selling out Christ for thirty silver coins, betraying Him with a kiss. Peter repented and was restored, but Judas only felt sorry for himself without repenting... and was driven to suicide.
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In all of these stories, the Bible doesn't gloss over human frailties and sinfulness. It doesn't paint a "happy-clappy, hugsy-wugsy, glory-hallelujah" false picture of humanity that you likely have seen in many modern churches or in lots of the superficially-Christian social media memes. The Bible tells it like it is: sin has its consequences, even if we repent. The sins of the fathers are often passed on by example to their children or grandchildren. Perhaps one generation repents and straightens out, but then the next generation goes to "Helena Handbasket" (that's the name of the restaurant my wife and I have thought about opening out in Montana).
For the past few months, the whole world has experienced the Wuhan Virus pandemic spreading from one city in China to the whole country and from there all over the globe. It is an especially nasty bug that spreads easily through the air and silently infects people for up to two weeks before they show any symptoms, so meanwhile, they spread the virus to other people by shaking hands, touching doorknobs, sneezing, or simply breathing near them. The rate of spread was about 1-to-2.5 which caused the virus to spread exponentially.
We're finally learning that it has infected far more people than those going to hospitals or doctors with serious symptoms: 1 in 5 New Yorkers are now estimated to have antibodies to the Wuhan Virus. This means that the fatality rate is less than 1%, which is far less than the SARS or MERS epidemics of recent years. Social distancing and wearing face masks should and will continue for a few more months until the rate of spread drops down below 1-to-1, which means it will soon die out as more and more people develop antibodies to this virus: "herd immunity."
Was the shutdown of the world economy necessary? The whole world didn't shut down for the far more fatal SARS or MERS epidemics, we just took precautions. Sweden chose not to shut down its economy at this time, and the Swedish economy is thriving although their mortality rate from this virus is slightly higher than in nearby Nordic countries. When Will We Ever Learn? Will Sweden get bit with this bad bug in the winter, or will we? Will some people continue to flaunt their disregard for others' safety by not wearing face masks or keeping their social distance? Britain's P.M. kept on shaking hands... and got bit by the bug. I've seen people on the streets and in front of the grocery store hug each other - that's hardly keeping social distance! When Will They Ever Learn?
Perhaps most importantly of all, when will we learn to stop finger-pointing at "them" ...the "other"... "those Chinese" or "those New Yorkers"? We're just beginning to learn that not only was a virology lab in Wuhan involved in artificially developing recombinant viruses from bats - see How COVID-19 may have been deliberately engineered in a China biolab, but that our very own U.S. National Institute of Health was funding that same recombinant bat virus research at that same virology lab in Wuhan - listen to minutes 10 to 15 of this podcast: https://podbay.fm/podcast/1495601614/e/1587163440.
It's time to take responsibility for our own actions: we must not shift the blame onto our ancestors or shift the burden onto our children and grandchildren by issuing trillions of light-weight digital dollars in debt that they will have to pay. We need to stop finger-pointing, and instead say - "God, be merciful to me, a sinner!" We need to get back to work while taking appropriate precautions. We need to allow drive-up churches to serve communion just like drive-up restaurants can serve food. Which is more "essential" - our temporal physical existence or our eternal spiritual existence? When Will We Ever Learn?
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!
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NOW, THE NEWS:
AFTER FIRST RESPONDERS DON'T COMPLY, NEW YORK RESCINDS DISTURBING 'DO NOT RESUSCITATE' ORDER
from: Western Journal
(23 Apr.) There is good news coming out of New York as state officials walked back an all-encompassing “do-not-resuscitate” order on Wednesday after emergency workers refused to comply. While existing guidelines advised first responders to spend 20 minutes attempting to revive victims with no pulse, the New York Post reported on Tuesday that a state Health Department memo was reversing that guidance, telling responders not to attempt to revive victims at all.
The change is "necessary during the COVID-19 response to protect the health and safety of EMS providers by limiting their exposure, conserve resources, and ensure optimal use of equipment to save the greatest number of lives," the memo read. "Now you don’t get 20 minutes of CPR if you have no rhythm," a Fire Department of New York emergency medical services worker told the Post. "They simply let you die."
The state health department acknowledged the memo on Wednesday and announced it was being rescinded. "This guidance, proposed by physician leaders of the EMS Regional Medical Control Systems and the State Advisory Council — in accordance with American Heart Association guidance and based on standards recommended by the American College of Emergency Physicians and adopted in multiple other states — was issued April 17, 2020 at the recommendation of the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, and reflected nationally recognized minimum standards," department spokeswoman Jill Montag told Fox News in a statement. "However, they don’t reflect New York's standards and for that reason DOH Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker has ordered them to be rescinded," she added.
When the story about the DNR guidance first broke, many were unhappy with the new order, including city firefighters. "They’re not giving people a second chance to live anymore," Oren Barzilay, president of FDNY Local 2507, told the Post. "Our job is to bring patients back to life. This guideline takes that away from us," he said. [read more~~]
KAZAKHSTAN: 24 PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE
by Fionnuala Ni Aolain: Forum 18 News Service
(22 Apr.) 3 Protestants were given jail terms in absentia. 24 Muslims are jailed for up to 8 years to punish exercising freedom of religion or belief. 6 individuals are serving restricted freedom sentences. 16 are under post-jailing bans on activity. 27 who completed sentences still have bank accounts blocked. "Religious practice must be protected and never be criminalized as extremism," insists UN Special Rapporteur Fionnuala Ni Aolain.
The individuals or those close to them all deny that they harmed the human rights of others or called for the human rights of others to be harmed. Anuar Khatiyev, a deputy chair of the Information and Social Development Ministry's Religious Affairs Committee, refused to discuss why individuals are jailed and otherwise punished for exercising freedom of religion or belief. "I can't give you reliable information by telephone," he told Forum 18 from the capital Nur-Sultan on 22 April. "I don't want to lead you astray."
Following her May 2019 visit to Kazakhstan, Fionnuala Ni Aolain, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Protecting Human Rights while Countering Terrorism, strongly criticised in her January 2020 report the way "the broad formulation of the concepts of 'extremism', 'inciting social or class hatred' and 'religious hatred or enmity' in national law are used to unduly restrict freedoms of religion, expression, assembly and association."
Ni Aolain also described "an overly bloated security sector, numerous overlapping layers of legislation and bodies that exist primarily to provide the appearance of a system based on the rule of law and a professed adherence to the principle of equality." [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: Freedom of religious expression should be understood as the ability and responsibility to search for truth about God, to love Him above all else, and to love one's neighbor as oneself. Freedom should never be thought of as being free to believe whatever one wants and to do whatever one pleases. But the above people were not causing any harm to anyone else, nor were their actions "extremism" or "hatred" by any stretch of the imagination.
AUCCRO OPPOSES THE INTRODUCTION OF GENDER IDEOLOGY IN UKRAINIAN LEGISLATION
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine
(23 Apr.) The All-Ukraine Council of Churches and Religious Organizations objects to the introduction of gender ideology in the legislation of Ukraine – all the more unacceptable is the criminal prosecution of peaceful participants in pro-family events. We are talking about law No. 3316 which the Council asks the Verkhovna Rada to reject. This is reported by the official website of the AUCCRO.
In its appeal to the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytro Razumkov, and the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on law enforcement (Chaired by Denis Monastyrsky), the AUCCRO notes that Bill No. 3316 "On Amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine (on countering hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity)" creates threats to the implementation of the constitutional right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
As an example, in addition to increased criminal liability for the crimes committed based on intolerance to a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, bill No. 3316 proposes to introduce a new article 161-1 and criminalize “the humiliation of persons or groups of persons on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Similarly, amendments to Article 294 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine can be used for criminal prosecution of participants in peaceful protest actions aimed at promoting gender ideology. The AUCCRO has previously drawn attention to the arbitrary and excessive use of force by officers of the National Police of Ukraine, their unjustified coercion and suppression of peaceful alternative demonstrations in defense of family values, which took place on June 17, 2018, in Kyiv during the so-called "Equality March" by supporters of gender ideology.
"In our opinion, the changes proposed by Bill No. 3316 pose a direct threat to the implementation of the constitutional right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression. After all, participants in public discussion, including religious figures who criticize same-sex relationships and partnerships as immoral, sinful and call for limiting the promotion of such an unnatural, dissolute lifestyle, will be at risk of criminal prosecution only for their words and publicly expressed position in favor of natural marital relations," the AUCCRO notes. [read more~~]
SHOULD SCHOOLS TEACH ANYONE WHO CAN GET ONLINE - OR NO ONE AT ALL?
from: Disability Scoop
(21 Apr.) The Northshore School District, in an upper-middle-class suburb of Seattle, was among the first in Washington state - and in the country - to close due to the Wuhan virus. Less than a week after the March 5 closure, one Northshore parent, Amy Amirault, noticed a shift in the tone of other parents on social media. "We're in this together" quickly turned to finger-pointing at "those kids," one of whom was her eldest son.
Amirault's son Daniel Sabol, 14, has autism. She said he was essentially nonverbal and had difficulty holding conversations - either online or in person. Certain sounds and songs on a computer can send him into "screaming and sobbing fits," she said, and a visual that catches his eye may make him demand to watch a tutorial again and again. Before now, the most he'd done on a video call was to wave to grandma. Online education was unlikely to work well for him.
On its website and in letters to families, the district initially boasted of its preparation "to move teaching and learning beyond the four walls of the classroom." And in statements to the media, Northshore pledged to make that transition as seamless as possible for everyone, including students with disabilities.
Problems arose right away. "Our team in the Special Education Department continues problem-solving issues and concerns from parents and guardians," Northshore spokeswoman Lisa Youngblood Hall wrote in an email as reported by The Seattle Times on March 9.
Three days later, on March 12, Northshore's superintendent, Michelle Reid, decided to hit pause on her "classroom to cloud," citing "issues of equity" including "special education services, food and nutrition, English learner services, and child care." [read more~~]
PATRIARCH KIRILL ON EASTER URGED CHRISTIANS NOT TO SURRENDER TO PANIC
from: Interfax-Religion
(18 Apr.) This year traditional Easter message of Patriarch Kirill was dedicated to challenges which humanity is facing because of coronavirus and the ways to overcome them. "In the current year the peoples of the earth have been enduring extraordinary ordeals. A baneful epidemic has spread throughout the whole world and has come to our lands too. (...) However, we Orthodox Christians are not to be despondent or to despair in these difficult circumstances; even more so we should not surrender to panic," the patriarch's Paschal message to clerics and parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Church stated.
The patriarch urged Christians to treat each other with love and patience, to help and support one another in tribulations, remembering that "no outward restrictions should ever tear apart our unity" and take away from us the true spiritual freedom which people have obtained through coming to know the Lord "Who has conquered death."
The church primate noted that all the faithful children of the Church are of "one heart and one soul," therefore, let those who today are unable for objective reasons to come to church and pray know that they are in other people's thoughts and prayers. "Faith grants to us the strength to live and overcome with God's help all sorts of infirmities and tribulations, including that which has become a part of our lives through the spread of the dangerous virus," the patriarch said, calling believers to strengthen common prayer so that the sick may receive healing and the healthy be protected from the dangerous infection.
"We believe that the Risen Saviour will never forsake us and that He will send down upon us the resolve and courage to stand steadfastly in faith and to make our salvific journey through our earthly life to life everlasting," Patriarch Kirill resumed. [read more~~]
U.N. OFFICIAL CRITICIZES 'WIDESPREAD PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES' AS 'LIBERAL EUGENICS'
from: BioEdge
(18 Apr.) A United Nations official has slammed "liberal eugenics." In her report to the Human Rights Council on people with disabilities, special rapporteur Catalina Devandas-Aguilar, denounces "ableism" in healthcare and assisted dying.
Ms. Devandas is a Costa Rican lawyer, married with three children, who has spinal bifida. Her annual report has been overlooked because of the sudden emergence of the coronavirus pandemic. Surprisingly for a UN document, it takes a dim view of progressive bioethics. Here are some of her observations.
What is disability? "Disability is part of the continuum of the human experience. The question is not about preventing or curing impairments, but how to ensure that all persons with disabilities enjoy the same rights and opportunities as everybody else."
Liberal eugenics: "When discussing issues such as prenatal testing, selective abortion and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, there is a shared concern among disability rights activists that bioethical analyses are often used to give an ethical justification to a new form of eugenics, often referred to as consumer-driven eugenics.
"Liberal eugenics aims to expand reproductive choices for individuals, including the possibility of genetic enhancement. While there may be no State-sponsored coercive eugenics programmes, in a context of widespread prejudice and discrimination against persons with disabilities, the aggregate effect of many individual choices are likely to produce eugenic outcomes.
"Indeed, ableist social norms and market pressures make it imperative to have the 'best possible child' with the best possible chances at life. Some utilitarian bioethicists have further argued that genetic enhancement is a moral obligation and that it is ethical to give parents the option to euthanize their newborns with disabilities." [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: Keep in mind who is the subject of this article: a lawyer who is a U.N. official. She happens to have been born with a disability - spina bifida. But she received a university education, became a lawyer, and is married with 3 children. Who among us could say this is a life not worth having on this planet? We need to rid ourselves of subconscious prejudices and biases against people with disabilities! They are first of all people, not "the disabled"!
NOW, OUR VIEWS:
Building the ARC
(Maybe you've read this before and you're wondering, "Why am I seeing this again?" But millions of other Christians haven't seen it! So please help us by clicking on the title above, then use the "share" buttons to share it with your social media friends. Thanks!!)
You might ask -
"Why would I want to build an ARC, anyway? Do I look like Noah?" How do you start building it? First, you gather people who are committed to living together as Christians in community. In his book
The Benedict Option, Rod Dreher describes the immense pressure in today's world to force moral and ethical compromise upon Christians and tells how to apply
The Rule of St. Benedict to the Christian life not in a monastery, but striving to lead a life of spiritual discipline and genuine community.
By mutually supporting each other in an "Agape Restoration Community," living out our Christian faith on a day-to-day basis, we will be able to withstand these pressures! Another good book that explains The Rule of St. Benedict in laypeople's language and how to apply it in everyday life is The Rule of Benedict: Christian Monastic Wisdom for Daily Living by Rev. Dr. Jane Tomaine.
Secular materialism has led to the de-Christianizing of the world. My wife and I were missionaries to Russia for 17 years: in its extreme form of communism, about 250,000 church buildings in Russia were destroyed or confiscated and turned into museums, breweries, factories or "Lenin Houses of Culture" during the Soviet era. Secularization worldwide has diminished the role of the church in society by leading many people to become dependent on the state for answers to all their problems. The Church must reclaim its proper role of Enabling the Disabled: ...Welcoming the Disabled to Your Church, as Rev. Dr. Theresa Taylor writes in her book.
Poor, disabled, and elderly Christians must free themselves from the idea that an unnamed "they" -- meaning someone else: the state or "the rich" or other Christians -- ought to pay to build handicapped-accessible housing and new churches. But the secular state isn't going to do it, the rich generally aren't very charitable, and there isn't enough money in all the Christian churches and mission organizations in the whole world for these organizations to build enough of such buildings so that our country and other countries can again be called "Christian nations."
Almost all Christians, however, including poor, disabled, and elderly people, have a place to live, so Christians already have the wealth needed to carry out the task of re-Christianizing their countries, in the form of their current homes. This is a "DIY" (Do It Yourself) project: by exchanging their current home for a living unit in an ARC Housing Co-op, they are providing a wheelchair-accessible building where a church can gather to worship and fulfill its God-ordained ministry to "the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind." We need to restore the spirit of agape-love and voluntary mutual self-help communities, then simply train and organize ourselves to just do it! We have the training and organization ready to go!
To get started, the pastor or deacon will prepare a "ministry team" in his parish by teaching our 1-year online program "Social Ministry of the Church" on the "how and why" of reaching out to people with disabilities in the surrounding community. Another excellent book is Building the Benedict Option by Leah Libresco that tells how to gather two or three together to form such a ministry team. Then the pastor or deacon of the associated church will serve as director of the local ARC branch. When enough people have subscribed for shares, the local branch can take out a construction loan to build a new Agape Restoration Community.
Our next free online (click →) Course: Intro - Ministry to Handicapped and Poor (← click) starts soon! So enroll today, before you forget!
Here are "Our Websites on Virtual Parade!" Go to https://photos.app.goo.gl/2jiPGbbW2PskP7nc9 and click on the circled "i" for info on each photo. Our four websites contain over 22,000 files and receive about a thousand or so visits each and every day. This is a project I've been working on for about 24 years now, starting with the first hypertext Russian Bible for the Windows Operating System in 1996, now much more than just one Bible. Our main website is www.Agape-Biblia.org where you'll find links on the top menu bar to our other websites.
We now offer free online Bibles in 8 languages, Daily Prayers, Daily Bible Readings, Daily Journal, Scripture Memory Program, and places for your notes on every chapter in the Bible, all in six languages; and "The Life of Christ in Historical Sequence" in English and Russian. We provide a 1-year program of 6 online courses called "Social Ministry of the Church" in English and Russian, we've just added "On the Incarnation" - a new 8-lesson short course with group bulletin boards and video conferencing, and we have so many Christian free e-books that you can spend the rest of your life reading and never finish them all. Take a look!
Please remember to pray for Christians in Secularized Countries, and for~~
Your fellow-servants,
Bob & Cheryl
p.s. With today's open-ended tolerance, many people are so open-minded, their brains could fall out.
