Controlling the Narrative
"Now receive one who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions. ...So then, let us follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up" (Romans 14:1 & 19). "Now I beg you, brothers, look out for those who are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them" (Romans 16:17). "Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1 Corinthians 1:10).
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
As we see from these Scriptures, we as Christians should avoid saying things, listening to people, or watching "news" that seeks to sow division and conflict. "The issue is never the issue, the issue is always the revolution," said Saul Alinsky, one of the leading theoreticians of Cultural Marxism. Let me be clear: the murder of George Floyd was a horrible crime and the killer should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. In 2019, however, over 6,000 blacks were shot dead by other blacks and over 360,000 black babies were aborted. So "Black Lives Matter" isn't really what the rioters and anarchists are concerned about (have you seen any golden caskets for the black policemen killed in the current rioting or the black babies killed by abortion?): their real aim is to sow discord and conflict that will break down the social bonds of peace, trust and acceptance of people with different opinions and people of different socioeconomic and ethnic groups.
Expressions like "systemic racism" and "white privilege" are not the real issues, they are just righteous-sounding buzzwords to get you to buy into their agenda of changing the system. Of course, for the rioters "change the system" means to tear it down, to destroy our traditional Judeo-Christian culture. Statues of historical figures - regardless of whether they were on the right side of their eras’ civil rights battles or not - have been torn down or defaced. When you begin to use those buzzwords, you tacitly buy into that narrative. Rather than buying into their narrative, we should not use these expressions that subtly change their surface meaning into that of destruction and revolution. Why?
Because "Black Lives Matter" is a loose federation of chapters headed mainly by BLM Global Network Foundation which is led by two professed Marxist women. This network in turn receives most of its funding from Thousand Currents. The "vice chairwoman of the board of directors for Thousand Currents is Susan Rosenberg, a convicted felon who participated in bombing [federal] buildings in the Northeast and Washington, D.C. ...Rosenberg was part of M19, short for May 19th Communist Organization. Her memoir, 'An American Radical,' details her 16 years in federal prison." This is what you're actually buying into when you repeat the expressions "systemic racism" and "white privilege".
We need to be clear about what is actually taking place, how the MSM (mainstream media) and tech companies are manipulating the information we consume in order to control the way we think and act. Here's a video of a Harvard Ph.D. describing the "Search Engine Manipulation Effect" in his testimony before a U.S. Senate committee. And check out this audio and written interview "The Roots of America’s ‘New Anarchy,’ According to a College Professor" with Dr. Carol Swain, professor of Political Science. The MSM edit out the news they don't want you to see or hear, such as "Media Ignores Death Threats and Racial Slurs Sent to Black Pro-Life Senator Tim Scott" because it doesn't fit their narrative, then they feed you a heavy diet of the news they want you to see and hear.
How much of this information manipulation have I personally experienced? My Hosken-News Blog on Google's Blogger website has seen a sharp drop in visits starting in October 2018: visits that had been in the 200s and 300s fell to the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Also, email messages from conservative political sources have increasingly been put into my Gmail "Spam" folder: see my June 15, June 21, and June 24: between 2/3 and 3/4 of messages flagged as "spam" are conservative political messages that Google doesn't want me to see. This has continued up to July 3 as I write this: 26 out of 37 emails - over three-fourths - in my Gmail "spam" folder were actually conservative political messages.
Consider deeply these words from Psalm 119:29-31 & 37 - "Keep me from the way of deceit. Grant me Your law graciously! I have chosen the way of truth. I have set my heart on Your law. I cling to Your statutes, O Lord. Do not let me be disappointed. ...Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in Your ways." Instead of filling our minds with deceitful slogans and distorted, worthless "news," we need to meditate on the written Word of God and grasp how it points us to the living Word of God incarnate, Jesus Christ.
The old deceiver, Satan, succeeded in getting Eve to yield to temptation by saying - "Has God said?" - in other words, doubting the Word of God. "You will not surely die; rather, you will gain the knowledge of good and evil!" - Satan said, luring her into abandoning God's revelation. Satan is the spiritual force behind the current secular-materialist worldview which tries to convince people that God does not exist, so the quest for knowledge that relativizes good and evil becomes all-important. We are taught to worship "Science" that is supposedly morally and idologically neutral. But nature abhors a vacuum, so by removing God, the positive spiritual force, we are left with only Satan, the negative spiritual force.
One of the first steps to defuse the current explosive atmosphere is for "Left" and "Right" to learn how to talk to each other without exploding in anger, slinging slogans and flimsy accusations. We need to respond calmly, not react explosively: take a few hours or overnight to calm down and think before you fire off a scathing email or social media post. A national organization that does precisely this is Better Angels: please take a look! Consider subscribing to their mail list.
A Christian viewpoint on how to respond calmly to this situation is expressed in the blog article "Of Wrath and Righteousness" that states -
"Christ and the society in which He lived were by no means strangers to injustice and persecution and unrighteousness. The Israelites under the Roman occupation were a subjugated and humiliated people, routinely exploited and without the rights of Roman citizens, and Christ Himself as well as most of His followers were brutally and unjustly murdered by the authorities acting with complete impunity. Everyone — even the disciples — expected Christ to do something about it, to cast off the hated oppressors, to 'at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel.'
"Yet what did Christ actually do? He taught us that when we are beaten we are to turn the other cheek, when we are extorted we are to give more than is demanded, when we are exploited we are to do more than we are told. He told us to bless those who curse us, to love those who hate us, to pray for those who persecute us and abuse us. And He told us, in the midst of all of these things, to rejoice."
For my univerity major in "Central and East European Studies," I researched each and every attempted and successful Marxist revolution from the mid-1800s through the 1960s. What is taking place now in the U.S. bears all the hallmarks of an attempt at revolution. Things are about to get very ugly: Rod Dreher, author of The Benedict Option, posted on Twitter July 1 - "Man told me today his Czech tenant tells him it feels like Czechoslovakia 1946 now (two years before the communist putsch). Another man told me just now his Romania-born in-laws are terrified, for the same reason. People who grew up under communism know something bad is coming." Huge protests are planned all over the U.S. by LGBTQ, BLM, Antifa, and other Leftist/Marxist groups starting on July 4 evening:
https://www.washingtonblade.com/2020/06/26/july-4th-is-big-protest-day/
https://www.ajc.com/news/local/atlanta-naacp-plans-large-july-protest-stone-mountain/BATm8OCFcwywIJwjBe1hEI/
https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2020/07/02/thousands-gather-to-protest-in-los-angeles-as-the-state-bans-large-gatherings-for-july-4th-celebrations/
https://rallylist.com/
This could very likely precede more violence leading up to the U.S. elections in November. What did the Lord Jesus Christ teach about violence? "Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matthew 5:9-12). Then comes the clincher -
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, don't resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and don't turn away him who desires to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust" (Matthew 5:38-45).
Our fallen, sinful human nature urges us to react in kind, to return violence with violence. It's hard not to react this way, it's a struggle to take the way of peace - "Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it. How narrow is the gate, and restricted is the way that leads to life! Few are those who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14). It may be hard but it's the only way into eternal life, the Kingdom of Heaven. The alternative is death and destruction.
Then there's that puzzling passage - "From the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force" (Matthew 11:12). It seems to endorse violence... at least in many English translations. But it would be better translated thusly - "Indeed, from the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven is being taken by great effort, and those who exert effort claim it for themselves eagerly." Other languages such as Russian and German put it like this, and it's more in keeping with turning your cheek, taking the narrow gate and the difficult way that leads to life. Remember how Jacob wrestled with an Angel in Genesis 32:28-29? That is how he became Israel, the head of God's chosen people.
Another puzzling passage is when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and said - "'When I sent you out without purse, and wallet, and shoes, did you lack anything?' They said, 'Nothing.' Then He said to them, 'But now, whoever has a purse, let him take it, and likewise a wallet. Whoever has none, let him sell his cloak, and buy a sword. For I tell you that this which is written must still be fulfilled in Me: "He was counted with the lawless." For that which concerns Me has an end.' They said, 'Lord, behold, here are two swords.' He said to them, 'That is enough'" (Luke 22: 35-38). This is sometimes quoted to justify using weapons for self-defense. But what happened next?
The soldiers came to arrest Jesus, and - "Behold, one [Peter] of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high priest, and struck off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, 'Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take the sword will die by the sword'" (Matthew 26:51-52). Violence just begets more violence, as we have seen in the previous passages.
The Apostle Paul wrote - "Repay no one evil for evil. Respect what is honorable in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men. Don't seek revenge for yourselves, beloved, but give place to God's wrath. For it is written, 'Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord'" (Romans 12:17-19). And he also wrote - "Strive for peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). Struggle for peace - it takes a great effort to overcome the desire to return evil for evil. Clearly, though, the Gospel is a message of peace. Let's change the narrative back to peace!
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:
FOCUSING PUBLIC POLICY ON NURSING HOMES COULD CUT COVID-19 DEATHS BY HALF
from: Daily Signal
(23 Jun.) This article's author, Brenda Fitzgerald, M.D., is a former commissioner of public health for the state of Georgia and a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She writes: "Here’s a question for public policy: If you could cut the COVID-19 death rate in half, would you do it?
Policymakers could do that, if they act accordingly by greatly increasing testing of both residents and staff at nursing homes and other extended care facilities, the hottest of hot spots for coronavirus deaths. That risk is much higher than we first realized. Even though nursing home and long-term care residents make up only 1% of America’s total population, probably about 50% of the COVID-19 deaths have occurred among them.
Phil Kerpen, an independent policy analyst, examined data collected from a number of state public health sources. Using that nursing home data, he reported that 55.6% of all COVID-19 deaths are nursing home residents. (Some states have much higher percentages; for example, Pennsylvania, 68.7%; Connecticut, 72.3%; Minnesota, 79.4%; and New Hampshire, 82.8%.)
In any case, if 1% of the population accounts for 50% — or more — of America’s COVID-19 deaths, the country needs to pursue appropriately focused policies. Specifically, nursing staff in nursing homes and long-term care facilities must wear masks and intensify their sanitation efforts. Beyond that, we must do universal COVID-19 testing in long-term care facilities. [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: It has become painfully obvious that some state and local politicians have been using COVID-19 as a convenient way to reduce the expense of caring for old, sick people in nursing homes and long-term care facilities by reducing their numbers. Only when they were called out for sending people recovering from COVID-19 to nursing homes - thus infecting residents and staff - only then did the politicians back off and order that recovering patients must be kept in hospitals until they are completely clear of the virus. This measure as well as providing adequate protective gear, patient isolation, and virus testing for staff and patients can easily reduce the death toll in nursing homes by half... or more. See our post "Take a Stand With Us!" for several more articles on this topic of euthanizing the elderly, sick, and disabled.
TAJIKISTAN: IMPUNITY FOR TORTURERS CONTINUES
by Mushfig Bayram: Forum 18 News Service
(1 Jul.) Impunity for multiple instances of torture of Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Protestants continues. Conscientious objector and prisoner of conscience Jovidon Bobojonov was tortured by soldiers kneeling on his neck. Officials refuse to tell Forum 18 why suspected torturers have not been arrested and put on criminal trial for torture, as international human rights law requires. Tajikistan's assurances to the UN Human Rights Committee of introducing civilian alternative service remain unfulfilled.
The soldiers who tortured conscientious objector and prisoner of conscience Jovidon Bobojonov – including by kneeling on his neck – have also not been arrested and prosecuted for torture. Soldiers also kneeled on his neck. When he tried to resist, they beat him in the kidneys. The more he resisted, the more pressure to his neck was applied by soldiers' knees.
The torture was carried out after Bobojonov refused to wear a military uniform. Dushanbe City Military Prosecutor's Office has refused to take any action, claiming that "other soldiers from the unit did not confirm the testimony of Bobojonov" and that a medical report did not confirm the injuries. The Military Prosecutor of Dushanbe garrison, Shukhrat Makhmadyorzoda, and Senior Investigator Mekhrubon Ibrohimzoda of Dushanbe's Military Prosecutor's Office, both refused to tell Forum 18 why the suspect torturers have not been arrested and put on criminal trial for torture.
It appears that the known prisoners of conscience jailed for exercising freedom of religion and belief are often not being treated in accordance with the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (known as the Mandela Rules). Colonel Ilkhomjon Makhmudzoda, Deputy Head of the Chief Directorate of Enforcement of Criminal Punishments, refused to tell Forum 18 whether prisoners are allowed to read religious books, pray, or be visited by clergy of their choice.
The treatment of sixty-nine-year-old Protestant prisoner of conscience Shamil Rasulovich Khakimov (born 30 January 1951), jailed for seven years six months in August 2019, also does not appear to be in line with the Mandela Rules. Prison authorities have not allowed Khakimov to receive visits, including from his son, since before the coronavirus lockdown. In December 2019, Khakimov's Bible was taken away from him, but it was returned on 20 April 2020 on condition that he "reads it in solitude with no one around." [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: The horrific torturing of unarmed Afro-Americans is easily matched by the torturing and persecuting of religious believers in the former-USSR. Yet, we hear almost nothing in the U.S. mainstream media about the tortures we've reported in this issue and previous issues of Hosken-News. Is it because 1) most people are more concerned about local issues, or 2) U.S. mainstream media doesn't want to project a negative image of Marxist-oriented countries, or 3) most people believe that Russia and former-USSR countries have become models of democracy?
OCU AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS INITIATE ‘FREEDOM FOR KREMLIN PRISONERS’ TELETHON
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine
(2 Jul.) large-scale telethon to send a worldwide information wave on the release of Kremlin political prisoners will be held on September 7 by Ukrainian human rights activists and Church representatives. This was announced by the organizers during a press conference in Ukrinform.
"The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, represented by the Orthodox Mission for assistance to victims of human rights violations and persons deprived of their liberty, and the Department of Social Services of the OCU have scheduled a telethon 'Freedom to Kremlin Prisoners' on September 7, 2020, dedicated to people suffering from Russian aggression," said Ihor Hryb, an adviser to the head of the Orthodox Mission. According to the Deputy Chairman of the OCU Synodal Department of Social Service, Archpriest Serhiy Dmitriev, the day before, the organizers of the action talked to the head of the OCU, Metropolitan Epifaniy, and received his permission and support.
"We know that many illegally detained Ukrainians are now in the occupied territories - in the ORDLO and annexed Crimea - and we cannot simply stand idly by. Relatives of political prisoners often turn to us in the last resort. This telethon is one of the advocacy campaigns initiated by religious organizations. We urge the OCU and other religious organizations to join in drawing attention to those who are illegally detained in prisons so that we can hear who these people are, regardless of their nationality or religion,” Dmitriev said.
Oleksandra Matviychuk, a human rights activist with the Center for Civil Liberties, said the marathon was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the release of 11 Kremlin political prisoners and 24 POWs. "According to the Center for Civil Liberties, at least 94 people are being imprisoned for political reasons in Russian-occupied Crimea. As for the territory of the occupied Donbas, everything is much more complicated. The SSU is talking about at least 234 people. However, according to our data, the numbers are far greater. Thus, we need to understand that we are talking about human destinies," she stressed.
According to Matviychuk, their organization has been taking care of the release of political prisoners, prisoners of war and civilian hostages for seven years now. "We see this topic in dynamics - through international documents, the attitude of the Ukrainian government and other countries to this problem, and in numbers. And, unfortunately, during all these years we see a decline in interest in this topic in the international arena. Therefore, we, together with our partners, must continually make efforts to keep this topic the talk of the Ukrainian community," the human rights activist emphasized. [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: Ukraine is struggling to overcome its Soviet past, when the country was ruled by communists and mafia, often interchangeable. Now the country is building institutions for civil liberties but there are still powerful forces trying to return to past corrupt practices, including imprisonment for political "crimes."
(15 Jun.) "What joyful news for all Christians of Ukraine," says Pavlo Shvarts, Bishop of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ukraine (GELCU). "We now hold the long-awaited new full translation of the Bible in modern Ukrainian in our hands."
The new translation was officially launched by the Ukrainian Bible Society http://www.ukrbs.org/ in May this year. It is the result of a long-term effort that started in 1992 and includes the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, which were translated from old Hebrew and ancient Greek. "Martin Luther emphasized the authority of the Bible," says Shvarts. "And he also emphasized the necessity of translating the Bible into the everyday language of common people."
"Languages are under constant transformation," the bishop explains. "Therefore, we require new translations of the Holy Scriptures from time to time, so that the Word of God remains clear and understandable by the people in modern society." The GELCU has already had positive experiences using the new translation for Bible classes and personal devotions. Now it was decided to use it officially during the church services and for quoting Bible passages on the church’s website and social media.
The publication of the Modern Ukrainian Bible Translation is "the result of teamwork – that is why we can confidently call it interdenominational and ecumenical," says Shvarts. Also, "translators were striving for a balance between the literal meaning of the text, and its adaptation to the Ukrainian literary and cultural context." [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: I personally know how great an effort it is to prepare an updated version of the Bible: it took us about ten years to comlete a revision of the Russian Bible. The team of translators in Ukraine took almost 28 years! But the effort is worth it - people must be enabled to understand the written Word of God in the language of the people.
FILARET DEMANDS ANOTHER TOMOS FROM PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW
from: Interfax-Religion
(29 Jun.) The leader of the non-canonical Kiev Patriarchate, Filaret Denisenko, has announced his intention to seek a new tomos from the patriarch of Constantinople for the independence of the Church in Ukraine. The tomos granted in January 2019 did not really make the Ukrainian church autocephalous but subordinated it to Constantinople, Filaret said in an interview with the Apostrophe news outlet.
"The patriarch of Constantinople should give us a tomos like those he gave to the church in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia. We need that kind of tomos. And that is what we hoped for," Filaret said. "We will continue to demand until the end a tomos of the kind the other Churches have. We firmly stick to the patriarchate's position. If the Ecumenical patriarch gives a new tomos to the patriarchate, this will mean that we have indeed become an autocephalous, independent church," Filaret said.
On October 11, 2018 the Synod in Istanbul abolished its 300-year-old decree handing over the Kiev Metropolitanate to Moscow, and announced the creation of its metochion in Kiev and rehabilitated the leaders of non-canonical Orthodox churches in Ukraine. The Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate responded by severing ties with Constantinople. On January 5 Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople signed a tomos on the autocephaly for the new Ukrainian church (OCU) founded on December 15. [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: It's strange that the Moscow Patriarchate is offering Filaret a platform to voice his views: earlier, Moscow could only anathematize him, but now he is useful as a foil against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church that they are trying to belittle and undermine.
QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT SWEDEN’S COVID-19 POLICY ON NURSING HOMES
from: BioEdge
(20 Jun.) Disturbing figures are coming from Sweden about the number of Covid-19 deaths amongst the elderly. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, half of the people who died in Sweden were residents of nursing homes.
Sweden’s approach to the pandemic was different. It relied upon voluntary social distancing and closing the borders rather than quarantines. But it is still the fifth country in a world ranking of deaths per million of population – and half of those were residents of nursing homes.
The health authorities have received many complaints about how elderly relatives were treated. A consistent theme is that nursing home residents with suspected Covid-19 were immediately placed on "palliative care" and given morphine and denied supplementary oxygen and intravenous fluids and nutrition. For many this was effectively a death sentence.
"People suffocated, it was horrible to watch. One patient asked me what I was giving him when I gave him the morphine injection, and I lied to him," said Latifa Löfvenberg, a nurse. "Many died before their time. It was very, very difficult."
The problem seems to have been the guidelines issued by the National Board of Health and Welfare. At the start of the pandemic it suggested that doctors "triage" patients according to their so-called biological age, weighing overall health and the prospects for recovery, before making treatment decisions.
"Doctors overseeing nursing-home care were advised to keep their distance from residents because of infection risks and told to carefully weigh the condition of patients before referring them to hospitals," said Thomas Linden, chief medical officer of Sweden's National Board of Health and Welfare. [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: "Palliative care" has come to mean more than relieving pain via opiods: it is now pushing people toward death, usually by an overdose of morphine. "Triage" means deciding who will live and who will die. As you will see if you read further in the above article, the Swedes are actually performing euthanasia in their nursing homes. See our post "Take a Stand With Us!" for several more articles on this topic of euthanizing the elderly, sick, and disabled.
NOW, OUR VIEWS:
Help at Home
(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!!)
Our state, Pennsylvania, offers various social services for citizens age 60 and up, as shown in the photo. Agape Restoration Society will help residents and others get needed assistance so they can live at home, either in our handicapped-accessible ARCs or other housing. Then "Home Health Care" and "Meals on Wheels" can go a long way toward keeping you at home! - that is, if your home is suitable for this when you need it to be.
The basic problem, however, is that most people don't want to think about such things... until it's too late. Psychologists call this "the normalcy bias" - our brains work in terms of past experience, so we assume that everything will simply keep on going on "like normal" just as it has in the past. But when we stop and think about it (if we ever do take time to stop and think...), we realize deep-down that someday we're going to die, and more likely (70% probability!) first will come the slowing down, having a hard time climbing up or going down stairs, feeling exhausted after walking 50 or 100 feet, needing a walker or a wheelchair, etc. - the old heart, back, legs, etc. are getting tired and worn out. Are YOU going to be pro-active and stop to think about it now, or will you wait until it's too late to choose which accessible housing is best for you? Then you'll have to depend on relatives - who are busy with their own lives - to take time out to do it for you.
What is an ARC - an Agape Restoration Community? Perhaps first of all we should say what an ARC is not: it is not a nursing home, a personal care home, or an assisted living center. Think of an ARC as a Christian community, an independent living facility where you have your own living unit, can move about, come and go as you please without the physical barriers of stairways, steps at porches or decks, or narrow hallways and doorways that hinder movement by people with mobility impairments. An ARC also provides common spaces for worship and other group activities so you're not cooped up at home alone.
Why an ARC? See the article "The Changing Demographics of Nursing Home Care: Greater Minority Access… Good News, Bad News": as our population ages, more and more elderly people of minority groups are being placed in nursing homes as an increasing number of white Americans move into high-end independent living or assisted living facilities that they can afford. Will you be able to afford thousands of dollars per month for such hotel-like accommodations? What we need is moderately-priced "walkable" housing for empty-nesters and other people with mobility issues!
The elderly of minority groups and the poor tend to rely more on Medicare and Medicaid that have strict limits of what it will provide only if medically necessary: a basic double-occupancy room with two TVs, three meals a day, limited-staff nursing care, a shower once a week, and perhaps some physical therapy to keep in shape. Picture yourself in a room with two TVs and both residents want to watch and listen to (loud!) their favorite programs... one late at night and the other early in the morning!
But this doesn't mean that more and more nursing homes are being built: quite the opposite, in fact! Because of Medicare's and Medicaid's stricter limits on how much and what they will pay for, thousands of nursing homes have shut down in the past thirty years: see "In the Nursing Home, Empty Beds and Quiet Halls" -
"Thirty years ago, 90 percent of Medicaid dollars for long-term care flowed to institutions and only 10 percent to home- and community-based services. Now, the proportions have flipped, and nursing homes get only 43 percent of Medicaid’s long-term care expenditures.
"A report from the federal Government Accountability Office earlier this year pointed out, for example, that Medicaid covers assisted living for 330,000 people. A demonstration program called Money Follows the Person has moved more than 75,000 residents out of nursing homes and back into community settings.
"It's good news for consumers — but not so good for nursing homes. The 31 largest metropolitan markets have 13,586 fewer nursing home beds now than in late 2005, the investment center reports.
"This could prove a temporary crisis. When the baby boomers enter their 80s and need residential care, occupancy could pick up again."
But will the beds be there when the baby boomers need them? Another article, "The Need for Long-Term Care Continues to Grow", tells of the 10,000 "Baby Boomers" retiring every day: they were born from 1946 to 1965 and number seventy million people, about one-fourth of the entire U.S. population. Most retirees don't need accessible housing right at age 65: disability usually begins around age 75, so the tsunami of disabled "Baby Boomers" will likely begin in 2021. We need to be ready!
As more and more of the "Baby Boomers" leave the workforce to retire, fewer and fewer people will be paying into Social Security and general public funds while more will be drawing from these funds. This article states - "An estimated 70% of people currently turning 65 will require long-term care in their lifetime, and they will receive care for an average of 3 years." This is obviously a danger, but also an opportunity... for Christians to form "intentional communities" to show compassion by providing accessible housing and care for the elderly and infirm.
And a fourth article, "Medicaid Cuts May Force Retirees Out of Nursing Homes", relates how people who think they have plenty to retire on find out that it's used up after just a few years, maybe even less, together with hospital bills. It tells about Alice Jacobs, age 90, who once owned a factory and horses, but eventually exhausted her savings at an assisted living center and now "relies on Medicaid to pay for her care at Dogwood Village, a nonprofit, county-owned nursing home." Wouldn't it be wiser to get "Home Health Care" and "Meals on Wheels" while living in an ARC and not burning through those savings?
Our first news article FOCUSING PUBLIC POLICY ON NURSING HOMES COULD CUT COVID-19 DEATHS BY HALF and our last news article QUESTIONS RAISED ABOUT SWEDEN’S COVID-19 POLICY ON NURSING HOMES both point to essentially the same problem: most people seem to think - at least subconsciously - that nursing homes are dumping grounds for the dying. In both articles, Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes accounted for roughly half of all Covid-19 deaths in each country. So, when a pandemic comes along and lots of older people get sick, what should be done? Send them to the "nursing homes" (medically assisted "hospice" death centers) and shoot them up with morphine. No! Older people ought to be cared for just as much as children and young adults who are sick or have disabilities.
Just as I'm wrapping up this issue, Live Action's e-newsletter has arrived containing this video: WATCH: Black pro-life leader says aborting Black babies is 'womb lynching'. Here's an Afro-American minister who is telling it like it is: if Black lives really mattered, Black people should be protesting vastly more against the efforts of Planned Barrenhood to eliminate Black babies. He calls abortion an evil act of "reproductive racism" rather than the abortion industry's term of choice — "reproductive rights" — noting that the majority of abortion businesses are strategically placed in Black neighborhoods.
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Please remember to pray for Christians in Secularized Countries, and for~~
Your fellow-servants,
Bob & Cheryl
p.s. Democracy can only survive until the people find their way to the public purse. - Plato
Socialism can only survive until it finally runs out of other people's money. - M. Thatcher
