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HOW TO RELATE TO FOREIGNERS AMONG US

 

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(This is an essay that I wrote on Jan. 30, 2017, but is especially relevant today:)

As Christians, we are commanded to care for the foreigners ("strangers") among us, because like the Israelites we too are foreigners in a foreign land - this world is not our home. For centuries after Jesus Christ lived, died and rose from the dead, Christians were a discriminated-against minority in the Greco-Roman world.

Alec Hill, former president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, under whom I worked and highly respect, posted the following on Facebook:

Throughout Scripture, the Lord commands us to care for the displaced/stranger/alien/refugee. The following three passages are illustrative:

Leviticus 19:34
“When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.”

Isaiah 16:4
“Hide the fugitives, do not betray the refugees. Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you; be their shelter from the destroyer.”

Matthew 25:34-40
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you, or thirsty, and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger, and invite you in, or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.’"

There are many more such Scripture passages emphasizing our duty to care for the needy foreigners among us. In the discussion of this current issue, however, we need to examine contrasting Scripture passages on how to relate to foreigners in our midst. David Klinghofer has written an excellent article, "What the Scriptures Say About Immigration," posted last year on Beliefnet.org and reposted here: http://www.discovery.org/a/3475, from which I quote a few excerpts:

"The classic instance is Ruth, the Moabite. She had a Jewish mother-in-law, Naomi, whom she met when Naomi’s family fled the land of Israel and moved to neighboring Moab to escape a famine. When Ruth’s husband, Naomi’s son, died, along with Naomi’s husband and her other son, Ruth decided to return with the older woman to Israel. Said Ruth, “For where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people are my people, and your God is my God; where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and so may He do more, if anything but death separates me from you” (Ruth 1:16-17).

"Notice that the main thrust of her speech is the passionate joining of her own fate with Naomi’s, and thus with Israel’s. To this day, that remains the primary criterion by which potential converts to Judaism are evaluated. Ruth thus became, according to Jewish tradition, history’s most beloved “proselyte” or “convert” to Judaism—a status celebrated at the Jewish festival of Shavuot... when her story is chanted in synagogues."

Notice carefully what Ruth said: "Your God is my God." She adopted the religion of Israel. This is what was expected of foreigners who came to Israel. When Abram was given the covenant of circumcision and his name was changed to Abraham, God commanded him to circumcise all of the males in his household, including his slaves:

"Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him." (Gen. 17:24-27)

This became the standard or rule for following generations in Israel, expecting foreigners to adopt the Jewish religion and follow its laws:

"If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you. (Ex. 12:48-49)

"Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house, hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name." (2 Chron. 6:32-33)

In his article, Klinghofer continues along this line:

"The subject of conversion isn’t quite so simple, however. For there are actually two sub-classes grouped under the category of the “ger.” There is the ger, the convert, like Ruth–a full member of Israel. But there is another, the ger toshav, or resident alien.

"The latter occupies a middle ground between Jew and foreigner. It is this individual whom Jews are, in the verse we saw earlier, commanded to provide for: “If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter in your proximity, you shall strengthen him—stranger or resident (ger v’toshav) – so that he can live with you” (Leviticus 25:35).

"This resident alien too must fulfill criteria to join his new society, agreeing to certain basic moral propositions, including forswearing idolatry, murder, and sexual immorality. He is called a “resident alien” because it is only having satisfied this condition that a non-Israelite who doesn’t formally convert may live in the Holy Land. While inviting us to admire and love a person who would give up his citizenship in a foreign country to join our own, the Bible also commands us to give material aid, whatever is needed, to any immigrant—if he agrees to abide by an unwavering moral law.

"Here is where the Bible may be hard for a modern reader to accept, for scriptural tradition expects that any immigrant, any ger, will meet demanding moral criteria. It is not an undiscriminating welcome. The idea that a sojourner would be allowed to live in the land without having accepted the two sets of conditions is unthinkable: 'They shall not dwell in your land lest they cause you to sin against Me, that you will worship their gods, for it will be a trap for you' (Exodus 23:33)."

Let us look at the context of this last quotation: "And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you." (Ex. 23:31-33)

The definition of a nation is that it shares a common culture and common laws. There can't be contradictory cultural norms and laws if  "this nation or any nation may long endure," as Abraham Lincoln said in his Gettysburg Address. Further along this line:

"Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim." (Ex. 34:12-13)

"And if a stranger sojourns among you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its rule, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the sojourner and for the native." (Num. 9:14)

"And if a stranger is sojourning with you, or anyone is living permanently among you, and he wishes to offer a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD, he shall do as you do. For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the LORD. One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you." (Num. 15:14-16)

"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places." (Num. 33:51-52)

" And you shall consume all the peoples that the LORD your God will give over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you." (Deut. 7:16)

"When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.' You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods." (Deut. 12:29-31)

"For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the LORD your God has given you." (Josh. 23:12-13)

"And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars. But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you." (Judges 2:2-3)

"They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal." (2 Kings 17:15-16)

From all of the above Scripture passages, we can see that there must be a balance between welcoming the stranger who is in need and preserving our own faith, laws and cultural norms. Major cities in Europe such as London, Paris, Bonn and Berlin now have Muslim neighborhoods where it is dangerous for a European native to walk, especially for a woman who does not wear a veil. Dearborn and Detroit are becoming similar. Liberal democracy only works when all people – citizens and resident aliens alike – abide by the same set of values and laws. But when the majority is liberal and tolerant while the minority is rigid and insists on the rest bend to its demands, there's trouble ahead.

Robert D. Hosken, M.Min., M.Th.S., D.Min.

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YOUTUBER WHO KILLED HIS DOWN SYNDROME UNBORN BABY CALLS HIMSELF 'NORMAL'

 

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YouTuber Jesse Ridgway and his wife faced significant backlash after announcing they terminated a pregnancy due to a Down syndrome diagnosis, citing concerns about the child's potential health outcomes. Advocates from the United Coalition for Down Syndrome argue that the couple’s public statements reflect outdated and inaccurate medical information regarding the condition. Experts, including Michelle Sagan of the National Down Syndrome Society, emphasize that many health challenges associated with Down syndrome are treatable and that most individuals lead happy, long, and fulfilling lives.

Individuals like Madison Essig serve as examples of success, demonstrating that people with Down syndrome can achieve academic degrees, maintain full-time employment, and contribute to their communities. Researcher Stephanie Meredith notes that the situation highlights a systemic issue where many medical providers fail to supply expectant parents with accurate, balanced, and up-to-date information upon receiving a diagnosis. Advocates stress that societal barriers, such as discrimination and low expectations, are often far more restrictive to people with Down syndrome than the physical health challenges themselves.

The article Rome Would Have Recognized Jesse Ridgway argues against the modern claim that Christianity has historically been divided on abortion, asserting that the early church held a unified, firm stance against the practice. The author highlights the Didache, a late-first century Christian manual rediscovered in the 19th century, which explicitly prohibits abortion as a foundational teaching for new converts.

The Christian belief in the image of God (Imago Dei) serves as the theological basis for universal human dignity, which the author contends inherently protects life in the womb. Scriptural evidence, such as Psalm 139 and Luke 1, is used to demonstrate that the Bible consistently recognizes the unborn as persons already known and loved by God. The author critiques the public justification of abortion provided by YouTuber Jesse Ridgway, suggesting that contemporary culture increasingly evaluates human worth based on convenience and utility, echoing pagan Roman practices.

The same self-centered worldview shows up in another article,Pride for Adults, Loss for Children. Author Josh Wood argues that modern children's programming increasingly promotes adult-centric agendas that normalize the intentional absence of a mother or father. The article contends that brands such as Disney, Sesame Street, Peppa Pig, and Blue’s Clues use colorful, child-friendly content to desensitize children to the loss of a biological parent.

Wood asserts that when media depicts family structures that intentionally exclude a biological parent, it fundamentally teaches children that their fundamental need for their own mother and father is secondary to adult desires. The text criticizes the inclusion of mature themes – such as drag performances or gender-related surgery scars – in content explicitly targeted at toddlers and preschoolers who are unable to process such adult concepts. This illustrates how an adult agenda of justifying one's own distorted sexuality leads to indoctrinating children into thinking that such "lifestyles" are perfectly normal.

Truth brings real freedom; "Yeshua therefore said to those Jews who had believed Him, 'If you remain in My word, then you are truly My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.' They answered Him, "'e are Abraham's seed, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do You say, 'You will be made free?'' Yeshua answered them, "'ost assuredly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin. A bondservant doesn't live in the house forever. A son remains forever. If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:31-36).

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THE SPIDER AND THE FLY

 

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Mary Howitt (1799 - 1888) at age of 30 wrote the fascinating poem, long out of copyright but not out of memory, "The Spider and the Fly" –

"Will you walk into my parlour?" said the Spider to the Fly,
"'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy;
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I have many curious things to shew when you are there."
"Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again."

"I'm sure you must be weary, dear, with soaring up so high;
Will you rest upon my little bed?" said the Spider to the Fly.
"There are pretty curtains drawn around; the sheets are fine and thin,
And if you like to rest awhile, I'll snugly tuck you in!"
"Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "for I've often heard it said,
They never, never wake again, who sleep upon your bed!"

Said the cunning Spider to the Fly, "Dear friend what can I do,
To prove the warm affection I've always felt for you?
I have within my pantry, good store of all that's nice;
I'm sure you're very welcome–will you please to take a slice?"
"Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "kind sir, that cannot be,
I've heard what's in your pantry, and I do not wish to see!"

"Sweet creature!" said the Spider, "you're witty and you're wise,
How handsome are your gauzy wings, how brilliant are your eyes!
I've a little looking-glass upon my parlour shelf,
If you'll step in one moment, dear, you shall behold yourself."
"I thank you, gentle sir," she said, "for what you're pleased to say,
And bidding you good morning now, I'll call another day."

The Spider turned him round about, and went into his den,
For well he knew the silly Fly would soon come back again:
So he wove a subtle web, in a little corner sly,
And set his table ready, to dine upon the Fly.
Then he came out to his door again, and merrily did sing,
"Come hither, hither, pretty Fly, with the pearl and silver wing;
Your robes are green and purple–there's a crest upon your head;
Your eyes are like the diamond bright, but mine are dull as lead!"

Alas, alas! how very soon this silly little Fly,
Hearing his wily, flattering words, came slowly flitting by;
With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew,
Thinking only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue–
Thinking only of her crested head–poor foolish thing! At last,
Up jumped the cunning Spider, and fiercely held her fast.
He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den,
Within his little parlour–but she ne'er came out again!

And now dear little children, who may this story read,
To idle, silly flattering words, I pray you ne'er give heed:
Unto an evil counsellor, close heart and ear and eye,
And take a lesson from this tale, of the Spider and the Fly.

As we approach the 250th anniversary of publishing the Declaration of Independence on the Fourth of July back in 1776, I'm reminded of the phrase: "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." Often mis-attributed to Thomas Jefferson, this phrase came from a speech made by Wendell Phillips, an American Abolitionist, to the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in 1852: "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few. Only by continued oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot; only by unintermitted agitation can a people be sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity."

I'm a descendant of Edward Doty, a "white slave" who belonged to one of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. Believing slavery is an evil that should not exist in the New World, they emancipated their slaves, so Doty became a Pilgrim while enroute to the New World. In 1620 the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, now in Massachusetts, which became the center of the Abolition movement: Steven Douglas fled there in 1838 and founded a community of other formerly enslaved people and abolitionists. Roger Sherman, one of Edward Doty's descendants, was the only man to sign the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Two more of Doty's descendants were Gen. William Tecumsah Sherman and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the commanders of the Union Armies who fought against slavery and won. Now you know why they fought so hard against slavery: both were descendants of the same white slave!

Thus, I am deeply indebted to this principle of vigilance in order to preserve our freedom. President Abraham Lincoln quoted Matthew 12:24-26 in his famous "A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand!" speech. My great-great Aunt Susan B. Anthony, whose mother was a Doty, fought against slavery before the U.S. Civil War, and afterwards led the struggle for women's emancipation. I have studied Marxist theory and communist history, along with theology and church history, for over 65 years. I've gotten Christans, both Protestant and Orthodox, out of communist concentration camps and freed to the West. My wife and I then served in Russia as missionaries for 17 years. We greatly appreciate the values America has stood for, but we do not worship America: see this article by a dear friend: Patriotism Without Idolatry. From this, we know eternal vigilance – maintaining of religious and political liberty – is vitally important at this point in our history.

What are the values in our Declaration that our country was founded on, in the very words of its founders? Read How to Think About the American Revolution. In contrast, the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA ("Revcom"), led by Bob Avakian, openly advocates for the violent overthrow of the U.S. constitutional order, rejecting democratic participation in favor of revolutionary upheaval, rejecting the ideals on which America was founded. While groups like the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Communist Party USA (CPUSA) use "incremental" legislative methods rather than force, their policies still aim to bit by bit, gradually dismantle the spiritual, economic, and political foundations of American society. Both are expressions of Marxist dogmas that "religion is the opium of the people." The essential motivation behind Marxism is not merely political, it is atheistic, more specifically, anti-Christian. Marxism denies the existence of God and an eternal Kingdom of Heaven, replacing it with a false promise of heaven on earth.

The primary difference between revolutionary and reformist Marxism is one of tempo vs. destination, revolution vs. gradualism, as both seek to replace our nation's core principles of God-given rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"; for freedom of religious expression, representative government, and free and fair markets. The fact is that socialism is the real OPM of the people – "Other People's Money." Margaret Thatcher once stated – “The problem with socialism is that it eventually runs out of other people’s money.” When the spiritual and material wealth of the people is exhausted, socialism degenerates into despotism. When you kill the goose that lays golden eggs, you no longer will get any of those golden eggs.

Winston Churchill wrote – "The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries." Socialist implementation consistently leads to state-enforced deprivation, religious and political repression, and economic collapse. Wherever socialist systems have been fully implemented, they have produced serfdom and equality in deprivation – often enforced by the state. A Russian proverb says that wherever one sees the “hammer and sickle,” one finds death and famine.

Why are many Americans – sometimes even those who consider themselves "patriotic" and "conservative" – unaware of the way Marxism is creeping into our mindsets and way of life? It is because Marxism has rebranded itself: the new, "neo-Marxism" is now called by other names: universal free medical care, free food and housing for the poor, human rights, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism, anti-sexism, etc... the spider is enticing the fly into its web. Please see my article on the "Cloward-Piven Strategy (CPS)" and "Critical Theory" HERE: deliberately bankrupt the system by over-promising and over-spending so it becomes necessary for the state to take total control of everything and enslave everyone (except "the elite" – themselves). This is what's behind the city of Seattle collapsing into chaos and bankruptcy – watch this video: Who Killed Downtown Seattle?

In conclusion, in order to preserve the right to life and freedom of religious expression, our society must move past complacency, wake up, and resist the normalization of anti-Christian and anti-American narratives. We must emphasize that protecting a free society requires a clear-eyed understanding of the consequences associated with atheistic ideologies. Above all, we must turn to Christ, the living Word of God: "If you remain in My word, then you are truly My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:31b-32).

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HEARING 'THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES'

 

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(Clic the pic!) Over the past several months I've added some physical therapy exercises for my arthritis to my morning workouts. I count them in various languages so I can also give my brain a workout. One exercise I count in Spanish, and at first I was mixing up the numbers because about all I know in Spanish are the numbers one to ten and some simple phrases like "Good morning," "Good evening," and "I don't speak Spanish" that I learned when my older brother and sisters were taking Spanish in high school. (I took German instead.)

But this morning a strange and wonderful thing happened: I could hear the music of the numbers! They were all in harmony, I didn't mix up or forget any: I heard their rhythm, harmony and melody! Numbers, you know, are what makes music "work"– musical notes are spaced at exact mathematical wave lengths relative to each other. Math, physics, and music make the world go around!

The blurb about the above book states – "The parallel histories of music and science – from celestial harmony to cosmic dissonance. For centuries, scientists and philosophers believed that the universe was a stately, ordered mechanism, mathematical and musical. The perceived distances between objects in the sky mirrored (and were mirrored by) the spaces between notes that formed chords and scales. The smooth operation of the cosmos created a divine harmony that composers sought to capture. With The Music of the Spheres, readers will see how this scientific philosophy emerged...."

God created the universe – and us – to be in harmony with each other. But the world is increasingly full of disharmony, chaos, wars, beeps, notifications, phones ringing... so many disruptions and interruptions that it's hard to regain that harmony. It takes real effort to learn math and music. Maybe you've heard algebra students say – "This stuff doesn't make any sense! It's really stupid!" But in fact, it's the student who's stupid, not the algebra. Or perhaps the student is just lazy and doesn't want to strain his/her brain.

Advanced algebra that has many variables is hard to understand and solve, but not impossible, when the variables are all relative to each other mathematically. But the key is to find the one or more fixed values, then see what is their mathematical relationship to the variables, and thus solve the problem. Then "Eureka!" – the light goes on!

So when you hear someone say – "Everything is relative, there are no absolutes!" – thus thinking: since they're free to believe whatever they want, they can behave however they wish, remind them of advanced algebra! There must be at least one fixed value in order to solve life's tough problems. That fixed value is the logic of the universe, the Logos: "In the beginning was the Logos ['Word' in the Greek original], and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. The same {Logos) was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. Without Him was not anything made that has been made. In Him (the Logos) was life, and the life was the light of men."

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TRANSPARENT PEOPLE

 

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"Transparent people" are usually thought of as those who are open, honest, and straightforward in their thoughts and feelings, allowing others to easily perceive their true selves. They are people who create trust and meaningful connections by sharing relevant information and being consistent in their words and actions. But that's not who are the subject of this essay.

When a window is transparent, you can see right through it to focus on something or things on the other side of the window. That's what windows are for (as well as to keep bugs outside and regulate the temperature inside). Today what I'm talking about are the "transparent people" you can see right through, like a window. Another expression for them is "invisible people."

We have a strong tendency to see what we expect to see and want to see. We filter out objects and concepts that we don't expect or want to perceive. Transparent or invisible people who, when they're standing or sitting near you, you'd rather not see. They're the disabled or ugly or deformed or elderly people that, when you do look at them, make you feel uncomfortable. They remind you of sickness, disability and death – things you want to push out of your mind.

And sometimes, some people actually push these people out of their way to "get ahead in life." Others even cheat and deceive them, robbing them of their savings or homes. The first kind of "transparent people" tend to be open and trusting toward others, expecting others to be just like them. After all, that's how society ought to work: human society is built on trust. But this last sort of people take advantage of that trust for their own gain, to "get ahead in life." Some adult children even curse, blame, or take advantage of their own parents to "get their inheritance early." The first commandment with a promise is "Honor your father and mother, that it may go well with you." Woe to those who do not honor their father and mother, for it will not go well with them!

We may say to ourselves – "Thank God I'm not like that kind of person!" But are we just a little less so? We might not literally push the "invisible people" out of the way or take advantage of them, but we might simply look right through them as if they were transparent or invisible, or just look away. We see what we expect to see and want to see. We filter out the things that don't fit into our worldview. The unconscious biases of ageism and ableism automatically, without our consciously thinking about it, shape how we see the world. Ageism and ableism are in the air we breathe unawares, just like a fish is unaware of the water it swims in.

Caring for a disabled family member by yourself can be overwhelming: see "Families caring for disabled relatives face unthinkable choices as Medicaid cuts loom." While living in Russia for 17 years and ministering to disabled children and adults, we became painfully aware of the meaning of the Russian verb "nenavidet'" – "to hate" in English. It literally translates as "not look at" or "not see." When we ignore someone who has a disability, or is unattractive, or is elderly... we are passively hating that person. We're not actively doing something harmful, it's what we're not doing that causes harm. Old people put in a nursing home who aren't visited by family or friends can simply wither up and die from lack of love and companionship: neglect. The cause of death can actually be written down as "loneliness" on a death certificate.

This is why we've developed plans and drawings for Building The ARC – Agape Restoration Communities with a chapel-community room and 12 living units, where both able-bodied people and people with disabilities, families and singles, young and old can live, worship, and serve together, along with non-residents who worship in the chapel and assist some of the residents. An ARC is a refuge from the storms of life, a safe and caring environment in the flood of a world that is hell-bent on self-serving pleasure, greed, and pride. Will you DO SOMETHING, or just look the other way? We Christians are all called to be servants, ministering to those in need.

This is what the Lord Jesus meant when He first announced His ministry – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because he has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty these who are crushed.... Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4.18 & 21)

This is what the St. Paul meant when he wrote – "He (Christ) gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers, to equip the saints to do the work of ministering to the building up of the Body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature, perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him, Who is the head, Christ; from Whom all the Body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the Body increase to the building up of itself in love. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind." (Ephesians 4: 11-17)

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THE BLAME GAME

 

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Earlier this week I posted a short note on Substack – "Both sides use hateful rhetoric, then blame the other side for using hateful rhetoric. This must stop! Dehumanizing people is the first step toward annihilating a whole class, political party, or race. All humans are created in God’s image and must be treated with compassion." It referred to a video by Kaizen Asiedu about a teacher from California who attempted to assassinate the U.S. President last Saturday, April 25, at a special dinner celebrating freedom of the press.

Kaizen Asiedu is a brilliant young man (Wikipedia) who abandoned his Catholic faith as a teenager and became an atheist, graduated with a B.A. in philosophy from Harvard in two years and went on to get a master's degree in one year, then started a gaming company and became financially independent. Click his pic to read his earlier article. Recently, he posted that he's investigating Christianity, and today he posted "Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead?" in which he writes – "Atheism is a negative claim. It says there is no God." That introduces the logical problem: you can't prove a negative hypothesis.

His earlier article discribes how society is breaking down because of social discord. The steps toward societal collapse are gradual: it begins with some sort of crisis – economic, disease, natural disaster, war, etc., which set the stage for various factions to begin contending against each other, each with its own ideas on how to correct the situation and "make the world a better place."

The first step is to begin naming "the other side" as supposedly inherently evil by nature: "filthy rich capitalists," "Nazis," "dictators," "communists," or even non-human creatures. Dehumanizing one's enemies is the step before the final step: approving their wholesale annihilation. That final step is firing squads, carpet bombing, gas chambers, or concentration camps like Auschwitz, Buchenwald, etc. or the Soviet forced labor camps in eastern European Russia and in Siberia. I've been in one after the dissolution of the USSR when I was delivering pneumoniia medicines to an ex-Soviet prison: they are terrible places, not fit for human beings.

On the flip side, the foundations of a stable, prospering society are faith, strong family values, and traditions that create virtuous people, a trust-based culture and a strong nation. By rediscovering what has worked before, we can thoughtfully apply ancient wisdom to modern challenges, translating sound principles into better institutions and policies.

Kaizen is on a philosophical journey back to Christianity. He hasn't yet returned to the faith of his childhood – he needs to approach it as an adult, using a rational methodology. In the second article, he writes: "I’m not claiming the world is getting worse, or that you can’t feel fulfilled without religion. Plenty of people do. What I’m saying is that even if you treat religion as just civilizational software – the operating system of meaning, morality, and orientation – it was doing real work. And we haven’t built anything that fills the void it left.

"You see the cracks. The meaning crisis. The purpose crisis. The collapse of trust in institutions. The rise of conspiracy thinking to fill explanatory vacuums. The loneliness epidemic. We are wealthier and more connected and more informed than any humans in history, and we are, by many measures, less okay." Rationality can lead up to the point of making a faith commitment, but reasoning alone is insufficient for that final step. It will take him a while to get there.

"We have come to believe and know that You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (John 6:69). Faith is like forming a hypothesis in science – a "hunch" or sense that this is how things might work. Then you experiment – you try it: you prove that it works. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).

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You can read our whole newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2026-05-02.htm, and share it!

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PANDEMIC OF LUNACY: HOW TO THINK CLEARLY WHEN EVERYONE AROUND YOU SEEMS CRAZY

 

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This book I've just started reading promises to challenge me – and us, if you read it – to cleanse our minds from the numbingly repeated foolish and false thinking that has befuddled our minds in recent decades. Here's what the blurb at Amazon says:

"What is happening to the world? Why does it seem like everyone has gone insane? Why are so many things that seemingly everyone believed the day before yesterday suddenly held to be retrograde, hateful, or even criminal? And why are things that everyone seemed to view as lunacy the day before yesterday suddenly taught or even required?"

"In Pandemic of Lunacy: How to Think Clearly When Everyone Around You Seems Crazy, University of Texas philosopher J. Budziszewski patiently explains the delusions that beset us. Ranging over the topics of morality and happiness, politics and government, family and sexuality, the real and the unreal, and God and religion, Budziszewski makes the case for sanity in commonsense language accessible to all."

"Pandemic of Lunacy will be treasured by any who are troubled or confused, any who wonder whether the world has gone crazy or whether they have, and any who feel the need for a trustworthy guide in a topsy-turvy age."

The book is also available in Kindle eBook format and as an easy-to-listen-to-while-traveling Audible audiobook. I have hundreds of e-books, but if some book I'm considering looks like a "keeper" I like to have a print copy of it so that I can share it with others when I'm done reading it!

The author, J. Budziszewski, a professor of logic and natural law ethics at U. of Texas, renounced the Christian faith of his teenage years when he went to college and became an atheist and radical socialist, but after earning his PhD and becoming a professor, he realized the logical bankruptcy of that position. You can read a five-part series of his intellectual and spiritual journey here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and a great review of the book "Why Are We Going Crazy? New Book Has a Diagnosis".

At the author's personal website, he gives us an excerpt from this book, so here's just a snippet of it to whet your appetite:

"The delusion that things are whatever we say they are gives such an inflated importance to the mind that one would think nothing existed but thoughts, or maybe words. Materialism swings to the opposite extreme: that nothing exists but matter and material bodies. If nothing but matter exists, it seems to follow that there is nothing but matter to care about: As one pop diva famously chanted, '[T]he boy with the cold, hard cash / Is always Mister Right / 'Cause we are living in a material world / And I am a material girl.'"

"'Matter is all there is' is so much taken for granted that the Encyclope­dia Brittanica simply announces it as fact. Matter, it declares, is 'material substance which constitutes the observable universe and, together with energy, forms the basis of all objective phenomena.' The phrase 'together with energy' adds nothing because energy can be converted into matter."

"To say that 'matter is material' is circular, of course. More commonly, matter is taken to be whatever has mass and takes up space. In this sense, dirt is matter, but the meaning of the definition isn't. Assuming that this is what the Brittanica’s editors have in mind, it seems that the meaning of their sentence could be neither observable nor objective – yet somehow they expect us both to observe it and accept its objectivity." (Click the above link to read the whole excerpt!)

I've often remarked that astrophysicists have discovered there's something wierd going on in the universe: something they can't sense or detect even with their strongest telescopes and other instruments. They call it "dark matter" or "dark energy" but it's neither dark or bright – it's just there... that is, it must be there, otherwise they say the universe simply couldn't exist! And astonishingly, they calculate that it makes up at least 95% of all that exists!

Let that sink in for a minute: if all that we human beings (or AI) could ever possibly know or experience is only less than 5% of what really exists, and if people are using only about 5% of their mental ability due to laziness, lack of education, and muddled, sloppy, or illogical thinking habits, that means that we likely only comprehend about 0.25% of all that there is!

Add to all this: there's a new documentary movie coming to select theaters: The Story of Everything. Click this link for the movie's trailer and the details, but briefly here's what it's about: for over a century, we've been trained to think materialistically, that matter is all that matters. But the more we discover through the sciences, the more we find out that there's something "je ne sais quoi" – "I don't know what" – that's missing.

For example, the existence of the simplest living cell requires the instructions coded in DNA and RNA molecules in order to hold together and function. Darwin proposed some sort of "primordeal soup" with just the right ingredients and temperature for simplest living cells to form. For 150 years or so, this idea has held sway. But what Darwin didn't know about, DNA or RNA, is the kicker: this coded information must first exist somehow, somewhere in order for the simplest living cells (and all the more complex ones too!) to come into being. That's on the microscopic level: it's the same on the macroscopic level, the level of the stars and galaxies. In order for anything to exist, there must be "laws of nature" – physics and mathematics – to hold everything in the most delicate balance. These laws, like DNA and RNA information, are non-material: logic / information, and without it, the material world couldn't exist.

"In the beginning was the Word (the Logos – logic/information), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. . Without Him was not anything made that has been made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn't comprehended it" (John 1:1-5).

"For by Him (the Word) were all things created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through Him, and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things are held together" (Colossians 1:16-17).

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You can read our whole newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2026-04-18.htm, and share it!