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HOW TO BUILD CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES

 

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(Click the pic!) Last week I wrote a short article about Saint Benedict of Nursia and his rule for Christian communities, The Rule of St. Benedict. Click on the photo, and you'll see a whole list of literature – mostly free e-books and booklets – on this topic of how to build Christian communities. In addition to St. Benedict's Rule, you'll see Rod Dreher's book, The Benedict Option. Then in the section about Leah Libresco's book Building the Benedict Option it states: "This practical resource for finding peace, meaning and God, from the pen of St. Benedict, a sixth-century monk, can help guide your own spiritual journey. Many people today are realizing that the cultural focus on competition, success, acquisition and constant busyness is ultimately not satisfying. They hunger for a way of life that has more lasting value and deeper meaning."

See the article "Building the New City – St. Basil's Social Vision", my booklet "Seek the Welfare of the City" and my article "Building the ARC", as well as several other books from my personal library. The article "Seek the Welfare of the City" cites instances of various Saints warning about not giving money, goods, or services unless you are able to ascertain that your donations are actually being used as you were told they would be. We are challenged by 1 John 3:17 – "But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart of compassion against him, how does the love of God remain in him?" to be generous to those in need. But look carefully at the phrase "sees his brother in need" – if you can't actually see what the need is and how it will be met, then beware! It is likely that it would be misused.

Also, 2 Thes. 3:10 – "If anyone is not willing to work, neither let him eat." If those who appear to be needy refuse to work when they are able to, they should not depend on Christians or the state to feed and house them. The goal should be restoration to full physical, vocational, and spiritual health. "Community" is key: a community is a group of people who share the same value system, a group that is not so large that it's impossible to know all the members personally. Otherwise, on a city- or state- or nation-wide level it's too easy for people to "work the system."

Please read "Learning From Minnesota’s Somali Fraud Scandal." Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman stated that unlimited immigration is incompatible with a welfare state. Plato wrote – "Democracy can only survive until the people find their way to the public purse." I've worked as a job counselor in both secular and religious social service sectors: several times I've been told by people wanting help to write resumes that they just need to fill out and submit two job applications to show that "they're looking for work" so they can continue getting welfare checks. And I learned of at least two cases where jobless people were receiving unemployment benefits from two states: they would travel to a friend's place in a nearby state at whose address they'd register for benefits – "double dipping." Welfare fraud is rampant!

The Greek word for "community" is "koinonia" – it's also translated as "communion" as in the Eucharist, and as "fellowship" as in "church." So a group of like-minded genuine, honest Christians who are fully committed to serving Christ, can also build a place where they can live, worship, and serve in a community: "Commitment to Communion in a Community." That is what our Agape Restoration Communities are all about. so please take a few minutes to read my "Building the ARC" article... and share it!

 

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You can read our whole newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2026-01-31.htm, and share it!

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OUR VERY OWN DR. MENGELE, RIGHT HERE

 

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In a recent Substack article, "The Most Evil Man in Evangelicalism And Those Who Platformed Him," we read about (if you can stomach ingesting and digesting the whole thing) a gristly series of medical experiments conducted right here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And Evangelical leaders all over the U.S. applauded our very own "Dr. Mengele."

The article begins with a quote from C.S. Lewis: "Of all the passions, the passion for the Inner Ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man do very bad things." When we think of Nazi Germany's Dr. Mengele, who conducted "medical experiments" on living human subjects, we want to think "Oh, that could never happen here!" But it did. And such experiments continue to happen here, in the U.S. Unborn babies – some of them full-term and even during birth – are killed in Planned Barrenhood abortuaries, their warm organs being sold for medical experiments to the University of Pittsburgh, right here, encouraged by an Evangelical medical doctor heading the National Institute of Health. And Christian leaders praised him as "a brother in Christ."

In the early 2020s, I reported on these atrocities in our newletter, but heard not a peep from our subscribers, no comments. How many who call themselves Christians either didn't believe it – "it couldn't happen here" – or they they are complicit, ignoring or even justifying these mass murders of the unborn because of thier own fornication or adultery or even abortions? I don't know, I can only wonder why. More on this investigation here: "Judicial Watch Sues HHS for Records of Taxpayer Funding of Human Fetal Tissue Research at Univ. of Pittsburgh."

Ever since the introduction of "The Pill" in the 1960s, the Sexual Revolution really took off, disconnecting sexual relations from having children and raising healthy, stable families: there would be no consequences, nobody would ever know. But then people began to "slip up" – they forgot to take the pill, or it didn't work. They may call it a "mistake," but in reality it's the intended purpose of sex, to create a new life, a baby, a real human being, it's not "just a lump of tissue." Then the "Great Society" welfare system encouraged single motherhood by subsidizing it, thus encouraging premarital and extramarital sex, and resulting in fatherless boys roaming the streets, shooting up drugs... and other people. The dehumanization had begun.

So, what has ensued? First, a carefree attitude about "casual sex." Then a convenient solution to the "mistakes" – abortion solves that problem. (Actually, one action of birth control pills is to prevent implantation of the fertilized egg, a new human baby, so that is also a form of abortion.) Secondly, women began having fewer babies. In order to maintain our population, we need a fertility rate of 2.1 babies per woman, So thirdly, we've had to open up the borders for mass, uncontrolled immigration. Both "conservative" factory owners because they need more workers, and "liberal" politicians because they need more voters, joined forces to quietly allow it. Why is all this happening?

In the 50+ years since the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade case, we as a nation have allowed over sixty million abortions. And now that our consciences are so numbed by this inconceivable number, it became easy to begin selling these babies' organs for medical experimentation. We must not project our guilt on the Nazi's extermination of six million Jews, or Stalin's execution of sixty million Russians and Ukrainians and minority nationalities. During our 17 years living in Russia, I came across documentation of 50,000 Udmurts buiried in mass graves behind an Orthodox church building in the Udmurt Soviet Republic, and 200,000 Maris buried in mass graves all around the Mari Soviet Republic. But that's just comparable to the mass killing of sixty million U.S. unborn babies. Let that sink in!

The U.S. Supreme Court has also ruled that if women are to have equal rights the same as men because the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote and own property, then in 2025 the Court's Obergefell case created out of thin air the right of a man to "marry" another man, and a woman to "marry" another woman. This unleashed a landslide: DEI, promoting "gender identity" and transgenderism, and anyone can use any bathrooms and locker rooms: see "Gay Marriage Didn’t Just Redefine Marriage – It Redefined Humanity." By disconnecting sexuality from biological reality, we've created a dystopia.

America needs to repent in sackcloth and ashes! The founding principle, the ideal of freedom of religion has degenerated into freedom (or license) to believe anything and behave any way you choose. We must return to the true, original Christian faith before it is too late!

Pray for Americans to repent, both individually and as a society, if we are to avoid socio-economic chaos and disaster.

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You can read the rest of our newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2026-01-17.htm, and share it!

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THE MEDIUM IS NOT THE MESSAGE

 

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The Canadian philosopher, scholar, literary critic, and communications theorist Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase "The Medium is the Message." This phrase means that the medium through which a message is conveyed tends to dominate the content of the message itself. That is, the medium has a greater impact on our perception and behavior than the ideas and information it carries. People immediately see an image but must think for a while to understand the message that the image conveys. Jesus often spoke in parables: "A sower went out to sow the seed, and some fell on a footpath, shallow ground, among weeds, or on good soil" (Mark 3:1-13). But most often the crowds and even His disciples didn't get the point, so He would have to explain it. The word-pictures immediately resonated with them, but what did they mean?

In a recent First Things article, I read that in American conservatism – "a fissure that has been widening for years: a clash between two visions of the right, one grounded in universal moral principle, the other in cultural and civilizational loyalty." The latter phrase – "cultural and civilizational loyalty" – refers to the linguistic and ethnic traditions of our society. But there needn't be a "fissure," a contradiction, between these and "universal moral principle." The problem is that they're confusing the medium with the message. Our idioms of speech, food, clothing, even our facial features and skin color, convey the message of what is near and dear to us, but are not the same as faith, freedom, and truth. We tend to prefer people "like us" and dislike those who are "different." A weakness of human reasoning is that we tend to think in terms of either-or logic. It's harder to think in both-and, "synthesis" logic. Faithfulness between my wife and me is not the same thing as liking her face, voice, rosy cheeks and the food she prepares for me, but they belong together.

In our churches, we become familiar with and fond of the style of music, the (usually somewhat lofty and archaic) language, the phrases, the clergy's special robes, the incense, stained glass, and the architecture. These things are intended to help convey the message but are not identical with the message, the doctrinal truths about God, the Incarnation of Christ, forgiveness, salvation, and the pursuit of holiness. The melodies and instruments (or none), whether the language is of an old "mother country" or Latin, Greek, or the local dialect – these all are parts of the medium, the vessels that carry the content, the message. Orthodox churches in Africa use drums and dance to convey the message, but in the U.S. we usually sing a capella.

German Cardinal Gerhard Müller recently said that “in twenty to thirty years, Islam could become the dominant religion” in Germany. How could this happen, that by 2050 Germany will become Germistan, France will become Frankistan, and Britain will become Britistan? It is already happening: London itself is already "Londistan" – more than 50% are not native English. The majority of young schoolchildren in many major European cities are Muslim kids. It is because the elite leadership of most European countries have completely bought into the worldview of vague generalities: democracy, liberty, equality, brotherhood of all nations, and multi-culturalism. But this ignores one essential thing: what is the foundation?

The foundation of European (and all Western) civilization is Christianity. But in the last century or so, this foundation has been undermined and eroded, especially in Europe, so that the generalities of democracy, liberty, equality, and brotherhood cannot withstand the vast flood of Muslim migration and the violent, exclusive doctrines of Islam. Similar to original Christianity, Islam is an exclusive religion. But when Islam becomes the majority, it does not does not treat other religions equally. Original Christianity's exclusivity, however, generally tolerated the presence of other religions. But beginning with the French Revolution, secularism began to spread throughout the West, undermining the moral and spiritual foundations.

What must be done? "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3). David, who wrote this Psalm, wasn't a weak-kneed hand-wringer, he was king and military leader. To him, the answer was obvious: we must rebuild the foundations! We need to re-establish genuine Christian communities where people believe in and live by a shared creed. The only creed in common between Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox is the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. Various churches may have other creeds or statements of faith that are more or less similar to this one, but the Nicene Creed is the only creed that Orthodox, Catholics, and most Protestants can jointly agree on.

People sometimes hold onto the outward language, symbols and rituals of religion long after they cease to truly believe in and live by the doctrines their religion teaches: the medium has dominated and overwhelmed the message. Often in the Old Testament the people of Israel fell into idolatry, while maintaining their Temple ceremony, holy days, and sacrifices. We need to re-establish Christian communities in which we live in close proximity and encourage one another to really live in agape-love, according to what we say we believe, and to reach out to "the poor, maimed, blind, and lame." And we must teach and raise up our children to understand and believe in our shared faith.

We have developed a plan and design for such accessible and inclusive "Agape Restoration Communities." Please read "Building the ARC" and download the PDF file! This will take alot of self-discipline, commitment, sacrifice, and just plain hard work to rebuild the foundations, just like it took much effort and withstanding ridicule for Noah to build the Ark. But it must be done, because the alternative of letting our society crumble around us while we hang onto the status-quo is unthinkable.

Pray for a spiritual awakening, for Christians to return to the principle doctrines and practices of our faith, to live out what we believe.

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You can read the rest of our newsletter at https://agape-restoration-society.org/ARC-News/a-n_2026-01-03.htm, and share it! Also, create your own website for less than $4 per month!