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Building the ARC
You might ask - "Why would I want to build an ARC, anyway? Do I look like Noah?" How do you start building it? First, you gather people who are committed to living together as Christians in community. In his book The Benedict Option, Rod Dreher describes the immense pressure in today's world to force moral and ethical compromise upon Christians and tells how to apply The Rule of St. Benedict to the Christian life not in a monastery, but striving to lead a life of spiritual discipline and genuine community.
By mutually supporting each other in an "Agape Restoration Community," living out our Christian faith on a day-to-day basis, we will be able to withstand these pressures! Another good book that explains The Rule of St. Benedict in laypeople's language and how to apply it in everyday life is The Rule of Benedict: Christian Monastic Wisdom for Daily Living by Rev. Dr. Jane Tomaine.
Secular materialism has led to the de-Christianizing of the world. My wife and I were missionaries to Russia for 17 years: in its extreme form of communism, about 250,000 church buildings in Russia were destroyed or confiscated and turned into museums, breweries, factories or "Lenin Houses of Culture" during the Soviet era. Secularization worldwide has diminished the role of the church in society by leading many people to become dependent on the state for answers to all their problems. The Church must reclaim its proper role of Enabling the Disabled: ...Welcoming the Disabled to Your Church, as Rev. Dr. Theresa Taylor writes in her book.
Poor, disabled, and elderly Christians must free themselves from the idea that an unnamed "they" – meaning someone else: the state or "the rich" or other Christians – ought to pay to build wheelchair-accessible housing and new churches. But the secular state isn't going to do it, the rich generally aren't very charitable, and there isn't enough money in all the Christian churches and mission organizations in the whole world for these organizations to build enough of such buildings so that our country and other countries can again be called "Christian nations."
Almost all Christians, however, including poor, disabled, and elderly people, have a place to live, so Christians already have the wealth needed to carry out the task of re-Christianizing their countries, in the form of their current homes. This is a "DIY" (Do It Yourself) project: by exchanging their current home for a living unit in an ARC – an Agape Restoration Community, they are providing a wheelchair-accessible building where a church can gather to worship and fulfill its God-ordained ministry to "the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind." We need to restore the spirit of agape-love and voluntary mutual self-help communities, then simply train and organize ourselves to just do it! We have the training and organization ready to go!
To get started, the pastor or deacon will prepare a "ministry team" in his parish by teaching our 1-year online program "Social Ministry of the Church" on the "how and why" of reaching out to people with disabilities in the surrounding community. Another excellent book is Building the Benedict Option by Leah Libresco that tells how to gather two or three together to form such a ministry team. Then the pastor or deacon of the associated church will serve as director of the local ARC branch. When enough people have subscribed for shares, the local branch can take out a construction loan to build a new Agape Restoration Community. Enroll in our free courses to see how YOU can do diakonia-ministry!
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NEXT, THE NEWS:
'UNGOVERNABLE': PRO-ABORTION RHETORIC AMPS UP IN LIGHT OF POSSIBLE ROE REVERSAL
from: LiveAction News
(17 May) Pro-abortion rhetoric has intensified following the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that appears to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision which decriminalized abortion in every state of the country. Since then, abortion activists have vowed to become "ungovernable," with some planning "revenge" and "revolution." Others have announced plans for a "summer of rage" to counter what they believe to be the fall of Roe. The move comes on the heels of multiple acts of violence directed at pro-life offices across the country, fueled in part by violent rhetoric.
"Ungovernable"
Merriam Webster Dictionary defines ungovernable as "not capable of being governed, guided, or restrained," so it was no accident that this word was repeated and chanted during the May 14 abortion protest in D.C., as part of the Bans off Our Bodies protest organized by Planned Parenthood and other activist groups.
Speaking to a crowd of abortion activists in D.C. on May 14, Rachel O’Leary Carmona, Executive Director of the Women’s March shouted "ungovernable" as she told the crowd she was "angry" and lobbed a host of false accusations against the Conservative Justices on the Court. Even describing the Court as "illegitimate."
"We won't go back," she chanted over and over. "Women will fight back as we always have and meet this moment – we will be UNGOVERNABLE until this Government starts working for us. UNGOVERNABLE!"
"It's why today isn't just one day of action – it is simply day One of an invigorated movement aligned behind one simple demand… Keep your bans off our bodies," the Women’s March leader added. "Today is Day one of an uprising to protect abortion rights. It is Day One of our feminist future and it is Day One of a Summer of Rage where we will be UNGOVERNABLE! Ungovernable. And we will not stop…." [read more...]
COMMENTARY: It should be quite clear by the words "ungovernable,", "revenge", "revolution", and "summer of rage" that the Critical Theory / Marxist left is preparing to lead an insurrection or revolution in this country, using anti-abortion as an excuse. One sure way to bring about the demise of a nation is to cause a demographic implosion of its population.
MORE PUSHBACK AFTER SCOTUS LEAK
from: BioEdge.org
(17 May) A number of journalists and politicians have issued dire forecasts of what will happen if the US Supreme Court does strike down Roe v. Wade – which now seems quite likely.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told a Senate Banking Committee hearing that if women lost the right to have abortions, the country would suffer economically. "I believe that eliminating the right of women to make decisions about when and whether to have children would have very damaging effects on the economy and would set women back decades," she said. "[Roe v. Wade] enabled many women to finish school," she said, according to a transcript. "That increased their earning potential. It allowed women to plan and balance their families and careers. And research also shows that it had a favorable impact on the well-being and earnings of children." [But it destroys all potential for the aborted children – ed.]
The Wall Street Journal responded in an editorial that "Ms. Yellen overlooks the lost productive contribution of children who were never born. People are assets, the source of inventions and new businesses. Human capital is crucial to economic growth and a dynamic society. China has abandoned its one-child policy, which sometimes included coerced abortions, because it foresees a declining population in the years ahead."
Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale, writes in The Atlantic that her fictional republic of Gilead, a deeply misogynistic patriarchy, is becoming a reality. "Should the Alito opinion become the newly settled law, the United States looks to be well on the way to establishing a state religion. Massachusetts had an official religion in the 17th century. In adherence to it, the Puritans hanged Quakers.
"The Alito opinion purports to be based on America’s Constitution. But it relies on English jurisprudence from the 17th century, a time when a belief in witchcraft caused the death of many innocent people … Similarly, it will be very difficult to disprove a false accusation of abortion. The mere fact of a miscarriage, or a claim by a disgruntled former partner, will easily brand you a murderer. Revenge and spite charges will proliferate, as did arraignments for witchcraft 500 years ago." [read more...]
COMMENTARY: These opinions demonstrate an appalling lack of concern for the lives of unborn babies cut short by abortion. It isn't necessary to rely on abortion, as Ms. Yellen implies, for family planning. She also sees the issue in purely economic terms only from the mothers' standpoint. The Wall Street Journal, however, views these aborted babies from an economic standpoint of "assets" and "human capital." Ms. Atwood fumes against religion, comparing the pro-life viewpoint to witchcraft and colonial America's struggles between various religious confessions, issues that were resolved when the First Amendment was adopted 230 years ago, rejecting "an establishment of religion" i.e., a state church, but permitting the free expression of religious beliefs. It does not assert the removal of all religious principles from public life.
Whatever happened to the viewpoint that every human being is created in the image of God? Or is that "too religious"? The more our society rejects belief in God, the deeper we sink into inhumanity. Morality is founded on the "I AM" of Leviticus ch. 19, where we read the words "I AM the Lord" repeated several times, teaching us that there is no solid foundation for morality without the "I AM" – the foundational absolute. Thus, we read in verse 18 – "you shall love your neighbor as yourself" – we should care for the helpless, the poor, the disabled, and the foreigner... because God IS.
RUSSIA: OPPOSITION TO WAR IN UKRAINE – OFFICIAL PRESSURE AND CENSORSHIP
from: Forum 18 News Service
(13 May) State censorship and control of religious communities increased following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Lutheran Archbishop Dietrich Brauer, who has left Russia, said that, at the start of the war, President Putin's administration made "a clear demand" of religious leaders to speak out in favour of the invasion. Another Protestant pastor says FSB officers visited clergy to warn them not to say anything critical in sermons or on social media. Protestors against the war on the basis of their faith continue to be detained.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has resulted in even stricter censorship and control of Russian religious communities, other public organisations, media outlets, and individuals – whether by means of prosecution for the newly created offences of "discrediting the Armed Forces" or "disseminating false information" about them, or pressure from state authorities and religious hierarchies not to condemn or discuss the war.
Lutheran Archbishop Dietrich Brauer, who has left Russia for Germany, said that, at the start of the war, President Vladimir Putin's administration made "a clear demand" of religious leaders to speak out in favour of the invasion. A pastor in a different Protestant church described to Forum 18 how FSB security service officers visited clergy to warn them not to say anything critical in sermons or on social media.
Several religious organisations have apparently voluntarily endorsed the invasion, particularly the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate). Its leader Patriarch Kirill has long advocated the concept of "Russky Mir" (the "Russian World"), which holds that Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus all constitute a single spiritual and cultural space in opposition to the liberal and secular West.
In his Sunday sermon on 6 March, Patriarch Kirill claimed that Russia was protecting the Donbas from outside pressure to abide by liberal values, especially as expressed in gay pride parades, arguing that this "indicates that we have entered into a struggle that has not a physical, but a metaphysical significance." Pope Francis stated on 3 May that the Patriarch had spent much of a video call on 16 March reading out "all the reasons that justify the Russian invasion."
Despite this official support for the war, several Moscow Patriarchate priests have resigned from their jobs – and in some cases, left the country – after their opposition to the war brought them into conflict with their dioceses.
Fr Nikolay Platonov, for example, posted a YouTube video criticising Patriarch Kirill for having "justified – in fact, blessed – military action in Ukraine," and dismissing the Patriarch's argument about "gay parades" in the Donbas as "ridiculous." He also notes the pressure his diocese has put on parishes to collect donations for the Russian army in Ukraine: "No one asked the priests' opinion. All those who disagree are being identified – they will smear everyone. Nobody will be left out."
Referring to President Putin, Fr Nikolay concludes: "I say this to those who can still see and hear, who still have a conscience. Run, run. A crazy subhuman is in power, who will retain power at any cost. On the altar of his vanity, he will lay [in the grave] thousands and hundreds of thousands of people – your children, the children of a neighbouring state." [read more...]
COMMENTARY: The Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church cast the blame for their "special operation" in Ukraine on the West's tolerance of homosexual and lesbian lifestyles. This is merely guilt projection: as I learned while living there for 17 years, there is an active pro-gay movement in Russia, but also many acts of violence against homosexuals. A disordered lifestyle should be treated with tolerance and seeking healing, even while we recognize that it is not in the interest of the "common good" – it should be obvious that if a significant percentage of adults do not reproduce, society won't be around very much longer.
AUTISM PREVALENCE RISING GLOBALLY
from: Disability Scoop
(19 May) It’s not just the U.S. New research finds that autism prevalence is growing around the world and experts say that shows progress.
Globally, about 100 in 10,000 – or 1 in 100 – children are diagnosed with autism, according to a study published recently in the journal Autism Research. That’s up from an estimate of 62 in 10,000 a decade ago. The latest figures are based on a review of 99 prevalence estimates from 34 countries.
Dr. Andy Shih, chief science officer at Autism Speaks and a co-author of the new study, said that the findings show efforts to improve autism awareness are paying off.
"The increase in autism prevalence around the world reflects in part the impact of public health efforts to raise global awareness of autism spectrum disorder," Shih said. "Since 2012, many regions have also made significant strides in case identification, diagnosis and capacity to serve the autistic community."
The studies analyzed for the review varied considerably in size – ranging from 465 participants to 50 million – and they resulted in prevalence estimates from 1.09 in 10,000 to 436 in 10,000. Most of the studies were conducted in the U.S. and Northern Europe, but the findings include an increasing amount of research coming out of previously underrepresented regions like Africa and the Middle East, the researchers indicated. [read more...]
COMMENTARY: What is behind this apparent rise in the rate of autism? Is it something in the water or in the air, or could it just be an increase in recognizing a condition that has been there all along? Here is one theory – "gender dysphoria correlates strongly with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and that both in turn correlate strongly with the age of the father. Basically, as men get older their sperm is more likely to break down. Now it's a feature of our society that people are getting older & having children at later ages. That isn't anyone's fault in particular, but it's one reason why we're seeing such a huge upsurge of these problems."
(17 May) On May 17, Metropolitan Mikhail of Lutsk and Volyn granted the request to join the communities that had left the Moscow Patriarchate by decision of the parish assembly. Among them are the communities of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Kamen-Kashirsky and the Intercession of the Blessed Virgin in the village of Lake of Kiverets district, reported in the Volyn eparchy of the OCU (Orthodox Church of Ukraine).
As well as the communities of the churches of the Conception of the Righteous Anna the Blessed Virgin along with the church in Rzhyshchiv of the Lutsk district deanery, Paraskeva Pyatnytsia of the villages of Pidhirne, Berezoluka, Yablunivka (together with the abbot Fr. Oleksandr Datsyuk), the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Voronchin and the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. The district council of the Rozhysche deanery, which RISU has already announced about leaving the UOC-MP.
In the Zhytomyr Region, Bishop Paisii also received the communities of the region, who also decided to join the OCU. On May 17, the Zhytomyr-Ovruch Diocese hosted a meeting with representatives of five religious communities who decided to leave the Moscow Patriarchate: Sts. Cosmas and Damiana s. Dubrivka, Baranivka district, Holy Trinity village Kvitneve, Popilnyansky district, St. Alexander Nevsky village Tsarivka of Korystyshiv district (about which RISU has already reported ), as well as Svyato-Mykhailivska village Markushi of Berdychiv district and Savior-Non-manufactured Image of the village Rakovichi , Radomyshl district. All five parishes held a meeting at which they decided to join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, all without their superiors.
In the Khmelnytsky region, two more communities left the UOC-MP and expressed a desire to join the OCU. On May 15, a meeting of the community of the church of St. Paraskevi in the village of Stepanovka, Chemerovets Tergromada. Prior to that, an initiative group of parishioners collected signatures in support of leaving the Moscow Patriarchate. And during the voting at the meeting, the desire to change the religious affiliation was unanimously supported. On May 16, a meeting of parishioners of the church of St. John the Theologian in the village of Brazhyntsi, where it was decided to join the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. In both communities, the abbots supported the parishioners.
[read more...]
COMMENTARY: A few more articles on this topic are: Over half of Ukrainians support the ban of the UOC-MP in Ukraine and The Moral Defeat Of The Russian World: Putin, Kirill, And The Tribunal Of History and Moscow Church Won't Survive in Ukraine Except in Isolated and Unregistered Parishes, Kozlovsky Says.
PRO-ABORTION, ANTI-WOMEN POLITICIANS TARGET PREGNANCY CENTERS
from: Daily Signal
(11 May) We could be living in a post–Roe America by the time you go on summer vacation, based on the (egregiously) leaked Supreme Court draft opinion, with the official decision scheduled to be announced within the next two months. While many Americans are preparing to better serve women facing unplanned pregnancies, radical pro-abortion politicians are focusing on making it more difficult for women to receive the care and support they deserve.
The most recent example is the city of Somerville, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston that recently regulated pro-life pregnancy centers with an ordinance titled "Deceptive Advertising Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers."
The city council of Somerville is just the latest in a long list of radical pro-abortion legislative bodies that have attempted politically motivated regulations of pregnancy centers, including Maryland, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia, along with municipalities and counties like Austin, Baltimore, and Montgomery County, Maryland.
The sponsor of the Somerville ordinance, City Councilor-at-Large Kristen Strezo, revealed her radical pro-abortion ideology in an interview with The Tufts Daily, where she stated: "I'm really upset that I still have to fight as hard as I do for reproductive justice and abortion access."
Strezo's efforts could be described as anti-women, as the very pro-life pregnancy centers that are now regulated in Somerville have been proven to do more than any other organization to meet the specific needs of women facing unintended pregnancies.
More than 2,700 pro-life pregnancy centers, located in all 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C., provide millions of Americans with high-quality services, usually at no cost, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of benefits to their communities each year. Clients of these centers report very high satisfaction rates upward of 97%.
Life-affirming pregnancy centers have a long history (over 50 years) of serving women with compassionate care and enabling them to make a truly informed choice about their pregnancies. [read more...]
COMMENTARY: It's obvious that the anti-life left resorts to lies about the pro-life movement. They totally disregard the teachings of the Church throughout the centuries that abortion is forbidden. The recent news, however, is that the right is standing firm: San Francisco Archbishop to Pelosi: Do Not Receive Communion. Supporting abortion is just as much a sin as committing abortion.
NOW, OUR VIEWS:
NOTE: Just this week I've combined the two web pages, Part 1 and Part 2 of "Seek the Welfare of the City," into one 20-page 5.5" x 8.5" PDF booklet that you can print on five sheets of letter-size paper + a cover, available at https://agape-biblia.org/literatura/#welfare. Right below on that web page you will find my updated version of "AGEISM IS THE NEW RACISM" and a link to the online version.
A Call to Sanctification
(← click) God created mankind in His image and likeness so that we could share in His glory. After the Fall, however, the image was marred and the likeness was destroyed: we became spiritually "dead" in our trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2:5-9) – this passage tells us about not only our spiritual death, but also about the gift of God's grace that saves us. Salvation is a life-long process of healing and restoration: the Greek word for "salvation" is "soteria" which also means "healing."
When a little child is given a present all wrapped up in shiny, colorful paper and with a pretty bow on it, the child is often fascinated with the box and the bow, so the parents say – "What's in the box? Open the box!" Grace is indeed a gift, but what's in the box? Grace is the gift of the Holy Spirit, the divine nature that restores and transforms our nature and our whole life.
But as the Old Testament scripture quotations in this photo illustrate, it's easy to get wrapped up in the side effects – health and wealth – of God's grace: Jesus, the good shepherd, wants to give us abundant life – "The thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly" (John 10:10). However, there are thieves, wolves in sheep's clothing, who are just in it for the money – "hirelings" who want to steal, kill, and destroy the flock. We must beware of them, not hire them, or even give them a place at the table:
"But as it is, I wrote to you not to have fellowship with anyone who is called a brother who is a sexual sinner, or covetous, or an idolater, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner. Don't even eat with such a person" (1 Corinthians 5:11) and "But if one of those who don't believe invites you to a meal, and you are inclined to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions for the sake of conscience. But if anyone says to you, 'This was offered to idols,' don't eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience" (1 Corinthians 10:27-28).
God's will for us is our sanctification (Romans 12:1) – He wants us to become holy ("saint" and "holy" are the same word in Greek and other languages) – "Saint Jerry" or "Saint Sally." The Lord wants us to 
Experience the Fullness of His glory, to be transformed into His likeness:
In order for that to happen, though, we must not have communion/fellowship (the same word, "koinonia" in Greek) with false believers or unbelievers – "hirelings." The call to sanctification is also a call to separation from worldly activities and behavior:
"Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness? What agreement has Christ with Belial? Or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, 'I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.' Therefore, "'Come out from among them, and be separate,' says the Lord, 'Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you. I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty." (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
The saints of old and even those of more recent times are called "saint" or "holy" because they have been cleansed of worldly passions and lusts and have devoted themselves to the pursuit of holiness: "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). "Therefore, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us" (verse 1) – may we follow their examples and Christ's example!
(Get this as a separate article in our "ARC-News" blog at blogspot.com.)
We're very grateful to all of you who have been praying for and have helped out Cheryl as she recovers from breaking her left femur a month ago. For the past few days, we have been taking block-long walks together with her alternately using a walker or a cane. The healing is coming along, although it's still painful. She's one tough lady!
Please remember to pray for Christians in Secularized Countries, and for...
Your fellow-servants,
Bob & Cheryl
p.s. He who thinks he can fully comprehend God either has a very small god or a very large head.
