---

 

THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND

 

 

(click the pic!) You've likely read or heard on the news that the U.S. Department of Education (or "Indoctrination") might be shut down. Of course, the Executive branch can restructure but can't literally shut down a department that was set up by the Congress over 65 years ago, and since then the federal government has taken increasing control of the educational system.

I'm a pre-baby-boomer, born in 1943. and recall when I was in junior high school that our state's and other states' school systems were splitting at the seams because of all the "baby boom" children born after 1945 that were starting grade school. So the federal government "came to the rescue" and created the U.S. Department of Education, promising it would never interfere with the states setting up curriculum standards. The p.s. in our previous newsletter was "Why did the mouse get trapped? Because it thought the cheese was free." Now we know what has happened: gradually the DOE began placing conditions on the federal grants for education, demanding conformity to a secular, materialist worldview and excluding a traditional Christian, biblical worldview. The cheese wasn't free, after all.

A dear friend in Wisconsin passed into eternity last week from Alzheimer's. We first met when he and his wife were in college. He was quite brilliant: he went on to med school and became a physician. We watched his memorial service online, and after the burial the next day, I wrote to his wife, a public school teacher, the following:

A few days ago, this link came to my inbox: https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2025/02/27/house-vote-tees-up-billions-in-cuts-to-medicaid-disability-services/31321/ - it echoes our culture's assumption that the government is the source of an unlimited supply of money: not a whisper about private charities. As recent political events show, however, the U.S. simply can't continue running up the deficit by issuing more "funny money." And western Europe is waking up to the fact that they must carry more of the defense burden, which means less can go to their generous social welfare systems.

When we were kids, churches and other charitable organizations carried the bulk of the load for caring for the disabled and elderly. But when the government started Medicare and Medicaid, religious non-profits simply couldn't compete with seemingly unlimited federal funds. In essence, the government was acting as a monopoly that drove charities out of business: they can't compete against "free money." Now, most formerly Christian-based hospitals are secularized and get most of their income from government-funded programs.

But it has turned out to be almost worthless "Monopoly money" that's hardly worth the paper it's printed on. A first-class stamp cost 2 cents when I was a kid, now it's 73 cents. Cheryl [my wife] used to cry if we spent over $10 a week on groceries when we were a just-married couple: now we rarely spend less than $100 a week on groceries. It's all because of deficit spending, a hidden tax that's caused by this inflation.

In our online "Daily Prayers" there's a frame at the bottom of the screen that shows James 1:27 and lots of cross-references. The verse number "27" is also a link: try it – it goes to "Living Faith That Works" to show how faith (our prayers) is and must be inextricably linked to good works. Faith without works is dead, so faith that doesn't produce good works is dead faith. My point is that it's high time for the church to take back its duty and calling to combine faith with works, prayer with agape-love for our neighbors. We can no longer look to the government to foot the bill.

Get the full article on our ARC-News blog.

 

---

 

A Personal Note: HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, especially to my wife Cheryl, who's recovering from spinal fusion surgery three months ago. She's still having pain, so she is now starting physical therapy twice a week at a nearby PT clinic recommended by another lady in our condo building who recently had the same surgery. Please keep on praying for Cheryl's full recovery!

We've been helping Vision Complex in Bunda, Tanzania to start constructing an ARC (Agape Restoration Community) there, but the project is now stalled for lack of enough funds. Please go to Vision Complex's ARC project and give what you can for this important project!

And check out Sup? Jesus is Coming to Dinner, a new book about the Gospel stories of Jesus having dinner with both "outsiders" – tax collectors, and "insiders" – Pharisees. He wants to "sup with us" (Rev. 3:20) – have dinner and talk with you too!

 

---

  NEXT, THE NEWS:

 

WE NEED YOUR HELP! Perhaps you've read this before and are wondering, "Why am I seeing this again?" But millions of other Christians haven't seen it! So please use the "share" buttons above to share it with your social media friends. Thanks!!

Crowdfunding Tipsheet

I can’t do this all alone, I need your help! I may have a few thousand social media contacts, but together we have millions and millions of contacts! The main thing isn't about raising funds – the main thing is raising a crowd, getting the word out, sharing how to help "the poor, maimed, lame, and blind."

Let's say I could add one person per day to my contacts (which isn't easy for me to do): on day 10, I would have 10 new contacts; on day 20, I would have 20 new contacts; and on day 30, I would have 30 new contacts. That's not bad, but it's hardly getting anywhere. We need to find a better way: let's think about how a virus spreads --

If each day, I could add 1 new crowdfunder; and on day 2 and each day afterwards we each add 1 new crowdfunder, so on day 10 we would have 512 new crowdfunders, on day 20 we would have 524,288 new crowdfunders, and on day 30 we would have about 540,000,000 new crowdfunders. It's not easy-peasy and in the real world it doesn't go exactly like this, but that's basically how "going viral" or "exponential growth" works!

So first, please Sign Up to Become a Crowdfunder! Then download and save the above PDF file to your "Desktop" or to another handy location so you can find it easily.

Next, click on Here's How YOU Can Help and share that link on your social media and by email as well. Then follow the directions every day both on the "Here's How YOU Can Help" web page and on the above "Crowdfunding" web page to spread the word to your friends and contacts.

And don't forget to enroll in our free courses to see how YOU can do diakonia-ministry. And Join "The ARC" Chat/Video Forum to Build the ARC! Thanks in advance!

Yours sincerely,

"Dr. Bob"

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

 

---

←prev.

next→

---