Clearly Caring. Mini Edition. The Whole Picture Needs the Full Gospel by Rev. Forrest Bivens

Transcription

1 Clearly Caring Mini Edition The Official Publication of Christian Life Resources October 2016 The Whole Picture Needs the Full Gospel by Rev. Forrest Bivens In early 2007 I was in Rio de Janeiro during a visit to our son and his family, while he served as a WELS missionary in Brazil. The view from Sugarloaf Mountain gave me a panorama that included Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches as well as the Cristo Redentor statue on Corcovado Mountain. Breathtaking beauty! Anyone watching scenes or newscasts on this summer s Olympics has surely seen how picturesque the location is. But what about the whole picture? Well, six years ago Rio De Janeiro suffered from torrential rains and deadly mudslides followed by extreme waves and a massive storm surge. Then there are the many favelas (slums) of Rio and the thousands of homeless children who live on the streets of Rio. Abject poverty and rampant disease have found a home near landmark sites known for beauty. News releases linked to the Olympic Games have underscored these and other sad evidences of trouble in paradise. In January of this year I was in St. George s, Grenada, visiting a daughter and family where her husband pastors Grace Lutheran Church. The landscape I observed was the view from Richmond Hill that included the world-class Grand Anse Beach, the scenic Carenage harbor, and lush hillsides and cityscapes that delight the eye. And, again, what is also part of the whole picture? Hurricane Ivan, which damaged 90% of all homes on Grenada a dozen years ago, is still the topic of conversation by islanders. And I should mention that my memorable view was from a nursing home/care facility located on the same promontory point, one that our mission in Grenada, working with WELS Kingdom Workers

2 and Wisconsin Lutheran College students, is working to refurbish and restore for the benefit of the aged and infirm Grenadians who live in the home. Again, natural disasters, poverty, illness, and aspects of ugliness are adjacent to renowned places of beauty. My visit and observations of various residents of the facility remain distinctly in my mind and heart alongside the panoramic view. Unless by God s design my future includes advanced Alzheimer s or severe dementia, I don t think I will ever forget these scenes of incredible beauty accompanied by stunning ugliness that a sin-ravaged world must now endure. What contrasts! What lessons we learn in regard to God s power and ability to give us breathtaking beauty and sin s power and ability to create hideous pain and ugliness that are part of our fallen world. Isn t the same general truth at the heart of issues that Christian Life Resources gives attention to? Physical landscapes are not the only sources of beauty and cause for human awe. Conception, pregnancy and childbirth are works of God miraculous wonders that invite us to submit humbly and thankfully CONCEPTION, PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH ARE WORKS OF GOD MIRACULOUS WONDERS THAT INVITE US TO SUBMIT HUMBLY AND THANKFULLY TO THE CREATOR S HANDIWORK. to the Creator s handiwork. Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him (Psalm 127:3 NIV). The same may be said for old age. The promise stands firm: Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you (Isaiah 46:4 NIV). Yes, so-called beginning-of-life and end-oflife events are cause for praise and awe from us. But, again, what is also part of the whole picture? Pain in childbirth arrived with the Fall into sin (Genesis 3:16 NIV) alongside difficult complications. The hardships that accompany aging and old age are also prevalent worldwide. Add to this the murder of millions in the womb for the sake of personal convenience under the guise of freedom. Include the despising of old age even to the point of terminating life under the same banner of freedom coupled with an unwillingness to bear hardships or allow God to direct our fondest hopes heavenward rather than to let them be earthbound. Do we get the point? What contrasts! God s ability 2 // info@christianliferesources.com

3 to give us beauty and blessing must contend with sin s power to create hideous pain and ugliness that are now a part of our fallen world. I have no doubt that you have taken note of the same kind of stark contrasts that may be found so often and in so many places. Remember the reality! Ponder the whole picture of the earth that we now serve as citizens and representatives of heaven! Forget neither the beauty nor the contrasting disfigurement of God s creation and its inhabitants! Remember the cause of the inelegance around us, namely sin. Ponder the Lord s loving use of sin and its fruit to impress on us and others the need for and value of pardon and cleansing through Jesus! We all need the full gospel of divine grace in Christ. What brought me to Brazil in 2007 and Grenada in 2016? As already mentioned, my wife and I were visiting family members who are also siblings in Jesus and heralds of the gospel centered in Jesus. And what will bring you, repeatedly, to places where pleasure and pain intersect, where God s handiwork and Satan s accomplishments are on display at the same time? Gospel service to souls. The sharing of God s Word centered in Jesus. You are continually surrounded by evidences of divine goodness and love for his creatures just as surely as you are continuously confronted by attestations of fallen mankind and fruits of the sinful nature. May God continue to give you insight into the realities that you observe from day to day! May you from the heart continue to testify to the truth that explains how and why God s perfect creation became so imperfect. May you especially testify with clarity and love how and why the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved (Romans 8:22-24 NIV). 3 Ways to Support Send a Check by Mail to: Christian Life Resources Box 56, Richfield, WI Use Credit Card Online at: ChristianLifeResources.com Sign up for Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT): Contact us for form Rev. Forrest Bivens is a retired professor at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary in Mequon, Wisconsin. He is a member of the CLR National Board. Bivens and his wife, Sue, live in Greenfield, WI. He will be presenting at CLR s annual Celebration of Life Event on Confronting Culture. This workshop hopes to identify and stimulate discussion on ways the believing community can grow in traits and attitudes that can serve us well as we confront culture. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc info@christianliferesources.com \\ 3

4 Assisted Suicide MDs Would Never Be Convicted of Fraud by Wesley J. Smith, Discovery Institute The Justice Department has convicted two doctors for falsely diagnosing patients as terminal to qualify for hospice care. From the U.S. Attorney s press release: Two doctors were found guilty today of federal health care fraud charges for falsely certifying that Medicare patients were terminally ill, and therefore qualified for hospice care, when the vast majority of them were not actually dying. Following a two-week trial, the doctors were found guilty of participating in a scheme related to the Covinabased California Hospice Care (CHC). Between March 2009 and June 2013, CHC submitted approximately $8.8 million in fraudulent bills to Medicare and Medi-Cal for hospicerelated services, and the public health programs paid nearly $7.4 million to CHC. The motive there was clearly money. But this same kind of false terminal diagnosis could also happen with assisted suicide as a matter of ideology. It already has. In the Michael Freeland case, a death doctor wrote a lethal prescription to a patient who died naturally... two years later. He even contacted Freeland after one year offering to write another prescription! That was an obvious violation of the assisted suicide law. 4 // info@christianliferesources.com

5 And yet, unlike the hospice fraudsters, nothing was done to punish this (now late) doctor, even though it was exposed in a professional journal and came to light when Freeland was admitted to a mental hospital a year after receiving the poison drugs. Worse, his treating psychiatrist took his guns but made sure his overdose remained at his home! Why the enforcement disparity for violating six months to live rule between hospice and assisted suicide situations? I suggest the following: First, once assisted suicide is legalized, violations of guidelines just don t matter to law enforcement or the media. Second, even if they cared which they don t Oregon authorities don t have the power, legal authority, or ideological desire to investigate assisted suicide abuses. Their desire is to help assisted suicide advocates spread the false propaganda that the Oregon law is without a flaw. As Kathleen Foley and Herbert Hendin wrote in the Michigan Law Review: OPHD does not collect the information it would need to effectively monitor the law and in its actions and publications acts as the defender of the law rather than as the protector of the welfare of terminally ill patients. Third, death doctors have greater protection in their assisted suicide activities than doctors do when treating patients. The latter have to comply with the standard of care, to be free of potential liability. But death doctors cannot be punished or sued for assisting suicide if they act in good faith. Proving bad faith is far more difficult than demonstrating the standard of care was violated. Finally, Oregon relies almost exclusively on doctor selfreporting in its so-called oversight of assisted suicide. They are as likely to admit they violated the law as to tell the IRS they cheated on their taxes. Oregon aside, if assisted suicide is widely legalized, the Justice Department would never pursue intentional misdiagnoses, as it has in hospice cases. Why? Assisted suicide saves money in health care. In an era in which containing costs becomes paramount, illegal premature assisted suicide prescriptions would be winked at as a proper husbanding of resources. Hospices are under a lot of government pressure not to allow patients in who are not dying within 6 months. (That requirement needs to change.) Assisted suicide docs would never feel that heat from either state or federal authorities. Lawyer and award-winning author, Wesley J. Smith, is a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute s Center on Human Exceptionalism. He is also a consultant to the Patients Rights Council. Smith will serve as the keynote speaker at CLR s annual Celebration of Life Event. He will present in the afternoon on assisted suicide and will speak in the evening on human rights in bioethics. Smith will be signing his recently published book, Culture of Death: The Age of Do Harm Medicine in the afternoon and at the dinner event. This article is a reprint from Wesley Smith s blog and is available at the National Review website: info@christianliferesources.com \\ 5

6 CHRISTIAN LIFE RESOURCES CELEBRATION OF LIFE EVENT Saturday, November 5 Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School 3399 Division Road, Jackson, WI HIGHLIGHTS Internationallyknown keynote & dinner speaker, Wesley J. Smith Teen track by Wisconsin Right to Life Four distinct tracks New venue: Performing Arts Center Free on-site childcare info@christianliferesources.com \\ 3 CELEBRATION OF LIFE prepares Christians to meet the life and family challenges of our day. Topics include: assisted suicide bioethics & medicine parent-child relationships end-of-life issues... and more! Don t miss this one-of-a-kind opportunity! Divinely empowered for life and family!

7 CELEBRATION OF LIFE EVENT NOV. 5 3 WAYS TO REGISTER: 1) ONLINE: (preferred) 2) Return this form & payment to: Christian Life Resources, Box 56, Richfield, WI ) Call Name: How would you like your name to appear on your ID Tag? Address: City/State/Zip: Phone: ( ) Full day (includes lunch, snacks & workshop materials)... $45 Half day (lunch is not included)... $25 Please check morning or afternoon Dinner Featured speaker Wesley J. Smith... $20 Cut-off date for dinner registration is October 28, 2016 Wesley J. Smith s latest book (pick up day of the event) The Culture of Death: The Age of Do Harm Medicine... $18* *Early bird registration $5 discount off book ($13 if received by 10/10) x number of books = $ Will you need complimentary childcare? Register for childcare online at Total Amount for Registration: $ My Gift to Christian Life Resources: $ TOTAL: $ Check enclosed Credit card (fill in all blanks below) Name on Card: Address: City/State/Zip: Card #: Exp. Date: Card ID (CVV2/CID) #: Type of Card: Visa Mastercard Discover AMEX Signature:

8 Christian Life Resources Box 56, Richfield, WI PHONE: (800) WEBSITES: ChristianLifeResources.com ClearlyCaring.com - SIGN UP for the e-version of Clearly Caring - Mini Edition NON PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 475 CAROL STREAM, IL