One of the most enjoyable things about publishing this newsletter is hearing back from our readers. Since I didn’t warn you this was coming I’m not including writers’ names but thanks to all who take the time to write. I appreciate you (even if we don’t agree)! Some of these are edited for brevity and to secure the identity of the writers. I also only included the initial email and not the follow-up conversation that often followed.

Michael

Re: France Is Burning Again. Why?

Hi Michael,

What is happening is France is a fulfillment of this passage in the book Education, p. 228:  

“At the same time anarchy is seeking to sweep away all law, not only divine, but human. The centralizing of wealth and power; the vast combinations for the enriching of the few at the expense of the many; the combinations of the poorer classes for the defense of their interests and claims; the spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed; the world-wide dissemination of the same teachings that led to the French Revolution—all are tending to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed France.”

She adds this in the next paragraph: “Such are the influences to be met by the youth of today. To stand amidst such upheavals they are now to lay the foundations of character.” 

Yet, so many of our SDA college campuses have promoted the “woke” ideology that comes from Marxist class warfare. I fear that many of our youth have no clue of the unbiblical and actually demonic spirit that underpins the promotion of “liberty” as espoused by the French revolutionaries—a liberty totally free from godly restraint. …

Which reminds me of this statement from GC in relation to the destruction of Jerusalem and the religious fanaticism that blinded people to the rejection of God’s law in the person of Jesus and His gospel representatives:

“The Saviour’s prophecy concerning the visitation of judgments upon Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment, of which that terrible desolation was but a faint shadow. In the fate of the chosen city we may behold the doom of a world that has rejected God’s mercy and trampled upon His law. Dark are the records of human misery that earth has witnessed during its long centuries of crime. The heart sickens, and the mind grows faint in contemplation. Terrible have been the results of rejecting the authority of Heaven. But a scene yet darker is presented in the revelations of the future. Therecords of the past,—the long procession of tumults, conflicts, and revolutions, the “battle of the warrior … with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood” (Isaiah 9:5),—what are these, in contrast with the terrors of that day when the restraining Spirit of God shall be wholly withdrawn from the wicked, no longer to hold in check the outburst of human passion and satanic wrath! The world will then behold, as never before, the results of Satan’s rule. GC 37

May God help those of us who have any influence to hold up the banner of Divine Law in our own schools and churches.

B

Re: California AB 1803: What Churches and Ministries Need to Know About the New ‘Anti-Hate Speech’ Training Mandate

This is important information, but I feel you have left out some important information.  There is zero Biblical support for being hateful, or using your religious beliefs as a basis for mistreating another human being.  Absolutely have standards, but those standards need to include being loving at all times, and not include judgemental behavior.  I see far too many Christians seeing their belief system as a form of legally and morally sanctioned free pass on passing judgement on another human being.  The Bible is clear:  “Judge not that you be not judged, for the judgement you use to judge another is the judgement by which you will be judged.”  

My point is that you need a statement that points out that there needs to be clear recognition in ones policies and statements of belief that your values and moral standards do not allow for any form of mistreatment or discrimination of another human who may not subscribe to your institutional belief system.  You can discriminate in hiring, but not in how you treat that person in the process of explaining why you cannot hire them.  You must recognize their value as a fellow human even while denying them employment.  This can be further accentuated by, when possible, helping that person find a potential job placement either within your organization where there is not a missional conflict, or outside of your organization in an effort to help out compassionately, a fellow human.  This shows genuine Christian caring.  Having a list of similar job categories that are not tied to mission which can be offered compassionately to an individual who is obviously not going to fit into your mission, would be a strong step in showing that you value that person, even if that person does not fit in your particular job description

As a Christian it is important to remember that Jesus died for that person as well as for you.

D

Re: A Defense of American Exceptionalism

Thank you

B

Re: A Defense of American Exceptionalism

What about America’s crimes against the Native people, African Americans and other minorities? Part of America’s exceptionalism lies in the fact that she professed freedom and the equality of all men but practiced, injustice, hatred, bigotry, prejudice, racism against many of her citizens. While we extolled America’s virtues, that is only part of the story, not the whole story. Let us not conceal her crimes.

O

Re: A Defense of American Exceptionalism

Great piece, worthy of republication. I have encouraged our Religious Liberty leader to subscribe to your materials and use your Broadsheet Press feature to share important materials with our congregation. Thank you for your thoughtful missives.

E

Re: California AB 1803: What Churches and Ministries Need to Know About the New ‘Anti-Hate Speech’ Training Mandate

This is important information, but I feel you have left out some important information.  There is zero Biblical support for being hateful, or using your religious beliefs as a basis for mistreating another human being.  Absolutely have standards, but those standards need to include being loving at all times, and not include judgemental behavior.  I see far too many Christians seeing their belief system as a form of legally and morally sanctioned free pass on passing judgement on another human being.  The Bible is clear:  “Judge not that you be not judged, for the judgement you use to judge another is the judgement by which you will be judged.”  

My point is that you need a statement that points out that there needs to be clear recognition in ones policies and statements of belief that your values and moral standards do not allow for any form of mistreatment or discrimination of another human who may not subscribe to your institutional belief system.  You can discriminate in hiring, but not in how you treat that person in the process of explaining why you cannot hire them.  You must recognize their value as a fellow human even while denying them employment.  This can be further accentuated by, when possible, helping that person find a potential job placement either within your organization where there is not a missional conflict, or outside of your organization in an effort to help out compassionately, a fellow human.  This shows genuine Christian caring.  Having a list of similar job categories that are not tied to mission which can be offered compassionately to an individual who is obviously not going to fit into your mission, would be a strong step in showing that you value that person, even if that person does not fit in your particular job description

As a Christian it is important to remember that Jesus died for that person as well as for you.

D

RE: Before Mojave: Burt Rutan, the Pathfinders, and the Ethos of Direct Construction

Great article.  May I suggest that you submit it to the Adventist Review or other periodical for wider publication.

J

RE: Before Mojave: Burt Rutan, the Pathfinders, and the Ethos of Direct Construction

Hello Michael,

 

Very interesting story!  I forwarded it to a friend who is one of the adult volunteer leaders for our Markham Woods SDA Church Pathfinder Club, with a suggestion that he share it with the club, as it could inspire one or more of the kids.  

 

I have been aware of Burt Rutan and his exceptional composite aircraft designs for several decades, but had no idea of his Adventist background.  Do you know if he is a practicing Adventist these days?

 

I was also slightly intrigued with his early connection with the Dinuba SDA church.  I have never been to Dinuba, but know that a number of my Buhler relatives are buried in the cemetery at the Dinuba SDA church.

M

Thanks again, Michael, for this fascinating account.  I knew Dr. and Mrs. George Rutan who used to attend alumni homecoming when I was (an administrator) at LSU.  

L

RE: The Currency of Conformity: The Empty Mechanics of Purity Tests

Brilliant, Michael, absolutely brilliant! Keep up the good work.

J

Re: Netherlands Executes 2-Year-Old Child

Has humanity learned nothing from the horrors of the Nazi regime?

B

Re: Netherlands Executes 2-Year-Old Child

I am replying to this privately.  This only because of one thing you said.  I am in no way in my reply justifying what happened.  First, neither you nor I have all the facts, only those published for general consumption.  So you are making some assertions which may not be defensible.  Having taken care of hundreds of these children, there is something in your discussion that appears to me to be missing.  I do not think you understand with any clarity what intractable epilepsy unresponsive to anticonvulsants mean.  This means the patient is most likely seizing non-stop.  Which means the patient is not getting oxygen to the brain.  So whatever brain cells the child may have had initially are rapidly being killed off.  There are medical things you can do to stop the external muscular fasciculations (paralyze the person and keep the person on a breathing tube for the rest of any life the person has left, but this does not stop the brain itself from continuing the seizure activity that is manifested in the external muscular fasciculations.  If you are not able to stop the seizures the patient is ultimately going to die, because the body cannot keep seizing indefinitely without great pain (think of the last time you ran so far your leg muscles ached and then multiply that by 1000), and using up all the bodies resources so that it collapses.  There are physiological and metabolic consequences for intractable seizures unresponsive to anticonvulsants.  This is beyond the severity of any of the worst CP (cerebral palsy) patients I have taken care of, and I have taken care of some bad ones.  This is horrible, and no health care worker can long term continue to watch intractable seizures without any ability to ameliorate the seizures or the consequences without experiencing tremendous emotional trauma.  

I am, of course, assuming the description you have written is an accurate statement of the child’s medical condition.  I have stood at the bedside of many CP patients who we worked hard to stop their seizures and were ultimately able to, but I have never had one we were not able to stop the seizures for.  I still remember a patient in his 90’s who came in with 70% BSA (body surface area) burns.  I listened as the Burn Surgeon compassionately informed him that if he were in his 30’s this was survivable, but not in his 90’s.  The Burn Surgeon then informed him that he needed to contact his family, make peace with the world, and prepare to die.  He informed the patient that this would not be a fast death, but that the Surgeon would do everything he could to make the man comfortable until he passed.  That was real compassion.  In the case of this child even this is not an option.  There is no way to make this child comfortable until he passes.  While I admire your passion for the dignity of human life, and your desire for us not to get on a slippery slope of euthanasia, I suspect, without having access to any more facts than you relate in your telling, that if what you relate is correct, medically, then this was truly a merciful conclusion to in inevitable and painful demise.  The build up of lactic acid from the constant muscular fasciculations would ultimately cause the heart to go into ventricular fibrillation, but the pain in the mean time would be intolerable, if the child was able to express it, which it can’t because of all the other things wrong with it (CP, et.al.)

As I said at the beginning, I am not trying to justify what they did, I don’t have enough information to make that kind of judgement, but I wanted you to understand medically the serious severity of what you describe, and that your conclusions don’t take those facts into considerations.  Whether or not that changes anything for you, is between you and God.  Sin is bad!  We live in a condition of sin, and we are often forced to make decisions when we don’t have all the information, or enough information to make truly informed decisions.  Jesus talks about child abuse and how it would be better to have a millstone tied around you and dropped into the deepest ocean than to face the judgement.  But what is abuse in a situation this awful?  It might be forcing him to stay alive and suffer because of a belief that all life is sacrosanct.  I don’t know, I am just pointing out there are reasonable alternatives in understanding what happened.

It is often easy to jump into judgement, which you know legally, but you also know that jumping into judgement is legally problematic.  I would argue it is also ethically problematic.  Wasn’t it Jesus who said, “Judge not that you are not judged.  For the judgement you use against others is the judgement that will be used against you.”  In quoting that, I am NOT suggesting you give up any ethical stands or standards, I am suggesting it is better not to use them as a means of jumping into judgement when you may not have enough facts.  I realize you don’t have any medical training, so would not fully understand the implications of what you relayed, which I why I felt I should at least say something, rather than nothing.

D

Re: Chasing Shadows on Ararat: Why Faith Doesn’t Need a Wooden Boat

Well done, Michael.

The words of Daniel’s companions come to mind, “Our God is able . . . but if not . . .”

Around 1960 my father was enlisted by George Vandeman to explore this very sight. Excavation confirmed it really could not have been more than a landslide or lava flow! Locals could even recall when it “appeared”.

Nevertheless, it reappears every now and then with assumption it will prove to be the long awaited discovery.

H

Re: Chasing Shadows on Ararat: Why Faith Doesn’t Need a Wooden Boat

Michael, are you aware of the work Randy Younker of Andrews and an international team have done on Mt Ararat? They have found no trace of the Ark, despite approaching it from a position of faith. I think they have found evidence of an Orthodox monastery, which is interesting from an historical POV but not a proving-the-Bible POV.

D

I’m smiling. I was just at a camp meeting THIS WEEKEND with a very enthusiastic promoter of Ron Wyatt’s materials. 

What’s more interesting is that the next issue of the magazine I edit goes to press TODAY entitled, “The Genesis Judgments—Windows on God’s Final Judgments” with of course, an ark on the front! 

Archeological evidence is nice, but prophetic fulfillments are better for the “faith anchor.” Isn’t that what Jesus demonstrated on the walk to Emmaus?

B

Re: The Outer Limits of Religious Accommodation: Nasal Swab Test Refusing Hospital Worker Asks Supreme Court to Decide

poken like a true defense attorney, not a religious liberty advocate. Plaintiff deserved to lose this case, but not by devaluing her religious belief — you can’t object to both vaccines and testing and pass an undue hardship test. But why was termination the default choice for those refusing vaccines? That was premised on hostility, not rationality. The better choice was unpaid leave until the pandemic lightened up.

A

Re: The Vaccine Paradox: Why the Fetal Cell Argument is Inaccurate and Needs to Be Retired

Very enlightening, Michael – and I entirely agree with your conclusions.

D

Re: The Outer Limits of Religious Accommodation: Nasal Swab Test Refusing Hospital Worker Asks Supreme Court to Decide

Dear Michael and ReligiousLiberty.TV Team,

Thank you so much for this article “The Vaccine Paradox: Why the Fetal Cell Argument is Inaccurate and Needs to Be retired”. I really enjoyed reading it. However, I have noticed in the paragraph “The Jurisprudential fault Line: Faith vs. Empirical Fact” that the last sentence or phrase states the following “Faith, by legal design, is exempt from judicial cross-examination.”

 Can you please explain as I may have misunderstood this sentence or phrase? Because to my understanding in the US (as in the UK), personal faith is not categorically exempt from judicial cross-examination, but it is heavily restricted by legal design. For me being “heavily restricted” is not the same as being “exempt”.

 I personally thought that the intersection of religious faith and cross-examination in U.S. law seems to operate under some primary constitutional and procedural frameworks such as “Credibility Impeachment (Barred)”, “Showing Interest or Bias (Permitted)” and “The “Religious Question” Doctrine (Barred)”.

Maybe it is nothing but the sentence or phrase made me think about whether or not such sentence or phrase was fully factual in the US.

As I look forward to hearing from you soon, please receive the expression of my sincere salutations.

D

If you liked hearing from other readers please let me know and we can do this again.