Discerning the Times with Pastor Rusty - On the Issue

Discerning the Times with Pastor Rusty

CCV-Backed COVID-19 Civil Immunity Law, Signed

9/17/2020

It is encouraging to hear this good news in our home state of Ohio:

Governor Mike DeWine signed HB 606, sponsored by Rep. Diane Grendell, into law on Monday. The legislation grants civil immunity to individuals, churches, ministries, schools, health care providers, businesses, and others from lawsuits due to exposure, transmission, or contraction of COVID-19, as long as they were not showing reckless, intentional, or willful misconduct.

As many churches and ministries are beginning to resume meeting in person, there has been a growing concern about new liability issues that have arisen due to the coronavirus pandemic. The bill, which passed with large majorities in both the House and Senate, protects these essential organizations against frivolous lawsuits brought by those seeking to financially gain from the crisis.

CCV advocated in favor of the bill, along with dozens of other organizations, including the Ohio Manufacturers Association, the Ohio Municipal League, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the Buckeye Institute, the Associated Builders and Contractors of Ohio, the Ohio Dental Association, the Ohio Hotel and Lodging Association, and the Ohio Health Care Association.

“The last thing that churches and faith-based organizations should have to worry about is facing post-COVID-19 lawsuits from individuals claiming to have contracted the disease while receiving charitable services,” said Aaron Baer, CCV President. “These nonprofits and businesses should not be penalized for acting as Good Samaritans in our communities. House Bill 606 adds much-needed immunity to churches and faith-based organizations, along with for-profit businesses.

“We want to thank Senate President Larry Obhof, Senator Matt Huffman, Speaker Bob Cupp, and Representative Bill Seitz on their leadership in moving this vital legislation, and Governor DeWine for supporting those that are supporting our community by signing HB 606 into law.”
The immunity is set to last from March 9, 2020, the date of the emergency declaration through Sept. 30, 2021. The bill will become law after 90 days.

For more information, contact CCV at 513-733-5775 or info@ccv.org.

As Ohio’s Family Policy Council, Citizens for Community Values seeks the good of our neighbors throughout Ohio by advocating for public policy that reflects the truth of the Gospel. We endeavor to create an Ohio where God’s blessings of life, family, and religious freedom are treasured, respected, and protected.

HHS Rules! Another Religious Liberty Fix from Team Trump

8/22/2020

Regardless of what many Christians may think of President Trump there is no denying he is a fighter for religious freedom. During his first term as President I have not seen any other president fight for religious freedom on every front the way in which he has.

President Trump has many godly Christians around him and they are certainly a strength to him as he seeks to lead the nation in the direction of our founding spirit built squarely upon religious freedom. His actions are encouraging and edifying. In comparison to the madness on the left side of politics. I don't know why any Christian would even think about supporting the democratic platform by voting for Mr. Biden.

One thing is for sure, if the left rises to power in our country they will roll back religious freedom and for that matter every other freedom we prize in America. This is something to think deeply about before you cast your vote this year.

Check out this article for the full scoop on this story.

Garden State Gradeschoolers Learn Trans Advocacy in Sex Ed

6/22/2020

The following article from the Family Research Council opens with these shocking paragraphs:

"New Jersey just added "anal sex" to its learning standards for eighth graders, in an 8-4 vote by the state board of education. Beginning in 2022, all eighth graders who attend public schools in the Garden State must be proficient in "gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation." They will work to "[d]evelop a plan for the school to promote dignity and respect for people of all genders [sic], gender identities, gender expressions, and sexual orientations in the school community."
They will discuss "whether and when to engage in sexual behaviors" and factors affecting the "ability to give ... consent to sexual activity." And they will be taught that abortion should be seen as a positive option."

My friends, don't doubt the influence your own local schools are having on the moral values of your children. Do Christian families care about what is going on in our schools?? Do we just pretend these advances of the wicked are not manifesting in our own local schools? Are we that uninformed, or is it that we just don't care? I am baffled by it all.

One thing is for sure, the Lord is going to hold His people accountable for ignoring the cries of godly pastors across the nation who are compelling Christian families to come out from this mess and dedicate themselves to raising a godly offspring. I hope you will be of serious mind. Your children are at risk and if Christian parents don't fight the battle for their children they will go the way of this world.

Here is the full article.

Without Apologies, China Is Now on the Move

6/6/2020

Unfortunately, over the past 50 years American foreign policy toward China has assisted in creating a global problem. It is one thing for China to be a backward communist country as it was 50 years ago, however, today China has mushroomed into what will soon be the world's largest economy. The Chinese Communists are now a clear threat to freedom around the world with its tentacles of deceit reaching deep into the economies of America, Europe, and other parts of the world.

We should pray for President Trump as he attempts to put the brakes on China's desire for global dominance. Here is an excerpt from an article on the subject from Victor Davis Hanson published by the Daily Signal:

As the U.S. protested and bickered, China attempted to strangle what was left of Hong Kong’s enfeebled democracy. China’s theory seemed to be that if it’s going to be blamed for the spreading virus due to its deceit anyway, it might as well not let such a pandemic go to waste.

The Chinese strategy in reaction to disclosures that it hid vital data about the virus and exposed the world to contagion while it quarantined its own cities has devolved from “So what?” to the current “What exactly are you going to do about it?”

For the full article follow this link.

Mount St. Helens 40 Years Later

5/24/2020

Perhaps you saw a blurb in the news recently about the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens. This geological event shed a huge amount of light on how catastrophes can reshape the surface of the earth very quickly. In fact, what we have learned from this "test lab" event destroys the uniformitarian assumptions of evolutionary geologists.

Remember this: without millions of years the theory of evolution is nothing but rubble. The eruption of Mount St. Helens and the corresponding geological events that occurred as a result provide real time observable events demonstrating how a large catastrophe creates geological features very quickly. Thus, the assumption of millions of years of earth history is an error. It is only needed by those who wish to explain away the history recorded in the book of Genesis (chapters one through nine).

Here is a quote from Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis in a recent blog:

What does Mount. St. Helens have to teach us today? Well, like I mentioned, this geologic event was highly significant. It allowed geologists to study, in real time, how a catastrophe can radically shape the environment. Geologists observed the largest landslide on record, massive ash clouds cooling the global temperature by a fraction of a degree, sedimentary layers rapidly forming, bark peat forming from trees washed into nearby Spirit Lake, vertically floating trees being partially buried in this same lake, and mudslides carving out a canyon 1/40th the scale of Grand Canyon!

In other words, they observed processes that secular geologists claim take long ages happen extremely quickly because of a catastrophe (e.g., formation of peat, deposition of sedimentary layers, carving of canyons, etc.). Now, this catastrophe seems very large to us, but compared to catastrophes (including volcanic eruptions) of the past, this was a relatively small event.

This example reminds us that slow and gradual processes are not the best way of looking at the world around us. Most geologists today operate from the mindset of “the present is the key to the past.” They look at the world around us and, based on the slow and gradual processes of the present, they attempt to figure out what happened in the past. But this approach ignores how catastrophes can rapidly accomplish what appears to have taken long ages. Mount St. Helens is a perfect example of this!

I hope you will click on the link to more information about Mount St. Helens at the end of the paragraph above. This link connects you with a more detailed discussion of lessons learned from that catastrophe 40 years ago.

Most importantly, you need to have full confidence in the inspired Word of God. The history of the Bible is absolutely trustworthy and so is the gospel of Christ rooted in that history.

Database Swells to 1,285 Proven Cases of Voter Fraud in America

5/16/2020

There are a number of people in our country clamoring for a national mail in vote this fall. Don't buy into it. It is a formula for fraud beyond belief. Here is an article from the Heritage Foundation documenting voter fraud associated with absentee voting (which is a small scale example of voting by mail):

All-mail elections have received heightened attention in the media these past few weeks. Prominent liberals highly endorse the idea, claiming it allows people to do their patriotic duty without risking being infected by the coronavirus.

In reality, without rigid safeguards to prevent fraud, misuse, and voter intimidation, absentee ballot fraud—while it may occur sporadically—already has affected the outcome of elections in states and counties across the country.

Just look at the 2018 congressional race in North Carolina that was overturned by the state election board. Or the mayor of Gordon, Alabama, who was removed from office last year after his conviction for absentee ballot fraud.

Although talk of voter fraud may be increasing because of the stakes in the 2020 election, The Heritage Foundation’s election fraud database has been around for four years. With the addition of our latest batch of cases, we are up to 1,285 proven instances of voter fraud.

Heritage’s database is by no means comprehensive. It doesn’t capture all voter fraud cases and certainly doesn’t capture reported instances that aren’t even investigated or prosecuted. The database is intended to demonstrate the vulnerabilities in the election system and the many ways in which fraud is committed.

We try to keep a close eye on public information about potential cases through local news stories, court documents, county records, and police reports. But even that is difficult to do in a country as large as the United States, with hundreds of elections every year.

This sampling of cases illustrates the existence and effect of voter fraud. Most importantly, the public must understand that fraud can occur throughout the entire process of registering and voting.
Examples include impersonation fraud at the polls; false voter registrations; duplicate voting; fraudulent absentee ballots; vote buying; illegal assistance and intimidation of voters; ineligible voting, such as by aliens; altering of vote counts; and ballot petition fraud.

A recent Heritage fact sheet offers a quick summary of the dangers of voting by mail and the necessary safeguards to ensure an election’s integrity.

Another Heritage report details how Wisconsin successfully conducted its recent primary election—including in-person voting—and how other countries such as Liberia have conducted an election successfully during a health crisis.

Voting by mail makes it easier to commit fraud, intimidate voters, and destroy the protections of the secret ballot. It puts elections into the hands of the Postal Service. Without the oversight of election and polling officials, ballots can be lost, disqualified, and even stolen.

An example from our newest batch of cases illustrates a common type of fraud. John and Grace Fleming both were found guilty of duplicate voting, once by absentee ballot in New Hampshire and then in person in Massachusetts.

We also added to the database the case of Reginald Holman, a city council member in Ashtabula, Ohio, who was forced to resign after an investigation found he illegally registered at his parents’ address in Ashtabula rather than his actual residence in Plymouth, Ohio.

Take the case of Courtney Rainey in Canton, Mississippi, who was found guilty of bribing and harassing individuals to win a municipal election.

Or take the case of April Atilano, who was found guilty of changing party affiliations of voters and forging signatures on voter registration forms, among other things. Atilano was hired by a private company to contact and register voters in Madera County, California.

Vigilant staffers in the County Clerk-Recorder’s Office noticed something fishy with the registration cards submitted by Atilano. If they hadn’t have been so diligent, the forms would have been altered without the consent or knowledge of the voters.

County Clerk-Recorder Rebecca Martinez says she has zero tolerance for voter fraud in her county. Asked about this issue, Martinez replied: “Protecting our elections has always been my highest priority and I will continue to maintain this vigilance as we head into the presidential election in November.”
All public officials should have this attitude when it comes to protecting the sanctity of elections.

Some argue that even if voter fraud occurs, its impact is so marginal it couldn’t possibly effect the outcome of an election. That is simply not true—fraud can make the difference in a close election.
In a previous article, we pointed out how over 100 elections in Ohio were decided by less than two votes. Heritage’s database contains numerous instances where voter fraud was so severe that it affected the outcome and new elections were called.

This is not a partisan issue. Heritage has documented elections overturned or elected officials removed on account of fraud that involved both Democrats and Republicans.

Securing the integrity of elections should not become wrapped up in partisan politics. Yet since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic (and some would argue even before then), many leading Democrats have scoffed at the reality of voter fraud and the importance of election integrity—even though it is their own voters and supporters who often are affected by such fraud.

It is important that we take reasonable steps to make it hard to cheat in elections while making it easy for legitimate voters to vote.

Elected officials and party leaders, regardless of political affiliation, should put their ambitions aside and understand that election integrity is of the utmost importance in self-government and maintaining a functioning democratic republic.

Examining Costs vs. Benefits and COVID-19

4/22/2020

Here is a brief opinion piece from Walter Williams detailing a number of things we need to think about as we wrestle with the current crisis facing our nation. Herd immunity needs to develop and we must take back the power we conceded to our government in the interest of slowing the initial spread of this coronavirus. We must get our nation open for business again even as we face additional battles with the virus. Below is the article by Walter Williams as it appeared from The Daily Signal (a publication of the Heritage Foundation).

One of the first lessons in an economics class is everything has a cost. That’s in stark contrast to lessons in the political arena where politicians talk about free stuff.

In our personal lives, decision-making involves weighing costs against benefits. Businessmen make the same calculation if they want to stay in business. It’s an entirely different story for politicians running the government where any benefit, however minuscule, is often deemed to be worth any cost, however large.

Related to decision-making is the issue of being overly safe versus not safe enough. Sometimes, being as safe as one can be is worthless. A minor example: How many of us before driving our cars inspect the hydraulic brake system for damage? We’d be safer if we did, but most of us just assume everything is OK and get into our car and drive away.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 40,000 Americans lose their lives each year because of highway fatalities. Virtually all those lives could be saved with a mandated 5 mph speed limit. Fortunately, we consider costs and rightfully conclude that saving those 40,000 lives aren’t worth the costs and inconvenience of a 5 mph mandate.

With the costs and benefits in mind, we might examine our government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first thing to keep in mind about any crisis, be it war, natural disasters, or pandemics, is we should keep markets open and private incentives strong. Markets solve problems because they provide the right incentives to use resources effectively. Federal, state, and local governments have ordered an unprecedented and disastrous shutdown of much of the U.S. economy in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

There’s a strictly health-related downside to the shutdown of the U.S. economy ignored by our leadership that has been argued by epidemiologist Dr. Knut Wittkowski, formerly the head of the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design at Rockefeller University in New York City.

Wittkowski argues that the lockdown prolongs the development of the “herd immunity,” which is our only weapon in “exterminating” the novel coronavirus–outside of a vaccine that’s going to optimistically take 18 months or more to produce. He says we should focus on shielding the elderly and people with comorbidities while allowing the young and healthy to associate with one another in order to build up immunities.

Wittkowski says, “So, it’s very important to keep the schools open and kids mingling to spread the virus to get herd immunity as fast as possible, and then the elderly people, who should be separated, and the nursing homes should be closed during that time, can come back and meet their children and grandchildren after about 4 weeks when the virus has been exterminated.” Herd immunity, Wittkowski argues, would stop a “second wave” headed for the United States in the fall.

Dr. David L. Katz, president of True Health Initiative and the founding director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center, shares Wittkowski’s vision. Writing in The New York Times, he argued that our fight against COVID-19 could be worse than the virus itself.

The bottom line is that costs can be concealed but not eliminated. Moreover, if people only look at the benefits from a particular course of action, they will do just about anything, because everything has a benefit. Political hustlers and demagogues love promising benefits when the costs can easily be concealed. By the way, the best time to be wrong and persist in being wrong is when the costs of being wrong are borne by others.

The absolute worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic, and possibly its most unrecoverable damage, is the massive power that Americans have given to their federal, state, and local governments to regulate our lives in the name of protecting our health. Taking back that power should be the most urgent component of our recovery efforts.

It’s going to be challenging; once a politician, and his bureaucracy, gains power, he will fight tooth and nail to keep it.

COPYRIGHT 2020 CREATORS.COM

You Cry at the Window

4/1/2020

Below I have posted the text of a recent article by Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. I think it is important for each of us to understand the gravity of what is now unfolding in our nation. We all need to do our best to help limit the spread of the coronavirus and we need to maintain appropriate respect for those battling this virus in our hospitals. As well, we need to be prepared to help our health care workers in whatever way we can. Here is the article:

Staying home can be tough, but it's nothing like the nightmare our health care workers are experiencing. For thousands of brave men and women across country, their office is no longer a hospital or ER -- it's a combat zone. "You spend hours in your [patient's] room," nurse Claudia Griffith wrote in an emotional post to the outside world, "gowned up head-to-toe, sweating and not able to breathe. Then you realize... this is it. I can't save this patient anymore. You sit there and say your goodbyes while they pass without family or loved ones, because nobody is allowed in the hospital for everyone's safety. You are their only contact and hope." Nothing, she says soberly, can describe it.

Even when they have a chance to sleep, the exhausted staff can't. "My mind won't shut off," one New York City nurse tried to explain. She lays in bed and cries, her mind filled with the faces of patients she lost. The helplessness is brutal, Claudia admits. "You don't even know how this virus works, but you watch as it kills your patient." To anyone who hasn't seen the suffering, she insists, it's real. And she's pleading with the country to act like it is. Stay inside, Claudia begs, "as if your life depended on it."

Theirs already do. And if Americans can't bring themselves to isolate for their own sakes, then they should do it for the medical teams risking everything. "Take it seriously," Johns Hopkins's Dr. Martin Makary told listeners on "Washington Watch, "and take it seriously for the sake of our most vulnerable." Right now, "our number one at-risk group," he explained, "the number one profession who is mostly likely to get this infection is health care workers. And what you do in your day-to-day life will actually impact the health of [those] workers you've never met."

"Folks may be going outside right now, saying, 'It's a beautiful day... My kids are in the backyard playing. What's the big deal? I don't know anyone who's dying that I'm friends with.'" But the big deal, he said somberly, is that "we're gearing up for a tsunami that's going to hit with a massive impact..." With projections topping 200,000 casualties now, Dr. Makary thinks the government was right to limit people's movements through at the least the end of April. "We want our leaders to... give us spirit and hope. But the reality is, they are all closely following these numbers -- not only in the preview that we're seeing in some countries overseas like Spain, but also locally in New York City..."

The administration is doing the best it can to prepare for the worst. That's no easy task, Dr. Makary explained, even with all of the metrics and experts they have. Because "when that peak happens, talk to any doctor or nurse. It's going to be ugly. We are basically at full capacity in some U.S. hospitals with very little room to take care of people that come in from this point forward... We are on track right now to have hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions more cases."

So when can we expect that peak? "New York is about two weeks away," Martin believes. "The rest of the United States is probably three to five weeks away depending on where you live. Now, one of the big concerns that many of us have is that some parts of the country were sort of slow to recognize that this is a real threat. Some places immediately took dramatic steps and others [went about] life as usual... even up until recently." Those are the areas, experts believe, that may be hit hardest. Of course, a lot of things factor into that -- like public transit and congestion. But the cities that have been in denial will pay, Dr. Makary warns, "because this infection is seeded everywhere in the United States. We need to abandon the idea that it's somehow contained."

Fortunately, there are still things you and your church can do to help. First, take the stay-at-home orders seriously. If not for you, then for someone on the front lines of the coronavirus war. Then, check out the creative ways you can meet the needs of the people in your community. Take a page from Midland, Texas and organize a car prayer chain or fill a truck with food for the hungry. See how you can get involved (from a safe distance!) on our special webpage, FRC.org/church.

Why Trumps Peace Plan Is a Gift to the Arabs

2/6/2020

This is the first article I have ever read by Bruce Abramson. I found it very interesting in as much as he sees the President's efforts in the Mideast more about resolving the Arab/Israeli conflict than the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

To say things are complicated In the Mideast is an understatement, but this article will help you think your way through some of the dynamics in play. Perhaps President Trump has created a path for Israel's Arab neighbors to reluctantly come to terms with Israel's existence. They really do have some motivations to do so as this article points out.

You might need to read this a couple of times to get a handle on the realities facing Saudi Arabia and other Arabs in the region, but the time will be well spent.

Click here for the full article.

January 31, 2020

1/31/2020

Here are the details of President Trump's peace plan as summarized by Jonathan Bernis:

WHAT MAKES A “DEAL OF THE CENTURY”?

If the President’s peace plan were to be accepted by both sides right now, here are some of the major impacts:

Israel would keep full control of an undivided Jerusalem
Israel would oversee security from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea
Israel would annex 20 percent of the land in Judea and Samaria but give up some of its land in the Negev on the Gaza-Egyptian border
Existing Israeli settlements in the West Bank would be retained but would not be able to expand for four years
A state of Palestine would be created that comprises 80% of the land of Judea and Samaria, and the new land in the Negev
The Palestinian state could establish a capital in East Jerusalem outside the Israeli security fence
The U.S. would open an embassy for Palestine and provide up to $50 billion in economic aid
The Palestinians would recognize Israel’s right to exist, stop inciting terrorism, stop paying families of terrorists, and disarm the terror groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad

The last point is where past peace plans fell apart. However, in the past, the plans were also vague about what Palestinians could expect in the deal. President Trump’s plan is very specific, including a detailed map of the potential new Israeli-Palestinian borders.

The plan is also good for Israel because, unlike past plans, it recognizes the reality of Israel’s sovereignty and need for security. In his speech, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made this point.

“For too long, the heart of Israel has been outrageously branded as illegally occupied territory,” he said. “Today, Mr. President, you are puncturing this big lie. You are recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over all Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria – large and small alike.”

NEXT STEPS IN THE PEACE PROCESS

Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister candidate Benny Gantz of the Blue and White party are on board with the plan. Also, unlike proposals in the past, several Muslim nations, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, have offered support for the plan.

One surprising source of opposition is coming from Israeli Arabs whose villages and cities would be moved to the Palestinian state’s territory. They say they want to remain citizens of Israel no matter what. That’s not the attitude usually painted by the media of Arabs living in those areas.

But what it comes down to, as always, is the response from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. So far, the PA leader Mahmoud Abbas hasn’t weighed in on the plan, but it is doubtful he will agree. Past leaders have even used the peace process to launch new attacks against Israel.

Even if he does agree, the task of disarming and removing Hamas from Gaza, as well as disarming Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups, will not be easy.

Thankfully, no matter the outcome of this peace plan, we know that Israel will continue to thrive. It’s economy, culture, technological advancements and military are second to none in the region. Even more importantly, it will remain a safe haven for the Jewish people as anti-Semitism continues to grow around the world.