Visiting homebound-As the government has developed home care services for those elderly who can no longer take care of themselves, more of those who need a little help each morning getting bathed and dressed, but can take care of themselves after that, have been able to stay in their own homes instead of going into a nursing home. The result has saved the government a great deal as home care usually costs only 1/2 to 1/3 of nursing home care and has enabled many to stay in their homes, however it also tends to isolate them. Workers come in daily but must complete their work and move on to the next client so they can not stay and visit. In addition, there are many who can take care of themselves and don’t need help, but they can no longer drive and get out. The grocery may deliver their groceries and the laundry picks up, cleans, and returns their laundry but they don’t have time to stop and visit. Many elderly confined to their own homes do not see anyone besides any care givers and medical personnel they have, and could use someone who is willing to come and spend time talking to them. The elderly often appreciate visits by children who are well behaved and teens because they may have grandchildren but have never seen them because they live at a great distance and the children and teens often enjoy visiting the elderly who have the time to sit and talk with them or play games with them, because their parents often work and don’t have the time.
Legislation-H-D
- The Center For Christian Virtue issued the following notice. There are three bills coming before the Ohio House tomorrow (Wednesday June 21: (1) HB 68 (The Safe Act-Saving Adolescents from Experimentation) that would ban dangerous puberty-blocking drugs, wrong-sex hormones, and transgender surgeries on children. (2) The Save Women’s Sports Act that would preserve the integrity of women’s sports by protecting female athletes from having to compete against biological males. (3) HB 8 The Parent’s Bill of Rights which would recognize the fundamental right of parents to make decisions regarding their children’s upbringing, care, and education, by requiring public schools to provide advance notification to parents about the teaching of sexual content to students, protect students from being encouraged by school counselors to “socially transition” to the opposite sex without their parents’ knowledge, and require schools to notify parents if a student requests a change of gender recognition at school. Ohio voters need to contact their House representatives immediately and encourage them to vote for them.
Election issues-A
The Supreme Court has overturned Roe vs Wade and declared that the baby is a person and so protected by the courts. However, the federal government has not enacted laws to protect babies. As a result, it has become the obligation of the States to enact laws protecting babies. Ohio has enacted strict laws limiting abortion and protecting the mother by requiring facilities be licensed and inspected. While laws in all States require medical facilities to be licensed and inspected, abortion supporters claim that under Roe vs Wade, they were not required to be licensed since the baby wasn’t a person protected by the law. It made no difference to them that the mother was a person protected by the law and the laws were enacted to protect her. They felt they were above the law simply because they performed abortions. Ohio responded by enacting laws specifically requiring abortion clinics be licensed to protect the mother. Planned Parenthood is targeting Ohio and other pro-life States. They are seeking to overturn the pro-life laws currently in effect by pushing through a Constitutional amendment in November that will not only open Ohio to unlimited abortion up to birth, it will also wipe out all the current laws protecting the mother. Currently, it is easy to enact Constitutional amendments. The federal government requires a 2/3 majority of Congress and an approval of 3/4th of the Staes. Only 27 amendments have been enacted since it was ratified in 1788. Ohio currently only requires a simple majority and has had 187 amendments since 1803. It is open to being amended anytime someone feels like pushing a ballot issue and can get half the people to vote for it. As a result, the Ohio legislature has enacted a law setting up a special ballot issue in August to raise the requirement to 60%. This has great importance, not only for the abortion ballot issue, but for all future attempts to amend the Constitution. The Constitution should be a sacred document and only amended with strong support from its citizens. No issue as important as whether to kill unborn babies should be left to a simple majority. The amendment in August would make it more difficult for Planned Parenthood to pass their amendment in November, as well as make it more difficult to pass any future attempts to amend the Ohio Constitution. Up until 1973, all States had laws banning abortion and the vast majority of people supported laws against abortion. In 1973 Roe vs Wade ruled that we did not know when life began and so the courts could not protect the baby. It never ruled that abortion was legal, however it prevented the courts from enforcing laws against abortion. It opened the door to a profitable abortion business which has operated openly without fear of court interference. Most people took it that since the abortion businesses were operating openly, it must not be bad. Three generations have grown up believing abortion was legal. While a majority still oppose abortion, many do only half-hearted and cannot be depended on to oppose it. The life of hundreds of thousands of babies should not be left up to a simple majority.
Schools-education-I-Z
The schools have increasingly been pushing parents out of the decision making process over the education of heir children. School boards were set up in each school district and members were elected by voters in the district. Members were known in the school district and elected based on the values of the voters. The boards held regular board meetings where parents could voice concerns and inform board members about their concerns. In addition, school districts usually had Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) where parents and teachers worked together to support the schools. Schools were supported by funds from local taxes. However, the federal department of education has increasingly been funneling money to school districts under the pretense of helping poorer districts. However money has been distributed to both rich and poor districts making them increasingly dependent on those funds. The federal department of education then began blackmailing school districts to include liberal moral and ethical teaching, by threatening to cut off funds if they did not comply. Many of the programs were instituted without notifying parents. When parents have learned of them and objected they were ignored or even ridiculed. With Covid, children were forced to work from home and many parents learned about programs that had not been aware of, and have begun speaking out against them. The Ohio legislature has introduced House bill HB-8 ”The Parent’s Bill of Rights” to address the growing tyranny of the educational establishment. It would reestablish the parent’s right to make decisions about the child’s upbringing, care, and education. It would also require schools to notify parents ahead of time when the school was going to provide instruction involving sexual material. It would also protect students from being pressured by school staff to transition to the opposite sex without the parent’s knowledge and require the school to notify the parents if a student requests a change in gender recognition at school. Nineteen other States have already passed similar legislation. It is important to inform your representatives in Columbus that you want them to support the bill.
Gay Privileges-VI-P
There has been a rapid increase in the number of girls identifying as trans in last 6-7 years. Originally rare and primarily boys, it is increasing among girls as early as 11 or 12 at an alarming rate. The teen years are very confusing for girls in establishing their identity and many feel they don’t fit in with the image that the media paints that girls should be. In addition, they are feeling a lot of pressure from boys to have sex. The media says they are really boys in girl’s bodies and can solve the problem by becoming boys. This sounds like a good solution to them because it offers an explanation for why they are confused about their identity and solves the problem of pressure from boys. In addition, the overwhelming pressure by doctors and school personnel is to transition and little is done to help them understand or resolve their confusion. Yet there is no information on whether transitioning helps or the damage done by transitioning. Most studies are done on boys which have entirely different causes. The rise in the number of girls is so recent that the outcomes cannot be predicted, since girls often don’t resolve their confusion until their early 20;s. Doctors and school personnel are often afraid to try to help them deal with the problem and parents feel they will be labeled as bigoted if they try to get the girl help. Some States are even passing laws that make it a crime to try to prevent a child from transitioning or to get them to return to their natural orientation. Many schools are not notifying parents when a child is confused and are pressuring the child to transition without exploring the cause of their confusion. Ohio House Bill 68 (the SAFE Act-Saving Adolescents from Experimentation) is headed for the House floor. It would ban the experimenting on children by giving them puberty blockers and wrong-sex drugs to transition them to the opposite sex and performing transgender surgeries that often leave them sterile. Contact your representatives and urge them to paass it. Nineteen other States have already passed such laws.
Fourth Sunday of Pentecost-June 18
Meeting A Need-If there is a need in your area and there is no one meeting that need, you may consider organizing a ministry through your church or in your community. The small groups may check to see if there are nearby residents needing lawns cut, snow shoveling of simple repairs. If the group doesn’t have anyone available, they can ask neighboring groups. Churches often claim they don’t have the resources. Some needs may be beyond the resources of the local small group. Churches often claim they don’t have the resources. In the mid-1970’s, I belonged to a house church consisting of only six families. They became concerned about the large number of suicides in the area after I told them about the hour, I had spent the previous week on a railroad bridge with a teenage girl who could not decide whether to jump. They set out to organize a crisis hotline and contacted Contact International and with their help laid plans for a crisis phone line for the county. In only 12 months, the members of that church gathered 129 volunteer phone workers and trained them, and secured enough voluntary contributions to support a phone bill of almost $1500 a month, plus cover utilities and rent for an office, to provide a place where people could call toll-free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from anywhere in the county. They went on the phones only a year after we began planning and are still serving their community to this day, after 44 years of continuous phone service. They drastically cut the suicide rate in their area. If a church of only six families can do that, what can a church of 100 or more families do?
Intro to Neighborhood Ministries NW Ohio-video
Books promos can be accessed by clicking on link “books” and study course promos can be accessed by clicking on link to “study courses”
Book promo-In The World Not of It
Available in E-book from BookBub at https://www.bookbub.com/books/in-the-world-but-not-of-it-serving-christ-in-the-modern-world-god-s-principles-for-living-by-robert-barr
Available from Outskirts Press in paperback and E-book,