This blog site has had a different character, in that I spend much more time reviewing books, music, and movies, and less time talking about political, religious or medical issues. Perhaps that was a mistake. I found that political topics tended to generate the most interest. To date, I have written 225 blogs and gotten 101 responses. Many of those responses were from my brother Dennis, whose comments I always appreciate. I have published all of the responses to date, except for one dude, unknown to me, who wrote a quite vitriolic comment regarding my “naivete” for believing in creationism and rejecting evolution as a valid hypothesis for origins of the world as we know it. I would have approved his comments, except that they were quite foul mouthed, and failed to reflect any substantive thought process. Please understand that I often do not agree with comments that come back to me, but I still post them. I have occasionally had friends personally e-mail me regarding articles on the website. I assume that these comments were intended to be kept private, and so have not posted them. I will often have friends mention that they’ve read a certain posted blog, but not comment. I do the same for others blogs, but realize that it leaves the blog author slightly uncertain as to the number and identity of the population that you’re writing for.

I have rejected the thought of developing a presence in the social networking work of Facebook, Twitter, or other similar sites. I continually receive messages to have certain people “connect” with me on Linked In, a network that truly confuses me as to its utility. If I wished to connect with you, I would find your e-mail address, and e-mail you. Why do I need Linked In? The standard social networks like Facebook create a larger issue, in that they encourage brevity of thought and absence of connectedness in ones’ thinking. Those networks are the ultimate in encouraging mindless prattle that occurs between two or more people. One is demanded to express themselves in short brief statements that fail any sort of real development of thought. Worse, Facebook best facilitates emotional expressions rather than discussions on important issues. For these reasons, I have not been on Facebook for years, and will never go on under the current environment of Facebook.

I have learned that one must not manifest diarrhea of the mind on a website. Since these are public forums, care needs to be exercised as to what is said. It is not that I would mutter extremist or revolutionary views, since that is not my cup of tea. Simply watching how the press destroys various politicians for fairly tame statements suggests that political correctness rules the social interactions among members of our society. Casting aside political correctness, I will try never to offend anybody.

I anticipate that this website will probably contain more personal interest articles, and discussions as to what is transpiring in the lives of me and Betsy. I also wish to start using Lightroom to create photographic presentations. This might take some experimenting in order to get it into WordPress. I welcome comments and suggestions as to where to go from here. Or, just drop me a line and say “hi”.

Ken F. von Puyallup, WA

26JUL2010   Total travel time 2:49, 68 km, 120 m ascent, 2958 cal.
I finally have been able to break away for a week to do some cycle touring. Russ A and I were dropped off in Darrington by Lucas, who rode about 40 miles with us. We spent the first night in the park lawn of Newhalem, having grabbed dinner at the country store, which closes about 5 pm. We were able to order some cold sandwiches, and even a beer. I was then able to finish Pat Buchanan’s book, and finish writing a review for this book on Betsy’s iPad, which she so graciously let me borrow. I’m beginning to love these little devices, as they are perfect for travel, since all I need is some word processing, and occasional Internet connection on WiFi. It is awesome at holding a charge. I thought that I’d never like the bugger, but I now prefer this over my laptop for travel, which is heavy, an energy monster, and not as versatile in many ways. I especially liked the iBooks option, which is a color improvement over the Kindle. The General (Pat C) had a Kindle on our ACA trip last year, and I was quite interested in it’s ability to provide availability to multiple books.

27JUL2010   Time 8:40 distance 120.3 km 1594 m total ascent, 6680 cal
Today was a most challenging day. We started from Newhalem, WA and rode to Winthrop. In the process, we needed to cross the North Cascades, and the pass is not an easy one. Actually, there are two passes, Rainy and then Washington Pass. After completing Rainy Pass on fully loaded touring bicycles, we were getting pretty beat. By the time we arrived in Winthrop, we were exhausted. It didn’t help that the last ten miles was greeted with a very strong head wind. Russ and I survived, especially owing to the spectacular scenery on the Passes. We might be invalids tomorrow!

28JUL2010   Time 3:11, distance 67 km, ascent 166 m, cal 2259
As one could see, today was an easy day. We needed it after yesterday, and today was also quite hot, especially in the afternoon. So, we rode from Winthrop tp Pateros. I am now looking out on the Columbia River. We went swimming in the hotel pool to cool off, and am able to relax. We’ve encountered a number of foreign cyclists on the route who are hitting the North Cascades, and it is interesting how much this part of the world attracts everybody else, yet this is only the second time I’ve ever been across the North Cascades highway. The cycle ride itself was reasonably flat, but the heat was still oppressive, as we followed the course of the Methow River before it flows into the Columbia River at Pateros.

29JUL2010  Riding time 4:40 distance 93 km, ascent 381 m, 3250 cal.
Travel today was between Pateros and Wenatchee, WA. The route followed the Columbia River all the way, though it was rolling hills, some as much as a persistent (2-3km) 5% grade. We started at 6 am in the morning, but by 10 am the heat was already quite sweltering. I couldn’t have ridden too much longer today because of the heat. The morning was absolutely gorgeous with sun glowing on the sides of the cliffs beside the Columbia River. We passed multiple fruit stands, affording us an opportunity to purchase fruit for the road. Peaches never tasted so good! Finally, in Wenatchee, we were able to catch the Trailway bus back to Tacoma. We wanted to take the train, but they would not allow us to check on our bicycles in Wenatchee, so, we took the bus. At first, Mr. Sourpuss at the checkout counter told us that we could not take our bicycles, but a very nice bus driver let us stick the bicycles In the luggage compartment anyway. So, it was a fantastic cycle trip with a fantastic friend.

I again did not take nearly enough photos. There isn’t much diffent that I’ll need to do for further road trips except to get in better shape. I hope that the issue is simply that of being a novice in cycle touring, and the more I do cycle touring with friends, I’ll be able to plan better, and utilize the time to not force mileage, but to enjoy each mile ridden. This will take time and experience. Further mid-summer trips should be planned for the coast, and not in eastern/central Washington. Maybe we could do part of the Pacific Coast route next summer.

07JUN2010 I’m currently sitting in the airport at Muscat, Oman. It is a very nice airport, and thankfully, all have been very helpful to me. I discovered only a few days before leaving that CheapOAir changed my reservations such that I was left with a 28 hour layover in Muscat, the thing that I dreaded most, being stuck in an airport for lengthy periods of time. There was no way that I could correct matters, though there was a glimmer of hope yesterday with Lufthansa suggested that I could be bumped for a day, which would have left me a 4 hour rather than 28 hour layover. Oh well. The trip started in Seattle. The checkout person was German, so we did the entire exchange auf Deutsch. I was pleased to discover that I was also able to fare quite well in the Frankfurt Flughafen, my German ever so slowly improving, though mostly in interpretation, and not in ability to communicate. I’ve been able to read two large books so far in my travel, well as study some German and Bengali. I sadly discovered that I left my light yellow rain jacket on the last airplane, but won’t discover until this evening whether it showed up in lost and found. The airport is quite fascinating, and am surprised at the amount of liquor that could be found here, even though it is a strict Muslim country. I’ll probably pick up some frankincense on my way back from Bangladesh. I wish that Betsy was with me. I miss her, even though she seems to be constantly anxious about any sort of imaginable trivia. I’ve seen only a few spooks so far, and most people seem to be dressed in Indian western dress. I am quite surprised at the prevalence of Western culture, and especially English, in remote parts of the world, such as here in Oman.  Watching Muslim and Hindu families come by, seeing people interact and converse, it amazes me that cultural differences are over-emphasized, and how similar the characteristics of all humankind tend to be.

08JUN2010 Finally in BD. Babil got me at the airport, and we went for lunch at a local Bangladeshi restaurant. I’m eating with my hands again! You don’t use a spoon and fork in BD but pick up your food with your hands. It was wonderful to see old friends here in Chabagong, including Steve K, Steve W., Jason & Anna, John Tripura, Poromil, Uttam, Sujan, and the Collins. They make the trip worth it! Please forgive me if I left your name out…

20JUN2010 A 12 day interlude is now noted. I have been quite busy at the hospital, and enjoying my interactions. Like before, I have spent much of my free time in either talking with friends (of whom are both Americans and Bangladeshis), and reading. A number of books have already been devoured. Several books will not be reported in my website for the sake of Christian charity. Dr. Lattin has also loaned my some old copies of First Things.  I find First Things quite fascinating with a mixture of feelings. About a 1/3 of the articles are delightful and of interest to me. They utilize English at its best, a subject which leaves me rather jealous, because, try as I may, I find it impossible to write well. Every time I re-read what I write, I find grammatical errors, confusing statements, inappropriate use of words, self-manufactured words, and other stupidities. Brother Dennis only points out the most glaring examples. Yet, while reading First Things, I am able to obtain a vicarious joy in the best use of the English language, and the thoughtfulness of the articles. I am less inclined to delight in First Things because of its replete Romish Catholicism, as well as its slightly too liberal stretch of “co-belligerency” to Rome, Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, etc. Yet, Neuhaus is a first class writer, and often strikes a cord of agreement with me that I am able to appreciate.  My time is also spent in reflection on life in general. I miss Betsy tremendously. I do not feel complete without her. I’ve reflected much on the nature of missions, especially missions in a Muslim realm. Modern Western sympathies for Muslim culture and religion seem to lack an appreciation of the working of Muslims when found as the predominant cultural or religious group in a community. This has been seen by me both in BD as well as in Cameroon. It is a religion of slavery, joylessness, oppression. It offers minimal respect for women, disguising the depersonalization and subjugation of the female population all in the name of modesty. Yet, devout Muslim men seem to be the most lustful of all of God’s creatures, and the presence of a Burqua doesn’t quench their lusts. Generalizations tend to betray the large amount of quite decent living and courteous Muslim people that I’ve encountered, who have been most helpful in my travels. Like last time in BD, probably the hardest thing to endure is the persistent beggarliness of all Bangladeshis. It’s hard not to respond to that, though agreements with the mission to not give more than meager gifts to the natives must be observed. A typical BD native seems to view the missionary Christian as the equivalent of “wealth”, and I remain perplexed as to how to personally respond. I sometimes feel that my presence in BD is perhaps more a problem than good for the gospel.

27JUN2010 I have just finished my last day of call, and will be wrapping things up this week. Call kept me up both nights, the first to do a D&C, and then next night to answer questions about a patient who decided to go into the dying mode. It is monsoon season, and rain occurs unlike anything in the Northwest. It will rain torrentially for about twenty minutes, and then it will be sunny. Rains occur about 2-3 times a day. I tried going out once in a downpour, with an umbrella, and found that I was soaked from head to toe, as the rain falls horizontally with a small wind. You’re always given a minute or so premonition of coming rain, as the wind begins to blow. You don’t see dark storm clouds, just a wind. I’ve now met with all my friends on the hospital compound, and feel like I’ve been able to spend quality time with them. I haven’t taken enough photographs, and will need to spend one last day running around with my camera. Nurul (his name sounds more like Noodle as the Bengalis do a different sort of “r”) will be taking me up to Chittagong. Meanwhile, only one thing is on the mind of most Bangladeshis—the World Cup in soccer. Oddly, the nation cheers for only two teams, Argentina and Brazil. It will be tragic when both of those teams loose.

02JULY2010 I’m now sitting in the airport in Chittagong. It’s the first time in ages that I’ve been able to access fast internet (and free, also!!!!). A few Taka and the airport assistant was able to shuttle me through to the head of the line, and get me through without a problem. The airport scanner was broken, and so they quickly let me through when I told them that I was a daktar (doctor). The ride to the airport was with Nurul, who drove quite decently, and we arrived in generous time to catch the plane. Although Cameroon roads were the worst I’ve ever encountered, Bangladeshi roads are not exactly super-highways, and more than once, we almost hit a dog, rickshaw, and oncoming bus. I can’t believe that more accidents don’t happen in this country. Later… I’m now in the airport in Muscat, Oman, waiting for my Papa John’s pizza to cook. I happened to be the only white person on the plane from Chittagong to here, and it’s nice to see a few English speaking people around. Bangladeshi behavior is close to hilarious. They are very pushy in line, always trying to get ahead of anybody else. Once the plane hit ground, almost immediately, about half the passengers popped their seatbelts and were standing to fetch their overhead items. Strange. Papa Johns was quite good, not greasy, close to what one would eat at home. I ordered the super Papas, since they didn’t have the Arabian Always special. I presume it was halal. The checkout lady was in black dress, not a full burqua, but had absolutely no personality; no smile, no regard for people, nothing.

Papa Johns in Muscat, Oman

Flowers of Bangladesh

Selling Jackfruit in Chabagong

John and Nimmi with hospital schematic

In the market with Sujan

I now think about the trip summary. I feel that it was a valuable trip, especially being able to meet old friends, and acquire new friends in Malumghat. I was able to give Steve K. free time to work on the design of the new hospital with the architect. I especially enjoyed meeting John M. and his wife Nimmi, who live in North Carolina, though they come from Chennai (formerly Madras) India. What did I forget? 1. Insect repellent. The last four days, the bedbugs came out, and I was covered head to toe. Interestingly, at the same time, I read recently that an Abercrombie and Finch was closed in New York City because of bedbugs. Go figure. 2. Flashlight (headlamp) – the lights go out way too frequently, and I have to ride a very bumpy road on my bike at night to get to the hospital when on call. 3. Voltage converter/adapters- the only thing that wouldn’t work was my beard trimmer, but sticking a three prong plug into the outlets provided tended to put a terrible strain on the plug. It would have been better to have an adapter.

I am considering a return in late January/early February 2011 with Betsy. If we go, I think I will try the oriental route, and maybe stay several days in Bangkok. Jason noted that the town was quite interesting, and fairly modern, worth a visit. We’ll see how the Lord leads.

So, as soon as we arrived home, Betsy and I went out to purchase a new vehicle. Diane needed our RAV4, and we sold it to her since we were considering a pickup. We ended up with a Toyota Tacoma.

So, here is a quick catchup, mostly with photos…

1. Deutsch Unterricht– I restarted Saturday AM German class. Between reading the Magazine Deutsch Perfekt and going to German class at the Tacoma German Language School, I’ve been able to keep from totally loosing my language skills. Here are some photos of the class, as well as the teacher, Yvonne. She is from Dresden, Germany, and is unbelievably patient with us old farts.

2. Oregon Coast– in early February, Betsy and I took a trip to the Oregon Coast. The lead photo was from Cannon Beach. The Oregon Coast is one of the most beautiful coasts in the world.

3. Cycling & trainer– Betsky now has a new bicycle, named Meggie II, after her first bicycle. We took a brief 10 mile ride recently…

Betsy also let me get a Tacx Virtual Reality Trainer. These are quite nice at being able to cycle train in bad weather or when you only have an hour to spend on a bicycle and need a hard workout. It works by connecting a computer to a gizmo that your back bicycle wheel sets in. When you are going “uphill”, the wheel offers resistance in proportion to the steepness of the hill, and when going downhill, it may actually spin your tire for you. It is close to reality.

You can see that it really chews up your training tire. Meanwhile, you watch a video screen, which you set to a number of rides that you may wish to experience, throughout Europe. As you pedal faster, the scene moves faster, quite comparable to reality.

The screen will also show your power output (in watts), cadence (how fast you’re pedaling), heartrate, bicycle speed, time, and distance. This allows you to monitor closely how well you are improving on your endurance. Here is Jonathan on the bicycle trainer…

4. Bicycle Tour 15-18APRIL2010. This trip was to celebrate tax day, April 15. Russ A. and I drove to Chelan, WA, and took off from there. Our first stop was 52 miles later in Twisp, WA. The road either followed the Columbia River, or tributaries, leaving us at a resort town just east of the North Cascades pass.

The next day went from Twisp to Coulee Dam, a 85+ mile ride, with fully loaded touring bikes, and about 7000 feet elevation gain. Here was our first challenge, that of crossing Loup Loup Pass. We were concerned about the weather since it had snowed on the pass just a week before. It was quite cold, but we were working so hard to cross the pass that we were over-heated anyway.

We then ended up in Omak. We met a kindly elderly gentleman on the street to enquire about our options, and he suggested that we NOT go the way we had planned, but instead take an alternative route that was marked on the map as gravel road, yet in reality was fully paved. He also suggested that there were minimal hills. The route indeed was far less hilly than our planned route, but was persistent in multiple sections of 6-7% grade uphill, and a lengthy 8-9% grade section at the beginning and end of the new route. We were quite pleased to have done this alternative route, since it took us by some absolutely spectacular scenery, like Omak Lake.

We eventually ended up at nightfall quite exhausted but looking at the Grand Coulee Dam. We stayed in a motel that faced the dam.

The next day was 61 miles and another 5000 feet of climbing. From the photo below, the intuition would remark at how flat the terrain was, yet, on a bicycle, it was quite rolling hills, with lots of 6% grade climbing. We were still moderately tired from the previous day, which made it harder to do even simple hills.

Our last memorable scene was from the Columbia plateau, getting ready to descend down to the Columbia River. In the distance, you could see Lake Chelan and the town of Chelan. It was a 8-12% grade descent for about 5 miles. Awesome! I’d sure hate to come up that hill on a loaded touring bike!

5. Future– so much has gone by. A niece, Laura, won a beauty pageant.

Laura, we are so proud of you. It takes not only beauty but true talent and skill to get to Teen Colleyville.  Thankfully, you didn’t have to have uncles dying in the car and brothers spazzing out on you to get into your contest, like in Little Miss Sunshine. We had old friends from many moons ago, Aaron and Anita visit us. They remain quite special. I especially appreciate being able to do outdoor things with Aaron. We plan on seeing Jonny off to Belize for the summer, and perhaps longer, to visit and study with Uncle Dennis. Dennis has been doing well, as is attested by this recent photograph…

Once he gets out of jail and quits playing with poisonwood, he’ll be back to his old self, I’m sure. Dennis is not really in jail; he is just showing us the miracles of Photoshop. I’d really like to visit Dennis some day. Belize is looking increasingly appealing, especially with our Destroyer-in-Chief Obaminator as el Presidente ruining all that we count as precious in our country. He will go down with Woodrow Wilson and FDR as the worst presidents ever of the USA.

I hope to do a few more cycle tours this summer. I also plan on spending the month of June in Bangladesh, and will be in Germany for the last 2 weeks of August, if all works well. More blogs will follow. I haven’t had many book or movie reviews since I’m listening to 2 lengthy Brahms compendiums, which I wish to review together, watching a lengthy tv series with Betsky, and reading a very large and ponderous book. So, more blogs will be in the works in the future. Meanwhile, please stay in touch.

A person that I knew from early on in life became a local celebrity in Portland for her authorship of a article about her problems with church (click here to read). Though the title is “How to Survive Church”, it would be more appropriately titled “How to survive in spite of church”). In this article, Becky P. describes her problems with her childhood church, and subsequent churches that she has attended. Her final solution was essentially to not take church so seriously. She states in conclusion

I’ve also learned what not to expect from church. In the past, my whole life–family, friendships, social activities, vacations, even employment–revolved around church. As a result, church crises impacted every aspect of my life, and leaving a church meant losing my entire support system. Church is still an important part of my life, but it’s no longer the center of every friendship or endeavor. I interact more with the world around me and pursue relationships outside of, as well as within, my church. Most important, I’ve learned not to put too much stock in human institutions or leaders, who will inevitably let me down. Psalm 118:8 reminds me, “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.”

I had always wanted to give Becky feedback, since I feel that her conclusions are not only quite dangerous, but just the opposite of what Christ wishes for us to experience with the church, and what I’ve been able to experience the last 16 years. Over the past few years, I’ve learned that

• church is my high-point of the week
• church is the most relevant activity that I do
• church as a formal structure is far more delightful than as an informal structure
• church is where my worship is at its highest and where I am closest to God
• church is where I best see myself for who I really am and God for who He really is
• I survive because of church and not in spite of church

In essence, I am offering a 180° counterpoint to Becky P. Perhaps I should begin with Scripture references to orient and set a reference of how I view church.

One thing I have asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. Psalm 27:4

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts. My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God… Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise… For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. i would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God that dwell in the tents of wickedness. From Psalm 84

I was glad when they said to me “Let us go to the house of the Lord” Psalm 122:1

A few relevant theological & historical points need to be made.

• Unlike dispensationalists and other new-church thinkers, I consider the Old and New Testaments to be one book, describing one set of behaviors, by a single God with a single similar character and expectations in the Old and New Testaments.We can thus consider any model of “church” or temple worship in the Old Testament as reflective of the similar form of worship we should be offering corporately at this time.
• I cannot find ever in early church history where church was modeled as house micro-churches. Because of structural limitations, churches were not huge, but Christians always, I repeat, always, built churches or larger structures when the law and absence of persecution permitted it. In the apostolic age before the fall of the temple, worship still continued for Christians in the temple!
• Throughout church history, God always worked through the greater visible church, and not through autonomous individuals. This is not to say that he did not use individuals, or that these individuals never went against the belief structure, but that these individuals always functioned as though part of the greater church.

Biblical and historical references have gone by the wayside in an age where the church and post-modernism have become dear friends, so that many people are rethinking and speaking out or writing about new concepts of church. The so-called cell-group as a during-the-week extension of church has been turned into “church” itself. Hypocrisy and ill-sought gain of many clergy have led many to disavow many of any possibility of clergy in their life. Therapeutic models of church have been found to have the same efficacy as voodoo medicine, and unhealed people conclude that church no longer has a purpose. Entertainment and seeker models of church have worn themselves thin, as electronic and television churches provide an ample replacement, in the convenience of ones’ own home, sipping coffee and eating donuts in a lounge chair while receiving the weekly heavenly instructions and motivations for life. Some will expect church to be a quasi-paradise where theology is all non-controversial and people get along with such contentment for each other that one would think they were at an LSD party —only to discover the truth of Luther (simul justis et peccator), that all Christians are hypocrites and sinners, oftentimes worse than one would encounter on the street, and thus justifying an exit from fellowship with all but a few chosen believers in the comfort of ones’ own home, or at the local coffeehouse or breakfast restaurant.

And so church goes by the wayside. Church has been found wanting, and Christians who desire true worship have found that they must create that environment for themselves. They may still attend church, mostly out of guilt of needing to follow Biblical instructions to not forsake the assembly of other Christians, yet their true worship is found in the loneliness of their private time, one-on-one, tete a tete, with God. If a given church fails to meet ones’ needs, or if it proves either controversial or too impersonal, then one can simply pack their bags and go church-shopping for a fellowship that most satisfies an individuals’ personality. The smorgasbord of churches are huge. There are mega-churches and tiny 2-3 family fellowships struggling for existence. There are young-upstart-meet in a local school building churches, middle age churches, and dying or dwindling churches. There are churches of entertainment, churches with almost no structure to the liturgy, high churches with a rigid structure and formality, pastor as big screen television church, pastor as gee-I’m everybodies friend church, pastor as layperson struggling to survive church. Churches could be oriented around football and sports, movies and entertainment, drama and music; you can find special interests group churches, politically oriented churches, environmental churches, god-save-America-gee-I-love-my-country churches, commie-pinko-freak churches, social justice “feed the poor” churches, and even wife-swapping churches. All of these churches are filled with members that consider themselves not only Christians, but evangelical and with a higher plane of spirituality than the hoi polloi of this world. Yet all of them are doing everything but what a church should do, so it’s no wonder that church itself is driving many sincere folk away.

What then should church be? I could do no better than to quote J.G. Machen, the last paragraph of his seminal book Christianity and Liberalism. He states…

Is there no refuge from strife? Is there no place of refreshing where a man can prepare for the battle of life? Is there no place where two or three can gather in Jesus’ name, to forget for the moment all those things that divide nation from nation and race from race, to forget human pride, to forget the passions of war, to forget the puzzling problems of industrial strife, and to unite in overflowing gratitude at the foot of the Cross? If there be such a place then that is the house of God and that the gate of heaven. And from under the threshold of that house will go forth a river that will revive the weary world.

Scripture establishes the nature and order of a church. Berkhof in his Systematic Theology describes the marks of a church in particular, being 1) the true preaching of the Word, 2) the right administration of the sacraments, 3) the faithful exercise of discipline. We will deal briefly with each of these issues. Regarding true preaching of the Word, this discriminates against heretical churches such as the Mormon church of Jehovah’s Witness, where a false gospel is being offered, or a false Christ. Preaching is the cornerstone of a church service, and about which all revolves. It is here that we offer respect to Scriptures as being alone our motivation, our driving influence, and God speaking directly to us. In the modern church, the message is more often conveyed in other portions of the service, such as the music, the drama, or the personal worship/fellowship time, yet the administration of Gods’ Word is the entire pivotal portion of a service. Too often, a preacher will read a Scripture passage, yet the sermon will be on everything but an attempt to expound the meaning of that Scripture to us. Those are false preachers, preaching of themselves, rather than solely of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The administration of the sacraments have taken an enormous hit in recent times, since “new-think” tells us that the sacraments are devoid of meaning or significance. In regard to the sacraments, I am referring to baptism, the eucharist (communion) and marriage, and not the extended sacraments of Rome. While the Roman Catholic Church has turned the Sacraments into something too much, almost magic, the Protestants have progressively devalued the sacraments into an optional, ritualistic activity symbolic of corrupt institutionalized denominations. They have de-sacralized the sacraments by allowing the administration of the sacraments in a casual fashion by laity and clergy alike, so that you could be baptized by your favorite person, rather than a minister of the church, or have a communion session in a coffee shop with friends. My scriptural basis for the sacraments is found in the orderliness of ecclesiastical practice as described in the NT, noted throughout Paul’s and Peter’s epistles, as well as the even stronger example of the OT, where professional clergy were strictly described. It is a grave error to consider that the OT does NOT provide instruction regarding our liturgy and administration of our sacraments. Finally, the church administers discipline for the growth of the body of believers. Ecclesiastical discipline has been truly been demoted in both the Catholic and Protestant churches, now that you have a supermarket of churches all competing for your attendance and possible donations. To remove oneself from the possibility of discipline would be to remove oneself from anything that you could legitimately call church.

Before I end my statement on church, I will note that church models have been everything that described in Scripture. The growth of mega-churches leaves one wondering why they even waste calling themselves “church”, save that a church can impose God’s wrath as a threat for encouraging financial giving or tithing. The pastor of many churches nowadays serves more as an administrator than a godly messenger conveying and opening Scripture up to the congregation. It is no wonder than church services leave most people feeling empty, something that must be made up with the smaller cell-group meetings or an individuals’ quiet time. It is no wonder that church has taken such a serious hit in recent years.

The church has weathered many storms, and it will weather the current onslaught or accused irrelevancy. I bring to mind a great Anglican priest and song writer, Samuel Stone, who grew up in south London as a pugilist (boxer) until his conversion. He went into the ministry, working with the roughest and meanest folk in London. It was said that he once even boxed a disorderly parishioner, knocking them out, but later apologizing for that. He wrote the following song as a glorification of the institution that we have now so bitterly devalued.  Stone was a high-churchman. He was not speaking of the fad of do-it-yourself church-ism. He was referring to the grand visible institution of the church of which he was a very dear part of.

The Church’s one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation,
by water and the word:
from heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.

Elect from every nation,
yet one o’er all the earth,
her charter of salvation,
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy Name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses,
with every grace endued.

It is in the third and fourth verse that Stone speaks of a heresy going on in the Anglican church in South Africa during the 1860′s. The church has taken many beatings, and will receive many more until the Lord returns, yet Christ’s body will continue to the end.

Though with a scornful wonder
men see her sore oppressed,
by schisms rent asunder,
by heresies distressed;
yet saints their watch are keeping,
their cry goes up, “How long?”
and soon the night of weeping
shall be the morn of song.

Mid toil and tribulation,
and tumult of her war
she waits the consummation
of peace for evermore;
till with the vision glorious
her longing eyes are blessed,
and the great Church victorious
shall be the Church at rest.

The last verse concludes with the proper view of church. It is mystical, yet ordinary. It is an exercise of living with Saints before the face of God. It is an entirely imperfect experience on earth, but reflective of an entirely perfect experience in the life to come. For those who choose to remove themselves from church, to devalue church, or to redefine church as anything less than this description of the church given by Samuel Stone will be all the worse off, and to be pitied indeed.

Yet she on earth hath union
with God, the Three in one,
and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.

I conclude with a plead for individuals to return to a grander image of the church, and for the church to return to a grander image of itself. Our frustration with church should manifest itself by correcting our vision of what a church is, and then encouraging the church leaders to do the same. It is to seek for a church that has a high view of itself, and to be involved. It is not to expect the church to be therapeutic or non-hypocritical, but to be reflective of our own sinful state, a place where together with other sinners we can worship and pray and glorify the God of heaven. May God grant us the view of the church of JG Machen or Samuel Stone, and we will realize that we survive not in spite of the church, but rather because of the church.

Many people have asked me about my views on ObamaCare, and what I would offer as a reasonable fix to the healthcare “crisis” in our country. I have no hope that our wonderful government will be able to fix the mess of healthcare. This is why I support the Obama health care plan. If it goes through in its entirety, it will destroy medicine. Then, we could start over. Maybe. Unfortunately, too many conservatives blame the government for the health care problems of the USA, while the liberals wish to give the government everything. Neither makes sense, because neither side takes the time to ask what is really wrong with American medicine. My final answer is that everything is wrong. There is no party or group that doesn’t stand innocent of our mess. Specifically, finger pointing must include all parties, including government, the lawyers, big Pharma and the health care industry, physicians, hospitals, insurers and third party payors, and patients themselves. I will be very brief in how each party is making a mess out of medicine.

1) Government. Government would love to control medicine. It is intrinsic in government to have control of the people, whether that government be a democracy or a totalitarian regime. Our constitution was established to restrict the power of government. Now that our constitution has become a “living” document, it may be interpreted and changed at will, usually to the effect of offering the government more power, and us less. I cannot think of a single government in the world and throughout history that I would trust my body and my life to, yet, that is essentially what we are asked to consider with the health care plan of St. Obama, the patron saint of the infirm. Medical ethics will become what is good for the masses, rather than what is good for the individual, since government will always seek global, rather than individual solutions. Decisions will be made that are most politically correct, and not what is most morally correct, or what maintains the highest dignity and honor to the individual. It has been argued that health care delivered by government would be less expensive and more efficient, yet, I cannot bring to mind any federal agency that delivers efficient services without graft and corruption. A simple look at pure government health care systems, the Veterans Administration and military medicine show highly inefficient and expensive systems with shoddy health care delivered in a haphazard fashion, always at the whim of an incompetent and fickle congress. One only need to pause at the countless ways in which the government has made physicians lives currently unbearable, including ever increasing and expanding agencies to regulate and control health care. Need I mention JCAHO and the totally ridiculous demands them make on hospitals, or Medicare and its “fraud” provisions on honest and hard working physicians. To the feds I say, no thanks.

2) Legal. Many conservatives have argued hard for legal reform, feeling that it is the legal system in most part which has destroyed American medicine. Arguments have returned from our legal colleagues of the necessity of our system to safeguard and protect a vulnerable public from increasingly greedy and immoral physicians. In fact, conservatives refuse to look at the breadth of the source of problems of our current health care debacle, and lawyers refuse to accept that we need more protection from increasingly greedy and immoral lawyers than that of physicians. Estimates that suggest that the current legal climate drive up the costs of medicine by 40-50% or more, are off by about 1000%. There is no longer any bang for the buck; the health care consumer has discovered that it is cheaper to fly to India for major heart surgery, and yet receive reasonably equivalent safety in their health care. The lawyers have not protected us, but instead, have stifled creativity, autonomy of physician-patient relations, and made health care unaffordable. Every drug that I purchase, and every medical device that I use, has a cost that tends to be 10x-1000x more expensive than non-medical or veterinary equivalents. Malpractice has driven up the cost of practice of countless physicians who have chosen to switch trades, retire, or sell their soul to an employment situation rather than endure unsustainable malpractice premiums, regardless of whether they have ever been sued. Lawsuits themselves have no correspondence with the personal competence of a physician or hospital. I see quite competent physicians occasionally being sued because they choose to manage riskier cases, and incompetent physicians that have never been sued. Somehow, lawyers don’t connect. When a surgeon goes to trial, they usually try to avoid a jury trial, only in that they know that a jury will be another form of wanton injustice, since juries will always sympathize with the party that can generate the most tears, rather than the party that claims the moral high ground. The practice of our trade lacks absolute control-biological systems, being overwhelmingly complex, can have only partially predictable behaviors. Since physicians can only know limited facts of any given medical case, there always remains the possibility of things going wrong, outside of our control, regardless of how careful we happen to be. The legal system simply cannot correct that. Efforts to build in increased safeguards in hospitals have only served to sweep problems under the rug, and no serious study has ever shown a hospital to be safer with the use  of recently enacted safeguards over those hospitals that do not exercise those safeguards. The driving factor for all this madness is the accusation of the legal system that health care needs to clean up their act. The legal system remains clueless about the true nature of medicine, and will only make healthcare problems worse rather than better with their well-intentioned efforts.

3) Big Pharma and the health care industry – There was an epoch in American history where physicians and health care industry was not permitted to advertise. Physicians felt that advertising would degrade their profession with distraction for economic gain from medicine. Indeed, for the most part, this has happened. With the combination of appeal directly to the public, and government regulations that supposedly protect the public but more importantly protect the mega-health care industry from competition, and protect markets, it is not surprising that big Pharma has erupted into a multi-billion dollar industry. We see how this has led to major corruption, such as the Martha Stewart shady investments in Erbitux, a drug that cost well over a billion dollars to develop and bring to market. Big Pharma naturally has a lot to loose, should a drug like Erbitux suddenly be discovered to have untoward unforseen side-effects, or if it proves to be less effective than originally believed, or less useful than other drugs on the market. Naturally, such pressures would be overwhelming for a large corporation, and easy fudging of the numbers (many ways to do that!!!) tends to protect great investments. In the end, we are all hurt. Are we much better off with Erbitux? Perhaps a little bit, as it is a useful drug in many circumstances, such as in head and neck cancer. Yet, patients truly are not living too much longer with as compared to without the drug. Big Pharma continues to appeal to the general public. You can see elderly people dancing across the tv screen in a proverbial retirement paradise, all thanks to Viagra or Flomax or Arimidex, or etc., etc.. The message is conveyed that the drugs bring a fulfilled life, happiness and joy, peace and prosperity. This advertising is an overt lie, and the advertisers know that. I do not wish to indulge into Big Pharmas’ cozy relationship with Big Government, and their desire to overwhelmingly protect themselves rather than the patient. Notice how little they protest the FDA or the legal climate in the US, even though those two factors so steeply drive up the costs of new medicines. I don’t believe Big Pharma really cares at all about you and me.

4) Physicians – I wish I could say that physicians were not a part of the problem, yet we are as much of the problem as anybody else, but for differing reasons. First, physicians have not stood up to their oaths of morality. The Hippocratic Oath is no longer used anywhere in the US, but entirely replaced by Oaths, sadly, including the Christian Medical and Dental Society Oaths, which focus more on population and societal ills, as a focus on the patient themselves. Physicians are not politicians–we have in our care only one patient at a time, and our morality evolves around that patient. We were historically bound to patients by covenants. The legal binding now is a contract, which in turn diminishes our profession into an occupation similar to that of a garbageman or plumber. Our major Medical societies have rolled over dead when reprimanded by government, rather than standing up for what is right. I refer specifically to government forcing rulings on various drugs, forcing the AMA to remove their restrictions on physician advertising, and forcing the health care community to accept and comply in the murder of unborn children. Now,we are even complying with the murder of the elderly. We have lost our morality, allowed medicine to be turned into a business rather than a high profession, allowed government and Insurance companies to intervene between us and the patient, and then we scratch our heads wondering what went wrong. We did it all to ourselves.

5) Insurers and Third party payors – In the eyes of some people, it is the health care insurors who receive all of the blame. Certainly, Michael Moores’ movie Sicko seems to cast much of the blame for America’s health care woes on the Capitalist pigs that govern the major insurance companies. This might be the only theme in Sicko that Moore has partially correct. Contrary to Moore, it is the act of third-party indemnification, whether that third party be a “capitalist” insurance company, or a government, that creates serious problems. First, it places a fourth player in the game of the covenant between doctors-patient-God, as defined by the Hippocratic Oath. It removes much decision making from the patient, and gives it to the insurance company or to the physician. The patient assumes minimal responsibility on an economic basis for the health care decisions that they make, especially if the funding for the patients’ health care came from an employer insurance policy, to which they paid nothing (save for lower wages). In reality, health care insurance no longer functions as an insurance plan, except for those plans that are high deductible or catastrophic. The contracts that and insuror makes with the patient loose their legitimacy when a patient demands high expense procedures, such as transplants or major cancer therapy, and insurors often are forced to comply regardless of the contract. In some states, there is no “pre-existing” clause, so that patients may obtain insurance whenever they wish, without penalties. Insurance companies have sought for survival, but usually at the expense of higher premiums to all, rather than fighting public and government insanity in court.

6) Patients – I love most of my patients, and so I must be quite careful about what I say about them. All the same, in our state, it was over 50% of my patients that voted against tort reform, even though they deny that in the exam room. It is many of my patients that demand free or almost free care. Co-pays are greeted with disdain. It is many patients that expect me to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365-366 days a year, and never make a mistake or error in judgement. It is many of my patients that live a life of wanton self-abuse, and then are angry at me that I can’t miraculously fix them in a day or two. It is many patients who lie to me, abuse me, take advantage of me, expect perfection of me, and have no qualms at suing should an opportunity arise. Ultimately, it is the greater than 50% of patients who allow government to get away with murder, vote in idiots such as Obama and Reid and Pelosi, and demand free health care for all. It is the same patients who are so severely protesting ObamaCare, but who refuse to admit the serious problems in the current system, especially with Medicare. I am grateful to God that a good number of my patients see the problems that exist in health care, though they remain powerless to enact a change.

So, I return to my original statement. I hope that ObamaCare succeeds, since it will destroy medicine. Maybe afterwards, a better system could resurrect. Maybe not. Ultimately, our trust is in God, and not doctors. As I grow older as a physician, I realize how powerless I am to add time onto a patients’ life. It still seems to remain entirely in Gods’ hands. Too heavy of reliance on physicians seems to do as much harm as too little reliance on them. But for now, I simply do not foresee any viable fixes to the healthcare crisis, unless the entire system, from the patient to the government corrects. I doubt that that will happen. To attempt a fix of only one aspect of the health care problem will only make the entire health care crisis worse. I don’t wait with hopeful expectation for a solution.