The Rise in Kids with a Disability

There is no question that there is a dramatic rise in the number of children given a diagnosis by a health care professional. But, we all question why because the numbers seem so radically high. Here are some questions we need to ask.

1. Are more kids really being born with a disability?

2. Is diagnosis better today than in the past?

3. Are we calling behaviors illnesses today that we did not in the recent past?

4. Is it a hoax?

What do you think?

Can Christians be blamed for Everything?

There is a movement abroad in the land to quell complaints by non Christians about the beliefs and behavior of Christians and churches. Many current surveys say that some young people see Christians as "Right Wing Bible Thumpers" who hate sinners.

We who follow Christ are, of course, struck to the core by such charges and we want to defend ourselves from them. One way to stop these accusations is to stop all our preaching and teaching about what we really believe. Non believers love that strategy. This is one reason pro abortion groups attack Tim Tebow's public statements about his mother deciding not to abort him. Will such a plan really work for Christians? Will critics stop attacking us if we stop our commitment to the Bible? NO!

Another way to stop these complaints is to go do good works in the community. If we love people and give them stuff then non believers cannot complain. We can prove that we are good, kind and caring. Will that work? Will we always be applauded if we do good works? NO!

First, the world is often blinded to God's word and His works. We must, of course, be loving and kind and caring whether people God gets credit or not. One of the most powerful statements Steve Sjogren even penned was, "With no strings attached". We serve with no strings attached or it is not serving.

Asking people to affirm us and brag on us for doing God's works is a string. I know people "SHOULD" be appreciative but if that is our demand we are not loving but selling our kindnesses. We love because He first loved us not because we get applause.

Will the secularists, atheists, Voodoo Priests and critics affirm Evangelicals for what is being done in Haiti? Some will but most will not. The Chief Voodoo Priest in Haiti is complaining about the way what he calls, "Evangelical Christians" are refusing to help his flock. He is not criticizing Voodoo leaders from around the world or atheist leaders or secularist leaders. He is focusing on Evangelical leaders only as far as I can tell. Why is that so? Would you like to say what you think?

Basic Theology of Salvation and Sanctification

Why is there so much confusion about practical Christianity among Believers? In fact, even many Pastors are confused about how people are saved and how they can be sanctified. I hear it every day and I see it in many Clergy. I must be frank and admit that I was as confused or more confused than most by this question. I grew up among people who loved a good argument about theological issues. Well, we loved a good argument anyway.

It was not until I met a Lutheran Theologian from Thousand Oaks, California that I found a system that allowed me to put a lot of theological loose ends together. The man's name was Dr. James Kallas. He was a theological lecturer on a cruise ship loaded with Christians coasting from port to port from Holland to Germany to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the USSR. In every place Dr. Kallas taught about how its culture, society, legal system and social structure had been influenced by a particular theological stream of thought.

When I heard his system I was immediately struck by how well it described the various people who came to counselors and pastors for help with personal problems. Dr. Kallas' system was broken into three streams or emphases based on how they perceived fallen nature. Some people, and thus nations see "sin" and personal problems as Rebellion that must be stopped by laws and constraints.

Others see problems as proof that they are Guilty and must be punished. Finally, some countries see bad behavior as the result of brokenness or sickness that cannot be altered by punishment or by passing new laws but people who just need to be medicated, taught or healed.

These three basic problems, so said Kallas, could be summarized as Rebellion, Guilt and Bondage. His teachings opened my eyes to the different ways people conceive of their problems. If I, as a Minister/Counselor, perceived their problem differently it goes without saying that my advise would be unwelcome, unheeded and ineffective.

That cruise was designed to be a Study Leave for me. I had signed up to accompany and learn from a famous pastor and writer. I did follow him and listen to his lectures but the real reason God had me on that boat was to meet Dr. Kallas.

Next time? More ways to understand and bring the good news to people and nations.

HEALED AND WHOLE

One day I dug a little hole
And put my hurt inside
I thought that I could just forget
I'd put it there to hide.

But that little hurt began to grow
I covered it every day
I couldn't leave it and go on
It seemed the price I had to pay.

My joy was gone, my heart was sad
Pain was all I knew.
My wounded soul enveloped me
Loving seemed too hard to do.

One day, while standing by my hole
I cried to God above
And said, "If you are really there
They say, you're a God of Love!

And just like that -- he was right there
And just put his arms around me
He wiped my tears, his hurting child
There was no safer place to be.

I told him all about my hurt
I opened up my heart
He listened to each and every word
To every sordid part.

I dug down deep and got my hurt
I brushed the dirt away
And placed it in the Master's hand
And healing came that day.

He took the blackness of my soul
And set my spirit FREE!
Something beautiful began to grow
Where the hurt used to be.

And when I look at what has grown
Out of my tears and pain
I remember every day to give my hurts to him
And never bury them again.

By Carol Parrot

Addictions from Sweeten Life

We live in a funny society. The Feds and various states pull out all the stops to prevent smoking and try to open gambling halls with alcoholic drinks to promote smoking, drinking and gambling addictions. We seem to have a whole host of Congressional Reps and Govt Bureaucrats who love to control the lives of us citizens under the pretext of saving us from ourselves.

I understand the motivation to save people. I was driven by a grand desire to save people for many years. I learned early in life that all I had to do to get a lot of affirmation from my family and the local preachers was to try to Rescue people. In fact, we were taught in church and Sunday school how to be a Black Belt Rescuer.

We were supposed to save the lost and hungry. Have you ever tried to save somebody against their will? How did it work?

In Singapore the penalty for selling a small amount of drugs is death. Every flight into Singapore there is an announcement right after the warning about seat belts that selling drugs will mean death. Still, a lot of people do dope and sell dope.

Human motivation to get high and medicate pain are extremely high. Highly motivated people are extremely creative in getting their drugs of choice. There is a lot of drug use in jails and prisons. If we can't stop dope by building a prison and putting up bars, how will passing a law that bans drugs work?

I think almost every church would be healthier if it had a series of 12 step programs. I would start with Al-Anon Groups designed for family members of addicts. Those groups are also helpful to ministers, elders, parents and government officials who are driven to make people stop doing what they want to do.

What we need are more 12 steppers running government agencies. After being in the 12 step community for some years the members begin to discover much more about helping people stay healthy.

New Web Site to Visit

Let the little children come to me.

My dear friend Dorothy Faye Geverdt has put up a nice web describing their ministry to disabled kids in Romania. The ministry is Romanian Handicapped Ministry and is led by several local men and women.

The way Communist countries treated persons with handicaps was brutal, callous and heartless. Despite often saying that they were supportive of the rights of minorities, women and poor the track records of places like Russia and Romania were awful. The Eastern Bloc fell because of their cruelty to all persons but the terrible ways they treated the handicapped was especially egregious.

The Romanian Handicapped Ministry is trying to make up for all those years of neglect and downright persecution. Please pray for the ministry and support them as you can.

As a footnote, I am amazed and saddened to see the United States of America moving backward into treating handicapped persons like the Romanians did under their Communist dictators. President Obama is taking aggressive actions to remove their rights and make sure they are discriminated against in the worst way: abortion.

About 85% of all Down Syndrome babies are already killed in the womb. If Obama has his way that percent will rise to 100%. Moving toward Romania in ethics and morals is not my idea of an enlightened nation.

The Power of Love

Karen and I drove up to Pittsburgh this week to get grand son Jack and bring him back to our house for some time together with us and the rest of the family. It is important to get the kids out of Steelers country occasionally.

On the drive we found an "Oldies but Goodies" station that was playing a lot of songs from the Sixties and Seventies. One of them was, "What the World Needs Now is Love, Sweet Love" and it brought back many good memories.

First, we thought about the great times we had on campus and at College Hill Presbyterian. Then we were taken to the fact that indeed, the world does need love. The words of that tune could have been copied from the Bible. "There are plenty of mountains and valleys but not enough love" reminds us during hard times that money and materialism will never replace caring and godliness.

After forty years of counseling the words of that song ring even more true. Research is coming in from around the world showing that the heart and soul of healing is not medicine or clean rooms in a hospital but love.

Modern psychiatry is filled with talk about providing "Evidence Based Practice" so people are guaranteed the best treatment. This way of thinking means that technical expertise trumps great relationships. But I Corinthians 13 tells us a different story and that story is being reinforced over and over again by research and personal experience.

Take a look at this video and see the power of faith, hope and love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP_EW9u_TTw&feature=related

Gary Sweeten

Healing

I have been in some type of healing activity for many years. During that time I have helped others get better even though sickness and pain have been my personal friend.

Several times I was counseling a person in depression while struggling myself with a deep melancholy. Interestingly enough my ability to focus on helping another person in pain also helped give me some relief.

For the past few months I have experienced pain in both shoulders. It has been difficult to raise my right arm above my head at times and that is frustrating. I asked for prayers from the good people at Dwelling Place Church in February and experienced some relief.

Because I was heading for Scandinavia with luggage it occurred to me that I needed to seek some assistance from Dr. Mark Korchok, a great Chiropractor near my home. After several sessions my shoulders are better but not pain free.

I am staying in the home of Jens-Petter and Astrid Jorgensen in Oslo and sleeping in the bed of their daughter Marie Theresa who is away at school. After spending a couple of nights here, my shoulder is substantially better. I am very thankful for prayers, Dr. Korchok and this good bed.

So here are the questions: "How does God heal" and "Is relief from a good night's sleep count as one way God heals?"

Secular Humanists do not believe in God so they cannot believe in a God who heals. It is said that an atheist believes in "The uniformity of natural causes in a CLOSED SYSTEM". I believe in the "Uniformity of natural causes and cures in an OPEN, GOD-SOAKED SYSTEM".

Here is the difference. Humanists discount any intervention into nature from outside the natural order. We Christians believe in a natural order that God can and often does interact with. My shoulder was damaged by some of my behavior and nature took its course and the pain alerted me to the damage I had caused myself. I have sought several "remedies from nature" such as pain medications and Chiropractic interventions. They have helped.

I also sought supernatural interventions through prayer. It also helped. This is not an "either-or dichotomy" but a "both-and unity". God gave the Hebrew people many different natural interventions stop the spread of communicable diseases. He was the first chemist in history and his advice saved thousands of lives. God created nature so why would He be hostile to its healing properties?

May God bless you and your Christian community as you seek to live under Hios rule and reign. I sometimes read that the modern church has lost its way when there is an emphasis upon being a "Therapeutic Community". The root words for salvation and therapy are similar. Let us go into the world as agents of salvation, healing and good works.

For more on the ways we foster healing, growth and health, see our web page.

Gary Sweeten
www.sweetenlife.com

Do We Have A Testimony?

John the Revelator wrote that we can overcome the evil one by the word of their testimony. It occurred to me again that our testimony of faith is important to ourselves, our family and our friends as well as those who do not know Christ. I went in with a diagnosis of 70% to 90% clogging and came out with a clean bill of health. It is a wonderful affirmation of the power of prayer and certainly encourages me to keep pouring on the intercession for Daniela as well as other hard cases.

I preached at Tri County Assembly the last two weeks. The first week was just one day before my surgery the second week was after the physicians found no blockage in my arteries. Founding Pastor and long time friend Hugh Rosenberg anointed me with oil and he prayed with son Brad as the entire congregation reached out to me with intercession.

I am feeling good. I will be speaking at Dwelling Place the next two Sundays on The Holy Spirit so I am excited to continue to share the good news of Christ as Savior and Healer. This is how a healing community operates. It is love, prayer and encouragement that brings wholeness.

Keep telling the great news!

Gary Sweeten
www.sweetenlife.com

God Answers Prayers

Thanks for all the prayers that were lifted to The Great Physician about my clogged arteries. Last week when I had a nuclear stress test the picture came back loud and clear. One of my arteries was clogged up pretty badly. That is not something you want to hear from your Cardiologist.

My Cardiologist, Dr. Dean Kereiakes, is a great person and a terrific Doctor. He saved my life in 1999 after I flew back from Singapore with a severely clogged artery and chest pains on a plane. He keeps a close watch on my condition and, thankfully he is a perfectionist when it comes to keeping me healthy.

When he called and told me I needed another stint I agreed to get in to the Cath Lab as soon as possible so I was there at The Christ Hospital at 6:00 AM last Monday. The entire staff of nurses, technicians and Doctors were warm caring and very professional. They did the angiogram and Dr. K came around to tell me in a stunned tone that the clogged artery was unclogged. He said, "But we got a very clear picture of it on the nuclear exam. I cannot understand it."

Dr. K and the team at Christ is the best there is. I trust them with my life and I trust them with the pictures but that which they saw was now gone. I told Dr. K and the staff that I really appreciated their skill and care. I also said, "I have asked hundreds of friends to pray that the Holy Spirit would clean that artery out so a stint would not be necessary. I think the prayers were answered."

Praise God from who all blessings flow and from whom all good gifts come down from above. Thank you for praying. I rarely ever hear of something as dramatic and complete as this answer to prayer. I know I do not deserve it nor did I earn it. It is all grace and I can not explain why God answered the prayers for me and not for others. God alone understands His plan and His ways.

Never underestimate the power of prayer, even when you do not get the answer we want. There is too much work and too little prayer. too much worry and too little prayer. Too much talk and too little prayer.

Prayer is the work of the church.

Gary Sweeten

http://www.sweetenlife.com/

Can I Go Home for the Holidays?

Opening a Can of Worms!
My international readers may not know it but millions of Americans live far, far away from the town where they grew up. Many of them "go back home" to see relatives and friends during Thanksgiving, the third weekend in November, and Christmas, the last week of December.



The return home can provoke a lot of anxiety because we have moved away from the customs and values of our family of origin and find it difficult to remember how to act properly in that old environment. It is also hard on the "old folks back home" because they tend to think of us as we were as kids and that was a long time and many changes ago.



I was a rebel as a kid and my family tended to see me through that prism even though I left most of my rebellion behind a long time ago. I can remember how hard it was when Karen and I first began to return home from Cincinnati. I had gotten a couple of college degrees, fathered a child and became Associate Dean at U.C. Yet, I was tempted to regress in my behavior away from a mature adult to the teenage rebel of so many years ago.



I found myself being irritated by the same things that had bugged me as a teen and Mother was so unreasonable and parental. It seemed to me that I was all grown up but Mother treated me like a child. It was all her fault! (Thankfully, Karen was able to point out that I was acting like a teenager not like an adult. Boy, did that sting!)



As you prepare to go back home or to see your family that is returning to the homestead, ask yourself some questions:

1. Do I treat my family members as well as I want to be treated?

2. Do I treat my family like I treat other adults?

3. Do I have some of the same feelings I had as a kid when I interact with my parents and siblings?

4. Do I judge my family more harshly than I judge others?

5. Do I have peace when I think about my family?

6. Are there things I would like to straighten out in them?

7. Is God happy with the way I honor my family?



How are you preparing to go home again? Prayer might help.



Gary Sweeten

http://www.sweetenlife.com/

The Power of People Helping People

Galina, a professional Psychiatrist, with her lay team in Russia.
They are changing the churches and the nation.


We live in a mythical society with powerful lies that keep us bound to practices that do not work. For example, that only professionals can help people grow, learn, heal and recover from deep spiritual and emotional problems.

In 1969, just as I was starting my doctoral work in counseling, I heard two of the greatest psychologists in history speak about the power of ordinary people to help themselves and others get through the challenges of life.

What these men said made such an impact on me that I changed my career emphasis and wrote my dissertation on the power of Christians to provide care, counseling and coaching to one another. Carl Rogers, perhaps the most influential Psychologist in America, said that lay counselors were as effective as professionals.

Then O.H. Mowrer, founder of Integrity Therapy, said, "The early Christian Church was the most powerful healing community the world has ever known." Those two simple statements hit me like a tornado for I was studying to be a professional, clinical therapist. I had pursued a doctorate because I thought my educational insights were too weak to deal with the levels of need I saw among the students. I was right in some ways but I was wrong as well.

Mowrer and Rogers said that ordinary lay people were more powerful than any professional counselors. WOW! If true, that would change how we delivered care and counsel forever. I found in my research that Dr. Mowrer was right but his facts have been carefully kept away from the church and the American citizens.

Most people still think that the only answer to mental and emotional and relational pain is to see a professional and take drugs. This is not true. Lay volunteers are currently the largest untapped resource for good the world has ever seen. Let's tap them!

Counseling

Many of you realize that a group of us started an in-patient psychiatric unit in a Franciscan Hospital in 1989. In fact, we developed and oversaw one for teens and one for adults. It was a great experience that brought growth and healing to many people.

We knew nothing about the "Medical Model" and I was quite anxious because of my ignorance. I thought there must be something almost magical about the doctors and nurses who ran a hospital. Since they were treating the most distressed and dysfunctional people in a community they must know some deep dark secrets that the rest of us missed in graduate school.

I read everything I could get my hands on about how to build a therapeutic community and I read a lot of outcome research. (Research about what kind of counseling really helps people get better.)

What I read reinforced what I already believed and what I had done at my church. The most important factors were a combination of things not just one thing. For example, I assumed that the great insight and wisdom of the medical staff, including their knowledge of what medicines to use, was the single most important aspect of healing.

I was wrong. The most important factor is the Motivational Level of the Patient and the Support of Family, Friends and Associates other than the clinical staff. In other words, we needed to make sure the Patient was motivated to get better and motivated to help others get better. By giving, serving and loving the other patients each person helped himself.

So, we taught the patients how to love, serve and care for each other.

This also reinforced and supported the other key factor, having a strong support system. Remember, patients spend more time with other patients than anyone else. Doctors spend a few minutes each day with patients and Counselors and social workers a bit more. Nurses are with patients for eight hours but not with every patient alone.

Patients are with other patients all the time so we needed to train all of them how to listen, love and pray for one another. We did and it was a marvellous thing to behold.

Who spends the most time with church members? Pastors? Sunday school teachers? Small group leaders? All of these folks are important and influential in the church but not as important as family, friends and colleagues. So, we need to train EVERY MEMBER to care, love and pray for one another.

Why Not Socialism?

After writing the last post I was ruminating on why I react so strongly to socialism. The reasons may be deeper than I know, but I think some of the reasons are easily discerned.

First, I am a converted socialist (A small s socialist not a formal Socialist.) I grew up in a family that chose me to be an "over functioner". Because I know family systems well, it is also clear that I also chose the role. In fact, I loved the role and was rewarded by almost everyone because I was a nurse and baby sitter to my sick grand father.

Every family distributes various "functional roles"from generation to generation to all its members. There are some who are chosen and who choose to "under function". These folks get stuck in cycles of sickness, depression, alcohol abuse or poverty.

Others take the opposite role and "over function" by hard work, perfectionism, religious involvement and trying to help the "under functioners" in their family, church and society. The problem with being a hero is that we need a constant supply of victims to rescue. Where would Superman be without a city of Victims like Metropolis and Persecutors like Lex Luthor or the Joker?

My mother was a wonderful woman who came to faith in Jesus Christ as a young girl. She spent her adult life caring for others out of "spiritual and religious conviction". Her mother and father lived next door to us and our families were deeply intertwined.

"Mom" Taylor was a spiritual giant in our little town, and almost killed herself over functioning in her marriage taking care of her husband, my Grand Dad Taylor. After suffering a near fatal ulcer attack, Mom seems to have made the decision to stop taking care of a perfectly well husband and he reacted in a shocking manner. He got worse, much worse. (This is not unusual.)

What was the family to do? Someone HAD to take care of Grand Dad Taylor. He could not take care of himself. (So we all thought.) Despite looking strong, he "felt" terrible and talked constantly of his aches, pains and depressed feelings. My mother came to the rescue.

With my mother replacing her mother as the official over functioner for Grand Dad Taylor, she was unable to do as much at home. That caused great conflict between my Mom and Dad and the conflict caused much pain in me.

Think about socialism as an attempt to over function for those who are under functioning. It sounds good and compassionate but it destroys both the people who do too much and those who do too little.

Socialism, either formal or informal, is the cruelest of all systems for the weak and the strong are both spending energy on the wrong things.

Good News from Dr. K

My heart doctor is very conservative and I am very happy that he is. When I mentioned to him that I had experienced some tightness in my chest while exercising Dr. K iwas concerned. He mmediately told his assistant Mona to make an appointment for me to have another stress test with the nuclear camera.

I went under the chemicals last Wednesday and made it fine despite the discomfort. The last time my pumping heart rate was 52% and that is normal so I was hoping and praying for another good report. When the call came I was still in the good range at 50% and she affirmed me for passing the test. Praise the Lord!

I am extremely thankful for modern medicine and its attenuating technologies. Thanks to the men and women who have dedicated their lives to save lives and invent marvellous machines that aid them.

While lying on my back motionless for only 16 minutes that seemed like an hour under the million dollar nuclear camera that was examining my heart from so many different angles, I prayerfully thanked the nameless scientists and technicians who worked day and night to develop a machine to save the lives of millions of people, including mine.

I also thanked Dr. K and his team of docs and nurses, technicians and aides who smilingly dig through the data and fight the insurance companies to deliver me personally the very best health care in the world. I have been sick in Asia, Russia and Scandinavia and the care was good. But, as my cardiologist in Singapore said, "I will send you back to Ohio for the best care."

And, I thank God I can get care here in America. In many countries like England, Scandinavia, Canada and other countries with government sponsored medicine I would have had to wait six months or a year for care and even then may have been turned down because it was not considered to be serious enough to warrant a test.

And, I thank God for my Christian friends who petitioned heaven for a good report. They were successful.