Beat Stage 4 Cancer

http://alternativehealthscience.com/bailey-obrien-treatments/

The Treatments Bailey O'Brien Used at CHIPSA Hospital To Beat Stage 4 Cancer

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BY EDWARD CRUZ, MAY 27, 2015 11:00 AM

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Founded in 1979 CHIPSA hospital has been focusing on rebuilding and regenerating immune function for 37 years.

Traditional cancer treatments, like chemotherapy focus on breaking down the body and the cancer through the use of harmful drugs and radiation. They aggressively seek to "kill" the cancer, but in turn, can end up killing your body as well. Unfortunately the end result can be life-long havoc on your immune system, forever altered DNA...and in many cases the cancer comes back. 

During her stay at CHIPSA hospital Bailey O'brien's healing from cancer began with an integrative approach of treatments that focused instead on strengthening her immune system and "teaching" her own body to fight the cancer itself. 

Listed below are treatments that Bailey used:

Coley's Toxins

Coley Vaccine (Mixed Bacterial Vaccine), also known as Coley's Toxins or Coley Fluid (CF) is a treatment originally developed by Memorial Hospital surgeon, Dr. William Coley in 1891 for the treatment of Cancer. 

Frustrated when "conventional" treatments had failed him, Dr. Coley sought out other therapies after one his patients, Bessie Dashiell died form sarcoma. He had followed strict protocol and amputated her arm, expecting that to stop the cancer. Instead the cancer came back with a vengeance and Bessie died a very painful death.​

The Search For A Cure:

Devastated by what had transpired, Dr. Coley scoured Memorial hospital's records searching for anybody that had survived sarcoma. At last he came across a "one" patient who had beat the cancer. Ironically this patient had contracted an Erysipelas infection, a type of Streptococcus bacteria. Dr. Coley traveled to Manhattan to meet this patient and to his surprise the patient was still alive and well, 7 years cancer free. In fact, the patient lived for 27 years more and died of a heart attack. At the time of death he was cancer free!

Dr Coley surmised that if an accidental infection cured the cancer, that an intentional infection would produce similar results. He believed that the infection triggered an immune response that allowed the body attack the cancer itself. 

How It Works:

Coley’s Mixed Vaccine is comprised of a sterile(dead)  mixture of gram-positive Streptococcus pyogenes and gram-negative Serratia marcescens bacteria. By introducing the killed bacteria into the body, Dr. Coley could mimic an immune response without the risk of infection. 

Since cancer cells were formed undetected, the goal is to “unlock” the body’s immune system so that it can identify and kill the cancer cells.

Note: CHIPSA is the only licensed hospital facility treating  with the Coley’s Therapy toxins in North America.

Gerson Therapy

Initially Developed by German born Dr. Max Gerson in the 1920's for the treatment of tuberculosis and headaches,  Gerson Therapy was applied towards cancer patients in 1928. It is a specific diet-based immunological detoxification and nutrition protocol that is the foundation of the treatments her at CHIPSA.

Gerson therapy focuses on reactivating your body to heal itself through non toxic methods including organic foods, juicing, detoxification and supplements.

Living Legacy: The "Official" Gerson Hospital

After his death, Dr Max Gerson's daughter, Charolette Gerson continued to promote her father's therapy and began working with the the staff at CHIPSA in 1979, treating cancer patients with the Gerson Immuno-nutrition protocols.

For more than 37 years, the medical teams at CHIPSA have been using the Gerson Immuno-nutrition protocols in a hospital treatment environment as part of their integrative therapies and have in fact, contributed to the development and refinement of the Gerson protocols by combining them with other powerful treatments. 

Today, Gerson’s+Therapy is the basis upon which all modern immuno-nutrition protocols are founded on.

The Gerson diet-therapy for cancer is an intensive , immunological detoxification and nutrition protocol. Macronutrient manipulation in the context of micronutrient supplementation can help to stimulate immunity and promote tissue integrity. It works closely with the healing forces of nature to stimulate tissue repair and normal growth through the input of more fresh, raw vegetable materials than any other nutritional intervention. Fresh juice, raw fruits and vegetables are the source materials of almost all micronutrients in their pristine organic composition.

The Diet

The diet includes raw and cooked foods in its three daily vegan meals, extraordinary amounts of unaltered foods are consumed as well as the intravenous inclusion of vitamin drips. 

Additionally patients can expect anywhere from 12-15 raw juices a day, prepared specific organic fruits and vegetables. These fruits and vegetable are harvested for their enormous quantities of phytochemicals currently under study worldwide for exciting anticancer and health promoting properties, "super charging" the patient's immune system. 

Oncological diet therapy is a medical specialty, not unlike oncological radiotherapy. In many instances diet therapy will be sufficient to cause complete regression of cancer. CHIPSA clinical scientists believe that complementary use of medical specialties will lead to more satisfactory overall outcomes when complementary medical protocols (such as Coley Toxin, Issel protocols and photopheresis) are co-implemented.

Autologous Dendritic Cell Vaccine

Issels Autologous vaccine is one of the most potent forms of immunotherapy that harness the body’s own immune system to fight cancer.

The vaccine is cultured from the patient’s own blood that represents his/her own unique internal bodily environment. The preparation follows procedures that favor the development of antigenic peptides and other immunogenic compounds aiming to enhance the body’s own cancer fighting mechanisms. 

What Makes It So Effective?

Clinical research suggests that the Issels Autologous Vaccine works in a very complex way at the levels of cell-mediated and humoral immunity, and stimulates the formation and activation of T-helper cells. It is cultured from the patient’s own blood that represents his/her own unique internal bodily environment. The preparation follows procedures that favor the development of antigenic peptides and other immunogenic compounds aiming to enhance the body’s immune functions.

The vaccine is sterile. Since it is custom prepared from the patient’s own blood, side effects typically associated with other treatments are not experienced. A slight rise in temperature, fatigue, and tenderness in the tumor area are possible for a period of 6 to 48 hours after administration.

Experience has shown us that the effectiveness of the vaccine, or of any vaccine, is enhanced when it is administered within a comprehensive series of integrative immunotherapy and immuno-nutrition protocols.

Dr. Josef Issels, the creator of the Issel's Autologous Vaccine, pursued research on immunological and microbiological aspects of cancer etiology since 1948. He established several research departments in his hospital from its inception in 1951. Already in the early years, Dr. Issels and his co-researchers developed cancer vaccines in laboratories located on the premises.

In 1970, the hospital grew from 85 to 120 patient beds and expanded its extensive research facilities into microbiological, immunological, dental departments, and the hyperthermia department, etc.

Dr. Josef Issels Finishes His Career at CHIPSA

For the last 2 years of his life,  Dr. Josef Issels joined the CHIPSA staff as co-principal investigator, bringing more than 40 years of experience serving others using immunotherapy treatments as well as his own autologous cancer vaccines. The mixed bacterial vaccine of Dr. William B. Coley, M.D. is a current standard protocol. CHIPSA Hospital has also added Dr. Evangelos Danopoulos’ well-documented urea/creatine treatment for cancer. The placental extract vaccines developed by Russian immunologist Constantin Govallo, M.D., are also now available as an immunoembryological therapy. These are the latest additions to CHIPSA hospitals standard protocols for treatment of patients with degenerative diseases including cancer. 

Laetrile

Laetrile (i.e. amygdalin or Vitamin B17) therapy is one of the most popular and best known alternative cancer treatments. It is very simple to use and is very effective if used in high enough doses and if the product is of high quality and if it is combined with an effective cancer diet and key supplements like the Gerson Immuno-nutrition protocols.

What is Laetrile?

Laetrile is the patented drug made from the natural compound amygdalin, found in the seeds of many fruits, such as apricots, plum and peach pits, apple seeds, and quince, as well as in almonds. Laetrile is also known as Amigdalina B-17 or vitamin B17. 

Amygdalin contains glucose, benzaldehyde, and cyanide. Cyanide is believed to be the active cancer-toxic ingredient in Laetrile. However, cyanide is toxic to all cells, so Laetrile’s overall toxicity is a concern which is why it MUST be administered in hospital setting and not at home. At CHIPSA each patient's levels and dosage of Laetrile is custom tailored to their cancer. 

In 1924, Laetrile was synthesized from amygdalin and promoted as a cancer treatment. By 1978, it was estimated that more than 70,000 Americans had tried it—despite its being banned in the US since 1963. Most people obtain Laetrile from Tijuana clinics, as the agent is still legal in Mexico.

Dr. Sugiura's Research 

Dr. Kanematsu Sugiura, spent most of his career at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, authoring more than 250 papers and receiving numerous awards, including the highest honors from the Japan Medical Association for outstanding contributions in cancer research.

While studying Laetrile, which was previously written off as Dr. Sugiura discovered Laetrile to have very positive effects in preventing the spread of malignant lung tumors in laboratory mice.

In control groups, which received only plain saline, the lung tumors spread in 80 to 90 percent of the animals. But in those given Laetrile, the tumors spread in only 10 to 20 percent

Recent studies confirm Dr. Sigiura's findings:

High Dose Vitamin C

The use of high dose Vitamin C for cancer mitigation has been studied for years.  According to the United States government website on Cancer "Laboratory studies have shown that high doses of vitamin C may slow the growth and spread of prostate, pancreatic, liver, colon, and other types of cancer cells" 

The National Institute of Health on Vitamin C...

“Many laboratory studies have been done to find out how high-dose vitamin C may cause the death of cancer cells. The anticancer effect of vitamin C in different types of cancer cells involves a chemical reaction that makes hydrogen peroxide, which may kill cancer cells.

The National Cancer Institute says laboratory studies have shown the following:

• Treatment with high-dose vitamin C slowed the growth and spread of prostate, pancreatic, liver, colon, malignant mesothelioma, neuroblastoma, and other types of cancer cells.
• Combining high-dose vitamin C with certain types of chemotherapy may be more effective than chemotherapy alone:
  • Ascorbic acid with arsenic trioxide may be more effective in ovarian cancer
  • Ascorbic acid with gemcitabine may be more effective in pancreatic cancer
  • Ascorbic acid with gemcitabine and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) may be more effective in malignant mesothelioma cells.
• Another laboratory study suggested that combining high-dose vitamin C with radiation therapy killed more glioblastoma multiforme cells than radiation therapy alone.”

The Cancer Center at CHIPSA Research Hospital in Mexico uses high dose IV Vitamin C in conjunction with their other innovative treatments such as Coley’s Toxins, Gerson Therapy, Isssel's Autologous Vaccine and other immunotherapies to maximize effectiveness

What We Know Now About Cancer Treatments

We are not in any way, shape or form, stating that there is a definite cure for cancer. It’s very common to see alternative practitioners making claims that one substance or "thing" is an all out cure. 

We we do know, however, that CHIPSA hospital has been treating many patients like Bailey for close to 37 years. There is no 100% cure. Cancer is very complex and always evolving . We also know that CHIPSA has had great success treating many patients that were sent home to "die" in their home country because conventional medicine failed them.

Click The Button Below To Speak With a CHIPSA Doctor For Free and Receive a Treatment Plan Customized For You!

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http://alternativehealthscience.com/bailey-obrien-healed-stage-4-melanoma-in-6-weeks-after-conventional-therapy-failed/

Bailey O’Brien Healed Stage 4 Melanoma In 6 Weeks After Chemo Failed

On the way back to school after Thanksgiving, freshman diver Bailey O’Brien noticed a change in a mole on her right temple. The next weekend she went home to Putnam Valley, N.Y., and had the mole removed. It wasn’t until after finals that O’Brien’s parents told her the results of the biopsy.

“They said I should sit down,” She recalls. “My dad said, ‘I think you know why.’ I said, ‘No, what’s going on?’ Then he told me the results were positive for cancer.”

A subsequent examination revealed worse: O’Brien had stage III melanoma. The skin around her right temple was removed, along with 45 lymph nodes around her neck. Through it all, she continued to dive with the BU team, setting personal records year after year. Just before entering her senior year, and two years after her first bout with melanoma, O’Brien’s doctors found a tumor behind her jaw. Then they found another behind her earlobe. It was removed, but after two months of recovery and a month of radiation treatment, another tumor appeared under her chin.

“I came back to Boston ready to go to Hawaii with my teammates for a training trip,” she says. “I had developed a bump under my chin that I was concerned about. When my doctor biopsied it, I discovered that I had seven tumors in total.”

In January 2011, O’Brien was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma—“end-stage” as she describes it—with very little hope for survival.

“I just shut down,” she says. “I wasn’t sure what to do. I didn’t qualify for the clinical trials that were most promising, which my doctor wanted me to be in—so I began the quest for a cure that I wasn’t sure existed.”

Desperate for answers, O’Brien’s mother and a family friend discovered CHIPSA: An alternative cancer therapy center in Tijuana, Mexico, CHIPSA has established a 60 percent five-year success rate with melanoma patients. With financial help from her family and friends, O’Brien flew to Mexico and entered the three-week program. In addition to a regimen of natural and alternative vaccines, O’Brien started a modified form of the Gerson diet, which requires completely organic and unprocessed foods, fruits and vegetables, no added sodium, no red meat, and no refined sugars or grains.

By February, O’Brien thought the tumor in her chin appeared to be shrinking. She returned to the United States in March 2011 and continued with her treatment at home for the next month. “I knew that it was a possibility that while the tumor under my chin had gone away, the others could be the same size or even growing,” she says. In late March, two days before her 21st birthday, O’Brien went to her doctor for another PET scan. All of the tumors had disappeared.

“That,” she says, “was the most amazing moment of my life.”

“I believe that the diet that I’m on, although it’s really strict, can heal a lot of people,” she says. “And I hope that by sharing my story and giving some nutritional advice, I lead some people down the right path of good health.”

5 Years Cancer Free

Bailey O’Brien is Cancer-free five years after her she was told she would be dead in 6 months, the former high school athlete is active in her church, volunteers her time at local elementary schools, and is planning to embark on a career as a certified health coach. Thanks to her family, friends and CHIPSA, she is cured and the cancer is utterly banished from her beautiful body… Without a doubt, If you or a loved one has ANY TYPE of cancer, your road to health goes through CHIPSA, the amount of people they are helping is amazing…

See Bailey’s Treatment Plan Here

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http://christianindex.org/young-pastors-view-drinking-alcohol/

A YOUNG PASTOR’S VIEW ON DRINKING ALCOHOL

Editor’s Note: The Christian Index received this unsolicited commentary on the apparent growing use of alcohol among some younger Baptist pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention. The article was borne out of the announcement of Perry Noble’s termination as pastor of NewSpring Church based in Anderson, SC, which reportedly has 30,000 members in 17 different locations and is a Southern Baptist church.

A softening toward abstaining for alcohol among other younger Southern Baptist pastors is reason for concern, writes one who lived the destruction alcohol brings. GETTY IMAGES

I woke up Monday morning expecting to have a great day off, but the day soon hit a sour note. I came across an article shared on social media entitled “Alcohol Abuse, Perry Noble, and the Church Response – What Now?” I read the article and discovered that Pastor Perry Noble had been removed as pastor from NewSpring Church at least in part due to “unfortunate choices” which apparently included abuse of alcohol. I say “apparently” because the article does not spell it out but does say “board members had confronted Noble on numerous occasions regarding his use of alcohol.”

I do not know Perry Noble. I do not write to cast judgment upon him. I pray God will heal and remove any struggle he has with alcohol and I pray that he will have a God-honoring ministry for the rest of his life.

I write because I am terribly concerned with the approach to alcohol by my generation of pastors, and more, the approach to alcohol by the next generation of pastors. There appears to be a growing trend of young pastors embracing the use of alcohol. During a meeting at the Southern Baptist Convention there was a question asked of Al Mohler concerning the use of alcohol. He masterfully answered the question, informing everyone in the room that in order to be a part of the faculty or a student at Southern one must agree to abstain from alcohol. But during that same meeting a pastor many younger pastors admire quipped that he enjoyed a beer occasionally. Smiles all around.

The arguments

I know all the arguments: having one drink is not a sin, having a drink will not send you to Hell, Jesus drank wine, the disciples drank wine, on and on it goes. I have heard them all. But I am convinced if one does a study of the Bible from beginning to end, he will find an overwhelmingly negative view of the use of alcohol.

Consider Proverb 23:29 -31: “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine. So do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly; at the last it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper.”

I know those verses to be true. Until I was 14 years old I had an alcoholic father. Though a very intelligent and talented person my father chose to drink alcohol. I have few memories of him when he was not intoxicated. I have lots of memories of him intoxicated.

My father’s choice to drink alcohol led to divorce. Alcoholism led to unemployment for a man who was highly sought after in the thriving furniture industry in north Mississippi. Ultimately, indeed alcohol bit like a serpent when my father died on April 30, 1986 at the age of 40. He left three sons without a father. I know the sorrows of alcohol abuse.

The numbers

There are lots of others who know the sorrows of alcohol as well. MADD.org reports:

“Adults drank too much and drove about 121 million times per year – over 300,000 incidents of drinking and driving a day.”

“In 2014, 9,967 people died in drunk driving crashes – one every 53 minutes – and 290,000 were injured in drunk driving crashes.”

“In 2013, a total of 1,149 children 14 and younger were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes. Of those 1,149 fatalities, 200 (17%) occurred in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes. Out of those 200 deaths, 121 (61%) were occupants of vehicles with drivers who had BACs of .08 or higher, and another 29 children (15%) were pedestrians or pedal cyclists struck by drivers with BACs of .08 or higher.”

I could go on and on with negative stats concerning alcohol, but there is no need. There is no doubt, alcohol stings like a viper.

Five questions

I am not ashamed that I encourage people to totally abstain from alcohol. Yes, I get some arguments and I get some questions and resistance. But I ask a few questions and I will ask you to consider them as well.

1. When does drunkenness start? Drunkenness is sinful. Someone says “,I wasn’t drunk, I was a little buzzed.” Well, wouldn’t we have to say when someone’s state is altered it is drunkenness? If one never drinks alcohol, he never has to worry about becoming drunk or when being drunken starts.
2. Is it worth it? If drinking escalates and drinking alcohol costs your ministry, is it worth it? If your child sees you drinking and grows up with the view it is “OK to have a beer,” but he or she goes on to be an alcoholic, is it worth it? If your child drinks at the legal age but has just a hair too much, but just enough to cause an accident and it kills him or her, is your occasional beer worth it? If one of your congregants sees you or hears of you having a beer and is turned off from the Gospel or begins drinking assuming if you do it, it must be ok and it leads him or her to alcoholism, is it worth it?
3. Should we be ingesting anything God says bites like a serpent and stings like a viper?
4. Is Jesus not enough? So many say, “I have a drink to help me relax; I need a drink to help me relax.” What happened to presenting our requests to God and allowing the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension to guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus? Now that is relaxing!
5. If you are not drinking for an altered state, why drink alcohol? There is not a beer on earth (or any other alcoholic beverage for that matter) that tastes better than sweet tea or your favorite soda.

Again, I do not write this to judge or criticize any pastor or believer. I write from experience and I write from concern. I encourage you to avoid the use and promotion of alcohol and I am convinced you will never regret not drinking alcohol. In fact I have never met anyone who said I wish I had drunk more. But I have met plenty who said they wished they had never tasted the stuff. You will never regret not drinking alcohol, but if you do drink alcohol, it is almost a certainty; you will have regrets about it.

Eddie Wren is formerly a Georgia Baptist pastor and current pastor of First Baptist Church of Rayville, LA.

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How to Destroy a Culture in 5 Easy Steps

http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2011/06/how-to-destroy-a-culture-in-easy-steps

How to Destroy a Culture in 5 Easy Steps | Joe Carter

In his book The Future of Marriage, David Blankenhorn, a liberal, gay-rights-supporting Democrat and self-professed “marriage nut,” offers this sociological principle: “People who professionally dislike marriage almost always favor gay marriage.” As a corollary, Blankenhorn adds: “Ideas that have long been used to attack marriage are now commonly used to support same-sex marriage.” 

Blankenhorn provides almost irrefutable proof that this is the expressed agenda of many—if not most—professional advocates of same-sex marriage. Other scholars have noticed the same and have attempted to present the public with the facts about the less-than-hidden agenda to use homosexual rights to deinstitutionalize marriage and to separate sexual exclusivity from the concept of “monogamy.”

Since the agenda is an open secret, how has this anti-marriage program been able to advance to the level of public policy? And how did it happen so quickly? 

To understand this seismic cultural shift we should turn to an obscure, decade-old political theory. 

The Overton Window, developed in the mid-1990s by the late Joseph P. Overton, describes a “window” in the range of public reactions to ideas in public discourse. Overton believed that the spectrum included all possible options in a window of opportunity: 

Imagine, if you will, a yardstick standing on end. On either end are the extreme policy actions for any political issue. Between the ends lie all gradations of policy from one extreme to the other. The yardstick represents the full political spectrum for a particular issue. The essence of the Overton window is that only a portion of this policy spectrum is within the realm of the politically possible at any time. Regardless of how vigorously a think tank or other group may campaign, only policy initiatives within this window of the politically possible will meet with success. 

All issues fall somewhere along this policy continuum, which can be roughly outlined as: Unthinkable, Radical, Acceptable, Sensible, Popular, Policy. When the window moves or expands, ideas can accordingly become more or less politically acceptable. 

Overton’s model was developed to explain adjustments in the political climate. But I believe it can also illuminate how profound and deleterious changes are advanced in our culture. If the goal were to undermine cultural institutions, the process for getting from Unthinkable to Policy would follow these five easy steps: 

Step #1:  From Unthinkable to Radical—The first step is the easiest—provided the issue can become a fetish or the topic of an academic symposium. Since both the professoriate and the perverts have a fascination with the faux-transgressive (the truly transgressive [i.e., Christianity] tends to terrify them) all you need to do is get the attention of one of these groups. It doesn’t matter which you start with since the politics of the bedroom and the classroom inevitably overlap. 

Step #2:  From Radical to Acceptable—This shift requires the creation and employment of euphemism. Want to kill a child exiting the womb? Call it “dilation and extraction” and infanticide becomes a medical procedure. Want to include sodomitic unions under the banner of “marriage?” Redefine the term “marriage” to mean the state-endorsed copulation of any two(?) people who want to share a bed and a tax form. Be sure to say it is about “love”—in our culture,  eros   excuses everything. 

There will naturally be a few holdouts, of course, but those who reject the shift from Radical to Acceptable can be shamed into approving. All that is required is to deploy a stingingly suitable insult. The word “bigot”, for instance, is more effective than a billy club at beating the young into submission. There are few core beliefs they won’t change to avoid being called a bigot. The disapproval of their Creator is unfortunate; enduring the disfavor of their peers is unimaginable. 

Step #3:  From Acceptable to Sensible—There is nothing more sensible than to submit to one’s god. And while Americans may profess to worship Allah, Jehovah, or Jesus, we mostly worship an “American Idol” ourselves. That is why social libertarianism has become our country’s fastest-growing cult. It has tapped into this self-idolatry by preaching a gospel of the Individual. It’s a pragmatic and accepting message. You were, as its chief evangelist Lady Gaga says, “born this way”: “It doesn’t matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M / Just put your paws up /’Cause you were born this way, baby.”

Step #4:  From Sensible to Popular—This step merely requires personalizing the issue. Do you know someone who is LGBT? Divorced? Had an abortion? Sure you do, they are in your family, in your school, at your church. 

Do you hate them? If not, then how can you still disapprove of their actions? (Note: Be sure to talk fast so that no one follows the logic.) As it says in the Good Book (or maybe in a Lady Gaga song), judge not lest God judge you for judging. You want people to like you, don’t you? Then express popular approval for what your cultural betters (e.g., people on reality TV) believe should be popularly approved. Then you’ll be popular and it won’t be necessary to call you a bigot. 

Step #5:  From Popular to Policy—Commission a public opinion poll. Show it to a politician. They’ll do the rest. 

Of course not everyone in society will agree with every step along the way, but that won’t stop an issue from sliding into policy. All it requires is for a majority of the people who find the issue unacceptable to do nothing at all.  

Almost every culturally corrosive policy—from abortion to no-fault divorce to gay marriage—has come about in America this way: Christians who find such issues “unacceptable” tacitly accept this social-libertarian shift by their refusal to take action. 

Taking action is perhaps the wrong word, though, since what is most often necessary is deliberate  inaction. For example, if every Christian in America who claimed to be pro-life would simply refuse to vote for any candidate—regardless of party—who supports abortion, the abortion laws would change within two election cycles. Similarly, if every Christian in America who claimed to be pro-marriage had refused to support no-fault divorce, there would be less poverty and fewer broken families in our country today. And if every Christian in New York had made it clear that he would hold his representatives accountable for attempting to redefine marriage, then the recent expansion of homosexual-rights legislation would have never come to a vote. 

Sadly, such inaction has never happened and is unlikely to occur in the near future. America has produced an overwhelming number of Christians who are adept at explaining why they can support issues that are antithetical to Christianity and depressingly few who can give reasons why we should adhere to the teachings of scripture and the wisdom of the church. 

History has shown that dedicated Christians can close the Overton window and reverse the shift from “policy” to “unthinkable.” But it requires a people who have courage and conviction and a willingness to be despised for the truth. Do current generations have such virtues? Probably not. But I’m holding out hope that our grandkids will be born that way. 

Joe Carter is the co-author of How to Argue Like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History’s Greatest Communicator.  His previous articles for “On the Square” can be  found here. 

RESOURCES 

David Blankenhorn,  The Future of Marriage 

An Introduction to the Overton Window of Political Possibilities 

Joe Carter,  Marriage Minus Monogamy 

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http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/blogs/in-priase-scruffy-hospitality

In praise of 'scruffy hospitality'

My friends Dana and John perfectly practice what the Rev. Jack King referred to as "scruffy hospitality." Their kitchen is small. The wood cabinets are dark and a few decades old. Spices and jars for sugar and flour line the countertops because there's nowhere else to put them. A tall, round table shoved in a corner has mismatched bar stools crammed around it.

The sliding glass doors in the kitchen lead to a back deck with a well-used chiminea, an outdoor table and a large variety of chairs and cushions, many of them bought at yard sales. We circle the chairs around the chiminea on weekend nights during all four seasons, whenever Dana and John put out a simple call out through text or Facebook that says, "Fire tonight!"

There will always be food, but like the bar stools and deck chairs, the food is mismatched. Our hosts provide some food. John may have the urge to make jalapeño poppers or Dana may put together some version of salsa with whatever's fresh from the garden, but there's not a formally prepared meal. Everyone just brings something. It's perfectly acceptable, encouraged even, to bring odds and ends of foods that need to get used up. I often bring wedges of cheese that have already been cut into or half a baguette to slice up and toast to dip in hummus. Everyone brings a little something to drink. And it's a glorious feast.

This kitchen and deck won't be featured in in Better Homes and Gardens anytime soon, but maybe they should be. They are two of the most hospitable spaces I know. By opening up their home as-is, Dana and John are the most gracious hosts I know. I almost wrote "by opening up their home with its imperfections," but that's not accurate. Their home is perfect — just like it is.

What is scruffy hospitality?

On his blog, Father Jack defines scruffy hospitality this way:

Scruffy hospitality means you’re not waiting for everything in your house to be in order before you host and serve friends in your home. Scruffy hospitality means you hunger more for good conversation and serving a simple meal of what you have, not what you don’t have. Scruffy hospitality means you’re more interested in quality conversation than the impression your home or lawn makes. If we only share meals with friends when we’re excellent, we aren’t truly sharing life together.

He encourages people not to allow an unfinished to-do list to stop us from opening our homes to friends and family.

I agree, but here's the problem. It's hard to let go of the belief that our homes need to be picture-perfect — or maybe I should say "Pinterest-perfect" — before we can welcome guests. But the idea that we must make our home look un-lived in before having people over stops so many of us from sharing life together.

My slow journey to scruffy

This kitchen may not be picture-perfect, but it's the perfect place for an authentic evening. (Photo: Massimo Peruffo/flickr)

Before kids, entertaining for me meant a whirlwind deep cleaning of the entire house. Not being a zealous housekeeper, I used to joke that I had to entertain or my home would never get a thorough cleaning. When I first had kids, I ended up entertaining a lot less, partly because of the mess in the house that I no longer had time to deal with.

Then one day, a woman I very much admired said something so simple. She said whenever someone was coming to her home — a home with five children in it — and she started to worry about how her home looked, she would stop and think: "Are they coming to see me, or are they coming to see my home?" It occurred to her that someone who would have a problem with her home looking like a family of seven lived in it wasn't really someone's opinion she cared about.

I'd love to say I embraced that wisdom immediately, but I didn't. Slowly, though, I have let go of some of the crazy things I believed must happen before people entered my front door. The first thing I let go was the upstairs. Over the years, I've became more relaxed.

Next, I didn't dust. Nobody said a word, and they came back again. 

I didn't plan the entire meal around foods I could prepare ahead of time so my kitchen could be spotless when my guests arrived. Friends jumped in the kitchen and helped me finish making dinner, and we had fun.

I left a pile of boxes in a dining room corner while we were eating in there. The food was just as good.

With each thing I let go, I realized nobody cared. If they noticed, it didn't bother them. If there is someone who stopped coming to my home because it's not immaculate, I haven't noticed.

Having dirty dishes in the sink when friends come over shouldn't be a reason to fret. (Photo: Wessel du Plooy/Shutterstock)

For the past few months, I've been hosting Tuesday night wine tastings for my friends in the neighborhood. As I look back on these Tuesday nights, I realize I have fully embraced the scruffy hospitality Father Jack talks about. If there are papers piled on the table before my friends arrive, I throw them on the chair at the end where no one sits and push the chair in. If the dinner dishes aren't done yet, I don't fret.

"Sometimes authenticity happens when everything is a bit scruffy," writes Father Jack. Authentic conversations happen during those wine tastings. Authentic conversations happen at Dana and John's home, too. In fact, I think the most authentic conversations I've experienced have happened during scruffy gatherings. Maybe it's because when everything is polished and shiny, I feel like I need to be polished and shiny, too. When things are a little messy around me, I feel like I can let people know things are a little messy inside me, too.

It's more than okay to be scruffy

I have friends who are excellent housekeepers, and their homes always seem "company ready" to me. I have authentic conversations in their homes, probably because being neat and tidy is authentic for them. Authenticity invites authenticity.

But for anyone whose home is not naturally company-ready, I encourage you to embrace this concept of scruffy hospitality. Open up your home, big or small, as-is. Value community over tidiness. Invite people over and say, "I don't know what I'm serving. I may have to order pizza. I would just love your company."

"Hospitality," writes Father Jack, "is not a house inspection, it’s friendship." It's more than okay to be scruffy. We can have the kind of open, welcoming home we long to have where authenticity shines, even if our kitchen floors do not.

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http://www.dts.edu/read/i-dont-see-you-as-a-black-friend/?utm_content=36002714&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

I Don't See You as a Black Friend

I

 grew up in the hills of West Virginia and had no African Americans in my graduating class. I attended a university with a relatively diverse campus, but most of my interactions with people who weren’t white came on the basketball court.

My experience in church was much the same. After I had become a Christian, I moved to Texas and was part of a solid, but mostly white congregation. I later became the pastor of a church plant in a small oil town named Graham, Texas. In the seven years I pastored there, we had one black member, a brother named Bobby who’s “amens” and “tell’em preacher” encouragements still ring in my soul.

Though I had a few black acquaintances, most of my friends looked like me, thought like me, felt like me, and experienced life in the same way I did. But all that changed in 2011 when I moved to Washington, DC to do an internship at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. Our intern class consisted of six men, one of whom was black.

Though I had a few black acquaintances, most of my friends looked like me, thought like me, felt like me, and experienced life in the same way I did.

The Conversation that Changed Everything

Trip Lee is a quiet guy with a baby face. When I met him, I thought he couldn’t be more than thirteen years old, but as our friendship developed, I grew to respect Trip for his devotion to Jesus and desire to be a humble servant of Christ’s church. We had regular discussions about theology, church, culture, and then one day—we talked about race.

As the discussion went deeper, Trip mentioned something about him being a black man. I leaned in and with all sincerity said to him, “Trip, when I see you, I don’t see you as black. I see you as my brother in Christ. I see you as a friend, but I don’t see you as a black friend.” My intention was to communicate respect and to ensure him that I was “color-blind” because that was the height of love—right? 

Wrong.

Trip looked at me and gently said, “Listen man, we are brothers in Christ, and that means something. But if you and I are going to be able to be real friends that go deep, you need to know that I am a man—but I am a black man.” 

After a moment of silent staring, I pushed back and said that I didn’t understand. I explained that I never thought of myself as a white man, and I wouldn’t want him to think of me as his “white friend.”

Trip said to me, “I hear you, but you’ve got to know that being a black man affects everything I do. Every time I walk into a store, every time a policeman looks at me, every time I step into our very-white church. I feel it. I breathe it. I live it. I am a black man; that is who God made me.” 

He went on to explain being a black man meant that, in many ways, he experienced life differently than I do. His pains and joys and fears were similar to mine, but also very different. He has fears for his children that are different than the fears I have for my children. He has hurdles in relationships that I don’t have to jump over. He has to trust God in ways that are both similar and different than me. And those differences matter.

A Journey of Love

That conversation with Trip proved to be pivotal for me. It opened my eyes to the fact that not everyone sees and experiences life in the same way I do. This revelation shouldn’t have been such an eye opener to me, but it was.

I later became the lead pastor of Del Ray Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Our church is mostly white but is slowly increasing in diversity. Shai Linne, our assistant pastor, is an African American brother who has graciously allowed me to ask him questions and wrestle openly with things I find confusing about race and ethnicity.

After George Zimmerman was acquitted of killing Trayvon Martin, Shai and I had several conversations about why the news was so upsetting to many of my black friends, including him. We eventually had a public discussion with about twenty other people where I (the ignorant white friend) got to ask Shai questions about how he saw and experienced the tragic event—not just as a Christian man, but also as a Christian black man.

During our dialogue, Shai humbly shared about a time when he was walking down the street and was stopped by police. He was questioned, cuffed, and put into the back of a police cruiser because he “fit the description of someone they were looking for.” He described to us the pit that formed in his stomach when a car with a white woman pulled up next to him to identify if he was the person they were looking for. He said, “my life flashed before my eyes. In that moment I knew that if she said, ‘that’s him’ my life was over. I was going to jail. My whole life hung on what that woman said.”

I will never forget his tears as he told his story. I never knew that about him. But it made me love him and hate our fallen world and desire for Jesus to come back in a way I hadn’t felt before.

...it made me love him and hate our fallen world and desire for Jesus to come back in a way I hadn’t felt before.

Nor will I ever forget the interaction Shai had with his young son after the news broke that the police who killed Eric Garner would not be facing any charges. While watching the news, his son asked, “Daddy, what are they talking about?” Shai responded, “Black lives matter.” And then with innocent eyes, he looked at his father and asked, “Why are they talking about that?”

Now, as a father, I’ve had to answer tough questions from my children before. But that kind of heart-wrenching questioning has never happened in my house. Shai and my other black friends have to explain things to their children that I don’t have to explain to my kids. Yes, we have the same kinds of concerns about the persecution our children will face if they follow Christ (2 Tim 3:12), but most of my black friends and their children have had (and still have) a path with more obstacles than the one my family and I walk on.

The Lord has given me relationships with friends from different ethnicities and cultures to open my eyes, not just to what it means to be black or Asian or Hispanic, but to what it means to love people who are different than I am. Moreover, these relationships have even impacted the way I read and apply the Scriptures.

Seeing More Clearly

Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law (Ps 119:18).

I’d like to highlight three passages from God’s Word that have taken on a whole new meaning for me because of the diverse friendships God has brought into my life.

“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Rom 12:15).

If my black brothers and sisters weep and lose sleep over something, God-glorifying love calls me to care about it. I may not understand why they are weeping, but if they hurt, God calls me to sympathize with them and to seek to understand. There is no room in the heart of a Christian for apathy or indifference toward other believers (1 Pet 4:8).

There is no room in the heart of a Christian for apathy or indifference toward other believers.

Not all my black friends have been affected in the same way by the Ferguson and Eric Garner decisions. But many of them have—and that must mean something if I am a Christian. Why? Because we are “members of one body” (Eph 4:25) and “if one part suffers, every part suffers with it…” (1 Cor 12:26). Jesus says that I am to “do to others what [I] would have them do to [me]” (Matt 7:12) and I am certain that when my day of weeping comes, I will want others to weep with me.

 “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2).

We live in a fallen world that is filled with suffering. In many ways, all people’s suffering is similar, but there are also unique burdens each of us bear. Many of my African American friends have unique burdens to bear. And though understanding why they are burdened by certain events may not come natural to me, loving them (fulfilling the law of Christ) requires that I ask them to help me understand how I can bear their burden with them.

Sometimes this burden-bearing comes in the form of a prayer or a phone call. Often it comes just through listening and striving to learn more about your brother’s suffering. One of our white church members recently asked if he could have dinner with a few African American couples to talk about the issues of racial tension in our country that the events in Ferguson have exposed. They graciously agreed, and one of the brothers said to him, “I really appreciate you asking to talk with me about this, because from my experience, it is very rare that someone would reach out to talk about these issues.”

Burden bearing begins by taking a step of love toward another and saying, “Do you need help carrying that? I’m not sure I can help, but if I can, I’m here, and I’d like to try.”

“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy…their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel…” Gal 2:11–14.

In days past I would have wholeheartedly dismissed the notion that “race issues” were Gospel issues. But the Apostle Paul clearly states here that because Peter and Barnabas (Jews) segregated themselves from the Gentile believers, “...their conduct was not in step with the truth of the Gospel.” It was anti-Gospel to step away from brothers and sisters who weren’t like them in order to keep traditions that Jesus died to set them free from.

It was anti-Gospel to step away from brothers and sisters who weren’t like them in order to keep traditions that Jesus died to set them free from.

One of the goals of Jesus’ saving work on the cross is to “break down the wall of hostility” between Jew and Gentile and to create in Himself a new humanity where hostility is put to death, and we are united in peace (Eph 2:14–16). The church is to be a “city set on a hill” (Matt 5:14) in which the glory of God is seen through the love and unity His people have for one another (John 13:34–35, 17:20–21).

If there is any place that love and unity seem tenuous, it is along racial lines. Marin Luther King famously said, “The most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning.” While we can praise God that there has been tremendous progress in race relations in the church since Dr. King’s day, we must all admit there is a long way to go.

And what is the way there? It is the way of Christ. God calls all His people to be “of the same mind in the Lord” (Phil 2:2). That doesn’t mean we will always agree on how we see an issue, but it does mean that we are to follow the example of Christ and humbly “count others more significant than ourselves” (Phil 2:3).

It is through loving those who are “other” to us that we most walk in step with the truth of the Gospel. It does us good to consider the fact that we are more “other” to Jesus than any of us are to each other. Jesus is God, and it doesn’t get any more “other” than that. What did Jesus do? He was moved by compassion and love for sinners to come and serve and die and rise for us (Phil 2:1–11). Jesus teaches us what it means to love. 

Shai recently preached about loving those who are “other” in this sermon from Phil 3:17–4:3.

A Few Final Lessons About Love 

While there is much more that could be said, I want to conclude with three reminders about what Gospel love requires from us.

Love requires relationship

If we are going to learn to understand people who are different than us, we must pursue relationships with people who are different than us. This isn’t limited to black and white relationships of course, but it is certainly true for them. If love is going to flourish in the church, we must be willing to risk stepping out of our comfort zones and into the lives of other people.

I read and hear what black men and women write on blogs and say on interviews, but love must go beyond this. As Shai said in the sermon I referenced above, “The more time and conversations you have with someone, the more sympathy is developed. It’s not going to happen through Facebook. It’s not going to happen on Twitter. It’s not going to happen on a blog post. It won’t be through watching news on cable, but its gonna be over the dinner table.”

How are you stretching yourself to develop authentic relationships with people who are different than you?

Love listens

Love requires that I listen. I have learned that it is best for me to ask more questions and make fewer assumptions. This allows my brother the opportunity to speak for himself. And where better should we have the freedom to have these kinds of conversations than with our church family?

White police officers should be able to sit down with black members and talk about their mutual fears. They should also be able to encourage each other with how the Gospel gives them mutual hope. God is glorified in this, and the world is amazed.

Love risks.

If you walk down the path of love, you will be hurt, and you will hurt others. As John Piper recently said, “There is no love in this world without tears.” If you take the risk of walking with people, you will encounter relational briars of racism and apathy and skepticism and bitterness and cynicism. These will hurt you, and your briars will hurt others.

If you take the risk of walking with people, you will encounter relational briars of racism, apathy, skepticism, bitterness, and cynicism.

And this is why I am more convinced than ever that diversity in relationships is one of the best catalysts for our spiritual growth. When we are stretched to love and forgive and rejoice and weep in ways that are not natural to us, we are forced to lean upon Jesus in freshly desperate ways. And when we are all equally desperate before Jesus, we have great hope that He will move to unite us in ways that will call the world to ponder the power of our Lord.
 
There has been progress in our country and our church. We have great reason to hope that God will grant even more progress. But this growth will not come from being colorblind. Progress will come when we see each other as we are, and prayerfully draw together for the honor and glory of God.
 
Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

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Used with permission. 

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