Advancing Christian Faith and Values,
Defending Religious Liberty for All,
Supporting Civility and the Common Good
through Preaching, Teaching, Writing, Activism and Reasoned Conversations

www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

The Water Section at Sam’s Club in Long Beach

Hoarding & Profiteering
in a Time of Crisis

Store shelves in my area are stripped of water and, for goodness sake, TP.
Hoarding (and its twin evil “price gouging”) is common during times of crisis.
Does the Bible have anything to say about hoarding?

Bible Insight—Hoarding Necessities During a Crisis

One person gives freely, yet gains even more;
another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
A generous person will prosper;
whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
People curse the one who hoards grain,
but they pray God’s blessing on the one who is willing to sell.
– Proverbs 11:24-26 New International Version

A time of crisis like the present coronavirus outbreak brings out both the best and the worst in people. Many are generous; not a few are selfish hoarders. Hoarding is accumulating more than enough for one’s foreseeable needs in a time of crisis. Hoarding can also be an effort to drive up prices so one can make a killing by taking advantage of others in need.

I’ve seen long lines of carts loaded with water bottles and with TP and more. For some, this is simply prudence. Maybe so, but overall it seems too excessive for simple prudence. It’s often a form of hoarding—putting “self” first and showing it by keeping more of life’s necessities than necessary and thus depriving others of basic items they need.

In The Lord’s Prayer we read and pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.” Implicit in this petition is our need to be sure our neighbors also have their daily bread—the sustenance needed in food and in other provisions that makes for a sufficient lifestyle.

If we sincerely pray this petition Jesus gave us, we’ll be sure not to hoard. Instead, we will be generous to others in their hour of need.

Scalping is odious enough when it’s done to make a killing from coveted tickets for sports and other events. It is even more odious, AND EVIL, when the basic needs of life are hoarded and others are made to suffer need or pay exorbitant prices.

Proverbs 11:24-26 is quite clear. God honors the generous. God abhors the hoarder and, in the end, that person will not prosper. People likewise will honor the generous and curse the hoarder. Today as well as long ago.

Keeping Politics out of the Coronavirus Emergency
Remember “Swine Flu” in the 1970’s?

It started out in 1976 as a mystery illness among several soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey. Testing showed the illness was ordinary influenza in most cases, but with two soldiers it was something else.

The Centers for Disease Control found evidence of “Swine Influenza A” (a relative of the 1918 pandemic flu that killed up to 100 Million worldwide).

President Gerald Ford became very proactive and encouraged mass vaccination. Those who remember this flu scare may recall his very public televised vaccination.

But at least two things happened: (1) there were some severe reactions to the vaccine, including cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome; (2) Swine flu turned out to be mostly a “non-event” and use of the vaccine was suspended and never resumed. Political critics roundly mocked the president as someone caught up in hysteria. Had a pandemic occurred, he would have been hailed as a prescient hero.

Hindsight is 20/20. Was President Ford correct in his pro-active stance? Laurence Gostin would write years later in The Hastings Center Report: “…the swine flu affair fails to tell us whether, in the face of scientific uncertainty, it is better to err on the side of caution or aggressive intervention.”

One reporter recently asked President Trump how he would rate his response to the coronavirus on a scale of 1 to 10. The president said “10” to no one’s surprise. Self-promotion has been a mark of his career. It would have been better if the reporter had stayed off the silly self-evaluation question and the president had not taken the bait.

Our country and the world will be better served by non-partisan, non-judgmental, science-based responses to the virus, supplemented by care, caution, prudence and common sense. It is not an hour for the news media, the opinion writers or politicians to try to score points other than safeties.

Message for the Taxing Month of April –

Ministers MUST pay into Social Security

In 1985 I proposed to the Conference of my denomination (The Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches) that a study committee be appointed to develop a strong, contemporary retirement program for our ministers. The proposal passed, and I became one of the committee members.

My task at one point was to analyze a survey we sent to our ministers. I divided the responses into three age categories (below 40, 40-55, above 55).

I found that most of the pastors in the 55+ group were participants in the Social Security program (NOTE: for many years participation in Social Security was OPTIONAL [opt-in] for clergy—not so in recent decades).

Surprisingly, I found that most of the pastors below age 40 had opted out of Social Security. Furthermore, most of these opt-outers had not created any kind of a substitute plan for funding their retirements.

Maybe Jesus will return first!

Here are some plain facts:

(1) Ministers are regarded as SELF-EMPLOYED by the IRS when it comes to paying into social security (Self-employment Tax). This means they must pay twice what employees pay into the program (15.3% instead of 7.65%). Many church boards may not be aware of this burden on their pastors. An enlightened church board would reimburse pastors for at least half of this tax.

(2) By law, ministers MUST participate in the Social Security program, except in very narrow circumstances. To be specific, only by conscientiously signing and submitting Form 4361 to the IRS may a minister “opt out” of paying into this system.

(3) What does Form 4361 require? The minister must declare:

I certify that I am conscientiously opposed to, or because of my religious principles I am opposed to, the acceptance (for services I perform as a minister…) of any public insurance that makes payments in the event of death, disability, old age, or retirement; or that makes payments toward the cost of, or provides services for, medical care…

Read that again, carefully. In addition, Form 4361 requires that the minister has previously communicated this conviction to the ordaining body of his church. Finally, under penalties of perjury, the applicant declares, “I have examined this application and to the best of my knowledge and belief, it is true and correct.”

(4) Many clergy have opted out of Social Security not from religious convictions, but simply because (a) they didn’t want to pay it and/or (b) they thought they could benefit more by investing this amount elsewhere. Seminaries may even have facilitated this thinking.

(5) Many clergy therefore lied, or at the least got bad advice, didn’t check it out on their own, and didn’t read Form 4361 before signing it. In fact, a tax guide for ministers came out several years ago that actually advised them, if questioned by the IRS, NOT to say they opted out for financial reasons, but because of their church’s doctrines. This was simply not true in a vast number of cases.

(6) My assessment of clergy responses when I served on the retirement study committee is that many had not invested in an alternate, comparable retirement program. Thus, they will find themselves coming up short when the desire or need to retire comes.

(7) If a minister lives in church-owned housing his retirement prospects may be even worse. Unless he has prepared for his retirement housing, he will find himself with no parsonage and with no equity.

One of the best words of advice I ever received is when the board of my first congregation as a senior pastor advised me to stay in the Social Security program when I could have opted out (in those days, without declaring an “objection of conscience”). They sweetened that advice by paying my social security taxes. I now am beneficiary of that wisdom.

Back the Badge – Psalm 106:3
“Blessed are those who maintain justice.”
The Off-Duty Officer

My wife and I love watching “Blue Bloods.” In one episode, Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) was determined to discipline an off-duty officer for not intervening in an armed robbery at a store where he and his daughter were customers. PC Reagan eventually changed his mind.

And good he did! While off-duty intervention against a crime may be appropriate and work out well, it is not without its special dangers:
• Even if armed, the off-duty officer is not wearing body armor.
• The officer lacks a radio and other important equipment.
• The officer may be at a tactical disadvantage.
• Neither the public nor law enforcement responders may recognize this officer or learn he is an officer.
• Family members of the officer may be in danger.

Thus, an off-duty officer probably has no “duty to intervene” (department manuals will cover this) and must use his or her own training and wisdom on whether to do so. It may be better to call 911, monitor the situation, and wait for uniformed officers to respond. Or it may be better to intervene. The highest respect is due this person, whatever the decision is.

Chase and Nicole McKeown are officers with the Elizabethtown, KY police department.
On Saturday, February 15 they were eating at a favorite restaurant. An armed robber entered. The couple drew their weapons and left their seats (running down separate aisles!). The robber, seeing the jig was up, dropped his weapon and ran out, the officers hot on his trail.
Bad guy captured!

Good for Chase and Nicole! Their city is privileged to have them.
What they did is a symbol of the dedication of officers on and off the job.

Religious Liberty Vigilance – Government Edicts During the Coronavirus Crisis

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
– 1st Amendment

We properly respond to government actions concerning the coronavirus three ways: (1) love of neighbor, (2) respect for authorities, and (3) recognition of our constitutional rights.

Out of love for our neighbor, the second great commandment Jesus taught, we do what is best for the greater good of society (Mark 12:31).

Out of respect for authorities (Titus 3:1) and the medical knowledge they gather to the best of their ability, we agree to the prohibitions and adjustments set forth by our local, state and federal governments. We do this as active citizens, not passive subjects (as in China or under other authoritarian systems).

Recognizing our constitutional rights, we keep a wary eye on any edicts from government that might limit our rights. We insist on a quick end to limitations of our rights once the crisis has passed. Two points to remember:

First, constitutional rights don’t emanate from the generosity of the government. They precede the government. The rights are over the state, not benevolently bestowed by the state and subject to the state’s retractions.
President John F. Kennedy was clear in his inaugural address (Jan. 20, 1961):

I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.

The world is very different now… And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

Second, attempts by the state to limit the right to assemble and the free exercise of religion can’t happen by edict not subject to review. The courts are established, as an independent branch of government, to review such edicts. I would expect “strict scrutiny” to be applied to these edicts. “Strict scrutiny” is a very high and rigid standard. It presumes at the start that the restriction is constitutionally invalid. Thus the burden of proof rests on the government to show its constitutionality. It must show that the edict is necessary to achieve a compelling state interest and that it is tailored as narrowly as possible to achieve the justifiable results.

Americans should uphold the rules and recommendations of state officials during the present crisis. We are good citizens. But our love for our country also includes vigorous defense of our constitutional rights.

The Struggle for Religious Freedom Continues in China

Under authoritarian governments, religious freedom (to whatever degree) is bestowed by the state, which can also remove it.

“Brother Enfu” is the pastor of an unregistered (thus illegal) church in China. Every time his church meets, he and the other church members know that police could raid the service and close down their meeting. Church members have been told to stop attending services or risk losing their jobs, and other churches in the area have already been closed.
(Source: “Voice of the Martyrs”)

Available: My Sermons at Grace Community Church of Seal Beach

To hear sermons I’ve delivered at Grace Community Church go to www.gracesealbeach.org and click “Sermons” under “Resources.”
You will see my name under “Sermons by speaker.”

Sample Sermon Titles:

• “The Holy City – Final Home” (Revelation 21-22)
• “Jeremiah: Right Man for the Right Hour (Jeremiah 1-20)
• “The Triumphs and Failures of Israel’s Greatest King (1 Kings 1-11)
• “Christian Freedom” (Romans 14:1-8) RECOMMENDED!
A sermon for the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation
• “Come, Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:1-42)

Grace Community Church is on-line during the present Coronavirus limitations

There are no gathered worship services for the time being. Watch and participate in the Sunday services during or anytime after the services at 9:30 and 11:00 PDT.

www.gracesealbeach.org

Available: Past Issues of this Newsletter

Website: www.donaldshoemakerministries.com

Click “Blogs and Newsletters”

Contact me at: donaldshoemakerministries@verizon.net

Appendix – Responses to the March 2020 Newsletter

A reader commented on the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War 2:

We’ve driven by [the Manzanar Internment Center] countless times and stopped to visit last May. A number of years ago I had the opportunity to have lunch in the Senate Dining Room with then Congressman and later Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta. Sec. Mineta told me that as a child of 7, living on Terminal Island where his family grew and sold vegetables, they were forced to board a train and taken to an Internment Camp in Wyoming. He was wearing his Cub Scout uniform at the time. The soldiers confiscated his Louisville Slugger baseball bat because it was a “weapon.” And I am tearing up as I type these sentences with the thought of such injustice.

Thank you for highlighting important issues in the name of Godly justice and righteousness.
__________

Dr. Bill Katip, President of Grace College & Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana, observed that World War 2 internment camps also put away German and Italian Americans [reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans]

During WWII, German nationals and German Americans in the US were detained and/or evicted from coastal areas on an individual basis. Although the War Department (now the Department of Defense) considered mass expulsion of ethnic Germans and ethnic Italians from the East or West coast areas for reasons of military security, it did not follow through with this. The numbers of people involved would have been overwhelming to manage. A total of 11,507 people of German ancestry were interned during the war…
__________

A reader responded to my “Message of the Month” on ADA (Americans with Disabilities) issues:

ADA – You said nothing about renters, landlords and service animals. We have a condo…we rent out to short term renters. We don’t permit renters to bring pets to the condo… Following months of legal research and professional drafting, the HOA recently updated its Rules & Regulations and CC&Rs to prohibit owners from allowing short term renters to bring pets and imposes heavy fines on owners who violate the regulation. We were notified recently by the HOA that a renter brought a pet to our condo.

Here in part is [the rental Website’s] reply,” … the owner of the dog verbally told…that the animal was an ADA service animal. The conversation stopped right there, as [the rental entity] is prohibited by law to ask … a) for any documentation, b) to have the animal demonstrate the task it has been trained to perform, and c) to ask the owner what their disability is… The reality is, renters can lie and lawfully get away with it. As a Short Term Rental property owner, you have essentially no rights with regard to ADA service animals.” There are several points which may not be entirely accurate based on my reading of the ADA Code of Federal Regulations…