I'M APT TO BE A HYPOCRITE OF THE LOWEST ORDER

 

As of today, it has been five years I have been walking after years of paralysis from multiple sclerosis (MS). Many years were spent in an electric wheelchair. In 2018, I went before the Blessed Sacrament with a prayer request. It was a request made many times since 1984 when I was diagnosed with MS. By 2018, I had become triplegic, meaning three out of four of my limbs were affected by the cruel disease. Once again, I prayed that the Lord would allow me to walk again and release me from creeping paralysis. I was/am at end-stage multiple sclerosis. My brain is riddled with plaque (sclerotic lesions. Scler is Latin for ‘scars’). There are no remissions anymore. My next address should be a nursing home or a cemetery. 

I prayed that God might allow me to get out of my wheelchair and walk again, even with a walker, or crutches, or canes — even for a short time. But I knew my withered legs were too weak to hold my weight and walk, even if I could stand. My prayer template was Christ’s example in the Garden of Gethsemane. He prayed three times that God would take away His cup of suffering but gave His situation to His heavenly Father by saying “not my will but yours be done.”[1] His cup of suffering was not removed. 

 

The difference between my 2018 prayer from all the others dating back to 1984 was that I finally and truly surrendered myself and my destiny in this life to God, knowing there is no disease, disability, no death or weeping in the next. God will personally wipe away every tear I ever shed.[2] I finally learned to accept and rest with whatever He willed for me, knowing it was for my ultimate good.

 

Those who have not yet met Christ may scoff and write me off as a religious kook. So be it. My doctors cannot explain what happened. They are baffled. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed MS lesions throughout my brain. My medical file shows a long history of devastating aggressive MS.

 

And yet, here I am walking. Complete function has returned to my right arm. I walk with a cane outside my house, and no cane at all in my home. The Lord left me with a few residual effects. Why? Why didn’t He take all my disability away? I think I have been left with a limp and sometimes a cane to remind me from whence I have come (to use an archaic word). God knows my inner frailty dwarfs my outer frailty. 

 

Without that reminder, I am apt to suppress memories of those awful years of wide-eyed terror and grief. I’m apt to shut out memories of paralysis that kept me in the ranks of the seriously disabled. My foul egotistical inner self would try to forget all that was and abandon those who are still there. I would be apt to imagine myself to be in the ranks of the able-bodied “us” rather than the disabled “them.” For decades I advocated from my wheelchair against any us/them mindset in favour of an inclusive community where such disdainful distinctions have been irradicated. Yes, I can see why God did not deliver me completely from the effects of my disease and disability. I’m apt to be a hypocrite of the lowest order.

 

Recently, a woman referred to me as a holy man. I am no such thing! If she only knew how many times I disappoint God, she would not have said that. My MS may have made me fall physically but my inner man makes me fall spiritually, and that’s much worse. And yet God continues to forgive me, through His Son Jesus Christ.

 

What if I must return to my wheelchair?  What would I have to complain about? I asked God to let me walk again—even for a short time, whether or not it involved aides. He did that. I have been walking for five years. I will still praise God for giving me the time He gave me. 

 

It’s good to know God can use a spiritual nincompoop such as me. A number of American news or current affairs journalists have interviewed me about my miracle. Click here for an interview that Texas podcaster Kristi Leigh had with me. 

I am available to address your church, organization or pro-life group about disability and inclusive Christian communities, the nature of suffering and grief from a Christian perspective, and other pro-life issues. 

CONTACT EMAIL for Mark Davis Pickup HumanLifeMatters@shaw.ca

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[1] Matthew 26:39-44.

[2] Revelation 21:4.

ADVERSE PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS

I want to bring to your attention a beautiful loved-filled website: "Prenatal Partners for Life: Support for adverse prenatal diagnosis." A great resource for families facing a pregnancy involving a child with a disability. There are better options other than aborting the baby. These children are indispensable members of the human family. They bear the Image of God (just like you and me). They are loved by God and they must be loved by we who claim to be Christ's followers. A Christian's goal should be to become more like Christ and less like themselves. Send this link to anyone you know in this situation.

MDP

THE BIG LIE AND TRUTH DENIED

 

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” — Attributed to Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Chief of the Nazi Party.

 

People tell small lies. They shouldn’t but they do. They know others are more likely to believe a small “white” lie more than a whopper. What happens when it is necessary to make people believe a wholescale big lie to advance a political, ideological, or sociological goal? As Goebbels said, keep repeating the lie until people accept it. The public mindset must be massaged into mental dullness and general intellectual malaise. The big lie must be introduced in increments, then reinforced by intimidation through name-calling, censure, isolation and even threats of violence against stubborn dissenters. In his autobiographical manifesto, Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler addressed the big lie:

 

“… in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation.” — Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf 

 

It is a colossal lie that people can change their gender or that there are many genders. There are not. We all know there are two genders. Gender is not assigned at birth. Gender is obvious at birth (and before). Ideology or wishful thinking does not determine sex, genetics does. Men cannot become women or vice versa. One can make themselves appear or seem like the opposite sex with their appearance and hormone manipulation and physical mutilation, but every cell in their bodies identifies them as the sex they have been since their beginning, in utero. Granted, there is a rare condition known as ambiguous genitalia where an infant is born with genitalia not clearly identifiable as male or female. It is a rare disorder that affects 1 in 1,000-4,500 births.[1] It is an anomalous disorder and should not be used to bolster gender ideology. Any reasonable person can and should deduce this.

 

A clear-thinking culture does not embrace or promote the false gender identity social construct. Gender identity is not malleable or fluid; it is a false narrative of social reconstructionists and wishful thinking of a tiny minority who want to rebuild society to their own liking and preferences, not what’s good for the majority. It is intended to confuse the large majority. A woman may say she is a male trapped in a female’s body. I could flippantly respond by saying that was I to, then I was born. But that downplays a psychiatric condition of tormented souls. Her confusion or imagined alternate reality does not need affirmation of her gender identity disorder that can—in its most extreme—result in surgical mutilation. She has a condition that may well have a psychiatric connection.[2] She needs treatment and therapy, not surgery

 

And it is criminal to play into a pubescent or pre-pubescent gender confusion with hormone-blocking drugs that may have long-term risks or physical mutilation with mastectomies and so-called gender reassignment surgery. Doctors who play into this psychiatric disorder should be disciplined or lose their medical licences. 

 

Society still has enough residual morality to be horrified if a doctor amputated a healthy limb on a person suffering from the extremely rare condition known as Body Integrity Identity Disorder, also known as Amputee Identity Disorder. or apotemnophilia. It is a disturbing mental illness characterized a person’s persistent desire to have a physical disability such a amputation of a healthy limb or paraplegia where a surgeon snips their spinal cord. The patient may believe a limb is not theirs. Any reasonable physician would not acquiesce to such a request from a patient. They would treat the patient for their obvious psychosis. Remember, it was not very long ago that mutilating of genitalia at the request of patient suffering from gender identity disorder was unthinkable. 

 

Although the American Psychiatric Association dropped the word ‘disorder’ from gender identity disorder in the 2013 DSM-5, I don’t think it was because of any empirical evidence. The change to Gender Identity was deference to the hyper-sensitivity of the transexual community and woke pressure. 

 

Now, the transexual lobby demands that the English language be altered to accommodate them, despite the fact they only represent about 4.5% population.[3] Preferred pronouns to not clarify, they confuse! Ninety-four percent of the population must give in to the neurotic demands of a small minority? No! We must understand that LGBTQ have their concerns and be kind. That is different than acquiescence. The majority must now step to the plate and take control of society’s direction for this confused and muddled time, and for posterity. We must return our culture to the tried-and-true Judeo-Christian moral ethos that made Western civilization great. The majority must be kind and take care of minorities, whether they be refugees, people with disabilities, unwanted children, the mentally ill and sexually confused. But not at the expense of the majority of the population. Social policy and community behaviour must reflect this. We live in a democracy where the majority still rules. And transgender ideology must not be promoted because it encourages unnecessary confusion, particularly amongst children. Understand that much of the moral mess we are in can be related back to relativism that resulted from turning away from God. This was necessary for liberal progressives in order to dispel the idea of Objective Truth, in favour of relative truth. That way, anything can be justified, from abortion to euthanasia, to redefining marriage, family, and sex. 

 

Upon reading this article, I will, no doubt, be called homophobic, a hater, a Christian fanatic. So be it. Because I disagree with someone, and their agenda or ideology, does not make me a hater or homophobic. It means we have a difference in opinion. At this present time, I still have the freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression.[4] It’s one of Canada’s four fundamental freedoms identified in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Similar the American Constitution).[5]

 

I ask the majority to stand for what you know deep within your hearts: Marriage is between a man and a woman. There are two genders, just as there have always been throughout history. Every child matters, whether born or unborn. Killing terminally ill and disabled people with euthanasia must not be tolerated. Helping suicidal people kill themselves must not be tolerated and be criminalized again. Children deserve to be children without being exposed to transgender ideology in school curricula or overt exposure such as drag queen storytime. Let us return to sanity and order. 

Here is the Big Lie: There is no God from whom Truth comes, so man can make himself in his own desired image.  It's a whopper!

 

MDP 

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[1] Khawar T. Mehmood and Rebecca M. Rentea, Ambiguous Genitalia and Disorder of Sexual Differentiation, National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health, 29 August, 2022. Accessed from internet 11 March 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557435/

 

[2] Ravi Philip Rajkumar, “Gender Identity Disorder and Schizophrenia: Neurodevelopmental Disorders with Common Causal Mechanisms?” 04 December 2014, PubMed, accessed from the internet 11 March 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4274821/

 

[3] “Some 4.5 percent of U.S. adults identify as LGBT: study.” Reuters, 05 March 2019. Accessed from the internet 13 13 March 2023. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-lgbt-idUSKCN1QM2L6.

 

[4] CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS, s-2b. Fundamental Freedoms. Accessed from the internet 19 March 2023 https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-12.html

[5]Government of Canada, Department of Justice. Accessed from the internet 19 March 2023. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-12.html#:~:text=Fundamental%20Freedoms&text=(a)%20freedom%20of%20conscience%20and,(d)%20freedom%20of%20association.

 

LOVE AT FIRST (AND LAST) SIGHT

 

Can romantic love burn bright even in the face of imminent death? Yes, it can, and it happens all the time. Is there such a thing as love at first sight?  Absolutely! Nowadays there is a general shyness to use the phrase “love at first sight.” One blushes to say it. The world is far too cynical and jaded to embrace the idea that two people can fall in love simply by looking at each other. And yet, despite the risks of romantic love (disappointments, disillusion, and disenchantments), each new generation believes in the possibility of love at first sight. They believe it so much their hearts ache to dream about it. History and literature, art and music are all replete with proclamations of love at first sight. 

 

My wife and I are seventy. More than fifty years ago, we were two young people who experienced love at first sight. That initial spark of love grew into an open flame that has warmed our hearts for over half a century. But we know we are in the last chapter of our love story, and foreboding reminders of living without the other are never far from our minds.

 

If there is love and first sight—a beautiful moment when time stands still—then surely there must be love at last glance before an aged lover looks into his or her spouse’s eyes for the last time—that heartbreaking moment when death descends.

 

The death of a mate does not change the truth that true love lives on in the memories and dreams of the one who is left behind. True romantic love has love for God at its foundations. God is the author of love. He makes romance deepen. He created marriage and raised it to a Sacrament. Love is what gives purpose and meaning to life … and death. We need not fear the future, the Creator of love is there. Christ is with us.

 

“To love or to have loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further. There is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life. To love is a consummation.” — Victor Hugo

DISABILITY INCLUSION IN TELEVISION AND FILMS

I have advocated for disability inclusion in the media since the 1980s specifically for television in various capacities from behind the scenes to on-air staff, and within dramatic series – in every facet of production, especially casts.

It's still virtually non-existent to see visibly disabled news or current affairs broadcasters. In the 34 years since I was forced to retire, I have, however, been pleased to see more shows and streamed dramatic program series that include characters with disabilities such as HOUSE, and THE GOOD DOCTOR. But they have abled-bodied actors portraying disabled characters. Dr. Gregory House in the series HOUSE is disabled and uses a cane. The role is played by Hugh Laurie who is not disabled and does not use a cane. THE GOOD DOCTOR has its principal autistic character, Dr. Shaun Murphy, portrayed by Freddie Highmore who doesn’t have autism.  Shows usually have able-bodied actors portraying disabled characters. It's reminiscent of the days when black people were portrayed by white actors with painted faces. 

BREAKING BAD was an example where an actor with cerebral palsy (R.J. Mitte) played a character with cerebral palsy. It’s rare to have that. 

MOVIES: Secular movies have numerous films about disabilities portrayed by people without disabilities, dating back to RAIN MAN where Dustin Hoffman played a character with autism.  

THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON was about a character with Down Syndrome and portrayed by an actor with Down syndrome (Zack Gottsagen). The movie was the highest-grossing independent film of 2019!

 

[Nb: It’s divinely ironic to note that a highly successful Oscar award-winning disabled actor has spent his career portraying able-bodied people. Sir Anthony Hopkins has Asperger’s.]

 

Christian movies about disability using actors with disabilities are rare. Two that readily come to mind are TOUCHED BY GRACE (2014) and JONI (1979). 

OUR HOUSE IS A VERY, VERY, FINE HOUSE

 

Musician David Crosby has died. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were a favourite band of mine back in the 1970s. Their harmonies were so tight for the day. Crosby’s personal life was in shambles, but he gave the world some great music. My personal favourite was Our House.

 

When I was diagnosed with aggressive multiple sclerosis in 1984, my wife, LaRee, and I were terrified. I previously worked for the multiple sclerosis association so I knew the terrible places MS could take people. 

LaRee had to watch me start to decline. It broke her heart, but she is a realist. We sold our house and built a wheelchair-accessible home. It was our house where we would live a life we knew was going to be hard, but there would be good times too. 

 

“I’ll light the fire,

You place the flowers In the vase 

that you bought today."

 

Wide-eyed terror of neurological dysfunction took us on a wild rollercoaster ride. The MS attacked my ability to speak, then it would relent. My hearing was affected. My vision was affected. My legs would go spastic and my coordination was impaired. I’d lose the ability to walk or the use of my right arm. All these things would come without warning and no guarantee of remissions. Each remission would return most but not all previous functions—particularly in my legs and arm. A crippling fatigue would overtake me and all I could do was watch life happen just beyond my reach. But LaRee still loved me. 

 

"Staring at the fire for hours for hours and hours,

While I listen to you play your love songs all night long

For me, only me."

At times it seemed as though the two of us and our love was all we had.

"Come to me now,

And rest your head for just five minutes,

Everything is done."

Protracted periods of time were spent convalescing. Months turned into years. Years became decades. Then I developed cancer. Our house became a nest, its rooms filled with sunshine coming through windows. We knew Christ was with us illuminating our way. We transcended our lot in life. 

 

"Such a cozy room,

The windows are illuminated by the evening,

Sunshine through them, fiery gems,

For you, only you."

For more than 35 years we have lived in our house. It is built on love. Its walls have seen tears and laughter, sad times, and good times. Terror and God’s comfort—often at the same time. Our children grew up in our house, and our grandchildren come to visit from time to time. Consolation turned to contentment. 

"Our house is a very, very, very fine house,

With two cats in the yard,

Life used to be so hard,

Now everything is easy cause of you."

 

And then in 2018, something wonderful happened. After so many years paralyzed and in an electric wheelchair with end-stage multiple sclerosis, God raised me out of it to walk again and He returned the use of my right arm. We had expected my next house would be a nursing home.

 

Yes, life used to be hard. But it has also been good. Now everything is easier because of You, my Lord and my God. LaRee and I live in our house, a very, very fine house that You gave to us. We are content to know that Christ is in control. His love and our love fill the rooms.

Now for your listening pleasure, here's Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young performing Our House.

  

 

It is a day of reflection. Fifty-three years ago today my father died while he and I were downhill skiing in western Canada. He had a massive heart and died in my arms. He was 52 and I was sixteen. My world crumbled. But as God so often does, He used a tragedy to open new possibilities. 

My grief was so intense that the next few months were just a blur. Then in the early Spring of 1970, a girl I had been sweet on for as long as I could remember, telephoned from Ottawa, Canada, 3 thousand miles away. She expressed her condolences about the loss of my dad. That started a love affair that has lasted to this day. In October we will be 70 and married 50 years. 

Beauty can come out of tragedy. Joy can replace sorrow. Trust God's plan for your life, even if you're not sure what it is. There is one. (The trinket I'm holding in the photo to the right was given to me by my wife the year my father died. It says "Me and you, you and me, that's the way it will always be.")