Paul's Passing Thoughts

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As a healthcare professional working in long-term care facilities, and personally, having high risk factors, I have been absorbing every bit of information I can get on COVID. For me, the Trumps testing positive was confirmation for my paranoia concerning COVID. After all, regarding paranoia in general, just because you are paranoid doesn’t mean something is not really out to get you.

It can be summed up best by a conversation I had with my cardiologist yesterday: little is known about this virus; the best we can do is go to war against it with the best theories.

You disagree? Well, let me share my firsthand experience: the virus does not hit the elderly all that hard. In my neck of the woods, people in their 90s, and even 100+, breeze through with no symptoms at all. FEW people who have it run a temperature, but they may have great difficulty breathing. In my neck of the woods, co-workers and their families ages 40-50 get hit the hardest and barely pull through. That’s not the conventional narrative.

We do know that it is highly contagious. More than likely, if you are a frontline worker, you need extreme diligence and a little luck. There are surefire ways to prevent healthcare workers from getting infected on the job, but few, if any, long-term care facilities are willing to make the effort. The notion that outbreaks are occurring in long-term care facilities despite best efforts is far from being the truth.

All in all, healthcare workers need to take care of themselves. I can tell you, before things got real in the LTC facilities, I was wearing medical goggles in facilities that had “no confirmed cases.” I also had my own infrared thermometer and oximeter. I also paid attention and listened closely to conversation among nurses. From the beginning, I treated every resident as if they were positive. Early in the pandemic, I brought it to the attention of a nurse that a young guy I was caring for had a low-grade fever. When I went back to that facility a week later, the same guy was in the COVID unit. When I am aware that I have dropped the ball in a particular situation, I quarantine myself for at least 10 days. I do what all my co-workers should do, especially being STNAs; I am continually upping my game. As STNAs, we are the ones in closest proximity to the residents for longer periods of time BY FAR. I no longer take off my PPE inside the facility under any circumstances. If I need a drink, I go outside and doff /donn PPE according to standard precautions. This virus travels through the ventilation systems; the break room is not safe.

By the way, we also need to fervently resist the temptation to let our guard down when we are not at work. Going in and out of stores should be thought of as going in and out of resident rooms. Wear a KN-95 mask when appropriate.

I saw a really cool thing yesterday. Two aides apparently work as a team on a COVID unit. They donned each other outside, took a selfie, which I found cute, and went inside. They will watch each other’s backs on the unit and do a team doffing when they are done. Aides are getting smarter about this whole thing, and the youthful, “It ain’t goin’ to happen to me, and if it does, I’m young, so…” mentality seems to be history. I imagine these two aides made this arrangement a condition for working on the unit: good for them; that’s smart.

Now, finally the point here: the fact that the best scientists around can’t protect the leader of the free world from COVID is very telling. We know the Trumps are big on prophylactics, and apparently, that didn’t work. My cardiologists shared his skepticism about that yesterday. He visits with me dressed in full-blown PPE which for some twisted reason I find amusing, but also telling as well. When you are at a facility walking down a hallway towards nurses and aides, a parting of the red sea takes place. It’s amusing because it seems like a ridiculous overreaction. But is it? I don’t think we know, but we laugh anyway and refer to it as “the Rona.”

And here is something that is painful: in hair solons where mask wearing is mandatory and is also the epicenter of bad mask wearing and bad mask science, the spread of COVID is nonexistent. The only exception is an outbreak among stylists when only the stylists were required to wear masks. Go figure. It makes no sense. I was in a solon yesterday and half the people were wearing the damn things under their noses which drives me completely out of my mind with annoyance.

Despite all of the reassuring statistics about COVID, why should we be scared of it? Here’s why: this virus plays by its own rules. Follow the science? How? This COVID virus doesn’t even follow the science.

Will the Trumps be ok? COVID will decide or God will intervene if He wants to. Prayer is a really good idea on this one.

COVID has taught me a lot about my fellow aides and greatly increased my respect for them. Yes, most of them eat their own and are “meaner than striped snakes” as my grandmother used to say about some people, well, actually, many people, but nevertheless, they are truly devoted to LTC residents. Regardless of knowing facilities see them as rubber bands (you stretch them till they break and then buy new ones as cheap as possible), they forgo dwelling on that and come in every day for the residents. Sure, they bitch a lot, but it’s mostly venting. I have come to realize that aides really do love the residents, and especially during the COVID pandemic, they really are the only family some residents have.

But what makes me proud of them of late follows: COVID has made them smarter about taking care of themselves. And the latest news about the Trumps should make us more and more attentive to the risks of COVID.

Aides need to continue to up their game and look out for themselves. The facilities are making some fundamental mistakes. When they are past an outbreak, they are dismantling their COVID units, but when fewer and newer cases arise, they don’t want to revamp the units for various reasons. The results? We are working in units that are “kinda like COVID units” and are being called other things that are softer terms. I noticed lately that “hazard pay” is now “crisis pay.” “COVID units” are now, “isolation units.”

To my fellow aides I would suggest we remain vigilant. My STNA teacher addressed many situations by looking aides straight in the eyes with a stern look on her face while saying simply, “remain professional.”

That’s what we will continue to do. To the degree that we advocate for ourselves, we will be able to advocate for residents which is our job description by law.

Up your game every day.

Paul Dohse STNA/MA-C

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https://insider.pureflix.com/prayer-faith/12-bible-verses-that-prove-why-repentance-is-key

Galatians is a New Testament letter that is key to understanding religion. In a close examination of Galatians, we understand what the apostle Paul meant by “the law,” and his contention against being justified by “the law.”

Paul referred to a law for sanctification, and a law for justification, the latter being the church gospel that he primarily fought against. So, TANC Ministries focuses on this elephant in the room that no one wants to address and that’s fine.

Context determines which law Paul is referring to in his writings.

Following is the confusion church has been hiding behind for hundreds of years: “It’s not about anything we do, but what Jesus has done.” Yes indeed, Jesus must get all of the glory. Soli Deo gloria! For the glory of God alone! Ahhhmen!

First, Paul taught that the law has nothing to do at all with justification. Because of church and what it has drilled into our heads for hundreds of years, it is really hard to get our minds around that. We are justified by the new birth. In other words, having God’s life within us is what justifies us and nothing else. It is a justification APART from the law.

So, the false church gospel starts with this idea that justification is perfect law-keeping. It may be said this way: “The law (God’s word as recorded in the Bible) is the standard for justification.” This is a commonly accepted notion in the church. ALL of the who’s who of American evangelicalism refer to the “righteous demands of the law.”

That’s a false gospel. What is wrong with church? Answer: pretty simple; its false gospel. Second question: do I care that I stand in an overwhelming minority who share this view? Answer: pretty simple; no. Third question: should we then throw the church baby out with the bathwater? Answer: pretty simple; yes.

We now continue with where the church gospel goes from its false premise. Since it is impossible for any person lost or saved to keep the law perfectly, and the standard of perfect law-keeping must be obtained for a person to remain justified, there must be an additional substitution other than Christ’s death for salvation. Christ’s death paid the penalty for all former violations against the law, but that isn’t enough, the law must also be kept perfectly.

When the law is the standard for justification, salvation must be a process and not a onetime finished work in the individual. This is unavoidable.

Two things are needed in the progression. In order to “satisfy the righteous demands of the law,” there must be an ongoing dual or double imputation of forgiveness and perfect law-keeping. The law must not be violated in any way, and the law, in regard to good works, must be fulfilled perfectly. There must be no violation of the law by commission or omission. Obviously, to maintain this standard, and thus maintain one’s salvation, there must be what church scholars call a “double imputation.”

How do we get that? How do we get the double substitution needed to maintain salvation? We can’t DO anything to keep ourselves justified by the law, so what should we DO? After all, James 2:10 states that if we violate the law at one point we are presently in violation of the whole law, right? In addition, let me pause here to point out reality: doing nothing is doing something; it’s a decision to do nothing, and a decision is an action. Salvation by doing nothing through faith alone is doing something, and you have to keep doing it to maintain salvation. In this life, doing nothing is metaphysically impossible. Hence, the church gospel of justification by faith alone is completely illogical to begin with.

DOING has nothing to do with justification and that includes anything Jesus does except what he did once to establish the new birth. This is what makes the false premise of church concerning the law problematic: it calls for you to DO something so that Jesus will fulfill the law for you. First of all, why would Jesus do that when Paul stated that there is no law that can give life for justification to begin with?

So, what we get is this thing called, “the traditions of men.” What’s that? It is a doing system that results in Jesus doing. In certain biblical context, this is exactly what Paul was referring to in regard to, “the law.” He was writing about religious traditions that resulted in the fulfillment of God’s law for justification.

Church, and its justification by faith alone gospel is simply the Galatian problem Paul was addressing. Circumcision and the recognition of days as well as other traditions supposedly fulfilled God’s law leading to justification.

This is not to say that born again Christians are not under any law. The law was never for justification; it was always for sanctification. In sanctification, there is no condemnation or need to atone for any condemning sin; “Where there is no law, there is no sin.” Context is important, Paul is not saying there is no law, he is saying there is no law in justification. CLEARLY, church teaches that the law is justification’s standard. No it isn’t, the new birth is what justifies.

Sanctification is faith working through love (Galatians 5:6), and God’s law informs our love, and love fulfills the law. It’s not complicated. We may aggressively love God and others as the Bible informs us with no fear of condemnation.

I thought about all of this in context of the emerging popularity of hipster evangelist Sean Feucht. Of late, his niche is defying the state COVID lockdowns with open air “worship services.” Unfortunately, people see this as something different from traditional church evangelism. Whether Feucht’s California style “praise and worship” double imputation, or John MacArthur’s more traditional double imputation, it’s all double imputation. Like Baskin-Robbins, there may be 33 different flavors, but it’s all ice cream.

The Charismatic movement is just another logical conclusion of double imputation. If Jesus came to suffer and die, and live a perfect law-keeping life for the continual imputation of such to our lives, why would that not include healing and miracles, right? After all, “By his stripes we were healed,” right?

Like all Charismatics, Feucht advocates for the idea that gospel contemplation (praise and worship activity) results in the manifestation of the Spirit’s power which is the visible manifestation of imputation. Don’t misunderstand, the Pentecostal “second blessing” of speaking in tongues is not optional, it’s a proof of salvation. The idea that God’s power is manifested as a result of “worship” is no different than John Calvin’s Sabbath Sanctification double imputation construct. You “worship” on Sunday, and then all of the works that happen during the week are manifestations of Jesus’ perfect law-keeping that are only experienced by you, but not actually performed by you.

It’s all the same church song and dance. It’s the same false gospel scam the church has been running for more than 1500 years.

paul