# From the Editor From the EDITOR Language: en Author: Curvin L Wenger Original issue: The Heartbeat of the Remnant, Winter 2020, Number 4 Source pages: 3, 7, 11 Read article: Original PDF: Winter\-2020\-Remnant\-1\.pdf [The Heartbeat of the Remnant, Winter 2020]() Greetings of Christian love to each one\. Hopefully, you have found Christ as the anchor for your soul and the solution to your difficulties\. Another year is past and gone, and what a year it was… An unseen virus encircling the world, unsettling cultures from third\-world countries to the most advanced and industrialized\. World leaders blaming each other for the ever\-increasing pandemic as their country’s economies continued to spiral downward\. And churches struggling to maintain unity in the midst of their various government’s mandates regarding social distancing, mask wearing, and limits on the size of gatherings\. For many, the year 2020 has destroyed or radically altered that which used to be considered normal and has begun establishing new norms and many things may never be the same again\. ‘Six feet’ has become a well\-recognized unit of measurement\. The sound of coughing draws glances from those within hearing distance\. Mask wearing has become the focus of jokes and endless arguments regarding the pros and cons\. Through it all, many have suffered in various ways\. Most importantly, I wonder if we have considered the spiritual fallout happening to those around us? I have heard numerous reports of folks who couldn’t handle the loss of fellowship when their local church completely stopped having in\-person worship services\. Some silently pined away, growing increasingly disillusioned with Christianity\. Others, deciding this was ‘the straw that broke their camel’s back’, took action and left their old church, then joined a new group that was more supportive of their views\. There were, however, many churches that chose to “obey God rather than man” and continued to quietly meet for worship\. ## Conscience in Crisis This issue alone \(governments telling churches how and when to worship\) has been the cause of much discussion, disorder, and even dissension in many churches\. We are facing unprecedented times\. For most of us, we don’t have any experience in our past to fall back on which will help us make a clear decision\. Some Christians’ consciences will not allow them peace while ‘disobeying the civil authorities’, while other Christians’ consciences will not allow them peace while ‘forsaking the assembling of themselves together’\. Somehow, this “intrusion” of government into the everyday life of the church just hasn’t seemed quite right\. During the 1600s and the 1700s, our Anabaptist forefathers emigrated from Europe to foreign countries in search of a new home where they were free to worship as their conscience directed\. Ever since, one of the key aspects of living in America has been that of the “separation of church and state”\. So, it was with uncertainty and trepidation that we, conservative Anabaptists, have considered that which our local, state, or federal governments have asked of us\. One thing that I am extremely grateful for is that the leaders of our local fellowship have maintained very strong admonishment throughout this time, that: “As we sort through each new challenge that comes our way, we must ALWAYS exhibit a godly respect \(in thought, in word, and in action\) for our civil authorities”, especially if we find it necessary to “obey God rather than man”\. Another major point of concern was that of the United States elections at the end of 2020\. Somehow, this country has become more and more polarized over the last four years, \(maybe it has been longer\)\. I heard a report of one man from the world who said that if Trump doesn’t win the election then he sees no hope to continue living and he is contemplating whether he should just take his own life and end it all\. Sure, a man of the world may not have the hope of a better life to come since he probably doesn’t see himself as a “stranger and a pilgrim” here on this earth and most likely he doesn’t believe in life eternal\. But what about those of us who claim to be Christians, are we doing any better? Are we responding to each situation in fear or in faith? All of this upheaval in our ‘normal’ way of life, has brought uncertainty\. Uncertainty about jobs\. Uncertainty about our future\. Uncertainty about our families\. Uncertainty about the end of time\. And the list could go on with each person filling in the blanks for him or herself\. ## The Vaccines The most recent issue of upheaval that is taking front stage both in our minds and in our conversations is that of the vaccine\. Will it be “forced” upon us? Are there properties included in this new type of vaccine that will enable others to ‘track’ us and listen in to all our private conversations? Is it true that there is somehow a microchip, or a multitude of nano robots immersed in that small volume of liquid? Will this new technology that has been manufactured as a synthetic mRNA vaccine somehow change my DNA if I allow them to prick my skin? Is this vaccine the mark of the beast? All these, and more, are questions which I have been hearing with ever\-increasing frequency and urgency\. ## Conspiracy Theories The uncertainty of it all \(the virus, the election, and the vaccine\) has spawned many, many conspiracy theories\. Usually, if there is a negative connotation surrounding something, then we tend to close ourselves to the possibility that we may be involved\. “Surely, the ideas that I am passing on are not a conspiracy theory\!” Or are they? Let’s stop and think about this a minute\. Conspiracy \= a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful\. Theory \= a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something\. Doesn’t this fit most of the allegations and claims that have been circulated among us? Almost every new ‘story’ will claim that ‘certain’ people are secretly involved in an all\-encompassing agenda to use this certain negative issue of upheaval to bring about a specific negative change that will harm the masses\. Most often these ‘stories’ are designed to play on our emotions, triggering a response rooted in fear, that is ultimately designed to protect myself from the alleged personal harm—that of being personally controlled by others, loss of personal rights, loss of personal privacy, etc\., etc\. If we are honest about the actual definition of ‘conspiracy’ and of ‘theory’, then we would also need to admit that many, if not most, of the ‘stories’ that are spreading through the rumor\-mill are indeed conspiracy theories\. I am not suggesting that we bury our heads in the sand, or that we shouldn’t be a prepared people\. I am simply cautioning against being sucked into the emotional rhetoric of the many ‘stories’ that are continually being promoted\. There are some questions we can ask ourselves that will help to sort through the confusion of all the various claims or allegations being made\. Am I being asked to join the fight to protect the Constitution of the United States? Am I being advised to join others in standing up for our ‘rights’? If I stop and consider what’s happening in my heart, what is motivating me to action—Faith? or Fear? If there is any truth in that which is being alleged, is there anything that I can do about it? Like I said before, we are facing unprecedented times\. Let’s face our future with faith—our God is sovereignly in control\. Let’s not lose sight of our future home in heaven—we are called to be strangers and pilgrims in this world\. Let’s always remember the promises of God—that He will be with us always even unto the end of the world, and that He will NOT allow us to be tempted above that which we are able to bear\. These promises and many, many more are clearly specified in the Scriptures\. ## The virus hits home My \(Curvin’s\) family contracted the Covid\-19 virus in the middle of October 2020\. It affected each of our family members in slightly different ways, which was interesting to observe\. One of the intriguing aspects was that most of us lost our sense of taste and smell\. Most of our family didn’t suffer more than we normally would with the normal flu\. However, my mother, who lives with us, ended up on the very verge of needing to be hospitalized due to low oxygen levels in her blood\. Thankfully, this was averted through a doctor prescribing some potent drugs which had an almost immediate effect on reversing this\. For myself, I was so sick from the virus that I wasn’t able to work for over two months\. The only thing that kept me out of the hospital was a daily intake of one restricted drug and double the recommended dose of steroids through nebulizer treatments\. This went on for over six weeks\. It is now almost two months since I finally started to recover and yet I am still not fully back to where I was prior to contracting Covid\-19\. On a side note, we have included an article bringing recognition to the life of Mose Stoltzfus, an older brother from one of our sister churches who died after contracting Covid\-19\. Considering these two situations, I can say of a surety that the virus is real and not a hoax; that the virus affects everybody in slightly different ways; that some people have hardly any ill effects even though they do contract the virus; and that there are some who do become very ill indeed\. ## The Vaccine booklet Back a number of issues we ran a number of articles written by a doctor on the whole issue of vaccines\. Our goal was to try to present as balanced of a view as possible\. We had numerous requests to have those articles compiled into a booklet format, which we had announced previously that we were planning to do\. We encountered a number of practical issues that needed to be sorted through, which took time \(much longer than we had anticipated\)\. Finally, we have now arrived at the point of being ready to compile and publish this booklet\. If you want to receive one or more copies of this booklet, we ask that you contact us with your contact information and the number of booklets desired, even if you have previously done so\. This will help us gauge the interest level to know how many we should print\. We can be reached by mail, phone, or email, each of which can be found inside the front cover of each issue of our magazine, *The Heartbeat of the Remnant\.* ## Continued Changes Over the last year or two we have pursued various ways of streamlining our production efforts\. One of these, which we have mentioned before is that of working towards having multiple authors write articles for the various specific columns, such as the Children’s Corner, Sister to Sister, A Word from The Doctor, etc\. One of the changes you will see is that we will have more than one doctor writing articles for the medical column\. ## Finances As you will notice, we have included a financial report in this issue for the year of 2020\. A year ago, we had made known through our annual newsletter that things were quite desperate for us financially and that we needed funds if we were going to keep going forward\. The response was overwhelming, and we have been blessed by all who decided to partner with us in this need\. However, as you can see by the financial report, there is a need for continued financial support since our expenses are ongoing\. For those of you who are actively involved in this way, we say thank you and may God richly bless your generosity\. ## A Point of Interest The children’s story in this issue of the magazine holds special interest for me\. While the details of the story may not all be according to fact, there was a John M\. and Catharine Kurtz family that lost five children in infancy and then years later they lost six children to diphtheria\. Only John S\. Kurtz survived, but was joined by two younger siblings later on\. John was ordained to the ministry at the age of 27 and married Maria Horning almost two years later\. John S\. and Maria \(Horning\) Kurtz were my great, great grandparents\. So, that line of my ancestry can be traced back through the time of another pandemic and tremendous upheaval in people’s lives, through that of the only surviving child out of a family of 12\. For me, this brings personal interest and perspective to some of the situations we are facing today\. May God bless and keep each one\. As the world becomes ever darker and more chaotic, let us as Christians draw ever closer to our Lord\. In this, He has given a command containing a promise for each of us to: *Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you\. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded –James 4:8\.* Curvin L Wenger