More on BLM and CDC from last Sunday’s message (9/6)

Some have asked about the BLM and CDC source information mentioned in last Sundays sermon here. Below are some of the statements from the message with the website data for reference:

I would argue biblically "unborn lives matters" (Psalm 139:13-14). I said in the message "Black lives matter is a profoundly true argument. They matter to God and don’t miss the cry behind that of those who haven’t felt they matter (and saying ‘all lives matter’ won’t reach them or lumping all with rioters). But don’t let the statement "black lives matter" delude you to what the organization Black Lives Matter (BLM) says:

- BlackLivesMatter.com: We call for a national defunding of police https://blacklivesmatter.com/defundthepolice/

- BLM Blog: We deserve and thus we demand reproductive justice that gives us autonomy over our bodies [right to abort black lives, tragically to that statement, "unborn black lives don't matter"] https://blacklivesmatter.com/responsestate-of-the-union/ 

- BLM's What We Believe page: We foster a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking [thinking that normal sexual or marital relations are for a man and a woman]

…We do the work required to dismantle cisgender privilege [sex based on how you’re born, that "privilege" they recognize requires work to dismantle, which they aim to]

…We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure [mom+dad family, as biblically defined, this they explicitly say they disrupt]

https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/

Most joining BLM protests are unaware of that. Don’t be misled by an anti-racist motto to an anti-righteousness movement. Don’t be deluded by a plausible sounding statement (Colossians 2:8) to BLM’s organization. There’s good people caught up in that, but there’s forces using it and them...

[For more on the Marxism behind movements like this, listen to our Sunday PM Q&A here from the 32:30 mark or click here for Voddie Baucham Q&A on Marxism, BLM, etc.] 

The message also talked about CDC data to be careful with how it's portrayed 

Both sides can and have misrepresented data. I said in the message "The Center for Disease Control (CDC) tracks ‘deaths involving coronavirus’ and ‘deaths with confirmed or presumed COVID-19’ (their words, but different than how media often portrays as confirmed deaths caused by the virus). Many thousands of reported "COVID-19 deaths" died of other causes, according to CDC data below (from their site 9/3/20):

Of the 170,000+ deaths with COVID-19, CDC says the death certificates listed cardiac arrest for 21,000+ and/or heart failure/disease was listed for 30,000+

15,000+ dying with the virus had renal (kidney) failure listed by CDC for what led to death

5,000 of "COVID-19 deaths" listed injury or poisoning as cause of death on the CDC site

82,000+ of those dying with coronavirus had ‘other conditions and causes’ (CDC wording) 

[More clarity: CDC makes clear thousands die with the virus as opposed to from the virus, or in other words it's a cause, but not the cause (solely or proximately) as the media often portrays it. Direct quotes from www.cdc.gov show that 94% of "COVID-19 deaths" actually have other causes including above listed on death certificates. CDC statement: "For 6% of the deaths [less than 10,000 total deaths], COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death… "]

Source site for the above: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#Comorbidities

The sermon pointed out "But they say it’s often the underlying cause (that can lead to some of the above conditions), or other conditions are complicated by the virus. So be careful both ways. It is serious, especially for elderly or with co-morbidities. So was the 2017 flu season, that was more dangerous to young people, and 60,000 died. The 1918 Spanish Flu killed 50 million worldwide.

U.S. churches in 1918 ceased services for weeks (not months), but they adapted safely for a 2nd wave so churches didn’t close down again or cause outbreaks.

[https://www.9marks.org/article/what-did-dc-churches-do-when-the-spanish-flu-struck-again/]

In 2020 there are thousands dead but not the millions projected to justify shutdowns. The news makes us fearful, the truth is we need to be together in care and prayer. With many millions going to church again in recent months, even anti-church media isn’t reporting deaths rising from churches this summer (a few cases were in March before social distancing protocols and with food and physical contact, *see below guidance). So don’t be deluded by headlines ..."

For the rest of the audio message from Sunday click here

*Note the language of CDC Considerations for Communities of Faith: 

Millions of Americans embrace worship as an essential part of life.  For many faith traditions, gathering together for worship is at the heart of what it means to be a community of faith... CDC offers these suggestions for faith communities to consider and accept, reject, or modify, consistent with their own faith traditions... This guidance is not intended to infringe on rights protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution or any other federal law, including the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA).

The federal government may not prescribe standards for interactions of faith communities in houses of worship, and in accordance with the First Amendment, no faith community should be asked to adopt any mitigation strategies that are more stringent than the mitigation strategies asked of similarly situated entities or activities.

In addition, we note that while many types of gatherings are important for civic and economic well-being, religious worship has particularly profound significance to communities and individuals, including as a right protected by the First Amendment."

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/faith-based.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fphp%2Ffaith-based.html