Amazingly, healthcare powerhouse Merck admits, in its famous ​​Merck Manual, that elderly people "who are actively involved in religious groups, particularly those in major religious traditions, tend to be healthier." What's more, says Merck, "Health care practitioners should support the patient's religious involvement as long as it does not interfere with necessary medical care because such involvement may contribute to good health." 

Never mind that "religious involvement" on some level is foundational to grasping the truth of where we came from, what we're doing here and where we're going -- in particular, where we will spend eternity. If caregivers welcome visits from Christians only for the sake of temporal health, so be it. Hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ will undoubtedly draw some elderly folk through the narrow gate to eternal life even if their caregivers are only trying to help them feel a little better.    

This is especially good news for long-term-care residents living in facilities run by the spiritually dead. After all, Merck's advice may persuade such operators to ramp up their spiritual offerings, solely to make their lives easier; who cares about their motives, as long as residents are exposed to the gospel? 

As the apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:15-18, "Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from good will: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice."  Amen! 

Here's an important alert from the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC): "Incidents of elder abuse are increasing at an alarming rate across the nation, according to the U.S. Justice Department and other authoritative private and public agencies" -- and financial exploitation is "a particularly insidious form" of this problem. If you're responsible for the well-being of an elderly person, please stay alert. You'll find suggestions here. 

I've been interested in the euthanasia issue for years. It was a topic of debate  among the people I knew in the 1960s, along with the writings of reincarnation enthusiasts like Ruth Montgomery; if you’re coming back anyway, why not cut this miserable leg of your journey short? It was also a topic in my unpublished 1994 novel about the future of America under socialized medicine (I’m used to canned rejections, but in this case I received a slew of very personal and very outraged rejections from NY agents and publishers). 
 
In recent years, I've actively researched the subject. My interest has been piqued by reading about euthanasia’s increasing popularity in the Netherlands, where three different terms are used to describe it so that it doesn’t seem quite so prevalent. I know a few big fans of the late Jack Kevorkian. And get this: There really is a "Church of Euthanasia." Its slogan appears to be "Save the planet, kill yourself."  

I have certainly heard all the arguments in favor of such practices. Of course, these arguments reject the ultimate Authority on this subject and all others, the Lord God Himself. He said, “Thou shalt not kill,” and that should settle the issue once and for all. 
 
It even seems that our leaders in Washington would agree. They and their supporters keep assuring us doubters that NO ONE is talking about bureaucrats killing the elderly or even advising them to give up and die. During the Obama years, they pointed out repeatedly that the President had specifically denied that the government would do anything of the sort. “Just the opposite,” they said.
 
Right. Politicians do say such things. 
 
But since when does what a politician SAYS have anything to do with what he DOES or, in this case, WILL HAVE TO DO? Have our fearless leaders somehow managed to reverse the laws of mathematics just as they've learned to ignore scientific laws on everything from entropy to biogensis? Perhaps it's now Common Core okay to reject this plain old balance-your-checkbook equation:

Fewer Taxpayers (thanks in part to 50+million aborted babies)          
+  Oodles of Baby Boomers on Medicare and Medicaid 
Not Enough Money To Pay for It All. 
 
But hold on: Even in our topsy-turvy, "good is evil and evil is good" world, this equation should still hold. Given limited resources (and honestly, Virginia, goverment does not have its own money), healthcare will have to be rationed. And guess who’ll be the first to get rationed right out of the picture? 
 
That’s right: the folks who can no longer afford to make even a meager contribution to either government coffers or politicians’ war chests.  ​

​God help us.