Pulse 18

Pulse A COLLABORATION OF ADVENTIST ACTIVISTS

SEPTEMBER 2025 ISSUE 18

OCCUPATION, NOT LIBERATION THE PRICE OF A LIFE

HOLY CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS

BUEN DÍA, RAMÓN

HOW ADVENTISTS DANCE

Uniting Hearts, Inspiring Action

CONTENTS 2 THE PULSE

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4 FEATURE

17 GO TO HEALTH

6 INSPIRE

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evolution of voter manipulation

occupation, not liberation

quotidian /\ why not? /\ new wrinkle

7 REVIEW

SPECIAL MUSIC charity to justice

the price of a life

WHO WE ARE

contributors for this issue

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STAY IN THE KNOW

9 CAMPUS LIFE

23

REVIEW

10 HEART AND MIND

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JUST REMEMBER

14 INTERACT

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holy critical thinking skills

lasting education

how adventists dance

renaming absurdities /\ citizenship rules

justlove notes /\ social media /\ online

buen día, ramón

statement on faith and democracy

INSPIRATION COLLECTIVE adventist voices /\ red letter christians

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The Pulse

THE EVOLUTION OF VOTER MANIPULATION In forty years, Republicans went from opposing Democrats’ policies, to insisting that Democrats were socialists who had no right to govern, to the idea that Republicans have a right to rig the system to keep voters from being able to elect Democrats to office. Now they appear to have gone to the next logical step: that democracy itself must be destroyed to create permanent Republican rule in order to make sure the government cannot be used for the government programs Americans want.

Trump is working to erase women and minorities from the public sphere while openly calling for a system that makes it impossible for voters to elect his opponents. The new Texas maps show how these two plans work together: people of color make up 60% of the population of Texas, but the new maps would put white voters in charge of at least 26 of the state’s 38 districts. According to Texas state representative Vince Perez, it will take about 445,000 white residents to secure a member of Congress, but about 1.4 million Latino residents or 2 million Black residents to elect one.

To put those maps in place, the Republican Texas House speaker has assigned state troopers to police the Democratic members to make sure they show up and give the

The Pulse

Republicans enough lawmakers present to conduct business. Today that police custody translated to Texas representative Nicole Collier being threatened with felony charges for talking on the phone, from a bathroom, to Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Democratic California governor Gavin Newsom.

MAGA Republicans are trying to impose the ideology of the Confederacy.

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Republicans have taken away the liberty, and now the voice, of a Black woman elected by voters to represent them in the government. This is a crisis far bigger than Texas.

War to defend their destruction of the idea of democracy to create an oligarchy. When Trump urges Republicans to slash voting rights to stop socialism and keep him in power, he makes the same argument former Confederates made after the war to keep those who would use the government for the public good from voting.

Led by Donald Trump, MAGA Republicans are trying to take the country back to the past, rewriting history by imposing the ideology of the Confederacy on the United States of America.

Trump is working to erase women and minorities from the public sphere.

When Trump says that our history focuses too much on how bad slavery was, he is not simply downplaying the realities of human enslavement: He is advocating a world in which Black people, people of color, poor people, and women should let elite white men lead, and be grateful for that paternalism. It is the same argument elite enslavers made before the Civil

—Heather Cox Richardson, “Letters from an American,” August 20, 2025

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Feature

OCCUPATION, NOT LIBERATION Trump’s ‘Liberation’ of D.C. Is Destroying Our Capital Washington, D.C., has become the stage of Trump’s latest show of force. More than 2,200 National Guard troops now line our streets, setting up checkpoints, sweeping homeless encampments, and patrolling metro stations and public areas. At Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s direction, guard members are now armed. And six Republican governors have even shipped their own Guard members here to help make D.C. “safe and beautiful.”

But safe and beautiful for whom?

What is happening in our capital has nothing to do with safety. This is intimidation. And it is harming the most vulnerable who call D.C. home —unhoused neighbors, immigrants, international students, and people of color. As D.C. schools reopened this week, children and families fear ICE and law enforcement looming presence throughout the city. That is not protection; that is persecution.

Trump insists this is about a “crime emergency”, but the Department of Justice announced earlier this year that violent crime in D.C. is at a 30-year low. The truth is much simpler, and darker. This is an authoritarian “presence patrol,” a tactic meant not to reduce

crime but to remind ordinary people— commuters, workers, families—of who holds power. A colleague said this week, “If you want to know what an authoritarian takeover looks like, just look outside your window.”

The power of the people is greater than the fear of the few.

I am outraged, but I am not surprised. Trump has been signaling this all along. He deployed the Guard to enforce his immigration crackdowns at the southern border. In June, he federalized California’s Guard to crush peaceful protests. And I remember 2020, when he called troops from 11 states to pour into D.C. to surveil those crying out for justice after George Floyd’s murder. Back then, I felt anger and fear in the presence of those uniforms. That feeling is only sharper now.

The National Guard is meant to protect people during disasters and crises, as they did in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and

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COVID-19. Now, Trump is twisting their purpose, turning them into an occupying force to protect the powerful—the White elite. Sending state Guard troops into D.C. at a president’s whim is not just reckless, it is unconstitutional. If Trump extends this to Chicago or New York, we will be living through a constitutional crisis. Our democracy itself is at stake.

What is happening has nothing to do with safety.

People power Trump has called this a “Liberation Day.” But what kind of liberation comes at the barrel of a weapon? In the Gospels, liberation meant healing, feeding, restoring life, and dignity. Jesus proclaimed freedom to the oppressed, not domination of the weak. Trump has emptied the truth from the word ‘liberation’ and fueled it with fear. That is not the word of God. It is a false gospel.

But here in D.C., real liberation is stirring. At 8 p.m. each night since the occupation began, neighbors step outside, banging pots and pans

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in defiance. The Free DC project and countless community organizers are leading marches that grow louder every evening. This is what democracy looks like. It's people rising together, refusing to be silenced or intimidated.

We need more action. People of West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee, call your governors.

Demand they bring your Guards members home. As Bob Dylan once sang in another time of racial violence and political manipulation, people can be made “only a pawn in their game.” D.C. is not a pawn in Trump’s game.

Neither is your state.

The power of the people is greater than the fear of the few. We cannot allow an authoritarian takeover to succeed. We cannot submit to the lie that safety comes from domination or that salvation comes through force. It comes from communities in solidarity, neighbors in resistance, people in hope. And that is a power no president can occupy or control.

—Jim Wallis, from “God’s Politics with Jim Wallis,” on August 28, 2025

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InSpire Don’t bustle me. Don’t now-then me.

—Eeyore

QUOTIDIAN It’s only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis.

—Margaret Bonnano

PRESCRIPTION

DETERMINATION I had felt for a long time, that if I was ever told to get up so a White person could sit, that I would refuse to do so.

—Rosa Parks

GOD’S WILL God wishes to see people happy.

—Anne Frank

Happiness is good health and a bad memory.

—Ingrid Bergman

MAY IT BE

Somewhere out in this audience may even be

NEW WRINKLE The solution to my life occurred to me one evening while I was ironing a shirt.

—Alice Munro

someone who will one day follow in my footsteps and preside over the White House as the President’s spouse. I wish him well!

WHY NOT? Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, “We’ve always done it this way.” I try to fight that.

That’s why I have a clock on my wall that runs counterclockwise.”

—Grace Hopper

—Barbara Bush

--Compiled by Chris Blake

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ReView

HOLY CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS Our campus here at Union Adventist University has endured some seasonal changes lately, not limited to extensive office musical chairs. I am grateful that my semi-organized desk piles get to stay put in Library office 206; however, this stability is not true for many with whom I work. One of the most visible changes is the relocation of Campus Ministries, which has moved from the Administration Building over to the Don Love building, right next to the library (for any alumni reading this, in the old Career Center). Our new chaplain moved directly into the new space rather than moving from one office to another, so the department’s relocation was harmoniously timed.

Colloquium week was for most of us the official “Hello!” to and from our new chaplain, and also when the new doors to Campus Ministries were propped open for the first time. Being a nosy neighbor, I welcomed myself into the space and plopped on a comfortable spot, opposite our new Chaplain Mollie Dupper. I felt welcome, and she verbally confirmed that I was.

I started blabbing. “Mollie, you know I work up there in the library and I think you and I can collaborate on a lot of cool stuff. Right now I’m geeking out on critical thinking concepts and how their application can make us more like Jesus…” We weren’t recording. I told her I’ve

been spending time on schoolofthought.org and reviewing all of the logical fallacies and cognitive biases. When I wrap my head around how one could avoid these fallacies and biases all the time, all I see is Jesus. “What if we talked about critical thinking skills through the lens of Jesus?

Isn’t it the lack of critical thinking that leads to hate, prejudice, bigotry, and everything Jesus is against? Evil counts on us to fall into traps of bad thinking.” We spent time talking about a campus in which our worships and our academic efforts produced a student with Jesus-like critical thinking skills. We dared to dream.

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I am also enjoying The Genius of Jesus by Erwin Raphael McManus, in which the author discusses how we pigeonhole Jesus as the most Holy Son of God while forgetting that He is also a quick-minded, critical-thinking genius. Jesus of Nazareth deserves to be right up there in the list of Earth’s geniuses alongside Einstein, daVinci, Mozart, and all of the brainiacs we study in our universities, but we leave Him solely to our religion departments. Without acknowledging Jesus’ genius, how else can anyone explain how a twelve-year-old Jesus, sitting in the temple, can ask all the right questions of the religious leaders and have them dumbfounded? Who could immediately see through the Pharisees’ mind games and turn an accusatory conversation right back to them–with logic and kindness? Only a genius.

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Jesus of Nazareth deserves to be right up there with other geniuses.

My hope for this new school year is that we all take a moment every day to sharpen our critical thinking skills and use them as Jesus did and does. Use them to see through gaslighting, disinformation, and political propaganda. May we who work alongside students inspire them to do the same. And may none of us have to switch offices mid-year.

—Marcia Nordmeyer

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LASTING EDUCATION Great teachers are totally undaunted. They do not drone on with endless facts about the long ago and far away. They shock the present with the past. They ridicule commonplace assumptions, rescue imaginations from the trivial, bring students into the presence of the wisest, most fascinating personalities the world has known.

Great teachers overwhelm the trash of the present with the vividness of humanity's most enduring visions. In the presence of great teachers, the forgotten and dead live again. Students are astonished and transformed. In the presence of great teachers, students experience a resurrection.

—Roy Branson

If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it.

—Margaret Fuller

Thou hast studied thyself but into a dark and damnable ignorance if thou hast labored for much learning only to prove that thou canst not be saved.

—John Donne

I would hope that your lives will be filled with the excitement of curiosity, the hunger and thirst for knowledge, the keen delight in the quest, that you will be driven from question to question as you learn and find answers, that the mysterious and the inexplicable will always be there, that you will be freed from the familiar and the trite, that you will be neither fool nor pedant, but will so combine imagination and knowledge that you will have the power to change your personal worlds and the worlds around you.

—Ottalie Stafford, commencement address

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Heart and Mind

HOW ADVENTISTS DANCE Adventists have long been famous for not dancing, yet lately we find the church swiveling, twirling, and stepping lightly. Dancing can be a joyful response to music that uplifts moods, strengthens community and health, and makes us feel good about God’s gifts of movement and creativity. However, there is also dancing that demeans us.

Ellen White writes, “The greatest want of the world is the want of men—men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.”[i] This want includes both the youth and women.

When the Seventh-day Adventist Church started, not every member agreed on abolitionism, but Adventist pioneers continued to preach and rail in print against the sin of slavery. In the decades since, the Adventist Church published numerous excellent official statements, including “Global Poverty,” “Ending Violence Against Women and Girls,” “Call for Peace,” “Racism,” “The Dangers of Climate Change,” and “Ban on Sales of Assault Weapons to Civilians.” The Church took these stands decisively, which makes our present situation even more puzzling.

On the steps of my local church after a Sabbath worship service, a friend sidled up to

me and whispered, “You know, both sides have hypocrites.” She was speaking of today’s competing U.S. political parties. Though I remained quiet in the crowd, two responses leapt to mind. First: That is no excuse for hypocrisy, which God hates. Second: In the case of contemporary U.S. politics, her statement is like saying, “You know, both Steph Curry and I play basketball.” “Both Kelly Clarkson and I can sing.”

Or “Jeff Bezos and I both have money.” There is the matter of degree.

Criticizing is simply not enough. Enter the arena.

Let us be clear. Donald Trump is dishonest, cruel, disloyal, cowardly, racist, ignorant, pandering, power-hungry, vengeful, infantile, callous, solipsistic, petty, blasphemous, moneygrasping, lecherous, thin-skinned, and shallow, as his words and actions consistently demonstrate.

He is a rapist, a serial adulterer, a fraud, a bully, an unrepentant miscreant lacking empathy and basic decency. He is Barabbas. Just when one believes he has reached bottom, he sinks lower.

The corruption is unprecedented and as old as Babylon. His niece, Mary Trump, who earned a doctoral degree in clinical psychology and has

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known him all her life, was interviewed on May 27 at the Hay Festival in Wales. She shared that she knew her uncle’s presidency was “going to be unspeakably awful” and have “a devastating impact on the most vulnerable people in the country.”

To further illustrate this point, here is an excerpt from the chapter “(Not) the Death of DEI” in my book Imagine Life (2025).

“After Trump’s first election in 2016, I was walking down an inner stairway at Union College with a respected colleague in the religion faculty. I asked him, ‘What do you think of Donald Trump?’ He stopped walking, looked down, and said sorrowfully, ‘I don’t know anyone in public life who is more unlike Jesus than Donald Trump.’

“Under the aegis of the U.S. government, entire social safety net structures and legal safeguards are now in jeopardy, some for the sake of tax breaks for extremely wealthy individuals and corporations. The speed and breadth of remorseless cruelty and corruption are astounding.

Compassionate organizations such as World Relief, ADRA, World Vision, and Samaritan’s Purse are having to lay off thousands of selfless employees. United States Agency for International Development (USAID) cuts threaten to leave millions of people without life-supporting services. Nicholas Enrich, the acting assistant administrator for global health at USAID, estimated that without USAID intervention: more than 16 million pregnant women and more than 11 million newborns would not get medical care; more than 14 million children would not get care for pneumonia and diarrhea (among the top causes of preventable deaths for children under the age of 5); 200,000 children would be paralyzed with polio; and 1 million children would not be treated for severe acute malnutrition. There would be an additional 12.5 million or more cases of malaria this year, meaning 71,000 to 166,000 deaths; as many as 775 million cases of avian flu; and 2.3 million additional deaths a year in children who could not be vaccinated against diseases.

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“And I’m supposed to care about naming the people who would be responsible for these horrors? Give me a break. This is about being ethical and being human.”[ii]

When summoned to stand courageously, we twist and bend and shimmy away.

Another option The other side, the side of silence and avoidance, may explain, We don’t wish to conflate our beliefs about God with divisive, partisan posturing. Normally that is a prudent stance to take; however, today’s scenario is different. We know it in our “inmost souls.” The dismantling of democracy, the whitewashing of history, the heartless disregarding of human suffering, the corrupting of the justice system, the misusing of the military, the poisoning of the free press, the eviscerating of civil services, the rupturing of worldwide alliances, the cozying up to brutal dictators, the canceling of $15 billion in renewable energy projects, the politicizing of disaster relief, the strong-arming of education, the supporting of genocide, the self-promoting meddling in the arts, the demonizing of immigrants, the obliterating of privacy, the exploding of the national debt, the gutting of world relief agencies, the merchandizing of the oval office, the terrorizing of vulnerable communities, the eroding of healthcare for the poor, the private profiteering of national parks, the erecting of detention camps, the commuting of sentences for violent criminals, the favoring of the ultra-wealthy, the cutting off of research for medical cures, the persecuting of political opponents, the naked pandering for illegal votes, the incessant lying and distracting and covering up and blaming all signal to clear-eyed observers, This time is different. This is evil, and it must be named.

With this in mind, I searched for any Adventist publication–such as any union paper or Adventist news website–that dares to

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“call sin by its right name,” to point out these prevailing and impending atrocities, ones that viciously afflict lives. Instead, I encounter only thousands of pages of community recognitions and heritage puff pieces and school reunions and church transitions and three angels and health tips and theoretical eschatology and handing out literature and 101 other ways to dance, dance, dance, dance. Astonishing. When confronted with blatant, intentional evil staring directly in our face, we swerve. When conscience calls, we shrug and sidestep. When summoned to stand courageously, we twist and bend and shimmy away.

Jesus assures in John 8, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” One liberating product of such knowledge is redemptive action—naming and combating the causes of suffering. Brené Brown notes, “We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time.”[iii] At this time in earth’s history, instead of ducking, spinning around, and dodging selfevident truths about Trump and his minions, another option exists–one that should be familiar to traditional Adventists.

We don’t dance.

NO OTHER LAND

The corruption is unprecedented and as old as Babylon.

Fortunately, there are credible Adventistaffiliated voices that are sounding the alarm and trumpeting calls to resist. Adventist Peace Fellowship is one voice. Adventists for Social Justice is another. Liberty magazine has made forays. My favorite movement is JustLove Collective, which features as its motto, “Uniting hearts, inspiring action.” To those critics who merely complain about official and cowardly silence from Adventist entities, criticizing is simply not enough. Enter the arena. Align with positive, confronting, active ministries.

Voting choices should never be a test of church membership, as abolitionism wasn’t in the early days of Adventism. But when–for example–millions of children are needlessly dying, we ought to raise our dissenting voices loudly and clearly. It is a moral imperative.

Through it all, we must retain our joy. We cannot let the joy robbers win. Laughter and light, goodness and grace, are the musical notes of life. It is not enough to be against something or someone—what do we stand for? Doing justly, loving kindness, and walking humbly with our God. Faithfully loving this God and without prejudice loving people.

—Chris Blake has been an editor, professor, and pastor, and is the author of the newly released book Imagine Life. All profits from the book go to JustLove Collective.

[i]

Ellen G. White, Education, Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1903, p. 57.

[ii]

Chris Blake, Imagine Life, SPECTRUM/Adventist Forum Media, 2025, pp. 213-214.

Brené Brown, Rising Strong, Random House, 2015, p. 4.

[iii]

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“THIS IS THE BOOK FOR OUR TIME . . .”

“Not merely a theological theory—a practical roadmap for living in faithful solidarity with those around us.”

—Dilys Brooks, campus chaplain at Loma Linda University

“Blake continues to sprint in his lifetime marathon to call Adventists to embrace fully the radical way of Jesus.”

—Carmen Lau, Adventist Forum Board Chair

“This is THE book for our time, to make tangible how our faith becomes lifegiving in the real world.”

—Karah Thompson, Co-Executive Director of Adventist Peace Fellowship

“Chris Blake not only walks the talk, he writes about it in sui generis style.”

—Alexander Carpenter, Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief, SPECTRUM

“This book is a movement toward restoring the world God envisions.”

—Moe Stiles, pastor/chaplain, Crosswalk Melbourne

Using ten “piercing and profound strands,” Imagine Life presents openings for going beyond the commonplace to live today as New Earth people.

Buckle up for the journey.

All profits from this book go toward JustLove Collective.

Imagine Life is available by ordering the book directly from Spectrum.

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InterAct

A SHARPIE DOES NOT A LEADER MAKE Donald Trump has issued more executive orders in the first eight months of his second term than any president in the history of the United States. Listed below are some of the more outrageous ones.

Trump loves renaming things, allegedly to reflect the greatness of the United States. Which of these is NOT an example of his fondness for renaming things?

A. Denali to Mount McKinley B. Fort Liberty to Fort Bragg C. Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America D. Kennedy Center’s Opera House to First Lady Melania Trump Opera House D. House of Representative Republicans in the Appropriations Committee, not Donald Trump, voted to rename the Kennedy Center Opera House in honor of the first lady. After taking over as board chair of the Kennedy Center, Trump did order the installation of four large portraits of himself, Melania, J.D. Vance, and his wife, Usha, in the Kennedy Center Hall of Nations. Something no U.S. president has done in the history of the center.

To soothe his obsession with election fraud and lower the amount of submissions, Trump wants to end mail-in ballots. Which of the following statements is true about election ballots?

A. Only Congress can change the rules about the way ballots are cast.

B. Only states have the authority to say how elections are run.

C. Mail-in ballots are valid only if they benefit Democratic candidates.

D. Only members of the military stationed overseas are allowed to use mail-in ballots.

B. Only states have the authority to decide when, how, and who is eligible to vote. If allowed to have his way, eliminating mail-in ballots would hurt Republican candidates as much, or more, than it would hurt Democratic candidates.

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Trump issued an executive order ending “birthright citizenship,” which gives people born in the United States United States citizenship. Which of the following statements is NOT true about birthright citizenship?

A. Birthright citizenship only applies if both parents are United States citizens.

B. Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States .......Constitution.

C. Birthright citizenship came about after the United States Civil War to guarantee former ........slaves the right to vote.

D In addition to the United States, birthright citizenship is a right in Argentina and Canada.

A. In order to qualify for birthright citizenship, neither parent has to be a United States citizen. The only qualification is for the baby to be born in the United States.

Citing a national emergency, Trump ordered National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor.” Rate the following cities with the nation’s highest crime rates from least to most. (Washington, D.C. isn’t one of them.) bit.ly/3JOZVin A. Baltimore, Maryland B. Detroit, Michigan C. Kansas City, Missouri D. Memphis, Tennessee 4) Kansas City, Missouri; 3) Baltimore, Maryland; 2) Detroit, Michigan; 1)Memphis, Tennessee. It’s interesting to note that the recent Tax and Spending Bill proposed by Trump and passed by Republicans in Congress, drastically cut spending that would have benefitted law enforcement and social programs designed to address crime rates in virtually all cities in the United States.

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CHARITY TO JUSTICE

Special Music

Charity wins awards and applause, but joining the poor gets you killed.

People do not get crucified for charity. People are crucified for living out a love that disrupts the social order, that calls forth a new world. People are not crucified for helping poor people. People are crucified for joining them.

—Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution

JLC BOOK CIRCLE ISSUE 15

01/24

ISSUE 15

Our next Book Circle is on Saturday, September 20. We will discuss the seminal book The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne (tenth anniversary edition). Shane is a powerful, fresh voice for biblical justice, a friend of JustLove Collective, and the co-creator of Red Letter Christians.

Please purchase a copy of The Irresistible Revolution for your library and join the discussion on September 20. (We will provide a link for you.) All are welcome! Each session invites us to reimagine faith as a force for social transformation.

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Go to Health

THE PRICE OF A LIFE

Reflections on a Big, Brutal Bill Passing This past July, I began my residency training, and as I reflect on the socio-political environment which surrounds this entrance, I find myself grappling with a daily existentialism, wondering: What does the practice of medicine and commitment to caring for others look like in a society which insists on stratifying itself into categories of those who deserve to live and those who do not? What does it look like when those categories are so consistently built upon the viewing of individuals as dollar signs? What does it look like to build a future as a physician and contentment in that service, in a world where the mantra “to do no harm” reflects our society’s commitment to exclusion, rather than a promise for inclusion?

While these questions are not new, recent Republican policy decisions lead to novel challenges. The recently signed H.R. 1, colloquially called the “Big Beautiful Bill,” outlines significant cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, which will likely lead to poorer health and nutritional outcomes for aging adults, increased poverty and developmental delays in children, and significant food and healthcare shortages in rural communities [1]. It also calls for an $18 billion reduction in the NIH’s discretionary budget, specifically calling for a 38% cut from

the National Cancer Institute [2], eliminating over one-third of this country’s cancer research budget. Other policy decisions, such as the freezing of visas for international medical residents only serve to exacerbate the shortage of doctors that the United States continuously faces, particularly in “less populous states like North Dakota, Wyoming and Arkansas” who rely significantly on foreign medical residents to staff their hospitals [3], but all of whom supported Trump in the last election [4].

In your quest to ensure that your neighbor is excluded, you will also reap the consequences.

In 2018, a Goldman Sachs biotech research report asked, “‘Is curing patients a sustainable business model?” [5]. Regardless of the answer, or the morality of the question, our elected officials have decided that the cost of your neighbors lives, your childrens’ future, and your health and well-being are less important than budget raises for ICE, increases in the debt ceiling, and tax cuts for the wealthy [6]. ICE is now the

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sixteenth-largest military per dollar in the world [7] , and while we state that we do not have enough money to ensure that children receive life-saving insulin, elderly Americans benefit from skilled rehab facilities, or that patients received the necessary chemotherapies, surgeries, and medications required to stave off the cancer that seeks to eat their flesh and their organs, at least their bones will be left to be swallowed by the endless hunger of “the profitmargin”.

ICE is now the sixteenth- largest military per dollar in the world.

In a video essay entitled, “Punishment, Treatment, and Prevention,” medical student Jackie Brenner stated, “We turned the first [prisons] into a system, morphed the second [hospitals]into a business, and budgeted the third [public health] into obscurity [8].”

Questions for the future With such a dismal milieu, it feels almost trite that I continue to do practice questions, fill out pre-operative consents, and complete medication reconciliations, when the patients whom I’ve committed my life to serving and healing are sick, not with a treatable virus or a bacteria, but a system of prejudice and greed which poisons their grocery stores, isolates their suffering, and bleeds their communities dry.

Rather than training physicians to deliberate whether or not our patients have Bismuth Corlette Type 1 or 4, perhaps we should first ask whether they will be able to access the treatment for either. We should ask whether our patients will be able “to follow-up with their PCP” because the nearest one is now hours away, “return to the ED” if there are any issues because theirs closed down [9], or “take this pill once per day” because they can no longer afford theirs.

And so I ask, particularly for my fellow citizens who view this particular piece of

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legislation as positive, what brings you that positivity? “Most working-age Medicaid enrollees who don't receive disability benefits already work or are looking for work, or are unable to do so because they have a disability, attend school, or care for a family member,” but now that their lives are significantly more difficult, I ask, how do you put a price on a life [10, 11] ? Are your taxes so egregious that you would rather your fellow citizen die in the street, while you continue to pay for militarization? For it is not a matter of whether or not you will pay these bills, but rather, what those dollars and cents will fund. If Medicaid patients fail to pay, hospitals and other providers will likely foot the bill [10]; thus, in your quest to ensure that your neighbor is excluded from the opportunity to receive these benefits, you will also reap the consequences. As hospitals close, emergency departments fill, and primary care physicians continue to be cut out of a profit-driven medical system, your health will also fail, your well-being will also suffer, and your children will join theirs in struggle.

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While I am glad that the job I do continues to matter, as I speak to budding medical students, I often wonder whether I should be advising them against committing to such a calling, knowing that while the theories of tolerance and acceptance envision a better world, our current society seems not yet prepared to support such an idea. I find myself torn in two, with one half committed to recommending evidence-based medicine, and progressing with unwavering plans, while the other recognizes that this route no longer seems possible for many of my patients. It recognizes that emergency rooms may double as clinic appointments, dosages of medications will be missed, and further generations of hopeful pre-meds, medical students, and residents will be forced to wrestle with a system which places our patients in these circumstances.

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Recent Republican policy decisions lead to novel challenges.

Four years into his remission after a novel NIH clinical trial, a Marine veteran and his wife were asked, “[Was your treatment] worth the money invested by taxpayers?” to which they responded: "What price do you put on life? It's our lives. It's our children's lives. It's our grandchildren's lives. What price do you put on that?” [12].

—Brandon Shin, is a resident physician, an amateur cellist, and a writer

References 1

Georgetown Center on Poverty & Inequality. (2025, April 28). SNAP and Medicaid Cuts: What’s at Stake for Children, Seniors & Rural Communities [Fact sheet]. Georgetown University. bit.ly/4lVZRdS 2 American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. (2025, May 30). Future cancer cures in jeopardy as President proposes massive cuts to National Cancer Institute [Press release]. American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. bit.ly/3K4Wt31 3 National Resident Matching Program. Results and Data: 2024 Main Residency Match. Accessed on 01 July 2025.

4 Whitford, E. (03 June 2025). Visa pause could leave U.S. with fewer new doctors amid shortage. Forbes. bit.ly/4800Git 5 Kim, T. (11 April 2018). Goldman Sachs asks in biotech research report: ‘Is curing patients a sustainable business model?’. CNBC. bit.ly/3I7Y9Ix 6 Bivens, J. (13 February 2025). “There will be pain: Continuing low tax rates for the rich and corporations will hurt working families.” Economic Policy Institute. bit.ly/4p4jFyn 7

Cole B, Feng J. (02 June 2025). “ICE Budget Now Bigger Than Most of the World's Militaries”. Newsweek. bit.ly/41BBZVP 8

Brenner, Jackie [@jackiebrenner]. “Just another page from my journal…”

Instagram, 06 June 2025.

9 Ashley, M. (03 July 2025). “18 hospital closures in 2025”. Becker’s Hospital Review. bit.ly/4mQPj0Y 10 Galewitz P, Appleby J, Rayasam R, Wolfson BJ. (02 July 2025). 5 ways Trump's megabill will limit health care access. NPR Shots. bit.ly/46liljm 11

Serena [@Play_spark]. “This bill cuts approximately 1.02 trillion dollars from Medicaid and CHIP over the next ten years…” Instagram, 06 July 2025.

12 Koppel, T. (29 June 2025). When is cancer political? Medical researchers, patients decry Trump admin’s layoffs, budget cuts. CBS News. bit.ly/41XRE1V

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Pulse / JustLove Collective / September 2025 / Issue 18

WHO WE ARE Pulse is the monthly digital magazine of JustLove Collective.

This month’s issue is sponsored by Jackie and Brian Starr. (Thank you.)

Designed by Jeffers Media.

Unless indicated otherwise all Bible references are from the New Revised Standard Version.

PULSE CORRESPONDENTS

CHRIS BLAKE Is professor emeritus at Union Adventist University where he taught English and communication courses, including Conflict and Peacemaking along with Critiquing Film. He has also served as editor of Insight magazine, author of many books and articles, and pastor of two small churches.

STEPHEN CHAVEZ Is a writer and editor, retired after a career in pastoral ministry and as an assistant editor of Adventist Review.

MARCIA NORDMEYER Is a circulation/reference associate at Union Adventist University's library in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is happily married to Jeremy. Their two children are encouraged to read banned books.

BRANDON SHIN Is a resident physician, an amateur cellist, and an aspiring writer.

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Pulse / JustLove Collective / September 2025 / Issue 18

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ReView

BUEN DÍA, RAMÓN

Buen Día, Ramón (2015) 120 minutes (PG-13) (Also titled Guten Tag, Ramón) Rotten Tomatoes 100% critics positive Written, produced, and directed by Jorge Ramirez-Suarez Starring Kristyan Ferrer and Ingeborg Shöner

Imagine a winsome film about immigration, one in which an 18-year-old—after trying to elude a drug cartel and failing to enter the U.S. five times—decides instead to go to Germany in the chilling winter.

But things don’t work out. With little money and without knowing a word of German, he struggles to survive on the streets of Wiesbaden.

He encounters prejudices, fears, misinterpretations, and brutal meanness.

Loneliness, snow, and ice (small i, no caps) build up. Then he meets a few locals who tangibly care about his welfare, who step up and sacrifice comfort to make sure he’s okay. They peer beyond barriers to see his humanity first.

This humorous and poignant film is shot in Durango, Mexico, and Wiesbaden, Germany. If you’re not trilingual, Spanish and German dialogues will require English subtitles, yet little seems lost in translation. The simple, lilting score supplies a fitting backdrop. Although Guten Tag, Ramón was a box office success in Germany and Mexico, it is difficult to access in the U.S. now.1 Ramirez-Suarez showcases common pleasures such as music from home and familiar drinks and foods. One memorable scene depicts a happy Ramón as he fries a burrito, takes a spicy bite of a jalapeño, and dances to merengue. During his sojourn, Ramón adds warmth to German lives and their culture, and he learns from theirs. Mary Pipher notes in The Middle of Everywhere, “People come here

penniless but not cultureless. They bring us gifts.

We can synthesize the best of our traditions with the best of theirs.”

Immigration is a frothy topic today. Are they “illegals” or “aspiring citizens”? Our framing language leads to cruelty or kindness. In His final exam, Jesus summarizes, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” 2

Are they “illegals” or “aspiring citizens”?

What does it take to open hands, hearts, and homes? To characterize the film merely as heartwarming is to oversimplify. Buen Día, Ramón offers a glimpse of what it means to be, as God so neatly put it to Abraham, “strangers in a strange land.” 3

—Chris Blake

1

During the last week of August, the film suddenly and oddly disappeared from YouTube. You can still find a YouTube “behind the scenes” short in Spanish here.

2 Matthew 25:35.

3 Genesis 15:13, KJV.

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Just Remember

STATEMENT ON CHRISTIAN FAITH AND DEMOCRACY

How much more are these principles needed now?

The United States confronts a crisis of democracy, and the American church confronts a test of faith. Democracy stands embattled, facing new threats within our nation and new challenges around the globe. The witness of “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3) stands distorted and corrupted—especially to a new generation.

The Declaration of Independence testifies that democracy is not only a political system but also a moral affirmation. In this time of pernicious polarization, we are forced to grapple anew with fundamental questions about governance, civic life, shared values, and the role of faith in shaping our collective future. The rise of anti-democratic sentiment and nationalist ideologies imperils our common life and threatens the cultivation of communal and global peace. As followers of Christ, we strive to meet this moment with clarity and courage, charity and conviction, drawing on the depths of our moral imaginations and theological traditions to articulate afresh a theology of democracy fit for our times.

We are American Christians who deeply love our country. We affirm the right of Christians to bring our faith to bear on the public square for the common good and the flourishing of all humanity. We also welcome and affirm the rights of people of all faiths and of no religious faith to speak to this crisis; this document offers a distinctly Christian perspective, but the

principles affirmed here are shared broadly across many religious and ethical traditions and by people of good will.

We face this moment with great resolve and deep humility. Christianity has had an ambivalent and at times hostile relationship with democracy, as evidenced in colonial domination and the dispossession of indigenous peoples, the brutal enslavement of Africans, and the denial of women’s rights. We continue to reckon with the legacies of slavery and segregation, and with the enduring racism that limits achievement of a true multiracial democracy.

In recent years, in the United States and around the world, the Christian faith has been distorted and leveraged in defense of authoritarian leaders who seek to erode freedoms essential to a thriving democracy. Some Christians enthusiastically praise dictatorial leaders and regimes. Some have willingly accepted or even participated in political violence. On January 6, 2021, the will of the American people and the peaceful transfer of power came under direct attack during a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In a profound distortion of the faith, some who rioted on the Capitol steps and stormed into the congressional chamber did so in the name of Jesus Christ.

We write in a moment of fierce urgency, as the people of God animated by faith, hope, and love. It is in this spirit that we reaffirm Christian

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support for democracy and invite all Christians and people of moral conscience to do the same.

In the face of these challenges, we ask our fellow Christians to join us in affirming and defending these truths.

On the Imago Dei and Human Dignity Core to Christianity is the belief that all people are made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-27) and that our loving God is incarnate in the humanity of Jesus Christ. God’s love, therefore, embraces all of humanity and calls us to respect every person. Democratic governance is an outgrowth of our divinely endowed dignity and corresponding obligation to protect the rights, freedom, and equality of all.

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and experiences, and to be hospitable to those who do not share our beliefs.

On Solidarity and the Common Good Love of neighbor calls for the inclusion of all our fellow neighbors in the political process.

Democratic participation enables individuals to live in service to, and in solidarity with one another—especially the marginalized among us.

As Christians, we are called not merely to pursue self-interest, but to prioritize the collective good.

On participation, wealth, and poverty

The scriptures attest that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Although humans bear the divine image, the capacity for sin runs through every human heart, and every nation. Christians are not immune from this reality. The mechanisms of democracy, the balances of power, and the protections of a Constitutional framework rein in human tendencies to dominate, demean, and exploit.

In Matthew, Jesus calls Christians to demonstrate special care for the vulnerable, saying: “As you have done to the least of these, you have done to me.” Too often, American Christians have been guilty of idolatry, of worshiping money and power rather than the one true God. All citizens, regardless of wealth or income, should be able to participate fully in shaping our life together. Money should not buy greater influence, and Christians should work to overcome all unjust exclusion from civic participation as commanded in the Bible by the God of justice.

On Truth and Integrity

On Religious Pluralism

We are called to speak truth, put away falsehood, and walk in integrity (Prov. 11:3; Eph. 4:25). Jesus said, “you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32); therefore, the opposite of truth is captivity. A healthy democracy rests upon a foundation of truth. For that reason, we must work to foster trust among citizens, to elect leaders with demonstrated integrity, and, with gratitude for the tens of thousands of election workers who labor to ensure that all voices are heard, to keep our elections safe, secure, and fair.

On Peacemaking and Bridge-Building

On Human Sin

On Loving the Stranger and the Enemy Jesus teaches us that loving God and loving neighbor are inseparable, and that loving our neighbors includes loving the stranger (Lk. 10:2537) and our enemies (Mt. 5:44). We are obligated to reach out to those with whom we disagree, to empathize with those of different backgrounds

The gospel of Jesus Christ advances through divine grace and human persuasion, not by government power and coercion (2 Cor. 5:11; Eph. 2:8). A democracy respects and protects the freedom of the human conscience to discern and decide on matters of religious faith.

Christian communities and democratic societies alike must recognize religious pluralism and uphold religious freedom, respecting both minority and majority religious beliefs.

Jesus called peacemakers “blessed” and declared them “children of God” (Matt. 5:9).

Rather than stir conflict and seed mistrust, Christians are to “live peaceably with all” (Rom. 12:18). In this spirit, Christians should collaborate with individuals and institutions—religious or secular—to work for the common good and for the realization of a more just world at peace.

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We now face specific threats to undermine and weaken our democratic system that are in direct opposition to these foundational Christian principles. Because we are committed to the core values above, we stand together against these threats.

Because every human being is of equal value and worth before God, we reject any attempt to limit, suppress, intimidate, or subvert equal participation in our democracy on account of a person’s skin color, economic status, or political opinions. We believe in transparently fair elections. We reject all efforts to inhibit voter participation, including curtailing opportunities for voter registration, obscuring information about how and when to cast ballots, removing eligible voters from voter registration lists, and reducing polling station hours in targeted areas.

We firmly reject any intimidation or threats against election administrators and poll workers, or voters themselves, regardless of political persuasion.

Because democratic life requires pluralism, we repudiate political systems, parties, movements, laws, regulations, and policies that raise any group of people, including Christians, above others by granting them special rights and privileges. Specifically, we repudiate the tenets of Christian Nationalism and the idea that Christians or Christianity should hold a place of privilege and power in our nation’s governance.

Because peace and stability are characteristics of a healthy democracy, we condemn the rising tide of violent language and behaviors, including violent threats and actions against public servants, election workers, and fellow citizens.

Because truth-telling is integral to the pursuit of solidarity and the common good, we denounce the sowing of falsehood about election outcomes, the use of lies and halftruths by officials and candidates to distort truth, and the weaponization of fear and despair as a strategy to acquire or maintain power. As signers, we differ on many moral and social issues—on how to achieve a more equitable society, on war and foreign policy, on abortion and reproductive health, and on issues related

to gender and sexuality–but we are committed to preserving a democratic space within which we can collectively discern the way forward with respect to these vital issues.

We realize that for some, signing this statement will put themselves and their livelihoods at risk, but we are convinced that the urgency of our moment requires such courage.

We cannot remain neutral about the choices before us.

NO OTHER LAND

For some, signing this document will put themselves and their livelihoods at risk.

This is a kairos time, to use biblical language–a moment that can change time, altering events for decades, even generations to come. This electoral season, each one of us must stand for democracy’s future. We must resist cynicism, apathy, and fear; withdrawing from the electoral process only risks consolidating power in the hands of those who would abuse it. We cannot transform democracy unless we save it. As Christians, we are people of hope. The resurrection of Jesus Christ powerfully attests that life overcomes death, and that what is to come is far better than what is; “Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” Pressing forward with confidence in God’s sustaining care, we call on all Christians and people of good will to work together to reawaken democratic spirit and improve American democracy.

In keeping with these principles, we, the undersigned, commit to advancing a multiracial, multi-faith, multi-generational democracy, where every voice is valued and every person afforded the opportunity to participate fully and freely in the life of the community. ..............—One-year anniversary, established ................on September 19, 2024

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Love LIBERATES

sdakinship.org

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INSPIRATION COLLECTIVE Podcasts we just love

A House on Fire: This Adventist Peace Fellowship podcast series is based on the excellent book on race and racism

Red Letter Christian Podcast: Christian commentary on the way of Jesus in the world today

Adventist Voices: Weekly podcast and companion to Spectrum designed to foster community through conversation

Adventist Pilgrimage: A lively monthly podcast focusing on the academic side of Adventist history

The Social Jesus Podcast talks about the intersection of Jesus, faith, and social justice today

Just Liberty: A fresh, balanced take on religious liberty—where justice and liberty meet

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Gratitude We are particularly grateful for every contribution to JustLove Collective. Donations are tax-deductible. Though we are a global movement of volunteers, we do need to pay for expenses related to this magazine and to the Summit. For more information, please see our website at justlovecollective.org

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