Coming Events
(Contact me at mail@sosmin.com or (510) 282-5629 for outreach locations and times one or two days before outreach.)
Friday April 9, 16, 23 3-6 PM Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods.
Saturday April 10, 17, 24 12-5 PM Fisherman’s Wharf Taylor and Embarcadero St.
HOW WE LOST OUR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Dear Christian friends,
The COVID lockdown began last March as “15 days to flatten the curve,” i.e., keep hospitals from being overwhelmed. That lockdown has continued for a year now, with no end in sight. For the past year, the vast majority of churches in California have not had in-person meetings. Our state has some of the strictest regulations in the nation regarding church meetings. Twice the US Supreme Court declared these rules unconstitutional. On December 3, the Court set aside a ruling that prevented services at Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena. This followed an earlier Supreme Court ruling against New York’s church closure order. Then on Feb. 5, the US Supreme Court ruled that California’s order against indoor church meetings was unconstitutional.
Unfortunately, they kept in place a 25% limit on attendance size and the ban on singing in church. The Biblical commands to lay hands on the sick and on new elders and the command for new believers to be baptized can’t be legally obeyed in most of California.
Many San Francisco churches are still not meeting indoors. While they can legally meet, singing would still be illegal and masks and social distancing rules would make real fellowship essentially impossible. One church announced meetings, but members could only attend once a month because of space restrictions and the month of March had already been fully reserved on March 1. Everyone had to stay in their designated location separated from non-household members and wear a mask throughout the meeting.
So where does this leave the church in the US? Will we ever be able to gather to worship God as He commands without government interference? I don’t know. I do hope that the result is a purified church, however large or small it is. I hope that those churches that remain will be ones that have decided to obey God and not man, that they will not be paralyzed by fear of a disease or of the government, that there will once again be gatherings where there is true fellowship of believers, sincere prayer, and a serious commitment to bring the gospel to the lost.
Ivermectin
Undoubtedly, you have heard a lot about COVID-19 vaccines in recent months. But have you heard about Ivermectin? If not, why not? During the past few months, many of my friends have become sick from COVID-19. Three have been hospitalized. As far as I know, none got sick from attending an evangelism outreach. But this is a serious disease, especially for those who are older with preexisting conditions.
I have serious issues with the way our worlds’ governments are handling this pandemic. One big problem is the way medicine has become politicized. Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) were among the outpatient therapies for COVID-19 touted at a US Senate hearing in December featuring six prominent physicians who called for removing obstacles to obtaining the drugs, contending they are saving lives.
“The doctors who have had the courage to follow the Hippocratic oath and use their off-label prescription rights to treat patients using HCQ have been scorned and state medical boards have threatened to withdraw their licenses,” Senator Johnson said. In the December hearing, Pierre Kory, associate professor of medicine at St. Luke’s Aurora Medical Center, presented evidence that Ivermectin prevents infection and saves lives.
I have spent a lot of time researching COVID-19. I have put together a file now 145 pages long with links and excerpts from articles I have read on the subject. One of the best websites I have found is c19ivermectin.com. On this site, it goes through a number of possible remedies for COVID-19 and details the results of scientific research into the effectiveness of each drug.
The most effective drug is Ivermectin. In 42 trials, 21 of which were randomized, controlled trials involving almost 15,000 patients, it was found to be 89% effective in preventing COVID and 83% effective in early treatment.
Ivermectin has been adopted for use in preventing and treating COVID in many nations. One of them, Bangladesh, adopted Ivermectin use nationwide in June, 2020. Their COVID death rate is 51 per million, compared to 1626 deaths per million in the US. Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated nations on earth, and one of the poorest. “Social distancing” is impossible in much of the nation.
Despite more than 40 positive studies on Ivermectin for COVID, the US Food and Drug Administration seems stuck in a time warp. Its web site calls the Australian study from eight months ago “recently released” while still declaring, without acknowledging newer studies, that “additional testing is needed.” That’s fine, but our government is not willing to fund these studies – despite spending trillions of dollars in their fight against COVID. Just three studies on Ivermectin are proceeding in the United States – and none is funded by the National Institutes of Health or any other U.S. agency.
Ivermectin has been used, mostly for treating parasite infections, for 45 years by hundreds of millions of people. It is one of the safest drugs around, with very few side effects. A review in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology concluded “Ivermectin continues to provide a high margin of safety.” I have been taking about 12 mg a week for the past 7 weeks for COVID prevention with no side effects. It is available without prescription as Ivermectin paste for horses at Amazon and at most animal supply stores. 1/5 of a tube is right for most people and a tube costs about $5. It’s best taken before bedtime (but maybe with something sweet like ice cream). It is also available by prescription at myfreedoctor.com.
I also take zinc 50mg/day, Quercetin 800 mg/day (both best taken with meat), Vitamin D 2000 IU per day, Vitamin C 1000 mg/day and aspirin 81 mg/day. HCQ is only available by prescription. 400 mg/day for 5 days, and only seems to work within 3 days of getting symptoms. You can get online prescriptions for all these COVID medicines and more on a donation basis at myfreedoctor.com. It is a good idea to have some on hand in case you need it. (Speak with a doctor about HCQ precautions. But it has been used safely by hundreds of millions of people for 60 years.) It can have side effects but is about 70% effective with early treatment. Azithromycin is also available by prescription to help with infections.
As for COVID vaccines, I am concerned about their long-term safety. These are the first mRNA vaccines to be approved. They have only been tested for a few months, so we really don’t know if they are safe long-term. Five years from now, we may decide they are wonderful, or terrible. I would prefer to use a drug that has been taken safely by hundreds of millions of people for 45 or more years.
On the Streets
On Fri. Dec. 4, we witnessed at Hayes and Octavia St. The first two times we came here, the police arrived but refused to shut us down. This time, after an hour, a police officer ordered us to stop using our amplifier. We moved to 16th St. and Valencia. Mike witnessed to Sundeep, from India. He said, “I don’t like the Christian God. He’s too merciful.”(This, perhaps, is the strangest objection I’ve heard to the gospel.)
The next day, we witnessed at Fisherman’s Wharf. David Lynn, leader of Christ Forgiveness Ministries based in Toronto, came to San Francisco to evangelize for 10 days. They have a very popular YouTube channel and their videos have up to 1.4 million views. That afternoon, he announced on the internet that he would be preaching at Pier 39 and 50 Christians showed up. Later they marched to the Franciscan Restaurant and preached with us at our main outreach location. That night, several of our house members joined them in witnessing at 16th St. and Mission. Corey met Robert, 35, who had bone cancer and had been unable to speak. They communicated using his cell phone. After Corey prayed for him, he was able to speak clearly for the first time in six months! On December 12, they baptized 49 people at Baker Beach! They have since started a church that meets in city parks.
On December 6, all outdoor dining in San Francisco was shut down because of a new lockdown order. This order, along with the fear that accompanied it, caused the streets of San Francisco to have far fewer people. Even Fisherman’s Wharf was now empty. We drove around the city and found there were still a lot of people at 4th St. and Market. So we witnessed there for the rest of December.
On Fri. December 11, Andy and I prayed with Darren, 23, who said he wanted to commit his life to Christ. During the outreach, I received a phone call from Antoine, 25. Alex and Corey had been ministering to him. He says he struggles with demons and wanted someone to pray with him. Mike spoke with Lorrie. Two years ago, Cal and Mike had witnessed to her at UN Plaza. She had been in jail several times and was very angry. After they ministered to her, she committed her life to Christ. Today she is doing well spiritually and spends a lot of time studying the Bible.
A Final Word
Thank you again for your prayers and financial support for this ministry.
Last Saturday, while preparing for outreach, I noticed that we have run out of gospel tracts. It will cost $2200 to print 100,000 tracts. If you can help with this expense, it would be a great blessing. We need to order them within the next month.
Our life on this earth is short. We should do everything we can to reach as many people as we can for Jesus.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
