Thursday, July 31, 2014

Prayers for Russian Friends



I chatted today for over an hour with one of our many friends in Russia. They are very concerned about several things politically, spiritually and financially. I am asking you to pray for the LR Ministry.

I cannot use names because of the current oppression of Christians in the Russian Federation.

1. Pray for safe travels of the team. They are traveling internationally as well as nationally.

2. Pray for upcoming church training workshops on evangelistic outreach, marriage and family life.

3. Pray for money to fix their car. It is necessary to travel from church to church in a 100 mile radius of the city.

4. Pray for money to print discipleship materials.

5. Pray for the health and welfare of the team members as they work and volunteer to spread the gospel.

6. Pray for our friends in Ukraine where war is raging. Our people are trying to minister spiritually and emotionally to the casualties.

Contact me if you want personal information we cannot reveal on the internet. 


Saturday, July 26, 2014

Need to be Blessed?



Welcome Home!

This is a great way to end a long trip! 

Just imagine how the angels will welcome us in Heaven!

Is America Immigration Hurting the Poor of the World?



I have often wondered how people can argue that we do not need strong borders. They say that we are selfish and mean if we insist that we will not take millions of poor people and help them out.

Is that true? Are we selfish to close our borders to the hungry and poor who show up here desperate for assistance?

Why do other rich nations have closed borders? Are they more selfish than we?

This video may help explain some of the challenges of accepting immigrants. Let me know what you think.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Are You Planning for the Future Demographics?





Go to Patient Home Advantage if you want to plan for medical treatment. Obamacare changes everything! The focus in the future will be on one thing:::::

Self-Care rather than Expert Care.

See my new web page for more on what is happening.

NUMBER OF THE DAY

3.96 million

The number of babies born in the U.S. last year. The country's fertility rate has dropped to a record low, prompting Procter & Gamble to re-enter the adult diaper market.
Wall Street Journal, July 17, 2014

Look at these data and see the future! The elderly will be getting care at home with a relative. Retirement Homes and Nursing Homes will be overwhelmed by the Boomer population getting old and young couples NOT having babies. 

By 2020 there will be only 2 workers for every i retiree!!!


Sunday, July 20, 2014

Lowering Medical Costs? How?



The numbers of persons in America suffering with a severe disability is growing. It is growing at the lower ages and at the higher ages. American medicine is amazing because it has dramatically increased the ability of young babies to survive despite many problems while at the same time helping all of us to live longer than ever before.

But there is a cost to better medicine. Some of the survivors require a lot of care and nursing. That is very costly financially and in family pressure. The government is going broke so younger people may not have anything left in retirement accounts when they are ready to stop working.
And, we must find alternative ways to support disabled people.

Our new organization, Patient Home Advantage, is doing just that. We have carefully researched the issue and come up with tools that enable agencies and families do more with less.

Here is the video explanation.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

St. Paul and the 12 Steps



St. Paul was like the rest of us and had to figure out how to defeat besetting sins. Here is his testimony.

14-16 I can anticipate the response that is coming: “I know that all God’s commands are spiritual, but I’m not. Isn’t this also your experience?” Yes. I’m full of myself—after all, I’ve spent a long time in sin’s prison. What I don’t understand about myself is that I decide one way, but then I act another, doing things I absolutely despise. So if I can’t be trusted to figure out what is best for myself and then do it, it becomes obvious that God’s command is necessary.
17-20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

21-23 It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

24 I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

25 The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.


Read The Healing Release of the Holy Spirit to better understand these issues.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Caring Costs Time, Money and Stress



"Four in 10 adults in the U.S. are caring for an adult or child with significant health issues, up from 30 percent in 2010," according to a recent national survey by Pew Research Center. Given our aging population, that number is almost certain to increase, with employers taking a chunk of the burden, at least financially: A 2011 Gallup study says full-time employee absenteeism due to caregiving duties costs employers some $25 billion annually.
What is less obvious is the hidden impact caregiving has on employee health. Byproducts of unrelenting stress, such as depression and poor sleep, and a lack of attention to personal health, including nutrition and exercise or -- as in Heffern's case -- neglecting preventive care, take a toll. Eliza Corporation of Danvers, Mass., a leader in health engagement management, in partnership with Altarum Institute, developed the Vulnerability Index (VI) to help insurers and employers measure how life issues like caregiving, financial troubles or marital problems impact employee health. The Company says the index has three times the predictive power of self-reported health problems than traditional measures.
According to their research, these vulnerability factors make people much more susceptible to chronic conditions such as mental illness, lower back pain and diabetes. Caregiving shows a particularly strong link; caregiving employees are nearly three times more likely to be highly vulnerable to health issues than non-caregivers. The Pew study also showed that caregivers were more likely to have faced a recent health crisis than non-caregivers.
Caregiving measurably impacts employer health costs, too; according to a 2010 study of the MetLife Market Institute and the National Alliance for Caregiving, health care costs for caregivers are roughly eight percent more than non-caregiving employees, costing employers an estimated $13.4 billion per year extra.

See our new web for ideas about care.

Get the book Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty for ministry focus.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Tools That Support Wellness


Look at how may people do not follow Doctors' orders! That is why companies and government agencies spy on us. We are developing ways to help people take better care of themselves without "Big Brother" forcing us.


As you all might remember, we have set up a new organization designed to help people comply with the new ACA Laws. The ACA completely changes the way illness and issues are treated and paid for. Over the last century the focus has been on Diagnosis and Treatment and giving the Patient a treatment regime such as medications, surgery, etc. The work was done in the Medical Office by a Clinically trained Professional. The Patient was passive.

The Clinic was paid for every visit and every diagnosis including X Rays, MRIs, surgeries, etc. For example, if I went in for a hip replacement, the Doctor, Hospital and Nurses were paid a standard fee no matter what the procedure required or how long I stayed in the hospital. They got me in and out quickly and sent me home with minimal instructions about home care.

If I had a problem at home I was readmitted and the Clinical Team and the Clinic was paid again. For example, the result of a hip replacement can be two weeks of severe pain, especially if I do not get good home treatment. Many people get worried and anxious and go to the ER for treatment. Few patients have Doctors and Nurses at home and many have no strong family members to assist them.

In the ACA, that has been changed. If I go to the hospital for a hip or knee or heart surgery today, Medicare will pay a very low set fee and they will send me home. However, if I do not get great home care and must be readmitted for any reason within 30 days, the Clinic and Doctors get ZERO and the Hospital gets fined for not doing it right the first time. Even if I fall or refuse to take my medications and get an infection the Clinic and Doctors are punished.

Our new company Patient Home Advantage, has tools to help Medical Systems and Patients plan better for great home care. Cincinnati Innovates is ready to receive your vote. If we get a lot of votes we could receive financial support. The 25 to friends can put us over the top. 

Go to the web site and look for Patient Home Advantage and Family Resource Builder and vote for us please.

By the way, it is not too late to marry a Doctor or a Nurse or send one of your kids to Medical school. It is the best way to guarantee good home care.


Thursday, July 10, 2014

Families with Members who face Disabilities Need Your Vote



I have mentioned before that I lived near two relatives with severe disabilities. My Dad's brother was brain damaged and my Mom's father was severely depressed and bed fast.

My Grand Mothers were extremely busy taking care of a son and a husband. In fact. one of them developed ulcers and the other died very young. Stress takes a tremendous toll on every member of the family.

It is no wonder I became a Minister and a Counselor. That was my main role as a child and teenager. I tried to make the family feel better.

For several years we have worked hard to develop tools and processes to reduce family stresses, increase efficiency and decrease expenses. Thank God, with the assistance of gifted people like Jim Donovan and Andrea Bowsher we have accomplished great things and are ready to launch the tools.

In fact, we heard this week that two counties are ready to implement the use of the Family Resource Builder wit their staff and client families.

Now you can assist us greatly. Go to Cincinnati Innovates and vote for our entry, Patient Home Advantage with the Family Resource Builder. We have made great progress but another 100 votes could win $2,000.00 !!!


Changing the World



From the Resurrection to Constantine was about 300 years. In that time the churches of Jesus Christ grew from a few dozen to over 30 million people! How!

Big church buildings with video feeds?

Large scale revivals?

Large gatherings with healing preachers?

Distribution of Bibles?

Electing Christian legislators?

Demanding religious freedom?

Crusades forcing Christian morality?

Placing the Ten Commandments on the square?

None of the above?

All of the above?

Can you find the passages of scripture when Jesus commanded His students to do something that would successfully change the world?

We want revival. I want revival. I want to see change but the secret sauce was cooked by Jesus 2000 years ago and it still feeds hungry people and quenches their thirst.

By the way, HOPE Church here in Northern Cincinnati is doing it soon! Call them and find out what He said and what they are doing.

My store has plenty of things to help churches foster revival.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Why Support Foreign Missions?


                             Trying to hear the Lord's call!

When we first head the call of the Lord to take the good news to the people in Russia, I was a skeptic. A big skeptic! It was 1987 or 88 and we were in Norway but the pull to "Go Farther East to Russia" was strong.

My first response was, "There is no way the Communists will allow us to take our message of freedom and liberty into that closed society. (Remember that Russia was really the USSR back then. It was an atheist country.)

Then in 1988 I spoke with a Norwegian member of the Bible Society who said that the Ambassador had approached them to request 1000 Bibles in the Russian language! What was happening?

God was breaking down the Iron Curtain and I was unable to see it. (Go to the web to read more about our work.)

Despite my lack of faith, God took us to Russia and I have seen miracles. Pray for our ministry there. 


Is Revival The Best Way to Bring Changes in Society?



if revivals are so important why did Jesus forget to mention them as a source of good? What did Jesus recommend instead?

Maybe Jesus forgot. So what did Paul suggest as the best way to impact the world? Was it revivals?

C'mon, you know it was not a revival but something much more important to God.

What did every Apostle and Elder do to bring changes?

"WHAT was the #1. Most important thing Christians can do to impact society?

See Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty for some clues. 

Mathew 28 tells us and so does Ephesians 4:11

Finally, what Christian leader was the best at changing churches and society?

Monday, July 7, 2014

Help Us Win a Contest



Any of our friends all over the world can vote for us to win. Would't you like to see a friend wind $2000.00???

We need to money and as few votes might take us over the top! We are entered into the Cincinnati Innovates annual contest to foster innovation and get new ideas promoted. We are, as far as I know, the only ministry entered.

The name of our entry is PHA and that stands for Patient Home Advantage which has developed The Family Resource Builder designed to help families develop healthy support for members with a disability.

Look for PHA after you go to Vote on  the Cincinnati Innovates web. 

We have jumped from the last page to the second page in less than a week. But time is running out. Please hurry.

Gary Sweeten
www.sweetenlife.com

Patient Home Advantage


Reasons for Desiring Revials



In the last post I mentioned that many of us came to faith at a revival or at least revived era. Many came to Christ during a time the church called a "revival" so we have nostalgic reasons why we want to see it happen again.

The second reason is different. It is theological and spiritual not emotional. Many think we need a revival to bring positive changes to America and the world. We want to see people repent and change their ways.

I want that. I want to see the MAPS, Modern American Pagans, come to Christ and repent. I want to see abortion, pornography, crime, greed, etc swept away by the Holy Spirit.

Is revival the best way to accomplish that goal? I don't think so. Tune in tomorrow for my rationale.

Or, read my books and see what I mean.  

Sunday, July 6, 2014

How Best to Change the World?



The greatest revival preacher in America and England

A lot of my friends want to see a revival. I want a revival. Do you want a revival? What is revival and why would people want one?

They want a revival for several reasons.

1. Many came to faith in Christ during a revived sense of spiritual vitality and we liked it. We saw many people's lives dramatically changed and we want to see it again. An African preacher was heard praying at the tomb of John Wesley. He was saying over and over, "Do it again, Lord. Do it again!"

I agree. I would love to see the Jesus Movement operating in full force again. My life was changed radically and so were millions of others. (Read God's Forever Family by Larry Eskridge, to get the whole picture.)

More on this theme in the next post because I don't see revivals as the best way to bring societal changes. 


Saturday, July 5, 2014

Big Brother Has a List and Is Checking it Twice


Buying Cigarettes

For a patient with asthma, the hospital would be able to score how likely they are to arrive at the emergency room by looking at whether they’ve refilled their asthma medication at the pharmacy, been buying cigarettes at the grocery store and live in an area with a high pollen count, Dulin said.

The system may also score the probability of someone having a heart attack by considering factors such as the type of foods they buy and if they have a gym membership, he said.
“What we are looking to find are people before they end up in trouble,” said Dulin, who is also a practicing physician. “The idea is to use big data and predictive models to think about population health and drill down to the individual levels to find someone running into trouble that we can reach out to and try to help out.”

While the hospital can share a patient’s risk assessment with their doctor, they aren’t allowed to disclose details of the data, such as specific transactions by an individual, under the hospital’s contract with its data provider. Dulin declined to name the data provider.

Greater Detail

“The data is already used to market to people to get them to do things that might not always be in the best interest of the consumer, we are looking to apply this for something good".

While all information would be bound by doctor-patient confidentiality, he said he’s aware some people may be uncomfortable with data going to doctors and hospitals. For these people, the system is considering an opt-out mechanism that will keep their data private, Dulin said.

‘Feels Creepy’

“You have to have a relationship, it just can’t be a phone call from someone saying ‘do this’ or it just feels creepy,” he said. “The data itself doesn’t tell you the story of the person, you have to use it to find a way to connect with that person.”

Mary, a diabetes patient said she already gets calls from her health insurer to try to discuss her daily habits. She usually ignores them, she said. She doesn’t see what her doctors can learn from her spending practices that they can’t find out from her quarterly visits.

“Most of these things you can find out just by looking at the patient and seeing if they are overweight or asking them if they exercise and discussing that with them,” Murry said. “I think it is a waste of time.”

While the patients may gain from the strategy, hospitals also have a growing financial stake in knowing more about the people they care for.

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, hospital pay is becoming increasingly linked to quality metrics rather than the traditional fee-for-service model where hospitals were paid based on their numbers of tests or procedures.

Hospital Fines

As a result, the U.S. has begun levying fines against hospitals that have too many patients readmitted within a month, and rewarding hospitals that do well on a benchmark of clinical outcomes and patient surveys.

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which operates more than 20 hospitals in Pennsylvania and a health insurance plan, is using demographic and household information to try to improve patients’ health. It says it doesn’t have spending details or information from credit card transactions on individuals.

The UPMC Insurance Services Division, the health system’s insurance provider, has acquired demographic and household data, such as whether someone owns a car and how many people live in their home, on more than 2 million of its members to make predictions about which individuals are most likely to use the emergency room or an urgent care center, said Pamela Peele, the system’s chief analytics officer.

Emergency Rooms

Studies show that people with no children in the home who make less than $50,000 a year are more likely to use the emergency room, rather than a private doctor, Peele said.
UPMC wants to make sure those patients have access to a primary care physician or nurse practitioner they can contact before heading to the ER, Peele said. UPMC may also be interested in patients who don’t own a car, which could indicate they’ll have trouble getting routine, preventable care, she said.


Being able to predict which patients are likely to get sick or end up at the emergency room has become particularly valuable for hospitals that also insure their patients, a new phenomenon that’s growing in popularity. UPMC, which offers this option, would be able to save money by keeping patients out of the emergency room.

Obamacare prevents insurers from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions or charging patients more based on their health status, meaning the data can’t be used to raise rates or drop policies.

New Model

“The traditional rating and underwriting has gone away with health-care reform,” said Robert Booz, an analyst at the technology research and consulting firm Gartner Inc. (IT) “What they are trying to do is proactive care management where we know you are a patient at risk for diabetes so even before the symptoms show up we are going to try to intervene.”

Hospitals and insurers need to be mindful about crossing the “creepiness line” on how much to pry into their patients’ lives with big data, he said. It could also interfere with the doctor-patient relationship.

The strategy “is very paternalistic toward individuals, inclined to see human beings as simply the sum of data points about them,” said one official. 

The process developed by Sweeten Life Systems and Patient Home Advantage, L3C takes the opposite approach by asking people what they want to work on. We respect the privacy and sensitivity of all persons and know that their personal motivation is the key to good health.  Our new Family Resource Builder(R) encourages people to say what they want to accomplish not just what the hospital wants them to accomplish.  

The more experts insist, the more patients resist! Take a look at this link to learn how to get patients engaged without getting them ENRAGED! If you are a Social Worker, Agency Director, Counselor, Physician, Medical Administrator, contact us about how you can benefit from The Family Resource Builder.

Also, go to the Cincinnati Innovates link here to read up on our entry into the 2014 Innovation Contest. Sign in a vote for us. We need your help!

Friday, July 4, 2014

Big Brother is Watching Us



The All Seeing Eyes are Watching You!

You may soon get a call from your doctor if you’ve let your gym membership lapse, made a habit of picking up candy bars at the check-out counter or begin shopping at plus-sized stores.

That’s because some hospitals are starting to use detailed consumer data to create profiles on current and potential patients to identify those most likely to get sick, so the hospitals can intervene before they do.

Information compiled by data brokers from public records and credit card transactions can reveal where a person shops, the food they buy, and whether they smoke. The largest hospital chain in the Carolinas is plugging data for 2 million people into algorithms designed to identify high-risk patients, while Pennsylvania’s biggest system uses household and demographic data. Patients and their advocates, meanwhile, say they’re concerned that big data’s expansion into medical care will hurt the doctor-patient relationship and threaten privacy.
“It is one thing to have a number I can call if I have a problem or question, it is another thing to get unsolicited phone calls. I don’t like that,” said Jorjanne Murry, an accountant in Charlotte, North Carolina, who has Type 1 diabetes. “I think it is intrusive.”

LexisNexis is one of the largest data brokers that collects such information on individuals. They say their data are supposed to be used only for marketing, not for medical purposes or to be included in medical records.

While both sell to health insurers, they said it’s to help those companies offer better services to members.

This is one reason why we have set up a new organization,. Patient Home Advantage, L3C is designed to help people prepare for the coming implication of the new health laws. Go to our web to read more and visit Cincinnati Innovates to vote for our entry called The Family Resource Builder into the $20,000.00 contest. Help us win!

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Ready for the Reeducation Camps?


Disagreement in the USSR led to "Re-Education Camps" where Psychiatrists tried to manipulate people to agree with the leaders. 

The Soviets got exactly what they wanted.  There was no support for helping people with practical issues.  James, with its emphasis on the whole person was left out. No longer did people follow the biblical model of helping the poor and needy.

As one wag noted, “It is easier to get a divorce in the USSR than to sign out of your office for a walk in the park.” (All building entries and exits were restricted.) 

The Communists had the KGB and the Tax Officials investigate anyone suspected of disagreement with the ruling party. One man was put into prison because he drew a mustache on a photo of a leader!

When any leader starts to make decisions regardless of the will of the people, danger is on the horizon. When a President or Prime Minister refuses to obey the Constitution and Congress he/she is a threat to the nation. 

Read my book Healing Release of the Holy Spirit to see why people are sometimes so evil. 


Can that happen again? Could America see a repressive government that had the CIA and IRS investigate citizens who disagree with the leaders in power? 



Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Prevention and Wellness: Jonas Salk



Among the many celebrated participants at a 1984 conference on the power of the mind to impact the body, was Dr. Jonas Salk, whose polio vaccine had changed the world decades before.

Being the most famous immunologist in the world, the elderly Salk attempted to arbitrate the heated arguments being waged between the biological immunologists and the psychologists. And his private words to Seligman, recounted in Learned Optimism, resonated: 

   "If I were a young scientist today, I would still do immunization. But instead of immunizing kids physically, I'd do it your way. I'd immunize them psychologically. I'd see if these psychologically immunized kids could then fight off mental illness better. Physical illness too." 

The Penn Resiliency Project typifies how Seligman was able to switch his scientific gears away from learned helplessness and toward psychological immunization. By then, his work on learned helplessness had already made him an expert on depression and pessimism. He had created powerful tools capable of diagnosing how a person's level of pessimism could measure their risk for developing depression. Inspired by the work of Penn's legendary "depression wizard," Dr. Aaron T. Beck, the University Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Seligman had also spent years refining a number of cognitive techniques and exercises which helped to relieve and heal persons with depression, and prevent future recurrences of that ever-more-pervasive illness.


If you want to stop Stinking Thinking that adds greatly to depression, anxiety, fears, get my book, Power Christian Thinking. For only $3.99 you can be free!