What Has Happened To America?

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Truly prolife solutions. We need them. When will mass shootings and terrorist attacks end?

So many shootings and terrorist attacks have happened in these recent months and years! Disturbed, hate-filled individuals now feel free to enter any setting to do their business. A Bible study. A movie theater. A nightclub. A military base. A school. A shopping mall.




Today, it happened again and it happened in multiple locations, including an apartment, a delicatessen and a university. Six people are murdered, a suspect dead by suicide. Over a dozen people are injured, a couple seriously so. the lives of many families are altered forever. Again, we are trying to process a senseless and insane event. The finger-pointing is beginning. What were the warning signs? Could anything have been done? What was missed? Another suspect, like so many others in mass shootings, talked of feeling like an outsider, rejected, that the world was against him, that people were basically unkind, and that he was fed up and was going "to deal with it." We are, again, talking about guns and mental health. Here we go again!

We Have Become A "Culture of Violence"

One popular talk show host has a segment on her show called "Culture of Violence." This is because reporting on crime and violence has become almost routine. We have become used to crime and violence as the norm. The Investigation Discovery (ID) TV Channel has series called "Wives with Knives," Southern-Fried Homicide," Blood Relatives," "Who the (Bleep) Did I marry?" and more. On the Oxygen TV Channel there is a series called "Snapped." ON HLN there is daily programming called "On the Case." Murders are covered on most of this true crime programming, whether you talk about individual murders, serial murders, or mass murders. Rapes and sexual assaults, which are much underreported, are widely covered on these true crime channels. Many of us may wonder if violence has increased, or if we are simply hearing about it much more because of social media's accountability. These days, thanks to Smartphones and video surveillance cameras, much of what we do is caught on camera. "Caught on Camera" is a series where we can see crimes committed in real-time. Brothers and sisters in Jesus, I know that there are many here that may believe that all this is proof that we are in "the end times" and that "the time of the Anti-Christ and the Mark of the Beast" are upon us. In Fact, I have seen some posts, made by Christians on the Internet, who believe this. But if you read Scripture and the many murders from both cover to cover, have crime and violence not always been with us? What about the ultimate in crime in violence--the betrayal, arrest, crucifixion and death of God the Son?

America & Other Western Countries

If you are an American Christian, you may very likely love to sing, "God bless America." We call the US "the freest country in the world." But as my late stepdad would wonder aloud, "With all our crime, we Americans are paying the price for our great freedom." While we are used to our form of government and not to those in the rest of the Western world, isn't it interesting that we don't hear of so much crime and violence throughout other Western countries? Certainly, crimes are committed in every country but violence does not seem to happen as it does in the US. In many other Western countries, laws regulate gun safety and, in the words of "gun rights" advocates, "disarm the citizenry." I don't want to get into a gun rights debate, but it seems interesting that US rates of murders are so high. While most of us would say that our model of capitalism is closer to the Bible than other Western country's model of socialism, is that so? According the Scripture, the only reason God allowed earthly rulers is because His people would not let Him rule over them. His original plan of government is a Theocracy (His benevolent rule), not Totalitarianism, Monarchy, or even Democracy. And what would He want us to do concerning gun rights and gun ownership in the light of gun-related violence that won't end?

Another Massacre, Same Old Debates

The past weekend, we were shocked and saddened by another bloodbath involving multiple crime scenes. One gunman killed six students and injured thirteen others. Then he ended his own life. Elliot Rodger's apartment, a delicatessen and his university witness and experienced his malevolent rage at the world for his perception of rejection and alienation. He has forever scarred the lives of many, whose lives, thanks to him, will never be the same. I'm sure that most of us have heard the heart-wrenching and impassioned speeches of one grieving father, who took his grief and anger to the cameras. We heard him lash out at "craven politicians who refused to respond to Sandy Hook and to the NRA." He cried, "Why all the talk about gun rights! What about my son's right to live!?" It seems that on the heels of every massacre like this one over the past weekend, I see Second Amendment posts by people asserting their rights to gun ownership and to conceal/carry. On one's Facebook friend's page, her spouse tagged her in a lighthearted post about some gun they owned and were concealing/carrying. Apparently, a comment revealed that she owned one of her own. I saw another post about figures and stats indicating that gun control INCREASES not DECREASES crime (I don't know how accurate or biased those figures are). But these posts were posted right after the weekend of the Santa Barbara massacre. Yes, I know that this massacre also involved knives and many savage crimes involve knives! We're hearing the same old debate on mental health/mental illness and about Elliot Rodger's long history of seeing therapists, since he was eight years old. It seems that his parents did all they could to intervene. According to reports, they found his manifesto and his YouTube videos, took these to the police and did all they could to end the massacre. According to reports, they are currently even more distraught over the deaths of the victims than of the loss of their son! I find something poignant about that. While the public widely supports and unanimously agrees on the need to pray for and support survivors and the families of the victims, I fear that very few support and pray for the family of Elliot Rodgers. Brothers and sisters in Jesus, I hope you will pray for his family who are living in unimaginable grief.

God's Solution?

The Scripture tells us that evil people will get worse and worse. It is nothing that should shock us. It seems that so many of the high-profile mass shooters share (d) some traits in common. They report extreme feelings of rejection by society, of being outcasts and of not belonging anywhere. In his chilling Manifesto and in one video played on CNN, Elliot Rodgers declared that people, especially women, have rejected him and ruined his life. He exclaimed that his life was a "living hell and that he was not going to take it any more." He felt like a second-class outcast and that he was "going to get the popular people who hurt him." His painful feelings clearly morphed to rage, which is anger turned outward. That was combined with depression, as he killed himself, also. As Christians, we know that gun safety laws can curb much violence, preventing murder victims and letting many people live who otherwise would not. But these laws cannot change anyone's hearts. There are many, many Elliot Rodger's among us--people who feel isolated, excluded by others, rejected by them, and that their lives will never get any better. If you know anyone who reports feeling like Elliot Rodgers dis, reach out to him or her, especially if the person is a family member or attends worship services with you. Who knows but that you may be preventing another tragedy?

Christian Persecution: Not Just In Bible Days!

Brothers and sisters in Christ, you may probably be aware of the situation of Christians outside the US and Western Europe. You read about it from one end of the Bible to another, the treatment of the faithful. The media rarely cover it, with a few exceptions. And I would not be surprised if this is a topic that your Pastor does not cover in his sermons or your Bible teachers in Bible study. Why would they keep silent about it? It is convicting, it challenges our cultural notion that God wants us to "live our best life now" and they may think it will "offend" us and make us uncomfortable. It may.

I'm talking about global, severe persecution of our brothers and sisters in Jesus. In many parts of the world, it is very much a reality.

If you have been following the news, you may have recently hear the case of a wife and mom, Meriam Yahia Ibrahim, who was sentenced to death in Sudan. A South Sudanese Christian, Meriam is currently pregnant with her second child. She was sentenced to death row simply for "turning her back on Islam," refusing to deny her faith in Christ, and marrying a Christian man (considered "adultery"). A Change.org petition was set up for Meriam, and at the end of this post I will link to it. You may have probably heard about genocide in Sudan. Another wife and Mom, two years ago, was also sentenced to death. Asia Bibi, A Christian in Pakistan, was sentenced to death for "blasphemy" because she was counted as a "traiter" because she defended her faith. She remains in prison to this day. The Voioe of the Martyrs has mounted a petition for her on their own platform, and at the end of this post, I will link to it. Sudan and Pakistan are just two countries in the Muslim world, which have Sharia Law, which makes converting from Islam to any other religion, including Christianity, punishable by death. According to the late Richard Wurmbrand, who suffered unimaginable tortures in former Iron Curtain prisons, over 500 Christians in Muslim-dominated countries die for their Christian faith--daily! That figure does not include Christians who die for Christ in Communist countries like China and North Korea.

Many years ago, I had read the late Richard Wumbrand's TORTURED FOR CHRIST, which descibes his extreme persecution and imprisonments. That book, available in an updated edition, discusses the Christian Church behind the former Iron Curtain and brings basic awareness to global persecution of Christians in Asia, much of Africa, the Middle East, and parts of South America. Back then when I first read the book, while I believed the account, I was not yet "all in" for Christ and did not want this kind of life for myself. I admired those Christians. As time went on and I became a serious Christian, I learned about Voice of the Martyrs, a nonprofit that has been dedicated to Christians in dozens of restricted countries. They provide many different, practical ways to help such Christians and I'll link this post to that nonprofit at the end of this post. When I began using Facebook, I soon became aware of Asia Bibi and the story of her death row imprisonment for being a Christian. I would be puzzled as to why my frequent shares of the petition for her seemed not to get much support from those in my social networks. I wonder if that can be traced to the psychological term, "the circle of limited tears." This term refers to our ability to readily sympathize with those whom we identify with, whom we see as "ourselves in other circumstances" (getting cancer, grief, becoming a victim of abuse or crime). We have difficulty identifying, and hence having empathy for, those whom we see as simply "other" (those suffering atrocities worldwide, including severe persecution simply for being believers). I think that this may explain the limited "likes" and "shares" that I have seen from my Facebook friends, of Asia Bibi's petition. Before we entertain any notion that such persecution cannot touch us in the West, may I break the news to you?

You may or may not have studied the Book of Revelation in the Bible. I don't want to get into disputes about doctrine here, but there is nothing in Scripture about some secret "Rapture." I was taught about that as a teen when I was involved with the Charismatic movement and some "Jesus People." Scripture clearly teaches about a Tribulation which will come upon the Earth, where Christians will face horrible persecution death for their faith. Years ago, I read in a book that Corrie ten Boom had a vision that God revealed to her that severe persecution will be coming to the US. I don't think she was having an apparition and I believe that she was very credible as she and her family suffered great persecution in a Nazi death camp, for hiding Jews during that era. Whatever the case is and when this takes place, isn't it wise to submit to God and let Him form us into people who will be ready for such persecution? If you, as I have, done research on the lives of severely persecuted Christians, you will see that severe persecution normally purifies them rather than destroys them. Persecution, as is often pointed out, separates those who are Christ-followers from those who are Christians in name only. I wonder, if severe persecution came to the US today, how many members of our congregations would be weeded out?

Here is the West, global religious persecution is usually seen as a religious freedom and human rights issue. And it is! In Scripture, persecution is seen as a "necessary evil" for Christians, a "rite of passage," and a purifying agent. This is because severe persecution, in forcing Christians to choose for OR against Christ, precludes lukewarmness. It serves as a built-in mirror, showing our sin to us. In this way, severe persecution purifies Christians. It clarifies priorities, as such persecuted Christians often face losses such as hunger, thirst, homelessness, and are forced to depend on God completely. Like it or not, being in a state of total dependence on Him is where God wants us. Yet God also has a role for those of us who are not facing severe persecution; He has called us to "Be a voice for the voiceless" and severely persecuted Christians do not have a voice. WE must advocate for them. You may be aware of these persecutions and the overwhelming scope of global religious persecution. It's way too huge for any of us, but not for God. Below, I'll link to resources which will give you practical ways to show support for our severely persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. Will you help?

Please Sign the Petition To Free Christian Wife & Mom Asia Bibi.

Please Sign the Petition To Free Christian Wife & Mom Meriam Ibrahim.

The Voice of the Martyrs. This nonprofit is a treasure trove of information and updates about global Christian persecution. They serve severely persecuted Christians in dozens of restricted countries and in many different practical ways, including advocacy. Please check out their website; if you cannot afford to give, you can set up an account there and post prayers about specific prayer needs. We all can help in some way.

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Animal Rights & Christians

Unless you are in a cave, you cannot avoid it. You see the commercials. One airs regularly, with a spokesperson who speaks slowly and somberly, telling you something like, "Hunger, suffering, pain and abuse is all that she has ever known." You see the picture of a helpless, pitiful, dog with a bloody nose and who appeared to have been crying. She is pleading silently for you help. The spokesperson continues, "These precious, helpless animals need your help. For just nineteen dollars a month, you can rescue one of these animals from a life of torture and pain." In the background, a mournful, sad song plays, intended to stir your emotions and, together with the words you are hearing, stir you to action. You are being challenged.

The Rise of Animal Rights Advocacy

When I was growing up, in the 1960s and 1970s, I don't remember all the awareness and passion that surrounds animal rights and animal cruelty, today. I certainly understand why. Abuse of animals, just like abuse of humans, has probably not increased. We are just much more aware of it because of social media and cable TV. Animals are defenseless and cannot speak up for themselves. So when they are subjected to abuse or cruelty, what can they do? I do remember, years ago, reading a book by the Temple Grandin, ANIMALS IN TRANSLATION, written from the perspective of an autistic person who is extremely bright. She fills that book with many examples of animal cruelty during the process of slaughtering them for our meat and especially, carrying out scientific experiments on them. She does not call for the end of slaughtering animals for meat or conducting scientific experiments on animals. This book raised my awareness then. But that was still before the rise of social media. Today, there are quite of a few nonprofits, many causes, and petitions surrounding animal rights and animal cruelty. Now, because of lobbying, animal cruelty is now a felony all all 50 states in the US. Recently, a case made headlines. It was about a four-year-old boy who was horribly injured and scarred, probably for life, but a pet pit bull. There were calls for the pit bull to be "put to sleep,", as it now posed a danger. This case generated a lavish show of support and thousands of online petition signatures. Who was this tremendous show of support for? It was not for the badly injured child, but for the pit bull! I have seen many animal rights causes and petitions gather thousands of signatures and more passionate support, than many human rights causes or petitions! How this would frustrate me. What should be the Christian perspective on this be?

Scripture and Animals

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to know how we are to deal with this, as Christians. In the Old Testament book of Genesis, God told Adam, the first man, that man was to rule all the rest of creation. This includes plants and animals. It seems that many people have misused these verses and have felt free to treat animals any way they want. But those verses about authority over all creation, including creation, in no way okay any form of animal cruelty or misuses of the environment. It's true that the Bible seems to assume that people will take care of their pets and animals in general. I know that many animal rights advocates are turned off by God's Old Covenant system of using blood sacrifices of animals as temporary atonement for His people's sins. But that was His idea, not mine. God's holy, righteous nature is such that He demands the shedding of blood for forgiveness and without forgiveness we cannot access Him. We can thank Christ that these animal sacrifices are obsolete as He made that one-time sacrifice of Himself on the cross for us! In the story of Noah, when he and his family were spared in the Ark when all others died, two pairs of every animal species were also spared. In Leviticus, readers are told to show kindness to the pets of their enemies. At the end of Jonah, God rebukes the prophet for begrudging His kindness to the city's citizens AND their pets. I don't think much is said in the New Testament or by Jesus, about animals or the environment. I know that many people will find it politically incorrect that while God values the life of all His creation, He clearly values people most of all. Why? AS my stepbrother said, many years ago, "I like animals better than people. They don't start wars." One popular talk show host responded to a guest, who called a violent kidnapper an "animal," "Don't call him that. I love animals! Animals do not do these kind of things." But despite the inability of animals to sin because God made them without self-consciousness, His inexplicable grace moves Him to value human life even more than animal life.

Then What Should We Do?

We most certainly should uphold all life, including animal life. I know that many people believe that we should uphold it to the point that we consume no animal foods or use animal products. I certainly respect their position and fully understand it as a reaction to rampant animal rights abuses. I do not see any calls to such lifestyles in Scripture. I see more practical ways to combat animal cruelty and uphold animal rights. Beside signing petitions and donating to nonprofits like The Humane Society, most of us can adopt a shelter animal. Pet adoption as much easier than adopting a child. Report animal cruelty if you see it and treat your pets well. We can appreciate the qualities of God by studying animals. Maybe you can add to this?

Does Your "Sunday Best" Hide Your "Monday Worst"? Does Mine?

If you are a regular attender of worship services, your scenario is probably much like mine and others in most congregations in the developed world. You wake up and you make sure that you are prepared, wearing your very best clothes. Your hair and make-up (if you're female) are in place. You go in on your best behavior, and with your finest smile for all. If you are raising a family, you wake up, wake them up, get yourself and them all ready to you, dressed up and acting your best. Never mind that you may be coming from an environment full of chaos or strife, or may have yelled at each other on your way to the service. After the service, you may meet others for coffee, hot cocoa, doughnuts, or bagels. We make small talk and act like things are rosy in our lives. Never mind that after the service, we may return to a home of strife, instability or even abuse.

What Is Wrong With This Scenario?

This weekly scene is so woven into cultural Christianity that we see nothing wrong with it, do we? Think of it. Even as Christians, we have our lives packed into boxes. Compartmentalized. "Going to church" is just one part of our lives that we tend to keep tightly separate from the rest of our lives. We attend worship services and our fellow parishioners see us at our best. They see our finest attire and our nicest behavior. If we are able to attend Bible studies or fellowship groups, we get to know some parishioners better but still tend to "keep things light." So, brothers and sisters in Jesus, we often speak of our "church friends," and we normally have little contact with them outside of the worship environment or, at best, in fellowship gatherings. What is wrong with this? So many of us have, because of these unwritten rules, absorbed the idea that our place of worship is a "museum for saints" where we attend and feel a need, a burden, to keep up appearances. Once, very recently, I expressed my frustration to my mom about this. "That is just how church is; everyone goes to be on their best behavior." But is this how God meant it to be?

The Scriptural Model
In the Bible, the model of the faith family looked quite different from today. Yes, that was a different time and a different culture. But even taking that into consideration, what does that model tell us today? First of all, the first followers of Jesus were outcasts, including the "tax collectors and sinners" Jesus hung out with, common fishermen, and women, people who were usually not seen as high-status converts. When the believers officially became the Christian Church, and grew, they still met in each other's homes and on a regular basis. I do not see that they compartmentalized their lives. Their faith was not a cultural faith; it was countercultural. So many have said that Constantine, by making Christianity legal, has proved to be the worst thing that has happened to the Church of Jesus Christ. His actions opened the door to cultural Christianity. With it came a watered-down faith that has allowed so many people to join local churches where the emphasis seems to be on keeping up appearances, acting more holy and sanctified than we really are. In the past, the Church drew people of all backgrounds, poor as well as wealthy, working-class as well as business people, and outcasts as well as Establishment citizens. Today, however, many congregations seem to draw more affluent or wealthy people, white collar workers or professionals, and Establishment people. How did we get away from the Biblical model?

My Experience

When I was growing up, in the 1960s and 1970s, we lived next door to my late maternal grandmother. She attended the local Lutheran worship services regularly. When our family attended, she would come over and inspect us to make sure that we were "perfectly attired." We dared not leave the house and enter our house of worship in any other way. This instilled in me the notion that we attend our place of worship to keep up appearances. The rest of the week was separated from Sunday morning worship. "Church is just about your soul," I was often told. I often wondered, What is the point? God is omniscient and already knows us inside and out. Surely we were not doing all this and keeping up appearances, for Him! Who were we doing it for then? The answer was obvious. Ourselves. Even as an adult, it has been tough to get over this notion of the "Sunday best." I'm not against our "Sunday best," but my experience and abundant research have shown me one thing, over and over: Our "Sunday best" so often hides our "Monday worst." I wonder how many of us attend worship services and act like all is rosy in our lives and in our families when this is not the case at all. I so often have hated the superficiality of our fellowship gatherings, which I know are typical of many such gatherings. Yes, it is so much easier to be safe and to stay in my comfort zone in such settings! I think this is true for most of us. I fear that so many of us are conditioned to attend worship to look good for people there, not for the God Whom we go to worship. Because of this, most of us have subconsciously absorbed the idea that the worship service is a "museum for saints." This was all my experience, though my Bible makes it clear that Jesus hung out with "the bad guys" and reserved his opposition for the religious leaders of His day. Today is so much different. We attend worship on our "best behavior" and go home to families in homes that may be full of debt, strife, dysfunctions, secrets, or abuse. Is this what God intended?

What Can Be Done?

The things I have been describing are so much a part of our culture that we have come to embrace them, no questions asked. But we serve a God Who transcends all culture, and Who demands that we do the same if we follow Him. Yes, we should keep up our "Sunday best" and show God reverence, but maybe we can add to that "Sunday best" more practices that let the Church be what it was intended to be, a "hospital for sinners." If you can, find a person in your local church and ask him or her out for lunch or dinner and get to know this person as someone other than a "church friend." If you belong to a Bible study or fellowship group, you can find such a person out of those prospects. You can suggest that your church, if open and able to do it, can develop a voluntary program for members to pair up as "prayer partners" who will get to know each other well over a period of time. Is "keeping up appearances" at a once a week "observance" what God in Christ came and gave His life for?

Is Reading Christian Fiction Good for Us Spiritually?

In Christian bookstores over the years, a booming business has fed the appetite for many of us in the Christian community. It has substituted for a similar trend in secular bookstores. Now it has moved online. these bookstores have been the biggest suppliers of what local churches and Christian individuals use, from Bibles, Communion and Baptism supplies, and Christian books in all different categories. But there is one trend in the Christian community that seems benign and is well-meant as ministry to the Christian community. But is it?

The Rise of Christian Fiction

If you are a person who goes to Christian bookstores or visits the Christian section in a library, you are probably aware that Christian fiction has become part of the Christian book industry. Such fiction exists in historical and contemporary genres. Many of the authors view their fiction as a valid ministry tool and that God is using their fiction writing to read this generation. Some Christian fiction authors are popular enough to be able to market their fiction in mainstream bookstores, under inspirational fiction. As I write this, I have started on a book of Christian fiction. I usually don't devour large portions as so many readers claim they do, as I have other things to do. How did Christian fiction get started? I'm sure that it was started because Christian writers saw that most non-Christian fiction has traditionally been tainted by the secular worldview, especially those novels that condone or seem to glorify the ungodly use of sex and violence. Christian writers saw that many of us still like to read fiction, but want to read novels that glorify God and build us up. I commend these authors for their effort to fill this void. In earlier years, when I had more disposable income than I do now, I would often spend money on Christian fiction. What I read today are Christian novels I have bought in the past. I have been moved and touched by some of these novels. Books based on the Bible have enlightened my view of what could have been the case with Biblical characters, even as I kept in mind that the content was mostly "sanctified imagination." I have felt, though, that many of the novels I read were not quite true to life as it works, and that I could not identity with.

Effects of Christian Fiction

There's no doubt that Christian fiction fills a need. Fiction can speak to us when nothing else can, when plots and subplots are used to drive a point home. In many Christian novels, authors use plots and subplots to teach spiritual truths. I have no doubt that Christians have been drawn closer to God, and seeds of faith planted in non-Christians, because of reading these works. In their prefaces to their novels, Christian authors will often express their desire to glorify God through ministering to readers. But, as with so much of the Christian book and Christian music industry,I have noticed some trends. First, the audience that Christian authors seem to be targeting, comprise young to middle-aged, and middle-class readers. Many of the characters in these books, especially the central characters, consist of people in the above-mentioned categories. This has sent me the message that Christian authors seem to be targeting a narrow demographic. Christian romances are especially problematic in this area and I have gotten turned off by many of them. What about people who are poor, disabled, elderly, and minorities? When such people are portrayed in novels, they tend to be the "other" and minor characters. The Christian novel I'm reading portrays those who use the Social Security Disability program, as lazy, nasty, and bad parents, because of its portrayal of one character with those traits. When these novels use disabled characters, it is those whose disabilities are severe and visible. There are some fine books written to or about Black people and that address Christians and race relations. The Christian fiction market seems to do best when novels address our need to reach out to the non_christian world. Another issue? It seems that so many of these novels assume happy endings, where marriages get healed and every non-Christian is converted to faith in Christ. I have read numerous Christian novels with very rocky relationships between Christians and non-Christians, where the non-Christian becomes a Christ-follower before the end of the novel. In real life, we know that even if we pray and follow Christ, happy endings often do not happen as they do in Christian fiction. Also, it is easy, if we get into reading these Christian novels, to live vicariously through the characters to escape our own realities. I have been guilty of this. It is easier to live through others than to work on building our own lives so that we experience the "life more abundantly" that the novels' main characters come to experience.

What To Do About Christian Fiction

We certainly are much better off reading Christian fiction than the torrid, violent, and un-Biblical offerings in the world of secular fiction. We can say the same about Christian music and other Christian venues. But because these are all creations of imperfect people, none of these works compare to the Word of God. The call to exercise discernment and to "test the spirits" against the Word of God, applies to all Christian products, including Christian fiction. We are told not to "Quench the Spirit" and to "Despise prophecies" as long as they line up with Scripture. So we can enjoy Christian fiction, as long as it fits Biblical criteria and we don't make an idol of it. It is even fine to read secular fiction as long as it is wholesome and builds us up, raising awareness of crime, homelessness, poverty, and other human issues. But reading too many Christian novels, especially Christian romances, can make us disillusioned with our lives when we don't have "happy endings." They are irrelevant to many people groups because of the limited people groups whom they portray in their novels and target as readers. "All things in moderation" applies to Christian fiction as much as it does to anythings that can be used for good.

What do you say?