As a Christian it is hard to watch pastors across the country refuse to shut down Sunday services and gatherings, putting large numbers of congregants at danger. Even worse, some congregants and pastors have actually died already from this selfish behavior. Today I read of the death of the (self-appointed?) Bishop Gerald O. Glenn, who pastored a sizable church in Richmond, Virginia. During one of his last sermons at New Deliverance Evangelistic Church he was quoted as saying,
“I firmly believe that God is larger than this dreaded virus. You can quote me on that”
(Quoted from Bishop Gerald O. Glenn)
When speaking about the nature of the shutdowns going into effect across the country he states the following,
“I am essential,”
“I’m a preacher — I talk to God!”
(Quoted from Bishop Gerald O. Glenn)
I certainly cannot comment on whether or not he talks to God, but I am assuming that if God is talking to Bishop Glenn, he must not be listening. His family has now publicly stated that people should heed the advice of the professionals and stay at home.
Another Virginia pastor, Landin Spradlin, died of the Coronavirus that he likely contracted on a Mardi gras trip. Spradlin’s wife seems to offer some insight into her husband’s logic for not taking the virus seriously, saying,
“I was frustrated with the way that the media was very agenda driven – and it’s on both sides. I feel like the coronavirus issue turned into something that was ‘party against party’ instead of one nation under God,” (BBC)
Like many people who believe the media is an evil empire that is out to get Trump at every turn, the Spradlins ignored the many warnings by medical professionals and decided that it was all hype which was created to further divide the US population along political lines. Many people believe that the virus is being overplayed by the “left” to scare people or to make Trump look bad. Sadly, this point of view is getting people killed and placing many more in harm’s way.
Christians VS Coronavirus
It is difficult to say for certain why so many pastors are willing to risk the lives of their congregants but I think I have a solid guess. It’s the money, Lebowski!! Church giving always dips during a recession and it’s even worse when services are not being held. The vast majority of money giving to churches is done in person, through the offering. Not holding services for some churches means the pastor or it’s employees go hungry. Some will default on their debt. These are terrible ramifications but we cannot push parishioner’s lives in danger over bill payment.
The worst offenders of the shutdown will invariably be the southern-based mega-churches. Sadly, these pastors are still refusing to temporarily shut down. Mega-church pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was recently arrested for not complying with shutdown orders. However, it looks like the state of Florida is reversing that motion under the guise of “freedom”. Howard-Browne spoke on the matter, stating that he believes his church is somehow magically not able to get people infected. I assume he doesn’t know how viruses work.
“We are not a nonessential service,”
“You’re probably going to get infected at some other place, not here.”
(HeraldMailMedia)
Meanwhile, in my home state of Ohio, Solid Rock Baptist Church, which was also previously known as the home of the Big Butter Jesus statue, is refusing to shut down it’s services, which draw thousands of worshipers.
While I certainly understand why churches want to remain open, it is imperative that they shut down and move online immediately. This is not hysteria or liberal propaganda. The coronavirus does not care about your religious freedom. If you gather hundreds or thousands of people in a building and even one of them has the coronavirus, it is extremely likely that roughly 2-4% of those gathered will contract the virus. If they meet the next week it’s 8-16% depending on conditions. It spreads exponentially, hence the need to flatten the curve.
So, I’ll leave you with my final plea. Please please please stay home even if your church is still open. No one is going to care about your theory that it’s just hysteria while they are mourning your death. Moreover, if you are young and feel like you are exempt because it’s only killing older people, just remember that you are going to come into contact with many people who are at risk of dying from the virus and your selfishness could lead to others dying while you walk around feeling invincible.
The more seriously we take this virus, the faster we can move beyond it. If we don’t take this serious then it’s going to drag on and on.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52157824
Dear all,
I am compelled to add my ideas to this exchange about this ‘phenomenon’.
My aka is llkb, it stands for ‘ling kae kao baa’,. This is Thai and it loosely translates into ‘ crazy old white monkey’. So you are warned :)
I believe no human made law can suppress or alter ‘natural law’. (That probably will make people put a label on me. Don’t worry my aka covers it all :).
Sick-ness should in many cases be dialed down to dis-ease. Ill-at-ease, something that needs to be addressed. And not doctored away with drugs, suppressing the symptoms not addressing the cause (check Dethlefsen on the meaning of sickness).
There is an extensive study done by Dr Hamer, resulting in a brandnew branch of addressing health (GNM).
– Following and expanding on those ideas would reduce the use of western drugs to less than 10% of its current use. Off course the current ‘king of health’ (pharma industry) would have to step down. And a heavy war is fought by pharma and its followers against anyone holding beliefs that would threaten their (the pharma industry) money businesses.
I point out one very important idea of GNM and that is : psychic stress causes a panic attack on the human, primary defensive systems create extra body cells to help the in-living being ride the storm. After the storm lies down other body mechanisms breakdown the previously created help-forces. The residues are transported out of the body through the bloodstream, by sweating or peeing/pooing. This may be accompanied by increased body temperature, sweating, headaches (in other words it looks like the flu).
Other people can recover without experiencing any problem (current medical ‘science’ calls them asymptomatic).
Laboratories do not look for virusses or bacteria. They use sensitive equipment that find indicators (markers) or corelators that show for a present or previous medical condition. This equipment needs to be calibrated against a known and reliable ‘standard’.
And there are lots of factors involved. My take : only very qualified people can evaluate a labs report.
Vaccines, now we are coming to the crucible (lol). Why use vaccines ? To harden the immune system. So tell me, what is the immune system ? How does it operate ? Oh yeah, an army of soldier cells combating the perceived enemy.
Actually our body (or bodies) is system of symbiosis of billions of cells. All these cells have a built-in intelligence that has been accumulate over billions of years.
So labs produce something preferably weak to simulate a intrusion. The warrior cell need to learn to fight the new enemy. Maybe they will, maybe they wont (collateral damage). How to know the extend of harm a foreign intrusion (the ‘vaccine’) causes ?
My advice : go for repairability. If feeling flu-like symptoms eat protein-rich foods. Broths.
Studies done around 2007 show that EMF pulses causes to stimulate unprocessed trauma (old ‘karma’ recurring). As a side-note : ever since that time research (funded by the military) concentrates on the heating effect of EMF. No more words or research is spent (publicly) on the payload of the EMF waves. Its pulsing character excites moleculair structures to go haywire. Hence the psychic pressure, hence the feeling of being suffocated, extra lung cells are being created. Somehow on a subconscious level we start to cope with the new condition. The danger level subdues and built-in mechanism start to restore to normal conditions by destroying the extra body-cells. And this can be seen as exomes (parts of cells) floating in the bloodstream. So asymptomatic people (good in recovery) test as ‘positive’ because of the way experts define the ‘healthy conditions’ of a person. Remember current western medical science sees the body as a machine with determined / verifiable ‘levels of healthiness’ (their norm not yours).
Imo the death blow to current belief in medical science : people are being tested and found positive on markers. The consulted medical ekspert diagnoses that person as ‘uncurable’.
Then a new psychic blow is dealt to that person. And system of support will need all its energy to support this new negative. Then if this person believes in their new god ‘medicine’ the decline will hasten. Depleting that person of all energy and that person gives in and surrenders to god (lowercase on purpose).
If that same person from the depths of their soul cry out to God, then help will be available (katharsis). The psyche will be restored to normal and the body will repair (with the help of all good intended bystanders).
Infecting others or becoming infected. Some people are good influencers. In medical terms they are called super-spreaders. Fear of becoming infected calls out for a cure. That means an infector will be attracted into your life. The ‘participation mystique’ (cf Carl G. Jung) will determine the outcome. You will be infected, the infector will be cured (because of your belief system) or the search will continue (neutral).
My 2 cents.
Kind regards,
Leo.
There is more, but hey, try to digest this first.
Well now, playing in the road is quite the false syllogism. Jesus said to satan, “it is also written, do not test the Lord” (or something like that…didn’t feel like pulling up the text on my phone). But Jesus also said that he gave us authority to trample snakes and scorpions (Luke 10). I always took these to mean that one may go about confidently, unfearful of low-lying natural danger, not that one should pick them up in demonstration of faith. A more adequate analogy would be strolling along the sidewalk trusting that God will guard us against vehicular perils posed by intoxicated, distracted, or reckless motorists….not that we should amble upon the actual roadway. And should the pedestrian trip or stumble, thst GJod has given the angels charge over us for our protection.
No…. it’s a completely accurate syllogism. Purposefully putting your life at risk whether it’s in the middle of the road or in the path of a virus are both ridiculous. Neither are “low-laying” dangers. While it’s probably true that playing in the road the more dangerous than not taking precautions against a known deadly virus, the amount of danger isn’t really relevant. Purposefully putting yourself in harms way is never recommended.
On the matter of Jesus’ promise of authority to the 70 that he sent out, I think it’s presumptuous that Jesus was referring to all Christians for all time. He was speaking specifically to 70/72 disciples that he “appointed” from a larger crowd of followers. Certainly, one might desire to extend any declaration of Jesus to disciples, to all of his followers but I think that’s a dangerous game.
And what would your response be to this preacher?
Well it was an entire sermon. What part are you referring to? I’m assuming you’re referring to the main point which is that we should have faith in God and not in man or material. My response is simple..
Trusting God to get you through a bad situation is different than trusting God to rescue you from your own stupidity. Whether that stupidity is behaving in a way that really spreads a deadly virus or it’s playing in the road, it’s irrelevant.
Really? The First Amendment says that Congress can’t interfere with religion and the Fourteenth Amendment extended the Bill of Rights to all state and local governments. The only exception recognized by the Constitution is the suspension of habeas corpus in times of war. So it stands that no branch of government can shut down places of worship. The very idea of creating and carving out exceptions for national emergencies creates a precedent whereby the government could outlaw the practice of religion in the name of civil order. And this of course presages the very idea of state-regulated religion as suggested in the Book of Revelation. Ultimately we are also Americans and pastors are essentially chief executive officers of not-for-profit corporations. Parishioners are not employees; they are more like shareholders. If anything the parishioners should elect to attend or not to attend; I don’t see how it it is up to a cleric to shut down a house of worship. Aside from this, one must differentiate between the practice of faith and the exercise of faith. While attending church is first a practice of faith, attending church in the face of danger and trusting in God’s omnipotence is the exercise of faith. Rightly or wrongly who are we to dictate how another should or should not exercise faith? In that same line I’m not going to sit next to a person who is handling rattlesnakes. That’s just ridiculous and one could argue is testing the Lord. By the same token I probably would not sit next to a person who is hacking up a lung. Yet if that person asks for prayer I would lay my hands on that person and pray for him or her. All the same I don’t see how this is much different than leprosy–a comprable social stigma of former days. Lepers should in the name of brotherly love should avoid conduct which could spread the pestilence and disease to their neighbors. So I would say the same is true of people today who are ill or who believe that they might be ill. So the owner should be upon the individual to act in a manner that treats his or her neighbor with love, compassion, and charity. while it is the duty of pastors and preacher to teach, to demonstrate, and to lead by example, this duty cuts both ways and subordinating faith to fear is 100% contrary to scripture.
The 14th amendment just states that the government cannot revoke a person’s rights to life, liberty, and property without due process. Temporarily suspending gatherings does not take away anyone’s rights nor does it violate the separation of church and state. The separation clause states that the government shall not establish a state religion or tell people how to worship or what to worship. Temporarily suspending gatherings does force or compel anyone to change or adopt any religious beliefs nor does it remove any ability to practice our faith.
On the matter of faith…. God never promised to save us from our own stupidity. If I go stand in the road and pray that a semi truck doesn’t hit me, that’s not faith. That is stupidity. Likewise, if we pack people into buildings while a deadly virus is running rampant, that’s not faith. That’s stupidity.