The Light of a New Day

Here is another reason why Jesus taught in parables, and it coincides with the verses we read earlier:

Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,

“I will open my mouth in parables;
I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.” (Matt. 13:34-5 WEB)

Jesus was quoting Psalm 78:2. The whole psalm recounts the mighty ways in which God has delivered His people throughout their history. Now the greatest One of all is speaking to them: the ultimate Deliverer and Shepherd, the Messiah.

Jesus was revealing this greatest work of God to date: the Kingdom of God was being established before their very eyes. The crowds came to Jesus for many reasons: to see someone healed, to be healed, to hear a positive word, to be amazed or entertained, to be a part of something new and exciting. Good reasons? Maybe. But a deeper purpose exists. Jesus says:

From the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. (Matt. 11:12-15 WEB)

The New International Version puts it this way:

From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears, let him hear.

Do you see what Jesus is saying to the disciples?

The Law and the Prophets’ purpose was to advance God’s retaking of this planet. The sin of Adam and Eve handed this planet over to Satan; he is called the “prince of this world.” God, in Jesus, has invaded battlefield Earth and is reestablishing His rule over it. All of the creation groans under the yoke of sin:

"We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” (Romans 8:22)

Ever since man was driven from the Garden, God has sought to reestablish His relationship with His errant children. He instituted a covenantal relationship with mankind. He revealed Himself through His commandments on how a sinful man is to approach a holy God. The writer of Hebrews puts it this way:

God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds. His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high… (Heb. 1:1-3 WEB)

Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is advancing, and those who are eager and willing to really seek, ask and knock will see the very heart of God. Those who are relentless will see His purposes and love for mankind, and will gain a deeper insight as to Who God is. How so? Because Jesus, standing before the crowds and the disciples, is God Himself wrapped in frail, human flesh.

The disciples are on the front lines, so to speak, of this final and most powerful advancement God has made into this Earth: The disciples are seeing God Himself. The General has become a Soldier.

What are those things “which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world”? Here it is: God Himself will walk amongst us and write His Law upon our hearts:

Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them, says Yahweh. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people: and they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh; for they shall all know me, from their least to their greatest, says Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more. (Jer. 31:31-4 WEB)

God has never forgotten His covenant with His people. Each phase of His covenant continued the relationship with His children. God’s redemptive history culminated at this moment when Jesus appeared, pointing the way to the New Covenant: God Himself would pay the price for our sins upon the cross. God Himself would redeem us to walk as sons and daughters under His amazing grace and power. God Himself would dwell in us.

Jesus explained the parables to the disciples once the crowds dispersed. But even after a while, He grew weary with their constant questioning. Why? He wanted them to ponder the stories themselves and to allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate their thoughts.

He also wanted them to understand He was the fulfillment of the Father’s covenant with mankind. He was and still is the New Covenant.

He did want the disciples to simply walk off with a quick and easy, “Oh, That’s what it means!” in their heads. He wanted them to go deeper, beyond the stories into what was being revealed in Him.

He wants no different for you and I.

Jesus wants us to spend time at His feet. We are not to run off to read some commentary or ask someone else. He is faithful to show us if we are faithful to show up.

Jesus says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Matt. 7:7)

Those are very active verbs: “ask,” “seek,” “knock.”

We engage and He will respond. If we really want to know the heart of God, we must get off our spiritual duffs and put our mental to the metal.

Let’s lay hold of the Kingdom forcefully by knowing even better Who God is, what He expects from us and how much He loves us.

He also wants us to understand how He has never stopped honoring His covenant with mankind. He is always seeking reconciliation with us, and expects us to honor our side of the agreement: to accept His Son into our hearts and walk in obedience to His precepts.

Not Just a Story, But THE Story

 Jesus told stories that ring true to experience, because He understood how life and human beings collide.       

Jesus’ stories are part of a tradition of Wisdom Literature in the Old Testament.  Profound truths are presented in simple packages.  Solomon had his proverbs, and Jesus has (present tense) the parables. 

The parables are relational.  They are stories about us and God, and about us and others.  Just as the Ten Commandments boiled righteous living down into how we conduct ourselves before God and our fellow man, these parables enrich our thinking in the same way. 

They answer some fundamental questions:  What am I to do with this person, in this situation, and how does God see this?  

The parables of Jesus are a great “stop light” to our speeding pace through our lives.  They cause us to stop, think and now consider that we may need a change of direction in how we are handling challenging situations.

Why did Jesus use this teaching method?  A parable is:

A parable is, literally, something ‘cast alongside’ something else. Jesus’ parables were stories that were ‘cast alongside’ a truth in order to illustrate that truth. His parables were teaching aids and can be thought of as extended analogies or inspired comparisons. A common description of a parable is that it is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.[1]

Jesus' parables were indeed that, but they went deeper.  Jesus used parables that demanded that His listeners ponder what they were listening to, and then later, ponder the meaning again, looking to His Father for illumination of its truth.  If you really wanted to know what the meaning was, you would pursue it:

So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10)

Yes, these verses from Luke then go on to say the result of such a heartfelt search would be receiving the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit does reveal Jesus and so do the parables. He didn’t want His listeners to just passively hear His words.  He wanted them to listen with an earnest desire to understand. Even the disciples were curious as to His teaching method:

The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand. In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says,

‘By hearing you will hear,
    and will in no way understand;
Seeing you will see,
    and will in no way perceive:
for this people’s heart has grown callous,
    their ears are dull of hearing,
    they have closed their eyes;
or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their heart,
and would turn again;
    and I would heal them.’

“But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.”                                                                                                                                                                                                 (Matt. 13:10-17 WEB)

Huh?  Is Jesus purposely trying to be unclear as He teaches?  Ask yourself first:  Why do hearts become calloused?   Answer?  It is the hardening effect of sin.  A life lived rebelliously against God is another way of defining sin.  No, it doesn't mean you are running around killing people, or deliberately stealing tomatoes out of the produce section at your favorite store. 

Our heart hardens under our arrogance: I can do it myself, Lord! 

It hardens under our insensitivity: I don’t have time for meeting everyone’s needs! 

It hardens under our neglect: I just don’t have time for You, today, Lord.  I’m just too busy!

We stop listening to God's voice and close our eyes to His grace.  We grow blind to our need for Him.  Our sin isn’t really sin anymore—it’s our genetics, our lifestyles, our poor choices.  We downplay sin so we can continue to do whatever our flesh cries out for us to do.

God wants us to listen to Jesus’ parables and instead of saying, "Oh brother.  I don't get it.  It must not be all that important or I'd get it right off.  Never mind."

He wants us to say:  "Lord:  I don't get it.  Help me understand.  If You said it, it must be important for me to understand."

Bingo!  A parable separates those who care enough to ponder what it means from those who don't care and won't take the time to understand.  We all like to be entertained, and the parables as stories do just that.  But if we want to know more of God, His love for us and His wisdom, we will go beyond listening to the story and delve into its meaning.

God will never invade our thoughts.  He wants us to ask Him in and seek His face.  “Tell me what it means, Father,” should be our reaction to Jesus’ teaching. 

Parables take time to understand, and if our hearts are hardened, we won't take the time and we will lose out on what He has for us.  But if we seek Him, we will find a richness that will enhance our lives and our walk in Him.

---

[1] “What is a Parable?”

The Parables: Getting Personal

My delving deeply into the parables of Jesus was because of an email. 

I had not heard from my brother for fifteen years.    

One evening, I received an email from a woman who wanted to know if I could contact her, because my brother wanted to talk with me.  She had access to a computer, and was trying to get a hold of me on my brother’s behalf.  The memories came back—excruciating ones that I had tried to leave in the past and now were swirling though my mind as I read this email.

My brother had battled with drugs and alcohol for decades, and as a result, went through two marriages.  I was very close to his first wife and my two nieces.  My husband and I did all we could to help her when my brother chose his addiction over his family.  We even had his wife and his daughters come live with us when he engaged in emotional abuse and threats of violence towards her. 

He eventually became homeless and lived in his car by the city’s river.

He soon remarried, and this stormy relationship saw an arrival of another daughter.  His second wife suffered from mental illness and did everything she could to estrange my brother from us. 

He eventually left her and went to live in his car again. 

Sadly, my brother’s first wife remarried a man who had a criminal record, which did not allow for my nieces to live in the same household.  Now my two nieces would have to live elsewhere.  My brother had finally gotten an apartment, but there were drug deals going on in the park across the street.  It was not a safe neighborhood.  I then went and retrieved my two nieces and they came to live with us. 

One of the daughters chose to live with another aunt and moved out of state.

Eventually, the younger daughter went back home to live with her mother.  The parole board had said it was alright to do so, and we felt that our niece belonged with her mother, even if she had made a poor choice of a second husband.

That was back in 1996.  My last contact with my brother was listening to him say that his children were not his problem.  He laughed as I pleaded over the phone for him to be responsible.  I hung up the phone, shocked and amazed at his utter repudiation of his children. 

I lost what little respect I had for him that day. 

I lost contact with him altogether. 

Fifteen years later, I was faced with this email:  my brother wanted to reestablish contact with me.  The email also included a number of an elderly woman who offered to talk with me before I contacted him. 

I thought that best—I wanted to understand what had happened to my brother in the intervening fifteen years. I called her and she sweetly explained that after my brother’s second marriage had failed, he became homeless again, and ended up living by the river.  My brother had become mentally ill yet through the love and kindness of many, he received the medical treatment he needed and a place to live.  She was very proud of his progress.  He had helped her and husband, and he meant a lot to her. 

Wow.  I labored along and hard in my mind about what to do.  I could still hear his laughter in my head and the pain of what he put his first wife and daughters through in my heart. 

Then after spending time in prayer, it hit me:  the parable of the Prodigal Son came blazing into my mind. I was the older brother in that parable:  angry, spiteful and very hurt, glad that my brother was doing better, yet fighting the urge to throw the past into his face and say, “Look what you did to us!” 

So right then and there, I realized that this parable was not just a story told by Jesus to illustrate a truth.  It became a story that I was now living. 

The other parable that came roaring into my mind was the one involving the ungrateful servant.  The king had forgiven this guy a huge amount of debt.  This servant then hunts down a fellow servant and beats the tar out of him for a few measly coins.

I had been forgiven so much from my King, and now I resented having to forgive my brother.

Wow.  I was living inside another parable.

The parables pointed me to what Jesus was asking of me:  to forgive and be reconciled to my brother. 

I could be obedient or obstinate. 

I talked to my brother soon after, and we were able to have a good relationship in what turned out to be the final years of his life.  He found a church that ministered largely to people with drug and alcohol issues and mental heath challenges.  He played on the church’s worship team, (one Sunday I joined his team and played with him) and he preached from the pulpit.  He had a lovely partner and a nice place to live.  But sadly, the years of drug and alcohol abuse drove him so deeply into mental illness, he lost everything, and ended up dying alone in his apartment.

But I am so glad we were able to make beauty out of the ashes for a time.  I would have lost all of that if I had chosen to blow him off, and focus solely on the past.  

My experience in the real world brought the stories of Jesus to life—to real life.  Isn’t that where Jesus meets us?  In the real world?  In our world?  A resounding “Yes!” is my response. 

So, come with me as we explore the parables of Jesus.  I am certainly not the first person to explore the parables, and nor will I be the last, but I always find there is a freshness in His Word when we dig deep.  

Join me. 

 

Covid: The Modern Black Death?

Hang on.  I know this sounds like an inflammatory comparison, but bear with me.

The Black Death hit Europe with a sledgehammer. It arrived on a boat filled with dead and dying sailors, who had come back to Italy with cargo.  But when the mayor demanded the ship be sent back out, the rats had already disembarked.  The Plague, the Great Mortality, the Black Death had arrived.

Let's set the stage:  

"The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Afro-Eurasia from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing the death of 75–200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. Bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis spread by fleas, but it can also take a secondary form where it is spread person-to-person contact via aerosols causing septicaemic or pneumonic plagues...The plague created religious, social and economic upheavals, with profound effects on the course of European history." [emphasis mine]

I am intrigued by the "religious...upheavals."  As I have shared many times in my blog, I am terribly concerned about the state of the American church.  Prosperity gospel, a focus on big is blessed and rock star pastors have caused me to look askance about where we are going as the 21st century unfolds.

The death toll of the Black Death was unprecedented: 

"According to medieval historian Philip Daileader, it is likely that over four years, 45–50% of the European population died of plague. Norwegian historian Ole Benedictow suggests it could have been as much as 60% of the European population. In 1348, the disease spread so rapidly that before any physicians or government authorities had time to reflect upon its origins, about a third of the European population had already perished. In crowded cities, it was not uncommon for as much as 50% of the population to die...Monks, nuns, and priests were especially hard-hit since they cared for victims of the Black Death." 

The people acting in accordance to Christ's request that we offer cold water to the thirsty and clothing to the naked were the heroes of their day.  

How did people respond to the overwhelming death rate and terror?

"Renewed religious fervour [sic] and fanaticism bloomed in the wake of the Black Death. Some Europeans targeted 'various groups such as Jews, friars, foreigners, beggars, pilgrims', lepers, and Romani,  blaming them for the crisis. Lepers, and others with skin diseases...were killed throughout Europe.

Because 14th-century healers and governments were at a loss to explain or stop the disease, Europeans turned to  astrological  forces, earthquakes, and the poisoning of wells by Jews as possible reasons for outbreaks. Many believed the epidemic was a punishment by God for their sins, and could be relieved by winning God's forgiveness. 

There were many attacks against Jewish communities."

Blame and fear are a potent mix.  When chaos is reintroduced into society, we question and ask, "Why?"  The genius of the Hebrew people in the Old Testament was to ascribe meaning to their suffering and see it as a invitation to return to God, after their sinful wandering and disobedience to God's decrees.

In fact, I would argue that suffering is a hard but penetrating way to question how we are living--are we walking in accordance with God's revealed ways and not staying entrenched with man-made philosophies and beliefs?  Paul is emphatic when he says, 

"Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ." (Col. 2:8) 

Remember that he was writing to the believers at Colossae.  The  church can be infiltrated with ideas and beliefs that are not of Christ.  All ideas, spiritual and cultural, must be looked at with Christ and His revelation in mind.  

I wonder if, to those outsiders watching the Christian church,  will be Christians who insisted "I have faith, not fear" and then caught Covid and maybe even died.  These Christians used their faith as a kind of shield, a free pass away from any scientific approach to the pandemic and then when they caught it, they turned to the very medical establishment that they had derided and dismissed.  

How many family members will weep over their departed loved one, because that person would not get vaccinated, refused to wear a mask, and in general, acted as if Covid was nothing to be hung up about and then caught Covid, went to the ER and struggled to survive.  This person either returned home very broken by the ordeal or died, alone, in a hospital room.

The line that was drawn in the sand by people who thought this whole thing was a hoax or greatly exaggerated and then blamed Big Pharma, Greedy Doctors and Big Invasive Government might have been the same people who hunted down people in the Middle Ages, looking for (different) culprits while another pandemic raged.

I continue to be extremely saddened by those fellow believers who have entered heaven way before their time.  Will their "faith not fear" protest bring comfort to those who are left behind? 

The Black Death forever changed European society.  

How will Covid forever change our society?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death

 

What is the True Gift of Christmas?

Here it is, the first day of the New Year.  Wow: What a wild ride 2021 has been.  What saddens me when the holiday season ends is the makeshift mangers on church lawns goes empty again.  All that remains is the rickety roof, and bit of straw, and another year must go by before we find the occupants having returned and the manger full.

But that is what is so miraculous about Christmas.  The manger was filled with not just animals, a mother giving birth and kings who sought the true King, but it is always filled with light.  

No one puts together a manger and leaves it dark.  Some kind of light is present; that is truly how God works.  His light led the children of Israel across the desert and  His light is there to lead us.

In other words, Jesus is there, waiting for us, no matter how far we wander away.  

The manger fills up each year with the hope of Christmas.

Yet, there is a divine irony here.

The tomb was filled with the broken body of Christ.  We don't go to a tomb set up on a lawn and expect to see a linen-wrapped body.

Nor do we set up a cross with a suffering Servant upon it.

The tomb doesn't fill up year after year, nor does the cross.

Both are empty for the Lord of the Universe, the King of kings and the very Son of God has a new residence: our hearts.  We only have to call upon His name and He comes and stays in our hearts, year after year.  And if we should wander away, He is only a prayer away.

Blessings on you in 2022. 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Didn't Change a Thing

I was listening to Greg Laurie yesterday, and he made an interesting observation.  He said that our perception of Christmas is rather clean and neat, especially in regards to the shepherds.  They were dirty and smelly and yet angels appeared to them.  

I began thinking about what changed the day Jesus was born.  I sadly concluded, nothing. Stay with me on this one. 

Rome still ruled with violence and swift retaliation for any threats against its autocratic rule.  Caesar Augustus continued to refer to himself as the "son of god."

Herod still ruled over the area where Jesus was born.  He would later seal his cruel and irreverent reign by killing innocent children in an attempt to eliminate any claimants to his throne.

The poor were still poor.

The rich were still rich.  

The Jewish people were still in their own land but with the glory days of King David far behind them and the pagan rule of a cruel people still on them.

In the quiet of a village night, a small newborn cried.  All around Him the world carried on, no different from the day before and no different in the days to come.

What exactly did the angels tell those shepherds? 

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 

                                                                            (Luke 2: 8-14)

Something did change here.  The shepherds had something to go look for: 

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (Luke 2:15-20) 

Maybe that is what changed that first Christmas.  We had Someone  to go and look for and He would be there. 

There is a wonderful scene in the movie, Shadowlands, (about C.S. Lewis) where Joy's son comes to Lewis's house and he runs upstairs to find the wardrobe.  He flings the doors open, expecting to see the entrance to the world of the Lion and all the characters of that story.  He just sees clothing hanging there, silent and still.

Isn't that humanity?  We go looking in every "wardrobe" expecting to find what our imaginations have created, only to find, well, nothing but the ordinary, the mundane, the usual, the still broken.

Jesus' birth changed nothing in the world that day. But, and this is huge:  He gave us Himself to go and find. Those who sincerely seek Him are never disappointed.  

Even the lowliest of us can find Him.  Think of the shepherds.

Even the mightiest of us can find Him.  Think of the magi.

Even the most ordinary of us can find Him.  Think of May, Joseph, Zechariah and Elizabeth.

That night, when that newborn cried, a Light pierced the darkness and said, Come find Me.  I am at the end of your searching, your longing. Everything around you will be the same, but when you find Me, that will change you, and a changed you will go out and bring the light this broken world so desperately needs.  

True, nothing in the world changed the night of Jesus' birth, but in that small gathering of  people in the Christmas story, everything changed.  Forever. 

Merry Christmas and be blessed in His name!

The San Andreas Fault of the Church: Covid-19 (Part II)

I am looking at the metaphorical earthquake that hit the evangelical church in America.  It is called Covid-19.  It showed the weaknesses of the church and how we are still trying to sort out what happened and why.

This is my small effort to weigh in.  A friend of my daughter's made an interesting point about "scope of practice."  Every profession has one, he said, including pastors.  

So I went and looked it up.  Here's what Dr. Google said, " Scope of practice helps to identify procedures, actions and processes an individual is permitted to perform. An individual's scope of practice is also based on specific education, experiences and demonstrated competence." [bolded in the original]

It applies to healthcare workers of course, but the definition makes an interesting point.  We are all trained in our professions and have operational and theoretical knowledge about our subjects.  I am a teacher, but I am not qualified to run a school as a principal, for example.  I am not trained as a college and career counselor or as a guidance counselor.  I am not qualified to teach math, science, robotics, drafting, art, social work, nursing...You get the picture.

I have been years teaching certain subjects, and have a good grasp on them, including my education earning a Master's Degree.  Am I an expert?  By no means.

Ditto about my love for the Word.  I have been a Christian for a long time, but I have never been to seminary or had theological training.  It's been more like on the job training, if you will, as I have taught Bible studies, sat under many sermons, and done my own personal study.

Now, I have a small amount of knowledge in many of the above subjects, (some more than others) but I am not qualified to teach them.  I would have to invest a lot of time to gain competency in those subjects, and even more time to teach them to academic standards.

A pastor invests his time in studying the Word, learning its historical context, understanding the ancient languages.  There was a time when many people sought out pastors for psychological counseling, but after a man committed suicide after meeting with John MacArthur (1985) and legal action was brought against the Pastor by the man's parents, many pastors today may meet with a person one time, but are much more inclined to refer the person to a psychologist for help.

Why?

Because many pastors recognize that counseling a person with mental health issues is beyond their scope of practice.  They are not trained to deal effectively with such people.  How many pastors have failed to recognize a victim of domestic violence?  Sexual abuse? Suicidal tendencies?  

How many of them, well-intentioned to be sure, made a biochemical or situational problem out to be purely spiritual?  They are trained in the spiritual, but we are fully fallen beings who are a broken combination of physical, psychological and spiritual.

Then came Covid-19.

Suddenly pastors, with no medical or epidemiological training, were opening churches back up while Covid-19 raged; didn't demand mask-wearing; downplayed the vaccination process by not getting one themselves; not acknowledging the severity of the pandemic.  Even John MacArthur himself talked of "Big Pharma" in a YouTube video I watched as I was trying to understand why such an influential man was so opposed to basic CDC protocol.   

I saw pastors working outside their scope of practice.  

The results?

Covid-19 is still playing havoc with those who decided not to be vaccinated. Many people have needlessly died.

How many of them are/were following their pastors' lead?

Why did so many pastors decide they were qualified enough to make such enormous decisions about the health and welfare of their congregations?

A focus on essential oils, prayer, and a self-righteousness that Job's friends would have admired, permeated the church during the pandemic.  

As Andy Stanley pointed out, we turned inward, and fought each other.  How could a world that needs saving be attracted to people who, instead of uniting together and helping one another, fought against each other and acted as if their limited knowledge (social media is not education) was sufficient to make decisions about literally life and death in their congregations?

I stand ashamed of the American church.  

Jesus made an interesting observation about the church in the End Times:  

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." (Matt. 24: 36-39)

On other words:

Let's get back to life as usual, people. 

It's not so bad.  

We have faith, not fear.  

We know what's best. 

Our pastor doesn't wear a mask, so why should I?

I read it's all a big lie.  Overblown.  Maybe, even a hoax. 

"Really?" I must ask.

Our witness to the world may be irretrievably damaged. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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