Does The Church Possess The Vaccine?

The main discourse in our country right now is whether or not people should get vaccinated for the COVID virus. Each individual has these own reasoning as to why they should – or why they shouldn’t get vaccinated. The federal government is urging people to get vaccinated. The majority of media is pushing for people to get vaccinated. There is even a movement to begin treating unvaccinated people differently in order for them to get vaccinated. The government is looking at forcing people to get vaccinated. Why the huge push to get vaccinated? Safety… health… normalcy… Why the hesitancy to get vaccinated? Don’t trust the government… not enough testing and no track record… don’t want to put that in their body…

What’s slowly coming to the surface is that vaccinated people are getting the virus as well.

That’s where we generally are as a country concerning COVID – but my question is… where is God concerning COVID? Wait… before I even get to that… where is the church concerning COVID and the vaccine?

The overwhelming majority of churches seem to be viewing COVID from a purely health related standpoint. At the outset of COVID, churches figured out how to minister through the plague. Many now stream their services over the internet and for a period of time, shut down in person services. Some kept services going and socially distanced. Now we are talking vaccines. How are churches responding? The overwhelming majority seem to be putting their trust into the media, or politicians, or scientists, or doctors. And we make authoritive statements as though we ourselves are the experts. The truth is that we really don’t know – but we put our trust into fallible human beings. Think about when your church talked about the vaccine and ask what you have heard more frequently… listen to the scientists, or listen to God? Scientists are the prophets of today’s world. Disagree with them and you are basically a heretic.

Now we can get to where God is concerning COVID.

He has allowed over 600,000 Americans to die to COVID. God is sovereign. Why is this being allowed to take place? Well, we may want to understand why God sends plagues.

Deuteronomy 28:58-60 – “If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the LORD your God, 59 then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. 60 He will bring back on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you. 

To be blunt, it’s sin. And by sin, I am referring to actions not rooted by faith in God. Often in the Old Testament, we read of how plagues affected Israel and other countries.

Numbers 16:49 – But those who died by the plague were 14,700, besides those who died on account of Korah.

Numbers 25:9 – Those who died by the plague were 24,000.

For Israel, in some cases, men of God stepped in and acted so that the effects of the plagues could be minimized.

Numbers 16:41-50 – 41 But on the next day all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You are the ones who have caused the death of the LORD’S people.” 42 It came about, however, when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting, and behold, the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared. 43 Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, 44 and the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them instantly.” Then they fell on their faces. 46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put in it fire from the altar, and lay incense on it; then bring it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone forth from the LORD, the plague has begun!” 47 Then Aaron took it as Moses had spoken, and ran into the midst of the assembly, for behold, the plague had begun among the people. So he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. 48 He took his stand between the dead and the living, so that the plague was checked. 49 But those who died by the plague were 14,700, besides those who died on account of Korah. 50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the doorway of the tent of meeting, for the plague had been checked.

Psalm 106:28-31 – 28 They joined themselves also to Baal-peor, And ate sacrifices offered to the dead.
29 Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds, And the plague broke out among them.
30 Then Phinehas stood up and interposed, And so the plague was stayed.
31 And it was reckoned to him for righteousness, To all generations forever.

Yeah, I know… that’s the Old Testament, and Christ has died for the sins of the world, and we believe in the gospel and are saved. But consider, even if that is the case – Jesus Christ still wants us to confess our sins so that we can be cleansed of our unrighteousness. Are we doing that on a regular basis? Are we confessing the sins of the country to God and acknowledging that their way is in error? Probably not.

Has the church explored the possibility that COVID could be a plague that God allowed to occur because of the massive glut of uncleanness caused by unconfessed sin? The country is so focused on health, and vaccines, and listening to the scientists and the news media that much of the church has neglected God’s power and how He can change things if His people return to Him and confess their sins.

Leviticus 26:40-42 – ‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me– 41 I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies–or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land.

Check yourself… are you listening to scientists more than listening to God? …how much time is spent watching the news media or social media – versus time spent with God? Have you prayed to God about getting the vaccine? Have you confessed your sins to God?

God wants His people to have clean hearts. God wants His people to love Him by spending time with Him, and by being faithful to do His commands, and confessing when we don’t. It’s that simple. Maybe if the church does this, and acknowledges the sins of the nation and turns back to God, God may relent on the plague that continues over this country.

Happy Independence Day… But Do We Really Want True Independence?

We are wrapping up the 244th birthday of the United States and it’s liberation from England to be a country that focused on freedom. But I want to discuss another type of freedom today.

John 8:31-32 – So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Verse 32 says that you will know the truth, and it will set you free. This is a universal principle that can be applied anywhere, any time, and for any occasion. If you know the truth and live by the truth, it will set you free. Now you may not like what the truth is, and it may run counter to your worldview, and may prompt some changes in your thinking and how you live – but at least you have a solid foundation on which to act and make true positive change.

When Jesus made this statement, He was referring to the fact that people would know the truth when abiding in Him. He could make that claim because His words came straight from God Almighty in heaven. God is the source of all truth. He cannot lie (Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2). Jesus, being completely sinless, also did not lie.

How did the Jews react to what Jesus said?

John 8:33 – They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”

They thought they were free. Was that true? They thought it was. However, they only considered slavery in the physical realm. Jesus spells out the truth for them.

John 8:34 – Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.

They were slaves in the spiritual realm. They were enslaved to sin – particularly their pride. They saw themselves as better than everyone else and that meant they should be in positions of power and authority. Even if that meant they must lie and kill to get what they want. Jesus, operating in absolute truth, already knew that and said this…

John 8:37 – I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.

Jesus called out the absolute truth on what their desires were. Because they were enslaved to sin, and enslaved to their pride, it blinded them to what was true. They were blind to their pride, they were blind to their sinful desires, and they lied to conceal the truth that they wanted to kill Jesus. The Jews operated within their own echo chamber of relative truth. Relative truth is about what is true to me. It is not concerned with absolute truth. It does not consider whether or not I could be wrong. It’s easy to live within the bubble of relative truth because it requires no change, no critical thinking, and very little effort. It just kind of flows downstream nice and easy and it reinforces what we already feel, and our friends feel the same way which further reinforces what we want to believe.

The problem is relative truth is often not true. The Jews thought they were free, but that wasn’t true. People in America think we are free, but many are not – because they are operating in relative truth, and not absolute truth. If the truth sets you free, from what do people need to be set free? People need to be set free from bondage to sin, and often, that sin leads people to lie and hide the truth. To make matters worse, we have entire media organizations that put out lies for various reasons, which affects what many believe downstream. We have social media companies that purposely hide what’s true to control the information that is put out for consumption. It is very difficult today to get what’s absolute truth. And many people don’t want absolute truth. They want to hear what they like even if it isn’t true – and what will happen is the country will remain in bondage because the majority will operate in relative truth on the left and on the right – and we will remain divided until we fall.

Galatians 5:1 – It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

If you desire to get out of the bondage of sin and lies, absolute truth needs to be embraced. Absolute truth has to be desired and sought as though it were gold. It’s not easy to find today when dealing with the news events of the day. Expect to have your bubble of relative truth popped. But on the back side of that is a firm foundation to your spiritual independence and true freedom and a true path to make positive change in this country. The ultimate freedom is in Jesus Christ, who died for the sins of the world. Believe in Him today and allow God to equip you for eternal life with Him. That’s the absolute truth of what God wants for you today and for eternity. He desires your spiritual independence from the bondage of sin to freedom with Christ.

Christ in the Movies

‘JESUS’ AND THE OSCARS

Just last week, the No. 1 movie in the U.S. for one night (Feb. 23) was a documentary shown in select theaters across the country called, “Is Genesis History?” I wrote about this movie a couple of weeks ago. It provides scientific evidence that the paradigm in Genesis of creation, fall and a worldwide flood explains the fossil and geological record better than does the evolutionary model.

…
So what is the one film seen by more people than any other? Is it “Star Wars” (and all of its variations), “The Godfather,” “Gone With the Wind,” “The Wizard of Oz”?

In the history of motion pictures, the most watched movie (not the most commercially successful, but the one film viewed by more people than any other film) is “Jesus” (also known as “the Jesus Film”), which is based on the Gospel of Luke.

I don’t watch too many movies, but it seems as though there has been a slow and steady increase in movies with a Christian theme.

Peterson, Parenting, and Punishment

NFL Player Adrian Peterson has been in the news for the last two weeks regarding the abuse of children while disciplining them.  He reportedly struck his kids with a switch or small tree branch that broke the child’s skin in  multiple areas.  Much of the narrative amongst the media has been about whether or not we should be physically disciplining our children.  That is not the proper issue to address, because there are times where physical discipline is necessary.

The Bible makes several references to child rearing in the book of Proverbs.  Here are a couple of verses…

Proverbs 13:24 – He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

Proverbs 23:13 – Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

Now that last verse can be interpreted to be pretty extreme.  People against corporal punishment would imply that Christians believe what Peterson did was OK…  but I don’t believe so.  If you love your children, you don’t want to injure them.  You want them to feel the hurt from the discipline, but not injure them.

I define someone as injured when conditions are such that the body has to heal itself.  Broken bones, sprained ankles, extreme burned spots, and in this case broken skin are all instances of injury and should be avoided.  Discipline should not result in injury.  There should be some pain and hurt that the child feels encourage them to change their behavior.  Discipline should also not be administered in anger.  Parents should be under control and in the mindset of simply changing the child’s behavior – not taking our frustration in anger.

Again – the issue is NOT whether or not corporal punishment should be used in parenting. It should. We simply had a high profile person who did it improperly.

Churches Battle on Gay Issue Using Billboards

2011.09.25 – 2 Ohio churches debate gay issue with billboards [Houston Chronicle]

Toledo’s Central United Methodist Church posted a roadside billboard in April that said, “Being Gay Is a Gift from God,” and that led the Rev. Tony Scott of the Church on Strayer to offer an opposing point of view, The Blade (http://bit.ly/mX7yKv) reported.

Scott’s megachurch in Maumee bought nine billboards last week that proclaim, “Being Gay is NOT a Gift from God — Forgiveness, Love, and Eternal Life Are.”

This is not the way to debate these issues.

Too often we see churches dealing with the behavior of the world. The world will do what the world wants to do. You will not change the behavior with a bunch of billboards.

Romans 8:5-8 – For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Change begins from the inside – when the Holy Spirit enters a person. It is a waste of the Lord’s resources to buy billboard space for this purpose.

Disney/ABC Looking to Offend with New Series

ABC planning TV show, ‘Good Christian B—-es’

Doesn’t sound like a wholesome, family-values type of show, does it?

The pilot episode stars actress Leslie Bibb as Amanda, a mother of two and onetime “mean girl” in high school who returns home to Dallas following a scandalous divorce, only to discover she is the center of malicious gossip in the Christian community.

The book’s website and promotional materials advertise the tagline: “Never let God get in the way of a good story.”

Gatlin insists, however, her book is not meant to mock God, only “those of us who love God and don’t always make the best choices to honor him.”

It seems like the storyline is not as provocative as the title. So I went to Amazon.com to see what this is about. After reading the storyline and the comments, it seems as though the book isn’t really a good read – especially from a Christian standpoint.

So is the point of this exercise to offend Christians? To stir the pot? I suggest most Christians put this on ignore – and let those who are led by the Spirit to address this.