Now that I have your attention let me make it clear, I do not have bodies buried in my basement. I have not started to run naked through crowded shopping malls. I am not responsible for the disappearance of family pets in any neighborhood I have lived in or for that matter any neighborhood that I have walked, driven or cycled through. I have not gone on any long winded, irrational, disjointed rambling rants although I do preach so someone might disagree with this one. That being said I am still very disturbed…
We are almost two years into COVID.
What impression of Christianity has become dominant? What impression should have become dominant? I really don’t care what you believe is the origin of the pandemic. I really don’t care if you have lost faith in the government because you believe it is a right or left wing plot to steal your rights. I really don’t care if you feel wearing a mask makes no difference. I really don’t care if you believe that the vaccine is a plot to microchip you. The problem is, those who do not follow Christ do care and do believe that Christians are more wrapped up in conspiracy theories, politics and highly questionable science than they are in Jesus.
Life only ends one way.
Whether the elected government was really the result of fraud or the pandemic a result of biochemical weapons, people still have only one true hope. Whether masks do nothing more than hide your need or lack of need for dental work or COVID is a plot to stop Christians from going to church, eternity still only has two options. Whether you have permanently lost some of your freedom because of temporary public health measures or there really is a behind the scenes black-ops group trying to destroy democracy, death will find you and everyone else.
Death and Taxes
As the old saying goes “it is impossible to be sure of anything but death and taxes.” This may not be the exact quote you have heard but the gist is always the same (can’t really give proper credit as no one seems to know who first said this). So let me get this straight, we are all going to die and we are all going to get taxed. Taxes come from fallen man’s attempt to oversee the affairs of this world and death comes from mankind becoming fallen after attempting to replace God as the overseer of the affairs of this world.
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:6 (NIV)
COVID has caused many who call themselves Christians to complain that their freedoms are being taken away by the institutions that replace God as overseer of our affairs and demand that they be reinstated. COVID has not seen a lot of those same people proclaim that sin has taken away our freedom and beg people to follow Christ so that their freedom will be reinstated.
I am disturbed.
No matter what your beliefs are about COVID, people are still dying without hope and because of COVID they are dying at a much increased rate. While a politicized church becomes fixated with mask mandates, vaccines and lockdowns the rest of the world is more concerned about death. While the church knows the only one they should be fixated on, the only one that has conquered death, the only one that can promise a tax free life (the Bible says nothing about taxes in Heaven) parts of it have been more worried about this life and their own comfort then the fireless comfort of eternal life in Heaven.
Dare I say it?
Put on your mask, get your vaccine and avoid dangerous settingsas you set out not to protect your political freedom but to represent true eternal freedom to those who right now live in fear of death. Not meeting in church is not Satan trying to destroy Christians but rather an opportunity for us to show that our love for God and for others leads us to obey those in leadership and forgo the things that make our faith comfortable (much like our brothers and sisters in China and other anti-Christian countries). The mark of the beast is not some supposed computer chip snuck into our bodies through a vaccine but an outward mark declaring inward commitment to someone other than the true God. Putting on a mask is not giving up your freedom but rather putting others at ease so that we can both share our faith and avoid giving COVID out along with the gospel message as a free gift.
If God is so weak that missing church destroys your faith… If Satan is so strong that he can outsmart God and steal you from Him by slipping a microchip in a vaccine… If your freedom is guarded by democracy not by the blood of Jesus Christ… You do not know the true God as much as you think you do!
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13 (NIV)
live4him.ca 
So let me get this right. Just wear the mask, just get the vaccine, just make all the choices that I lay out for you or you’re a bad Christian and you are representing the faith poorly? Clearly if you disagree with this you “do not know the true God as much as you think you do!”
To be honest I think you need to carefully read your works again, it sounds like you have built up very negative broad views about your brothers who don’t agree with you politically and all that anger has boiled over into a blog post. You have grouped people who think the mask is ineffective with people who think they are being microchipped, that seems a little but like tribal thinking, don’t you think? From my reading, you boil over when you tell people do what David think is right, instead of what they honestly believe God thinks is right, whatever that is.
It turns out It’s not only possible to be a strong outreach based believer and to see that masks don’t work, and they only serve to traumatize people.
It turns out its possible to be a strong outreach based believe and see that the vaccines have turned out to be ridiculously ineffective and have questionable long term effects, especially for those who are pregnant and for the babies they carry. Also, there are questions whether leaky vaccines (as it turns out these are with breakthrough cases being the majority) may contribute to more variants. It may turn out that they do more damage than good for many people.
It turns out that you can believe and act on all the above and love your neighbour.
When part of the church members force another part of the church to do something they feel is wrong, and then refuse to let those brothers attend church if they do not comply. Doing all this while showing no empathy or love. Those are the ones we are straying from the word. Those are the ones who are showing the world just how sick the modern church has become. Those are the ones we are actually more focussed on policing fellow believers then reaching others for God.
I and the people who I tend to agree with, we are not trying to force you to do anything you are not comfortable with. We are not trying to get you to wear something you think is dangerous, or take something you don’t think is safe. We are not wielding the powers of church and political leadership to force others to do as we please. I think that is an important distinction.
Brother, I say this not as a rebuke, not to cause controversy, I say it so that you and others who read this, many of whom would agree with you, can take a moment to look at this from another perspective for just a minute before you continue down this path. I believe you honestly think this blog post might have reached out to someone and changed a mind and I think that shows that you have no idea what is going through the minds of those you are trying to reach with this message.
I have nothing but respect for you, I wish you the best.
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Interesting take- I will include it with little rebuttal as I think you may have missed my point – for the record I have no interest in left or right politics – every opinion we have will line up with a political party or every opinion we have will come from the one political party we follow – let me assure you mine is the former not the latter – simply put this blog is about sacrifice in this life, give up you societal freedom that allows you to do what you want and offer the only freedom that will outlast your societal freedom, the salvation. Bad Christian -no! But that was never my point – are we affective Christians when we oppose more vigorously than we preach? You left me with one question: if masks are ineffective then wearing them is neutral, so why not give in and wear one so you can sit down with a person who needs to hear about Jesus?
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And a lot of those who are in fear of death are church members. Thanks, I was thinking a lot along the same lines. We had our fellowship of prayer today. One lady came for the first time in many months. Dined on the sweet treats. Drank the coffee. But then placed her mask back on before we got down to discussing the 300-400 people on our prayer list. Strange. I have no idea if she will be back, since none of us were wearing a mask (all vaccinated though).
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Not only what you stated so precisely, but FEAR has become rampant even in those who claim to be Christians and abide IN the Word of God! This is what is surprising me and causing me to spend time on my knees! There is no room for fear in a Vessel of Faith! You either believe in the Word of God and His Holy Spirit and THERE you find your liberty, or you follow the ways and pitfalls of the world. You said two choices and it hasn’t changed no matter the circumstances or situation and you are so very right. We still have two choices and THAT is God-given; follow God and trust in Him and His Word or follow what the world says. Simple really, very simple. Great post and much needed. God Bless! 👍💗🕊😇
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thank you for your encouragement
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