The Day the Church Was Deemed Nonessential… And Christians Every Where Agreed

Perhaps I should confess that sometimes I blur Christian and American Values. It’s easy to do, since the founding fathers attempted to institute the Eternal Principles of natural law into the governing institutions of the country. They did so with a great level of success, for instance the Bible doesn’t define an economic policy but free market capitalism incorporates Biblical principles of hard work and its reward, private property and autonomy of tradesmen while the governmental responsibility of enforcing contracts and ensuring a just weight and measure is also directly gleaned from the Biblical text.

However when our nation strays from its founding principles, the Church has always been there to lead the way back home. Not perfectly, often not in unison but given a little time and the prodding of the Holy Spirit we always get there. Take the fight against slavery or the ensuing struggle against segregation for instance. First Christians had to struggle with their own prejudices and cultural opinions, then decide if indeed it was the proper place for the Church to be involved. Inevitably the Lord directs us to the right decision and calls forth the leaders needed to show the way, from Johnathan Edwards to Martin Luther King Jr. the right man for the right time.   

Of course the Church’s involvement in the public policy debate is of a secondary importance to the great commission of the Christian faith, or rather is but one small part of it. The first most effective source of charity at home and abroad is the church either directly or through sponsored organizations like Samaritan’s Purse or Pacific Garden Missions. The source of hope in times of crisis, the gathering place for prayer for our forgiveness our neighbors and our needs is the Church.  The place of fellowship and diversion, the weekly chance to draw a breath and shake a hand have an occasional potluck often for those who have nowhere else to go is the Church; and yes we are the country’s moral compass not because we are snooty or pious, but because we see the real harm that rebelling against the moral absolutes can cause, and do not wish to see any one of any age race or gender suffer that harm. All of this is part of the Great Commission of our Lord who bids us to make disciples of all nations teaching them to observe and do all of the things that I (Jesus) have commanded.

Neither the Church nor the nation always lives up to its responsibilities, whatever our high calling and sincere principles we are sinful creatures, yet not one soul can deny that the relationship between the US constitution and the Christian faith has for 2.5 centuries been one highly blessed for both.

One of those shared Christian and American ides is a love of justice and freedom and a repulsion of tyranny and oppression. We weep as Christians and as Americans at the brutal repressions of Chinese citizens we are angered when we see churches burned women assaulted families broken up. We hate oppression with a deep burning hatred that I believe God himself shares; I offer the plaques of Egypt as evidence. Despite the care of our founders oppression and persecution do not sit far away even in the land of the free. Government has in recent years begun to grow past its intended limits certain of our liberties have been chipped away, and some few Americans have begun to sound the warning bells that if some freedoms are threatened all are threatened.

Most of us though rest assured government would never try to close the churches of our country and if they did Churches would never comply. Oh wait…that is exactly what happened!

I am a man of faith, I trust God through hard times and it no longer occurs to me that God won’t provide for all my needs or make a way through any cataclysm personal or global. Perhaps that’s why I never took the doomsday models of the scientists predicting that 2.5 million people were going to die seriously, a sober mind told me that decisions made in panic are seldom correct and that worst case scenarios presented in media are always exaggerated, but I also bristled as an American. I do believe in self-government and in the sovereign right of the individual to think and to reason and that on the macro level that and not micro-management from some ill-informed centralized expert is the best way  for a society to defend itself against threats, virus or otherwise.

As a Christian I saw this pandemic as a chance to show the world that God is Sovereign in the affairs of men and that His Church would be here come hell or high water to provide help and prayer and show as a beacon of hope that we have nothing to fear. I was thrilled at the opportunity to remind everyone that the door to God’s house was always open. As an American I was ready to tell Governor Jim Justice that he would close our church over my dead body, or at least he’d have to have me hauled away in a State Trooper Cruiser first. In fact it never occurred to me that any member of our Church would willingly comply with such a tyrannical order. They did, and so did every Church in our area. I have tried to find one that was still meeting, but if they are out there they are hiding like North Korean dissidents and I can’t find them.

The message here is clear, in a time of real crisis the Church needs to stand aside and let important people do important things. Jim Justice not Jesus has to determine what our role during a pandemic is or if we even have one. Meanwhile desperate souls drive past the locked doors of our churches to the far more essential liquor stores and seek solace there.

I am making no friends by the things I am saying, and I know churches are still doing “stuff”. Facebook sermons online worship has its place our church has endeavored to put together a group to help out needy or sick parishioners, these efforts are good and are proof that we will do as much good, and only as much good as Governor Justice allows.

To those who respond these are special circumstances I reply, why?  Because government says so? When this virus ends and if it is exposed as being about as deadly as any other particularly virulent strain of flu (which is where the actual data appears to be headed) are the government overlords going to say oops sorry we ruined the economy and trampled your freedoms for no reason, or will they be emboldened to do more? Seasonal Flu? Shut down the churches! Possible seasonal flu? Shut down the Churches preemptively! In fact some virus may always be lurking and if shutting down churches was so acceptable during one crisis why not leave it that way permanently and shut down all churches forever. It’s not persecution you can still have Facebook worship groups after all.

Do I want people to die? Of course not and every church and every church member is perfectly capable of doing the right thing for the situation in their community. I can say with great certainty that shutting down Churches in rural Kansas has not saved one life but has added exponentially to the hardships of the people there.

A few weeks before the “crisis” began our pastor told a poignant story about an atrocity committed against Christians in Nigeria and how days later a series of women’s conferences were filled to overflowing because those believers could not be deterred. He wondered aloud if Christians in America would have that kind of faith and courage, I guess he has his answer.

I used to close with the line from a southern Gospel classic “keep on the firing line” in closing I’ll share those lyrics, it was one of the first gospel songs I learned and I have always meant the lyrics when I sang them:

If you're in the battle for the Lord and right
Just keep on the firing line
If you win the battle, surely you must fight
(Brother) keep on the firing line

(Brother) keep on the firing line
Keep on the firing line
Time is getting short
Jesus coming soon
(Brother) keep on the firing line

There are many dangers everyone must face
If you die fighting, there is no disgrace
With the Lord for coward
You will find no place
(Brother) keep on the firing line

So you must fight be brave

Against all evil never run nor even lag behind

If you would win for God and the Right

Just keep on the firing Line