Better late than never…but never late is better. Have you ever heard of the phrase? Well it applies to this blog! The Lord gave me this blog at the very beginning of our quarantine time, buttttt out of FEAR I kept putting it off until I couldn’t anymore. My prayer is that the blog remains relevant even at week 265 of the quarantine! (haha, I know I exaggerated)
Honestly, I can’t say this applies to all churches, but for every church located in the state of MD…it applies. Sometime in March the Governor of MD issued an order stating we were not allowed to have gatherings of more than 10 people. This decision made logical sense…COVID-19 is very real; even with the covering of the blood of Jesus you can get it! Anyway, after making this direction, I saw NUMEROUS churches conducting service on Sunday, like business as usual. Perplexed at the utter disrespect & disregard for state authorities I rolled my eyes and kept it moving. BUTTTTT THENNNNNN, pastors/bishops/leaders/whatever continued to have services week after week proclaiming, “COVID-19 won’t stop us from worshipping our God, we are not afraid.”
Houston We Have A Problem!
See I’m not one of those Christians who go to church and love the Lord out of religious habit. I really live according to the Word of God to the best of my abilities. So, to hear so many church leaders in our community blatantly walk in disobedience to the Word of the Lord made me question their motives. :-/
The claims, “We aren’t afraid and that’s why we still have service or COVID won’t stop us from worshipping God” is pure fleshly NONSENSE and that’s not just my opinion. As Christians we do this thing where we pick and choose what Scriptures we want to adhere to depending on the circumstance, but baby that’s not how this works! That’s not how any of this works.
See For Yourself:
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will [a]bring judgment on themselves.
Romans 13:1-2
Ok, I’m not a rocket scientist, but we can literally stop after the first 9 words. Let EVERY soul be subject to the GOVERNING AUTHORITIES!!! Sorry, I really don’t mean to yell, but this is really a point of contention for me.
In laymen’s terms this Bible is telling us regardless of whether we like them or not, they’re saved or not; we(as the people of God) are OBLIGATED(it’s not optional) to adhere to the laws put in place by the governing authorities, because GOD appointed them over us. ANDDDDDDDDD IF we don’t we are resisting the ordinance of God! So this means anybody who is blatantly ignoring the Governor’s orders are resisting the authority of God…again not my words; this is coming straight from the Bible.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7
Beloved…this is the one that the churchy folk are quoting left and right, but they’re only quoting the first part. Using the “God has not given us a spirit of fear” as justification to still have church. BUT GOD has added a second part(Hallelujah) to the verse…He’s also had given us a SOUND MIND!
A sound mind says: put on your seat belt when you’re in a car. *not fear*
A sound mind says: invest in a 401K. *not fear*
A sound mind says: lock your car and house doors at night. *not fear*
I think you get the picture. It’s NOT ok to claim faith when opening the church doors during a WORLDWIDE pandemic, when really it’s fear of losing money. Opps…did I just type that. O well.
We all claim to be covered in the BLOOD of the LAMB…GLORAY!
Exodus 12
Now some of us use this precept to continue to go to church, but if we are going to apply biblical constructs to justify our action we must do so in context! See, when God instructed the people of God to cover their door posts so the death plague wouldn’t touch them…the blood covered those INSDIE THE HOUSE! GLORAY. So when we read about the Passover and talk about the blood covering us; we need to be IN the house…according to biblical exsample. I’m just saying.
Let Me Wrap it Up!
- Governing authorities have prohibited large gatherings like the assembling of the saints.
- God gave us a sound mind to make rationale decisions.
- We are covered…when we abide to reason #1; in the house.
Here’s my point; we can’t win souls being stupid. We can’t win souls calling our actions faith when it’s not. The WORD works…but we have to work it! Having church services out of the auspicious of faith is NOT biblical. It’s time we stepped up to the plate and walked out the Scriptures in their totality and not be plug n play evangelists. Others are watching for sure and I don’t think our first impression should be operating against the Word of the Lord.
If you agree please comment, share, and like this post. If you disagree please comment, share, and like this post! My whole goal with this blog is to create a community of true worshipers; not controversy. There is no debating the Word of the Lord, but I still want to hear your thoughts on today’s blog topic. Be blessed and stay safe.
