A couple of months ago, a widespread rumor convinced many that martial law would be taking effect within days to enforce stay-at-home orders. For most of us, it was unbelievable – for good reason.
“We still live in a free country!” was my response upon hearing the rumor.
But things have shifted significantly over the last several weeks. Our country is barely recognizable.
No doubt we are in a crisis. And credible sources are now providing historical details making it entirely believable that, in some ways, we’ve been duped.
The questions started for me when the 1,400-page stimulus plan popped out of the perpetual, congressional vending machine. That was pretty suspicious, but what were we to do? After all, many Americans were in desperate need after the shut-downs…and still are!
You might say we were backed into a corner – trapped.
And many of us let it slide when churches were not allowed to congregate. It was all for the good of the nation. But then, it went a step further.
Members of a church in Greeneville, Mississippi, were fined for parking their cars in a church parking lot while listening to their pastor through their car radios. Meanwhile, a Sonic drive-in operated just a block away – no questions asked.
Liberty Counsel (LC) has taken on a growing number of cases involving discrimination against churches.
In a recent press release, LC announced that Kansas City, MO officials are requiring every church to submit a list of their members and attendees, including addresses and telephone numbers “for tracking and surveillance purposes.”
Can you believe this is happening? Last week, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said in a virtual town hall:
“This would be a terrible crisis to waste, as the old saying goes.”
The concept is clear: When people are in a state of vulnerability, go on the attack and run hard to get what you want – everything you want! Use it to your advantage!
Matt Staver, founder and Chairman of LC said it well:
“I am running out of adjectives to describe how completely insane the tyrannical abuses launched by state governors and local officials against pastors and churches are becoming. It is as if these leaders never bothered to so much as glance at the Constitution they swore to uphold and defend. They seem to be governing from some make-believe, dystopian viewpoint.”
As Christ-followers filled with the Holy Spirit, we are salt intended to flavor and preserve the earth. We are the light – not to be hidden, but to shine brightly for the benefit of those sitting in darkness. We are the deliverers of truth. But under these orders, the church can no longer assemble together and has been reduced to online communication.
This is all temporary though, right?
Remember those words: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
We are always fighting an unseen enemy, Satan himself, who, in no uncertain terms wants to shut us up, to put us under a bushel, to cause us to shrink in fear – to effectively lose our flavor. And of course, he has plenty of agents working on his behalf.
We are now subject, at least in part, to big tech!
Last week, Tucker Carlson alerted the nation about YouTube’s removal of a viral video of Dr. Dan Erickson from Bakersfield, California, wherein he said he and other doctors had been encouraged to add COVID-19 to death reports to ramp up concerns about the spread of the virus.
“Some criticized the doctor’s policy conclusions,” said Carlson. “And, of course that’s fair. Decent people have different opinions. We’re not entirely certain what the perfect response to this pandemic is. Nobody is certain. There’s no objective answer at the moment.”
YouTube offered no apology, citing “community guidelines” for the decision in the video’s removal. And the CEO of YouTube openly admitted during a CNN Interview to removing anything that goes against the World Health Organization (WHO).
Yet, the WHO has been wrong. Recently! Just a couple of months ago WHO told us Coronavirus could not spread from person to person. Just last month, the global organization claimed face masks didn’t work.
You see what is happening here? YouTube has the power to decide what is true and what isn’t.
What happens when our words conflict with “truth” as YouTube and other tech giants define it? What happens when God’s Word conflicts with their “truth?’
We are at a pivotal moment in our history where our freedoms are at risk. We must remain alert to the dangers.
Romans 13:1 instructs us to “be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”
Let’s not forget, as we move forward, what governing authority has been instituted by God in our nation – the U.S. Constitution. We are all subject to it – including our public servants who have sworn to support and defend it.
And what is required of us, “we the people,” and believers in the Lord Jesus? To obey God, uphold the Constitution, and hold our elected officials accountable to their own oaths of office.
More information is available at lc.org.
