Category: Covid-19

First, to dispense with the second point in the title. Yes, Christian leaders are to be well thought of by outsiders (1 Timothy 3:7). By extension, this command applies to all Christians at all times (1 Timothy 2:2, Titus 3:2, Romans 12:8).

This command does not, however, cover the message of the Gospel, which will be despised by outsiders, along with the man delivering it. If the Gospel is preached, God’s Law must be preached first. The penalty for sin must be stated, and the righteous wrath of God, poured out on sinners, must be fully explained. The love of God in sending Christ as a propitiation for our sins must be stated fully. Romans 3:19-26. Men will hate this, and count it foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18). If leaders wish to always be well thought of by outsiders, they would need to be in full accordance with the powers, principalities, and authorities who are against Christ.

What needs to be said is that being thought well of by outsiders is to not be a hypocrite. Romans 2:24, quoting Isaiah 53:5, says, “For, as it is written, “‘the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you'” (English Standard Version). When Christians condemn sin, yet sin in the same manner, they act hypocritically and will spoil their witness to the watching world. But the world is not who we must please—it is Christ, and we must honour His word. When we obey Christ, we will bring scorn and dishonour upon ourselves. This is the history of the church in Acts and the experience of Christians at all times and in all places.

When we follow government edicts, made over the church where the government has no rightful rule, we declare to the community that the civil government is lord of the Church, not Christ. The civil government has declared Christ’s church gathered to be nonessential, and thousands of churches agreed! That was our witness! Churches that have done so must repent, and so witness to the community that they have failed and resolve not to fail again.

It is also said that closing churches in a time of pandemic is “loving your neighbour.” This is curious for a people who believe that the Lord’s Supper, remembered weekly, is of utmost importance. This is odd for a people who believe that without the Gospel, men and women must enter Hell. This is strange thinking for a Christians who have decried the cheapening of faith by televangelists, only to become televangelists en masse in one week!

By misreading Romans 13:1-7 and submitting to the lockdowns we have taken up the cause, (in the name of neighbourly love), of those who turned long-term care centres into death camps; sacrificed the spiritual well-being of children under the misguided attempt to keep vulnerable people safe; ruined careers and hopes; left many elderly to die alone and heartbroken. There is much more. But we did that, Christians, when we out of fear of overwrought obedience, denied Christ’s lordship over His church. If we had affirmed Christ’s Lordship, Canada would be a different place today.

This is pressing upon me because we are about to go around again, this time over the issue of vaccines. I have no interest in discussing the efficacy of vaccines at this time. But the medical ethics of a civil government demanding a medical procedure on an unwilling populace is at the same depth of depravity as Nazi Germany or modern China.

If a pastor, elder, or congregation will demand proof of a medical procedure, such as a vaccine, to worship Christ in His peoples’ gathering, in person, they must be condemned as anti-Christian. In such cases, safety and compliance have become gods. Christians must refuse such idolatry.

Contrary to Paul Carter of the Gospel Coalition Canada , there is a command in Hebrews 10:24-25: ²⁴And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (ESV). Carter does not deal with verse 24. The subjunctive (let us consider) can serve as an imperative (a command). “Let us consider” is the main verb, not “to meet together” in verse 25. Verse 24 is the command, and what no one seems to ask is, “How can verse 24 be obeyed if the church is not meeting?” It cannot. Failing to meet together is a failure to “stir up one another to love and good works.”

But we have Zoom! Facebook! YouTube. Yes we do. But one of the foundations of Biblical interpretation is that the interpreter must understand a Biblical text as it was understood by the first hearers! How could the readers of Hebrews understand these verses in any way except as meeting together face-to-face? They had no way to encourage, teach, exhort, or discipline one another unless they could see and hear each other.

The first readers did not have Zoom, or any other technology. God meant for the Christian life to be lived in-person, in a real time and a real place.

Meeting together is a necessary condition to obey verse 24 and failing to meet together is to disobey the command. This is why neglecting to meet together is such a serious problem, and can lead to the consequences in verse 26!

This current wave of oppression and outright persecution is going to continue as long as the Lord permits. He is looking for His people to call upon His name and repent from their fear and their idolatry of safety and compliance to the state.

[insert leader’s photo here]

It should be clear by now that experts do not agree regarding the safety or efficacy of the mRNA vaccine. There are credentialed, qualified, experienced medical professionals and scientists on both sides of this debate.

Most reading this are medical/scientific laymen. We may not necessarily have the education to argue well against an expert. Critical thinking skills, however, are invaluable in sorting this out. This is not an anti-vaccine article. I will not be lining up facts from one side and compare them to another view. Others have done this very well. The information is still available, despite desperate efforts to stifle.

I would argue that Christians are equipped to choose sides in this debate. If you are reading this and think, “Ok, here goes another anti-vaxxer,” please hear me out. What I intend to do here is to sidestep that debate for a moment and lay an ax to the root.

Consider who employs the experts. In Canada, we have a healthcare system that is controlled by the provincial governments. Federally there are mandated standards, but there is a lot of room within each province as to what is covered in their health plan and what is not. Ontario’s health plan (OHIP) has been on shaky ground long before the Covid-19 epidemic and was nearly ruined by long-term Liberal misadventures under McGuinty and Wynne.

What does this have to do with expertise regarding Covid-19? The expert split on this matter is largely along the lines of who employs the experts.

We need to look with a critical eye on the nature of our provincial government, and I do not think the following applies only to Ontario, but to Canada as a whole.

[disclaimer: I believe that God has ordained civil government as a good and just entity. See Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17]

Your elected leaders hate you and see you as a host, upon which they may feed. No matter which party is in power, or waiting in the wings to take power, you, the individual, exist only to pay taxes and to otherwise support their power.

You are a host, and the current governments in Canada, are parasites. They feed on you, and if you should resist that arrangement, you can be eliminated. Consider just a few examples:

Your leaders want you dead: Canada and Ontario is pro-death for anyone who cannot contribute. It is legal and good in their eyes that a child can be vacuumed out of her mother’s womb up until the time of birth. It can be shredded alive. Abortion is so important to Canada that foreign aid to needy countries can only be granted if those countries agree to provide abortions to their citizens. Sex-selective abortions are legal in Canada, so a family that isn’t happy with a girl, they can abort the child until a son is conceived. Canada loves death. No society that loves death to this extent can have your best interests at heart. You are next.

We need to face the fact that we are a nation of barbarians on this point alone. You must participate because your taxes pay for this. This is enough to arouse the wrath of God, which can be seen in the moral chaos that has descended upon us.
Your leaders want you dead: If you are born alive, but severely disabled or become so, or merely become elderly, euthanasia is offered as healthcare. This means that you will be given “MAID,” (Medical Assistance In Dying) often as an only option. Once rare, it is now routine. As people live longer, their healthcare is more costly. You cost money! It doesn’t matter how long you paid taxes, you need to get out of the way. You pay for this.

Do you yet see the trend here that is against life, and not for life?

There’s more:
Your leaders want you sterile: Civil government in Canada has placed its power behind the transgender movement to the point that children are being sterilized against their parent’s wishes, and parents who object are even jailed. Hormone treatment and physical mutilations that are irreversible will leave its victims without the ability to conceive and bear children and make them dependent on health care for the rest of their lives. Your leaders finance sterility and mutilation with your taxes in the name of health and science. There is no valid science behind the trans movement, but our leaders protect and enforce it by enacting severe penalties against those who do not acquiesce to it.

Just three examples here, abortion, euthanasia, transgenderism, but there are others.

As a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Canada and Ontario have employed a small army of scientists and medical professionals (the Science Table). These professionals are the team of experts that are essential to the governments, and lend respectability and authority to the lockdowns and to the shuttering of the economy.

In doing so, these experts have aligned themselves with a government that is clearly against life, against people, and against human thriving. This group is blind and deaf to the suffering they have caused, as is our Prime Minister and Premier. Remember, our government truly does not see the common person as anything but a host upon which they may feed. For all the endless chatter about “keeping you safe,” they care only about their own power. Neglect this fact at your peril.

The media is a whore, accepting financial bribes to repeat the message of fear and compliance. The contradictions that have been clearly evident over the past 18 months are ignored because it is very important to the powerful that the average citizen be blind and deaf to them.

Thousands of jobs have been lost, medical procedures have been canceled or postponed (often with fatal consequences), substance abuse, suicides, domestic violence, and mental illness have increased, all to keep us feeling safe.

The credentialed have argued for the lockdowns, and, being intoxicated by their power, have rented out their expertise to the highest bidder. They are the prostitutes disguised as scientists who, along with their employer, hate human life.

Should we listen to a scientist who is comfortable working for a government that kills over 270 unborn children a day? Should we listen to a scientist who is not fighting this injustice with every professional skill at their disposal? Should we obey the mandates of those who insist we pay for the death of others? Should we give credence to a scientist who is comfortable with sterilizing children?

There is a moral dimension to the scientific enterprise, and the experts who have sold themselves to rottenness are immoral. They have blinded themselves to the truth they suppress (Romans 1:18).

It may be easier to accept that many, if not most, in political power are depraved, degenerate, and lost. We’ve come to accept the dishonesty that accompanies modern politics. But medical professionals have long been placed on a pedestal in popular thinking, actually idolized so that many will accept statements such as, “the science is settled,” “follow the science,” “listen to the experts,” or “the experts have said.” We have, however, collectively forgotten two things:

1) science, by its very nature, is never settled (at least in the form used by those who would censor all dissenting opinions), and

2) scientists are human, and therefore Romans 3 applies not only to their political employers, but to them:

“What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:9–20, ESV)

Our historical amnesia has permitted us to forget the role of science and medicine in the 1930s and 40s. Some scientists truly seek human good, but not all do. All scientists are sinners too, and this will obviously cloud their judgement. They have and will use their science for evil ends. This has nothing to do with the qualifications of the scientist. We are fools to forget this.

Without the cooperation of the scientific community, civil government could not force the destruction of human livelihoods and enforce the life that now lies before us.

Canadians have naively accepted the notion that our civic leaders care about us. They do not. It is because God’s law does not prevail that they have become a law unto themselves, and God will give them over to confusion (Romans 1). Christians need to apply the doctrines of Original Sin and Total Depravity to experts and authorities. When experts, authorities, and media work in unity against God’s authority, it is essential for Christians to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).

The modern church in Canada has largely ignored the medical and scientific authorities from their susceptibility to the effects of sin in their work and has set herself against Christ’s authority. This has created an idol of expertise.

Speaking only to Christians here, why are you giving heed to an outfit that wants to suck you dry then dispose of your husk? Why do you think leaders who will torture an unborn child to death or snuff out the life of a weak or elderly person will tell you the truth about a vaccine? I don’t know the hearts of those experts who oppose the vaccine or are even cautious about it. They too are sinners. But I do know that they have not aligned themselves with the depraved trinity of the modern government, media, and experts of death.

Knowing their love of death, how can you trust leaders to hold our best interests?

Category: Covid-19

Closing Your Church is Neither Loving Your Neighbhour Nor is it a Good Witness to the Community

Our Leaders Want Us Dead.