How many people did the Church kill today?

“They will know we are Christians by our love.” Jesus-inspired lyrics. Wonderful sentiment. If only.

And here we are.
        Before I get into this very far I want to stress up front that there are churches trying their best to do the right thing during this pandemic when it comes to keeping their congregants and community safe. Unfortunately those actions don’t grab the headlines like the churches that are hell bent on bringing harm to others in the name of worshiping Jesus.

First, do no harm! Too easy.
        Wear a mask. Protect other people.
        Something as simple as wearing a mask during a pandemic to protect fellow human beings was and remains beyond too many “Christians”. Wearing a mask to protect others is asking too much of some supposed followers of Jesus Christ, a man that led by example. A man that told his followers to spread the good news and to love one’s neighbors.
        I guess that I missed the part in the bible where Jesus said go forth and spread disease. It must have been in the same section where he said to gather in his name to endanger and kill one another. Followed by the ever popular “and make sure that the little children suffer too”.

It was a commandment not a suggestion.
        Love your neighbor. How complicated is that?
        Wearing a mask, if nothing else, is an act of demonstrating Christian love. But somehow it’s tearing communities and churches apart. They aren’t capable of caring enough for their own church members to wear masks and keep their physical distance let alone members of the community.

Typhoid Khristians.
        Since the very beginning of the current pandemic churches and church groups have been “hot spots” for spreading the plague to the rest of the community. Too many Christians have fought heroically to maintain this status. Let’s call them Khristians with a ‘K’ instead of a “C” in order to differentiate them from followers of Christ.
        Khristians are followers of the Liar. They are working for the Dark Angel. They are of the far-right Evangelical Party. Like the Liar they are perpetual victims. They are the Constitutional Khristians of the Amerika that they would recreate in their image. Their rights to endanger and kill in the name of Jesus come first.
        They are the death squads. They are directly responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. They work diligently to increase the body count every day—especially on Sunday.
        Like the Liar they accept no responsibility. Like the Liar they are victims. The Liar’s truth is their truth. It is the Liar’s vision that they spread. “We are Amerika!” is their guiding psalm.

The hoax that keeps on killing.

Ω How many people did the church kill, endanger or infect today in the name of Jesus?

Ω How many people in the community did the church spread the plague to today?

Ω How much damage to our Republic did the church do today in support of the Liar?

Ω How much economic damage did the church do today?

Ω What falsehoods did the church support and spread today in the name of Jesus?

        The above are not questions that should have to be asked at any time let alone on a Sunday morning yet here we are. Whether we like it or not these questions and worse are being asked by believers and non-believers alike.

Criminally negligent homicide.
        An ultra-conservative Christian group operates not far from where we live. Kanakuk Kamps has been in operation for decades. I copied the below statement from their web page.

“At Kanakuk, we live I’m Third—God First. Others Second. I’m Third. This foundational principle is integrated into each of our Kamp’s programming, equipping Kampers to be Christ-like examples who lead with responsibility and care.”

        They have been in the news because initially 40 of their “Kampers” and counselors tested positive for COVID-19. The number grew to over 80. In the end, the number of Stone County confirmed cases only went up one since all the rest were not from this area. They took the virus to their homes and communities across 10 states.
        In light of the above would you think that they stopped holding kamps at the outbreak? If you did you thought wrong.

“Others second” my ass.
        Holding a church camp for kids the middle of a pandemic should be considered criminal. (BTW their other camps are ongoing.) The kids and counselors interacted with others in the community. There is no way of knowing what the final toll or impact will be.

Leadership.
        How are pastors handling the mask question? How are they handling providing safe services for their followers? (I’m talking about the ones that aren’t openly flaunting their disdain for protecting others.) Are they going along to get along?
        Some aren’t. They are encouraging doing all the right things. Some are only having online services and holding meetings and studies using technology like Zoom. They’re using phone calls and emails and are wearing masks when necessary.

Others? Not so much.
        I’ve spent some time surfing religious sites and taking in some online services during pandemic time just to see what’s up. Pretty sad really. Some of the services that I watched are in areas where COVID-19 cases are increasing dramatically.
        If you think that I saw a lot of masks and people keeping a physical distance you’d be wrong. If you thought there wouldn’t be any singing you’d also be wrong.
        Why singing? What’s wrong with singing? Well, singing really projects the virus out there. It goes farther than 6 feet. It aerosolizes and hangs in the air longer and gets spread by the ventilation and movement in the air. It’s the churches’ way of really going the distance to spread the virus.

Ripples in the water.
        And get the virus out there they do. Time and time again we can read in local and national news where the virus was spread out into the community from churches. Pastors have died. Their congregants have died. People in the community have died. People also got sick and recovered. Some will have ongoing medical issues for the rest of their now shortened lives.
        One church leader, no name provided, wrote 1588 words about wearing masks. Whoever they were they were pretty worked up about it. Cited all sorts of scripture. Talked about congregants fighting with each other and how un-Christian it all was.
        Never took an actual position. 1588 words and couldn’t say something as easy and simple as “Wear a mask: it’s the Christian thing to do.”

Fear.
        Regardless of what happens we’re going to end up with fewer churches and fewer followers of the real Jesus as this pandemic runs its course. There will be pastors who, whether directly or indirectly, lead their congregations to dissolution. Some smaller congregations will simply lose too many people to COVID-19 to continue financially.
        There are already Christians leaving churches over the mask issue. Their fellow Christians won’t even wear a mask for bible study. Such a small imposition yet it’s dividing churches.
        Like it or not, if a pastor takes a position either way on masks and physical distancing there will be supposed believers alienated. People have already switched churches in order to go to a church that doesn’t treat the pandemic seriously and vice versa. Some just leave.

        WWJD?

Jesus had the courage of his convictions.
        Unlike too many pastors of today Jesus wasn’t afraid to speak out and take a position to save lives. Now Jesus could bob and weave with the best of them when it came to politics but ultimately he took a position there as well, and died for it. Without getting into all of the theology, with that act he put everyone else first. That’s in keeping with the trinity. He put others before his own wellbeing.
        When alive he cured the sick, injured and lame. He didn’t kill people. He didn’t endanger people. He cured lepers. He didn’t spread leprosy. He wasn’t afraid of losing his church.
        Simply put, Jesus would have worn a mask. His followers would have worn masks as well. Jesus would have worn a mask even if it meant a personal sacrifice to his wellbeing. He carried a cross for us. Wearing a mask would have been easy.

Apostles Creed and the Antichrist [Religion/Politics]

(7-minute read) 

There has been something bugging me since the funeral of George H. W. Bush. President Trump and the First Lady did not say the Apostles’ Creed along with everybody else in the service. Why wouldn’t they say it? What would be a theological or personal reason/s for them to not say the creed?

Those not familiar with the faith may not understand why this would be of interest to me, a person of the faith. The Apostles’ Creed below is simply a basic statement of the faith as to what we believe. It isn’t controversial.

~

“I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen.”

~

The funeral was widely covered by media. There are multiple videos that show President Trump as well as the First Lady Melania not saying the creed.

Here’s just one short clip.

The words “catholic church” used in the creed refer to the ‘universal’ church hence the small ‘c’ is used for the word catholic. In the above version the word ‘quick’ is used. Quick = living. In some versions people will say “the living” rather than “the quick”.

As I mentioned above there really is nothing unusual or controversial about the Apostles’ Creed being said during a service. We say it on a regular basis in our Presbyterian church.

The people around them are saying the creed. They are reading from the text that they were provided. That isn’t unusual. I still read from the text in the bulletin. But this isn’t about them. They are of no consequence in regards to my questions.

President Trump has previously mentioned his Presbyterian background so he simply has to know about the creed unless he never went to church and he has stated that he did go to church. Melania Trump is Catholic and would also be familiar with the creed.

Where this gets interesting is that there are indeed Evangelicals claiming that President Trump is chosen by God to be President and is fulfilling the prophesies. At this stage President Trump is the head of what has become the Evangelical Party.

Here is a supporting scripture that they often use:

English Standard Version (ESV), Romans 13:1, Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Here is the scripture that Evangelicals used in regard to President Obama:

ESV, Psalm 109:8, May his days be few; may another take his office!

BTW here’s 109:9, May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow!

So yes indeedy. They wanted him dead. They prayed for him to die. They know their scripture. Kind of at odds with the scripture that they’re using now but there you are. That is the hypocrisy of the Evangelical Party. “The ends justify the means.” Evangelicals 1:16-20

Just as an FYI, the support of Evangelicals came about after President Trump’s fixer Michael Cohen muscled a person into not releasing compromising photographs obtained of Jerry Falwell Jr. Falwell then started getting other Evangelicals on board the Presidential train for Donald Trump. (This is according to Cohen.)

The rest is history. Trump won the election via the Electoral College even though he lost the popular vote. (Pollsters were actually correct in predicting a close win for Hillary Clinton in the one to two percent range. Where they were wrong is in the electoral vote.)

The Evangelical Party is now claiming that President Trump was chosen by God to be President and is fulfilling biblical prophesies. Even President Trump is mocking them for that one. (He looks to the heavens at 1m37s.)

However, it also now being claimed that President Trump is in fact the Antichrist. There are a whole lot of bible verses being used as justification. I’ll provide a couple of scriptures below as examples.

Zechariah 11:15-17

MSG 15-16 God then said, “Dress up like a stupid shepherd. I’m going to install just such a shepherd in this land—a shepherd indifferent to victims, who ignores the lost, abandons the injured, and disdains decent citizens. He’ll only be in it for what he can get out of it, using and abusing any and all.

NRSV For I am now raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering,[a] or heal the maimed, or nourish the healthy,[b] but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

That tearing off hooves things doesn’t sound good at all. Not good at all for those in the rest of the flock.

Here’s a link to a piece that provides the whole President Trump is the Antichrist spiel. It is kind of interesting to read.

Anyway when you throw in the unrepentant repentant sinner that is President Donald Trump who doesn’t believe in asking for forgiveness, has cheated on all of his wives, had a part as himself in not one but two soft porn films, is a venal liar and to top it all off has family that recently sold a property with the “666” address the anti-evangelicals make a better case of him being the Antichrist than the “Chosen One” which President Trump famously mocked at a press conference. (Selling the property would be “the Beast” covering its tracks.) Some verses also refer to the Antichrist as being “the Liar”. President Trump has outstanding qualifications in this regard.

For what it’s worth I don’t believe that President Trump is either the Antichrist or the Chosen One.

The conservative right-wing evangelicals can be counted on to find ways to excuse his actions just as they excused him saying that he never asks for forgiveness of his sins.  The interview is here. He’s referring to taking communion when he talks about drinking wine in his comments. (Incidentally the wine is often just grape juice. Also communion has nothing to do with asking for forgiveness of one’s sins. It is about remembering Christ.) Although asking for forgiveness is also fundamental to believing in God. At least for those of the Christian faith.

It is worth mentioning that evangelicals do take righteous exception to the times that President Trump takes the Lord’s name in vain though. Isn’t that something?! Well, after all, they do have their standards.

Personally, I believe that President Trump and the First Lady really didn’t care. It was just asking too much of them to be respectful throughout the funeral service of a fallen President. Not saying the creed was an excellent way of drawing attention to themselves and away from others. Mission accomplished. Trump is about Trump being the center of attention.

I also think that he would be more popular with his base if he simply said that he really doesn’t care about Christianity all that much and the teachings of Jesus any more than they do. They get a kick out of these kinds of statements from the President. It’s him not being politically correct. Yet it’s disrespectful for a person of color to take a knee during the national anthem. They want to wrap the church building in the flag not the doctrine of Jesus.

When God calls upon a person to do something doesn’t it seem that they should change for the better not get worse? We’re coming up on the fourth year with Trump as President and he’s worse not better.

It’s almost poetic that the biggest threat to our Republic and Christianity is coming from Evangelicals and the Republican Party both headed by President Donald Trump.