A Response to Our Helicopter-Governing of Covid

 My state governor’s draconian restrictions announced last night prompt me to write today.

 

She has forbidden private families from Thanksgiving gatherings with more than 2 households, on penalty of $200 and $1000 fines and possible imprisonment.  No indoor gatherings AT ALL of more than 2 families, or 10 people.  Shut down high school sports and in-person school.  Shuttered restaurants and entertainment venues entirely.  All for 3 weeks, and it’ll likely be extended beyond that.  But the Lions and college sports can play.  Daycares will remain open.  Religious services are exempt from penalties.  Throughout the press conference, she danced between urging and persuasion, and the language of these as “orders” and “laws.”

 

Feel free to correct any factual errors in this summary.  I’m a bit strong in my wording below, but also welcome your feedback.

 

My thoughts:

1.      It is a clear overreach on the part of the civil government to forbid family gatherings.  Freedom of assembly is a specific first amendment right in our Constitution.  The proper word for this is authoritarianism and tyranny, regardless of the legitimacy of the public health threat.  This is the epitome of a nanny state in which we are all wards, not free citizens.  I would be fine with medical advisories, even if given from their view of the virus, not mine (see #2).  But talk to us like we are adults and free citizens, not minors who need to be “allowed” some things, and “closed” to others.  Issue information and statistics objectively, not selectively to fit your narrative (see 2.a. next).  That is your job.  Instead, you seem to be learning from the national media to curate and present the facts in a way that fits only your agenda.  When such overreach is clear, a Christian is not bound by Romans 13, to obey whatever orders are given.  Rather, civil disobedience (or disregarding orders, or appealing to a lower magistrate) is a way for citizens to point our government, which is “of the people,” to their properly limited authority.

 

2.     There are at least two differing views of the virus, BOTH supported by science

a.       First is the one you hear in the news every day, and what my governor is acting on.  It says each new case, each new “outbreak” (defined as a handful of cases!) is a preventable travesty.  If only we were all wearing masks, 200,000 people wouldn’t have died!  200,000 more won’t die!  Don’t expose yourself to Covid, or you’re doomed!

b.      The other view says each Covid case is a largely necessary and mostly UN-preventable necessity to building herd immunity to Covid.  Even after we have a vaccine, herd immunity, a biological fact of life, will still be the goal to stem Covid's effects on us.  Key fact: testing the population for antibodies has shown that 50 times more people have had Covid (without even knowing it) than there are confirmed cases. (Source: Imprimis article by Stanford Professor of Medicine).  This means the risk of Covid hospitalizing, scarring, or killing you is 50 times lower than we think.  Google the Great Barrington Declaration for more.  The media reports every bizarre and rare case of child abuse that happens, so now parents don’t dare let their children out of their sight.  Child trafficking is real, but helicopter parenting isn't the answer.  The same is happening with Covid.  It is a real threat, but helicopter governing isn't a good response.  We think Covid is everywhere and always lethal/dangerous, when actually, many of the people you live and work with have already had it, and it's usually innocuous.  The objective stats and numbers rank the danger of Covid to us nowhere near a bubonic plague to flee, or to cancel Christmas or church over.

c.      The first view is psychologically compelling, because we all WANT desperately to believe that we can by our actions manage and control this virus.  So we latch on to things like masks, vaccines, and other mitigation.  Not because of the science, but because we want to believe we can stop the spread by our choices.  It’s like a cancer patient changing his diet to fight cancer.  Not gonna help much.  We ought not radically alter our society to be just a tiny bit safer.  Let the vulnerable and their relatives make that decision, don’t foist it on the whole society.

d.      Most/all of the news you hear only gives you the first view (a. above), assumes it, and presses it on you every day.  They imply you must be a fringe, selfish psychopath to resist restrictions.  Have you simply assumed they must be right, and not considered that the second view may be true?  Do you realize they are pressuring us to comply like repressive Communist governments want their people to behave?

e.       A majority of our state legislature holds the second view, yet the governor did not take it into account AT ALL in setting her policy.

f.        This is an easy win for those on the left seeking to expand the role of government.  Climate change has been a harder presenting cause, to achieve an expansion of government’s role and spending.  But Covid has made it much easier to assert and assume government control of everyday life.  People are used to it now, and meekly comply like sheeple, when they should be outraged at the tyranny.  Businesses will follow along.  Small business doesn’t have the resources to resist and big corporations have been overtaken by woke culture.  We have become a fascist society without realizing it (government controlling business).  All while rejecting the president who we CALLED a fascist, but who resisted these policies.

 

3.      What we know about Covid

a.       I’ve heard from some of you, the tragic first-hand accounts in hospitals, the stories of severe after-effects from COVID.  I believe them, and it’s nothing to sneeze at, pun intended.  But other anecdotes reveal many confirmed cases with NO symptoms and a full and complete recovery.  Our denomination’s leader and 2 family members got Covid, had mild symptoms, and are recovering.  At our small church we have worshiped in person for 6 months now without masks, and have no Covid cases yet.  When we get one, I’m not going to freak out.

b.      Tesla's Elon Musk recently tested the test by testing himself 4 times in one day – the result was 2 positive and 2 negative, showing the uncertainty of the test.  “Confirmed case” is an oxymoron.

c.       Politicians that want more restrictions are talking like hospitals are already overrun again.  They are not.  They are fuller than they were a month ago, yes.  But hospital stays are shorter.  Staff have been around the block once, and know better what to do.  We don't need the same draconian shutdowns to prevent the health system being over-capacity.

d.      Covid can be more or less lethal/damaging than the flu, depending on what age you are.  Of course, we should be more careful to not spread germs and practice better hygiene.  But to shut down social life for this is like refusing to fly because some planes crash.  No, not even that.  It’s like outlawing flying for everyone, because some planes crash.

 

4.      Covid’s unpredictability is what scares us.  It can scare doctors and scientists most of all, who crave understanding and control of their environment.  So they are the most willing to propose radical steps to get control.  (Witness Dr. Fauci.)  Politicians lack the courage to set policy that accounts for other factors.  I do see my governor accounting for economic factors now, unlike in March, in keeping daycares and some businesses open.  That’s a good step.  But to cancel family life at the holidays instead is cruel and disproportionate.  

Not because I’m selfish and want my holiday parties, and don't care if I give people Covid unknowingly.  No, I believe I understand the epidemiology rationale behind canceling, and I reject it.  Either way, families should have the freedom to decide whether to take that risk or not.

Feed Your Soul, Not Your Flesh

 An old friend passed on these Youtube videos (try 32:00 mark) of a jazz piano player doing improvisations on traditional hymns.  Makes great background music that fed my soul.  It may not be your thing, but my exhortation to you this week would be this:

Identify things that restore your soul.  Pursue them.

Psalm 23 says, "He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside still waters.  He restores my soul."

Green pastures.  Still waters.  These are things you NEED, though you may not always feel it.  I'm not talking about the obvious things that God calls all Christians to: reading the Bible, going to church, prayer, etc.  Of course, do these.  I mean things specific to you that reset you in good ways before the Lord.

I'd warn of two traps when you seek out things to restore your soul.  One is things you're nostalgic for.  I love the sound of a good piano, and these videos feed that.  But the sound is not what restores my soul - that just meets my natural taste.  It's the lingering meditation on lyrics like "Amazing Grace" that feeds me.  Be careful when the routine bedtime story with the kids gives you the good-feels in itself without actually feeding your soul in the Lord Jesus.

I believe the Christmas season will tempt many this year to cling to nostalgia and sentimentalism for comfort, amidst all the COVID stress.  Resist this.  Your comfort is that you are not your own, but belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to your faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.  Your comfort is not in decorations or a tree or presents, or a holiday, though we ought to celebrate our Lord's Incarnation.  Your comfort is not in turning the calendar and being done with 2020.  It is in Christ.

The second trap is things you THINK you need, but you don't.  Things you have come to crave or desire.

Sugar

Infinite Facebook feeds

Alcohol

Up to date news on elections

Caffeine

That Netflix show

Chocolate

That political commentary that always agrees with you

These things provide a false comfort - they feel like they are feeding you, as they tell you what you want to hear, as they make your body feel good.  Fasts from these things will help direct your soul to the Lord, who you REALLY need.

What are you pursuing right now?  Do you know what will help your soul just now?

On Honoring Veterans

 I decided last minute to attend my small town's Veteran's Day service at 11:00a.m. today, and I'm glad I did.

After the 21-gun salute and taps, the lowering and raising of the flag, and the pledge of allegiance, about 100 people leaned in on a breezy and brisk overcast day to hear the mayor speak of our debt of gratitude to all who have served in our armed forces.  A state senator and newly re-elected U.S. Congresswoman also spoke.  A couple newly elected officials were also there - I met my new state representative.

These are the kind of social events that knit us together, when politics can tear us apart.  Nothing can make the politicians tone it down and talk nicely like a contingent of seasoned veterans standing before them under a flag.

It also struck me that we elect mayors and representatives not only to speak FOR us, but to speak TO us.  Who can best articulate our values and beliefs about how the world is?  Tell us what is true, then go to Lansing and Washington and enact it into law.

To all who have served our country in uniform, thank you.  Having pastored some of you, I know it comes with its own frustrations and temptations.  But you follow in a long and honored heritage of those working and fighting bravely for a country worth working, fighting and dying for.

Faith // America Forgetting God // Bible's Pro-Life Case

 Paul Tripp writes helpfully about FAITH.

Doug Wilson has a really good article on the state of our nation, and the Christians within it.

I wasn't sure about the second-to-last section, conflating pluralism with polytheism.  There's something off, there.  But there is so much back-bone-strengthening in here, it's worth the extra rhetoric...

Examples:

"The great problem with American Christians is that they want Jesus to save America’s bacon, but they want to arrange it so that America doesn’t have to say His name."

"We need a new set of leaders — leaders who are not embarrassed by the Word of God, and who are not embarrassed by other leaders who are not embarrassed by the Word of God. You’d be surprised."

Wayne Grudem points us where to go in Scripture to make the pro-life argument.

From the Gospel Coalition:

"We wake up every day with a passive and distractible posture, opening our smartphones for no reason and letting our social feeds dictate where the energies of our hearts, minds, and words are funneled. Not only can this lead us in all sorts of foolish and unhelpful directions (spending hours engaged in Twitter battles when we could be doing any number of more productive things), but it also distracts us from the Christian mission that should animate us more powerfully than the various social media kerfuffles and breaking news headlines that quickly come and go."

Stolen Election?

Conservatives are quick to cry foul on the election just now.

Here are two examples that give me pause.

1. I was strongly suspicious when the school board candidate I did NOT want elected, appeared at the top of my ballot, though the last name started with Z.  I thought they always went alphabetical, and that the candidate had rigged it so his name was on top to get the ignorant vote.

An election official friend corrected me.  Every few ballots are printed in a different order so no candidate gets that top-name bias.  Huh.

2. I heard breathless reports of vans bringing ballots to a counting location in Detroit at 3 in the morning.  Proof of fraud, right?  Far from it.  Urban voting centers are slower to get totals due to higher volume, perhaps they send ballots elsewhere to be counted, when more rural areas count on site, etc.  I'm not sure of all the details of the process everywhere, so will be SLOW to accuse and assume fraud is happening, just because my guy is losing.

Now, I'd LOVE it if recounts and Trump's litigation resulted in a count that favored him.  I think every legal means should be exhausted.  But the numbers for it just aren't adding up right now.

If you believe every assertion of fraud and election stealing in your social media feed, I'd urge you to reconsider how you decide what is true.

If Fox and the Wall Street Journal are now part of the liberal mainstream media, just because they won't fight for Trump, you have crossed a line that I cannot cross.

A Belated Reformation Day Salute to Guido de Bres

Five years after Luther nailed his theses to the Wittenburg door, a baby boy was born in Belgium, named Guido or Guy de Bres.  Guido’s father was a blauschilder, a painter of blue, just before the time when Holland's Delftware became famous.  Guido grew up in a devout Roman Catholic family, but Gutenberg’s printing press was churning out the writings of Luther and Calvin and others, and it had its effect.  Guido became evangelical in college around 20 years old, which we rightly celebrate.  But it made him a marked man.

 

Spain dominated the lowlands of Belgium and Holland in those days, and they actively suppressed Anabaptists and Reformers and Lutherans.  We’ve heard of the Spanish Inquisition.  de Bres fled to England, like many Protestants on the continent were doing.  There he met many leading reformers: a Jewish convert to the Reformation who was THE world expert in the Hebrew language.  A Polish Baptist who wrote the London Confession.  Most important, Calvin’s right-hand man, Theodore Beza.  De Bres found his way to Geneva, imbibing closely Calvin’s thought and his pastoral actions.  As with most refugees from their native land, Guy de Bres longed to return home and spread Reformation truth to his own people.  Calvin and other Genevans encouraged him to do so, but to count the cost first.  Don't forget the Spanish Inquisition!  12,000 Protestants in the lowlands were martyred in those days for their faith.

But Guido went home.

 

At 37 years old, de Bres was an undercover preacher and pastor.  He would meet with the church from house to house under the guise of dinner parties, much like this one, where he would lead a worship service and celebrate communion.  He would disguise himself as a beggar in the streets, so the soldiers wouldn’t question and arrest him as a Protestant agitator.  He would preach in the open fields, with scouts on the lookout for Spanish soldiers.

 

Inspired by his Polish friend who wrote the London Confession, following the footsteps of Calvin, who wrote catechisms and his Institutes, Guy wrote his own confession, before he was 40 years old.  He wrote because he didn’t like Spain’s propaganda.  They said all these Protesting protestants are the same – they are rebels and fanatics.  They won’t follow the church and they want to set up their own state.  In part they were right – the Anabaptists WERE extremists who wanted to set up their own communes apart from civil authority – many of them were rabid charismatics who followed their own feelings of the Spirit more than the Word of God.  Guido de Bres wanted to tell the world, especially Spain, that there were reasonable Reformers, willing to submit to the crown, who simply wanted to follow the Word of God as they read it.  So he wrote the Belgic Confession.

 

The same year he wrote it, on this very day, November 1, he went to Lansing, I mean, the seat of government in his state.  Where the Democrat, I mean, the Spanish crown’s governor lived and ruled.  And in the cover of darkness, he took a copy of his confession and threw it over the castle wall.  He wanted the Spanish government to read of his faithfulness to God and His Word, and to stop persecuting his people.

 

Spain did not listen.

 

Their Standard Operating Procedure was to attack and lay siege to a city with an "outbreak of cases" of the Reformation – it was a plague in their minds.  And in 1567 they did just that, and caught Guy in their nets.  

They arrested him.  

He wrote to his wife and children, urging them to trust that God was sovereign over such a trial, as much as any other time.  He second-guessed himself a bit: “if we hadn’t traveled together openly in the street as pastors those few times, maybe they wouldn’t have arrested us!”  But He turned to the Lord, and trusted God with his life: “This has come to pass from Your hand.”

 

He was hanged the same year - 1567 - and he was 45 years old.  I’m a Reformed pastor, aged 44.  I imagine myself as Pastor Guido.  The Michigan state police have me imprisoned, questioned, and hanged for our Protestant/Christian faith.  

In spite of the obvious hostility of the secular left to the conservative, traditional Christian faith and life like a woman such as Amy Coney Barrett, such as many of my readers - when you consider history, we have it REALLY good in our country.

 

Thanksgiving is coming.  Thank God for courageous martyrdom like Guido DeBres’.  Thank God for religious liberty in our land that keeps us free from such a threat to our very lives.  Most of all, thank God for the truth of His Word, and faithful men who summarized that truth in confessions like this Belgic Confession.  Read them.  Cherish them.  Learn from them.

  

A Youtube cartoon on de Bres – 3 minutes – great for kids!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktN8zq4WV_0

Another Mascot Canceled?

Holland, Michigan’s school district has set up a committee to consider changing its mascot from the Dutchmen.  Though founded by the Dutch, the argument goes that minorities are now the majority in the school district.

Here were my thoughts:

Having a mascot like the Dutchmen is not racist or even culturally insensitive in any way. It is a way to point residents to the history of the place they live.

What is so offensive about this is the erasing of valuable history to make ourselves feel better about how diverse and sensitive we are.  Probably a bit of white guilt going on, here, too. What is so frustrating is that most will be for this, because the alternative would feel like being mean to non-Dutch people, which is... silly.

The reason for doing this would also require removing the name Holland. And Zeeland. And Drenthe...

History creates inequalities and majorities. Some seek to remove them all. But we do not all have a right to as much income, or "cultural privilege" as everyone else. That's a socialist pipe dream. Some will always be more equal than others. Right now, those setting up this committee have unequal access to the levers of power. It's an Orwellian forced whitewashing of history in the name of equality.

Equal opportunity is a must for all. But whose opportunities are being curtailed by Holland being the Dutch?

You Can Be Strong // On Voting for Biden // Health Insurance Woes

1. You Can Be Strong

This is a really insightful piece, on Generation Z specifically.  But it applies across the board.

The hubris of my college generation has been replaced with a sense of resigned weakness.

If I needed to hear “you are weak,” my students today increasingly need to hear “you can be strong.”

2. On Voting for Biden

"The pro-lifer who votes against Biden may not keep him from winning. He will, however, at least refuse to join in tolerating a massive violation of human rights for hundreds of thousands of victims of direct and intentional lethal violence."

Robert George and Rommesh Ponnuru - National Review

3. What is health insurance for?  One thing driving up premiums is our own expectations...

Who to Vote for, If At All?

 Joel Belz’ commentary on World Magazine’s podcast, The World and Everything in It, on October 14 (at the end, 30:00 mark), about who to vote for is a classic case of evangelical Christian naivete, when it comes to politics.

He rightly rules out Biden, as every faithful Christian must, given his ardent support for abortion alone.  But he then goes on to give Trump deniers a righteous sense of rejecting rudeness and being careless with the truth.

Christians have struggled with perfectionism in politics for a long time.  Joel Belz still falls into it.  Your vote is not a valentine for a candidate, nor is it a religious action that before the Lord you believe this candidate has done nothing wrong before God (or even that he is in good standing with the Lord). 

No, your vote is a chess move on a political board.  It doesn’t endorse every imperfection of the candidate, not even unconfessed ones!  Votes should take account of the policies a candidate pursues long term, and the viable alternatives.

Don’t strain out the gnat and swallow the camel.  We’ll take a rough character who effects Christian policies over a nicer-appearing guy aggressively promoting abortion, sodomy, insistence that 8 year-old’s be allowed to transition their gender only on their say-so, and more.  Trump’s immigration policy has been very unhelpful and saddens me, but it pales in comparison to the good judges he has appointed, using the bully pulpit for pro-life, tax cuts, toughness to China, Iran and Russia, and more.

I believe personally that not voting for Trump in this election would be a sin of omission for the Christian.  Faithful Christians can disagree on several things I've listed above, but cannot vote for things God calls an abomination.  (There are three of those above, if you're counting.)  As a pastor, it isn’t something I’m going to go after members for.  Many are caught up in Belz’ perfectionism, and just can't pull the lever for Trump.  Teaching is the need of the day.  

Every non-vote for Trump is a boost for Biden and his wicked policies.  It would be failing to act when you could, to avert serious negative consequences to our country.

Violent Society // The Left Captured Sports // Bad Shepherds

 1. This is some excellent commentary on where we are as a society today.

"Absence of God beget[s] random violence."

2. Imprimis is consistently good.  Here's one raising a flag of concern about our kids and the sports world.

Highlights:

"Kids shut their bedroom doors, turn on their televisions, laptops, and game consoles, plug in earbuds, open social media apps, and disappear into a world far removed from mom and dad.... They tune out the worldview of their families and tune in the worldview of LeBron James..."

"China... rules the National Basketball Association and its defacto parent company, Nike, the same way it rules Hollywood.... Nike, and not the NBA, controls basketball....  helps explain why Nike pitchmen LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick enthusiastically smear the United States as inherently racist and evil."

"The Leftist mob has forced the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, and the National Basketball Association to take their own knees and pay homage to the dishonest Black Lives Matter narrative on police brutality."

3. Michael Kruger draws lessons for religious leaders from Jesus' interaction with the Pharisees in Mark 3.

Rejection // Lessons from Acts

1. This is a helpful, short article on rejection.  A personal wound many people struggle with.

2. The experience of the early church proves that underhanded tactics have been around a long time.  When you can’t win by persuasion, resort to lies, prosecution, and violence. 

Acts 6:8-14:“And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹ Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. ¹¹ Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹² And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, ¹³ and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, ¹⁴ for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

3. Saul was cage stage!

Acts 9:29-31 – “And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. ³⁰ And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.  ³¹ So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”

Saul of Tarsus was too vigorous and disruptive in his aggressive apologetic approach.  He needed seasoning and training to cool down and learn to engage people in a more constructive way.

Barrett is Pro-Life! // Obergefell's ruinous consequences // Platt on Voting

1. The liberal media acts surprised that Judge Barrett is pro-life.

Then they cover a celebrity’s miscarriage as the loss of their precious baby.

Hmm.

Al Mohler nails this one.

2. Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to sign marriage licenses for same sex couples, is being sued by one of those couples.  She appealed and just lost at the Supreme Court.  SCO1. TUS, following its recent Obergefell decision, refused to hear her appeal.

Justice Thomas' dissent, a small four pages, is worth the read.  His conclusion: "By choosing to privilege a novel constitutional right over the religious liberty interests explicitly protected in the First Amendment, and by doing so undemocratically, the Court has created a problem that only it can fix. Until then, Obergefell will continue to have “ruinous consequences for religious liberty.” "

3. Pretty disappointed in Gospel Coalition for promoting DavidPlatt’s latest on voting.  From the podcast transcript, he seems to advocate a morally equivalent position between Trump and Biden.  That’s crazy.  Interviewer Colin Hansen says, “We see abortion as being a fairly nuanced issue…”  Really?!?!  At least Platt corrected him later: “We’re not nuanced about abortion.”  But Platt still allows room to make abortion a less important factor in deciding your vote.

It’s like they’re mirroring and pandering to their younger, social justice warrior, somewhat-woke audience, instead of leading them out of that cesspool of CNN-think.

Platt refuses to say it is our duty to vote, even though voting and jury duty are the two pillars of citizenship in our nation.  Romans 13, man!

But I was glad to hear Platt say, “The Bible uses justice over a hundred times. Let’s learn what that means…. Part of why we did that was to show the difference between the gospel and God’s Word and critical race theory or what Black Lives Matter as an organization might be promoting that are not in line with a biblical worldview.”

 And he’s frustrated by kneejerk reactions from conservatives, which I understand: “as soon as you mention the word “justice” or “race,” you are automatically labeled and put into certain categories, and people start to assume you’re promoting a worldly idea of justice or race…”

On the Pastor and Politics

I enjoy the podcast Pastor’s Talk with Mark Dever and Jonathan Leeman.  Leeman’s views on politics are too tolerant for me, but these principles from a recent edition are good.  Here they are, with some commentary of my own.

 

Don’t be a brawler

I appreciate political energy and opinion, but there’s a way to fight that divides and tears people down.  We should fight for God’s ways in the public square, but in a way that helps the body of Christ, not tears it apart.

Don’t panic

AMEN.  Election seasons, like pandemics, expose our real priorities.  And we tend to love too much (idolize) our nation, our own opinions.  We also tend to think we are the captains of our fate, that if we work hard enough we can make life how we want it.  Politics exposes this lie, and it really bothers us.  We are unsettled with the real-world consequences that God is sovereign, not ourselves, not “We the People,” and not the USA as a nation.

 

Speak pastorally and charitably, instead of demonizing the other side

Most talk radio/podcasts fail miserably here.  Ben Shapiro castigates liberals as garbage.  Trump insults his opponents on Twitter.  One reason this is happening is because popular media no longer discusses substantive ideas and policies.  They mostly focus on political processes and races and personalities.  We vote for candidates based on how they look, and how they make us feel.

 

Stay in your area of expertise as a pastor.

This is a tricky one.  I am not a two-kingdoms guy as much as Dever and Leeman.  The Bible addresses politics, medicine, the whole gamut of current events.  But they are on to something to say that pastors are not medical experts, and ought not parrot Fox or CNN talking points from the pulpit.  The key is to be bringing the Word of God rightly to bear on current events.  Not to assume it doesn’t relate to politics.  And not to be carried along by an earthly agenda.

Forsaking Assembling // Inequality=Racism? // Cuties

Well, the Mortification of Spin guys, Carl Trueman and Todd Pruitt, seem to have finally come around on the John MacArthur, Romans 13 issue.  This was a pretty good podcast.  Carl's exhortation to go easy on church leaders at the end (28:00 mark) was really good.

I've been scanning back issues of National Review.  Here's a good quote:

"Progressives deny that the disparity in arrest rates could be driven by any factor other than racism."

July 6, 2020, pg. 20.

A while back Netflix's Cuties was the topic of the day.

Ben Shapiro said that the point of the director was actually to critique the sexualization of young girls.  He watched it and appreciated that point.

Al Mohler said that he wouldn't watch it, but that the depiction itself exploited and sexualized young girls, regardless of the point attempting to be made.

I side with Mohler on this one.  You can work against a thing cinematically without graphically depicting it.  Cuties cultivates pedophilic desire, whether intentionally or not.

An Incident of Civil Disobedience to Consider

Christ Church of Moscow Idaho has made national news for holding a Psalm Sing in a public space, while not masking or social distancing.  Moscow's mayor recently extended a universal mask mandate until January 1.

Gabe Rench of Cross-Politic and two other church members were arrested during the singing, and detained for a few hours.  Two others were given citations.

Here's Breitbart on it.

Here's the local news.

Here's Doug Wilson's take.

My take:

I'm not sure of the wisdom of this response to civic laws that appear groundless to many.  I'm not against it, because I've been uncertain what the best response is.

Some say we should only resist the civil authorities when we are forbidden from doing what God's Word commands.  That would rule this action a violation of Romans 13.  God's Word doesn't address face masks or social distancing.  The two widely divergent views of the pandemic are both plausible (*see below), so I lean against defying civil authority generally at this point, too.  Though I admit to going into stores without a mask on where I knew the civil authority mandated it.

Where the state is forbidding churches to meet for a long time or indefinitely, I believe the church has grounds to disregard the state, without violating Romans 13.  John MacArthur is right in doing what he is doing.  Mark Dever has pointed out that during the 1918 Spanish Flu, the DC civil authority ASKED churches not to meet, and they agreed and didn't.  Because everyone SAW the emergency.  Today, it's a toss-up.  *Is there a real medical emergency that we are preventing by the lockdowns and mitigation?  (We know a lot more medically now than in 1918!)  Or is the pandemic emergency manufactured for this election season?  Leftist civil authorities have to insist their motivations are medical, not political, so they stick to their guns.  MAGA folks suspect media advocacy and bias, manufacturing a crisis, which is so obviously true that they have a real point.

SOMEBODY needs to call out the leftist civil authorities on the actual data, which doesn't call for such stringent measures at this point.  I'm glad Christ Church did, even as I wonder about the wisdom of the church stepping into the fray in this way.