Continuing my "greatest COVID hits" articles. To read my introduction to this ongoing series, go here. To support my work and get value for value, order my Matrix collections here and subscribe to my substack here.
March 19, 2020 [America in ‘lockdown’: Day 7.]
Part One:
Are
they really going to shut down all the churches in the world? “Too many
people in one place, no more Sunday services.” I don’t think so. Don’t
write me and tell me about the churches that have already shut down. I’m
talking about the millions of others that are still open.
What
are these churches? They’re places where people can wake up their
spirit. And what does that spirit say? Huddle in the dark? Wait for the
virus to pass over? Give in?
That’s
not what I hear. I hear that in some countries, they’re places where
the State does not tread. Where the worshipers can even speak their
minds. I’ve never been shown Scripture where God says churches have to
protect their government granted 501C3 non-profit status and therefore
have to cower in fear.
CHURCH is where people can mount a PUSHBACK against the lockdowns and economic destruction. Against the attack.
CHURCH
is where people can stand up and say they’re OK and healthy and they’re
not falling for the illusion. This is where people can tear away the
false curtain.
If
one person stands up in church and says the epidemic is hyped up and is
a cover story that allows the government to wreck the country, another
person might stand up and say the same thing. Isn’t this a tradition
called TESTIFYING? Aren’t courage and righteousness supposed to have a
place in churches? What happens if 50 people stand up? A hundred? What
if this happens in many churches? What if the energy is a fireball? Even
out in the countryside, away from the cities, I understand people have
things called cell phones. What prevents them from recording all this
testifying and sending it all over the world? WE’RE HEALTHY. WE’RE
OK. WE’RE NOT GOING TO DIE. WE DON’T WORSHIP THE VIRUS. WE’RE NOT HERE
TO FALL ON OUR KNEES AND WORSHIP THE VIRUS. THE VIRUS ISN’T GOD.
If Jesus threw the moneychangers out of the temple, why can’t worshipers throw out the CDC?
(Modern
translation): “People of Jerusalem, run through your streets! Look
around! See for yourselves! Search the marketplaces! Can you find one
person who does what is right and tries to be faithful to God? If you
can, the LORD will forgive Jerusalem.”
So…is
there ONE honest politician anywhere who will go into a church on a
Sunday and stand up and say I DO NOT WORSHIP THE VIRUS…WE’RE ALL RIGHT,
WE’RE NOT SICK, WE’RE NOT GOING TO GET SICK, THIS IS A LIE AND AN ATTACK
AGAINST US...
Don’t hold your breath waiting. Don’t wait at all. People who go to church can take the bull by the horns themselves. TESTIFY.
Real churches, as opposed to fake ones, were never meant to be polite places.
From
what I’m told, early on in every religion, the original believers
struggled against overwhelming odds. Their FAITH sustained them. Yes?
Also, if I understand correctly, God isn’t telling people to wait for Him to take action. Is WAITING a religion?
Is there a Bible I don’t know about that lists all the permitted excuses for WAITING?
TESTIFY.
Part Two:
Does God want a global lockdown for eighteen months?
Churches are the last bastion of separation from State in the society
When there’s a war, there’s dissent. In this war, where are the dissenters?
Could
two-gun Trump, accompanied by a live-streaming video crew, do a blazing
firebrand tour of 100 churches across the US, and tell worshipers the
“epidemic” is being crazily hyped, in order to wage war against the
people, through economic attacks? “THIS IS THE MOST FAKE NEWS OF ALL
FAKE NEWS! THE CDC IS FILLED WITH LIARS!” You bet your ass he
could. Will he? No.
The PUSHBACK IS UP TO CHURCHGOERS THEMSELVES.
The
latest: Time magazine, 3/17/20: “The U.K. government ramped up its
response to COVID-19 Monday, asking citizens to cut all unnecessary
contact with other people, after a British research team warned its
earlier strategy would lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths. But
those researchers also gave a troubling warning for countries around the
world implementing lockdown measures: in order to be effective, they
would need to last 12 to 18 months.”
Twelve to 18 months would blow any national economy apart.
A
public official who declares, or assists in the declaring of, a
lockdown should have to haul himself downtown and live among the people
he just torpedoed. The people who lost their jobs and businesses. Put
these political criminals on minimum welfare and see how they like
it. THAT’S called a deterrent. “What, Mr. Mayor? You want a job? In this
neighborhood, which is changing radically by the hour, it looks like we
have three immediate openings. Slim, none, and zero. What’s your
preference?”
For
the last 60 years or so, I’ve been hearing about churches where they
rattle the timbers and shake the windows every Sunday. ---Energy in
spirit let loose. Churches are the last bastion of separation from State
in the society. That’s where people are supposed to go, to find their
Ultimate. What are they supposed to do in an economic war that’s being
leveled against them? Stay silent? Is that what God is looking
for? Eighteen months of silence?
I googled “God wants 18 months of lockdown,” and the first thing that came up was:
“As
Italy remains on lockdown until at least April 3, priests across this
overwhelmingly Catholic country are being forced to look for alternative
ways to minister to their flocks. Even the public mass, the most solemn
rite in the church’s liturgy, has been banned along with other public
gatherings. Instead, many priests are turning to the virtual world to
bring people closer to God.”
“A
proliferation of prayer chains are being organized on WhatsApp or
websites---such as the new Corona(Anti)Virus for 24-hour rosary
recitation---and in addition many priests are now streaming masses on
YouTube channels or Facebook. One priest of a small town in Brianza, one
of the areas most affected by the new coronavirus, even asked his
worshippers to email him selfies or other pictures of themselves, so
that he could print them out, stick them on the pews and not feel alone
in his church while conducting a mass. He got hundreds of images and ran
out of toner for his printer.”
After reading that, I provisionally decided the Vatican has no clue about what God wants.
I could have looked for Biblical references to selfies, but held myself back.
That’s not the kind of church I’m talking about. That’s a complicit corporation.
I’m
talking about churches where people stand up and TESTIFY, because in a
staggering economic crisis like the one we’re now facing, THE SPIRIT
MOVES THEM, AND SO THEY MOVE. And if their church is too polite a place,
THEY SANCTIFY IT BY THEIR ACTION.
~~~
(The link to this republished COVID article posted on my blog is here. For the republished COVID article before that, click here.)
(Follow me on Substack, Twitter, and Gab at @jonrappoport) |
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