Warning to The Churches
Are you fighting on the right side of God?
Recently I have been reevaluating my relationship with God as well as the Church that I have been associated with while living in Hong Kong. Due to a recent experience of an interaction I had with a pastor of my Church, I was forced to look at this issue with intensity and more scrutiny. What I mean is: is the Church and its leaders doing enough to fight for its congregation when it comes certain things such as the Covid issue? Or are there a lot of Churches in the World, that are acting like cowards for the sake of not rocking the boat out of fear of appearing not being compliant sheep to the authorities? In the narrative of vaccine compliance the risk of complications as a result of taking something that has not yet been proven effective looms as a real possibility, even representing a life threatening scenario which is altogether being ignored.
A few days ago I went to see a pastor of my Church in which I was seeking to get advice about possibly taking the Vaccine (The Chinese Version) so that I can I can be reunited with my family. It appears that there is a slight possibility that if I get inoculated (with their vaccine) then its possible that I can get a Visa to enter China as a foreigner and reunite with my family. For a while now I have been very concerned about taking any kind of vaccine let alone a Chinese made one due to the fact many issues regarding the virus have still not been resolved let alone where it has come from or how it infected so many people world wide. Thus I was and still am waiting to see what or how this was going to develop. This is something I was stressing out about with much trepidation.
When I expressed my concerns about taking this vaccine to my pastor, to my surprise, my Pastor’s reaction was not only dismissive but condescending at the same time. In fact he interrupted me several times often being presumptuous by accusing me of; “not knowing what I am talking about,” “getting political,” or “supportive of feeding my own confirmation biases.” I was rather insulted by this mere exchange with a Pastor who I had come to like but now is someone I am questioning due to finding this recent conversation rather disconcerting on his part. When he did finally give his advice, such as: “If I were in your shoes and it was my family I would take the vaccine,” seemed he just wanted to be done with me and his advice seemed rather hollow and phony.
I was contemplating this experience a little later and there I began to realize that faith leaders are more content on fearing worldly things than fearing God himself. Its all about the money. I was asking this question as well as what if our leaders are being cowards and leading their followers into slavery just like the people who were wandering in the desert for 40 years who were afraid to take what God had Promised them? When it comes to questioning the taking of the vaccine and compliance, I feel that we have a similar scenario taking place among churches in modern times all over the world and are now practicing a new normal.
Churches that speak harshly again God or his people are ones that are not fearing God but fearing the world and wandering in the wilderness for fear of what God has promised for them. Instead of confronting the things that stand in the way of those promises they decide its much safer to go back to slavery. The only few who are ready to take the promise that God has for them regardless of what stands in their way are indeed very few who dare.
Malachi 3 Verse 13-15
Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, How have we spoken against you? You said, it is vain to serve God. What is profit of our keeping his charge or walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers no only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.
There are two types of people who have this relationship with God. People who hoard money, hoard things then become enslaved in the things that feed them, and the people who are promise and oath takers.
In other words there are “cowards and wilderness wanderers” and “Promise takers” that are free from enslavement.
This point of view is more evident in Numbers 13 verses 17 through 26
Where the spies go and scout the land of Canaan only to come back to report something different due to fear.
Numbers 14 Verse 11
“And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
So when it comes to the entire COVID issue and whether or not taking the Vaccine to which in my opinion has been a controversial topic with many believers and non believers is not even mentioned nor prayed about anymore. This raises a huge red flag for me on so many levels that at times is seems exasperating to think about how so many will blindly just comply for the sake of living in a peaceful society. Its always about being compliant without question or regards to legitimate concerns that people have about this issue. For me, on a personal level, I am a healthy adult that has been living in Hong Kong since the outbreak of when this virus began, and when the boarders between Macau and Hong Kong were closed, ultimately separating me from my wife and son, I made sure each and every day to keep up on the latest developments, the news and educated myself about the virus and the subsequent narratives being pushed that people must take the vaccine. Why should I have to take a vaccine for something that we don’t even know its origins? Why is there such a systemic effort by world leaders and organizations to cover up any investigations by outside objective scientists to find out where this virus started or came from? Why if I am perfectly healthy human being with a strong immune system am I being asked to take a vaccine in exchange for my civil liberties, to have a job, or the ability to travel? Why have politicians not missed a paycheck but ordinary average citizens are losing their jobs, their homes, or simply struggling to survive? Why are major corporations like Costco, Amazon, and others seem to have profited handsomely why small business’s are forced to close due to the restrictions imposed by governments who can’t or are unwilling to be transparent with basic inquiries? To me and I am sure I am not alone in this line of thought that when there are way more questions than answers then something is very wrong. What adds insult to injury is that Churches are failing in their leadership and are more content in not pushing the envelope because of their love of money and are more concerned about keeping their cushy jobs than take on a more courageous role to stand for their communities and do what was is right for their congregations.
If they are not feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, reaching the widows, or reaching the orphans then indeed they are not doing enough. Why? Because its more important to not let go of organizational power, titles, and having the security of going to a job every day that is paid by the congregation that donates to the Church itself. Because they fear the world and its worldly things than fear God himself.
When I mentioned earlier in this article that after speaking to my pastor that I was dismayed by his negative discouragement and his disrespectful tone that he showed to me, I later prayed about it. The next morning, I happened to catch Pastor Gifford of “God, Family, and Guns latest Youtube post and believe it was this very message that God wanted me to hear. Most of what I have written here today is based on his message and I highly encourage you to watch it. It was not only an eye opening point that I take to heart, but its the truth and hope many will be able to see that the Church and its leaders are not promise takers, but resorting to wandering in the wilderness due to cowardice, complacency and taking the safe way out. Churches are filling you with warm fuzzies all over with their big productions by musicians acting like idols, pastors tickling your ears asking you to put money in the pot, then consuming the sacrifices of the alter to which they just keep repeating. Just like the Jews in the wilderness, they repeat the same wandering in the wilderness.
Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful for what certain members of the Church have done for me in terms of offering support, encouragement and inspiring this film series to becoming something spoken into existence, but these are people who are being proactive to help others and not the Church. Its not like the Church reached out to me and offered me a job when I needed it the most. At the end of the day all I want is for my leaders to have my best interest at heart and honor the Holy spirit so it may dwell in its house for all of the congregation to experience and benefit from and I don’t feel that is what is happening in many of today’s churches. If Churches are unable to lead and show people what is right, what is the truth, then I am afraid the world becomes a darker place.
This video is a powerful message and we should all take a moment to heed this Pastors advice in order to gain a more deeper perspective of what the Church should be doing in difficult times such as these.
