Will one of our most cherished freedoms, religious freedom, be a casualty of Covid-19?
By now, most of you have heard of the “drive-in services” being shut down in Tennessee and Mississippi, the pastors being arrested, prayer groups and funerals likewise shut down as authorities level hundreds of dollars of fines and threaten parishioners and grieving mourners with arrest if they do not stop violating group gatherings.
What you may not know is right down the street from both the Tennessee church and the Mississippi church is a Sonic drive-in---continuously serving people burgers and shakes through open car windows and while I’m at it---what about a few hundred people walking around shopping in a Walmart? But a drive-in worship service? Bad, bad, bad!
Whether you agree or disagree with a church holding a drive-in service, these people (in one case 20 cars) are in the church parking lot, windows up, listening to the preacher on a FM station all the while maintaining “social distancing.”
Mayor DeBlasio, of New York City, is asking people to report their neighbors for any violation of the social distancing mandates. There are likewise reports of cities using drones to spot these criminal violators of justice. He appeared in a press conference and said, “If you don’t understand it yet, we’re gonna have to get tougher and tougher.”
President Trump said recently, “They go after Christian churches, but they don’t tend to go after mosques.” God forbid we should offend the Muslims but Christians are fair game! Covid-19 has raised the bar on persecution of religious freedoms and I for one doubt that once the “horse is out of the barn” you’ll see it go back to the day when attacking God, churches, pastors or Christians in general was unheard of.
My antenna likewise goes up when I hear words like “tracking”---“immunity cards”---and hear of plans where your cell phone will put an “identification mark” on another phone when you pass by so that just in case you test positive for the virus down the road they can tell everywhere you’ve been and alert every person you passed by.
Remember! The anti-Christ rises to power because the world is in chaos. A day comes when if you do not have “the mark” you won’t be able to buy or sell---they are talking about if you do not have the “immunity card” (or probably someday the mark) you won’t be allowed to work or shop! Both forces in this world are using this crisis—God is drawing real Christians to get closer to Him and Satan is, in my opinion, using it to further erode Christian freedoms and to set the stage for the anti-Christ. Keep looking up my friend and listening for the trumpet---I really think it’s close!
Pastor Brothers
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