Posted on 04/03/2020 6:36:51 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
ts' been widely reported this week that at least two pastors have been arrested after holding church services in violation of government orders to avoid gathering in groups.
Rodney Howard-Browne, pastor of The River at Tampa Bay Church, was arrested by sheriff's deputies for holding church this past Sunday. The county where the church is located issued an administrative order on March 20, banning "public or private gatherings, including community, civic, public leisure, faith-based events, sporting events, concerts, and any similar events that bring together more than 10 people in a single room, single space, or any venue, at the same time."
Howard-Browne's arrest, along with the arrest of a Louisiana pastor caught violating a shutdown order, raises some thorny questions about religious liberty and how churches ought to respond to forced closures.
First, some of the churches violating orders not to meet hold to what's called the Prosperity Gospel. Such churches teach that if you have enough faith or pay enough in tithes (often called seed money), God will do what you want, whether it's good health, wealth, or job success. God is like a vending machine, according to this theology, able to be manipulated into doing our bidding if we have sufficient faith (and drop enough money in the offering plate). These churches not only take advantage of vulnerable people, robbing them of both money and hope, but they're also heretical, selectively using scripture to create a distorted and damaging image of God. Costi Hinn, nephew of TV prosperity preacher Benny Hinn, documented in his book and in interviews the theatrics and outright fraud employed by his uncle and other false teachers. (I wrote more about it here.)
What happens when you cross the prosperity gospel with a global pandemic like the Chinese flu? This, courtesy of Howard-Browne:
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
"This should be a time of supernatural sustenance, where what you have in your hand will multiply. And every day there will be multiplications. You look at your toilet paper and you think I'm going to run out of toilet paper, but you have another roll where that one was and you don't know how did that even take place. Are the toilet paper rolls getting together and having families now? What is taking place? When you look again, there's still enough. You think you're going to run out but when you look again there's still enough. That's supernatural sustenance."
Not complicated. By meeting church attendees risk infecting each other and the occasional visitor. That is neither being Christian or a good citizen.
The disobedience in those cases gives Christians a bad name and it us NOT persecution when the pastors are arrested. They can find better means to reach the congregations.
Romans 13:1-7
Submission to Governing Authorities
13 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
If you need a church to pray, you’ve missed the point.
But what if this drags on for months on end? What if we're still battling COVID-19 in September? In December or beyond. Then what? At some point the church, if it is to remain a church and be obedient to scripture, must meet together in person and participate in the sacraments of baptism and communion, whether or not the government approves. Millions of Christians have been martyred since Pentecost, when the Church Age began, because they refused to obey orders to stop meeting, stop preaching, stop talking about Jesus. Untold numbers of Christians huddle in underground churches in China and N. Korea, risking death and imprisonment because they choose to obey God rather than men.
Prudence is a high order virtue, cultivate it
This may be one of my most loved comments I have read on this site! THANK YOU SO MUCH FIR THAT WISDOM!
RODNEY HOWARD BROWNE Is a loon, heretic, and charlatan.
How do you harmonize Romans 13 with Hebrews 10:24-25?
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Answer calmily I’m not challenging you I’m just trying to understand.
“If you need a church to pray, you’ve missed the point.”
If you don’t understand the value of meeting with your -coreligionists and receiving the sacraments, it is you who are missing the point.`
It is not complicated at all. Assembly and spreading the disease is as irresponsible as shouting fire in a crowded theater. So is a person standing too close to me because he does not care about being infected but I do.
Prevention is a moral and ethical obligation to the society you live in. If you don’t want that obligation make sure you are not part of the society.
There are terms for every relationship.
Submission to Civil Authorities (1 Peter 2:13-17)
13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
15 For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.
16 [Act] as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but [use it] as bondslaves of God. 17 Honor all men; love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
Gross miscategorization of the prosperity gospel.
The Church is the Body of Christ.
In that sense (not the “building” sense) you always need the Church. It is incarnate. It is living. And more necessary than the air we breathe.
He spends three quarters of the article bashing churches that ignore government orders, then at the end admits churches may at some point have to ignore government orders.
Browne’s lawyers are going to fight this battle, so the weaker sisters don’t have to.
Bingo. The building is not the church. His people are.
Would the phrase "Render unto Caesar..." mean anything here? This virus is the bailiwick of GOVERNNENT. So, let it do its job...at all levels, federal, state, county and city/town.
Meanwhile we abide by the rules.
We CAN always whine, moan, groan and complain online!
Ain't we lucky? I do think so.
((((((heart)))))))))
Hebrews 10 tells us to not stop meeting together because the people he was addressing were considering apostasy. That’s not even an issue here.
Furthermore, Jesus said that hte second of the two great commandments was to “love your neighbor as yourself”. This clearly trumps Hebrews 10 especially when we now know the virus can be spread by people with NO SYMPTOMS!
There is no question as to which command prevails!
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