Combine
fear with blind faith, a don’t question mentality, a mistrust of science,
along with a few other factors (to be explored here), and you get the perfect
storm for pandemonium and lives at risk. An alarming, and maddening occurrence
resulting from this world-wide coronavirus pandemic is the ensuing world-wide
insanity, propagated by none other than religion—by both its leaders and its followers.
For this article, we will focus on Christianity, although the insanity certainly
is not exempt from other religions.
If
you’ve spent even a small amount of time on social media and/or watching the
news recently, you have almost certainly noticed an insane sequence of events.
This phenomena to which I am referring is the insanity within the religious
community—specifically, as to how it is handling the coronavirus pandemic,
especially as it relates to their own. Headlines are rife with insanity and
reckless, dangerous claims.
Pastors
declaring people will be safe if they come to church. The virus has “no
dominion” in a church. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will be
healed. And people flock like sheep to church. And the result? All who were
sick were healed? No one got sick from going to church? Certainly not God’s
elect, right? After all, they claim he promises to cover them with protection.
Well, unfortunately, and of course, no—not at all. People went to church
despite warnings, got sick, spread the disease, and got worse, not better. Even
their leaders—pastors, and their wives, contracted coronavirus. All the while
believing that their God would protect them, that they were safe, that the
virus would not harm them, that there would be a supernatural shield around
them. Of course, this failed miserably. And yet, they continue to cling to
those promises. Why is that? What leads to this insanity?
What
we are witnessing is the manifestation of their belief system—the belief, that,
among other things, they are set apart, are better than, and that they have an
inside tract with the almighty, who will ensure their safety. They think that
somehow their God and their faith will protect them. Just what is it that goes
into this thinking, that leads to the onslaught of insanity we are seeing with
churches and believers? It is actually more complex than it may at first appear
on the surface to be. Let’s take a closer look at what is behind the making of this
madness.
There
are several things which must occur in order for an otherwise sane person to
look something as dangerous as the coronavirus in the eye and think that no
harm will come to them, in spite of the obvious danger. Indeed, there is a recipe of sorts, if you will, that must be adhered to in order for the
insanity we are currently witnessing to exist, and even worse (and more dangerous),
to thrive. The underlying foundation for this recipe is the belief in a God
who will protect them, who is all-powerful, all-loving, all-knowing, and most
importantly—in control. After the belief in a deity, this recipe's first ingredient is a threat—something that elicits fear, although that fear likely will never be
acknowledged. This fear gives way to declaring—publicly and loudly, that their God will protect them—a necessity in order to distance themselves from their
fear. Among their religious circles, fear is seen as a weakness, as a sin, as
doubting God. And scripture makes it clear that doubting God is a very bad
thing.
The
fear, in this case, begins with the announcement of the coronavirus. While at
first little heed is paid to the ever-increasing danger, the threat grows. More
and more cases, more and more deaths, until it can no longer be ignored. By
now, some, if not many, of the religious faithful are secretly beginning to
worry. This virus won’t go away, and seems to be getting worse, not better, in
spite of the countless prayers, rebukes, and promises offered up by themselves,
along with those of their peers and religious leaders. At first, the threat was
minimized, even made light of—kept at bay by a sad mixture of humor and denial.
As the threat grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to continue with the
status quo, and it becomes necessary to formulate a new way of dealing with the
situation. This involves transitioning from denial of the event itself to
denial that the virus will harm them; after all, they are God’s elect, and as
such, will surely procure his anointing and protection, and will certainly be
safe during these otherwise frightening times. As the virus progresses and they
begin to see some of their own affected, the religious faithful’s
response to the virus changes yet again. Now it becomes necessary to play the
blame game, desperately trying to hold on to their twisted, archaic beliefs,
even with the emergence of reality—a reality that defies those beliefs, their faith,
and the notion of protection from on high.
But
first, let’s go back to the beginning stages of the recipe—just after the fear
has begun. And that is the ingrained belief that to fear is sin, that to fear
is to doubt God’s love, plan, strength, control, etc. After all, the bible says
over and over not to fear; so much so, that it is rooted in many believers’
hearts that to fear is a sin—the antithesis of faith, if you will. Fear
“denies” faith, fear says one is placing more power upon the thing being feared
than upon God himself; therefore, fearing is indicative of a lack of trust in
God. Fear as an ingredient of this recipe may seem unrealistic, given that fear is
seen as sin, it is indeed this fear married with the belief that to fear is sin
which gives rise to the madness that is currently occurring en masse. It is
that fear (in this case, the coronavirus), coupled with the notion that fear is
sin, that enables—in fact, demands what we are seeing. Revelation 21.8 says, in
part, “But the fearful, and unbelieving…shall have their part in the lake which
burneth with fire and brimstone… According to Church of the Great God’s
website, the “fearful and unbelieving” in this verse is explained. “As bad as
murderers, the sexually immoral, and sorcerers are, note that God puts first,
at the head of the line, the cowardly and unbelieving. The Bible in Basic
English renders these first few words as, "But those who are full of fear
and without faith.” In this explanation, fearing and doubting are one and the
same, and are considered to be worse than murdering. And Romans 14.23b declares
“…for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Thus, the stage is set for our recipe
for that perfect storm. This leads to the declarations we see in countless
headlines. They are hiding their fear behind their ridiculous claims, and at
times, are intentionally projecting the very opposite of what they are feeling
inside (fear). They do so, lest their fear be revealed to their peers, thereby
subjecting them to scrutiny and judgement—so much so, that their very salvation
may be held in question.
So
now, the presence of fear, coupled with the belief that fear is sin, gives way
to the shit-show about to emerge. And to make matters worse, believers are
indoctrinated with a don’t question mentality, yet another ingredient of that
recipe. Don’t fear. Don’t question. Blind faith.
This
blind, unquestioning faith is required for what we see transpiring. And indeed,
this blind faith is lauded and applauded within the walls of their worship
places, and taught and propagated within the pages of their holy book. Hebrews
11.1: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of
things not seen. 2 Corinthians 5.7: For we walk by faith, not by sight. Forget
evidence—ignore facts. This is an important part of the recipe, as it allows
for the insane claims being made by their leaders to be believed, in spite of
the ridiculous nature of said claims. Hebrews 11.1 is the believer’s favorite
scripture regarding faith. It heralds a firm belief in that which cannot be
proven. To take it (in this case that the virus will not affect the believer,
that they have divine protection) at the word of their peers and especially
their leaders. Believe, because we say so; believe because we say the bible
says so. This leads to irresponsibly believing whatever they are told—whatever
their leaders say the bible says, no matter what, and against all evidence to
the contrary—evidence and facts be damned. This blind belief garners the
approval, acceptance, and celebration of their peers and leaders, and is even
considered a mark of spiritual growth and maturity. The more steadfast the
belief, the stronger the believer’s faith. This mentality leads to an even
crazier mentality, as sometimes witnessed on church signs, two of which state,
“Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has.” And “Faith is believing in
something when common sense tells you not to.” Both are proudly (and dare I
say, ignorantly) displayed in front of their churches.
At
first, their leaders are rebuking the virus in the name of the one who has
given his life to save them…from their “sins” as well as disease (By his
stripes you are healed. Isaiah 53.5b) Jesse Duplantis, to his
congregation on March 17, 2020. “We’re looking at the virus. The virus is nothing!
(emphasis mine) Guillermo Maldonado on March 15, mocking the “hype”
about the virus. Churchgoer: “I can’t go to church today.” Why? “Because I
think the pastor’s going to have the virus.” (all the while, making faces and
mocking the seriousness of the disease). He then continues with this gem. “If
we die, we die for Christ. If we live, we live for Christ. So, what do you
lose?”, to which his congregation erupts in cheers. Paul Daugherty, March 1. “The goal,
the tactic of the enemy (Satan), (He then stops momentarily and puts a mask on
his face, before continuing), is to stop us from worshipping, and I came today to declare
(stops again, this time to dramatically remove the mask, insinuating that masks
are not necessary), victory over the virus. It is here that he waves the mask over
his head in a victory salute. Jennifer LeClaire, “We don’t run away and
isolate ourselves, and quarantine ourselves, and sit in our house because we’re
afraid. We run to the church, and we take authority over this demonic entity
that’s invading our city, in the name of Jesus, and we push it back. Because
one can’t put a thousand to flight, and two can’t put 10,000 to flight, and we
get all of us here and praying together, and ain’t none of us gonna get
attacked by this dumb thing.”
And
then something strange (strange only to them—not to anyone watching, who has
even the slightest bit of common sense) begins to happen. The coronavirus does
not heed their rebukes, prayers, scoffing, and faith. Numbers of both
affected by and deaths from the virus rise, and continue to do so, at an
alarming rate. So now they must backtrack, changing their tune along the way.
No longer will it “have no dominion here”, and instead of their God preventing
the virus from spreading, he switches gears (or rather, his followers’ line of reasoning does). He is now using the virus for retribution—against his enemies,
and, oddly enough, against the believers’ enemies, as well. And herein lies the
next ingredient for the recipe—the belief that they are a special people, chosen
and favored by their deity. This mentality is first found in the Old Testament,
wherein God makes the declaration that the Israelites (modern day Jewish
people) are his chosen people. Deuteronomy 7.6: “For thou art an holy
people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special
people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” Then,
in the New Testament, the author of Acts declares that the salvation which was
originally for God’s chosen people is now available for everyone (Gentiles). Acts
28.28: Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has
been sent (previously thought by the Jews to be just for them) to the Gentiles
(modern day Christians).
On
a side note, it is interesting to observe that God’s enemies are the very
people groups that the believers dislike, and in some cases, fear or feel
threatened by. (For a list of who some of those people are, one need only
notice who it is who gets the brunt of the blame for the virus, once their
initial prayers to keep the virus at bay are proven to be impotent.)
Next,
a deep mistrust of science and modern medicine is required. This, hand-in-hand,
with a persecution (us vs them, with us or against us) complex, go a long way
in helping foster the “We know better” and “Trust internally only” mentalities,
which pave the way for their leaders to spout such nonsense, the likes some of
which has been mentioned here. Science and religion are often at odds; in fact,
science is widely considered to be the antithesis of faith. This mistrust of
science leads to the validity of not just non-scientific, but downright
ridiculous, and worse, dangerous rhetoric and claims. Thus, the “Come to
church; the virus has no dominion over you here”, and more equally insane,
dangerous rhetoric flows freely from the mouths of God’s anointed to the ears
of those who have been primed to receive, believe, and worse—act upon such
nonsense.
The
problem here is the believer’s strict adherence to scripture. Many approach the
bible as if it is indeed a divinely inspired combination science, medical, and
history book. It alone serves to give them all the necessary knowledge about life—all else is fodder, and cannot be
referenced or trusted. Believers are admonished in 1 Corinthians 2.5 to
not let their faith “rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” And
where do the believers think their knowledge comes from? Certainly not science
or modern medicine. Instead, they are instructed in James 1.5, “If any
of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without
reproach, and it will be given him.” Again, just to be clear…God, not science
or modern medicine. Thus, any warnings or instruction given that have arisen
from science and modern medicine regarding the virus are not only not heeded,
but are scoffed at.
The
biggest problem with science, in the believers' eyes is that pesky theory of
evolution, which is in direct contradiction with their bible and their beliefs.
Science “invented" evolution; indeed, many believers credit Christianity’s arch
nemesis, Satan, with using Charles Darwin to come up with evolution. Therefore,
science cannot be trusted, and indeed must be mistrusted and seen as a source
of lies, ultimately coming from their greatest enemy, Satan himself. From this
lens, science and modern medicine are seen as something to be avoided—something
whose agenda is to derail God’s truth, which is found in the bible (and only in the
bible). This sets the stage for the faithful to disregard anything that comes
from science and/or modern medicine.
And
as the virus spreads, in spite of their best efforts to corral and curtail it, insanity
once again ensues—this time in an attempt to place blame for the virus
spreading, in spite of their initial pleas to their God to keep it away. Ralph
Drollinger, President Trump's Cabinet Minister, declared that coronavirus
is a result of God’s wrath, brought on by LGBTQ people and environmentalism,
among other factors. Former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann said
about the virus, during an interview on CBN, “You know we’ve strayed so far
from God into sexual immoralities such as the homosexual lifestyle,
masturbation and porn, is it any wonder God is mad? The coronavirus is God’s
way of bringing us back to the light. If we give up these sins, God will take
the virus away.” Conservative Christian pastor Jonathan Shuttlesworth:
“If you’re putting out pamphlets and telling everybody to use Purell before
they come into the sanctuary and don’t greet anyone, you should just turn in
your ministry credentials and burn your church down—turn it into a casino or
something,” he said. “You’re a loser. Bunch of pansies. No balls. Got neutered
somewhere along the line and don’t even realize it.” He goes on to say,
“America will be minimally affected by the Coronavirus because of Trump’s
support for Israel.” Perry Stone, “It’s (coronavirus) almost like a
spirit of Amalek (a nation in the Old Testament) that is trying to attack our
older people.” Stone continues, “Let me tell you why the enemy wants to get rid
of our older people. They are the ones who are established in the Bible. They
are the ones who know enough about the Word not to take the Mark of the Beast.”
Mary Colbert, on the Jim Bakker show, said “The coronavirus outbreak
occurred because Chinese people were eating biblically ‘unclean foods’ like
bats and snakes.” (There’s an opportunity here to make a comment about bat-shit
crazy, but I digress—or do I?) And last, but not least—and my favorite. Pat
Robertson of the 700 Club had this nugget of wisdom regarding the coronavirus
to depart to his faithful followers. “Some of these young uns are doing all
kinds of unnatural things with their sex organs. When people do that, they
transfer all kinds of chemicals from ladies’ private parts and that’s where I
think the virus came from. We never had this kind of thing when I was coming
up. But no one was committing oral sex back then.” There’s so much I want to
say, but I’ll practice the difficult virtue of self-control in this case, and
let his statement speak for itself.
Believers
began by claiming victory over the virus, confident that it would not
prevail. When that did not happen, and it instead swept rampantly through this
country, they then declared that they were still safe, as their deity would
protect them, and was now using the virus to punish those deemed wicked in
their eyes. This served its purpose for a season—and a short one, at that.
Contrary to beliefs and declarations, the virus then began to afflict their
own, and even took the lives of some believers. According to Patheos.com, a
church in South Korea in Gyeonggi Province sprayed salt water inside the mouths
of followers out of a false belief it would help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
But by using the same spray bottle without disinfecting the nozzle, it resulted
in 46 churchgoers infected. Among those infected were the pastor and his wife.
The first person to die in Oklahoma was a Don Martin, a pastor of a
Pentecostal Church. Pastor Landon Spradlin claimed that the coronavirus
was “mass hysteria” from the media. He was among the first fatality victims of
the virus in Virginia. It would be bad enough if the virus were contained to
only the followers who contract and spread it amongst themselves; however, and
the worst part—they are spreading it in their community and to those they come
into contact with, outside of their flock of faithful followers. This is indeed
the maddening piece of the insanity that has transpired as a result of the
religious turning their collective noses up at the authority that tried to
protect them in the first place.
Suddenly,
no one was safe, and that initial fear began to well up within them, as they
realized how inaccurate their claims were. Once the virus hit home, even more
scrambling became necessary. No longer were they safe in their places of
worship. No longer was this just their God’s punishment for their enemies—no
longer were they themselves safe. Enter the third level of justification and
explanation, a necessity in order to maintain the illusion that their God was
in control and that they were still, somehow, and in spite of their own getting
sick and even dying, safe. Now, indeed, the virus is affecting their own;
however, there must be a reason, one whose fault lies with the stricken. As
long as they manage to distance themselves from the ones within their flock
getting sick, they will continue to naively and foolhardily advance the notion
that they will be spared. And it doesn’t take long for them to come up with reasons as to why their God is striking their own. And thinking he is doing
so is not a stretch, as their holy book depicts a deity who seems to delight in
enacting vengeance—be it upon his enemies or his own people. When this deity
gets angry (which happens frequently), no one is spared or safe. In many
instances, babies—both born and unborn, along with flocks of animals, are wiped
out by their God.
This next ingredient for the recipe may come as somewhat of
a surprise, and that piece is the before-mentioned and oft-shunned fear. But
this time, it’s a fear of the very God they claim will protect them. The bible
is rife with examples of him taking out his wrath upon his own people, thereby
justifying their fear of their deity. It doesn’t take long for this stellar characteristic of God to manifest. Just six chapters into the bible, God is
angry with his creation and regrets having created mankind. Since he is
all-powerful and (supposedly loving), he comes up with a stellar plan, which
will wipe out nearly the entirety of his creation, save eight people and two
each of the animals. The reason for this genocide at the hands of the
Almighty…wickedness, according to God. Genesis 6.5-7: “The Lord saw how
great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every
inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The
Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was
deeply troubled. So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the
human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the
creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.’”
There are many additional accounts of God wiping out his people, but for the
sake of brevity, I will allow this case of genocide to suffice. It is worth
noting, when speaking to the fear of God in the believer, that God found one
family—merely eight people from amongst the entire population, to be worthy of
being saved—who would be spared disaster. Everyone else had failed the morality
test, and therefore, was going to be wiped out. God didn’t even spare
babies—born and unborn, nor were the majority of the animals spared. If one
believes this nonsense, it doesn’t take a Master’s in Psychology to see why
today’s believers fear their God. Both innocent children and animals perished
at his hands due to his wrath. And thus, the tone for God’s character is set
early in their bible and continues in believers’ hearts and minds today.
As
we have seen, believers have scrambled to wed reality with their beliefs. As
their beliefs fail to come to fruition, their beliefs or explanations of
events change—they must, in order for their faith to remain intact. At no point
will they admit that their beliefs about their deity are inaccurate at best, or
wrong, at worst. Instead, they find it necessary to change the play book,
finding ever-increasing ways to justify their God not doing what they initially
stated he would do; in this case, protect them from the coronavirus. And this
time, that scrambling requires a 180-degree turn; wherein they now blame their
peers, which of course, is necessary, seeing that it is their peers, that they
once insisted were safe from the virus, who are now contracting the virus and
even dying. In one such attempt to justify the sick and suffering of their own,
a believer compares the coronavirus to the plagues in Egypt, stating that God is
using the virus to take away everything they worship, other than God. She
goes on to say that perhaps we don’t need a vaccine; rather, we need to take
this time to have a “personal revival” with Jesus. A Facebook friend of mine
posted a picture of a page of the bible from 2 Chronicles 7.13-15, which
says, “Whenever I hold back the rain or send locusts to eat up the crops or
send an epidemic on my people, if they pray to me and repent and turn away from
the evil they have been doing, then I will hear them in heaven, forgive their
sins, and make their land prosperous again.” These verses are circled, with a
dire warning included, which says, “Pay attention children.”
And
so, the cycle of justification and blame and explanation comes full circle…from
declaring safety and divine protection, to blaming God’s enemies, to blaming
their own. With each progression of the virus comes an equal progression of the
explanations and blame game. Meanwhile, more and more people are contracting
the virus. More and more people are dying. And it is the religious faithful’s
denying truth, and instead, defying orders and advice to remain at home and to
practice social distancing, that in part, are the reasons those numbers are
increasing at an alarming rate. And each ingredient of that recipe—the belief that God is in control and will protect them, an initial, unspoken fear coupled with
the belief that to fear is sin, a blind faith, a combination of the “We are
special” and “We are being persecuted” mentalities, a strong anti-science/modern
medicine sentiment, and a fear of their own deity, are all stirred together, blended
just right, and baked to perfection, and the result? The shit-show continues, only
gaining strength, taking lives and endangering many more along the way. All in the
name of their God. Amen and amen.
"All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created"
ReplyDeleteJustifying religion and reality is a fulltime job...Preacher, Priest,Pastor etc...