These also are sayings of the wise. Partiality in judging is not good. Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,” will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations, but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them. Proverbs 24: 23-25
It is no secret that in the past, viruses, and other natural disasters have been blamed upon God’s wrath upon certain sinful behaviors. It does not need to be cited that, for example, many Christian leaders have claimed the HIV virus was God’s specific judgement upon homosexual behavior. Now we have a virus which seems to be infecting people at an alarming rate (some estimates claim could kill some 40 million people if left unchecked,) and has killed over 32,000 people worldwide (as of March 29) without signs that we’ve reached the peak. I know the Trumpers have said this thing is no worse than the flu. It is foolish and destructive for our beloved to so blatantly undermine our ability to sort facts by constantly speaking and tweeting out contradictions, misinformation, and outright lies to serve his own interests; it’s all ‘fake news’ right? Here are some facts about the differences.
The facts are that this virus is on track to kill a lot more people than the flu, from all walks of life (though it is hitting older folk much harder) and differing faiths and lifestyles, worldwide, simply because of its ability to spread and its much higher lethality. Now for the religious questions: is this virus a specific curse from God? And if it is, what is the specific sin? The purpose of this essay is to evaluate some very common ‘Christian’ sayings and beliefs which uphold the notion that God specifically curses some while blessing others leading to the conclusion that God favors those who appear to be doing well according to our standards of what ‘doing well’ means (e.g. you are healthy, in control of yourself, your surroundings, your position in life, and have wealth.) Though we may mean well, these beliefs lead to some serious contradictions, say terrible things about God’s intentions, and hurt lots of people. Hopefully, I will shed some light on some harmful stuff and at least plant a seed so we may abandon the ‘health and wealth’ (and their progeny, the ‘New Apostolic Reformation’) teachers who are poisoning the church with things which sound good (2 Timothy 4: 3-4) when times are good but crumble when trouble comes. I’m going to point out some ways in which these teachers try to protect themselves from the implications of their own teachings now that we have a ‘curse’ which is reaching out to the whole world, point out a few contradictions along the way concerning dispensationalism and evangelistic intent, and point out the glaring overreach and pharisaical hypocrisy of ‘two-kingdom theology’ heavily promoted by leaders in the Christian Right.
(In doing this I’m going against the majority of the ‘Christian’ teaching out there; the ‘hateful divider’ (a given label I willingly accept—though the ‘hateful’ part describes what I feel towards demonstrably false (if one accepts biblical authority,) and self-serving teaching; not towards people) speaks again…)
Our common language which includes ‘God won’t give you anything you can’t handle’ (here is a link to some solid teaching on the saying) and ‘God helps those who help themselves,’ coupled with a cacophony of contradictory ‘Christian’ theologies and eschatologies, lead us to believe we must understand (and, by intention or not, manage) the ‘Will of God’ experientially by our relative perceptions and definitions of ‘blessings’ and ‘curses.’ The attachment (made by our celebrity teachers) of our perception of ‘blessing’ to God’s personal favor (i.e. ‘health and wealth’ theology) leads us to suppose those who cannot manage the pressure upon their lives or happen to be suffering from some sort of attack, like a virus for instance, must be either inadequate in their faith, or must be doing something terribly, and specifically, wrong to warrant God’s specific curse. The claim has been made in past about natural disasters being judgments for specific sins; now that we have a ‘curse’ which is affecting us all, how are the leaders of the Christian Right handling the implications of past proclamations to today’s reality?
Fox News regularly has Pastor Robert Jeffress, friend and steadfast cheerleader for Trump, on for commentary. In the past, Jeffress stated specifically that 911 was a judgment from God for the sin of abortion. Yet now he claims the Coronavirus is not a specific judgment because, in his eschatological framework, the antichrist is not on the scene yet. Considering past statements Jeffress has made on the antichrist, this current claim has me scratching my head for a few different reasons. As a Preterist, I want to make clear that Dispensationalism is a ridiculous theology (I know ‘everyone’ believes it) which leads to the self-contradictory reasoning Jeffress employed in his sermon entitled “Is Coronavirus a Judgement from God?” in an effort to protect his defense of Trump and ‘Two-Kingdom Theology.’ I’ll explain. Referring to RightWingWatch link above, Jeffress stated that our ‘collapse was inevitable’ because our spiritual and moral decline and that Obama was ‘paving the way for the Antichrist.’
In the Texas Monthly article above, Jeffress claims that it is desirable to act in ways which would delay the coming of Christ to ‘give us more time to save people.’ It seems his support for Trump comes from a desire to buy us more time through Trump’s actions to stave off our moral decline and the arrival of the antichrist. Although Christians United for Israel, for example, denies that we have the power to hasten or delay the return of Christ, Christian Zionists (who are typically dispensationalists) act politically in ways to foster conditions to hasten the return of Christ according to various dispensational speculations. Two obvious examples are the Balfour Declaration and the current strong support for Trump’s policy concerning Israel which, if this really is what God wants us to do, helps create the conditions required in the various dispensational frameworks to hasten Christ’s return to earth.
The simple fact is most Christians believe Jerusalem being is Jewish hands is critical to the fulfilment of end-times prophecy since they believe in the dispensationalist ‘Third Temple’ prophecy. (One of these years, I’ll post my essay on this ‘prophecy.’) This goes well beyond these Zionist groups claims to be merely trying to benefit from God’s promise of blessing to Abraham in Genesis 12.
Here we have a glaring contradiction between various teachers in the dispensational camp: What should we do Pastor Jeffress? Work to hasten (2 Peter 3:12? Σπεδω can also mean ‘to desire earnestly’) or slow it down (as if God isn’t interested in saving everyone possible 2 Peter 3: 9)? Trump’s actions to stave off our moral decline (which, apparently, will delay Christ’s return) by appointing Judges who are loyal to him, err, oops, will reverse Roe v. Wade, are in tension with his Israel policies which many Christians believe will hasten Christ’s return. Who to believe?
Setting aside this contradiction of evangelistic intent (by using government power to make us all behave better to delay the arrival of the antichrist—so we may save more people) as opposed to desiring the return of Christ soon (which dispensationalists again believe in using government power to meet this desire,) Jeffress seems to be forced to conclude Corona is not a specific judgment from God but rather a general consequence of sin. I would agree with that statement; disaster in general is a consequence of our sin, our bad decisions, our misguided desires, our stupidity, our arrogance… Therefore, to be consistent Jeffress, you should recant your statement concerning 911 and its cause. The notion that God sent those men to hijack those planes and drive them into those towers is akin to the saying that ‘God won’t give you more than you can handle.’ Both assertions support the notion that God is the cause of evil. What happened on 911 was evil. The wars which came as a result cost trillions of dollars (which could have been used to alleviate human suffering) and hundreds of thousands of lives were evil. What is the purpose of God’s judgments anyway? Did 911 result in the revocation of Roe v. Wade? Did it drive us to repentance and revival? No, it didn’t. Can we then say God’s judgment for the sin of abortion was less than efficacious to drive us all back before His throne? Good for you to get it right this time about Corona, but I am afraid your correct deduction may well be motivated by a desire to protect yourself and your defense of a narcissistic, incompetent, utterly self-centered sociopath as our path to staving off the antichrist; this virus threatens older folk (Trump’s base) the most hence we ought be careful about suggesting they may have grievously sinned shouldn’t we? Jeffress, I think you should reconsider your whole theology (and eschatology) and ask yourself a few very painful questions: “Have we sinned by embracing some false teachings which led us to place our faith in government power to fulfill our desires (however varied they may be) so that we would accept and support the notion that government is not accountable to the same moral rules to which individuals are accountable?” “Is it really justified to support an immoral man who is a liar of epic proportions, who has worked fervently to undermine our trust in anyone but him because we believe he is the key to our restoration as blessed people?” And, “Does the Bible teach us that the ‘ends justify the means’?” You’ve made some very bold claims in the defense of the use of government power resting in the hands of an immoral man even claiming those who do not support Trump are ‘morons.’
Do these recent events lead you to question anything? Or do we all double down to support our prior claims no matter what God may be asking us to look at? Could this very real and costly problem be God’s means to call us to question, evaluation, and discipline? It is seems you have backed yourself into a corner to which you cannot, to save face, admit you’re in—you must ‘double down’ and say the virus is not a specific judgment because, according to your claim, that God’s discipline only comes to those who are not living rightly.
This ‘moron,’ who evidently is, according to your claim, morally and spiritually deficient, stands on a different base pastor. I do not rely upon the modern-day equivalent of ‘chariots and horses’ (i.e. government power—see Psalms 20: 7; Isaiah 31:1; Hosea 10:13) but rather stand in faith that is ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts’ Zechariah 4: 6. This frees me from having to hitch my wagon to the fortunes of some earthly leader who is going to allegedly restore us. This is but one of the Achille’s heels of ‘Two-Kingdom theology’ which forces the adherent to ‘double down’ and make up new stories and excuses when things go south. There are always and will always be (should the Lord tarry,) groups of people who will not be ‘living rightly’ hence there will always be something or someone to blame for our troubles. But what happens if the appearances and consequences of those troubles fall upon the faithful? Should we doubt and question that (largely unaccountable government power) upon which we’ve based our faith? Do we not think that hitching our witness, our commission, to the efficacy of the use of worldly power to make our country a more ‘Godly’ one, makes that witness dependent upon our own abilities to manage people (to be more Godly) by either shame or force? If that isn’t pharisaical, what is?
Pastor Jeffress, is but a mere man. Hence, he has neither the right nor the ability to pick and choose what is a specific judgment from God and what is a consequence of the Fall (Genesis 3.) To claim the powers of a prophet to make such determinations paints him into a corner when we have a generalized disaster such as that which is unfolding right now. His determination to uphold prior claims requires the man to say Corona is not a judgment from God because to say otherwise would strongly imply that our collective Christian reliance (and faith) upon (and in) government power (and in Trump) has failed miserably to bring the blessing which comes from ‘living rightly.’ The fact is that our faith in known narcissistic liar, whom we’ve accepted is unaccountable to the moral values the rest of us are, has failed since our government’s response to the outbreak has been bungled from the start (in good part due to the obstruction and constant stream of misinformation, contradictions, and outright lies from the leader of our government.)
Perhaps this disaster is God’s call to evaluation (Psalm 26:2) and self-reflection (Lamentations 3:40; 1 Corinthians 11:28-31; 2 Corinthians 13:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:21.) Perhaps we should reconsider our commitment to the belief that government, which claims to be 90% Christian, is not accountable to the same moral rules which apply to the rest of us? Isn’t it at least possible that this pandemic could have been contained if our government, under Trump, had been truthful about the threat to then move decisively to protect the public despite appearances and the possible threat to our leader’s re-election hopes?
Jeffress does not know the Bible as well as he claims; the truth is, God disciplines those he loves (Deuteronomy 8: 5; Psalm 119:75; Proverbs 3:11-12; Revelation 3:19.) We may believe our hearts rest in the right place but if we are wrong-headed and unwise is it not merciful and just for God correct us through some wake-up call? (Proverbs 10: 13) There is great hope in receiving this discipline since scripture says this proves we are not illegitimate (Hebrews 12: 5-11.)
It is by hardness of heart that one refuses to accept discipline (Leviticus 26:23; Proverbs 3:11) by we could grow wise (Proverbs 19:20.) Our Christian Right leaders, like Jeffress, are not entertaining the notion that the seriousness of this outbreak could be a consequence of our misguided faith in a man completely unfit for office because our Christian leadership tells us our support of this man is God’s Will to bring us back to greatness. Perhaps this is a wake-up call to the hypocrisy of having a government which claims to be 90% Christian by self-identification yet at the same time is not accountable to Christian moral values?
Jeffress claims, ‘there is no such thing as the separation of church and state.’ If this is true, our witness is damaged by our acceptance of blatant dishonesty and immorality to meet some ‘higher’ goals. We’ve hung our hopes on the power of government to meet our commission and fulfill our responsibility to live as examples. Our leaders, political and religious, like it or not, are teachers who teach by example. If it is true that there is no separation of church and state, then our majority Christian leadership is not following the Bible instruction concerning the responsibilities incumbent upon teachers. Scripture says,
‘Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.’ Titus 2: 7-8
Therefore ‘morons’ like me are hostile to the false teaching from those in the Christian Right who suppose a lack of separation between church and state; the obvious bad behavior of the state has many people saying bad things about us—and rightfully so. It would be far better, I believe, if Christians in government would keep their mouths shut about prophecies and the will of God (as spoken by some yahoo who claims to be a modern-day prophet,) manipulating history to meet some dispensational (or dominionistic) fantasy, to rather work diligently to seek the truth, uphold justice, protect the weak, and hold wrong doers accountable (Romans 13: 4) without going around kissing Trump’s rear-end because that is what you are told to do to save your position. This is sick; and we now call it ‘Christian.’ Christian in government, simply be a servant of the people—nothing more—that would be an excellent witness. Thank you.
Perhaps we are being judged for our ‘pragmatism’ trusting in ‘horses and chariots’ rather than in the power of God. Maybe we are suffering the consequences of our toleration of a liar as our chosen one to restore our nation to greatness, our duplicity towards truth (Ephesians 4:15; 1 Peter 1:22,) and our syncretic merger of church and state to suppose we can impose ‘righteous’ rule by dishonest means. We have been corrupted by the mechanisms of the dishonest state (1 Corinthians 15:33.)
Scripture does not speak well of the merging of conflicting principles which can only lead to corruption and injustice (2 Kings 17: 33-41; Deuteronomy 4:2; 12: 31.) Without self-regulation, the power of the state becomes necessary to impose order. It becomes a disaster in itself when the church, which should serve as a moral beacon to uphold the truth and serve as examples to a world which relies upon the power of the state to maintain order, sees itself as essentially the same as the state in how it should maintain that order. The power of internal reformation (Romans 12:2) a central teaching of Christ and His apostles is thus denied. Jesus was greatly concerned about what is inside rather than external appearances (Matthew 23: 25-28) because “(T)here is nothing outside of a person that can defile him by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles him” (Mark 7:15.) Ironically, even though the Christian Right may claim to mean well in guiding the nation back to God, acting rightly by serving as examples to truth, justice, and mercy rather than compromising with dishonest uses of power, would, I believe, bring about the reformations they claim to seek. We are plainly commanded to not compromise or associate with dishonesty (Deuteronomy 25:16; Psalms 26: 4; 101: 3; Proverbs 11: 1; 20: 23.) God seeks the heart and it is the very essence of biblical teaching that God desires our hearts. Type in a word search for ‘heart’ in your Bible app and you will find that this is what God desires—your heart. What do you receive in return for dishonesty? (Psalms 20: 17; Isaiah 28:15; 59: 8; Jeremiah 5: 27; 6: 13; 8: 10.) Distrust, plain and simple.
There is an obvious common theme in my polemic—compromise with a deceitful person (or system) is anything but righteous. The Christian Right has sold its soul to power—earthly power. And as such is reaping, along with the rest of us along with those who have pledged fealty to such an arrangement, its benefits which come from allegiance to a dishonest, self-interested sociopath who is at its head. May God have mercy on our arrogance (and in our leader’s pathological, raging incompetence.)
We should not think of ourselves so highly to think we are above being disciplined. Scripture says, ‘…when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned with the world’ (1 Corinthians 11: 27-32.) In receiving the elements, we not only remember the sacrifice of our Lord, but we pledge fealty to the principles our faith calls us to (John 6: 55- 59; 1 Corinthians 11: 17-34.) We cannot be syncretic in this agreement (1 Corinthians 10: 21.) The statement of judgment so that ‘we not be condemned with the world’ is very important to accept so that we will not corrupt ourselves by doing things according to the way the world conducts business. We are supposed to be the beacon to truth (Proverbs 16:6; Zechariah 8: 19; 1 John 3: 18; 1 Timothy 3: 15) and justice (Psalms 45: 7; 99: 4; Isaiah 61: 8; Hosea 12: 8; Amos 5: 15.) Please do a word search on ‘truth’ in your Bible app to understand the importance God place upon that principle and the commitment to it. I really do not understand how one can pledge allegiance to a liar such as Trump (and the bunch of self-interested, shifty, feigned sycophants in the Republican Party, and the Democrats who are every bit as calculating and crafty) and still believe one is following the will of God according to scripture. Reliance on any power but God’s makes you a slave! God wants you free…
Judgment is real thing and is warranted because we are guilty. There is nothing arbitrary about judgments—they are given as consequence to what we do. We live under a New Covenant—the sin of the world has been judged at the cross. The Jewish Temple system was judged according Jesus’ prediction (as recorded in Matthew 24 and Luke 21) by the Romans. All Christian vestigial reliance upon the Temple system was obliterated; this was recorded by Josephus in his account of the First Jewish War. Now we still live with the consequences for our beliefs and actions—there is no immunity or excuse. I claim no status as prophet but stand rather on the authority of God’s Word as upheld by numerous councils and scholars throughout the ages who have struggled and suffered to maintain integrity through time. I believe and stake my faith upon the testimony of suffering—not upon the so-called ‘miraculous’ testimony and parlor tricks from charlatans and frauds. There is no need for superstition or hocus-pocus. But we are nostalgic, aren’t we? The old notion of the ‘divine right of kings’ has been resurrected by the Christian Right and ‘kings’ do take notice of this belief in their subjects; and these ‘kings’ act accordingly. Our ‘king’ demonstrably acts as if he is the only one who matters; his interests are supreme (even though he said he was being sarcastic when he referred to himself as the ‘chosen one.’) We have placed our faith in such a man who would play with matters so serious and grave. It is a shame that our ‘greatness’ is wrapped up into and attached to a boastful liar (and irresponsible child.) I pray that we hear this call to repentance for believing in our own power and in those who testify falsely as to the will of God. We are experiencing the consequences of our misplaced faith in a very bad man. There is nothing spooky or arbitrary about it…
P.S. If you do not buy my argument that we are ‘experiencing the consequences’ of supporting Trump, here is another argument…
