Pandemic Fallout and the State of the Church

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Family-prayer-forcibly-interrupted-49864.html

In some places there's no doubt the quarantine is being used to suppress Christians – in many cases these same Christians were already facing social resistance.

Would Evangelical leaders in the USA support this kind of suppression at the hands of the state if it were American Christians gathered to pray in violation of Covid-19 guidelines?

If it meant losing or keeping their tax exempt status and all their perks – I daresay they would.

As the United States begins to open up and with church meetings once again being scheduled, I think a major issue has been sidestepped. The Church (in general terms) has never properly reckoned with the questions regarding the status of the Church vis-à-vis the state in light of the pandemic shut down orders. Instead the issue has been politicised and turned into a debate over Democratic state governors and the Trump administration. Or in other cases the debates are bogged down in the mire of Constitutional debate and the question of 'rights'.

In other countries the quarantines and shutdowns have also been politicised as majority groups have sought to throw their weight around and suppress minority communities – Muslims in India and Christians in places like Indonesia.

Politics are by definition a contest for power and during times of crisis and confusion the Church both in the West and abroad needs leaders with discernment. Politicised Church leadership has nothing to do with discernment – the leaders at that point are simply engaged in strategising and angling for an advantage.

Had Obama been president in 2020 the story would have undoubtedly taken a different turn in the United States– and it is this fact – the response of Evangelicals during the Trump era that is (in the end) just as disturbing as the reports of Christians facing oppression by Muslim majorities in countries like Indonesia. We ought to be both grieved and alarmed.

And perhaps even more disturbing are the reports of misguided and deceived Christians in places like Hong Kong that are calling for the sword and even taking it up in the cause of Christ – or so they say. In reality they are fighting their battles not for the Kingdom of Heaven but for mammon and political gain, a dreamed of order they have confused with Zion.

Chaos and confusion reign, not just on American streets but in the Church. And I cannot think of a sounder and more effective strategy on the part of our adversary.

Let us pray for Christians in places like Indonesia where they face trial and for the Christians in China and Hong Kong who are being distracted and seduced.

And of course we must pray for American Evangelicalism that it will repent of its worldliness and ever growing apostasy.