Page 85 - COVID-19 and the Church_eBOOK_Color_07.16.2020_Neat

The book of James should serve as a reminder to us
that we are not in control… God is:

“Now listen, you who say… ‘Today or tomorrow we
will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on
business and make money.’

Why, you do not even know what will happen
tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that
appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead,
you ought to say, If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and
do this or that.”
James 4:13-15
Too many preachers have been unaccountable for
so long, to the point where they actually believed they
were beyond the reach of the coronavirus. To them,
death by a pandemic virus is something that happens at
other churches, and to other people. Not to them.

Now, here’s where the water gets muddied. They
think their members may be okay, but they’re not sure.
But, they are willing to gamble the lives of their members.
If no one dies from the virus, the pastor comes out of it
looking like a god (small “g”). If a member does die…?
Well, my guess is they figured they would cross that bridge
when they got to it.

But the bottom line is this— they were aware that
there is a chance that things may not go as planned. Non-
compliance to the quarantine order means members of
the church may die.

These preachers watched the very graphic news
reporting of the virus, just like everyone else. An
astounding number of church leaders and church
members started dying early on in the pandemic. In fact,
one global denomination lost dozens of their bishops,