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Saturday 3rd July 2021 will be a day I shall not forget quickly, if ever at all. This date marks the occasion where the government dictated to its citizens that we cannot sing in a church service in Adelaide, South Australia. Up until now we have put up with social distancing and keeping the Sabbath at home during 2020. That was bad enough -- then we gratefully and eagerly merged into meeting up again at services, hesitatingly approaching one another with eye contact and gracious words of greeting, but little else in the form of physical contact. Gone were the familiar handshakes and warm embraces -- this was really strange! Each time our freedom in common liberties comes under threat it is a serious matter. Am I the only one screaming on the inside? Last Sabbath we were told to sit and listen to the hymns being played -- we were not to open our mouths in worship to God. In other words -- zip your lip! When in shock I tend to hold my breath and indeed stopped breathing momentarily as the awful news of this filtered through my mind. We were not even given the option to wear a mask in order to sing. The inconsistencies and knee jerk reactions to this virus have blown way out of all proportion to reveal a group of people in power and with no small influence making up rules as they go along revealing faulty and unbalanced mindsets with tragic consequences. Meanwhile people do as they are told and some rather grudgingly. To say that frustration is present is a huge understatement -- it abounds in my heart, maybe it does in yours too? There is anger and even an element of rebellion in fighting against ridiculous made up junk that affects us by interfering in the way we worship our Almighty Father. Do we honestly think in our wildest dreams that singing respectfully to God can be compared to the type and amount of singing done in bars, clubs, and cabaret shows where many are packed into small spaces and all that goes along with that occurs, such as disinhibited behaviours from indulging in alcohol? Not all songs are the same in singing. Masks protect so they say but obviously they know otherwise because these rules make no sense. We are only a dozen or so congregants. Seriously, this is wrong on so many levels -- shouldn't we take a stand and be in rebellion to Satan's ways?!
It is rather alarming to some of us the way in which we are becoming desensitized to rules and regulations that are clearly not necessary. Adelaide has had only a handful of cases in those returning from overseas into hotel quarantine. https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/home/dashboard
As of this past Wednesday, July 7th, there were 16 cases; during the whole time throughout this whole debacle, the total sits at 813. Out of all the places worldwide Australia is the pin up poster example, apparently the envy of the world according to our leaders, apart from the acquisition of Pfizer stock to replace AstraZeneca jabs. Yet would it not be due to where we are situated on the map? We are far from the majority of the world's population and small in number. We are a land separated from all other lands and surrounded by seas. This is like playing a silly game knowing the rules are in their favour as we suffer from wrongful direction. Sporting events somehow escape many restrictions but religious events are majorly affected and most likely deemed unnecessary or obsolete in their eyes. God indeed did warn us thousands of years ago when His people rejected His rulership, instead wanting a physical ruler -- hence the first human being to rule over God's people, King Saul (1 Samuel 10:17-25) and we know what happened at the end of his reign. Did they listen; do we listen? Fast forward to today where here we are stuck with imperfect leaders imperfectly leading us through testing times. No manmade government will ever get things right. They will never be able to protect us from any virus or illness, only our God can. Waiting patiently for Christ to return to usher in His perfect rulership gets tough at times but wait we must while practicing patience -- one fruit from among others in Galatians 5:22-23. Moreover we have a cruel, vicious enemy sight unseen instigating and stirring up all of this pandemonium, chaos and fear on unsuspecting beings who believe they are doing the right thing by lining up for their jab. Ugh!!! This is insanity but just the way Satan wants it...sheep to the slaughter any way this despicable fallen angel can bring it about.
Should God's people just take it and accept all these crazy rules out of compliance because we have no other choice? Let wisdom prevail. We can sing in our own homes therefore why not have small groups of brethren coming together to truly worship God in how things should be, not how they are dictated by others who do not keep the Sabbath, many of whom are atheists or non-believers. Among comments made last Sabbath that made me think while processing all of what we were experiencing, one said to just sing along in our head as it is the same thing. Say what?! Are you kidding?! It is definitely not the same thing to me or to God. Our God deserves our full and heartfelt worship, not a watered down attempt by the enemy to shut us up and be silent. Another truthfully said they have had much worse than not being able to sing, inferring that there was nothing to complain about and we should be most grateful that we can even come together at all. A small blip on the radar as it were. Reminds me of Stockholm Syndrome which is a real phenomenon and is documented in many places on the internet. Inside of myself I stood there incredulous at what I was hearing. How can others so readily accept what should not be. So quickly the evidence of desensitization reared its ugly head. Screaming internally yet again -- in addition to sighing and crying (Ezekial 9:4).
What will it take? How far can things go before somebody says enough is enough? Sitting down for opening prayers was awkward; I had to restrain myself from standing -- now I wish I had resisted and stood up in respect no matter what anyone else thought or did. We were all thankfully told we could stand for closing prayer, as it should be so. Has the flock become so comfortable it sits passively waiting for every instruction and permission? Nervous sheep wanting to do the right thing amongst all this confusion. Obedience has been planted firmly in our hearts and rightfully so as it is good to be obedient to God but not to worldly government IF it does not align with our first allegiance. God must come first as we are commanded in Exodus 20 and as it is written repeatedly throughout the Bible. Clearly things are topsy turvy as we enter unknown territory but every effort should be made to obey God rather than man. We just need to find ways that align with God and are packed with wisdom from above as in Matthew 10:16. Do we not pray for this wisdom and help from God?
Lately my ears keep hearing from brethren worldwide that "it is a choice" regarding being jabbed (it is not a vaccine as one can still acquire the virus). Where is the clear teaching from those espousing God's commandments? We already know this, that we have a choice. This is not anything we do not already know. Godly direction is required. Who will stand up and lead God's people through this wickedness. I could wish for Mr. Herbert Armstrong to still be alive but it is not so -- surely he would give a resounding sermon strongly directing God's people to reject all this man-made nonsense and instead focus on real health building methods. God is allowing what is happening to see how we respond. Should we not use our brain capacity with Godly wisdom or do we succumb to the evil and go through the motions in order to keep the peace? I am strongly reminded of the fine example set by Daniel when he was told he couldn't pray to our God. Did he hide under his bed or stop praying? No, he prayed with his window open on his knees three times a day as always while asking God for help (Daniel 6:10-28). He remained faithful to God. Will God find faith on the earth before Christ comes? For the first time I believe I am coming to a better understanding of what this scripture means (Luke 18:8). Previously I would have exclaimed with a resounding "of course!" Now there is some reticence. Proverbs 20:6 ESV states "Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love, but a faithful man who can find?" Remember Revelation 17:14 "...those who are with Him (the Lamb of God -- Jesus Christ) are called, chosen, and faithful". Therefore, IF we are to be WITH Christ we must be FAITHFUL. We must be all in, all or nothing, not one foot in the world with the other out while fence sitting. This is no time to be half hearted, wishy-washy, weak at the knees, hesitant, lukewarm, passive, uncertain, lily-livered, or Laodicean. Time to toughen up and follow Daniel's determined example. We do have a choice most obviously. What will your choice be? Where will you draw the line! May God help us to show where our hearts are with full obedience and nothing less.
My choice will definitely be to make more of a concerted effort to pray and fast for our pastors and leaders in God's Church as they will certainly come under intense pressure more and more from the enemy who would just relish their demise. The devil sifts those he is given and is looking for just a small chink in their armour thereby gaining a foothold to interfere with the feeding of God's flock, by messing with biblical teaching and instructions on how to best navigate these testing times. The devil has only a short time.left to wreak havoc and destroy our relationship with God by removing us from the safety of God's protection. He wants us to fail more than anything else and his barrage of methods include deceit, trickery, compromise, division and separation, doubt, mixing lies with truth in subtle wilyness, temptations, wrongful thoughts and bad attitudes ending in sin, unrepentant sin. Let it not be so among the Sabbath keepers. We need fully devoted, strong leaders to continue to lead God's Church of the Firstborn, the elect, His Saints. Each and every choice we make is incredibly important. Those who see this danger must join together in familial bonds to pray, pray on our knees morning, noon, and night, be continuous in prayer without ceasing like we may not have ever prayed before in order to show God that we are completely serious by appealing to Him that we highly value our shepherds who stay with the flock, are not hirelings, who will not abandon us, who need supernatural protection from the evil the devil is about to unleash on God's chosen. We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg now. Wake up to alertness in watching.
Knowing how the Bible ends we take enormous comfort from it but we must remember what God inspired His prophet Jeremiah to write for our benefit in Jeremiah 23:1-6 " 'Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!' says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: 'You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,' says the Lord. 'But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,' says the Lord. 'Behold, the days are coming,' says the Lord, 'That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS' ".
In summary, feeling frustrated and angry will not really help in the long run because the focus is on the physical human condition containing physiological effects rather than spiritual power. Being indignant with righteous indignation is one thing but the better thing is to tap into or draw from God's power. We know the one true God, God Almighty who created this vast, great, limitless universe and all peoples from Adam and Eve to all those who will live in eternity with God as part of His family -- the God family. God is for us (Romans 8:31). He gave us His Holy Spirit, the Helper for a very good reason. We need to continually allow His Spirit to lead us in the fight against our enemy so that our choices show God that no matter what happens we place Him first in line with the first commandment rather than allowing fear to influence our decisions in saving our life in obedience to man, rather than God. May we all be like Daniel, fearless and obedient especially when under pressure.