Friday, March 29, 2024

To the pastors of Washington State,

Posted

I greet each of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a fellow pastor, navigating ministry during this unprecedented time in our community has been challenging for all of us. We have been thrust into situations that we weren’t prepared for and have had to count the cost of what it means to be faithful to Christ. To add to the difficulty, have been the never-ending and always-changing mandates regarding houses of worship coming from the Governor’s office. They have been arbitrary, tyrannical, and draconian and when our churches submit to them, we are only prolonging the rule of tyrants and invariably, not loving our neighbor.

Recently, Gov. Inslee has announced that churches can now increase their attendance up to 50% capacity, provided that they have a vaccinated-only section within their sanctuary. It has been regrettable, that many of us pastors, rejoiced at the release of the vaccine and have continually encouraged our membership to get an untested, experimental, abortion-justifying shot in their arm. Now those same pastors who have been eager to return to “normalcy” and have led their congregations to take the COVID-19 injection, find a reason to celebrate that more people once again can fill their local church-house, if they show proof of their vaccination.

To them, I speak very frankly and ask, have you become an unfaithful shepherd?

Compliance with Inslee’s newest decree is nothing more than accepting a bribe from a tyrant. Get your members vaccinated, have them show their “passport” and then you, pastor, can have a fuller sanctuary. As Christians, especially pastors, we do not accept bribes of any sort. Bribery is deceitful, underhanded, and is the opposite of God’s character (Deut. 10:17). Exodus 23:8 says, “And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.” Pastors who will participate in this act of bribery, will have revealed themselves to be blind guides, unable to shepherd the flock of Christ. Furthermore, they will have jettisoned their credibility because those who take part in bribery are considered by God, dishonest and unfaithful.

Participating in bribery is a sin, but an, even more, grave error is that for the sake of filling a room, pastors will divide the saints. The Church is the united and gathered people who worship God and that is expressed weekly every Lord’s Day. For a pastor to take that gathered people and separate them between “vaccinated” and “non-vaccinated” denies the very heart of Christ and spits at his prayer in John 17, where he says, “that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one.” (Jn. 17:22-23). The Bible warns against those who cause divisions within the body (Rom. 16:17, Titus 3:10) and the hatred of the Lord is kindled against “one who sows discord among brothers.” (Prov. 6:19). How tragic would it be for you pastor, to be the one of whom the Bible speaks against? That for the sake of appeasing the State, you separate brothers and sisters, creating in the church not one united people, but two, whom you have prevented from worshiping and fellowshipping together. If Christ’s rage was expressed at those who had created obstacles and hindered people from worshiping in the temple (Matt. 21:12-17, Mk. 11:15-19, Lk. 19:45-48), will he be so indifferent now when elders/pastors do the same in his church? I think not.

In closing, I plead with you, pastors, open up your church so that your membership can worship freely. Stand for righteousness and oppose any attempt to restrict the gathering of Christ’s people to worship God.

Your duty as pastors demands it.

Faithfulness to Christ demands it.

Do not divide the flock. Do not stand against Christ as he calls for a united people. Love and feed his lambs in the truth of Scripture alone and may God be merciful to you, in leading some of you in repentance for your dereliction of duty.

Grace and peace to you,

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