Courage like Daniel

Did we learn our lesson?

I haven’t written or posted in awhile. This piece has been churning around inside me the past several weeks. I have wrestled and wrestled with it. Mostly on how to properly articulate what I believe is a warning from God to His Church in America. You may well be offended by this article. It’s possible some of you may cheer it. Regardless I have tried to be faithful in sounding a warning that I hope is clearly heard. Trouble is coming and if we haven’t corrected what was wrong in the last season we will fail in this one also. We have seen the courage of those secular leaders who have stood for freedom and truth regardless of the consequences to them and their careers. My prayer is that we see the same inspiring courage arise from the Body of Christ. Please read this and receive this in the spirit of love in which it was written.

The story of Daniel in the Bible is an inspiring and instructive one for today's modern follower of Christ. Daniel was a captive taken as a young man from Jerusalem centuries before Christ and forced to serve in the court of Nebuchadnezzar the powerful king of Babylon. Throughout his time in Babylon Daniel demonstrated great wisdom and courage with the Bible describing him as having “an excellent spirit”. His refusal to eat the foods prescribed for training in preparation for service laid the groundwork for a lifetime of walking contrary to the pressures of Babylon. Daniels friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego were cut of the same cloth as he and were made famous by their refusal to bow down to a Golden image set up by the King. Their defiance cost them a trip to the burning fire furnace where a miraculous deliverance saved them from even the smell of fire on their garments.

Daniel lasted through many administrations as a trusted counselor and eventually found himself at the side of a new king named Darius. Like many palaces the court of Darius was filled with jealousies and intrigue. A group of administrators conspired against Daniel and deceitfully crafted a law banning prayer to any other deity than the king for 30 days. The punishment for disobedience was death (they didn't mess around back then!). The courage shown by Daniel is impressive. It states that when he knew the law was signed he went home and opened his windows towards Jerusalem and prayed to God three times a day as he had always done. Of course this was the opportunity his enemies were looking for and they acted at once. Long story short is that Daniel spent an interesting night in a hungry den of lions who did not touch him and in the morning he was pulled out and his enemies took his place. They were dead before they hit the floor of the den.

The Church in America disgraced itself during the covid epidemic and the parallel BLM riots and uprisings. The Body of Christ was stunned to discover we were largely being led by effeminate men who ran from the sound of battle and seemingly cared more for the praises of men than being faithful to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. The nation faced a demonically inspired attack upon freedom in all it's forms with the ultimate goal of stealing a national election. Meanwhile our pastors, elders and leaders(not all of course) rebuked those who spoke up for truth and loudly proclaimed that those who did not wear masks and social distance or fought the shuttering of our Churches were unloving, selfish and leading people away from Christ. While it was terribly disappointing to hear such dribble being pumped out from pulpits and Christian publications perhaps we shouldn't have been all that surprised. The spiritual compromise with darkness had been occurring for quite some time. From rebuking Christians who rightly opposed homosexuality as being too harsh to watering down Christs command to take up one's cross in order to follow Him(as opposed to the cheap grace message that requires precious little from us) or the accommodating of the Marxism and rage of BLM along with the rebellious wokeness of Democrat party policies. The Gospel and God's Word hadn't changed, our Churches and their message had.

The Bible makes it very clear that not many should become teachers due to a higher standard they will be held to. The perversion of Romans 13 was used as a blanket excuse to disobey God in favor of following the illegal dictates of a bureaucrat and was a gross disservice to the Body of Christ. We failed to lead during Covid, failed to preach truth during BLM (repenting for whiteness isn't in the Bible I looked) and shamed the righteous when Roe v Wade was overturned(ignoring this victory or chiding the Church to temper their celebration). Hired hands who clearly had no call to love, defend or feed the flock were worse than useless in our time of crisis. The very image of a cold causing the Church of Jesus Christ to cower in the shadows with fear had to cause the devil great amusement.

The Bible specifically states that we are not to neglect meeting in person(Heb 10:25) and even to increase the frequency the more we near end times. There’s a command for believers to lay hands on the sick(Mark 16:18) and God promises recovery. Elders are to be called to lay hands on the sick(James 5:14,15) in another passage. We are shown through the apostles actions and words that we are to obey God rather than man(Acts 4:18-20). We are not to walk in a spirit of fear but love (2Tim 1:7). All of these commands and instructions were thrown out the window by many during Covid. I wonder how many suicides, lonely deaths and wrecked business's could have been saved if the Church had been the Church of old. The Church that boldly went to the sick and didn't shrink from trouble or persecution. The one that would open it's doors night and day to the needy and distraught. What light could have shone but didn't because we lacked the wisdom, courage and love of Daniel. The danger the corrupted or cowardly leaders caused to the Church and the nation as a whole by signaling such weakness in the face of tyranny will unfortunately come back to haunt us.

Were there some pastors and leaders who initially got caught up in the hype and then wisely reversed course? Yes, I believe many were fooled and disoriented at first. We can all make mistakes. It's important to learn from them however, or we will be doomed to repeat them. Were there some pastors and leaders that remained faithful? Absolutely and it’s a great encouragement to know they are out there. We should thank them, pray for them and ask God for more just like them.

Was it unscriptural to wear a mask? Of course not. Was it wrong to stay home so as not to spread your cold? Again no. It was clearly wrong though to shame those who did not live in fear or saw through the shameless virtue signaling of mask wearing. It was wrong was for elders and pastors to shy away from laying hands on the sick to pray for them. What was wrong was the shuttering of the Church due to fear or especially due to any government edict. In North Korea, China and Iran the Body of Christ meets regularly without fear in the face of certain punishment for doing so. This punishment includes torture and prison and even death. They are courageous Daniels showing the true power and importance of meeting together while we timidly wrung our hands and hid in caves waiting for a cold to pass by hoping the health official would leave us alone. Seriously folks we need to get some perspective here. Either the Church of the living God is alive and well and the answer for troubled times or it isn't and we are all living in a make believe world attending positive message clubs.

Here is what so few of the unsuspecting congregants knew. They were not hearing a pastor who had sought the Lord but a very coordinated message of government propaganda. These pastors were listening to and using the talking points of the Gospel Coalition or Christianity Today which was in bed with corrupt government officials, rather than praying and listening to the Lord. Here is a link to a great piece written about this corruption within the Evangelical Church.

There is a silver lining that came from this time of testing. It may have been stunning to see how few leaders fought against closing Churches months at a time but at least we now know where we stand. We cannot be caught unawares anymore. We have no one to blame if we are still attending or supporting Churches where the leadership is unchanged without public repentance. I believe that Covid was simply a dry run for much greater tribulation and trouble to come. Even now there is talk of new shutdowns and masking orders already in the works. In case you were wondering I will not be complying.

I'm thankful for the lessons and exposure from the last season. I’m thankful to have found so many like minded believers who know their God and are ready to do great exploits(Dan 11:32). I’m confident the Body of Christ is in better shape now than it was. I’m confident God has a powerful remnant of warriors waiting to emerge. It's time for the modern Daniels to arise and defy the spirit of the age to show forth the power of the God we serve. I'm convinced this is going to be our finest hour.