THE BATTLE IS GETTING REAL: NOTES ON THE BURGEONING AMERICAN CULTURE WAR OF 2022

PART I: THE COMMISSION – Ephesians 5:1-2

PART II: THE WARNING – Ephesians 5: 5-7

PART III: THE COMMAND – Ephesians 5:13-14

PART IV: THE WAR – Ephesians 6:10-18

PART V: THE MYSTERY – Ephesians 6:19-20

SCRIPTURE. “Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]; and walk continually in love [that is, value one another—practice empathy and compassion, unselfishly seeking the best for others], just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God [slain for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.” – EPHESIANS 5:1-2, AMP

WAR. “Noun [to perplex, embroil, disturb. The primary sense of the root is to strive, struggle, urge, drive, or to turn, to twist]. ‘A Contest’ between nations or states [or parties], carried on by force, either for defense, or for revenging insults and redressing wrongs, for the extension of commerce or acquisition of territory, or for obtaining and establishing the superiority and dominion of one over the other.” – NOAH WEBSTER, ‘American Dictionary of the English Language,’ 1828; edited

QUOTATIONS

TOLKIEN. “War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, ‘The Two Towers,’ 1954; edited

JAMI. “Growing up, I always had a soldier mentality. As a kid I wanted to be a soldier, a fighter pilot, a covert agent, professions that require a great deal of bravery and risk and putting oneself in grave danger in order to complete the mission. Even though I did not become all those things, and unless my predisposition, in its youngest years, already had me leaning towards them, the interest that was there still shaped my philosophies. To this day I honor risk and sacrifice for the good of others – My views on life and love are heavily influenced by this.” ― Criss Jami, ‘Healology,’ 2016; edited

FIRST THOUGHTS

America is at war. Its Church is at war. Indeed, the entire planet is a ‘World at War’ today, though for the most part, it is not primarily a shooting war. Yet.

The primary form that this War has taken was captured in a now classic analysis by the distinguished American sociologist and Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory at the University of Virginia, JAMES DAVISON HUNTER. His prescient work is titled, ‘Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America,’ published in 1991.

AMERICAN CULTURE WAR. Significantly, Dr. Hunter is an evangelical Christian, having matriculated from Gordon College in 1977, earning the doctorate from Rutgers University in 1981. He writes much on the issues engaging the now deeply troubled American Church, and is a member of the Trinity Forum, the notable faith-based Christian organization co-founded in 1991 by author and social critic, OS GUINESS.

Here is an observation from one of Dr. Hunter’s later works, effectively setting the stage for this Five Stage Commentary on our current American Struggle.

“We want character but without unyielding conviction; we want strong morality but without the emotional burden of guilt or shame; we want virtue but without particular moral justifications that invariably offend; we want good without having to name evil; we want decency without the authority to insist upon it; we want more community without any limitations to personal freedom. In short, we want what we cannot possibly have on the terms that we want it.” – ‘The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age Without Good or Evil,’ 2001; edited

As evidence of his steadiness of gaze concerning what he penned in 1991, here is an excerpt from a ranging study of the Nation conducted nearly 20 years later by UVA’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture with colleague. Its author is CARL DESPORTES BOWMAN in a piece titled, “Democracy in Dark Times,” reported by John Fea in the online journal, ‘Currents’ on November 17, 2020.

“The authors of the study conclude that White Evangelicalism, a movement that once was at the center of American religious and cultural life, has become a ‘Cultural Other’ in the United States. A majority of White Evangelicals believe that the opponents of DONALD TRUMP are ‘misguided and misinformed,’ ‘close-minded,’ ‘dangerous,’ and ‘arrogant and pretentious.’ The study concludes that ‘nearly 30 years after Hunter’s 1991 book Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America … the country is even more deeply fractured by ideology, religion, race, and income.”

DK’S TAKE. Whether we consider the Racial Divides in America which have clearly grown worse under the Donald Trump administration, or the more apparent schisms over the Covid-19 vaccines and mask mandates, these studies prove that the America of 2022 is headed toward still stormier – and more violent – waters than in any time in our recent history. Or long-term memory, for that matter.

Thus my emphasis upon the idea of War.

The excruciating irony here is that the very Christian blocks on which the Nation was founded viz. the White Protestant Church, is the most compelling American force for our final destruction. The Reason: She has abandoned the True Messiah for a false one, in the coercive and brutal person of DONALD JOHN TRUMP. He remains the unavoidable focus and mainstay of our current Cultural Conflict, period.

Beloved, if I am correct, ‘the price’ we are about to pay in the year ahead and beyond to honor Truth and Virtue, may become our final, yet finest, Test.

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

When the stalwart, historic witness of DIETRICH BONHOEFFER become memorialized in his epic book by that same name in 1937, he sent up a Signal Flare to America that would trace straight to the Oval Office of the White House of then President Trump in 2016.

He wrote prophetically of what it would ‘cost’ to build (or rebuild) a nation on of the Christian Edifice upon which Germany, or America, or any other nation that would dare construct itself upon the Rock of the Christian Canon.

“The messengers of Jesus will be hated to the end of time. They will be blamed for all the division which rend cities and homes. Jesus and his disciples will be condemned on all sides for undermining family life, and for leading the nation astray; they will be called crazy fanatics and disturbers of the peace. The disciples will be sorely tempted to desert their Lord. But the end is also near, and they must hold on and persevere until it comes. Only he will be blessed who remains loyal to Jesus and His Word until the End.”

THE PRICE. This, beloved, is the ‘Cost’ of true Christian discipleship: ‘One’s very life,’ and not a single measure less. Recall what Bonhoeffer wrote with such surgical precision and passion:

“The Cross is laid on every Christian … ‘When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.’ It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow Him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—Death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call.”

My year’s long Controversy with the American Church is that it has treacherously abandoned this historic charge, in exchange for that seditious imitation of Christian Faith called ‘The American Dream,’ about which I have written much. It has in fact become ‘The American Nightmare’ so far as I can tell, as Christians today vie for the fanfare of political power brokers, shamelessly compromised Church elites, and the wealth of our commercial centers.

In the incendiary Words of the Scriptures, His Promise:

“For [God does not overlook sin and] the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who in their wickedness suppress and stifle the truth, because that which is known about God is evident within them [in their inner consciousness], for God made it evident to them.” – ROMANS 1:18-19, AMP

Make that read: The American Church and her Pastors and Priests know better!

DK’S TAKE. To sum it up, America’s White Evangelical Church has increasingly refused to pay the price of ‘real’ Christian discipleship, to take up her Cross on behalf of others.

Indeed, we have become, in the piercing words of Dr. Hunter, that ‘Cultural Other,’ something completely unrecognizable to those who remain faithful. We are a sort of what H. G. WELLS referred to as a ‘Chimera’ in his horrifying classic, ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’ (1896) – half Christian, half Pagan. A freakish dark shadow of our former noble station and calling, preaching a reprehensible ‘other gospel,’ that Paul literally called, “accursed” (cf. Galatians 1:8).

Selah.

Now let us compare that present ‘spiritual aberration’ with what we are actually called to fulfill in these Last Days of the American Order.

THE TEACHING

But first, a theoretical sidebar.

During my graduate school days in the 1970s when I was yet but fully pagan, I did manage, by God’s grace even then, to pick up some valuable ideas from my studies, though they were from largely secular sources. One set of particularly powerful ideas was from the seminal work of GEORGE HERBERT MEAD (1863-1931).

American sociologist, philosopher and psychologist who never finished his doctoral dissertation, and errant son of a Congregationalist pastor and Bible scholar, he migrated from a relatively traditional upbringing to become a major secular force for understanding human conduct.

MIND, SELF & SOCIETY. His major contribution to the theoretical literature was this massive volume published in 1934, which I digested in rather large chunks over the course two years of my doctoral studies. In it, and I will grossly oversimplify here, he proposed THREE CORE ELEMENTS of the human experience in an attempt to explain who we become, and how.

This section is adapted from the summary of his work by BETH M, writing for ‘The Sociology Project,’ published on August 22, 2011; edited. I will present the ideas by direct quotation and her references to another social theorist, psychologist GORDON ALLPORT, then offer summary of my own at the end.

MIND. “This brings us to Mead’s first section, on the Mind. He begins with the building blocks of his theories of the Mind’s construction: Gestures, significant symbols, and language. And how does the Mind arise? ‘Mind arises through communication by a conversation of Gestures in a social process or context of experience – not communication through Mind’ (p. 50). These Gestures (which are words, or literal hand motions, or any other way of communication) become ‘significant symbols’ and are able to be communicated to others only when they mean the idea behind the Gesture to more than one person.”

SELF. “The Mind has then given rise (in reflexiveness and community) to language and these significant symbols, which are then possible and essential for development. Thus, ‘the Self ‘is our reference point for events, emotions, and sensations (p. 136). How does the Self arise, I think what Mead says, is that it arises through play, and games, and the idea of the ‘Generalized Other.’ That the organized community gives the individual his ‘Unity of Self,’ and the attitude of the Generalized Other is that of the whole community (p. 155). This Generalized Other is needed to develop AT ALL. All of life basically becomes tweaking ourselves to reflect the organized attitudes of group.”

SOCIETY. “In his final essay/section on Society Mead brings the culmination of the Mind and the Self into the realm of others (though all along they have been there too). Mead says that insects base their societies on their physiological differentiations, not so Man. Man bases his in the Society that is around him, in this case ‘the Family.’ There is a social process arising in this as each reacts to the other. Man is also continually manipulating his environment in the way that he uses it. He is attempting to create community by using ‘common language.’ There are generalized social attitudes which make an organized Self possible (p. 260). History is emerging from this, but at the time it is not coherent or able to be followed. ‘To take the role of the other’ continues to be vital in contributing to the perpetuation of Society … In conclusion, the attitude of ‘the group’ is extremely important, which has risen from significant symbols, which have emerged in Mind and Reason. Reason being the thinking of the individual, a conversation between the ‘I’ [core identity] and ‘Me’ [social identity].”

DK’S TAKE. So, welcome to the Land of Science Jargon! To trim these sails a bit, here is what I think is being said.

ONE: Man cannot develop as a fully functioning being without significant symbols and language (recall Erich Sauer’s ‘Scepter of Mankind’). the very building blocks of Minded behavior, or the ability to ‘abstract’ our understanding of the world and share it with others.

TWO: One’s sense of Self is derived from all social interactions summed up, with the ‘I’ constituting one’s unique identify of who we truly are; and the ‘Me,’ or the Societal, Generalized Other that constitutes the overall cultural demands [rules, mores, standards] to which we must adhere to be bona fide members of the culture.

THREE: The most important element of Mead’s System is in our learning experience to ‘take the role of the other.’ The most influential of whom is what Mead calls ‘The Significant Other’ – that person or persons who largely define our worldview and self-concept (Parents, Siblings, Teachers, Heroes, Role Models, or even Villains, et al.).

BECOMING “IMITATORS.” It is precisely here where God and Mead meet head on, and actually agree! The Greek word used in the passage from EPHESIANS 5:1 is, ‘Mimétés’ [μιμητής], translated as: “A follower or mimic; properly, the positive imitation that arises by admiring the pattern set by someone worthy of emulation, i.e., a Mentor setting a proper example; one that copies, or attempts to make the resemblance of anything or anyone; the supreme model is God Himself.”

The Great Principle here is unavoidable for us all. To wit: We ought ‘Choose our Mentors’ ever so carefully, above and beyond what we inherit from our Parents or more to the painful point, our Religious Elites.

Especially these days, beloved, when The Times are rife with false teachers, false prophets and prophecies and the doctrines of demons.

“But the [Holy] Spirit explicitly and unmistakably declares that in later times some will turn away from the faith, paying attention instead to deceitful and seductive spirits and doctrines of demons, [misled] by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared as with a branding iron [leaving them incapable of ethical functioning].” – 1 TIMOTHY 4:1-2, AMP

SACRIFICIAL LOVE. The Second Great Lesson from our Scripture today is that the Apostle clearly defines real love, Biblical love, Divine love in terms of ‘Self-Sacrifice’ – a concept lost on most of the American Church culture today.

Taken from the Greek, ‘Thusia’ [θυσία], or: “Properly, an offering (sacrifice); an official sacrifice prescribed by God; hence an offering the Lord accepts because offered on His terms; by implication, becoming an offering or ‘victim’ for another; to immolate, either as an atonement for sin, or to procure favor, or to express thankfulness; to destroy, surrender or suffer to be lost for the sake of obtaining something.”

Jesus Himself proscribes this vital teaching in the following Commandment.

“This is My commandment, that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another, just as I have loved you. No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends. You are my friends if you keep on doing what I command you.” – JOHN 15:13-14, AMP

CHARLES ELLICOTT. “‘Greater love’ — To his friends, (of whom here he only speaks,) ‘hath no man than this’ — That is, a greater degree of love than this never existed in the world; ‘that a man lay down his life for his friends’ — That a man should be willing, not only on some sudden alarm, or in some extraordinary and unexpected danger, to hazard his life on their account; but on the coolest deliberation, to submit to lay it down for their preservation and happiness. Stress is to be laid upon the pronoun, ‘Ye are My friends’ – That is, ‘Ye are those of whom I have just spoken, and for whom I am about to give the greatest proof of love.’ IF ye do whatsoever I command you.—Better, the things which I am commanding you.’”

Ellicott sums up this powerful instruction in this rendering of the Ephesians 5 passage of what it is to be a true follower of The Christ, operating in the true motivation of the faithful disciple.

“‘As Christ also hath loved us.’—To this idea of the ‘Imitation of God,’ essential to all true Religion, St. Paul now adds an exhortation to follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, in that especial exhibition of love by ‘suffering and self-sacrifice,’ which is impossible to the Godhead in itself, but which belongs to the incarnate Son of God, and was the ultimate purpose of His incarnation.” – ‘An Old and New Testament Commentary for English Readers,’ 1878, 1897; edited

THE POINT. Do you see it, beloved: The stark and loving profile of what Jesus expects of His True Church, as contrasted with the present one, desperately laboring to be so polite that we never offer the world the Truth of God’s Love.

Indeed, ‘that’ Love is far too offensive a commodity, too unpopular and therefore too high a risk to proclaim – whether inside the House of God or outside it. Thus, the current American Spiritual Crisis we now experience everywhere of a Loveless, Selfish Church, and a Loveless, Selfish America.

Selah.

THE COVID-19 LITMUS TEST

I have written much in the past about the Christian Duty to engage the most critical issues of the day that threaten to do serious injury to both the Church and the State. I further argue that we currently live in an unparalleled Time of Crisis in America that requires us to be ever more vigilant and faithful to this charge.

MARTIN LUTHER’S CHALLENGE. While the following quotation has been debated for centuries concerning whether it issued directly from the great Reformer, or simply reflected the heart of his theology for redress of Church grievance, it bears repeating here, as Instruction to the American Church.

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every proportion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the World and the Devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. ‘Where the Battle rages,’ there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.” – c. 1530 AD; edited

To state it in the terms proposed earlier, our responsibility as followers of Jesus Christ requires us, I say again, ‘requires’ us to avoid standing idly by in Silence while others are being oppressed or injured – or worse. This duty issues straight from many Scriptures, not the least of which is our Lord’s declaration of the Two Greatest Commandments:

“And Jesus replied to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for others].’” – MATTHEW 22:37-39, AMP

DIVINE MANDATE. Again, to “unselfishly seek the best or highest good for others,” as the Amplified translation renders it. In terms of Luther’s Maxim, this means that the Christian is to assume the posture of a ‘Spiritual First Responder’ on Rescue Mission when others are imperiled, placing the welfare of the ‘Other’ above concerns for ‘Self.’

One Commentary says it this way.

“‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’; as heartily and sincerely, and as a man would desire to be loved by his neighbour; and do all the good offices to him he would choose to have done to himself by him. This Law supposes, that men should love themselves, or otherwise they cannot love their neighbour; not in a sinful way, by indulging themselves in carnal lusts and pleasures, as some are lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; but in a natural way, so as to be careful of their bodies, families, and estates; and in a spiritual way, so as to be concerned for their souls, and the everlasting happiness of them:

And in like manner should men love their neighbours, in things temporal do them all the good they can, and do no injury to their persons or property; and in things spiritual pray for them, instruct them, and advise as they would their own souls, or their nearest and dearest relations. And this is to be extended to every man; though the Jews restrain it to their friend and companion, and one of their own Religion.” – JOHN GILL, ‘An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments,’ 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

THE VIRUS. It is precisely here where we put Luther’s Maxim and the Canon to the severest of tests. Clearly, unavoidably, scientifically and theologically – COVID-19 is the lead ‘Strike Point’ where the World the Flesh and the Devil meet head on with The Living Christ in deadly confrontation.

I need not again document the deepening divisions taking place among Americans, both Christian and non-Christian, over this searing issue now tearing us apart. Specifically: To mask or not to mask. To vax or not to vax. And over just who has the Authority, the rightful Jurisdiction if you will, to ‘decide’ this Life or Death matter:

The State, the Church, the Medical Community, or the Individual?

THE BIBLICAL QUESTION. As we begin to conclude, I am going to take a couple of pages from a review of a Pew Research Report penned by REBECCA DANIEL for ‘Christianity Today,’ on December 11, 2020:

“Should Pastors Speak Up About the COVID-19 Vaccine?

To answer that Question, CT surveyed FIVE PASTORS about how factors like race, theology, and congregational makeup affect their approach to the issue. Here is Ms. Daniel’s overview of those interviews.

JEFF SCHULTZ, pastor of preaching and community at Faith Church in Indianapolis: “Our church has been praying for vaccine research and development, but taking a vaccine is not something we would direct people on … We have members who won’t return to in-person worship until a vaccine is available. But I don’t think we would say anything formally about taking a vaccine (except to give thanks for their existence).”

LUKE B. BOBO, director of strategic partnerships at Made to Flourish, a pastor’s network based in Kansas, and visiting professor at Covenant Theological Seminary: “Pastors must teach their people how to think critically about this COVID-19 vaccine. If they are asked whether they plan to take the vaccine, they should state their answer and follow with a statement like, “That is my decision; you must do the hard work and make your own decision.”

MANDY SMITH, pastor at University Christian Church in Cincinnati: “I have no problem with vaccines on a philosophical or theological level and will defer to the medical professionals in my congregation who know more about such things than I know … As Christians, we need to have space for difference of opinions—unity in essentials, liberty in nonessentials, and in all things, love. On a philosophical level, our opinion about vaccines is nonessential—we won’t lose our salvation and shouldn’t split with other Christians over it.”

STEPHEN COOK, senior pastor of Second Baptist Church in Memphis: “COVID-19 has claimed the lives of more than 283,000 of our neighbors in the United States, more than 1.5 million of our neighbors around the world. With the hope of a vaccine on the near horizon, pastors have the opportunity to call Christ’s people in our congregations to neighbor-love in a way that embodies Christ’s command to love one another.”

STEPHANIE LOBDELL, campus pastor at Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Ohio: “The directive of Christ to love our neighbor has informed the life of the university campus I pastor in distinctive ways, from masks to plexiglass dividing diners in the cafeteria. Moving forward, it ought to inform our posture toward the vaccine as well. To receive the vaccine if one is physically able is yet another way to practice love for neighbor.”

A MINORITY VIEW. Only the last two opinions fully represent the Christian Canon, with virtually no rebuttal available from it. They both comport uniformly with Christ’s Two Great Commandments cited earlier, and that is where I stand, without apology.

Notably, they only represent roughly 40% of the American Pastors surveyed, and the study did not number the pastors who actually spoke about their views.

THE UPDATE. A follow up Study by the Pew Research Group reported in a ‘Washington Post’ review by MICHELLE BOORSTEIN dated October 15, 2021, gives us stark and stunning relief of where the American Pastorate has travelled in the year since the earlier Pew Study.

“Since the Coronavirus Pandemic began, clergy have been among prominent figures in the news and on social media discussingvaccines. Some have described them as ‘the mark of the beast’ or an infringement on religious liberty, while others have framed the shots as a moral and religious duty. But a new survey out Friday finds ‘the majority of regular churchgoers have heard little if anything,’ positive or negative, from their clergy about vaccines.”

In a frankly pathetic statement at the end of the report, REV. SARAH RICE, of the 2,500-member Plymouth Church in Des Moines, said this:

“[T]he pandemic has been an ‘incredibly difficult time’ for pastors across the country because of divisions. ‘Everywhere, ministers are leaving their parishes because it’s been so hard,’ said Rice, who didn’t preach on vaccines because it was her sense that it wasn’t necessary, since everyone was very serious about masks and shots and distancing. ‘The pandemic is the most stressful thing I can imagine, and it just goes on and on.’”

THE REAL CRISIS. I am quickly reminded of a prophetic Scripture from the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian church regarding another matter, though it applies here perfectly:

“And if the war bugle gives an uncertain (indistinct) call, who will prepare for battle?” – 1 CORINTHIANS 14:8, AMPC

Beloved, our Pastors simply don’t know what to do or say. Or worse, they do know, but refuse to say anything! For whatever motives and reasons – I leave that to God and discernment – they cannot or will not tell us what is wise and lifesaving.

Consequently, we are left Leaderless at a time when we need such Leadership more than any time in American memory.

LAST THOUGHTS

And so, the Nation remains sick and is getting sicker, because the Church is sick, beloved. As our Founders and Framers promised, Life, Liberty and Happiness are predicated on ‘Enacted Virtue.’ In the stirring words of GEORGE WASHINGTON in his First Inaugural Address given on Thursday, April 30, 1789 on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City:

“There is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists in the economy and course of Nature, an indissoluble union between Virtue and Happiness, between Duty and Advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity.”

CODA. A piecemeal Church policy combined with a comparatively piecemeal Government policy concerning how to stop Covid, is leading us to what Reuters just reported was an America that has reached its current (January 2022) peak of 595,374 Covid infections ‘per day,’ with 836,817 deaths since the Pandemic began.

Hospitals are overflowing and backed up. Medical professionals are exhausted, angry or leaving the profession altogether, or becoming sick themselves. CASE IN POINT: My daughter Christina is picking up shifts at her ER here in Colorado Springs since 11 nurses are out sick from her unit). Beloved, thousands are dying, daily, and I tell you straight: The Church is, perhaps arguably, perhaps not, the tip of the deadly sword cutting down our citizens. In her confusion, obfuscation, rank and widespread disobedience to the Law of Love and the reasonableness of Medical Reality, and by her nearly unforgiveable ‘Silence:’

The American Church is killing us. Killing us!

ANECDOTE. Not long after my mother had given birth to me on September 23, 1944, having been abandoned by my biological father, she found an old Gideon Bible in a motel room where she was staying, as the story goes, somewhere in the southern deserts of California. Not yet knowing Christ, she did a “9-23” thing with my birthdate, deciding to give me to the Unknown God she would later come to love and live for.

“And He [Jesus] was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross daily [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me].” – JESUS CHRIST, LUKE 9:23, AMPC

CONCLUSION. Until the American Church, American Pastors and other Church Leaders ‘take up their Cross of obedience and sacrifice,’ I expect the Covid Plague to continue. Worse, to proliferate in our breathlessly free ecology to evolve as changes in its genetic code mutate and replicate into ever newer – and deadlier – Variants.

However, and what a ‘However’ it is! An ancient Psalm that the Midrash tells us was composed by Moses over 3,400 years ago, promises this to the righteous:

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand] … Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, there shall no evil befall you, nor any plague or calamity come near your tent.” – PSALM 91:1, 9-10

Once again, beloved, our munificent Father of Lights has bestowed upon us all the necessary tools to withstand and overcome this Great Plague. But we must ‘choose’ to do so, and thereby choose to save ourselves and our neighbor, by Choosing Him.

Ever your servant, DK

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