Posted on 03/30/2020 5:30:43 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: ( Proverbs 1:20-25)
Wisdom is always crying out in the streets, and particularly through current events which are widely known. There is often a huge hand writing on the wall for our generation. The problem is interpretation, What is God saying through events?
Today we awoke to news that a certain mega Pastor, Rodney Howard Browne was arrested for holding an “unlawful Assembly”, bussing in hundreds to an already crowded church service, in defiance of the Governor’s ‘social distance’ decree.
Browne was already in the news for a few other things recently and over the years. The South African immigrant to America had proclaimed that “Quarantine is for Pansies” and that his church would remain open “until the Rapture!”.
Around the time of the inauguration of the President , Browne was among a handful of Pastors and Spiritual leaders allowed to gather around in the Oval office and lay hands on and pray for the President. Browne is a ministry colleague of Paula White, President Trump’s ‘spiritual advisor’.
On the one hand, I understand the indignation at the decrees shutting down churches across the nation, as ‘nonessential’, especially when in many places Planned Parenthood, continues to function.
There will be many that lionize Howard Browne, for standing up to the State, or as a champion of freedom of religion.
But on the other hand, there really is a dangerous plague, and personally I give the Governor of Iowa the benefit of the doubt in this, and pray fervently that as soon as the physical danger is passed, we can meet again as a whole flock. After all, the Word for church , ‘Ecclessia’ means an Assembly. We are not to forsake the Assembly of ourselves, this is the LORD’s command.
I have struggled with this myself, and been in much prayer about it.
I believe God has given me an insight into how we are to look at this;
Do you remember the Prophet Jeremiah? When the pagan Babylonians surrounded Jerusalem, He was given a rather unpatriotic message. He was told to tell Jerusalem to go out and submit to the Babylonians, even though it would be humiliating to them as proud Jews, because God was in the Babylonian invasion. Jeremiah 27 is an example of this preaching.
As usual there were hundreds of false prophets like Hannaniah, who prophesied resistance, victory, and triumph. Jeremiah was hated for his “cowardly message” which amounted to submitting to the harsh discipline of God and not resisting.
When Rodney Howard Browne proclaimed that Quarentine was for Pansies, I thought of Jeremiah immediately. There is nothing Spiritual about the bravado of mockery of the manhood of people who are trying to be prudent. Browne and his accomplice, Kenneth Copeland, who prophesied that CV 19 would be vanquished by the end of March, are just like the false prophet Hannaniah, who “…Make God’s people Trust in a Lie”, (Jeremiah 28) and eventually discredit the cause of Christ.
I hope you understand these people have an errant theology. They believe that God has given them the power to become “little gods” through the New Birth, and to be able to decree and command reality to submit to them, it is called “The Word Of Faith” heresy. Copeland once told an audience that had he known what Jesus knew, He (Copeland) could have gone to the cross also! They are classic gnostics and heretics.
I hate not having full Assemblies, I admit that. I do not put absolute trust in the Government either. But God has allowed many limitations to come upon us; no Sports, no restaurants, no entertainments, (Not as many), and in my view, worse of all, No easy gatherings of Christians, in the tens and hundreds or even thousands. This is one of the beautiful and joyous things about being an American!
But all of that has been suspended. The Word of God is not bound, of course.
Do you believe it has been allowed as a discipline of God? Or is this just the Devil? OR could it be a combination of the two?
Like Judah, in the time of Jeremiah, we proud Americans don’t believe we could ever be curtailed in anything, much less worship. What if these restrictions are the discipline of a loving Father, that we must submit to? Would fighting them be fighting God? Privileges have been stripped, without debate, discussion, or due process, liberties have been suspended indefinitely and that galls all of us.
The Constitution is a wonderful document, but it is not the Word of God.
Could this be a time ordained for repentance? Soul searching and seeking God?
Be careful of modern Hannaniah’s appealing to our pride and vainglory but pretending it is faith.
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Even in America, people still should have a right to be ‘crazy’. I too, was diagnosed by a psycho and he said I was crazy. So, a few people wanted to risk and catch the disease, and get their blood cells immunity up to standard and help the rest of us. Good for them. I think they are making a lot out of nothing. People could be given some hand sanitizer, asked not to have boidly contact, and take the risk. But this CONTROL of churches... next they won’t let the ‘snake handlers’, bring their vipers to church... We cry FREEDOM.
I remember this fella named Peter. He said he would disobey the authorities if he had to in order to obey God.
And then about the same time there was a guy named Paul who talked about the reasons governments were established and how they have the power to punish people.
And then I reflect on how the government in power at that time apparently executed both Peter and Paul.
And I say, WTF?
It sure is easy to spout off about “freedom” in the 21st century. We have it really good in the USA in the midst of a global epidemic.
Maybe a look at the letter to the Philippians is in order - Do not look out only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others.
Rodney Howard Browne is no Peter or Paul, He styles himself as “God’s Bartender” and was famous for inducing people into “Holy Laughter “ and Spiritual Drunkenness” both of which are judgments from God...
..thank you for reminding people of this. Even if one supports what he did, he's the wrong messenger IMHO...
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