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When pastor Frank Carl delivers a sermon at Genoa Church in Westerville, Ohio, he typically hears a chorus of “amens.” On Sunday, he instead heard a deafening blast of honks. And Carl wasn’t at the pulpit—he was about 25 feet off the ground on a scissor lift. “It’s not what I had in mind when I accepted a higher calling,” he told TIME of the experience, laughing. **SNIP** To continue providing services, churches have employed a variety of digital alternatives like livestreams, apps and YouTube videos. But over the past week, an increasing number of pastors have turned instead to...

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” — Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) One of my Fox colleagues recently sent me an email attachment of a painting of the framers signing the Constitution of the United States. Except in this version, George Washington — who presided at the Constitutional Convention — looks at James Madison — who was the scrivener at the Convention — and says, “None of this counts if people get sick, right?” In these days of state governors issuing daily decrees purporting to criminalize the exercise of our...

Hundreds of people flouted Louisiana's COVID-19 ban on gatherings, coming on buses and in personal vehicles to the first of three Sunday services at their church as the governor warns that the state's healthcare system will be overwhelmed. An estimated 500 people of all ages filed inside the mustard-yellow and beige Life Tabernacle church in Central, a city of nearly 29,000 outside Baton Rouge. The church's pastor, Tony Spell, defied an order from Gov John Bel Edwards who banned mass gatherings in the state where more than 3,500 Louisiana residents have been diagnosed with the disease caused by the coronavirus,...

The pastor of a Tampa megachurch is facing charges after refusing to close its doors despite a "safer at home" order in effect in Hillsborough County, meant to stop the spread of COVID-19. The sheriff of Hillsborough County says one of two Sunday services had up to 500 people in attendance. Sheriff Chad Chronister and State Attorney Andrew Warren on Monday announced that an arrest warrant had been issued for Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne. He faces charges of unlawful assembly and violation of public health emergency order.

Eleven students who attend Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, have come down with coronavirus symptoms after returning to campus. Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. decided to reopen the campus to students at the end of spring break despite public health officials warning him not to do so. The Democratic governor of Virginia Ralph Northam had previously banned gatherings of more than 100 people in the state to which Liberty said it would transition most classes to online.

Our gospel tune today is Old Fashioned Meeting by Bill & Earl Bolick who were known as the Blue Sky Boys (1938). THE WESTERNER https://thewesterner.blogspot.com/

During plague periods in the Roman Empire, Christians made a name for themselves. Historians have suggested that the terrible Antonine Plague of the 2nd century, which might have killed off a quarter of the Roman Empire, led to the spread of Christianity, as Christians cared for the sick and offered an spiritual model whereby plagues were not the work of angry and capricious deities but the product of a broken Creation in revolt against a loving God. But the more famous epidemic is the Plague of Cyprian, named for a bishop who gave a colorful account of this disease in...

A Louisiana pastor is apparently defying the governor's order against gatherings of more than 50 people by hosting over 1,000 churchgoers at a service Sunday and bringing together hundreds at another service Tuesday, according to the pastor and local media.

Straw Poll Create a Poll Do you think the extended severe restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are too extreme? Yes - too extreme: the long-term unemployment and lack of activity, and fear of others will do more harm than a more moderate or shorter period. No: long-term outlawing of most sports, recreation, many businesses is necessary to stop this deadly virus. Yes: a moderate response of wearing masks in mass transit, work and crowds instead of isolation, except for those in need of care, would be better. No: if anything, the most severe and extensive restrictions - from...

A covid cure from my missionary friend Pablo Yoder : "He is the Hero!" Dear readers, The world is desperate and so helpless as it confronts this microscopic virus called Coronavirus. No wonder, they don't fear God. So they fear everything else. We fear God, so we don't have to fear everything else. He has it under control. But yes, we are concerned at what is happening to this world. We all would love to come up with answers to save people from so much suffering and even death. A lot of you have probably heard about the testimony of...

Bill Gates and Elites want to reduce the population by 90%. They believe that 500 million is about all the population that planet earth can support. The Coronavirus pandemic has become a convenient, or manufactured, excuse to enact their plans. Yet it was God gave man a mandate to procreate and fill the face of the earth. God said be fruitful and multiply. Psalm 127:3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. 5...

Facebook page NUS Atheist Society has found itself in a crappy situation after a post on toilet humour landed them in trouble. Police are investigating after the page made a post suggesting the Bible and the Quran as toilet paper alternatives, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said in a Facebook post today (March 20). A screengrab of NUS Atheist Society's post showed a picture of the Bible and the Quran, along with the caption: "For use during toilet paper shortages." NUS Atheist Society is not an official National University of Singapore (NUS) student organisation, according to the university's...

Dry Run In October of 2019, Bill Gates and a group of world Elites met in New York, NY to simulate an eerily similar event to what we are experiencing today. It was called Event 201. In addition to the Gates Foundation, the cast of characters were the UN, WHO, Chinese CDV, US CDC, and the mainstream media. The goal was to simulate an escaped virus pandemic that goes around the globe starting in the Chinese Wuhan Market. What would it affect? What would it result in? How should the media react? What would they do in the aftermath? They...

A few years ago I wrote an article on free republic entitled, "Bill Gates Admits Vaccines Are Used for Human Depopulation" As a repeat user of Bill Gates company's (Microsoft) products and services, I was interested to know what he believes. I was shocked at what I found, however I realized that Bill's views match most leadership in the Obama administration and most world leaders. Bill Gates gave a Ted Talk in 2010 on reducing Athropogenic Global Warming by reducing the world's population. Here is what he said is the best formula for tracking CO2 emissions: CO2 = P x...

A statue of the Angel Moroni sits atop the Salt Lake Temple in a 2015 photo. The temple was damaged Wednesday in an earthquake that also dislodged Moroni's trumpet. (CNN)The 5.7-magnitude earthquake that shook Utah Wednesday morning also dislodged a symbolic part of Salt Lake City's iconic Mormon temple: the trumpet of an angel statue atop its highest spire. The temple is the spiritual focal point for the 16 million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "The trumpet on the Angel Moroni statue fell off, and there is minor displacement of some of the temple's smaller...

EVENT C A N C E L L E D Due to Coronvirus By Order of Supreme Governor Absolutely NO TRESPASSING

Outdoor winter play has long been blamed for colds and the flu. Our parents told us to " bundle up or you'll catch a cold," and their parents probably told them the same thing. But winter play gets a bad rap. Although going outside unprepared for the elements is unwise, viruses that are spread by other human beings and cause colds and the flu are [mainly] indoors. The indoor circulation of germs and bacteria is much more harmful to your child than playing outside... Breathe fresh air. It's no secret that most parents blame winter air as the cause for...

As of 12:49:48 PM E.T. Sun, March 22, 2020, the Johns Hopkins University Global Case Tracker states 27,004 Covid-19 cases US in the US, with 347 deaths (do the math). As for 12:27 P.M. E.T. March 22, 2020, the New York Times Latest Map and Case Count reports 29,666 Covid-19 cases, with at least 376 deaths. As of 11:58 AM ET, Sun March 22, 2020, CNN US reports 26,327 cases and 327 deaths. As of 12:25 PM EDT 03/22/2020 Politico , using data from the COVID Tracking Project, reports 191,541 tests given, 24,345 positive Covid-19 cases, and 296 deaths

Our gospel tune today is Do Lord Remember Me by the Prairie Ramblers (1935).

The current coronavirus disease, Covid-19, has been called a once-in-a-century pandemic. But it may also be a once-in-a-century evidence fiasco. At a time when everyone needs better information, from disease modelers and governments to people quarantined or just social distancing, we lack reliable evidence on how many people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 or who continue to become infected. Better information is needed to guide decisions and actions of monumental significance and to monitor their impact. The data collected so far on how many people are infected and how the epidemic is evolving are utterly unreliable. Given the limited testing...