What happens when God's children are misled?

Update: I would like to comment on my use of the term pastors and on my description of COVID-19 as a deadly and disabling plague. 

I no longer have confidence in any church hierarchy, given that the Lord Jesus is recorded as saying in Matthew 23 that all disciples are siblings, none of whom should be called rabbi or guide, because we have one teacher (the Christ), and that anyone who exalts themselves will be brought low. In John 21, the Lord's commission to Peter can be read without any permission for hierarchy: the two Ancient Greek verbs used there, bosko and poimaino, had several senses each, such as "feed" and "tend" respectively.

I am aware, on the topic of COVID-19, that many readers will find my description offensive and undermining my credibility. My defence is that at the time I did believe this to be true, and that COVID-19 may indeed have been the cause of death and disability in many people. The work of science, of trying to develop more reliable knowledge about this matter, continues. 

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When people abuse God's name, teaching falsely and destructively, the logical response from Almighty God, as promised and seen in History repeatedly, is to demonstrate conclusively that Almighty God isn't protecting those people, isn't on their side, isn't with them, but allows them to become a hissing, a horror, an example of tragedy.

"whoever may snare one of the little ones, these, who believe in Me, it profits him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and he be sunk in the depth of the ocean." (Matthew 18:6 CFB)

"our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God.... Wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes." (2 Chronicles 29:6-8 AKJV)

"But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee...." (Deuteronomy 28:15 AKJV)

Today, there are people who, in the name of Christ, are teaching that fornication and abortion are permissible. Look for the evidence of how Almighty God is turning them into a hissing, an example of what not to do.

Likewise, there are people who, calling themselves Christians and even pastors, are encouraging people to disregard an ongoing deadly and disabling plague (COVID19), thereby endangering themselves and others, and bringing shame to the name of Christ. We can already see how Almighty God is distancing Himself from such people.

For example, one such "pastor" has quite obviously been deprived of logical comprehension and a sense of decency. "Pastor" John MacArthur has been declaring, without apology or correction, that people can calculate their chance of surviving COVID19 as the percentage of Californians not yet killed by the plague. This "pastor" has declared this atrocious falsehood several times: it has featured on Fox News, on the Eric Metaxas Radio Show, and in The Christian Post. 

Do Christians have to gather together physically? No.

Do Christians have to gather together physically? No.

1. If this were true, then a persecuted Christian who sits alone in prison would be in disobedience, and Christians would feel pressured to avoid doing courageous things that risk persecution and imprisonment and thereby being in disobedience.

2. The key Bible text is Hebrews 10:25, which has multiple possible meanings that are honourable, sanctifying, and sound-minded, in contrast to reading it to mean that Christians must gather physically even during a deadly contagion. 

Look at the context (verses 24 through 27):

"And mind each other diligently, to incitement of loving-kindness and good works, not abandoning the gathering up together of yourselves, according to what is a custom to some; instead, appealing to each other even this much more: as much as you see the Day nears. For if we are sinning voluntarily after the receiving of the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins remains: instead, some fearful expectation of judgement, and a jealousy of fire coming to eat the adversarial ones."

What do you think the focus of this text is?

How many ways does this text re-focus attention on the need for caring for each other's holiness, which does not require meeting physically at all. Saints Paul and John and Peter and Jude and James wrote letters to care for people's souls and protect their salvation. So we have a clear approval for caring for each other's holiness using methods that do not involve meeting physically.

What does the phrase "not abandoning the gathering up together of yourselves" refer to? Must it refer to regular, for example weekly, physical meetings by Christians?

No. The Greek word used here is episunagogé  (ἐπισυναγωγή). In 2 Thessalonians 2:1, it refers to the Last Day when Christ's faithful will be gathered up together to Christ. In Matthew 24:31, the verb-form of this word (episunágo, ἐπισυνάγω) also refers to the Last Day and the same action:

"And He will send the angels of His with a great battle-horn. And they will gather up together the chosen ones of His from the four winds, from heavens' extremities unto their other extremities."

A Christian reader then of Hebrews 10:25 is well supported in understanding the verse to mean that they must not abandon the spiritual welfare of other Christians, namely the goal that they too will be gathered up together by Christ's angels on the Last Day. Remember the warnings given in Hebrews 10 and 12 and elsewhere in the New Testament, that Christians can lose their salvation, and depend on the action of other Christians to protect their holiness.

"Pursue peace with all, and the holiness, without which no one will see the Lord; keeping watch so there be not any falling short of the grace of God, nor any root of bitterness that springing up cause trouble and through which many be defiled, nor any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one meal gave away the first-born privileges of his. For you have seen that even afterward, wanting to inherit the blessing, he was deemed unworthy. Indeed he found no place for repentance—yes even having sought it with weeping." (Hebrews 12:14-17)

"And these will go away to an eternal correction, but the righteous to eternal life." (Matthew 25:46)

Scripture quoted from the Christ Family Bible. Copyright © 2020 by J.J. Thomas. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Testimony from 7 years of life in Christ

Humility is what enabled me to be accepted as a disciple of Christ and receive the Holy Spirit, on the very first day I had genuine humility and no ounce of arrogance toward God, 21 April 2013, shown through wholehearted confessions that day, and preceded by years of showing to Christ my willingness to keep His words and commandments. And humility is still the necessary element that I bring to God, that enables me to be an instrument, a worker, and obedient, a new born and growing child of Almighty God.

Almighty God has shown this to me through many proofs. For example, one teaching/warning of Christ has been particularly hard for me to apply (Luke 6:25, the warning against consuming more food than one needs). But when I take time to ask Christ to help me keep this word of His, having recognised my own inability, then the power comes.

Likewise, when I have confessed like many Christians in the Bible, that I am a bond-servant (a slave) of the Lord of Heaven and Earth, Jesus Christ, and that I am thankful to be Christ's bond-servant, thus humbling myself, amazing things begin to happen.

Tragically, it seems that we live in an age where Satan is very effectively dropping the poison of pride into most everyone's heart and mind, even of people and churches who call themselves Christians. For these 7 years, I have been heartbroken and shocked many times by the behaviour, seemingly incorrigible due to pride, of people who profess to be followers of Christ. So, I must say, that alongside the value of humility, I have painfully learned the value of seeking truth, distinguishing between fact and falsehood, especially in regard to people's claims to be Christian, born anew in the Holy Spirit, and moral, etc.

Lastly, let me say that working in ministry now for about 7 years, with many years prior in close contact with churches, it has become a fairly strong hypothesis that there is a great need for humility and reform for Protestant as well as Catholic and Orthodox churches. That is to say, it seems that for centuries, ungodly pride, going beyond what is written in Scripture and being puffed up one in favour of the other, has worked its way deep into the marrow of all 3 church groupings. (See 1 Corinthians 1-4 for an excellent discussion of the problem of schism and how to solve it: do not go beyond what is written in Scripture.)