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The following piece is written by Pastor Cary Gordon of Cornerstone World Outreach in Sioux City Iowa. While it goes into the details of how his church will deal with the COVID-19 virus (other churches should take note at what they are doing) as we move away from the lockdown stages imposed on America (especially by the Governor of Iowa who is an Republican) there is a lot of meat in what Pastor Gordon is saying and lots of it applies to us all as a nation.
We have made the self-governed decision to open our church this coming Sunday whether or not the state of Iowa chooses to interfere with our God-given rights. I announced this intention to reopen our church and promised to send you a letter during my sermon yesterday morning and this correspondence is to inform everyone of the great news on how we are going to accomplish this safely.
Let me say this first: I am very proud to be your pastor! It has been hard on us as a church to faithfully carry out our duty before God to assemble on our church property on the first day of the week for worship preaching prayer and communion but we did it together. I will always cherish the memory of your faithful attendance especially during the blizzard of Resurrection Sunday morning. You warmed my heart while it was breaking. I love you.
That first Sunday of the pandemic was a bitter-sweet low in my lifetime of passionate patriotism as an American. For the first time in my life I faced the possibility of being arrested for simply preaching the Gospel even though we were doing it in our parking lot. We crossed the proverbial Rubicon as a nation. Some of my fellow ministers were less fortunate and actually were bullied fined or even arrested for doing similarly. We are a land under divine judgment and we must repent as a nation. I will not stop warning everyone who will listen that America MUST repent!
Early-on during the pandemic a dear friend of mine in Brooklyn New York whose respiratory system was already injured by a genetic disorder that also confined him to a wheel chair discovered he had contracted the Corona virus. It was very frightening for him (and for me as his friend) because we both understood he was an unusually vulnerable target for the life-threatening powers of this terrible disease. Thankfully despite the high probability that he could have died he is recovering and feeling much better today. Some have asked me Was this virus even real?
Yes it was!
But there is another side to the truth that has been largely ignored by myopic persons whose emotions have caused a loss of objectivity. Additionally media networks who were more eager to attract an audience through fear than to offer a balanced view through reason have contributed to our national ignorance. What has been largely ignored? The Stanford study led by Assistant Professor Eran Bendavid concluded that the mortality rate might be between 0.12 and 0.2. The reality that this virus as terrible as it is for those who are vulnerable to its dreadful powers has about a 99 survivability rate.
Further as the data has slowly accumulated across the past several months the medical world has begun to blush in many places. Level-headed scientists who arent too prideful to admit they were dreadfully wrong in how they interpreted the data on Covid-19 realize they led the whole world to grossly overreact to the threat of this virus - so much so that other areas of very important medical care have been compromised and lives have been inadvertently put in jeopardy. The latest and most reliable scientific data has essentially re-proven what Judeo/Christian theologians have confidently understood for several thousand years. Governments are not authorized by higher/divine law to quarantine the healthy! They were (and are still) restricted by the divine law to only quarantine the symptomatic. The rest must be left to the liberties of self-government. It is a self-governed decision for the non-symptomatic or the vulnerable who is authorized by Gods law to self-quarantine as they see fit.
Meanwhile in America while localized errors exist in our past for the first time in our history we acted with no consideration whatsoever of this immutable and unchanging law of God and harmed our entire confederation of fifty states in the process. Besides the likelihood that we needlessly interfered with the healthy process of herd immunity among the majority of our population who were never really in any serious danger we have destroyed our economy to such a degree that many authorities now suggest it may contribute to a world-wide famine that threatens tens of thousands of childrens lives in Africa.
Had our executive branch of government listened to the Bible we would be in exponentially better shape as a nation right now but we chose the error(s) of cosmic humanism which has apparently become our national religion. We sowed to the wind and we will reap the whirlwind.
How should a local church filter the fearful noise of lawmakers and humanist medical persons?
#1) We FIRST and foremost revere the highest law - Biblical law - on the matter of quarantine. As you know civil authorities are not authorized to quarantine the healthy.
#2) The second place we observe is the rule of law through our federal and state constitutions which both place restrictions against our government requiring them to respond within very clear limits of their authority particularly during a serious pandemic. (They have abused these limits throughout the pandemic.)
#3) Then having filtered through those highest authorities in their proper order we respectfully consider the voice of the medical world and make reasonable attempts to scrutinize what they say. They too must operate within the limits of our nations Constitution and beneath the authority of God and His law. (Listening to the medical world has been more difficult than it should have been because many medical authorities have disagreed with one another throughout this pandemic.)
(Here is a doctor who is responsible for a lot of the Covid-19 testing oversight in the United States who has treated many Covid-19 patients. I encourage you to observe how his professional evaluation of the illness proves that Biblical law should have been heeded from the very beginning of this saga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfLVxx_lBLU )
Note: Youtube removed the video for it questions the CDCs Stay At Home rules.
We love our church family and we desire for you to maintain your health and prosper in every way. If you have pre-existing health issues that compromise you physically if you are above 65 years of age or if you are struggling with fear please know that your pastors completely support you staying home until you are at peace and have come to faith on the issue. Self-quarantining is a Biblical response in a time of sickness. While we would welcome and appreciate your presence if you want to join us we fully support your self-governed decision to stay home too.
With that being said here is how we are going to re-enter our church on Sunday and how we will keep everyone completely safe:
* Mid-week and PM services will remain temporarily cancelled until further notice while we reopen Sunday morning services.
* Maintenance staff will perform standard hands-on cleaning of all surfaces.
* Commercial air-scrubber technology has been brought-into the church facility for your protection.
* A fog disinfectant will be used before and after each service throughout our facility.
* A certified restoration technician will guide disinfecting our facility and employ safety measures.
* Hands-free exits will be maintained in the primary restroom facilities.
* New motion-sensitive hand disinfectant stations have been strategically installed around all major entrances exits and foyers throughout our facility.
* Members are required to self-quarantine if they are symptomatic.
* Temperatures of all persons will be taken at all entrances.
May God forgive America for dishonoring our founding documents. May God favor the righteous lawsuits to come as honorable patriots fight to restore order against tyranny. I will see you in church very soon. May God bless you. You are the salt of the earth and I love you.
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