We republish the submission below for Affinity’s Covid-19 and the Church symposium. We would also commend an excellent post by Brephos on this matter.
The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
Proverbs 4:18
I dread governments in the name of science. That is how tyrannies come in. In every age the men who want us under their thumb, if they have any sense, will put forward the particular pretension which the hopes and fears of that age render most potent. They ‘cash in’. It has been magic, it has been Christianity. Now it will certainly be science.
C.S Lewis 1958
Dear Affinity,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Firstly, we wanted to thank you for your willingness to host this important event.
Covid was a trauma. A trauma that costs over 100,000 lives in the UK and a trauma that was exacerbated by the strict, sudden and so called “scientific” measures brought in to combat it. The UK public and the church was exposed to not simply a vicious, and most likely man made virus, but was also subjected to lockdowns, concentrated psychological messaging, an impossible stream of changing guidelines, and a “safe and effective vaccine” which has proven to be neither safe nor effective (and strictly speaking not a vaccine either)!
It is no surprise that when confronted with such a catastrophe, mistakes were made. We are not for a moment saying that we would have done a better job had we been in your position. However, what is important is learning from mistakes before the next global catastrophe hits us. We praise God your event offers a space for this. This said, we are also concerned that the event may not get to the heart of the matter, and therefore may only offer surface level reflections.
In view of this we have labored to compose the following list of essential questions. We hope and pray they will be received in the spirit of brotherly love in which they are written.
Yours sincerely and in the hope of a brighter shining UK church,
Dr Jonathan Bayes, Pastor, Stanton Lees Chapel (& UK Director, Carey Outreach Ministries)
Christian Hacking, Pro-Life Activist
Regan King, Pastor, The Angel Church, England
Steve Lloyd, Pastor, Cranfield Baptist Church, England
David Martin, Deacon, Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church, Newton Abbey, Northern Ireland
Dale Mcalpine, Pastor, Grace Baptist Workington, England
William McCurrie, Pastor, Aughton Park Baptist Church, England
John-William Noble, Pastor, Grace Baptist Church, Aberdeen, Scotland
Paul Sayers, Pastor, ERB Kaiserslautern, Germany (formerly of Norfolk)
Thomas Seidler, Elder, Hambro Road Baptist Church, England
Rt Rev D F Stockford, Protestant Truth Society (Chairman)
Questions
A. Two tier society challenges…
- The Nuremberg Conventions forbid the coercion of experimental products. The Covid injections had no long term safety testing, but were mandated for some work. So many refusers lost their incomes. Internationally many such mandates were ruled unlawful. Some Christians (including CMF) legitimised discrimination — but should the church have condemned such civil rights abuses?
- Further to this, 1900 church leaders considered that such a two tier approach—just as in Galatians 1—risked “a fundamental betrayal of Christ and the Gospel.” Are all the panel in agreement that segregation based on vaccine status in the church risks such a gospel denial?
B. On the power of science to control and redefine God’s law and thus control the church…
- In 1958 CS Lewis predicted tyrannical government in the name of science and the muzzling of real scientists. If we saw signs of this during Covid, how do we better heed his warning going forwards?
- Lockdowns quarantined the healthy. Can “the science” redefine God’s second greatest command, to love your neighbor as yourself, as “treating your healthy neighbors like lepers”?
- Does Romans 13 indicate the state can tell the church what God’s law means — or does it indicate the state is God’s servant to punish evil and reward good as God alone defines (cf Romans 13:8-10, i.e. not merely 13:1-7)?
- The closure of churches proved unlawful in the courts. So, at least some of the time churches closed for, we obeyed Caesar’s unlawful laws and not Christ’s lawful command to gather. This is unintentional sin. How could the church have been better guided to avoid this?
- Many criticised church leaders who continued to meet in secret, refusing to obey what proved to be the unlawful edicts of men. Was such criticism mistaken?
C. The church’s Covid holy war?
- The government guidelines clearly distinguished between a mandatory ‘must’ and an advisory ‘should’. Why did the FIEC leadership bind the conscience of congregations with a heavier legalistic burden than the government by prohibiting singing, especially given that the Holy Spirit breathed scriptures call us to sing God’s praise?
- The church’s “holy war” against Covid looked a lot more zealous than its fight to save the UK’s 250k yearly aborted babies. Do we believe idolatry of State/Gov, health-and-safety, public opinion (fear of man), NHS, “vaccines” and “the experts” impacted our response?
D. Repentance
Finally, do we believe that the only way to rectify and repair these public mistakes (assuming that is what they are) is through A) the blood of Jesus and B) public repentance?