As I write this letter to you, there is a virus going around the planet, and although I personally believe it is just another way among many other events that have been occurring around the globe that our Lord is using to announce His imminent return for His church and the beginning of the tribulation period for those who will be left behind, those events are not the dominating reason for this letter to you. I am no more concerned with any of the effects of this virus any more than I am in nuclear war, a global famine, or the common cold, all that happens to the followers of Christ is for good, (Romans 8:28) and God is always in total and complete control. “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” (Psalm 115:3)
My hope is that this and other events that He is either precipitating or allowing to happen will draw even more of the lost to Him before that great and terrible day of the Lord begins, but they are not the focal point of this letter either, and neither are those who are only professing Christ with their lips, for when that day arrives they will also be left behind, and upon them a strong delusion shall come. (2 Thess. 2:11)
This letter is to those whose names are securely and eternally written in the Lambs Book of Life, and to some, but not to all, I write this letter to your shame. To those of you who are hiding yourselves away for the sake of self, instead of the supposed safety of others, for those of you who are not seeking out the lost until the “all clear” has been given. This letter is to those who have thought it best to close not only their doors to others, but to those who have made the decision to lock their church doors until their governments “allow” them to re-open. This letter is to your shame, what you are calling avoidance of risk, the Lord is calling a lack of trust, what you are calling “playing it safe,” the Lord sees as a lack of faith in His providence and mercy. And there can be no excuse for this, this compassion you believe you are showing, this caution that you believe you are exhibiting stems from only one place, fear, the fear of death.
I would admonish all of you to never repeat the verse again “To live is Christ, to die is gain,” (Phil. 1:21) when you return to your place of worship, never again read the words that speak of those who say, “They loved not their lives to the end.” (Rev. 12:11) You have spoken for decades about the importance of attending church, held seminars and meetings on the difference of individual and corporeal worship, invited all to church to learn about the protection and security that can only be found in a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and then you slam your doors shut and lock them when those who need Christ the most at these times are searching for Him in the only place they know to find Him, the church. Shame on you.
Your brothers and sisters in Christ who seek a secure place to meet each week, so they are not captured, tortured, imprisoned, or killed call shame upon you. They cry from the jail cells they are imprisoned in for standing up to their governments for their faith, shame on you. You preach a love that never ends, but you lock your doors in their time of need, you preach an eternal joy in His presence, yet you flee at the first possibility of death, you acquiesce to the demands of your governments, instead of standing in the faith of Christ. Some will die, and you will mourn them, but your witness has failed, you have proven your lack of complete trust, you have bent the knee to safety, and chosen not to stand in the face of adversity, in the possibility of death.
You have shown the lost by locking your church doors that you do not truly trust, your ministry in their eyes is seen as hypocritical, and that your faith is based only on the current circumstances, and it is to your shame. “Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” (Psalm 91:9-10)
Or you could go with this verse, the choice is always ours. “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” (Prov. 22:3)
