Here we are. There was a pre-9/11 and a post 9/11. There was a pre and a post Chernobyl. There was a before and an after with reference to the Snowden revelations. There will be a pre and a post 2020 COVID-19.
The virus is still with us, and the first governmental reactions are in the bucket. They are doozies. The economy is being eviscerated.
I'm not critiquing the intentions of state actors. For now I am going to assume those to be mostly non-malevolent. But there are consequences to our worldviews. The removal of God to the periphery of life in an ever more secular America has meant the ascendency of a certain kind of thinking much more dangerous than the virus. That viewpoint holds that humans are not really fallen; there is no morality that is higher than we are. Since there is nothing higher than man, man must run his own world. We are enlightened creatures, evolved from primitive ancestors. The way forward is more science and technology, more control from above.
Not above as in from heaven, but above as in from the state.
For the greater good of society, the state will tell us what to do. It will stop the economy, limit free assembly, and, no doubt, when a vaccination for COVID-19 becomes available, make receiving that vaccination compulsory. Nebuchadnezzer's golden image in Daniel three won't have anything on the police-masked image of 2020.
Meanwhile, our church leaders are prayerfully laboring to discern the best approach for us. It would not be difficult to make decisions that would be damaging to how Seventh-day Adventists are perceived in the broader culture. We have been prophetically warned that as conditions worsen because of wickedness and sin, the search for scapegoats will be on. Ultimately, Seventh-day Adventists will be slotted into this role, but we shouldn't make it easier to do.
Satan is adept at ratcheting up the feeling of the mob. All of the practice he has gotten himself since the cross has been in anticipation of inciting the crowd against those who keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. We are inescapably in his sights.
At the same time, God has His eye on His remnant church. If we walk closely with Him He will guide us.
We will need it.
Comforts to which we have become accustomed may now be removed. And perhaps more.
Those who have already accepted the siren song of the secular that says we are the unfallen, unless they change their perspective, will be lost to the cause. At every governmental command they will bow. Each new state directive will be embraced until they are deep in the snare. Satan understands: half of the battle is training and habit.
We are thoroughly trained to rely upon the state. The state sends us our checks; it guarantees banks will cash them; it inspects our food; it x-rays us at the airport (for our safety); it licenses the airwaves; it regulates firearms; it tells us when to send our children to its schools and when not to; it decides when we are being good parents and when our children must be removed from us; it tells us whether or not we can travel and how large are the groupings in which we can or cannot meet. All hail.
The language being used about this pandemic is apocalyptic. It is being presented as the greatest societal emergency since World War II. We are being told that all will have to sacrifice for the greater good.
Many of us are ready to do just that. But the greater good is not always served by doing what the authorities require.
Envision a day when you are not allowed into a store to purchase groceries unless you are wearing a wristband proving you to have been vaccinated. That is where we are headed. Refusal to be vaccinated will be seen as betrayal of society.
Some vaccination fears may be overstated. The larger issue is final authority. Are we ready to accept the authority of the state when it makes vaccination compulsory? Remember, it will be "for the greater good." This is the very argument we will face at the end of the chain: for the greater good of society, we should not resist a law for Sunday observance.
Imagine a day just months from now, when none are permitted into a gathering of more than 50 people unless they have a wristband proving they have been vaccinated. No exceptions. Pastors may not be permitted by the state to preach in their churches without providing such proof. Unlikely? We have our constitutional protections, right? But then we remember faithful American citizens of Japanese descent in the continental US in WWII. You know, the ones who had to instantly sell their businesses for pennies on the dollar and then report to internment camps.
Are we undergoing almost a total "yes sir" conditioning toward the government? Let us refuse to inculcate fear; but it is wise to encourage alertness.
When our tests come, they will sound so reasonable. We want to save our beloved aged and our children! Only a narcissist would hold their rights above the urgent necessity to keep society from collapsing.
To make people afraid you need the right lever. Global cooling didn't do it, then global warming was not successful. Immigration woes stirred some but did not bring us to societal decision. There is enormous distrust of government and of the media and with good reason.
But pulling all the pins out of the global economy has focused everyone's attention. When you put a man out of work, you get his attention.
In the secular worldview, the state is essential. It is the arbiter of reality. People are to be stampeded, herded, or harvested as necessary. In a time of emergency those holding to very secular views will see conscientious resistance, free expression, or contrarian thinking, as irritating reminders of earlier views of citizen freedom. Now we want our safety. Not from the God of heaven, but from the state as god.
It is interesting what we are supposed to NOT do now. We are not to come together in groups. Rather, we are to avoid each other and listen for governmental directives and experts to tell us what to do.
There will be a reversal of course. There will come a time when all that is secular loses its luster, and there is a sudden re-religification across the culture. But when that day comes, it will be after the state has acquired all the tools it needs to bring overwhelming force to bear for compliance to its directives.
For now there are stopgap solutions. We can approximate church meetings on proprietary platforms online. But maintaining group cohesion in online groups in the longer term is a dubious proposition. We should be careful not to become dependent on means of communication which are outside of our control. That is not robust. We should begin to think rapidly and carefully about how we can strengthen connections with each other in the near future. It will be needed in a time when it is necessary to draw strength from the coldness of others.
The virus is real. But whether the intentions of government leaders are good or evil, it will be the vector for a terrible infection of state power over us.
God is still on His throne and He has not forsaken us. But He has equipped us with intellect and ability. We are responsible to have Him as our guide. We can trust in Jesus. But He means for us to combine with Him in prayer and kingdom activity. Nothing must prevent us from giving our entire allegiance to Jesus' kingdom in this hour. If Jesus is our anchor, our anchor will hold.
Is Jesus your anchor?
Larry Kirkpatrick has been a Seventh-day Adventist minister since 1994. He also operates the website GreatControversy.org and serves as host the “The Final Movements” webcast. He presently serves Muskegon and Fremont churches in the Michigan Conference.