When I first heard of the concept of COVID-19 lockdowns in the United States, including effectively closing down many churches, my first thought was how many lives this would cost—not save.

Speaking broadly across our culture—including all congregations without regard to Biblical fidelity—it is my conviction that small churches are still the backbone of this nation and serve as a lifeline for many, many people. (I believe this is also true in a spiritual sense with regard to those churches that do remain Biblically faithful; see 2 Thess. 2:6-7.) These people very often count on the friends they see and know from their local church to take them to the doctor, bring them their medications, and just visit and check up on them.

Looking at it from the ministry side, then, how have our churches fared during the past two years since the crisis broke out? I would submit that the big difference between those that have thrived and those that have merely—or barely—survived depends on their focus on effective communication.

In the previous installment, I encouraged churches and ministries to evaluate their responses to the changing ministry climate, now two years into the pandemic, and we considered especially the area of technology.

Based on my observations, I would add this thought in summary: The churches that did the best through the lockdowns were, by and large, those that were already prepared technologically. They already had equipment in place and were already live streaming their services—and people were already used to tuning in to them. In many cases, the pastor continued preaching as he had been—showing multi-media slides and speaking into the camera. Now he just had more people watching online, and in some cases, that was a lot more people! They were viewing a polished performance as opposed to a first-time attempt, and the preacher was freed up to address the situation at hand—or simply to continue seamlessly and confidently with the themes he had already been presenting.

Especially if you are committed to live streaming your services anyway, I would submit that this would be a good standard to aspire to before we approach another crisis.

In fact, I believe that anyone who has a message worth communicating who believes that more lockdowns—or something else akin to them—will occur again through the vicissitudes of these “perilous times” (2 Tim. 3:1) should seek to prepare in this fashion for the next go-around.

But I think that we also need to examine our response to the crisis, specifically in the realm of communications. After all, you do not need expensive cameras or any fancy equipment to communicate with people. The mail still went out through the lockdowns, and a handwritten letter is still the best and most appreciated form of communication that there is.

As I have had the opportunity to minister in many different churches over the past two years, it seems to me that those churches that over-communicated through the time of crisis and beyond have fared exceedingly much better than those that under-communicated.

It is quite amazing to me to hear testimonies resulting from the latter. I have listened to a number of churchgoers who—to some extent or another—have felt left in the dark with regard to the inner workings of their churches during the pandemic.

Conversely, I’ve spoken with church leaders who have simply lost contact with members of their flocks due to “COVID.” Now, if this was by the choice of those particular sheep involved, then perhaps nothing more could have been done. But if it was the result of our own negligence in communicating, then the verse that comes to mind is James 3:10: “My brethren, these things ought not to be so.”

May I ask, what were we doing during those early days of the shutdowns, and in the time since, if not putting in place new avenues of communicating regularly and often, by every available means?

This was my goal in my position with The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. Our leaders admonished us immediately to maintain and strengthen our communications during the crisis. I do not hold myself out as a model in this regard—only a fellow learner. But I will share what I have learned to date.

In 2020, as I was just beginning my second year with FOIGM and still working a part-time secular job, the first thing that I needed to nail down was to prepare regular quarterly prayer/newsletters. Through some refinement, I now send these out in three categories—to individual supporters, supporting churches, and other churches with which we have developed a tangible relationship in this ministry.

In addition, I strive to send out several other types of mailings in a systematic fashion or as needed. Then, I try to be generous in sending out handwritten thank you cards.

During this time, I have also formulated a short “Weekly Prayer Update” that I send out to several churches and individuals each Wednesday morning. Finally, with the help of an expert volunteer, we have launched our “Weekly News Update” e-newsletter.

I am convinced that many churches lost people they should and could have kept during the COVID-19 crisis simply due to a lack of clear and compelling communication. I am also convinced that some people actually suffered, to some degree or other, because of this lapse. I am further convinced that all of this was unnecessary.

As we learn from the last crisis and, especially, prepare for the next one, I do not see any element that will be more important for our ministries than to develop all means of communicating effectively.

What have you learned from the last two years in this regard? In the true spirit of this column, I would love for you to share it!

——

Paul J. Scharf (M.A., M.Div., Faith Baptist Theological Seminary) is a church ministries representative for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, based in Columbus, WI, and serving in the Midwest. For more information on his ministry, visit sermonaudio.com/pscharf or foi.org/scharf, or email pscharf@foi.org.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version.

 

As was stated in the previous article, the Vatican has used its spiritual authority to help push through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the globalists. The pope’s encyclical that gives the spiritual impetus behind this is called Laudato Si.

So, what is this great divine utopia that the Vatican and the WEF have planned for us? It is clear that they have no intention of proclaiming the Gospel to the lost, so there is no sense in getting excited about that. Fearfully, we need to discern what the new agenda of this ‘church’ might be.

There are 17 ‘goals’ that those who wish to enslave us have devised. Since the goals are utopian, I have included a realistic assessment of what these people truly intend, along with their stated goals. They are as follows:

1. The elimination of poverty: No government in the history of humanity has ever eliminated poverty. History has taught us that centralized authorities can only squander wealth and that they do so to empower themselves. In this way, they ensure they cannot be overthrown. Those who understand history should be very frightened when a government makes the Godlike claim that it can end poverty.

2. Zero hunger through government welfare programs: Government welfare programs do not make people prosperous (just ask the President Lyndon Johnson administration); they perpetuate poverty. Government welfare programs create physical and spiritual poverty. These programs have the added benefit of allowing a government to subjugate its citizens.

3. Good health and well-being: We have already seen through the flu bug hysteria of the last few years how corrupt and greedy the healthcare industry is. Not only in this country but around the world. Only those who give up sovereignty over their bodies to the government will be able to receive health care. Anyone who speaks up about the greed and corruption of these people is censored and destroyed financially. The tyranny being exercised in Australia, Canada, and many other nations are the globalists’ model of good health care and well-being in those countries.

4. Quality education: Your children will be able to learn every form of sexual perversion, how to falsely accuse other people of racism, and 2 + 2 = whatever you want it to be.

5. Gender equality: The rights of those who violate God’s law regarding sexuality will take precedence over any rights of people of faith. People of faith will be punished for holding to God’s law regarding sexuality. Masculinity will be undermined in the media and the government in order to make people more pliable to the demands of the Globalists.

6. Clean water and sanitation: The government will control your water supply to keep you obedient.

7. Affordable and clean energy: Climate change is not science; it is a totalitarian ideology. ‘Clean’ energy will be for the hapless ‘masses,’ not for the Globalists, as they will receive reliable energy rather than so-called ‘clean and affordable energy.’ Freedom of travel will be limited for the rest of us since airplanes, for instance, will never be powered by ‘clean energy.’ The only way this will work is if most of society is placed in small communes that are strictly overseen by the minions of the Globalists. The Reductions of Paraguay (see my first article, the “Reductions of Paraguay go International” on my blog) will be a prime example of what we can expect from clean energy policies.

8. Decent work and economic growth: This goal is pure utopianism, as centralized authorities have no power to deliver this. Please read James 5:1-6 to better understand what these people mean when they promise decent work and economic growth.

9. Industry, innovation, and infrastructure: The whole world needs to be linked into a single economic system so that they can be carefully controlled. In this way, resisters can more easily be identified and punished for disobedience.

10. Reduced inequalities: Group rights will take precedence over individual rights, thereby eliminating all civil rights. Those who resist will be called racists and excluded from the utopian society created and controlled by the Globalists. Black Lives Matter and Antifa’ brownshirts’ will visit you if you fail to submit yourselves to the race agenda of the Globalists.

11. Sustainable cities and communities: The Globalists will control all carbon emissions. Since people are carbon emitters, their numbers will need to be reduced through population control efforts. God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply” will be abrogated. The only cities and communities that will be considered ‘sustainable’ will be those controlled by the Globalists and their minions. The majority of citizens will not own a car and will need to rely on public transportation. To determine what this will look like, please refer to the crime-ridden New York subway system.

12. Responsible consumption and production: The Globalists and their minions will determine what is responsible consumption and production depending on whether you adhere to the party narrative or not. There will be no consumption or production without government approval. The means of production will serve the will of the Globalists; the convenience of the ‘masses’ will not be a consideration.

13. Climate action: People have no control over the climate, but they will be propagandized until they believe that they do. Since most people are faithless, their lives are empty and meaningless, so it will not be hard to convince them of their great power over the climate. In this way, the Globalists can get the ‘masses’ to enslave themselves to their rule rather than their having to engage in the messy business of using violence and bloodshed to obtain obedience.

14.Life below water: The ‘masses’ must be willing to give up their basic luxuries in order to ensure that if a plastic straw falls in the ocean, it cannot choke a sea turtle.

15. Life on land: The ‘masses’ must use only one square of toilet paper when they clean themselves. The ‘masses’ must eliminate all plastics from daily use regardless of how difficult it makes their lives. They should also not use harsh chemicals that may make their lives more convenient and sanitary. Our lives must be made harsh and miserable for our own good.

16. Peace, justice, and institutions: If the ‘masses’ obey, their institutions that they pay for with their tax money will let them live in relative peace and not treat them too unjustly. However, we must all learn to suppress our desire for freedom.

17. Partnerships for the goals: The ‘masses’ must join the minions of the Globalists, which are usually communist front groups, to more thoroughly enslave themselves. Slavery is less of a hassle to the Globalists if it is voluntary.

When we consider the fact that someone will need to implement these agendas, it is impossible to come to any conclusion other than the ones mentioned above. We are seeing the fruits of these goals now with outrageously high gas prices and inflation. These goals all sound just delightful until you realize the people implementing these objectives are Godless and evil.

With this in mind, let us examine Laudato Si and see what kind of ‘spirituality’ lies behind this misguided foolishness.

Laudato Si means praise be to you. We have to assume that the pope is actually praising God rather than the earth because it is ambiguous. He took the term from St. Francis of Assisi, who was ‘praising God’ by meditating on the goodness of the sun, wind, earth, water, and other natural resources. If this type of meditation sounds alien to the Christian, that is only because it is.

To provide a brief overview of Laudato Si, three points need to be made. First, the pope clearly rejects the idea that each of us is a sinner, surrounded by other sinners while living on a planet cursed by God. Our situation is actually quite perilous and can be devastating to those who have no faith. This fact is lost on the pope, as he focuses on ‘education and training’ so we can be good stewards of the earth rather than repentance and forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus. If you want to appreciate the papacy’s understanding of ‘education and training,’ please review the history of the Inquisition.

Please remember that God did not redesign the planet after the fall so that we could live in harmony with it. He took away paradise on earth because his primary goal is repentance. Sinners in paradise have little interest in repenting.

Second, the pope has completely rejected God’s first law that we are to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth (Genesis 1:28). As with the papacy since its beginning, the only people who are going to have dominion over anything are the papacy and the governments they control.

Third, the Gospel is so far removed from this encyclical as to be nonexistent. In its place is the worship of Gaia with its emphasis on honoring the planet, ‘softening’ the human impact on the world, and being respectful of all life on earth. All this translates into ‘we need to go live in mud huts while the Catholic clergy and their minions live opulently.’

Let us consider some of the ‘spiritual’ statements that are made in this pagan, deceptive document.

1. The earth is our common home, like a sister with whom we share our lives or a mother who opens her arms to embrace us (Isn’t Gaia wonderful?).

2. The earth now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted upon it by the irresponsible use and abuse of goods that we have used to make our lives easier. (Anyone heard the earth crying out lately? All I hear are crazy liberals.)

3. Destroying the biological diversity and contaminating the earth’s waters, land, air, and life are sins. (Actually, these are not sins, and they are not happening anyway. However, they will happen when God begins to judge the earth.)

4. We need to repent of our global destruction (which is not happening) with a global ecological conversion. (Where do we find this doctrine in Scripture?)

5. Science is the best tool by which we can listen to the cry of the earth. (And this is the best ‘science’ money can buy.)

6. We must counteract the extreme and selective consumerism of a small part of the world’s population. (Translation: the US, which has the cleanest air, water and land, must be counteracted.)

7. The Gospel of creation (you’ve gotta be kidding) is a comprehensive view that expresses the tremendous responsibility of humankind for creation, the intimate connection among all creatures, and the fact that the natural environment is a collective good, the patrimony of all humanity and the responsibility of everyone. (Translation: I got nothin’.)

8. A sense of deep communion with the rest of nature cannot be real if our hearts lack tenderness, compassion, and concern for our fellow human beings. (Did the papacy ever apologize for the Inquisition?)

9. Integral ecology, which is needed to heal a broken world, is a new paradigm of justice. (I think Paul said that, but no one really knows what it means. It looks like the Vatican means we need to all be socialists, abandon our individuality by identifying with a group, and worship Gaia.)

10. Thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our bodies (the nerve of some people) turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation. (I guess the pope repealed God’s first law in Genesis. Can he do that?)

11. What is needed are forms and instruments for global governance. (Translation: Also, it (the false prophet) “causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of his name.”)

12. Religions must enter into dialogue among themselves for the sake of protecting nature, defending the poor, and building networks of respect and fraternity. (So keep the Gospel to yourself, or else you will receive education and training. The network of respect and fraternity will be comprised of Antifa and Black Lives Matter thugs who will be happy to dialogue with you.)

13. If we can overcome individualism, we can truly be able to develop an alternative lifestyle (Yikes!) and bring about significant changes in society. (This must be where Karl Marx got the idea of calling people ‘the masses.’)

14. Social problems must be addressed by community networks. (Sorry Christians, the Gospel must take a back seat to community networks.)

15. Happiness means knowing how to limit some needs, which only diminish us (like indoor plumbing), and being open to the many different possibilities which life can offer (different possibilities like cleaning ourselves with leaves).

If any of you who are reading this are wondering why evil is running amok throughout the world, this document should easily answer your question. This is the kind of mindless idiocy that has been fed to 1.3 billion Catholics around the world. When it comes to sharing the Gospel, the people who digest this stuff are about as useful to the Kingdom of God as a T.O.A.B. (Teat on a Boar).

When you combine this with the fact that most of the Protestant Churches are dead, or worse, you begin to gain an understanding of why we are currently under the judgment of God.

But, like John Haller and other like-minded prophecy teachers keep reminding us, “What did you think the end times were going to look like?”

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