The Divided Church
I hear these words today, “Punitive vs Progressive”.
What does those words mean and how are they related to the context of the church in 2020?
The US Election 2020 has seen a much divided church not only in America but also in my home country of Malaysia. In America, it may be a Republican vs Democrat stand-off. But outside of America, the disagreement slightly differs.
For many conservative mainstream Christians who see God as a judge, a punisher (much like Job’s friends who think Job must have displeased God to be punished into oblivion) and who support Trump’s views of the poor or injured as being losers, they obviously lean towards the view of a woman is raped because of the way she dresses. 😂🥺😱 They hold strongly to pro-life not because they view lives as sacred but because they feel single pregnant women should not be given a choice as a result of sin. The consequence of sin is punishment. If they were truly pro-life, they would have felt empathy for the quarter million lives destroyed by Covid-19 as a result of a reckless governing taskforce that sees no need for a federal intervention and lets the spread loose.
On the other hand, there is a handful of minority Christians who feel dejected at their fellow believers’ support for Trump. Not only that, they are being labeled as the anti-Christ being assumed that they are pro-abortionists, pro-LGBT and a supporter of a corrupt regiment of democrats. Recognise that it’s all a misunderstanding that’s left the church divided and many disappointed.
I’ve stood alone in my conviction among Christian peers. I support pro-choice and I am a pro-lifer. I hate lies because the devil is a father of lies. I believe an election is about leadership. Policies is just the icing on the cake. Israel was without a king for many years and was ruled by judges. In that era, law was king. Laws and policies is synonymous. If Christians calls for a king and they have the right to vote, what kind of king will they choose?
There have been prophecies. Netanyahu compares Trump to King Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1–4). So the Christians heard this and was convinced Trump was God’s man. Yes, Trump was indeed the elected President in 2016 and he did rule America from 2017 to 2020. Nevertheless, God has a reason for every season. So if the church was right on judgement and punishment, it was a time America met its foe — the Covid-19. This pandemic swept across the country infecting millions, killing hundreds of thousands. This was allowed to go on and on under the very man whom they prophesied that would save America.
Fast forward to January 20, 2021 — America will have a new leader. Who knows what will happen from 2021 to 2024? On the night of November 4, 2020 I accidentally bumped into a Christian intercessory group on Youtube that was live streaming from Israel. I heard two women there speak about the vision of the Philadelphia liberty bell. Not a coincidence that Philadelphia is known as ‘brotherly love’ in Greek. One woman saw a vision of the bell while the other woman saw an eagle rise up from beneath the ground where the bell was, shook off the dust from its feathers before ascending to the sky.
The rest is history. We all know what got Biden to his election win.
As Christians, we must not be led blindly in our faith. We are given wisdom to discern God’s will. A Michigan pastor left his church because he could no longer tolerate the bashing by his fellow pastors and congregation that supported Trump. His conscience led him out and by God’s grace he will find a new church. He must have cried when he heard the election result. So we must not be fooled by the numbers. This is a season where our hearts are examined. It is a time for the wheat to be separated from the chaff.
