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https://www.828ministries.com/articles/Liberty-Counsel--Using-B-by-Anthony-Wade-Faith-200408-68.html

April 8, 2020

Liberty Counsel -- Using Battered Women and Starving Children to Defend Heresy and Lawlessness

By Anthony Wade

The liberty Counsel is ramping up their PR campaign selling an aggrieved spirit to the church...

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Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. -- Romans 13:1-2 (ESV)

https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/80675-are-churches-essential-or-not

The drama involving heretic Rodney Howard-Browne continues. I say heretic not only because that is what he is but as a reminder for those who have jumped to his defense or are using this to further the NAR aggrieved, persecuted narrative to be careful what you are lining up with. That said, Browne has hired the legal arm of the NAR, the Liberty Counsel, to fight the charges and to provide the public relations work needed to continue to paint himself as the victim, when he blatantly ignored the law and endangered the lives of all of his congregants. This is not hyperbole. Thousands of people have already died from this virus and that number is definitely higher because we have not tested at the rate we should have. The incubation period can surpass two weeks and many go asymptomatic, meaning countless people are infecting others while they think they are perfectly healthy. No matter how Browne, the Liberty Counsel or the NAR sycophants who worship this government over God try to spin this -- Rodney Howard-Browne acted recklessly, arrogantly and stupidly in holding service for over 500 people. The above link is from the Liberty Counsel as they continue to try and twist reality to keep those inclined to be on their side where they are. Those who think freely and understand scripture know Browne was in the wrong but the Liberty Counsel is not preaching to them. They just do not want to lose any of the NAR evangelical group that votes the way they want.

The thrust of the above article is whether churches are "essential." This is an emotional strawman argument based on the legal term used by the state to allow some business to stay open during this time. For example, grocery stores and pharmacies are considered essential. Hopefully, I do not need to explain why this is so. Church services, which are often close gatherings of hundreds of people, are not essential because that setting is a playground for the virus. A recent Illinois service with 80 in attendance is now reporting 43 of them sick and ten confirmed with COVID. Nonetheless, the NAR loves painting the apostate church as being persecuted by their fictional deep state that is working against their idol, King Cyrus Trump. So they are seizing on the notion that the world is declaring the church is non-essential and therein lies the primary distortion. What is non-essential is the gathering for corporate service, not the church as a concept. Before getting into the question of being essential, the Liberty Counsel spent some time litigating the case at hand. I will not re-litigate it here. They have three points. First is that they claim because the Sherriff gave them the green light for service on Thursday, the following order banning the service on Friday was ok to ignore. They will find out they are mistaken. Their second point is that because they tried to mitigate the possibility of catching the virus, through wearing gloves, practicing safe distancing, and some nebulous installation of a purification system, they should be allowed to break the law. Again, they will find out they are sadly mistaken. Thirdly, they point to the fact that the Governor issued an order deeming religious services as essential. This was of course the week after the arrest, so it is meaningless legally. As for the question of being essential, let us reason together once more.

"Whether churches are "essential" in the midst of this coronavirus crisis is a critical question that must take into consideration many factors. The related question, whether churches should open or close, must be considered in the context of each church and community. To answer the question whether churches are essential and whether the doors should be opened or closed requires a review of each case. There are an estimated 500,000 or more Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox churches in America. These range from small to large, and each church has a different community of service or people who attend. The people who attend and the community they serve runs the gamut from old to young, upper class, middle class, poor, urban, rural, inner city, country and include a wide variety of ethnic, racial and language diversity. Based on the demographics of the people who attend, and the capability to broadcast online, some churches are better off if they close through this time. However, some churches provide essential ministries, besides music and the pastor preaching from the pulpit, which cannot be carried out online." -- Liberty Counsel

The emerging defense the Liberty Counsel is floating here is that it is reasonable that SOME churches be closed down, just not Howard-Browne's because they provide OTHER services to the community besides a Sunday worship service. Except, we are expressly speaking about the Sunday worship service. This charade is quite transparent by the Liberty Counsel. The point was there could not be large gatherings of people -- period.

"The River Church feeds 900 people each week by providing free food from its farmer's market located inside the church lobby. The church grows its own food and farms tilapia fish to give to the community. When the doors of this church close, people starve, including children." -- Liberty Counsel

This is very deceptive what the Liberty Counsel is trying to do here. Rodney Howard-Browne was not arrested for violating an order not to feed people. He held a church service where he "preached" about the evil government, how the virus was a "phantom virus", and blamed it on Bill Gates. Now, let's be reasonable here. Is the Liberty Counsel and Browne honestly suggesting that the only way to feed people is to hold the church service? Please. I know plenty of churches that are not holding service yet still serving their community within the community guidelines. So save the martyr nonsense about starving children. No one is buying it.

"Many people are experiencing increased stress. Many have lost their jobs and do not know where they will get the next meal. Many people suffer from mental, emotional and physical pain. Those with intractable physical pain are not able to get relief from their chiropractor, physical therapist or pain management specialist. Experiencing pain 24/7 often leads to depression and even suicide. Battered women are locked in their homes with the abuser. Children are out of school and are restricted in some places from going to the parks or beaches. Without work, the extra stress can become overwhelming. Some churches provide counseling. Some provide food, clothes and money to those in need." -- Liberty Counsel

Yet all of those things can be provided safely, without breaking the law, and do not require the church to hold Sunday service. We see right through this sham. Browne is wrong, period. So the liberty Counsel is trying to rehabilitate his image by pretending this was really about helping battered women, feeding the poor and suicide prevention. Nonsense. This was about a mega church pastor wanting to feed his ego and spew political conspiracy theories from the pulpit.

"The River Church serves a large community that has no access to the internet. Even some people who have access to the internet lack the bandwidth to watch a service online. To answer the question of whether a church is essential and whether it should open or close its doors, people need to look beyond their own circumstances to see the mounting needs and hurting people who are less fortunate and who need the ministry of the local church." -- Liberty Counsel

C'mon. The River Church is in Tampa bay Florida, not the remote areas of Tajikistan. Last time I checked, Tampa Bay has internet access. Are there some who may not have access? I suppose but if Howard-Browne wanted to really be magnanimous he would get his congregants some Wi-Fi and stop using them to defend his indefensible behavior. Only God knows how many people Rodney Howard-Browne infected in this service and how many will die as a result.

"No shepherd of the flock wants to do anything that would endanger the community. But the question is, should we allow some discretion to follow health guidelines while determining what can and cannot be provided online? Or do we want to give this unfettered authority to a single government official?" -- Liberty Counsel

Hmmm, that sounds like a question you ask BEFORE you decide to break the law. Asking it after only makes you look like you are trying to excuse the fact that you broke the law. Let's examine the question though. Should we allow discretion on public health matters that could affect the lives permanently of untold numbers of people to someone who knows nothing about epidemiology, disease, viruses or public health? I am going to go with "no." This action was ordered by a single person but the Sherriff acted based on the medical advice of professionals in the health care arena. I cannot believe the sheer idiocy of this question. Do you want Rodney Howard-Browne deciding maters of public health? Dear Lord.

'Perhaps it is important to reconsider what is essential about the church. Some are far more essential than others. A blanket answer to the question is too simple and serves a grave injustice to many. Maybe there should be more discretion given to the shepherds of the church to determine whether the church should meet, and if so, how best may the church protect those who attend and serve the needs of the community. This is a much better approach than a one-size-fits-all template that labels churches as "non-essential."' -- Liberty Counsel

Doubling down on the idiocy I hope this is starting to crystalize for you. I love my pastor but I do not want him making decisions about whether the church should meet during an international pandemic that has killed over 82,000 people already. Knowing him as well as I do, I sincerely doubt he would want to decide how to best protect the flock from a deadly virus. Do you know why? Because he is smart and not arrogant. If I want a passage exegeted or to understand the spiritual dimension of a thing, he is the first on my list to go to. Determining if hand sanitizer and rubber gloves will prevent someone from contracting a deadly disease? Yeah that's not in his wheelhouse. Nor is it in mine and it certainly is not in Rodney Howard-Browne's. Once again, it is not that the body of Christ is non-essential. It is that the public gathering of 500 people is not.

"The above says nothing about the constitutional rights of churches under the First Amendment and the statutory rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. These rights do not evaporate in a time of crisis. Are we willing to allow one person, whether state or local, to have the unchecked discretion to write a church into or out of existence by one word--the word "essential"? Such authority is extraordinary and runs counter to American history." -- Liberty Counsel

The Liberty Counsel is clueless. This has already been decided at the turn of the 20th century by the Supreme Court. In 1905, Jacobson vs Massachusetts decided that the state can indeed shut down public gatherings for the public good as long as they do not discriminate in doing so. In other words, if the Sherriff's order said Christian churches only had to shut down -- THAT would violate the constitution. Think about the "yelling fire in a crowded theater" analogy. Free speech is in the first amendment and a guaranteed right but it still can be limited by the state. The rest of the bluster here is simply ridiculous. The state did not write River Church "out of existence"; they simply said they could not meet for public health reasons. The hyperbole here indicates how low the Liberty Counsel is willing to stoop in their inherent dishonesty.

"The last question is one for the church: "Is the ministry of the church so essential that the community groans in its absence?" If any church is not that essential, then maybe that church needs to ponder what changes should be made in order to be the essential lighthouse and place of refuge that God desires." -- Liberty Counsel

How noble. It of course would hold more water of their client did not preach that you should get drunk in the spirit and roll around on the ground laughing uncontrollably. God does not desire the River Church or its heretic pastor. No church should consider itself so important that it can violate local law, which in turn violates the key verses. Now in all honesty, I hate quoting these verses because they are so often misused. The irony is that they are often misused by the Liberty Counsel's of the world. The NAR loves quoting Romans 13 when it suits their cause, such as defending the current administration from any proper oversight or criticism. How quickly they abandon it however to prop up Rodney Howard-Browne.

The reality is that this is the battle the NAR loves. They love instilling an aggrieved spirit into the apostate church. To make them feel as they are the victim and the state is the perpetrator, instead of a selfish pastor who does not care about his flock. Beloved, WE are the church. Not some building in Tampa Bay that will rot and crumble like everything else on this mortal coil. I love public worship as much as anyone but right now there is a virus killing tens of thousands of people and if people with more expertise in these areas says to stay home for now, I will listen. Faith is not the absence of reason. God requires wisdom as well. Today's modern mega church services, with their purpose driven pastors and seeker friendly guidelines are an abomination before God. Rodney Howard-Browne held service in violation of the law and preached about government conspiracy theories that make the "holograms were used at the World Trade Center" believers blush. Now he has hired the legal arm of the NAR to not only fight the charges but to put lipstick on a pig. They want you as Christians to feel aggrieved. They want you to feel persecuted. All because one man thought he was more important than the law. He is not.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- April 8, 2020



Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

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