In Defense of Christ Church in Moscow, ID

The one clear fact about Donald Trump is that he is not antagonistic to that little matter of Christendom known as the Church. Or, as the ancients and Paul would call it, “Our Mother” (Gal. 4:26). Before Trump was elected the conversation centered around policies that the Endorian Hillary wished to apply. Among those noble pursuits was the explicit advancement of gay rights, assaulting religious liberty by speaking favorably–shall we say–about removing tax exempt status from “organizations that dissent from settled public policy on matters of race or sexuality.” This was all reported as the New York Times flexed their ideological muscles before the Trump train arrived in town. As Jiminy Glick used to say, “Wonderful! Wonderful!”

The left has now strengthened their tropical storm to Sally so that under Biden they can go all Ivan on us mere Christendom advocates. In the meanwhile, COVID came dressed in a multi-colored robe. It has brought health dangers to many elderly Americans, and others around the world, but it has also served to show that anytime the media says, “Boo!” we quickly give them all the candy we have. And for those saying we are too easily alarmed in America, take a look at countries that have for too long served government rather than God and you will see a people willing to do 700 extra jumping jacks to appease the authoritariat.

And then here in the US of A, there are some Christians in Moscow, ID strategically–and why shouldn’t they–singing psalms and hymns to God in the public square. This was not one of those lengthy and hearty Psalm-Roars, mind you; this was a brief “flash” singing event. I have said before that all it takes is the first line of Psalm 2 to get demons back to work. When you surround this entire situation by that nasty thing called facts, you have a mayor who gathered around 50 people for a wedding with little concern for the droplets of others (remember that cops have imprisoned people for hosting private parties all over the country), and who extended a mask mandate until January of 2021 without–and get this–NO DEATHS in the county. I have asked a few folks at what point would they endorse the absurd? What if Pensacola’s mayor (peace be upon him) decided to enforce a mask mandate until 2021 (set the proportion of deaths and size of the city to match Moscow,ID), would we be willingly favorable to such policies? Would we gently smile and say, “Well, governments are going to gov?” And what if your local church had a history of being singularly targeted by the local authorities? Let’s say for 20 years or so? Would you–descendants of the Revolutionary War–be so easily persuaded to take their offer?

I would also put on the radar the level of faithfulness and the longevity of godly preaching is to be considered in such matters. If Joel Osteen’s church came out and said, “Look, the tyrants are coming!” my reaction would be that, “Well, that’s what happens when you preach a gospel that even a tyrant can swallow!” But when a Church has been faithfully proclaiming Jesus and his authority and power, singing Psalms, setting an example of steadfastness, and establishing a culture of high-class education, music, festivity, etc., I confess I am prone to supporting these brothers in their protest. A quick look through the videos (and I watched a considerable amount of it), we are dealing with one of the most respectable protests I have ever heard of in my life. These saints were not only singing along to John Newton, they were kindly saying, “Look, this stuff is no bueno, and we urge you to re-consider stupidity as a policy and as a general practice.” I think they accomplished both.

For those claiming that those fellas were using this as a stunt to get attention, well, they got it (though remember that these guys were having these Psalm-sings all throughout this COVID season). And they got the attention of English politicians to FOX News. As far as I am aware, it was the first time in televised history that Schütz’s Psalm 20 made it to national television. What they did was put this on the map with perfect background music. Was it religious persecution? Not in the least. That is, if you put it next to St. Stephen, Hebrews 11, Fox’s Book of Martyrs, and general hellish damage wicked men do to saints in dark parts of the world, but was it religious? Yep. Si. No doubt. There is no neutrality. If a local government has a reputation of arresting no one, and then suddenly they arrest a couple of peaceful saints (including a music teacher and another running for local office), then we have ourselves at least the seed of a problem, don’t you think?

Back to Trump: if we cannot get our act together during COVID under a relatively pro-liberty, pro-church president, how many jumping jacks will we be willing to do under a Biden presidency if the next tempest rises? How much longer will we be willing to keep our churches closed? How much more will we be willing to subscribe to government mailing lists? How much more will we be willing to spread fear as a virtue? How much more will we be willing to concede? As was recently published, there is a trend of remarkable growth among smaller, faithful churches around the country during this season. Let’s not kid ourselves. When they tell us to shut up, take your masks off and sing.