Right this very moment, in Greenville MS, the city council has voted to literally ban all church gatherings for the duration of the statewide stay at home order. Just a few short hours ago, the police literally raided a church service and shut them down. The pastor, Charles E. Hamilton JR, of King James Bible Baptist Church (Love the name by the way) live streamed the situation on his personal Facebook page, and garnered thousands of views, and shares as the situation developed.

I have to say that the video is pretty intense, seeing almost the entire Greenville police department swarming a church parking lot, and all in an effort to stop in person or drive in meetings. (We will get to the executive order itself in a minute.) The pastor, obviously in a rather upset scene, is showing the police, talking about how the fight against the church has come to America, all the while blessing our police. (Thank you pastor.)

Pastor Charles E Hamilton Jr. King James Bible Baptist Church

Now that I have set the stage for who was in the middle of all this, let us look now at what it was they were fighting against.

Greenville Executive Order breakdown

Ok, so now lets look at this as logically as possible. The government has said that churches in Mississippi, regardless the flavor, are not allowed to have any form of in person meetings. We know, as well as do most other humans, that this is in an effort to protect the weaker, and more vulnerable in our congregations, and our families at large. For some odd reason however, there seems to be a group of IFB preachers who are saying that they ain’t gonna listen to no government.

Hmmmm

I might not be a Hyles-Anderson graduate, but I would believe that Paul was telling us, YES US, to OBEY our government. You may say, “HOLD ON A MINUTE THERE HEATHEN!!” Now, you are probably prancing around your computer screaming Acts 5:29, (Just to burst your little bubble, that is in reference to the Jewish religious leaders telling the Apostles that they could not PREACH or TEACH in Jesus name… OOPS) and throwing copies of the Constitution at me.. Ok… So…

Now, as I can see your temperature is rising and you are about to have an Anderson style meltdown, (Yes, I said it, you all are sounding like STEVEN ANDERSON the NUTJOB) the constitution only prevents the government from establishing or sanctioning any religion. They can restrict it, (much like most of us want them to do with ISLAM) and if you look closely at the above executive order information, they are not stopping you from preaching and teaching, they are stopping you from congregating.

Now, the next moron who tells me about the congregating at grocery stores and etc, they are short visits, in and out and the restrict how many people are in there, where they can stand and etc. There is no comparison between a church, which all but specializes in being close together, for long periods of time, and a short loved trip to a store.

So, while I am praying for our nation, I am also praying that Pastors will stop drawing national attention for breaking the law. Not only do you look like an idiot, but you also look like you do not care about the well-being of your congregants, and your communities. Do you really wish to have that stigma resting on your church for the rest of your ministry? The church that caused more people to get sick and even die from Covid-19?

Obey the law – if they choose to remain as they are after the virus is gone? Then I will stand next to you in the parking lot and get arrested..

Pray, and teach – reach the lost – but don’t put us in the same category as the science denying liberals who don’t know what gender means.