The Pinch Point

 "You hypocrite! First, remove the plank from your own eye, then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's".

Jesus - Matthew 7:5

Hypocrisy, malice, avarice, pride.

The telling faults that often lead a person to believe they can do as they please with what or whom they please. At least until the ground gives way beneath and they find themselves crashing towards the place where they are deemed to be identified by a single trait - shame.

So that would be that, then. Rock bottom.

Not in our world - there are further dreadful furrows to plough.

We live in a realm where such actual shame often becomes more than a badge of disgrace, as we'd expect, but of boast and even something enviously desired by others who wish they could surely reach such open abandon to serve only their own immersive ambitions, whatever others may think.

Scripture is no blushing prude when it comes to addressing such flagrant disdain welling up from the canker of our present (and all too apparent) natures.

Like Lamech's odious brag that he had outdone the first murderer amongst men (Genesis 4:23-24), we have a plethora of gainsayers who would negate and leave any and all bereft of any devices except those which allow for some cruel amusement, but their callous gall does not end there. They seek to scorn and shame those sent to expose their tyranny - "look", they readily declare - "the true source of all our woes" (pointing to the non-complicit - 1 Kings 18:17). Such is the depth of their degradation.

This brash revelry truly knows no bounds when fused with access to what appears to be unlimited power (Daniel 3:4-6), but the consequences for those beneath such oppression are very real (Exodus 5:7) as are the "policies" employed to warrant such cruelty. Babel, for example, was motivated by a message (propaganda) of security and fame (Genesis 11:4 - to protect from dispersal and to make a name for themselves).

So, we are warned, it will be amidst the community of saints (Acts 20:29 & 30).

The 'condemnation' of some amongst us is that they, like their secular counter-parts, actually prevent what is good, and the consequences of such alterations are total and dreadful (hence, a people so reduced become made fit only for judgement - see Jude 5).

Yes, particular deeds derived from an apathy towards the depths of truth (and its direct ramifications) precede real demise (Jude 7), but far worse is the activity of those who 'dream' they can rise above what the Lord Himself requires and substitute this with the blasphemy of raising what murders truth, whilst keeping themselves as the benefactor and thereby snubbing the vitality of the way the Lord Himself has sealed in His sacrifice as necessary for us. Such 'shepherds' gorge by such means in their preying upon the flock, though what is provided is without the actual firmness of God's sure foundation. The conclusion, however bright the wrapping, is the darkness of the void.

All of this, no doubt, sounds clear enough, but how does this translate into the present?

Perhaps we have no issue renouncing a presumed 'officer' in the church when he states he is far more concerned about whether particular people (already found by a court to be acting unlawfully on another matter) are social distancing than having an affair, but what of the issue of social distancing itself? How would we have responded to Jesus when those deemed 'untouchable' by the 'hygenic' (moral and legal standards of the day) were not only welcomed but actively engaged with as ready for the good news? Where are we with such discarded as those currently who find themselves 'outside of the net' of the approved, indeed mandatory rules of the moment?

Many times authority, however set as well-meaning, has proven to be not only wrong in respect to its prescribed policies, but in the manner it has ill-treated the ones who suffer beneath the force of what is imposed.

Because we have allowed just such an imposition to be placed and continually enforced upon the church in the present, many are suffering now, because those in leadership refuse to see how they have become 'politicised' for the ends of those marred by power and control.

The secular perpetrators of this woe are now beginning to shudder and fall, as voices become present to expose their shameful intents, but still, so many in the church neglect to see or hear and thereby fail to question the manner of apathy and neglect amongst themselves to address what should have been said and done.

Where does this leave us?

Still dependent upon what comes down from the 'powers' that have stifled and silenced us before the very communities we were meant to serve, regardless of cost, we are weak and shipwrecked indeed.

Now we can never be evident in this crisis in sacrifice for truth alongside those in greatest need - the very ones Jesus placed first, from birth to resurrection - those discounted by the ones who considered themselves great.

The enemies that must concern us in this moment are not some caricature of villainy, but the pressing menace of social media oligarchs, venerating the narrative of Atlas Shrugged as they oblate at the altar of Ayn Rand. The deniers of the faith are those who not only call what is evil good, but impose such upon their congregations as expedient, even righteous, whatever the cost to truth.

What we are entirely failing to see is just how discriminatory and prejudicial our "first world" solutions to this crisis actually have become, and how those with money, power and position are now continually becoming or being favoured above those who, for various reasons or because of certain concerns, are deemed 'below' what is significant in respect to status. The shame of buying-in to this 'new' situation has replaced the dignity which should be given to all, because all have been defined as bearing a divinely ordained status of astonishing worth (James 3:9).

Whilst a church, for example, may forgo the use of a 'badge' to gain entry to a service, its members have already subscribed to the same badge in respects to allowing them the "privilege" of entering a particular venue or journeying to a certain holiday destination or, as revealed this week, to allow an exemption to apply if in business to suspend certain health requirements.

Why is this so? Why have believers already bought in to a "two-tier" society that will, as the requirements are further refined, conclude in excluding so many?

If we are to be resolved in our conviction that liberty is sovereignly bestowed from the highest authority (Genesis 1:29-31), then we cannot afford to barter such a precious gift to the variations of political expediency - to do so marries us to a political agenda at the cost of loosing what such powers take from us, and with that, we loose our ability to stand with another in genuine need to be defined by a deeper dignity.

We now inhabit a time where Christian principles are ruled as contrary to ethical social policy defined by Government hearings (the Dr David Mackereth case in 2019) and social division can be required if a hazard is 'scientifically' deemed threatening, enough to warrant such 'caution' for some, not all, and to limit their freedoms. This is why Christianity has always argued for a limiting of power when it comes to how we are governed; that what is genuinely good in public life is allowed to thrive and sustain its members. 2020 removed all of this, and it is clearly the intent to perpetuate our remaining in this 'required' existence of control.

The eternal kingdom is defined by a 'King' who principally reigns as a Lamb slain (Revelation 5:6, 22:1). Raised up in the midst of time and space to convey the inestimable wealth of life bestowed by God, to and for others,  He teaches that such 'emptying' for others should be evident amongst us (Matthew 23:11).

Can we afford to continue to readily affiliate ourselves with 'powers' that deny such truth whilst they continually bind to and encourage participation in a society of shame?