COVID-19 Pandemic has, in some ways, caught the church and the nation off guard. BUT, in many ways, it has been responded to well. We here at HMA, of course, do not wish to see sickness, death or financial ruin of any kind, but I am very proud to be an American, a Christian and a ministry outreach leader at this moment in history.
The pandemic has “forced the issue” on so many levels. Yes, we are in the midst of the great toilet paper shortage of 2020 and people are improperly and wastefully using masks all over society but these things are based on fear and it is hard for me to fully condemn someone who acts out of fear because I too have been afraid.
So much more is happening though, above and beyond just the base fears and carnal instincts of men and women. The Church is being forced to remember what She was here for to begin with. Caring for the elderly, sick and at risk in our communities. Spreading the gospel message of hope, peace and strength through Christ and His perfect plan. The Bible is being quoted more, people are praying more and more people are caring than I have seen in a very long time.
Above and beyond all of that, great preaching and teaching is being recoded and archived on the internet for the global consumption of all future generations. Un-settled issues, such as, is an abortion going to be classified as a necessary and emergency procedure or not. Also, much political bickering has been put aside federally, locally and even in the church as much more important issues have risen to the forefront. Issues of health, life, welfare and strength of our financial structures.
I do have my concerns of just how far the “powers that be” are going to take things. If history repeats itself, and it usually does, they are going to take them as far as they can get away with. I am not much of one to be on the side of the federal government doing buyouts, stimulus or over generous welfare BUT in this exact situation I do see the need to not allow our economic system to implode. I realize that we need stimulus and a hand up through all of this. But we do not need Congress to use this as an opportunity to over-reach and create new and more powers for themselves. AND, I do not care for the fact that a new precedence has been set, for the sake of the health of the nation, that multiple government entities will now have used a “clause” that allows them to tell Churches, Mosques and Synagogues when and for how long they will be open or closed.
All in all, I see a lot of good coming from this in the short term and some fear for the long term. We will bounce back economically. America is very strong like that. Out system still works. We will defeat the virus. Our health care system is still the best in the world, period. But we cannot expect our politicians to step back after this is over. The pandemic will allow them to create new powers for themselves and they will not want to let them go.
Truth be told, how The Church, Christians and all good American people handle the normality of life coming back, will determine the total and final affects of COVID-19 on America. Will it just be a passing thing? We fed people and checked on folks and thought about how our actions affected others and watched our government…until everything got back to normal. Until we got our jobs back and our income came rolling back in and we were able to spend all day everyday selfishly worrying about all of our games and toys and hobbies again. Or are we going to use this frightening global health and economic crisis to “reset” some of our basic priorities.
Then and only then will we know for sure what we are made of, what the final affects will be and what the future of this great nation will look like. God bless America, Oklahoma and Creek County.
-President and founder of HMA Ministries
Rev. D. Todd Sloggett
(To learn more about HMA Ministries, how to help, give and get involved in such local outreach ministries such as children’s feeding programs and drug addict placement groups, see HMAministires.com)
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