From the Goat’s Mouth

Lee Olson emailed a church in California to ask, “Are you holding services in the church building as you did before the lock down?”

When its junior Parson Goat replied, “Not yet,” Lee reminded him of an 

LA pastor who keeps his church open even though he’s now forced to wear an ankle bracelet to keep track of his every move because he won’t bow down to the government tyrants. He’s publicly stated that his rights to do so come from God, not government. Amen. 

I read [the senior Parson Goat’s] article on 2 Chronicles 7:14. Given his correct understanding of that scripture and its manifest implications, I was hoping [Parson Goat Sr] was also a hero. Right now that’s apparently not the case. If he decides to become a hero by conducting regular church services on Sunday morning while Governor Nuisance 

Love it!

still says he can’t, then please let me know … I’m really disappointed that Christian pastors, or at least [those] who claim they are Christian, aren’t all rising up in a mass civil disobedience protest and conducting their normal Sunday church services.

Well reasoned, Biblical, and a persuasive call to repentance, right? Ah, but not to Goats, as the junior parson huffed:

One big mistake you make is it [sic for ‘if’?] you confuse passivity with waiting on God. Pastors are going into battle prayed up 

“Prayed up”? What fresh jargon is this?

ready to open… Also your advice is not only unbiblical it’s not wise. We are called to submit initially–

As Lee put it in his cover-letter to me, “Where does it say in the Scriptures that we’re supposed to ‘submit initially’?” Well, ummm, didn’t Moses submit initially when Pharaoh refused to free the Israelites? Didn’t he shrug, mutter to Aaron, “Hey, Romans 13. Besides, we’re supposed to submit initially,” and trudge back to Midian? Ditto for David as he confronted Goliath. “Take your best shot, buddy,” he shouted. “Romans 13! And I’m supposed to submit initially!”

But I interrupted our Scriptural scholar:

We are called to submit initially and then weigh everything and then move forward. If the church gets shut down they lose an entire online audience

What’s more intriguing, that Parson Goat Jr. doesn’t worry about losing an entire real-life audience, or that he calls them an “audience,” with its overtones of entertainment, instead of a “congregation”?

…people are receiving biblical instruction and many coming to salvation. What you’re suggesting is a renegade spirit of rebellion that never produces fruit.

Whoa! There you have it, folks: what passes for Biblical precepts and logic among the Goats.

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3:57 pm on May 9, 2020