A Bit of a Rant from Pastor Lonnie

 A Bit of a Rant from Pastor Lonnie

I am in a ranting groove this evening.  Before I enter into the rant, I want to give some background.  Several years ago, the Holy Spirit sent me a prophetic dream.  In the dream several friends and I were walking hurriedly through the woods in an effort to reach a stream that we needed to cross.  We had started out together, but as the journey wore on, some lagged behind because they were stopping to feed the bears.  While the rest of us felt an urgency to move on, we were concerned for those who were lagging.

We heard a voice telling us to move on.  Those who were behind were behind because they had made the choice to feed that which would devour them.  If we stopped for them, we, too, would fall into the trap of feeding the devourers.

Now, back to the rant.  Last week, someone near to me fell seriously ill with Covid 19.  While many stood with us in prayer, others attempted to get us to feed their particular devourer. Choice tidbits:  “my civil rights are being violated because I have to wear a mask to work,”  “only those already old and feeble are seriously affected,”  “the doctors falsify death reports to make the epidemic sound worse,” “the Democrats are behind it all,” “it’s Trump’s fault,” “God is punishing us,” “we are becoming  too clean.  We need bacteria to build up our immune systems,” “I don’t mind washing my hands and social distancing.  I just don’t like being told to do it.”

(The present restrictions are basically what God told the Israelites to do when they were in the wilderness for 40 years.  Read Leviticus 13 among other passages.)

The juicy tidbit that pushed me to the limit today came from someone hoping to bring me comfort.  He said, “I found an article by a Chinese scientist who admitted that China purposely sent the virus world- wide.”  This is a person who, like many, forms an opinion and then searches the internet until he finds someone who agrees with him.  If we search enough, we will probably find someone who agrees with us.  Then we must be careful not to research the source to ascertain its validity.  We want to be sure that we have a tasty bit to feed the devourer.

My response:  That information brings me no comfort at all.  I don’t want to feed the grizzly devourer more fear, doubt, misinformation, half-formed opinions and assumptions.  Too many Bible believing Christians are lagging behind feeding the devourer more fear and discontent.  They are feeding what could destroy them. 

I want us to be on our knees storming the gates of heaven, repenting of attitudes that feed into the problem instead of calling out to the Lord of healing and resolution.  I am so thankful for the many who stood faithfully with us in prayer during this difficult time.  Let’s go forward together and cross this river as the Lord leads. 

The rest of my dream showed that we are not really leaving the laggers behind because when we come through, the showers of blessing fall on both the just and the unjust.  It is those who continue to go forward that bring the rainfall of blessing on those who have lagged behind.

Check thereturn.org  to see how you can join in on the National Day of Prayer and Repentance led by Jonathan Cahn on September 25-26.