What are we doing about those who are suffering because of discrimination?
Are you really a Christian? Or are you just a fake Christian? Scripture enjoins us to make sure that we are the real deal, and it offers some very practical tests to help us determine this. In 2 Corinthians 13:5 Paul gave this command: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.”
Consider just two ways that James gets us to see if our faith is legitimate. In James 1:27 he says this: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
And in James 2:15-16 we find this: “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”
So helping those who are in need – especially our brothers and sisters in Christ – is a good test to determine if we are in fact legit disciples of Christ. As I just read moments ago in Galatians 6:10: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
I say all this to deal with an important matter that has arisen in the West over the past few years. And as is so often the case, my daily reading of Scripture lines up perfectly with what is happening in the world around me. As to what is going on, we know that more and more Christians (and others) are finding themselves out of work and losing their livelihoods because they believe their conscience should not be crushed by ugly government mandates.
So many are out of work and wondering how they are going to feed their families because they resist the tyrannical health mandates, especially forced injections of drugs into their bodies. Because they dare to stand up for their fundamental human right to decide on what health treatments are best for them, they are finding themselves wondering how they will pay the mortgage and the bills and keep their families alive.
This is a very real problem indeed for millions of believers worldwide. And add to that all those Christians who have been forced out of their jobs because they have stood up for biblical truth. I have discussed many of them on these pages.
Dr Jereth Kok is one such individual who has spent the last two years trying to find a new way to get an income – all because he dared to share biblical truth online. See one of my write-ups about him here which includes some practical ways that we can help him and his family: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2021/08/21/please-stand-with-this-persecuted-australian-christian/
Between those Christians who are being fired from their jobs for simply being true to their Christian convictions, and those who are losing work and the right to work because of their stance on coercive jabs and ‘health’ mandates, we have a whole new underclass of Christians who are in need of real practical help.
Just a few other stories (of so many) can be shared here. Consider this open letter to AHPRA from an anonymous Australian doctor who is resigning 20 years earlier than she had anticipated because of how it is responding to Covid. It begins:
To the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA),
I would like to advise you that I will be cancelling my registration as of today. I expect my recent payment for the upcoming period to be refunded in full. I do not intend to return to the profession at this stage, and I will be retiring approximately 20 years earlier than anticipated.
As a defence veteran who served this country to protect our people’s rights and freedoms, my heart is broken that our society and the health profession have so openly accepted discrimination and division. I reserve the right to reconsider my registration, without prejudice, if and when the health sector returns to working with ethical and moral standards.
I am disheartened and disgusted by the lack of ethics and the sudden widely accepted discrimination running rife in the medical profession in response to COVID-19. The relevant government mandates appear to breach medical ethics and human rights.
The health sector (and AHPRA as the regulating body) has allowed itself to be politicised and used as a tool to coerce. You have abandoned your duty to educate and empower patients and the wider community when deciding on the best individualised patient-centred care. https://blog.canberradeclaration.org.au/2021/12/07/medical-apartheid-australian-doctor-resigns/
Of course it is not just doctors who are losing their jobs, or resigning. Consider a 28-year police veteran from NSW who has resigned because of these draconian mandates and health orders: https://rumble.com/vq8med-former-nsw-police-sergeant-stephen-kelly.html
Finally, check out these two recent stories about airline pilots. One of them has said this:
My name is Greg Hill. I was a Canadian airline pilot and am a military veteran, serving over 30 years, including 3 tours in Afghanistan. In spite of 13,000 flying hours, an impeccable safety record and dedication to my employer’s success, I was put on unpaid leave after refusing to cede my God-given freedoms. I will never do so, nor will I participate in state-sponsored polarizing segregation. Humanity allowed this before and it ended in our very darkest hours. We are headed there again unless we Canadians stand, together, for our hard-won freedoms.
He reminds me of Australian pilot Graham Hood who also has been discriminated against after 32 years of faithful service to Qantas. He too is now without income, all because he feels he should stand up for freedom and stand against health apartheid. See one of his moving videos here: https://www.reignitedemocracyaustralia.com.au/the-inspiring-graham-hood/
Hood is an outspoken Christian (I am not sure if Hill is). But the point is, so many are now unemployed. The question is, what are we Christians doing about it? Do we care? Are we offering them practical help as James speaks about? Or are we just ignoring them?
In my daily reading of the Word I see that it sure has a lot to say about these very situations. Throughout the Bible we find commands to care for the poor, and to especially look after one another who are God’s people. As I just read again over the past few days in the letters of Paul, he often wrote about collections for the poor.
We read about this in Acts 4:32-37 for example. To see what Paul said about this, have a look at Romans 15:22-29; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4; and 2 Corinthians 8-9. The 1 Corinthians text says this:
Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.
Thomas Schreiner says this about what Paul had written:
Giving to those in need was a great concern of Paul’s, and helping the poor, especially fellow-believers, was one of the marks of the early church (e.g., Matt. 25:35-40; Acts 9:36; Rom. 12:8, 13; Gal. 2:10; 6:10; 1 Tim. 5:3-16; 6:18; Heb. 13:16; Jas. 2:15-16; 1 John 3:17). Paul teaches that giving should be systematic (on the first day of the week), organized (the church takes the collection) and proportional (as someone has prospered). Also, funds must be handled by people of integrity so that there is no room for charges of corruption or theft.
The obvious question here is just what is the Christian church today doing for all these people who are losing their jobs – whether they were kicked out of work or whether they felt they must resign instead of compromise their principles.
Are the churches helping these people? Do they even know they exist? Or are they just ignoring them? Given that most churches – including those that are supposedly Bible-believing, evangelical churches – are excluding the unvaxed and treating them as lepers and second-class citizens, I doubt if many churches are doing anything to help these people.
But I can ask the same questions of individual believers: Do you know this is happening? And what are you doing about it? Are you putting your faith into action as more and more Christians around you are now struggling financially, with some on the verge of losing their homes and no longer able to feed their families?
Do you care? Does this matter to you? Or will you do what James warned against? Let me repeat it: “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”
If you cannot help your brothers and sisters now in this situation, then you may need to ask some hard questions – the most important of which being, “Are you really a Christian?”
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