The following is a response that I gave to the Seattle Times reporter recently when interviewed for the front page story on leaders in our region and what they are seeing and feeling in this current election.
So, I am a Christian, and I pastor a church.
This means that I am pro-God, pro-religious-gatherings, pro-Israel, and pro-life. These are values of mine. So when it comes to Trump's platform, he doesn't come across to be against God, against religious gatherings, against Israel, and against the unborn. He just doesn't come across to be that way.
The fact that churches were shut down this year should have been a choice that we were allowed to make, and it wasn't. Despite horrific pandemics in history, this was unprecedented. Local governors got to act like adults, and pastors were treated like children.
We were not allowed to decide for ourselves.
Do you blame Inslee?
The Church never really prospers when everything is going well. It is during times of great adversity, calamity, and hopelessness that the Church prospers. The Church is the Church for this very reason.
Just look at the role of Providence Hospital in Seattle and our State statue (Mother Joseph of the Sisters of Providence). In a time of great hardship and primitive conditions, the first hospital in Seattle was birthed by the Church!
Our (Seattle Revival Center) hands were tied because of the State Government. They were telling us exactly what we could do or not do. They were like, "Hey, you can do Zoom meetings." My response is like, "Alright, that's very liberating of you."
I get particular freedoms in the hospital because I am clergy. I get specials freedoms that sometimes even the family doesn't get. Hospitals recognize the power of prayer and spiritual counsel. I was just in a hospital room last week that was considered to be dangerous. The man had a contagious infection.
I had to gown up. It was dangerous, but the hospital recognized the importance of the visit, I was treated like an adult, and I assessed the risk for myself. I went in. He needed me. He was in (what doctors were telling him were) his final days of fighting cancer. I went in and prayed with him.
This is when religion is needed.
Faith is most important when (in the natural) you have no hope. When people are wrestling with depression, when lives are at stake, the Church is needed. We saw record suicide numbers in our state, and Governor Inslee said, "You are not allowed to go to church."
We saw record suicide numbers in our state, and Governor Inslee said, "You are not allowed to go to church."
This should have been our choice as pastors and leaders. This was the first time in the State of Washington it was illegal to go to church, and I think that was a tragedy.
Governor Inslee made some massive calls. He said Churches need to shut down just for a short time. That we just need to, "flatten the curve."
He said that if we all work together, we will flatten the curve if we all shut down and then we can reopen.
We thought, sure, we can shut down for two weeks. We said, "We can cooperate. We don't want to be reckless, unwise, and unlawful." So we submitted to our governing authorities.
President Trump got on TV and said that churches were essential, but Governor Inslee disagreed. We flattened the curve right away, but then Inslee changed his mind and informed us that we could not reopen until no one was dying. He moved the goal post. I was like, "No church until people stop dying?"
Inslee said (with his actions) that the Church was not essential, but that (packed out) marijuana stores and (jammed packed) Costcos are.
Inslee said (with his actions) that the Church was not essential, but that (packed out) marijuana stores and (jammed packed) Costcos are.
Then, after twelve weeks, Inslee said that we could now host outdoor meetings up to fifty people. So we started hosting multiple meetings, back to back, in a tent, for another four weeks.
While we were in that tent, many Sundays were windy, cold, and pouring rain. We were standing outside, freezing. Families outside, shivering and singing to Jesus with masks on. All because of what Inslee calls "science" and "the facts."
We have a building that can seat a thousand people. We could have practiced social distancing, but instead, we have people getting colds, manifesting the same symptoms as covid (runny nose and cough) all in the pursuit of health. We were outside in the cold, underneath a tent, worshiping, when we could have been inside our building.
There was no choice in this. One man said, "This is what's good for you. You will do it this way, or you are breaking the law."
So, we played by the rules, but there was an absurdity it in. There was this feeling that we were being controlled, and we fought to maintain the right attitude despite the government overreach.
The public safety measures did not make us feel any safer.
There was all this health concern from Governor Inslee, but no health advice. No vitamin regiments. No tips. Just control.
I am voting for Trump and Culp because I truly believe that they assume that responsible adults can make wise choices for themselves.