Blessed are Those who are Left Behind

I remember a documentary on the History Channel about the Black Death that killed a large swath of Europe, Asia and northern Africa in the mid 1300’s. The documentary explained some of what was going on, why it was happening, what effects it had on the victims, and what lasting effect it had on society as a whole. Yes, this was from when the History Channel had actual history on it, rather than UFO and Ghost stories, so it has been a while. The fact that this series stayed with me this long is evidence that it left an impression on me that came from the many impressions the Black Death made on the survivors.

One lasting effect was the rise of the middle class. The plague killed people indiscriminately, and there were wealthy landowners who succumbed to it, including their families. There was land that was suddenly unowned as there were no remaining heirs. In many cases, former serfs occupied the land and started working it.

With all that, it may seem hard to believe but there were also positive consequences to the Black Death. Primarily, manpower was suddenly of much greater value than it had been before. For the first time in centuries, peasants weren’t available in prodigious numbers and nobles had difficulty securing the workforce necessary to sow their fields and harvest their crops. Thus, the late Medieval peasant found himself quite unexpectedly and unprecedentedly in demand, a shift which shook European society to its core.

Kings and dukes now had to bargain with their laborers over working conditions, and the under-classes were able to demand better compensation for their services. Wages rose, in some places doubling over the course of just one year. At the same time, prices were falling because there were fewer people to buy goods. So, caught between rising production costs and falling revenue, middle-class lords tried to force a price-freeze and, when they couldn’t, many gave up and sold their estates.

Man and Disease: The Black Death

One family of serfs wasn’t able to maintain the amount of land there was either, so the land of one wealthy family with servants quickly became plots of land for many former servants to own and operate. These self-sufficient people no longer had to work for their former owners, some of which had survived. All of a sudden these wealthier land owners had a comparative shortage of people to work their fields. This resulted in the workers who would return to them demanding wages and conditions that were more equitable.

Having said all of that…

This virus is NOT the Black Death. Not even close. But the vaccines that are being rushed out to everyone may eventually disrupt society in a similar, though less pronounced way. Hindsight is 20/20 and the truth will one day be impossible to hide. I pray that the elevated death and suppressed birth rates from this insanity proves to be as overblown and coincidental as the Leftists in government want us to believe. But if it is true in any degree, those with (shall we say) healthier genes to add to the gene pool will multiply while those who accepted an injection financed by those who believe that the world is overpopulated will find it harder to successfully reproduce.

This strategy only works if we are willing to play the long game. It may take a generation or two, just as the Israelites had to wander in the wilderness until the faithless ones died out. To win this struggle is to do the very things laid out in the Bible. Make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that Jesus commands, which just so happens to include all that the Bible commands. Start in your household, and disciple your own children rather than allow some member of the Teacher’s Union to do that. No, I don’t care if that teacher goes to your church. They are beholden to a curriculum while in school and any Godly impact they have on your kids is the exception and not the rule.

Blessed are the unvaccinated for they shall inherit the earth.

Me, not Jesus, so don’t call me a heretic

I don’t want to add a burden on you that hasn’t been placed there by God, so I will not condemn anyone who receives a vaccine, just as I hope to be afforded the same respect (love for neighbor) from those who disagree with me. However, the degree of faith you place in an injection or a mask to save you, compared to the scores of data to the contrary that are out there, if only we’d look, will influence how much I am willing to trust you. I say that to be honest, rather than to pretend that I am more pious than you.

If I intend to play the long game, I may as well be open about my presuppositions. I have them. So do you. We now can see how it is that a nation that can stomach the slaughter of the unborn can quickly become one that turns against its own inconvenient citizens, the way so many have in the past. We also have been able to see an alarming number of likely citizens all around us who would have turned in Anne Frank had they known her family’s location. If you have to ask, I’m talking about you.

This survive and disciple strategy is undermined by Christians who keep staring up at the sky waiting for something to happen, by the way. So many of us are caught up in the idea that Jesus is coming any minute now, resulting in some neglecting the work that Jesus has for them. There are plow lines in one direction, but they are looking in another direction, so to speak. See Luke 9:62 for context on that statement.

Moving along…

And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Acts 1:10-11 ESV

I do not begrudge those who focus on the last part of the sentence, for it is scriptural. Jesus will return one day in a similar way as he left. I do not dispute this. But I do want to point out that these people were scolded for standing there and gawking at the sky. And I do want to suggest that we have many Christians who are still gawking.

We comfort each other with the notion that the return of Christ must now be close because it really sucks to be a Christian right now. Our children are disobedient, our government is as beastly as Rome ever was, the red light district is prospering even as our churches are being closed “for our safety” as bitter is redefined to be called sweet even as Fascism is redefined to make it OK now for governments to ask businesses to enforce illegal mandates on their behalf.

They are in front of us, behind us, and we are flanked on both sides by an enemy that outnumbers us 29:1. They can’t get away from us now!” “Great. Now we can shoot at them from every direction.” 

Puller: Hero of World War II and Korea The most decorated Marine in Corps History

Christian, we have a lot of work to do. Now is the time to show that our true colors are neither red nor blue. Now is the time to acknowledge that Jesus has given us a job to do. We are not meant to gawk at the sky. We are here to make disciples and to have a real impact upon this land, even on the governance of it.

I’m playing the long game. The game that doesn’t involve gawking at the sky. The game that says to get to work doing that which you were instructed. If Jesus returns before I suspect, then let Him find me busy. But do not forget that the ten virgins in the parable trimmed their lamps to allow the oil to last FOR A LONG TIME. The master went on a LONG JOURNEY. There will be those who fall away because it has been a long time. Blessed are those who endure to the end.

Just don’t act as if the Master of the Harvest hasn’t given you a job to do. Look for opportunities to bless others. Pray for those who curse you. Make sure that their reason for cursing you is that you are remaining faithful to Jesus. There is foolishness in the schemes of the evil one. And foolishness is not able to sustain itself indefinitely. So be ready to reap where you haven’t sown. Everyone on earth was swept away in the flood. Only Noah and his family were left behind. Pharoah and his army were destroyed in the Red Sea. The people of Israel were left behind.

It is good to be left behind. Let’s stop gawking and start building something great.

Revelation 1-6 ESV
“To the angel of the church in Sardis write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.