Tuesday, June 01, 2021

Professed Christian, Afflicted



Shortly before the first impeachment of President Donald J. Trump, Reverend Rick Wiles stated

This impeach Trump movement is a Jew coup and the American people better wake up to it really fast because this thing is moving now toward a vote in the House. This is a coup led by Jews to overthrow the constitutionally elected President of the United States.



If the Speaker of the House caught wind of this, it would have come as quite a surprise to her, daughter of Annunciata M. D'Alesandro (nee' Lombardi) and Thomas D'Alesandro Jr.  "Annunciata" is not the most common Jewish name.

Arrival of a novel coronavirus did not improve Wiles' outlook, however, for roughly three months later he would remark

In fact, I'll show you the next one from UPI: "Chief rabbis urge Israelis to stay away from synagogues. Well, I would, too. Stay out of tese things. There is a plague in them. God's deaing with false religions. God's dealing with people who oppose his son, Jesus Christ. He's dealing with the forces of Antichrist.

It is only fair to note that Israel has suffered more cases and deaths related to Covid-19 than have most developed countries, though the especially low rates for Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore-hardly bastions of Christianity- suggest that devotion to Jesus Christ might not be the determinant of incidence of the disease. Currently, Israel leads the world in vaccinations per capita and is approaching herd immunity.

Israel's obsession with getting its citizens and permanent residents vaccinated is not one held by Rev. Wiles, for earlier this month he asserted

I am not going to be vaccinated. I’m going to be one of the survivors. I’m going to survive the genocide. … The only good thing that will come out of this is a lot of stupid people will be killed off. If the vaccine wipes out a lot of stupid people, well, we’ll have a better world. I’m going to survive. I’m going to survive by God’s grace; by his will, I’m going to survive the genocide.

Hopefully, but maybe not. Right Wing Watch notes

Last week, “TruNew”s suddenly shut down its broadcast, announcing that the network was “experiencing a sudden cluster of flu and COVID among some employees and their relatives.” Then on Sunday, “TruNews” announced that Wiles himself had been hospitalized for COVID-19, adding for good measure that anyone who dared to mock Wiles at this moment was only adding fuel to “their flames of torment in hell.”

This is unlikely, given there is no passage in Scripture warning "ridiculing a Christian minister, or one who claims to be a Christian minister, in the hour of his distress from severe illness will cause the non-believer's flames of torment in hell to surge."

The announcement by this far-right website that Wiles has fallen victim to the coronavirus should not prompt ridicule or derision. However, it should inspire serious people to open an important line of questioning to evangelical members of the clergy.

What are we to make, they should be queried, of Covid-19 infecting many individuals who have been faithful adherents to the gospel message?  Does contracting of Covid-19 by Wiles and other witnesses to Jesus Christ suggest  a) these individuals were not sincere in their professed faith; or b) including non-believers among believers is part of God's unknowable plan; or c) God recognizes human beings to be capable of common sense and thus chooses not to intervene in some matters?

The loathsome Rick Wiles is a shameless demagogue, though as with any person, he should be wished a speedy recovery. However, if we rise above the mockery TruNews apparently expects the announcement to evoke, there is a major opportunity to get those who profess a firm belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ to clarify their ideas and reasoning.

 

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