A Postscript to "Has American Lutheranism Failed?"
The COVID-19 fallout among Lutherans is much worse than we know.
The recent substack, “Has American Lutheranism Failed?” touched many raw nerves and has been widely read and shared this week. My focus was on the collapse of our theology in the face of the regime's pandemic measures. However, some public and private feedback clarifies that I only brushed the surface of the devastation within Lutheran circles.
Once our family understood what was happening (a little before Easter 2020), we could withstand the onslaught of COVID-19 measures. Part of it was economic insulation with a primary source of income that was only marginally threatened and a secondary source of income from self-employment. However, there were contingent risks to employment if we were arrested for gathering at church in defiance of local regulations, etc. Likewise, I was obliged to tell my employers that I refused to take any shots or boosters under any circumstances, and doing so could exclude me from functions critical to fulfilling my employment agreement. Fortunately, my employers accepted and agreed to a provisional remote work plan if I was banned from travel and public settings. We benefitted enormously from having our regular church year schedule only slightly disrupted - we saw almost everyone we always saw at church. I was able to go out and about without a mask nearly everywhere without being bothered, but my poor wife was constantly threatened and harassed for not wearing a mask. We could spend much time outdoors without fear of a rogue pandemic sheriff.
That was not the majority's experience, and I’m sorry I was not more sensitive to the plight of so many people for whom the pandemic was truly devastating. Many people were already financially stressed when COVID-19 hit, only to be laid off as panic and fearmongering produced the lockdowns. That crushed the real economy and replaced work with the sugar-high of binge-TV stimulus checks and wildly corrupt and fraudulent special interest spending, of which a good chunk was siphoned offshore. Those who managed to keep their jobs then faced threats of dismissal for refusing the “vaccines.”
Unfortunately, some information filtering back to me indicates vicious bullying and legally questionable pressure on members of the Synod who did not want to get jabbed. The stories are heartbreaking, and restitution is undoubtedly required. A frightening amount of hurt below the surface must be dealt with because bottling it can only last so long. True Christian compassion and love for our nearest neighbors in the pews are needed more than ever.
☩TW☩
It is also critical to understand how many Lutheran families were torn apart when family members were lost to drugs and alcohol during the lock downs from a combination of despair and failure to get treatment and support.
I continue to assert that all the real devastation of life and living was due nearly entirely to the psychological attacks on the populace, and the physical changes induced by policy changes themselves, both ignorant and malicious.
It was words that killed us (messaging), and words backed with sword or (possibly empty) threat of sword (policy—medical, economic, political).
Novel and maliciously or recklessly engineered psychological states absolutely destroys a man's health. If "a virus killed many people," but words were not employed against the whole world and especially against Christ and his church, we would not be discussing issues of faithlessness or restitution. We would simply be here reflecting on a natural disaster like a hurricane sweeping through. Repentance demanded no less, but absent the heat and hurt of COVID.