Tony Buchert’s Civil Disobedience
The Church of God International’s Medina, Ohio congregation was treated to a discourse this past Sabbath (10/16) on the “proper” understanding and application of the thirteenth chapter of Paul’s epistle to the saints at Rome as it relates to modern Christian resistance to the Covid-19 vaccines. According to Mr. Buchert, Paul’s instructions to the saints at Rome should not be interpreted to suggest that U.S. Christians should conform to government mandates regarding Covid vaccination. Mr. Buchert insisted that those who would dare to employ Paul’s instructions to those ancient folks in their arguments in favor of Christians being vaccinated in the Twenty-First Century are twisting Scripture and attempting to force these “good” people to violate their consciences!
The fact that Mr. Buchert saw fit to address this topic at all suggests that this scripture (Romans 13:1-5) has been troublesome for anti-vaxxer elements within the church. After all, Paul’s language in this instance was fairly straightforward and clear. He wrote: “Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished. For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course, you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong. So you must submit to them, not only to avoid punishment but also to keep a clear conscience.” Well, that’s plain enough, right? “Not so fast!” says Tony Buchert.
Mr. Buchert begins his diatribe with a statement of the obvious: This scripture does NOT sanction blind obedience by Christians of every law and edict of the human governments we are currently living under. As he goes on to point out, when some edict/law/mandate contradicts God’s law, Christians should not obey it! Indeed, as Mr. Buchert underscores, to do so would violate that Christian’s conscience and force him/her to violate God’s law. Even so, Mr. Buchert seemed to completely ignore the Christian’s obligation to submit to whatever penalty/punishment that the human government devises for those who would disobey its will. Yes, there are numerous examples of “civil disobedience” in Scripture, but many of the saints who engaged in such behavior often ended up suffering horrendous consequences for their failure to obey. For example, John the Baptist lost his head, and Jesus Christ was crucified! In other words, Christians are still obligated to SUBMIT to the authorities which Paul says that God has placed in charge.
Unfortunately, Mr. Buchert did not confine his arguments in this regard to Scripture. He also chose to introduce things like the Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Federalist Papers into the conversation. In addition to condescendingly implying that the proponents of Covid vaccine mandates are unfamiliar with these documents, he strongly suggests that they buttress his arguments about personal and religious freedom relative to mandates.
And, although he never actually elucidated how those documents support his own views relative to vaccine resistance, he went on to proclaim that government officials must also conform to the Scriptural foundations on which they rest. Did Mr. Buchert forget the concept of the separation of Church and State? Does he understand that many of these secular authorities do not view themselves as serving at God’s pleasure? Does Mr. Buchert understand that the Kingdom of God does not yet currently reign over this earth? And what about the powers that those charters grant to the government (federal, state, and local) to protect the LIFE, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of its’ citizens? Does Mr. Buchert realize that government must be the arbiter when one citizen’s rights conflict with the free exercise of another citizen’s rights?
Unlike his citation of those august documents of American democracy, Mr. Buchert did actually employ the material of two extreme right-wing sources to support his anti-vaxxer views. Indeed, it came as no surprise to me that Mr. Buchert used material from Culture Watch and Project Veritas to buttress his message to his mentor’s (Pastor Bill Watson) congregation. On the Culture Watch website, we find the following headlines: “Do you think Biden should officially resign?”, “Pope Francis just put a big smile on Dr. Fauci’s face with this pro-vaccine demand”, and “A judge just smacked Planned Parenthood with the worst news they’ve ever gotten.” Likewise, on the Project Veritas homepage, we find headlines like “PFIZER LEAKS: Whistleblower Goes On Record, Reveals Internal Emails from Chief Scientific Officer & Senior Director of Worldwide Research Discussing COVID Vaccine ... ‘We Want to Avoid Having the Information on the Fetal Cells Floating Out There’.”
Obviously, Mr. Buchert is comfortable with sources that deal in conspiracy theories, misinformation, lies, and overt support of extreme political ideologies. For him, these voices should be given the same “rights” in the marketplace of ideas as those of scientists and public health officials! But I guess the end justifies the means – right? After all, Mr. Buchert points out that God rewarded the Egyptian midwives for lying to Pharoah when he questioned their disobedience of his edict regarding the murder of Israel’s male babies!
This is an example of what the Church of God International is currently allowing to be preached from its pulpits? Just when I was beginning to be encouraged by the voices of Jeff Reed and Vance Stinson within that organization, we have this! I guess we should all thank Mr. Buchert for giving voice to all of those poor Christians who are being asked to receive this wicked jab in their righteous arms!
Lonnie Hendrix
