The 3 - March 22, 2020

This week's edition of The 3 features three stories related to the Coronavirus, including a dramatic rise in the number of people watching online services over the first weekend of the crisis over one particular platform.  Also, while so many "non-essential" services are being curtailed, the abortion industry continues to take the lives of unborn children.  And, Chinese authorities are reportedly using the crisis to enact further destruction of church facilities.

Churches move to online only services and studies, online interaction way up

This past Sunday was actually the first Sunday in which you had practically a nationwide limit on churches meeting together, opting, when possible, for online services.  And, I would dare say that the availability of online content has proliferated within the past week. Christian Headlines reports on an example of how the number of people accessing online church content spiked last week:

The Church Online Platform, operated by Life.Church, saw a total of 4.7 million devices streaming church services Sunday, four times the average attendance for a typical weekend.

The platform has seen more than 6,000 new churches sign up during the past week and serves more than 20,000 churches worldwide. It allows churches to stream their own services with chat and one-on-one prayer features.

As the article states:

President Trump on Monday issued new guidelines urging Americans to avoid groups of more than 10 people for 15 days. The recommendations are a companion to CDC guidelines that recommend “mass gatherings” with 50 or more people be canceled or postponed for eight weeks.

Abortion agenda advances during virus emergency

Last week, I reported to you about the attempt to use legislation designed to provide relief in the Coronavirus crisis to circumvent the Hyde Amendment, which prevents Federal taxpayer money from being used to fund abortion.  Even though government authorities are trying to prevent the loss of life from the virus, abortion advocates are trying to keep the loss of life for unborn babies continuing.  This comes even as citizens are being asked, in some cases, and mandated in others, to postpone "elective" surgeries.

One state attorney general decided that he would do something about that.  According to the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has told abortion clinics to cease providing abortions.  The article says:

In his letter to abortion providers, Yost said, “You and your facility are ordered to immediately stop performing non-essential and elective surgical abortions. Non-essential surgical abortions are those that can be delayed without undue risk to the current or future health of a patient.

“If you or your facility do not immediately stop performing non-essential or elective surgical abortions in compliance with the (health director’s) order, the Department of Health will take all appropriate measures.”

Planned Parenthood is adamant in continuing to provide abortions in the state.  Good insight was provided by Aaron Baer, president of Citizens for Community Values, who e-mailed a statement, saying: “Abortion is not health care, and abortionists shouldn’t be using valuable life-saving medical equipment to destroy life. Attorney General Yost is standing up for our most vulnerable during this crisis and saving countless lives.”

Meanwhile, LifeSiteNews reported:

A statement released earlier this week by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), the Society of Family Planning, and a number of other medical professional member organizations has called on fellow medical professionals “to ensure abortion access is not compromised” during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The article pointed out the hypocrisy in this declaration, stating:

Earlier this week, many of the same organizations said the pandemic “is a public health crisis that requires the full attention and resources of our health care systems” and have called on hospitals to suspend elective surgeries.

LifeSiteNews also reported on how some abortion activists are demanding that the government allow so-called "webcam" abortions during this time of crisis.  And, some are questioning why abortion clinics are still allowed to operate, but churches are having to close to public worship services.

While China faces criticism re: Coronavirus, mistreatment of churches continues in the open

With the worldwide spread of the Coronavirus from its apparent origins in China, authorities there have been attempting to curb the impact on its people, with reported success.  But, the Chinese government has also seemingly leveraged the virus into cracking down further on churches, according to a Faithwire article, which surmises, "...the shuttering of churches to stem coronavirus infections has presented the state with a key opportunity to ransack sanctuaries and strip worship centers of their Christian symbolism."

Case in point: "On March 13, and with residents in self-isolation, a church in Guoyang County, Anhui Province, had its cross removed in broad daylight...Though the church usually has around 40 people attending Sunday service, authorities reportedly exploited the nationwide shutdown by heading into the church and removing the cross while it was empty."

The article also says that, "China Aid’s Bob Fu shared shocking footage of a church in Yixing city, Jiangsu, being razed to the ground. 'Religious persecution continues even in the midst of #WuhanVirus,' he wrote."

Faithwire states:

According to International Christian Concern, most of the country’s churches — underground or state-approved — have been meeting online since the shutdown began. There is a worry, however, that the government will roll out a brutal crackdown on these virtual gatherings as soon as the virus response begins to settle down.