Trump's Trying to Give Christians the Coronavirus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Trump's trying to give Christians the virus by saying he wants to stop the nation's lockdown by Easter, saying, "Easter Sunday you'll have packed churches all over this country. . . . I think it'll be a beautiful thing." That's like the devil tempting Jesus to jump off Jerusalem's temple, thus tempting God.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2020\/03\/trumps-trying-to-give-christians-the-virus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump's Trying to Give Christians the Coronavirus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Trump's trying to give Christians the virus by saying he wants to stop the nation's lockdown by Easter, saying, "Easter Sunday you'll have packed churches all over this country. . . . I think it'll be a beautiful thing." That's like the devil tempting Jesus to jump off Jerusalem's temple, thus tempting God.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2020\/03\/trumps-trying-to-give-christians-the-virus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kermit Zarley Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kermit.zarley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-25T03:30:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-29T05:56:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/347\/2020\/03\/DevilTemptedJesusJumpOffTemple.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kermit Zarley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kermit Zarley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2020\/03\/trumps-trying-to-give-christians-the-virus\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2020\/03\/trumps-trying-to-give-christians-the-virus\/\",\"name\":\"Trump's Trying to Give Christians the Coronavirus\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-25T03:30:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-29T05:56:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/#\/schema\/person\/8393f2e63455a2915f7ca277bf5a5d02\"},\"description\":\"Trump's trying to give Christians the virus by saying he wants to stop the nation's lockdown by Easter, saying, \\\"Easter Sunday you'll have packed churches all over this country. . . . 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He graduated from University of Houston w\/ BBA in 1963 and played on the PGA Tour full time from 1964-1982 and Senior\/Champions Tour in 1991-2001. Kermit co-founded the PGA Tour Bible Study in 1965 and was senior leader most of next 17 years. Kermit has three adult children and six grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/kermitzarley.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kermit.zarley\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/author\/kermitzarleyblog\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump's Trying to Give Christians the Coronavirus","description":"Trump's trying to give Christians the virus by saying he wants to stop the nation's lockdown by Easter, saying, \"Easter Sunday you'll have packed churches all over this country. . . . 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{"id":11880,"date":"2020-03-24T20:30:30","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T03:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/?p=11880"},"modified":"2020-03-28T22:56:57","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T05:56:57","slug":"trumps-trying-to-give-christians-the-virus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/2020\/03\/trumps-trying-to-give-christians-the-virus\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s Trying to Give Christians the Coronavirus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>Several state governors recently have ordered their citizens to remain in their homes to avoid getting the furiously-spreading coronavirus. This \u201clockdown\u201d now consists of half of all Americans. In these states, public transportation is shut down and businesses are closed. Their employees have been sent home or are working from their homes when possible. The only exceptions are \u201cessential\u201d businesses that remain open, such as groceries, pharmacies, and hospitals.<\/p>\n

Yet today, the clown in the White House\u2013who at first so grievously denied this crisis and then mishandled it\u2013said, \u201cI want to reopen the country by Easter. . . . opened up and just rarin\u2019 to go by Easter.\u201d He added, \u201cEaster Sunday you\u2019ll have packed churches all over this country. . . . I think it\u2019ll be a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is contrary to the leading medical professionals\u2019 advice. That includes Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He is the leading research doctor advising President Trump about this virus. And what he and others often say about it is contrary to what Trump says. Trump is now clashing with many state governors, especially governors of states where the outbreak is most acute.<\/p>\n

It is the state governors who are rising up as heroes leading Americans through this crisis, not the president despite his rhetoric and that of his aids. These governors were the first government leaders to advise people to practice \u201csocial distancing\u201d by not being closer than six feet from people outside their homes. They merely have been following the advice of medical professionals and leaders of other nations that have been in the forefront of this encroaching disease.<\/p>\n

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft\u2013often the world\u2019s richest man, and now devoting himself full time to eradicating diseases in the world\u2013was prescient in 2015 in a nine-minute speech on TED Talk when he warned the public that the U.S. was sorely unprepared for an epidemic like this which would surely strike the U.S. and likely the whole world. Yesterday, he delivered a TED Talk sequel to that speech by warning that the U.S. should not relinquish its lockdown measures any sooner than 6-10 weeks from now.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s talk about packed churches on April 12, which is less than three weeks away, is a pipe dream and completely contrary to the advice of medical professionals. It\u2019s about like the devil telling Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the temple at Jerusalem, which would surely result in his death.<\/p>\n

Matthew\u2019s entire account of this temptation of Jesus reads, \u201cThen the devil took him to the holy city [Jerusalem] and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, \u2018If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, \u201cHe [God] will command his angels concerning you,\u201d and \u201cOn their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.\u201d\u2018 Jesus said to him, \u2018Again it is written, \u201cDo not put the Lord your God to the test\u201d\u2018\u201d (Matthew 4.5-7 NRSV).<\/p>\n

Trump said days ago that this coronavirus would soon be gone \u201clike a miracle.\u201d That\u2019s about like what the devil said to Jesus if he had jumped off the temple to a seemingly certain death, that angels catching him would be like a miracle. Does Trump think God will do a miracle by keeping packed churches all over this nation this coming Easter from spreading the coronavirus? Would Trump be putting God to the test by so endangering peoples\u2019 lives?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t believe this Clown-in-Chief in the White House.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"