Elephants in the Room

[coksiw]

Elephant #1. Yes, however, beware of people sometime take it too far and attribute to the Devil more than they should. There is definitely something going on, but there is also a warning regarding attributing to the Satan too much, and undermining the understanding of God and his control.

Elephant #2. Excellent thought. Love it.

Elephant #3. When persecution in Jerusalem started, the Christians were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Did the Christian sin for fleeing and stop assembling at large in the Temple courts? We don't even see the apostles themselves preaching at the Temple again after the widespread persecution.
Persecution is not the same as a plague, however, my point is that we can be flexible with the size of the gatherings when under an emergency situation, as long as we can gather. IMHO, what I just said is an elephant in the room. That being said, I agree that there is a group of people with certain believes system (e.g. progressive), that tend to be more oppressive and controlling on churches, that are taking advantage of this to show their power over the church and bother us. Also, to my knowledge, baptisms are still happening, people are being edified, and restrictions are already being eased.