Poetic justice & national selection in view?
A Coeur d’Alene pastor who opened his large church in early May for in-person services that allowed and even encouraged unmasked congregants to gather has been recovering from COVID-19 at the Kootenai Health intensive care unit.
Paul Van Noy, the senior pastor at Candlelight Christian Fellowship, has spent the past two weeks in the ICU while his wife, Brenda Van Noy, recovered from her own bout with COVID-19 at home. Five other church staff have been infected, said Eric Reade, body ministry coordinator the church. …
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“It is true that COVID-19 cases are in escalation here in our community and that the virus is real,” Van Noy wrote. “However, the panic to ‘stop the world’ or mandate public compliance … is causing untold problems and pushback that will not be helpful.”
Van Noy went on to say that masks can be worn during services but are not required.
“We need to keep our doors open, activities occurring and fellowship active,” he wrote. “Moreover, closing down churches, businesses, and services is certainly not the answers to the concerns.”
Candlelight’s stance on mask-wearing and social-distancing has not changed since Van Noys’ diagnosis.
When asked whether masks are mandated to attend services in compliance with state law, Reade said, “No.” …
Brenda Van Noy has been active on social media throughout her illness, posting to her public Facebook a mixture of heath updates and conspiracy theories, many of which have been flagged by Facebook as untrue. These posts include, misinterpretations of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, references to the #Savethechildren movement, which has been linked to QAnon, and the assertion that “fact checkers didn’t exist until the truth started to get out.”
She also acknowledged she had underestimated the virus prior to contracting it.
“I haven’t taken this Covid seriously enough. I’m humbled. I have Covid and some of my friends have Covid now but more seriously my husband is in critical care in ICU with Covid and it is serious. Please take this serious. Pray for healing. Love each other. Pray for those who have lost loved ones because of this EVIL virus!” she wrote Sept. 4.
