As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. Genesis 50:20
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? Psalms 118:6
This is what the LORD says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people: “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. Isaiah 8:11-13
A man’s days are numbered. You know the number of his months. He cannot live longer than the time You have set. So now look away from him that he may rest, until he has lived the time set for him like a man paid to work. Job 14:5-6
The Bible instructs us Christians to be thankful for ALL things. Based on that instruction and my personal experiences, I can honestly say I AM thankful for the COVID virus that has spread across our globe. Before you think me crazy for stating that, hear me out.
Nothing has divided our world and even the Christian church quite as effectively as this most recent epidemic of the COVID virus. Whether you believe this disaster hit us from natural forces or is a man-made virus with its intended consequences, it really doesn’t matter. It is something real, and it was allowed by God in order to fulfill His purposes.
The Bible tells us that sickness and death are all part of the effect of man’s fallen sinful nature. We are born under this curse and we all must deal with it one way or the other. We are born to die physically, yet our spirits were created to live eternally. The Christian life is meant to be a daily walk between the physical and spirit worlds we live in with the goal of better understanding our creator and restoring the spiritual relationship with Him we were meant to have.
For the sake of this missive, I will assume the reader is a Christian and understands the core truths of the Gospel related to sin, forgiveness, and the promise of eternal life with God. No one can know God or have eternal life with Him unless they profess these truths and put their faith in Christ. If you doubt this, your argument is with the Bible, not me.
When you become a Christian, all the old things have passed away, and all becomes new for you. You have a regenerated spirit because God’s Holy Spirit lives in you. Once this happens, we no longer live for or under the dominion of this temporal world. We are set apart to know, understand, and live in the light of God’s glory and revelation of Himself to us. When we are in faith, we have spiritual eyes and understanding and we are no longer captive to what the world wants us to think or behave.
Based on these assumptions, I have been amazed at how many Christians live in fear and subservience to this latest virus. We have observed and listened to the world’s reactions and promotion of this pandemic, and a large majority of people have gone right along with the world’s “protocols” on what this is about and what to do about it. They have believed in man’s “science” more than the truth of God’s Word. Of course, the true “science” on this subject is hard to come by honestly. The few Christians who speak out against these machinations of men are seen as fringe lunatics or even virtual “murderers” for questioning the manipulations and pseudo sciences that have been thrust upon this whole generation. If we don’t go along with man’s vaccines, masks, and protocols then we are looked at as “enemies of the state” or the system from which they came. From my understanding of scripture, I count it all joy to be different than most of the world or to be even dismissed for my views by the world. All you have to do to realize this reality is try and send my blog page location via Messenger or Facebook. My views have been “banished” by the powers that be. If you side with them, “congratulations” on mission accomplished.
I am thankful for the COVID because it was a huge catalyst in bringing me back to the true faith in Christ. It became very evident to me early on that this was more of a spiritual war along with the biological war it represents. I saw early on how thousands of frontline Christian doctors, nurses, and other healthcare practitioners were being marginalized for speaking out against unscientific mandates and institutional rushing to market the untried, experimental vaccines against this new virus that no one could explain origins of. One day we were told masks cannot protect you against this virus. The next day we were mandated by various “politicos” that we had to wear them…in some places even outdoors. Millions of rational people have questioned these coercions and the merit of their assumptions. These responses have created the greatest civil conflicts that we have experienced in hundreds of years. For all wants and purposes, these machinations have done little to stave off the spread of these viruses and many people have died regardless of precautions taken.
While I could provide thousands of documents related to the manipulations of this pandemic and question its origins, I will stay focused on what I believe should be the Christian response to and the purpose of it.
As the preliminary scriptures illustrate, we are not to be sucked into the carnal responses of the world to these challenges. We are to trust God for our lives. We have the power to overcome anything this world throws at us. Our days are all numbered and in the hands of our all-knowing God. There is nothing we can do to extend or shorten our days apart from God’s will. All the conditions around us that affect our physical lives are directed by God’s sovereignty, so it is actually quite silly for a Christian to worry or question Him on these things. We are instructed to pray… sometimes for healing, and sometimes just for understanding and peace in the situations we find ourselves in. Even the evil leaders we have throughout the world are there for a purpose, so I think our prayer should simply be to stay in the will of our Father no matter what is going on around us.
As for our physical well-being, we are to do the things that promote health and take care of the temple of the Holy Spirit, our bodies. To me, this means healthy lifestyles, diets, exercise, and being in a constant attitude of spiritual prayer. God has set up everything in the world we need to fight disease if we abide by his instructions. Many are dying because of their disobedience to His truths. Most people dying with COVID are dying from a combination of conditions. A vast majority of people have the natural immunity to fight it and build the natural antibodies God made us with. Natural immunity is ten times stronger than any vaccine. The panic about fatalities is natural, but not spiritual. Again, we of faith are not afraid of death, but we also value life so that we can be productive longer in fulfilling our purposes in this life. Every moment of every day we put our trust in the one who gives us each breath. These times should make us more mindful of the value we have in each day to do good and to live joyful, fulfilling lives according to HIS purposes.
Two years ago when this all started, I was an angry, carnal man living for his Humanistic self. In the middle of that anger was a kernel of spiritual truth from my childhood profession of faith that forced me to examine the world’s condition from a variety of perspectives. Fortunately, reason based on the truth of God’s word prevailed over the controls and machinations of man. These conditions forced me to think and evaluate from a higher level than myself. Since that July night when I surrendered myself once again to faith in Jesus Christ and His Word, I have had no fear or doubt about how to handle the COVID in my life.
At the most personal level, when I and my family all came down with the COVID in July, we were able to experience and understand its challenges firsthand. Vaccines and masks did not protect us from it. Those who got vaccinated and wore masks came down with COVID same as the rest of us. We were in faith, but we were suffering. I was in the hospital for the first time in my life for 4 days struggling to breathe. My 86 year old vaccinated mother also ended up hospitalized for a week with it and thankfully overcame it. She survived I am convinced because in all other ways she is physically healthy and leads a healthy lifestyle. I can honestly say that I never feared death during this ordeal. My only fears were how to take care of my wife and other obligations if I were to pass right now.
I would have to say those 4 days in the hospital were a great learning experience. I had time to study the virus and ask the professionals there many questions. I had time to pray and read God’s Word which comforted me in my suffering. I even had opportunities to share the faith with some of my caretakers. In the midst of all this, I believe God gave me specific ideas and messages on how to honor Him in my future health and to be even more earnest and committed to His purposes for my life. Without those focuses brought to me by the Holy Spirit, I would have just been a typical angry, fearful, lost old man. I actually came out of the hospital 23 pounds lighter and with a whole new lease and understanding of life. Some of my positiveness probably drove many people nuts in the darkness of this COVID reality, but I felt and still feel that we are to be light and react differently than most people of carnality. I am but trying to obey what I sense God is teaching me through experience and His Word.
Since my time going through COVID, many people in my church and circles have experienced these new strains they keep telling us about. I look forward to comparing notes with them on what they learned in their experiences. A very small percentage have died from the virus. I know a few who have succumbed to it. While it is sad to go through the loss of a loved one through death, we can truly rejoice for the saved soul who passes to the next life. “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5). I truly felt the promise of that when I was in the hospital. Part of me truly wanted to just “be with Him”, yet for the sake of my loved ones, I am glad He has given me more time.
Ultimately, our response to COVID and the world at large with all its wars, corruptions, and darkness should be per this great scripture and promise in 1 John 5:9-15:
If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
We are to believe God…not man. We are to trust God…not man. We have life through the Son…not man. No other way is truly living. We KNOW we have eternal life, so what is all the fuss and darkness about in this life? If we KNOW that he “hears us in whatever we ask”, we KNOW He will answer us and His answer will be His perfect will. So we rejoice in life or death, sickness or health, and look forward to our ultimate healing and deliverance when we shall see and know Him face to face.