God And Covid-19
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Does God speak to us today through signs in nature? COVID-19 has changed the world in lightning speed.
Our way of life was drastically altered and modified to limit the spread of this disease—a disease that was
initially viewed by experts as a means to destroy humanity. The initial models predicted millions could die if
drastic measures were not taken to protect the world.
Self-quarantining and social distancing were instituted by nearly all of the civilized nations of the world. The impact of these actions created high unemployment with subsequent economic hardship. The US government and state and local governments quickly determined what was considered essential business commerce and what was non-essential. General healthcare was prioritized to emphasize treatment for COVID-19 as the priority, while other health issues were viewed as secondary and/or non-essential. Routine wellness care and wellness procedures came to a screeching halt. The immediate effects of the changes left a multitude of people with pre-existing health conditions vulnerable to the consequences, with pain and suffering in many cases.
Agenda
After the initial outbreak of the virus, additional information became available, which assessed COVID-19’s severity and dangers. Concern regarding its questionable origins and China’s withholding of essential information made it difficult for US policies and procedures to combat the virus. Extreme measures were taken (beyond any other pandemic in the past) to thwart the spread of COVID-19.
The collateral damage done to society from closing down the economy wrought significant consequences. Thirty-nine million jobs were temporarily lost during the peak of the shutdown, a number not seen since the Great Depression of 1929. Small businesses felt the biggest pinch, while select, large companies were slated essential and able to stay open. Many people either began suffering or saw existing levels of depression and anxiety heightened, while trying to cope with the consequences of job losses, self-quarantines, and general financial stress.
Hindsight is 20/20, so no fault is presented here but just the facts as we see them. What we have seen happen was the delay by many mayors of cities and governors of states to reopen the economy. The “phase in” process for some areas of the country has been slow in comparison to others, such as New York and California in contrast to Florida and Texas. This leads to the idea that the delay of reopening the economy may have been more of a manufactured crisis than a necessity.
The leadership of the leftists and progressives are trying to take advantage of this difficult situation to advance their agenda. Their goals of universal healthcare are no longer simply imagined but are sought earnestly to become a reality; economic benefits for everyone, including illegal aliens, in the form of universal basic income; and reparation to local and state governments that needed to be bailed out, not only from COVID-19, but from mismanagement and corruption. Plain and simple, their goal is socialism!
Former presidential advisor to Barack Obama, Rohm Emanuel, has said, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that, it’s an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”
Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, said on May 29, 2020, “One of the things we have to do is use this COVID virus crisis as a magnifying glass and show what’s wrong with America, and do whatever we can to change it. You cannot sweep this under the rug. And, in a certain sense, we all have to be forced to look in the mirror.”
Former President Barack Obama campaigned on “change” without defining what change he intended. After he was in office, the change he desired became obvious.
Society and God’s Judgment
Our Lord Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:37-39 that the end-time days will be like the days of Noah. There are many similar characteristics of that today, but two in particular stand out—immorality and violence. The day will soon come when the prophetic voices of God will be entirely ignored. I pray and believe that we have not yet reached that point. Is COVID-19 a remedial judgment of God? Remedial judgments of God reveal the intentions of men’s hearts.
There are many examples of God using judgments to awaken sinful nations and to cause God’s people to repent. The Hebrew children in Egypt suffered great injustices, and God sent Moses to deliver them. God used His miracle-working power and sent plagues and pestilences upon the Egyptians. Moses’ warnings and Pharaoh’s rejection wrought havoc on Egypt. No repentance by Pharaoh, though, turned God’s remedial judgments into God’s destruction.
Elijah called on King Ahab to repent, but his warning was ignored, so God used a three-year famine to awaken the king and the people of God.
The book of Joel tells about a locust invasion that afflicted Judah. This was one of the worst calamities that could befall an agricultural society. The people called it bad luck, and that’s when God sent the prophet Joel to inform them that the disaster had nothing to do with luck. Joel proclaimed that the locusts had been sent by God to call the people to repentance. He warned that if they did not repent, the Lord would send something far worse—an enemy army. The people ignored
Joel’s warning, and God ultimately sent the army and delivered them from judgment to destruction.
A modern example of the remedial judgment of God was on September 11, 2001—the swift impact of foreign terrorists striking the Twin Towers, the center of the financial district in New York City; and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., the center of America’s power. The plane that went down in Pennsylvania may have been heading to destroy the White House or the Capitol, the heart of the American political system. There was a brief repentance in the nation as church attendance increased for a few weeks. Sadly, it was short lived and did not generate any long-term, spiritual changes. The rise of atheism and the decline in church attendance indicate that the typical shock God desired with remedial judgment was ineffective for the long term.
COVID-19 has affected the whole world. Is it just another remedial warning by God as a call to repentance? I believe it is in part. The world has seen a significant increase in natural disasters in the last sixty-five years. According to www.daretoprepare.com, global natural disasters have increased from under fifty in 1960 to over 850 in 2009. Are we experiencing the beginning of “birth pangs” of which Jesus spoke? Immorality has dramatically increased since the 1960s. Violence has increased worldwide. The answer to all of these problems is the voice of one crying in the wilderness! The prophetic voice of repentance must resound throughout the world in this hour, especially in America. To whom much is given, much is expected. Let us turn back to God. Hosea said it this way: “Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up” (Hos. 6:1).
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