The Answer To The COVID Enigma

The Novel Corona Virus aka COVID19 is an enigma.  Scientifically, it is a tough virus to kill.  It can survive the high temperatures normally used to disinfect.  It is an aerosol  virus, spread by the very act of breathing, talking and especially coughing.  It survives for days on some surfaces.  Current science indicates that the virus may be with us for a long time and that a vaccine may or may not be effective in the long run.  The effects upon humans vary greatly but in cases where it it does take hold it is devastating.  And, it is capable of exponential growth and spread through a population if  not contained.  For those of you who don't know what "exponential growth" actually means get a mathematician to explain a geometric progression.  That's how an uncontrolled epidemic can spread. 

One of the greatest identifying characteristics of this crisis is its ambiguity.  We are flooded with what seems to be conflicting information.  The virus and the crisis it has engendered simply refuses to be described in normal terms.  And that is the problem.  Everyone, government, the church and the public at large are discussing and trying to mitigate this crisis in political, social and economic terms.

And that should be our first clue.  This crisis  refuses to be described in mortal terms.  Everyone, the church included, has thus far refused to recognize this crisis for what it is, THE JUDGMENT OF GOD UPON THE WORLD. When you view crisis in spiritual terms, it makes perfect sense.  God is perfectly capable of visiting a judgment upon the world that we neither understand nor are capable of handling in mortal terms.

The late, great Baptist preacher EV Hill once said, "When God sends tribulation, you had better tribulate."  I have watched the church deny the problem and rebel against reasonable attempts to control it.  I have watched politicians play political games with the situation and impose drastic, unconstitutional restrictions on our basic freedoms.  But most of all, I have watched the church and Christians view the problem in purely mortal political and economic terms.

What I have not seen is the pulpits of America calling us to humble ourselves, repent and call upon God to lift his hand of judgment from us.  And that is the answer to this crisis.  God has promised that "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land."

Again, that is the answer.  Admit that we have sinned against Almighty God as individuals and a nation.  Admit that we are incapable of even willing our next breath much less a world wide health crisis.  Admit that God and God alone can deliver us from this crisis.  And then ask Him to forgive us and deliver us from HIS hand of judgment.  If America will do these things, this thing will be over.  If not, we are looking at a long and tough road ahead. 

Behold A Pale Horse ....

"When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." Revelation 6:7 NIV.

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Out of a remote province in China has come a plague of biblical proportions.  This morning, the Governor of California ordered all non-essential persons to stay a home.  They estimate that over 50% of the population of California will have been infected within 8 weeks.

The economy has simply stopped in its tracks.  Bars, restaurants, entertainment venues and shops around the nation are closed. The stock market has lost a third of its value in the past ten days.  Millions of retirement accounts have been reduced significantly again.  Airlines are sending planes to the desert and laying off personnel.  Massive layoffs are expected.  It will take decades for the economy to recover if it ever does.

There is no food on the shelves of many grocery stores.  Food and drugs are being rationed.  In some areas, grocery trucks are being mobbed as they arrive at the store. Panic has set in.  It is likely that the very social order itself will come apart in the next few weeks.

And it all happened in a matter of days.

The proper response to these events by a Christian is to seek the face of the God who is able to deliver His own in times like these and repent.  He has promised that "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."  II Chron. 7:14 NIV

So what does America need to repent of?

Arrogance.  We have set ourselves and our country above the God who created us.  God has raised and leveled numerous countries, empires and regimes throughout history.  America is no different.  If we do not repent and seek God's face we will be just another footnote in history.  We must place the God who raises up and destroys empires back in his proper place. 

False idols.  The American church has worshiped the false idols of politics, social acceptance and entertainment.  We need to cast aside these false idols and again seek the face of the one true God in our worship.

Tolerating sin.  In the name of short term political advantage and social acceptance the American church has tolerated and even promoted sins that have repeatedly caused God  to destroy nations.  We have tolerated political leaders who allow and even facilitate the murder of innocent unborn children.  We have tolerated political leaders who allow and even facilitate sodomy and other perversions.  If you believe that God's word is true you know that he does not tolerate these particular sins indefinitely and will eventually judge both the nation and the people who tolerate them.

Ignorance.  God has sent us warning after warning.  But, we have ignored his words and his warnings and continued headlong in our unrighteous ways. 

We serve a God who is long-suffering and faithful.  He keeps His word.  He has promised that if we will repent and return to Him he will forgive us.  And right now, in this time of plague, having a right heart before God should be the number on priority for every living soul.

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How Freedom Dies

This is a generic photo from the internet and does not depict my family.

One night in the 1920's, a group of Ku Klux Klansmen on horseback, draped in sheets and carrying shotguns and horsewhips, showed up at the sharecropper shack where my maternal grandfather and grandmother were living in rural Sequoyah County near Redland.

They had come for my grandfather.  He was a socialist political agitator.  It was also alleged that he was a neer do well that wasn't taking proper care of his family.  Family history indicates that there may have been some truth to that.  The Klan had come to teach him the error of his ways with a  horsewhip.

Instead of standing and facing them like my grandmother, my grandfather took off through the cotton fields half dressed and didn't come back for years leaving a wife and three children literally broke and with a crop in the field.  The infant child was my mother.

My maternal grandfather headed east and didn't stop for over a thousand miles.  The last some family members saw of him, he was wild eyed, still half dressed and covered with scratches and cuts from his headlong flight through the cotton patches and brambles.

I likely had relatives on both sides of this sad event.  So, you might say that I have inherited the right to speak for my family on this issue.

This week, someone posted a picture of the local Klan in nearby town on a regional cultural and historical social media group that I subscribe to.  Almost immediately, some precious little liberal, millennial thinking,  politically correct snowflake demanded that it be taken down.  And sure enough, soon it disappeared.

Harvard professor and philosopher George Santyana taught us that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.  Future generations owe their ancestors who suffered through the effects of evil the courtesy of at least remembering it.  Remembering it honors the victims and serves as a stark reminder to all us in this fallen world that evil is always waiting to reappear.

Book burning, statute smashing, historical revisionism and planned ignorance come in many forms in the age of the internet.  The most common form these days is the "offended" liberal who demands censorship to prevent dissemination of  facts, thoughts and ideas they find uncomfortable or inconvenient.  Book burning is evil.  Suppression of historical fact is evil.  Suppression of free expression is evil.  And giving in to it is evil.  Just as evil as the evil it purports to suppress.

It never ends well.