COVID 19 LESSON

We are right into the second year since the Covid 19 pandemic hit the world. So far 2.8 million people have lost their lives and many more are either ill or grappling with the repercussions brought about by the disease. We are all affected directly or indirectly. We have either been infected, lost a loved-one or our livelihood. The world is in a very uncertain situation.

Have you ever asked yourself why the world is in such a messy situation? Why haven’t our technological advancements brought in a quick fix to these ailments? Is the world still evolving and are we to expect another human species? Has God, the creator of the universe, left the world to run on its own? Has human activity contributed to the suffering through irresponsible behaviour? All these are serious questions that require us to reflect on where we have come from and where we are going.

When I look at the Word of God, I find a number of texts that address the subject of destruction of the world (Zephaniah 1:18; Psalm 102: 25, 26). I get the impression that since the world had a beginning, it will definitely have an end. However, no one knows when the end will come in the same way that no one can rightly claim to know when the world began. All we know is that there was darkness and chaos long before the world existed and then God spoke and the world came into being (Genesis 1:1-3). Evolutionists on the other hand believe in the Big Bang theory that was advanced in the 1920s by an American astronomer named Edwin Hubble. According to him, the universe came into being through an explosion resulting from some very small, hot mass. The heat in the small mass was so intense that it exploded and brought about the planets that we have today (National Academy of Science, 1999).

Human wisdom has continued to search for answers to the troubles of life but there has never been an end to the troubles. In fact there has been a multiplication of the problems throughout history. Does this mean that human research is in vain? Far from it. What I discover from human effort is that it is finite, and this leads me to the conclusion that I have to seek for infinite wisdom that belongs to God.

God has made it clear that He is the creator of the universe (Isaiah 45:7; Revelation 4:11). He is in control even when things seem to go wrong in the world and He is reminding us to acknowledge His existence and sovereignty or else we will suffer. Isaiah 24 is a passage that calls our attention to the fact that God expresses His might and allows destruction to come upon the universe, not because He is angry and fed up with mankind, but because He is simply reminding us that we cannot ignore His laws and the reconciliation He has brought through the Lord Jesus and expect normalcy in the world.

Let’s wake up and commit our lives and the developments we have achieved so far in the area of vaccines into God’s hands. That will draw His mercy to us and we might just find relief from our troubled lives.

MY SENTIMENTS ON COVID-19

This disease has ravaged economies and sent dread in the medical world. There are curfews and lock-downs all across the globe. Our advanced technology has not come up with a vaccine as yet. We seem to be confused as to whether or not the virus is spread through droplets on surfaces or in the air.

I think that even through such an ugly situation God is speaking to humanity. My observation of the church (Christendom) is that it has ignored its mandate to preach the true gospel. What we hear mostly is a prosperity gospel, which, in actuality is a false gospel and there’s also moral and spiritual decadence in the church. Politically, economically and socially, there is unprecedented greed and dishonesty seen through widespread indifference to the needs of the populace.

This leads me to think that God has allowed the pandemic, not as a punishment upon the world, but as a wakeup call to humanity to turn to Him. I have a feeling that we have trusted so much in our technological achievements over the years that that we now find Jesus Christ irrelevant or unconcerned about world events. When this happens, the Bible reminds us that we have erred and so need to turn again to the Lord Jesus (He hath torn us and He will heal us – Hosea 6:1). Please note that I’m not referring to religiosity, there is too much of it in the world today and doing a lot of harm to all kinds of people. Note also that am not being a bigot here. Any spiritually sensitive person will realize that the world is currently heading in the wrong direction. We need to acknowledge that there is a true and Living God manifest through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Governments need to start equitable distribution of resources so that every individual can earn a living. High levels of corruption need to be checked. The church needs to get back to preaching the True Gospel determined by the Bible alone and in its entirety. The central message of the gospel should be a call to turn to the Lord in brokenness and contrition.

Therefore as we continue to follow public health directives, let’s come to our spiritual senses and turn to the Lord. A vaccine will be found and soon the pandemic will be a thing of the past.

TERRORISM

There is a marked increase in terrorism in many parts of the world. Most of those suffering from these heinous acts are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever considered the probable reasons as to why this is the case? Isn’t it natural to get uncontrollably angry at the perpetrators? Aren’t governments justified in imposing stringent security measures at all border posts and institutional entrances?

I used to vehemently support all the above measures sometimes back but I have acquired a new perspective from observations at the current state of the church (Makokha 2020) and come to the conclusion that it is high time we stopped relying upon them. We cannot completely defeat them, however much we try. Developed countries with superb military prowess have been attacked; poor and developing countries too have come under the wrath of the terrorists. There is fear and sadness in the hearts of those who commit these ugly acts and those who are directly or indirectly affected (Yusuf 2020).

From my knowledge of the Word of God, I can share a remedy to this hopeless situation. A look at the manner in which God guided Israel of old reveals that He is loving and He always protected them from enemy attacks provided they listened and took his Word seriously (Psalm 5:11; 34:19; Proverbs 2:11). However, every time they flagrantly turned away from Him, He proved to them that He is the Sovereign Lord. He allowed enemies to attack and defeat His people (Psalm 81:8-16).

I see a very high degree of waywardness among Christians today and get the impression that we have probably opened ourselves up to the enemy (unbelievers in the Lord Jesus Christ) and now God’s hand of restraint has been removed. We have become prone to terrorism as a wakeup call to get back to the Lord our God and plead with Him for mercy. He calls upon us to listen to Him (O that my people had hearkened unto me and …walked in my ways. I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries – Psalm 81:14, 15).

Those words are weighty and when we reflect on them, we will understand why we (in the church) are coming under attack by those who have no regard for the Lord of lords and King of kings, Jesus Christ. The best option therefore is for us in the church to piteously cry out to the Lord Jesus for mercy and He will pardon and give us peace and safety as we await His return.

Please note that this is not religiosity (because the perpetrators are very religious people). Genuine repentance and absolute trust in Christ is the solution.

REFERENCE:

Makokha H (2020) Mombasa Pastor [online]. Available at: https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2020-01-05-pastor-stabs-wife-kills-self-on-pulpit-in-mombasa / 

Yusuf M (2020) Kenyan civilians flee [online]. Available at: https://www.voanews.com/africa/kenyan-civilians-flee-manda-bay-area-after-al-shabab-attack

COMPASSION

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HANG IN THERE

Are you going through an excruciating situation and feeling no one really cares? Are you wondering what to do in that situation? Are you also on the verge of despondency over the besetting issues? Allow me to nudge your attention to reality.

It is a fact that we live in a painful world and so we experience sorrow. This, however, does not mean that our Maker does not care about us. It simply means that He is drawing our attention to the reality that ours is a fallen world but He is still with us in all circumstances. “He whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world” (Lewis 1957, p.81).

In His love and mercy, He wants us to continue with our lives without allowing anxiety to rule in our hearts. He expects us to move on with life even when we are faced with uncertainty in the same way He instructed Israel of old to build houses, till the land and have families even in the foreign land (Jeremiah 29). It must have been a hard thing for them to do given that they were captives in Babylon.

God had a time plan for Israel. They were to live in captivity for seven decades and would be wiped away if they refused to continue living. He intended to uplift the captivity after the 70 years. In the meantime, they were to hang in there and learn how God operates.

Whenever we are in trouble, ordinarily we tend to give up on a lot of things. God’s will, however, is that we do not throw in the towel but carry on with our lives because His thoughts are not ours (defeatist). He thinks and speaks peace. He cannot be associated with chaos or destruction and when we trust Him and hold on to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, He will finally bring deliverance and prosperity in our lives.

GO TO ROME, IMITATE THEM?

There is a popular saying across the world that says “When in Rome do as the Romans do.” The implication here is that when you visit a place with a different cultural set up, learn how they do things in that culture and get on the band wagon with them. The fair questions we need to ask ourselves before learning and accepting what the old maxim tells us are these: Who said we must conform to the Romans to live with them? Why can’t the Romans learn from us and accept us as we are? What makes the Roman way of living admirable?

In academia, there is a rule to the effect that all knowledge is provisional. This means that there can be no absolute truth. It is believed that what is held as truth today will be irrelevant tomorrow. However, in the spiritual world, there is absolute truth and this is my guiding principle in life. If it never existed there would be total anarchy in the cosmos. I believe there is an acceptable way of living that we have got to follow wherever we are in the world to be safe and free from condemnation.

I find it nonsensical to hold on to sayings that have been proposed by people who do not recognize that there is one true God who created the heaven and the earth. These are usually individuals who have ignored the truth and settled for other forces of nature that operate in their environments. They have abandoned their reasoning to these forces and cannot even see that some of these cultural norms are antithetical to the absolute truth in the Word of God. Jeremiah 10 makes it quite clear that it is illogical to represent the Living God with a carving. Carved images have no life in them and so it becomes preposterous to claim that such things can stand for God.

ARE YOU IN OR OUT?

In leadership and management there is a vertical dyadic linkage theory that puts leaders and their followers into In-Groups and Out-Groups (Lussier and Achua 2007).

The Out-Group on the other hand has to do with those in the team but not of the same mind/attitude as the leader. Such followers will usually be given specific directives for how to do their assigned duties. The comments and suggestions of the followers will often be ignored and the leaders will tend to come down hard on the mistakes of the followers. The leader in this group will also focus mostly on the followers’ areas of poor performance.

Both attitudes will produce different effects on the leader and the followers. Those in the In-Group will love what they do but the Out-Group members will loathe everything they do.

Now, there is some semblance in the Kingdom of God. We are all sinners but there are religious and irreligious sinners. The religious sinners want to feel part of the In-Group because of their religious deeds such as church-attendance, long prayers and helping the poor in society. The irreligious sinners on the other hand do not care really about prayers and church-attendance. They may engage in a few acts of mercy but don’t bother about religious issues.

It is worth noting that acceptance into the Kingdom of God isn’t dependent on our religiosity or lack of it. It is entirely dependent on faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we embrace God’s gift of faith in Christ, we become members of the In-Group and beneficiaries of the fruits of the group. The religious sinner will still miss out because of not trusting in Christ and all who fail to embrace the gift of faith will remain in the Out-Group where their inability to please God remains (Romans 9:30-33).

DISOBEDIENCE UNRAVALLED

There is drought and famine in many parts of the world today and the accompanying anguish is unbearable. The Word of God has promised that those who obey the Lord (Jesus) will be blessed not just spiritually but in their physical lives as well yet we see even believers suffering as a result of these extreme conditions. Has God lied to us? Are biblical passages on blessings for obedience irrelevant today? Aren’t there true believers in the world? What exactly has changed?

The Bible is very clear that God promises rain in due season to the people if they obey Him (Deuteronomy 11:13-16) but we do not seem to see this happening. We tend to use all the right phrases in our prayers and pleas to God but still no rain falls as we would expect. We wonder why we experience erratic weather conditions. We often fail to realize that our disobedience is not so much in our absenteeism in church, less giving to church programmes or praying wrongly but in disobedience to God in environmental matters.

We are constantly destroying forests to give way to construction of huge structures that are not necessarily of value to everyone. Trees are being cut down at an alarming rate in order to make charcoal and timber. Charcoal is certainly good because we use it as fuel but we make very little or no effort to replace the trees or plant many more. Maisonettes are also being put up on beach plots and all the mangroves are totally destroyed. If this isn’t disobedience against God, I wonder what we can refer to as disobedience.

As long as we continue with this wanton destruction of the environment, we will experience trouble all through because flagrant disobedience compels God to give up on us so that we get to discover that when He speaks about obeying (Psalm 81:8-13), He is referring to having faith in Christ and active conservation of the environment.

A well maintained ecosystem will undoubtedly ensure rain comes at the right time and in the right amount. Let all people wake up and participate in environmental conservation for our survival and that of our animals.

RELATING WITH UNBELIEVERS

It is a lot easier for us to associate with fellow believers because we always share a common area of understanding. However, our Lord Jesus expects us to go beyond familiar circles and invest in others. True fellowship comes about when we learn to engage positively with those who may not be of our faith.

Our effectiveness as believers who are out to serve the Lord will be seen when we humble ourselves and associate with unbelievers who feel unworthy before the Lord. It is the best way of drawing them to the gate of heaven. We should show hospitality to those who cannot pay back in response to God’s mercy. Christ reached out to all the people and attended to their deepest needs.

There are many ways we can engage with unbelievers. Praying for each one of them by name, for example, indicates that we are truly concerned about their spiritual wellbeing. We should find time to spend with unbelievers; this will enable us to avoid going back to the comfort of the church and fellow believers. Our love for God and the neighbours will be seen through such gestures as identifying two or more people who do not belong to our churches but with whom we would enjoy spending time together. Listen to their life issues and offer friendly advice devoid of condemnation.

When we have unbelieving family members, it is always good to be close to them and encourage them in their struggles. We should appreciate them and keep praying for their salvation. The best guiding principle should be to allow neighbours to be attracted to us and use that opportunity to share the word of God with them. This should be done in a gentle and friendly manner.

We are never going to win others to Christ by becoming more sinful or lowering our morals to be acceptable to our friends. God does not call us to do that but to be light in a dark world, to stand for truth in a world of lies and to be healing salt in a world of festering filth.

FOLLOW THE TRUTH

Satan has been in the business of opposing the true gospel from the time of the early church. He does this through false teaching within the church. To avoid his tricks, we need to be discerning by abiding in the Word and in Spirit (1 John 2:24-27).

The true gospel is revealed to us through the written word and its central message is the love of God for sinful humanity as opposed to strange revelations by the false teachers. These teachers tend to emphasize instant blessings to those who accept their message. This is contrary to the biblical teaching of waiting upon the Lord and allowing Him to operate within His time frame to provide for our needs.

False teachers start out with orthodox teaching then gradually turn away from the truth. They build up a following to uphold their ideas and are usually motivated by a number of things. There are those who are looking for fame and financial gain. They feel the more famous they are, the more power they wield, and the more people they will get. They will form new groups and throw the entire congregation into confusion as to where the truth is. Others will simply want to bring in a new experience such as spiritualism so that church members may think they are closer to God than others.

True believers know that they have been regenerated by the spirit of God and are not merely corporate church members. They recognize that there is no perfect church and can persevere amid difficulties. They are usually committed to work through the problems that arise in church in the same way a family irons out their issues through constructive dialogue. In instances where there are huge doctrinal differences, true believers recognize the importance of preserving purity of faith in Christ as opposed to unity or church growth.