The merciful God that we know.

I received an email from an evangelist/teacher concerning Coronavirus. He said every time there is a pestilence, it is sent by God and the devil has nothing to do with it. He quoted dozens of Scriptures form the Bible to substantiate his teachings. I hope this preacher is in good health cos if ever he succumb to an illness, he may have to reflect on his own teachings.

There are always extremes in everything people do and believe. I hope not too many preachers have the same view as this evangelist. Maybe not to that extreme but there are too preachers who claim God is behind this Covid-29 to shake the church. Really? Was there a forewarning? Because every time before God allowed a pestilence or calamity, He forewarns.

Is God truly responsible for this virus? The earth, as we know, is sick and has been since the Fall at the beginning of time. Human abuse of the eco systems is yet another contributing factor of cause-and-effect. While we may not and will not know for certain what is and what is not regarding the origin of this virus, one thing I can be certain of, it will pass because of the mercies of God. Go back to the Word. Look at history past. God is always watching. Time and again He intervenes where human fails. Take a look at this:

Matt 24:22. “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened”.

When the Great Tribulation kicks in (as God had forewarned) the whole of humanity will be wiped off if not for the mercies of God who capped it at the 7th year. I don’t know how long this Covid 19 is going to last. It may ravage on, maybe even exponentially and wildly beyond our control. But there will come a time when God will say: “It is enough” and then He restore order just like previous pandemics. For now, He is watching over India, Italy, Spain, us and the whole world. It grieves him too how human disregard God and His creations. Yet He longs for humanity to turn to Him. Perhaps during this pandemic time, many will.

Just to wrap up.
1. Don’t blame God for things He did not do or suggest that He did.
2. Watch out for false prophets. They prowl over social media.
“At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time. (v.23)
3. Remember Y2K? It was “pandemic”. There was widespread panic that computers would be unable to operate when the date descended from "99" to "00". That would affect everything that’s computer related and bring about a catastrophe upon our planet. Financial markets would collapse. There were "panic buying" of software and programming to counteract the Y2K bug. At midnight 1999 when the clock struck 12pm (00), nothing happened. January 01, 2000 00:01am proved Y2K was “much ado about nothing”.

I am not implying this Coronova threat is non threatening. We have already seen its reality and impact. But maybe, just maybe, we could be a little less afraid? Our mental too is just as important. God is merciful. He had not abandoned humanity. He is watching over us - peoples and nations. Have a little faith.