‘Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins. Lev 26:21 NKJV
Be still and know that I am God” - Ps. 46:10
BY DANIEL AMROVHE AND OLUROTIMI AJIBOWO
If someone had told the world last year that the entire world would come to a complete standstill, it would have been considered unimaginable and implausible. Many would have laughed it away. When what later became known as the Coronavirus (otherwise referred to as the COVID-19) plague started in Wuhan, a province of China, and the world was looking at how the nation was battling to contain the scourge, few would have imagined that the devastation would eventually touch them so closely; bringing the world of work, travel, leisure and relaxation, trading and economic activities - even politics, sports, worship and religion - to a complete halt.
By the time the world took stock, it was estimated that millions of jobs around the world would be lost, many big and small companies bankrupted, airlines facing the possibility of folding up and other losses that would spiral into trillions of dollars.
After it filtered into the rest of the world, even the best health systems were challenged, leaving tens of thousands of people , particularly in the classified advanced countries of the world, dead. Photos and footage of the men in US Army uniform went viral on the Internet and around the world, kneeling to pray. In a world that had virtually lost any regard or reckoning for God, people began to enter their sobering moments.
Nation after nation announced one form of lockdown or the other spanning weeks, for their citizens, as a means of slowing down the pandemic. The initial explanation that it was believed to have started from a fish and animal market in Wuhan was later debunked as false, with the evidence that Wuhan is the city where China’s institutes and laboratories for biological weapons is located and that the “fishmarket story” was a ruse to cover up the strange disease the nation bequeathed to the world.
“Many are the uses of adversity,” goes the popular saying. On the flipside of the lockdown’s disadvantages were the upsides: families usually separated through the stress and rigours of work or academics of the children, had the chance to bond better than even the times the parents used to be on leave. Others took the time to learn new skills, For some others, it was a time to sit at what they had wanted to do for a long time which pressure on their time had not enabled. A number of people took to aerobics and exercises,
Surprised at the turn of events, there arose questions as to the source of the pandemic. What followed was a season of conspiracy theories as people explained away the source of the virus and the motives behind its release. Today, most of what was alleged to be conspiracy theories have turned out to be facts. These include:
That the virus was developed in the U.S. and surreptitiously exported to China to avoid criminal liability in the US.
That the World Health Organisation worked with the Chinese authorities in a planned script to ensure the worldwide outbreak of the virus. Evidences cited for these include the fact that the WHO was party to under-declaring the number of casualties in Wuhan and that the lockdown of Wuhan was only effected after about five million potential carriers of the virus had been allowed to travel to different parts of the world. China received no sanction for this.
For many, particularly at the outset of the virus, it was unclear what the role of God was in all the developments especially as the matter got to the point where even Churches were included in the lockdown, bringing an end to congregational worship. “Did He bring the virus?” “If He didn’t, couldn’t He have stopped it if it was the devil bringing it upon the earth and He is said to be more powerful than the devil?” “Is it the end of the world?” These were some of the questions that trended that even many Christians had a hard time providing answers to.
Today, it should be clear to anyone who has monitored information and the spread of the virus that God did not bring about the virus (though He allowed it) and that were it not for God, the intention of the masterminds of the virus was a world-wide epidemic of gargantuan proportions. Truthfully speaking, without divine intervention in the affairs of the world, especially in regions such as Africa, deaths arising from the pandemic would have been catastrophic.
Today, the world is just trying to come out of a pandemic. That has been the news deliberately since the beginning of the year. A lot of information has trended on social media but what understanding should Christians have in all of these? If God is not the source, what were the reasons for its release and what is God’s reaction?
PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND THE MAN-MADE PANDEMIC
Some of the reasons behind the release of the virus can be summarised as
Bring down the economy of Nations through lockdowns and social distancing
Isolate people and void them of the health of human interaction
Simulate the monitoring and control of society through fear mongering
Bring the church to a halt by this fear and prevent effective breaking of bread
Use a distant future availability of vaccine to prevent people from seeking alternative healing and solidify the above sorcery.
Invade society through laws to be enacted by ignorant and selfish legislative body of Nations
Practice using the full weight of Nation's military and police to quell now and future unrests as a response to the effect of mischievous legislations.
Prepare the WHO and the UN to control health and wellbeing of whole society by seeking to invalidate effective individual nation's unique answers to diseases. Madagascar is a good example.
Put society and the whole world under a constant Pandemic to allow final invasion of the One World Government who through stealth, want to give answers to all human problems by controlling, Agriculture, minerals, food, travelling and human interaction.
Finally, to create human robots who are controlled through chips embedded vaccines without which you cannot have drivers license, business license, international passport and right to many other things.
SO WHY DID GOD ALLOW THIS PANDEMIC?
1. To get the attention of His people. For many, church had become a routine. People went to church but the hearts of many had become so far from the Lord. The pandemic brought multitudes to seek God again. We have all been witnesses to how families, even unbelievers, have started to pray and seek God all over the world.
2.Many churches had become business centres leading the people of God astray making God unhappy. For many years, God had been warning many of the leaders. The shutting of churches has allowed God's people to not only seek Him directly but re-define the meaning of church as Jesus described it:
“...the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. John 4:21-23 NKJV
New Testament true worship became understood as many prayed and praised God in the streets and balconies of homes. The Cathedrals and mosques were rendered useless. Households prayed more together and consistently so. Idolatry, the very means by which Satan corrupted the world from the worship of God suffered a great blow. The rich and poor among men were made equal in one hour.
Witchcraft spirits have been cast out of churches and the worship of man brought to naught. Satan fell as lightning from heaven as the peoples' attention is drawn to the power of God because of the exposure of the futility of Governments and their institutions, scientists and economists.
3. To confirm that His word is true. From what we have seen and heard, the reality that we are in the end times should be clear to everyone and that the prophecies of Daniel, Paul, the Book of Revelation and the sayings of the Lord Jesus are amazingly and precisely accurate. From the peculiarities of what we have seen, we should also be able to confirm that events yet to come to pass will come as has been spoken.
Soon, Nigerians will see that the prince of this world, the great master of misrule, is judged and expelled from Nigeria particularly. All will be well when his power is broken who made the mischief of civil rule, military adventurism, political gangsterism in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
4. Finally, to believers, that it is the time to prepare. There is no doubt that this pandemic and its agenda caught virtually all believers napping. It is now not only clear that the Word of God is true, there’s just a little time left.
MOMENT OF DECISION: WHAT IS GOD'S DIRECTION FOR HIS PEOPLE?
A pandemic has been deliberately shoved in the eyes of the world as a diversion to make it the focus for all of humanity and obliterate everything else; including God’s plan. God wants us to understand the times. In Matthew 16, we have an account of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to Jesus to ask Him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 Jesus answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; 3 and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites!* You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. Matt 16:2-3 NKJV
As anyone can see, He reprimanded them for not being able to discern the sign of the times. Why? God wants His people to be able to understand what is going on around them. That is why He speaks to them through prophecies and other spiritual gifts. There’s good news for everyone because God expects His remnants, including those who might be reading this, to play a major role in His plan and agenda over the next few months and years. We will come to that later but specifically, what does God want His people to know?
GOD IS ANGRY WITH THE CHURCH
The first thing every Christian should know by now is that God is angry with the Church. What is the evidence? He has said that again and again in unequivocal terms and ways. In Nigeria and many other parts of the world, the church is bearing the direct onslaught of persecution which God has allowed in line with His Word. In Nigeria, there is direct oppression of Christians in the land, displacement of Christian communities and it appears as if God is afar off. As if these were not enough, the leaders have also aggravated the matter, failing in their responsibility of bringing the counsel that captures God’s mind neither has there been direct words on the pulpit or through prophetic utterance indicating the direction of God for God's people. Without these checks and still concentrating on the prosperity gospel and motivational teachings that sooth individual needs, the Church has been on a freefall, each person doing what is right in his or her own eyes, looking for profit and advantage at the expense of others, without considering the instructions of God in the process.
The late boomers of the1990s and early 2000s who have known no other version of Christianity other than the current experience may not appropriately understand this in depth. In fact, their case is pathetic because many of them in their generation, in spite of several years in Sunday School, are the youth asking question about Who is God, why they are Christians and the relevance of going to church. You can't blame them. Beyond jeeps and other material acquisitions, they've been unable to define what Christianity is about.
As recently as 30 to 40 years ago, Christians held crusades in which the raw power of God came down in apostolic miracles: the blind saw, the lame walked, the deaf heard and the mute spoke. There were also diverse healings of different ailments, unlike the stage-managed ones of today. God have mercy on us. If a Christian was your accountant or he held the key to your treasury, you slept assured that your possessions were intact. Today Christians are afraid of other Christians.
Back then, the kind of immoral conduct reported among people who are supposed to be pastors today was not even found among new converts. If a convert was persecuted for his or her faith, older Christians rallied round to pay their fees and take care of the one persecuted. Dressing, though unglamorous, was chaste. Today, women shamelessly go to church half-clad. Stealing was rare; today many people bearing Christian names, are behind high crimes. And we can go on.
All these was based on the gospel brought to Nigeria on imperfect foundations! Back then, Christians had rare cathedrals but there was righteousness. Today, there are churches on virtually every street, with some buildings having 2, 3, 4 churches housed within the same premises. Based on these, it should be understandable that God is angry.
CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY!
The second thing God wants us to know is that certain slangs and terminologies have started to emerge from those who brought this pandemic upon us and they are becoming popular. At this point, a note of warning needs to be sounded. These slangs have the effect of causing a shift in the thinking and values of Christians. The Bible warns us expressly not to join unbelievers in what they confess:
For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying: "Do not say, 'A conspiracy,' concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled. The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Isa 8:11-14 NKJV.
For Christians, spoken words are confessions.
THERE IS A VACUUM
The silence of the leaders and the abandonment of the flock of God has left a vacuum. This is the third issue. This vacuum is noticeable through the scarcity of the true Word of God.
At a recent prayer meeting in Nigeria during which brethren were seeking the counsel of God, lamenting that we had been praying repentance prayers and we have not seen the hand of God, we have been taking authority, yet the persecution has not ended, God responded by saying that He was ready to move on the situation in Nigeria but His people are not ready. Why? Firstly, majority of the people are continuing in their old ways without repentance and are therefore not different from the unbelievers He wants to replace while secondly, those He has earmarked to step in are either looking to the leaders or thinking it’s the “other person”. “If I come to clear the mess on ground,” the Lord seemed to be saying, “to whom will I hand over?”
In responding to God, two things are necessary: repentance and preparation. Repentance comes from abandoning whatever God has proscribed in His Word while preparation comes from waiting on Him. The waiting produces God’s joker.
SHINE YOUR EYES!
If you look carefully, for those who can discern, you will see that a ‘falling away’ is already in taking place though the big one is yet to come. In many ways, current events are fore-shadowing things to come. Why has God allowed it now? One, to show His faithfulness not to leave His people in the dark and two, for each of us to check ourselves whether we’re genuinely following Him or men and make amends, where necessary. Where men have become the idols, His Word is clear: Depart! Depart! Go out from there, Touch no unclean thing; Go out from the midst of her, Be clean, You who bear the vessels of the LORD. Isa 52:11 NKJV. Where should such a one then go? He led Abraham from a land of idolatry to a land of promise. If you’re willing, He will lead you too. Trust Him. You are expected to walk by faith.
A NEW CREATION
This is the final thing God wants His people to know. Evil has multiplied greatly in the world and God is set to bring in a final move that will involve the before He allows the Antichrist. How does God want to do it? He will send forth His Spirit. What will happen when God sends His Spirit? We find the answer in Psalms 104:30
You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the earth. Ps 104:30 NKJV
Joel prophesied: “…for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:” Joel 2:1-10,
There will be a new creation. Will He bring or create new people on the earth? No! The people to do the work are already on earth. As some of you are reading this today, God will confirm it in your heart. What will happen is that His Spirit will fill them and this creation will go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit in massive evangelisation of the world. God will send many of you to other nations of the world with His power and there will be a renewal of the face of the earth. The world will see what Paul describes as the manifestation of the sons of God (Rom 8:19-23). it is written:
"And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants, I will pour out My Spirit in those days. "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. Joel 2:28-30 NKJV
There is a coming outpouring. As we have said, every believer must renew their commitment to God at this time and stay that way. We cannot continue to play with sin. We must be holy. We must be sure we are born again.
GOD’S EXPECTATION
Now that the reality of the end time has come upon us and the counsel of God has been articulated, what is God’s expectation of us individually? Let us bring in three insights from what Jesus said that should help us.
Firstly, in the recorded temptation of Jesus in the wilderness as He was about to start His ministry, the first test the devil gave Him, because He (Jesus) was hungry, was to turn stones into bread. To anyone casually looking at that temptation, the suggestion looked logical, more so as Jesus had the power to do it as the son of God. To the casual listener, what the devil said could have been taken as a reminder to Jesus that Jesus could do it. But Jesus replied, that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of the Father.
What does this mean for us? Young or old, what we will eat is the first test that everyone faces. This is where most people fail. What are you doing to make money to eat now? What are you trying to do now and what are you willing to do? Is it Godly? Will Jesus do it? Every decision is important now because the time is very short indeed! The words of Jesus remind us that we must live our lives by EVERY WORD that we find as an instruction in the Bible”\: loving God with all our heart, loving our neighbour as ourselves and living holy as empowered by grace. That is the only way we are going to survive this time without compromise and be ready!
Secondly, as Jesus concluded His comment on John the Baptist, He declared, "But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying: 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; We mourned to you, and you did not lament.'
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her children."* Matt 11:16-19 NKJV
What is the importance of these words of Jesus to us? It’s about choices. His conclusion is that it is what you do that will show whether you are wise or not. Many things will call to us, friends, needs, money, enjoyment as the world defines it but your decision to continue to obey the Lord will mark you out as a wise person.
Finally, the third admonition of Jesus is an understanding of the day and night from His perspective. Hear Him: “…I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” John 9:1-4 KJV. By this we are to understand immediately that no opportunity for doing good should be overlooked - DAY representing the opportunity that is time-bound; NIGHT, the loss of that opportunity. Ephesians 5:15-16 says, See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Here, another expression brings light further to the DAY and the NIGHT events. The time when prudence is conveniently exercised indicates the DAY and the time period when it is difficult to exercise prudence is the NIGHT, here expressed as evil days.
As a result of the times we are in, the best decision now is that no matter what happens, we must decide that we will not compromise on our faith, even if we have to die believing in Jesus. In Mathew 24, Jesus gave a rundown of the events that will happen before the end. We have seen wars and rumours of wars and we shall se more. We have seen earthquakes and storms and more are yet to come. Jesus added that a time will come when brothers and sisters will betray their brethren. So we all have to be prepared.
THE PLACE OF NIGERIA
Nigeria is particularly blessed because God has indicated and confirmed over and over again that Nigeria will be the arrowhead of His final move on the earth, coming forth with a gospel that will bring revival to every other nation in the world. This explains why the devil is fighting tooth and nail, hoping to thwart God’s agenda. If you are a Nigerian, rejoice and be glad because very soon, God will arise to do a new thing. What is left is for us to strive to be a part of His move.
Take the decision today to follow Jesus all the way. We must do away with old, unholy lifestyles. And because we are in the end times, we must be watchful. Matthew 24:1-14 has given us the insight of what is to come. So be prepared. May God bless us and count us worthy in Jesus name.
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