Why it matters
Opinions are divided among Christians about the Covid-19 crisis and the appropriate responses. I believe that we should do all we can, while we can, to speak truth to the nations. We do not have a spirit of fear, but a spirit of sonship and that is why we speak wisdom based on understanding. This is not a matter of shouting “Help it is the end times”, it is about shaping the world we live in by contributing to the democratic process. And the basis of democracy is that we keep the law, but also that we raise our voices when trends and emergency measures shift our society in a bad direction.
In March, after some basic internet research based on the fundamental principles that I learnt studying science at Cambridge University, I put out a newsletter which combined a scientific assessment and a prophetic view.
In the meantime, thousands of research papers and many more posts and articles have been published both on the side of the authorities and from the concerned public. The basic questions and answers that I laid out 5 months ago stand to this day. To read that newsletter, follow this link:
On the importance of having the right priorities
Deadly diseases were everywhere
The first Christian missionaries to Africa went knowing they would soon die of a tropical disease. Later generations, like my parents did not expect to die, but knew that they were not taking the safe or comfortable option. Deadly diseases were part of my childhood in E. Africa and malaria still kills over 400,000 people per year worldwide. Like CoVid-19, it feels like the flu for many. For 1.4% it is deadly. I was eight, when I caught it and suffered 2 weeks of horrid fever and delirium. But thanks to Choloroquine I survived.
Repressive regimes are many
For many Christians in Middle East and Asia, preaching the gospel is more risky than hugging a coughing Italian. It comes with the threat of arrest, beatings, prison and much worse. These brothers and sisters remind us that we must not squander the opportunities that we have.
In the name of keeping us healthy, governments are going to increasingly demand the right to know where you have been and who you have spoken to, etc. Civil rights will be eroded. The calls for a cashless society will grow louder and with it, the risk of totalitarian anti-christ rule.
Revelation 12:11 talks of the cosmic battle between those who hold to God’s commands and the testimony of Jesus and the Accuser, the ancient Serpent, the devil or Satan.
They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
A church without a testimony, the church that loves its own life, the church that has been built on a message of health and wealth will not be prepared. We will be like all the people caught off guard without proper face masks.
