Coronavirus A Month Later

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In early April, I published the article Coronavirus and Fear. I knew God was saying the fear would cause far more harm than the virus itself, and I shared what I knew about how the responses to the coronavirus were counterproductive and would cause a great deal of human suffering.

Almost a month later, data from comparing various places that did total lockdowns with those that didn’t, as well as coronavirus data before and after lockdown, is showing that lockdowns saved ZERO lives. If anything, strict lockdown areas have often had higher coronavirus death counts. Just compare Tokyo, which did not shut down and is reporting fewer than 500 covid-19 deaths, with the slightly smaller NYC, which did and has reported over 12,000. Of course, we know that thousands of deaths in New York’s reported death toll were of people never tested for coronavirus. However, these numbers are also high because New York forced nursing homes to receive still-contagious COVID-19 patients instead of allowing them access to a nearly empty hospital ship. Several states under strict lockdown have done the same, resulting in thousands of deaths. It appears that they are just trying to keep the numbers up in order to keep their narrative going! They are even robbing the cemeteries to pad death totals by adding past deaths as presumed “coronavirus fatalities.”

Universities such as Stanford, as well as many medical doctors, have figured that the coronavirus case mortality rate is about the same or a little higher than that of the flu. In spite of widespread efforts to inflate the numbers, the death tolls have fallen far short of what “experts” predicted. This does not mean that the virus has not killed people or even overwhelmed a few health systems which were not prepared. However, putting so much focus on an epidemic that has still killed fewer people worldwide than a bad flu season distracts from seeing the big picture and completely distorts a realistic perspective of the situation.

The United Nations World Food Programme estimates that by the end of this year, more than 260 million people will face starvation. That’s twice last year’s figures. The International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that if the world GDP declines by another 5%, another 147 million people could be plunged into extreme poverty. It is also hard to estimate the lives that have already been lost and will be lost due to increasing suicide, domestic violence, and violent crime rates, substance abuse, broken health systems, and no medical care for those who needed it urgently. Worldwide lockdowns have already had a large death toll, and in the long run they could cost hundreds of millions of lives.

I’ve updated the article Coronavirus and Fear significantly since I first published it, with new links to help understand the current situation. I soon started getting messages from friends that they couldn’t share my website posts. Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram have completely blocked not just that article, but my whole website from being shared on their platforms! Facebook and Youtube have openly said they are censoring anything that doesn’t agree with the World Health Organization, which first opposed travel restrictions and told us the virus didn’t transmit human to human when they knew otherwise, and then flipped and greatly exaggerated the situation. Yet now even a top World Health Organization official is saying that Sweden, which avoided lockdowns, should be the model for the world. Facebook and Youtube are censoring medical doctors as well as renowned virologists and epidemiologists who disagree with lockdowns.

We have seen an explosion of religious persecution and totalitarianism in Western countries, all under the pretext of saving lives. The mayor of Kansas City is ordering pastors to turn over the names, addresses, and phone numbers of anybody who enters churches, and threatening to jail them for six months and close their churches if they don’t comply. This is something we only imagined happening in regimes like communist China or Nazi Germany.

Meanwhile, we are hearing reports of foul play everywhere. I have nearly 5,000 Facebook friends and I have seen a comment or two of someone sharing that they lost a loved one to COVID-19. However, I’ve seen a lot more posts and comments saying something like “My friend’s dad died in a car accident and they said it was COVID-19. They tried to get them to change the death certificate, but they said they couldn’t.” People are hearing doctors and nurses they know personally speak up about this. It’s not just in the US. We heard from a friend whose brother is a nurse in Rio de Janeiro that if a patient dies of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever, it gets listed as COVID-19. Many NYC Funeral Directors and Pennsylvania coroners are also speaking out about it.

My Uber driver said he didn’t believe it until he saw the video, but some people suspected foul play when a film crew was filming the burial of a bunch of coffins in Minas Gerais (Brazil) for a TV report on COVID-19. They went and dug up a few coffins, filming is, and found they were filled with rocks and dirt! I can’t verify this particular report but what are we to think when we hear dozens of such reports coming out of the woodwork, and many are verified!

The President of Tanzania thought something fishy was going on, so he sent in samples from fruits and animals for coronavirus testing, but with the names of people. Most of them came back positive! Were the tests themselves contaminated with COVID-19 as they found some UK tests were? Were they tests just faulty? Or did they lie about the results?

Earlier, CBS news was caught using footage from an Italian hospital and representing it as New York City. The apologized and said it was a mistake. But they kept playing the same game and they’ve just been caught again, this time staging lines of people as if they were going to get tested for coronavirus.

OK, let’s go on to what God is saying in the middle of this craziness! But first, remember that you may want to check out my updated Coronavirus and Fear article for more of what’s going on. You may also want to check out this website put up by a group of physicians in Western Alabama on Coronavirus Truths (and lies), and this article by a Swiss doctor on COVID-19.

God Determined The Time And Place You Would Live!

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I recently heard God say “Be thankful for the time and the place you live in.”

Acts 17:26 (ERV) God began by making one man, and from him he made all the different people who live everywhere in the world. He decided exactly when and where they would live.

Many people are now more afraid of what’s happening in the world than of the virus. But the perspective that comes from understanding the gospel and walking in fellowship with Christ isn’t focused on “What will happen to me?” Rather, it asks “What is God’s purpose for me in this generation?”

Acts 13:36 (NIV) Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep.

I was just re-reading my book Present Access To Heaven. I read my Heaven Now trilogy periodically to encourage myself. One of the things I said there was that if our joy doesn’t hinge on our circumstances but rather comes from giving away God’s love, nothing can take our joy. The heavenly perspective is that in whatever situation we find ourselves, we have the privilege of representing Jesus there. So we thank God for the place and the time in which we live.

Why are you living? What determines your joy reveals what you are living for!

Ephesians 5:2 (NRSV) and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

The Privilege of Representing Christ

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Many people are already going hungry. I heard a report from friends in Uganda that five children have already died in their area from starvation during the lockdowns, even though they have no cases of coronavirus in their area. Although I live in a third-world country, I’d say the city where I live now is a first-world city. It’s far from being one of the most impoverished areas. Even so, last week someone we know was crying because she waited in line for hours to get food and it ran out right before her turn. We ended up helping them with some groceries. My wife said the daughter hadn’t eaten in a day. This scripture came to me:

Acts 11:27-30 (NRSV) At that time prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over all the world; and this took place during the reign of Claudius. The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers living in Judea; this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

If you are able, this is a great time to send relief to those most affected by hunger! It’s also a great time to learn from brothers in Christ who are walking in supernatural provision. Check out my article A New Paradigm For Supernatural Provision And Finances if you haven’t yet!

Christ’s light shines brightly through the church when, in pressing circumstances, we turn outward and manifest the overflowing joy the comes from expressing God’s love instead of turning inward and getting depressed because times are tough. Many people are looking for hope right now. We have what they need!

Some Christians believe that the world is going to hell in a handbasket anyway and hoping for anything else is useless. As I shared last time in Responding To Chaos From Heaven’s Perspective, I reject such fatalism. The current situation is a great opportunity to see evil people removed from their place of influence, and I am declaring Psalm 37!

Time To Stand For Truth!

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Some Christians with a fatalist theology keep quoting Jesus’s words “my kingdom is not of this world” and concluding that Christians should not be involved politically. It is true that God’s kingdom, which we are a part of, is not moved by worldly kingdoms. However, God’s kingdom certainly does influence the kingdoms of this world for good, which is why Paul urged Timothy that prayers be made for all in high positions of authority so that they would have a peaceable life.

Many of our Old Testament heroes, such as Joseph, David, Daniel, and Esther had God-given political influence. In the New Testament, John the Baptist was imprisoned and executed for speaking truth to a political leader. Paul spoke truth to kings and rulers, and he made the corrupt King Felix uncomfortable:

Acts 24: 25-26 (NRSV) And as he discussed justice, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for the present; when I have an opportunity, I will send for you.” At the same time he hoped that money would be given him by Paul, and for that reason he used to send for him very often and converse with him.

Lockdowns are costing lives and causing great human suffering, yet many leaders have become tyrannical and want to continue them. This is injustice. Will we speak truth even when it is uncomfortable and some may react with anger? Esther risked her life to speak truth, saying “If I perish, I perish.” 

Esther 4:14 (NIV) And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?

Proverbs 31:8-9 (The Message) Speak up for the people who have no voice, for the rights of all the down-and-outers. Speak out for justice! Stand up for the poor and destitute!

Slavery ended without a war in the British empire because prominent Christians like John Newton, John Wesley, and especially William Wilberforce spoke out about a highly political topic. Many Christians contributed to the end of slavery and segregation laws in the United States through civil disobedience.

United States law says that Deprivation of rights under color of law is a crime with penalties ranging from imprisonment to the death sentence. Many officials are doing just that under the pretext of a coronavirus crisis. We are seeing more and more reports of US citizens engaging in civil disobedience by exercising their constitutional rights. They are opening businesses and opening churches. Police in various places are also refusing to enforce unconstitutional orders.

The early church engaged in civil disobedience, as do churches in many oppressive nations today, by meeting and proclaiming the gospel. Corrie Ten Boom and other Christians engaged in civil disobedience in order to save the lives of Jews during World War 2. Widespread civil disobedience at this time in history may prevent us from going down a dangerous path and end up saving many more lives. The article Covid-19 and Christian Action lays a great foundation for Christians engaging in civil disobedience.

I encourage you guys to share this and the two previous articles with others and to write to state representatives and elected officials. Remind them of the tremendous consequences of lockdowns. Talk about the failures of technocracy. And point out that all the data says lockdowns have not saved any lives. Maybe try sharing any article from my website on Facebook or Instagram. When they don’t allow you to, click the option to appeal and give them some pushback about their censorship.

Add believing prayer to your action. Believing prayer is impressed by God and not by the problem. Those who pray the prayer of faith like Elijah did so often shape the course of history!

Here again are the previous two article dealing with coronavirus:

Coronavirus And Fear

Responding to Chaos From Heaven’s Perspective