Many Christians are suffering through a terrible ordeal as the result of the Coronavirus.

Some have lost their jobs or businesses. Others have suffered from loss of loved ones or the disease itself. For these believers, the testimony of a man who lost his prosperity, his children, and suffered from a terrible disease can show us how to endure an ordeal. His name was Job.

The Bible says that God will humble and test us (Deuteronomy 8:2), and He allowed Job to be tested for reasons that no one then or now fully understands. Some say it was fear for his children that gave Satan a foothold, while others say God was showing him off to Satan. Our favorite theory is that God allowed Satan to test Job in hopes that Satan would repent. But it was not the reason that the mattered, it was Job’s faith filled response, paraphrased below, which allowed him to endure the ordeal.

When the first calamity hit Job and he lost his prosperity and his children he refused to abandon his faith:

“No matter what happens I will bless the name of the Lord.” – Job 1:20-21

Then, after he lost his health and his wife told him to curse God and die, he refused to rebel against God:

“No matter what happens I will accept what God does.” – Job 2:10

After that his friends came, not to comfort, but to condemn him. They falsely accused him and even when they spoke the truth it was in the wrong spirit. Job knew better and held firmly to his faith:

• “Though God slay me I will hope in Him.” – Job 13:15
• “God is my advocate and friend.” – Job 16:19-21
• “I know He lives and will give me life forever.” – Job 19:25-27
• “He will test me but I will be refined as gold.” – Job 23:10
• “I will not speak falsely about God. I will speak truth.” –Job 27:3,4
• “The fear of the Lord is wisdom. I will do right.” –Job 28:28

Finally Job poured his heart out to God. The Lord did not explain Himself to Job but instead showed Job His majesty. And Job renewed his devotion to God:

• “I will not argue with You.” –Job 40:4
• “Even though I do not understand, I will trust you” – Job 42:2-6

Then God began the process of Job’s restoration by having him pray for his friends who had sinned against him by their judgements (Job 42:7-9). Forgiveness, it seems, is the key to many doors.
After this God restored Job’s prosperity and gave him more children. The Bible says that the later part of his life was more blessed than the former part (Job 42:12).

So remember the righteous man Job as you suffer through an ordeal like his. Keep your faith and trust in God even though you do not understand why this test has come to you.

One day, you will be able to rejoice in your restoration and you can say like Job “He will test me but I will be refined as gold.”

A little isolation can give you the opportunity to improve your prayer life and get closer to God.

Too much isolation can be deadly.

The idea of isolating people to slow down the spread of Coronavirus seems to have worked so far. However, the virus is still out there and you could still catch it when the period of isolation is over. Even so, the cost of isolation is getting out of control, and it is becoming deadly.

Doctors are saying that the government isolation orders have kept many people without Coronavirus from seeking medical aid. For example, the number of heart attack and stroke patients admitted to hospitals has declined, meaning that those avoiding hospitals for fear of Coronavirus may suffer irrevocable damage and preventable deaths. Similarly, many cancer patients receiving radiation treatment have not come in and testing for cancer and other diseases has virtually stopped. As hospitals lay off staff because of isolation orders, the death toll from isolation will continue to mount.

Isolation also has substantial mental health consequences. It is well established that unemployment can lead to drug use and suicide. Isolating the nursing home population can lead to loss of the will to live. We are also seeing a rise in child abuse from families forced into isolation. Many people are losing hope and becoming desperate as they face loss of their livelihood and/or businesses.

Like many pandemics, there is no vaccine for Coronavirus and it is possible that it will take years to develop one. However, new studies have shown that the number of “asymptomatic” people is vastly higher than previously believed, reducing the fatality rate to about a 10th of a percent. This means that the virus will eventually create a large enough number of immune people to stop the spread of the virus with fatalities at the same level as the annual flu. So at this point the mass isolation policy has outlived its usefulness and may be hindering the fight against Coronavirus.

As Christians we need to reach out to those victimized by Coronavirus and the deadly isolation it engendered. Many of us need to come out of hiding to feed the poor and bring healing to the sick, love to the lonely, and hope to the hopeless. All of us need to support our brothers and sisters who did these things throughout the plague, refusing to let the people isolate themselves from Jesus – the deadliest isolation there is.

It is also time to end our deadly isolation from our fellow Christians.

Together we can heal our land.

“Let us not give up meeting together“ Hebrew 10:25

Millions of Christians are experiencing what used to be common in our frontier communities: Church at Home.

For some it is an uncomfortable idea. No preacher. No Priest. No Eucharist. No Choir. No Sunday School. Just you and your family alone with God.

Sure, your church may be live streaming or you could watch a TV Preacher. But could you be missing something?

Like our Frontier forefathers most ancient Jews lived a long way from the Temple. So on every Sabbath the family celebrated at home, staying connected to God and each other. They also celebrated the Passover meal, the Seder, at home, passing their faith from generation to generation. Then, at the end of the sacred cycle of feasts, the family lived in booths together to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. At the Temple the Priests stood between God and Man, picturing the saving work of our High Priest Jesus, but God wanted to meet with His people face to face in their homes.

All the more so after Jesus came. The Temple veil was torn and God poured out His Spirit. Now we are temples of the Holy Spirit, called to live in God’s presence. And He wants to be invited into our homes as He was in Ancient Israel.

So this Sunday invite God to your house. Gather the family and open with prayer. Then sing praise and worship songs, with or without instruments or praise tracks, because God inhabits the praises of His people. Let your last song be very soft and loving, and then let a holy hush come in so you can hear from God. Someone should be prepared with a scripture and a short word of edification. Join hands in a circle and have everyone pray to the Lord, from youngest to oldest, and close with a song of thanksgiving.

By all means feel free to participate in a live streamed service or TV Church. And when Churches reopen after the plague passes remember the admonition not to forsake gathering together.

But maybe, just maybe, you will miss God’s presence and invite Him back to your home every week.

“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” Mathew 18:20

During seasons of judgement that which has been hidden is brought to light. It is no different with Coronavirus.

The virus began in China, where the campaign of the Communist Party to convince the world that its authoritarian system was superior to democracy has been exposed as a lie. Instead of being a model of efficiency, the Communist government allowed a local outbreak to become a pandemic. Doctors were silenced or disappeared as the government then tried to conceal the outbreak. The world was told that the disease was not communicable as it spread around the world. Then the number of reported cases mysteriously stopped at 86,000 while outsders like the American Enterprise Institute estimated that the number is 2.9 million. And the cover-up continues as foreign reporters are sent home and Chinese doctors are not allowed to investigate the origins of the virus. Thus has Communist China been shown to be a brutal, repressive country where the Communist Party maintains control through terror and lies. They are not our friends.

Speaking of Socialists, our home grown variety have abandoned their pretense of being “Democratic Socialists” as they try to maneuver their programs into place under the cover of the Coronavirus Crisis. Critical aid legislation has been delayed as the Socialists try to insert their Green New Deal in an effort to strangle a free market recovery. Their attitude toward America’s business sector has been revealed as they attack those companies which are making heroic efforts to produce drugs and equipment to fight the virus. It has become clear that the Democratic Socialists a do not want to “reform” the economy, they want to destroy it.

Most of our media have been very supportive of the Communist Chinese and the Socialist agenda for reasons which the Coronavirus has illuminated. Critical news analysis has been replaced by a simple binary Test: If Trump is for it, it is bad: but if he is against it, it must be good. Thus, when Trump closed the borders to the Chinese in January, he was denounced as a racist and we were told that his concerns about Coronavirus were overblown. Now, as Trump has been proven correct, the media is reversing itself. Trump is accused of not acting fast enough and wanting to put Wall Street ahead of the lives of Americans. And of course when he suggested that a malaria drug found to be successful in many cases should be made more available, the media is quick to attack the 50 year old “unproven” drug. In other words, their political agenda is so important to them that they would rather see patients denied a lifesaving drug. They are not our friends either.

There are more revelations. University students are finding out that they can learn remotely, eliminating the need for lifetime student debt to pay for sports centers and professors who never work. Mobile phone users discovered that phone companies and internet providers could track their movements and would gladly turn over the information to the government. And Christians can be arrested for going to Church by overzealous local officails.

Comfortable, complacent, and careless Americans have seen their illusions burst and come face to face with hard realities. They have gained a new appreciation for things taken for granted like health, family, jobs, schools, churches, and yes, even toilet paper.

Let us pray that we learn the hard lessons of the Coronavirus and clearly see what has been revealed.

Let us also pray that we will not be pulled back into complacency when the plague passes.

You say, “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. – Revelation 3:17-18

As Jesus hung on the cross, struggling painfully for each breath, He uttered seven short, powerful statements showing who He was and what was happening, and encouraging those who would follow Him. It was His last sermon.

1. “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
Jesus is not only practicing the forgiveness He preached (Matthew 5:44), He is asserting His divinity as God who forgives sin (Psalm 103:3). Beyond that, however, He is announcing the beginning of the New Covenant under which our sins will be forgiven (Jerimiah 31:33, 34).

2. “I tell you the Truth, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43)
Jesus’ promise of life to the criminal on the cross tells us that He has authority over Heaven (Psalm 115:16), He will conquer death (Psalm 16:10), and through Him we also will live (John 14:19). He is the priest of the New Covenant because of His indestructible life (Hebrews 7: 16, 17).

3. “Dear woman, here is your Son… here is your mother” (John 19:26, 27)
Jesus took time to entrust His mother into the care of the beloved Disciple John, fulfilling the Scripture at Psalm 69:8 that He was estranged from His brothers and showing us that God expects us to honor our family (Mark 7:10-13). We are also reminded that Jesus was the “Seed of Woman”, the Savior born to a virgin promised in Genesis 3:15.

4. “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Mathew 27:46)
Many of those who heard Jesus, and many commentators since, have failed to understand that Jesus is quoting the Hebrew title of the 22nd Psalm. Jesus sends us to Psalm 22 to show us that 1000 years earlier it was prophesied that Jesus would be mocked (Psalm 22:6-8) and even prophesying the very words of His mockers (Mathew 27:41-43). In one sense, He was mocking His mockers. The crucifixion is also described, as His hands and feet were pierced (Psalm 22:16), His clothes were divided by casting lots (Psalm 22:14), and it was difficult to speak (Psalm 22:15).

Yet Psalm 22 is not a picture of forsakenness or despair, but is instead a declaration of victory. God did not despise the suffering of Jesus (Psalm 22:24). Rather, God used it to purchase eternal life (Psalm 22:26) and promised that all nations will come to Jesus (Psalm 22: 27, 28). Jesus is telling us that He knew the price and gladly paid it.

5. “I am thirsty” (John 19:28)
This is another fulfillment of prophecy (Psalm 69:28), when the suffering Savior is given vinegar for His thirst. Yet in the midst of His pain and distress, Jesus used Psalm 69 to tell us that those who seek God will live (Psalm 69:12), and the God does not despise the suffering of His people (Psalm 69:33). There is also the promise that His people will rebuild Judah (Psalm 69:35, 36), an apparent reference to His promise to return.

6. “It is finished” (John 19:30)
To fully understand this statement, we believe that we need to look to the prophet Daniel. He foretold the coming of the Anointed One who would come 483 years (69×7) after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem (458 B.C.), or 26 A.D., and then be “cut off” in the midst of the next 7 years (Daniel 9:25, 26). Jesus is telling us that He has fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy to finish transgression, put an end to Sin, atone for wickedness, bring eternal righteousness, seal up prophecy, and anoint the Holy One (Daniel 9:24). This is the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

7. “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 43:46)
The last words of Jesus on the cross are taken from Psalm 31. He is telling us that we can take refuge in God (Psalm 31:1-4) and that we can trust God with our life (Psalm 31:15). Our times are in His hands (Psalm 31:19-22) and He preserves the faithful (Psalm 31:23, 24).

With His last sermon Jesus told us what He was doing even as He was doing it.

With his last words He is telling us that God’s hands are the only safe place for our lives.

Can you join Him in saying “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit?”

This year the Lenten season has taken on added urgency because of the Coronavirus.
Things people relied on – money, jobs, government, medical service – have been shaken by a plague with no cure. We are rediscovering that the only firm foundation for our lives is God.
At the same time people have been told to shelter in place without their usual diversions of work, sports, entertainment, eating out, and even going to church. For Christians, their newfound solitude represents a golden opportunity to deepen their spiritual life.
This is also a time of opportunity for the Body of Christ if we will follow God’s plan to overcome a plague and heal our land:
“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and then turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land” – 2 Chroncles 7:14

Step 1 Humble Ourselves
Follow Christ’s plan for humility and righteousness he modeled during his 40 day “Lent” in the dessert.
1. Renew your faith –Mathew 4:3-4 and Deuteronomy 8:1-5
2. Resolve to obey God’s commands – Mathew 4:5-7 and Deuteronomy 6:16-26
3. Rekindle your love for God- Mathew 4:8-10 and Deuteronomy 6:4-15

Step 2 Pray and Seek God’s Face
Connect with God to advance His Kingdom and bring His will to Earth.
1. Hear God’s plans – Psalm 27:7-9, Romans 12:2 and John 15:12-15
2. Pray in place – Mathew 6:6
3. Pray with others using conference calls or simultaneous prayer in place –Matthew 18:19-20
4. Join with larger prayer initiatives like:
• President’s national day of prayer, March 15 – 1 Chronicles, Chapter 21
• Pope’s global united prayer, March 25 –Joel 1:13-15
• National prayer initiatives like Lou Engle’s thejesusfast.global – Joel 2:12-14
Step 3 Turn from Our Wicked Ways
Put our faith into action to show God’s love to the world
1. Work with Christians of all traditions to spread God’s kingdom – John 17:20-23
2. Go outside the Church walls to care for the sick and needy – Mathew 25:31-40
3. Show God’s love by blessings instead of condemnation – 1Peter 3:9
4. Do not become complacent – Mathew 25:1-13
This year the last day of Lent, April 9 coincides with the Passover. Let us remember how the Jews put the Blood of the Passover Lamb on their doorsteps so the Angel of Death would pass over their households. During the Lenten season we are covered also by the Blood of Jesus, our Passover Lamb. Pray that the Angel of Death will Passover your home.
On Good Friday, April 10, remember how Jesus paid the price for our healing, for “by His stripes we are healed” – 1 Peter 2:25
Let us then on Easter Sunday April 12 celebrate the victory of Jesus over sin and death. A victory we share with him:
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” Romans 8:37-39

Tomorrow, March 25, we invite you to join with Christian leaders worldwide to pray for healing from the Coronavirus pandemic.

Christian leaders around the globe are responding to an invitation from Pope Francis: “In these trying days, while humanity trembles due to the threat of pandemic, I would like to propose to all Christians that together we lift our voices to Heaven.” He called on “The Heads of the Churches and the leaders of every Christian community, together with all Christians of the various confessions to invoke the Almighty, the omnipotent God to recite at the same time the prayer that Jesus, our Lord, taught us” –The Lord’s Prayer.

We remember the time when King David’s sin brought a plague on Israel (1 Chronicles 21). As the Angel of Death stood with drawn sword over Jerusalem David and the elders humbled themselves and interceded with God to spare the people. God heard their prayers and the very spot where the angel stood became the site of the Temple.

We believe that God is asking the rulers and elders set over His people to humble themselves and pray in unity to stop the Coronavirus plague. The prophet Joel said “Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn…declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders who live in the land to the House of the Lord your God and cry out to the Lord” (Joel 1:13-15)

But not just the leaders: “Gather the people, consecrate the assembly…Let them say, “Spare your people O Lord.” (Joel 2:16-17) For all have need to return to our first love: “Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity.” (Joel 2:12-13).

Join us at 12:00 noon Rome time (6am Central) or 12:00 noon your time to pray the Lord’s Prayer with our brothers and sisters around the world, and then pray as the Lord leads you.

“Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing.” (Joel 2:14)