Will God Receive the Credit?
Without a doubt, this nation needs God. Let’s get this straight! The whole world needs God, but the problem surrounding us at present is twofold:
Problem 1: The Covid 19 Pandemic, - and the variations on the theme.
Problem 2: The condition of the Church –– that’s you and me.
God has given us power over principalities and authorities in heavenly places. Are we using those powers? If we are, then are we using them to advance the Kingdom of God in the heavenly realms, or the Church on earth? Are they indeed the same? Are they working together or are they at odds?
If God has given us power over the works of the enemy and we do nothing, then we are complicit in giving authority to another power.
When calamity comes, we need to focus on the one who allows it and to why it comes in the first place. We also need to know that if God, is indeed the One who sends it ,then who does He use to dispense it, or does He do it Himself?
Amos 3: Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the Lord has spoken against you—against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt. 2 “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins. 3 Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? 4 Does a lion roar in the thicket when it has no prey? Does it growl in its den when it has caught nothing? 5 Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground when no bait is there? Does a trap spring up from the ground if it has not caught anything? 6 When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?”
When calamity comes, does not God cause it, and does God not speak to the prophets first?
When calamity comes and confusion ensues, chaos pours like an acid upon common sense. Calamity comes to a nation because of its relationship with God. This should be understood among His people. When tears are shed because of our diminished state, when tears are shed for the condition and for our nation, God hears our cries. The cries of the righteous ascend to God and He is pleased to act upon the ones that reflect His will. The righteous should and must send their cries to Him. God wants them so that He can act against sin.
We are in an awfully bad place. If there is such a word, then we are in a ‘Tsunamic’, event. We are in the midst of WAR! We are being attacked on all fronts by an invisible enemy who is hidden in plain sight. The propaganda of fear surrounding the Covid19 pandemic has bombarded us, through various forms of media, for nearly two years. Wearing the people down so that they accept anything for a better life and for freedom, is the voice of the enemy, lulling its victim into surrender. Picture the imagery of someone focused on a swaying cobra’s head. Wait long enough and you will become paralysed without even a bite.
Providing a new normality has been the carrot. Listen, when a child is born it comes into a new environment , a new atmosphere. For the child, the womb is the past; the room becomes the new norm. When the child leaves the confines of that room, the world becomes the new norm. Then what happens? The poor little child is open to every disease, virus and bacteria under the sun. Its little body becomes infected and is attacked at every level.
The natural environment for the body was set in the garden. The covering made for the naked humans became their protection from the things that no longer lived in peaceful coexistence with them. Change brought challenge. But sometimes change is not needed. We must bring change for good and not because we can.
Returning to this viral enemy of ours, we know very little about it. We don’t know how every preceding variant will have an affect. Will it be more or less virulent than its predecessor. But still we are convinced that we can over power it. Our engagement with it is futile. The war council — our government, in all its variants, including the global confederacy, simply do not know how to respond to this invisible threat. And so they twist and turn as an animal that tries to free itself from the goad or from a trap. Every twist and turn is an excuse to justify ignorance. Let’s face it, they got us into the mess and now the modelling of the peoples’ response is pushing them into uncertain territory. The only way they can control the situation is to lock it down and stop the engine, take a deep breath ( behind an unproductive mask) and place their heads in their hands until the mechanic releases the vehicle from the repair shop with an advisory note.
In the meantime we listen to words that seem to be solidified, articulate and encouraging, but instead they manifest as bumbling belches, raging rants and salvific slogans. Buzz words will not heal a sick nation, but faith in God will!
We are seeing the economies and businesses decimated, unemployment and debt rising, families fragmented, movement restricted and whole towns and cities put under curfew. We are limited in numbers to family gatherings, funerals, and weddings and what is even sadder, we are being advised how to communicate, touch and to be intimate. How can the human instinct be controlled in this way?
Well, ‘we have a solution’, they say. We can exchange reality for virtuality. Our residence becomes our prison and we can do all that we need through our box, within a box. It bears too much semblance to a Matryoshka, a`Russian doll’.
When confusion reigns we turn into dogs that spin in circles, chasing their tails. When we can’t gain headway in one direction, we turn to the other aimlessly, unable to make any decision.
When freedom to spread the gospel and to reflect our faith in society is restricted, all the above scenarios come upon a nation. In this sense, the people of God are a major force and a problem to the ruling authorities. Failing economies, restricted movement, curfews, propaganda (mind control), pestilence, disease, mental problems and suicides pervade society during times of war. God has given the world a solution and it comes from His people. He uses us to bring the calamity, and His forces to dispense them.
At the risk of generalising the response of the Church, we have seen little activity, in the sense that it has been behind doors. The general populous, as the movement of the Church, that is, has been quite docile. The demonstrative actions of the secular world against tyranny has been quite obvious, and yet these protestations are yet, only the beginning. Where is the response or the voice of the Church? We are called to be a force in the streets and communities, reflecting our outreach to humanity and not kowtow to regimes — read the book of Acts.
However, In areas where the Church is persecuted, we see the response not only amongst courageous believers but from their authoritarian regimes. It seems quite the opposite in the free world –– for now.
The virtual Church has its merits, and joins the congregations across the divide, but it is nonetheless virtual and safe. The virtual Church does not breathe and is prone to breakdown and interference in more ways than one. A virtual hand cannot touch the real bodies of the sick or reach out in an empathetic hug. It cannot transmit — flesh upon flesh and the brotherly kiss. The virtual church is not the real church.
If God’s people repent of its partnership with the ungodly, and call upon His name, the healing of the nation occurs. The nation and the praying multitude will rise from its sick bed, renewed, restored, revitalised. A new energy surge of the Holy Spirit will issue forth and bring a true revival unseen as never before.
When the calamity blows overhead and the land returns to peace and prosperity; when the churches surge with new life, will the people of faith be acknowledged for their cries and petitions? Will they receive recompense and repentance from those who persecuted them along the way? Will God get the credit and praise? Will people acknowledge Him as God, indeed?
The Bible tells us, sadly not. When God brought judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah, He sent angels to get Lot and his family out, though his sons were somewhat detached from their father’s belief. Lot was a man of God and was considered righteous enough to be saved from the coming catastrophe. Lot found it hard to live among the wickedness of the city he had chosen to live in, having separated from his uncle Abraham. God will deliver His people from His judgements.
Be clear in this, calamity comes upon a wicked generation. Freedom that came to us at such a great price through flesh on the battle fields of war is being slowly lost and a new pseudo form is rising. It looks a great deal like Babylon. It is a place where God’s people reside during their exile, as a result of turning from God. Babylon is a place where spiritual powers converge. The house of Babylon will fall, as the temple of Dagon fell in the hands of Samson.
It cost Samson his life too. How much will it cost the Church to gain back its true power, and release God’s power through it? We need to understand the example of Samson and what God is showing us through the narrative.
God has given us an option –– we can live in His camp or in the world’s. The rules can’t be mixed.
When the people rise up and declare Him Lord and Master, when the people turn to Him and remind Him that we bear His name, and the mark of Christ, He will hear us and He will deliver us from our captivity, and heal us.
”Praise and Glory and Wisdom and Thanks and Honour and Power and Strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" Rev 7:12
All of it belongs to you Lord.
Shalom
Grant Marshall