WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE CURRENT WORLD SEASON AND HOW SHOULD WE REACT?

Major questions are now occupying the hearts minds, and prayers of Christians worldwide. The world has been moving increasingly towards the return of Jesus Christ, and now we have  a pandemic which has shaken the whole world.Although we have had world pandemics before, (the last being the 1920 spanish flu,) never before has the whole world been able to see and hear the effect on all nations.

Because of our technology we can all see what is happening everywhere in the world, and this increases our sense of disaster which has produced great fear.

It is worth noting that when Jesus taught his disciples about the signs of the end times in Matthew 24, one of those signs was “mens’ hearts failing them for fear of what they see coming upon the world”.

So we ask the question, did God send corona virus as a punishment or to move people to repentance?

Let us not be confused by conspiracy theories about whether it is man made or not. We don’t need to know that, e just need to know what our government is doing and what our response should be.

After much prayer about this, I believe that God did not send it. The reason he has not moved to prevent it, is  because Adam and Eve handed their God given authority over the planet earth to satan, and  although Jesus paid the price on the cross to save our souls and for us to take back that authority, we must make individual decisions to believe in him and to follow him.

We must also make our own Individual decisions and actions to take back authority over our own personal spheres of authority. There must also be a corporate taking back by nations as a whole of that divine authority. National spiritual doors of sin must also be closed so that the spiritual authority satan was given can be closed. Therefore churches, and especially church leaders, and Christians everywhere must join in the unity of prayer and declaration and lifestyles of holiness, to redeem our nations. We must also repent and close doors which have been opened by national and individual sin so that the destiny of each nation can be fulfilled.

God has an unalterable will for some things which, will not change no matter what happens. For example, Jesus will return when God the father says it Is time. This cannot be altered. However the timing of his return is affected by the state of his church and of all people. He wants all to be saved and to at least  have heard the gospel. He wants his body to come to maturity and to redeem back the lost authority.

So let us separate the conspiracy theories from the known facts.

Has our government or any other deliberately created or spread this virus?

I do not know if it has been created by any nation, and we don’t need to know. I don’t believe that this virus has been spread by our government for the purpose of closing down churches, but  there are always consequences  in any circumstances, the cause and effect of the virus, is that churches are being affected negatively, perhaps more because the government prioritises  busineses for financial reasons.

While individual members of parliament may wish to and even try to launch spiritual agendas against churches and Christians, our government as a whole leans towards freedom of speech and freedom of choices withing civil rights and the laws which are in place to allow this nation to function as an

Our enemy satan will take all advantage of anything he can to suppress the kingdom of God. The consequences of sin do not necessarily go away when people repent, and as a whole, people are living with the consequences of the sins of previous generations. So this pandemic provides doorways of fear and physical weakness for satan to gain control in nations and individuals.

Generational doorways remain open until the people and nations affected repent specifically on behalf of their ancestors. Sins which are sexual, which shed innocent blood, and which are based on the occult defile the land, and all of these need closing through corporate repentance and prayer.

So the spiritual cause and affect of corporate sin both past and present makes room for the breaking down of church freedoms. At some time, a new government may arise that will specifically  target Christians in a way that has been seen in other countries, but for now we are blessed with a wise Christian prime minister and should remember to pray for him and other leaders in this time. It is very hard for political leaders to thrive under harsh criticisms which are in fact curses.

God is using this pandemic to reshape his body, church will never look the same again, everything which can be shaken will be shaken until that which cannot be shaken remains. God is removing the hand of man from some of the outworkings of church meetings so that however we meet in future it will be purer, clearer, more responsive and more  open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, without the trappings of worldly presentation styles.

Two truths we should recognise

Covid 19 is an opportunity for evangelism, people are frightened and looking for answers, God is preparing the hearts of our people for the prophesied end time revival.

Covid19 is being used by satan as a  piritual weapon

What is our responsibilities as Christians in this time?

In the time of a cruel and controlling roman government, Jesus only overturned religious practices, the only people he spoke against were the pharisees and sadducees, he did not speak against the ungodly government of the day at all.  Although he said he had come to divide families,this dividing would have been  caused by some accepting his teachings and some not accepting them.

He told Peter to pay his taxes, and even produced miraculous money out of the mouth of a  fish to pay them.                                                                           Matthew 17:27, Mark 12:14&17 Civil disobedience is not endorsed by God, especially if it includes violence and harm to people God loves, that’s everybody folks. Our right to protest legally is very precious and we should take advantage of it, sign petitions and every other legally available mean, but remember the teachings of Jesus when it comes to our reactions to those who would behave as our enemies.

Although violent action has historically overturned ungodly governments, it is not the scriptural way.

Each nation has a destiny, a call of God, and this will come to pass if there is national repentance and obedience. We carry the privilege and the responsibility of enabling this through evangelism and prayer and our lifestyle demonstration of who Jesus is.

Australia has been named the” great south land of the holy spirit “and we have loved to sing the song, in past days. Are we declaring it frequently and calling our nation to its’ destiny?.

I believe that this naming of our destiny, including the original prayers prayed by Captain Cook over our land, have given us an edge that not all nations have. We can now enable our national destiny in our prayers declarations and actions like never before.

We must attack spiritual problems with spiritual weapons by binding any demonic effects of this virus, we don’t need to know if it is created by satan to do that, just bind it and loose faith to overcome the fear. Release divine healing for those affected,  and a fear of God to fall upon the whole world so that they will turn to Jesus in repentance and be saved.

We must pray for and speak respectfully of our government. If it is making ungodly or immoral decisions and demands, we should continue to speak well of them and honor them, but refuse to obey such demands which are against the word of God.  Speaking well of the people who have authority over us, does not endorse any wrong or ungodly decisions they make. If they break Gods’ laws and ask us to break them, we should use all the legal rights we have in our country to protest them, while refusing to obey them.

The bible teaches obedience to governing authorities, but does not teach us to speak against them and incite civil disobedience.

We should not obey laws which go against the teachings of the bible.

 if we do differently we are cursing authorities when God has said through Paul (who lived under the terrible oppression of the Roman government and the constant threat of death), taught the churches to obey and respect the government.

Romans 13:1&2

We should obey lawful requirements which are about civil peace and law, “for the Lords sake”.

1 Timothy 2:2

1 Peter 2:13

So seek for Gods’ leading for you and for any people you have responsibility for. Keep closer to Him than ever before. Speak the answer for yourself, your family, your church, and your nation.

Jeremiah 29:11. “God has plans to give his people a hope and a future…..not disaster”

Romans 8:28      “Whatever the enemy sends for evil God will use for our good.”