13 faulty perceptions of Christians towards Covid19 Pandemic

The Pandemic of Corona Virus has taken the world by Surprise. Among Christians, many who love to fellowship and regularly go to Church gatherings are down with disappointments and sadness of not being able to gather. Many are confused, doubts have filled their hearts about the future, and many have started to doubt the existence of God, possibly falling away from the Christian profession of faith. They may end up asking why this has fallen upon us. I will not be writing here about why God ordained the Corona Virus to affect mankind throughout the earth. However, I will be writing about somethings we as Christians may have got wrong about Corona Virus Pandemic. We as Christians may have missed some points in this time of crisis. I prayerfully share this write up with the readers hoping it would help you reflect and contemplate our own perspective and life and align it will Biblical perspective. This observation is based on contemplation of my personal walk with the Lord, based on the interactions I had with fellow believers, questions that I was asked by fellow believers, what I read on Christian blogs, the posts that are forwarded by the fellow Christians, etc. These are some misconceptions among Christians towards the Corona Virus. I personally believe this is rooted in our lack of understanding of who God is, what His word says, and who we are in Christ. So the following are thirteen misconceptions among Christians, and as you read this you may or may not hold these misconceptions. If you hold any position from these as correct, then this article will be a great help to give you clarity on the right perspective that we need to hold as Christians. 1) CORONA VIRUS IS EVIL Many people are saying that the Corona Virus is evil and it has come upon us. This is an absolutely erroneous understanding. No disease in this world should be called evil. I will clarify that we can call any disease evil in the context of its right understanding. We can derive two meanings of the word “evil.” One that we see in the majority of scripture is “Moral” evil, which means lawlessness, sin, and an act of man against the moral law of God. The second evil is a catastrophe, disaster, calamity, etc. Let me clarify this point with a verse,Isaiah 45: 7 (KJV), I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. This may come as surprise to you, but we see a clear statement here from the Lord that it is He who makes peace and creates evil. In context, the original word “evil” means “calamity.” Other versions use words like calamity, disaster, etc. You can look at the above verse in different versions here, Isaiah 45: 7. Therefore, we can understand that the CoronaVirus is not a morally evil thing but we may qualify it as evil in the context of a calamity or disaster. So, as Christians, we must keep this clarity in mind that the CoronaVirus or Covid-19 is not inherently evil. It can be considered as the cause of the evil that man has done. 2) SATAN HAS INFLICTED CORONAVIRUS UPON THE WORLD This is also a big misunderstanding that Christians hold to in such pandemics. Christians who are not Biblical and possess sound understanding, in an innocent manner have fallen for this lie. Such gullible people are even taken advantage of by the shrewd and cunning, so-called apostles, prophets, and pastors. They even go to an extent to rebuke CoronaVirus. A recent video of a preacher, Kenneth Copeland rebuking CoronaVirus has gone viral. The world sees it and mocks Christians and because of people like these, the name of the Lord is blasphemed in the world. It is important that we take a Biblical perspective on this. We should realize that Satan may not necessarily be the cause of calamity like pandemics all the time. We may not come to an understanding of what or who is the cause of diseases like Covid-19. Humans can also be considered responsible for it because of their abuse towards nature for selfish gains, but ultimately it is effected by God. As we read in point number one and quoted the verse from Isaiah 45: 7, which clearly says that it is God who causes calamity. What if God is purging the Church of its sin and unsanctified life?  We see the Bible stating that the judgment begins from the household of God and then to the world, to all who have not believed the Gospel,  1 Peter 4:17 – For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? The preceding verse talks about Christian suffering. 1 Peter 4:16 – Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. What if suffering comes in our lives as a chastisement?  2 Chronicles 7: 13-14 says that when God shuts up the heavens that there be no rain, or command the locust to devour the Land or send pestilence and my people, if my people humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, that God will hear from heaven and forgive them their sins.   Now, this was told to the nation of Israel, but it can be applicable to us. What if God is bringing this upon the church at large because we have become too comfortable, we have become too prideful as if we rightly deserved salvation and the world doesn’t deserve it.  Could it be that we are not praying enough or seeking God’s face and more? It is imperative that we take the right perspective rather than put all the blame on Satan and excuse ourselves away.  Don’t forget God is still sovereign and if God has let Satan inflict this, it will be still for a purpose. We should not lose focus on the main things or things that matter. 3) GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF A PANDEMIC AND HE CANNOT CAUSE EVIL This faulty presumption is based on a wrong understanding of the first two points. It’s important that we understand God and His ways of dealing with His creation for His own purposes.  As J.C. Ryle writes:“I cannot understand how anyone can be called a believer of the Bible, who denies God’s providence over His world. For my own part, I thoroughly believe that God has not changed. I believe that He is governing all things as much now, as He was in the Old Testament days. I believe that wars, famines, pestilences, and cattle plagues—are all His instruments for carrying on the government of this world. And therefore when I see a scourge like the cattle plague, I have no doubt as to the hand that sends it. It is the finger of God!” In the Old Testament, we see God dealt with the world and His people in ways that may seem very harsh, but considering the sin and evil men have done we cannot call it harsh, even so right now. God is the author of a pandemic but we need to understand that a pandemic is not an evil thing and God cannot be accused.  The Bible says that God is not the author of evil James 1: 13 nor God is tempting His people to commit sin against Him through this pandemic rather He may desire His people to turn to Him and look to Him for everything, that we as His people may not lose His sight. 4) OUR RELIANCE SHOULD BE ON THE SECURITY THE WORLD OFFERS The current situation of a lockdown has affected the world tremendously. It has been a complete lockdown for more than a month now. Despite the flexibility of industries to work in some major countries, the nations have not been able to save the economy from crumbling down.  Until the months of January and February, the world had no clue, we were accustomed to the systems of the world. We were enjoying the benefits and the security which the world was offering. Now the world is insecure about the future and what will happen after the lockdown is over? What will happen once everything gets back to normal? Will everything be the same? Will the world have different ways to deal with things after the lockdown? Will it be a time of great change? As Christians will the new ways be friendly to us? It’s natural that these questions may come across our minds. But we need to look above our problems as it’s not a new thing that the world has experienced a great change. The question we need to ask is if there is a greater change, even greater than what we are expecting, will we then be able to face it? On what will our reliance be? Will it be on the systems of the world or on God? I am not negating the fact that we should not take the benefits of the systems of the world. I am also not advocating for the fact that we leave everything that the world offers and live without any of those. That is not the point here but the case which I present is this: where is our reliance? If the world goes crumbling down, will you as a Christian be afraid to face it? Jesus addresses this issue in the Sermon on the Mount. He tells his disciples in Matthew 6: 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  This question is still relevant to us. We do underestimate God’s providence. I want you to take a moment and look back at all the blessings and benefits that you have experienced and received in life until this point. Even all the things that you may have got from the systems the world has offered so far. Do you think that it was because of your wisdom that you were able to achieve those? Or was it by God’s grace and divine providence that you are what you are and you have what you have? Jesus mainly tells His disciples in the scripture above that they should not be anxious but seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. (Matthew 6: 25-33)  We should then ask ourselves if we are anxious about God’s Kingdom? Are we anxious for His righteousness? Are we anxious about the fact that often we fail Him?  Do we often fail ourselves in seeking the things of His Kingdom and righteousness? Are we anxious about the lost souls? This is where our eyes should be fixed on. 5) WE DO NOT FELLOWSHIP IN CHURCH AND SO OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE WILL GET AFFECTED This may partly be true as the Bible does talk about the importance of fellowship with the saints and the strength, encouragement, and edification that we receive from one another as the body of Christ. The Bible states that we need to consider how to stir up one another to love and do good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10: 25. We have often been instructed in scripture to the importance of the Church fellowship, but it is never to keep our fellowship with people above the fellowship with God. Our fellowship should be first with God, and then our fellowship with the saints will be fruitful.  Our fellowship with the saints without the fellowship with God first will be in vain. This brings us to the question of how has our fellowship been with the Triune God in all these years? Has it been long distance or close enough? If not then our fellowship with one another is a waste.  God’s grace has been upon those fellowships no doubt, but it would have been much fruitful if our fellowship with God was strong in the first place. The Bible brings this truth in a beautiful manner to show that our fellowship with God is in direct correlation with our fellowship with one another. Without our fellowship with God, who is light, we cannot have fellowship with one another in that light, 1 John 1: 5-7.  Jesus Christ is the head and the Church is the body and we need to get the nourishment from Him and not from one another. The nourishment flows from one to another but without the source of the nourishment, the body will not be nourished. Colossians 2: 19. So it is important that first our fellowship with the Lord be established and grow By God’s providence, this is the best time that we have got in hand as Church and the individual member of the Church to spend time in fellowship with God and our Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. What if God purposed this lockdown so that the Church may fellowship with the Lord and it may increase? May we look into ourselves and ask this question and accept the challenge, discipline ourselves to fellowship, and spend time with God. 6) COVID-19 IS GOD’S WRATH UPON THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD This is one of the most unwise ideas that a Christian should not perceive in the Covid19 pandemic. This is not God’s wrath upon the Church or the world. As the Church, let us not take the place of God and condemn members of the Church or the members of the world. As the Church, we may discern this as a chastisement and for the world, we may discern this as God’s way to turn sinners to the gospel and remind them that He is God. The inventions and development of the world in knowledge and technology will not surpass His sovereignty. We can also go onto say that the world is under the wrath of God which He will reveal in the last days. We can also go onto infer that this is a warning from God to the world to repent and turn to Him. But can we call the Covid-19 Pandemic as a wrath of God? As Christians, we should not underestimate the wrath of God.  Expression of the lake of fire, and the global flood during Noah’s time where no humans survived except Noah and his family, can be considered as the wrath of God. There are Christian believers, who have lived a godly life for the testimony of Christ, being affected by Covid19. Should we go onto say that God’s wrath was upon them? This will be an outrageous inference that we may be taking as Christians. Such a perception may lead to the extinguishing of the fire of the Gospel that is burning in us and it may lead us to ignore the world and to reach out to them with the light of the Gospel. By this thought, we may be letting our lamp under the bushel, which should actually be on the rooftop.  Christ through His Church and His word is the only hope for the world which is perishing and which is soon to experience the wrath of God. What if God is giving us a great opportunity to share the Gospel? As Christian let us consider this period as an “out of season” period where we should not stop preaching but preach all the time. 2 Timothy 4:2 7) CORONAVIRUS IS THE GREATEST PROBLEM THE WORLD IS PRESENTLY FACING There are many problems in the world including the CoronaVirus Pandemic but there are problems even greater than CoronaVirus today. The economic catastrophe that is dawning upon nations and there are more people dying each day apart from Covid19. There are people committing suicide daily due to the loss of jobs.  I recently heard the news that a lady who was on daily wages threw five of her children in the river because she had no money to feed them. These are surely bigger problems than what the world is currently facing. However, as Christians let us not lose our Biblical discernment and know clearly, that sin is the greatest problem that the world is facing and the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only solution for it.  The world is under all kinds of corruption due to the sinfulness of man. Jesus said in Matthew 10: 28, to not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.  In another place, Jesus said, what a man will profit if he gains the world but loses his soul.  He gave importance to a man’s soul more than anything else. If it was not so, then He would not have come to die for the world and save the world through Him, John 12: 47, John 3: 17. The Covid-19 Pandemic is a problem but it is not the greatest problem the world is presently facing but sin is the greatest problem world is facing. 8) THE CORONA PANDEMIC IS A SIGN OF THE LORD’S RETURN Whenever there has been a global catastrophe, there are groups of Christians or the so-called professing Christians who come up with signs and visions of the second coming of Jesus Christ. These groups are very dangerous for the reason that they may lead many Christians to false hope and a false expectation about Lord’s returns. ‘They prophesy of dates and months regarding the Lord’s return and when it doesn’t get fulfilled, many Christians fall away from the faith and are filled with doubts, anxiety, and heartbreaks. Their faith is shaken. Such people become a stumbling block for the whole body of Christ. Now to clarify, the Bible tells us of the signs that the church can look for concerning Lord’s return, and in a general sense, whatever is currently happening around the world could be taken as signs, provided we look at it in the light of bigger picture. But to draw specific inference and timelines of Lord’s return is unbiblical. Jesus, when asked by His disciples told, concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only, Matthew 24: 36.  What we can take from this is that is doesn’t matter what date or hour our Lord comes, but His glorious appearing is the hope of the glory of Church and we need to always wait for His return. We are not called to find out the exact date but look for the signs of His return. A single event cannot be considered as a sign but multiple events across the globe may help us discern that the day of the Lord is near. However, knowing the date or to make specific prophecies that have not come to pass since centuries is quite frustrating for the body of Christ. Many evangelicals have made a mockery of the church by making predictions in the past. 9) WE NEED TO RELY ON THE GOVERNMENT TO OVERCOME THE PANDEMIC The government is a part of the group of people who God is using to finish the Pandemic. The governments of the world are not our reliance on any problem which is in the nation or the world. They can be considered as a means by which God helps the world to get over with any issue. But the Bible says that it is God who is in control of the situation and He knows when and how this Pandemic should end. He uses these to fulfill His own purposes towards this universe. A pandemic is not a new thing that the world has seen. We have seen bird flu, swine flu, and different types of plagues, come and gone. What we can consistently see regarding these epidemics and pandemics is that the government and the people can do as much as to take precautions, but the world does not have control over any of these diseases. It was always God and will always be God who raises and even stops such a situation for His purpose.  This is reflected by the verse in Proverbs 16: 33, “men cast lots into the lap, but every decision or outcome is from the Lord.” So, if from the Lord then it is for His purpose. By this, I am not saying that we should not comply with the government’s directives, and the Bible also tells us about obeying the authorities and live peacefully amidst them. Thus as Christians, we must do our best as the government directs us,  Romans 13: 1 but mainly look to the Lord, for healing the land, look to God for helping us overcome this situation. 10) THE GOSPEL WORK WILL HAVE HURDLES DUE TO CORONAVIRUS This is another misconception that a Christian may have and this comes from the wrong understanding that the Gospel reaches to people only through personal testifying or preaching. And also by the labor and skills of the evangelists or the preacher by which a person believes and is saved. The Bible tells us something very different, that one who preaches or testifies Gospel is only God’s mouthpiece or instrument, and a means by which God chose to spread the Gospel. Paul makes it very clear that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, Romans 1: 16.  This also means that saving people from sin and bringing them to salvation is God’s work through the Holy Spirit. The Bible also tells us that our God always works, and Jesus works too. Our God, who is the God of Israel never sleeps nor slumbers. Psalm 121: 4. So as Christians, though we are oblivious of what is happening around us, whether people are being saved, whether the Gospel is reaching to people everywhere; we should be discerning and fully aware that God’s work of salvation always goes on.  He will continue to save His people until the day of the Lord through different means. Indeed God’s hand is not too shortened that it cannot save, Isaiah 59: 1. There are people in the world who hate Jesus Christ and His Gospel, and they too may think that because of this pandemic, the preaching and spreading of the Gospel are stopped, but the Bible is clear that it is during the time of a crisis that Gods purpose is strongly revealed than during the time of prosperity.  We should take comfort from what we are seeing around, that God’s hand and purpose can be seen even in this time of crisis. 11) THIS PANDEMIC HAS A PROPHETIC SIGNIFICANCE TO ESCHATOLOGY This is similar to the misconception of linking this pandemic to the Lord’s return. There are people who are linking the Covid-19 pandemic to the Biblical and prophetic events, linking it with Passover and other Jewish days. Some are linking it to the judgment of God mentioned in the book of Revelation, like the 4 horses, etc. The Bible gives us no clear indication that Covid-19 has any prophetic significance, and there are no Biblical accounts of the Covid19 pandemic, that we as Christians need to keep in mind. We should never go overboard when it comes to Biblical events and prophesies and should keep ourselves away from such false propositions. I do not deny that there is truth to certain conspiracy theories that’s been going around like the one world order, elites involved, and the depopulation conspiracies. Surely there are truths to it, but we don’t see any prophetical relations to the scriptures for these theories. It is quite possible that the events around us like the pandemic are leading towards the Biblical prophecy of the end times to get fulfilled. But we cannot draw a definite conclusion of any Biblical prophecy concerning Covid-19 and we should keep it that way. 12) WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE LORD TO COME NOW Many Christians are saying that our Lord Jesus Christ will come any time soon, and we have to be prepared and just wait for the Lord to come now anytime. While it is true that we need to be prepared and wait for His return, but Bible exhorts us that we should do this all the time, as did the early Church, Titus 2: 13, and not just when we experience a catastrophe or global crisis like a pandemic. It’s possible that Jesus may come any time soon, but do we have to now just wait for the Lord to come and do nothing else? In the same chapter of Titus 2, Paul states that we may declare these things; exhorting and rebuking with all authority and let no one disregard you.  What is Paul saying to exhort? To preach Gospel that brings salvation to all people  Titus 2: 9-11. Jesus also tells to His disciples, as long as it is day we must continue the work of Him who sent Jesus, for the night is coming when no one can work, John 9: 4 Now is the day God has given us, and we must continue to do the work of the Gospel, and be in service to the Lord for the night has not yet come. 13) WE NEED TO FEAR CORONAVIRUS The Pandemic of Covid1-9 has impacted the earth in such a way that people are now filled with the paranoia of getting infected by it. Though the statistics are clear that the death rate or the death ratio compared to diseases like flu and malaria, Covid-19 is lesser. Yet we see that there is a form of paranoia that has entered in people’s minds, so much so that we have experienced so many strange behaviors by people across the world.  Like we see that there is a global crisis of tissue paper, while TP doesn’t play any role in sterilizing or disinfecting, then we see a very racist approach or a stigma towards the people of China across the globe, people being laid off from their jobs, etc. This happens as an outcome of fear and paranoia towards this pandemic, people are afraid of getting infected and dying from Covid-19. Fear brings confusion and panic but fearlessness brings wisdom and a sound mind. As Christians, we are called to fear God, for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We need to take assurance from the word of God that He who is in us is greater than one who is in the world. We need to take assurance of the fact that death has no power over us.  If God has purposed to glorify Himself by letting the church experience and suffer Covid-19 or worst, then we should take comfort from the fact that through our suffering God will glorify Himself, that there is a purpose to our suffering.  We need to take comfort from the fact that God is sovereign, take peace from the fact that everything works together for those who love God and are called according to His purpose, for God is the one who works all this and He is faithful to keep His words till the end. Conclusion: We as Christians should have the discernment of Christ as we live in this world and react to the things that we encounter in this world. We out of all people should be the ones experiencing the peace of God, the joy of the Lord, and His strength. We should be helping the world in crisis. What we perceive is reflected in our actions and expressions. Thus it’s important that our perception should be right towards God, to His precepts, towards fellow believers and towards the world. I hope that this article has benefited you in some way or another, and I hope this will reach people who are still holding on to wrong perceptions and misconceptions and not a Biblical perspective towards this pandemic and lockdown.