By Pastor Hal Mayer
Dear Friends,
Welcome to Keep the Faith. Thank you for your support and prayers for me as I am continuing to heal and as I get back into ministry. It means so much. We live in such uncertain times that now more than ever we need the protection of God.
As this world becomes more chaotic and the people are frightened and even desperate, God’s people can have the sweet peace of heaven in their souls. The battle in the great controversy is between love; God’s ultimate unreserved love and the complete selflessness that goes with it, revealed in His people, and fear; fear of the disease, fear of the unknown, fear of not having enough food and supplies (including, amazingly enough, toilet paper) and more. Humanity is choked with fear.
God says, “perfect love casteth out all fear.” So, if you have fear, maybe its time to bond with Jesus. Maybe its time to bring your life into harmony with heaven. Dedicate your whole heart to Jesus so He can wrap a hedge about you and give you confidence when all around you is in turmoil.
Fear is a powerful motivator. A world wide pandemic has done what climate change has not. It has been successfully used to stoke fear. When people’s lives or livelihood is threatened they can be very frightened. I’m not saying that climate change and pandemics aren’t real. I’m just saying that the media and others in various ways stoke fear.
Jesus’ prophesies of rampant pestilence, disaster and war in the last days found in Matthew 24:7 are very fearful for those that are not under God’s protection. But there is a cycle of fear that is natural. And the media and politicians capitalize on it. The Bible tells us of the fearful things that are coming on the world. That way God’s people know what to expect and what to do. In the end, it is self-sacrificing love; trust in God and faith in His word that lives in those who choose to follow God. It is fear and the resulting suspicion and anger that dominate those who don’t choose to follow God.
Those with an evolutionist worldview routinely posit things about the current pandemic like: consider how ancient civilization was shaped by pandemics and how it forms our understanding of how our world will be shaped by current pandemics. Large civilizations died back, making room for others to take their place on the world stage. And here’s another one: a virus like COVID-19 while creating one problem could be the solution to another problem—pollution. China, arguably one of the most polluting nations doesn’t have much pollution now.
There is rarely any compassion or sorrow expressed for the terrible loss and trauma that a pandemic causes, and certainly never any “hope” for a better tomorrow among evolutionists. We are all merely stepping-stones to the next evolutionary cycle, they say—some will be winners; others losers, and the strongest will survive. I also notice that environmentalists throw the idea around that maybe homo sapiens are somehow being judged and should die off so the world can get better. Scientists aren’t as optimistic as they once were. But God’s word offers such a different picture!
We careen from one crisis to another in a never-ending cycle of fear. The latest crisis is one of the worst. But when people are afraid it is easy to demonize an imaginary enemy, even good people, and put the blame on them for any crisis. And we have examples of it. World War II’s demonization of Jews is an example. Fear is a basic emotion that causes many unnecessary and even dangerous reactions. And people become irrational and sometimes violent when they are afraid for their lives.
This pandemic risks bringing out the worst in humanity [1]
How coronavirus disinformation caused chaos in a small Ukrainian town [2]
As the coronavirus pandemic has stormed around almost the entire world (160 countries and territories at the time I prepared this sermon) creating a perfect storm that has caused panic buying (or fear) and economic devastation everywhere, it is increasingly evident the globalization which has been prophesied in the Bible through the story of the Tower of Babel, and so dearly loved by politicians and internationalists everywhere, has taken a very big hit. It seems that globalists have essentially been sitting on their hands not knowing what to do. Yes, they have meetings to discuss the virus. They first said it isn’t contagious, but it was. They have urged governments not to close their borders, but they did. They have even encouraged people to travel and eat in restaurants and continue with their normal lives, but they won’t. And governments are urging people to avoid travel and social contact. Following globalist advice has been deadly for some, imprudent for others and more dangerous for all.
How the Coronavirus Made Globalization a Deadly Threat [3]
The pandemic has shown how vulnerable we all are to broken supply chains, loss of jobs, and dramatic social disruptions. Social distancing has wreaked havoc on every area of life that we have come to know. And the great platitudes and fantastic economic forecasts of the one-world government leaders and economists have come to a screeching halt. In fact, more than that, they have gone backwards and set back globalization for years. People were already suspicious of globalization. It is as if God has touched the modern Tower of Babel with His finger again, bringing their plans to nothing.
Think about it. The globalists have set up a massive new Tower of Babel, and God has intervened again. Not by confounding the languages, but this time by the spread of a tiny little invisible virus that has the whole world in turmoil, and globalism fraying and collapsing.
Globalization, which has taken enormous resources in effort and money for globalists to cobble together a new world order that is fragile at best, only to watch it unravel over a virus.
For instance, the great vision and one of the most basic tenants of the new world order has been open borders between countries where people and goods flow freely. As country after country has closed their borders to all but their own citizens due to coronavirus, one of the pillars of globalism has unraveled right before their eyes. It must give internationalists some sleepless nights. Economic progress has become economic disaster frustrating the rosy picture that internationalists dream of.
“Globalization has lifted millions of people in countries like China, Indonesia and Vietnam out of poverty. It has provided people in industrialized nations with cheap televisions and laptops not to mention clothing and textiles, yet at the same time, it makes the world more vulnerable to all sorts of disruption, from terrorist attacks to natural disasters” – and pandemics.
Is this economic progress? This is a very big setback for all of them. A panel of experts from the World Bank and the WHO wrote of a “world at risk” when they examined the economic consequences of a serious global health emergency last year. A pandemic like the Spanish flu, which killed as many as 50 million people between 1918 and 1920, would depress global economic output today by around $3 trillion (2.7 trillion euros), the experts calculated. Even a comparatively mild epidemic could cause damages adding up to more than 2 percent of GDP. “The world is not prepared for a fast-moving, virulent respiratory pathogen pandemic,” the report states. And this coronavirus virus is more difficult than originally thought.
The story of the COVID–19 is more than a story about medicine and science. It is a story about the globalization of danger, the globalization of disease and the globalization of death.
How the Coronavirus Made Globalization a Deadly Threat [3]
Internationalists, which is another name for globalists, claim solidarity between peoples and nations provides safety in numbers and social togetherness. But with this pestilence, coronavirus makes social distance mandatory. Therefore non-essential business have ceased operating, like restaurants, bars, nightclubs, stores, sporting events, conventions, all are closed or cancelled.
Globalists also claim that city living is essential to the new world order for various reasons. But urban development is deadly. Cities are sinful in the extreme. But they are the epicenters of deadly pestilences. Especially massive cities are in the crosshairs of natural disasters too. And often cities are targets in war and terrorism as well. God’s people have been warned of this in the Bible. Take Lot in Sodom for example.
Regionalism is a subdivision of globalism. The European Union is an experiment intended to resurrect the Holy Roman Empire. It has open borders, a common currency, a common religion, and Germany is leading the nations to develop a common military – all the elements of Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire. But its killing people. Italy has the most reported deaths with Spain coming in as a solid second. Germany is flooded with cases and the chancellor has declared the people are not to have meetings with more than two people that aren’t living is the same household.
Donald Trump declared a state of emergency and then later declared a major disaster for three states. The natural progression means that the next step is martial law. Martial law supersedes the constitution.
Trump Declares State of Emergency. IT BEGINS! [4]
Trump: Major Disaster Declaration Approved for NY, Washington State [5]
Martial law is here. That’s not what it’s called. It “does not always burst through your front door wearing body armor and brandishing an assault rifle. Sometimes, it waltzes through your living room and sweeps you off your feet. Sometimes it wears a mask that promises warmth and safety. Sometimes, tyranny invites you out to the party and makes you feel like you belong.”
Martial law has been presented to western civilizations gradually, as absolutely reasonable and necessary to their personal well-being and that of their families. Leaders have twisted the reality of martial law into a tapestry of fuzzy logic and frequent pronouncements, which repeat the seriousness of the situation. This is a crisis on a scale nearly beyond belief. It has shut down the economy as it ramped up the fear.
The health crisis affects everyone either directly or indirectly. The economic health of the world was unstable, and even some mainstream analysts who were optimistic six months ago are now reluctantly admitting that some form of collapse is probable. The financial life of America hangs by the thinnest of threads, and this COVID-19 disaster has sent it spiraling out of control.
Under circumstances like these, people tend to allow their fear to dictate what is “reasonable” at the moment. Principles often take a back seat to “moral relativity” in the face of misfortune, even though wisdom demands that principles be held as most important in the worst of times. Freedom and civilian control over government is vital not just when our wallets are stuffed, our stomachs are fed, and the weather is mild, but when the threat of national and global upheaval threatens our livelihood. When an early and unpleasant demise becomes a distinct possibility for a significant number of the people, this is when liberty should take precedence over all things.
At the beginning of any autocratic system, total authoritarian control is almost always presented as a panacea, a wonder-drug for the masses. When confronted with epic struggle, some people would rather defer responsibility for their survival to someone else rather than make the effort to protect themselves. It is in this way that totalitarianism is born. Martial law in America is no different. It will be presented to us as purely rational and absolutely necessary; an “extreme solution to extreme times.”
God’s people, who have had His counsel to get out of the cities, may find that it is already too late to leave. Martial law will keep every one in a narrow circle of a few blocks or a few miles.
The very first action of any government that is bent on autocratic control is to dominate the flow of information, thus freedom of the press is destroyed. Alternate viewpoints are disrupted and only the official or approved sources of information and opinion are permitted. This is already happening as we have documented over the last couple of years.
Removal of checks and balances is next. Under martial law, all decision making is “streamlined” into the hands of the executive branch. The excuse given for this is often the same everywhere; the President, or executive must not have his hands tied by checks and balances during a state of crisis, otherwise, his decisions are slowed, and more people could be hurt. Once the executive branch of a country removes checks and balances, it is very hard to get them to put them back in place.
Civil liberties are next. All tyrannies have abruptly suspended rights to fair trial, rights to legal representation, Miranda Rights, even the right to know what one has been charged with before being arrested. Religious liberty will go too. It has already been eroded as we have documented. After all religious liberty is the cradle of all other liberties. It is the source of counter culture against secularism in society. There will be a certain religious pattern to follow, and no other eventually.
Once the previous steps have been taken largely with the consent of a frightened public it is a short distance to where the justice system is used to uphold the regime. Injustice is practiced openly. The U.S. currently has many pieces of legislation that have passed or are pending which allow rendition and even torture of regular citizens, specifically in the event of a national emergency, which under current rules, the President can declare at his leisure.
Say goodbye to privacy, which is already significantly eroded. But expect ID checkpoints and arrests for lack of ID in some cases. Expect nighttime curfews in cities enforced as the 8pm curfew already imposed in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and other jurisdictions. New York City’s mayor Bill De Blasio asked President Trump to deploy the military to help control the city during the spread of the virus. Governor Cuomo of New York signed an order telling the people to stay in their homes except when absolutely necessary and imposing a closure order on non-essential business. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has experimented with a one day curfew and on a Sunday to see how it goes and to get the people of India ready for more extended curfews.
Curfews, closures and more: What the government can and can’t do in a health emergency [6]
Bill De Blasio Asks Trump To Deploy Military To Help Fight Coronavirus [7]
India’s PM Modi orders one-day nationwide curfew to combat virus [8]
Expect warrantless searches of your home without cause in some places, not to mention surveillance of web and phone traffic. Also count on the fact that some people, out of paranoia, or out of some twisted desire for petty influence, will start pointing an accusing finger at anyone who does something that seems a little strange, and the establishment will encourage this. Tyranny is much easier when the citizens police each other. We actually see some of this behavior today, however, under martial law, there is absolutely no chance whatsoever of holding the authorities or anyone who supports them legally accountable for any wrongdoing. There is essentially no means to voice a grievance. Martial law is like a free pass to law enforcement officials to do whatever they please, whenever they please.
Following this, any populist move is quashed. Activists are normally labeled as subversives, insurgents, or terrorists and in time arrested because the government says they are dangerous to the stability of society. Do you think God’s people who keep His Sabbath will be treated like this in the end? Associating these people with terrorists will make them especially hated by the populace.
This marks the end of economic prosperity for the average citizen and the removal of the traditional middle class. In the end, this causes the public to subjugate themselves to food, water and healthcare rationing. Food rationing has been discussed in some countries already. In the cities this can be excruciating. The cities are death traps. No wonder God told us to get out of the cities. The globalists move as many as possible into the urban areas. They can control them very heavily then.
It’s impossible to ramp up business and economies quickly after a global shock like the coronavirus. Things just can’t start up overnight. There are reasons to believe society won’t be able to maintain sustained social distancing for an extended period of time. After people have been cooped up for a few days they have to get out and go do something. What happens after they have been in their homes for several weeks? What about six weeks? Or ten weeks? When a large number of people get the virus and recover, those people are likely to want to go to work again – they’ll figure they’ve already had it, are probably immune. So they start going out, how much harder will it be for everyone that hasn’t had it yet to stay distanced?
Once the virus is under control governments are going to need to ensure there’s not a re-occurrence, next winter. Even if that’s not possible, they’re going to try. That means restricting travel in and out of places where the virus is under control. And it means strict testing regimes. There will be huge controls on travel, which is one of the engines of business. The United States issued a “level 4” travel advisory advising U.S. citizens not to travel internationally, and if they are out of the country they should make immediate plans to return home by whatever commercial means is available. The U.S. also advised its embassy and consular staff to return home and suspended all consular activities including visa applications.
Think of the impact of this. This is very significant. Nothing has ever been done of this magnitude before, ever! Imagine trying to find travel accommodations with airlines canceling flights up to 90% and in some cases 100%. Many airlines have shut down operations all together. If you were traveling outside the U.S. and you were not at a major airport hub, it may have been difficult to find a connection to an airport with a flight back home, wherever you live. Remember other countries are dealing with the same issues and policies.
US Issues Level 4 Advisory For All International Travel [9]
There is a statement, which I think is very relevant. It’s found in Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 6, and page 22. “We have no time to lose. The end is near. The passage from place to place to spread the truth will soon be hedged with dangers on the right hand and on the left.”
You can’t really travel now without thinking how to protect yourself. On airplanes and in hotels and restaurants people disinfect their own space and take precautions wherever they go. When they open doors, push elevator buttons, ride escalators, anywhere and everywhere there’s danger from the virus. On any surface, anywhere, anytime, there’s danger lurking nearby and it’s invisible. So governments have to take measures, tough measures, unilateral measures, dictatorial measures to control it.
I’ll read on, “Everything will be placed to obstruct the way of the Lord’s messengers, so that they will not be able to do that which it is possible for them to do now.”
So that’s what it’s all about! Satan, the originator of all disease, created this pandemic to limit God’s messengers. And he can kill people or make human misery extreme in the meantime on a global scale.
Here’s more of that statement. “We must look our work fairly in the face and advance as fast as possible in aggressive warfare. From the light given me of God I know that the powers of darkness are working with intense energy from beneath, and with stealthy tread Satan is advancing to take those who are now asleep, as a wolf taking his prey. We have warnings now which we may give, a work now which we may do; but soon it will be more difficult than we can imagine.” That statement describes with great accuracy the current circumstances.
Another reason why businesses can’t start up overnight is that the virus will affect not everywhere equally, and not everywhere will recover at the same pace. There will be restrictions inside the U.S. on businesses, schools and travel, not just restrictions on foreign travel.
Also, there will be concerns that the virus will come back (probably). And perhaps another, more lethal strain than we have seen this year. We may also see a resurgence of COVID-19 in the fall and winter, before there’s a vaccine.
This may merely be a dry run, orchestrated by Satan, to get people used to restrictions, for one day a really deadly pathogen can be unleashed on the world. It shows how people will react to their government in these extreme circumstances when plagued by fear.
There are coordinating aspects to the economy. Businesses that can still open will decide when the time is right based on their estimate of demand. Some won’t open back up at all. So far about 40% of small and mid-sized businesses in China that closed have not re-opened. Once they re-open they don’t just send an email to all former employees and tell everyone to show up at a certain time. Employees move on, businesses look for different employees. Job searches and hiring processes take time – months. So businesses can’t really start right away and it will probably be many months before they are back to what they were, if that’s possible.
In China and Israel, and no doubt other nations, the government is using social media, especially cell phones, to keep track of their citizens in order to curb the coronavirus. They know when they come and go. They know when they go to the store or a friend’s house, they know when they take public transportation. They already have a social score on individuals, so this is easy to do. So now social media is being used to control people. And it’s being looked at in some Western countries. Must we start to accept having our movements tracked, not just by the NSA, but by public health agencies?
This means privacy, even in your own home will dissolve. If governments can watch every move you make, they can access you home too. And they can enter into your home physically and force you into compliance with some rules. Basic human freedom will be curtailed. The government could compel you, in your own home, to be inoculated with a vaccine. The social consequences to your life will be gargantuan. You can expect a simplified lifestyle.
Freedom of association is under assault. It’s a way of preventing churches and other independent voices from being heard. It controls people by limiting them from meeting one another. At the time I prepared this sermon Germany has restricted meetings of more than two people. That will spread.
Coronavirus latest: Angela Merkel to quarantine after meeting infected doctor [11]
Crime, like theft and looting, will increase because people are desperate and fearful. Some are greedy, or want to take advantage of the situation, so they commit crimes too. Then the military will be called in, not just to deliver food or medicines, but they will be used to control crime.
Here is a statement from the book Education, page 228 which should ring in our ears. “At the same time anarchy is seeking to sweep away all law, not only divine, but human. The centralizing of wealth and power; the vast combinations for the enriching of the few at the expense of the many; the combinations of the poorer classes for the defense of their interests and claims; the spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed; the world-wide dissemination of the same teachings that led to the French Revolution—all are tending to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed France.” Once the initial shock and its consequences are over, this scenario is likely to play out.
But it is Satan’s attack on the Sabbath that is the real intention this and every other pestilence and disaster. Satan wants to bring the whole world to worship him. This would be in harmony with his plan to destroy in man any and all remembrance of God’s law. Can you imagine if a shining being appears and stops a major pandemic? And heals those afflicted with the pestilence?
Listen to this statement from The Great Controversy, page 624 about the last days and what Satan will do to people to get them to willingly worship him. “As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Saviour’s advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. Revelation 1:13-15. The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air: “Christ has come! Christ has come!” The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands and pronounces a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed His disciples when He was upon the earth. His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals the diseases of the people, and then, in his assumed character of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This is the strong, almost overmastering delusion. Like the Samaritans who were deceived by Simon Magus, the multitudes, from the least to the greatest, give heed to these sorceries, saying: This is “the great power of God.” Acts 8:10.
So, there has to be some deadly global pandemic that has the people terrified that will make them fall for this apparition. And its got to be big with much loss of life and enormous economic consequences that affects people’s livelihood and their security. Satan is building up to it! And his ultimate purpose is the declaration that the Ten Commandment Sabbath was changed to Sunday. Notice how he heals disease. When he does this he will have their attention. And he will have their worship.
Many pastors say that the cure for the coronavirus is repentance and a return to God. Even the pope called for prayer. This is ominous. Sunday laws are linked to this concept. And a national Sunday law will come in response to a series of natural disasters that create an existential threat to the people. The argument goes like this: we as a nation have wandered far from God. We have legalized many sinful practices including abortion and same-sex marriage among other things. God is not pleased with us because we have rejected light that he has sent us. Therefore, He is punishing us for our sins. We need to get everyone in church to assuage His anger and bring prosperity back to the nation. All must act in unity. So let’s make a law that requires everyone to get back in church on Sunday.
The cure for Coronavirus is going back to God – Dino Melaye [12]
One of Trump’s Favorite Pastors Says, “All Natural Disasters Can Ultimately Be Traced to Sin.” [13]
Pastor: Coronavirus is God’s Punishment for Legalized Abortion and Gay Marriage [14]
Coronavirus claim: Disease outbreak is ‘punishment from God’ [15]
Kourtney Kardashian shares Bible passage suggesting God would punish evil world with an ‘epidemic’ [16]
End of the world: Book of Revelation ‘prophesied coronavirus stopping Christian Sabbath’ [17]
Pope Francis calls for world prayer against coronavirus, will offer special blessing [18]
God’s moral law is a transcript of His character, His glory and holiness. It is unchangeable as His character. In that moral law is contained the great principles of heaven and God’s punishment of the disobedient. God rewards good and punishes evil. And God punishes when His other efforts to save man fails. God, in His of mercy and justice, can sometimes deal very severely with nations who rebel and turn from His law. But is further disobedience justified by making a Sunday law when God says to remember the seventh day Sabbath?
It is codifying Sunday observance into law that brings national ruin. Listen to this from Maranatha, page 193. “When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin.” So if you want to see economic collapse and other ruinous things, just enact a Sunday law.
We see God’s divine justice in His dealing with human civilization at the flood when Noah was mercifully spared, while the world in its wickedness and corruption was destroyed. It was seen in the destruction of Sodom and the plagues of Egypt. It was seen in the destruction of Jerusalem and many other examples all through scripture. These are examples to us on whom the ends of the world are come.
God speaks of fear that shall come on the world including those that are in the church but still “in the world” in Proverbs 1:24-31. “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.”
That’s also a warning especially to God’s people, who had great light but have refused to follow God’s instructions. Listen to this from Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 4, and page 491. “The unbelief and sins of ancient Israel were presented before me, and I saw that similar wrongs and iniquity exist among modern Israel. The pen of inspiration recorded their crimes for the benefit of those who live in these last days, that we might shun their evil example.”
What instructions have we not followed, you say? What about the instructions for healthful living? What about His explicit instructions to seek retired places in the country where we can grow our own food? If we had followed these two instructions, we would not be having so much problem with sports in our schools, entertainment in our homes, rock music among our youth and a host other sins.
By the way, if you live in the city, you are especially a target of the enemy. If I were you, when this coronavirus subsides I would find a way to move out of the city no matter what the cost or inconvenience before the next, more intense crisis befalls the cities that are sinful in the extreme. They are like Sodom now. You really have no excuse. The government won’t save you. They will try, but they can’t contain even a little invisible virus. What makes you think the government can contain the next global pandemic? Escape for thy life! Look not behind thee! And live healthy. Get rid of all that immune destroying junk food.
You know, I find that when I go to the grocery store that the empty shelves are the soda pop, the packaged cereals with lots of sugar and fat, the meat, the sugar and white flour, while the fruits and vegetables, the oatmeal, the healthy things without any sugar and fat are well stocked mostly. Amazing! So for now at least, I can buy what I need. The day is coming when that won’t be possible either and I will be thrown upon the mercy of God who fed Elijah by the brook Cherith.
The nations today are guilty of legislating sin and have been codifying immorality into law, such as abortion, same-sex marriage, prostitution and pornography, among other things. God’s moral law is being trampled in every western nation on the earth. Anarchy and sexual revolution is destroying the sanctity of marriage and family, which is the bedrock of society and these same sins have made their way into God’s church. Every known sinful passion and addiction are glorified by this generation. The Bible predicted that in the last days men would be “lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5. And that is where we’ve come to, my friends. It’s almost overwhelming.
Many pastors and lay members are guilty of perverting the pure, sanctifying truths of the Bible to the point where the truth is almost unrecognizable to the members. Unless they are earnestly studying the Bible they can’t see it. God’s Holy Word is little valued today as it was in Jesus’ day even though it is the most relevant book on the planet. So very few today treat the Bible as the guide of their life. And thus the clear truths of scripture like the Sabbath are being rejected. What about the important truths that are especially relevant for the end-times, such as the investigative judgment, that have to be carefully studied to be understood?
Sin no longer seems sinful. Obedience to God’s word is replaced with rebellion and insubordination. As a result, all manner of fables are now replacing the word of God in many churches. God’s messengers of reform are despised and ridiculed.
This statement from scripture couldn’t be a more accurate description of the church today: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” 1 Timothy 4:1. There are many who have departed from the faith who are still in the church and still attending every Sabbath. But they have left the faith.
Here is a statement I shared last month, but it bears hearing again. It is from Prophets and Kings, page 276. “Ought men to be surprised over a sudden and unexpected change in the dealings of the Supreme Ruler with the inhabitants of a fallen world? Ought they to be surprised when punishment follows transgression and increasing crime? Ought they to be surprised that God should bring destruction and death upon those whose ill-gotten gains have been obtained through deception and fraud? Notwithstanding the fact that increasing light regarding God’s requirements has been shining on their pathway, many have refused to recognize Jehovah’s rulership, and have chosen to remain under the black banner of the originator of all rebellion against the government of heaven.”
God says; “My spirit shall not always strive with man.” Genesis 6:3. I don’t know about you but I believe God means what he says. The nations are grieving the Spirit of God. God is gradually removing His Holy Spirit from the earth. So calamities and disasters will become more frequent and intense. Here is another statement from Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 9, and page. 11. “The Spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth. Plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God. The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war, are portentous. They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude.”
Notice how clearly we have been warned that it is God who prevents Satan from bringing disaster on the earth. When men continually choose darkness and error instead of truth and light, God gradually begins to remove his protection from the earth, and people are left at the mercy of the one they chose to serve – the evil one.
This pestilence is one of the signs, which were spoken of by Christ indicating that the close of human history is fast approaching. These signs will culminate with the glorious appearing of Christ in the clouds of heaven. He is warning us in more strident tones than ever before. “Get ready, get ready, get ready.”
Our society is on the brink of a moral catastrophe. There is nothing new under the sun. The same reprobate mindset that existed in bygone civilizations exists today. It’s not pandemics that cause societies to lose there place. What caused the antediluvian society’s demise? Their sins, of course, which brought on the sudden change in the way God dealt with that race. What caused Sodom’s society to be destroyed? It was their sins.
The very sins that caused previous societies to lose their place in history are on full display today – but worse. The chaos and confusion we are seeing in today’s news is what the Bible describes as a “just reward of reward” (Hebrews 2: 2) for all the abominations we see on the earth.
The scriptures say in Isaiah 26:20, “Come, my people, enter thou into
thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.”
What does this mean? Where are we to come? Friends, there is one place, one shop, that is closed yet, but we need to go there before it does and buy something. It is an essential. And there is plenty. It is “gold tried in the fire… and white raiment… and… eyesalve…” Do you know where that shop is? It is in the Most Holy Place, the secret place of the Most High. (See Revelation 3:18, and Psalm 91:1)
Jesus says “I will never leave the nor forsake thee.” You don’t have to fear or be anxious with a promise like that. But it only applies to those who are living with Jesus, obeying Him in everything He has asked you to do.
Jesus says, “be not afraid” many, many times. He said “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27.
We should take comfort in His word that the little invisible coronavirus is under His control and will obey His commands. He sees it. He knows where it is. Every single one. And most of all He know how to protect every one of His children. If He allows you to go through it, He has a reason. We can trust Him with our lives and those of our loved ones.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we human beings are often so vulnerable. We pray that you will teach us what we must do to come under the shadow of the almighty. Keep us safe. We love you and look forward to the time when this old rotten world will come to an end. Please fulfill Your promise to us that You won’t leave us or forsake us. We pray that You will keep us from forsaking You. In this coronavirus world we need your special protection. Please give us your presence that our hearts will not be troubled. In Jesus’ name, amen.