COVID-19, future church
The COVID-19 pandemic is becoming an embarrassing issue, not only for advanced countries with superior medical facilities, research communities, but also the Christian body.
As a Christian, I am worried by the havoc this pandemic is causing at a time when prophecies and the word of God are not scarce all over the world.
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To make matters worse, Christianity is advancing appreciably, with preaching on radio and television stations daily.
Besides, healing, signs and wonders, as well as deliverances through the power of God are the norm in several congregations and, therefore, it seemed the Church is doing very well, only for the pandemic to hit.
The Bible says in Amos 3:7 that, “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” Men of God have revealed God’s will and plan to kings and leaders of nations, about impending dangers and proferred remedial measures in averting them.
State of church
Even though there is the proliferation of churches all over the world, especially in Africa, the same cannot be said of the presence of God.
Could it be said that the words of Jesus in Matthew 15:8: “These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me,” succinctly describe the state of the church of today?
I believe that the church, like other state agencies, including international agencies like the World Health Organisation (WHO) has been caught unawares by this pandemic.
Today, pastors have become celebrities and are more of businessmen and women than shepherds of souls in the church, role models and custodians of moral standards.
The preaching and teaching of the word of God is not as important to some men of God as the financial administration of the church.
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The result is that men and women of God are involved in scandals nearly as much as those who have nothing to do with God. Prophecies on national issues lack accuracy and usually lead to the ridiculing of the God and His church.
Evangelism is no more about Jesus, but rather about the popularity of the church. It is, therefore, more or less a competitive advertisement to promote one church at the expense of others. We end up recycling Christians among the churches.
These and many others have significantly reduced the influence of the Church on national issues.
Spanish Flu pandemic
According to The Christian Evangel, the Assemblies of God's paper of record, later known as the Pentecostal Evangel, during the Spanish Influenza pandemic in 1918, churches and ministers complied with the directives of the Health Department of the United States to close their meetings and quarantine those who were sick, similar to what pertains today.
They recognised that they needed to protect people in the cities they lived in.
On several occasions, ministers cancelled revival meetings because the influenza was spreading across the town.
Some saw the epidemic as a resistance to the great work God was doing. Even so, they viewed the painful reality of human mortality as a greater impulse to reach the lost.
However, these believers also went to the homes of those who were sick to pray and they saw many answers to prayer and the power of the Word of God being made manifest.
They weren’t afraid to pray for the sick. In some cases, they ministered to them even in death.
These and other stories, during the pandemic, gave the Christians the moral right, courage and faith to further preach the word of God when the pandemic subsided, winning more souls for God.
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The Church has been given the power to heal the sick and even raise the dead according to Matthew 10:8. Sickness from a novel coronavirus is not exempted from the classes of sicknesses we have been empowered to deal with.
The world is, therefore, looking up to the Church for perhaps, an unorthodox breakthrough regarding the coronavirus and its effects on the global community.
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Ezekiel 22:30- "I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.”
We need to return to God and be empowered to deal with the situation in order to have the moral right to tell the world that we have a Saviour who is not only a healer, but who also has the power and authority to give us life beyond this world.
Should we be silent and flow with the tide and be talking about flattening the curve as the medical professionals and scientists are saying, we stand the risk of diminishing the influence of Christianity in national issues for a long time.
This is a time for revival. If we missed the first opportunity of telling the world of impending danger, we should not miss the second opportunity of having our influence felt in dealing with this pandemic. The time to act is now!
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The author is a member of Assemblies of God Church and a Managing Consultant
E-mail: [email protected]