Coronavirus

heal103 said:

Wondering what I say to people who keep telling me they are mad at God for this horrible pandemic and ask where is God and why doesn't he stop this. This is so scary. Many are losing faith and wonder where God is. How should I respond? If I just say it's something evil and God did not send this, they ask why does he allow this

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If people are “losing faith” because of the coronavirus then I highly doubt they had any faith at all. To Christians who are doubting I would say perhaps He is doing this to test our faith, or perhaps its to put some people into a situation where they must turn to Him for help. Maybe it’s both, maybe it’s neither but ultimately Christians should know that God knows what is best and we should trust Him. The scriptures never guarantee that we will not suffer hard times or sickness in this world. Times like these are our best OPPORTUNITY to show our faith in Him. It’s easy to have faith when things are going well but it’s the hard times when our faith is truly tested and we can show God our devotion to Him.

Never mind supposing God must answer to people. We all now need to answer to God.

"Therefore submit to God." (in James 4:7)

Then, do not only answer to Him, in prayer, but submit to all He pleases now to do with us.

"And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." (Colossians 3:15)

Obey how He pleases to take care of us in this peace, doing simply exactly what He has us doing in sharing with Him and one another in His peace >

"with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love," (Ephesians 4:2)

And while we obey Him, He will make us clear, however He pleases And possibly you can share with people, telling them whatever has worked well for you.

My attention needs to be to God, not infected by the coronavirus! May God manage our attention, so with Him we do the good we can in sharing with our Heavenly Father. There is the good that God is doing in and through all things. This coronavirus thing, I think, is not the biggest awful thing going on, now, but it is getting attention.

Do not allow the coronavirus . . . corona means crown, possibly of a king . . . do not let it be the king of your attention!! Jesus is our King

"'Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.'" (Matthew 11:29)

What I think of now @heal103 is that this COVID-19 thing does get the better of me and my attention. So, I need to keep trusting God to have me obedient to Him and prayerful, and paying attention to whoever and whatever He wants. Yes, I would say there are things we should do to help with this problem, but make sure we are taking care of other things, including all the good sharing our Father has us doing, however, in His love and guiding in His peace.

There is praying to do >

1 Timothy 2:1-4

Philippians 4:6-7

Beware of how critical and accusing people can actually be intended to keep your attention away from God and being submissive to Him.

heal103 said:

Wondering what I say to people who keep telling me they are mad at God for this horrible pandemic and ask where is God and why doesn't he stop this. This is so scary. Many are losing faith and wonder where God is. How should I respond? If I just say it's something evil and God did not send this, they ask why does he allow this

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If people lose their faith because of a virus, they would lose their faith anyway because of this or that. They would also lose their faith because of a flu or because their car crashed. There are common evils present in the world constantly.

For example the Black death killed 200 million people in the 14th century. Old, young, children, men, women. Streets were full of dead people. And people still believed.

The Spanish flu killed 100 million people in the 20th century. And people still believed.

The WW2 killed 40 million people in 6 years. And people still believed.

Communism killed 60 million people in 40 years. And people still believed.

Now we have a little more difficult virus so that really old and unhealthy people can die and people stop believing? Oh come on, what is such faith worth.

heal103 said:

Wondering what I say to people who keep telling me they are mad at God for this horrible pandemic and ask where is God and why doesn't he stop this. This is so scary. Many are losing faith and wonder where God is. How should I respond? If I just say it's something evil and God did not send this, they ask why does he allow this

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I wonder why some people can act as if the problem of suffering is something that just started? It’s like where have you been? This world has been a mess since the day you were born!

Those you speak of who are falling away, are doing so because the worries of this life are choking out the Word, and they fall away because they are the seeds among the thorns.

If your feeling rootless and worried, then read scriptures and pray that God grant you peace in this hour. It's a scary time, but God is in co trol, we don't have to understand it, we just have to know that no matter what happens we are safe in God's Hand, and it's to us to show the love of God, now more than ever in people's times of need.

-when we are busy doing God's work, we don't have time to worry.

heal103 said:

Wondering what I say to people who keep telling me they are mad at God for this horrible pandemic and ask where is God and why doesn't he stop this.

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Pastor Rick Warren has a good answer here: God Uses Your Problems for Good

He has His reasons, you could ask Him, He might let you know why.

Coronavirus is a byproduct of man's sin. God is not to be blamed.

follow

Humans created this by following food-handling practices that were known to be dangerous. Humans allowed it to take hold by ignoring the lessons from the SARS epidemic, which should have acted as a warning.

heal103 said:

Wondering what I say to people who keep telling me they are mad at God for this horrible pandemic and ask where is God and why doesn't he stop this. This is so scary. Many are losing faith and wonder where God is. How should I respond? If I just say it's something evil and God did not send this, they ask why does he allow this

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God has been around during worse plagues than this. The existence of God does not depend on the absence of a plague or any Earthly disaster. Nor does his ultimate supremacy. If God exists, he is still God, and therefore he should still be worshiped.

heal103 said:

Wondering what I say to people who keep telling me they are mad at God for this horrible pandemic and ask where is God and why doesn't he stop this. This is so scary. Many are losing faith and wonder where God is. How should I respond? If I just say it's something evil and God did not send this, they ask why does he allow this

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The answer I believe is something that most people will not want to hear. I believe that God, weighed up the options that were before him, that he considered the way that the world was going. It's love of homosexuality, and sin. He acted out a plan, a plan to humble the wicked. Why do I say this. I remember having a conversation with God, of sorts, rather prayer, where ideas to overcome the strong push to exult the homosexual lifestyle entered my mind, and I tossed up the options that were presented. One was war to destroy the evil, the other was sickness, and disease to do the same. I remember distinctly discussing with the LORD that disease would cause less harm than war. Some time latter (days or weeks), I had a vision, where God in anger stated "Invade them" - them referring to those who stood for homosexuality, the feeling of the vision implying a curse. This happened before the virus was in the world. Last night I sought the LORD to know whether the vision was really him, the response seemed to indicate it was Him. In my opinion it is a sensible way for God to remove the power of the homosexual movement, without totally destroying the nations, to bring sickness upon those who don't fear God. Note this is just my opinion, but I feel it has grounding.

Excerpt:

Most people today see their needs and become negative. Often they say, “Why? Why has this happened to me? What have I done to deserve it?” Jesus looks on a need in the most positive way. To Him, a need exists to be met. To Jesus, a need in your life is not something to discourage you and make you negative. It is a legitimate claim you have upon His limitless resources to be met in full, provided you plant your seed first.

This is something you need to know and get positive about. No need should intimidate or bully you. If Christ is first in your life, and you are giving to Him, you are in connection! You are plugged in. God is answering; you should be expecting.

FutureAndAHope said:

The answer I believe is something that most people will not want to hear. I believe that God, weighed up the options that were before him, that he considered the way that the world was going. It's love of homosexuality, and sin. He acted out a plan, a plan to humble the wicked. Why do I say this. I remember having a conversation with God, of sorts, rather prayer, where ideas to overcome the strong push to exult the homosexual lifestyle entered my mind, and I tossed up the options that were presented. One was war to destroy the evil, the other was sickness, and disease to do the same. I remember distinctly discussing with the LORD that disease would cause less harm than war. Some time latter (days or weeks), I had a vision, where God in anger stated "Invade them" - them referring to those who stood for homosexuality, the feeling of the vision implying a curse. This happened before the virus was in the world. Last night I sought the LORD to know whether the vision was really him, the response seemed to indicate it was Him. In my opinion it is a sensible way for God to remove the power of the homosexual movement, without totally destroying the nations, to bring sickness upon those who don't fear God. Note this is just my opinion, but I feel it has grounding.

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God does not contradict Himself. God is not wishy-washy. Therefore, if a person is hearing God tell them one day that Covid-19 is His judgment, then another day hearing God tell him that Covid-19 has its origins in a natural cause, then on yet another day hearing God stating no it is My judgment on homosexuality, that can't be God, God doesn't work that way and He doesn't contradict Himself that way or at all. Someone hearing all of these contradictory voices would be wise to seek a more mature Christians help and refrain from sharing what they are hearing because something is wrong with their ability to hear from God. And other people would be wise not to take that person's comments as anything from God.

nvm