Teens Meet Outreach

“God is angry and so he has put out the corona virus so that he can bring people closer to him”.

These were words I overheard a man say over the radio when asked about his opinion on the corona virus.

Someone close to me also said – “it’s because of the sin of the world. There’s too much sin”. Another even said it’s because China’s sins are so enormous that they don’t acknowledge God, but idols. So, God has chosen to deal with them, and teach them a lesson.

A-ha! As logical and emotional as these statements sound, it’s all false. It’s a very ignorant way of describing God.

Like I told my mum as we both listened to another “funny man” on the radio:

Why then did he (God) go all the way to become a man and die for men if he would later kill these same men that he died for. If that’s really how he is – then, why worship a “killer God”, I said.

Just think about it, it is even against the sole purpose why he came. Let’s imagine a police officer who stood in the way and took a bullet for a man. This landed him in a coma for almost a year. Upon his healing, he hunted this same man down and killed him. Is that not stupid? I am sure you would be annoyed if you ever see a movie like that. I mean, why did he take the bullet for the man in the first place, knowing fully well that he would kill him?

In the same vein – a God that died for men is then found killing the same men he died for. Such a paradox.

You see…

No matter who says what, no matter any man’s experience, vision, or thought, once it’s not consistent with the truth of God’s word – it can be discarded.

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We must stop seeing God as these idols: Sango, Ogun, and Obatala or like an earthly king, ruler, or boss. God doesn’t operate like they do.

A herbalist, for example, upon believing the gospel may find it hard not to see God as the sango he used to worship which would hurt the worshipper if he acts wrongly.

Some still think God is like a higher version of their mean boss at work who would deduct a percentage from their salary just because they drank too much from the water dispenser.

That is not God. He is gracious.

Wait. Logically, how does killing people bring them closer to the killer? That’s folly. It’s the height of insincerity.

But like some people have asked, didn’t he do something similar in the Old Testament of the Bible?

No, he didn’t. There’s a lot to explain on this but let’s examine what pastor Tokunbo Adejuwon’s said on this (I believe it simplified things);

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“There are many verses in the Old Testament scriptures where it seems as though, God placed sickness upon people – but, we must not forget that the Bible is progressive revelation. Hence, it must be read together. The new Testament is in the Old Testament concealed, and the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic language, and in the original texts, it was never in the causative tense that God puts sickness on anyone. It was always in the permissive sense. And the reason he permitted it was obvious. Man is a free moral agent”.

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We could go into rigorous explanations to show that God never caused sickness on anyone in the Old Testament, but the above quote has summarized it.

But since God knows, why didn’t he stop it? (some have innocently and ignorantly asked).

You see, like pastor Tokunbo said… “It is always in the permissive tense, and not the causative tense”.

In essence, “God’s foreknowledge (like my pastor – Pastor Steven Tijesuni- explained) is not to force nor utter things. God’s foreknowledge is like that of a parent/elderly person who would see the mistake of their ward/younger one and say; “…hmm, “you will fall sick”, or -in the case of a child who plays much- “You will get hurt”.

Now, they are not saying they would inflict the child with sickness, nor are they saying that they would force him to do/change anything. But based on experience and wisdom, they have observed the children’s actions and are telling him the possible outcome.

God created man not as a robot that he would enforce something on, but as a free moral agent. Even the gospel, the man has to choose to either believe or not.

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It’s just as God has known and revealed that the unbeliever would perish, he is not saying xyz will perish.

Let’s examine scriptures;

…God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.

James 1:18

God doesn’t tempt any man to try and bring him closer: not with sin, not with sickness, and definitely not with death.

Does God want men closer to him? Definitely. But not by threatening him with sickness, death nor a deadly virus. No, not at all.

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…this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior… who will have all men to be saved…

1 Tim 2:3-4

Clearly, his plan is to save men (by the Gospel), which is why he died. Not to kill men.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

James 1:17

To save you the Greek words here, this verse, when translated originally and in context, means that: Every intention of God (who’s the giver of the gift) is a gift which is complete and finished (and needs no input of the receiver) and is Christ, and this gift is from God in whom there is no obscurity: no hiding, no shadow.

This means that God doesn’t do ‘hide and seek’ for men. His plan for the unbeliever is to save him, and for the believer – that he grows in knowledge. So, he wouldn’t kill him.

Some have said God placed this ailment on them and wants the doctor to heal them. Such height of ignorance! If it’s God, should you not pray for more of it? Why then do you want to heal?

God doesn’t inflict sickness on anyone, he rather wants the sick healed.

Who then is behind the Virus?

It’s man. Yes, man: the free moral agent! Why did God allow it? Simple. Because man is a being of choice, not a robot. Again, God’s foreknowledge is permissive and not causative. Why is it permissive?, would you rather ask God himself about that yourself, No? Then just believe how it is!

Where is God in all this then?

Simple, he’s right at the center of healing the sick and raising the dead. This is obvious: when he became a man, he revealed that the devil is behind sicknesses and always healed the sick.

Jesus is God in human form, he revealed God’s person in his way of life. He is the perfect representation and revelation of God: God’s very image.

In essence, like pastor Tokunbo Adejuwon puts it- “we don’t really see God as he really is until we come into the new Testament/covenant”. In Christ Jesus’s actions, we see what God wills.

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Let’s examine Matthew 14:14; 20:34, Mark 1:41-42 and see how Jesus’s response to the sick is always compassion. “he loved them and felt sorry for them… he made them ALL well again“.

His intention in plagues was and is ALWAYS to heal, set free or stop.

Perhaps you’re thinking – WHAT ABOUT JOB?

Well, God -like I said earlier- is revealed in Christ, and he’s a permissive agent and not causative.

Anyway, if we examine Job’s life, we would see that God NEVER asked him to offer any sacrifice. Job only thought it would be nice to offer sacrifices (Job1:5). It was his choice/doing, not God’s request at all.

Like Hebrews 10:1-6 puts it – God has no pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices. Men, like Job, only offered sacrifices in their sin consciousness.

God is not a vampire who sucks blood to be satisfied. He’s not an idol like Sango.

He has also promised not to remember our sins anymore, therefore, he wouldn’t see it and there are no longer sacrifices for sin. Christ has been offered once and for all. (Hebrews 10:10; 17-18, 2 Cor 5:21).

Now, back to Job. His afflictions were caused by the devil. There was actually no literal ‘family meeting’ between God and the devil. The writer of Job is only using allegories (we mustn’t also forget that the writers also grew in knowledge, which is why we must read the Bible together and not take it out of context).

But we see God’s intention in verse 12 “…satan…all he hath is in thy power…only upon himself put not forth thine hand… “.(Job1:12).

Here, the writer simply is explaining how Satan rules material things of this world and how God’s authority is upon the soul of the believer where nothing can touch it. So, job’s sickness and calamities were by the devil.

Job interestingly later realized this in Job 42:3 where he said: “…I have uttered that I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I knew not…”.

Hence, he realized it was the devil and admitted that all he had said -from chapter one- was in ignorance.

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Paul also understood this, that circumstances or issues of life would arise, so he wrote in Romans 8:35-39 that no sickness, famine, persecutions, and so on can separate us from God’s love!

So, God’s intention in diseases and calamities is restitution and healing just as he restored Job’s health and wealth (Job 42:10,12).

“Jesus was God manifested in the flesh and he NEVER puts sickness on anyone. He always healed the sick who looked to him for healing. He NEVER turned anyone down. Healing is ALWAYS God’s will for the sick”. (Pastor Tokunbo Adejuwon).

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Like Pastor Segun Onayinka said: “If you say it’s God that released the virus, then you’re saying that ALL the doctors finding the cure are against God?”

Therefore, beloved, don’t be deceived nor afraid.

Where God is in all this is where he has always been – he is in Christ -in the believer- and his will is to save men. In this case, to heal.

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So, as you stay safe taking precautions – don’t be ignorant of God’s healing power. Don’t stop praying. Don’t prioritize visions and experiences above the truth of God’s word.

It would be over soon. God ‘gat’ us. We win. Jesus is God. Amen.

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{Interesting read: God and Social Distancing: Faith in the time of coronavirus}

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