Is Covid-19 a Judgment from God?

[Thoughtful Monk]

My local Christian radio network put the question asked "Is Covid-19 a Judgment from God?" as their question of the week.

I answered: No, but it is a reminder from God that we are not as in control of our lives as we think.

What do you think?

(Please, don't make this an OMBT. Thanks.)

[Esther]

What is an "OMBT" ? :-)

[Thoughtful Monk]

What is an "OMBT" ? :-)

It's from the Civics forum and stands for Orange-Man-Bad-Thread. In other words, don't let the thread become a debate on Trump.

[Cow Poke]

My local Christian radio network put the question asked "Is Covid-19 a Judgment from God?" as their question of the week.

I answered: No, but it is a reminder from God that we are not as in control of our lives as we think.

What do you think?

(Please, don't make this an OMBT. Thanks.)

I don't see it any more than the consequences of the fall of man. I believe, however, it is being greatly politicized.

[Christianbookworm]

It's just another pop quiz at the school of hard knocks. We aren't in detention.

[mikewhitney]

We seem to be at the end of the Rev 20:7-10 where the nations have been deceived and start encircling the camp of the saints. We see this anti-Christian effort through the governors' willingness to shutdown church gatherings. We see this in missionary work where vultures, in the form of Mormonites and JWs, sneak in to take away the grace that had been ministered to those locations. (I didn't realize the potential for mass deception until this virus thing happened. I didn't know about the attacks on these newly Christian-taught communities until I checked out TheCenters.org

The apparent purpose of this is that Satan (against his self interest) has attracted and exposed the evildoers while deceiving the people.

However, we could just be in stage 1 of this and may have to go through additional stages before this event comes to completion.

[mossrose]

I am convinced that this MAY be a part of the birth pangs Jesus talks about in Matthew regarding His return. Which will ultimately result in His judgment on all the unbelief, including that which is so prevalent today.

Of course, we have had plagues and wars and so on for millennia, so this may not be as far along in the birth process as we might think some days.

[Christianbookworm]

Or it's just another contraction. We can only tell in hindsight.

[Esther]

I am convinced that this MAY be a part of the birth pangs Jesus talks about in Matthew regarding His return. Which will ultimately result in His judgment on all the unbelief, including that which is so prevalent today.

Of course, we have had plagues and wars and so on for millennia, so this may not be as far along in the birth process as we might think some days.

Agree. I do think all the wars and natural disasters and plagues and famines and 2 Timothy 3:1-5 especially, everything happening together at once not isolated incidences as has been the pattern of the past, means we are in the closing chapters of the end of this world. Certainly could be one of the many judgements in the book of Revelation. I believe believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air at the last trumpet judgement.

Matthew 33-34:

33 So also when you see these signs, [m]all taken together, coming to pass, you may know [n]of a surety that He is near, at the very doors.

34 Truly I tell you, this generation ([o]the whole multitude of people living at the same time, [p]in a definite, [q]given period) will not pass away till all these things [r]taken together take place.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

3 But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].

2 For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.

3 [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.

4 [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.

5 For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].

The last trumpet: Revelation 11:15

15 The seventh angel then blew [his] trumpet, and there were mighty voices in heaven, shouting, The dominion (kingdom, sovereignty, rule) of the world has now come into the possession and become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (the Messiah), and He shall reign forever and ever (for the eternities of the eternities)!

[Thoughtful Monk]

It's just another pop quiz at the school of hard knocks. We aren't in detention.

At a minimum, it's a quiz since God is more or less continuously testing us.

While I don't have a good answer, when does something cross the line between a testing and a sign? The global scale of Covid-19 to me indicates it's more than a routine testing we face. I don't think it's a judgment but God is saying something to us.

[Thoughtful Monk]

Agree. I do think all the wars and natural disasters and plagues and famines and 2 Timothy 3:1-5 especially, everything happening together at once not isolated incidences as has been the pattern of the past, means we are in the closing chapters of the end of this world. Certainly could be one of the many judgements in the book of Revelation. I believe believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air at the last trumpet judgement.

Matthew 33-34:

33 So also when you see these signs, [m]all taken together, coming to pass, you may know [n]of a surety that He is near, at the very doors.

34 Truly I tell you, this generation ([o]the whole multitude of people living at the same time, [p]in a definite, [q]given period) will not pass away till all these things [r]taken together take place.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

3 But understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear].

2 For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.

3 [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good.

4 [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God.

5 For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].

The last trumpet: Revelation 11:15

15 The seventh angel then blew [his] trumpet, and there were mighty voices in heaven, shouting, The dominion (kingdom, sovereignty, rule) of the world has now come into the possession and become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (the Messiah), and He shall reign forever and ever (for the eternities of the eternities)!

In addition to the above, I think we may be at the start of the great falling away. This article discusses how fewer people are reading the Bible during the pandemic. https://religionnews.com/2020/07/22/...irus-pandemic/

[footwasher]

My local Christian radio network put the question asked "Is Covid-19 a Judgment from God?" as their question of the week.

I answered: No, but it is a reminder from God that we are not as in control of our lives as we think.

What do you think?

(Please, don't make this an OMBT. Thanks.)

Acts 17:26and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

The verses seem to say that every person is approached by God through a crisis, that makes him or her reflect.

[Rushing Jaws]

My local Christian radio network put the question asked "Is Covid-19 a Judgment from God?" as their question of the week.

I answered: No, but it is a reminder from God that we are not as in control of our lives as we think.

What do you think?

(Please, don't make this an OMBT. Thanks.)

not

[seanD]

My local Christian radio network put the question asked "Is Covid-19 a Judgment from God?" as their question of the week.

I answered: No, but it is a reminder from God that we are not as in control of our lives as we think.

What do you think?

(Please, don't make this an OMBT. Thanks.)

I look at it more like God removing a restraint on mankind. The pandemic is judgement in the sense that the world has been in perpetual judgement since the fall of man. However, I do believe God will start removing restraints he has on mankind, and thus their reactions to these events will be much worse, which is why the reaction to this pandemic (regardless of the severity of it and how accurate that is) has been worse than previous pandemics. Paul talked about removing a type of restraint so the Man of Sin is revealed, and I think that's related.