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**This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**
(This article is by a friend who is also a mentor to me. He was called by the Holy Spirit to a life of celibacy and seclusion shortly after his extensive education and initiation into a profession he loved. He was a medical research doctor. Since he was called, he has lived much of his adult life in seclusion in the desert and has been refined by God to a great extent.
Many people feel a most unusual sense of God’s presence when they come into contact with him. He very often has God-given insight into the affairs of our world and this Covid virus pandemic is no exception. I commend this perspective to all who will receive it.)
Lynn Green
Covid-19 review from a Kingdom of God perspective
April 2020 (Easter Day in the Western Church/Palm Sunday in the East)
We are now one month further on than when we last considered this issue and so need to know how to have a Kingdom viewpoint and to recognize our responsibility in this situation.
• Throughout Scripture we see how The Lord takes His people by surprise
“But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; Suddenly they shall be wounded.” Psalm 64v7
“For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, So the sons of men are snared in an evil time, When it falls suddenly upon them.” Ecc 9v12
“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.” Luke 21v34
“For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.“ 1Thess 5v3
• There is only one word to describe what is happening and that is… STOP!!!!!!!!! The world is hurtling towards a destiny that it does not perceive and does not understand.
“For God may speak in one way, or in another, Yet man does not perceive it.” Job 33v14
God is trying to gain our attention. The whole point of this suffering is to turn our attention back to God and to ask, ‘what does this mean’? We must learn discernment. Our role is to:
• Inform the world, • Proclaim the Word • Pray.
JUDGEMENT BEGINS WITH THE CHURCH
For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” 1Pet 4 v17+18
We are the ones who are supposed to be able to ‘understand the times’ and to discern God’s purpose. If we cannot do this we must STOP and ask for revelation. We need to STOP
all our busyness and entanglements. We must STOP clinging to old ideas and ways of seeing things. We must exchange our worldly mindset for the mind of Christ and exercise faith informed by Scripture.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.” Psa 119v5
We must kindle the light of the Spirit within and calibrate with each other and with those who are our spiritual mentors and elders.
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” 1Cor 2v12+13
We need to approach this time with deep purification and consecration, with holy fear and seriousness in the same way that the Early Church lived.
“that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” Eph 5 v 27
We also need to humble ourselves and submit to each other so that the unity of the Body which commands blessing can follow. We must wake up!!!!!
“Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.” 1Cor 15v34
SIGNS OF THE END TIMES
- Confusion, fear, terror and loss of peace. This is because we follow the news of the broadcasters and not the instructions and directions of Scripture. We may even be bored as we are denied our usual distractions!
“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” Luke 21v25+26
“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21v36
“I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Luke 18v8
Fear is not caused by the enemy as the enemy is also in great fear as he sees his time drawing to a close. What is absent is the fear of God leading to true repentance.
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Rom 3v18
“For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” 2Cor 7v11
Fear of death is a sort of slavery but fear of the Lord brings freedom by the death of Christ
“through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Heb 2v15
- Manifestation of the Kingdom of the Beast and the number of the Beast.
“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Rev 13v16+17
We need to beware of human wisdom concerning this matter and its many misrepresentations. It is a time when there will be total control of the population with the potential for exclusion and persecution of those who do not submit. We need to consider if we, as the Body, are ready for this? The early church used to pray: ‘As it was so shall it be’ as a way of demonstrating their acceptance of the persecution that will always be part of the Church’s experience. In the time of the persecution of Christians by Islam many denied their faith but later recanted. They travelled to Mt Athos to be trained to accept suffering as part of normal discipleship. When they were considered to be mature in this they were sent back and were then martyred. This helps us to ask ourselves if we are ready to suffer in the name of Christ and whether or not we have the grace to endure? This calls for circumcision of the heart. We are in a season when the Holy Spirit pours His grace into hearts that are prepared.
FORGIVENESS AND REPENTANCE
There needs to be an awakening to the plans and purposes of God in these times leading to a deepening of faith in Christ and consecration of lives lived solely for Him. There is a need for Ministers and Pastors who have the knowledge of God so that souls can be nourished and their thirst for the Love of God, quenched. This is how the Bride of Christ will appear but first we must be made ready and prepared.
“Who is she who looks forth as the morning, Fair as the moon, Clear as the sun, Awesome as an army with banners?” Song of Songs 6v10
Amen
Lynn Green 