We need not fear anything - whether it be man, demons, or even coronaviruses

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah" (Psalm 46:1-3).

"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday ... He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways ... he shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble ... and show him my salvation" (Psalm 91).

"Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast" (Isaiah 26:20) [thankyou to my neighbours-but-one, John and Frances, for this scripture].

"What shall we say then to those things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

"Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast" (Hebrews 6:19a).

Confusion Concerning Ever-Changing 'Rules'

"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace" (1 Corinthians 14:33a).

False Prophets...

Neil Ferguson, Chris Whitty, Patrick Vallance, Matt Hancock, Anthony Fauci...

"And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptiously: thou shalt not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:21-22).

"[P]rophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! ... They have seen vanity and lying divination ... Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination ... they have seduced my people ... with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way ... ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD" (Ezekiel 13:1-23).

"And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him" (Ezekiel 14:9).

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matthew 7:15).

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1).

"We are in a dangerous place as a nation when we cannot trust Ministers of the Crown to tell us the truth. Equally, where HM Ministers do not trust the public to make their own decisions based on reality but must be duped by falsehood into compliance with unlawful diktats. 'And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter' (Isaiah 59:14).  Mr Hancock was appointed to be Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. He has damaged the nation's health through his lockdown, sent death into care homes and paralysed the NHS. He must believe he is Her Majesty's Secretary of State for eliminating infections of coronavirus. In such a role he thinks he has permission to mislead and bully the public for the greater good. But the word of God says: 'Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness' (Psalm 52:3).  As the BBC reports: 'Hancock: "Follow Covid rules or they will get tougher."  'For whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions' (2 Chronicles 10:1)" [source].

...and Ravening Wolves

Bill Gates...

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matthew 7:15).

"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:36-37).

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1).

God is Shaking the Nations

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth" (Psalm 46:10).

"See that ye refuse him not that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall we not escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:25-29) [thankyou to my Dad for this scripture].

The Great Reset

"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.  Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.  I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.  Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.  Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.  Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.  Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him" (Psalm 2).

Should churches obey the government's command to close their churches during pandemics or other infectious plagues?

"And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house ... Praising God" (Acts 2:46-47).

The following extended extract is from the article: Government, Health & Safety, the Court of Public Opinion... What About the Bible?

"Many who want to at least question the overwhelmingly prevalent approach of simply accepting the government's every command and even wish, do so because they find themselves being asked by the government to disobey certain commands from the Bible, which, as Christians, they take to be the inerrant and infallible word of God, the final authority for all doctrine and conduct ...

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 28:19),

"And when had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24),

"Greet one another with a holy kiss" (2 Corinthians 13:12),

"Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19),

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another" (Hebrews 10:25).

"It is true that there are also verses in the Bible commanding general civil obedience, for example, the paying of taxes, but nowhere is it suggested that we are to take obedience of earthly authorities to the point of disobeying the Great Commission or breaking any of the laws of God. Indeed, we find plenty of examples - Daniel, and the Apostles, for example - of the people of God defying earthly authorities in the domain of what we might today call religious freedom, and they are commended for it ... they defied the authorities and paid the price...

"Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29).

"[D]o we, as Christ-followers, need the permission of the State to carry out the Great Commission, which includes baptising new believers for example?  Does our command to do so come straight from Christ without condition, or is it more like guidelines from Christ, only to be implemented if the government says we can?  Who is really Head of the Church?  Is Christ's authority over the Church absolute, or does the government trump Christ when push comes to shove?

"Here's a fun lockdown activity.  Pick an episode in the Bible, any episode, and try writing a risk assessment for it.  Turning the tables in the Temple, perhaps?  Paul's missionary journeys?  The four men lowering their friend through the roof to Jesus's feet?  Walking through the streets of a foreign city preaching against it?  Marching through the Red Sea with elderly and infants and then on to the Promised Land through a desert?  Publicly teaching against Artemis in a city were sale of her idols is a major source of income for many families?

"Almost every story we read in the Bible is dangerous! And in the centuries that have passed since then, Christian believers have continued to rick much - including their health and the health of others - in the spread of the gospel.  Mission to unreached people groups is particularly high-risk in terms of dangerous infection both ways.  But we have, up till now, taken the view that the urgency of fulfilling the Great Commission in its entirety trumps all.  Eternal well-being matters much much more than temporal well-being: that's at the heart of the gospel ... When Spurgeon ministered during the cholera outbreak, it would seem he considered things of eternity the absolute priority.  He continued to visit the sick and dying (today we would condemn him as a super-spreader), anxious that people in their final moments should have the opportunity of hearing the gospel.  Today we are keeping our distance, and seem more perturbed that a few should die from avoidable infection than that many should die alone and possibly without ever hearing the gospel ...

"Even if we agree that lockdown is doing more help than harm purely in health terms (that itself is an important debate to be had; because of lockdown, cancer patients are undiagnosed or untreated, domestic abuse is on the rise, mental health problems and suicides are increasing, and of course all manner of problems, including health problems, will come as a result of economic downturn), it has to be conceded if we believe our Bibles (and scientific reason) that many more infectious plagues are yet to come, probably of far greater severity than Covid-19 (which is closer to the common flu end of the spectrum than the black death end): disease and risk are here to stay, likely increase.  Are we going to give up meeting every time 'pandemic' is declared?  Is this how we propose to spend these last days?"

[end of extract]

Pray...

"Pray for a complete return to normality and sanity, for our respective governments to lift all restrictions, masks, social distancing, and let us all get on with providing for our families, socialising, singing praise in church, and generally rebuilding life, society, and the economy.  'The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God' ( 2 Samuel 23:3).  Pray for humility and the fear of God to descend on Her Majesty's Government" [source].

© Elizabeth McDonald     https://www.bayith.org     bayith@blueyonder.co.uk