There is a lot of speculation and theories out there about the covid 19 virus and why it is such a threat. The media have gone overboard with the reporting but very few people have come out with what I am about to say here. The virus holds many people in fear with a vice like grip, on-line preachers are dusting off their best end times sermons, I have heard some saying this is a fulfillment of a prophecy of the imminent return of Jesus. Very few are preaching anything about hope and faith and those that do are being shouted down with ever increasing frequency.

As a Christian and a believer in Jesus, I can safely say, this is not one of the plagues from the end times tribulation, nor is it a punishment from God. The virus is not going to cause the second coming of Jesus to take the church away and it is not going to start the tribulation either. Yes you can find plenty of so called, self proclaimed prophets who will tell you this is the start of the tribulation, or that this will bring about the second coming reports out there on the internet. One thing for certain is that preachers and pastors are no longer making or talking fun of the end times prophecies. Another thing for certain is that this virus has got people in fear, the longer it goes on the more people seem to be gripped in an ever increasing circle of fear. Let me make this very clear, this virus IS NOT from GOD and those of us who believe in HIM should not fear. Fear is the opposite of faith, fear will kill you, faith will save you. My thoughts are telling me that we should not be looking at how close or when will we see the return of Jesus, or speculating if this is the beginning of the end etc. We should actually be looking at what can we do to help those who are suffering, how we can bring peace to those who are troubled, how can we show Jesus through our actions and lives.

This virus is a natural reaction to something which most Christians will not like, it is the simple result of what happens when you do not follow the laid down Laws / Commandments of God regarding food. Yes it is highly possible that the virus originated in a laboratory and was modifided to be a biological weapon by mans hand, but in the context of other biological weapons a very mild one. If you as a Christian say you are a believer, that you believe in Jesus then the Bible clearly tells you that the Commandments apply. You cannot say that the Laws and Commandments do not apply to the Church, they were only for the Jews, or that Jesus did away with them when he was crucified and that we now live under Grace. I could come up with a load more excuses that Christians will use but that is not the point of this article. It shows how little understanding of the Bible people have and the clear simple statement Jesus made that said, "Matthew 5 : 18 :- For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." clearly most Christians do not believe the spoken words of Jesus. You can also say that if you are not a believer in Jesus or the Bible, then fine go eat what you want, but the same Laws still apply. So then what about Israel, why do they have the virus the same as the rest of the world I hear you ask, simple, most of those in Israel are not following the commandments of God regardless if your food is clean or not. You cannot pick and choose which commandments you follow and which ones you dont. You obey them all, O and before you start, they are not difficult to follow, 1 John 5 : 3 :- For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. If you obey the commandments then we are told by God that none of the sickness and disease of this world will harm you. Read more on this later on.

You may say that is a little unfounded, but this is not the first corona virus outbreak we have seen. The first documented case of corona virus in humans goes back to 1965 with a virus named "B814" and around the same time period another virus was named "229E", so the corona virus is not a new virus it has been active and infecting humans for over 50 years. Since 2002 we have seen at least 5 new human corona viruses of the SARS variety. SARS or the full designation is Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
SARS - Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome was first identified in Foshan, Guangdong, China, in November 2002 and appears to have been caught from a bat. It spread to reportedly 29 countries.
NL63, NL - both identified in the Netherlands during 2003 and 2004 and is commonly associated in Pigs. A third virus around the same time and very similar was called HCoV-NH.
MERS - Middle East respiratory syndrome, was first identified in a patient from Saudi Arabia in April 2012 after reportedly eating camel meat.
All of these are unclean food sources according to the bible, starting to sound a little more possible, do you think it might be wise to find out a little more?

So what are the Laws? Leviticus 11 gives you the details. Certain foods are classed as clean others as unclean. Only eating those classed as clean, gives you benefits, one of which is that the diseases of the gentiles will not come upon you. But I hear you shout, I am a gentile who believes in Jesus I have no Jewish blood in me. Correct in one sense, but, when you became a believer, born again, and started to follow Jesus, you are grafted into the line of Abraham, as far as God is concerned you are the same as Jews and will be treated as such. So what are some of these benefits: "Exodus 15 : 26 :- And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee". Notice that this was said to the Israelites during the Exodus, but the people were not just Israelites, they included Gentiles even some Egyptians who wished to serve the same God. You can also look at:
Deuteronomy 7 : 15 :- And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.
Deuteronomy 28 : 60 :- Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
So for the Gentile Christian:
Romans 3 : 22 :- Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Romans 10 : 12 :- For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
Therefore God Sees no difference between the Jew or the Gentile that believe in Him.
Re-read through the story of the Exodus, you will notice that the people did not get sick in those 40 years, the clothes did not wear out, they kept the same pair of shoes, now remember some of these people were children when they came out of Egypt, so the clothes and shoes grew with them, they were also supplied with food the whole way. The people grumbled, complained and sinned plenty of times even to the point where GOD wanted to kill them all and start again, and yet the protection and provision from GOD continued without fail.

So to answer my question about where is God, the answer is fairly simple, God is still sat on His throne waiting for us all to believe and to obey His commandments. If you believe in Him then follow His commands. God is waiting for you to do something, you have your own free will to decide what to do. If you ask for God's protection, if you ask for His help He will send it. If you wish to heed the reports on the news stations and sit there in fear, then you are outside of God's protection, fear is the opposite of faith, you can only have one or the other, faith or fear. The answer to our problem may well have be given 3 or 4000 years ago on Mount Sinai when God gave us His commandments.

From another set of verses in the Bible, 2 Chronicles 7:12-15
"12: And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice.
13: If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;
14: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
15: Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place."
In the Christian church a lot of believers will recognise verse 14, and many often quote it as if that is all there is to it, they forget the verses before which give the context. In these verses Solomon has just finished building the first Temple and God is talking to Solomon. Verse 14 happens and comes into being when verse 13 is in effect and if you read the passage, then you will have seen the end of the verse "if I send pestilence among my people" but also notice that God says in verse 13 "If I shut, if I command, if I send" then you should see that verse 14 is the national repenting response from the people after God has done something. You can then say that if God has not done something like that in verse 13, then verse 14 is not relevant. It does not matter how nice and right the verse sounds on its own, it is out of context. Also notice in those verses the number of times that little two letter word comes up "IF", do you remember what if means. IF my people who are called by HIS name, do you know what GOD's name is? His literal name, have you humbled yourself, litterally fallen flat on your face to worship Him, prayed but prayed his will not yours, repented for any unbelief in your heart, stopped doing whatever is not righteous in His sight, then and only then will you be forgiven of your sins and your lands healed. Now let me be clear, verse 14 is important but this verse is not the only verse a Christian should be praying over themselves, we should not be relying on just this one verse. Let me say this loud and clear, if you wish to pray scripture over yourself, then pray the covering of the blood of Jesus, over your life, over your house, over your family. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is pure and covers all for those who ask for it.

Another way of looking at this is, if God allows this to carry on then you can be certain that God has a plan. God may not have started or created the pandemic but God may well use it for His purpose. Remember God did not spare His Son Jesus for our salvation but sent Him to the cross for our sins. Now think about it, if God thinks we are that important and special for Him to use His own Son to save us, do you really think He is then going to send a plague such as covid to wipe us out or to punish us. If God allows a plague then there is a reason, pray about what that reason is meant to mean for you. If someone has been removed from your life, if your job has been removed, if your circumstances have been changed, then, pray about finding the reason, the path you are supposed to tread, you may not find out the why, but you can be assured that God will lead you through and bring you out the other side, and it may well be that GOD has removed that something from you so that HE can give you something better. Romans 8:32 "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" I would also include verse 28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Therefore you should not fear what is happening because God is still on the throne and God is still in control, He has a purpose for you so accept it, but be careful you do not become arrogant, this is only to show God's Glory. God has saved you because it shows His Glory, God has kept you safe because it shows His Glory, God has healed you because it shows His Glory. There is and should never be any other reason, there is nothing you have done to deserve any of this. As a Christian part of your inheritance through Jesus going to the Cross for your salvation is that you can live in divine health and have divine healing in your life not just for now but for all your life.

I will not fear the reports given by man. Let faith rise up and let peace wash over you. You have the Holy Spirit, you have Jesus, and you have God. That does not mean that you can just ignore the advice given out about social distancing and self isolation, the Israelites were told to stay indoors whilst the plague of the first born passed over Egypt. Good hygiene is expected of you, you should not need to be told about that, there is nothing wrong with following the advice to stay safe.

There is also nothing wrong with taking the vaccine. Contrary to some popular rumors, the vaccines are not the mark of the beast, they are not against the Bible or God's word. If you have questions, concerns about the virus and or the vaccine, then by all means ask questions, but ask them of experts who know the true answers, do not rely on rumors and conspiracy theories that have been received from an unknown person on the internet. Imagine if the vaccine is God's gift to humanity to answer prayers and you decide to believe a conspiracy theory that this is the mark of the beast or some other theory and so refuse the vaccine, without checking the facts. If you do not wish to take the vaccine, then take responsibility for your own decision do not use some conspiracy theory as your defense but get the real facts first.

Just in case you don't know why some animals are classed as clean and some are unclean, the unclean are God's garbage collectors in this world, they clean up all the trash, would you cook and eat something that has just eaten the contents of your garbage bin?