Well folks, it’s over.  According to a well-known televangelist on TV - he, as a prophet of God, commanded that the COVID19 virus was healed and that its authority in America was over.  According to him - that night - at his pronouncement and demand - the COVID19 virus was cast out of the USA.  (Kenneth Copeland Ministries - telecast on March 29, 2020)

Why am I writing about such a things?

Because it is dangerous and false doctrine like this that will cause great shame and reproach to come upon the church in these difficult days.  Unfortunately, there will be those who will hear this, who will “name it and claim it” for themselves, and who will then take no precautions in the future.  We’ve already seen what this kind of stuff can do in Arkansas.  Now it has a greater likeliness of happening elsewhere among those who hold to such terrible doctrine as this.

Am I saying that God cannot heal the COVID19 virus and eradicate it from the entire United States?  He can.  Do I believe that this false prophet’s declaration did it?  Nope.  The reality is that false prophecy uttered by a false prophet has not come true - because today there continues to be new cases found, and people will die of it by tomorrow.  That means that this individual is a false prophet.  No one should listen to him or fear or follow anything he says.  He needs to repent and stop teaching and following a false doctrine that says he can make pronouncements using Jesus’ name - and they have to come to pass.  The truly sad thing about this false doctrine is that when people don’t experience healing - and when, as it did, the coronavirus continues to spread in our nation - this false prophet will say it is only because those who get sick and die did not have enough faith.  So, in the end, the problem is not with the prophet - it is with the terrible person who did not believe enough.

Let’s take a look at Scripture for a few moments.

God spoke of those He would send as prophets to Israel.  But in the process God revealed that some might say, “How will we know?”  Look at the passage below:


"You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' 22  "When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. Deut. 18:21-22


God’s answer was very simple.  When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if what he says does not come true - the Lord has not spoken.  It is that simple.  Now, if the pronouncement made - or honestly, the demand that was shouted - does not come to pass, then the ones making it are not prophets and the Lord has not spoken through them.  The mark for a true prophets of God is 100% accuracy in his or her prophecies.  There is no room for fudging on this.  There was a false teaching out at a supposed school of prophets that we learn how to prophesy.  If we get a few wrong, we will learn from it and prophesy better next time.  Sadly, that does not square with God’s Word.

Note what is said happened when both Samuel and Agabus prophesied below.


Thus Samuel grew and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fail. 20  All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the LORD.  1 Samuel 3:19-20


As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11  And coming to us, he took Paul's belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, "This is what the Holy Spirit says: 'In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'" Acts 21:10-11


There we see an Old Testament and a New Testament prophet.  Both had their prophecies come to pass.  Agabus even prophesied of a famine that would come - and it came.

Here is the danger in such false doctrine as that which happened on March 29th of this year.  People who follow these two men will ignore any wisdom in going out into the world and taking precautions against catching this virus.  As a result some will most likely contract it - and sadly some may even die as a result.  The shame and disgrace and ill will that will come upon Christians for this will be great.  We are already seeing where those in the media are mocking things like this - and who lump all Christian’s together.  They say we are dangerous - and should be treated accordingly.

Saints, please be wise when it comes to televangelists and supposed prophets who claim to speak for God.  If their pronouncements do not come true - they are charlatans who are deceived at least, and dangerous at worst.  God does want us to pray in faith - but the faith we have is in His Word.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.  Our faith is not in what we decide to shout in demands of God.  Our faith is in coming humbly before Him - even boldly to the throne of grace to find help in our time of need.  It is interesting that we don’t find one instance in the New Testament of any apostle or believer commanding God to do something.  Our place is not to put our DEMANDS before Him - shouting things like this:

"In the name of Jesus, standing in the office of the profit of God, I execute judgment on you COVID-19...I call you gone...No more...And the United States of America is healed and well again...It's dead. At exactly 12 noon on the 29th day of March. It's over. It's over."
These are the demands of a false prophet - not the humble requests of a servant of God.  Just remember saints, the next day, and today the 31st COVID19 isn’t gone - it isn’t no more.  It is NOT over.  If anything, these two false prophets are making declarations contrary to God’s will.

Consider these words of Scripture.


"If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the LORD your God, 59  then the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses.”  Deut. 28:58-59


"If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, if there is locust or grasshopper, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is, 29  whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, and spreading his hands toward this house, 30  then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men, 31  that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You have given to our fathers.  2 Chronicles 6:28-31


By biblical terminology what we are experiencing is a plague.  It is honestly nothing like the Beubonic plague or the Great Plague of the Spanish Flue of 1918.  Nevertheless it is a plague that has come upon the world - and upon the United States.  Honestly, if you want to look at a biblical response to this, it would be that we should do the following:

1. Check to see that we have been careful to observe and do what God’s Word says.
2. We should give ourselves to prayer, supplication for God to forgive us and return to Him with all our hearts.
3. We should begin again to fear the Lord, respect and honor Him, and return to walking in His ways in our land (or better said, His land, which He has providentially and graciously allowed us to live upon).

Some may think, "This is a little dramatic pastor."  But let me put the following before you.  Since 1973 we’ve aborted over 60 million babies in the United States of America.  God speaks of the way that innocent blood stains a land to where God will drive the people out of it in judgment.  Since COVID19 has come upon our shores, we’ve seen some 163,539 cases of it, with the deaths due to it being 2,860.  This was as of March 30th. The deaths have risen to at least 3,580.  Just as a reminder - the false prophets supposedly stopped COVID19 as of the evening of the 29th.  That means that there have been at least 760 people die since then.  Prophets?  I think not.

So, we’ve seen 3,580 since February 29th, when the first man died of Coronavirus in the state of Washington.  The numbers we have reflect deaths in 30 days due to COVID19.  Since February 29th, a rough estimate of the abortions in the United States has been around 2300 per day (that is a low number because it does not take into account abortions induced by medicines - that number would be more like 3000 per day).  That would mean that since COVID19 began taking lives in the United States, we’ve taken the lives of 69,000 babies in the womb.  We’ve seen 65,420 more deaths by abortion than by COVID19 since it started.  Worldwide, the abortion rate is conservatively said to be 125,000 per day (Other reliable estimates say it is as high as 170,000 per day - but we will go with the Guttmacher Institute’s numbers).  That means that while COVID19 has resulted in roughly 41,660 deaths since the first reported death in Wuhan, China on January 9th, abortion in that time (82 days) has resulted in 10,250,000 babies being aborted.  So, we’ve seen 10,208,340 more deaths due to abortion than COVID19.  Why did I go through all that morbid math above?  It is because our nation and our world is deep red in the death of the unborn.  10,208,340 more dead from it than even from the dreaded COVID19.  Please stay with me because there is a reason I went through all this.

Our false prophets (remember them) made a declaration that COVID19 was over on the evening of March 29th.  It was a false prophecy.  But do you think for one moment that God is willing to cut us free from this plague, or any other plague, when during the same amount of time we’ve killed 65,000 more babies in the United States, and over 10,000,000 more worldwide?  I am neither a prophet or a son of a prophet.  But I am a student of the Scriptures.  Oh, and by the way, I am writing this to speak to the biblically orthodox, conservative Christians in America, not those who do not know Christ.  Brothers and sisters in Christ - we are in God’s crosshairs.  It is not time to embrace false doctrines or false teachers who would dare proclaim COVID19 over and done - while the blood of 69,000 babies in the U.S. still remains.  We’re responsible for 60 million plus babies aborted since 1973.  Do you really think that we are not under God’s discipline for this - if not His judgment?

Now is the time for serious, deeply repentant, broken-hearted prayer in our nation.  We don’t need false prophets to declare false prophecies to ease our burden in this time.  We need a greater burden.  We need for prayer to begin to grow at a rate far more exponential than what we are seeing with COVID19.  We’ve now had 2 weeks with more time on our hands than usual.  Unfortunately, too many have decided that the purpose for this time is to binge-watch old TV shows and movies.  I have to honestly say I’ve watched too much on TV - and spent too little time crying out to God for my own heart, as well as the hearts of those in God’s church.  If there was ever a time for prayer meetings to be flooded with the concerned (albeit through platforms like Zoom instead of in person) who are praying for a reviving among God’s people and  awakening in our nation it is now. If there was ever a time to cry out to God that deaths due to abortion would cease, it is now!       My prayer is that we would not listen to false prophets, but that God would raise up true ones to speak to His people.  Prophets who would write down our sin with an iron stylus and call us to repent and return to God.  Those who prophesy only good things, according to God’s Word - will have plenty who flock to them.  They will find in the end that they will be disappointed because of the lies they believed.  But may God grant us true prophets who will remind us of the following.



"If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14  and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.     2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (emphasis mine)
 
Think about it.  We quote this verse over and over again and yet, are unwilling to go back 7 words and see that the context for this kind of prayer is NOW.  And what is said  seven words  earlier?   God says, ". . . if I send pestilence among My people".  That is an astounding thing to read, isn't it?  My hope then is now that we have read it - we would respond.  Let us pray.


(Photo used by permission, CDC via  Unsplash - cdc-L0jLHqF7Q94-unsplash.jpg)

Just recently I've finished reading through the prophets in the Old Testament. I do this at least once a year as I read through the Bible.  This year, however, their voice is reverberating in my mind and heart as I look at our nation and what God is currently doing.  Let me share with you what I saw this year - and how it relates to our nation, our coming election, and the difficulties and disasters which I believe are in our future.  Please also let me share why God, in His sovereign providence, is allowing them.
 
First, I need to comment on the state of the church leading up to this coming election.  As the saints of God we are to get our marching orders from heaven.  Those directives come to us through the Scriptures.  I fear that too many in the conservative wing of the evangelical think that their marching orders are coming from the RNC or the Tea Party.  There is an errant notion that by electing Governor Romney as president and a Republican majority in the House and Senate - our problems will be on the way to being solved in this nation.  Even though I believe in voting in elections and seeking for political action toward things like abortion, homosexual marriage, racism, and matters of justice and righteousness - I do not see the United States government (even if it is the hands of conservatives) doing a whole lot to advance righteousness in America.  They may use such things as election issues - but I've been burned to many times over 32 years of voting by their actual ruling looking little like their stump speeches.  Also, I seem to notice in Matthew 28:18-19 that Jesus did not call us to go and make Republicans of all the nations.  We are called to God's will in conduct, purpose, principle, and action.  That won't fly in any political arena in present day politics.  And I am not willing to cede the work of the gospel to those who are offended that the Bible presents truths that show that Muslims, Mormans, Hindus, Buddhists, and anyone else who does not repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are lost and destined for God's judgment.  Such things are not up for a vote.
 
As I've read the prophets this year I've been somewhat overwhelmed with the reality that God commands us to repent and return to Him.  If we do not repent - if we continue to serve other gods - gods acceptable to our culture and acceptable to our flesh - God will begin bringing difficulties upon His people.  The prophets thunder with God's unrelenting call to Himself.  They do not apologize that God is sovereign.  They do not apologize for His moral standards.  They do not apologize that God authoritatively calls men to worship and serve Him only.  And they certainly do not want to make adjustments so that the Baal worshippers, the Asherah-adherants, and the worshppers of other false gods can feel more comfortable and be a part of a "big-tent."  The prophets say things very offensive to a multi-cultural world - not so much to the culture - but to anything driven by a culture's embrace of false deities.  But God is not focused on the "lost" in the prophets.  He is focused on His people - those who should know better.  He is focused on calling His people to much needed repentance.  
 
What happens in a society when its Christians refuse to return and to repent?  According to the prophets, God begins to remove first His blessing and later His protection from them and from their nation.  If you've ever read the prophets you know that over time this can get very rough.  God will allow earthquakes, disasters, and military conquest to overtake His people.  Israel and Judah experienced horrific consequences for their love of foreign gods and the lifestyles that came with them.  Baal and Asherah embraced a lifestyle of sexual immorality.  Marriage was denigrated as first men committed heterosexual immoralities - and eventually moved on to homosexuality as well.  Those who think the 1960's ushered in free love, know little about how far Israel and Judah fell in their pursuit of these false deities.  The worship of Molech led many to sacrifice their babies in a firey death.  Those who see such a thing as disgusting should remember the modern day Molech - Planned Parenthood - who promote the sacrifice of babies for the sake of supposed greater sexual freedom.  Actually what they are getting is greater sexual bondage in the guise of immorality without consequences.  Then there is the immorality that disguises itself as free trade, or socialism, or communism, or any other "ism" that takes precedent over Scriptural principles of business or government.  You see, our culture is not all that different from the days of the prophets.  We have just named things with a more sophisticated name - hiding the hideousness of what they truly are.  We've also got better at lying about the true nature of things while ignoring Scripture - and occasionally insulting God and the way that He needs to improve His own image by becoming far more "hip" and "culturally-sensitive."  
 
The truth is, WE are Israel and Judah in the times of the prophets!  WE have our modern day worship of Baal, Asherah, and Molech - along with calls for accepting the gods of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and a host of cults embraced even by political candidates of our day (oops, did I say that out loud - nope, just wrote it).  But the church is different, some may assert!  But my question to you is to take a long look at her and answer the question, "Is it?"  Do you see a movement of repentance and return in the church today?  Do you see scores of people in broken repentance and prayer meetings where they are crying out for revival?  Do you see the church expanding its evangelsitic outreach the point of being persecuted by groups whose numbers are being decimated by the number of people being saved?  Do you see complaints by wicked businesses Who sell porn and other ungodly products that the church and her efforts in evangelism is hurting their bottom line?  God calls us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 to "humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways.  Read of the revivals that took place in the 1700-1800's.  Read of what took place on a far wider scale in our country.  Imagine what they would look like in our day - a revival driven by repentance, brokenness, and prayer.  A revival with the aisles filled with repentant church members - and others being radically saved from sin.
 
What then am I trying to say through all this?  After reading the prophets . . . honestly - I'm concerned - no - I'm scared.  We are about to be ushered into MORE discipline as a nation - and that discipline is meant to wake-up God's people to repentance, prayer, and brokenness.  I don't want to say this - but sense the need to do so for the sake of the saints who read this.  We are about to experience events that will make 9-11 look like a picnic in the park.  God tried to wake us up by allowing that disaster to come upon us.  We didn't wake up though.  Therefore - more is coming.  Far worse is coming.  Do I know what that will be?  No, because I am not a prophet.  But I can tell you that things like a devastating earthquake come to mind.  Military disasters that involve the destruction of entire armies have happened to God's people.  Drought and famine are also options for God.  He has soereignly allowed the destruction of entire cities - whch is terrifying in our day of bombs that can do that in a matter of moments.  With our current arrogance toward money - a complete financial collapse unlike anything we've ever seen is very possible.  All these things and a dozen others are possible - even probable considering our currrent lack of response to God's call to pray and seek His face.  I read recently where the Mississippi river is at historic lows.  If the drought we are in continues, it is possible to see the Mississippi so low that no boat traffic is allowed.  That will cut off over 300 million dollars of commerce a day.  That is a monthly total of 9 billion dollars of our economy stifled.  The prognosticators said that would throw our natin into depression within  2 months.  Kind of sobering isn't it?
 
I can hear the comment, "Why are you writing stuff like this, pastor John?"  Do you get some kind of sick thrill scaring people to death?  NO!  A thousand times NO!  That is not my intent.  My intent is to help wake up Christians to what is looming in our future.  Do you really think God is going to continue to bless our nation as it is currently going?  Do you really think that the church is not going to be affected by what happens in our nation?  Do you really think that by maintaining a positive confession in the midst of such spiritual squallor that we will be delivered?  God is going to continue allowing greater and greater disasters and troubles to come upon us until we repent, drop to our knees, and begin to cry out in desperate prayer for revival in the church and spiritual awakening in our land!  This is not going to magically get better - neither is it going to be averted by electing a Morman as president and a group of Tea Party conservatives to the Congress - who have NO INTENT on addressing the moral and spiritual rot of the church and our country.  We are currently as blind as Israel and Judah during the times of the prophets.  The same situations and the same false prophets of health, wealth, prosperity, and "nothing bad is going to happen to us" exist today.  The political leaders (kings in those days) who made a difference made it by leading the nation to repentance and a whole-hearted return to God.  Such a leader who would start doing this in our day - would most likely be impeached for such actions.