THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN THE PANDEMIC SCENARIO

 THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH IN THE PANDEMIC SCENARIO

Victor Choudhrie

God has pressed the reset button and changed everything in the way we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Politics, governance, administration, judiciary, media, educational system, the health system, the way we work and spend family time, even our eating and sleeping habits and how we entertain our visitors, all have drastically changed.

One does not have to be a prophet or an End time biblical scholar to realize that the end of the “the Church age” as we know it, and God is back in the hearts and homes of the people, where he belongs.

 Wars, floods, famines and fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and epidemics have taken in the past also but never before on a global scale with the frequency, rapidity and severity as now.

 We know that the Apocalypse is staring at us. Israel is legally back in the Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel) since 1948 after nearly 2000 years of diaspora to the four corners of the earth (Isa. 11:11-13). As prophesied by Daniel, knowledge has increased exponentially, as have travel, cars, trains, planes and even rockets are going to the moon and beyond (Dan. 12:1-4). Daniel’s little rock (the Ekklesia), which came uncut from the Great Rock (Yeshua), is growing and demolishing kingdoms, filling the earth (Dan. 2:17-44). Signs in the skies, eclipses of the sun, blood moons, and myriads of asteroids are heading for the earth.

 On earth, fires, floods, famines, the melting of the Arctic and the Antarctic, tsunamis and tornadoes, unprecedented environmental changes, wars and rumors of wars, nation against nation, pestilences and pandemics (like Ebola, AIDS, Coronavirus), are screaming from everywhere. Millions are dying from cancers, road crashes, lifestyle-diseases of obesity and diabetes, abortion of generations of innocent babes (61 million in US alone). etc. Economic collapse, moral and ethical degradation, the love of believers growing cold due to preaching of false prophets. The perverted, deviant and decadent lobbies intimidate judiciary and threaten governments. Worst of all, majority of the churches themselves, manned by false prophets remain dysfunctional and disoriented, imploding from within (Matt. 24).

 Most of the prophetic signs of Daniel and other prophets and Yeshua Himself are rapidly converging. Jerusalem is being trodden over by Gentiles right now which will continue until the times of the Gentiles is over (Luke 21:24). This is just the beginning of the sorrows, the real persecution, brutal tribulation and the most destructive wars of Gog and Magog at Armageddon are yet to unfold.

What has Corona pandemic not changed? 1. Man’s need for salvation (Matt. 16:25-27), 2. To intercede for all the nations (Eze. 22:30), 3. The obligation to fulfil the Great Commission - to go and make disciples of all nations (Matt.28:19,20), 4. Yeshua to build His global Ekklesia with all nations, tongues and tribes (Matt. 16:18; Rev. 7:9,10), 5.  The fulfilment of the prophecies regarding the end times, rapture and tribulation etc.(Joel 2:29-31; Rev. 6:12) , 6. Yeshua’s return to establish His millennial kingdom, the final judgment, create new heaven and new earth and tabernacle with men as Lord of lords and King of kings. (Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20:15-20; 21:1-3)

 The missionary sending, both foreign and indigenous, era have finally arrived. This does not mean the end of the church or the missions, for they will continue till ‘telos’ ‘end’ will come” (Matt. 24:14). However, the dawn of true Christianity and Messianism has come. God is sounding forth the gospel from homes through the internet to the ends of the earth as never before. Digital discipling which is a process, as distinct from mere evangelism, which is an event, is taking place in all four corners of the earth. People of all faiths are crying out to their gods and finding them unresponsive. So, they are looking for others, and some are finding the One True God. Jews and Gentiles (Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists and others) are coming to Christ in numbers unprecedented. God is radically restructuring and rebooting His church to reach the last Gentile, so that there be no place left where Christ is not named.

So, how should the individual believers and corporate churches be responding to such a situation. Some are closing down while others are finding innovative ways. The digital church is now the new normal, not confined within four walls but catering to wider audiences. The gospel is sounding forth from homes to regions beyond through the internet.  Biblical tithing consisted of sharing their tithe of the produce of the field (food) with the widows, orphans, strangers and the Levites (Deut. 14:22-29). Today, instead of tithing for church maintenance, Christians are feeding the widows and orphans resulting from Covid, migrants and those who have lost their bread winners and have become destitute and hungry. Satish Kumar’s mega Calvary church in Hyderabad has now been converted into a 500 bedded Covid facility. Christians are providing not only free treatment including medications, oxygen and even food etc, but also sharing the gospel. This is now a truly holistic church catering to body, mind and spirt of the hurting people.

The first century believers were the only people in the whole world who had no church buildings, professional clergy, pulpits, musical instruments or the collection box, not even the printed Bibles, and no political or financial muscle power yet they grew exponentially as they had the power of the Holy Spirit. They healed the sick, cast out evil spirits and preached the gospel where Christ was not named. God is radically restructuring the church, removing the stranglehold of extra-biblical structures that have hindered its growth and multiplication. He is rebooting the original New Testament model, that merges with the culture and context of the people and resonates with the will of God the Farther. This is all happening to get ready for the soon coming millennial Kingdom of Christ and we shall reign with him in eternity.