Contagious Faith OR Infectious Fear
Contagious Faith OR Infectious Fear
It doesn’t take much insight or intuition to figure out what many (if not most) of the world’s population is fixated on right now - a virus named Covid-19, or Coronavirus. It is called Coronavirus because of the appearance of the structures that surround the body of the virus that look like a crown (corona is the Latin word for crown). In the political world a crown represents the authority and the power of a kingdom. In a sense, this virus is wearing the crown of a kingdom and it is not the Kingdom of God!
How do we know this? Jesus said this about the king of darkness, the devil (represented by the false teachers He was addressing in John 10:10), that he only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. According to Jesus, the devil is bent only on one thing - destruction. So how does this play into how we view the activity of this (and all other destructive viruses and diseases) present viral pandemic?
If we follow the account of the fall of humanity, a curse, which includes sickness and death, began to envelop the world that humanity was to live in. This curse was not a punishment from God for the bad behavior of man- but, rather a consequence or a result of man rejecting God and choosing to live in a world where God was dethroned and self-determinism became the rule of order. The chief operator in this system of self-idolization was the devil. This being was (and is) a black hole of death and destruction, as anything that is sucked into its deceptive delusion that self is the highest form of existence will surely perish.
So back to John 10:10… Jesus says three specific things about the devil. The first is that he comes to steal. Those who study viruses and how they infect and affect the human body tell us that the first thing that has to happen is that the virus must find an opening - a way into the system - and then set up shop. Viruses are not visible to the naked eye so it is easy for these intruders to slide in unawares. This is usually how the devil gets into our belief systems - he surrounds himself with just enough truth to get through the door! (Jesus also said in this passage that anyone who does not come in through the door of Jesus - truth - is a thief and a liar).
The virus comes in with all the DNA to reproduce itself but lacks the cellular capacity to reproduce (needs a body). So the first thing that happens is that the virus “steals” the cell’s mechanics of reproduction, injects its own DNA, and therefore has the capacity to reproduce itself with the intention of taking over the host. A virus is only concerned with one thing - reproducing itself - the height of self-idolization (just like its master)!
The cell that has been taken over is now dead, making more room for the invaders to divide and conquer.
The second thing that happens is a rapid reproduction of the invaders which accelerates the rate of hijacking. If the rate of reproduction is not stayed, the process of death begins to kick into gear. This, Jesus said, was the second thing the devil is working towards - to kill. The word “to kill” used in this passage means to slaughter for a purpose or to kill as a sacrifice. So what is the purpose of the devil wanting to slaughter us? The highest form of self worship (which is at the essence of the devil’s being) is to sacrifice to yourself. If the devil cannot get worship legitimately, he will steal it!
The third thing that Jesus said the devil has come to do was to destroy. The word destroy goes beyond just the killing of the sacrifice. The devil seeks to annihilate (eternally remove) what has been sacrificed as he can not bear to share the stage with anyone. This is actually where the devil is blinded by his own evil intentions. Once the host is dead, the virus can no longer reproduce its sickness and its reign of terror is thwarted. So, in essence, if the plan of the devil was to go unchecked, eventually he would destroy all of humanity and there would be no more hosts to sacrifice to himself. Pretty shallow and even an idiotic plan to take over the world.
In God’s amazing plan of salvation and grace, there is a way to not only stave off the intruders but to completely annihilate them. This is where the plan of salvation, taken in by the infected host, supernaturally activates an amazing immune system (both physical and spiritual) that destroys the works of the devil. This was the epicenter of Jesus’ mission on earth: The Son of God has come to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). In the next post we are going to look at this immune system and how it is activated by an amazingly powerful vaccine called faith.
So stay tuned and tune in!
by Pastor Jim Anan
Elevate Church