Daily Devotional for Tuesday November 17, 2020

SARS and the end of the world.

(Romans 5:12, Matthew 24:36)

********Blessings! Liveprayer is trying to be silenced. Nothing new, we have dealt with it for 22 yrs now! If you have missed one or a few of your Daily Devotionals, it is your email provider blocking us. Hotmail mainly, but some Comcast and others. But OUR GOD HAS THE LAST WORD! Please go to this special info page I set-up to read all of the important details at: https://liveprayerchurch.com/block.cfm

***DAILY PERSONAL PRAYER FOR YOU: Dear Lord, please help me today to be an active member of Your body. I pray each day that I will be yielded to You and Your will for my life. Let me remove all that is in my life keeping me from being the best servant I can possibly for You and Your Kingdom. I love You Lord, and let my love be expressed in my daily life as I serve You. In the name of Jesus I pray…AMEN!!!

***THE DAILY LIVEPRAYER TV NUGGET: (I wrote these words on 2/26/20, 76 days ago before ONE PERSON had died in this country and life was still “normal.” Nothing had been shut down, nobody had lost their job, we were still going to church. READ THESE WORDS SLOWLY AS I SHARED WHAT HAVE TURNED OUT TO BE VERY PROPHETIC WORDS ON THAT DAY THAT HAVE COME TO PASS!!!) Is the coronavirus God’s warning to the world? What started in a China, exactly how still to be determined, we are a LONG way from this global threat being anything close to a pandemic taking tens of millions of lives around the world. Having said that, God created man to life forever, to never die. He also created man’s environment in perfection. There were no germs, diseases, sicknesses to contend with. When men chose to sin, it not only brought physical and spiritual death into the picture, but destroyed the perfect environment man was living in. So this coronavirus is a byproduct of the fallen state men is living in. Like SARS in 2003, the Ebola virus outbreak 7 years ago, this is the latest strain of a virus that currently there is no known cure for. It clearly is a cause for concern as it is spreading to nations around the world with over 80,000 known cases and over 2,700 deaths. Sadly, it is being used as a political football as all issues end up being at some point. It is NOT a major problem in the United States at this moment, but very easily could be in the coming weeks and months. As in China where it originated, it would preclude all kinds normal daily activities such as children going to school, going to see a movie, attending sporting events, and basic travel. These restrictions would also have a major effect on the economy, even more than we are currently dealing with. For Christians, it would also affect such a basic activity like going to church services. For now, PRAY for the Lord to give gifted medical professionals the wisdom to come up with a vaccine. Pray for world leaders to make wise decisions to restrict the spread of this virus. Pray for the sick to be healed and the family of those who have lost their lives to know God’s strength and comfort in the midst of their loss. Back to the initial question. While the coronavirus is simply a byproduct of our fallen nature like all sicknesses and diseases are, I believe it is also a reminder that we are frail beings, death is imminent for all of us, and we know from Scripture there will come a day when God will judge this fallen world. WE SHOULD ALWAYS SEE SUCH EVENTS AS A REMINDER OF OUR SIN AND REBELLION AND USE THEM AS OPPORTUNITIES TO TURN TO OUR FAITH AND THE LORD EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY!!!

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***Action steps: 1) Pray for the nation to turn back to the Lord every morning for at least 5 min. 2) Share the Gospel every day with at least 1 person you know is no saved. 3) Every day share something Biblical with everyone you know via email. 4) Every day encourage at least ONE PERSON you know about the responsibility we have to VOTE in November. 5) GET ONE PERSON YOU KNOW TO DO ACTION STEPS 1-4!!!

SARS and the end of the world. This is a Daily Devotional from 17 years ago! Sadly, it is relevant today due to an outbreak in China that seems to be very similar if not the same problem. Thankfully, this outbreak 17 years ago was closely monitored and kept under control. Whatever this similar issue that is going on today is also being carefully tracked kept quarantined to the best the Chinese government has been able to control it.

In the coming days and weeks we will see how much of a problem this outbreak in China becomes and I will keep you updated should it start to spread and possibly endanger people outside of the current population under scrutiny.

In 2003, people were proclaiming that the SARS epidemic was part of God's judgment that was ushering in the end of the world. These are the same people who during 1999 made convincing arguments that Y2K would be this catastrophic worldwide nightmare. These are the same people who were talking about the nuclear war that would ensue because of our military action in Iraq in March of 2003.

They began to make the case that SARS was some sort of plague on man that will wipe out a huge percentage of the world's population. The one common bond all of these doom and gloomers share is that they sell truckloads of books and tapes every time they find a reason that the world is coming to an end.

I remember several times in late 1999, writing Devotionals to try and calm people down who were in such a panic over Y2K. They were taking all of their money out of the bank, buying gold, purchasing boxes and boxes of dehydrated food, and spending a fortune on special waterless toilets and generators. I tried to explain that the predictions of worldwide disasters made no sense at all. But there is a hunger in many people for these world-ending disaster scenarios.

The biggest selling Christian books are about end time prophecy. Most people want to know the future, and there is no shortage of men and women who will tell them (if you buy their books or tapes), even though Bible prophecy is VERY SUBJECTIVE. The wonderful thing about prophecy is that these are future events, so you really can't tell someone what they say is wrong.

Will there be an end to the world? ABSOLUTELY! The Bible clearly teaches that. Is Jesus coming back? YES! However, the Bible also teaches that ONLY God knows the exact time and moment that will occur. ANY MAN OR WOMAN THAT CLAIMS TO KNOW WHEN JESUS IS RETURNING, OR THAT THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END, IS SOMEONE TO RUN FROM!!!

While it can be interesting to try and put current events, nations, and people into end-times scenarios, it is a very dangerous thing to do. Speculation is one thing, but anyone that tries to make definitive statements tying specific events, nations, and people into Bible prophecy do so at their own peril, since over the course of the last 2,000 years many have played this game and failed miserably.

Prophecy experts were convinced in the late 30's that Adolph Hitler was indeed the anti-Christ and the end of the world was playing out before their very eyes. Based on the events of that day, that would have been an easy case to make. It is also a great example of why playing that game is so dangerous since they were obviously very wrong.

The reason SARS was not part of some end of the world scenario is because it was a sickness, no more or less than any other sickness that befalls mankind. To put all sickness and disease in the proper context, you have to understand that God created man in perfection. Man was NEVER to get sick, and NEVER to die. Death became the byproduct of his sin in the Garden of Eden.

Once sin became part of the world that we live in, sickness and disease, the breakdown of the human body unto death, were now part of the human condition. It was sin becoming part of our world that led to man's body getting sick, being ravaged by disease, that would eventually lead to physical death.

I love you and care about you so much. My word to you today is this. SARS was NOT part of some end of the world scenario as many claimed in 2003, but simply another disease that has been part of this sin-filled world that we live in. One day however, at a time only God knows, He will bring an end to this world as we know it. That is a very real future event. Our job is to be personally prepared for that event and to do our best each day to help others be prepared as well.

That is why I harp so often on doing all that we can to share the hope and love of Christ with this lost and hurting world that we live in. You see, the one thing we DO KNOW FOR SURE, is that when this brief journey is over we will live on for eternity. The only question is will you spend that eternity with God or apart from Him.

I pray today that you will open your heart to the Lord and be prepared for your eternal home with Him. If this very moment you are not 100% sure that if you die you will be with God, please take a moment and pray, ask Him to open your heart, and read the words at this link: https://liveprayer.com/salvation.cfm

There is no greater decision that you will make in this life than to accept Jesus Christ into your heart and insure you will spend eternity with Him. One day Jesus will return as He promised. One day the world WILL come to an end. One day you WILL die. All of these events WILL happen. Make sure today that you know for 100% certainty where your eternal home will be, and go out and share with as many people as you can how they can join you in Heaven with God your Creator for all eternity!!!

In His love and service,

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Bill Keller