Jun P. Espina 4 min read
Updated on October 31st, 2022
COVID-19 could Hit and Kill Us this Year
What if COVID-19 would hit and kill us this year? The year 2021 is riskier than other years in our lifetime. Big governments tell us that. True or not, we must prepare spiritually for any eventuality. We could be hit anytime since COVID-19 is unseen—it is unpredictable as an earthquake. How about getting infected with the virus in countries with poor hospital equipment and resources? Where shall we go should this virus put us to sleep forever? The first question which a sensible old person—taking maintenance drug—should ask while in the hospital bed is, “Can I get out of this place alive?”
Most people hate stuff like this (they don’t want what is negative!) but we have a solution from the Bible. “I will be your God,” wrote prophet Isaiah, “throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you.” (Is. 46:4, NLT)
The God of the Scriptures declares His perpetual protection for us “throughout your lifetime” on the ground of our eternal value as the only creation created “according to His image.” “I made you,” He said, “and I will care for you. I will carry you.” If we accept and receive this promise from our Father God penned by the Prophet, we would not be terrorized by COVID-19’s roaring alarms. Let us face the pandemic every day boldly as we believe our God “will carry” us to safety.
One morning in January 2021, I heard a soft roar of a car engine outside our gate. I had just awakened (around 8:00 A.M.) and didn’t bother until I learned that my son and his wife would be taking my sister-in-law to the hospital. My sixth sense urged me to get out to say some words of encouragement to them all since no one knows if the patient could get out alive from the emergency.
The car had just left when I reached the door. Like words of wisdom locked inside my heart, the helpful Bible verses of hope I treasured were unshared during the time they were most needed from the Christian mindset. My sister-in-law was then diagnosed with COVID-19 and died after two days.
Alas, we got exposed to COVID-19 (eleven of us including the young kids)! Our next fourteen days of self-quarantine horrified us all and sent us to our knees in prayer for God’s intervention. And our Lord Jesus heard us. Praise His name!
It is the point. We need to prepare to meet God as COVID-19 may not allow us (not just us, old people!) to live more years.
The prospect of dying for old people having health issues is high this year. And no one can refute this scientific reality.
I wrote a book on spiritual preparedness. I think it is helpful more so at this time when multitudes die without their loved ones by their side. Can we see the biblical uncertainty of life on the earth with or without a pandemic?
Jesus once said in a parable, “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you.'” Thoughtlessness about death is equivalent to “foolishness” or insanity, according to Christ. Why because our souls are eternal! And the only future for an unprepared soul is isolation in the burning hell forever, the place where God’s judgment against sin sets in motion!
We need the second birth experience before death would snatch us away from our loved ones. It is the core of my book, “Born Again Christ’s Version: Understanding the Born-Again Experience.”
Read also: We Need to Know More About the Born-Again Experience
Life is just like a vapor. “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14) We may die anytime, and to die without Christ’s forgiveness of our sins is the greatest tragedy, deadlier than the COVID-19 infection. Taught our Lord Jesus:
“[A]nd He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out.” (Luke 13:27-28)
At our death, Jesus [the Judge] would say, “Depart from Me.” And the reason is that Jesus does not know us to be a part of Him. In Isaiah 46:6 (which we quoted earlier) God said, “I will carry you along and save you.” God wants to SAVE US through the mechanism we call the “Born-Again Experience.”
In John 3:3 Christ said, “[U]nless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” From this Scripture, we find that “born again” is our only passport to enter God’s kingdom. Did Christ mention church membership, baptism, or financial contribution to enter heaven? No. The only requirement is the second birth which Christ also described as born of the Spirit.” (John3:8b)
Paul’s commentary about being born of the Spirit is being indwelt with the Holy Spirit. That is why he declared that “Christ lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20) Now, if Christ’s Spirit dwells in you, is it not a ton of experience?
This book, Born Again Christ’s Version, deals with the biblical born-again experience based on Christ’s version. In one Facebook post, I commented that there are versions concerning the second birth which are not Christ’s but are taught aggressively by some prominent Christian leaders. One such heretical teaching is second birth by election promoted by the hyper-Calvinists. For these false teachers, not all are chosen to experience the second birth—for only the elect before the foundation of the world will be eligible for the processing of the heavenly passport known as born again. This doctrine implies that Christ does not love all. He is sort of “racist.” But it is not “Born Again Christ’s Version.”
This book, Born Again Christ’s Version, is available through these links: eBook, Paperback.
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