God’s News In The News

Week One Hundred Sixty-Six

Last Days Update: Pestilence 2.0 - The Next Chapter Unmasked

We’ve Been Down this Road Before

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. (Matt 24:7-8, NKJV)

In these famous verses from one of the Olivet Discourses we read about things that Jesus indicated would be signs of the days just before He returns. Most people talk about the earthquakes and famines and wars but hidden in here is something we became too familiar with in 2020. And if what we are hearing lately, it’s about to make a comeback, one I am loath to mention, but I decided it needed to be addressed. What am I talking about? I’ll give you a few hints. For starters, how about two weeks to stop it? How about staying six feet apart? Yes, that thing. And according to some reports, plans are in place to do it all again. But did the Bible foresee it?

Words For Pestilence

The word “pestilence” is translated many ways, but here is what the Merriam-Webster dictionary tell us:

…a contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating…

But we also see that the word is found just before a very popular verse in the Old Testament:

When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chron 7:13-14, NKJV)

Which begs the question, are we going through this all again? According to an article from telegraph.co.uk written by Will Witt we read this:

Just this week, an Atlanta college announced that they will reinstate mask mandates for students and faculty at their university. The Lionsgate film studio in Los Angeles has told their crews to wear masks again. The Biden administration is buying Covid equipment and hiring pandemic “safety protocol” officers. And the federal government is also sending $1.4 billion to defense contractors and pharmaceutical companies for more Covid “countermeasures” and vaccines. Does the lunacy ever stop?

If So, Why?

That’s a really good question. And one, I really, really don’t want to answer. I almost lost my job over this and some people lost theirs and never got them back. As Witt notes, will the lunacy ever stop? But as a Christian should we dig a little deeper? Perhaps we do as the verse referenced earlier advises us. Did we not learn our lesson from the first go around? Is there more repentance needed? Or is this a challenge to believers who didn’t put up much of a fight during the pandemic? I really don’t know so far, but I do know that the pattern for this is etched in our brains and I know that God still wants to spread the Gospel to all the world which the last pandemic stopped as tent meetings shut down seemingly overnight. These outreaches are exploding again and I can’t see them shutting down again. Is it a coincidence that Mario Murillo has his largest tent services scheduled for September in Los Angeles? Is it also a coincidence that the area is being hit by a rare hurricane? Murillo doesn’t think so as the Azuza Street revival occurred at the same time as the great San Francisco earthquake.

We Know What To Expect Now

As I prayed about this lesson, one thing that kept coming up in my spirit was the supposedly Irish phrase “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.” Pick whatever line you want, we know the blueprint for this and as believers we know how to fight it. While I don’t know exactly if the plans for another round of this will look like, the signs are there that the attitude is that what worked before can work again, so let’s do them again. But there is a major difference, one they may be underestimating. People are onto their schemes and it won’t be as easy to tell people, businesses, and churches to shut down. Going back to Murillo, his latest blog post says this:

IS MASS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE COMING? The ruling class is preparing to reinstate oppressive rules. Some institutions have already begun to enforce them.

To tens of millions, these health tactics were a dismal failure, and just as many believe they actually made things worse.

Things are fresh in their minds: Rules that killed their small businesses, wiped out their church, and damaged their children.

If the government repeats the mantra that “this is for your safety,” it will be widely ridiculed. Many are saying that this time, ‘people know better.’

There is a question asked by many, ‘Do the power elites even want to stop a health threat?’ Most Americans say, ‘No.’ If they did, they ask, ‘Why would they keep doing things that do not work?’

Rules that killed their small businesses, wiped out their church, and damaged their children.

This is how things look to Americans: Drug companies are run by greed—politicians lust for power—the media wants thought control—and leftists want our way of life to collapse.

That is why experts are saying that mass civil disobedience is coming. And millions agree that for the survival of the nation, it will take an overwhelming campaign of disobedience. An overwhelming number of people who ‘JUST SAY NO!’

The Church Can Do More Than Say No

When I asked God why this is happening again, He clearly told me that just resisting by saying “no” is not enough. And He told me that His Children need to gather now to pray against this stronger now than ever before. He said the plans of the enemy are just like before and Satan expects believers to comply again. God says, much like Murillo, just say no, but do it in your prayer closets and in prayer meetings. Pray that leaders will wake up or be removed. Pray that doctors will not be squelched like before and will give out treatments that worked, but they couldn’t due to censorship and actually being thrown into jail. Pray that churches will have Holy Spirit backbones and say like Peter and John, they will obey God and not men. And send back these evil plans back to the pit of hell and make them have their mouths masked and have to keep their distance from His children. In short, prayer is the key this time around. Their plans haven’t changed, but the Church needs to petition Heaven like never before. Storm the gates of hell which we know can’t stop His plans. Beat these demonic tactics down with a good old fashioned intercession stomping.

Taking It By Force

This verse came to my mind when talk of resisting:

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. (Matt 11:12, NKJV)

While some think it means that His kingdom is being resisted, which was true, this verse can also mean that the attitude of His followers is one of advancing with the passion of people not being stopped in their pursuit of His kingdom. Here is how gotquestions.org describes it:

“From the days of John the Baptist until now,” there has been an extraordinary rush of people pressing in from all sides, eager for a blessing. The “kingdom of heaven suffers violence,” figuratively speaking, in that people were so thronging to hear the gospel that they resembled an army trying to besiege a city. And the “violent take it by force”; the people entering the kingdom were not violent literally, but their eagerness to see the coming of the Messiah was so overwhelming that it was as if they were attacking a city and beating down the doors to enter.

God told me that this is the attitude we need to take into intercession as we petition Him to stop the Devil’s plans to shut us down again. Take His offer to bind things on earth with this kind of intensity and then use the same intensity to loose on Earth His plans.