As we are now a week into a new year, it is certainly new in name only. I began this blog on New Year's Eve and will complete it sometime during this first week of the year. So I really need to comment that I have some observations of where we are and where we need to head in the future.
I am concerned and recognize the pain and expense Covid has played in our lives. Like you, I have lost friends to Covid. Like most of you, I know those who have just now found out they have Covid. Like many of you, I have had Covid. More specifically Elaine and I at the same time had Covid. So my concerns and observations go beyond these things which we should all be concerned about and take care of.
My comment is on the direction in which we, as a world, are heading. That is a world without Jesus Christ. We all, as Christians, need to be active in telling others about Jesus Christ. Supporting prayerfully and financially those who go throughout the world to share Jesus Christ. As well, my comment is on the direction in which our world is heading in, how we govern and how we live.
When I watch and listen to the reports about what is happening in Australia for example, I am struck at how wrong the citizens are treated. Our first response is that is there and this is the United States. Fair enough, and I live in Florida not California or New York, to name a couple of states. In Florida, I can go where I want and do what I want. Our grandkids go to school and are in classrooms with teachers. That is evidence of freedom but it is actually more than that if you will allow me the opportunity to comment.
March 1, 2020, was my last Sunday at Myrtle Lake and I began a “repurposed” ministry. I had an opportunity to go to Tallahassee and preach at Immanuel Baptist. I went the next 2 Sundays and then Covid hit. It would be 9 weeks before I was back in Tallahassee for in person worship. I recorded messages each week that were used online for the Sunday worship services.
There was nothing known about Covid-19. We would learn after “15 days to stop the spread” that it would indeed spread and we would lose hundreds of thousands of people. Things would be done that would prove later to have been a mistake. We didn’t know and we tried things to make this thing go away. It hasn’t but as these diseases go, it seems to be following God’s natural plan. Yes, I said it, God’s natural plan. He created this world and knows all and is all-powerful so yes He has a plan.
What we have done, and are doing, in many ways is exactly what we should. However, the reason and results of the decisions make for a very important topic. In that, I mean that there was no disease before, nor or in the future that cannot or will not result in some dying. No one, except Jesus of course, has ever defeated death. He did it so that we might live. Yes here, but more importantly with Him one day in His Heaven.
When you consider carefully what is happening in the world and in our nation, outside of Covid, it would be important to see if there is a correlation. Many who are in roles that affect our lives believe that America is a racist nation for example. There then appears to be a direct correlation to the things that are being done in many states and cities which are affecting our liberties.
Now please stay with me here if you would. Based on the reports and the reasons provided for certain actions it would be concluded no one will die. That is erroneous and will not happen. The vaccine will not keep a person from getting Covid. It may lessen the effects and even keep someone out of the hospital but (I had a friend say that “everything before but doesn’t count”). We don’t know and will not know for years to come to the effect that the vaccine may have on people, especially the younger ones. We know that there have been cases of heart problems with younger children and teens from the vaccine. How it might affect a young girl's hormonal system or even her reproductive ability. How a young man may or may become more susceptible to heart problems or cancer. We don’t know because we haven’t been there yet but we will get there eventually. Then we will know what if any of the long-term effects.
Here is what we do know. COVID-19 and its variants can and do affect people differently. Vaccinated people and even those boosted can have a “breakthrough” case. We are seeing this in record numbers now. Vaccinated or unvaccinated people can be asymptomatic or present outward evidence of the COVID-19 variant. Whether vaccinated or not a person can spread COVID.
Natural immunity is a factor for some and herd immunity is a place we will get to at some point. Supplements, vitamins, living a healthy lifestyle, monoclonal treatments, and others all are evidenced in combating this disease.
With this all said, I have come to the conclusion that we will get through this and may have to deal with it for a time but we will get through it. However, what I am most concerned with now and I comment by saying that there are those in positions of leadership and control who appear to be using this pandemic to gain control. This time has and is being used to push forward a political agenda that is in deference to our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The education system in many places used to indoctrinate students into a particular mindset.
One of the many things that awe me is the number of people who come to the United States. They come for the freedom found here and the opportunity to have a better life for themselves and their families. Yet, those very things are in jeopardy of being lost forever. I have met people from countries like Cuba, Venezuela, Russia who have experienced what some propose for America. They did not stay because it worked and they were content. They left and came here because it didn’t work and for a better life. They will say to me “Pastor, I just don’t understand why anyone would want what I fled from to get here”.
You are probably saying to yourself right now “he needs to take this horse he’s riding and put it in the barn”. OK, here we go.
Everything in this week's blog is representative of what is happening all around us each day. There is certainly more I have not touched on but what this is about is the human condition and where we are in human history. The human condition is ripe with sin and self-serving motivations. These are seen in every walk of life and in places, like the church, where we should not see it occurring. Our adversary, the devil, has presented and man has accepted the lie that it is for us that all exist. This is wrong because it exists to reveal the majesty and power of God our Creator.
Our focus each day must be on what is right and decent. We need to focus on our personal relationship with God. To tell others about Him. Accept the reality that the day is coming soon when this world, as we know it, will be no longer. In Luke, we read-
“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all” Luke 17:26–27
My hope and prayer are that you know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. If you don’t, that you will come to know Him. With all that is going on around us, we can not lose focus of the truth that this world is not my home, we are just passing through. I needed to comment today and appreciate you allowing me to speak to you today.
In God’s Grace,
Elbert Nasworthy