[Johny Joe Hold]

I just read something in liberal rag, Christianity Today, that made me mad. A know-nothing writer there claims the virus is not punishment for sin, pestilence, as outlined in the Book of Revelations.

In Revelations 18:8 God clearly lays out the punishment for sin. The land will suffer famine and pestilence. Anyone who compares what God wrote there with what is happening today can see, not just the similarity, but the identical sequence of events. We've had sin, homerism, followed by pestilence.

There should be a law preventing the publication of false Christian magazines.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct...-judgment.html

[Johny Joe Hold]

Just to reinforce what we all know, that Coronavirus is caused by sin, Brother Pat Robertson told us today it is caused specifically by abortion and homer marriage.

Thank you, Pat, for explaining the truth to us.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pat-r...b67cf2adbd78ee

[WWJDnow]

The safest course is to stop sinning and trust in God. As Psalm 91:2-3 says,

I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

I have never once since I turned my life over to Jesus been snared by a fowler, and I am confident the same will hold for pestilence. However, just in case, I am taking President Trump's advice and exposing myself to strong UV light while injecting bleach into my veins.

[MitzaLizalor]

The best book to read is The Bible. I know I have. And as you read very soon the relationship is explained.

Doubter: Why is it explained?

Correct answer: Because God loves us.

Doubter: But if He loves us why does He make plagues in the first place?

Correct answer: He doesn't. We did at the moment of disobedience when Eve was seduced by a wriggling smooth talking serpent. The Bible does not describe him as slimy but if that helps your envisioning the scene there is no reason not to have the wretch drooling slime by the bucketful.

Doubter: Are you saying humans had the ability to create things?

Correct answer: I'm not saying anything. I'm telling you what The Bible says.

Proverbs 3: 5-8 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

Romans 8: 28, 38-39 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose … For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Health to one's navel, secure from threats by death or from things to come, that's a very broad assurance. Sometimes I imagine a crocodile or a virus or a mastodon sitting there as I walk along. Were these there before Eve sinned? Yes. God didn't resume creating objects on Day 8 after a brief interlude and although The Bible could have just left that out (because it was irrelevant to the message God was sending) such a detail would directly contradict what God told us in Genesis 2:1 where The Bible explains that the earth was finished. ALL the host of birds and worms and monkeys and therefore viruses and neutrinos and anything else that may be described were completely done by the end of Day 6. Even if you think a creation day is five hundred trillion years the point remains. Everything that exists now was created then.

So what about the mastodon? Without sin there would be no chance of it walking on me (or a crocodile biting me or a virus getting stuck on my tonsils) because our paths would never cross. That assurance was interrupted by Eve and cemented in by sin communicated to us all by Adam. Proverbs refers to "paths" quite specifically and Romans expands the concept by detailing what may be sitting there on such paths waiting to pounce.

Doubter: That seems rather far-fetched.

Correct answer: No it doesn't.

Correct answer: As we saw in the last answer this makes perfect sense. Sooner or later the historical record of God's words to Moses will spell things out in even more detail.

Doubter: Maybe if you ascribe "cause" and "effect" in some predetermined way to suit whatever nonsense your promoting.

Correct answer: That's a very good introduction to God's main point concerning pestilence. The Israelites decided to get stuck into idol worship, temple orgies, weird potions and all the other accoutrements and experienced precisely the outcomes promised by God.

Doubter: Not much point being "the chosen people" then?

Correct answer: As usual the Truth is the reverse of what you say. Jesus explained that with blessing comes responsibility and that, by eschewing the responsibility angle, chosen status was being transferred. You can read this in Matthew 21:42-45 but in the meantime here's a list from God concerning cause and effect which you can verify in Deuteronomy 28:15-47.

CURSE LOCATION 1

CURSE LOCATION 2

in the city thy basket the fruit of thy body increase of kine when thou comest in cursing, vexation, and rebuke until thou be destroyed pestilence cleave unto thee consumption inflammation with the sword with mildew heaven shall be brass rain shall be powder and dust smitten before thine enemies carcase shall be meat unto fowls the botch of Egypt the scab madness astonishment of heart oppressed betroth a wife build an house plant a vineyard ox slain before thine eyes ass violently taken away sheep given to enemies sons & daughters given away the fruit of thy land a nation thou knowest not thou shalt be oppressed mad for thine eyes smitten in the knees a sore botch the sole of thy foot gods of wood thou shalt be an astonishment and a byword carry much seed out shalt plant vineyards gather the grapes plant olive trees beget sons and daughters all trees and fruit the stranger will get above thee he shall lend to thee he shall be the head

in the field thy store the fruit of thy land the flocks of thy sheep be when thou goest out all that thou settest thine hand unto until thou perish quickly consumed from off the land fever extreme burning with blasting until thou perish the earth shall be iron from heaven shall it come fleeing seven ways before them and unto the beasts of the earth the emerods the itch blindness groping at noonday spoiled evermore another man shall lie with her not dwell therein not gather the grapes thereof not eat thereof not restored to thee none to rescue them no might in thine hand all thy labours shall eat them up and crushed alway at everything they see and in the legs that cannot be healed the top of thy head gods of stone and a proverb among all nations the locust shall consume it never drink the wine the worms shall eat them thine olive shall cast his fruit they shall go into captivity shall the locust consume thou shalt come down very low thou shalt not lend to him thou shalt be the tail

None of this is likely to persuade a doubter but it does show how consistent God is throughout The Old and New Testaments and particularly with the function and causes of pestilence described in the original post.