Sunday, April 19, 2020
God's Kairos
God’s Kairos
We are living in uncertain and perilous times. Admittedly I have not been in tune with the things of God for a while, but by His grace the Movement Control Order (MCO) has hauled me in to do so. To put it bluntly, it’s a wakeup call for me and many. This is God’s Kairos. Time to listen to His reset. It’s about to change the world, and we are to flow with Him in order to avoid harm and to prosper. I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 1:2).
This MCO due to the coronavirus has made us homebound for nearly 5 weeks and counting. The saying goes, “When fishermen cannot go to the sea, they repair their nets. Yes, it’s certainly time for me to mend and repair my soul. It was time to recalibrate my heart, to expose and reflect on my inner self for what it currently is; to peel away the corrosion within, the hidden lust, and to sanctify them with His word. It’s a time of healing for all. It is a time of solitude as in order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it for a period. God now needs our attention to give us visions and direction for what is ahead during this ‘period of isolation’. It is also our Kairos time.
Undoubtedly, we have received many messages on our phones; many Whatsapp clips, rumors, whatever. But most of it is not edifying, it does not enrich our soul, but to spread propaganda or merely to entertain peoples’ hysteria. It is the truth that sets us free. Facts don’t set you free. So, seek His truth as the Word heals you and His promises refreshes your weary minds and troubled hearts. God surely has a good plan for us, but evermore we need to come back closer to Him.
DID GOD SEND COVID-19?
Does God send plaques? He sent 10 plaques to Egypt. What was God’s purpose in these plagues? He repeated it multiple times: “That you may know that I am the LORD” (Exodus 10:2). None of Egypt’s wealth, powers, or gods could stop the Lord.
Some pastors seem to think that God also sent covid-19. If so then there is no point praying against it, as you can’t pray against God or the word of God, or what God had willed to do.
Some on the other hand, postulate that covid-19 was a man-made bioweapon. The US and China have openly traded accusations pointing to each other’s virus laboratories, namely U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) labs in Fort Detrick, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Conspiracy theorists such as David Icke had an unsurprisingly similar view and his interview on London Real had been criticized and removed from many sites. However, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US top expert on infectious disease, rejected a conspiracy theory that the novel coronavirus was created in and escaped a Chinese lab, and that the available evidence on the origins of the virus is “totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human.”
What then do we believe? I have no answers to these propositions, but all I know is that God is in control. He would not have allowed it if it didn’t serve a purpose. On a personal level, He want us all to come back to Him, and know that He is still God. Our earthly treasures and possessions will all fade away, only heavenly things will last. On a global scale, it will accomplish what God had purposed (Isaiah 55:11).
SOCIAL DISTANCING
Since the MCO/lockdown, I have been to the groceries several times. In Malaysia we are not allowed outside for leisure, only to buy necessities within 10km radius from our homes. Only one person is allowed each time. We are not allowed to go out for walks, not even within the vicinity of our neighbourhood.
It sometimes takes me 20 mins to get into Jaya Grocer as we have to queue to get in. One person is allowed in as one person exits. The queue is rather long and we are to stand 1 meter apart according to the lines already drawn.
Social distancing is nothing new. It was already practiced before Christ and can be found in the Levitical laws to prevent the spread of diseases in the Old Testament
ECONOMIC CARNAGE
A global recession is given. But are we in for a global depression? I was born after WW2 so this is the first “economic sudden stop” that I have experienced. This is not just a slowdown, but whereby entire global economies had to shut down in order to save lives.
Economic sudden stops are hard to reverse as supply chain may not be the same again, some companies may not be there anymore, some jobs may be permanently lost when “main street” fully reopens. The longer the lockdown, the harder it will be to restart things. Governments face a dilemma between the need to reopen the economy and the risk of reigniting the spread of covid-19.
Regardless of when we reopen, a lot of damage is already done, and some of it may be irreversible. Nowhere is this more obvious than the USA. Yes, many central governments are also printing money out of thin air, but the economic and monetary malfeasance by the US Federal Reserve/Treasury is incomparable. And regardless, whether the president is Republican or a Democrat, he/she will bail out big corporations first, not because they are too big to fail, but rather they were the major donors for their election campaigns. The US had spent most of their finances propping up Wall Street and not Main Street. China may also have huge debts too but it was spent on assets that generate income, not on repo and creating more debt to inflate the economy. Covid-19 is just the “pin”, not the “bubble”. Forty (40%) percent of the US citizens in the world’s richest nation is not able to even come out with US$400 emergency, how can they survive any lockdown for long? It is not surprising that the lines at food banks are miles long, and with unprecedented job layoffs (22 million in 4 weeks and counting) a national disaster is mounting. Furthermore, their healthcare system is unaffordable for the bottom tiers. In the end times, the Bible says a day’s wage cannot buy a day’s food (Revelations 6:6). For the bottom income earners living from paycheck-to-paycheck this reality could not be further from the truth.
Likewise, in Malaysia, there has been relieve aid to help corporations and small businesses. But will it be enough? It is estimated that 3 million jobs may be lost. Airline bailouts, big company bailouts. But who decides who gets help? Doesn’t this leave room for corruption when a few decide who will get the chunk of bailout money, or in the approval private companies merging with or taking over failing GLCs?
But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
V SHAPE RECOVERY?
The paid so-called experts on TV will tell you that we will have a V shape recovery and now some cite a softer V. I personally don’t buy this. We are now seeing things moving laterally before it falls off the cliff again. We don’t even know the full extent of the damage and some financial data like revised earnings are still not known. In truth, we have a double deleveraging- financial and economic. More so for the USA. The stock market is still overvalued. Who cares about the stock market when they have no jobs and no food on the table. Deflation then hyperinflation will set in. The biggest export of the United States is the money they print. I hope they don’t export hyperinflation to others as most if not all countries are holding the Greenback as foreign reserve.
CASHLESS SOCIETY
I have ordered deliveries several times during the MCO and paid for them online. At groceries, we are also encouraged to use credit cards instead of cash. I do find it easier using credit cards as after upon coming home, I sanitize the car, spray alcohol on the credit card/IC/driving license/keys/phone, then take a bath outside while the maid removes all the external packaging of the groceries or sanitizing the items.
This is just a rehearsal of the tribulation in the Bible when without the mark of the beast we cannot buy or sell. The Bible warned us 2,000 years ago in Revelations 13, which reads “and he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,
and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name (Revelations 13:16-17).
The Mark of the Beast is a MicroChip that will be implanted underneath our skin. With that Micro Chip, you can answer your phone with your body and you can call someone with your body without using phone. The device can read your mind (i.e auto-text can predict what you want to type), They know your next action before you do it.
With 5G and the MicroChip you don't need an International Passport at the Airport and you can do any bank transaction anywhere in the world. And that means you can use it to buy and sell. You can’t use cash.
The agenda of the New World Order is rolling out before our eyes. There will be one world government, one currency, one religion. If we don’t bow down to the one religion we cannot buy food as they control the MicroChip.
Many false prophets will arise and deceive many. Many self-proclaimed spiritual gurus will preach appealing theories of existence which sounds good and appealing to “empty souls” lacking the Truth. The danger when we stop believing in our Creator is not that we believe nothing but we will believe in ‘absolutely anything’. For instance, if we were orphaned and seeking our genetic father, if we have not found him we are vulnerable to believe anyone claiming to be our father, even Satan himself. It is little wonder many versions of New Age religion has emerged.
WALK CLOSELY WITH GOD
Despite all this gloom and doom, we do not need to panic. It’s a signal that the period of grace is ending and to stop living carelessly. Good times will still return after the MCO, but we must live deliberately for Jesus and with Jesus.
God is our refuge, not our EPF (pension) or our savings or wealth. Inner happiness is not dependent on material things. The measure of a man’s wealth is not in what he has or achieved, but in his character, his service and how he has prepared for eternity with God.
Be blessed. Stay safe.
Dr Victor Chen.
