by T. Scott Bernardi – scottbernardi55@gmail.com
There is a huge amount of fear and uncertainty going around about COVID-19. You can hear all kinds of things being spoken about it, some of it contradictory.
What should we, as Christians, believe?
COVID-19 is a serious, real threat. We are, in essence, at war. But there are two parts to this warfare, both a natural and a spiritual side.
On the natural side, we have all the guidelines for social distancing. Washing your hands. Get tested if you are having symptoms. Non essential businesses shutting down. Essential businesses restricting contact between people. All these aimed at “flattening the curve” of how many people are exposed and contract COVID-19 over a period of time, so as not to overwhelm our medical capacity.
We should be observing these guidelines and directions set out.
What should we be doing on the spiritual side?
Pray, certainly. Pray for protection for our families, friends, acquaintances, every one within your sphere of influence. Pray for medical workers, who are the soldiers on the front lines.
Pray that our leaders have supernatural wisdom to respond to this threat. And cut them some slack when they are less than perfect – this is an unprecedented situation that nobody has been through.
The second thing – stay out of fear. Fear can draw oppression and make you vulnerable.
Isaiah 54:14 In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall not come near you.
There are many people putting out excellent teachings and messages on Psalm 91, the Psalm of protection. I won’t repeat those here.
I found a passage that has great relevance to the current situation. It is 2 Chronicles 20 where Israel was faced with an overpowering enemy – three kingdoms came against them. They did not have the strength to withstand them.
King Jehoshaphat was afraid – that is a natural reaction. He called the whole nation to prayer and fasting, to seek God for help.
2 Chronicles 20:3-4 3 And
Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast
throughout all Judah.
4 So Judah gathered together to ask
help from the Lord; and from
all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.
It is very significant that on March 14, 2020 President Trump called for a national day of prayer over the Coronavirus. You can read the text of his proclamation here.
This was not just some symbolic gesture. It carries great weight when the leader of a nation calls that nation to pray and seek God’s help.
Jehoshaphat lays out their situation before God. He ends his prayer with this:
2 Chronicles 20:12 O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”
Then the Lord answered, through a prophet that was in their midst. He was a Levite of the sons of Asaph, which were those that ministered to the Lord in music and worship.
2 Chronicles 20:14-17 14
Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of
Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite
of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.
15 And he said, “Listen, all
you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus
says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great
multitude, for the battle is
not yours, but God’s.
16 Tomorrow go down against them.
They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the
end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel.
17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and
Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the
Lord is with you.”
So the prophet had spoken the word of the Lord. How did Israel respond?
2 Chronicles 20:18-20 18
And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.
19 Then the Levites of the children
of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the
Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.
20 So they rose early in the
morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out,
Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of
Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God,
and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.”
What Are the Prophets Saying?
King Jehoshaphat’s instructions to the people were to believe in the Lord your God, to be established, and to believe in His prophets, and they would prosper.
I believe the same instructions are applicable to us today, in the midst of COVID-19. So what are the prophets saying about this pandemic?
First of all, it was predicted back in September of 2019 by Chuck Pierce. I have not found an actual video of him speaking the prophecy, but I have seen several where it is mentioned what he said, which was “there is coming to America a great plague-like invasion, that will test us until Passover”.
Even earlier than that in 1986, David Wilkerson said “I see a plague coming on the world, and the bars, churches, and government will shut down. The plague will hit New York City and shake it like it has never been shaken. The plague is going to force prayerless believers into radical prayer and into their Bibles, and repentance will be the cry from the man in the pulpit. And out of it will come a third Great Awakening that will sweep America and the world.”
What are the prophets saying about the end of the Coronavirus? Many of them are saying that it will be over quicker than you think. Chuck Smith mentioned through Passover, which is April 8-April 16. Which, by the way, coincides with what the medical community is saying – that it is expected to peak within the next couple of weeks.
Here is a message from Lance Walnau, talking about what the prophets are saying about COVID-19. Lance begins with talking about something the Lord spoke to Bob Jones during the SARS or Ebola scare: “Why are you tolerating this? I’m calling on you prophets to end it!”
Speaking of the Ebola scare, remember how frightened everyone was of it, and then it just seemed to disappear? Kenneth Copeland was a prophet that came against Ebola, and it was shortly afterwards that it fizzled out.
Here he talks about it on one of his broadcasts, way back in October 2014:
Since he had dealt with the Ebola virus in such a way back then, I was expecting him to do something similar with COVID-19, so I was watching for it. Here he first prophesies about its duration:
And here is where he pronounced judgement on COVID-19. I got goose bumps listening to it.
Even our President expressed a wish that it would be over by Easter.
There are others who have predicted a rapid end to Coronavirus, but these are the ones I had ready access to video.
What Should We Do With This?
Believe His prophets, and you shall prosper! Many in the world, are predicting COVID-19 to go on for quite some time. They are going by natural knowledge. But we have supernatural knowledge. We should be agreeing with what God has been saying.
Your words have power. God created the earth for mankind, and put him in charge of it and gave him authority over it, to have dominion. When either God or Satan want to do something in the earth, they get someone to speak it out.
Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.
So will we yield our tongue to Satan to bring about his purposes, or to God to bring about His?
Whenever you hear about dire predictions for COVID-19 (and you can hear a lot of those going around), say “No! The spiritual force behind COVID-19 is broken! It is going to end sooner than they think!”
Keep it up, regardless of what you see. We are speaking what God wants to do, not how things are. One purpose of prophecy is not just to predict what is going to happen, but to make those thing happen. Like when God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones, and tell them to live!
You might not be a prophet hearing the word of the Lord and proclaiming it, but we can lend our power to it by agreeing with the prophets and declaring what God said through them.