What a different time the last 15 months have been since the first national lockdown due to the coronavirus. To say that it is ‘unprecedented’ is an understatement as the whole of the planet has been affected. And the fall-out has been disastrous in many ways. There has been the massive number of deaths attributed to the virus (i.e. people who have died within 28 days of being tested positive); the economic fall-out as many businesses of every kind have had to close; the resulting loss of jobs with the pressures put upon many families, and the effect upon children and their education, as much schooling had to be done from home online.
But for me, one of the most disturbing results of the pandemic has been the effect on the mental health and wellbeing of so many people from every age group and background - especially young people. Of course, we are not out of the woods yet as there is the constant threat from the government that full freedom day on the 21st of this month is in danger of being put back due to concerns about the Indian variant (now called the Delta variant by the World Health Organisation) supposedly sweeping parts of the country.
However, if there has been one noticeable positive throughout the pandemic, it has been the number of people asking serious questions about God that, maybe, they would not have formerly asked. In our ever more secularised society, where we are led to believe that nothing exists outside the physical realm (especially our youngsters in the educational system), people are asking serious questions, and seeking serious answers, as to ‘what on earth is happening?’ Many are frightened and asking if God has anything to do with all that is taking place. They are coming to acknowledge something that is within them anyway, that is that we are much more than just physical beings, because ‘God has set eternity in our hearts’ (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Deep down, we all know that we are much more than mere physical beings, and that we were created for more than the three score years and ten years we might be allocated here on planet earth.
I do not generally post too much on my Facebook page, but I have recently posted two items relevant to what I am saying here. The first post was about the exact precision of our universe, with the distance from the earth to the sun of 93,000,000 miles and the sun’s temperature at its core being 20,000,000 degrees Celsius. If our planet happened to be 10% further away, we would all freeze to death whereas, if it were 10% closer, we’d all be incinerated. Did this just happen through the mindless, unguided hand of evolution or does this speak of design? And if it speaks of design, then (obviously) it also speaks of a designer. It is good to see that many people are now questioning the topics of such as atheism and evolution.
My second recent Facebook post was that the chairman of the ‘Atheists In Kenya’ society had resigned his post; the reason being that he had come to receive Jesus Christ as his Saviour and he had, therefore, no more desire to promote atheism in Kenya. It reminded me of philosopher Antony Flew, one of the most outspoken opponents of belief in God, a man who worked very closely with Richard Dawkins. Although there is no evidence Flew became a Christian before he died, he certainly became a theist (one who acknowledges the existence of God), much to the annoyance of Dawkins. When questioned by the media, Flew simply said that he had to follow where the evidence led.
So, the current situation with the pandemic is opening up many exciting opportunities for the Church to fulfil her God-given mandate to ‘go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation’ (Matthew 28 v 19). The question is whether the Church will take up the mantle to share the wonderful, good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Bringing it down to our own Church, are we ready and willing here at The Link with Emmanuel to seek opportunities to share the Gospel with the people we meet with in our everyday lives? I pray that we will be, and that the message of God’s love will ring out through our lives day by day as we ourselves ‘grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ’. (2 Peter 3:18).
If you are reading this and you have never committed your life to God, and received Jesus Christ into your life, I encourage you to go to the ‘What is the Gospel’ page on this website. Feel free to contact us if we can help you and answer any questions you may have and, if you live in the Wirral area, you are very welcome to come and join with us in Church for any of our Sunday morning services.
God bless you.
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