We Are Facing More Than a Virus

“I don’t know who I can believe anymore.” Have you thought, heard or maybe declared this statement in the past year? Is it wrong to entertain this thought? More than any other time in my life I have come to see how far reaching deception is. It is everywhere. On a positive note, realizing that deception is so prevalent can instill in us a love for the truth and a need to seek God as the source of truth.

Questioning a source of information because it is human in origin is a good practice in the age in which we live. Without stating it, one has established that something received may be false or deceptive. Did Eve ponder on whether she could believe the serpent? It doesn’t appear that she calculated whether the recommendation the serpent was making could bring negative consequences. I would like to clarify that questioning information, is very different from disrespecting an office of authority such as a leader of the home, church or state.

As we speak, I am asking myself the question, “Should I accept a coronavirus vaccine if it is offered to me? What if it is made obligatory by the government?” We have been praying about this. It has been a prayer request on Wednesday evenings. Maybe it seems odd that I would open this discussion about deception with, the garden of Eden and a coronavirus vaccine. Many of you know I work in healthcare. I do not present this as an expert voice. Let me explain that I know very little about vaccines and have not done extensive research on this subject. In short, my understanding of the science behind the 2020 events and the various vaccines is minimal. To be honest with you, I don’t really know who I can trust to tell me the truth in medical journals or on media sites. I hope that by the time this paper is completed, we can have a new love for the truth and its Author. The Lord is my Shepherd and He is Holy, He has never failed, never been taken by surprise, never wondered what decision is the correct one, He is good and He will not withhold any good thing from the heart that lives in communion with Him.

This perspective comes, not from an expert, but from one of the flock. Since the Lord is my Shepherd all I can say is that you are hearing from a sheep.

One of the great needs of the hour is to find our present day experience in the Truth of God’s Word. I am not asking that we understand exact fulfillment of prophesy. On a time line with Christ’s death on the left and His coming again on the right, according to scriptures, where would we plot 2021? This will help us better comprehend what God’s message is to us in these last days. We will know what to be extra cautious about, what to not be alarmed about and how to respond to what is happening around us. God has already declared what will happen. For example, if we do not believe that we live towards the end of the last days, we could wonder why things are getting worse and worse. We could also be deceived into accepting that God will set up His kingdom through improvements made by His church.

Before opening up this subject further, allow me one more comparison. A gardener can apply many techniques to getting bigger and better yields: raised beds, composting, mulching, foliar sprays, insect control, you name it. But if his problem is weeds, there will never be success until he addresses that issue. In our spiritual comparison, we can be ever so exact in many different doctrines, but if we focus on those doctrines at the expense of the need of the hour, we risk falling away.

When we insist on reconciliation, peace, unity, love (these are all results of the Holy Spirit, virtues of Christ and things we deeply need), but we intentionally avoid what God has said about the last days, we are putting ourselves in a place to be deceived.

People often plead with me, “Please, all I want is a pill for fever, a pill for vomiting, a pill for headache.” It is difficult and seemingly futile to explain that those are only symptoms of a deeper problem. We need to look for the root cause of these problems. Lack of peace and unity are only symptoms of a deeper issue that needs to be considered.

I am unable to answer what all the root issues are in the church, we will need to seek God’s face for these answers. However, I believe there is a big problem in the way we have treated the scriptures relating to end-time events. God has given these passages to us for our instruction, learning and admonition.

Is our primary problem at this hour a lack of respect for authority or a lack of love for our neighbor? We do see repeatedly that there will be rebellious attitudes permeating society in the last days. The last days will be marked by great self-love. This is misdirected love that should be centered on God and His Truth. Lack of love for others and disrespect for the offices of authority are genuine problems. However, a lack of love for the truth is pre-eminent. Do we love God and His Truth enough to consult, embrace and fully throw ourselves into His grace. The grace of God includes everything He provides for us.

Do we believe that God’s declarations for the last days have anything to do with what we are facing now? Have we entertained the thought that folks that connect the final chapters of Daniel, Matthew 24 and 25, Luke 19, 2 Thessalonians 2, 2 Timothy 3 and Revelations are naive and given to believe conspiracy theories? Are these portions of scripture truth? Do I love them? Have I given myself to ask, set my heart to understand, busied and occupied myself to know what God wants to teach me?

Yesterday I heard of a man who has given 20 hours a day to studying Ivermectin in the medical literature. I will confess that I have not done this with the above mentioned passages relating to the last days. My point is not to say that this is the level to which we should set our hearts to know about the last days. But this doctor of the world does challenge me to consider and ask if I really love the truth. I believe there are many things that God desires to teach us about our generation in these last days if we would set our hearts to know.

Daniel was dearly beloved of God. It was God’s will for Daniel to see these visions for the last days. And God put it in Daniel’s being to set his heart to understand. I don’t believe he obligated God. Would it be good if we set our hearts a little more to understand?

I tremble to put anything in print about the above mentioned passages because I understand so little. The prophesy views of the older generation have resulted in amazing conflicts that have not been resolved. I believe this is reason enough to convince us that we cannot take the risk of bypassing these issues.

Over the past months I was waiting and expecting to see different recommendations from church leaders giving perspectives on how to relate to the 2020 chaos. Maybe there have been more than I realize but it seems that there are only a few. And what we do see does not draw from passages speaking expressly to end-times. Should we consider these passages when making statements about vaccine guidelines and the church’s relationship to the government? It seems that would be appropriate. I am troubled that there could be a lack of love for the truth in our generation. If we are deliberately avoiding passages that could stir up bad feelings about prophesy, that is a problem. These passages need to be heavily leaned upon and fleshed out as we see the day approaching.

Investigations into the cause of an accident could be directed at failing sensors, computer chip error, airbag malfunction and the list could go on and on. But what if the real problem was an intoxicated driver that was sleeping? If the investigation was misguided, the truth would never be known. It is important to address pertinent information. The technical causes sound more sophisticated (such as the psychological explanation for the spiritual), more worthy of consideration. But there is the possibility that a very basic principle is being avoided.

In many fields of custom trades, there is often a tool of choice. Without it, the job cannot be done well. We desperately need the truth about the last days in considering how to proceed into the coming days. The Bible’s declarations about the last days are this tool of choice.

It is beyond the scope of this article to look at all the passages mentioned above and connect them to our generation. In this discussion, I would like to simply consider a few passages from Daniel and share how it could help us to come to some conclusions for our time. I will not attempt to name the beasts or who is represented in the horns. However, I do believe God does want us to look into these matters.

Daniel 7:16 declares that Daniel “asked him the truth of all this.” He wanted to know the truth about the events he had seen. Even though the events were not for Daniel’s time, God honored his desire. I have been burdened with a need to ask for the truth of these events. Would it be in order to ask God for the truth of the events we are facing, simply declaring that we are very needy and want to know how to proceed and that we would like to understand whatever God wants to open for us? Too many times we have troubled ourselves with trying to put the puzzle together and we have not even bothered with asking God to show us the truth of these events. At least, it should be a common Wednesday evening prayer request.

Multiple times in Daniel, we read of the latter powers speaking great things. We see this problem accelerating in our time. People in positions of power have given their tongues to the god of this world. It is common to hear a verbal message that is boasting great things. For the most part, we hear blasphemy against the principles of God. This will escalate to open verbal defiance of Jehovah by the presidents of earthly kingdoms. This should be a sign leading us to distrust solutions offered by men given over to pride.

Daniel 7:20 and 21 refer to a little horn that speaks very great things. How is he doing this, even to the point that he appears greater than the others? As we go along we find that he is the mouthpiece of Satan. In our generation, this is something to consider. A good orator could have a natural God-given ability. But as time goes on, gifted orators will become more and more common and people who guard their tongues will be few in number. This little horn will make war with the saints and prevail. As we near the end, rulers will oppose the saints. We should be very careful when strong verbal pressure is applied to obligate obedience.

Daniel 7:23 says the fourth kingdom will be diverse from all kingdoms. It will be different from anything experienced before. When we hear of proposals different from anything in the past, shouldn’t we at least take a watching/waiting position rather than a jump-on-board approach? These powers of the last days will plunder, destroy and ruin. One truth we know is that overpopulation will not hasten judgment. One of the reasons the kingdoms of the last days will be so short, is because of the extent of the lawlessness of their proposals. I believe the very proposals and their applications to save the planet will be so laden with godlessness that some day we will understand that humanistic reasoning hastened destruction.

We must always respect the offices of president and authority, but to what extent can a Christian obey lawlessness? I realize that this is not exactly where we are now, but this is where we are quickly heading. It is not good to plan disobedience, but we need to see that according to scripture, at the height of evil in the last days, the list of what we can obey may be short in comparison to what goes against God.

The promise of Daniel 7:26 should bring us great hope. As we see the mystery of iniquity becoming more obvious, we can cling to the promise that “the judgment shall sit and they shall take away his dominion.” If you understand Spanish, this verse is clearer and more beautiful in the Reina-Valera. In Spanish, “The judgment” is declared, “The Judge will sit and they…” God (plural as Trinity because it says “they”) will judge that instrument of iniquity that lifted itself above all that is holy.

Daniel was not a man sheltered from corruption. He had seen and experienced incredible evil and abuse. He had to decide when and when not to obey the rulers. He always respected the office of king. I find it interesting that twice we read of Daniel being greatly troubled by what he saw of the last days. It was different and exponentially wicked in comparison to his experience in exile. Let us never forget that the kingdoms of the latter days are lifted up against God, more than anything in the past.

As we continue in chapter 8, verse 12, we come to the phrase, “Cast down truth to the ground.” In this desecration of truth, transgression will prosper. Should we participate in something just because it prospers? In the last days, evil will not always be manifest immediately for what it is. For this reason, it is deceptive. It is good to slow down and take time to consider our decisions. As a general rule, in the last days, if the majority are wondering after it, more than likely it is against God.

At what point will this rebellion, this ever mounting apostasy to trespass and to break away (lawlessness) from God’s authority, come to culmination? Only God knows. Daniel 8:23 says that in the “latter time…when the transgressors are come to a full.” There is a point where sin will come to a culmination. Maybe we thought homosexuality was the culmination. However, we hear that sin has more frontiers. Now, I believe that pedophilia (this term is so horrible because it is anything but love for a child) and human abuse/sacrifice in Satanic rituals in “civilized” societies are very prevalent. I don’t know if these sins are the culmination, but we see progression in lawlessness.

The reference above also declares that the king will be “…of a fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up…” Human reasoning will be completely futile against this king. He is being directed by Satan. The only hope of the saints is to wait on the Lord. We must (wait) patiently tarry for/cling to/wrap ourselves around/be fully united/look to the Ancient of days.

Verse 24 states that “his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power.” There will be a supernatural satanic power. I am not saying that this king is ruling as we speak. What we see are steps in that direction. As wickedness increases, the escalation will be more rapid. The warning is to not participate. Wait on the Lord.

Again, as I mentioned above, if you understand Spanish, verse 25 is clearer. Treachery, fraud and deceit will prosper through humanistic/satanic wisdom. Without warning he will destroy many. Later, he will be destroyed, but not by human strength. We need to distance ourselves from politics. Sympathizing with liberal thought will quickly catapult us towards lawlessness. There is no hope with the conservative element. The Bible declares that this power will not be brought down with human strength. Our only hope is to wait on the Lord.

We do not find promises of great physical (speaking of the natural) salvation for the saints. We need to understand that God has not promised physical deliverance. Jesus did not warn about a great attack on our health. The big danger is deception. “Take heed that no man deceive you.”

One more thought from Daniel 10:12. Again I ask, how many of us have busied and occupied ourselves with understanding God’s message for the last days, and in actively humbling ourselves? Daniel exercised himself in bending low and in setting his heart to understand. Let us continue to look at our present day events in light of what the scriptures say about the last days.

What pictures come to mind when we use fox and hen-house in the same sentence? It is a recipe for disaster. How many would say we should consult a fox in the care of a hen and her chicks? Once a fox is identified, he will always be a fox until he repents and has a heart change (if that were possible).

Today we cannot have full confidence in what we find on Google, in medical journals or with the public media. What we are finding is that the reputation of the majority of the leaders of prominent world entities relating to politics, health, disease control and drug regulation, have reputations so cluttered with corruption that the comparison of a fox in the hen-house does not sufficiently describe the problem of the hour. We need more formal, solemn, and honorable descriptions like “mystery of iniquity; those who make war with the saints and overcome them; wear out the saints; a falling away; depart from me ye workers of iniquity”, to get a sense of the magnitude of the danger facing us.

Many times over the last year we have been presented with decisions and are being tested as to the object of our faith. Hopefully, it is a wake-up call that has taught us to reconsider the level to which we have held the sciences. We have observed first hand, the inability of the medical constituency to give a clear solution or give satisfactory recommendations that actually bring resolution to a chaotic population. We have seen that “appropriate recommendations” for the control and treatment of Covid-19 are given and in a relatively short time, those recommendations are shown to be useless or damaging.

I have been praying about the vaccination recommendations and desire to have peace about this issue. This is not easy, because I want an answer that tells me if the treatment is good or bad. Today I have more peace that the appropriate measure is to wait. So many of the frustrations of 2020 were resolved through simply waiting.

Many are saying that waiting to vaccinate is a lack of love for our neighbor. Let’s be careful not to put our brother on an unnecessary guilt trip. I will emphatically declare that the accusation of a lack of love for our neighbor is a tool of the Enemy of our souls. Coercion to make a decision when we don’t have sufficient information to make one is inappropriate. Let us not confuse caution with a lack of love.

It is hard to regain respect where it has been lost. This will not happen over night. The leaders and supporters of what were highly respected voices, namely, the WHO, CDC, FDA, NIH etc have ruined the reputations of these entities. We live in a time when much caution is advisable. It is completely appropriate to wait when we are unsure of a decision. Even if the government insists that vaccination is obligatory, avoiding those recommendations when we do not have peace about the decision should not be viewed as sin. If you have peace that God is blessing your decision to accept a coronavirus vaccination, that is also acceptable. But have you pondered the possibility that the information you are accepting is deceitful?

The same God that calls us to love, peace and submission to authority, also calls us to faithfulness with what He has entrusted to us. Faithfulness with both our spiritual and physical lives, careful protection of a blood-purchased communion, faithfulness with the well-being of our wife and children. Waiting because a decision seems hurried is an appropriate option for a Christian.

Above all, we need to be ready to die. This has always been the need. We need to lift up our heads because our redemption is getting closer. We need to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May the Lord open our understanding to the truth and deliver us from evil.

–Jon Kropf, missionary in Peru (images here added by Mark)