Where We Currently Stand with the Coronavirus
In my first post for last month, I said, “I believe that the coronavirus will ultimately be contained before it reaches the level of a global pandemic. I think Bible prophecy will be the key reason why. We are in a state of profound financial risk. A global lockdown on economic activity related to the effort to fight the virus would certainly push us over the edge.”
The virus has now spread to the point where it can now be called a pandemic. Dow Jones has had its fastest collapse from a record high since 1928 but, so far, the economy has not gone into meltdown mode. If we are going to witness yet another monetary miracle that saves the financial system from a depression, this one will leave no doubt that God rules over Wall Street.
The reason why the coronavirus has spooked markets around the world is because it spreads very rapidly and it kills large numbers of people. This estimated fatality rate currently stands at 3.4%. The flu virus has a mortality rate of 0.1%. This means the average person has 34 times a greater chance of dying from coronavirus than the flu.
In a worst-case scenario where 60 to 80% of the global population could contract the virus, 100-180 million people could die. This level of death would have a profound impact on society. Going out in public could mean risking your life.
The reported case of over 100,000 may lead some people to think that they are still safe being part of the 7.2 billion who don’t have the virus. The rate of how coronavirus spreads needs great attention. In a two-week period, the number of infections in South Korea went from one person to more than 5,000. In a couple more weeks, it could spread to 25,000 or 50,000 people.
Iran has been clearly lying about its coronavirus numbers. It claims to only have a few thousand cases, but dozens of people who visited that nation have tested positive for the virus. Nearly 10% of Iranian lawmakers are infected with the coronavirus, admits Iran’s State Media Report. Iran can thank its nuclear program for being the most likely cause of its coronavirus outbreak. Hundreds of Chinese workers are stationed at its various nuclear facilities.
The World Health Organization has found that 16% of the people who come down with the coronavirus develop symptoms that require hospitalization. The flu results in 0.2% needing hospital treatment: which is an 80-fold factor. In the US, there are only about 200,000 open beds in hospitals. England only has 28 beds for people with severe respiratory failure.
The coronavirus has been found to be very deadly when combined with pre-existing illness like HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. In some areas of Africa, 18% of the population is HIV positive. If the coronavirus kills huge numbers of people in Africa, waves of infected individuals would likely flee to Europe to try to escape the carnage.
The sharp decline in stock prices puts us at risk of seeing a systemic collapse in our financial markets. In recent years, stocks have been largely rising based on companies issuing bonds to buy back their own shares. Because their stock has increased in value, banks would gladly loan firms money to finance more purchases.
Uncle Sam gets a huge chunk of his taxable income from capital gains on stocks. A chart of the Treasury’s income and the Dow Jones are nearly equal to each other. This connection is the reason why President Trump starts yelling at the Fed every time the Dow takes a dive.
China is currently the bullseye of the coronavirus outbreak. The economic impact has been stunning. In February, car sales declined by 95%. Macau, the far east Las Vegas, closed for 15 days to help control the spread of the virus, but it cost them. Gross gaming revenue for February was just $386.5 million, an 87.8% fall from 2019.
Some people in China have been in financial lockdown for over a month. The lack of work has left workers and businesses with debts that can’t be paid. Beijing responded to the financial crisis by telling banks to give lenders a three-month grace period. Ultimately, the debt will have to be forgiven or added to the Chinese national debt.
For well over 10 years, Terry and I have maintained that the economy is going to hold together until the rapture. Because Jesus said his return for us would be like the days of Noah or tranquility, we think that time is now. The days-of-Noah factor is an explanation for how the stock market has been able to delay the consequences of our unmanageable debt load. The following five events should have popped the financial bubble:
- The 2008/2009 Housing Bubble should have been the Great Depression II.
- The unmanageable debt loads of nations were magically lifted by rates going below zero.
- The trade war with China had no impact on the US economy.
- We hit several record highs during the Impeachment of President Trump.
- The total collapse of the Repo market in Sept of 2019 was a snoozer.
The coronavirus outbreak appears to be the most serious threat to the global economy in the last 100 years. In the next few months, America is going to either become a very scary place or we are going to think how in the world did we dodge another bullet. The day will come when a third option takes all believers to a place where the coronavirus can never reach us.
“So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand” (Luke 21:31).
— Todd
Why God’s Wrath Is Inevitable
“My God [or my Jesus] would never send anyone to Hell.”
This is a statement in one form or another I’ve heard many times, and I’ll bet you have, too.
The world of quasi-Christianity presents a view of Heaven, God, and Jesus as love that holds no person ultimately responsible for sinful activity. While many of the mainline sorts of these folks claim to preach from the same Bible as we do, they deny the concepts of Hell and eternal punishment for sin. These, like the current Catholic pope, hold that everyone will somehow make it to Heaven, because all are loved by God.
This is why, for example, the Catholic Church and most reform brands coming out of Catholicism believe that prophetic portions of the Bible and the book of Revelation (the “Apocalypse,” as the Roman Catholic Church would have it) are to either be spiritualized or allegorized—or should have been left out of the canon of Scripture altogether.
That God’s judgment and wrath are on the way to a rebellious, evil world system lost in sin just doesn’t register within quasi-Christianity.
“Evil will be dealt with by simple, God-ordained dismissal when all is said and done” seems to be the answer when these are questioned about the Bible’s truth about wrath and judgment, because God is only love.
I don’t intend to paint all reform congregants or all Catholics in this way. But, this is a growing heresy—a burgeoning, blasphemous trend within so-called Christendom.
The following examples document how far this world is going in a direction opposite of God’s prescribed way to live, and are, I think, evidence of why God’s judgment and wrath are—and must be—inevitable because of mankind’s incorrigible rebellion.
A new study by LifeWay Research says that 47 percent—nearly half—of all Mainline Protestant pastors now support same-sex marriage. This is up 15 percent from ten years ago. increase over the same time period.
According to the report at LifeWay, “Around a third (32%) say they see nothing wrong with civil unions between two people of the same gender. Almost two-thirds (63%) say they disagree, with a majority (54%) strongly disagreeing.”
The study aligns itself with the evidence that is persistent in mainline Protestant denominations—such as the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), the United Methodist Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), all apostate denominations that ordain women and, in many cases, homosexuals. (Jeff Maples, “New Study Shows Nearly Half of Mainline Protestant Pastors Support Gay Marriage, Reformation Charlotte, Rapture Ready News, February 28, 2020)
Jesus forewarned that at the time of His next catastrophic intervention into the affairs of wicked mankind, people would be conducting life like people did during the days of Lot. The sodomite lifestyle is now condoned by an ever-broadening swath of clergy. And, according to this ecclesiastical agglomerate, there will be no ultimate judgment or wrath from Heaven for this sinful conduct.
The second example must be even more angering to the loving God who sits on the throne:
In a shocking move Tuesday, nearly every Democratic senator voted against requiring that medical care be provided to babies who survive abortions.
A cloture vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act garnered the support of 56 senators, compared to 41 who voted to block it.
All 53 GOP senators and three Democratic senators voted to proceed, while 41 Democrats voted no, meaning the measure fell short of the 60 votes needed for cloture, ending debate.
The bill requires, in part, that medical personnel “exercise the same degree of professional skill, care, and diligence to preserve the life and health of the child [who survives an abortion] as a reasonably diligent and conscientious health care practitioner would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age.”…
Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who sponsored the bill, rightly observed from the Senate floor prior to Tuesday’s vote, “Every one of us should be able to say without any hesitation, ‘leaving babies to die is unacceptable.’ THIS AIN’T HARD STUFF, PEOPLE!!
This should be a 100 to zero no-brainer.”…
The Susan B. Anthony List’s national campaign chair, Jill Stanek, a former nurse who witnessed babies born alive during an abortion procedure and then left to die, said in a statement provided to The Western Journal, “It is appalling to see Democrats…vote against compassionate, common-sense bills, including one that simply requires medical care for born children.”
Concerned Women for America president Penny Nance linked Planned Parenthood to Tuesday’s vote by Democrats.
“It is a very sad day for the unborn, and I pray God’s forgiveness over our country. Planned Parenthood and abortion extremists’ death grip have once again prevailed through the Democrat party,” Nance said in a statement given to The Western Journal. (Randy DeSoto, “God Help Us: 41 Dem Senators Vote Against Protecting Already Born Babies from Being Legally Murdered,” The Western Journal, February 26, 2020)
That any baby is murdered, either while in the mother’s womb or once born, must wrench the very heart of God, must anger the Creator who loves His creation so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for mankind’s sin. That is love our finite minds cannot grasp.
It takes infinite comprehension to grasp that kind of love. We can only get that kind of understanding through the grace of God—through the salvation process and a regenerate mind given to us when we accept Christ as Savior.
God’s love also demands judgment and wrath. He cannot allow unrighteousness in His holy presence. He, in His holiness and righteousness, therefore, must exact a price. Jesus paid that price for sin with His own blood upon Calvary’s cross more than two thousand years ago.
Therefore, God’s wrath is inevitable. It will be unleashed against all unbelief at the Great White Throne judgment.
To avoid that wrath and judgment, each person must accept the gift of grace that is Jesus Christ and His once-and-for-all-sacrifice for mankind’s sin.
Again, here is the only way to avoid the otherwise inevitability of God’s wrath falling upon you and me:
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)
—Terry