Christ Over Virus, Iniquities and Death

By Plammoottil Cherian M.Div.

The author gives a wealth of ideas from the Holy Bible about the unrighteousness of the present world culture, the nations, and leaders. A clear biblical understanding of modern culture deviated from God is explained in all its wearying consequences and signs of end-time. The book describes the following: * Details the biology, replication, pathology, and source of origin of coronavirus. * Explains in prophetic voice God's warning to nations to rule in righteousness. * Nations must govern in righteousness and provide liberty and justice for all. * COVID-19 is a wake-up call to nations to seek the LORD GOD and obey Him. * COVID-19 most likely is a sign of the end-times as prophesied in the Bible. * COVID-19 is a plumb line of God to measure the verticality of faith of nations in Christ. * The Balm of Gilead is the effective medicine for nations without Christ and politics without God. * Heaven and hell are real, and the author has explained the site of lake of fire for the ungodly. * Christ shall win over virus, iniquities, and death and give eternal life to any who believes.  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781636300825

Book preview

9781636300825_cover.jpg

Christ Over Virus, Iniquities, and Death

The Balm of Gilead for Nations without Christ and Politics without God

A scientific and theological explanation of end-time pestilences

Plammoottil V. Cherian, M.Div., PhD

Plammoottil V. Cherian

ISBN 978-1-63630-080-1 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63630-081-8 (Hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-63630-082-5 (Digital)

Copyright © 2020 Plammoottil V. Cherian

All rights reserved

First Edition

The pictures, references and statistical data in the book are taken from several sources over the last three years from websites and News Papers reports accessed as indicated. Neither the author nor the publisher is responsible for any errors in the numbers, or data, or the nonavailability of websites, which may have been moved, deleted or the URL address may not be available. The relative numbers of coronavirus incidence, and deaths are as of July 20, 2020 which may have increased or decreased in the respective countries since then.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

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www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement

About the Book

Preface: At a Glance

Introduction

Emerging Diseases

Coronavirus 2019–2020

Unclean Animals and Pandemics

God Separated Clean and Unclean Animals

COVID-19: Wake-Up Call for Nations

God, the Source of Economic Prosperity

Church, Faith, and Pandemics

Fear Not the Coronavirus; Our Lord Is Jehovah Rapha

Is There No Balm in Gilead? (Jeremiah 8:22)

Christ Over Virus, Iniquities, and Death (COVID-0030)

Is COVID-19 an End-Times Sign?

The Plumb Line of God

Heaven and Hell Are Real: Scientific Evidence for the Lake of Fire

Afterword

Scripture Sources

Notes

Cover Picture

The cover picture represents a montage of recent pandemic pestilences that have been appearing since the dawn of the new millennium as a warning sign to nations as possible end-time signs as predicted in the Holy Scriptures. The pestilences represented are from left to right: On the top panel, (1) the coronavirus that created a pandemic in 2019–2020 when the entire world was locked down, businesses closed, unemployment skyrocketed, and nations’ economy shattered, leading to severe economic depression worldwide; (2) H1N1 influenza virus (the Spanish flu) that killed four hundred million people in 1918–1919; (3) Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus. On the bottom panel, (4) Ebolavirus, (5) severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus, and (6) West Nile virus. The montage of viruses is overlaid with the cross of Christ extending over the H1N1 virus and SARS virus. The Acronym COVID-0030 designates Christ Over Virus, Iniquities, and Death, which represents Christ’s death in AD 30, who theologically is the Balm of Gilead, the best and only medicine for the cure of the diseases of the nations of the world without Christ and politics without God. Pictures are courtesy of the Wikipedia Foundation and Creative Commons under license CC-BY-SA. Neither Wikipedia Foundation nor Creative Commons nor the original artists of the photographs share or endorse the theological interpretation, which is solely of the author, whose knowledge of science, microbiology, and theology he uses to explain the end-time pandemics. Montage designed by author Plammoottil V. Cherian.

Addendum

The COVID-19 cases and mortality that are indicated in the pages of this book were noted as of July 20, 2020 when the book was edited and sent for printing. However, since July 20 the pandemic has raged in our nation and throughout the rest of the world and the numbers have changed drastically. The correct numbers according to Worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries as of December 29, 2020 are: 82,077,278 cases and 1,790,283 death world wide of which 19,844,122 cases and 344,799 deaths are in the United States. These numbers may further increase or decrease slightly during January-February of 2021. Nevertheless, we have hope that the pandemic will be controlled with the availability of Vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, and scientists at other pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca and others are working vigorously to bring more vaccines available to the nations and we are sure to mitigate COVID-19 soon.

Author Plammoottil V. Cherian

Acknowledgement

Drawing together the history of humanity in relation to God our Creator whose promises, blessings and warnings from the Holy Bible, I have tried to relate the present pandemic known as the COVID-19 as a warning signal from God to all nations to seek Him and be guided by the Holy Spirit in our daily lives, civil and governmental administration and political dialogue in a righteous and pleasing manner to God who established each nation on earth. Pestilences, famine, earthquakes apostasy, false teaching and false prophets are prophesied as end time signs, and certainly are on the rise at the present time as the culture has shifted drastically from a God centered culture to a secular culture.

I have profited from my academic backgrounds in science and theology and was galvanized by many scientists of the past who believed in the existence of God, when much of the scientific knowledge of the cosmological and biological world was scanty. COVIFD-19 has made global impacts on many aspects of human lives including primary health care, economy and market collapse, unemployment for millions around the world, malnutrition, education of our children, and even our corporate worship. Numerous scientists are bringing out true factual data on the Coronavirus day by day, and there are people and leaders who trash the facts of science which God established on the principles of which the universe and life of all organisms operate.

Under these unprecedented times, I thank God Almighty who guided me to relate the science and theology of the present pandemic with an eye on the future pandemic and the end time with a call to nations to seek the Lord GOD in the life of all nations.

I owe a special sense of gratitude to all who have encouraged me to write on scientific evidences of end time signs including pestilences connecting them with Scriptural explanations. I dedicate this book to:

The memory of many who died as a result of COVID-19

To my wife, who read and made suggestions

To my children Sajeev and (Gina), Sunita and (Rich)

To my grandchildren Elijah and Jessica who I know love the Savior

I wish to thank, the editors, designers, and the artists at Covenant Books, whose dedicated and meticulous efforts are greatly appreciated in publishing this book. A special thanks to my publication Assistant Denice Hunter, who is the President of Covenant Books, Inc., for her dedication from the editing to the publication phase of the Book. I am deeply grateful to Wikipedia.org. and Creative Commons for the use several of the pictures under the license CC-BY-SA.

Every attempt is made to review the manuscript error free. Nonetheless, human frailty remains with me. The publishers and the author will be glad to make good any errors, omissions and typos brought to their attention.

About the Book

Unlike many other writers, I quote biblical passages extensively in chapters as they seem fit appropriate for the points being described from the different versions of the Bible. The verses are incorporated in full, hoping if the readers may not have Bible at hand, they can understand the contextual points. These verses carry instructions, promise of blessings, as well as warnings of consequences. The verses are quoted in their tone and tenor, and I cannot change its prophetic nature or minimize their exhortative power as it would be a grave violation of the eternal warning not to add or delete, not even a stroke, from the Word of God (Revelation 22:19). Some verses may be repeated in succeeding chapters in the body of text to stress the importance of the facts being explained in respective paragraphs. Bible verses are quoted broadly, hoping to capture the readers to the saving power of God.

This book is unique in which no other book was ever published with biblical explanation of scientific facts related to pestilences and exposition of relevant Scriptures, linking science and theology of the pandemics. Pestilences are sure events mentioned in the Bible as God’s judgment against enemy nations and as signs of the end-times. All pestilences are not judgments or end-times signs. But we must be prudent enough to read the signs of the events and connect them theologically. The present COVID-19 is a wake-up call to nations. If Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Robert Boyle were alive today, being scientists who believed in God’s majestic creation of the universe, they probably would have done as I have. But I consider myself blessed to see the latest scientific discoveries that prove biblical facts, and I am the least of all of them with no claim of superiority. Scientists have recently discovered the black hole and its tremendous power that can suck up several universes into the abysmal darkness, causing an elemental meltdown, which I explain as the hellhole that shall become the lake of fire. Where else could it be? The book calls nations and leaders to rule in righteousness, stop being mere Christianity, and prepare the world for the end-times.

Preface: At a Glance

This book is written during the ongoing saga of the pandemic named COVID-19 that has devastated almost all the nations of the world beginning in December 2019. This book is not a novel, a fiction, short story, or crossword puzzle but a nonfiction written with facts and truths of real life and experiences of the people of the world and the urgent need of seeking God in the affairs of the nation and the lives of people. As it brought the entire world nations to their knees, I believe the present pandemic of coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, the little beast, is a wake-up call to nations to seek the Lord God Almighty, who is our Healer and from whom all blessings and prosperity come. While United States of America and the United Kingdom are two nations from where the Gospel light has spread to the far corners of the world, the world has become too secular; and we, the two leading Christian nations, also seem to be losing the salt and light character in the world.

This book is not written in political correctness, let alone any of my writings, but contains facts and biblical verses to support the present state of affairs of the nations and of the United States of America. There cannot be any doubt in the minds of conscious people who have the moral compass directed toward the heavens that the pandemic coronavirus of 2019–2020 has incapacitated the entire world; and most, if not all, nations were locked down by a microscopic beast. While all nations have been affected, here in our nation leaders, people of faith, particularly Christians should think as to why the United States of America was hit the hardest by this novel virus than any other country, including even the poorest of nations. While politicians have no time to look into the moral and spiritual aspects of this pandemic, we must look into the Scriptures to see whether the current situation we face has a hand of God sending us a signal and a warning because he loves our nation. A warning is not a punishment; it is a notice or forewarning to seek the counsel of the Almighty in our nation’s affairs. The moral character of our nation has been eroding since the ’60s and has been intensifying in recent years with dishonesty, injustice, falsities, and unrighteousness in every sphere of public life, and God is watching the moral degradation of the nations.

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are diseases that have newly appeared in a population or that have been known for some time but were not active as in the past, but rapidly increasing in incidence or geographic range. Since 1967, there have been more than eighty-five new pathogens described as diseases caused by novel viruses, bacteria, protozoan, and helminth parasites. The present coronavirus has debilitated our nation, and as a Christian nation, we cannot be inept.

While a virus outbreak could originate from any place, the current COVID-19 has originated in Wuhan, China. Several species of animals are reservoir hosts for various deadly viruses and bacteria including bats, cats, cattle, camels, wild animals like snakes, pangolins, wild rats and mice, various birds such as storks, vultures, and kites. While it is impossible to analyze and pinpoint all reservoir animals that may harbor several different potential pathogens, several studies have confirmed that animals like bats, civet cat, camel, and several bird species such as nightingales, thrushes, munias, sparrows, and magpies could be reservoir hosts for SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 infections. In chapter 2, the biology, molecular biology, and the various adaptive features of the microbes in general and viruses in particular are described.

Perhaps, unknown to the general public and the tribal populations who have no knowledge of the biology, habitat and ecological functions of the various animal populations, I have described in chapters 3 and 4 that God has divided the animal species into clean and unclean animals for human consumption and for ecological purposes. Ecological functions include controlling the overpopulation of one species and removal of the deadly agents, the carcasses, other environmental pollutants, as well as cleaning the environment, which many organisms perform meticulously from bacteria to behemoths. Several of the unclean species harbor potential pathogens, and the animals that can be eaten are listed. Removal of the degrading dead organic matter is the way the Creator provides food for most bacteria and scavengers.

COVID-19 is a wake-up call to the nations of the world as described in chapter 5, and it is time for a self-examination of the nations’ faith, particularly by the United States and the United Kingdom. God is the source of our economic prosperity, as described in chapter 6, for those nations which are obedient to God’s laws, as noted in several verses. God is the one who gives the ability to produce wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18), abundant prosperity (Deuteronomy 28:11–13), and wealth without painful toil (Proverbs 10:22). We must depend on God and heed the advice of health experts and economists to maintain a healthy state of the nations and to revive our economy.

During pandemics and natural disasters, church has a responsibility not only to care for the congregants and the public but to obey the laws and regulations of the states, governors, and the city officials. Submitting to the governing authorities is the teaching of Christ and of the apostles. In pandemic situations, if for the safety of the public when all businesses and churches are closed, we have the opportunity to worship from our homes online and on video, with the technology God has provided, and we must not defy the regulations, endangering the life of congregants, as described in chapter 7.

While the present pandemic has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands, we must have faith in our Lord and must not fear the coronavirus because our Lord can heal any diseases and sickness, as he is Jehovah Rapha and the Balm of Gilead, as described in chapters 8 and 9. For the neglect of God from the life of people in ancient Israel, as they were subjected to famine, disasters, and sickness, God painfully asked a question through prophet Jeremiah: Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored? (Jeremiah. 8:22). The same question is very relevant today. Christ, the Balm of Gilead, is the answer to the sickness of the world.

I have given a new name to the acronym COVID-19, which is the title of this book. It is Christ Over Virus, Iniquities, and Death (COVID-0030), whose death on the cross in AD 30 wiped out the iniquities of the world and who won the last enemy of human life, death, by his resurrection, assuring eternal life for those who believe and live by faith. COVID-19, as explained in several chapters and in chapter 11, has caused us to suffer great loss and distress, and many families are grieving. But our strength comes from the faith that "though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—Yet I will rejoice in the

Lord

, I will joy in the God of my salvation (Habakkuk 3:17–19). The present pandemic is also a plumb line" God measures the depth and verticality of our faith metaphorically as individuals and nations, described in chapter 12.

Finally, chapter 13 describes the realities of heaven and hell, and I describe with scientific and theological evidences that the lake of fire for unbelievers is the enormous force and eternal darkness of the black hole in the galaxy, which shall be a fierce inferno as the universe will undergo an elemental meltdown when a new heaven and new earth will be created by Lord God. The site of the new heaven is a secret that belongs to God, and the revealed secret is that we live by the Word of God to attain that bliss.

Today the world is plagued with not only coronavirus but also with crisis after crisis of emerging diseases, incurable diseases, environmental crisis, economic disaster, home-born terrorists, international terrorists, and the list goes on. The whole world is sick with falsity, hypocrisy, nepotism, injustice, unrighteousness, carnality, greed, and selfishness. In the words of William Booth, the founder of Salvation Army, when asked of the future of the faith and religion, In answer to your inquiry, I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be: Religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, politics without God, and Heaven without Hell. Author Daniel Sweet says American Christianity is already there: In a society in which there are no absolutes and every individual is a free agent, we are taught to be self-reliant and independent. Christianity is no longer the automatic, default faith of young adults. And that’s a problem. Young adult, I take it as the present generation. We must change this paradigm and restore our nation to its founding principles as a Christian nation with Christ at the helm.

Introduction

There cannot be any doubt in the minds of conscious people who have a moral compass directed toward the heavens that the pandemic of coronavirus of 2019–2020 has incapacitated the entire world; and most, if not, all nations were locked down. Businesses have been closed; the economy is shattered; unemployment, unprecedented, with nearly fifty-one million in the United States, reached nearly 15 percent; and the institutions of learning from grade school to higher institutions are closed, with teachers working hard to help the students through online learning. The pandemic has infected 14,574,477 globally with 607,056 deaths while the United States has 3,881,934 positive cases and 143,192 death as of July 20, 2020, according to Worldometers.info.¹ While the onslaught of the novel virus on the entire world is horrendous beyond comparison in the last century, and each nation has been suffering, our immediate concern should be why of the more than 14.5 million people infected worldwide, nearly twenty-seven percent infection; and of the total 607,056 deaths in the world, nearly 24 percent occurred to the people of the United States, the richest and most powerful country in the world?

This is a serious question all Americans should ask and find the possible answer before this or future pandemic kills more people. The invisible enemy is an ultramicroscopic virus, so elusive that scientists are finding it difficult to understand its behavior and the possible epitopes to which a vaccine can be developed. The tiny beast is creating different symptoms in different patients. When physicians and scientists are puzzled over this masquerading virus like the politicians who are notorious for duplicity, inconsistency, and brilliant blunders, our main goal should be to beat this enemy by concerted effort by all nations together since it is a global issue. The virus has proved how fragile our societies, our economies, and the power of the technologies is. The ten years of spectacular job growth in the United States was wiped out in just four weeks by coronavirus. The longest stretch of continuous monthly job gains in US history started in October 2010 and continued until March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced a sudden shutdown of most of the economy. Over those 113 months, the US economy added more than 22 million jobs.², ³, ⁴ Over the past four weeks, nearly as many have been wiped out, and today more than 51 million are unemployed in the greatest nation and economy of the world—by a coronavirus? Americans are losing jobs at an unprecedented pace.

All morally conscious political leaders, all people of faith, particularly Christians should think as to why the United States of America was hit the hardest by this novel virus than any other country including even the poorest of countries? While politicians have no time to look into the moral and spiritual aspects of this pandemic, anyone with knowledge in the Scriptures must analyze whether current situation we face has a hand of God sending us a signal and a warning because he loves our nation?

The moral character of our nation has been eroding since the ’60s and has been intensifying in recent years with dishonesty, injustice, and unrighteousness in every sphere of public life, and God is watching the moral degradation of the nation and sending us a signal by which sadly many are suffering. For unexplainable reasons, when God sends some warning signals, if not taken seriously and revert the course by those who have political and spiritual authority, many innocent people will be caught up in the aftermath, as history has proved it many times in the life of ancient nations, which God taught lessons through hardships.

This should be an opportunity for the global family to rebuild our world to charter the rest of our destiny with justice rolling like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream, the absence of which has been a serious issue for the God of the universe and the Creator of humanity. Rhetoric by politicians will not address or solve the coronavirus or any future pandemic but only brave leadership with vision to get all God-fearing, honest world leaders on stage. There is a Japanese proverb that states, Vision without action is a daydream, and action without vision is a nightmare. All sensible Americans should think why the richest country has one-fourth of the total global infections and over 1/4 of global deaths, whether they are due to actions without any vision? Why does this nightmare devastate our nation?

Lockdown is not a new invention by anyone during a previous or present pandemic. About 2,700 years ago, God asked people to lock themselves down through the prophetic voice of Isaiah who ministered during the reigns of four kings of Judah Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah possibly from 740–680 BC, a period of about sixty years. During this time, the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrian empire in 722–721 BC, and Judah was invaded by Sennacherib in 701 BC. Isaiah’s ministry was primarily directed to the southern kingdom of Judah and somewhat to the northern kingdom of Israel, but his message is eternal word of God, applicable to all nations, particularly the United States of America and the United Kingdom,