The COVID-19 virus erupted in 2020 and has brought major awareness to our generation of how frail and powerless we are as a human race. Most of the social interactions and freedoms we had previously known essentially shut down in 2020, as the virus spread throughout the world. Lockdowns, shortages, and mask-wearing have become the norms along with the use of digital technologies. We are not accustomed to losing variety and flexibility in our social actions. We grieve losing our freedoms to travel about within our communities, our countries, and the world. We are people who like to fellowship with others. Covid-19 is an obstacle. Increasingly, we have seen extreme identity politics and upside-down thinking, dividing us and causing confusion and instability in our world. The virus has only added to a world already heading in the wrong direction. We are a troubled world, and it worsens each day. Often, solutions seem to be far distant.
As recovering alcoholics in a 12-step program we are familiar with hardship. In Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) we have already embraced the need for a spiritual solution. Our own experience with powerlessness over alcohol enabled us to embrace the need for God to help us stop drinking and to stop managing our lives by our own rules that failed us. The debris found in the wake of our drinking past ever reminds us to be sober. We know that God does a better job at keeping us sober then when we had all the control. We have accepted that turning our life over to God’s care is a daily chore. Frequently our own thinking becomes scrambled and we take the control back. One moment we are surrendered, the next we are not. We often waver in doing the right thing – even though we know what is right. Wavering in our thinking comes from a lack of truth in our beliefs. Bad beliefs drive bad thinking that drives bad choices which of course – produces bad consequences.
It is important to remember that not only did we bring bad beliefs into recovery – we can also continue to develop bad beliefs in recovery. Progressing in spirituality depends upon what we use as the source of our truth. It is truth that sets us free – from bad beliefs. There is an abundance of practical truth in our A.A. program on how to stay sober and how to behave better but it does not provide depth to the spiritual solution. How to understand the deeper meaning to life can only be appropriated by exposure to God’s written Word found in His book – the Bible. God’s Word is more powerful than the dangers found in this current world-wide transmission of a deadly virus. The troubles of life will always be with us but through the understanding of God’s truth – the fear that troubles bring gets replaced by peace.
That peace can only come when we believe and trust in a personal relationship with Christ. In the Bible, we discover the faithfulness of God to overcome danger, pain, sin, and even death. He has a plan, and it is found in what Christ has done for us. However, how we see and understand this truth of needing Christ and Christ alone for an eternal life with a perfect God can be muddled. The gospel of Christ is going to be filtered by our individual perception of that truth. Perception that affords full clarity of understanding God’s Plan is only as good as the purity of our already existing belief system.
A fully surrendered attitude is the foundation for understanding the wisdom found in God’s Word from the Bible and from His creation. We cannot absorb His truth if we are full of self – when we are on the throne instead of Him. The Bible provides numerous examples of the correct surrender attitude that yields a true godly attitude that leads to godly wisdom. The first step of our program is one of our surrender to being powerless over alcohol. It is but the start of the surrender process to truly become a wise Christian. The surrender attitude that Christ tells us we need is spelled out clearly in His Sermon on the Mount.
The world, at the time Christ came on the scene, was in a state of spiritual confusion. They believed that a Messiah was coming to usher in The Kingdom of God. The Messiah would be a man of great stature, leadership, and power, as well as a great King. Christ shattered their hopes of human greatness. With a common theme, the Beatitudes reveal the very foundation of the spiritual principles of His kingdom. The message is simple. The Kingdom of God is ours if we deflate ourselves and seek the righteousness of God. There is no other way! It begins with an admission of our own poverty – a full surrender of ourselves to God. The attitude of surrender is one of being poor in spirit, of mourning, of meekness, of hungering for His truth, of being merciful, of a pure heart, of being a symbol of peace, and accepting rejection from unbelievers. This surrendered attitude of humility carries us through all circumstances with peace of mind.
Each of the attitudes in the Beatitudes is gained only by achieving the previous one. The most difficult is the first. Only when our own proud spirit loses its grip on our attitude will we be able to demonstrate the humility needed to acquire and give away wisdom. Wisdom has, as at its foundation, the qualities of honest experience, truthful knowledge, and good judgment. It is only when we empty ourselves of our pride and our own puffed-up self-knowledge that we can utterly understand and apply the wisdom of God. If we have that wrong, we will easily be deceived into thinking we are doing God’s will – when we are not. Sometimes our actions only bring doubt and confusion to others – even when our intentions are seemingly good. One such case in point is the confusion we are now seeing in the various beliefs associated with the development and use of the COVID-19 vaccine. Some viewpoints trash science. Science however proves the reality of God and is not the enemy of God. God is a creator, and that image is reflected in all humanity with the desire and attribute of creativity. Science is but one part of that image.
Science has given us the truth of a round earth instead of a flat one. It has allowed us to fly, to go to the moon, to create antibiotics that heal infections that could otherwise kill us, to see inside our body through X-ray and MRI images, and to eradicate polio through the development of the polio vaccine. It is science that got us through other pandemics that have occurred in our history. The worst pandemic in modern history was the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed tens of millions of people. At that time vaccines were not available and technology to prevent it was not yet discovered – unlike today’s advanced knowledge about the functions and chemical makeup of the human body. It is with modern science that we now know the coded design of DNA which proves the intelligence of our Creator. It is our scientific understanding of DNA that has allowed for the development of new mRNA technologies to combat cancer, and now the COVID crisis. This technology has now given us vaccines to combat COVID with a proven efficacy of 95 percent in one-tenth of the development time it has previously taken.
We seek and understand God through the interpretation in two ways. There is the book of His Words -the Holy Bible and there is the evidence given to us in the natural order and understanding of His Creation. It is in interpreting God’s creation in which we see His handiwork and prove His existence and attributes. It is Science that helps us see the reality of an intelligent designer and it is the scientist that proves that our Creator does exist. God gave us two ways for us to learn to live in the world and to discover His Will – and to use God-given creativity for the benefit of humanity. It is the exploration of the vastness of the universe and the intricate plumbing found in our DNA that defines God’s greatness. We need to have an attitude of humility to accept wisdom from both His Word and from developments in science that are designed to help us.
Not understanding science can lead to false ideas and speculations from highly imaginative people, including individuals who identify themselves as Christians, who have no wisdom on expository biblical understanding. There is a tendency to promote speculations as truth towards end times events laid out in the book of Revelation. YouTube videos by the thousands have been made by amateurs, and most is speculation. As Christians, be wary of such speculations. When one understands actual technology and science, it brings wisdom and soundness of truth to squash mere speculations. Logic and rationality identify many of these speculations as originating from wrong interpretation of biblical scripture, and is usually taken out of context. As Christians, we need to be careful we don’t spread fear and doubt, as we share gospel truth. The attitude we should wear is modeled well by Paul the Apostle.
Paul made it clear that his credentials and favored Jewish status, and his demonstrated behavior as a legalistic Pharisee – were as useless as filthy rags. His zeal in persecuting Christians brought him a spiritual encounter with a risen Christ. That revelation of truth created a new attitude in him to know all of Christ. He had no fear of death or of persecutions for his new beliefs. His regenerated attitude was “to be with Christ was gain.” Philippians 3 details Paul’s testimony of what he was like before Christ, what happened, and what he was like after the revelation. That is a familiar process for A.A. 12-Steppers who share their experience, strength, and hope to help others. As Christians in recovery, we also recognize our inability to save ourselves from the penalty of sin, have come to believe in Christ – who paid the penalty and gives us eternal life, and then share the gospel for others who want to hear it. We do that with an attitude of humility and peace – not fear – as did Paul who was spiritually grown in the truth of the gospel of peace and love. He demonstrated the image of Christ.
The attitude of Christians who perpetuate end times speculations as gospel truth, is like the attitude of Saul of Tarsus (Paul), who touted his Jewish credentials and self-righteous beliefs as truth. Humility was not a part of his attitude, and his zeal to persecute Christians demonstrated the depth of his belief. He believed his message was the correct way to please God and everyone needed to be like him. He was promoting the wrong message, and was using pride of his own achievements along with demonstrated practice of Jewish law. He thought his beliefs were truth. The right attitude only came with recognizing the reality of a peaceful and surrendered Christ, through a spiritual experience. His new attitude of humility and peace were the results of encountering that reality. It should also be the attitude of all Christians who want to help others. The real gospel message is one of faith and peace. The right attitude needed as a prerequisite to effectually share the gospel, requires one to have the attitudes found in the beatitudes of Christ.
Theologians and long-term pastors, who have spent their life studying God’s Word, and who understand the language and layout of scripture, are not so ignorant to profess such extreme beliefs. They claim no special abilities of having special knowledge from God, and use rules of proven eschatology practices. Christian eschatology is the study of death and the afterlife, Heaven and Hell, the second coming of Jesus, the resurrection of the dead, the rapture, the tribulation, millennialism, the end of the world, the Last Judgment, and the New Heaven and New Earth in the world to come. It is all about future events. It takes years of proper theological training and study of the Bible to interpret passages of the end-times spoken by Jesus and Paul the Apostle and to interpret the book of Revelation and understand Old Testament prophecy. Those that do it correctly, follow the proper methods of study, that include contextual rules, the proper use of figurative language, metaphors, parables, and symbols, and understand when a passage is literal or otherwise. They study the foundational languages of the biblical testaments. They are careful to not inject personal opinions or make statements that are preposterous and untrue. One example to be wary of are the imaginary speculations made on the vaccines that have been produced to combat the Covid 19 virus.
It is not the intent of this article to tell you whether to take the Covid-19 vaccine shot or not. This virus seems to produce a higher percentage of deaths – in older people than younger, in diseased people with compromised immune systems, in different racial groups, and in overweight and obese folks, particularly with diabetes type 2. Symptoms of those that contract the virus are not the same in everyone. For some it is not even noticeable, for others it is severe, and for others it results in death. The world is still learning. It likely has to do with the health of our individual immune systems. Therapeutics are also improving. The intent of this article is to encourage you to use wisdom in making your decision. There are likely valid reasons for some individuals not wanting to get the vaccine shot. A proper decision, for you personally, should include the use of truthful facts, reason, sound judgement and understanding your own risks. Give some trust that God enables the use of science to help us live in this world. History gives us enough experience to appropriate some trust. But the technology of vaccines has changed immensely, and it is unsure what effects this new miRNA technology will bring. There are differing opinions in the medical community and as time progresses, we will discover the safety effects.
The vaccine rollout is in progress, and as of the writing of this article, millions have already been vaccinated. Do not be misled by false messages designed to promote fear. Most of today’s believable theologians will tell you that the stage is being set in this world for the end-times. These times are troubled with many issues. Christians are not to fear troubled times like this. If folks are spreading fear with misinformation, it is a strong indication that they themselves are in fear. There will always be turmoil, disunity, and troubled times in the world – until Christ returns. The Bible is clear on this. Be wise. Seek wisdom in all you do. The real gospel message is one that brings peace and security to troubled souls. After all, our Savior is the Prince of Peace. Wear that badge – give it away and you will keep it.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39 NIV)
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