Talking of 'Last Things', does the present situation ring any bells or call any scriptures to mind for us now? Just a thought. Tourism has come to screeching halt. BAD for gold hotels, resorts, golf courses - in fact just about anything carrying the Trump brand. How about James 5:1-6. .
2Co 5:6 So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 2Co 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 2Co 5:8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 2Co 5:9 So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Some see in this an inference that when a believer is absent from the body, he is present with the Lord. It doesn't absolutely have to mean that, but that's one fairly popular interpretation. Many reports of 'near-death experiences' seem to support it, fwiw.
Not sure why anyone wants to get political about Covid-19. Although it has been hyped by the media to apocalyptic proportions, I see that the UK no longer considers it a High Consequence Infectious Disease (why isn't the MSM reporting this?). And Neil Ferguson has been called before Parliament to explain why his dire forecast was so bloody wrong. We really need to get back to ordinary life soon.
As usual, you have been misinformed and consequently misled. (Read the link). Parliament has now been suspended and Ferguson's predictions have not been downgraded, they have been re-assessed due to the necessary but very tardy govt. action to impose social distancing. The new figures merely reflect the effects of the alternative policy and measures to doing nothing, (trying to gain 'herd immunity', a eugenics influenced model previously adopted by Johnson and his henchmen). Things are now taken more seriously by the UK Govt. and even Johnson himself now that HE, the Health Minister, and Senior Health Advisor all have COVID-19 and are isolating. America has already lost 100,000 millionaires through the economic consequences. No wonder then that the wealthy are keen to get everyone 'back to work' quickly, no matter what the consequences might be for everyone else. I'm afraid you are all in for a very rough ride. Good luck and God Bless. James 5:1-6 is not political, it is scripture. America already has more COVID19 deaths than any other country in the world, (including China and Italy). This is probably not The Apocalypse though, just a precursor to it. THIS is political: And THIS: And THIS: .
Am I really misinformed? I read it on a UK government web page. How dare your government mislead me! https://www.gov.uk/guidance/high-consequence-infectious-diseases-hcid I quote: "As of 19 March 2020, COVID-19 is no longer considered to be a high consequence infectious diseases (HCID) in the UK." (But the MSM doesn't report this, which is why you didn't know.) So the UK has downgraded it. Which is as it should be, since it is now estimated that only 1 in 1000 infected people get sickened severely enough by Covd-19 to be hospitalized. And that 1/2 of the people infected with the virus have no symptoms; my goodness, such a big-bad-severe virus, yet it cannot even make half the people who get it feel so much as a sniffle! For this, we shut everything down? You are correct, those tweets are much more overtly political than your clever little innuendo about Trump.
They have also been misleading US too so don't be upset about it, it's not personal. We have reached 1019 deaths today and they are only counting those who have died in hospital. Death rate currently doubling per day. Today 260, biggest daily increase so far. We are three weeks behind Italy on the curve and USA is a bit behind UK but with a much bigger population and much less social distancing and financial support for those voluntarily isolating. Facility being put together in London which they are calling Nightingale Hospital with around 900 beds. Three more being put together near other large cities. But they don't know if there will be enough ventilators or staff to run them. NHS has 10,000 vacancies backdated during 10 years Tory austerity underfunding. Nursing staff are only now BEGINNING to get the PPE equipment promised them weeks ago and Govt. claims it did not get EU email offering supplies and entry into a special procurement scheme. Govt. has changed its story on this several times. Nobody believes them, they might as well have used the 'Dog eat my homework excuse' more effectively. Big fear is that Boris Johnson, though claiming to be mild symptomatic Covid positive, is lying yet again. (No coughing at all in his address to the Nation, and his past idiotic statements coming back to haunt him, wanting the heat taken off). He may be planning to come out in 10 days time saying "See! Nothing to worry about, everyone back to work now". He is another one like Trump. A total stranger to the truth. A journalist sacked by his Newpaper, for concocting fictional stories for print, getting the paper into legal proceedings, a multi adulterer with many illegitimate children and a narcisistic personality. You've no idea what's going on, do you. .
I feel Luke 6:29 is more applicable. But if I have to turn another one, I'll have to turn around and bend over....
Matthew 10:16 more like. Your suggestion though is too late, Trump and Johnson have already done that job on us big time.
Update: London Nightingale Emergency Hospice: Bed capacity now upped to 4000 beds, but staff still not fully supplied with Personal Protection Equipment yet. (31 Mar 2020) Latest revelation: NHS 4 day exercise, 4 years ago, 2016, to test viral epedemic response, was a disaster, with respirator shortage and lack of sufficient PPE reported. Report was censored and official results remain secret for fear of public unrest. Previous Tory Govt. took no action on the report's findings from then til now. Concentrated, it seems, on 'Getting Brexit Done' instead. .
No matter what side is in control, the result would likely be the same. Lack of political will, so the can gets kicked down the road until it's too late. It's (fallen) human nature, and every elected or appointed official has one of those. I heard a joke once, the definition of a committee: a creature with multiple heads and no brain. That definition could fit most governments, too.
I quite agree. Though for the sake of good order, for the most part, we owe our leaders our cooperation and obedience, (Stay indoors etc.), but at the back of it all scripture has some very good advice for the believing Christian and faithful Jew. Psalm 146:3-4. (NRSV, a version contains the least ambiguous rendition of these verses. Others look a bit contractory since Jesus called himself the Son of man). .
If there is still anyone in our Anglican Forums website that is as yet still unconcerned and sceptical about the current plague situation this article by a retred surgeon in the British NHS makes informative and sobering reading. Be informed: John 8:32. Love, takes many forms. Sometimes it even looks like being insulting. Jesus even called the Phariseees "Whitewashed tombs, full of dead mens bones and all manner of filth". Matt.23:27. This was not unloving though. Quite the contrary, it was a demonstration of Divine Love. Allowing anyone who is uniformed or misinformed to remain in their ignorance is equivalent to hating them and wishing them dead. Even at his most insulting Jesus LOVED everybody on earth, even Judas who he called 'Friend', even as he was betraying him with a kiss. Matt.26:50. .
I got an email this morning from an REC priest I know. He's gone off the rails on the apocalyptic theme and told me that the battle of Armageddon will commence soon.
But do you think the media would let us know about it if it did? Seem a bit preoccupied at the moment. .
This virus scare does have a rather apocalyptic feel to it, doesn't it? 4 horsemen and all that. People are scared and looking for answers. Now is a good time to be spreading the gospel!
Just thinking: This Corona thing might have some really weird affects on world politics and leaders when its over. When its all over: Boris Johnson might have been the last leader of the Tory Party, Pope Francis, the last Pope and Barrack Obama the last sane President of the USA. .
There is no doubt that Covid19 MMXX is in all classic terms a Black Swan. Essentially we are amalgamating the Health Crisis of 100 years ago (Spanish Influenza) and the Economic Crisis of 90 years ago (The Great Depression) into a single event. When I was at school (yes that is some time ago), I recall being taught that we had learned too much and there would never be another Depression, and that Science has advanced so far that there would never be another catastrophic health event like the Black Plague. When we are young we are inclined to think that we know everything, and when we grow old(ish) we know that we don't even know all the questions let alone what the answers might be. Palm Sunday is a feast in the Christian year which I believe all Politicians and Powerful people should reflect on deeply, for not only is it about fulfilment of promise and law, liberation and aspiration, it is also in the context of Holy Week a salient reminder of the fickleness of the crowd. The late 1st Century Roman Poet Juvenal is generally credited with the earliest written reference to the Black Swan and like so much of his work it was satirical. He characterised something as being ”a rare bird in the lands, and very like a black swan” by which he pretty much meant what we might mean when we say it was “as scarce as hens teeth”. As far as we know hens do not have teeth and as far as the non-Australian parts of the world at his time knew there was no such thing as a Black Swan. It is not the only saying of Juvenal we remember. “Who guards the guardians” is another one of his. The phrase Black Swan passed into European use and was used to describe things that did not exist. European scientists also went about establishing the credentials of a swan and were able to determine ‘scientifically’ that all swans were white. When the Dutch Sea Captain Willem de Vlamingh sailed up a river on the west coast of Australia he would name the Swan River on the 10th of January 1697 he encountered the improbable, indeed to his mind the impossible. Of course, today, we know that there are Black Swans and it is easy for us miss the importance of this. The Aboriginal People of Australia always knew about Black Swans. The problem is when that which you know is true is radically overturned it is confronting and disturbing, possibly also an opportunity to grow, but it is quite unsettling. Nassim Nicholas Taleb has outlined a theory of how we deal with these events, his “Black Swan Theory”. Some Black Swan events are positive and some are negative, but they all take us by surprise and called us to radically rethink our reality, and probably involve some rationalization as to why we did not see it coming. The destruction to the World Trade Centre was effectively a Black Swan Event. Nobody was expecting it, nobody saw it coming, and it caused us all to rethink our world. His book is a fairly hard read, and is very focused on he commercial and the financial ‘Black Swan Events. Of course by their very definition it is impossible to predict Black Swan events, yet we know that must happen if we are to extend and expand our encounter with the world. Perhaps it is a bit Pythonesque – ‘nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!’ It occurs to me that there are many Black Swan events which we all encounter and it is often more spiritual than simple financial markets. The New Testament Greek term ‘metanoia’ often translated as conversion and implies a complete turn around, suggests and certainly is often associated with a Black Swan Event. The Black Swan is something we were not expecting that causes us to radically adjust our thinking. In a way how we deal with the Black Swan is the making of us, by their very nature we can not plan for them. You can not search for a Black Swan, you will not know where to look, and it needs to surprise you.
By your definition the Crucifixion was the ultimate 'Black Swan' event in history. How could WE kill God, what the hell was going on? It's the one event too that makes 'EVERYTHING' different once we understand its significance. 2 Cor.5:16-17. .