Coronavirus is Not God's Judgement on the World

It’s hard to give people “Heaven by the half acre” while believing that “things are going to hell in a hand basket.” - Jack Taylor

The Doomsday Prophets

As a royal priesthood and a holy nation, it is our privilege and responsibility to intercede on behalf of the world before our King. It has been said that God does nothing in the affairs of men except if they pray. Prayer is the catalyst for worldwide transformation. It incites the angels, restrains the darkness, and releases nations into their destiny. It is this key to revival which builds the bridge between what should be and what will be.

The devil knows the power of prayer and cannot stop us from praying. But he is the master of deception. He tries to convince us that his destructive schemes are “Acts of God” so that the people of God will not release the arsenal of Heaven against him!

The devil knows the power of prayer and cannot stop us from praying. But he is the master of deception. He tries to convince us that his destructive schemes are “Acts of God” so that the people of God will not release the arsenal of Heaven against him! Unfortunately, satan has been more successful at deceiving the saints recently than he has for decades. One of the ways he has subtly crept into our society and even the Church has been through misdirected leaders preaching the “wrath of God.”

In the last decade, the “Doomsday” prophets seemed to have come out of hibernation. In 1997, my own parents moved out of the San Francisco Bay area to avoid the wrath of a great earthquake prophesied to strike southern California. The earthquake was going to destroy Hollywood for its immoral pollution of the media and San Francisco for its homosexual perversion. The word also predicted that Northern California would become “ocean front property.”

Y2K

My Mom and Dad relocated to Lake Tahoe near Nevada, hoping to find a prophetic “no-fly” zone. Just about the time my folks got settled, several prophets began to prophesy about an upcoming international famine. This became known around the world as the “Y2K bug.” This bug was going to judge us for making our intellect a god. It was the perfect “God Scheme.” The whole plan was hidden by our foolish confidence in man’s brilliance. It seemed that the Lord had blinded every computer nerd in the world, keeping them from discovering in time that we would all be starving over the lack of a digit. What a way to go! There would be rioting in the streets; people would be fighting off the temptation to cannibalize their neighbors and children! Businesses and governments would crumble next. Some even predicted this would start the “Mother of all Wars.” People streamed en masse to buy generators and guns to protect their food in the “name of the Lord.” Needless to say, these preparations proved to be pointless, and my parents are still driving for hours to reach the ocean.

September 11th

September 11, 2001, will forever be branded in the minds of Americans as a monument to murder. America woke up to the sounds of people screaming, many of them on fire as they exited the black smoke of a man-made hell. Explosions could be heard in the background as buildings crumbled and thousands were trapped in would-be tombs. Weeping and wailing were heard for miles as people wandered aimlessly through the streets looking for their loved ones. Many jumped to their deaths from these flaming infernos. Deep sadness and fear blanketed the whole earth as the news spread. Everywhere people were crying out for mercy for those who were counted among the missing. People were glued to their television sets, praying, hoping, and believing that life would emerge from the rubble.

Although the “prophets of doom” had not prophesied this disaster, declarations of darkness began to emerge from what was supposed to be the “house of hope.” They came even before we could ask ourselves why such a mindless act of horror would be perpetrated on the lives of the many innocent who died that day. Many of the prophets of God began to proclaim words of judgment for the sins of the nation. Their thesis was that God had caused this tragedy due to His hatred of sin. Can you imagine the grief that beset those who had lost loved ones? They were confronted by an angry God who wanted to kill more people. Just as Jesus said, “In the last days the love of many will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12).

True Righteousness is Salt

It is true that immorality, idolatry, abortion, and murder are just a few of the cancers that revival must address. But I believe the gravest sin in our nation today is the chill of frozen hearts that are resident in spiritual fathers who no longer love. These misled believers, spread fear, destroy hope, and castrate people’s faith. They have somehow lost fellowship with the Comforter, choosing rather to embrace the contradictory and confusing “gospel of bad news.”

I believe the gravest sin in our nation today is the chill of frozen hearts that are resident in spiritual fathers who no longer love. They have somehow lost fellowship with the Comforter, choosing rather to embrace the contradictory and confusing “gospel of bad news.”

Jesus told us, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men” (Matt. 5:13). In Jesus’ day, they didn’t have refrigerators to store their food. Salt was the primary means by which they preserved their meat and poultry. Through this analogy, the Lord is teaching us that the Church is the element in society that preserves the culture from the wrath of God and the destruction of evil forces. A great example of this is Joseph, who released a corporate blessing through his righteous life. His presence in Egypt caused the Israelites and the Egyptians to be spared from a worldwide famine.

Jesus also said that when salt becomes tasteless, it is not good for anything except to be walked on by men. In other words, the people of the day would taste the salt and if it was no longer salty, they knew that it would not keep their food from spoiling. It’s important to remember that Jesus is not really talking about preserving meat but describing the Body of Christ. What does it mean to become tasteless? It implies that we have stopped preserving the world. We have become tasteless when we prophesy against the people we are supposed to be preserving. This became very clear to me in the midst of the storm of prophecies predicting disastrous events in North America.

We have become tasteless when we prophesy against the people we are supposed to be preserving. This became very clear to me in the midst of the storm of prophecies predicting disastrous events in North America.

I began to seek the Lord with a new zeal for the truth. As I lay on the floor praying, the Holy Spirit started talking to me.

He said, “I don’t destroy cities because of the abundance of the wicked. I only destroy them if there is a lack of righteous people.”

Then He took me to Genesis 18 and 19. Here Abraham negotiates with God to save Sodom if there were only ten righteous people.

The Lord said to me, “Ask Me how I can tell if there are enough righteous souls in a city to save it.”

So I did.

He answered, “I prophesy a word of judgment. Then I wait to see how many of My people will rise up and cry out for mercy. In this way, mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).

Then God asked me another question, “Was Lot’s wife righteous or wicked?”

Although I had preached for years that Lot’s wife was wicked for looking back to Sin-City, somehow that just did not seem like the correct answer at that moment.

I found myself saying, “I don’t know.” God continued, “What was her name?”

I responded, “I don’t know.”

“What was Abraham’s wife’s name?” He asked. “Sarah,” I answered. (I was sure of that one.)

“That’s right,” God said, “So she had an identity apart from Abraham.” Now I was getting it! Lot’s wife was not named because her identity was attached to Lot’s righteousness!

“That’s right,” the Lord said, and continued, “Was Lot righteous or wicked?”

“Righteous,” I replied.

“What did she turn into when she looked back?” Jesus asked. “Salt,” I said.

“What is salt?” God asked. “A preservative,” I said.

“Yes! She lived with a mantle of intercession. She knew they were preserving that city.”

Finally, I understood that her body turning into a pillar of salt was a prophetic metaphor for the role that she had played in the city. Because Lot and his wife were the “salt” or “preservative” of Sodom, they were preservation for the city. Then they had a chance to escape judgment when the Lord finally decided to release fire and brimstone. Lot’s wife simply made a bad choice in a time of deliverance.

“She could not let go when I did. Her own ministry killed her.” God explained.

This point is clarified in Luke 17: “On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it” (31-33).

Then God reminded me of the words of Jeremiah,

Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and look now and take note, and seek in her open squares; if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her (Jeremiah 5:1).

He also brought the words of Ezekiel to mind: “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one” (Ezek. 22:30).

We should cry out for God to heal our cities until the angels carry us out of them as they did in the days of Lot.

It is no coincidence that at the same time many of God’s prophets are speaking words of destruction, the largest move of intercession in the history of the world is rising up, calling for mercy. We must remember that although God does use words of judgment at times to rally His intercessors, His heart is to extend mercy. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (see Ezek. 18:23). We should cry out for God to heal our cities until the angels carry us out of them as they did in the days of Lot.

A Lack of Faith and Distorted Core Values

Despite the fact that God uses judgment words at times, I don’t believe that most of the recent words of judgment are a warning from our Father at all but instead are the fruit of two major problems in the church. First, there is an underlying lack of faith in many Christians that keeps them from believing that God will actually have a “spotless bride”; second, many saints have wrong core values, which distort their world view and infect their ministry.

Core values are the lenses that determine the way we see life. They are interpreters of the events of our world. When something happens to us or around us, our core values dictate what we think about it. Our core values determine which events in life we attribute to God, to the devil, or to nature itself.

When something happens to us or around us, our core values dictate what we think about it. Our core values determine which events in life we attribute to God, to the devil, or to nature itself. I wonder how many times we have let the devil wreak havoc in our lives or the lives of those around us because we thought God was testing us.

A great example of how wrong core values can affect our lives and ministries is seen in the area of intercession. Many intercessors have been neutralized because they have believed a lie and therefore developed a wrong core value that says, “Disaster breeds humility, and humility gives birth to repentance, which in turn fuels revival.” When we see the world through this lens, we stop praying for deliverance and pray for endurance instead. I wonder how many times we have let the devil wreak havoc in our lives or the lives of those around us because we thought God was testing us.

It is important to understand that most revivals didn’t begin with a catastrophe. For example, the Azusa Street revival began with prayer. 

The Jesus movement didn’t begin with disaster nor did the Charismatic renewal. The Welsh revival had nothing to do with tragedy. The Toronto and Brownsville revivals didn’t begin because of calamity.

In fact, throughout most of the Bible, disaster created quite the opposite response. In the Book of Numbers, God caused some of the leaders of Israel to be swallowed up by an earthquake. In keeping with His nature, Moses begged for mercy twice in this chapter on behalf of his people. The bitterness of the Israelites who survived, grew worse with each disaster. They blamed Moses for the loss of their family members and did everything but repent (16:23-41). In the Book of Revelation, we have the same principle. Plagues are poured out on the people, but they do not repent and instead, “blaspheme the God of heaven” (16:10-11).

We have all met people who have lost a child or a loved one in an untimely manner. Many of them go through life bitter with God over their loss. Others question the reality of a loving God when they look around and see people starving. Although God can and often does turn around a bad situation and use it for good, it is still, “the kindness of God that leads to repentance.” (Rom. 2:4). It’s the devil that wants to kill, steal and destroy. He is the master of twisting the Scriptures so that we allow Him a place to come in and carry out his devious plan. Remember that this is the same guy who used the Bible to try to convince Jesus to commit suicide:

Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You; and on their hands they will bear You up, so that You will not strike Your foot against a stone’” (Matthew 4:5,6).

Re-Presenting Christ

Not only is the Church preservation (salt), but also we are light. In the Book of Matthew Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matt. 5:14). What does it mean to be light, and what is it that we are illuminating? We are shedding light on the nature of God, which is how He thinks and acts in the affairs of men. We are the revelation (light) of the Father and His love letter to the world. We re-present Christ to the lost. The world looks to us to understand world events through the eyes of God. When we misrepresent our Heavenly Father, the world gets a warped perspective of God.

The world looks to us to understand world events through the eyes of God. When we misrepresent our Heavenly Father, the world gets a warped perspective of God.

James and John are a good example of how many misrepresent God. They wanted to call fire down to consume a city, but Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what spirit you are of” (Luke 9:54-55). It is interesting to me that this was the same John who wrote to the Beloved and exhorted us, “Not to believe every spirit, but to test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). I imagine that he received the revelation that even Jesus’ own apostles could be influenced by hell through his own experience of listening to the wrong spirit.

Notice how his exhortation continues in the same chapter: “Beloved, let us love one another…There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love” (1 John 4:18). These verses were written in the context of testing the spirits. In other words, we test the spirits by examining them in light of the virtues of love. When we read these virtues that are spelled out in the letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 13) and understand that fear has no place in love, we find ourselves wondering what spirit is encouraging these judgment prophecies. The greatest tragedy is that the revelation the world receives from these voices causes them to believe that our Father is an angry God who is looking for an opportunity to punish people.

Does it make sense to tell people that God is so angry that we are killing our young that He is going to kill all of us?

Jesus said, “…If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matt. 6:23). If we are the light of the world and we are speaking and prophesying against the people who are already lost in darkness, how great is the darkness! In the same way, when we represent God as someone who wants to destroy America because 40 million babies have been aborted in our country, we perpetuate the very problem that we are trying to cure. People are killing their babies because they don’t know or understand the love of the Father. Does it make sense to tell people that God is so angry that we are killing our young that He is going to kill all of us? Is our Father so single-dimensional in His being that He only has one response to anything man does wrong?

The way in which many believers reflect God to the world reminds me more of my stepfather than my Heavenly Father. Can you imagine the negative impact it would have on your daughter if she came to you to tell you that she had an abortion, and in response, you flipped out and tried to kill her? If you react out of rage, I would suggest that your lack of love is a large part of her decision to have the abortion in the first place.

When we communicate to the world about the God they have yet to meet, it is essential that we communicate light, life, and love. Love doesn’t punish or spread fear. Our Abba Father does grieve over the sins of the world, but every time we see the heartless acts of destruction that deeply wound the heart of God, we must remember the depths of God’s desire to share love. The nature of love is that it requires us to be able to choose. If God took away our choice, people could only behave the way God programmed them to. Wars would cease, hunger would end, and poverty would only be an ancient memory of years gone by. But along with their disappearance, the desperate cry of the human heart that beats with passion for a loving relationship with the most beautiful Being in the entire universe would be gone, too.

Day after day, a loving Creator looks down on a broken planet longing for the day when the object of His affection will walk hand in hand with Him into indescribable beauty in the halls of eternity. In the meantime destruction continues, not because God is angry with man, but rather because men choose to kill, steal, and destroy. This is the fruit of those who have chosen the wrong lover (satan).

In the midst of all this darkness there is an incredible hope growing. The day after the Twin Towers were destroyed I had a vision. In the vision I saw what all of us saw hundreds of times—the towers of fire falling like sand castles to the ground. But this time, in the vision, something was different. There was a loud voice yelling behind the towers, “The blood of the martyrs; the blood of the martyrs!” What happened next in the vision was amazing. Cracks began to form over the entire earth almost as if they were repercussions of the explosions. Water began to flow all over the world. Then another voice began to shout, “The fountains of the deep are open; the fountains of the deep are open!”

I asked God, “What does this mean?”

He said, “The knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea!”

Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). I believe that because God is a God of redemption, He makes sure that the ramification of Christians being killed for their faith is mass spiritual conversions. Although God did not cause 9-11 in judgment of the world – and He did not cause Coronavirus outbreak – He is able to use these horrific circumstances to bring about His purposes.

Paul said, “Where sin abounds, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:20 KJV). If the level of sin determines the depths of grace, then our country must be poised for an incredible move of God.

The diligent prayer of a righteous people will ultimately determine the destiny of our children.

Meanwhile, a hateful enemy is stalking a wounded and desperate people. He is seeking to paralyze us with fear and demoralize us with his arrogant boasts of destructive predications. Yet still, the future belongs to those who pray. Prayer is the bridge between what should be and what will be. The diligent prayer of a righteous people will ultimately determine the destiny of our children. Therefore it is our responsibility to leave to those yet to be born a world in revival as their inheritance. Hanging in the balance of eternity is the ultimate climax of creation—the kingdoms of this world becoming the Kingdom of our God.

Kris Vallotton