PTM WEEKLY UPDATE -- NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Is swine flu one of the plagues of Revelation?

Q. Thank you so much for your ministry and the magazine. I have friends that are members of a "strict" church. It is their belief that our modern disease epidemics are (HIV, AIDS, Swine Flu, SARS) are prophesied plagues given us in Revelation related to the end-times events that are taking place.

Is that true? Are all of these people with swine flu being prepared for death at the hands of antichrist? Or are we being killed off slowly by God to prepare the earth for his return? I have heard so many things and am terrified of this virus like no other. I distrust the vaccine because of the short time that it was tested. It seems that it is being pushed upon us as a "do it or die" type of thing. I feel like we are being pushed and shoved to do what the government wants no matter what we want.

Please, what does God say about this? What do we do? I have been praying.

A. The thinking to which you have reference is straight out of the old covenant -- it is centered in religion and superstition, not in God's grace. The old covenant reveals that God blessed his people Israel when they obeyed and cursed them when they disobeyed. This was one of the fundamental, bedrock principles of the covenant. It was a covenant of law, with one nation, a covenant which was temporary and ended at the cross of Christ. The old covenant was about a piece of land -- and the life people lived on and in that land (or displaced from when they were being punished for disobedience).

The new covenant is based on God's grace. It is the covenant given to us in the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God. The new covenant is a heavenly covenant. Our citizenship as Christians is in heaven. The new covenant is about our heavenly home, not about this earth. Jesus does promise to heal us, but primarily this promise is about spiritual healing. God does not promise, in the new covenant, to protect those who accept his grace from all disease and accidents. Rain will fall on the just and the wicked, Jesus says. Time and chance will happen to all. If we are physically healed from one disease or malady, sooner or later we will die, just as all humans do. In and through the new covenant, God reveals that he is primarily concerned about our eternal state -- not our physical state.

The interpretation given to the book of Revelation by your friends and their church is but one of the sad, pathetic misreading and twistings of that book that have been foisted on people over many centuries. I have written a book titled Revelation Revolution which goes through the book of Revelation and explains its Christ-centered meaning (video, sample chapters and table of contents available on our website).

Trust in God (Proverbs 3:5-6), don't lean to the false understanding and interpretations of others -- whether they be religious or political. Our world today is rife with rumors and superstition, which lead us away from trust and reliance on God, and cause us to fear and worry, eventually putting our trust in some religious leader or movement, or political leader or party. Trust in God. Faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone.

RETURN TO PTM WEEKLY UPDATE CONTENTS PAGE

Copyright © 2009 Plain Truth Ministries -- Worldwide.

Illustration © 2009 Monte Wolverton