Prediction on how Corona will change the world (written
April 14, 2020).
OK, I admit that’s a pretty audacious title, but here’s my prognistations on how the Corona (Covid-19, Wuhan flu, Chinese, Bat etc.) virus will change the world.
First and foremost, it will lead to a loss of freedom. There are many instances already observed, where citizens allow their freely elected representatives to tell them by force of law that they cannot leave their homes, cannot have people come into their homes, must wear a mask in public, are arrested for attending church services etc. At the beginning of 2020, if you had said any of these things would ever happen in America, most everyone would have said you were a lunatic conspiracy theorist. Yet here we are. Some countries are worse, like in India where they have beaten some people to death for going outside their homes, and some are much better like in Japan, where the govt. just urges people to stay home as much as possible, and only in the big cities.
Now I’m not going to go into dissecting whether the response is justified or not, but generally I see the “cure” of lockdowns, as being worse than the disease. The fact that people are acquiesing to the government telling them everything they can and cannot do, is what is a game-changer for democratic societies. People who use their constitutional freedoms of speech and gathering and redress of grievances are being vilified now for working against “the common good”.
You’ve waited patiently for the prediction part. 🙂
1. Cash will disappear. Cash is perhaps the number one non-religious object to put everybody on the same plane. Doesn’t matter the color of your skin, your nationality, religion, age, looks, whatever, cash is the great equalizer. Cash has been under attack for this very reason for quite some time now, and I remember reading in Communist China, nearly 80% of individual transactions are made by electronic payment now. Other countries are working to increase their percentages too, but free people have instinctively resisted going gung-ho for a cashless society. Now, as I see cashiers at convenience stores and supermarkets wearing spit guards, face masks, and rubber gloves, it shows that the days of cash are numbered. This will work very well for the Mark of the Beast, where one cannot buy or sell without the Mark. I remember going to India in 1998, and it hit me hard how there is no possible way people way out in the sticks who don’t even have electricity in their whole village will give a hoot about any mark, if you have cash. But now, even India’s remote villages are all electrified, and the govt. is working hard to make everyone have an electronic bank account. In advanced countries where things are much more interconnected, it would be a relatively simple thing to turn a switch on or off somewhere in order to allow or prevent someone from buying or selling, if cash was not allowed.
2. The precedent has been set that the govt. has final say over what is “essential”, and “non-essential”. In several states in America, at first anyway, church was deemed “non-essential”, and people were actually prohibited from going to church! Most churches, including our own Seventh-day Adventist Church, voluntarily closed down, thus signalling their obedience to Caesar, in matters of religious practice. “Practice” and “Belief” are very closely intertwined, so it is no big stretch of the imagination to consider that next time, the govt. may not just stop with proscribing “practice”, but actively tell you what to believe. Of course we know that the govt. will eventually call for seventh-day Sabbath worship to be abolished, and everyone to worship on Sunday. At that time, the people will call out for such measures, “for the common good”, and the authorities, in order to stay in power, will do it.
3. The putdown of law and order is getting serious blowback in this response to the Corona virus. For many years police have been getting less and less respect, with even many agitators openly promoting killing police officers, and some being carried out. Now, the police reign as almost supreme, getting carried away with their authority in some instances, like arresting people for playing in a park, pulling people off a bus for not wearing a mask etc. If there was a healthy respect for police at all times, I don’t think they would be so power-grabby in times of social upheaval, like we see now. My prediction is that police will have almost total authority in the end-time crisis, and anyone seen to disobey them, will be seen as a traitor to humanity.
4. There will be food shortages. It’s impossible to disrupt the economy in the drastic ways we’ve seen, and yet expect to have the same amount of food, at the same prices. Who’s harvesting, packing, trucking that food? Where are the seeds, fertilizers, etc. coming from?
5. There will be a religious awakening. Already I’ve read some things on the net about people, with lots of time on thier hands, being basically forced to think about what is “essential” in this life, and what is not. They see that many highly-paid athletes and celebrities are not essential, and people with humble jobs like store clerks, drivers, janitors etc. are essential, and it makes them consider their own jobs, their own “essentialness”. I saw a funny meme the other day that said: “College redesignates “Liberal Arts careers” to “Non-essential careers”. Anyway, if something else happens bad soon after this Corona virus, people may start thinking that God is angry with this world, and we must do something to “get right with God”. Again tho, the “cure” may be worse than the disease, altho I admit the disease (turning away from God in sexual perversions, abortion, pride, lies, spilled blood etc.) is terrible.
6. People will naturally look to the govt. as their ultimate resource. With God gone from many peoples’ lives, they will turn to the next best thing they can find – government.
7. A realization that a one-world govt. is not good. Many people are seeing the benefits of having each country carry out its own method of dealing with this virus, and then having a good idea what to do in the future. If there was only one govt., there would only be one response, from which nothing much would be learned. I believe this is why there are “10 kings” at the end time, and not a one-world govt. Yes, there will be a one-world religious body given power over all the world for 42 months, and it will defacto rule the world, but the secular govts will “give” it their power to support it. Then they will burn it with fire!
8. The Left is very happy to see this virus come along. Now they are able to introduce many of their pet ideas to people who have very little inclination or ability to pushback right now. The Babylon Bee pointed this out amusingly when they said Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race for President, because his platform of destroying the economy and forcing everyone to stay home had already been effected – ha! My prediction is that the Left candidates who implemented the most draconian measures will not be re-elected. Not so sure about those on the right side of the aisle, some of which seem just as power-hungry as those on the left.
9. America’s power will increase because of this. Probably her economy will come roaring back when the lockdown is over, while Europe and some Asian economies will lag. But the day of reckoning, when the trillions of debt are seen to be unsustainable, is coming apace. When that happens, there very well may be a one-world form of electronic money introduced, again, with the approval of most people, who first got acclimatized to the idea by this Corona virus.
That’s all I have for now. BTW, while there are many rumors about the origins of this virus, the one that sounds most plausible to me is the one that says the Chinese bio-lab in Wuhan had been recently upgraded by some international organization to the highest security level of any in the world. So while China may not have been actually working to make a bio-weapon, it is known that some researchers there were working with bats taken from the same area where SARS started, and perhaps the virus just got spread without their knowledge at first. However you look at it, the Chinese government’s attempt to repress information about what happened has resulted not only in the direct deaths of many people, but a disruption to the entire world, and dangerous authoritarian precedents being set in democratic countries.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
Ps 91:5-10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the current crisis. Thanks also for the spiritual encouragement.
Father in heaven, may our love for you grow stronger each day as we are faced with the essentials of life, in Jesus name, Amen.