I’d like to point out a lesson we can gain from this current Coronavirus pandemic. A lot of people are looking for spiritual insights in the midst of all of this trouble that we are currently experiencing. I want to draw your attention to one thing that goes under-noticed, but it is very important and it reveals a great spiritual truth.
One of the reasons we are experiencing this great pandemic is because initially the truth was concealed by the Chinese Communist government. As a matter of fact, they continue to deceive the world, I believe, about the number of victims they are under-reporting and about the widespread nature of the pandemic in their own country.
And yet, the Chinese Communist Party is not alone in this tendency. As a matter of fact, every autocratic government tries to withhold the truth, or sometimes even perpetuates a great lie. That has happened throughout history, and it is happening even in recent times. Think about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster that happened in the former Soviet Union. For a period of days, the Soviet government didn’t want to admit that there had even been a catastrophe.
Looking back to one of Israel’s glorious victories in 1967, even though Israel had decimated the Egyptian airforce, the Egyptian president refused to tell even his allies that his country had suffered a mighty defeat by the Israelis. That caused an even greater loss of life, including with his own allies.
We’ve seen the propensity to lie happen over and over again in government settings. Really, this lying should no longer surprise us really.
Contrast that with what Jesus had to say in John 8. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world, and he who follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” He goes on to tell His listeners back then and to say to us today, that if we continued in His Word, then we truly are His disciples, and we will know the truth and the truth will set us free (John 8:31-32).
To make a great contrast with the truth that Jesus Himself represents, Jesus revealed to us the source of all lies and the deceit that runs rampant in our world. In John 8:44, Jesus spoke of Satan, the Devil, and He said that Satan was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks, he speaks a lie because that is from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
So, right now, even as we are suffering through a great pandemic, one of the reasons for why it has grown to the proportion it has is because a government that is dedicated to preserving itself, in spite of all truth, has allowed a lie to be perpetrated upon the world. But, really, all of humanity is suffering because a great lie was perpetuated on mankind many years ago in the Garden of Eden — when Satan told Adam and Eve, “You will not surely die,” in essence, calling God a liar. The Devil has been lying ever since! Anyone who believes those lies is destined for eternal damnation, which is eternal separation from God. But, if you will embrace the truth; if you will come to know Jesus Christ who defined Himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, then you will gain eternal life.
I hope that even in this pandemic, with all of the troubles raging around us, that you will see the truth and not be deceived by Satan’s lies.
