A Blessing In Disguise? by RoseAnn Salanitri

Whether you tune into the media, speak to friends and/or family, or engage in any type of social networking, chances are you have been bombarded with COVID-19 news – and know that you should be washing your hands often and avoiding crowds. Concern is a valid response, but it may not be the whole story.

While I have always been a student of prophecy, my interest in this discipline has escalated within the last three decades. During that time I have seen prophets of doom come and go, setting dates and compromising their credibility along the way. The question that I have always asked of them is: if the angels and Christ Himself didn’t know the predestined dates, how is that you can? History showed that they didn’t. But the Scriptures do tell us to know the signs of the times. I understand this and so should you. That being said, there are signs we should be watching.

Mal. 4:4-6 (KJV), says: “Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. THE END OF THE PROPHETS.” The fulfillment of this verse is one of the more pleasant observations that can be attributed to our national shutdowns. As my fisherman husband and I toured some of his old fishing grounds this week, we were pleasantly surprised by the families we saw spending time together out in the countryside. In areas that had been deserted, with nary another human being in sight, we had to wait at intersections and marvel at the amount of traffic. And as far as the diminishing sport of fishing goes, the streams were now populated with human beings and not just fish. This is not an isolated incident regarding the rejoining of families. As schools and sports are cancelled nationwide, parents and children are spending more time together, and rather than running to and fro, chauffeuring their children from one event to another, families are now eating together and playing together. This is a blessing that should not be taken lightly. But there is a more ominous aspect to this blessing in disguise.

The next sign relates to our country’s and the world’s ungodliness of all types. Whether it be the forced abortions and forbidden Christianity extant in China, the secular hedonism and abortion levels in Europe and the US, or the government school-mandated atheism evangelism as promulgated in evolution curriculums and abomination-levels of all types of immorality, all point to the expanding swamp we are now experiencing that has birthed diseases of the physical, invisible, and spiritual kind. The “Great Apostasy” recorded in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 is certainly upon us. But God is merciful – many times in ways we do not recognize. And maybe this is just one of those times.

It may be hard to conceptualize the blessings of a possible pandemic (especially to those who have fallen victim to it), but consider this. Consider that the signs of the times indicate that the Great Tribulation spoken about in the Bible may be knocking at our proverbial doors. Let me be clear. I do not think this pandemic is one of the pestilences recorded in Revelation. However, I do think that there is a good possibility that God, in His mercy, has allowed this pandemic to warn us about His simmering wrath, as well as to school and train us in the survival skills we may need – should the pre-trib rapture crowd be wrong regarding their timing. In other words, if the church does not take this opportunity to repent and is to go through the tribulation (as distinct from the wrath of God, or the Day of His Wrath, which by all accounts, we will not go through), then we would be wise to learn the survival lessons this virus is teaching us.

Let me say that I respect the scholarship of those that believe the rapture of the church will proceed the Great Tribulation; however, I also recognize that even the well-educated and God-fearing men and women of God can sometimes get it wrong, no matter how well their arguments may be presented. Therefore, I am not arguing the timing of the rapture here, but I am strongly suggesting that you repent and prepare, as the 10 wise virgins in Matthew 25. If the preparation was unnecessary, then you will leave what you have prepared for those that are left behind. But if the preparation is wise, then you will not have wasted the blessed warnings God has bestowed upon us. Remember, there is quite a bit written in the good Book about this time, so you I encourage you to heed the warnings and prepare, prepare, prepare. Learn how to garden, learn what necessities you should store up, learn where water sources are available, and learn how to make bread from scratch and a variety of other cooking- from- nearly- nothing skills.

No, I don’t know if this portends future times of want and tribulation, but I do know God has to be angry about what He sees – not only in America, but worldwide. And I also know that the anger of our righteous God is not something to be taken lightly.