April 19, 2020
By: Bill Conger
People are looking for answers during this time of uncertainty in our country. The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked fears and stress for many, keeping doctors and mental health care professionals busy. People are also looking for spiritual answers. This week’s Q and A is with Dan Gulley, minister at the Smithville Church of Christ.
Bill Conger: What can we learn from church history when it comes to thinking about the threat of pandemics?
Dan Gulley: One lesson we can learn is that the church usually responds in a very positive and powerful way. After a long day of healing all who were sick and casting out demons, it is declared in Matthew 8:17 concerning Jesus Christ: “He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.” It is further recorded in Acts 10:38 that Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” Authentic Christians in every generation since the first century have sought, in the words of Scripture at 1 Peter 2:21, to follow the example and walk in the steps Jesus left us. There have been many pandemics throughout history, and the church typically seeks to follow Christ’s example in not only cooperating to stop the spread of the disease, but also marshaling human and financial resources to relieve and heal those who suffer from the effects of disease. Just over a hundred years ago, beginning in the fall of 1918, the “Spanish flu” came to the shores of the United States. John Mark Hicks, a professor of theology at David Lipscomb University in Nashville, recently wrote about the response of churches of Christ in America to that pandemic. Hicks reports that pandemic eventually killed 700,000 in the United States and more than 50 million globally, making it the worst pandemic in modern history. The title of Hicks’ very interesting article is “How Churches of Christ Responded When the ‘Spanish Flu’ Killed Millions” (christianchronicle.org/how-churches-of-Christ-responded-when-the-1918-spanish-flu-killed-millions). In that article Hicks notes that many congregations of the church canceled services, and some Christians focused on feeding and nursing the poor. He cites the example of the Russell Street church of Christ who helped the Red Cross and opened and allowed their church building to be used as a hospital because the city hospitals were turning people away. Christians attended the sick, exposing themselves to risk of infection. Although most congregations did not meet, they continued to worship on Sundays in their homes with their families and maybe a few friends. While there are a few exceptions, a look back through history reveals that the church usually seeks to do what Jesus did when He walked the earth. The church seeks, however imperfectly, to bring relief and aid to those who are suffering. That care and concern by people of faith is being seen in our local community and all across our great land in the current coronavirus pandemic, and it is making a difference.
Conger: Some people ask whether the virus is a plague or judgment from God. What does the Bible say?
Gulley: The answer here is two-pronged. The Bible does indeed record instances when sickness and disease was sent by God as a punishment. When the proud Pharaoh of Egypt stubbornly and rebelliously refused to allow Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egyptian slavery, Exodus 9:9-10 records that dust spread across Egypt and caused “boils” that broke out in sores on man and beasts throughout all the land of Egypt. Other examples, including cases of leprosy, could be cited. Having noted that, a healthy dose of caution is needed before we decide that a particular modern pandemic is a judgment from God, including the coronavirus. The Old Testament book of Job in the Bible makes clear that not all people who suffer sickness and disease are bad people. Jesus Himself in John 9:1-4 makes clear that not all suffering and sickness is due to sin. Suffering can be self-inflicted through sin (1 Peter 4:15). We are warned in Scripture at Romans 6:23 that “the wages of sin is death” (spiritual death in this verse). But we must also remember that Jesus Christ, the only sinless Man who ever lived, suffered for us. On the one hand, to say with absolute certainty the current coronavirus pandemic is a specific judgment sent from God would be to put ourselves in God’s place. On the other hand, surely the widespread threat of this disease should sound an alarm and cause all people to recognize and acknowledge our need for God and His help in dealing with not only physical diseases, but the spiritual disease of sin and death.
Conger: What advice do you have for people to decrease their fear and anxiety during all the uncertainties?
Gulley: First, I would advise everyone to understand that fear and anxiety are not necessarily wrong. The Bible speaks to the topic of fear hundreds of times, and often directs us to “Fear not” or “Do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27). One of my favorite Bible passage on fear is Psalm 56:3 which says, “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.” The sin or wrong connected with fear is not in being afraid. There are times when fear is appropriate and even necessary to incite us to action and caution. If you wake up in the middle of the night and your house is on fire or a thief has a gun in your face and you are not afraid, your fear meter is broken! But fear that betrays a lack of trust in God, fear that rules us to the point it paralyzes and debilitates us and gives way to constant panic – that is the fear the Bible forbids and condemns. At the end of the day, the peace God grants us is not grounded in the absence of problems but in promise of God’s presence and provision. Scriptures that can help to flush fear out of your heart are found in places like Proverbs 3:5-6, Matthew 6:25-34, and Philippians 4:4-8.
Conger: What are some practical ways we can love our neighbors in the midst of COVID-19?
Gulley: It seems weird to say it, but maybe the best thing we can do to love our neighbors for the time being is to keep a safe distance away from them! By now most of us know about “social distancing” and washing our hands and keeping our hands away from our faces, etc. Indications are those things are working. They are working because millions of people are submitting to the directives of our political leaders and medical professionals. The “stay at home” mandate is effective if we stay at home (except for essential outings). In our church I have been contacted by younger members volunteering to go to the grocery store or pick up medications or run other kinds of errands for older people or those otherwise shut in. Phone calls, text messages and other kinds of social media contact, emails, even written notes and letter sent by mail — all of these and other means can be used to communicate words of comfort and encouragement to friends and loved ones. “By this we know love”, the apostle John wrote in 1 John 3:16, “because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
I would close by reminding all of us that amidst all the changes and anxiety and uncertainty the COVID-19 pandemic has forced into our lives, there is a constant we can always count on. The Bible declares about in Revelation 1:8- ” ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,’ says the Lord, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’ And again in Hebrews 13:8 – “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
The COVID-19 crisis will pass. Until it does, let us anchor our hope in the Rock of Ages.
Services at the Smithville Church of Christ are streamed on Sundays at 10 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. and Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. These services can be reached by going to the website at thesmithvillechurch.com and clicking on the Facebook Live link at the top of the page. At the website people can view the weekly church bulletin and some other Bible based articles and materials. WJLE listeners can also hear Gulley’s “Got a Minute” devotions from the Smithville Church of Christ on Mondays through Fridays at various times.