April 8, 2020 – Click here to listen
When we consider the Ten Commandments the very first commandment insists that [followers] must worship and adore God ALONE. (Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Exodus 20: 3.) I assume that since this commandment is listed first, that it is the most important of all commandments. So I read an interesting article with this verse in relation to the virus, and it’s one in which I agree completely.
Celebrity wrestler Hulk Hogan relayed some of his spiritual insight pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, asserting that perhaps God might be showing people why they should rethink their values.
In a Facebook post on Monday, Hogan featured a photo of himself praying up against a wall with a caption with biblical implications. Recalling the plagues of Egypt, which were designed to humiliate the pagan deities of Egypt, Hogan said that our modern “gods,” have been taken from us by this pandemic.
“In three short months, just like He did with the plagues of Egypt, God has taken away everything we worship,” Hogan began. “God said, ‘you want to worship athletes, I will shut down the stadiums. You want to worship musicians, I will shut down Civic Centers. You want to worship actors, I will shut down theaters. You want to worship money, I will shut down the economy and collapse the stock market. You don’t want to go to church and worship Me, I will make it where you can’t go to church.”
Hogan then quoted scripture: “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
Concluding his post, Hogan said that people should take this time of isolation to discover what truly matters.
“Maybe we don’t need a vaccine, maybe we need to take this time of isolation from the distractions of the world and have a personal revival where we focus on the ONLY thing in the world that really matters. Jesus,” his post concluded.
Some may scoff at Hogan’s post but then again so did Pharaoh. Is it inconceivable that God is trying to get our attention? To put us in isolation away from the things that we deem to be so important? I remember making a huge pile of money and coming to realize that when I departed this earth, I wouldn’t take one penny of it with me. The businesses and buildings that I built would fade away along with whatever accomplishments that I’d made and of course any material things I had accumulated. The things of this world that I had or worked so hard for wouldn’t even be remembered in heaven or earth. I came to understand that the only thing that would endure were the things I accomplished through Christ and for His kingdom.
Yesterday after laying down on a table that slowly slid into the huge tube of a very loud MRI machine making loud clicking and whirling sounds to scan my liver for perhaps 45 minutes I wondered if it would reveal that I might depart sooner rather than later. I thought, thank God I didn’t yield to the worldly temptations presented by fortune, power, or fame and made the decision to focus on God and not the things of this world. If my number gets called, all is well with my soul. My citizenship is in heaven and I’ll spend eternity there. If I’m blessed with more years, then I’ve got even more time to serve him until He is ready for me.
How about you? Are you all set and ready to go? Is all well with your soul? If not, then seek God now . . .
Matt. 16:26
What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?