As many of you know I frequent cemeteries quite often. There are a couple of my “cemetery chats” on youtube. Cemeteries are a quite interesting social place in our society. However, our postmodern society ignores them, drives pass them, pretending they do not exist. It is not like the 1800s when the cemetery was a city park, where having a picnic there was normal with Johnny and Suzie running around Uncle Ben’s headstone playing tag. I visit them because I have a personal revival each time. They remind me that I will die. They remind me that I will see God. That reminds me that a part of me wants to die to be with Him. I share the Apostle Paul’s struggle (Phil 1:20–26). Cemeteries also remind me to fear God since he is the one who can kill the soul, which drives me back to loving him for saving me from eternal death. It then prompts me to live holy and know him more and love others more. This is revival.
Like cemeteries, a potential life-threatening pandemic virus will confront Christians (and unbelievers) with their mortality. All of a sudden, facebook, twitter, and instagram are futile time-wasters in the grand scheme of life—and eternal life. I don’t have any accounts with any of them, simply because I value my time more with other matters in life.
Perhaps as Christians we need to do more than fast, read our Bible, and pray as we self-isolate ourselves from contracting this virus. Maybe now is the time to detox from—or better yet, delete—our social media accounts. Nobody on their death beds will be saying, “I wish I liked one more post,” or “I wish I posted one more article.” Silence is better than the distracting noise of social media.
Lastly, I have written in my book that I believe there will be a great Christian revival before the Lord comes back. But I also wrote there will be a great apostasy, at the same time. How is this possible? Because the revival that will take place will be with those who are already believers—God will strengthen and embolden their hearts to be able to overcome the great suffering. Professing believers, on the other hand, will drop like flies, apostatizing because when confronted with losing their life, preservation of life will be their ultimate good. “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it” (Matt 16:25).
God has a good purpose in decreeing this virus. Perhaps he did so as a means (I hope) to start a Christian revival, or even a revival of new believers. “I am the one who forms light and creates darkness; the one who brings about peace and creates calamity. I am the LORD, who accomplishes all these things” (Isa 45:7). “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose . . . ” (Rom 8:28).
