Evans Akpo

In the word of God, there was no account of sickness until after the fall of Man in Genesis. However, reading the Bible we noticed in Matthew 14:14 : “And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.”

Barry Bennet would make it clear in his teaching that “God does not afflict His children with sickness. If a natural father were to do such a thing he would be arrested for child abuse and thrown in jail. For some reason, there are those who think that God makes His children sick or allows them to be sick and it should be called a blessing. No.”

God’s will and God’s heart can be seen in Jesus who healed all who came to Him. There is no account of Jesus ever making someone sick in the New Testament “for His glory.” There is no account of Jesus ever leaving someone sick to teach them something. There is no account of Jesus ever refusing to heal someone who came to Him. Jesus came to destroy the works of the enemy (1 Jn. 3:8) and went about healing all who were oppressed of the devil for God was with Him (Acts 10:38).

Jesus never received glory from sickness, only from healing. Every sickness is an opportunity for healing to bring glory to God.

God does not need sickness to perfect His children. He placed all sickness on Jesus. It would be unjust for Him to place it on you. God perfects us through His Word and the Spirit. If sickness and loss are your teachers, you’re in the wrong kingdom! He no more uses sickness to perfect us than He would use sin. He went to the cross to deliver us from both sin and sickness. Culled from Barry Bennet’s work.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases. (Psalm 103:2-3)

Barry Bennet on his post raised a profound question that captures what most people have been thinking. He asked; “Did God Allow It?”

According to Barry Bennett, “the predominant theology of Christians today, when faced with life-changing circumstances, is that “God allowed it.” After all, “God is in control” and “in everything, there is a purpose.” Sadly, none of this is accurate and has left the Body of Christ paralyzed, misrepresenting God to others, and cooperating with the work of the enemy.”

He further pointed out that today we are hearing that God “allowed” a virus to attack the world for some mysterious reason. Some say that the virus is meant to bring men to repentance. This begs the question, why does it say that Jesus sent the church into the world with the Good News? Why doesn’t it say that He sent viruses into the world?

Researchers have argued that globalization is one of the reasons the current pandemic has spread so fast. Globalization compresses the time and space aspect of social relations. Globalization, according to experts, involves the intensification and acceleration of social exchanges and activities. The internet relays distant information in mere seconds, and satellites provide consumers with real-time pictures of remote events (Steger, 2003). The intensification of worldwide social relations means that local happenings are shaped by events occurring far away, and vice versa. The big questions most people seem to ask is where and how does God come into play in all of these. Is it not through the hand of God that all of these intensifications are designed?

The plans of God have always been consistent for humans in the face of the latest technology. Even in an intensified world that has altered human relations, we may be able to provide a physical explanation of the spread of the virus. One thing we should have in mind is that God is a good God. In John 10:11 we read: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd would die so that he can save his sheep.”

God’s plan for our lives is never to send sickness and diseases to afflict his children. In Ex. 15:26. For I am the Lord that healeth thee. His plans are to heal and not afflict his children. His nature is to provide wellbeing for his people.

Most people that claim that God is behind this plague because of the lessons they learn from it seem very divided when the argument gets push further, arguments like shouldn’t you want to contact COVID-19 to learn a lesson? The answer is usually “NO.”

At these challenging times, I want you to understand that God’s plan is to heal and not to destroy. He is a good God.  The being behind this destruction is the devil. Psalm 103:3 states this about God “he healeth all thy diseases.”

Several questions have emerged in the last few days over the coronavirus. Some have hastily argued that Covid-19 was designed to teach Americans humility. Others hold a different opinion that suggests the virus came from God.

Before we jump into any hasty conclusion, it will be pertinent to examine the character of a good God. Just because plagues and viruses are predicted in Scripture does not mean they are from God, nor does it mean we are in the last days of the last days. Jesus called such things “the beginning of sorrows.”

According to Bennet, God is telling us to go into the world to preach the Goodnews. He is not trying to kill everyone before we get there. Most importantly, the heart of God for humanity has not changed. Consider the following: The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly (John 10:10). 

Again, from the character of God, we can tell, that he judges no one….(John 5:22). He was in Christ deeply involved in the ministry of reconciliation, he is reconciling the world to HIMSELF, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19).  God is not using the disease to teach us a lesson as some promote.

A virus is not the work of God. There is a devil at work, he has some destruction works, those works are worthy of destruction, and Jesus came to destroy them.