God's Going To Cut You Down

Veteran in A New Field

1865

Winslow Homer

Oil on canvas

Yes, the title of this post is ominous and foreboding but the post itself will be the greatest pick-me-up you'll ever read in this life. 

The 'experts' are saying peak mortality or death of COVID-19 will be on Easter. At least for places like New York and New Jersey. The places hardest hit early on. There will be more bad news later but not of the magnitude we are now seeing. The day that we commemorate Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. This is just too ironic to be accident.

Paul, in 1 Corinthians, implies Jesus died on a 14 Nisan "sacrificed as a Passover lamb".

1 Corinthians 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

He was resurrected on the Jewish festival of the first fruits, on a 16 Nisan.

1 Corinthians 15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

He was buried before sunset in accordance with the Scriptures and rose again the morning of the third day. Exactly as it had been planned by God. God had a schedule to keep and in keeping that schedule he showed the exacting perfectness of His well-timed plan. He did things exactly how and when He said he would. In this we see that God can be trusted to do all that he promised...including resurrecting us to new life if we only believe that he can and will.

In Feast of First Fruits the Hebrews via a Priest were to bring the first sheaves of the barley harvest and wave them before the Lord.

Leviticus 23:10-12 “…When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord.

At the beginning of the day representative leaders of the people would cut the best barley sheaves that had been set aside specifically for this purpose and bring them to the priest. The priest would then present them to the Lord by waving them back and forth. The purpose of this was to consecrate the harvest to the Lord. 

The first fruits were representative of the entire harvest. This act reminded Hebrews that the land and all its harvest rightfully belonged to God. The people are just stewarding the land. They were also to sacrifice seven lamb without blemish. The offering is also to be presented with bread and wine.

As I said, Jesus fulfilled this feast when He became the first fruits resurrected from the dead. His beginning marked the beginning of the harvest of souls who have been set apart for God through the Jesus Christ even up until today. So to, it is not accidental that barley sheaf contains many stalks of barley bundled together. The Lord offered up Himself with others that day. The bodies of many of the saints also resurrected

Matthew 27:52-53 “The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

Jesus was the human sheaf that God had set apart for the purpose of conquering death and providing eternal life for all those that acknowledge Him as savior. This includes those that believed before and after he came because it is by faith that man is saved to eternal life. (Hebrew 11:1-3 & 6)

In fulfilling the Feast of Passover Christ was crucified on the fourteenth day of Nisan. To fulfill the Feast of Unleavened Bread Christ was buried on the fifteenth day of Nisan. On the Sabbath Jesus rested in the tomb. On the sixteenth day of Nisan (Sunday) Jesus Rose from the dead fulfilling the entirety of the Feast of First Fruits.

Jesus then ascended to the Father as a presentation of First Fruit to the Father in Heaven so that the rest of the harvest would be acceptable in the eyes of the Father (believers). A great high priest offering the First Fruits on the exact day that they would’ve been waved wheat in front of the Lord at the throne of the Almighty.

This is clearly a message from God. The fact that we would begin the turnaround to recovery and living again on Easter is nothing short of paradoxical. You're naive and blind if you cannot see the correlation. This recovery of course will, in the long run be temporary because we all will meet our demise from some other form of disease or event later. What COVID-19 has revealed isn’t so much a cure or release from disease and death now. Instead, it is pointing us to something we need now that will have ramifications rippling down through eternity for us. It is pointing us to the death, burial of one individual in particular. The One who also rose the third day fulfilling all the Feasts of Israel. He fulfilled the Israelite prophecies also. These deaths all point to the only life that matters in the long game. Christ’s.

God will cut us all down. But we will all be raised in Him if we wish. We need only believe. We cannot live forever without first being cut down from this life/field and regrowing in a new one. We will assuredly be lifted to life in that new field in the end. Happy Easter folks. Yes. Easter is about dying. More importantly is about being Resurrected...and not just Jesus' Resurrection, but ours also. Death doesn't get the final say anymore. A new day is coming.

John 12:24 Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

[Addendum: It is interesting to note the painting was done immediately following a war that decimated the male population of America and many of its citizens. A war that left hundreds of thousands cut down like grain in a field. The painting is of a solitary Union soldier cutting down wheat. His scythe evokes the Reaper, recalling the war’s harvest of death and expressing grief. A discarded military canteen in the foreground. A symbol of leaving behind the pointless death of war while gathering new life in the form of sustenance. In redemptive fashion is the bountiful wheat. Referring to death and life, the painting offers a powerful meditation on America’s sacrifices and its potential for rebirth. Just like Christ’s. The original now paradoxically resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art...right in the middle of New York City which is about to have its peak death toll.]

The Lord Gives and The Lord Takes Away

There has been a lot of negative things to write about amidst all the sickness and dying. I offer in this post some balance to it all. A light at the end of the tunnel. Thee light at the end of it all. A temporary glance at the much larger narrative.

יהוה נתן ויהוה לקח יהי

…the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away… Job 1:21

This famous quotation from the Book of Job effectively summarizes any concept of healthcare that ancient Israel might have had. God both dispenses and alleviates disease, as having been essential to the development of any interrelationship between God, His believers and healthcare. There is one God the source of all goodness and health, but also of all sickness and imperfection of body and mind.  It is all, good and bad, beholden to the Sovereign will of God. Such concepts force believers to deal with the fact that not only does God allow wellness and wholeness but also being unwell and incomplete which are sometimes the product of one’s own sin or consequences of one's decisions...and sometimes not.

This is not to say though that if God alone dispenses and heals all diseases; there is no need for nurses, physicians or perhaps even priests to practice medicine. In fact, it’s just the opposite. It very well may be that God puts the physician, the nurse or the priest directly into a person’s life and works through those people. At times disease and injury literally forces community out of need. In this way a nurse or physician acts as a priest and a priest acts as a nurse or physician out of necessity. Sickness forces interaction out of compassion and need. It initiates interaction not only with people but solicits thoughts of God. God draws nearer. When you are weak, God is strong. When you mourn, He will alleviate the pain...

Matthew 5:3-12 ~ Jesus said:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger, thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

“Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness' sake, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

A physician or nurse that seeks to heal a patient cannot ignore the spiritual aspect of a person's wholeness and well-being and expect a complete recovery. Likewise a priest cannot ignore the physical aspects of humanity such as pain and expect a believer to be fully spiritually whole. When one lacks or suffers...so does the other. In between both...is God. The mediator not only between men but between the physical and spiritual in the self.

Additionally, it is unlikely that the Levitical purity laws and rituals presented in the Hebrew Bible were devised and formulated to operate in a wholly Jewish and Christian society. It appears the blessing of health and wholeness was available to all that would believe and obey God’s statutes and laws in the Bible. The offer, like Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross was offered to all that would come to a saving faith in the promises of God. As a matter of fact, those that appear to have abundant blessings in their lives as unbelievers are the beneficiaries of common grace.

Whatever conclusions we draw about the relationships between healthcare and the Levitical purity laws in the end really point in one direction. To Christ. All of the Laws point to restoration of a specific order laid out by God prior to the Fall of Genesis 3. The Civil, Ceremonial and Moral Laws. All were put in place to restore mankind. The restoration wasn’t just to be medical/physical but to restore all aspects of the Creation. Physical, communal and spiritual. 

Uniformity. Wholeness. Completeness. At one with God. All of this points to Jesus Christ and the coming Kingdom. A Kingdom in which there will be perfect health and restoration of the intended order and wholeness of the Creation which God originally intended before the entry of sin into it. 

Regardless, even in or physical and spiritual malady we see the influence and the overarching power of God to heal is unavoidable and ever present. With or without medicinal practice mankind eventually succumbs to age and death. It currently is the way of the world but will not be this way forever. God has promised us more if we believe. For now though…the Lord gives to whom He pleases when He pleases and He takes from those He chooses. 

Regardless of health or lack of it. Wholeness or incompleteness...we are to love God with all our heart, soul and mind and love others as ourselves. (Deuteronomy 6). The 'Greatest Commandments'. In these simple yet complex acts, all the disparate elements of heart, soul and mind meld into completeness and healthiness communally, physically and spiritually. In them...is the Kingdom. In them is The King. Kingdom is where the King is.

The Kingdom is coming and the King is preparing the way to His return. He is making straight the paths for His arrival. Sometimes we need to be proactive. Sometimes...we need to step back and allow Him to perform His miracles. What is His Spirit saying to you?

John 8:12 ~ Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

There Will Be Death

As the death toll mounts, I've been messaged via Facebook messenger, WeChat and Zoom. The question is phrased differently but the intent of the questions are the same. Why God...if God is a loving God.... is allowing this pandemic to happen? Why is he allowing the loss. The death. Why isn't he protecting us helping us find a cure.

I answer here now as succinctly as possible without digressions.

This statement assumes people are 'good' by their inherent nature. They are not. The Bible tells us that all are sinners and wicked (Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:10-18). God is holy (Isaiah 6:3), and is perfect and wants us perfect too (Matthew 5:48). If He cannot look upon evil/sin without judging it (Habakkuk 1:23) then...this is a form of judgment upon all men. Until this point, he has stayed his hand. (2 Samuel 24:16, Daniel 4:35) in patience so that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9). When it says God stays his hand in the Bible it means he withholds judgment to those that actually deserve it. Which, being sinners, we all do. God holds his judgment/punishment/wrath until the exact right time (Romans 1:18). A time when the most amount of people will profit from His judgment and learn that turning to Him is the answer (Ezekiel 20:21-22). It seems like most people forget that mankind is imperfect, and justice must be accomplished perfectly. Justice is an inherent quality of God. It is one of His attributes.

Isaiah 28:17 ~ “And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”

Many will not turn to Him though (Romans 2:5) no matter how many times they are clobbered over the head with death and curses prescribed for the disobedient (Deuteronomy 28:15-68). How do we turn to Him? We accept Christ and what He did on the Cross (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, John 3:16). If we believe this, we are saved and heaven (or new Earth) is ours as He promised us (Isaiah 65:17 & 66:22, 2 Peter 3:13, Revelation 21:1). Just believe in faith. There is no need of a 'sinners prayer' (although prayer is awesome, 1 Thessalonians 5:17). There is no need of works (Ephesians 2:8). Although doing unto others as you'd have done to you (Matthew 7:12) is awesome ...its not necessary regardless of what the Church told you.

It's all that simple. Really. Just believe. Hold on to His promises. They are the only thing that lasts through the loss, the pain, the death. It is appointed to a man to die once and then face judgement (Hebrews 9:27). Yes, there will be death. But death has no power over the Christian.

1 Corinthians 15:55 ~ O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?

Yes, God Does Allow Evil Like COVID-19

I believe Coronavirus is now softening peoples hearts to God's message like tenderizing of meat. The repeated blows of a fist or hammer softens otherwise hard meat into something palatable. I think now is a good time to introduce people to deeper theological concepts not usually ventured towards in normal days. I believe some of them will now be more easily digestible. By forcing us to sit often alone in our homes has made us His captive audience...literally.

In Isaiah 45:7 we clearly see it state the following in the Young’s Literal Translation and the literal translation is quite disturbing:

“Forming light, and preparing darkness, making peace, and preparing evil, I the Lord, doing all these things.” Isaiah 45:7

It reads like this in the Hebrew:

יוצר אור ובורא חשך עשה שלום ובורא רע אני יהוה עשה כל אלה׃

"…one forming-and-one forming light-darkness-one making-well being-and one creating-evil-I Yahweh-one-making-all of-these"

So there it is right in the text, God prepares or created evil. Right?

Whoa boy…here we go! What do we do with this? It's very clearly רָ֑ע Ro or evil, there is no clarification needed here, it means what it means. Evil is evil. Or is it? We are profusely taught throughout Scripture that God does not create evil but in His sovereignty He allows it. So here we have a clear statement that God does indeed make or create evil.

While we’re at it what’s up with Jeremiah and Amos:

Jeremiah 18:11~ “Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.” 

Lamentations 3:38~ “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

Amos 3:6~ “When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?

Then we have 1 John 1:5 which tells us just the opposite:

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”

How are these not contradictory? As a Christian can you even explain these apparent contradictions? Yes you can.

First and foremost, when confronted with these paradoxical statements, a Christian must always stand firm in their conviction in the Inerrancy of Scripture. The pattern of Scripture and previous and later statements of God’s moral perfection in Matthew 5:48 and his inability to sin in Hebrews 6:18 should set the stage for our resolute mindset.

God is absolutely just and must judge evil not create it. As such we must educate ourselves on many of these more prominent passages that are often taken out of context and have a reasonable defense for them. As you can see from my last sentence, the root of explaining the apparent contradiction of these passages is rooted in context or understanding the surrounding texts and ideas Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Amos are putting forth to the reader.

The Hebrew word here is clearly “evil” but the question remains: Does it mean literal evil or premeditated action bent on a negative outcome? If it is evil as stated, what kind is it? This word in its context does not necessarily relegate it to a moral negative or malevolent action. This just couldn’t be. The entire pattern of Scripture elsewhere says just the opposite. When read in context the picture broadens and makes more sense.

This passage is talking to and about the commissioning of Cyrus who is God’s anointed through Isaiah (v.1)

Isaiah 45:1 “This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut…” 

Isaiah 45:5-7 “I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create evil; I, the LORD, do all these things.

As can be understood from the context Isaiah is speaking of the attributes of God and His sovereignty and omnipotence. As Sovereign omnipotent God He is aware of all things in His creation and can do what He wishes, and allow or forbid things as He sees fit. This includes working through Cyrus even if Cyrus is unaware of God or God using him (i.e.: Pharaoh’s hardened heart, Joseph’s bros). 

So too the apparent evil of the Holocaust or COVID-19 mowing down people through a machine gun or virus. Natural evils like Coronavirus often stem from the fact that humanity lives in a fallen world and it just wasn't created to be this way but through human actions flaws were introduced to it. Sin, disease and death.

The quintessential example of this is God allowing the evil of crucifixion. It paved the way to allow for the atonement of sin through the sacrifice of Christ. Evil? Yes. Was it caused by God? No. Allowed by God? Yes. Why? In the end it will bring glory to God Himself. There was/is overarching contexts. With this in mind we need to see that God isn’t necessarily the author of all things that take place in Creation. Although He is aware of them and knows they will happen, He is not the Creator of them. This is especially the case with evil or COVID-19. When God creates a being (man) with freewill to love, that being also has the freewill to hate, create havoc or evil. 

What we see is this: For His ultimate glory, He allows evil to exist and persist for reasons of His own and due to justifications of logic that are too complex to explain in a short post such as this. They are justifications in logic that have to do with the redemptive plan of mankind through Christ. We see exactly that in the endgame of Joseph and his brothers.

Genesis 50:20 ~ You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Now that we know this we can see that the 'evil' in Isaiah 45:7 is preconditioned by the previous and later verses to address God’s overall character and how it interacts with His creation (Cyrus) and how He rules over everything and all people. So let us look at the word “רָ֑ע /Ro” again. In this context we are not talking about evil as evil but as something, an event transpiring that has less than a positive outcome. It is something God allows, not something God 'is' or something that manifests from God’s being. This “evil” sounds an awful lot like an “effect” of God allowing something, not Him being the cause of it. Like a virus. 

“I bring prosperity and create evil”. God brings prosperity. How? Through other people or other things in the creation by either allowing things to happen or not forbidding them. As a counterpoint of contrast to this statement we see that God creates (allows) evil. In this instance it is more akin to terrible “misfortune” or “tragedy”, not evil in reality. In the Book of Job we see Job losing everything but we don’t necessarily see it as evil so much as we see it as misfortune and tragedy. So too Coronavirus. Even in Job’s case of misfortune and tragedy did God cause it or did He allow it as a sovereign God? I posit He allowed Satan to do what he did to prove a point.

To my initial point, this must be seen under the umbrella of Isaiah himself and the fact that he was a prophet that was prophesying to a sin deadened culture (like America) and no one was listening just like the world today under the looming threat of Coronavirus. When people don’t listen when you’re talking or writing to them, what do you normally do? Talk louder?

So God created the “potential” for evil by allowing for beings with freewill. This is no different than a sword or gun being used as a weapon. Swords and guns are inanimate objects without a will of their own.  Swords and guns can be turned into farming implements and tools too. It isn’t until a human with will acts upon these objects that they become deadly weapons or become tools. It is in the flawed created being (humans) that evil is “actualized”. This hardly makes God guilty. That’s like blaming your parents for getting a speeding ticket on the Interstate 95. The truth is that God created only good things or very good things. Go back to Genesis 1 and 2 and refresh your memory on that one. Mankind actualized latent potential of evil by committing evil acts. God allows evil but never brings it into being or encourages it. He judges it.

Regardless of evil and sins source, we know unequivocally that there is only One who can overcome disease and will forgive sin and that is God Himself. 

What is Truth? Quid Est Veritas

John 18:38 ~ Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

I was essentially asked by a friend what I thought about the death toll being touted by the Chinese government. I essentially told him it was a dangerous lie but didn’t come right out and say ‘dangerous lie’.

To answer I cited George Orwell's 1984. A book set in an imagined future, when much of the world has fallen victim to perpetual war, omnipresent totalitarian government surveillance, historical negation, and propaganda. Not unlike today. Two of the quotes in that book haunt me now...

(1) “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”

(2) “‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’”

The rise of alternative truths and facts in the current culture and world society have led us all to question what is true especially now when lives are at risk. Truth takes on much more gravity when a loved one’s life is on the line. Mortality makes us search harder for what is really true. In the face of death only truth is worth dying for. Alternative truths or when everyone’s truth is true. Admit it, Democrats and Republicans both do it. There are no ruling parties there is only the party. There is a ruling bourgeoisie and a proletariat. In 1984 the Party rewrites the past because "if you control the past, you control the present." George Orwell demonstrates people can be controlled through cultural conditioning. Because people will put their faith in a government that they believe tells them the truth, a Ministry of Truth was created.

It is ironic that Pilate essentially alluded to the same 2000 years earlier. Pilate attempted to assert his authority over Jesus when he refused to answer the Jews charges against him.

John 19:10 ~ So Pilate said to Him, “Do You refuse to speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You and authority to crucify You?”

Essentially truth is what Pilate (the State) said it was. Pilate at the moment of this question believes he has ultimate authority to either free or kill Jesus. Pilate believes he has the ultimate authority to determine what truth is. In essence making truth relative. Pilate (the state) attempted to define what truth was…or so he thought.

The Chinese government now has a Ministry of Truth and China is now immersed in the reality that is 1984. The history and facts of COVID-19 in China is what the Chinese Ministry of Truth says they are. I fear the same is true of us soon in America. We're getting dangerously close to this paradox. We tear down our history to fit the most current cultural norm. If we have no truth or no actual truth/rule giver than truth/rules mean nothing and all things are permissible (The Brothers Karamazov).  If we don't have a real past to refer to, we will repeat just as easily as those who have forgotten it completely. What would be the difference? There would be no difference. Changed or forgotten are the same thing. Because we didn't have the truth and full scope of what happened in China from January and February, we, rest of the world are already repeating them. It looks like we're going to be 100x worse too.

China’s dystopian fascist capitalist model of government that manufactures truth as it sees fit has now had a dreadfully negative impact on the whole of humanity. A godless fascist capitalist government mind you. A government that appeals to no moral law only to the State as the measure of morality. A godless immoral ship in a sea of capricious humanity devoid of truth.

The real truth really matters. I believe the death tolls coming out of America are closer to the real ‘truth’. Part of the coming horrendous death toll is a direct product or outcome of China’s untruth. China’s lie.

Truth is simply this… In the very first axiom of philosophy/logic, the law of non-contradiction also known as the law of contradiction or principle of non-contradiction states that contradictory propositions cannot both be true in the same sense at the same time, e. g. the two propositions "A is B" and "A is not B" are mutually exclusive. In other words, in any given context two truths cannot be true at the same time. Only one can. Truth is therefore absolute not relative.

China rewrote the truth and it had deadly consequences. Now we see the USA making the same mistake. The truth is not relative. Truth cannot have subjectivism applied to it without destroying its essential nature of being the truth. Once truth becomes relative logic dictates that it is no longer truth. It becomes an opinion. Said another way… If “accepting” or “agreeing upon” something makes it true, then truth, in fact, does not exist.

John 14:6 ~ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Sadly, what we see in the interaction of Pilate with Jesus and China concealing or twisting information...is the one who perpetuates the lie in light of having the truth does indeed have the blood of others on their hands.

That bloodguilt will remain no matter how many times they wash them….

Matthew 27:24 ~ So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”

No one is innocent. The Bible told us that on many occasions.

Andy's Survival Guide To Remaining Human During COVID-19

The Essential 12 Step Program

(1) Assume the information you are receiving is wrong or deliberately skewed from China, US media or Government.

(2) Get data and information from experts in their field and do so from multiple sources that corroborate each other. This includes biblical, theological, scientific and philosophical.

(3) Go where the truth, facts and data lead.

(4) Cite sources. If you can't cite sources that are corroborated (see #2) or if you can't calculate it out based on real data. Perhaps you shouldn't post or state it?

(5) Don't buy into conspiracy theories. It adds to confusion and may lead to unnecessary death. Don't add to the confusion.

(6) Feelings are fine, but they do not trump facts. These need to work together. Facts driven by feelings do wondrous things. Facts reinforced by Scripture and driven by Faith can work miracles.

(7) Correlation is not causation and vice versa.

(8) If you're wrong admit you're wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right. The lesser of two evils...is still evil.

(9) Help the elderly, the homeless and those marginalized by society.

(10) Don't attribute to malice that which can be explained through stupidity.

(11) Don’t be an idiot. Stop buying things you don’t need and hording them. Other people need them just as much as you do and if you buy it all you are putting others in jeopardy.

(12) Last and most importantly...turn to Scripture, turn to Prayer...turn to God.

Addendum: Don't assume the world will end tomorrow but live like it might. In the parable of the virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) some were ready for their master when He came and others weren't. Don't be the unprepared ones.

Matthew 6:33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Matthew 24:13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

[In truth, many of these principles were used in the canonization of Scripture which is where I got the idea. I wanted to use the same principles (modernized of course) to determine what truth is right now. There is so much misinformation and outright propaganda out there its more unsettling than the death tolls. The only thing worse than knowing the awful truth is not knowing anything and living in dread.]