Post COVID-19 Devotional

----- Forwarded message -----
From: Michele Thomas
lmichelethomas@msn.com


Post COVID-19 Devotional

In my capacity as Sunday school director and morning worship coordinator we are preparing a devotion to deliver the first time we are open for services at our branch. In the intervening time we felt perhaps we might share our thoughts.

We have heard statements such as “when things get back to normal” and “once this event is over” which have prompted some discussion.

These are concerning statements because life as we were living it before COVID-19 was not getting the kingdom built.

How are we going to live differently going forward? Or are we looking forward to participating in the same activities we spent our time, energy, and dollars on?

Is God our first love? Are we putting the establishment of Zion first in our actions, in every decision we make?

Are we working on having a closer relationship with him? Are we taking the Holy Spirit to be our guide daily?

COVID-19 shelter in place has been different things to different people. It remains a political tool for both sides of the aisle.

COVID-19 demonstrated through WHO, with their five changing definitions for a Corona case, and the CDC, with their three evolving definitions of a COVID-19 death, why we should not trust in the arm of flesh.[1]

We know from U.S. Intelligence reports the COVID-19 escaped from a Chinese bio-lab; we know a Chinese two-star general was dispatched from Beijing to the lab to investigate how it escaped. We know after her investigation some lab personnel no longer work there.

We know the Chinese government leveraged the outbreak to stop civil protests.

We know it showed up in early September, we know it arrived in Italy via the estimated 310,000 Chinese[2] workers returning from China after the Lunar New Year.[3]

We know COVID-19 although not man made has been altered by man. COVID-19 is not some divine plague – it is a very secular series of either accidents or deliberate acts – which one we will likely never know.

But just as Rahm Emanuel advised President Obama to, "Never let a crisis go to waste," God too can use events to meet his needs.

And just how has God used COVID-19 to meet his needs? COVID-19 is a wake-up call to prepare for the end times and a serious call to take further steps to as D&C Section 128, para 8b states “to be in the world but not of it.”

Because of COVID-19 we have come to believe "being in the world but not of the world" is more comprehensive than merely avoiding the evil aspects of society.

Being in the world but not of the world may also include reducing our dependence on the so called “grid.”

We have been working on providing food, water, lighting, and heating in the event we cannot obtain those items from stores or the power grid is not available. We are working on scenarios for what we will do should a situation arise that requires us to leave our home. Where will we meet as Tim works out of town weekly, how long will it take to arrive at the designated spot if we had to walk, what will I do with the livestock, etc.

Being in the world but not of the world includes eliminating or reducing our debt.

D&C 101 para 13 a and b “And again, verily I say unto you, concerning your debts, Behold, it is my will that you should pay all your debts...”

According to a Mar 23, 2020, published consumer debt study, total U.S. consumer debt is at $14.1 trillion, with an average personal debt of $90,460. That individual personal debt figure includes auto loans, student loans and credit cards. If mortgages are included the average personal debt raises to $137,879 which seems low until you think of all the people renting apartments in urban areas do not have mortgages.

Joseph Smith III said he and his brother went into debt to buy a farm outside of Nauvoo, and from that point he was never able to get himself out of debt which he said was a hinderance.

Elbert A. Smith said in his book, On Memory’s Beam, how the interest on his family farm in Iowa was many times more than the price of the farm.

He also refers to D&C Section 127 as a commandment to stay out of debt.

Despite the many advantages of a centralized institutional church, one advantage of independent restoration congregations is we control our debt and expenses.

Individually we can reduce exposure to social norms, reduce dependency on the grid and reduce our debt and bills; as a congregation we can reduce expenses.

A big challenge during and after this COVID-19 period is the communal aspects of us being in the world but not of the world. Revelation Chapter 18:4 “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”

John Chapter 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

I pray we will all seriously consider the changes we must each make in our own lives, for by coming out of the world, we will be better prepared to do the culminating work of the church - establish Zion. May the Good Spirit attend you in your efforts to come up higher and prepare for the work we have been called to do.

Michele and Tim Thomas

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[1] The definition of "Covid-19 death" being used by the CDC, and by extension all other sources including the mainstream media, does not solely refer to deaths from or caused by "Covid-19." The CDC definition of "Covid-19 death" includes assumed and presumed cases of deceased persons not even testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19. Since early March, federal and state officials have revisited the way they classify deaths caused by pneumonia, acute bronchitis, acute respiratory distress and other airway problems. COVID-19 has been listed alongside those conditions on some death certificates but not all. In March, the CDC issued interim guidance allowed for COVID-19 designations if the disease was assumed to be a contributing cause of death. On 3 April, the National Center for Health Statistics, issued an alert instructing those who fill out death certificates to categorize pneumonia deaths that cannot be traced to another underlying condition as presumptively COVID-19. Steven Schwartz, director of the national vital statistics division, wrote in the alert pneumonia deaths may have previously been misclassified if a test had not been conducted prior to death. "Increases in pneumonia deaths may be an indicator of excess COVID-19 related mortality," he concluded. Normal flu season is December and February but can last thru may. During the December - February period over 20,000 people died of flu in the U.S. The changes in cause of death have not been applied to flu deaths.

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/25/as-if-we-were-the-disease-coronavirus-brings-prejudice-for-italys-chinese-workers

[3] Lunar New year 25 January 2020