BOLIVIAN CV – 19 UPDATE 2

“SOUND THE TRUMPET” 15th of April 

…first angel blew his trumpet, there followed hail and fire…Rev 8:7

Pray for us as we pray for all of you…we’re in this together – the Lord is blowing His trumpet and rallying His Bride around a fresh revelation of His Glory in the midst of great upheaval and suffering.

In South America, the presidents of Bolivia and Paraguay have publicly in their speeches pleaded for their people to trust the Lord and to pray to Him. In Ecuador over 7000 have the virus and more than 700 have died.

President Añez of Bolivia announced yesterday the decision to extend the national quarantine till the 30th of April. A new minister of health took over last week from the previous minister - he resigned for personal reasons.

In Bolivia, we’ve registered 354 CV-19 cases and 28 deaths. Santa Cruz, the region where I serve, has the highest infection and mortality rate. Relative to other countries our casualty rate doesn’t seem high; but the government rightly fears a catastrophe of massive proportions that would rip apart a frail national health system, if the disease spreads exponentially.

Hence the decision to err on the side of caution, apply the sledgehammer of a national curfew with very limited movement to only buy groceries and to do basic banking.

Various communal self-help initiatives have surfaced spontaneously led by the police and the municipality to feed the needy. Our congregations have tried to help out as well in this pandemic. One of them put together a plan to reach out to the elderly and to the more vulnerable in their communities.

Ministry opportunities in this period of uncertainty have opened up opportunities on the internet for small groups, personal counseling, and teaching clips. The confinement has either brought families together or divided couples and caused grief in families.

SO, IS CV-19 GOD’S JUDGEMENT? – The contours of biblical judgment, with fear and trembling, suggest a “Yes” and reflects our failed and incomplete accountability to a moral God in control of humanity, nature, and the historical processes.  

The gamut of His judgment includes eternal punishment, restoration, redemption, retribution, cause-effect, vindication, separation, discipline through plagues, natural disasters, and endless human folly and pride.

God, faithful to His righteous love, not only shatters human pride in judgment, but he also identifies deeply with those who suffer, through Christ’s Death on the Cross. An exclusive emphasis on the latter at the expense of the former sounds palatable, to the world and to liberal Christianity, partly because God comes across as a benign, long-suffering and therapeutic relative who nurses us back to health.

The biblical revelation, however, also speaks of propitiation on the Cross that permits salvation by Christ, the conviction of sin, a call to repentance and the thrust to disciple the nations.

May the Lord grant us grace to speak and sing boldly to the sound of His trumpet

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