Someone has
said, “When FEAR knocks on our door, and FAITH answers, there is no one there.”
Admittedly, the current Coronavirus
pandemic sometimes causes me to “hear fear knocking on our door.” But then, I realize that my fear won’t solve
anything. When I make a conscious choice
to anchor my emotions in solid faith, I am able to rationally respond in two major
ways.
Responding to the Pandemic
First, I must take advantage of day-to-day news reports concerning the Coronavirus pandemic. Then, as an informed American, I must willingly choose to follow instructions from federal, state, and local authorities to reduce the spread of the virus (e.g. wash my hands frequently, cover my sneezes, keep safe distances from others, and stay away from large gatherings). Beyond these basic responsibilities, I must resign to the fact that what happens is beyond my control. I must continually choose to cast my concerns and anxieties into God’s hands.
The second discipline I must choose is to maintain my personal nutrition and hygiene, both physically and spiritually. Physically, I try to maintain my discipline of getting proper nutrition and rest. My regular food intake favors fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, meat (fish, poultry, or grass-fed beef), cereal, wheat bread, nuts, milk, and hot teas. Since 2014, I have supplemented my food intake with a nutritional formulation called Reliv NOW wiith LunaRichX capsules which containing a naturally occurring soy peptide, the first ingredient identified to promote optimal health at the epigenetic level. Thankfully, I have avoided colds and flu during these years.
Spiritually and emotionally, I follow the advice of those who recommend maintaining a consistent schedule and routine each day. I am blessed to greet my Heavenly Father in the early mornings through prayer; and, try to hear from Him through reading and study of His Word recorded in the Scriptures of the Bible. I maintain a daily journal of major events, and on some days, I record insights and helpful applications to my life from this time in the Word. When trials come, and frequently they do, my physical and spiritual disciplines often but not always help me to respond in ways that I hope are pleasing to God and to those involved. Finally, I try to regularly encourage and assist Abby, and we maintain contact with family and friends, and provide assistance to those who need help.
Entry of the Coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic this winter has seen me striving to maintain my physical and spiritual disciplines and to gain proper perspective toward this global threat. To date, I have been attempting to understand the virus pandemic from a biological and spiritual perspective.
A Biological Perspective
Biologically speaking, I’ve been comparing the threat of a virus to that of a lion or a wolf. Lions and wolves are predators who gain their nutrition by attacking and devouring other animal species who become their prey. Predators must often expend considerable energy in hunting, pursuing, and overpowering their prey. Predators like wolves and lions must also contend with protective behavior of their prey such as almost equally fast running speed and traveling in herds for protection. Sheep and other grazing animals often find protection in herds. Worldwide, most humans no longer fear lions, wolves, and other large predators as they once did.
Smaller animals like wasps and spiders are no less predatory than large carnivores. And these smaller predatory invertebrates must contend with even smaller animals like mites. British mathematician and logician, Augustus de Morgan (1806-1871) highlighted the amazing size range the exists among predator-prey relationships of the Animal Kingdom in a humorous poem:
Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.
But when we consider “little fleas” and “lesser fleas,” the biological terms change from predator to parasite. Both predators and parasites depend upon another animal of a different species for their nutrition, except that parasites are generally smaller than their prey; and their prey is referred to as their host. Some parasites, called ectoparasties, gain their nutrition by attaching to the host animal and extracting nutrition with special mouthparts or other adaptations. On the other hand, parasitic bacteria have adaptations that enable them to enter the bloodstream and body fluids of their hosts, reproduce, and eventually escape in great numbers to infect other hosts.
Animal and bacterial predators and parasites spend considerable resources to obtain
their food, grow, and reproduce. Viruses
are a very different sort of parasite. They
attack the cells of a host organism while investing almost nothing of their own
making. A viral attack, unlike a
predator overpowering its prey, is more like a thief coming to your home with
the right “key” to fit the “lock” on your front door.
COVID19 or SARS-CoV-2 (SARS = Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) is the parasite now causing the current global pandemic. It is classified as a coronavirus because each virus particle has numerous spike proteins (S-proteins) that project from the surface to create the appearance of a crown. It is believed that these viruses have hopped from animal hosts like bats to intermediate animals and then to humans. The COVID19 virus originated in Wuhan, China where it apparently started infecting people who visited a wet market where both live and dead animals were being sold.
In order for a SARS-CoV-2 infection to occur, this viral “thief’s” S-protein (the
“key”) must exactly “fit” into a receptor protein (“door lock”) of the host
cell. The host cells are human
respiratory cells. When a S-protein binds
to a respiratory cell receptor protein, the respiratory cell membrane “opens” by
a process called endocytosis which engulfs the viral particle and ushers
it into the host cell cytoplasm. Here,
each coronavirus particle takes control of the host cell genetic and protein
synthesis machinery and directs the manufacture (replication) of new S-proteins,
other membrane components, and the genetic code for making more S-proteins and other
viral parts. These parts are then reassembled into new coronavirus particles
which eventually escape by exocytosis to infect other respiratory cells.
Viruses are perhaps the most efficient parasites known. They have nothing to give the host and come only to take control of the host cells and force the host to replicate all viral components needed to multiply themselves. If a vaccine or other medication now being sought or developed is to successfully combat COVID19, it must either interrupt viral replication in the host cytoplasm or stop the binding of S-protein “keys” to the receptor “door locks.”
A Spiritual Perspective
So far we have compared predators like the lion and wolf with highly specialized “predators” (i.e. parasites) like the COVID19 Coronavirus. Regardless of size, from the lion down to the submicroscopic virus, all of them can incite fear in us. In fact, the tiny virus can incite fear by the very fact of its submicroscopic size, making it an “invisible enemy.” So, what spiritual lessons can we learn from the biology of these organisms by analogy?
In 1 Samuel 17:34-36, young David, who later became King of Israel, defended his ability to defeat the Philistine giant, Goliath, by explaining the fearless actions he had taken as a shepherd to protect his flock by killing vicious lions and bears. With God’s help, David had won his victory over fear long before he had chosen to face the giant Goliath.
Centuries later, Jesus, the long-promised Son of David, presented himself as the Good Shepherd of all who will come to Him with their fears and failures. In fact, the reason God, the Creator of mankind, sent His Son Jesus down to Earth was because all mankind like sheep had gone astray (Isaiah 53:6) and were in need of a Shepherd to rescue them. In John 10: 11-13, Jesus reveals His role as the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep to protect us against wolves in contrast to the selfish and careless shepherding of the “hired servant.” Here, the predatory wolf symbolizes a spiritual threat to our spiritual lives.
One of the safest disciplines of a grazing animal like a sheep is to avoid wandering away from the protection of the flock. God’s Word compares us to sheep who are safest when we actively seek to belong within a human community. In His Great Commission, Jesus Christ declared His plan that believers in His death and resurrection should repent, be baptized, and become members of a local church where they can be discipled in the Word of God (Matthew 28: 18-20; Acts 2: 41-42).
Christians are also commanded not to forsake our own assembling together, as
is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see
the day drawing near (Hebrews 10: 25). Throughout the history of Christianity, the
basic discipline of gathering on the first day of the week to worship God has
been a stabilizing force in the life of the individual, the family, and the
nation. Today, we face the threat of the
“invisible enemy” that has led to a cessation of church gatherings. We must find creative ways to maintain
connections within our churches and to give special help to those who are at risk
physically and emotionally.
Jesus was also concerned about the “infection” of churches with false teaching and worldliness. He said, Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves (Matthew 7: 15). Later, the Apostle Paul warned the leaders of the Ephesian church that savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock…speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them (Acts 20: 29-30; 1 Timothy 1: 3-7). The Apostle Peter urges church leaders to shepherd their flocks without giving in to greed or sensuality (1 Peter 5: 2; 2 Peter 2: 1-3). Today’s news frequently details the apostasy among Protestant church denominations whose leadership now questions the authority of Scripture. Consequently, many churches deny the importance of repentance for salvation by faith, the sanctity of each human life, and marriage only between a man and a woman.
What Should We Fear Most?
Living in the midst of a global pandemic can be a fearful time for us as individuals. Like me, you may be learning about the biology of viral transmission and following suggestions to minimize your chances of Coronavirus infection. But our enemy is not simply physical and biological. There is a spiritual element that involves our emotional well-being. So, we must also prepare spiritually and emotionally.
Some have likened a Coronavirus infection to the attack of spiritual forces. Not a bad analogy. The Apostle Paul taught us that our
struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual
forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6: 12). Just as the virus comes with a “key” to unlock
the “doors” of host cells, so spiritual forces of wickedness are continually testing
the “locks” of our doors seeking entry where they seek to control our lives. The appeal may be to our pride and desire for
pleasure, power, or prestige (1 John 2: 16).
When we succumb to spiritual attack and temptation, instead of the
benefits we sought, we face havoc, fear, hopelessness, and despair. This is not a very encouraging message during
a viral pandemic, is it?
The Apostle Peter was no stranger to fear. Remember how he cursed and denied three times that he even knew Jesus whom he had grown to love for three years (Luke 22: 54-62). But when Peter was restored by a loving encounter with Jesus and then filled with the Holy Spirit, he became a fearless defender of his faith. Later in his life, Peter warned us against underestimating the power of Satan and spiritual forces: Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5: 8).
The Apostle Paul expands upon Peter’s warning with the Scripture quoted above that our struggle is…against…spiritual forces (Ephesians 6: 12). Based on his experience watching Roman soldiers putting on their armor, Paul urge Christ-followers to “armor up” for spiritual battle (Ephesians 6: 10-18) because we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8: 37).
Spiritual Health Affects Physical Health
You may be saying, “I understand what you are saying about avoiding viral infection. But I’m a down-to-earth person and I’m just not into so-called “spiritual warfare.” Certainly, it is your choice to dismiss the spiritual dimension. But you should know that your choices affect both your physical and your spiritual health—the two are inseparable. According to God’s Word in Deuteronomy 30: 19, we have been created to make choices and God urges us to “choose life:”
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So, choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants…
Dr. Caroline Leaf, a communications neuroscientist, explains that how we think causes “physical effects” on our brain. Each thought has impact on our genes (DNA code) which in turn, initiate protein synthesis. Dr. Leaf’s book, Switch on Your Brain (Baker Books, 2013), explains how repeated thought patterns, whether positive or negative, will establish patterns rooted in physical changes in our brain resulting in effects on our biological, emotional, and spiritual health. Let’s consider some research results that link our thinking with how effective our immune system is in combatting viral infection.
Dr. Leaf cites research
by Dr. Gail Ironson, professor of psychology and psychiatry at
University of Miami, which suggested that the single most significant factor
affecting the healing in patients infected “with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency
Virus) was their choice to believe in a benevolent and loving God.” Her conclusions were based on a significant 4-year
decrease in HIV levels in the patients’ bloodstreams which was accompanied by a
steady increase in levels of Helper-T cells.
Dr. Ironson concluded that patients who had a strong faith in God also
had a more effective immune system as evidenced by greater T-cell destruction
of the HIV (virus).
What About You?
If your desire is to live a healthy biological life but have little concern about a healthy spiritual life even though we have made a strong case for the interwovenness of the two, there is a reason to believe you are what the Apostle John described as one “walking in darkness” (1 John 1: 6), and what the Apostle Paul called spiritually “dead in your trespasses and sin”(Ephesians 2: 1)… You may even be ”hostile toward God [and do] not subject [your mind] to the law of God, for [you] are not even able to do so” (Romans 8: 7). That’s right, you may be “spiritually dead.”
If the above description fits your life; then, according to the Bible, physical death may be your greatest fear but it is not your greatest enemy. Jesus said, Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10: 28). God is actually our “Enemy” until we are reconciled with him through the blood of Christ. Hebrews 9: 27 states that it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment… If you sense God’s Spirit prodding you to consider your eternal future, I would be glad to correspond with you and to open the Scripture further with you about how you can know and respond to the Gospel, God’s good news of salvation through Christ. You may contact me at silviusj@cedarville.edu or enter your questions or responses using "Post a Comment" below. You may also find a resource called Steps to Peace with God to be helpful.
Reference:
Gail Ironson, G., R. Stuetzle, and M.A. Fletcher. 2006. An increase in religiousness/spirituality occurs after HIV diagnosis and predicts slower disease progression over 4 years in people with HIV. Journal of General Internal Medicine 21: 62-68
Responding to the Pandemic
First, I must take advantage of day-to-day news reports concerning the Coronavirus pandemic. Then, as an informed American, I must willingly choose to follow instructions from federal, state, and local authorities to reduce the spread of the virus (e.g. wash my hands frequently, cover my sneezes, keep safe distances from others, and stay away from large gatherings). Beyond these basic responsibilities, I must resign to the fact that what happens is beyond my control. I must continually choose to cast my concerns and anxieties into God’s hands.
The second discipline I must choose is to maintain my personal nutrition and hygiene, both physically and spiritually. Physically, I try to maintain my discipline of getting proper nutrition and rest. My regular food intake favors fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, meat (fish, poultry, or grass-fed beef), cereal, wheat bread, nuts, milk, and hot teas. Since 2014, I have supplemented my food intake with a nutritional formulation called Reliv NOW wiith LunaRichX capsules which containing a naturally occurring soy peptide, the first ingredient identified to promote optimal health at the epigenetic level. Thankfully, I have avoided colds and flu during these years.
Spiritually and emotionally, I follow the advice of those who recommend maintaining a consistent schedule and routine each day. I am blessed to greet my Heavenly Father in the early mornings through prayer; and, try to hear from Him through reading and study of His Word recorded in the Scriptures of the Bible. I maintain a daily journal of major events, and on some days, I record insights and helpful applications to my life from this time in the Word. When trials come, and frequently they do, my physical and spiritual disciplines often but not always help me to respond in ways that I hope are pleasing to God and to those involved. Finally, I try to regularly encourage and assist Abby, and we maintain contact with family and friends, and provide assistance to those who need help.
Entry of the Coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic this winter has seen me striving to maintain my physical and spiritual disciplines and to gain proper perspective toward this global threat. To date, I have been attempting to understand the virus pandemic from a biological and spiritual perspective.
A Biological Perspective
Biologically speaking, I’ve been comparing the threat of a virus to that of a lion or a wolf. Lions and wolves are predators who gain their nutrition by attacking and devouring other animal species who become their prey. Predators must often expend considerable energy in hunting, pursuing, and overpowering their prey. Predators like wolves and lions must also contend with protective behavior of their prey such as almost equally fast running speed and traveling in herds for protection. Sheep and other grazing animals often find protection in herds. Worldwide, most humans no longer fear lions, wolves, and other large predators as they once did.
Smaller animals like wasps and spiders are no less predatory than large carnivores. And these smaller predatory invertebrates must contend with even smaller animals like mites. British mathematician and logician, Augustus de Morgan (1806-1871) highlighted the amazing size range the exists among predator-prey relationships of the Animal Kingdom in a humorous poem:
Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.
But when we consider “little fleas” and “lesser fleas,” the biological terms change from predator to parasite. Both predators and parasites depend upon another animal of a different species for their nutrition, except that parasites are generally smaller than their prey; and their prey is referred to as their host. Some parasites, called ectoparasties, gain their nutrition by attaching to the host animal and extracting nutrition with special mouthparts or other adaptations. On the other hand, parasitic bacteria have adaptations that enable them to enter the bloodstream and body fluids of their hosts, reproduce, and eventually escape in great numbers to infect other hosts.
COVID19 or SARS-CoV-2 (SARS = Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) is the parasite now causing the current global pandemic. It is classified as a coronavirus because each virus particle has numerous spike proteins (S-proteins) that project from the surface to create the appearance of a crown. It is believed that these viruses have hopped from animal hosts like bats to intermediate animals and then to humans. The COVID19 virus originated in Wuhan, China where it apparently started infecting people who visited a wet market where both live and dead animals were being sold.
Viruses are perhaps the most efficient parasites known. They have nothing to give the host and come only to take control of the host cells and force the host to replicate all viral components needed to multiply themselves. If a vaccine or other medication now being sought or developed is to successfully combat COVID19, it must either interrupt viral replication in the host cytoplasm or stop the binding of S-protein “keys” to the receptor “door locks.”
A Spiritual Perspective
So far we have compared predators like the lion and wolf with highly specialized “predators” (i.e. parasites) like the COVID19 Coronavirus. Regardless of size, from the lion down to the submicroscopic virus, all of them can incite fear in us. In fact, the tiny virus can incite fear by the very fact of its submicroscopic size, making it an “invisible enemy.” So, what spiritual lessons can we learn from the biology of these organisms by analogy?
In 1 Samuel 17:34-36, young David, who later became King of Israel, defended his ability to defeat the Philistine giant, Goliath, by explaining the fearless actions he had taken as a shepherd to protect his flock by killing vicious lions and bears. With God’s help, David had won his victory over fear long before he had chosen to face the giant Goliath.
Centuries later, Jesus, the long-promised Son of David, presented himself as the Good Shepherd of all who will come to Him with their fears and failures. In fact, the reason God, the Creator of mankind, sent His Son Jesus down to Earth was because all mankind like sheep had gone astray (Isaiah 53:6) and were in need of a Shepherd to rescue them. In John 10: 11-13, Jesus reveals His role as the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep to protect us against wolves in contrast to the selfish and careless shepherding of the “hired servant.” Here, the predatory wolf symbolizes a spiritual threat to our spiritual lives.
One of the safest disciplines of a grazing animal like a sheep is to avoid wandering away from the protection of the flock. God’s Word compares us to sheep who are safest when we actively seek to belong within a human community. In His Great Commission, Jesus Christ declared His plan that believers in His death and resurrection should repent, be baptized, and become members of a local church where they can be discipled in the Word of God (Matthew 28: 18-20; Acts 2: 41-42).
Jesus was also concerned about the “infection” of churches with false teaching and worldliness. He said, Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves (Matthew 7: 15). Later, the Apostle Paul warned the leaders of the Ephesian church that savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock…speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them (Acts 20: 29-30; 1 Timothy 1: 3-7). The Apostle Peter urges church leaders to shepherd their flocks without giving in to greed or sensuality (1 Peter 5: 2; 2 Peter 2: 1-3). Today’s news frequently details the apostasy among Protestant church denominations whose leadership now questions the authority of Scripture. Consequently, many churches deny the importance of repentance for salvation by faith, the sanctity of each human life, and marriage only between a man and a woman.
What Should We Fear Most?
Living in the midst of a global pandemic can be a fearful time for us as individuals. Like me, you may be learning about the biology of viral transmission and following suggestions to minimize your chances of Coronavirus infection. But our enemy is not simply physical and biological. There is a spiritual element that involves our emotional well-being. So, we must also prepare spiritually and emotionally.
The Apostle Peter was no stranger to fear. Remember how he cursed and denied three times that he even knew Jesus whom he had grown to love for three years (Luke 22: 54-62). But when Peter was restored by a loving encounter with Jesus and then filled with the Holy Spirit, he became a fearless defender of his faith. Later in his life, Peter warned us against underestimating the power of Satan and spiritual forces: Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5: 8).
The Apostle Paul expands upon Peter’s warning with the Scripture quoted above that our struggle is…against…spiritual forces (Ephesians 6: 12). Based on his experience watching Roman soldiers putting on their armor, Paul urge Christ-followers to “armor up” for spiritual battle (Ephesians 6: 10-18) because we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8: 37).
Spiritual Health Affects Physical Health
You may be saying, “I understand what you are saying about avoiding viral infection. But I’m a down-to-earth person and I’m just not into so-called “spiritual warfare.” Certainly, it is your choice to dismiss the spiritual dimension. But you should know that your choices affect both your physical and your spiritual health—the two are inseparable. According to God’s Word in Deuteronomy 30: 19, we have been created to make choices and God urges us to “choose life:”
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So, choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants…
Dr. Caroline Leaf, a communications neuroscientist, explains that how we think causes “physical effects” on our brain. Each thought has impact on our genes (DNA code) which in turn, initiate protein synthesis. Dr. Leaf’s book, Switch on Your Brain (Baker Books, 2013), explains how repeated thought patterns, whether positive or negative, will establish patterns rooted in physical changes in our brain resulting in effects on our biological, emotional, and spiritual health. Let’s consider some research results that link our thinking with how effective our immune system is in combatting viral infection.
What About You?
If your desire is to live a healthy biological life but have little concern about a healthy spiritual life even though we have made a strong case for the interwovenness of the two, there is a reason to believe you are what the Apostle John described as one “walking in darkness” (1 John 1: 6), and what the Apostle Paul called spiritually “dead in your trespasses and sin”(Ephesians 2: 1)… You may even be ”hostile toward God [and do] not subject [your mind] to the law of God, for [you] are not even able to do so” (Romans 8: 7). That’s right, you may be “spiritually dead.”
If the above description fits your life; then, according to the Bible, physical death may be your greatest fear but it is not your greatest enemy. Jesus said, Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10: 28). God is actually our “Enemy” until we are reconciled with him through the blood of Christ. Hebrews 9: 27 states that it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment… If you sense God’s Spirit prodding you to consider your eternal future, I would be glad to correspond with you and to open the Scripture further with you about how you can know and respond to the Gospel, God’s good news of salvation through Christ. You may contact me at silviusj@cedarville.edu or enter your questions or responses using "Post a Comment" below. You may also find a resource called Steps to Peace with God to be helpful.
Reference:
Gail Ironson, G., R. Stuetzle, and M.A. Fletcher. 2006. An increase in religiousness/spirituality occurs after HIV diagnosis and predicts slower disease progression over 4 years in people with HIV. Journal of General Internal Medicine 21: 62-68
