Society continues to grapple with one of the worst crises to ever strike mankind. Doctors, pundits, economists, historians and politicians are comparing this sweeping, worldwide virus to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. The highest unemployment rate projections in history alone point to the desperately grim state of society sure to come if time were to go on. The U.S. unemployment rate hit 14.7 percent in April—the highest since the Great Depression—with experts projecting the number to near 20 percent for May!

Two things are on the minds of professing Christians across the world who are giving any thought to religion: (1) They are praying that God would intervene and end what some of them understand to be pestilence. But He has not yet chosen to do this—in fact, it is still getting worse in many places. (2) They are asking why God is even allowing what is occuring. Surely an all-powerful Being could prevent such calamity from happening in the first place!

Why God allows human suffering has been a question asked for thousands of years. Here is a brief excerpt from my article on the subject: “The world is filled with suffering of every kind. In fact, countless millions know little else. Yet God allows this. Why has He not stopped the terrible suffering that afflicts so many, and since men have existed? Is there a reason God does not intervene? Does suffering have a great unseen purpose that can be understood?”

“The ministers and theologians of traditional Christianity cannot explain the purpose of human suffering. Many theorize that Adam and Eve were created perfect and complete, until they ‘fell’ because the devil overthrew God’s Plan by tempting them into sin. This popular idea continues with the explanation that God’s Plan is to restore men to their pre-fall condition—but the devil keeps slowing things down and disrupting God’s progress.

“Is this true? Is God desperately trying to repair damage brought by Satan’s unforeseen attack on a Master Plan that God did not think through carefully enough?”

There is no use trying to remove wrong effects when the causes are ignored. Grasp this. In all physical and spiritual matters, man only addresses the bad effects engulfing the world today. He does not understand, and cannot explain, the causes—the true meaning and purpose—behind the world’s woes and ills. Our many free magazines, videos, books, booklets, lessons and articles address and explain the true causes of the almost endless bad effects throughout the world.

Stunning Understanding

God had to engineer world conditions as they exist today. Notice what He said in Isaiah 45:7—it is shocking: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.”

Understand! God has created the evil pestilence that surrounds us for a purpose very few understand—to set the world up for Christ’s Return. (And experts are admitting that it is not manmade.) The world is now perfectly poised to want solutions that their leaders cannot bring. Of course, it gives God no pleasure to inflict evil on mankind. He is much more interested in “making peace” and “forming light” in a world now given to darkness. But jolting a world uninterested in obeying Him is one of the great tools He can use to soften and change minds!

Paul in Romans 13:11-12 said, “…now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” We are deep into a dark and terrible “night”—but it means daylight is just ahead!

It is astounding that as the coronavirus worsens countries have been forced to “reopen” to prevent much larger economic catastrophes from spiraling even further out of control. There have been over 304,000 deaths worldwide due to the coronavirus and the U.S., UK and Italy are the top three countries with the most deaths. But as many U.S. states were beginning to reopen, early May had the largest daily death tolls to-date—approaching 3,000.

The cascading effect of the virus on the economy seems to know no bounds. Thousands of acres of fruits and vegetables are being destroyed or left to rot because farmers cannot sell to closed restaurants, hotels, theme parks or schools across the nation. For those who do still have crops, labor shortages are a concern as domestic workers often do not want farm jobs.

The meat industry is suffering similarly. Many employees in processing facilities have tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting widespread closures.

The CEO of one of the Smithfield plants in South Dakota said: “The closure of this facility, combined with a growing list of other protein plants that have shuttered across our industry, is pushing our country perilously close to the edge in terms of our meat supply…These facility closures will also have severe, perhaps disastrous, repercussions for many in the supply chain, first and foremost our nation’s livestock farmers. These farmers have nowhere to send their animals.”

This has led to enormous piles of dead livestock that are now rotting where farmers have slaughtered them due to no market and the high cost to feed them.

Even if society were to weather the economic storm, many—from “average Joes” to top thinkers—realize nothing will ever be the same. They do not know God’s Plan, but—they would be right if time were to go on. Fear now pervades society. Even if everything were opened, every lockdown lifted, people would be unwilling to return to life as we once knew it.

A Forbes article sums up the sentiment expressed by many: “Lifting of the lockdown measures won’t miraculously save other struggling retailers, restaurants and pubs. The fear of a second and even third wave of the virus will ensure that any lifting is very gradual.

“But even with any easing, our conditioning has meant that the majority of us will be reluctant to return to anything like normal life.

“A survey by Ipsos Mori showed that more than 60% of us would be uncomfortable returning to places such as bars and restaurants, using public transport or going to a large gathering such as a sporting event.

This means that the effects of the virus will be felt, long after the lockdown has become a distant memory.”

Developing nations have more immediate concerns. Thousands in Kenya’s capital stampeded for food, desperate for help as coronavirus restrictions kept them from making a living. In the chaos, men with sticks beat people back as they fought over packages of food, some with face masks dangling off their chins. Kenya currently has no plan to feed its millions who face hunger.

What Is Next?

Think. God’s goal is to fix mankind’s broken society—not leave the masses in a perpetual state of fear and uncertainty. The world is now ripe for intervention. We are now at a tipping point. Descending much further into chaos would be counterproductive to God’s purpose.

History proves disease is often the precursor to famine! Before the coronavirus, 135 million people faced critical levels of hunger. Now with crop failures, government lockdowns, loss of tourism and economic recession, another 130 million “could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020,” according to the United Nations’ World Food Program.

The executive director of the WFP warned: “There are no famines yet. But I must warn you that if we don’t prepare and act now—to secure access, avoid funding shortfalls and disruptions to trade—we could be facing multiple famines of biblical proportions within a short few months. The truth is, we do not have time on our side, so let’s act wisely—and let’s act fast…” (CNN).

Again, it is the aftermath of the virus that is leaving forward thinkers with grave concerns. Over a quarter-billion people starving to death would surely be among the gravest of concerns.

Pushing the limits of the already strenuous time we live in, African countries are being threatened by a second wave of voracious locusts—with some hordes a staggering 20 times the size of those plaguing the Middle East and Africa months ago. Just in Ethiopia, locusts ate half a million acres of cropland and one million people are in need of food aid.

What is next? More famine? More mass riots and unrest in the streets? Fifty percent unemployment? A second wave of the coronavirus? Mass homelessness? Banking failure? Power cut off? Civil war?

Without God soon intervening, a world already teetering on the brink will tip into total collapse. In the worst time mankind has arguably ever seen, we should be deeply thankful to know God’s Plan and that all the suffering and trouble we see is for a great purpose—to set the world up for Christ’s Return.

A precious few know this. Yet, as you finish reading, realize that you are now among them!