Revelation 13 and COVID-19 Quarantine

As I was reading through Revelations chapter 13, some ideas came to my mind as the world goes through home quarantine due to COVID-19. Below are the verses that struck me.

¹⁴ This second beast fooled the people living on earth by using the miracles that he had been given the power to do for the first beast. He ordered people to make an idol to honor the first beast, the one that was wounded by the sword but did not die. ¹⁵ The second beast was given power to give life to the idol of the first beast. Then the idol could speak and order all those who did not worship it to be killed. ¹⁶ The second beast also forced all people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to have a mark put on their right hand or on their forehead. ¹⁷ No one could buy or sell without this mark. (This mark is the name of the beast or the number of its name.)

¹⁸ Anyone who has understanding can find the meaning of the beast’s number. This requires wisdom. This number is the number of a man. It is 666.

The first beast is the Antichrist. He was wounded by the sword but did not die. He might imitate Jesus Christ's resurrection to fool the world into believing that he is the chosen one, the one people should follow.

The second beast is the false prophet of the Antichrist. He is given power to give life to the idol of the first beast. With technology today, and shows like West World, it is not hard to imagine how an individual can produce an idol of a person and give it power to speak. With animatronics and computer programming, you could easily program a robot to order the killings of people who will not worship it. Or instead of a robot, this could be a hologram - like that of Whitney Houston which is performing long after her death.

Verses 16 and 17 are something we can now all relate to after this worldwide quarantine. For the first time since I was born, my rights to purchase basic necessities have been restricted. I could not do it without a quarantine pass. In a way, I could not buy without a 'mark'. Now, this mark is not yet on my right hand or forehead. But it gives you an idea why COVID-19 had to happen. The Antichrist will need to have a system of control. How do you control people? You have to have an international identification system so that you could easily restrict their purchase of basic necessities. If you deprive people of the basic things they need to live - for example, food and water - you can easily sway them into doing whatever you want - including worshiping you. People who reach desperation are bound to do anything to survive. To have an international I.D. system, you probably need a national I.D. system which is what our leaders are pushing for. While people might be swayed into the benefits of having such a system, they should also be wary for it will hasten the plans of the Antichrist for control and domination. Easy identification means easy capture, persecution and deprivation. No wonder some have resorted to doomsday prepping. Perhaps they can live a little while longer under the radar.

An international I.D. system might also be the key to identifying who the Antichrist is. If this system already existed, would it be possible that the individual with I.D. 666 is the Antichrist? 

COVID 19 Death Per Population

Meaningful data is important in trying to solve any problems. I was looking at the number of deaths per country at worldometers.info and thought that if we wanted to know how each country was handling their COVID 19 cases well, we should measure it against their population. This made me come up with the following sheet.

I didn't even know of the country San Marino. But their deaths of 20 compared to their small population of 33,931 gives them an unusually high Death Per Population statistic. Does this mean that their country is not handling / containing the COVID 19 threat properly? Upon using Google Maps, their figures made much more sense.

San Marino is located above Italy, which as of this time, is the country with the highest number of COVID 19 related deaths.

It was also interesting to find out that despite having more than 500 cases of COVID 19, Saudi Arabia has zero deaths due to this virus. Qatar, South Africa, Estonia, and Armenia are doing a great job of keeping their COVID 19 cases alive. Contrast Qatar (501 cases, 0 deaths) with the Philippines (501 cases, 33 deaths). Based on that data, one might conclude that Qatar is doing a better job than the Philippines.

Armenia is also a curious case since it is similar to San Marino in that it is located above Iran, one of the countries with a high number of COVID 19 cases, and yet it has zero deaths as of this writing.

Perhaps the countries with zero deaths should share their best practices in fighting COVID 19 with the rest of the world. Maybe their residents also have the best anti-bodies at fighting this viral global threat. At this time, everyone must help out in any way they can so that our generation survives this global pandemic.  

COVID 19 Enhanced Community Quarantine

We have just finished a week under a community quarantine. Most weeks seem to breeze by so fast. But this particular week seemed to last like an eternity. Our family has been glued to every information source - the radio, television, and the internet - just to learn as much as possible about the virus and how the government is addressing the situation.

I can't help but wonder about the following:

• How long can the rest of the world remain in a state of quarantine? I understand that the quarantine is supposed to slow down the spread of the virus. But if people cannot work and buy food, then they might die of starvation instead. A government can only supply food as long as their are stocks. Worse, being in a state of quarantine could lead to civil unrest which could lead to riots, increased crime rates, and anarchy.
• There has been so much emphasis on testing if one has been infected by the virus. But chances are, at some point, everyone would have already been infected because the virus continues to spread even if countries have implemented lock downs. Will countries reach a point where they will have to kill their own citizens to prevent the spread of the disease? I have probably been watching too many apocalyptic world scenarios where only doomsday preppers survive. Instead of mass testing, perhaps the government should focus on finding a cure. And while that is taking time, they should try to increase the immunity of the people and the capacity of health services to take care of their patients. What use is finding out that you have the virus when hospitals are full and will only end up turning you away. It seems like biotech companies are only seeing these test kits as a money making opportunity. Perhaps the owners of these biotech companies should be exposed to the virus so that they realize how useless it is to have all the money they can amass when their health is affected.
• Is this the global problem that the antichrist will solve? This virus problem will probably affect the global economy. Being under quarantine has given government authorities a reason to prevent anyone from buying and selling. Only individuals with a pass issued by the government will be allowed to purchase. And authorities are pushing for electronic means of payment since the virus can supposedly be passed on through objects like paper money and coins. So, this virus or similar events in the future might force everyone to comply with a global system of payment and tracking individuals. Refuse to receive their mark or pass will mean starvation.

There is always hope in Jesus. That is what I choose to believe even when the situation seems grim. As Christians, if we die because of this virus, we know that we have a place in heaven. God may be using this virus as a wake up call for people to busy with this earthly life. God may be reminding each and everyone of us that there is more to life than amassing wealth, popularity, or power. We have to give an account for how we lived our life on the day of judgement. Did we use our lives for God's glory? Did we lead others to Jesus? Or did we only live for our own selfish pursuits? I hope that if you are reading this, you would surrender your life to Jesus for He is the only one who can give us hope and peace in troubled times. And even if you die because of this virus, you are assured that Jesus has prepared a place for you to live with Him in eternity. That knowledge helps us continue living on because our lives are in His hands.