March 20, 2020 Show with Joe Jacowitz on “Coronavirus: Pandemic, Pestilence & Panic! (What Does the Bible Say?)”

Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours and we hope to hear from you the listener with your own questions and now here's your host

Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

This is Chris Arnzen your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio wishing you all a happy Friday on this 20th day of March 2020 and I'm thrilled to have back on the program a very dear friend of mine.

His name is Joe Jackiewicz you most recently heard him on the program giving the amazing and wonderful and glorious news that the terminal cancer that he had a very deadly and a rapidly growing form of leukemia that Joe had.

Well he is now cancer free that was the most recent interview we had with Joe when he was declaring that good news to our listeners and we hope that you look up that link that audio link that's archived on the past shows podcast at ironsharpensironradio .com

so you can hear more about that wonderful news in Joe's life and in the life of everybody who knows and loves him who certainly wants him to stick around on this earth as long as possible.

But today we have a different program a different topic altogether. Today's topic is coronavirus pandemic pestilence and panic what does the

Bible say and this is actually the first of a weekly series we are going to be conducting

God willing on Ironsharpensironradio .com every Friday where we will be giving updates on the coronavirus crisis and we will be trying to separate fact from fiction and most of all we are going to be trying to give spiritual counsel from the scriptures regarding what is going on in the world in regard to this this crisis but it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Ironsharpensironradio .com

Pastor Joe Jackiewicz. Blessing to be with you again Chris. Why don't you again for our listeners who are hearing you for the first time tell us about Christ's Bible Church in Pleasanton California sometimes if I'm doing it off the top of my head or saying it off the top of my head and I don't have the city in front of me

I will say Dublin California because that's easier to remember but I just know that that's where your post office box is in Dublin.

That's correct I've been at Christ's Bible Church for 30 years last

February one of two pastors there and we are blessed to have three ministries that we work closely with that are under the auspices and authority of Christ's Bible Church First Love Publications, Publications Ministry where we give books, booklets and tracts away free of charge.

First Love Missions where we have branches of missions branches in different places around the world we go on mission trips, hold pastors conferences,

Bible conferences on university campuses and churches all around the world and we give away the publications that we print there and then

First Love Radio which this program Iron Sharpens Iron is hosted on and that's at firstloveradio .org

Great and I hope that all of our listeners who have not yet begun to take advantage of that do so and we hope to hear good reports back from our listeners on how the ministries of Joe Jacobs has blessed them.

Well you wanted to revisit this subject obviously it's an ongoing subject that sometimes has changes every day hour by hour sometimes even more frequently and sometimes as you know it is hard to separate fact from fiction in the media whether you're watching

Fox News whether you're watching a mainstream liberal media outlet doesn't really matter sometimes you're just sitting there wondering am

I am what I'm hearing really true it is what I'm hearing really true and so therefore we as Christians although we should try to get and spread the most accurate information as possible that doesn't necessarily involve the spiritual aspects we should be trying to get accurate updates on other things as well but the most important thing that we as Christians have to focus on is what the

Bible has to say about this. Yes well is there a bigger issue that is facing the world right now is there a more intense issue that is touching everybody's life in a powerful way in a significant way than the coronavirus this includes everyone listening you and me as well we're all affected to some larger or smaller degree by the coronavirus it has implications for business for health for finances for government for the economy for government for politics for our daily routines our daily lives where we go what we say who we come into contact with who we don't come into contact with the coronavirus has gotten the attention of the whole entire world is there a bigger issue

Chris that we face pragmatically in terms of our finances even spiritually there are issues that are huge spiritual ramifications and repercussions to the coronavirus and I hope that Christians and pastors and church leaders are really listening to what

God is saying to everybody especially to his people as we try to understand how to relate to others and how to interpret this worldwide pandemic that God has brought into our life this is not an accident the coronavirus is not a random event

God has brought this about for a multitude of reasons but before we go into the emotional and spiritual ramifications of the coronavirus to everyone listening let me just take a few minutes and review some of the numbers to put things in proper perspective as of about an hour ago the total confirmed people in the world infected by the coronavirus is about 266 ,000 total deaths is about 11 ,113 in the last 24 hours about 25 ,000 people were infected in the

United States there are about 16 ,000 people confirmed to have the coronavirus and about 210 deaths and the cases of coronavirus are increasing at an alarming rate and there's a lot of fallout from it there's a lot of new trends or old trends that are picking up again in response to the coronavirus like gun sales are surging and sales of survival kits are increasing greatly and so the coronavirus has brought about a lot of other changes there's a lot of disruption major disruption to everyone's daily life the impact is greater on a social level in terms of the panic and the fear that it's causing so many people in society it has totally upended our way of life as a nation and as individuals even the chancellor of Germany Merkel said that the coronavirus is the biggest challenge to Germany since World War II in terms of the latest update and that is a big statement from someone who is a leader of Germany of all places exactly so that puts it in perspective

I would advise everyone listening to pay careful attention what you and I are about to say in this program

Chris because I think it not only relates to everybody day by day on how we live our lives and how we will live our lives for the foreseeable future

I'm talking about anywhere from three to four months to about a year and a half or longer based on what the experts are saying and I've been researching and studying for about three weeks very diligently on the subject of this pandemic and I've been searching the scriptures

I've been keeping my ear to the ground listening to the reports watching Fox News doing a lot of research online keeping on top of the latest articles and reports and many of our listeners will know that yesterday

California Governor Newsom gave a stay at home order for the entire state which affects 40 million people including myself my wife and our family who live in California just today

Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered a statewide lockdown that will shut down most of New York including

New York City as the state battles against the Corona pandemic. Now can you explain what that means because I keep hearing that you can go outside you can go to the grocery store you can go to the doctor you could do things that are essential for living but it doesn't mean that everybody's going to be actually imprisoned in their homes am

I right on that? That's correct it means that 100 % of workers must stay home but it shuts down all non -essential businesses across the state of California and New York leaving just grocery stores and pharmacies and other essential operations open.

And as I keep repeating all of those businesses are essential for the people that own them.

Yeah exactly the small businesses are affected in a major way the order from the

California Governor and New York Governor bans all non -solitary outside activity that means if you're alone it's okay if you keep your distance it's okay but if we call that social distancing now it's become a very very big term an important term but any gatherings with other people are being advised not to do like outdoor basketball games and other team sports and gathering together in groups.

So it requires all non -essential government and private sector employees to work from home these two orders and it may happen in other states soon this is just in New York and California this affects church life as well for the first time in over 30 years as a church my church

Christ Bible Church in Pleasanton did not hold our Sunday service last

Lord's Day because we were mandated not to assemble with more than 10 people but now we have this order to stay at home period so this order in the

Bay Area will be lifted on April 7th but now that the Governor has declared that we cannot gather together we must stay at home

I don't know when this order will be lifted so we sent an email out to our church that God willing we will not meet for four weeks and then we will let everyone know when we can get back together in our worship so people are told in these states not to go to work the

President told people today just today to stay at home as much as possible although he did not give an order to stay at home he did not mandate it but he told people as much as you can that's in other states to stay at home he also mentioned that there's limits on non -essential travel also no one can travel internationally and the nation basically

Chris is on lockdown this Dr. Anthony Fauci said that COVID -19 or coronavirus is 10 times stronger than the flu and some of the testimonies and reports

I've read of folks who have the coronavirus it is amazing how much in pain it's much stronger than the average flu, the body ache, the breathing, the labored breathing, hospitals are already being pushed to the breaking point in many areas, job loss is predicted at 20%,

GM, Ford and Chrysler closed down all their factories, the State Department is telling people not to travel internationally, midnight to night restrictions go into place where no one can travel overseas and no one can travel across the borders like in a car to Mexico and Canada beginning tonight at midnight.

We've seen the radical disruption in the finance and business and job world as there's been wild swings in the stock market which has a mind of its own and the government's efforts to control it with all the bailouts and the money that's going to be flooding into the market don't seem to have much effect on the markets right now, last

I looked the stock market was down 500 points and that's after the President tried to shore up consumer and investor confidence by saying that $1 .2

trillion is going to be given to businesses and individuals. People are reacting in many different ways, alcohol sales are going through the roof so we see that people are trying to take comfort in alcohol and probably other substances.

People Chris are looking for relief, as a pastor I've never seen it like this before where there's such a sense of helplessness that people are not in control of their lives anymore and they're looking for relief from the stress and the worry and the uncertainty.

Also on the other hand we see reports coming out from the news reflecting the selfishness of human nature with the savagery exhibited in stores, the fights over toilet paper, this that and the other thing, so there's so much worry and fear and insecurity and an unsettled attitude and you and I in the coming weeks

God willing you've graciously agreed to dedicate your program on Friday, every

Friday at the same time we're going to get an update on the coronavirus but most importantly we're going to be looking into the scriptures and to God's word to see what

God says about the coronavirus and national or worldwide disasters or pandemics, whatever event on this level that falls into the category and we want to get

God's perspective on the matter, we want to respond to this disaster that has happened in our individual lives and to the whole world the way

God would have us to because if we respond God's way that's always the safest place to be and the secure place to be standing.

So I noticed that on Friday the Catholic Church said that they granted forgiveness under certain conditions for the sins of the faithful that are struck and affected by the coronavirus.

A decree published by the Vatican also covers healthcare workers and those who pray for their well -being and relatives who care for their sick, family members may also be forgiven of their sins.

The conditions include the sick saying a certain number of prayers or following important celebrations from a distance.

Do you have to fill out a form of some kind to get the forgiveness? We all know that that is nothing but heretical nonsense.

I know, I was just going to say those who pray for the caregivers they say and their well -being must also read the

Bible for at least a half hour a day. That's their written prescription if you want a prescription.

But you and I know this all smacks of works. Many people are searching for answers today.

We know that. They feel hopeless and helpless about the future. And so many are wrestling with issues related to the meaning of life now.

It's got their attention. Many are looking away from themselves or the daily routine of carving out a living.

And they're asking questions. What's the meaning of life? And they're wondering that if they stand before God will their sins be forgiven.

And many are panicking. They just don't know what to do. And so the last thing we need is to give out misinformation about how we obtain the forgiveness of sins as I just inferred.

The for by grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourselves. It is the gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast.

And that forgiveness comes by faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore Romans says having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our

Lord Jesus Christ. There are a number of positives though. I don't want to sound like I'm an alarmist but I am a realist.

And I think that there is a place to bring with a sense of urgency warning. Warning because God brought it.

And so we need to bring God's message to people when it applies.

It is a tragedy is it not that after other horrific events that our nation has experienced and the world has experienced.

Very often like for instance after the terrorist attacks on September 11th you had a surge in church attendance.

And I'm not saying that most of these people who were rushing into churches after that horrific event in our nation's history were genuinely coming to the

Lord in true repentance. But obviously if there are many thousands of people going to church that otherwise were not there's going to be a percentage of those people who are among God's elect who hear the word preached who are regenerated and so on.

But isn't it a tragedy that in this particular circumstance that can't happen at least right now because of the fact that many if not most churches are suspending their worship services because of the anywhere from an official ban to a strong suggestion seems to be varied depending upon where you live.

But people are typically not attending public gatherings that exceed 10 people and that would include most worship services.

So it's kind of a sad thing that in a time like this people are going to have to depend upon the media the

Internet and so on to be fed spiritually other than reading their

Bibles of course. And that is a mixed bag because the media has everything the media has biblical truth such as you and First Love Radio and it also has horrific heretical and blasphemous and false teaching.

That's correct and the church during various times and seasons throughout its history whether because of persecution or because of plagues or because of the interruption of life through politics has had to shut down their services.

They had to flee. They had to take to the hills and the caves. So this is not new. But just because the church has to shut down its worship services some of its organizational and administrative functions it doesn't mean that Christianity is shut down.

It doesn't mean that we stop being Christians because God is in our hearts. God looks at the heart not at the outward appearance.

And so we continue the work of evangelism the work of being light and salt in the world the work and the joy of walking with God not the work but the great opportunity and privilege of fellowshipping with the

Lord. We continue keeping up every single aspect of our Christian lives.

And so God is getting everyone's attention and he's doing it for a reason.

And there is almost always in every crisis in life whether it be on an individual level or a national or a worldwide basis there's a lesson in it for everyone.

God is just sitting down and saying to everybody are you listening? Are you listening?

For our listeners for myself for you Chris there's a message in this pandemic for everybody.

There's so much uncertainty about what is going on and about the future and as Christians we need to be there with answers.

Everyone is talking about the importance of planning for the worst. People have always been told from birth you have to plan for the worst and you have to plan for disasters and plan for this and store up extra toilet paper and water and make sure you have your 401k and your retirement plan.

So much effort and resources are put into planning for the future. But what about planning for the next life?

Is God saying to everybody look you can plan and plan and plan all you want for your future in this world and that's a good thing.

I'm not saying don't plan. I'm not saying don't go out and buy food. Yes do those things.

But everything we do in terms of planning and living in this world is temporal.

It will all cease one day when we die and then we will go into the next life.

You see Chris everyone was created to live forever. Everyone who has ever lived will live forever in either heaven or hell.

Once we leave these bodies when we die we instantly wake up into the presence of God in heaven or in hell and awaiting the judgment day.

And so that is where it really matters because heaven and hell are forever.

It's eternal. It's eternal. But most people invest 99 .9

% even 100 % of their time in the pleasures of this life, in the routines and daily checklists that they have to take care of in this life and invest no time whatsoever in their eternal souls and assuring and affirming where they will be in the next life.

So our life span approximately 70 years or 80 years by reason of strength is a drop in the ocean of time.

But it's ironic and it's schizophrenic and it's insane that people are so spiritually insensitive and blind that they don't even realize that they invest no time in the next life but that's where we will live forever.

And so the federal government, Chris, cannot solve every problem that we have in this world.

What happens when the money runs out? What happens when they can't print money anymore? What happens when there's a run on the banks and we have another depression?

Then who will take care of us? Right now we need to be looking to the

Lord. We need to be reflecting upon and pondering where we will spend eternity and where our hope is and where our trust is.

There are a few funerals today because everyone is on lockdown.

It's very grievous because a lot of family members are not able to mourn the right way that they would like to by going to their deceased relatives' funerals.

Our life is really interrupted. There's a public health crisis and the economy is in crisis, causing so much derision and despair, confusion, and many people are looking to the government for help.

But whatever the government does, and I do thank God that he is using the government to help us out in a temporal way, but we need to look past the government.

That is where we're at in terms of an update. I can give out some prayer requests at the end of the program, but we need to really learn the lessons that God is speaking to the whole world.

I've had three life -threatening illnesses and two other blood infections, serious blood infections.

Any one of those five things could have taken my life. With a couple of them, I came up pretty close to that door of eternity, both in leukemia and in one of my two pulmonary embolisms with a deep vein thrombosis, besides the blood infections.

It is a great lesson and it's a great teaching moment when

God brings a crisis into our lives. I'm talking about a life -threatening crisis, a crisis that interrupts our daily routine and says to us, for the foreseeable future, you're not going to be able to go back to your lifestyle with a business -as -usual attitude.

It's at those times, Chris, that we need to be listening to what God is saying, because he speaks so often, the loudest, at those moments that will enable us and help us to change, to become more like Christ, to change and to become more obedient, to change and be more perfectly in His will.

What are those lessons we need to learn? Well, we need to learn that Christians and pastors need, at these moments, to stand in the gap.

There are several times in the Old Testament where God says that He sought for a man who would make a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.

In another place, He says that He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor.

We as Christians, even if most churches or many churches are asleep at the wheel, they're complacent, they're apathetic, they're apostate, not all, thank

God, not all, but many are, we as individual Christians, and we who are pastors especially, need to stand in the gap.

We need to seize the moment and make sure that we have our shield on and our sword sharp, that we are there to provide answers, to direct people to the

Scripture, to give them a reason of the hope that is in us, to share the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, to show the love of Christ and the character of Christ and the meekness of Christ, and all that God wants us to reflect to them in both our behavior and through the

Gospel message. This is a critical time where so many people are listening, and we as Christians need to stand in the gap.

But we also need to pray for the revival of the Church. And in fact, we'll pick up on the revival of the

Church when we return from our first break. If anybody would like to join us on the air with a question for Pastor Joe Jackowitz, our email address is chrizarnsen at gmail .com,

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We are now back on the air with Pastor Joe Jackowitz of Christ Bible Church in Pleasanton, California, also founder of First Love Radio, First Love Missions, and First Love Publications.

We are talking about coronavirus, pandemic, pestilence, and panic. What does the

Bible say? Our email address is chrisarnzen at gmail .com. If you have a question, chrisarnzen at gmail .com.

And Joe, before I go to any listener questions, you were just about to begin a discussion on revival.

Yes, and we were laying down some lessons that we need to learn, and we're being reminded of vital roles and responsibilities that Christians are called to not only during times of ease and peace and calm, but especially when

God shakes a person up, a community up, the government up, when God shakes up the whole world like He's done with the coronavirus and the pandemic.

We need to be there because everywhere we turn, we see people whose faces are groaning, whose shoulders are weighed down with a sense of worry and fear and uncertainty.

And we need to not be limited and weak and halting and hesitating during that time.

We need the boldness and love of Christ. We need courage. We need wisdom.

We need kindness. But we need to take the initiative. We need to be proactive in reaching out with these dear souls, including family members, including co -workers, with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The gospel is the answer. Nothing else is the answer except the person and work of Jesus Christ, His atoning death to save souls,

His sanctifying grace, which He died to sanctify

His people, that we need to remind our discouraged fellow church members and fellow believers that Jesus Christ is still on the throne.

He's still upholding all things by the word of His power. He's still sovereignly in control.

The macro and the micro are being upheld by Him from the sun and the universe to every cell in our body.

He is upholding it, and He does everything according to His perfect will and decree, which was established before the foundation of the world.

There is no plan B with God. And we are living in the most unusual time in my life.

Chris, I don't know about you. I have never seen anything like this, where American culture and society and business has come to a screeching halt.

I have not either. I'm 64. You don't have to say your age. But I've never seen it before.

I've been a Christian for... I'm 27 years old. Yes. 27 going on 80.

Oh, thanks. Not that old. But there is such a false sense of confidence that we've seen all of our lives in America.

We've heard all of the boasting and everything about the American dream and get as much as you can before you die.

And you hear on television broadcasts that a lot of people giving out such superficial and weak words of comfort, you know, hang in there.

We've done it before. We can do it again. America has always persisted and has been preserved, and we will do it again.

But there is such an underlying emptiness in those words, although I commend people for trying to encourage others and be positive and encouraging.

But if what we use by words of encouragement to uplift people during a tragedy, it is so hollow because when they do those things, it won't necessarily take away the sense of insecurity inside of them.

You know, we're living in a dangerous, even a Norwellian time. The whole nation, basically, to some small or great degree, is on lockdown.

Are people listening? And, in fact, what it reminds me of, something that you just said, reminds me of, again, after the horrific terrorist attacks on the

World Trade Center and the Pentagon building on September 11, 2001, there were many conservatives known for their patriotism and many conservative so -called

Christians who were fundamentalists, who were conservative evangelicals, who were...

I was working for WMCA Radio at the time, an affiliate of the largest

Christian network in the world, Salem Media. And we were asked, as advertising executives, to find pastors who would give sound words of counsel and encouragement during this time after 9 -11, when our nation had never experienced anything like it before.

Far more people perished on September 11 of that year than the attacks on Pearl Harbor.

And the only thing that exceeds it, I believe, is the slaughter of the unborn.

It far exceeds it through infanticide, known as legal abortion. But many of these pastors were saying things that caused my jaw to drop open.

And I'm not talking about liberals here. I'm talking about men that believe in the inerrancy of Scripture.

And they were saying, don't let the devil fool you into thinking that God had anything to do with this.

God had nothing to do with these attacks. These attacks solely came about through the evil minds of Muslim terrorists.

And you could go on and on and on with the kind of rhetoric that was being aired by pastors, and, of course, in the secular media, by conservative cheerleaders in politics, who were saying our nation never would deserve anything like that to happen to us.

Now, of course, we believe that those terrorists that committed those horrific crimes will be in hell, since they perished instantly when they committed them.

But at the same time, don't we as Christians need to take advantage of opportunities like this to declare to everyone with an ear to hear, this is another opportunity for repentance?

Yes, indeed. And some opportunities will never come back again if we don't walk through that door.

The Bible says that we need to strike while the iron is hot.

That's not a chapter and a verse. But sometimes opportunities come, and the

Lord closes the door if we don't walk through it. So we need to reach out to people who are living in denial.

I was watching Fox News about all of this, and they went to a clip of young people in Florida at spring break.

And while the governor of Florida is telling everybody to don't gather in groups, and while the president is declaring a national emergency, they're down there, these young adults, these students, partying as if they won't die from the coronavirus if they get it.

And one of the students came on the TV and said, oh, don't worry about the coronavirus. It's just like getting the cold.

You'll get over it. It reminded me of the Titanic when it was sinking.

There were still people inside the dining rooms within, you know, a couple of hours before the ship sank,

I think before they hit the iceberg. And they were partying, but they didn't realize that just a couple of hours from that time most of them would be dead.

They would drown. And the Lord says in the Scripture to the rich fool who says,

I have barns that cannot contain all of my crops.

I will tear them down and build bigger barns. I can't believe that you just started quoting

Luke 12, 16 through 21, because I just looked it up. I'm sorry.

I interrupted you. I interrupted you. Continue with that passage, please. Why don't you read that? How many verses is it?

Well, I'll just read the whole thing here. Okay. And he told them a parable saying, the land of a rich man was very productive, and he began reasoning to himself saying, what shall

I do since I have no place to store my crops? Then he said, this is what I will do.

I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

And I will say to my soul, soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come.

Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. By the way, Dairy Queen, that's where that comes from.

But God said to him, you fool, this very night your soul is required of you, and now who will own what you have prepared?

So is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

Amen. And as Christians, we cannot turn a blind eye to what's going on in the opportunity.

We need to get right with God. If we're not, if we're backslidden, if we're really struggling, we need to return to the

Lord Jesus, believe in his promise to restore us and renew us and cleanse us afresh and give us clean hands and a pure heart and a clear conscience.

People are living in denial everywhere we turn, and we need to step up and do what

God has saved us to do, which is partly to share the gospel. The lethargy of the church is notorious, and I've never seen anything like this coronavirus pandemic in my life.

And from the Bible's perspective, how do we as Christians react to the coronavirus?

And by the way, I'm going to have you pick up where you left off when we return from our midway break, and I also want you to discuss what you will be addressing that relates to our discussion today on Bible Talk, which is your new feature every

Wednesday night at 10 p .m. Eastern Time, 7 p .m. Pacific on First Love Radio.

So if you could keep that, make a mental note of that to talk about how you are going to address this theme on Bible Talk.

And also, of course, pick up where you left off in your statements that you were just making. We have to get to our midway break now, folks.

It's the longer than normal break, so please be patient with us. It is necessary that we have this longer than normal break because Grace Life Radio in Lake City, Florida, who airs this program twice daily in a prerecorded format, they, according to FCC regulations, have to localize

Grace Life Radio 90 .1 FM to the Lake City, Florida area.

So during the time that we air our globally heard commercials in the middle of the show, they air their own public service announcements and other things that are local to Lake City.

So please be patient with us as we air this longer than normal break, but also please use this time wisely.

Write down the information provided by our advertisers so that you can more frequently and successfully patronize them.

I cannot stress often enough and strongly enough, folks, that if you want Ion Sharpens Ion Radio to exist, not only do we need to hear from you with donations, but we need you to patronize our advertisers because the advertisers are actually paying for the bulk, financially, of the existence of this show, and obviously if they are never hearing from anybody in the

Ion Sharpens Ion Radio audience, they are not likely to continue advertising forever. So if you want to further ensure a long future for Ion Sharpens Ion Radio, patronize our advertisers, write down the information that they provide so you can more frequently and successfully patronize them, and also write down questions for Joe Jakowicz about the coronavirus and its implications biblically.

Our email address is chrisarnson at gmail dot com, chrisarnson at gmail dot com.

We'll be right back with Joe Jakowicz after these messages, so don't go away. I'm Dr.

Tony Costa, Professor of Apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary. I'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where I've been invited to speak and have grown to love,

Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, Long Island, New York, pastored by Rich Jensen and Christopher McDowell.

It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God like the dear saint, at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of Christ in his holy word, and to enthusiastically proclaim

Christ Jesus the King and his doctrines of sovereign grace in Suffolk County, Long Island, and beyond.

I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love, as I have.

For more information on Hope Reform Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net

That's hopereformedli .net Or call 631 -696 -5711

That's 631 -696 -5711

Tell the folks at Hope Reform Baptist Church of Coram, Long Island, New York that you heard about them from Tony Costa on Iron Sharpens Iron.

...have been sticking with or switching to the NASB. I'm Dr.

Joseph Piper, President and Professor of Systematic and Homiletical Theology at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Taylors, South Carolina, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Chuck White of the

First Trinity Lutheran Church in Tonawanda, New York, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Anthony Methenia of Christ Church in Radford, Virginia, and the NASB is my

Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Jesse Miller of Damascus Road Christian Church in Gardnerville, Nevada, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Bruce Bennett of Word of Truth Church in Farmerville, Long Island, New York, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Rodney Brown of Metro Bible Church in South Lake, Texas, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Jim Harrison of Red Mills Baptist Church in Mayapac Falls, New York, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. Here's a great way for your church to help keep

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air. Pastors, are your pew bibles tattered and falling apart?

Consider restocking your pews with the NASB, and tell the publishers you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Go to nasbible .com, that's nasbible .com to place your order.

James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here. If you've watched my Dividing Line webcast often enough, you know

I have a great love for getting Bibles and other documents vital to my ministry rebound to preserve and ensure their longevity.

And besides that, they feel so good. I'm so delighted I discovered Post Tenebrous Lux Bible rebinding.

No radio ad will be long enough to sing their praises sufficiently, but I'll give it a shot. Jeffrey Rice of Post Tenebrous Lux is a remarkably gifted craftsman and artisan.

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That's ptlbiblerebinding .com. Chris Sorensen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio here.

I want to tell you about a man I have personally known for many years. His name is Dan Buttafuoco.

Dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer, but not the type that typically comes to mind.

Dan cares about people and is a theologian himself. Recently, he wrote a book titled Consider the

Evidence for the Bible. Ravi Zacharias wrote the foreword. Dan also has a master's degree in theology.

Dan handles serious injury and medical malpractice cases in all 50 states. He represents many

Christians in serious injury matters all over the country. Dan is an exceptional trial lawyer.

He wrote the test for the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and currently his firm has over 100 cases that have settled for $1 million or more, and in approximately 10 different states.

In Illinois, his lawyers had the fourth largest settlement in the state's history.

In New York, his case involving a paralyzed police officer made the front page of the

Law Journal. If you have a serious personal injury or medical malpractice claim in any state,

I recommend that you call Dan. Consultations are free. There is no fee unless you win.

Dan Buttafuoco's number is 1 -800 -669 -4878. 1 -800 -669 -4878.

Or email me for Dan's contact information at chrisarnson at gmail .com.

That's chrisarnson at gmail .com. This is

Pastor Bill Sousa, Grace Church at Franklin, here in the beautiful state of Tennessee.

Our congregation is one of a growing number of churches who love and support

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio financially. Grace Church at Franklin is an independent, autonomous body of believers which strives to clearly declare the whole counsel of God as revealed in Scripture through the person and work of our

Lord Jesus Christ. And, of course, the end for which we strive is the glory of God.

If you live near Franklin, Tennessee, and Franklin is just south of Nashville, maybe 10 minutes, or you are visiting this area, or you have friends and loved ones nearby, we hope you will join us some

Lord's Day in worshiping our God and Savior. Please feel free to contact me if you have more questions about Grace Church at Franklin.

Our website is gracechurchatfranklin .org. That's gracechurchatfranklin .org.

This is Pastor Bill Sousa wishing you all the richest blessings of our sovereign

Lord, God, Savior, and King, Jesus Christ, today and always.

Listening to Christian radio can be a big gamble spiritually. Even many of the major Christian networks that include excellent, biblically faithful teachers on their line -up sadly often also include the worst of doctrinally dangerous heretics.

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They feature Christ -centered programming from Reformed pastors and teachers you can rely upon for theological soundness and biblical faithfulness, such as Dr.

W .R. Downing, Dr. Peter Masters, Pastor Joe Jackowitz, Pastor Robert Gifford, Al Martin, Edward Delcor, and more.

FirstLoveRadio .org also live -streams my Iron Trepans Iron Radio program daily.

Please stick around on FirstLoveRadio .org after Iron Trepans Iron Radio is over to continue being blessed by the unwavering proclamation of the

Gospel of Sovereign Grace. Spread the word about FirstLoveRadio .org. Every day at thousands of community centers, high schools, middle schools, juvenile institutions, coffee shops, and local hangouts,

Long Island Youth for Christ staff and volunteers meet with young people who need Jesus. We are rural and urban and we are always about the message of Jesus.

Our mission is to have a noticeable spiritual impact on Long Island, New York by engaging young people in the lifelong journey of following Christ.

Long Island Youth for Christ has been a stalwart bedrock ministry since 1959. We have a world -class staff and a proven track record of bringing consistent love and encouragement to youths in need all over the country and around the world.

Help honor our history by becoming a part of our future. Volunteer, donate, pray, or all of the above.

For details, call Long Island Youth for Christ at 631 -385 -8333.

That's 631 -385 -8333. Or visit liyfc .org.

That's liyfc .org. One sure way all

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio listeners can help keep my show on the air is to support my advertisers. I know you all use batteries every day, so I'm urging you all from now on to exclusively use

BatteryDepot .com for all your battery needs. At BatteryDepot .com,

they're changing the status quo. They're flipping the script. They're sticking it to the man. In other words, they'd like to change the battery industry for good by providing an extensive inventory of top -of -the -line batteries that are uniformly new, dependable, and affordable.

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Call 866 -403 -3768. That's 866 -403 -3768.

Or go to BatteryDepot .com. That's BatteryDepot .com. And then let them know that you heard about them on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Thirdly, you can also donate to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio by going to our website at IronSharpensIronRadio .com

and click support at the top of the page. But most importantly, keep Iron Sharpens Iron Radio in your prayers.

We hope that Iron Sharpens Iron Radio blesses you for many years to come. Hi, I'm Buzz Taylor, frequent co -host with Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

I would like to introduce you to my good friends Todd and Patty Jennings at CVBBS, which stands for Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service.

Todd and Patty specialize in supplying Reformed and Puritan books and Bibles at discount prices that make them affordable to everyone.

Since 1987, the family -owned and operated book service has sought to bring you the best available

Christian books and Bibles at the best possible prices. Unlike other book sites, they make no effort to provide every book that is available because, frankly, much of what is being printed is not worth your time.

That means you can get to the good stuff faster. It also means that you don't have to worry about being assaulted by the pornographic, heretical, and otherwise faith -insulting material promoted by the secular book vendors.

Their website is cvbbs .com. Browse the pages at ease, shop at your leisure, and purchase with confidence as Todd and Patty work in service to you, the

Church, and to Christ. That's Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service at cvbbs .com.

That's cvbbs .com. Let Todd and Patty know that you heard about them on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

And don't forget, folks, you can call cvbbs .com

as well if you prefer ordering by phone at their toll -free number, 800 -656 -0231, 800 -656 -0231.

And remember, you can only call that phone line Monday through Friday from 10 a .m. to 4 .30

p .m. Eastern Time. Well, you can call that phone line anytime, but nobody's going to answer unless you call between 10 a .m.

and 4 .30 p .m. Monday through Friday Eastern Time. There is no voicemail on that line.

It's only for live interaction with the staff at cvbbs .com. And always make sure that you tell them that you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

And in fact, folks, remember, we have two advertisers that keep

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio on the air who both deal with books. One is a publisher, that's solid -ground -books .com,

Solid Ground Christian Books. And the other is cvbbs .com, which is a book distributor, a book dealer.

So what I would urge you to do to keep both of those advertisers happy is first go to solid -ground -books .com,

order a very long list of books, or should

I say make a very long list of books that you would like to purchase from them for yourself, for gifts coming up for all different kinds of holidays,

Resurrection Day, wedding anniversaries, birthdays, all kinds of things, graduations.

And then you go to cvbbs .com and order them. And make sure you tell them that you heard about them from Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

That will keep both of my book -related advertisers happy. I just have a couple of announcements to make before we return to our guest today,

Joe Jackowitz, pastor of Christ Bible Church in Pleasanton, California, founder of First Love Radio, First Love Missions, and First Love Publications.

And our theme today, Coronavirus, Pandemic, Pestilence, and Panic, What Does the Bible Say? Before we return to that,

I want to remind all men in ministry leadership that as far as we know,

Friday, May 29, 11 a .m. to 2 p .m. is still going to be occurring, unless God has something in store that we don't know about with certainty regarding this coronavirus scare or other thing that may prevent this from happening.

But we are intending ourselves to still conduct the next

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio pastor's luncheon. Again, that's Friday, May 29, 11 a .m.

to 2 p .m. at the Bongiorno Conference Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

And it's the first time we've ever had it at the Bongiorno Conference Center. And it's also the very first time that we've ever had as a speaker

I believe this man is the most powerful preacher alive on the planet Earth, and I'm not exaggerating.

Dr. Conrad M. Bewe, pastor of Kabwatha Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa, a

Reformed Baptist pastor that I believe, as I keep repeating, is just one of the most extraordinary and powerful voices for the cause of Christ and his gospel alive.

Well, he will be our guest speaker, and not only will you get to hear

Dr. M. Bewe speak for free, you'll also be able to have a wonderful meal in time of fellowship at the

Bongiorno Conference Center for free, and you'll also be leaving that event with a heavy sack of brand new books donated by many major Christian publishers all over the

United States and the United Kingdom, all for free. Everything is free of charge. No hidden agenda, no ulterior motive.

It's all free to you. And this is all due to the generosity of my precious late wife,

Julie, now spending an eternity with Christ, who came up with this idea back in the 1990s.

We conducted these annual luncheons for quite a number of years before she went home to be with Christ for eternity.

And then after I relocated to Pennsylvania, I relaunched these luncheons in her memory and honor.

And now we have them twice a year. And this will be our spring luncheon on Friday, May 29th, 11 a .m.

to 2 p .m. If you are a man in ministry leadership, a pastor, an elder, and by the way,

I think those are two of the same office. In fact,

I believe the Bible is clear on that. If you're a deacon, if you're a leader in a parachurch organization, as long as you are a man in ministry leadership, you are welcome to attend absolutely free of charge.

Just send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com chrisarnson at gmail .com and put luncheon on the subject line.

Also, folks, if you love this show and you do not want it to disappear from the airwaves,

I'm urging you, please, to be more generous than ever and more frequent with your giving than ever by going to ironsharpensironradio .com,

click support, then click, click to donate now. You can donate instantly with a debit or credit card to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio in that manner.

And you can also make out a check and send it in the old -fashioned way via snail mail to the address that appears on the screen when you click support at ironsharpensironradio .com,

make those checks out to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. Obviously, as I try to remember to warn you every day, there are two exceptions to giving to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Never siphon money out of your regular giving to your local church where you are a member in order to give to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Never do that. Never put your family in financial jeopardy by giving to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Never forego bills. Never take food off of your family's dinner table.

So, those two things are commands of God providing for church and home. Providing for my show is obviously not a command of God.

But, if God has blessed you above and beyond your ability to obey those two commands, you have extra money for benevolent and charitable purposes, you have extra money just sitting around collecting interest, you have extra money for recreational purposes.

And, with this coronavirus scare keeping many people confined to their houses, you don't have the opportunities to even take advantage of that recreational money that you have laid aside.

So, please, I'm urging you, if you really love the show and you don't want it to disappear, please give to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio more than ever before, more generously and more frequently than ever before, because we are being hit financially worse than we ever have before.

I know that I've used strong language in the past when making urgent appeals for donations, but this is even more of an urgent appeal than I've ever given, because this coronavirus scare has given reason for two of my largest financial supporters to delay their support for two to three months.

This has really gotten me to, unfortunately, be in a precarious situation as a

Christian, to begin to be anxious. Christ has commanded us to be anxious for nothing, and I hate violating that command.

But I'm asking you, please, to donate as frequently as you can and as generously as you can, if you want

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio to remain on the air. If you would like to advertise with us, send me an email to chrisarnsen at gmail .com

and put advertising in the subject line. As long as whatever it is you want to promote is compatible with what we believe, then we will certainly help you launch an ad campaign immediately.

We certainly do need your advertising dollars. You don't need to believe identically as I do, but you need to be promoting something that's, at the very least, compatible with what

I believe. chrisarnsen at gmail .com and put advertising in the subject line. Last but not least, if you are not a member of a local

Bible -believing church and you're not even prayerfully looking for one, you are living in rebellion against God.

There are no lone wolves or mavericks running around solo in the world, in the church or in the body of Christ, I should say, in the

New Testament. These people don't exist. So you need to put yourself under the authority of elders in a local

Bible -believing church. If you need help finding a church, send me an email to chrisarnsen at gmail .com

and put, I need a church in the subject line. I have helped people already. In fact, I help people every week on this program who contact me, who are looking for a church not only where they can join, but sometimes it's when they're going on vacation and they want a church where they are going on vacation.

They want a church for their family, friends, and loved ones in different parts of the United States or in other parts of the world.

These family, friends, and loved ones don't have a church of their own and they need help. Well, whatever the reason may be, send me an email to chrisarnsen at gmail .com

and put, I need a church in the subject line. That's also the email address where you can send in a question to Pastor Joe Jackowitz of Christ Bible Church of Pleasanton, California, founder of First Love Radio, First Love Missions, and First Love Publications.

On our theme, Coronavirus, Pandemic, Pestilence, Panic, what does the

Bible say? chrisarnsen at gmail .com chrisarnsen at gmail .com Now, Joe, I don't know if you completed what you wanted to say before the midway break, but complete whatever you needed to say and then move on to what you are intending to address on the

Wednesday night broadcast on First Love Radio called Bible Talk. Sure.

I was getting ready to talk about the need for revival.

The church has always needed revival and reformation to some degree or another, but there's never been a time,

I think, or there's rarely been a time where it's so clear for believers to see the need for our churches to be revived and awakened and filled to overflowing with the presence of God and the power of God.

We are not going to minister to millions of people around the world, my friends, in our own strength.

We need to seek the Lord, at least for individual revival. We need to approach the leadership of our churches and say, are we praying?

If you don't have a prayer meeting in your churches, perhaps you can suggest to your leadership that you start one, because history teaches that when the church becomes complacent and apostate, we are not able to fulfill our

God -given, ordained responsibility to encourage one another and to reach out with the gospel and to walk with the

Lord the way we should. We need to be close to God now more than ever before, and we have a promise in Scripture.

In 2 Chronicles 7, 14, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my first face and turn from their wicked ways, then

I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. God promises

I will pour water on him who is thirsty and floods on the dry ground. I will pour my spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring.

He promises in Isaiah 40, he gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might he increases strength.

Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the

Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

So get one or two other believers in your church. If you don't have a prayer meeting, then pray by yourselves together for the revival of your local church and the church at large.

The other thing I would say, Chris, is don't take anything for granted. Man, oh man, has the world awakened to how much we have taken so much for granted.

We've taken our daily routines for granted. How many of us have presumed that things will keep going the way they were?

So many people have lived in a comfort zone and gotten used to it until God shook them up and maybe he took your job away, or he took this away or that away, or you got ill or sick.

God uses crises to wake us up and bring us out of our comfort zones. Did we forget we are all going to get sick and die someday anyway?

So many people live and plan as if they're going to live forever in this world,

Chris. And so we can't trust in anything but the

Lord Jesus Christ. We have to take one day at a time. Live out your day. Trust him hour by hour, moment by moment.

We cannot trust in the government or trust in the safety nets we may be relying upon because there's a thin veneer between life and death, and we can cross over that river at any time.

Scripture says do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

Come now, you who say tomorrow or today we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit, whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.

For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.

But now you boast in your arrogance, all such a boasting is evil. God says that man is like a breath, his days are like a passing shadow.

We read in Ecclesiastes, then I looked on all the works that my hands have done and on all the labor in which

I had toiled, and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun.

But if a man lives many years and rejoices in them all, yet let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many.

All that is coming is vanity. And so we are living in days of growing darkness, and more and more vanity is coming.

God says remember, remember that. Learn the lesson that God is teaching us now then through the worldwide pandemic.

Don't trust in money, don't trust in your retirement plans, don't trust in the bailout, don't trust in government assistance.

These things are okay and they're good and God can use them, but live above them, don't depend on them and any safety nets.

We have wonderful blessings and we have Social Security and unemployment insurance and food stamps and welfare and government assistance, and God has used these things and these programs to help so many people.

But don't trust in them, trust only in the Lord. Now, as far as the coming program,

Chris, thank you for asking. You're talking about Bible Talk. Yeah, we're talking about Bible Talk. Wednesday nights, 7 p .m.

Eastern, I'm sorry, 7 p .m. Pacific, 10 p .m. Eastern. Yes, I wanted to invite all your listeners to a couple of places where they can go to get the latest coronavirus and pandemic information from a

Biblical perspective, a place also where they can go and get counseling. So I started last

Wednesday a program on First Love Radio. That's the station you're listening to right now.

Now, some of you may have gone to the ironsharpensirenradio .org website, ironsharpensirenradio .com,

and you're listening to Chris and this wonderful program on that website. But as Chris said earlier in the show, the program that anchors

First Love Radio is his program, Iron Sharpens Iron, and we thank God for this important partnership between Chris and I.

But we would encourage you to listen 24 hours a day to the programming.

It's live streaming globally at firstloveradio .com, and you can go there Wednesday night at 7 p .m.

Pacific time, 10 p .m. East Coast time to Bible Talk with Pastor Joe.

That's me. And we will be talking about, in the foreseeable future, the real spiritual, emotional, physical issues that confront everyone today because of the pandemic.

We'll get into how do we deal with the emotional and spiritual effects of the coronavirus, how to handle anxiety and fear, despair, worry, depression, helplessness, hopelessness.

We'll get into the Scripture and talk about how to deal with the vast sense of uncertainty about the future, what are the messages

God communicates through disasters like this, according to the Bible, why do these disasters happen, what the

Bible says about plagues and diseases, and many, many other issues related to these things and suffering and how to handle the coming signs of the times that touch our body that will affect the world, that has the world heaving to and fro right now, that has the whole world's attention.

This is God behind all this, and there's nothing we can do to prevent God from fulfilling

His will for the whole world. The best thing we can do is submit to God and obey

God and enjoy a personal relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ, and to serve

Him and obey Him and be in His perfect will. That's the best place of safety and security when these things happen.

And so, every Wednesday, 7 p .m. Pacific Time at FirstLoveRadio .org,

invite your friends. You may have loved ones, family members, co -workers, and others who need counseling.

Please send them a flyer, send them word where they can get counsel. Also, for the next four weeks at least, and actually every

Sunday at 1 p .m. Pacific Time, 4 p .m. East Coast Time at ChristBibleChurch .org.

Get a pencil, please, and write this down. ChristBibleChurch .org. We livestream our worship services, and they will also be on Facebook.

So, Facebook video, if you go to facebook .com

slash ChristBibleChurch, that's facebook .com ChristBibleChurch. You can hear us on Facebook.

You can also get our Wednesday night Bible study on Facebook. That's at 7 p .m.

Pacific Time, 10 p .m. East Coast Time. And you can catch us livestreaming on Wednesday at 7 and Sunday at 1 at FirstLoveRadio .org

and ChristBibleChurch .org. So, this is the time. You know, Chris, I wanted to encourage your listeners.

This is the time where Christians need to mobilize, where we need to do something. We need to invite others.

If you feel inadequate, if you feel unqualified to counsel and advise and share

Scripture in all of the areas that we touched upon and many more, well, invite them to listen to these programs.

Chris Arms' program, Iron Sharpens Iron, is needed now more than ever before.

The topics that Chris addresses are critical. He doesn't deal with lightweight fluff and glitter.

He deals with heavy spiritual and biblical and theological topics.

And also the Gospel is woven in throughout many of his programs. So, ask other believers to join as listeners to Iron Sharpens Iron.

What are we waiting for, the Lord to come and then start working? No. And also consider the program

Please Pray that God Will Provide for Chris. Who knows? If God will pour out a financial blessing upon your ministry,

Chris, you may not need to air any commercials anymore. And we can go straight through in the Word and in the interview.

But believe me, Chris needs help now more than ever before.

If you've appreciated the program, if you've benefited from the program, please pray what your part would be.

This is the time to help. And so pray for Chris that God would provide for him and raise up many listeners like yourself to donate on a monthly basis, a regular basis, as the

Lord lays it on your heart. I really appreciate that, Joe, more than you know.

Well, I have a listener in Moundsville, M -O -U -N -D -S.

No, I'm sorry. It's Moundville, M -O -U -N -D -ville, Alabama.

Ted, who says, I'm wondering if Pastor Jakowitz could address the frequent declarations that the coronavirus is a manifestation of God's wrath.

Perhaps it is. But how are we to distinguish between those active exercises of God's wrath and the natural and expected outworking of living in a sinful world?

Or is every human crisis, COVID -19, AIDS, 9 -11, the

Holocaust, school shootings, down to the wrath of God?

Very good question, although I am puzzled and curious where Ted is frequently hearing that COVID -19 is part of the wrath of God, because I'm not hearing that anywhere other than perhaps a guest on this program.

But anyway, if you could, Joe. Right, people don't want to hear about the wrath of God.

They only want to hear about the love of God and positive things. Well, we learn in Scripture that we can't appreciate the positive things, the good news of salvation and the blessings connected with it, unless we can appreciate first the bad news and take heed to the bad news, which is hell and sin and the wrath of God.

So we have both the love of God and the wrath of God taught in the Scripture. As far as whether or not the coronavirus is a manifestation of the wrath of God, it is, it is.

But we don't know all of the nuances and all of the reasons why.

For some people, God uses the coronavirus as a form of punishment or chastisement, even for Christians.

Not punishment, but chastisement. That would be for Christians who do not ever receive

God's wrath, but only chastisement. Truly born again, truly regenerate

Christians we're referring to. Correct. For others, he uses it for other reasons.

God's wrath and the reasons why some people suffer and are punished in one way or another way are rooted in the mysteries of God's kingdom.

But many times it's obvious to a person that if they get sick, whether it's the coronavirus or some other disease, it is for either punishment for an unsaved person or chastisement for a believer.

But to understand why in every situation and with every person, nobody can know but God.

But clearly diseases, pestilences, sicknesses are a form of punishment.

All sickness is tied back to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. It's the consequences of our sin.

But for the believer, God says, whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives.

So all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose.

But you won't hear that on television or on cable or in all of the ecumenical, liberal, modernistic outlets, church outlets and teaching outlets, because many so -called pastors are afraid to give a biblical, balanced teaching on the subject of the wrath and punishment of God for fear of losing income or funds or church members.

They always want to be like a Joel Osteen and try to turn even the smallest little negative thing into an unscriptural positive that cannot be justified from the

Word of God. So we need to approach the subject from what

Scripture alone says about such things. And the Bible is full from Genesis to Revelation, chock full of instances where God poured out his wrath upon nations, even upon the whole world in the flood of Noah, but lesser forms when he would punish nations.

He would use one nation to punish another. There's individual chastisement, individual punishment.

There's punishment in all different forms on all different levels. And there is a multilevel application of God's wrath in many different situations.

It's not a one -dimensional approach to the wrath of God. Whenever a disaster happens, for example, in the case of the coronavirus, on a pandemic scale, there's a multilevel application for every individual, for every nation, for different groups, for the church.

And people need to be listening to God when he shakes the world to get our attention.

We may not be able to tell what that application and meaning is on every different level and in every different application to the individual or to the state or to the world, but many of us will have a very instinctive sense that it is at least a wake -up call for the individual.

Now, first of all, I want to clarify something that I said before when

I was talking about the responses of many pastors on the radio station that I worked for a number of years ago that were really spouting nothing but patriotism and diminishing or removing altogether

God's role in what occurred. I am a patriot. I don't mean to diminish patriotism by those comments, but I'm just saying that there are some, perhaps many, if not most in the media who are from a conservative background where they take their patriotism, which can be and should be a good and godly thing, they turn it into an idol, and they act as if this country would never deserve any kind of judgment from God.

They would be aghast to hear somebody from a more theologically reformed perspective say that.

Now, having said that, a part of Ted's question is an excellent question because even people in our camp of Calvinists, if you will, have misused this truth of God's wrath, and perhaps even more than our fellow

Calvinists, interesting bedfellows, but Pentecostals have at times really abused these situations by claiming that they know with certainty because God has revealed to them specifically in detail the reasons why

God has unleashed His judgment or wrath or chastisement. If you could speak for a brief moment, when we return, because we have to go to our final break right now, but when we return, speak to the misuse of that truth that God does have wrath and judgment and chastisement, that He does use not only the sins of men but also, quote -unquote, natural calamities as a way of bringing a wake -up call to the world.

And we'll have you do that when we return. This is our final break. This is going to be a much shorter break than normal. Send in your emails, if you have a question, immediately to ChrisArnson at gmail .com.

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And Joe, as we were reflecting upon Ted from Moundville, Alabama's question, part of his question was, is every human crisis,

COVID -19, AIDS, 9 -11, the Holocaust, school shootings, down to the wrath of God, obviously

Christians have to be careful, number one, not to remove God from any event that happens in heaven and on earth because God is intimately and intricately involved in everything that occurs.

I mean, he decrees all that occurs. But at the same time, not everything is his wrath.

Like, for instance, the Word of Faith movement, the heretical Pentecostal extremist movement, they would tell people that if they are dying of cancer or if they have any kind of an illness, oh, it's your fault because your faith is not strong enough.

And obviously some of the greatest heroes of the Christian faith have died, even some of them in their 20s.

So obviously that's a horrible and harmful false teaching.

So if you could kind of distinguish for Ted, what's the difference between God's sovereignty in an event and his wrath specifically?

Well, God's wrath has a completely different purpose in a whole different category other than punishment or the pouring out of anger on somebody because they sinned against God.

There is God's wrath in connection with punishing sin, but then there is

God's teaching ministry. He uses pain in the lives of believers to teach us how to be holy, to mature us, and cause growth in our life, even though that pain may come upon us in the form of an illness or a disease, could even be the coronavirus.

But it does not mean that that pain is connected with sin.

Sometimes we say, why is this pain happening to me, Lord? What did I do wrong?

We didn't necessarily commit any sin that drew down this chastisement of pain, but God uses it as a teaching tool to mature us as Christians.

To answer the other part of the question, like I said, the Bible has a lot to say about God's wrath as a form of punishment and as a form of chastisement and as a form or tool of teaching for believers and unbelievers alike to get our attention.

But when we talk about wrath, the Bible depicts an angry God towards sin and sinners.

The Bible says God is angry with the sinner every day, with the wicked every day.

One not even depart the book of Romans, and there's much to say about his wrath towards unsaved people who rebel against God, who live in disobedience against God daily.

In Romans 1, 28, he says, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,

God gave them over to a debased mind to do these things or those things which are not fitting.

In this case, his wrath would be manifested in giving them over to let them do what they want to do.

In verse 32, it says, knowing the righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things are deserving of death.

Many who practice sin, who rebel, who live a wicked, ungodly lifestyle, in their conscience they instinctively know that they deserve punishment.

And then in chapter 2, verse 3 and following, it says, and do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?

Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance, but in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in that day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

He's referring, Chris, here to judgment day when all the ungodly will be punished for their sin and cast into the lake of fire.

Verse 6 continues, who will render to each one according to his deeds eternal life to those who by patient continuance and doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality, but to those who are self -seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, tribulation, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, of the

Jew first and also of the Greek. So those who say that we are suffering in the flesh because we don't have faith in God do not understand

God's wrath. There are many attributes or character traits of God and we have to recognize them.

One of them is his wrath. The Bible says his wrath is a strange thing.

It says he desires to do good and to help people, but very often after much patience and forbearance with a sinner he will pour out his wrath on them because he does not show discrimination.

Look, can I just add one or two more things before we close because we're getting close to the end?

We'll have any of our listeners waiting. We are going to be doing this every Friday on this topic with Joe Jacowicz amongst the five programs weekly that will be airing.

Friday will be designated for Joe Jacowicz's updates on coronavirus. But go ahead, Joe. So please invite your friends and family members to tune in because it's on the mind of everybody right now.

Bring a pencil and paper with you. We'll give you many thoughts from the Scripture, many things that you can share with others.

Every Friday on Iron Sharpens Iron with Chris and I at 1 p .m.

Pacific time, 4 p .m. East Coast time. So we read in the

Scripture that they're in such a terrible disaster as we're going through.

The challenge of the pandemic today is not only medical, but it's also profoundly spiritual.

And so the message for believers is that we have to trust in the

Lord and we have to look to him for grace and wisdom and knowledge and strength by the power of the

Holy Spirit to be equipped and to be prepared to be used by the

Master. And so when we look to the

Scripture, we see that we have to have a message of the cross.

We have to be preaching Christ. We can't be talking about works leading to salvation.

We have to be talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the doctrine of redemption, we need to become familiar with it.

We need to memorize verses connected with redemption, which is the deliverance by the payment of a ransom price that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.

We need to share the message of propitiation. These are big words.

They're in the Bible and it behooves us to understand what they mean because God put them there for an important reason.

Every word of God has been inspired by the Holy Spirit and has been put there for a reason.

Propitiation means to appease the wrath of God and satisfy God's justice and reconcile the sinner.

And we need to be talking about justification, where God declares the sinner to be righteous.

And by the way, Pastor Joe, we're going to have to continue this the next time you're on because we're out of time. Okay. Well, let me give out a website real quick.

Go to ChristBibleChurch .org as well as FirstLoveRadio .org.

So this coming Sunday at 1 p .m. Pacific Time, next Wednesday Bible Talk on FirstLoveRadio at 7, and then

Friday at 1 p .m. Pacific Time with Chris Arnzen. Great. And I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater

Savior than you are a sinner. I hope you all have a safe and blessed and God -honoring weekend and Lord's Day.