As reports of the coronavirus spread around the world, Christian leaders are discussing how they should respond to the outbreak. Throughout history, many pastors have had to think through similar challenges.
Speaking during the inaugural Phaneroo Global School Of Ministry (PGSOM) online experience, Apostle Grace Lubega narrated how the early church responded to global health crises.
In the midst of trial and uncertainty over life-threatening plagues, Apostle Lubega said there were individuals in Christian history who were “awakened and aligned” to ministry in the same season.
He highlighted among others the Church response to the Spanish flu, also known as the 1918 flu pandemic.
Reports show that this was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. During the pandemic, restrictions on public gatherings affected churches.
Lasting from 1917 to 1920, the virus infected one-third of the earth’s population, which at the time was about 1.8 billion people. According to sources, if the same ratio of infections were to happen today, it would be the equivalent of 2.5 billion infected.
During such time, Apostle Lubega stated that the Church did not flee, but boldly stood in the gap along with others to minister hope and the Word of God in a desperate situation.
In August 1527, Apostle Grace Lubega revealed how the plague had struck Martin Luther’s city of Wittenberg, and many of Luther’s fellow citizens ran for their lives.
Martin Luther reportedly chose to stay to minister despite being surrounded by the disease and its suffering victims.
For Luther, Apostle Lubega explained that his work was grounded on the fact that the church is called to service of her neighbor, particularly in times of distress.
Moving on, Apostle Grace Lubega also introduced viewers to John G. Lake who was a missionary to South Africa from 1908 to 1913.
While there, the Apostle narrated how a horrific bubonic plague broke out.
“John Lake was caring for the sick,” Apostle Lubega said. “Britain sent a ship of medical supplies and a corps of doctors to him. The doctors asked Lake how he had protected himself from the deadly plague. His answer was, “I believe ‘the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death (Rom.8:2).’ As long as I walk in the light of that law [of the Spirit of life], no germ will attach itself to me.”
“The doctors were unconvinced, so John G. Lake insisted they do a microscopic experiment on him. Lake showed them that if one of them took bubonic plague foam from the lungs of a dead person and put it under a microscope, the disease cells would still live. If they put the foam in Lake’s hand, and then looked at it under the microscope, they saw that all of the disease cell’s instantly died, proving what Lake said to be true,” Apostle Lubega narrated.
In another related incident, on August 12, 1866, during the cholera outbreak in London, Charles H. Spurgeon who was England’s best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century, stayed behind to care for the sick and dying during the great plague.
Apostle Grace urged that times of global health crises provide churches and ministries with a unique opportunity to engage perhaps the least churched generation in history.
Today, the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic also known as COVID-19 and its impact on many, including Churches have that been ordered to halt public gatherings temporarily.
“COVID-19 has had its damage on the earth, we have felt it financially, socially, politically, spiritually, but we all know that, ‘when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.’ (Isaiah 59:19). Much as we are seeing these deaths and all the other things that are happening, how many people are actually asking; what is the Spirit of God up to?,” Apostle Grace Lubega questioned.
The team leader of Phaneero Ministries International believes that during this pandemic, the church now more than ever before has the opportunity to reveal the love of God in its full sense and power.
Unfortunately, he said, the church has “wasted a lot of time in conspiracies” of where the coronavirus came from.
“There is something we can do when we start to seek the mind of God on why are we alive to see this. Because, the prophetic clock has intended that you are alive in this period and hour to see and witness these things. You could go through this period as a survivor or you can come out of this period with a message and testimony, because more than ever before God is steering the prophetic voice of the church,” he said.
“The world is looking for an answer, and I feel that the rumblings of revival are somewhere in the hearts of men. It is just that something needs to be stirred on our continents and media. Wheresoever we are, we need to take opportunity of this hour because more than ever before men are attending to God,” he continued.
Apostle Lubega said he believes the lockdown has been a season of “awakening us to really hear God.”
“This period has shaken too much in the spirit realm, and I can assure you that some ministries after this are never going to remain the same again,” he said.
Regarding the reopening of Church buildings, the preacher said:
“The word of God is not in chains and as of weather the government opens these places tomorrow or next week, we are going to continue preaching the gospel through any means necessary. We are without excuse, because we have God, we have the anointing of the Holy spirit.. God can move any way and any how. If you need to open a place of worship to serve God, then you are limited in your understanding of God. I am not against it, I am praying to God that they open these places, but even if they don’t yet, we will still preach the gospel.”
