Whenever you turn on the news, you’re bound to hear something about the coronavirus. Some say it’s not as big a deal as it’s made out to be, while others are sounding the alarm that it’s even worse than is being reported. But what the media isn’t telling you is how the coronavirus is affecting the church—and how God is moving in mighty ways even through the outbreak.
As dangerous as this virus is, it’s no match for the power of the Holy Spirit. Recently, I interviewed Dennis Balcombe, a missionary to China for the past 40 years. He shared some incredible insights into what God is doing through His people, including the sick coming for healing and people running to churches for hope.
I also recently had an eye-opening interview with Pastor Frank Amedia, whose ministry, POTUS Shield, has a close alliance with the Christian community in China. Amedia’s sources, whom he believes are reliable, can confirm Bolcombe’s report.
“We’ve had reports of Christians being healed of this virus by the power of God and the healing of God,” he says. “My sources tell me the same thing, whenever there is this kind of a problem—like there was with SARS.”
Amedia says the coronavirus is the third plague to hit China in the span of this generation. He points out that when the people can’t rely on their government, they look for help elsewhere—and that’s when the church has the opportunity to shine brightly with the gospel.
“We’re being told that people are coming in swarms to churches, house churches, that there’s gospel and evangelism going out in the streets, person to person, that there’s supernatural healing.”
In our interview, Amedia also shared some other shocking things about the coronavirus that the media isn’t reporting. According to Amedia’s sources, the numbers of deaths and infections are much higher than media outlets are portraying. In fact, he says the number of deaths is allegedly in the tens of thousands. It’s spread to the four corners of China, and there are actually quarantines in many areas. Amedia says this isn’t just something his Christian sources are telling him, but also his industrial sources such as businessmen.
The doctor who discovered the virus, who Amedia says was a Christian, brought his concerns about the coronavirus to the attention of the government in late December. In response, the government arrested him and seven other scientists and forced them to sign documents stating that they were wrong. That doctor has since died from the virus.
But where did this virus even come from? Amedia says it did not come from a marketplace as was previously thought. Instead, he believes it came from a P4 laboratory, which was located about 20 miles from the marketplace that was originally believed to be the starting point for the virus.
Tom Cotton of Arkansas is speaking out about this, though some label his words a conspiracy theory. According to Amedia, the Chinese ambassador is not denying that it could have come out of this lab, which surprised the White House.
Will the public ever know what really caused the coronavirus? Will the full truth ever come out? We might never know, but God can still continue to move powerfully through this horrible situation. That’s why Christians around the world must keep praying for this virus to be contained and eliminated. But we must also pray that in response to this frightening epidemic, people will keep flocking to Jesus Christ and create a revival in China.