Good things as well as bad, you know, are caught by a kind of infection.
If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire:
if you want to be wet you must get into the water.
If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life,
you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.
They are not a sort of prize which God could,
if He chose, just hand out to anyone.
They are a great fountain of energy and beauty
spurting up at the very centre of reality.
If you are close to it, the spray will wet you:
if you are not, you will remain dry.
Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever?
Once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die?
~C.S. Lewis- Mere Christianity
As society becomes more divided about how to manage continued COVID pandemic spread with new long-term medical complications among young and old — I wonder what is it that is truly infecting us aside from a tiny packet of RNA?
We are willing to believe almost anything without verification if it suits our previously held viewpoints; we can’t discern truth from fiction if it appears in a youtube video or a clickable headline.
The forces of evil are using a virus to divide and conquer good and well- meaning people who become infected without realizing it, spreading a contagion of suspicion, distrust and conspiracy theories.
Out of caution, as I’ve done for forty years inside the walls of my clinic, I now glove and mask outside the clinic to prevent me from inadvertently infecting others. Just as it has been during my whole professional career, taking those precautions doesn’t infringe on my rights nor does it harm me. It simply shows my careful consideration for others around me. Yet, more than ever, I am unwillingly exposed to the sad reality of this fallen fragile world through the angry words and deeds of others.
Instead, I want to be infected and contagious with the reality of God. I seek out the life-saving vaccination of God’s Word: eternal, unchanging and 100% effective.
If I’m to be contagious to others, let it be because I’m overwhelmed with the Spirit, not dangling helplessly by a mere thread in a pandemic spread of suspicion and distrust.
Barnstorming 
Most excellent. Thank you.♥
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Great post, Emily. Thank you. It occurs to me that conspiracy theories have been around since the Garden of Eden when the serpent convinced Adam and Eve that God didn’t really have their best interests in mind.
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So very true!
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Well said, Emily. Well said. For some time I have believed that we are in the throes of ‘spiritual warfare.’ It is not new. It has existed among mankind for eons.
The Hebrew Prophets warned of it, to no avail. As a result of the people’s turning away from Yahweh, they were taken from their homeland and enslaved.
We have received warnings. We must see ‘the signs of the times’. We must recognize the relenting evil among us. Have we not been told that we will be known
(and judged) by our ‘fruits,’ our actions, of goodness and evil’?
I am in constant fear of what is happening in our world, I wake in the middle of the night, fearing for our children and grandchildren and the world that they will
be inheriting. However, what can we do except to live and treat each human being kindly and with compassion and try to spread the Word of God, through Jesus’
teaching. I cry into my pillow, I ache to flee into Jesus’ arms where I will be ‘safe;’ and not affected by the horror of the now and the future. But then I recall how
Jesus, too, asked His Father to ‘take this cup,’ accepting the reality of His mission – and knew how it would end.
It may seem to some that I am being dramatic.That what is happening today is not the same as what has occurred millennia ago. True. But was that a ‘warning’
to the people of that time? Yes, I believe it was. BUT, I also believe that a loving God was not, is not, the cause. It is our own will in action – not God the Father nor
His Son, Jesus the Christ, nor our Soul, His gift to us.
It is through human actions and desires by encouraging Godlessness in our lives through assenting to greed, hatred of the other, genocide, abortion, euthanasia,
despoiling forever our magnificent environment that gives us such unique pleasure.
Thank you, Emily, for helping me to interpret your message today.
Love,
Alice
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Oh dear Alice, it is a discouraging time indeed, but Jesus will wait for you as you complete His plan on earth. Your testimony continues to inspire me! Love, Emily
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What a beautiful and inspiring post, Emily.
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