CHRISTAINITY AND THE CHALLENGE OF FAITH – EBOLA VIRUS I personally differ from the position of the Catholic Church on measures to prevent the deadly Ebola virus. The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, His Eminence, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, on Sunday gave a directive for the commencement of administering Holy Communion on the palm of the faithful as against placing it on the tongue of the recipient as a check on the spread of Ebola disease. This measure and other intending measures to be introduced in the Catholic Church order of worship over the fear of this deadly virus called Ebola, to me, depicts absolute lack of faith and trust in God. Before creation, God in His omniscient nature knew that epidemics would come the way of man. Therefore, i n any fear dominated situation like the one put in place now by the Ebola virus; God has raised hope for his people. Just hear what the bible (words of God whom we worship and whom we supposed to believe in) says in Psalm 91: “He that dwelt in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almight. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers and under his wings shall thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shall not be afraid for the terror of the night; nor for the arrow that flies by the day. Nor for the pestilence that walks in a darkness; nor destruction that wastes at noon day. A thousand shall fall by your side, and ten thousand by yours right hand but it shall not come near you. You can only hear it with your ears and behold it with your eyes.......” Brethrens, where lies our faith as Christians? By this I do not mean that as a Christian, you will expose yourself to obvious dangers and believe that Abraham will come and save you as a father, no. I as a Christian believe in the efficacy of the sanctuary of the church. It is a fact that many Christians may know about the existence of God as the creator of heaven and earth but some of them do not know about the existence and limit of the power of God and these are the people the bible referred to in Hosea 4:6 (My people perish because they lack knowledge of God). Knowing God is one thing and knowing about the power of God is another thing. Those that believe in God are called God’s children and they the beneficiaries of the promises of God in Psalm 91. So, let not your mind be troubled about Ebola and other similar epidemics.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 21:38:52 +0000