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What an incredible week we had in late 2020 here in Adelaide, South Australia. It would be fair to say one minute everything was as it usually is, just with social distancing for those who do it, but the next minute everything changed. Behind the scenes there was “a storm brewing in a teacup” (“tempest in a teapot” for the Americans) and this was revealed after the whole state was placed into sudden lockdown from midweek at midnight. The streets were laid bare with not even a dog to be seen, the beaches empty as nobody was allowed to exercise in the great outdoors, and the majority of businesses closed. There was to be strictly no movement outside of our homes for 6 days unless we were essential workers, required food or necessities from the supermarket, pharmacy, or had to attend medical appointments, and then only one person per household to go for up to one hour maximum and come straight back home again. What happened? The Premier, Police Chief and the Chief Public Health Officer all held TV press conferences to reveal the lockdown was necessary to fight and stamp out a particularly virulent COVID strain which suddenly struck the community.
After a couple of days involving exhausting contact tracing concerning those who were COVID positive, it was dramatically and suddenly revealed that a person had lied about their circumstances which altered everything. Based on his coming forth with the truth upon a further interview, finally revealing that he was an employee and not a customer of the pizza shop in question where another employee had tested positive for the COVID virus, we were told our lockdown would be cut short to 3 days instead of the original 6 with the possibility of being another 8 days to total 14 days. This news was shocking to the statewide population of almost 1.8 million people who attempted to make sense of the serious nature of the situation, while most of us found it not only incredulous but crazy. Nobody suspected such a predicament.
It was subsequently confirmed that the transmission of the virus was from another employee to the man who lied, and not from touching a pizza box. Police guards were then placed outside the pizza shop to prevent any possible attacks on the Woodville Pizza Bar. Apparently as per TV news reports, social media went viral with many citing anger, rage, and fury due to missing out on funerals, weddings, and important events while hundreds of businesses such as venues in the hospitality trade binned all their fresh produce that would not last for the duration of the mandatory 6 days in lockdown while forced to close to the public. Millions of dollars were lost because of just one individual lying out of fear from the likelihood of being found out that he had a cash job and did not want to declare this to the Taxation Department. He will not be prosecuted due to a loophole in the law but I heard it said that the people concerned will work on this to rectify it by changing the law shortly so that this cannot ever happen again. Currently all we know is that he is Spanish, 36 years of age and is living here legally on an appropriate visa, however authorities are looking into deporting him.
When the Premier of South Australia announced the discovery of the lie, he stated that he was more than furious and, against the recommendations of the Chief Health Officer, would lift some of the restrictions such as walking the dog and outdoor exercise, effective immediately amongst family members from the same household. Mr. Marshall did this to make amends for the “unfairness” of the situation and most likely to soften the blow of his message because he knew many people would be absolutely furious and may want to take revenge, therefore he gave us something to be grateful for. It seems as though some are truly waking up to the realisation that their daily freedoms are somewhat taken for granted while others complain no matter what and can only focus on the negatives rather than focussing on any positives.
Sometimes the messenger has to deal with very angry people when the message is strong or of content that is not popular or not what people want to hear. God has appointed messengers all throughout history to declare that His Kingdom was coming to earth and for the people to repent from their sins by changing their ways in order to live righteously. A very well known messenger recorded in our Bible was John the Baptist whose head was cut off after being thrown into prison (Matthew 14:1-12 and Mark 6:17-29). His message was to “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand”. These were not smooth words he said “just so” in order to soothe people into wanting to change because the Truth is not like that, the Truth does not change and it can be very bold and confronting. The Truth causes us to think, evaluate and assess whether we need a course correction. All of us do at some stage but so many want to do whatever feels right or seems right in their own eyes rather than what they should be doing. Empty and vain pride, egos, and selfish carnal human nature often get in the way instead of putting others before oneself (Philippians 2:3). Sound familiar? I was like that before God invited me to follow Him, just like Jesus Christ said to His 12 apostles in the gospels “Come, follow Me” (Matthew 4:18-20, 9:9, Mark 1:19-20, Luke 5:27-28, and John 1:43-45).
Imagine being a messenger like Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Amos, Habakkuk, Joel, John the Baptist, Hosea, Micah, Obadiah, and many notable others from our Holy Bible. These were men God chose to preach to the people of their day, to warn, admonish, and to urge them to wake up and change. They were ignored for the most part, scorned, scoffed and laughed at, ridiculed, persecuted, and some went through very dark times of wondering if it was all worth it. Ultimately of course they knew it was and remained close and faithful to God. What about us? Are we messengers in these modern days as we live our lives in the end times? We probably don’t think of ourselves primarily in this way but more in the context of living a life as a good example to others who may ask us why we are different to the vast majority in this world. We do not go about shouting out loudly on street corners that the end is nigh or “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand” but rather, we use Godly wisdom by living righteously whether we are noticed or not. There is plenty of message in our examples that may have a profound impact on others. So we do have an important message to convey by living our lives according to God’s 10 Commandments and laws, and Jesus’ testimony, whether people realise this or not.
We are told to be ready with an answer for the hope that lies within us, as stated in 1 Peter 3:13-15, which affords an opportunity for the delivery of a simple, yet very powerful message. People do notice. human nature accepts the message more readily when asking for themselves rather than when we initiate by proclaiming confidently that the Kingdom of God will be ushered in when Jesus Christ returns to earth. That’s just the way it is, however we can be messengers to those around us via our loving examples and actions day after day, and when we gather with friends and loved ones. So we are messengers even though most of the time we are not using words. The messenger is less likely to be “shot down in flames” when delivering quietly, consistently, diligently, efficiently, considerately, and above all with Agape love for others. So, keep on keeping on delivering the best message you can, never wavering, never growing weary or tired in doing good for to this you were called according to God’s great purpose (Galatians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 15:58, 2 Thessalonians 3:13, Hebrews 12:3, and 1 Peter 2:21).