Tunde Kara: How Ebola has been killing faith in Christianity since 1976

by Tunde Kara
I was raised the Christian way; taught to believe in the Almighty God. I believe the bible stories my mum read (still reads) to me; stories of Jesus laying hands on all types of sick people and healing them… but then came Ebola.

At 2am this morning, in the usual supine position, where all the “great” thoughts come to me, I’m suddenly thinking, “if Jesus were here now, will he refuse to lay hands on the sick and dying of the Ebola virus disease? Would he gather them together, touch them and tell them, they have been made whole?” Food for thought.

Ok so, maybe I misled you just a tad bit with the tone of my first paragraph. You see, I really was raised in the no-holds-barred-Christian-faith-way, but just like many other information inundated millennial Christians, I have grown to become a Realist-Christian. The kind who has faith, but still respects the facts. The “faith without works is dead” kind. The barely religious kind.

So it was only natural, I thought it extremely savvy, when the Lagos state government paid a courtesy visit to TB Joshua, with an ill disguised plea, that he discourage strongly, the influx of EVD infected patients to his church. He obliged. I was relieved. Then it hit me.

Brace yourself, ‘cos now I’m going to say (better still ask) what other realism practicing Christians have been too afraid to, “doesn’t the very notion that men of God ask the sick to stay away from the church, fly in the very face of the faith we espouse?” Pause. Stop, really think about this.

James 5: 14 & 15 offers an interesting angle to view this from, “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”

If you’re like me, you’ve probably quickly spotted with relief the answer to this conundrum inside those verses – the Elders/Priest/Pastor go to the sick, the sick don’t come to them or the church. Whoop-whoop, hallelujah, hi5-your-neighbor, problem solved, right? Hold your horses.

If you really are like me, then you’d have probably spotted the caveat buried therein – what if the priest now catchesthe disease nko? But you see, thinking like this also flies in the face of the faith we were raised in. Then again, we respect the facts right? And the facts say – priests/pastors get sick and spread disease too.

Fact is, they can innocuously infect a lot more people than the average person, because they tend to meet with more people than the average person does. Case study – the priests of 14th century Europe and the Bubonic plague aka Black Death.

So as people of faith, how do we solve this problem with said faith still intact? Mind you, if you say, “leave this to the medics, it’s too infectious, let them deal”, what right do we then have to apply faith to other ailments? Or is our faith selective, can it only deal with some and not with others?  Pause. Stop, really think about this.

I am afraid for my faith.

Comments (3)

  1. Sir, Jesus did give prophecies about this very disease didn’t he???

    Matt 24:7
    For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and PESTILENCES(EPIDEMICS) and earthquakes in place after place;

    Then he said in verse 8

    8All this is but the beginning [the early pains] of the [c]birth pangs [of the [d]intolerable anguish].

    Sir do you also seem to remember.maybe children Sunday school class where they told us Jesus then later Paul gave word that men will begin to literally crave other men sexually.
    Did it come to pass..or not??

    if I were you…it’d only strengthen my faith knowing the signs are showing that the Master returns soon…

    And to be sincere ..I wouldn’t be half surprised if something ….anything worse than Ebola comes along…
    Jesus is the Healer. 2000 yrs of waiting didn’t change Him.

  2. I don’t know what your faith is, but I’m not afraid for my faith because I put my faith in God who raises the dead. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If you would examine all things in the light of God’s Word you would see that Holy Spirit has guided His servant T.B. Joshua according to the scriptures. T.B. Joshua said that good Christians are good citizens referring to Romans 13:1. This is why he told Ebola victims to stay in their country instead of visiting his church because the governments have ordered laws against it. Does that mean he is refusing them prayer? Absolutely not! T.B. Joshua say’s distance is not a barrier to the Word of God which we can see in Matthew 8:13. That means they don’t have to physically go to his church to receive healing. They can receive right where they are. That is not even an issue because not only is T.B. Joshua praying for them on Emmanuel TV he has even sent 4,000 bottles of his Anointing Water to Ebola victims along with humanitarian aid. Don’t doubt your faith doubt your doubts because their unreliable.

  3. I am not afraid for my faith…He is the same yesterday, today and forever, even if He decides not to intervene as shadrach and his brothers wake-up I will still choose to hold on to my faith. I encourage you to do same. Look up to God not men.

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