Devout Christians have taken to social media in light of the coronavirus outbreak to show the eerie similarities between current events and the prophecy of the end of the world presented in the New Testament in the Book of Revelation.

The book describes a series of catastrophic events which will ravage the world, some perpetrated by the titular Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Though the roles of these riders have multiple interpretations, they are often recognized as: War, Plague, Famine and Death.

Similarities between these descriptions and current events appear too similar for some to disregard, and they have taken to social media to declare that we are living at the end of days.

“Those who know nothing of the New Testament or about Armageddon might think this is the end of days, but it really isn’t,” Jeff Keenley, a theology expert, told Mako.

SOURCE: The Jerusalem Post, Omri Ron

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Evangelist and pastor Andrew Hamilton contacted Black Christian News Network One (BCNN1.com) to inform us that pastor Kenny Baldwin of Crossroads Baptist Church in Baileys Crossroads in Fairfax County has been diagnosed with the coronavirus. Members of the church were advised to self-quarantine at home for 14 days. The Fairfax County Health Department said he became ill with respiratory symptoms on March 12 while traveling out of state. Pray for the family and the church.

Latest updates:

Baptist Pastor Contracts COVID-19, Church Attacks Media

After the pastor of a black Baptist church in Virginia tested positive for COVID-19, the church attacked local media for reporting on his case and how he may have put others in the community at risk. The pastor joins a number of clergy members across the country struck by the respiratory disease caused by coronavirus, including the Episcopal rector at Christ Church Georgetown in Washington, D.C., two Catholic priests in Brooklyn, New York, and an Episcopal rector (who is the sister of actor Matthew Broderick) in Beverly Hills, California.

As of March 21, more than 307,000 people globally have been infected, and more than 13,000 have died. The United States, the country with the third-highest number of infected persons, has more than 26,000 who have tested positive and 340 dead.

On Thursday (March 19), Crossroads Baptist Church in Bailey’s Crossroads, a Virginia suburb in the Washington, D.C. area, posted on its website that its senior pastor, Kenny Baldwin, was in the hospital being treated for pneumonia. They urged prayers for his recovery as “as doctors fully diagnose him and determine the best course of treatment.” The next day, the church posted an update explaining that while Baldwin was doing better, he had tested positive for COVID-19.

“The doctors suspected this from the time he was admitted, but we obviously had to await confirmation,” the church’s statement added. “They have treated him for the last couple of days with that possibility in mind, and they believe he has endured the worst and is on the upswing. By God’s grace we are navigating this situation.”

The church provided visitor card information and video surveillance to help the Fairfax County Health Department contact individuals who attended the service, recommending the attendees self-quarantine for 14 days to prevent the spread of the virus in the community. The church had previously canceled all upcoming in-person church services.

After a local NBC affiliate reported March 20 on Baldwin’s status, the church posted a lengthy update on their website the next day attacking the station for “incorrect statements” and encouraging church members to contact the station with complaints about the story by reporter Shomari Stone.

The church’s Facebook page included a link to their online statement, but also added on March 21 about the news report: “Satan is busy, but we are not ignorant of his ways.”

The first complaint listed on the church’s website was that the anchor introducing the segment said members who attended the March 15 service needed “self-quarantine until the end of the month” when the actual date is March 29 (the date the reporter said later in the actual segment). The church’s statement argued that saying “the end of the month” is off by two days and “creates a more ominous and newsworthy statement.”

The church also complained the reporter implied “our pastor conducted services on Sunday with a suspicion of being ill.” Yet, the church’s statement calling the report “untrue” actually noted Baldwin went to a local clinic two days before the service with a fever, headache, and sore throat while in North Carolina. They claim a doctor told him his “symptoms were not consistent with COVID-19” so he continued with his preaching as he was “feeling well and being asymptomatic” on Sunday.

The church particularly criticized the reporter for noting that the Thursday before the March 15 service Virginia Governor Ralph Northam “declared a state of emergency and advised all Virginians to avoid large gatherings.” Northam did make that declaration, and the next day closed all public schools in the state.

Source: Word and Way

Pastor in Bailey’s Crossroads tests positive for coronavirus

Pastor Kenny Baldwin of Crossroads Baptist Church in Bailey’s Crossroads has tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19).

He became ill with respiratory symptoms on March 12 while traveling out of state, the Fairfax County Health Department states, and is currently hospitalized. Baldwin is in his 40s.

Crossroads Baptist Church reported on Friday evening that doctors informed Baldwin his X-rays look good and he is improving.

He was initially treated for pneumonia after he was admitted to the hospital. Doctors suspected he had COVID-19, and that was confirmed March 20.

“By God’s grace we are navigating this situation as a church family. More important than anything is his recovery, the well-being of his wife and family, and our church family,” Crossroads Baptist Church states.

Some services and activities at Crossroads Baptist were cancelled on March 15 and all activities were cancelled on March 17. Services are being live-streamed.

The Fairfax County Health Department is conducting a contact investigation and is notifying everyone who attended the church’s morning service on March 15 that they should self-quarantine at home for 14 days.

Quarantining at home means not going to work or school and not attending public gatherings, or using public transportation or ride-sharing, the department states. While at home, contact with other family members should be limited. For anyone who attended the March 15 service and was infected with COVID-19, symptoms – fever, cough, and difficulty breathing – would likely appear before March 29.

Source: Annandale Blog

Fairfax pastor tests positive for coronavirus

The pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church in the Baileys Crossroads area of Fairfax County has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, the Fairfax health department said Friday, and members of the congregation who attended the church’s morning service last Sunday were advised to self-quarantine at home for 14 days.

The church identified the pastor as Kenny Baldwin, and said he is hospitalized. The Fairfax County Health Department said he became ill with respiratory symptoms on March 12 while traveling out of state. He was tested on March 18, and the results were received on Friday.

“The doctor informed him today that his x-rays look better and he is improving,” the church said on its website Friday night. Baldwin is in his 40s, the health department said.

Crossroads Baptist is located at 5811 Hoffmans Lane, just south of Columbia Pike. The church held an 11 a.m. service last Sunday, but did not have Sunday school or its regular 6 p.m. service. The health department notified visitors to the 11 a.m. service that they should not go to work or school, attend public gatherings or use public transportation until March 29.

Source: Washington Post

Virginia Church Community Prays for Pastor With Coronavirus

Crossroads Baptist Church Pastor Kenny Baldwin has stepped down from the pulpit after testing positive for coronavirus. News4’s Darcy Spencer spoke with Baldwin’s brother about how he is recovering.

Source: NBC Washington

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DULUTH, Ga. (BP) — By now there are very few places untouched by the lifestyle changes required to adjust to COVID-19. Travel restrictions and social distancing seem to be common bywords, and that affects how we think about missions in the near future.

So how does an evangelical Christian balance the call to be missional and yet maintain a social responsibility in a pandemic situation?

William Carey is called the father of the modern missions movement. When Carey first introduced his “Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens” in the late 18th century, his treatise was not given a warm reception by every single church member. In fact, some felt that living missionally through “means” was antithetical to faith in God’s sovereignty. However, the Bible and church history side with Carey to teach us that to follow Christ is to use the means He gives for the moment He allows.

When Jesus commissioned the first 120 believers of Jerusalem with the task of global mission (Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1:15), He knew some of them would be impeded from actually getting out of town (Luke 21:12). The persecution He promised, though, would still be a part of His plan to put the Gospel in front of kings and governors. It would simply be a different means of getting His message where He wanted it go.

Paul’s missionary method sometimes involved going on trips, but sometimes it involved staying to train others (Acts 19:9-10). Moreover, Paul did missions even when his Roman imprisonment delayed him from “going” to Spain (Rom. 15:24), especially as some of the most missional epistles were written during this time. The perceived delays simply opened up a different means for the spread of the Gospel.

With current social distancing, we now meet a more formidable opponent to our usual face-to-face missional experiences. Flights are cancelled. Borders are closed. So, what should we use to continue living out the Great Commission? I’d like to propose four means:

1. Personal Technology. We now have at our disposal the technological means for communication in a way that Paul couldn’t dream. William Carey may have had no idea that the 21st century would be granted with such technological advances that we might literally reach any single lost soul in the world within minutes.

Our phones still work. We can call friends living overseas and be acquainted with their friends with similar likes or careers. We can talk to church leaders in Peru, pastors in Ecuador, or deacons in Guatemala with words of encouragement and/or training. And personally, we can find a long-distance friend with whom we can share the gospel.

Source: Baptist Press

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Though President Donald Trump has publicly identified as a Presbyterian and Protestant, and is often associated with evangelical leaders, there is a wide range of opinions among Americans about the details of his religious beliefs and practices, Pew Research Center says.

The polling agency reports that its research into Trump’s religion reveals that half of American adults say they’re either “not sure what his religion is (34 percent) or that he has no religion (16 percent),” while “just 33 percent say he’s Protestant.”

Overall, the report said, Americans “don’t think Trump is particularly religious.” Most say the president is “not too” (23 percent) or “not at all” (40 percent) religious. More than one-in-four (28 percent) say he’s “somewhat” religious, and less than one-in-ten – only 7 percent – say he’s “very religious,” according to the survey. Just more than a third (34 percent) express uncertainty about Trump’s specific religious affiliation.

The Pew report says Trump, a self-identified Presbyterian, is the ninth president to be affiliated with that Protestant faith group. A 2015 CNN report, published just over two months after Trump declared his candidacy, says that Trump attended First Presbyterian Church in the Jamaica neighborhood of New York’s Queens Borough. The report said he was confirmed there, according to a statement from the church, which was founded over 350 years ago.

Later, the report said, Trump attended Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan, which was founded in 1628. Norman Vincent Peale, author of The Power of Positive Thinking, was pastor of the church for 52 years from 1932-1984. Peale died in late 1993.

Trump “had a longstanding history” with the church where “his parents were for years active members and one of his children was baptized,” according to a statement from the church quoted in the report. The statement acknowledged at the time that Trump was “not an active member.” And now, Pew says, “Trump does not regularly attend a Presbyterian church.”

He associates with leaders in a range of faith groups, Pew says, including Paula White, his spiritual adviser, who previously led a Pentecostal-leaning church. Others include Southern Baptist leader Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church, Dallas.

Despite these and other public associations, Pew says that “fewer than half of Americans associate him with Christianity or, more specifically, Protestantism.”

Source: Christian Headlines

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During this unprecedented time in the world, it is vitally important that the people of God continue to raise one voice of praise even when we cannot join together in person. We are excited to invite you to a unique online night of worship and encouragement that you can experience from your own home.

Please join us for Generate Nation’s streaming event, The Power of Perspective: Lost and Found, hosted by Tony and Lois Evans’ four adult children as they carry God’s Word forward to the next generation.

Anthony Evans will lead us in worship. Anthony was featured on NBC’s The Voice and now leads thousands in worship as a solo artist and as a worship leader for churches and conferences around the world.

Following worship, we will be encouraged by a discussion between Anthony Evans, Jonathan Evans, Chrystal Hurst, and Priscilla Shirer. Jonathan is a sought-after speaker and teacher and serves as the chaplain for the Dallas Cowboys. Chrystal follows her mother’s legacy leading the Pastors’ Wives Ministry at The Urban Alternative. Priscilla is a nationally recognized speaker and author and leads Going Beyond Ministries.

This is a streaming event you won’t want to miss, so please register today and join us at 7:00 p.m. CT on March 28.

SOURCE: The Urban Alternative

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