1. The decisions being made in relation to COVID-19 is based on feelings NOT facts.

1.1. Dividing the CDC’s total number of deaths (for C-19) by the total number of confirmed cases, produces a worldwide and US survival rate of 97% (749k/20.6m;167k/5.25m).

1.2. Considering that only 21% of the US population has been tested and that 9% test positive means that we should increase the total number of cases (in the US) to 23m ([328m Americans*.79]*.09) rendering a survival rate of 99.4%

1.3. In addition it sb mentioned that many of those recorded as C-19 had pre-existing health issues or their primary cause of death was something else.

1.3.1. On that note, consider this statement made by Professor Walter Ricciardi, an advisor to Italy’s Minister of Health regarding Italy’s reporting of C-19:

“The way in which we code deaths in our country is very generous in the sense that all the people who die in hospitals with the coronavirus are deemed to be dying of the coronavirus. On re-evaluation by the National Institute of Health, only 12 percent of death certificates have shown a direct causality from coronavirus, while 88 percent of patients who [were recorded as C-19 deaths] have at least one pre-morbidity (or pre-existing condition) – many had two or three.”

1.3.2. A recent newspaper headline in Central California posted as its title :“Local virus (COVID-19) casualty was…beloved cowboy (Ken Machado).” However, when one reads the article itself (the following is revealed about Mr. Machado):

“while Ken Machado tested positive for COVID-19 after his death… Ken Machado had a number of existing conditions, including Lyme Disease – which he contracted about 20 years ago – and heart disease. His sister and other family members think these underlying conditions were exacerbated by the COVID-19 illness.

1.3.3. We also learn that Mr.Machado had undergone two major heart surgeries and retired at age 40 due to his Lyme Disease. Additionally, he had been in several significant automobile accidents prior to his death. Yet again, the media posts his death as caused by C-19.

1.3.4. In similar fashion, a death in Lehigh County, WA reads as follows:

“A 61-year-old Warren County man who tested positive for COVID-19 died at a Lehigh Valley hospital. Lehigh County Coroner Eric Minnich confirmed the patient died Friday night at St. Luke’s University Hospital in Fountain Hill. He said the primary cause of the man’s death was a head injury from a fall at home, but that the virus was listed as a contributing factor to his death.”

1.4. All said what that means is that what we are actually looking at as the survival rate for C-19 is closer to 99.9% (since once more, many of the deaths being counted as C-19 were actually caused by other things).

1.5. Now, imagine you were America’s government – or had the power to act in such a capacity. Given the above facts, would you make the decision to place our entire nation in quarantine, not only encroaching on the freedoms of her majority, but doing irreparable damage to her economic infrastructure – as well as causing major civil unrest?  Would you make that kind of a choice for something that has a survival rate of 99.9%? To put this in perspective, the survival rate for C-19 is the same as the rate of survival for women giving birth (99.9% survival rate). Do we stop women from having babies because less than one-tenth of a percent may die?

1.6. As I said, the hysteria surrounding this virus is based on feelings – NOT facts. If it were fact based, we would hardly even know C-19 existed (b/c nobody wb talking about it and few people are actually dying from it!).

1.7. The real threat (then) is not the virus but what the virus has revealed about the state of this nation (even the state of our world): We are a nation/world filled w/people who are controlled by their feelings. Hence the reason so many people have signs in their yard that say, “Love is love”  (iow: if it feels like love it is love), or so many people claiming to be Christian b/c their hearts tell them they love Jesus [which is the same as saying, “I am a Christian b/c I feel I am a Christian”). 

2. God did not give us feelings for the purpose of making decisions or discernment.

2.1. Feelings don’t think – which means they don’t attempt to discern whether the data/stimuli we are receiving is true or false, good or bad. They are instead like the indicator lights in your car. At their best, all they can do is simply indicate whether that data/stimuli we are receiving agrees or disagrees w/what we are currently (or used) believe to be true or false, good or bad (e.g. former Mormon in bible study who felt bad about having coffee at our bible study: he grew being taught that caffeine was evil).

2.2.  At their worst (which can be a frequent occurrence for some people), feelings by-pass what we know (or think) and instead respond strictly according to the data/stimuli coming in at that moment. Someone tells us something is good and we get good feelings or someone tells us something is bad and we get bad feelings with no regard for whether what we are being told agrees or disagrees with what we believe. IOW: we don’t think, we just “feel” our way thru life (I have even met people whose feelings were guided by the weather – bad weather = things are bad; good weather = things are good).

2.3. The really dangerous thing about a person who is driven/living by their feelings is that is they have no (real) control over their life.  Feelings don’t ask us before they respond or “feel” the way they do (they just do!). Which means a life of unpredictable havoc and disaster. It is a life characterized  by being tossed to and froe; a life of massive instability and manic depressive states (extreme happiness or hope one minute —to extreme gloom and hopelessness the next).

2.4. Another indication that this is (indeed the world we live in today) = Since the late 90’s, manic and bipolar diagnoses have increased over 400%!

2.5. The man building his house on the sand in Mat 7 could be said to be a person who lives according to their feelings since what they reject living by – according to that parable, are the facts. In this case, the most important facts, the facts found in God’s/Jesus’ Word – the Scriptures (and consider the results = His life ends in disaster – eternal disaster).

2.6. This is the reason the Apostle Paul includes in his summary of salvation the attribute of “self-control” – or control over one’s feelings (Act 24:25) since people who lack that – i.e. people who are driven/live by their feelings, will not make it to heaven. Hence the reason also Paul says what he does in 1Co 9:24-27 about “beating his body” into submission so that he is not “disqualified”. He is talking about the fight one must wage against their feelings if they are to get to heaven.

2.7. Making decisions or discerning things via how we feel is like using a spoon to cut your steak. A spoon is great when used for what it was made for (e.g. eating soup), but becomes worthless (even dangerous!) when used for something it was not made for (like cutting a steak!). Which means the old mantra, “follow your heart” is among the worst advice anyone could give (it’s like telling someone to cut their steak w/a spoon).

2.8. All of the above reasons, are why (then) God never tells us to use our feelings to make decisions or discern things in life.  The word Scripture uses to describe such actions (making decisions or discerning via our feelings) is “folly”. The Hebrew word means “senselessness” or “mindlessness”. It refers directly to a person operating according to their feelings versus the facts. Hence the reason those exercising folly are oftentimes juxtaposed against those using “knowledge” or “instruction” or “truth” (all words used in the Bible to identify what I am calling “facts”) (e.g. Pro 5:23 = No discipline in re: to a person’s mind  – or “minding the facts” means a life of folly or living by our feelings and being “led astray”; Pro 9:13 and 15:2, 14, 21 = Notice the contrast w/knowledge [or facts]; Pro 14:1, 8, 19:3; B/C of the FALL this is where we start life and what will continue to live by if it is not disciplined out of us – Pro 22:15).

3. Satan preys on our feelings (or feelings-driven people).

3.1. Satan’s first (and most devastating) con against mankind was a play on Eve’s feelings (Gen 3:1-6):

3.1.1. Satan’s first attack against Eve fails to land bc she responds according to the facts (1-3) = Notice she corrects him. God did not (as the serpent implies) say that “any” (or every) tree was off limits, just “the tree in the midst (or middle) of the garden”. Notice (btw) that living according to the facts means precision (it wasn’t all the trees – just one).

3.1.2. Satan (then) changes his strategy. This time he plays to her emotions/feelings (4-5) = The statement, “you will not surely die” followed by “For God knows when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” is an appeal to the woman’s emotions/feelings (he is attempting to elicit the feeling of doubt – and ultimately entitlement – God is keeping from her and the man what should be theirs – the right to also be God!).

3.1.3. The woman follows suit by making the decision to rebel (based not on fact) – but feeling (6) “When the woman saw that the tree…was a delight to the eyes…and was to be desired to make one wise” = These last two statements tell us that what prompted the woman’s action in taking the fruit and giving some to her husband, was motivated entirely by how she felt. In this case, how she felt about the appearance of fruit itself (“a delight to the eyes” is an idiomatic phrase referring to the feeling of pleasure one can experience when looking at something/someone – e.g. “you are a sight for sore eyes” ; the phrase “was to be desired to make one wise” is functioning as  superlative to the former phrase. What (then) we are being told is that the feeling of delight – or pleasure the woman was experiencing when looking at the fruit and thinking about the possibility of being wise – or more specifically wise like God, was incredibly strong. Like that of sexual attraction – SoS 2:3 – “w/great delight” = Literally, w/strong sexual desire) And b/c of such intense feelings, she makes the worst decision in all of human history – one that plunges mankind into a world of sin and death.

3.1.4. This (btw) is one the reasons God says women are never to be shepherds/pastors in the church (1Ti 2:14 = The woman’s potential to be deceived thru her feelings is higher than the man’s. Hence the reason Peter calls her the “weaker vessel” in 1Pe 3 and commands husbands to understand and help her w/this).

3.2. So committed is Satan to preying on us (and manipulating us) in this way (thru our feelings) that he even tried to do so in relation to Jesus (Mat 4:1-10) = Each of the things that Satan does are meant to push Jesus emotionally or pressure Him to act according to how He was feeling in each of those moments – whether it be to make bread when he felt hungry, or to be delivered by God when He felt in danger, or to compromise when He felt the power of being king of the world. Yet (notice) how Jesus responded – He fought Satan off by standing on the facts found in God’s Word (v4, 7, 10).

3.3. It is therefore no understatement to say that our feelings are our greatest enemies – the thing that will plunge us into a life of destruction (now) – as well as – for all eternity (2Pe 2:12 = Living by feelings [or “instinct”] is living like animals who are “born to be caught and destroyed”).

4. The only way to survive and thrive in this COVID (or feelings) crazed world is by sacrificing our feelings and operating according to the facts consistent w/God’s Word.

4.1. This is Paul’s instruction in Romans 12:1-2 and it is some of the most important in all of the Bible on this subject (Rom 12:1-2)

As mentioned in the main point, there are two parts or steps:

4.1.1 Sacrifice (or die to) our feelings

(1)  “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God…”  = What Paul is getting at by offering or sacrificing our bodies is our feelings. We are to die to them as that which controls our lives. This understanding of the word “bodies” is consistent w/how the term is understood elsewhere (in the Scripture). The “body” (or our “flesh”) is often associated w/emotions or feelings whereas the mind – or our soils/spirits are associated w/facts.

The first step to survival (then) is (again), to die to our feelings (or that way of living). This is also how we become NOT ONLY “holy and acceptable to God” but also ABLE TO operate (or live) according to facts.

“which is your spiritual act of worship” (See Fn) = “Your rational service” [definition of rational] = Operating according to reason – or the facts].  Paraphrasing (then) everything Paul is saying in this verse: Die to your feelings since this is how you serve God in a pleasing way and (are able to) operate according to the facts.

Such instruction by Paul (btw) is why Christianity (at least biblical Christianity) should never be viewed  as escapism – or against science. Which means statements made against Christianity like, “science is real” are asinine.

The problem is not our denial of science or what is called general revelation – the evidence found in the physical universe. It is instead the lens we choose to view/interpret it thru. We choose a God-centered lens, whereas the world’s is godless or man-centered.   Which is Paul’s next point/step of instruction. TO become people of fact, we must NOT ONLY sacrifice (or die) to feelings as that which guides us (which btw is a moral choice that we wb judged according to – did we do it – or not?), BUT ALSO…

4.1.2. Make sure that what we hold as the facts are consistent (or being transformed) by God’s Word

(2) “Do not be conformed to this world” = Do not let the world determine truth/reality for you. That is NOT the lens we are to be using to interpret our lives or the world around us (e.g. your view marriage, your view of parenting, your view of stress or how to handle it, your view of sex or what is appropriate, your view of vacation and why you should go; your view of self or the idea of self-value, your view of happiness or fulfillment, your view of how we or the universe came into existence!).

Oftentimes what the world communicates as fact in re: to those things is PURE FICTION (and more often than not, propaganda to push an anti-god, satanic agenda -one that people living according to their feelings are blind to see – e.g. evolution, date nights w/your kids, stress-relievers).

“But be transformed by the renewal of your mind” = What Paul is referring to (here) is what happens when we use God’s Word to interpret/determine reality/truth in our every area of our life. All of sudden we are “transformed” into people of fact (versus fiction). We (for the first time) , understand the world the way God made it – and according to how He sees it. Which gives us the additional ability to test and “discern” what “His will” is (His “good and acceptable and perfect” will). Which means also (then) we can live the kind of lives that not only bring Him glory – but avoid the pitfalls and snares laid by our feelings. Since He is the One Who made it and knows best how to live in it, following His WORD for determining reality/truth/facts means (for the first time) possessing not only the ability – but the wisdom, to navigate thru its treacherous waters (since the map we have is from it maker!). Hence the reason he calls it a “renewal of the mind.” Before such ability and wisdom, our minds we (once more) tied to our feelings (and ready for shipwreck).

So then as our CLOSING CONTEMPLATION for TODAY,

How do my conclusions (or the math I did in the first point) demonstrate the instruction found in Rom 12 – OR that I am (by such conclusions) operating by (not just facts) – but facts consistent w/God’s Word?

B/C math is from God. Understood thru the lens of Scripture, it is how He made everything. John 1 says He spoke it into existence. But what He spoke (according to its design) are mathematical equations. As a matter of fact, everything (including words themselves!) are math. Which means that one of the best (God-given) tools we have for discerning fact (versus fiction) is math (Hence the reason one of my old bosses used to say, “numbers don’t lie”). It is therefore a part of how we live as people of fact – or people who are pleasing to God; a people who are no longer guided by feelings.

***The POINT (however) NOT TO MISS: God calls us to live (not by our feelings) but the facts. And that includes making sure that whatever we believe to be “the facts” is consistent w/the testimony of God’s Word (Isa 8:20!)