I got to ask Dr. Megan DeVore (a professor at CCU) a church history question and hear her response.
That conversation is going to make my 2020 highlight reel.
This was my question …
“Was Phyllis Tickle right? Does the church have a “rummage sale” every 500 years and “clean house”? Is that what’s happening now with Covid-19”?
Dr. DeVore said something like, “We see that 500-year pattern with God’s people, even in the Old Testament.”
[Abraham, 2000 BC ; Moses, 1500; King David, 1000; The Exile 500; Jesus, 0 … and then, Pope Gregory’s reforms, 500; The Great Schism, 1000; The Reformation 1500.]
She continued …
“Many were thinking that 9/11 would be the ‘cleaning’ event, but that didn’t happen. So, it’s ‘wait-and-see’ with Covid-19.”
“We are fairly certain of this: the Reformation would not have happened had it not been for the Bubonic Plague.
That pandemic pushed people to God and forced believers to start acting as each other’s priests because death came so quickly.”
And so, (this is my [Doug’s] conclusion) …
Covid-19 may be setting us up for the next “cleaning event.”
My prediction: if the current president is re-elected, he will say to China, “You’re reimbursing us for the costs of Covid-19” … and they’ll say, “Fuhgeddaboudit” (whatever that is in Mandarin) … and that will start the rumblings of Armageddon.
And then — [and I say this with respect] — Jesus will turn to the Father and say, “I should probably get back down there” …
And if the Father says “Yes” … then that will be the rummage sale that ends all rummage sales.
Own What You Believe 