On March 7-8, quoting Habakuk 3: 1-19, Rev. Joshua Cheung, Senior Pastor, 611 Bread of Life Christian Church, preached that as Hongkongers were engaged in the "violent" and rebellious Anti-Extradition-Law Movement last year, God is now punishing Hong Kong with the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic and economic recession, just as God handed over the Kingdom of Juda to the Chaldeans: a nation even more wicked, violent, and corrupt, because Juda angered God by repeatedly committing sins (1). Rev. Cheung urged believers to confess and plead with God for forgiveness in the wake of the spiritual cause of the pandemic (2).
China but not HK is akin to Juda
In reality, Hongkongers have been fighting for freedom and democracy, just like the Israelites, under the political leadership of Moses and with God's blessings, struggled to liberate themselves from Egyptian colonialism. China, rather than Hong Kong, appears to be like the Kingdom of Juda. The Communist Hong Kong Government, directly controlled by Beijing, has arrested and tortured more than 8400 Hong Kong dissidents since the outbreak of the Anti-Extradition-law Movement in Summer 2019. In Red China, they’re closing churches, jailing pastors – and even rewriting scripture (3). In Hong Kong, pro-CCP pastors, for example, Rev. Joshua Cheung, Anglican Archbishop Paul Kwong, Pastor Enoch Lam, try to persuade believers to condemn Hong Kong dissidents and to submit themselves to the CCP (4).
“How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and you will not hear?”
The people of Judah had grown wicked, violent, and corrupt. There was no justice in the land that was supposed to be known by God’s name. Habakkuk the prophet couldn’t bear it anymore. So he begged God to save Judah from her own wickedness. God answered, but not in the way Habakkuk expected. To judge Judah’s wickedness, God said He would let the Chaldeans (Babylonians) devastate it (Habakkuk 1: 1-19).
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