A friend of mine, a physical therapist, said that his manager said to him when he expressed concern about being in close proximity to patients who could have been exposed to coronavirus:

Now, now. It’s not time to be paranoid.

Really? It’s precisely the time to be paranoid! That’s all they are selling right now. Compliance with stay-at-home orders is based exclusively on fear. Colorado’s governor was clear about that:

Enforcement? Yes, we have an enforcer. His name is The Grim Reaper. If you don’t socially isolate, you put your mothers and fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles, even yourself, in danger. – Colorado Governor Jared Polis

And that brings us to projections. Someone said simply, “All projections are wrong.” That would include the one I posted back on March 15. But the purpose of projections is not that they be accurate predictors but that they change our behavior today.

This is the same function of most Biblical prophecy. Its purpose is not as much to predict the future but to change behavior now. Jonah rolled in on Ninevah and said:

Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown! (Jonah 3.1 – 4, ESV)

Was Ninevah overthrown in 40 days? No! Why not? Because the people repented:

And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. (Jonah 3.5 – 10, ESV)

We need just enough fear to change our behavior but not so much that we are incapacitated.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1.7, NLT)

Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. (Isaiah 8.12, 13, ESV)