Corona virus. Flatten the curve. Social distancing. 2020 has pushed many new phrases into our everyday language due to the pandemic. Most recently I was thinking about the terms quarantine and herd immunity. As you look around the country and around the world, leaders have tried to determine the best course of action in dealing with the pandemic and the spread of the virus. On the spectrum of complete lockdown and isolation vs modest restrictions and developing herd immunity, leaders have tried to find balance while weighing many uncertainties in their policy making. I am not here to discuss those strategies, but rather how different they appear when compared to what the Bible says about the contagion of sin. If you've ever watched Animal Planet or any show about animals in the wild, you likely have seen the saga of the predator versus the herd. The pack of zebras or gazelles being stalked by the lion. The predator does not attack the entire herd but rather roams around the perimeter, looking to select a young or feeble member and work to separate them from the herd. If the herd can protect the target, the predator goes away. But if the predator is successful in separating the animal from the protection of the herd, well, that is usually when many of us turn the channel or at least turn our eyes away as the poor victim becomes lunch for the lion. When it comes to our spiritual health and protection, the Bible gives clear instruction as to the enemy and his desires and tactics. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10 The enemy is real and has a personal interest in you. He doesn't just wish you bad luck or tough times, but rather he desires your complete destruction and to devour you. That is a strong image and one worth considering for however long it takes to fully understand it. In "Screwtape Prepares a Toast", the follow up to the classic "The Screwtape Letters", C.S. Lewis describes an annual dinner of the Tempters' Training College for young Devils in hell. As Screwtape, the mentor demon, begins his toast, he comments on the dinner just consumed: "But it would be vain to deny that the human souls on whose anguish we have been feasting tonight were of pretty poor quality. Not all the most skillful cookery of our tormentors could make them better than insipid. Oh to get one's teeth again into a Farinata, a Henry VIII, or even a Hitler! There was real crackling there; something to crunch; a rage, an egotism, a cruelty only just less robust than our own. It put up a delicious resistance to being devoured. It warmed your innards when you'd got it down." Descriptive and morbid. The enemy wants to consume you. But in addition to warning us about the enemy's intention, the Bible instructs us on how to protect and encourage each other. "And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." Hebrews 10:25 NLT "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken." Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12 We are saved by accepting the grace offered by the sacrifice of Jesus, but we as the church have an important role to play for each other. We are saved by the One, but we are protected and encouraged by the community. In this age, like no other that has come before, we can connect with fellow believers, face to face and instantaneously through a variety of media. Don't quarantine yourself spiritually. Through fellowship we gain herd immunity to the predator.