No, but it may be an act of Satan or his demons. Is Satan real? Does he exist? Yes. Satan first disrupted man’s life when he lied by telling Adam and Eve they would not die if they were disobedient. (Genesis 3:4) Ever since, we have lived with the painful consequences.

Satan enjoys anything contrary to God and His principles. “Satan” actually means an adversary, an opposer. God embodies everything that is right and good. “Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.” (Psalm 89:14) “For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, saith the Lord GOD…” (Ezekiel 18:32) On the other hand, Satan, the opposer, promotes injustice, cold-heartedness and error. The devil has a fiendish pleasure in suffering and death.

The coronavirus has brought much suffering and death to mankind. Might Satan, like scientists today, know how to reorganize RNA to make viruses? Viruses are odd things. Scientists do not consider them to be truly “living.” saying, “…viruses today are thought of as being in a gray area between living and nonliving: they cannot replicate on their own but can do so in truly living cells and can also affect the behavior of their hosts profoundly” (Scientific American, August 2008). So, when a human host dies, Satan doesn’t care. By then, others have become infected.

Satan’s power has been demonstrated in the past. When Moses challenged Pharaoh, God gave Moses the power to turn Aaron’s rod into a serpent. Pharaoh’s magicians were able to replicate this miracle. “Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent…(then) they (Pharaoh’s sorcerers) cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods” (Exodus 7:10-12, 2 Timothy 3:8).  We believe the Bible’s account.

Pharaoh’s wise men and sorcerers also duplicated the plague of turning water into blood and of frogs overtaking the land (Exodus 7:22; 8:7). However, the remaining plagues they could not duplicate (Exodus 8:18). They had some power over lower life forms, but at some point, God restricted this power. 

Presently, Satan is so cunning at opposing God that sometimes God even gets blamed. “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Tornadoes, hurricanes or anything beyond man’s control are often considered an “act of God.”

Satan would like Christians to lose their faith in God. God is all-powerful, and He will eventually destroy Satan. Ezekiel 28:18-19 (NKJV), “You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, By the iniquity of your trading; therefore, I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. …You have become a horror  and shall be no more forever.”

Any trouble that would serve no purpose, God will stop. “Surely the wrath of man (and Satan) shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain” (Psalm 76:10).

Additional Resources:
Christian Questions Podcast
Episode #1145: “Is Your COVID-19 Christianity Still Being Tested?”
Action steps to prevent COVID-19 from compromising our Christianity
Preview Video
CQ Rewind Show Notes

For children, parents and Bible class teachers:
Animated Video: “Did God send the Coronavirus?”

For a more in-depth study of the end times, download the free PDF:  “What is This World Coming To?”

For a more in-depth study about God’s permission of evil, download the free PDF:  “Why God Permits Evil”