– (Special report).- In 2014, one of the worst crises in its history began in Venezuela. The fall in oil prices and some decisions by the government of Nicolás Maduro generated hyperinflation, massive migration, shortages, and a state of general malaise.
The crisis in Venezuela also affected the political terrain, since a large number of Venezuelans began to disagree with the governance of Chavismo; this was reflected in the demonstrations of 2014, 2017 and 2019.
In the midst of a tense political climate, the Venezuelan opposition and the Venezuelan military engaged in a bloody fight in the streets that left hundreds dead.
Venezuela has experienced an apocalyptic scenario, with fights in the streets, queues to buy food, people eating from the garbage, shortages of medicines and a large number of families separated to seek a better future outside the borders.
According to the UN Office for Refugees (UNHCR), 5.6 million Venezuelans have left their country.
Current Venezuela
Despite the fact that Venezuela has shown economic improvements in recent months, many citizens still live far from the quality of life thresholds.
The BBC He cites a study by a UCAB professor, Luis Pedro España, which indicates that the poverty level reached its maximum limit (94.5%) in September 2021.
The same study that was based on the National Survey of Living Conditions (Encovi), found that 76.6% of Venezuelans live in extreme poverty.
The minimum wage in Venezuela increased in March 2022 to 130 bolívares ($23 dollars). Before the increase, the worker’s minimum payment was $2.38 dollars, information taken from Wikipedia.
By May 2022, the basic family basket in Venezuela was at a value of $477.52 dollars.
In Venezuela, 20 minimum wages are needed to be able to cover the expenses of the family basket. In other words, a family of five people needs to earn 20 times the minimum wage to cover their basic needs.
The private sector in Venezuela offers salaries that can be four times the minimum wage, there are even jobs with higher pay, but not everyone has access to these sources of work.
God punishes the disobedient people
The Bible indicates that the Lord has disciplined the people for turning away from him and preferring to live in sin.
Also the Holy Scriptures show that God has punished the leading peoples who sinned against God.
However, God has a perfect plan which includes discipline. Proverbs 3:11-12 says: “My son, do not despise the discipline of the Lord, nor take offense at his rebukes. Because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father corrects his beloved son.
An example of God’s punishment appears in the Old Testament, when God burned Sodom and Gomorrah.
Both cities were burned by God, since they were inhabited by wicked men.
Only Lot and his family, because they were good, had the opportunity to escape God’s punishment. In the process, Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt, since she disobeyed the message of God’s angels: “Do not look back,” reports JW.
Another case of the Lord’s rebuke is found in 1 Chronicles 21:1-17. David decided to register the people of Israel, an order influenced by Satan. Despite being warned by General Joab that this decision would not please God, the king ignored it.
David repented and apologized to the Lord. God gave him a choice between three options of punishment: “Three years of famine, or for three months to be defeated before your enemies with the sword of your adversaries, or for three days the sword of Jehovah, that is, the plague in the earth, and may the angel of the LORD destroy all the borders of Israel.”
David chose the third option, for which seventy thousand Israelis died at the hands of an angel of death that passed through the land
the web portal theology of work explains that for some it is difficult to understand why God punishes 70 thousand people because of David. Although the Bible does not explain why, it is clear that the decisions of leaders affect the people under their authority.
Is the crisis the consequence of abandoning God?
The evangelist from Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela, Carlos Urbaneja, told ChristianNews.com that the crisis that has broken out in your country has a spiritual cause.
“There is a spiritual world that is real. This spiritual world is moving, and what is happening in Venezuela has to do with this…”, she expressed.
The evangelist indicated that Venezuela enjoyed a good economy, but it declined because many people turned their backs on God.
The religious leader attributed part of the responsibility for the crisis to the Venezuelan churches, since many pastors emigrated in the midst of Venezuela’s problems, while others dedicated themselves to doing politics.
For Urbaneja, another factor that caused the crisis in the South American nation has to do with its rulers. The Christian explained that according to the Bible, countries ruled by people far from God fall into ruin.
For the Christian, God punishes people who act badly so that they abandon sin. He also said that Venezuelans have erred by placing their trust in political leaders such as Chávez and others from opposition parties such as AD and Copei.
“It happened as in the days when Samuel was there, that the people wanted a king and they gave them a king according to their hearts. And what happened? The people were treated harshly, because the people wanted a king after their own heart, but when you look for something after God’s heart, things are different,” he said.
He continued: “So I believe that what Venezuela needs is a change, and not from the outside in, but from the inside out.”
Chávez linked to the dark world
ChristianNews.com interviewed the pastor, Arturo Noriega, of the El Arca de Dios church, in Anzoátegui state. Next, these are the textual responses of the pastor offered to the reporting team of our website:
Is the economic, social, and political crisis that Venezuela is experiencing the consequence of turning your back on God?
- Well, to a great extent I do believe, because since President Chávez came to power, it was notorious for all the inhabitants of this country that President Chávez used the advice of the dark world as government policy, call yourself santeros, paleros, babalawos, who They even parade around the Miraflores Palace in daylight, without any scruples.
They took what the Bible rejects, idolatry, to put it as a system of government for this nation.
We are all clear that in the Bible there have been many consequences from heaven. There have been corrections from heaven to those countries that left God aside and took control of the country for the Baal, for the gods of wax, for the idols of those times that also operate today.
Today in this nation, it is no secret to anyone that being a santero, that being a palero is a habit that has reached every home, because the modeling of the nation that came through President Chávez, and those who followed him Chávez after his death, continues to dominate the entire nation.
(…) It is no secret to anyone that we can see, from what the scriptures say and from what we can live in this contemporary world, that all the nations that opted for witchcraft as a method of life, as a method of government, have experienced some situations of poverty, of disorder; of chaos in their surroundings, in their families, in their nations. We can put the case of Haiti, Africa, Cuba.
While Venezuela was living in a country full of oil, gold and all kinds of wealth, everything we saw now came about: an economic situation, a famine, a decline in the values of the human being, because they took God out, they gave him the back to God and chose to shake hands with the Baals, the Santería, the paleros, all those things that have nothing to do with God and have to do with Satan.
If you had the opportunity to speak to each Venezuelan, what would you tell them to protect their families from this crisis?
I would tell them to open their hearts to our Lord Jesus Christ, that he is the giver of life, that he is our only way, he is the truth, he is life.
(…) We have to open to each home, to each inhabitant of this nation, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, because he is hope. He is the one who can transform the life of man.
God says that no one has left everything and God has not given him 100 times more than what he has left. God is the only solution for any family, for any country, for any nation.
What should Venezuelans do to get out of the crisis?
Evangelist Carlos Urbaneja indicated that the crisis in Venezuela will end when people turn to God.
“The Bible says: ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah.’ So this means that a nation that includes God is a nation that is going to be blessed, that God is going to fight for it, that (the Lord) is going to lift it up”.
Likewise, he expressed his desire that Venezuelans begin to search for God: “I hope that people will devote themselves to seeking God, as it should be, in Spirit and in truth as the Bible says… God is not the God of the dead, but of alive”.
Urbaneja explained that only God can change the life of the country, since when people surrender to the Most High, they change their mentality and leave behind actions that harm the development of a nation.
For his part, Pastor Arturo Noriega said he has faith that a positive change can occur in the country.
“The scriptures say that a live dog is better than a dead lion. As long as we have life there is hope,” said the pastor.
Likewise, the religious leader explained that as long as there are people preaching the gospel in Venezuela, a positive change can occur.
“(…) As long as we preach the gospel and announce it to every corner of the nation, which I see that many churches are working for this today, there will be a change. Because this nation is sustained by the clamor of the church that still exists in this nation (…) That is why the trials are not bigger for this country, that is why we have hope that there can be a change,” Noriega said.
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