The founder and leader of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Mensa Otabil, has said the COVID-19 pandemic is not God’s judgment on the human race as some Christians are speculating.

In an attempt to explain the sudden global pandemic that has ravaged the world, some people believe it is either the beginning of Armageddon or God is punishing humanity for their sins with a disease from the pit of hell.

But sharing his opinion on the subject in a live Facebook session, Pastor Otabil said COVID-19 is a result of man’s actions and can only be defeated by man.

He said: “I don’t really think that this is a judgement from God, I don’t see any reason scripturally to arrive at that conclusion; I think our view of God, sometimes, makes us see Him as a very vengeful person who is out there with a big stick trying to knock out everybody who doesn’t like Him and everybody who dishonours Him.

“But my understanding of Him is: He is love and compassion. Of course, He also has a judgment part which is reserved for another period in human history but in these times, I think God is dealing with us in mercy and in kindness and in grace and I think God’s desire is that people be well, that people will be healed, that people feel better and that will be the way that I see God and, so, I don’t think this is a divine judgment neither do I think it’s a demonic attack.

“I think it’s just human, one of these things that happens to us as human beings, there is the forces of nature coming against us either because we have interfered in the natural process or we have done something that has disorganised the ecology of the world we live in and, so, these are things that can hit us if we don’t organise our lives well in this human space. I think it’s a human action that brought it into being and it’s also going to take human actions to take it away”.

According to figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of Thursday, 26 March 2020, 465,915 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed globally with 21,031 deaths recorded.

In Ghana, 132 cases have been confirmed with three deaths.