They can detain the body but cannot enslave the spirit

Fear is the opposite of faith. Fear is the absence of love. And fear is lack of hope and trust for the power that is greater than all viruses and governments. When we allow ourselves to be enslaved by fear, we surrender to the powers of the evil ones. But when our faith is strong fear is powerless.

I am not afraid of the anti-terror law, nor do I fear the virus. I say this with all sincerity and earnestness. For I truly believe that, even assuming that I am arrested without warrant, for whatever baseless suspicion and they can even detain me without charges for 24 days. They will never find any evidence against me because I am loyal to the State and to the Government. But if they err in picking me up for whatever concocted allegations, they can go ahead and they can jail my body but my spirit remains free. The virus, assuming that I test positive, can infect my body. But my spirit remains healthy.

This is my mantra in all the lectures I give, and I do a lot of lectures by digital platforms every day. I always tell my audience that we should not allow fear to enslave us. We should believe that every human person is a powerful being with a mind composed of a will, an intellect and a conscience. The body is vulnerable, yes, to both unwarranted arrests and detention and to viral infections. But the human mind, the soul and the spirit of man are beyond the reach of governments and viruses. The Creator gifted us with these powers, and in these times of crisis, we have to summon these gifts to serve as our armors and weapons, in this another round of combat between the good and the evil one.

If a newspaper writer is arrested on suspicion that his writings are giving aid and comforts to the terrorists, and then he is arrested without warrant, or even detained without charges for 24 days, he is not powerless. He is given a chance to bring the good news of salvation to the other detained persons. Many of the disciples were persecuted and detained, and they ended as more powerful than their jailers. Some of them, by the gentle powers of preaching, have even caused the conversions of those who detained them. Thus, it would then appear that their arrest and detention was used by God as a means to achieve a higher purpose.

If a man is tested positive with the Covid-19 virus, and he is taken away from the home, he can go to the isolation center with a laptop, a cell phone, or at least a pen and a pad of paper. Instead of focusing on his pains and allowing the virus to inflict anguish on him, he can continue writing or dictate his messages to tell the world that the disease can weaken the body, but it cannot defeat the spirit. His sickness should bring inspiration instead of gloom to the others. Even at the darkest moments, he can be a light, a small flickering light that shall inspire others and give hopes.

That is why I am not kidding you when I say that I am not afraid of detention or infection. My God has given me a weapon that neither the police nor the viral infection can take away from me. I have a soul filled with faith. I have a spirit full of hopes. And I have a heart overflowing with love. And all these cannot be taken away from me until the last gasp of my breath.