These who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (Acts 17:6).
I used to think I knew what “going viral” meant. I’d write an article or draw a cartoon, and if it were something I felt very strongly about, I would ask the Lord that it would go viral. Others have their own definition for what “going viral” means, but to me it meant others would copy it, spread it on their page, where it would be seen by others who would in turn copy it, and so forth. Like some urban legends that seem to have taken on a life of their own and get reborn in every generation, anyone writing something worthwhile would like to see it “out there” and “with legs.”
So…
To “go viral” means: a thing is fast-moving, all-encompassing, and unstoppable.
Witness the coronavirus pandemic. Fast-moving indeed. All-encompassing certainly, as it slows down at no borders and spreads into every village, every culture. There is no stopping it. Not so far.
But it occurs to me the first pandemic, the first “thing” to go viral, was not a disease at all. It was the news of Jesus Christ.