John Piper
The coronavirus is God’s thunderclap call for all of us to repent and realign our lives with the infinite worth of Christ.
Whether or not you like John Piper is irrelevant, because he was right when he made this statement. However, this statement was made around the time the first plandemic lockdowns took place and mentioned shortly after in a podcast that Piper did. That was about two years ago, when I was no different than most people back then (as well as today) and I considered the coronavirus in and of itself - as opposed to the government tyranny (especially against Christians), media brainwashing, pro-restriction and pro-lockdown confirmation bias, and soft (or in rare cases, hard) crackdown on legitimate research opposing the mainstream narrative REGARDING any sort of so-called "pandemic" - a major issue in the world. Things have changed. The thunderclap call is already over, and those who have repented and realigned themselves, and in some cases even their churches and congregations, with the infinite worth of Christ have a significantly stronger faith than even the most devout Christians did at the end of 2019.
However, many, including those who have professed to be Christian, have not aligned (or realigned) themselves with Christ, and where the coronavirus is concerned, chose to align themselves with Caesar instead. An even higher number of people have chosen to keep their heads down, fearing Caesar's possible wrath if they dare disobey and align themselves with Christ instead. In total, over 95% of this world has went down this path, and thus 95% of this world is not Christian, if not more.
These people have dropped out of the race and instead went to sit on the sidelines - some of them even to attack runners in various ways. Therefore, a better way to put this quote in April of 2022 would be this: "For those who have turned to Caesar: The coronavirus was God's thunderclap call for all of us to repent and realign our lives, but you have chosen to align your life with the depravity and lies of Caesar. As a result, you've dropped out of the race, and it was like you never were in the race to begin with. For those who have realigned their lives with the infinite worth of Christ: Well done, good and faithful servants. The professing Christians have turned to Caesar, but you as confessing Christians have kept running the race. Remember, all that matters is that you finish that race."
1 Corinthians 9:24 (NASB95)
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
1 John 2:19 (NASB95)
They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.