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| Did God use Hurricane Katrina to judge New Orleans? |
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Q. - I wanted to get your view on what happened in New Orleans...Do you think it was God's judgement on them??? A. - Not necessarily. To say that it was a 'direct' judgment of God is not something that we know from scripture, and we don't have the right to say that God is judging unless we know for sure. We do know that the wrath of God 'is revealed from heaven' in this world against all ungodliness of men who suppress the truth in ungodliness" (Romans 1:18f). So in that sense, we 'assume' certain catastrophe's occur because of this. Sometimes we are correct. Other times we may not be. Jesus dealt with this situation in Luke 13:1-5. This passage makes us understand such tragedies in the world as "wake-up calls" for repentance! This is always critical when things like hurricanes happen. It may be more of something that is happening in the world as we move closer to the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus called them 'birth pangs'. The specific ones that he lined out had to do with famine, earthquakes, and wars (Matthew 24). But I believe as we move closer to the end, and because of such things as 'global warming' which could possibly be attributed to man's misuse of the atmosphere, as well as his misuse of the environment, we will see cataclysmic disasters like this, as have many generations before us. 'Birth pangs' intensify as we get closer to 'birth'! Now, folks will say, "but New Orleans was a wicked city"...and they would be true about that. But I'm sure we can name many American cities that are just as wicked in regard to being "wicked cities", and no destruction has come to them as it has New Orleans. If anything, God has allowed nature to take its course with men, and in this case, we have seen destruction in a wicked area. What about destruction in a not-so-wicked-area? What about the times we are shocked that something so horrible could happen to someone or someplace so nice? It seems to go both ways wouldn't you agree? Also, something that is significant, is that Satan and his demons also control weather situations to wreak havoc upon even the righteous, as well as the wicked...See Job 1:9-19. Quite an interesting point. In Mark 4:39, the word "rebuke" is used here by the Lord Jesus to calm the wind & sea. This same word is used to cast demons out. It is the Greek word "epitimao {ep-ee-tee-mah'-o}" - which means..."to adjudge, award, in the sense of merited penalty, or to tax with fault, rate, chide, rebuke, reprove, censure severely, and to admonish or charge sharply." So, as you see, we cannot accurately pinpoint why this has occurred, but the lesson is not much different than it is with all tragedies..."repent, or you will also perish!" |
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