Letters to My Friend - What Do Calamities Mean?

What Do Calamities Mean?

When catastrophes happen, humanly we are tempted to try to interpret them. If there is a extra destructive hurricane or drought or wildfires or a large earthquake - whatever the event - we can start to wonder if "God is trying to tell someone something."

What does the Bible tell us, though?

Just because bad things happen to a certain area it does not mean that those people were worse sinners than others. It also does not mean that some unusual message is being given to us (like who to vote for, or where we should move).

In Luke 13 we read this:

Luke 13:1-5 There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

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Evening Song - Break Up My Fallow Ground

For anyone wondering why there isn't a resurrection post this weekend, please know that we look to the Jewish calendar rather than the Roman Catholic one to determine when Resurrection Sunday should be observed. Passover is not until April 22, so my resurrection posts will be on the weekend of April 28th. :-)

Hosea 10:12 Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. 

Galatians 6:7-9 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 

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The Prodigal's Return - A Poem by John Newton

 

The Prodigal's Return

Afflictions, though they seem severe,

In mercy oft are sent;

They stopped the prodigal's career,

And caused him to repent.

"What have I gained by sin," he said,

"But hunger, shame, and fear?

My father's house abounds in bread,

While I am starving here!"

"I'll go and tell him all I've done,

Fall down before his face;

Unworthy to be called his son,

I'll seek a servant's place."

"I'll not pine here for bread," he cries;

"Nor starve in foreign lands:

My father's house has large supplies,

And bounteous are his hands."

His father saw him coming back,

He saw, he ran, he smiled,

And threw his arms around the neck

Of his rebellious child!

"O, father I have sinned - forgive!"

"Enough!" his father said:

"Rejoice, my house; my son's alive,

For whom I mourned as dead!"

'Tis thus the Lord His love reveals,

To call poor sinners home:

More than a father's love He feels,

And welcomes all that come.

John Newton

Luke 15:11-24 And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Forgiven - Updated Article

 

I have been working on a couple other projects that are rather intense and not finished. This is an article I wrote years ago and updated a couple times. The most recent update was this month. It is a subject that is good to repeat because we are so needy of God's forgiveness and also so tempted to doubt that He has given it.

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1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Psalm 51:7 ...wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Simple Confession and Godlike Forgiveness

In 2 Samuel chapter 11 we read the ugly story of David's sin. The sweet psalmist, prophet, and king who was called a man after God's own heart by the Lord Himself (1 Sam. 13:14) proved what Jeremiah, the wise prophet, later declared. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9 Not only did David descend to the folly of adultery, but he followed it up with murder.

God sent Nathan, the faithful prophet who loved David, to tell the king to his face that he was wicked. The parable was given. The king condemned himself in judging the selfish rich man worthy of death. Nathan spoke the judgment of the Lord clearly, Thou art the man...Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 2 Samuel 12:7 and 9. He then continues to describe the consequences that this sin will bring upon David and his family.

What follows would hardly qualify as a great revival among most professing Bible believers and Baptists. The Bible does not tell us that David went up to the altar to weep and pray. He did not even fall on his face before God and Nathan and beg for mercy. Instead we are told in 2 Samuel 12:13, And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

The simplicity of it is almost shocking to minds that have been nurtured in the idea that only with great wrestlings, tears, and lamentations can we gain forgiveness from God. Yet, there it stands. Direct, plain, and with no frills. David said "I have sinned against the LORD," and immediately God not only put away his sin, but delivered him and Bathsheba both from the death penalty (see Lev. 20:10). Dear friends in Jesus, if we can grasp this thought what liberty in Christ we might enjoy!

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The Unfruitful Works of Darkness

An Australian friend of mine brought this statistic to my attention recently. Americans are expected to spend $8,000,000,000 on Halloween this year. Yes. That says 8 Billion dollars. Think: enough money to put a big dent in involuntary homelessness if it were donated appropriately.

I also found this:

Percentage of Americans who plan to decorate their homes for Halloween: 53%.

Those who plan to dress up (in spite of Covid limitations): 46%.

Are you getting a picture here? There is no remorse or repentance going on due to the COVID19 drama this year. Based on those numbers, I would guess that very few of the Christians who celebrate Halloween have even bothered to re-evaluate their behavior and make changes that honor Christ. This despite all the calls for us to follow 2 Chronicles 7:14 (If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.) 

Do you know what true repentance looks like? It looks like turning from wicked ways. It looks like renouncing evil deeds and discarding the works of darkness.

Acts 19:17-20 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. 

Just to be clear, fifty thousand pieces of silver in that ancient economy was a tremendous amount of money, each piece of silver representing a day's wage. Based on an average day's wage today of $247 that comes to about $12,350,000. Definitely not pocket change. Yet they willingly burned those things for the glory of God. They cleared themselves from their previous involvement in Satanic arts and practices. 2 Corinthians 7:11  For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter. 

By the way, this is the New Testament church equivalent of the 2 Chronicles passage, but the two are not exactly the same thing. 2 Chronicles was written to the Jewish nation. We, the church, don't seek to heal our land. We strive now to show ourselves approved unto God. It isn't the same thing.

But, I digress.

For years and years now there have been people crying out against the Satanic history of Halloween. My own parents were confronted with it when I was a child and made the choice to leave it behind. Many of their generation would not make that choice.

Yet here we stand, in 2020, with nation in decay and Christians of various persuasions calling for America to turn back to God and become a "righteous nation," but so few who are willing to give up the works of darkness and lead the way by example.

And it isn't just Halloween. I poke around the web. I see and hear things. People often tell you a lot more about themselves than they probably wanted you to know.

For example, there are professing Christians who claim they are not bothered by the violent sex scenes in shows like "Game of Thrones." Really? That makes me wonder what sort of stuff they watch that has anesthetized them to such vile filth. I guarantee you that it isn't the Holy Spirit doing this, who guides us into all truth (Jn. 16:13-14) and glorifies Jesus Christ. Jesus is not making them comfortable with scenes of rape and sex that are so disturbing even one of the actresses is reported to have been bothered by it. No, I've never watched it. I don't have to. There is plenty to read about it without filling one's mind with the visual depravity of it. And, may I just say? I'm not really that keen on having men (or women) like that being "on my team" in allegedly bringing the U.S. to a righteous place. In fact, to be blunt: it isn't possible for people with those proclivities to bring anything or anyone to the righteousness of God because they don't understand it themselves.

Many Christians have embraced the adventures and wizardry of Harry Potter and justify it as good reading for kids because "good wins out over evil in the end." But it isn't God's good winning over Satan's evil, no, it's Satan's good wining over Satan's evil. Much as in the Star Wars movies. 

Oops. Did I just say that? Yes, at the risk of being told I'm no fun and too picky. It is definitely not popular to say this among today's Christians, and yet it's still true. The golden calf of Star Wars is a shrine at which many bow. But have you ever considered that the "the Force" can be used for both good and evil? That both good and evil are supposed to be different sides of the same entity? That isn't God. That is Satan. That is the basic principle of so-called "white" and "black" magic or witchcraft. It all goes back to the same "source," and that is the devil. So, yeah, Harry Potter and Star Wars are Satanic at the most basic level. How can I say that?

How can I not?

1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 

Psalm 5:4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. 

Any entity or power that has "two sides" - both dark and light - isn't God. Never has been. Never will be.

And while I'm on this little jaunt, may I bring up the subject of Superheroes? Especially Thor? Oh, yeah. The  heathen god of thunder from Germanic mythology who has become a Marvel superhero. And, to be clear, all of the superheroes portray god/goddess-like attributes that remind one of the idols of various religions - counterfeits of the one true God and Jesus Christ, His Son. Isaiah 42:8  I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Now I understand that it can be easy to pick up something not realizing the origins or connections it may have. I have learned the hard way to check the other books of authors that are new to me to see what other types of books they may be writing. Sometimes we may accept something that seems innocent only to find out later that it has evil connections.

But how hard is it so figure out that Harry Potter is about witchcraft and is essentially dark in its origins? How hard is it to realize that Thor is a heathen god? Or to figure out that Game of Thrones is a vile show? Or that Halloween is a festival of death and darkness? Not that hard, really.

Ok, I'm done venting. But, just let me finish with this. I find it very strange to hear and see Christians talking about turning the U.S. around for God and making it a God-fearing nation again, a righteous nation, when they aren't willing to give up the patently evil things in their very own lives. Halloween is just one of many.

Hosea 10:12  Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

Ephesians 5:8-11  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Evening Song - Lord, I'm Coming Home

Luke 15:17-24  And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.