Gen. Jim – 2020
How many of us have asked this question? Why the pandemic? Why the rioting? Why the great divide between political parties? Why the race/police issues? Americans are in fear. Some in fascination as well as dismay. Even the weather has become an enemy.
If I told you it was the judgments of God would you believe me or hate me? There are those who believe all these events are judgments of God. This is not new. The Bible recorded many such events in history because of men’s sinfulness. Why would we believe He is any different in the 21st century? We’re always reminded, if you read the Scriptures, of Sodom and Gomorrah. Unlawful sex sins necessitated God’s wrath of fire and brimstone. The people of those cities has sunk to the level of brutes in their sinful sexual activities. The Bible recorded that wrathful destruction as a harbinger-what was coming to other nations/cities/individuals for their reckless, sinful sexual conduct.
The WHY? Is called “theodicy,” the branch of Biblical theology that asks why God allows bad/evil things to happen. The answers given in different times and places usually owe something to variations in culture. In regards to our culture, what is it? What gross sins provoke God’s wrath? Abortion? Homosexuality et al. Sex sins? Greed? Hatred? What about backsliding? Make your own list. M
Race/class/religion/politics? The race issue (slavery) is front and center right now. We also have the “….culturally peculiar indigenous storm of national imagination and religiously primal (the sense of one before an unpredictable and mysterious power)” as one writer/reporter said, speaking about tornadoes ripping across the landscapes. Yes, the powerful tornado (the Bible calls it the whirlwind) is therefore both American and transcendent, reflecting national identity even while exposing Americans to mysteries above and beyond themselves.
The Holy Spirit told us (through my wife Gen. Deborah on Nov. 2, 2019) that He was sending the pandemic. Months into it He also told us through His Prophetic Word that a second wave was coming and it would be worse than the first wave. He has also told us that while men think they will stop it that they will not. All this is daily in the news. We’re yet to see the end of this punishment. While disasters are not always “punishments,” what is upon America IS!
One thing is for sure, America is going from misery to more misery. Have we repented? We are experiencing the DARK NIGHT of the soul. Suicides are increasing. Violence as well. The economy is drowning under the flood of it all. People-thousands have died and thousands more will die. Political hatred is extreme to the max!
The news outlets go 24/7, reporting on all the ills of America… tedious and repetitive tirades of both sides of the isle never end. And amid all this political idiocy, hundreds of separate services for movies/TV streaming run NON STOP offering endless entertainment ranging from G, PG, R, to XXX rated. And if you happen to click on a religious program, 90% of the “ministers of God” are endlessly begging for finances. They prioritize their personal lifestyles. I call this idiosyncratically sick of soul.
In a world where people pursue the elixir of life as enthusiastically as ever, God’s Word makes it clear what pleases Him and what angers Him (reference my article on what God “hates.”) America has more Bibles and churches than any other nation, yet we have grown distant from His teachings. It would do all of us good to remember what the Bible tells us in Gen. 18:27: “I am nothing but dust and ashes.” Knowing we come from dust, the ground, should keep us grounded and low before our Creator rather than lifted up high in hubris pride. Did you know the word “dust/ground” in Latin is “humus” meaning soil or earth? It is also the basis for our words “humility” and “human.” Americans may find all this liberating, unsettling, or terrifying to contemplate. The truth is, and history proves it to be so, there have been great empires that God destroyed because of their pride. Even our apparently invincible empire could be destroyed. Is this what we want? “The solution to the pollution is revolution” i.e. the overthrow of the sin-principle in our personal lives as well as in our national life.
Let us repent and respect our loving Creator. He deserves our BEST, not our worst. Our intelligent Creator/designer wants the BEST for us and from us. We have formed a caricature of Jesus as a peaceful hippie type who embraces any and all without insisting on repentance of sin-and then whisks us all away to Heaven. The truth is that many will be shocked wide-awake when they stand before the Lion of the Tribe of Judah whose eyes burn like fire and who is the epitome of holiness. Let us never forget that without holiness no one shall see the Lord.