GOD USES CALAMITIES AND CATASTROPHES FOR HIS PURPOSES

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We only have to look at the history of God’s own nation Israel to realize that God used catastrophes often to judge it. In fact, God often used barbaric nations like Babylon, Persia, and Egypt to inflict that justice but then subsequently He invariably brought those nations crashing down. God has to judge sin and He will use catastrophes to turn people back to Him.

The great catastrophe of sin brought about by Adam was not settled by the worldwide flood brought about by God. The sin continued through Noah, his wife, and his children. Then in Genesis 10, we see the Table of Nations. From the sons of Noah, we see all people speaking the same language and migrating together into one place in the land of Shinar. This was in direct disobedience to God’s command given to Noah and his sons: “As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it” (Gen. 9:7). This was the second time God gave the command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. He had given the command to Adam in Genesis 1:28. This command is directly and essentially linked to God’s redemptive plan for the world.

Sadly, it is never the goal or desire of corrupted man to do the will of God. Our nature is to follow selfish pursuits. We will protect our little kingdoms regardless of what God may command or what He may want. God must intervene. Amid catastrophe, crisis, and the times when it seems as though the Lord is most absent that He is actually most active. Learning to see gospel opportunities when many others only see crisis is not a skill that comes naturally. Yet it is a skill that the body of Christ must learn. The closer we approach the time of Jesus’ return, the more natural and man-made disasters and calamities we will see. So also then will gospel opportunities increase—if we have eyes to see them.

What about the calamity that has hit California. The sheer volume of rainfall in the state is statistically massive. According to the National Weather Service, rainfall levels are as much as 600% above average across California.

Meanwhile, just under 200,000 homes and businesses were without power as of Tuesday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.

And while the start of 2023 has already proved devastating for California, there could be more challenges in the coming days. The National Weather Service is forecasting heavy rainfall across the state Tuesday and in Northern California on Wednesday, warning that “no significant letup” is expected anytime soon.

Evacuation orders were issued up and down the state Monday due to the threat of flash flooding and mudslides, including in the Montecito area in Santa Barbara County, which is home to celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The flooding has already left at least 16 dead.

What will Christians do in this crisis, hopefully, they will see the opportunity to step in and help which will provide gospel opportunities?

HOW GOD USES CATASTROPHES FOR HIS PURPOSE

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MUSLIM SYRIANS WHO SUFFERED UNDER ISIS NOW TURNING TO CHRISTIANITY

Image: Church of the Brethren in Kobane, Syria

Syrians gather outside the Church of the Brethren in Kobani, Syria.NBC News

In 2015, Kobani was the centre in the battle against ISIS.  It was also there that US-led forces beat back ISIS terrorists and liberated the city before finally ending the group’s hold over Iraq and Syria.  Many of the new converts to Christ say the violence ISIS brought to their region left them disillusioned with Islam.  Many Muslims became agnostic or atheist, others turned to Jesus and opened up Kobani’s first church in decades called “Church of the Brethren.”  It is the only evangelical church in Kobani.  “After the war with ISIS people were looking for the right path, and distancing themselves from Islam,”  church founder Omar Firas said. “People were scared and felt lost.”

Firas said approximately 80 to 100 people in Kobani now worship at the evangelical church. “We meet on Tuesdays and hold a service on Fridays.  It is open to anyone who wants to join,” he said.  Firas founded the church while a new representative form of government in northeast Syria called the “Self Administration of Syria” (SANES) was emerging.  The SANES controls a third of Syria between the Tigris and Euphrates River and guarantees freedom of religion to all of the 4 million people within its borders.  Firas told CBN News his church would never have been allowed under ISIS. “We can express our rituals with complete freedom,” he said.

 

NATIONS ARE BEING JUDGED AND CATASTROPHES WILL INCREASE

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Four National Apostasies which guarantee that a nation will be judged by God.

1) Innocent Slaughter

2) Sanctification of Perversions

3) Removal and Replacement of the One True God from our public square

4) Curse Israel.

If we are living in any “westernised” country today, we can clearly see that #’s 1, 2 and 3 ensures God’s judgement.

People gather in Lafayette Park to witness the White House being lit up in rainbow colors in commemoration of the Supreme Court’s ruling to legalize same-sex marriage Friday, June 26, 2015, in Washington. Gay and lesbian couples in Washington and across the nation are celebrating Friday’s ruling, which will put an end to same-sex marriage bans in the 14 states that still maintain them. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

  • Current events indicate that judgement has started in the U.S.A. and it will only escalate.  They are slaughtering innocents and now even celebrating it in lights.
  • They sanctify perversions (gay marriage) and attempt to confer upon it the holy, God-ordained institution of marriage.
  • In the USA being LGBTQ is not aberrant behaviour: record number of states are banning conversion therapy.
  • They attempt to scrub the public square of any reference to God Almighty, even attempting to remove Him from their oaths.
  • With Israel being pressured on all sides to give up more land, this might be the final move by the USA in the interest of a false “peace.”

The USA led the world in catastrophes last year. Racking up an overall damage cost of $16.5 billion, the devastating and deadly Camp Fire that ravaged California in November was the world’s costliest natural disaster in 2018. It was California’s deadliest on record with 86 fatalities. It stood out for its ferocity.

In second and third place last year were Hurricanes Michael ($16 billion) and Florence ($14 billion). Florence dumped heavy rain across the Carolina’s in September, and Michael tore into the Florida Panhandle in October. Michael, which had a wind speed of 155 mph at landfall, was the fourth-strongest hurricane on record to hit the USA. It reduced the small town of Mexico Beach, Florida, to rubble.

These are the beginning of “birth pangs”? Matthew 24: 8, Mark 13:8