Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple
The God of judgment and righteousness has been forgotten. Very few would say that the storm that hit the east was sent to punish the region for their ways. Yet the God of the Bible is consistently presented as being a God who loves righteousness and hates iniquity.
As we move into the end times the modern Christian will have to reconcile to this truth. God is not removed from the world events but rather many times is their author. Up until the last 30-40 years Christians knew this. A steady diet of teaching that God is just "nice" and always doing good for creation has dulled our remembrance of the Bible God.
While we should mourn over the loss of life and the destruction that comes in the wake of his judgment we also need to realize this in only the beginning of what God is going to do to nations that forget him or acknowledge his reality.
We need to be able even in grief for people affected to be able to justify God when he does act in judgment.
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I believe in a God of judgment and wrath. However I don't believe every hurricane to indicate a specific judgment like some people.
Storms, tornadoes, earthquakes, and fires happen. It's very HARD to explain to saints who have lost their homes and bible believing churches who's buildings are destroyed in hurricanes and fires that they're just unsuspecting bystanders of God's wrath. Rather then what the Bible says regarding God raining on the just and the unjust in this dispensation that we live.
Will there be a time when those who are wicked will face the ultimate wrath of God's anger? Yes. Is every storm just a product of that anger? No. Sometimes warm air and cold air converge over water and create storms... God is in control but is reasoning for allowing them to happen is not always judgment or destruction. When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah he wiped them out totally, he did not send a hurricane to destroy a couple houses. That's biblical judgment. God's wrath wipes out nations. We don't have to find a reason for God allowing things to happen and rationalize that to help people understand why storms happen. A massive storm occurred while Paul was on a ship in his missionary journey in
Acts 27. It wrecked his ship and landed him on an island full of barbarians. Was that "judgment", or was it just a storm? And did not God show his grace and mercy by allowing the storm to happen but still keeping Paul and teaching Paul how to rely totally on God to survive in the face of tribulation? Ultimately tribulation arises because sin entered the World and threw the balance of life off. However, God still works and redeems in the midst of troubles caused by sin's grip on the world. Eventually God's work of grace in this dispensation WILL end I agree, but until then storms will come and not all of them will be judgment storms. In fact most aren't.