Decoding: America’s Disaster Mentality and the Character of God!
From Asheville to Altadena, it appears that the judgments of God are upon the land. The disasters have such scope and magnitude that the words biblical and apocalyptic have become commonplace when describing them. Preacher’s, scientists, and media pundits all provide a canned explanation as to their cause, but those reflexive assertions are too shallow to help us find the real cause and solution.
In a previous blogpost I shared the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln on offering the most plausible reason for our distress. Some of what he said bears repeating now.
And, insomuch as we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world… Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, confess our national sins, and pray for clemency and forgiveness.
If his words are true, that nations and individuals are subject to God’s punishments and chastisements in this world, then to avoid the catastrophes, we must cease to offend God. We must humble ourselves, confess our sins, and pray for forgiveness to the Almighty. As I write those words, I think is that even possible? America has so many conflicting petty interests and competing small gods, that a consensus on worship is impossible. It was not always so.
In Lincoln’s day both North and South prayed to the same God, one was a righteous cause the others was not. As it was in heaven the rebellion was crushed; the righteous cause prevailed and that is the lesson for us now. We can pray to God but if we embrace sin and self-interest, we can be sure that He will not reward those prayers. We may humble ourselves, fast, but if it is not the fast that God requires then our penitence is in vain.
Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Isaiah 58:1-7 KJV
God is clear about what He requires of us. Rather we believe those words or not, America and the World is subject to God’s grace or His wrath. Unfortunately, we do not have to wait for a verdict as to what people’s intentions are. In the aftermath of our recent calamities, nothing has changed. Aside from brief declarations of remorse and promises to help those directly affected by the tragedies we have continued in the same course of action.
In California, Santa Anna winds spread embers at nearly one-hundred miles per hour, the fire was unstoppable, and yet many blamed mismanagement of water resources. Others repeated vague conspiracy theories, refusing to even consider that their own actions were a contributing factor to the supernatural event they were experiencing.
In Asheville, similar reactions occurred after Hurricane Helene devasted the area with 137-mile-an-hour winds. The shock at the devastation quickly gave way to blame on unpreparedness and conspiracies on what was being done and why “nothing” was being done, again, as the obvious supernatural cause was evaded.
Even the recent helicopter and airplane collision at Reagan National Airport was blamed by our head of state and others as attributable to DEI! Trump cast blame when the cause of the accident was not yet known, taking from the devil’s playbook, his pattern of obfuscation. The devil casts aspersions on the victims and on God so that he will not be implicated in such tragedies. Satan does not want people to give due consideration of the circumstances because if they did, they would uncover the real cause. People did the same thing in Jesus’ day.
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. Luke 13:1-3 KJV
So, we see that this pattern of blame is nothing new; it dates to the beginnings of human history and to a conflict that has spanned the ages. Jesus was careful to warn the people of His day and us to repent of our sins that we will not perish in them. Trump too, should be careful in casting blame, for as we judge others, we ourselves will be judged. The satanic blame game is a large part of why this conflict continues.
This conflict has been aptly called “The Great Controversy” and it is a war between good and evil, between Christ and Satan. It is a real war, with real victims – Ashville, Altadena, and Reagan National are but the most recent casualties. The Bible clearly explains what we are experiencing and why we are experiencing it. The Bible tells us that God is Good, yet for many it is hard to see proof of that in the death and catastrophes surrounding us. When disasters happen, we call them “acts of God” when they are really “acts of Satan.” How so? Let me explain it this way.
My grandma, Nettie Simmions, would often say, “Don’t throw a rock and then hide your hand.” Even as a child I understood what she meant. “Be responsible for your own actions,” was the message in her words. Our Sovereign God did not throw the rock of sin, Satan did, but Satan blinds humanity to his culpability, for the state of the world and the part that we, humans, also play in it. He hides his hand of responsibility as part of his pattern of deception. Satan is 100% the cause of sin, but instead, he points to God as the reason for our discomfiture and lies to us, humanity, that he has no blame at all. He hides his hand.
God told us that the wages of sin is death, and that He, God, will recompense those who sin, the wicked. So, the reason we die is because of sin, and the reason that sin exists is because of the devil. It is a simple equation that requires basic reasoning skills.
Well, you might ask, why doesn’t God do something? Why doesn’t God stop this? In both instances, He has! Our Heavenly Father sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to give us hope, life, and eternity. We must accept Him, love Him, and obey Him, that is the simple solution to our problem. God is Love, that understanding too requires only basic reasoning. The fact that we see these things happening around us now, is proof of Christ’s imminent return. There is a direct connection between these events and God’s warning yet most people cannot see it.
Honestly, I had forgotten the direct connection between sin and judgment myself until I recalled and believed what the Bible taught about the character of God, the nature of our adversary, the reason for the great controversy, and what we should expect in the end time. You see, even as a child I was taught about the nature and character of God, both from the Bible and from the world around me.
As a small child I read a story about a Woodsman that came across a Stranger shivering in the snow and cold near the Woodsman’s home. The woodsman invited the stranger home and sat him beside the fire. As the stranger sat down, he blew on his hands. When asked why, the stranger said to “warm them up.” Later the woodsman gave the stranger a bowl of soup, but before he ate the soup, the Stranger blew on it. When asked why, he said to “cool it down.” The Woodsman promptly threw the stranger out of his house! The moral was clear – be careful of those who blow cold and hot, good, and evil winds from their mouths.
If small children understand that God is good, and that, all the time, as adults, how have we so thoroughly forgotten it? God does not blow cold and hot, good, and evil winds. When there is an ill wind in the world it is an ill wind caused by Satan. I understood that then, as a child reading that story, and you must understand that now as we witness the tragedies around us.
For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? Malachi 3:6-7 KJV
God promises to return to us if we return to Him. God will keep His promise because His character is love, righteousness, and goodness. He can do no evil, but He will recompense evil to those who practice it. Satan wants to keep you ignorant to that fact. He wants you to believe that climate change or aliens are the cause and the solution to mankind’s problems (I will discuss those in later blogs). He is lying.
I place a choice before you, life, or death. I ask you; will you follow me to my Father’s house, for there He has many mansions? In His house there is only good and that for eternity!
Additional Resources
For a deeper understanding of the topic I just discussed, please read Unit One: Understanding Who God Is, which starts on page 32 of my book: My Story His Glory (Book 2) Decoding Daniel, Revelation, and America’s Destiny.
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