"It is time to destroy all who have caused destruction on the earth."
Revelation 11:18
The U.S. was just hit with two massive hurricanes which came on the heals of a total lunar eclipse. Is the world coming to an end? Is the U.S. being judged by God? Are we doomed for more tragedy?
THE ANCIENT WORLD
If I borrow from ancient culture, then by all means, God or gods are unhappy with the South and is punishing Florida and Texas. When a bridge collapsed in Minneapolis killing 13, I never heard mention that God was angry with those 13 people who died, but when a building collapsed in Jesus' day, killing 18 people, the story was told that those 18 somehow deserved what happened because they had sinned (Luke 13:4). Jesus told his followers that those people were not bigger sinners than the rest of them and he warned them that something worse was coming if they did not turn from their sins. In the Bible days, every natural tragedy outside of war was related to sin.
Natural tragedies were not the only disasters tied to sin. When Jesus and his disciples walked up to a man blind from birth, the disciples asked Jesus, "Who sinned that he was born blind?" For them the question was not, "Did sin cause this blindness?" For them, somebody sinned because this man was born blind. Jesus told them that nobody sinned to cause this. At this point his wording gets a bit tricky, because he added, "but that the work of God might be revealed." Or he may have said, "Let the work of God be manifested." The original Greek can go either way. So either this man's was born blind for the sole purpose of revealing God's work or Jesus was simply saying that no one sinned to cause this blindness, nevertheless, let God be glorified.
When someone could not speak in the days of Jesus, it was commonly held that demons were possessing the dumb and not allowing them to speak. Jesus worked and healed in a world where sin and demons were behind most diseases and natural disasters.
THE ANCIENT WORLD'S INFLUENCE ON TODAY
Not many hold to a purely ancient world view when it comes to modern disasters. We know so much more about the reasons why structures collapse and how people get sick. Even so, there are many who cling to the ancient world views to some degree or another.
When Haiti was hit with a major earthquake that killed tens of thousands, Pat Robertson said the reason the earthquake killed so many was because some 200 years ago the Haitians made a pact with the devil to find freedom from the French.
In the aftermath of recent flooding and destruction in Florida and Texas, plenty of YouTube preachers are saying that this is the beginning of the end. Destruction is the result of sins such as abortion and homosexuality.
Anne Graham Lotz suggests that the recent total eclipse was a warning to the U.S. that bad times could be coming if we didn't change our ways.
In some Christian circles, being sick is often related to sin.
These people hold on to some degree much of the ancient world's reasons for natural disasters and sicknesses.
Most of these Christians blend modern science with ancient thought. They can see that a disaster might be the result of poor building construction. They can see that a disease such as arthritis is brought on by natural wearing and tearing of the body. But many of them also believe that God causes such things or lets such events happen for different reasons (IE: testing our faith, punishment for sin).
GLOBAL WARMING
The first camp tells us that the storms and disasters are probably due to global warming. This camp can be further divided into two sub camps. The first agrees that there is global warming but says that the warming is a natural phenomenon unrelated to human activity. The second camp believes that humans contribute to global warming. Both of these camps are willing to accept that global warming may be contributing to an increase of random and/or unusual changes in weather which can include stronger and more hurricanes, tornadoes, hotter temperatures, rising oceans and so on.
On the other hand, there are people who claim that global warming does not exist. Some of these people believe that scientists are political beings who are finding what they want to find with a political agenda in mind.
Either way, the evidence is strong that global warming is happening at an alarming rate. We may not see any drastic change in the next few years, but changes are going to come.
YIPPEE! THE WORLD IS FALLING APART
There are those who believe disasters such as the hurricanes that hit Florida and Texas are sign that Jesus is coming back. Jesus is coming and they are happy to see the world fall apart as it's demise means the soon return of Jesus. Most of these people see the disasters as a result of human sin which God punishes when He has had enough. In many of these people's belief, Jesus promised to keep the godly safe by taking them bodily into heaven while the rest of the world will get worse and worse and suffer more and more. So if the world is falling apart, it is okay.
LET'S GO TO MARS
Then again, there are people like Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking who believe the planet cannot survive another 100 years because of global warming, overpopulation, and Artificial Intelligence. They believe we need to start looking into the possibility of populating another planet.
HELP!
The world could be ending in a few generations. Disaster after disaster could be on the rise killing many of us in the prime or our lives. The future could be very dark for humanity. What should we think about all this?
When I was a young member in the U.S. Coast Guard, a group of us had just finished eating at a restaurant and were paying a hostess for our food. One of the guys (Joe), who was a bit strange and told the hostess, "Jesus is coming back tomorrow!" The hostess was startled when he said that. She looked like she believed him, so I took over the conversation to cover up for my friend's stupidity. "No he's not coming back tomorrow, but if he was, would you be ready?"
The hostess told me she was not ready, so before other customers came to pay for their food, I told her she could take time that night and pray to God and rededicate herself to Christ (I assumed that she had some sort of Christian background by the way she reacted to Joe). She said she would.
The hurricanes and the eclipse may not have had anything to do with God's judgment and may not be signs at all that Jesus is coming back. But if they are...are you ready?
