We will return to our thoughts of Christmas, but due to another
Typhoon hitting the Philippines, and receiving quite a few questions asking me
why God allows things like this, I thought it would be wise to deal with this
issue. We have been in the Philippines for 21 years and it was standard
knowledge that Typhoon season was August – Mid October, and if a late one came it
would be the first week of November. Last year, while we were in Ministry in
the USA and Canada, on November 7, Haiyan hit. We all know the devastation!
Right now we are in Toronto, Canada meeting with a potential CCF Satellite and
we watched Hagupit hit the Philippines, the lateness of the season is
surprising.
Again, many individuals find themselves questioning God over an
issue like this, which I understand, and that leads me to offer some counsel to
help. Understand though, I will approach this from one perspective without any
apology. I go to one source for validation of Truth, which is the Word of God.
I realize that many will say that believing the Bible is only my theory, and I
will agree with you. You will, you ask? Yes, because the Truth is that every
belief in the world is a theory until it is “seen”! What do I mean? Until we die, everything
we believe is theory because only those that have died know what happens after
life.
So if we are honest we must face the fact that if what we
believe is the Truth then we will have chosen correctly. However, if we
discover that what we have believed is not Truth, no matter how hard we
believed it, it is false.
Even Paul was honest about this:
1 Corinthians 15:12–19 But tell me this—since we preach
that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection
of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not
been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching
is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about
God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be
true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there is no resurrection
of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been
raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In
that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in
Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the
world.
Paul knew that “if” what we believe is not true, that does
not change the Truth! Truth is what it is! If Allah is true, nothing can change
that, if Buddha is true, nothing can change that and if Christ is true…nothing
can change that! So all belief systems are built on faith, including evolution.
So the question that enters is the evidence that supports that belief. Many say
that I have blind faith because I have not seen God; as if any evolutionist has
seen the Big Bang, or the first evolved Ape-man. You see all Atheists have
faith –
they believe everything just happened – no intelligent “cause." All Agnostics have faith –
they believe a Supreme something made things happen or created things, but
cannot be known personally. I have faith – I believe in a very personal Creator that
not only created and sustains everything, but One that desires to be intimate
with all humans.
We all have faith – Remember faith is trusting belief. So
when you cannot see or understand everything, but still believe – it
is faith. Blind faith is when you have no evidence or reason to believe. The average
evolutionist does not know all the facts or understand all the theories, but
believes in the Theory – that is faith, based on what those that claim that their
theories are the evidence that we evolved. Their dating theories are theories,
and to accept them also takes faith. Biblical faith is also based on evidence.
This includes the intelligent design of the universe; the stars, the earth and
all creation; also, the historicity of the Scriptures; which is greater than
any 10 Greek historical documents brought together. (I have in my discipleship
manual 10 pages of facts about this, if interested to see let me know) The historic facts that are told in the
Bible, and most importantly, the historic evidence of the Person of Christ, the
eyewitness testimony of His life, death and resurrection. Our faith is not
blind at all.
All of this I say to make it clear that as I approach this
topic, I do so from a clear perspective of one that holds to Scripture as Truth
and the explanations from the Scriptures for Who God is.
Here is what no one can do – say exactly why a specific disaster
happens, only God knows that, but we can see from Scriptures reasons that
disasters happen.
One clear reason is God’s Judgment. God will cause or use disasters
to judge sin in order to cause people to see the danger of sin and repent. The
two most obvious would be the Flood and Sodom and Gomorrah. With those two
judgments the whole earth knew that God is serious about sin. But don’t go
where the world goes in its thoughts about God and sin. They act like God is
afraid of it or allergic to it. I have heard some describe God like some big
whimp that can’t look at sin because it offends His delicate nature! How silly!
God’s
righteousness, holiness and light devour the presence of sin. He hates sin
because of what it does to those that are vulnerable to it! God’s
disdain for sin is motivated by His love for those that sin kills! God warns
all throughout Scripture that sin carries a heavy cost.
Job 31:2–3 For what has God above chosen for us? What is
our inheritance from the Almighty on high?
Isn’t it calamity for the wicked and misfortune for those who do evil?
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Wages are not something given, they are something earned! Our
life of sin earns the outcome of separation from God. So there are times God
allows a disaster to awaken the people to the fragility of life and causes them
to seek help from someone higher than themselves or the government. However,
unless stated in Scripture, no one can say whether a particular disaster was
sent directly by God to judge a situation.
I will cover one more issue, but then will have to deal with
the remaining issues in the next Devo.
Not only can disasters be due to the judgment of God, they can
also be the reaping of what we have sown. Again, due to agendas by political
groups or special interest groups, we really do not know what effects we are
having on the environment. Anyone that thinks all this industrialization and
technology does nothing is not being honest. The problem is we cannot have an
honest discussion about it, because many groups are agenda driven and have lied
about the facts. It seems that much of science is up to the highest bidder! How
sad. We even have a well-known politician that made millions selling his book
and movie that have now been proven to be fabrications of the truth. All of
this does not take away the Truth of Scripture:
Galatians 6:7 Do
not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also
reap.
This is a Scriptural principle that applies to individuals and
societies. If we cut down every tree on a mountain, when the rains come we will
see landslides. If we build communities in flood areas or right on the edge of
a river or the ocean, when storms come we will see those communities pay the
price. God is not at fault, we are. Jesus warns of this mindset:
Matthew 7:24–27 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and
follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the
rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that
house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish,
like a person who builds a house on sand.
When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it
will collapse with a mighty crash.”
There are some more issues that need to be dealt with, which we
will cover next time. For now though, we should ask ourselves…when
disasters happen, what do we do? Blame God or seek His guidance and protection?
Our response exposes our heart.
