Tag: #hurricane

Times of Difficulty – 5

Godlessness in the Last Days

2 Timothy 3:

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos richest man in the world with a net worth of $90.6 billion

Many lovers of money worldwide, with the richest residing in the US, France, Spain, Mexico, China and Hong Kong.

Proud and arrogant men and women rule companies and financial interests more powerful than countries.

We sense the extreme poverty of so many without knowing the truth of many billionaires like Carlos Slim Helú who dominates more than a country just devastated by yet another earthquake.

Borderless prisons of poverty abuse the starving and obliterate opposition.

Difficulty in these last days

How many rulers of this temporary darkness are without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit and more?

Evil rulers of countries and military forces threaten apocalypse, condone persecution and order elimination of those who oppose them. Is the Lord God their God?

Hardly a mention of evil in these trying times. Yet one word describes all – godlessness.

Meanwhile international headline news conglomerates skew our focus toward consumption, power and fleeting fame.

Signs of the End of the Age

Enlightened ones speculate with futily about global warming and disasters of ‘mother nature.’

Earth did not create us, aliens did not plant us and apes did not conceive our ancestors. Yet idolatry abounds in these times of difficulty.

When hurricane approaches or disaster strikes do any dare mention ‘acts of God?’

Matthew 24:

Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.

6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

No One Knows That Day and Hour

In two millennia since the beginning of these last days, in recent centuries of these last hours, in passing minutes of threatening signs:

Has your love grown cold? Will you endure to the end?

Is your gospel of the kingdom of Christ Jesus a testimony of truth, an anchor of belief and hope of love?

37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man…

Hurricane Irma makes landfall in Florida, wreaking destruction

44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

2 Peter 3:

… scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say,

“Where is the promise of his coming? …”

5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.

7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

Remember 9/11
2,996 deaths

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man…

September 11, 2017
A Crying Out to the Wind

Prelude to Disaster

When life has been comfortable for you, do you cry out in amazement at a turn of events?

Let’s take a look at a righteous man from the oldest book in the Bible and later examine Job’s pleas to the Lord after his friends have offered no help. Should we cry out to the wind in the day of disaster? What good could possibly come of it; what good could return from a God who allows the winds of change to bring us into the place of disaster?

Job 1:

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil…

…

19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Job’s pain described to his friends

Job 30:

¹⁵Terrors are turned upon me;
    my honor is pursued as by the wind,
    and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

¹⁶“And now my soul is poured out within me;
    days of affliction have taken hold of me.
¹⁷The night racks my bones,
    and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
¹⁸With great force my garment is disfigured;
    it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
¹⁹God has cast me into the mire,
    and I have become like dust and ashes.

When disaster strikes, when disaster even threatens, do you cry out to the wind? When terrors seem to fall upon us, when pain gives no rest, do you even blame God?

For it is Almighty God who allows the winds of change. It is Almighty God who painfully refines us in the fire.

Job’s plea to God

²⁰I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
    I stand, and you only look at me.
²¹You have turned cruel to me;
    with the might of your hand you persecute me.
²²You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
    and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
²³For I know that you will bring me to death
    and to the house appointed for all living.

²⁴“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,
    and in his disaster cry for help?

Have you been there? Has this been your prayer, perhaps even now?

Job’s Appeal

²⁵Did not I weep for him whose day was hard?
    Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
²⁶But when I hoped for good, evil came,
    and when I waited for light, darkness came.
²⁷My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
    days of affliction come to meet me.
²⁸I go about darkened, but not by the sun;
    I stand up in the assembly and cry for help…

There is more to the sad turn of events in the life of this righteous man, both prior to our glance at this portion of Job’s tragedy and after this chapter when Job confronts the LORD!

If you cry out to the wind even now, will you be saved by your own righteousness?

(I will not give away the ending, in case you have not read or do not recall the conclusion found in the remaining twelve chapters of the Book of Job.) Job faces Almighty God as a righteous man. How will you?

Wind is a tempest we cannot see and a power we cannot control. Can a man of dust grasp the ungraspable? Will a mere mortal stand still or bow down before the LORD?

Wind רוּחַ ἄνεμος

In Hebrew: wind, breath, mind, spirit; and also used in an attempt to describe the Holy Spirit of God.

In Greek: wind, a violent agitation and stream of air; a very strong tempestuous wind; the four principal or cardinal winds, hence the four corners of heaven

Behind the invisible imagery one must see beyond the feel, effect and cause of the wind to a more mysterious meaning of a Source for all wind; therefore a Source also of all calm.

NOTE: Linked text to source for scripture, Hebrew & Greek definitions and other source material for Roger Harned posts on http://talkofJesus.com

Pray for us; for we wait in the path of the tempest for the unwielding hand of God!

Are you a righteous man or woman created by God?

The heavens and the earth and all mankind is created by God! None is righteous; no, not one.

Would you confront the LORD without humility and grace?

Or do you pray to the wind?

Do you pray to a dead prophet or powerless dead saint?

Do you depend on the name of your dead ancestors?

Dearly beloved, for whom Christ Jesus came to this chaotic earth as Son of Man sacrificed for your sins: pray in His Holy Name to God our heavenly Father that you will receive his Holy Spirit, the very breath of eternal life; lest the tempest of His wrath sweep your perishing soul into the abyss of darkness.

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October 5, 2016