AN AMERICAN SODOM AND GOMORRAH IS DESTROYED
Courtesy: Kemble’s Trumpet Blast
HURRICANE Katrina hit the tip of Florida and headed to the Gulf of Mexico where it built up steam and proceeded to plough into Mississipi and Louisiana with a vengeance, causing tremendous destruction and annihilation. It is being called the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. Those who have seen the devastation have likened it to Hiroshima and the recent Tsunami.
There have been many great natural disasters in our land before. There have been many hurricanes. Around here we know that Galveston was laid waste by a devastating hurricane a century ago. There have also been earthquakes. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was deadly. I remember looking through my great grandmother’s stereoscope at plate after plate depicting the aftermath of this great disaster. I saw it in three dimensions. It is something I will not forget. And then there was Mount St. Helens. What was once a perfectly shaped mountain peak erupted into oblivion. An entire side of that huge mountain shot up into the sky in a monstrous pillar of volcanic ash, destroying every thing around for miles and miles. Giant trees were levelled like dominoes and scores of people were killed instantly by the blast. But of all the natural disasters in the history of the United States, Hurricane Katrina is being called the worst.
As a man of compassion and charity, I cannot help but weep for the vast number of people whose lives were affected in some way by this great calamity. Countless people have died and are missing. Tens of thousands of people are without the barest necessities of life. Many of our own are missing. Many of our people, friends and relatives have suffered loss of property and even loss of life.
The focus of much of the reporting that I have witnessed has been the city of New Orleans. The devestation there is immense – collapsed buildings, dead animals, looting, anarchy, desperation.
While my heart goes out for the innocent who suffered, the preacher in me cannot help but consider all the wickedness, the drunkenness, the lust and perversion that this.decadent city is known for, and come to the clear conclusion that it had everything to do with the destruction that took place there.
God is speaking to us. Will we hear HIM, or will He have to speak again, only louder next time? It is the profound desire of this preacher that this wake up call will be heeded and that this rebellious nation will not simply pick up and rebuild, but that we will hear what God is saying to us and repent of our national sins and harlotry that we will fall on our faces before God, and beg for His forgiveness, and turn back to Him with all our hearts and utmost devotion.
WHERE WAS GOD?
As more and more discussion is made concerning the recent hurricane, many people have asked the question, “Where was God when the hurricane hit New Orleans?”, and have pointed an accusing finger at the Almighty. In response, I have heard preachers defend God and say that God did not want all of that destruction to take place, that He is a loving God who would never hurt anybody.Well, this preacher is not shy about saying that those preachers need to think again!
It is true that our God is a loving God, and I thank our God for his love and praise Him for his abundant grace and mercy. But our God is also a just and righteous God, who cannot and will not tolerate wickedness forever. His grace is great,. but there comes a time when God says enough is enough!
We read of one of these times in the book of Genesis, in the days of Noah, when God finally had enough of the constant wickedness of man, and sent the great flood to cleanse the earth. We read of another time, when God had enough of the wickedness and perversion of Sodom and Gomorrah, and sent fire from heaven to destroy and cleanse that wicked place as well.
Where was God in the hurricane? I’ll tell you where God was – He was the same place He was in the great flood of Noah’s day. He was the same place He was when the fire destroyed the decadent cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He-was the same place He was when the earth swallowed up Korah and his brazen band. He was the same place He was in the plagues of Egypt.
Where was God? He was in the winds of Katrina.
Just as He came against Sodom and Gomorrah, it was God who came against this American Sodom and Gomorrah, New Orleans.
It is no accident that this hurricane was called Katrina. The name Katrina is from the Greek katharos (see Matthew 5:8) and means ‘purity.’ Another form of the word appears in Hebrews 9:13 and means ‘to purify.’ Another form of the word appears in Hebrews 9:14 and means “purge, to cleanse”. It is indeed a sobering thing to consider, but the fact is this hurricane was the direct result of the Hand of Almighty God moving against an American symbol of decadence and immorality, to purify and purge out of His Kingdom those things which offend!
It is no accident that the hurricane hit when it did. We have learned that there was to have been a big event in New Orleans to celebrate decadence and perversion. Every form of perversion was to be engaged in at this gathering without the slightest restraint. But in His grace and mercy, God sent His Katrina to prevent this corrupt event just before it was to have taken place.
Give praise and honour and glory to our great God, for he is awesome and mighty and holy.
WHAT TIME IS IT?
It is time to get right with God. Hurricane Katrina was a preview of that great and dreadful Day of the Lord, when:
“The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.” – Matthew 13:41-43
Judgement Day is coming, America. In His infinite grace and mercy, our God has given us several warnings to repent and to cast out the unclean things that are present in this land, and each time we have turned to Him briefly, but then proceeded down the same old path of rebellion and wickedness. But I am here to tell you that there is coming a day when God will be through with warnings.
America Awake! Turn back to the Lord your God, and touch not the unclean things which the LORD hates!
The words of 2 Chronicles 7:14 scream out to this prodigal nation like never before:
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land”.
What will you do America?
A WORD OF CAUTION
The displaced people of New Orleans have spread literally throughout the entire country, north, east and west, to great cities as well as small rural communities. As our people are wont to do, they have taken these people in and been very good to them. You can understand my outrage when we began to hear reports of increased crime (rape, vandalism, murder) in the towns where these displaced people have gone, since their arrival.
I was just today informed of a church in a small community here in Texas that took in several of these people. The overall attitude of these people was demanding and ungrateful. On top of that we heard of another community that has taken in some of these people where three of the women in the town were raped, several homes were robbed, and the overall atmosphere of the community was changed following their arrival. Scores of similar stories could be told.
As the Holy Bible tells all wlio.read it:
“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. “ – Matthew 7:6
What we have here is a situation where many are giving aid to the very element that God had deemed worthy to suffer his wrath. And when you give aid to the very ones whom God pours his wrath upon, you are not going to please Him. You will only insult God and bring Judgement upon yourself.
In times like these, it is natural for that God-given compassion to well up inside of us, and we find ourselves wanting to extend a helping hand. But when you give aid indiscriminately to all, you will aid the wicked unawares, and incur judgement.
Our first concern should be to help our own – those who we know to be His. Do not blindly give aid to anyone. A great many of these people are wicked to the core, and it is time to draw strict and uncompromising lines of separation between “us” and “them” If you do not, don’t be surprised if the swine turn and rend you.
