Haiti and the Judgment of God

Despite whatever problems gnaw and tear at my life, certain events always seem to come along and put things into perspective. The earthquake in Haiti is one. No matter what I am enduring, at least I am alive, my family is alive, we have a place to live, food to eat and are relatively safe and healthy. Our problems are the problems of rich Americans who live in the greatest country to ever exist in the history of humanity, at its technological and democratic apex.

So to look upon the hellish plight of the Haitian people is to have one's faith come into question. At least one's polite, surface level faith. On the surface, we say that God treats everyone equal, that he does not play favorites, etc etc. That runs contrary to what the Bible teaches.

The thing to remember is that even though Jesus fufills the requirements of God's Law in being the only acceptable sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10) there is no sacrifice, no covering for those who do not accept Christ's sacrifice for their own lives. The atonement is there but has no salvic power for those who reject it or those who want to bring Jesus alongside whatever other gods they may have in their lives. The world and all in it who are not followers of Christ are still under the Law, but with no ability to make their own sacrifices to cover their sins. Further, if we as American Christians continue to parrot 2 Chronicles 7:14 as our rallying verse for revival in our land:

"...if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

we must also conceed an unpleasant truth we see at work in the real world around us: God judges nations for their wickedness despite the presence of born-again, Bible believing Christians who have been praying for revival amongst the population. Look at the Nation of Israel throughout the Old Testament. They continually went through cycles of rebellion, reproach, repentence and restoration until they finally experienced the Diaspora after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. This was despite the presence of a faithful remnant of believers in the one true God.

My denomination, The Church of the Nazarene, a conservative group of believers with churches all over the world was having its annual District Assembly in Haiti when the Earthquake struck. The Nazarene Church has 555 churches in that tiny country with over 120,000 members. Many churches are destroyed and many members are dead. The presence of all these Christians did not prevent the earthquake. God still judges nations despite the presence of Christians.

This is due to His plans and perspective being eternal, holy and perfect. We, as sinful humans, cannot understand the ways of a Holy, Perfect God. Best example I can think of now is that with the benefit of 70 years, we can look back and see how the Holocaust and the slaughter of the Jews lead to the foundation of the Nation of Israel in 1948. It is unlikely that the UN would have allowed the creation of a Jewish state without the incredible weight of what the Jewish people had just endured pressuring them. Thus, just as in the crucifixion, God used suffering and death to bring about a resurection, just as His word promised (Isaiah 66:8 and Ezekiel 37).

2Corinthians 4:4 refers to Satan as the "god of this world" and the Book of Job tells us that Satan opperates with the freedom to do almost as he wishes here on Earth, restrained only by the prayers of the saints and explicit will of God (such as God telling Satan that he can harm Job but not kill him). Aside from those two restrictions, Satan has free reign, for a time. Combining that with a creation that has been corrupted by the Fall and the inheirant sinful nature of humanity leaves us looking at the Haiti earthquake through new eyes. One can read the Old Testament and see God continually judging the nations around Israel for their sins and judging Israel for their sin. One can read Revelation and see that God is going to judge the whole of creation in the end. Continually we are shown that judgment is God's "strange work" (Isaiah 28:21)

We are forced to conceed that God still judges nations for their sin, despite the presence of a faithful remnant. In the light of that, what fresh hell awaits our once great land, where the cause of Christ is slowly being outlawed and subjected to persecution? I can only reflect back on the prophetic words of Thomas Jefferson:

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."

--Mike

P.S. : In my research for this I found a good article by Calvary Chapel Pastor Brian Broderson of a similar topic with a much more uplifting tone. You can find it here: http://www.calvarymagazine.org/Pastor_Brian/Pastor_Brian_23.pdf

Qua sum Ego iens? (Where am I going?)

I am rapidly reaching the point where I will officially not care and will begin to act like Jesus. I am so wounded right now by knowledge that has just come my way that I kinda actually have the slightest inkling of how Jesus must feel when I sin. I feel like I am "playing church" like kids "play house": it is a model of the real thing, but nothing like the real thing. Maybe it is my arrogance that prompts this thought, but if I could stop "playing church", then maybe I could have a real impact on the young people around me, maybe faith in Christ and a relationship with God could be a real thing in their lives.

Or, is it as my friend, the too wise for his years Luke Kim says: have we given them just enough Jesus to innoculate them against Him? Young people raised in the church hear all the verses about forgiveness, mercy, the love of God. Young people who come as guests with their friends hear these verses as well. All those verses that ran through my own head when I was 20-something and sinning: Romans 8:38-39, 1John 1:9, Psalm 51...

Of course, as with all Pastors, I need to make sure that all the planks are removed from my eyes before I go about trying to remove the specks, splinters, 2x4's and giant sequoias from the eyes of those around me (Luke 6:42). I know I am a sinner, and this desire to see revival and renewal does not come from a position of self-righteousness, but rather one of exhaustion and wearyness at watching the consequences of sin play out in the lives of young people, tired of seeing the rebellion and regret of teens and 20-somethings.

I am praying that God will use me to reach out and change the lives of young people in this new year. That the Holy Spirit will go before me and open the eyes and hearts of that generation that they may be receptive to the Gospel and that it will do more than innoculate them...something has to give. I can't go on like this. I feel like God is crushing me under this burden. Change must happen. Where am I going, Lord?