Daily Devotional for Tuesday August 30, 2005

Is Hurricane Katrina God Unleashing His Judgment on this Nation

(Romans 8:21)

In the coming days you are going to be reading emails, hearing on t.v. and radio, how the devastation to New Orleans and the gambling dens on the Mississippi Gulf is God's judgment on those areas for their gross wickedness. Actually, it would be very easy to make that case on the surface. The problem is, it is not true!

New Orleans has long been one of the premiere hotbeds of satanic activity in the nation. Satanic religions and the practice of witchcraft and the occult have been part of New Orleans since its earliest days. Of course New Orleans is well known the world over for the infamous French Quarter and Bourbon Street which plays host each year to Mardis Gras. Drunkenness, sexual sins of all kinds, and general debauchery are a big part of what New Orleans is all about.

Just down the coast on the Mississippi Gulf you have a wide assortment of major casinos that have brought millions of people to that area each year. Just like many go to New Orleans to party, people come to the Mississippi Gulf to gamble away their money, enjoy the R and X rated Las Vegas style entertainment, drink excessively, engage in illicit sex, and make choices in that environment they would never make otherwise.

However, let me warn you NOT to fall into the trap of believing that Hurricane Katrina was some form of judgment by God on these areas. Could God have stopped this great storm from happening? Absolutely! We know nothing happens apart from God allowing it to happen. Having said that, Hurricane Katrina was nothing more than fallen nature at work. Let me assure you of something. When God is ready to unleash His judgment on this nation for its gross wickedness, nobody will have to ask the question if this is God's judgment or not. It will be on a scale so large there will be no doubt what is happening.

There will be no way to accurately count the dead. The damage done will be in the trillions and it will simply devastate the US economy. The TV, radio, and print journalists will be at a loss how to even cover what is happening because of the magnitude and unprecedented horror it will bring to not just a few cities and an isolated area, but to the entire nation. My friend, when God's judgment falls on this nation there is going to be no doubt God Himself has spoken.

Hurricane Katrina was nothing more than an act of fallen nature. One of the questions I get very often is why God allows tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning, typhoons, floods, earthquakes, and other acts of nature that destroy billions of dollars of resources each year globally, and take thousands of lives. An understanding of this requires an understanding of the consequences of man's original sin in the Garden of Eden. As I have shared on many occasions, man was created to live and never die. He was placed in a perfect environment, free of germs, disease, and the acts of nature that we have in our world today.

At the time God created this environment we lived in there were NO tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning, typhoons, floods, earthquakes, or other acts of destruction by nature. These acts of nature are often referred to now as acts of God. That is a very misleading statement. God does allow these acts of nature to occur but these were NOT His intended actions for the environment He created man to live in. A consequence of the fall of man due to sin was a fall of his environment.

The good news, however, is found in Isaiah 35 where it speaks of the restoration of nature to its pristine condition and beauty. Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden of Eden and forced to make their way in this now fallen creation. They were created to live in a beautiful and perfect environment. Now they and their descendants would have to get along in an imperfect and hostile one. However, there will come a day very soon when Christ shall return in a twinkling of an eye, and wipe out all sin from this world. Nature will once again be restored to its perfect beauty and free of the destructive acts we face today.

As you know, one of my goals each day is to take our unseen faith, and translate it into the very real world we live in today. I do my best daily to make our faith come alive, real, and practical in the day-to-day lives we lead. Understanding that nature has fallen just like man and that due to its fallen state is capable of great destruction, we must use every tool God has given us to protect ourselves. God has given man great wisdom over the years in the ability to predict and follow the patterns of weather that can lead to destruction and loss of life. While we cannot stop these acts of nature, we can be prepared for them.

I love you and care about you so much. While we cannot change the fact our environment has been cursed by sin, we can use modern resources to help us be aware of its potential dangers. God has much work for each of us to do in these last days, and helping us be aware of, and not fall into the traps of sin this world is infested with, is part of what He has called me to do. While nature has fallen from its created perfection just as man has, one day both will be restored to its original beauty and glory!