Was typhoon Haiyan God's judgement?

As substantial news begins to trickle in about the wreckage left in the wake of one of the strongest storms ever to make landfall, the massive scale of the damage - particularly the potential of the final numbers - is truly staggering. It is feared that 10,000 may be dead already in one city alone, and as relief teams begin to penetrate the more rural areas that number may not be simply added to, but multiplied. All of this fails to account for deaths that potentially may come in the following days and months from disease, malnutrition, and starvation as the realities of looted hospitals, unburied bodies, and deserting personnel sets in.
As Christians, nay as humans, it is natural for us to ask why. Not a meteorologic why, but a philosophic why. What is the purpose for all of this suffering and death? The humanistic evolutionist would tell you that there is no rhyme or reason, that it is all an unfortunate accident of blind nature and chance. But as Christians, particularly those of us who believe in an all sovereign God who designs and commands the weather (Psalm 135:6-7 Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.) we cannot accept that as a suitable answer. Why would God direct Typhoon Haiyan into this disaster-prone country with inadequate infra-structure to deal with such devastation? The first conclusion we jump to is that God must be judging this nation! Yes, that must be it, these people with their strange blend of Roman Catholicism and cultural mysticism have finally been judged by God with this massive wall of water, figuratively washing away the sins of these people! We've already decided that was God's purpose behind Hurricane Katrina and the indonesian tsunami, here again we pat ourselves on our collective backs for being bright enough to figure out what God is doing, and we nod our heads in consent to the grand justice those people received. However, let me insert a word of caution before we become too settled in our minds that this is the certain answer.
Job's friends were all in consensus that his material, familial, and physical devastation had come upon him as judgement from God for some particular sin. Though not one could put a definitive finger on just what it was, that did not stop them from making lots of guesses and never swayed them from their first and now deep-seated impression that it was God's judgement. The problem is, at the beginning of the story we're given a behind-the-scenes look at what really was going on between Satan and God and at the end of the narrative we find God rebuking Job's friends for making false accusations about both Job and more importantly God himself!
Roughly 2,000 years later, Jesus ran into the same assumptions by his followers on multiple occasions, was the man blind because God was judging him or his parents for sin? (John 9:2) What grievous sin had the Galilaeans committed that God caused them to be killed by Pilate? (Luke 13:1) Or what were the heinous crimes perpetrated by those whom God crushed under the fallen tower of Siloam? (Luke 13:4) And every single time Jesus had the same answer for them, this was not judgement from God for any particular sin but a result of sin in general which reminds us that we all must repent and thus bring glory to God.
While I do agree that sin has built in consequences that are not pleasant, and while I do not disagree that God has and may still judge individuals and nations by acts of nature, let me also point out that almost every time someone in scripture thought they knew the mind of God in the midst of a tragedy, appropriating judgement as the necessary answer, they were wrong. Do the Phillipines deserve judgement more than America? Do we imagine that since we stamp "In God We Trust" on our fiat currency, he will excuse the "Against God We Rebel" stamped on our hearts? Does our official pledge (of allegiance to a piece of cloth representing an earthly kingdom... But that's another discussion altogether) of "one nation, under God" blind him to the fact that we refuse to be under his Lordship and make a mockery of his commandments at every turn? No, but unless we repent, we shall all likewise perish!
Secondly, why do we assume that large catastrophes equal God's judgement but small ones do not? Many who assert that this storm was an outpouring of God's wrath against sin would be appalled if we we made that same claim if a single child drowned in a stream. But because this was so large, so far away, and thus so impersonal, we have many who find it easy to stay atop their holy perches and dictate to us all what exactly God is doing in this situation.
Lastly, the assumption that this typhoon was God's judgement on sin, is a very light opinion of sin. Every one of the people who have died in this storm or will die as a result of it were going to die eventually anyways. Many of these people may have died a much quicker and less painful death than they would have had the storm never blown their way. God judges sin in two ways, by pouring out his wrath against it on Jesus as he hung on the cross and by pouring it out on those who rejected Jesus for an eternity in hell. A typhoon does not begin to compare with the gravity of either of those.
Instead of trying to figure out why God judged the Philippines, why don't we let God be God and we his servants obedient to his commands. Which are,
1. To repent ourselves, seeing what misery sin has brought into the world.
2. To love our neighbors as ourselves, look into how you can help the people of the Philippines.
3. To preach the gospel to all people, rejoicing with those who accept it and mourning for those who reject it, knowing that they will face a final judgement that makes the largest typhoon on record look like a gentle rain.

False Pastors

Jer. 23:1, 17 Woe be to the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord... They say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace: and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
I mentioned in my last post how amazing it was that the prophet Jeremiah could write something so long ago and so far away, yet it still have such impact today. I have chosen a different portion of Jeremiah this time, but it too is extremely relevant in our culture today. God is speaking through Jeremiah to the religious leaders of Israel and rebuking them for destroying and scattering the children of God; but what I find so disturbing is the way in which they were destroying and scattering the people. God does not rebuke them for being insensitive to the feelings of the people, he did not say that he was displeased by their lack of making people feel good about themselves. God's quarrel with the false pastors is that they were telling those who were haters of God that God would give them peace, they were telling those that were ignoring God and living however they wanted to that God would never really recompense them for their evil deeds. The problem was that the pastors had abandoned truth for feel-good messages. This is a sin that is running rampant in our churches and seminaries today, so called "Bible colleges" teach the future preachers of our country to steer clear of speaking of repentance, because repentance insinuates sin and sin makes people uncomfortable. What they are missing is that the Bible says that repentance is part of the belief that is necessary for salvation. The problem is that most churches would rather have a church with three hundred souls in it that are headed for hell, than to have a church where thirty regenerated people worship. We have given up true spirituality in order to grow numerically and God says he hates it.
Our televisions are full of preachers who have built their entire "ministry" around telling people that they can have their best life now, or that God just wants you to be you, or that God is not mad at you no matter what. Their messages are the same as those in Jeremiah's day and if God does not change, why would we think that he condones now what he cursed then?
For any pastors or preachers that might be reading this I would exhort you to continue to preach the truths of the gospel, that the wages of sin is death and what a man sows that will he also reap. That without faith it is impossible to please God and if in this life only we have hope of Christ we are of all men most miserable, but thank God that we have a hope outside of this life. For the lay readers, let me encourage you not to fall prey to the false prophets that only tell you what you want to hear instead of what we all need to hear. A drowning man would probably rather hear that he is okay, but if I really care for him I will tell him of the danger he is in and provide him with a way of escape. The preachers that tell you that God just wants you to be rich, successful and comfortable, do not really care for your souls. Subject yourself to a man of God that will watch for your soul as the scriptures command him to, instead of conforming to everyone's whims in order to fill his pews. In reality the pastor that makes you feel better about yourself is probably the one that God says is scattering and destroying His church; but if you find a man that will preach on sin even when it makes you uncomfortable so that you will repent and turn back to Christ, that is the true man of God.

If my people

I Chr. 7:14 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 I heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land.
As I said in last week's editorial, I feel as if this country is in dire straits. However, I know from scriptures that there is still hope for this country, if the christians will begin acting as christians should. In the future revivals only come when the christians in the country start focusing on their own walk with God. There is a lot of focus on evangelizing the lost world, or reaching out to the youth in our communities, and while these are admirable ministries they will be futile if the ones ministering are not right with God.
You will notice in this passage that God says that it is his people that are in need of repenting from their sins. He does not say that they need to get more people into the synagogues, or even to do more door to door witnessing, he says that they need to humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways. There are too many churches across this country that are so "seeker friendly" they have stopped preaching the biblical doctrines of sin, the depravity of man, the just wrath of God, and holy living of the saved, because they are afraid of scaring people away. The truth is the preachers need to preach the bible in love and allow the saved to conform to it, and the lost to leave. While that may sound harsh, it would purify our churches back to what they are supposed to be, a sanctuary for the saints to be able to retreat to and be free from the filth of the world. Instead we have bought into the idea of bringing the lost world into the church, instead of bringing the gospel to the world and keeping the church for those whose have been converted.
I want to see this country revived as much as anyone, I want God to hear from heaven and heal our land. As one man told me recently, "Our churches are sick, but we've got to give them the right medicine." The funny thing about medicine is most of it isn't very fun to take, but when we get over it and take it, it helps us get better. If pastors want to see this country turned around they will have to stop giving their congregations candy and start giving them medicine. It may taste bitter for us to eat some humble pie, but the end result will be a spiritually healthier country.
One other aspect that is mentioned in this verse is the need for prayer, unfortunately we live in such a busy world that it has become easy for us to make the excuse that we have too much going on to spend more than a few minutes a day in prayer. For those of us that desire to see a return to christianity in this country over the next decade, must begin praying in that direction. Both aligning ourselves to the will of God and praying that others would do the same, is necessary for change come. It is my prayer that you will join me in this effort to reform our country, first by conforming ourselves to the word of God and secondly by fervently praying that God will ignite others hearts to see the need for healing.

Exalting a nation

Prov. 14: 34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
I love the country we live in, I love the freedoms and liberties we enjoy. These liberties and freedoms were set down by men of God who understood that for any country to succeed it must be founded upon the laws laid down in scripture. The principle that all men are created with the right to life, the appeal system to ensure an unbiased trial, the fact that there must be an absolute right that when followed is rewarded with liberty, and absolute wrongs that are punished. All of these are principles found throughout scripture. Unfortunately, this country has come such a long way since that time, that the average American couldn't name five of the ten commandments, and because of that ignorance of the bible the foundational rights are being abused.
The same judges that rule that every person has an equal right to life, will deny that right to the many million babies that have been aborted, they will admit that there are absolute laws that must be followed, then turn right around and say we have no right to teach the bible as the exclusive Word of God. These judges call pornography "freedom of speech", yet deny the right to read the bible in schools, they will not allow you to spank your children in public under the pretense of "abuse", and yet divorce and adultery, the biggest destroyers of families, are winked at. How can we still say "God bless America" and expect it to be true? After tragedies such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, how could people ask "Why would God let this happen?" Proverbs tells us that sin is a reproach to any people, no matter how scientifically advanced they think they are.
America rose to world prominence during a time of great revival and scriptural dependency in this country. Shortly after Darwin's theory of evolution became widely accepted, abortion was legalized. Did you know that up until the 1970's the medical community still considered homosexuality a mental condition, but when tolerance became our society's watchword, it became an "alternative lifestyle". You can look back on our nation's history and clearly see that in the times that righteousness was expected, our nation was exalted, and in the times when the sins of atheism, tolerance, and the destruction of absolute morals prevailed, the people were reproached. Do not be afraid to stand for the truth, when it seems as if all of society is rejecting it, there have been hundreds of men, women, and children that have died because they refused to say that their culture was right and the bible wrong. Is it so much to ask that you would suffer a little rejection or a little scorn for it? I still think that we live in one of the greatest countries on earth, and I still think there is time to turn this country around to the roots from whence it came. But, the only way this can happen is if we as God's people begin rejecting sin and turn back to righteousness.