Friday, August 26, 2011

Hurricane Irene: Wrath of God?



Hurricane Irene: Wrath of God?

The speculation will begin. Was hurricane Irene another judgment of God upon America? Some will claim that the hurricane is an expression of God’s anger and disappointment in a nation of millions who once sincerely pledged their loyalty as “one nation under God” and claimed indivisibility. The god we serve now is an ecumenical god. It is the god George Bush promoted shortly after the 911 attacks. He declared his god was the same god of the Muslim and the Hindu and the Buddha. Who can know if Irene is a demonstration of God’s judgment? What is known is that Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) It is also known that God made a strong declaration about serving other gods, “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)

Does God select natural disasters and throw them at rebellious countries like darts at a dart board? Is he aiming darts at Washington D.C.? Last week the city experienced a ‘once in a hundred years’ earthquake that measured 5.9 on the Richter scale. A week later they are bracing for hurricane winds and possible flooding? It wouldn’t take much to convince many that those natural events are a warning from God?

James Boice tells of an old woman in the bush country of Rhodesia. She spoke to a visiting missionary, “You have brought us the light but we don’t seem to want it. You have brought us the light but we still walk in darkness.” Jesus declared himself to be the “light of the world”. (John 8:12) “In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” (John 14-5) It is a phenomenal thing to observe. The light shines all around us and yet most fail to see the light. They are blinded by their own disbelief. They choose darkness over light and then suffer consequences for their poor choice.

It seems America is being run down by a darkness that will soon overtake us if it hasn’t already. “Walk while you have the light, before the darkness overtakes you.” (John 12:25) Hurricane Irene is but a minor distraction compared to the social hurricane that has twisted and corrupted our morals and seems intent on destroying American culture. The darkness is a result of confusing the true God with the inferior gods of false religions, the growth of atheism, the murder of 50 million unborn babies and the economic confusion and chaos caused by greed and graft. We have forgotten God and his many blessings. “You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD." (Ezekiel 23:49)

Every unbelieving heart will one day believe. The God who is light will not allow his creatures to continue in darkness. Unfortunately, believing alone does not bring salvation to the soul. Satan and his imps believe strongly in the existence of God. Believing must be accompanied by humble confession in order to receive full salvation from sins and inherit eternal life through the Savior, Christ Jesus.

Is Irene a judgment of God? Perhaps. We are so blinded in our darkness that we fail to see the bigger hurricane that is destroying us. We can’t see the forest for the trees. We are suffering tremendous moral decline, we are politically polarized, we are an economic train wreck and we may well be on the brink of social unrest. We’ve been hit by a hurricane and it most certainly must be the judgment of God upon us.

There is refuge available for this great, destructive hurricane that is ripping our country apart. “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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Hurricane Irene will slam the east coast of America. It will rain its wrath on the just as well as the unjust. It will affect those who have embraced the light as well as those who have chosen darkness. But for those who are Christ followers they may find comfort in the words of the Psalmist and the Prophet.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. (Psa. 46:1-3)

“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10 nkjv)

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.


27 comments:

  1. In my opinion, I feel this topic can go both ways, but I would say it is the wrath of God. I wholeheartedly believe we are receiving the judgement of the Lord in the United States, and Irene is that judgement. Also, I do not believe Irene and the recent earthquake happening around the same time in the same place is a coincidence. The Lord is using things that point our attention to Him and His power. As Irene continues to beat down the east coast, maybe people will see the strength and power of our Lord.

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  2. Dear Mr. Probst,
    Honestly, I couldn't say if this hurricane is the wrath of God, but I do believe the economic downfall, due to the greed of 'high-ups' in America, is definitely apart of that wrath, but there's really no telling if this hurricane is the wrath of God. Hurricanes and many other natural disasters happen most everyday. This is due to the sin of Adam and Eve and sin cast out upon the earth. So, indeed this is the wrath of God, but I'm not sure if it's because of America's unrighteousness.
    -Danielle White

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  3. mr probst
    I think the small earthquake could be symbollic in that it hit Washington but other then that...it's no big deal.
    As for Hurrican Irene, hurricanes happen every year, and almost every year there is a big one. So what makes this one any different?i think that it is obvious that God is displeased. If we as humans are displeased and disgusted by looking upon our own nation, what reason would God have to be pleased? When He see's things we don't. -Aimee Green

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  4. I believe that we all live in a fallen world and the Bible says the rain falls on the good and the bad. I think it's a natural disaster, but I do think that God will use it for His glory and for the good of those who believe in Him..according to Romans 8:28-29. There is just no way for us to know God's plan regarding this hurricane, instead of questing why maybe we should be more concerned about the way we should respond to it.

    -Sally Key

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  5. I believe that we all live in a fallen world and the Bible says the rain falls on the good and the bad. I think it's a natural disaster, but I do think that God will use it for His glory and for the good of those who believe in Him..according to Romans 8:28-29. There is just no way for us to know God's plan regarding this hurricane, instead of questing why maybe we should be more concerned about the way we should respond to it.

    -Sally Key

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  6. In my opinion I think that it is part of the Wrath of god because 1)the killing of babies in the womb 2)the movement of the homosexuality agenda and 3) America turning against Israel. America has fallen away from God and I think that God is trying to get the attention of America wanting us to get back to the foundations which the country was founded upon.

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  7. I'm not sure if this hurricane is the wrath of God on America or not. Like a few of my other classmates have said, natural disasters happen almost everyday. We do live in a fallen world, that's evident by the lack of moral judgement in our society and government. If this is the "wrath of God", then this is just the early phases of it. I believe it will get worse before it gets better. Instead of focusing so much on is this the wrath of God or not; I think we should be trying to focus on our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who have been directly and indirectly affected by this hurricane.

    -- Mary Jeanne Curtis

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  8. Dear Mr. Probst,
    Were we supposed to comment on the blog or on the paper? I'll do it on the blog, here it is:


    I don not think that Tropical Storm Irene is a direct example of God's wrath because not only beacause it would it be cruel and useless to punish an entire country for its sins without even specifying them. Imagine punishing your young son and never telling him what he did wrong. that would just make him hate you, and become even more rebellious. another reason I do not think that tropical storm Irene is a display of God's wrath is because the Bible says in Gen.9:15-16 that He will never again flood the entire earth with water. Irene, of course, would not flood the ENTIRE earth, but I think God does have very Strong emotions, or whatever he may have, about killing man with water, scince he so clearly promised never to annihilate the human race with it.
    While Irene is most likely is not a dispay of God's anger towards America, but it is absolutly a result of God's anger at Adam and Eve's original sin of disobedience. when they sinned it threw the entire world into turmoil because it was the first evil thing ever done on earth. God punished man for this sin by allowing Satan to currupt the world with pain and natural disasters, among other things.
    Tropical storm Irene is probably not a result of God's rage towards America is definately a result of his anger at man's sin.

    Cullen Bryant 8/28/11

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  9. It is obvious that we live in a fallen world, the Bible even tells us that. But, is this really a punishment from God? I would have to say that it isn't. I believe that the Lord would and will send a much larger punishment for all the immorality we have. We deny him on a daily basis. I just have a hard time believing he would send only a hurricane to be his wrath. The media overstretched the idea of this hurricane. It isn't near as bad as many thought it would be. I do think that God will send some form of punishment, I just don't believe this was it. Hurricanes happen every year. This one was one of the lesser ones. Sure, there is flooding, but more than likely everything will go back to normal and not many people will be changed by this.

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  10. I don't think that this is the wrath of God but it very well could be. I agree with what Danielle said hurricanes are just one of the many punishments that God has placed on the world due to sin and they happen often. I don't think that there is a pattern to these natural disasters but God is in control of all things either way.

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  11. I wholeheartedly agree that we live in a broken and corrupt place, and the God is disappointed by what we have done as a country, but I don't really think that the Lord's wrath is causing all of the natural disasters. I feel as though if it was God's wrath upon us, there would be no question about it. When the Bible tells of other times His wrath was on a place, it talks about the location being completely wiped out. I just feel it would be more obvious to us if it was Him and we wouldn't have this big question mark in our heads.

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  12. It seems to me that this is not the wrath of God. Why now? Why not in the 60's or 70's when our moral scale was possibly even lower. I believe that this is just the result of the fall of man and we will have to deal with the reaped consequences. Additionally, I feel like if God was trying to get America's attention he could have made it a lot worse. He's God, he's omnipotent. We could have had a natural disaster on the scale of the 2004 tsunami or haiti earthquake, but we didn't. As americans and christians in general, we need to continually pray for our country and the direction that God wants it to go in.

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  13. I don't know if it is a form of Gods judgement. Think of Job and all the disasters he faced. This was not God showing any judgment towards Job, but showing Satan how strong Job's faith really was. The Scriptures clearly show us that God does/will use natural disasters as a form of judgment. Genesis 6:17(Noah/the great flood),Exodus 9:13-14(the plagues of Egypt),and Joshua 10:12-14( when the Sun stood still). None of us can truly say wether hurricane Irene is a form of judgement because none of us truly know God's plan.

    -Cal Gayles

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  14. REPOST!
    I don't think this is a form of Gods judgement. If you look in the book of Job, Job faced a lot of disasters but God did them to prove to Satan how strong Job's faith really was. If you look at Genesis 6:17(Noah and the flood),Exodus 9:13-14(plagues of Egypt), and Joshua 10:12-14(the Sun stood still). All of these disasters above can be viewed as positive and negative. I don't think any of us could say that hurricane Irene is a form of judgment because no-one knows God's total plan.


    -Cal Gayles

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  15. I believe that the Hurricane Irene is no sign. I think that we have always had storms like this but we just didn't have the media talking about it all the time. I think we are running out of things to complain about on the news and weather channel so they are making everything that happens sound a lot worse than it really is.-aclark

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  16. I feel this hurricane is no different from the other hurricanes. Yes, the Lord could use them as a sign to warn us the end is coming; but we have known the end was coming soon for awhile. Do I think God is so displeased with this nation that that he sends hurricanes on us? Possibly, if so, get your thoughts rights cause He's comin soon. On the other hand, this could be just another hurricane that makes the American people stronger. Hunter Bowman

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  17. Mr. Probst,
    I believe that God is upset and is trying to communicate with us through natural disasters because of people being too materialistic and not having a clue of where they are going when they die. I think he uses these kinds of things to help people with their selfish ways and helps them to remember what’s really important in life. These disasters such as Hurricane Irene, are devastating, but they make people stop and think about how they are living their lives. So, I do think that God uses disasters to get through to people and open their eyes a bit to what the world has become.

    ~Haley Hamm

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  18. Mr. Probst,
    I don't know if the hurricane was a specific punishment but I do know that this hurricane was a result of our sin. So, in a way it is showing that God is displease. This is an example of God's wrath and the only reason we deserve his wrath is because we displeased God by sinning and not repenting the way we should.
    -Laura Schuster

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  19. Mr. Probst.
    I honestly think it could go either way. I mean we do have hurricanes and earthquakes every year this year it just happened to be in the same week and same states. I believe God sends us signs or messages when there is a revolt of some sort and lack of discipline. Maybe God is trying to tell us something by the earthquake and hurricane irene.
    -Sarah Gunnels

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  20. Mr. Probst,
    I believe that all hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, and just bad storms in general are GOD's judgement. That He is trying to get our attention through the storms. Yes natural disasters happen all the time but I honestly believe its God's attention grabber for us.

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  21. Mr. Probst.
    I believe that hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, and just all bad storms in general are God's judgement. Yes natural disasters happen everyday but I truly think it is God trying to turn our attention to Him.

    Alana Roper

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  22. this makes total sence to me! btw i enjoy ur class :)
    -nadia haidu

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  23. i think this could be the wrath of God because...

    1. we live in a sin cursed world
    2. ends times prior to rapture
    3. changes in nature

    ~bekah moon

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  24. I think that this isnt the "wrath of God" persay. i think its a sign of the end of the age. He promises that end the end we will have the "shaking of the earth" and violent storms. i think we are missing the point. we should be focusing on the end of time (which is inevitably close) instead of God's Anger...

    -Matt Gray

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  25. Yes, I do think that they are signs that God is displeased. I don't think He would just send a hurricane and a earthquake for the fun of it, they're obviously in the wrong and this is His way of showing them that He is displeased. So many people now days are forgetting about God and taking Him for granted. For example, not enough people are worshiping God on sundays anymore. There are tons of people that don't even go to church. Everything happens for a reason.
    - Taylor Tyson

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  26. I do think this is God trying to get America's attention. 1, because of the location. Its strange that both the hurricane and earthquake have affected such major areas in our country. 2, because we know we will have to pay for our sins and this seems to be only a small piece of the punishment America deserves. And 3, He judged entire nations in the Bible, why not America?

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  27. Mr Probst
    we do have hurricanes and earthquakes every year this year it just happened to be in the same week and same states. I believe God sends us signs or messages when there is a revolt of some sort and lack of discipline. Maybe God is trying to tell us something by the earthquake and hurricane irene.
    Sarah Gunnels

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