I have seen that after a disaster, flood, hurricane, terrorist attack, devastating war, or some other cataclysmic event, that there are Christians, groups, and prophets that stand up and say things like, "This was the judgments of God upon those people, " for whatever reason they give as the thing that prompted God to judge them.
Why is it they could not foresee these things happening if they are so in tune with God and know what He is doing? Why is it that after something happens these people come in and insensitively pass judgment on people, nations, cities and individuals? What would make them want to do such an unloving, harsh thing?
How insensitive and hard-hearted people would have to be to say that God did so and so because He was angry and so He destroyed them. People fail to see that what they are doing is in a way, telling God how He needs to operate His business, which is according to their conception or interpretation of righteousness. That is what it amounts to. Their own interpretation of God's righteousness, and not God's.
They act just like the apostles who told Jesus that he should call fire down from heaven to consume those that had rejected Him in Samaria. Jesus' reply was, " I came to save life, not to take it" People can sometimes get just as heard hearted and heard headed as these disciples were. Jesus even told them that their hearts were hard because they did not consider the miracle of the loaves and the fish, when they were so surprised at Jesus calming the storm.
Remember the Word says in Matthew chapter 5, "Judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again." That is just the old English way of saying that you will be judged the same way you judge others.
Until you understand this, many things in the Bible will not make sense, and you will remain defeated because of your inability to earn the blessings of God." We feel defeated when we realize that after all we have done we are still incapable, unqualified and fall short of earning God's love and blessings,
With Christians who are trying to develop a close relationship with the Lord, there are many things we have to go through. Many things happen in our lives that we cannot explain or have no answers for. There is a tendency to then say that it was God who allowed these things to happen to teach us something, or that it is God's will to get this sickness, accident or disease because He is punishing us, or that it is God, who did this or that to cause such a one to suffer. People have even said that "God took my child, husband or wife".
2 Corinthians 5:19 and 21 says,
To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation?For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
All he is saying is that God will not judge people for their sins after Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. Jesus did it all and it is no longer necessary for God to hold us accountable for our actions.
How do we then explain the things that do happen to people, nations, cities and whole ares? First you need to know and realize that it is not God who is causing these unfortunate disasters and wrecking people's lives, killing scores of innocent people, including women and children. How could anyone who claims to know God believe that the same God who said in Genesis 8 and 9 that He would never again smite every living thing and made an everlasting covenant, a promise to that effect, and has promised life, blessing, abundance, forgiveness of sins, eternal life and love in thousands of Bible verses through and through His Word turn right around and cause all of these sufferings and deaths?
That does not sound very much like a relationship of love and trust now is it? How can we love and trust in a God, completely surrender and put ourselves at the mercy of a God that we are not sure about? We wouldn't know from one minute to the next just what He is going to do, because we all know that we do sin, and are not perfect right?
This is also a good question; if this is the way God really is, and He judges people according to their performance, why do some people get it, and some people don't? Why even do some seemingly good people have to suffer all kinds of things and the seemingly bad ones get to escape?
The religious world has all kinds of answers for this one too. Like, "Well, no one knows the ways of the Lord, and God moves in mysterious ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways" and so on and so forth.
I think that the real reason people have this image of an angry God is because their hearts are hardened towards Him. There is a bitterness against God and others that has hardened their hearts. Not only that, but wrong teaching that has crept in, wiping out the forgiveness and grace of God has also caused people's hearts to be hardened towards God. The movie world sometimes capitalizes on this with their realistic human interest stories of people whose lives were taken through the wringer and the blame, as usual, falls on God.
This, I believe, influences people to draw the wrong conclusions about God.
Then there is the natural unbelief and carnal mind that causes us to try to figure God out and think that He has to operate according to our own sense of justice, or right and wrong.
When we say that God is going to judge America, or any other nation for that matter, what we are saying is that Jesus failed in His mission to take away the sins of the world. We are saying that all sin is not forgiven and there are some sins and some people that still have to suffer the wrath of God for their sins.
In John 17:4 Jesus said that He finished the work that God had sent Him to do. On the cross He also said just before He died, "It is finished." If Jesus Himself proclaimed that it is finished, who are we or anyone else, for that matter, to say that Jesus was not finished? There is still a lot of judging left to do before He comes back, and we need to work our way into the blessings and favor of God?
If a father tells his child not to run out into the street, and if he does he will get a spanking, so the child runs out there, and gets a spanking, the father did right in disciplining His child, so that he won't get killed by a car in the future.
But if a father, in order to teach his child not to run out into the street and get hit by a car, pushes him out in front of a moving vehicle, not to kill him, but even just who is jesus let him get a taste of what it is like to
get hit by a car, so he won't want to disobey his father and run out into the street, that would be considered child abuse and that father would go to jail.
Yes there are spankings, as God does correct His children, but it is a far cry from judgment and destruction, and the harsh punishment that many attribute to Him.
Yet there are millions of people who believe that it is perfectly fine for God to treat His children that way, and afflict them with sickness, accidents, financial problems, depression, etc. etc. Is a human father more kind than our heavenly Father? No parent in their right mind would ever even consider purposely making his child suffer with sickness, causing accidents, even death, to teach them a lesson. Those who do abuse their children in this way with cruelty and violence are put away as criminals, yet why do people not think it abusive and strange that a God of love should treat his children in this way to punish them or teach them a lesson?
KNOW YOUR REAL ENEMY
First of all, What did Jesus go around doing? Let us take a look in the Gospels.
Matthew 4:23, "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people."
Now this is just one of the many many oodles of verses that give the picture of Jesus, God's Son, as going around healing diseases, not inflicting diseases upon people. Yet many people think that Jesus afflicts them with disease and sickness. There is no record anywhere in the Bible of Jesus ever making someone sick, or causing someone to have an accident, or where Jesus brings the wrath of God upon a nation or city. So when did this doctrine start?
Acts 10:38 says, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him."So if God was with Jesus, and Jesus went about healing all those who were sick and oppressed of the devil, if it was God who was causing the disasters, sicknesses, accidents and troubles, wouldn't He be working against Jesus and not with Him?