Bad Things Do Not Come From God - Part 13

Headline reads, "Worst out break of tornadoes in state History"..."Hurricane causes one billion dollars in damages"..."Floods destroy crops"..."Earthquake claims over one thousand lives"..."Insurance
Companies report volcanoes destruction is an act of God."

What goes through your mind when you read or hear of such terrible things going on? Over the years I have listened to Christians agree with Insurance Companies claims as to where natural disasters come from. They claim them to be acts of God. I have also listened to Christians say that these natural disasters are God's judgment upon the people where the disaster has occurred. Unfortunately, beliefs like these are not true. They stem from ignorance of not understanding what took place at the fall of man and not knowing the true nature of God.

Look at one of God's responses concerning the fall of man, "Then to Adam He said,"Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it, "Cursed is the ground (literally the earth) for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles (a part of the curse) it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. (Genesis 3:17-18) Adams act of treason brought a curse not only upon himself and all humanity, but on the entire earth, all of what we call nature.

When God gave Adam the command, "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17) Adam did not all of a sudden loose the incredible intellect. He was not lacking in wisdom and knowledge, but knew exactly what God had commanded. The Hebrew translation of the command is, "The tree of blessing and calamity." In this passage, the word evil means, grief, harm, trouble, adversity, affliction, sorrow and misery. In other words, the earth and all that was upon it was no longer in perfect harmony, but had now taken on the nature of its new ruler, Satan. 

Now let's look at how we can be sure that natural disasters are not God's judgment upon humanity. First let's look at the reason why Jesus came to earth...
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17) Does causing natural disasters sound like a God whose love is so great the He would become a man to save man and not condemn him?

Then Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?" (Luke 6:9) Has God somehow changed His mind from saving or giving life, to destroying it? Not at all. His nature is to bless and give life!

Not only does the New Testament reveal God's true nature but we also find it in the Old Testament as well...
"I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."  (Deuteronomy 30:19-20) Again, we see God's true nature, one of blessing and life not curses and death.

Jesus tells us, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) Is abundant life a life filled with sickness, pains and all manner of misery? It is certainly not the abundant life that Jesus is talking about. Who is it then that steals, kills and destroys? Of course we know that these words are a reflection of Satan's nature. Who is it that has come to bring life abundant? Jesus!!! Again, does it really sound like natural disasters are the judgement of God upon people? If so what about His people that are caught in the same disaster? Should the righteous in Christ suffer with the unrighteousness? Certainly not. We see this revealed with Abraham's appeal for the sake of any righteous persons in Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham's question to God was, "Would you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?" God's response each time that Abraham lowered the number of the righteous to be found in Sodom anf Gomorrah was the same, "I will not destory it for the sake of the righteous." Do you honestly believe that natural disasters come from a God whose true nature is life and blessing? Absolutely not!!!

It is time for Christians to stop listening to those who believe the devil's lies more than they believe God's Word. Christians must put their faith in the integrity of God's Word and come to know without doubt that God was, is and will always be good. God did not send His only begotten Son Jesus to earth and punish Him to pay the price for man's sin, and then continue to exact punishment upon humanity. If so, then we must also agree that Jesus mission was a failure and justice was not satisfied through Him. Of course our faith says that He did pay the FULL price of justice, the just for the unjust. So now let's apply the same faith to see God's true nature and know forever, that bad things do not come from God.