Queensland Floods: is there a message from God in this?
January 14th, 2011 by jonknewtonCategory: Uncategorized
It was very predictable, I guess. New disaster brings out new “prophetic” declarations about why God did it! Some people take delight in apparently knowing what God is up to and why. Some that I heard were the inevitable “Queensland is such a wicked place” (substitute Victoria in 2009 or Brazil right now with a much higher death toll than Qld) or the more specific “Kevin Rudd, Australia’s foreign minister, spoke critically of Israel and he comes from Queensland, so….”
It all makes Christians look ridiculous, even callous. Now I believe in prophecy but these messages are neither godly nor rational nor biblical. Let me explain.
1. God is a God of wrath, but His wrath largely consists in letting us go our own way (Rom.1:18-32).
2. God’s punishment of sinners will take place mainly at the final judgement (Rom.2:5-11).
3. Meanwhile God has promised an orderly world after the great Flood (Gen.8:21-22).
4. Right now we live in an age of grace where the main news is the Good News of Jesus and His death on the cross (where he took on himself God’s wrath at sin) (e.g. Rom.1:16-17; 2 Cor.5:14-21)
5. Therefore people who suffer from natural or man-made disasters are no more sinful than anyone else, but they ARE a warning of the last judgment (Luke 13:1-5) and a picture of our human vulnerability: don’t take life or God for granted!
6. It’s God’s kindness and patience that should cause us to repent (Rom.2:4).
So are the floods God’s judgement on Queensland? Or are they rather the result of us living in a fallen but orderly world, where flooding happens in river valleys?
The most powerful word that Christians can bring at this time is by showing love and generosity to those who have suffered or are suffering. And that is a truth very clear in Scripture!!
Nice post, but I’d like some more detail of your views.
Point #1: “largely consists” – this is not “entirely consists”, implying that God’s wrath does sometimes consist of more specific actions that may be brought to light via prophecy; I note that you do believe in prophecy. So since God’s wrath may bring disaster at times (even though it may not be God’s normal way of operation), how do we discern between true and false claims of such prophecy?
Does God ever bring wrath nowadays in the same way he did in the OT?
Markk on January 15th, 2011 at 9:56 pmComment
There is evidence in the NT of God acting in judgement on specific people (e.g. Acts 5:1-11; 12:23; 13:8-11). Two of these were precipitated by prophetic words.
Obviously Revelation speaks of large scale judgements of God, with the purpose of bringing repentance (often unsuccessfully)
And Jesus himself predicted the violent downfall of the temple
Modern claims to prophecy have to be tested against the criteria in OT and NT, e.g. does it happen as predicted, is it consistent with Scripture, etc? In the cases I criticized, the floods were not predicted in advance and there is no real evidence of specific judgement of Queensland.
So we must turn to the general principles as I articulated in my post
jonknewton on January 15th, 2011 at 10:07 pmComment
You state there is no real evidence of specific judgement of Queensland.
I posted a comment two years ago, on a Courier Mail website? at the time of the Vic Fires when Pastor Nalliah was criticised in the media re the Victorian Government’s legislation on abortion.
MY comment was a prophectic word to the Premier of Queensland,” that if the Government did not repeal the Government’s Prostitution legislation, God would bring his judgement on Queensland”.
Namechele on January 27th, 2011 at 10:01 pmThe Lord gave me a prophetic word, three weeks ago,” I am the Lord your God, repent for your wicked ways, your Government has disobeyed my laws to protect my people; you will incur my wrath as you have disobeyed my holy laws.”
Fair enough, except that you’re being anonymous. I think a true prophet would tell us his or her name, surely. Please document what you say. Moreover, unlike Pastor Nalliah, your word seems to be very general; in his case he actually saw fire.
jonknewton on January 28th, 2011 at 9:06 pmComment I wondering what your response is to the many prophetic words by ordinary Australian christians put on Catch the Fire in response to cyclone Yasi.
Namechele on February 3rd, 2011 at 12:02 pmThanks Namechele, whoever you are. I haven’t seen the words you refer to and I do not automatically write off prophetic words, but the Bible tells us to “test everything” (1 Thess.5:21).
jonknewton on February 3rd, 2011 at 8:20 pmSome questions to ask:
1. were these prophecies given before anyone knew about the cyclone?
2. were they confirmed by mature leaders in the church?
3. how specific were they?
4. are they generally in line with the Bible?
I read Ps Daniel’s email today and he joined us all in praying for no lives to be lost. I think we can all thank God for that!
My spouse and I sincerely believe that this short article was very helpful. I’m confident the following quote will appeal to your intelligence. – “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” ~ Helen Keller (1880 – 1968)
Britt Mehrer on August 1st, 2011 at 7:23 am