by Rev. Rusty Lee Thomas
“Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly (Jeremiah 23:19, 20).”
One Wild Week of Tornadoes, 2011 Now Deadliest Year for Twisters are some of the many headlines that have Americans reeling. This record breaking season of death, destruction, and despair descended upon the Heartland of America in unprecedented fury. Angry skies served up vicious storms. Most of them touched down upon the “Bible Belt” in our beleaguered nation.
Meteorologists were stupefied as they reported major harm in cities not usually visited by these deadly whirlwinds. Typically, tornadoes set down in rural areas, which cause minimal damage. Not so in these tumultuous days. Instead of bypassing congested areas of city life, tornadoes are striking with pinpoint accuracy the epicenters of the Heartland. Wide paths of devastation have been left in their wake. Tragic pictures and videos chronicle the carnage as American citizens are being dispossessed of their lands, properties, valuables and homes.
How do scientists, meteorologists, and reporters account for these massive storms? One thing for sure, they do not equate the litany of woe with the spiritual and moral state of our nation. Since science is their god, it would be sacrilegious to acknowledge any another. Thus, they are left with mere speculations, theories and hypotheses. According to their humanistic worldview, to think that these multiple outbreaks of unparalleled twisters are a result of a Holy God judging our blood stained and perverted nation is archaic and superstitious. Tragically, this practically guarantees the hammer blows of God’s remedial judgments will increase with frequency and intensity.
The prophet Amos addressed this willful ignorance when Israel was being dispossessed in their day. He stated:
And also I have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city: one piece was rained on, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered to one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have you not returned to me, said the LORD. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have you not returned to me, said the LORD. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up to your nostrils: yet have you not returned to me, said the LORD. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have you not returned to me, said the LORD. Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel: and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. For, see, he that forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, that makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name (Amos 4:7-13).
Why would the loving God of the Bible bring such calamity? George Mason, one of our Founding Fathers responsible for our Bill of Rights, provides a clue. He stated, “As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes national sins, by national calamities.” In the book of Ezekiel, the prophet records sixty three times this one profound statement, “That you may know that I am the LORD!” Most of these references pertain to divine retribution. God’s love that scourges and disciplines dealt with Israel’s idolatrous affairs with other gods and the vain philosophies of men (Hebrews 12:5-11). With each judgment that came to pass, God pleaded, “Return to me.” They refused, which led to the inevitable “Prepare to meet your God!” I doubt very seriously, it was a pleasant meeting. Behold the goodness and the severity of God (Romans 11:22).
The Prophet Hosea warned, “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7).” This Old Testament passage reveals a New Testament principle that is unalterable. The Apostle Paul affirms, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting (Galatians 6:7, 8).” America has sowed to the wind and we are literally reaping the whirlwind just as God’s word warned.
Interestingly enough, it is the Red states that have been hit the hardest. How could that be? Are not the Red states where the majority of conservative, Christians abide? Why would they receive the brunt of these storms? The title of this article reveals a possible answer. 1 Peter 4:17, 18, declares, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
In this passage of Scripture, God establishes His divine order of judgment. First, He will deal with the Church’s complicity and complacency with evil. Afterward, those who advocate and promote evil will experience “…flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power (2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9).”
If this divine order holds true in our day, what can the blue states on the east and west coast expect in the days ahead? One can only pray God remember mercy in the midst of your judgments. If God does not spare churches and His people in these awful storms, what will happen to the synagogues of Satan, the ones that do the Devil’s bidding by killing God’s children and parading their sin like Sodom?
I know many, including my brothers and sisters, will not receive this teaching anon with joy. Yet God told Ezekiel:
And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand. Yet if you warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. Again, When a righteous man does turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also you have delivered your soul (Ezekiel 3:16-21).
Johnny Hunter from L.E.A.R.N. once stated after preaching this word from Ezekiel, “Someone’s soul is going to be saved tonight and that soul is mine.” His word was like a hammer that broke the stubborn rock of resistance and like a fire that burned up the chaff of lies perpetrated by the Evil One (Jeremiah 23:29). It is vitally important that the Church clear herself of the innocent blood that has been shed and the blood that is required to cleanse the land. Otherwise, American citizens will continue to be vomited out of the land (Numbers 35:33, 34; Leviticus 18:25).
To those who have ears to hear, it is time to bear the reproach and follow Jesus outside the mainstream camp of American Christianity (Hebrews 13:3). We must unashamedly connect the dots to God’s truth, warnings, and judgments with the corresponding reality facing our nation. These natural disasters, pestilence, plagues, wars, and civil strife are not the results of coincidence or a string of bad luck. America has sowed to the wind and we are reaping the whirlwind.
I’ll conclude this exhortation with a brief message my daughter Cassia sent to our pastor recently. She told me in the last week she has wept, mourned, and interceded like never before concerning the wretched state of our nation. Here is her inspired admonishment:
I have felt the last week a stirring in my heart and soul of the Holy Spirit. He wants to speak to us. He is speaking to us through His judgments, (tornadoes, fires, floods) and He is also speaking to anyone who wants to hear from Him. This is not a time for us Christians to be lazy and idle in our faith and walk with God. We must cry out for our nation. We must mourn and pray and seek God to turn His face towards us and heal our land. I feel He wants to move amongst us if we would but have a humble and contrite heart before Him. This is not about Sunday and Wednesday night services. This is about a life style of surrender and seeking His face, and His will. He wants a generation who is set on fire for Him. Will we be that generation that He can use or will He have to find another? God help us be that generation.
I pray that the Church cries Amen and then gets busy giving God a reason to show mercy to a nation staggering under the weight of bloodguiltiness and the subsequent manifold judgments afflicting our nation!
