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As the number of
natural disasters rise, more and more people - even some Christians - are
saying these disasters are being used by God as a form of judgment.
What these people aren't seeing is that both non-Christians and Christians
are being killed in these disasters. The few who realize Christians are
being affected can only be incorrect in determining that the disasters are
being sent by God for judgment. There are no Biblical examples of God
sweeping up his followers in the destruction of the wicked by natural
disasters.
The Bible shows:
God uses natural
disasters as a judgment.
God, in most cases, gives
a warning prior to the judgment.
Only the enemies of God
are judged.
God never destroys the
righteous along with the wicked.
No innocent bystanders
are ever killed.
The Great Flood - Noah
How? Genesis 6:17
I am going to bring floodwaters
on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has
the breath of life in it. Everything on the earth shall perish.
This was the world-wide deluge.
Warning? Genesis 6:13,14
So God said to Noah, "I am going
to put an end to all people for the earth is filled with violence because of
them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself
an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and
out. The instructions are given as to how
to build the ark in which he would be saved.
Who's saved? Genesis 6:8,9
But Noah found favor in the eyes
of the LORD ... Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his
time, and he walked with God. Genesis
6:18 But I will establish
my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark - you and your sons and
your wife and your sons wives with you.
Only the righteous are saved.
Who dies? Genesis 6:5
The Lord saw how great mans
wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the
thoughts of his heart was evil all the time.
Genesis 6:12 God saw how
corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on the earth had corrupted
their ways. Only the wicked faced the
judgment.
Fire from the Sky - Sodom and Gomorrah
How? Genesis 19:24,25
Then the LORD rained down
burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah - from the LORD out of the heavens.
Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those
living in the cities - and also the vegetation in the land. The
debate rages today about just what the fire was - meteors, volcanic debris,
etc. The particulars aren't necessary. The fact remains that God sent fire
as a judgment.
Warning? Genesis 19:12,13
The two men said to Lot, "Do you
have anyone else here - sons-in-laws, sons or daughters, or anyone else in
the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to
destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great
that he has sent us to destroy it." Lot is told by the angels to
leave.
Who's saved? Genesis 19:16 ...
the men grasped his
[Lot's]
hand and the hands of
his wife and his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the
LORD was merciful to them. God was merciful to these people because
they were righteous.
Who dies? Genesis 19:16
The the LORD said, "The outcry
against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin is so grievous
...". The wicked were not warned or led out - the wicked died.
Plagues - Egypt
How? All water in Egypt is turned to blood (Exodus
7:19). Every nook and cranny of Egypt is filled with frogs |
