El Nino or Not

And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith 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 ye not returned unto me, saith 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 unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. (Amos 4: 6 – 12)

I have been looking at the whole issue of El Nino with more than casual interest. But it is not the interest others are looking at it with. I believe as the people of God we are completely off God’s radar even as we address this issue.

But do not think I am disinterested. The other El Nino swept all my savings away in my first attempt at serious farming.

I just feel we are looking at the direction God is not interested in.

Why do we have calamities? What brings about such acts of God? Is it that God is unable to take care of the earth and people He created? Is He so sadistic as to throw whole communities into desperation? Does He need our help to keep His world in good order?

I believe we have completely lost the plot. We are completely disconnected from God’s revelation.

Why do I say so? We are trying to divert attention from what God intends to achieve through those acts. Trying to mitigate the damage may be heroic and practical; but I think the same is abominable when led by people who want to be associated with God.

Why does God allow or send calamities? The Bible is very clear that calamities and other acts of God are meant to lead people back to God. They are acts that are meant to show man the futility of his ways so that he may turn back to God.

It is sad that the people of God are speaking the language the politicians are using concerning this phenomenon, urging mitigation and physical and other preparation to counter God’s act of judgment on a rebellious populace.

I believe we should be preaching messages that will draw people back to God in repentance and rededication to a committed faith. We should be pointing people to God whose wrath we have attracted to bring devastation on our land. Physical preparation that overlooks the spiritual element is an insult to God. And we will be judged for it as we are the ones entrusted to the message of reconciliation.

What do we expect when we divert God’s judgment? What happens when we interpret a spiritual message in a physical manner? What happens when we behave as if God has lost control of His world and we must give him a hand?

He simply shifts that calamity until He knows that it will achieve its purpose. But come it will. But it will come when we least expect it so that the only mitigation we can achieve is calling on the Name of God to help us as we repent the sins that have necessitated that judgment.

It is very possible that God has already moved that calamity and that it will not occur this year. And the main reason is that His people have lost any contact with Him to prepare the world to return to Him. But it is important to know that the people who are called by His name are the ones who have opened themselves up for judgment. In other words the judgment that was meant for the world will be diverted to God’s people for sleeping on the job of warning people of the impact of their sins.

The church has for the most part lost the awe for God and His ways. We have lost a detestation of sin which is abominable in the sight of God. We have accommodated compromise to appear relevant to a godless society. In fact that may be the reason we would rather speak about mitigating the effects of judgment instead of addressing the causes of that judgment. We are afraid to appear or be called extremist as far as our faith is concerned.

We really do not care to know what God expects of us.

Reminds me of an incident I heard about. A church happened to be next to a bar, meaning each was a pain in the other’s neck with no hope of any compromise or agreement. The church of course prayed for God to intervene. One day lightning hit the bar and completely wrecked it.

The bar owner took the church to church for destroying his property (of course through their prayers). When the judge asked the church leadership to take a plea, it pleaded not guilty. The judge said something that cuts so sharply even today.

‘It appears that the bar owner has more faith in your God then you have’.

Kenyan politicians are seeing electoral storm clouds on the horizon and have resorted to consistent prayer rallies. There is no Muslim or animist or idolater or atheist. All are united under the banner of Jesus for their political future, forget the pretext. People who would never be associated with Christ now openly confess Him because they know that they will need Him for their political survival.

Do they know more about Jesus than we do? Of course they do not. But like the bar owner the little they know is enough to convince them that publicly confessing Him can have political benefits, even salvage dwindling political fortunes.

Yet we know that their act is as selfish as selfishness could be. They are not interested in having Christ taking charge of their lives; only in making association with Him bring them the required votes from the gullible believers.

But we fear exposing that hypocrisy for fear of an offering flight. We love all the money they bring as they seek to associate with the Christ we serve, irrespective of where they got it from.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2Chronicles 7:14)

It is instructive to know that it is God’s people who have the key to restoration. But they must be willing to turn back from evil as they pray for healing to occur. And it saddens me that even when publicans and sinners come in panic to the church, the church is more interested in the offerings than their lost souls.

How effective would the church be if they took advantage of the panic in the politicians to preach the unadulterated Gospel? How effective would the church be if any time a rich man came he knew that he would not be pampered for the moneys he would bring to the church if he was not ready to be transformed by Christ? How strategic would the church be when anyone knew that the only thing he would expect from the church would be salvation and spiritual instruction?

But is that what we are offering for the thirst the sinners are expressing? Why is it that it is the people who are desirous of God who are finding the church more uncomfortable for all the accommodation it affords the sinners who are not even willing to be helped to change their ways?

What kind of salt are we? Does it have any savor or is it about to be cast out to be trodden underfoot by men? Do people fear God when they relate with us or are they content and have no desire to join Christ by looking at us because we accommodate their sinful lifestyles?

And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. (Exodus 15:26)

If that is the mitigation we are pursuing as God’s people, then we are on the right track. If however we are thinking in terms consistent with the world, we are the problem instead of the solution and will be punished as God indicates in His word.

Once again I will state that God may have to postpone the floods because we have made them an occasion to show our expertise and make vast amounts of money in the process. The only mitigation for God’s people would be to call the world to repentance.

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. (Isaiah 1: 18 – 20)

But storms are coming; huge storms. But they are spiritual storms. God is soon bringing judgment on the pretenders to His holiness and privy to His revelation. You had better start preparing mitigation against this storm as it is certainly coming.

Are you a minister more interested in where the money is coming from as opposed to where the ministry is? The storm is coming.

I have heard one too many cries of people who went to a pastor discouraged and left him completely broken because their appointment was diverted to a more worthy person. I have heard one too many cries of people who waited for a long time to see a pastor yet when they got the appointment the pastor gave them divided attention because a bigger person had arrived so that the appointment time was reduced to a minimum.

Do you receive support from churches and ministries for a ministry that is more fictitious than factual? Do you flower your reports to convince your supporters to continue pouring money into a dead ministry instead of preparing for its burial because then it could be revived? Do you arrange and even create nonexistent teams when your sponsors visit to convince them that their money is doing great things when you know there is nothing you are doing or planning to do? The storm is coming.

Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 23: 1, 2)

Do you strangle people who are passionate for ministry? Or do you drain every last ounce of ministry when someone asks for an opportunity to serve. Do people backslide when they serve under you because you do not care for their spiritual nurture? Judgment is coming.

My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace. (Jeremiah 50:6)

Are you the centre of focus in your congregation? Does everything and everybody revolve around you? Are your needs the only needs in the congregation? Judgment is coming.

Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. (Ezekiel 34: 2 – 7, 10)

Like the first passage ends, prepare to meet thy God.