Preface....The following was posted four years ago today....September 13, 2019. I wrote in a preface to it...."There's a hurricane of biblical proportions coming. All the spaghetti models show that it will veer off at the last minute to the Atlantic....all the models except two....the Old Testament Prophets model....and the New Testament Olivet Discourse model." The pandemic followed almost immediately. The evidence of judgment is literally everywhere....but we have no interest. God told the Israelites through the prophet Amos that He had given them warning after warning in the form of punishments....and concluded each time with...."Yet you have not returned to me." Then came His ominous proclamation "Prepare to meet your God, O Israel."
The Coming Storm.....September 13, 2019
As I watch with everyone else the progress of Hurricane Dorian....I'm reminded of another hurricane force storm that occurred in the eastern Mediterranean almost two thousand years ago that was recorded in great detail in the 27th chapter of the books of Acts. That storm also lasted a couple of weeks. There was a similar storm at the end of September 1969....(these Mediterranean storms that might be equivalent to a category 1 hurricane are somewhat rare.) In that storm a 20,000 ton tanker struck a reef near Malta and split in two.
As of this evening....Dorian just doesn't want to move away from parts of the Bahamas.....very similar to how Paul and his 275 other shipmates fought and fought the storm for many days. We still are not sure of the exact path that Dorian will take....but we are sure of this.....God rules the waves of the sea as he rules every atom in this universe.
I wonder how many of those Roman soldiers....and that ship's crew.....and the inhabitants of Malta....eventually came to faith in Christ because of that storm? An "angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve" told Paul....and Paul relayed it to his shipmates.....that there would be no loss of life.....but the ship would be lost. God's Word speaks similarly to us today in that there will be no loss of eternal life to those who belong to and serve Christ.....but the ship will be lost. Paul himself must have been gravely concerned at first for the angel told him not to be afraid....and he then in turn told all that were with him to take courage.
There is another storm coming folks. Meteorologists speak in terms of rotating low-pressure weather systems and maximum sustained winds but God's Word as it pertains to this storm that is coming speaks in terms of birth pangs. The rotating low-pressure....as it were....is almost becoming unbearable to watch.....while the maximum sustained winds are increasing.....the cries of pain all over this earth are increasing....and the contractions are coming closer together. We are still told to take courage....but therein is the rub....there is a difference between knowing what is ahead and yet remaining calm.....and having no knowledge of or concern for what is ahead......and remaining calm.
