Do not be fooled by the inclusion of a Pastor on this season's Masterchef

There is no realm that the gay lobby won't enter to normalize homosexuality.

I enjoy a tv cooking competition show called "Masterchef." Chefs/restaurateurs Joe Bastianich, Gordon Ramsay, and Graham Elliott audition home cooks and choose 18 to perform a series of contests to see which one over time will emerge as the most professional chef with the best cooking skills.

It is different from Ramsay's other cooking show, H-ll's Kitchen, because it features non-professional chefs, just home cooks. Because of this, the judges are nicer to the cheftestants, and the show is overall more wholesome and charming. Wednesday evening was the Masterchef's fourth season premiere.

Here is a quick rabbit trail. I noted that with the onset of Hulu and Netflix, the tv watcher's viewing habits have changed, including mine. I tend to watch an entire show's run all at once. I watch one show after another each evening, so rather than having to wait a week and during hiatus to see each episode, you get a feel for the show very quickly because little time has elapsed. TheWrap.com explains, "The move is a nod to the binge habits of its members, Netflix says, who prefer to see an entire season in a few sittings as opposed to tuning in for the latest episode at a particular time every week."

In viewing shows this way, the dark truth emerged. I noticed a pattern. In all the shows I binge-watched, season 3 consistently seems to be a turning point. Darkness enters in. Satan gets his clutches into the writers and the storylines become more immoral, more violent and worse overall by season 3. Oftentimes, gay characters are introduced, or gay themes.

This pattern was kept with Masterchef. Last night in watching the premiere, I was saddened to see much more sexual innuendo than in previous shows. I was briefly joyful that a pastor was chosen as a final contestant for the final audition but became concerned when I researched who this pastor is. He is a practicing homosexual living with a partner, had adopted three boys, and is promoting gay marriage.

A website chronicling Chicago Gay History lists this 52 year old "pastor" named Kevin Tindell's bio thus:

"Rev. Kevin E. Tindell is a change management consultant and minister. He and his partner are raising two sons. Tindell is active in Black gay and spiritual groups. He co-founded ONYX, a Black leathermen's group; Praise Center Chicago; and the Sanctuary Ministry. His involvement has included Chicago Black Lesbians and Gays, Adodi, Minority Outreach Intervention Project, Equality Illinois, Youth Pride Center, AIDS Legal Council, Jelani Unified Men's Project, Black Alumni of Notre Dame, and much more."

Tindell says he is a neo-Pentecostal starting up a new church with about 20 members. His staff is studying under controversial Obama pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as this website article explains. "The church claims about 20 members and refers to itself as a neo-Pentecostal denomination. Several members on the ministerial staff are currently receiving training at Trinity United Church of Christ under the direction of that church's pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. And one of the most important aspects of the church, besides its openness to the 'gifts of the spirit [including speaking in tongues]' is special outreach to the Black LGBT community."

In this video interview from a few weeks ago, "Pastor" Tindell says bible passages frequently quoted that seem to oppose actually mean something else. He explained, "There is no marriage ceremony in the bible. Marriage was around for property ownership. So when the bible says men should not lay with men like they lay with women, they're talking about...because you couldn't own men."

Tindell says "I am the face of marriage Equality" explaining, "But I promised God that if I met the man who was right for me, I would step up and ask him out… So, I did!” he continues. ... He adds, “Our faith in a God that created all, loves all, and accepts us just as we are sustains both our relationship and our family.”"

I always find it interesting how a reprobate mind twists the clear meaning of the word. In one example from another situation, I watched Todd Friel of Wretched Radio gently and lovingly engage a practicing lesbian in detailed manner through Romans 1:18-32. In Romans 1:18 it says "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth."  

The verses go on to describe how God gives them over to improper lusts if they deny God and suppress the truth. This one lesbian Friel was interviewing said, "I she don't deny God, so the verse does not apply to me."

Anyway, back to Masterchef and the gay pastor who will be featured for however long he lasts in the competition on this influential and highly rated show. I'm saddened that once again, even the most innocuous media presentation, this time a cooking show, chooses to feature homosexuality as normal. People from all over the world will see him and think that THIS is what Christianity is, or should be. They will cling to his version of who he says Jesus is, rather than the truth.

None of this is surprising. Satan is relentless in claiming any small crack for his own, and then ruthlessly exploiting that crack for his own dark purposes. However, if you are a fan of the show, I wanted to give you the background on this pastor. He is not all he seems, and he definitely needs prayers. So does his "partner" and the sons they are raising.

As far as his twisted interpretation of the fact that you couldn't own a male slave, that was unbliblical. Exodus 21:20 talks about male slave ownership. So does Leviticus 25:44. Philemon owned male slave Onesimus. Ephesians 6 and Colossians 3 both mention slavery.

Please continue to pray. This particular situation I've mentioned on the TV show may not last more than one more week, if Mr Tindell is eliminated from the competition. Or he may persevere for many weeks and bring his message of "Christian homosexuality" to millions. That doesn't matter. The point here is three-fold-

1. Satan persistently encroaches into every realm he can, but are we as persistent with the message of the GOOD NEWS?,
2. That just becuase a pastor is presented as a pastor doesn't mean he is a Christian or holds to biblical  doctrine,
3. and we need to be discerning about what media we absorb.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Further reading:

Verses which state homosexuality is a sin-
Genesis 19:1-13; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9.

Essays about homosexuality and the bible-
Is it possible to be a Gay Christian?
Christianity and Homosexuality

Pope Francis denies Jesus

I've stated several times on this blog that any person who adheres to the Catholic faith, its creeds, or submits to the Pope as spiritual authority, isn't saved. The Catholic religion is a false religion. Espousing, believing, or failure to renounce Catholic dogma means you will go to hell when you die. Mother Teresa is in hell. Every pope that ever lived in in hell. Catholicism denies the saving work of Jesus as the SOLE means of redemption. The Pope is a heretic. I hope I have been clear.

Today Pope Francis followed in his papist forbears' footsteps by explicitly denying Jesus. I am going to post what he is quoted as saying, and then lead you through how it denies Jesus. Pope Francis exhibits the exact nature of the characteristic 2 Timothy 3:5 states we will see in the last days, an appearance of Godliness, but denying its power. Watch and read:

Pope says everyone can do good, regardless of belief

Every human person despite his or her beliefs can do good, and a sharing in good works is the prime place for encounter among those who disagree, Pope Francis said at his Mass today. “The Lord created us in his image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and he does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and avoid evil. All of us,” the Pope taught in his homily May 22 at St. Martha's residence in the Vatican.

He went on to explain that all human persons are created in the image of God, who is goodness himself and the source of goodness. He emphasized the universality of Christ's saving act on the cross as a compliment [sic] to the universal call to holiness, regardless of religious belief.

“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone.” “Even the atheists. Everyone,” Pope Francis stressed. He said that the saving blood of Christ “makes us children of God of the first class. We are created children in the likeness of God and the blood of Christ has redeemed us all. And we all have a duty to do good.”

In reading this, it becomes obvious that the Pope denied Jesus in three ways.

1. Doing good. Psalm 14:1 says there is none who does good. The Pope is talking about a human moral standard of doing good, relativistic and with no absolute benchmark. To men, doing good may mean giving back a lost wallet, or helping an old lady across the street. In God's view, there is not one person who does good. We cannot achieve any standard of holiness on our own. Yet as the Pope is speaking in his religious capacity at Mass, he is saying we possess within us the standard of goodness that God accepts simply for having been born, because our "likeness" is like God's.

The bible says none do good. Romans 3:10-12, "as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

2. Universal salvation. The Pope said that even atheists are saved because Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood. "“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone. “Even the atheists. Everyone,” Pope Francis stressed.”" However, only those who repent and believe are saved. Romans 10:9 says "because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Also see Acts 126:31, 1 John 4:15, Mark 1:15).

What the Pope is really promoting is universal salvation. Rev. Matt Slick explains what universal salvation is. "Universalism is the teaching that all people will be saved. Some say that it is through the atonement of Jesus that all will ultimately be reconciled to God. Others just say that all will go to heaven sooner or later, whether or not they have trusted in or rejected Jesus as savior during their lifetime."  The Pope's statement is shocking t Catholics because previously, Catholic dogma stated that only Catholics are saved. They believe that the blood of Jesus atoned for only those who are in the Catholic denomination, excluding Baptists, Lutherans, etc. So the Pope claiming that the blood of Jesus saves all, and that all are saved, is astounding to Catholics. Catholics have pronounced anathema (curse) on all non-Catholics since 1545, but true believers know that the Pope's words about salvation and redemption are false.

3. Jesus plus works. (Quote from the article: "He emphasized the universality of Christ's saving act on the cross as a complement to the universal call to holiness, regardless of religious belief.") According to the Pope, Jesus's blood PLUS good works, AKA holiness, is the combination one needs for salvation. Worse, believing that the work of Jesus is a complement to anything else is heresy. This is in effect saying that our works is primary and Jesus's work is a complement as complement is defined here: "Add to (something) in a way that enhances or improves it; make perfect." His work on the cross is not a complement to anything. He IS the perfect! It is Jesus plus nothing which saves.

The bible says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9.

I hope this explanation has helped you see how influential and pervasive the false doctrines of the Catholic faith are and how much more dangerous they have become with this Mass today by the Pope. I had a terrible feeling when Pope Francis was elected, being a Jesuit. The march toward a prophesied universal faith, AKA one world religion seen in Revelation 13:15-17, just got a lot more real.

Jerusalem! A Three-part Series

I'm listening to John MacArthur preach through Zechariah. Pound for pound, there is more prophecy in Zechariah than any other book in the bible, including Revelation. The book is at turns comforting, inspiring, and difficult to interpret. Overall, I'm fascinated!

When MacArthur got to Zechariah 2, the sermon titled "The Future Glory of Jerusalem", I became fascinated even further. Jerusalem, and by definition, Israel, is a hugely important topic for every Christian to seek understanding of and wisdom about. Israel is the fulcrum of history, God's nation, the apple of His eye, and future home of Jesus the King. Christians will be living in New Jerusalem. Thus it is our focus as Christians to understand His plans for this city, as well.

When the LORD dwells in Jerusalem the name of the city shall be Jehovah-Shammah, meaning, "The Lord is there." (Ezekiel48:35). It never fails to move me to even think of the Lord being there, physically and eternally. Jeremiah 30 is a chapter describing the future restoration of Israel. See here verses 18-22,

“Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings; the city shall be rebuilt on its ruins and the palace shall stand where it used to be. 19 Out of them shall come songs of thanksgiving, and the voices of those who celebrate. I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will make them honored, and they shall not be small. 20 Their children shall be as they were of old, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all who oppress them. 21 Their prince shall be one of themselves; their ruler shall come out from their midst; I will make him draw near, and he shall approach me, for who would dare of himself to approach me? declares the Lord. 22 And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”,

The Lord is there, Jehovah Shammah!

I decided to write a three part series on Jerusalem and Israel. The first part will be about Jerusalem geographically and its natural history. It is not a dry desert with swirling sands as most people superficially believe and as I once believed. Jerusalem and environs is a fascinating place, with lush animal and bird life, an interesting climate, and is the crux of three continents. It is the belly button of the world.

The second part will look at Jerusalem politically. I'll look at what prophecy says about it during this time of the last days, what the Times of the Gentiles means, and what is happening now with Secretary of State Kerry and the revived push for "peace and safety."

Last, will be the best part in the series of all. What of Jerusalem spiritually? What of the future glory of Israel? What does the bible say Jerusalem will look like and what are God's plans for it?

Stay tuned! This will be exciting look at our spiritual home, Jerusalem, the City of David, the Holy City, Jehovah Shammah!

Mysterious illness in Alabama stumps CDC

The church will not be on earth during the Tribulation period, formally known as the Time of Jacob's Trouble. (Jeremiah 30:7, more here on what that means). I am comfortable and certain of this interpretation and therefore can concentrate all my energies on this present time before the imminent rapture without having to worry about how to survive the Day of the LORD. (The rapture has always been imminent). Left, Bride of Christ, Johann Thorn Prikker

The Tribulation is a short period. It will be 7 years long, with the Great Tribulation being half of that. So much occurs during this very brief time. The antichrist forces a mark on all humans, he hunts down almost all the Christians who refuse the mark, 144,000 people evangelize the world, most of the world dies in various plagues and wars, the geography changes utterly, and politically & economically the entire global structure shifts to one world government and one world economy. Phew.

That is why I believe that the set-up to these things, though long in coming, is being laid prior to the actual beginning of the Tribulation. A bonfire is prepared before the match is struck. You clear a ring, gather stones, pile firewood, and ready the kindling. Once the match is struck the fire begins. It will take only the LORD'S command to begin that conflagration. It will get going with force as soon as the first seal is broken and the antichrist rides. (Revelation 6:1-2).

One of the spookiest things to me is the prediction of plague during the Tribulation. There is a lot to be concerned about for the people left behind to endure this period. There will be Hades on earth as demons are unleashed from the abyss (Revelation 9:1-3). 100 lb hailstones will fall from heaven, squashing people (Revelation 16:21). Beasts will attack and kill many. (Revelation 6:8). Worst of all, spiritually, God will be harder to find, worship will become almost non-existent. The light of God's revelation will be almost entirely snuffed out. (Amos 8:11; Luke 18:8).

Of course even thinking about how God will cause a famine for the Word once again to come onto the land like He did in Amos's day makes me tear up. But in the physical realm, the notion of runaway plague strikes fear in my heart. I am even afraid of it now. Stephen King's The Stand, an apocalyptic novel where King imagined 99.8% of the world's population killed by a shifting antigen superflu, struck a chord with me even thirty-five years ago when the book was was published.

The bubonic plague in the middle ages was horrific, particularly the outbreak in the 1300s. Wikipedia states that "The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350, and killing between 75 million and 200 million people." The plague at that time killed 30 to 60 percent of Europe's population.

In 1918, the Spanish flu epidemic was considered worse than that. Wikipedia again, "was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus (the second being 2009 flu pandemic). It infected 500 million people across the world, including remote Pacific islands and the Arctic, and killed 50 to 100 million of them—3 to 5 percent of the world's population at the time—making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history."

With all the human manipulation of genetic strains of diseases, it is only a matter of time until one of them escapes its petri dish and slays the world. We have sought to weaponize bacteria, we've genetically manipulated God's creation by cloning animals, altering their DNA, and doing other unholy scientific things. All this genetic manipulation will at some point escape man and unleash a deadly plague.

We know that there already is an increasing resistance to antibiotics. "Antibiotic resistance is a serious and growing phenomenon in contemporary medicine and has emerged as one of the pre-eminent public health concerns of the 21st century, particularly as it ... is relevant to organisms which cause disease in humans." (source). We know that there are diseases rising up again that we thought we had put away for good. This is a fact, there will be plague. We know that plague will kill a fourth of the world and be a major factor throughout the Tribulation. (Revelation 6:8, Luke 21:11). Is the bonfire for it being laid now? I believe so.

The combination of the prediction of last days rampant pestilence, the past history of epidemic's deadly force, the ease of travel these days and spreading infection globally in a heartbeat, and the present indicators of diseases on the verge of being out of control, do give me pause.

For example, here is an article out of Dothan, Alabama. Dothan is at the SE corner of Alabama near where it meets with GA and FL. An unknown respiratory illness has hospitalized 7 people from that area, and two of those patients have died.

"Seven people have been admitted to area hospitals, and two of them have died, in what health officials described Tuesday as a “cluster” of respiratory illnesses with flulike symptoms. ... Peggy Williams, a state Department of Health investigator, said of the five people who remained hospitalized Tuesday, one was in an intensive care unit at a local hospital. Lesa C. Smith, a registered nurse with the state Department of Public Health, said the three symptoms to watch for include fever, coughing and shortness of breath.

Smith also said they don’t have a general common denominator among the seven people admitted to the hospital. She said they’ve had several young people and an elderly person among the cases, so it’s been difficult to determine who might specifically be at risk." (source)

This illness has emerged within the last month, since April 19, 2013. The current mortality rate in this cluster is 28%. The Alabama Department of Public Health has released a news brief on it and held a news conference. (source)

Getting a grasp on the illness is currently eluding the Center for Disease Control. They're stumped.

A similar disease is stumping officials in Texas. "Mystery illness claims the life of 2 area teens, a third is critical"

"Like fever, cough, like respiratory failure, pneumonia, seizures," said Dr. Syed Ibrahim, MD, MPH. "In the child who's admitted at Texas Children's Hospital now, he's having liver enlargment and spleen enlargment."  The hospital confirmed that the teen is in critical condition.  Two teenagers, one from Montgomery County and one from Liberty County, have died from an illness health experts have not been able to diagnose."

Coronavirus is a threat in Saudi Arabia. Here is news for that new ("novel") disease that is related to respiratory disease.

"Worldwide, there have now been 41 laboratory-confirmed infections, including 20 deaths, since the new coronavirus was identified by scientists in September 2012. The novel coronavirus, which had been known as by the acronym nCoV but which some scientific journals now refer to as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, or MERS, belongs to the same family as viruses that cause common colds and the one that caused a deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003. MERS cases have so far been reported in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Britain, Germany and France, but Saudi Arabia has had the vast majority of cases. (source)

Now that's a 50% mortality rate. Though mostly contained to Saudi Arabia, there is some consternation today because a Tunisian man has died from it.

"A 66-year-old Tunisian man has died from the new coronavirus following a visit to Saudi Arabia and two of his adult children were infected with it, the Tunisian Health Ministry reported. ... The cases are the first for Tunisia and indicate that the virus is slowly trickling out of Saudi Arabia, where more than 30 coronavirus cases have been reported. There have been at least 20 deaths worldwide out of 40 cases."

I wonder if anyone else out there is as spooked by the knowledge of how easy it would be for a disease exactly like the Dothan AL illness to widen its grip, and become runaway like the Spanish Flu did in 1918. Or coronoavirus. Or avian flu. Or SARS. Or...

At some point, the final pestilences will emerge exactly like horror writer Stephen King laid out. The difference is that this time when it does, it won't be a fiction book. It will be real.

You can escape all these things by believing on the name of Jesus as your Lord and Savior now. Do you recognize that you are a sinner? That each wrong thing you've ever done or even thought causes you to fail the standard of perfect holiness that God requires for a person to enter heaven? Impossible, you say? It is! The GOOD NEWS is that God sent His perfect Son to live a perfectly holy life, be the sacrifice for all our sins, and die on the cross, taking all of God's wrath for sin upon Himself. God was satisfied with His son and raised Him to life on the third day.

Now, if you believe this, you will not have to live a perfectly holy life, an impossibility anyway. You won't have to take eternal punishment for your sins, enduring God's wrath in the lake of fire. Jesus took it for you already. If you believe, Jesus's righteousness will be imputed to your account, and you will be adopted in the family of God. Repent soon. Now is the day of salvation.

If God is good, why didn't He stop the tornado?

It is admittedly hard to read of news where children are killed or harmed. The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newton CT this past December 2012 was surely horrific. Reading about the 20 children who died in the Plaza Tower Elementary school yesterday in Moore OK via a EF-5 tornado is also heart-rending.

At times like these, people often ask, “Where is God?” “How could He allow this to happen?” “Is God good?”

I can put it this way. When a serial killer is placed on death row and eventually executed, we say that justice was done. If a person breaking and entering a home is shot by the homeowner, we often say ‘good! He got what he deserved.’

When Korah rebelled against Moses and Aaron, he was rebelling against God. (Numbers 16:3). The LORD told Moses to tell the congregation to separate from Korah, and Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their household and the goods in the household were swallowed up as the earth opened up and took them alive to Sheol. When this happened, we say “God is just and right to do this thing. Korah was performing a moral evil in rebelling against God trough Moses and Aaron.”

When the tornado came and the earth swallowed the children in the bottom of the Plaza Towers Elementary School,” do we say, “God is unjust and bad to do this thing?” No! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8).

What we cannot fathom, we must trust that the Lord is good and His purposes are good. On the one hand, He directly put down a rebellion by performing a supernatural disaster as He did in the Old Testament.

On the other hand, what of the children in the elementary schools which were razed by the tornado? If they are declared innocent by a righteous God, as Deuteronomy 1:39 and Isaiah 7:16 and also explained here, then why did they have to die? Why did God allow a natural disaster to take them?

And that is where I stopped my essay, many hours ago. I was stuck on the answer myself because I was unsatisfied with saying that sin is a blanket cause for all evil, including natural disasters. Though the sin done n the Garden of Eden was indirectly the cause of the weather patterns turning deadly, how and what are we to think of a deadly tornado such as the one yesterday, more specifically? My theology brought me to an understanding of sin as a reason for the general evil in the world, including disasters such as the Oklahoma tornado. But it wasn't a deep enough answer.

But later today, Dr. Al Mohler wrote today of this exact subject. He said, "But Jesus rejected this as a blanket explanation for suffering, instructing His disciples in John 9 and Luke 13 that they could not always trace suffering back to sin."

What are we to think, then? As I read the rest of Dr. Mohler's essay, that more thorough explanation became clear through his precise and mature understanding of theology. He wrote,

However as Dr. Mohler explains that passages in Luke 13 and John 9 show us that "the problem of evil and suffering, the theological issue of theodicy, is customarily divided into evil of two kinds, moral and natural." [emphasis mine]

The moral problem of evil was exemplified in Korah. Korah's pride and ambition was his undoing. He committed a moral sin and ended up rebelling against God. Suffering ensued for him and his family.

He says that a discussion of both kinds of evil are included in the Luke 13 passage.

"In Luke 13, the murder of the Galileans is clearly moral evil, a premeditated crime–just like the terrorist acts in New York and Washington. In John 9, a man is blind from birth, and Jesus tells the Twelve that this blindness cannot be traced back to this man’s sin, or that of his parents. Natural evil comes without a moral agent. A tower falls, an earthquake shakes, a tornado destroys, a hurricane ravages, a spider bites, a disease debilitates and kills. The world is filled with wonders mixed with dangers. Gravity can save you or gravity can kill you. When a tower falls, it kills."

Further, Mohler wrote,

A venerable confession of faith states it rightly: “God from eternity, decrees or permits all things that come to pass, and perpetually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and all events; yet so as not in any way to be the author or approver of sin nor to destroy the free will and responsibility of intelligent creatures.”

But if God is sovereign, doesn't He allow the tornado to occur? How do we reconcile God's sovereignty and our responsibility? We can't really. Not with our finite minds. Mohler answers,

God is God, and God is good. As Paul affirms for the church, God’s sovereignty is the ground of our hope, the assurance of God’s justice as the last word, and God’s loving rule in the very events of our lives: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose.” [Romans 8:28]

We dare not speak on God’s behalf to explain why He allowed these particular acts of evil to happen at this time to these persons and in this manner. Yet, at the same time, we dare not be silent when we should testify to the God of righteousness and love and justice who rules over all in omnipotence. Humility requires that we affirm all that the Bible teaches, and go no further. There is much we do not understand. As Charles Spurgeon explained, when we cannot trace God’s hand, we must simply trust His heart.

What we do understand is that God is good in having sent His son to die for us. Jesus took upon Himself all sin and exhausted God's wrath for it, and then died, to be accepted by God as the eternal sacrifice for that sin and raised on the third day. He now imputes His righteousness to His saints who believe this Gospel by faith, and it is by that vehicle we declare His righteousness to those who are afflicted and suffering.

He allows us to be His witnesses, the indwelling Holy Spirit glowing and bringing God glory. If we were to see a visible manifestation of His Goodness, would it be in Christians' Spirit lovingly racing TO the place of terror, danger, and devastation, to help their neighbor? Like this photo from the Baltimore Sun, with the lens flares I inserted?

As my friend Pastor Phil wrote yesterday, "May our suffering Oklahoma neighbors and friends see the manifest presence of God in the midst of their suffering, especially through the ministries of Christians."

This is where God is good, and all that Goodness stems back to the only One who is Good, God, who sent His Son. (Mark 10:18).

If we could part the curtain and see His goodness visibly, would it be that we'd see the myriads of ministering angels? Especially at the flattened school? As I try to show with this photo from the Chicago Tribune containing lens flares I put in? (Those aren't floodlights)

Dr. Mohler said,

"The second great error is to ascribe evil to God. But the Bible does not allow this argument. God is absolute righteousness, love, goodness, and justice. Most errors related to this issue occur because of our human tendency to impose an external standard–a human construction of goodness–upon God. But good does not so much define God as God defines good."

Yes, we mourn and we cry when we see the terrible calamity of children killed, neighbors dead, homes lost, and businesses smashed. The heart of the matter is not whether God is good or God is bad, the heart of the matter is repentance. A calamity could happen any day. Like in Luke 13, the tower of Siloam fell on 18 workers constructing it and they died. Jesus said, "Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”" (Luke 13:4-5). Your eternal destiny awaits, are you ready? A tornado could take your life, it is a natural evil that is blind and thoughtless, taking with it into its deadly vortex a child or a sinner or a repented one. Any day, any time. If you do not repent, you shall likewise perish, not just body, but soul

God's goodness is that He made a way for you to escape eternal destruction, no matter the manner of death. That way is Jesus. (John 14:6). Talk about good! It doesn't get any better than the Savior.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Further reading or listening

God's Sovereignty and Personal Compassion in Public Tragedy, John Piper
Supernatural Lessons from a Natural Disaster, John MacArthur
Does God control everything? free ebook or free kindle, RC Sproul
Why does God allow bad things to happen? SJ Tuohy
Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? GotQuestions
Why does God allow good things to happen to bad people? GotQuestions

A sad day with devastating tornadoes (What God Ordains Is Always Good) Updated

Update-- You might be interested in this essay I wrote a day later, looking at the situation a bit more deeply and theologically, called If God is Good, why Didn't He Stop the Tornado?

-------------------------
 
I am recovering from a traumatic spiritual battle as I alluded to earlier in the month. It sapped my strength almost completely.

Our elementary school's last day is this Friday at noon. So three and a half days left. Most of the kindergarteners thought today was the last day, more than one thought so. Holding these kids down for 7 hours a few days away from summer break saps your strength.

We are having an unusual heat all of a sudden. The temps are in the upper-80s but real-feel temps are in the mid-90s. It saps your strength.

I went grocery shopping after work, the Dollar Store and Grocery store share a parking lot. Walking the buggy back and forth from one side to the other to load the car with heavy groceries saps your strength.

I got home at a low strength point. Kind of weary.

Then I read about the tornadoes in Oklahoma. My strength sapped even further, pooling at the ground around my feet.

A KFOR-TV weather man said the winds from this worst tornado were over 300mph and it was an F5. It was wider than Oklahoma's worst historic tornado which occurred in 1999. It is at least 3X as worse as the May 1999 historic tornado. It went from nothing, not a cloud, to an F5 inside of one hour, which is the fastest the atmosphere will allow, he said. It caused catastrophic devastation. He said it is the most devastation from a tornado in the history of the world. There are many dead, including 24 children, at least, have died.

When I read about the elementary schools being in the path of a direct hit from this devastating tornado, my strength waned quickly...tears come to my eyes for this old sinful world. Watching anything die is hard, watching the world die is harder.

What to do?

Praise the Lord. It gives you strength. (Psalm 68:35).

Trust the Lord. It gives you strength. (Isaiah 12:2).

Obey the Lord. It gives you strength. (Revelation 14:12).

Hope in the Lord. It gives you strength. (Lamentations 3:25).

What God ordains is always good. I posted this yesterday, I post it again. Because we need it.

"What God Ordains Is Always Good"

This blew me away.




A new setting of the hymn text "What God Ordains Is Always Good" by Samuel Rodigast (1649-1708). Music composed by Josh Bauder.

Performed by the St. Thomas Alumni Choir, April 17, 2013; Casey Johnson, director and soloist; Josh Bauder, accompanist; recorded by Chris Muggli-Miller. Special thanks to Brittney Larson and Jon Tschiggfrie.

All music © 2013 by New Hope Music.