Well, for whatever it is worth, a couple of days before the tornado hit Joplin, the LORD had me take note of where twayneb lived and what his real name was. There is no reason that I can think of as to why I would do this. When I read Joplin, MO I thought "well that is good to know, in case there is a tornado or something."On Sunday I was busy all day because I had guests coming so I was unaware of any storms brewing. It was just before 6:00 pm when I checked my computer and noticed storms around Joplin. My guests arrived just as I saw the report that there was a tornado spotted in the Joplin area so I prayed for Travis and shut down my computer.It was about 10:00 pm before I was able to check my computer again and I was astounded that a tornado had gone through Joplin. That is why I was so concerned that Travis be found - the LORD had put him on my watch and I was concerned that I had not done everything that I should have - that I had put my needs first and not covered him in prayer as much as I should have.Praise God Travis was spared. My prayer now is that the LORD will use him as a living testimony and many will be brought into the Kingdom as a result.It is very clear that judgment has come upon America - just as she deserves. It has only just begun. The only question that remains is, will she repent?
*UPDATE* God allows tribulation in His children's lives for many reasons. And always 1) for their good, 2)to win the lost, and 3) always for His glory.
Speaking of Job: It was not God who poured out judgment or wrath upon Job.
Speaking of Job: It was not God who poured out judgment or wrath upon Job. Satan asked for permission to afflict him. God said, "Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand" (Job 1:12) -and- "Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life" (Job 2:6). The next verse says, "So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown" (Job 2:7).
Hi Joe,
"...God purposely killed those believers...""Yes He did..."
This is what YOU keep adding. But what I keep telling you is that sometimes death is an act of wrath and other times it is an act of mercy. Some in that tornado will have been dealt with in wrath and others in mercy. Some outside that tornado will have been dealt with in wrath and others in mercy as well.
I would rather live in a tornado sent by God (and I do) than wander through a life subject to the chance and whim of nature or some other such thing.
_________________Christopher
Another thing God's Word makes clear is that when He sends discipline, the fundamental purpose is never to punish. Let me emphasize it, when God sends discipline as remedial judgments, His fundamental purpose is never to punish. His fundamental purpose is to call us to repentance so that we might be saved. Here is the way Isaiah puts it in Isaiah 26:9, "When the earth experiences your judgments, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness."
Here is an example of what I am talking about. Lets use the example of child-birth. Some would say that in His sovereignty God causes or allows (I won't get into the nuances of these terms. People have argued incessantly about it and I am not interested in that.) babies to be born with birth defects for some purpose known only to Himself. This is a good example because it has SO much emotion attached, and we often lose sight of scripture or interpret it wrongly when we are overwhelmed by emotion. We cannot say clearly from scripture that God does this. The closest we can come is perhaps Job's comments in Job 31, but if we read in context we find that God was not inspiring Job to say those things, so we have only Job's opinion. The next might be David in Psalm 139 about God knowing us before we were born. But this scripture does not say that God intends for some to be born with defects.
_________________Lalaina
Hi Travis,Greetings, and blessings. May the Lord give you grace, strength, and, a new revelation of His loving ways in the coming days.I read every word of your excellent post, and was astonished by this one paragraph.
I guess all that was to say that I do not believe at all that this was a judgment on Joplin. You know, if I really believed that I would neither lift a finger to help those people nor would I pray for them. It would be insanity on my part to stand in opposition to the judgment of God. The most I might do is pray that God suspend His judgment and hope He would forgive me for praying such a thing.
"...God purposely killed those believers...""Yes He did..."____________________________________________________________This is quite a statement. I just think that we need to be extremely careful about proclaiming such an assumption with infinite authority.
I have so many Christian friends who were spared in pretty miraculous ways. One of them was in the cooler at the Dillon's grocery. I know CNN interviewed some about that particular incident. Others were not at home. Others were trapped for a time in the ONLY spot in the rubble where one could have survived. One was in a car and was hit dead center. She was only bruised but her car was totally destroyed. God does protect us when we walk with Him.
_________________Sandra Miller
This is quite a statement. I just think that we need to be extremely careful about proclaiming such an assumption with infinite authority.
I have never seen an anecdote in Scripture where God killed His people -- even out of "mercy."
ChrisYour beliefs are simply Deism.
Deism todayContemporary deism attempts to integrate classical deism with modern philosophy and the current state of scientific knowledge. This attempt has produced a wide variety of personal beliefs under the broad classification/category of belief of "deism". The Modern Deism web site includes one list of the unofficial tenets of modern deism.[56]Classical deism held that a human's relationship with God was impersonal: God created the world and set it in motion but does not actively intervene in individual human affairs but rather through Divine Providence. What this means is that God will give humanity such things as reason and compassion but this applies to all and not individual intervention.Some modern deists have modified this classical view and believe that humanity's relationship with God is transpersonal which means that God transcends the personal/impersonal duality and moves beyond such human terms. Also, this means that it makes no sense to state that God intervenes or does not intervene as that is a human characteristic which God does not contain. Modern deists believe that they must continue what the classical deists started and continue to use modern human knowledge to come to understand God which in turn is why a human-like God that can lead to numerous contradictions and inconsistencies is no longer believed in and has been replaced with a much more abstract conception.
Here is an extract from the last page of 'Did Moses see God?' in which philologos wrote:
_________________Robert Wurtz II