Greetings from Charlotte,
Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Weston, Mr. Mario Hernandez, and Mr. Cristian Orrego are in Medellin, Colombia, for a regional conference for the Spanish-speaking ministry. Mr. Jonathan McNair, along with Mr. and Mrs. Rob Tyler, traveled from Thailand to Malaysia on Wednesday for a Southeast Asia leadership conference. The death toll from the earthquake in Turkey continues to climb, now at a staggering 42,000 lives lost. Amazingly, people are still being pulled out of rubble alive, more than ten days after the devastating earthquake. In South Africa, the government declared a state of emergency as a result of widespread flooding (see report below). Also, the government of New Zealand declared a national state of emergency this week—only the third in its history—as a result of Cyclone Gabrielle. The nation was also hit in the last few days by two earthquakes (see report below). In response to a reporter’s question about the earthquakes, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said, “I was looking out the window for a plague of locusts.” As God allows devastating weather to wreak havoc on our nations for our sins, we must pray “Thy Kingdom Come” for a troubled and suffering world.—Rod McNair
Report from New Zealand
New Zealand has been battered with an “unprecedented” flood in Auckland, followed by Cyclone Gabrielle, which devastated many parts of the North Island. In the past couple of days, two strong earthquakes have hit. The government has declared a national emergency. These events are on top of record inflation and the economic fallout of COVID-19. All our members are safe; however, the economic and infrastructure damage across the nation will be felt for many years. Our national leaders are blaming this unprecedented and destructive weather on climate change. There has been no mention of God, and it would probably be political suicide if one were to reference divine involvement, especially with a national election looming later this year. It just shows how much the theology of climate change has usurped the reality of a God who intervenes in world affairs.— Paul Kearns
South African Flooding
The government in South Africa has declared a National State of Disaster because widespread flooding has caused havoc in seven of the country’s nine provinces. Temporary shelters, food, and blankets are urgently needed by many affected by the flooding caused by the recent heavy rains. As far as we know, all our brethren are safe. Last week, the government declared a National State of Disaster because of excessive (stage 6) load-shedding (blackouts) by the state-owned electricity supplier. Some expect a national shutdown of the electricity supply soon. Only time will tell if the situation can improve. This gives us more and more reason to pray for God’s Kingdom to come soon.—Christo Botha
16 comments:
I they want to go this route, it could also be said that it is more likely the sins of the COG members in those countries contributed to these disasters.
Almost looks as if these guys believe that they are the only ones capable of reading the news. They must think they are really prescient, what with being able to add their little Armstrongite spin to the news, but seriously, anyone who ever spent six months in an Armstrong-based church would know how to do this.
Your tithes at work, "brethren"!
The greatest sinners are the COG ministers who lie about God by claiming to represent Him. So, if earthquakes are punishment, why aren't their houses destroyed?
Same ole stale krapp they have been shoveling out since they 1950's. Why don't they write a new article on church government or the 2 trees? In the modern world if you ask someone about the LCG , Worldwide or HWA, they invariably have no clue who or what they are. They are irrelevant and only significant in their own mind. Worldwide was founded on the foundation of sand with HWA as their messiah, not Christ therefore it fell when tested and too many of the spin offs keep trying to bring back the "glory days" of Worldwide.
Bad things happen to you - sinner! Bad things happen to us - Satan!
Blessings and cursings are a difficult thing to decipher. The Bible speaks of such in many places, but we are also shown in the Bible that there is "time and chance" as well.
It is not logical to always assume that just because "B follows A" that "A" caused "B". A simple example is "The rooster crows immediately before sunrise; therefore the rooster causes the sun to rise".
A lifetime of smoking certainly increases one's risk for cancer and other ailments, but we all have heard the apocryphal story of "Uncle Fred" who smoked heavily and drank heavily and lived to age 98 as well. A minister years ago correctly warned me before baptism, that "Christians do not have charmed lives".
Life is a process of simply playing the odds the best you can in wisdom, but there are no sure fire guarantees of success or failure, only probability!
Post hoc ergo propter hoc is what the fallacy is known as, and can be read about here...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_hoc_ergo_propter_hoc
It really is ridiculous how half of their weekly bulletin is always news snippets with a spin on how God is punishing the world.
Do they really think we can’t read the news on our own? Is it really beneficial to us to constantly be focusing on the idea that God is punishing everyone, including mostly innocent people who have never even heard of the concepts and “laws” LCG teaches? Is this logical? Is this really a “benevolent” God if he is constantly punishing innocent people who have never heard of his “laws”?
As usual, Tonto's comments were well considered and articulated. His point about time and chance reminds me of a passage in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus talked about suffering as a result of some disaster or event. In the thirteenth chapter of that book, we read: "About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple. 'Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?' Jesus asked. 'Is that why they suffered? Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too." - NLT
In Luke 13:4-5, Jesus alluded to the random nature of tragedies, as opposed to the punishment for sin model. In the particular case at hand, the news of the day concerned the collapse of the Tower of Siloam. Galileans were killed when it collapsed, and per Jesus own words, those who died were no worse sinners than anyone else. ACOG leaders of today would most likely have speculated that they were homosexuals or something.
As was true in the past, so also is it true today. (random) Shit happens. Be prepared for it mentally, physically, financially, and spiritually.
Is tornado alley a result of sinners or wind patterns of hot air mixing with cool air. We know Florida and some of the Caribbean regularly has storms during hurricane season, is it because of sin or something scientific that regularly happens over the ocean off the coast of Africa?
Earthquakes are not random. They strike where the earth is seismically active. It's science, not prophecy and certainly not random. Look up the ring of fire.
Are car accidents "random" or are they CAUSED by drunks and other idiots behind the wheel?
Does anyone on here have a brain or do they just all blindly follow the Bible or the lying and discredited propaganda media?
4.22 pm
What people follow is someone elses self serving interpretation and application of the bible. Christ warned of this phenomenon with His instruction to not put new wine into old wineskins.
Look. An argument or discussion, especially on the net, is usually simplified into two sides. Of course there are other aspects. In this case, Bible thumpers claimed that God is punishing people. Someone questioned or refuted that by introducing the fact that Jesus knew of the random nature of certain tragic circumstances, probably hoping that someone infected with a cultic mindset would wrap their mind around a more civilized approach. Of course when you are dealing with Bible thumpers that the Bible proves are in error, your best tool is citing the Bible. Atheists realize that, and do it all the time here.
Now you come along and say that everything is science, and not random. But, you didn't think it through thoroughly, or you would realize that the random factor applies to what people might be around to be hurt or killed in the presence of a totally explainable consequence of science. Or who might be at the wrong place at the wrong time in the presence of a drunk. A tree falls in the middle of a forest and since nobody is around, nobody is killed or injured. An earthquake happens in Turkey and Syria, and thousands are killed. Maybe some were not around to be killed because they were out of town on business, or suddenly had to leave town to take care of their sick mother. That is the randomness.
Anon February 21 at 11:31 AM asks:
'Is it really beneficial to us to constantly be focusing on the idea that God is punishing everyone, including mostly innocent people who have never even heard of the concepts and “laws” LCG teaches? Is this logical? Is this really a “benevolent” God if he is constantly punishing innocent people who have never heard of his “laws”?'
Beneficial or not, it's a recurrent pattern with the god of Israel. His first two humans disobeyed, so he said, "Okay, that's it. I'm gonna punish all humans that ever exist from here on out."
Then later when a wave of disobedience swelled, he said, "Okay, that's it. I'm gonna punish all creation this time. Drown the whole shebang. . . Oh wait! I'll keep this one family and enough wildlife and livestock for brood stock to repopulate the earth. When that happens, I can do another genocide, then another one after that. Matter of fact, besides a series of genocides, why don't I make it a regular habit to also slaughter innocents in clusters and one at a time? Yeah, that's the ticket."
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