BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.
END TIMES, DREAMS, VISIONS, PROPHECY PING LIST PING LEVEL 1
Wow, weighty stuff. Thanks and prayers for wisdom for all.
I think it’s the dogmatic certainty of Robertson’s assertion that gives many people pause. Who can know the mind of God on something like this, particularly in light of the new testament? The conventional wisdom of much of the old testament is that temporal blessings and difficulties are immediately dictated by one’s righteousness and it was clearly the conventional wisdom during Jesus’ ministry, which he challenged again and again. Really, this idea is seriously challenged in both the old and the new testaments (the book of Job, the parables of Jesus, the setting apart of Apostles and followers for special sufferings, “who sinned, this man or his parents?”, etc.)
And the specific example that Robertson cites about a pact with the devil is historically uncertain, to say the least! (How does one prove such a thing???!!!) If people have trouble embracing the idea that thousands of children are buried alive in response to the sins of their fathers as a deliberate, retributive act by God, you can hardly blame them. The best minds of Christianity have been struggling with such things since the beginning. That’s why it might be wiser to temper one’s statements about the purposes of God in any particular tragedy, particularly with the bleeding and dying still being removed from the rubble...
Luke 13:2 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
Luke 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish
Luke 13:4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
Luke 13:5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Here’s something that I’m confused about. Maybe you can help me figure this out.
How come Haiti was destroyed and the Dominican Republic was left untouched?
After all they share the same island of Hispanola.
Do earthquake fault lines stop at artificial man-made international borders?
Highly interesting if it is true that the more wicked part of Haiti has been seeing more natural disasters and that this doesn’t have some more prosaic explanation (such as worse construction under a faulty government, or geography). We could well look at home: San Freaksicko sits on a fault line and yet it has lucked out... so far.
BTW this doesn’t have much to do with Haiti, but some random poking around Wikipedia earlier today located an entry for “Abracadabra” which is purported to come from Kabbalistic numerology, a corruption of the Hebrew “arba echad arba” or 4 1 4. In the second century, an amulet containing “Abracadabra” reduced by one letter on succeeding lines was consider to ward off evil. Four having a mystical connotation of the divine and nine having a mystical connotation of evil. It didn’t say what the one is for. None of this matches with the numeric symbology of Revelation so it might just be “old wives tales.” Anyhow, 414 is the area code of a large part of the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. Take that as you will.
You are absolutely right, you know - The term “judge not lest ye be judged” has been utterly misconstrued to mean “understand not lest ye understand”.
No doubt there will be those who dissent with what is plainly on the page, and will argue that God is nothing but love... which is true, but that doesn’t mean that there is not retribution. And that doesn’t mean that God will not be true to His Word.
There are some things so awful in Man, that the very land will spit you out - And if a nation cannot see those things being purged from another country, how will that nation see those things in itself?
This is just the beginning of sorrows. Those who refuse to see will have a very hard time ahead. Millions WILL perish. It is written. Jehovah will judge the nations.
Robertson is exactly right - and with precisely the right tone. His was not a judgment against individual persons, but a judgment against a nation. And he made it while helping greatly to pick up the pieces in the aftermath... That is his judgment upon individuals.
Great OP.
1 Corinthians 6 1-4And how dare you take each other to court! When you think you have been wronged, does it make any sense to go before a court that knows nothing of God's ways instead of a family of Christians?
If the USA rule of law is more "righteous" than a pharisaic "christian" religious institutions rules, is it OK to use the Courts? Paul seemed to do this when he appealed to Caesar.