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Where do you stand on this pre trib, mid trib or post trib and why.

We get repeated chances to learn that life is not about us—that we acquire purpose and satisfaction by sharing in God's love for others. Sickness gets us partway there. It reminds us of our limitations and dependence. But it also gives us a chance to serve the healthy. A minister friend of mine observes that people suffering grave afflictions often acquire the faith of two people, while loved ones accept the burden of two people's worries and fears.

Whether the problems in America are plagues or not, God is still in control. The revisiting of the ten plagues of ancient Biblical times makes it easier to understand the reasons why America is in the mess that it is in today. All the possible plagues that have been mentioned could become even worse as days, months and years pass. But, one thing is for sure, if America does not repent as a nation, God will send some form of punishment. God will not be continually mocked by sinful Americans who rebel against Him.

A young man got caught in the river's rage while trying to recover more of his folks belongings. He died in those merciless waters. At the rate the river was moving, it boggles the mind that his body could be recovered. Yet instead of being swept away, he was found relatively close by. God was hanging onto him for his family's sake. Perfect strangers were driving up to people's houses and would just start loading belongings. No questions asked, just pitching in. Getting people and parts of their life to safety. God was the matchmaker, giving people that could help...

John Piper pastors Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, whose main campus is about 1 mile from the I35 bridge over the Mississippi River that collapsed August 1. His reflections on that tragedy has been distributed far and wide and helped provide a biblical perspective on such events. Piper also responded forcefully and helpfully to the awful, God-dishonoring, soul-destroying and comfort-robbing words of Rabbi Harold Kushner on that tragedy. Both articles are worth reading and passing along to anyone and everyone who wonders "why bad things happen to good people." They are models in pastoral theology and ministry. Roger Olsen used...

The floods that have devastated swathes of the country are God's judgment on the immorality and greed of modern society, according to senior Church of England bishops.   The Bishop said pro-gay laws were to blame for the floods One diocesan bishop has even claimed that laws that have undermined marriage, including the introduction of pro-gay legislation, have provoked God to act by sending the storms that have left thousands of people homeless. While those who have been affected by the storms are innocent victims, the bishops argue controversially that the flooding is a result of Western civilisation's decision to...

My brother sent me this link from Thinklings.org: Joel Osteen examines the role of suffering in the Christian life.It reminds me of the Dr. Zilch series from Living Waters.

Pope: How Could God 'Tolerate' Holocaust?     May 28, 6:13 PM (ET) By VICTOR L. SIMPSON  (AP) Pope Benedict XVI prays in front of the memorial plaques at the former Nazi Death Camp Birkenau, in... Full Image   OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI visited the Auschwitz concentration camp as "a son of the German people" Sunday and asked God why he remained silent during the "unprecedented mass crimes" of the Holocaust.Benedict walked along the row of plaques at the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex's memorial, one in the language of each nationality whose members died there. As he stopped...

OSWIECIM, Poland - Pope Benedict XVI visited the Auschwitz concentration camp as "a son of the German people" Sunday and asked God why he remained silent during the "unprecedented mass crimes" of the Holocaust. ADVERTISEMENT Benedict walked along the row of plaques at the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex's memorial, one in the language of each nationality whose members died there. As he stopped to pray, a light rain stopped and a brilliant rainbow appeared over the camp. "To speak in this place of horror, in this place where unprecedented mass crimes were committed against God and man, is almost impossible — and...

Calling himself "a son of Germany," Pope Benedict prayed at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz on Sunday and asked why God was silent when 1.5 million victims, mostly Jews, died in this "valley of darkness." Ending a four-day pilgrimage to Poland, Benedict, 79, said humans could not fathom "this endless slaughter" but only seek reconciliation for those who suffered then and those who now "are suffering in new ways from the power of hatred." As on the rest of his trip, he walked in the footsteps of his Polish-born predecessor John Paul, who came to the camp in...

March 20, 2006 issue - In New Orleans to preach to 1,000 clergy gathered at the First Bap­tist Church there—his first sermon in eight months—the Rev. Billy Gra­ham toured the hard-hit city last week. Afterward, the 87 year-old Graham, who has al­so just published a new book, “The Journey: How to Live by Faith in an Uncertain World,” spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Jon Meacham by telephone. Edited excerpts: This is your first trip to the coast after Katrina. What are your impressions? This is the greatest disaster that I have ever seen, and I’ve seen many, all over the world. Mile...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Television evangelist Pat Robertson, who has rattled the religious and political establishment with recent controversial declarations, acknowledged Thursday "my passion runs ahead of me" on some occasions. "I've been doing TV for years and years," Robertson said. "And the problem is, I ad lib." Interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America" on the morning of the annual National Prayer Breakfast, Robertson was asked about statements suggesting that the United States assassinate President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and intimating that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was God's punishment for giving up the Gaza strip. Robertson sent a letter...

NEW ORLEANS - Mayor Ray Nagin suggested Monday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that "God is mad at America" and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting. "Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country," Nagin, who is black, said as he and other city leaders marked Martin Luther King Day. "Surely he doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We're...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Mayor Ray Nagin suggested that recent destruction from hurricanes Katrina, Rita and other natural disasters is a sign that "God is mad at America," and also mad at black communities for tearing themselves apart with violence and divisive politics. "Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country," Nagin said as he and other city leaders commemorated Martin Luther King Day. "Surely he doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also....

The destruction from hurricane Katrina unleashed a disaster like our nation has never encountered. Like a guided missile, Katrina executed a mission of utmost devastation. Despite our advancements in technology, computers, satellites, healthcare and tons of mind-boggling innovations – the nation stood speechless and helpless. It seemed everything that could go wrong – went wrong. The breaking of the New Orleans levees; the thousands of trapped victims; the incessant looting; the perverse crime; the escalating gas prices; the complete collapse of the nation’s infrastructure for disaster aid – each day after Katrina brought new nightmares – each day after Katrina...

It's not the Lord who works in mysterious ways. It's the people who purport to speak for Him. And the name at the top of the list is broadcaster Pat Robertson. For a man who claims to be a purveyor of Good News, this guy has done more to turn people away from Christianity than an army of atheists. Robertson, who seems to have completely missed the message of the New Testament, clings to an eye-for-an-eye image of God. In his mind, the Almighty is some sort of celestial scorekeeper with a ready finger on the smite button. Step out...

Religious extremists are using last year’s storm to oppress the survivors MARLUDDIN JALIL, a Sharia judge who has ordered the punishment of women for not wearing headscarves, was uncompromising: “The tsunami was because of the sins of the people of Aceh.” Thundering into a microphone at a gathering of wives, he made clear where he felt the fault lay: “The Holy Koran says that if women are good, then a country is good.” A year after the disaster which many see as a divine punishment, emboldened Islamic hardliners are doing their best to eradicate sin — and women are their...

          God Yields to Angry Left, Distributes Disasters More Equitably By Red Square10/24/2005, 2:41 pm   "The vigorous campaign led by human rights groups accusing God of favoritism towards Western countries and of unfair distribution of natural disasters that targeted minorities has caused God to reconsider His ways," God's spokesman announced yesterday at a press-conference held by an international clergy group representing Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and other religions. "This summer's unusual flooding in Europe and two devastating hurricanes in the USA serve as a proof of God's reconstructed, more equitable, and politically correct approach...

Islamabad, October 25: Cashing on the devastation inflicted by the October 8 earthquake, Islamists in Pakistan have termed the temblor as ‘God's wrath’ on the country for the decision to desert Taliban and back the American ‘invasion’ of Afghanistan. Riaz Hussain Pirzada, a treasury member belonging to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q, but considered close to Islamist alliance Muthahida Majlis Amal (MMA), told the National Assembly yesterday that the quake was ‘god's wrath’ for Pakistan's support of the US campaign. God was also ‘angry’ with Pakistan because "we welcomed the holy month of Ramzan by rigging the last phase of...

With the most powerful storm in recorded history weakening but every bit as devastating as its predecessors, saint, sinner and blogger alike are again wondering if God really does use nature in retribution for sin. Bill Moyers, late of PBS and CBS television and the day's keynote speaker, cited the incredible devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and linked it with the Genesis flood. He noted that millions of conservatives believe the biblical teaching that God brought the deluge to punish human sin and also accept "God-ordered genocide" elsewhere in the Old Testament. Others also used the Katrina moment to level...

It’s been 10 months of epic disaster. First there was the tsunami that killed some 250,000 people in Southeast Asia. Then came Hurricane Katrina with its devastating toll on the Gulf Coast, followed by an earthquake that took tens of thousands of lives in South Asia. Now, Hurricane Wilma, one of the most powerful storms ever measured in the Atlantic Basin, is stalking the Florida coast, and experts are warning of a deadly avian flu pandemic. It’s enough to make just about anyone pause to look for meaning in the madness.

Thought for the Day - If Katrina was the vengeance of Allah, what... Rod Liddle So far, at least, we are none the wiser about why God sent an earthquake to kill so many people in Kashmir, Pakistan and Afghanistan. We can only hope that sooner or later his purpose will be made evident, so that we all might learn. Why would he torture his people so? The mullahs have been remarkably silent. The earthquake struck during the onset of Ramadan in two of the world’s most devoutly Muslim countries. It is almost unbelievable that not a single bearded cleric...

Quake is 'punishment from Allah' By Peter Foster in Battal (Filed: 15/10/2005) Preaching from the ruins of his once beautiful mosque, the Mullah of Battal offered a simple answer to the question posed time and again since the Pakistan earthquake: why? A Kashmiri earthquake survivor''Allah has sent this great punishment on account of our misdeeds," he said, jabbing a finger at the open sky. "We must now end our rebellion against the orders of Allah and submit ourselves again to his ways." As Mullah Abdul Hayee declaimed his Friday sermon, his voice soaring with wrath then sinking with emotion, a...

DID GOD WHACK NEW ORLEANS? A THEOLOGICAL INQUIRY By Don Feder Was Katrina a warning - the ultimate wake-up call for a morally somnolent nation? Even religious conservatives are afraid to speculate, so successfully have we been cowed by a culture of disbelief. Regarding the way God works in the world, there are four possibilities: 1. There is no God and everything that happens is the result of the random collision of molecules. 2. There is a God, but he's an absentee landlord. He arranged the world, including nature, as a self-regulating mechanism, then sat back and allowed it to...

Hey, lunatic-fringe-self-proclaimed-prophet-of-gloom—can you please stop with the “God struck down New Orleans because of Mardi Gras and Biloxi because of their gambling” blather? With that line of reasoning, how would you explain the hurricane that leveled Pensacola last year? Pensacola is no South Beach, nor does it have a Bourbon Street. In fact, I don’t think you can find a city in the US that has more churches per capita than Escambia County, and yet they got the blunt end of the pool cue eleven months ago. Go figure. Look, I realize that drunken college girls flashing their chests for...

When Israel's most prominent Sephardic rabbi described Hurricane Katrina as America's punishment for supporting Israel's withdrawal from Gaza; and condemned its mainly black victims for failing to study Torah, many Jewish leaders here were appalled. But in Israel, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's view linking the worst natural disaster in American history to U.S. support for the Gaza withdrawal is not unique among rabbis. Rabbi Joseph Gerlitzky, the leader of the Lubavitch chasidic sect's center in central Tel-Aviv, among others, gave a sermon from his pulpit soon after the hurricane voicing the same theme. A popular radio rabbi echoed him. And a...

While most religious authorities seem to agree one cannot discern the intentions of God, there has been talk in some circles here and on the Internet that the storm that turned parts of the Gulf Coast into a disaster zone, prompting hundreds of thousands to evacuate their homes and possibly causing upwards of 10,000 deaths, was thrust upon the U.S. for its support of the Gaza evacuation. "Katrina is a consequence of the destruction of [Gaza's] Gush Katif [slate of Jewish communities] with America's urging and encouragement," Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Lewin, executive director of the Rabbinic Congress for Peace, told...

“Before this whole thing I had a complex about white people; this thing changed me forever,” said Brant, 36,

In the last week, Joseph Brant lost his apartment, walked by scores of dead in the streets, traversed pools of toxic water and endured an arduous journey to escape the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in his hometown New Orleans... Gerald Greenwood, 55, collected a free Bible earlier in the morning, but sat watching a science fiction television program above the stands in an enclosed stadium once home to Houston's baseball and football teams. "This is the work of Satan right here," he said of the floods. The Bible was one of the few books many of the refugees had among...

This weeks events along the upper Gulf coast reminded me of the Asian tsunami last Christmas. People will question God about the devastation. The following two articles are pertinent and I hope they help you. Mercy for the livingThe deadly tsunami should drive us to our knees in repentance | by John Piper From pulpits to news programs, from The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal, the message of the tsunami was missed. It is a double grief when lives are lost and lessons are not learned. Every deadly calamity is a merciful call from God for the...

Just a little over a month ago I visited the Gulf Coast states of Mississippi and Louisiana on a radio road trip across America's Deep South. When I arrived on Bourbon Street in the French quarter of New Orleans, with its sex shops and year-round Mardi Gras drunkenness, I told my listeners, jokingly, that no doubt the Big Easy (as New Orleans is known) would one day be swallowed by the earth in some awesome display of the divine wrath. The joke became all too real in the terrible aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that devastated the Gulf Coast, leaving New...

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him." (John 9:1-3 Listen) The problem of pain and suffering has vexed humanity since the beginning. If there is a God, and if he is a good and loving God, then why does he allow his creation to suffer? If God is all-powerful, then why didn't he stop...

The Divine sovereignty is the best thought we can retreat to for composing and strengthening our minds under difficulties, discouragements, and disappointments. The more we give way to reasonings and curious inquiries, the more we will be perplexed and baffled. When Jeremiah had been complaining of some things that were too hard for him, the Lord sent him to the potter's house, and taught him to infer, from the potter's power over the clay, the just right which the Lord of all has, to do what he will with his own. It is only the pride of our own hearts...

Tremors of Doubt What kind of God would allow a deadly tsunami? BY DAVID B. HART Friday, December 31, 2004 12:01 a.m. EST On Nov. 1, 1755, a great earthquake struck offshore of Lisbon. In that city alone, some 60,000 perished, first from the tremors, then from the massive tsunami that arrived half an hour later. Fires consumed much of what remained of the city. The tidal waves spread death along the coasts of Iberia and North Africa. Voltaire's "Poëme sur le désastre de Lisbonne" of the following year was an exquisitely savage--though sober--assault upon the theodicies prevalent in his...

Christian minister calls disaster 'divine visitation' on Lord's Day A Christian minister claims the tsunami of Sunday, Dec. 26, killing at least 160,000 people, was direct result of "pleasure seekers" breaking God's Sabbath. In the February issue of his church magazine, Rev. John MacLeod of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland writes: "Possibly ... no event since Noah's flood has caused such loss of life by drowning as the recent Asian tsunami. That so many of our fellow creatures should have perished in so short a time, and in so awful a fashion, was a divine visitation that ought to...

I imagine more than a few people will never forgive God for the recent Tsunami. Today I went on Google and typed in, "Why did God allow the tsunami to happen?" The search engine found 108,000 web entries on the subject. Yeah, people are wondering. Just like they wondered why God did nothing to stop the Holocast. Before that, the First World War. Many turned away from God after each of these tragedies. And it's not surprising. When criminals in our society commit gross crimes of willful murder, we execute them. Many people, putting two and two together, figure an...

Why is God angry? Acehnese speak up Saturday, January 22, 2005 The Jakarta Post, Banda AcehThe devastating earthquake and tsunamis that killed over 166,000 people and displaced another half a million in Aceh have not shaken the faith of the people, who are known for their strong devotion to Islam.Most do not ask why God picked Aceh upon which to unleash His wrath. They agree that God the omnipotent was angry, but they lay the blame elsewhere -- some on themselves. Nearly four weeks after the catastrophe, most Acehnese have had plenty of time to contemplate and reflect on...

January 13, 2005 DID GOD DO IT? Patrick Rooney It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, rather than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble. --Luke 17:2 The great majority of the talk I have heard since the great tsunami of 2004 may have missed the most important point of all. Immediately after this cataclysmic event, we were subjected to many questions, such as which countries were being cheap in their relief support, or was the corrupt United Nations fit to take...

In the aftermath of the South Asian tsunami, much criticism, most of it extraordinarily shrill, was directed at the United States and other developed nations for alleged lack of generosity in donating to relief for the victims. A hitherto-obscure Norwegian functionary of the United Nations, Jan Egelund, who bears the resounding titles of UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Coordinator of Emergency Relief, made himself (in)famous within days of the disaster by commenting, "We were more generous when we were less rich, many of the rich countries… And it is beyond me, why are we so stingy." Of course,...

George W. Bush and the Asian tsunami have put religion back on the front page. Exit polls revealed that a majority of religious folk voted to re-elect the president; after tens of thousands died under the waves millions turned to religion for answers to the question that men and women have asked wise men for millennia. A headline in the New York Observer puts it bluntly: "Disaster Ignites Debate: 'Was God in the Tsunami?'" If so, how can such things happen? If not, how can such things happen? Some of the answers seek to exploit tragedy. Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin...

Colombo - God signed His name in the tsunami that battered Sri Lanka and other countries on December 26, and sent it as punishment because humans have been ignoring His laws, Sri Lankan Muslims say. Proof, according to Mohamed Faizeen, manager of the Centre for Islamic Studies in Colombo, is a satellite picture taken seconds after the tsunami smashed into Sri Lanka's west coast near the town of Kalutara and as it was receding. "This clearly spells out the name 'Allah' in Arabic," Faizeen said, pointing to the shape of the waves - a gigantic "E" complete with whorls...

OP-ED COLUMNIST Washington In the aftermath of a cataclysm, with pictures of parents sobbing over dead infants driven into human consciousness around the globe, faith-shaking questions arise: Where was God? Why does a good and all-powerful deity permit such evil and grief to fall on so many thousands of innocents? What did these people do to deserve such suffering? After a similar natural disaster wiped out tens of thousands of lives in Lisbon in the 18th century, the philosopher Voltaire wrote "Candide," savagely satirizing optimists who still found comfort and hope in God. After last month's Indian Ocean tsunami, the...

The killer wave that swallowed tens of thousands of Muslims was an act of Allah designed to punish the Christians. So went the convoluted logic of some Muslim imams in recent sermons from Saudi Arabia to the Palestinian territories. Saudi cleric Muhammad Al-Munajiid explained God's tsunami punishment of Christians stemmed from "the Christian holidays [that] are accompanied by forbidden things, by immorality, abomination, adultery, alcohol, drunken dancing and revelry. A belly dancer costs 2,500 pounds a minute and a singer costs 50,000 pounds an hour, and they hop from one hotel to another from night to dawn. "Then they spend...

God signed his name in the December 26 tsunami and sent it as punishment because humans have been ignoring His laws, Sri Lankan Muslims say. Proof, according to Mohamed Faizeen, manager of the Centre for Islamic Studies in Colombo, is a satellite picture taken seconds after the tsunami smashed into Sri Lanka's west coast near the town of Kalutara and as it was receding. "This clearly spells out the name 'Allah' in Arabic," Faizeen said, pointing to the shape of the waves -- a gigantic "E" complete with whorls and sidewaves that do indeed appear to combine to resemble the...

(This information was recieved via e-mail & may not be posted to the web-site yet) As today's PA elections approached, the PA increased the level of hate promotion by its leaders. The most widely reported incident was a Jan. 5 speech by PA leader Mahmoud Abbas in which he twice referred to Israel as the "Zionist enemy." What has not been publicized, however, is the general increase in hate promotion from other media venues controlled by the PA. For example, after a few weeks of very moderate Friday TV sermons, including one in which the Imam actually read from a...

The preacher at the main mosque in tsunami-devastated Banda Aceh, Indonesia says the Dec. 26 catastrophe might have been punishment from Allah for "forgetting him and his teachings." Preaching at the first Friday prayers since the tsunami, Din Syamsuddin, the head of Indonesia's Council of Clerics, told about 2,000 worshippers they may be responsible for the disaster, which killed more than 100,000 on the island of Sumatra, according to the Associated Press. "Allah will not love us without also testing our love for him," he said. "Maybe this disaster was because we have forgotten him and his teachings and failed...

We're doing reasonably well in coping with the physical needs of the millions struck down by the tsunami, but we're making a mess of coming to terms with its significance. Belief in supernatural forces and other delusions hasn't helped. A widespread reaction, understandable among the illiterate, but reprehensible in the educated, is to allocate blame. Somebody has to be responsible. The common theme of the complaints is asking how God, Allah, or whatever his name is, could do this to us. Christians have a special bone to pick, since the blow fell at Christmas, when God might have been expected...

An online poll at Beliefnet.com, the popular website on religion and spirituality, is asking what role God plays in natural disasters like the Indian Ocean tsunami that has devastated much of Asia. The poll offers five options: (1) God is punishing us. (2) God is testing us. (3) The earthquake and tsunami were sent by God, but we don't know what the purpose was. (4) Although I believe in God, the supernatural had nothing to do with this tragedy. (5) God doesn't exist; disasters like this are just forces of nature. As one who believes in a God of both...

Tsunamis are not the wrath of God Paul Stenhouse, M.S.C., Ph.D. January 04, 2005 THE world is still reeling from the tsunami in the Indian Ocean that caused such loss of life and devastation on Boxing Day. Numbness, disbelief and outrage at our powerlessness, our inability to warn the victims, or to save them, is a common reaction. As is, at times, a desire to blame someone, usually God; or at least to question his wisdom and knowledge in permitting such tragedies to occur, and to seek an explanation for what has happened. Grief at the extent of the devastation...

An online poll at a popular website on religion and spirituality is asking what role G-d plays in natural disasters like the Indian Ocean tsunami that has devastated much of Asia. The poll offers five options: (1) G-d is punishing us. (2) G-d is testing us. (3) The earthquake and tsunami were sent by G-d, but we don't know what the purpose was. (4) Although I believe in G-d, the supernatural had nothing to do with this tragedy. (5) G-d doesn't exist; disasters like this are just forces of nature. As one who believes in a G-d of both creation...