A Nation Under Attack

Why America is Losing the War Against Natural Disasters

One Key Verse in the Bible Describes the American Spirit More Than Any Other. Proverbs 16:18 is a Warning to the Nation:

Proverbs 16:18 - "Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall."

September 22, 2005
By Richard Markland
A Nation Under Attack

As I write, Hurricane Rita has sustained winds of 175 mph. Hurricane Katrina was also a category 5 storm at one point, but decreased to a 4 when it hit the city of New Orleans. The number one concern at this time is whether  Houston and the surrounding region will be as fortunate.

What is particularly worrisome about Rita is the fact that it is not expected to hit landfall until Friday evening or early Saturday. Her strength in all likelihood will continue due to the warmth of gulf waters.

Should Hurricane Katrina and Rita be so worrisome? After all, New Orleans was hit, yet federal, state and local officials say  it will bounce back. If Rita strikes Houston, and the surrounding region, Americans reason it is just a matter of sending an endless supply of money as well as badly needed supplies. We are conditioned to believe the nation can get through anything come hell or HIGH WATER.

When describing the American spirit, the overall mindset of the nation is one of pride due to the ability to bounce back from adversity. We are proud as a nation because Americans always come to the aide of one another. We eulogize and praise ourselves endlessly for never giving up. America, after all, is the greatest nation in the history of the world and we reason this is why we have the ability to survive anything.

Few people realize how God looks at pride. Could pride be just one of the reasons America is finding itself facing dangers as never before? The Bible mentions "pride" 49 times. Proverbs 6:16 and 17 states that pride is one of the seven things God hates.

Proverbs 6:16-17 - "These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: vs. 17 - A proud look...."

Senator Joe Dement (D) of South Carolina stated yesterday on MSNBC that America is under attack. The nation did not have the ability to face an enemy called Katrina and we are even more weakened to defend ourselves against Rita. Millions of Americans are retreating once again, but it somehow sounds better if it is described as evacuating.

Psalm 148:8 - "Fire, and hail; snow, and vapors; stormy wind fulfilling His word."
God is speaking to America and it is through hurricanes such as Katrina and Rita.

Why America Will Not Learn From Katrina and Rita

One way to know if America has learned anything as a result of Hurricane Katrina-and is learning from the impending threat of Rita-is to look at the nation honestly and ask if people are changing spiritually. Is there a connection made in the minds of Americans when catastrophe hits and the Bible explains why? Perhaps there are isolated cases, but few Americans overall are making the connection between natural disasters and spiritual consequences.

As long as the federal government can step in and rescue areas hit by catastrophes with massive amounts of money and aid-people will not look to God. As long as Americans can come to the rescue of fellow Americans-people will not cry out to God. As long a Americans are provided with shelter, food and clothing-people will not obey God. A day is coming, however, when the federal government will not be able to help those in need. Shelters will not be provided and Americans will not come to the aid of one another. Only than will people see a need for God.

As soon as Rita subsides, America will brush itself off and go on with a life as usual mindset. This is the very thing God does not want because He takes note of what people do after each disaster. America does not see itself as God does. Americans do not realize the spirit of the nation is unhealthy and people need to repent on a personal and national level.

Proverbs 16:2 - "All the ways of a man (or nation) are pure in his (its) own eyes, But the Lord weighs the spirits (or looks at the state of the American spirit)."  

It is more than evident that the American spirit is in need of a major overhaul. We have not learned a thing from Katrina except perhaps better evacuation procedures. We will also learn little from Rita. If Proverbs 16:18 is any indication, America will have to experience far greater destruction and perhaps even its total collapse before it realizes God is the only hope.

(c) 2005 By Richard Markland

Quoted: A Nation Under Attack Why America is Losing the War Against Natural Disasters One Key Verse in the Bible Describes the American Spirit More Than Any Other. Proverbs 16:18 is a Warning to the Nation: Proverbs 16:18 - "Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall."

Sun spots.

You do realize how stupid all of this sounds to someone using rational thought, right?

Hmm,

My understanding of the Bible is that there is a new Covenant, called Jesus, the Christ, and through him our sins are forgiven.  God doesn't send disasters to people.  He's no longer the vengeful God of the Old Testament.  He's the loving God of the New Testament who sent his only Son to die for our sins.

If that's somehow changed, I didn't get the memo.

Matthew 5:45 says "For God makes the sun rise on bad and good alike; God’s rain falls on the just and the unjust."

This crap about hurricanes being God's judgement being spewed forth from deceived Christians teaching a false doctrine are starting to make me angry.

Quoted: You do realize how stupid all of this sounds to someone using rational thought, right?

Matthew 5:45 says "For God makes the sun rise on bad and good alike; God’s rain falls on the just and the unjust."

Those people who spew this crap have been decieved.

Quoted: Quoted: You do realize how stupid all of this sounds to someone using rational thought, right? Matthew 5:45 says "For God makes the sun rise on bad and good alike; God’s rain falls on the just and the unjust." Those people who spew this crap have been decieved.

Que?

Hurricanes have lashed the gulf coast since the continent rose up from the deeps. That people choose to build right on the coast or in low lying lands is our business. There's no quid pro quo with nature. It keeps doing it's thing. If/when we get in the way, we get burned, smashed, flooded, or blown away.

Nature is not a moral force. But if you want to get moralistic.... sure, if we sin, we will pay for it.

So for example, whose bright idea was it to market mobile homes or woodframe homes instead of steel-reinforced poured concrete homes for areas along the coast? That was a decision made by men to maximize short term profits as the cost of wood is cheaper than concrete and steel.

A political choice to ban wood frame homes from all coastal regions would have made concrete and brick etc. the way to go. We can build homes and towns capable of withstanding Cat-5s. Don't tell me we can't. They'd be ugly looking, no large windows and wrap-around porches (*unless they're build to rip away) but it's do-able.

It was a moral choice to invest $500 billion since 1965 in monthly paychecks to the elderly rather than use that treasure building redoubts in each city and town to withstand a near miss by an h-bomb. (if they could withstand that, they'd be OK for Cat-5s).

So moral choices of real people have real consequences. But nature is constant. Hurricanes ALWAYS hit North America, just as Tornadoes have ALWAYS spun across the Great Plains. Blizzards and wild fires have ALWAYS buried or burned vast swaths of this continent too... what we do with this constant danger and hazard is our choice.

Quoted: You do realize how stupid all of this sounds to someone using rational thought, right?

+1 billion!

Quoted: Matthew 5:45 says "For God makes the sun rise on bad and good alike; God’s rain falls on the just and the unjust." This crap about hurricanes being God's judgement being spewed forth from deceived Christians teaching a false doctrine are starting to make me angry.

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: James 1:19

Turn that frown upside down!  

Quoted: You do realize how stupid all of this sounds to someone using rational thought, right?

1 Corinthians 1:25: "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men."

Proverbs 9:8-9: "Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning."

Proverbs 14:16: "A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident."

Quoted: Hmm, My understanding of the Bible is that there is a new Covenant, called Jesus, the Christ, and through him our sins are forgiven.  God doesn't send disasters to people.  He's no longer the vengeful God of the Old Testament.  He's the loving God of the New Testament who sent his only Son to die for our sins. If that's somehow changed, I didn't get the memo.

Malachi 3:6 - "I the LORD do not change"

The New Testament is full of God's judgement, vengence and wrath. Have you read it?

All the below from New Testament.

Romans 12:19 - "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but [rather] give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance [is] mine; I will repay, saith the Lord."

Hebrews 10:30 - "For we know him that hath said, Vengeance [belongeth] unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people."

Revelation 6:8 - "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."

Revelation 6:15 - "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?:"

Quoted: We need a new way to describe this line of thought. Something equal to the tinfoil hat,  but aimed at those who spout biblical quotes in support of their own idiocy and paranoia. How about a tinfoil miter?   Who wants to draw that up as an icon? CJ

CJ, are you a Christian? Have you asked Jesus to come into your heart? Have you accepted him as your personal savior? Do you accept his shed blood as attonement for your sins? Do you love the Lord, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength? Is He master of your life? Will you spend eternity with Jesus?

If you cannot answer yes to all of these questions, we are not on the same page. God's wisdom and man's logic are at odds with each other. This is evident if you will become a student of the Bible.

I choose to follow God's way and seek His protection from the coming judgements that are being poured out on this sinful world.

Psalms 91

1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the LORD,
He is my refuge and my fortress:
my God; in him will I trust.

3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler,
and from the noisome pestilence.

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers,
and under his wings shalt thou trust:
his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night;
nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6 nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness;
nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7 A thousand shall fall at thy side,
and ten thousand at thy right hand;
but it shall not come nigh thee.

8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold
and see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge,
even the Most High, thy habitation;

10 there shall no evil befall thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee,
to keep thee in all thy ways.

12 They shall bear thee up in their hands,
lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder:
the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him:
I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him:
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him, and honor him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him,
and show him my salvation.

Quoted: Quoted: Hmm, My understanding of the Bible is that there is a new Covenant, called Jesus, the Christ, and through him our sins are forgiven.  God doesn't send disasters to people.  He's no longer the vengeful God of the Old Testament.  He's the loving God of the New Testament who sent his only Son to die for our sins. If that's somehow changed, I didn't get the memo. Malachi 3:6 - "I the LORD do not change" The New Testament is full of God's judgement, vengence and wrath. Have you read it? All the below from New Testament. Romans 12:19 - "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but [rather] give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance [is] mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." Hebrews 10:30 - "For we know him that hath said, Vengeance [belongeth] unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people." Revelation 6:8 - "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." Revelation 6:15 - "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?:"

____________________

Well said, and thank you.  Many so-called biblical scholars often too easily rely upon tainted views of the Hebrew Bible and the malevalency of the Hebrew G-d.  Ironic also that so many parts of this text are then used as as reference for the new testament.

Quoted: The New Testament is full of God's judgement, vengence and wrath. Have you read it?

Yep, I've read it.  Are you asserting that it is now Judgement Day?

Quoted: Quoted: The New Testament is full of God's judgement, vengence and wrath. Have you read it? Yep, I've read it.  Are you asserting that it is now Judgement Day?

Don't know....But, Scripture tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-10 to be vigilant. But, then again, people have been predicting the secong coming for 2000 years... We have no idea. He just tells us to be ready. If we're not, well..... You know.....

2For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
9For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
10Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 1 Thes. 5:2-10

Quoted: Yep, I've read it.  Are you asserting that it is now Judgement Day?

Not yet. We are in a time known as the "beginning of sorrows" Matthew 24:3-8

God is in command and control of every aspect of the weather and so called "natural disasters". Read the following study and tell me it isn't so. The Weather - A Study in the Scriptures

Quoted: Don't know....But, Scripture tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:2-10 to be vigilant. But, then again, people have been predicting the secong coming for 2000 years... We have no idea. He just tells us to be ready. If we're not, well..... You know.....

+1

He's going to come back as a thief in the night.  I don't presume to know the mind of God.  I just try to live by his rules and know that my sins are forgiven.  Maybe that's how come I didn't even get any rain from this.  My grass is just in awful shape!

Probably why I'm not too worried about Judgement Day.  I've made my peace and make it every day.

Quoted: Hmm, My understanding of the Bible is that there is a new Covenant, called Jesus, the Christ, and through him our sins are forgiven.  God doesn't send disasters to people.  He's no longer the vengeful God of the Old Testament.  He's the loving God of the New Testament who sent his only Son to die for our sins. If that's somehow changed, I didn't get the memo.

Apparently you have never heard of the GREAT TRIBULATION.

Quoted: Here's my answer,  slightly modified from what you wrote: my God; in him ALONE will I trust. My relationship is DIRECT to God ALONE.    As I emphatically do NOT like or agree with the opinions of each and EVERY religion, which is always "Through us alone you get to heaven", I TOTALLY reject ALL organized religions as I believe that they are ALL LIARS TO ONE DEGREE OR ANOTHER. God's word is pure.  But it has been filtered, modified, edited, mutilated, deleted, improperly transcribed, and fraudulently misrepresented by so many people throughout history who either lacked understanding or education,  or "adjusted" those words to match their own personal biases, beliefs, prejudices, and ulterior motives,  that I will trust virtually NONE of it. You have not ever read God's words in their pure form because they've never made it into a book that wasn't filtered through imperfect humans first. It's not GOD I don't trust,  it's ANYONE who says he speaks for God.     CJ

I think I understand your position. I have a few questions I need to ask you in order to futher clarify it and make future discussion possible.

In your opinion was Jesus Christ of the Bible a real person?

In your opinion was Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of the God you speak of?

In your opinion was Jesus Christ crucified, buried and did he rise from the dead on the 3rd day and appear to the Apostles for 40 days so that they could bare witness that he was in fact alive?

In your opinion is Jesus Christ God?

In your opinion is the following scripture true or false:

Jesus saith unto him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6).

Which is read as - I am the ONLY way, the ONLY truth, and the ONLY life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

I hold that is ABSOLUTELY the truth. Jesus said of himself that he was God. Either he was telling the truth or he was a lying fruitcake nut job. No other so called religion has as a founder someone that claimed to be God, was killed and is risen and is alive. Christians believe that there is only one way to the the Father and that is through His Son Jesus Christ because He is very much alive.

Philippians 2:5   Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6   Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7   But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8   And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

9   Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

10   That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth;

11   And [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Quoted: God's word is pure.  But it has been filtered, modified, edited, mutilated, deleted, improperly transcribed, and fraudulently misrepresented by so many people throughout history who either lacked understanding or education,  or "adjusted" those words to match their own personal biases, beliefs, prejudices, and ulterior motives,  that I will trust virtually NONE of it.

God has kept his Word very much pure. If you truely want to know accurately it has been kept over the the last 2000 years, check this out: Has the Bible Been Preserved Accurately?

The following is taken from the above article:

"The apostle Paul wrote that the oracles of God were committed to the Jewish people (Romans 3:2). For centuries they carefully and meticulously preserved their sacred writings. The manuscripts of the Bible that we have today were written by hand long ago, well before the invention of the printing press. The Jewish scribes who made the copies of the Old Testament Scriptures from generation to generation were scrupulously cautious about their copying procedures.

This meticulous care was perpetuated by the Masoretes, a special group of Jewish scribes who were entrusted with making copies of the Hebrew Bible from about A.D. 500 to 900. Their version of the Old Testament, widely considered the most authoritative, came to be known as the Masoretic Text.

Before and during this time, trained copyists followed various meticulous and stringent requirements for making scrolls of their holy books. The Masoretes required that all manuscripts have various word numbering systems. As an example of one test they used, when a new copy was made, they counted the number of words in it. If the copy didn't have the proper count, the manuscript was unusable and buried.

Such steps ensured that not a single word could be added to or left out of the Holy Scriptures. Through such steps the scrolls that formed the Hebrew Bible were copied meticulously, carefully and accurately, century after century."

and then

"Because of the strict requirements and few locations where the Old Testament was copied, few variants or versions of the Old Testament ever came into existence. When the Dead Sea Scrolls (primarily portions of the Old Testament dating mostly from the first century B.C.) were discovered in 1947, many people were initially concerned that they would show marked differences with the Masoretic Text of the Old Testament.

Because the Dead Sea Scrolls were a thousand years older than the oldest and most reliable Masoretic Text we have today (the Leningrad Codex, dating to A.D. 1008), scholars thought they might find drastic differences over that long passage of time. But did they?

After years of study, they found that the Dead Sea Scrolls they examined have only a relatively few minor, insignificant differences from today's Masoretic Text of the Old Testament.

"These oldest-known Biblical texts have one absolutely crucial feature," explains historian Ian Wilson. "Although ... a thousand years older than the texts previously available in Hebrew, they show just how faithful the texts of our present Bibles are to those from two thousand years ago and how little they have changed over the centuries. Two Isaiah scrolls, for instance, contain the Isaiah text almost exactly as it is in our present-day Bibles ...

"Although there are, as we might expect, some minor differences, these are mostly the interchange of a word or the addition or absence of a particular phrase. For example, whereas in present-day Bibles Isaiah 1:15 ends, 'Your hands are covered in blood', one of the Dead Sea pair adds, 'and your fingers with crime'. Where Isaiah 2:3 of our present-day Bibles reads, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of [the LORD]', to the house of the God of Jacob', the Dead Sea Scroll version omits, 'to the mountain of [the LORD]'.

"Such discrepancies are trifling, and there can be no doubt that the Biblical books someone stored away so carefully at Qumran two thousand years ago were as close to those we know in our present Hebrew and Old Testament Bibles as makes no difference" (The Bible Is History, 1999, p. 205).

Where there are differences, however, this does not mean the Dead Sea Scrolls were correct and the Masoretic Text incorrect. We should keep in mind that the Dead Sea Scrolls were not necessarily transcribed with the same meticulous preservation practices as those used by the main scribes of the time. Nonetheless, the remarkable discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is astounding confirmation that the Old Testament has indeed been accurately preserved for us today."

Further reading: Which Bible Translation Should I Use?

The Bible is God's Word!

Quoted: I offer no opinion on Jesus in any way, shape, or form. My relationship is DIRECT to God.  If HE wants me to change that relationship,  HE can do it. CJ

That is the relationship man originally had with God. Through the sin of Adam and every man thereafter, this relationship has changed. This is the whole theme of the Bible. Man's fall and God's plan to bring him back in close relationship to him. The only way to have a DIRECT relationship is to God is through his Son Jesus Christ.

CJ, I will keep you in my prayers and ask Jesus to speak to your heart and plant a seed of truth seeking in you. Please check out the links above pertaining to the Bible and study them with a open mind.

You can't beat Mother Nature.
And, more people are living in coastal areas than in the past, so overdeveloped and over populated areas that are prone to Hurricane strikes are in obvious peril.

latest hurricane went from a Cat 5 to a Cat 3 and totally missed Galveston, Houston and the ravaged areas of New Orleans.  

Guess God still likes us, eh?