From the book of Job

am reminded again today by the book of Job. Very true that many times human like to think that we know how God thinks , especially when we look at the interaction with his 3 friends .

Just like to extrapolate this a bit to the topic of prophecies when disaster happens. When the tsunami hits, various prophets were using that as a reason that God punishes and kill those who 1) pagans , 2) history of Christian persecution ( India , Indonesia ) 3) corrupt society and this comes at that time a real disservice to the Christians as a whole in terms of timing as well as the ‘uncaring’ nature of such accusations/ revelations. And almost all were from the west ( namely US ) or perhaps influenced by their work. They come with mighty words , a worldview shaped by their own civilization / understanding and claims to be on top of the prophet chain. As we look at the 3 friends of Job ,they are reasoned to be people of high standing, repute, wisdom or wealth yet their logical understanding of the causes of Job’s suffering was not what they think.

Yet , it causes the ‘working’ Christians on the field to suffer. The missionaries and workers in relief work were affected. And to me they are the ones who displayed the true nature of Christ – going down to the field ( of sick , weak and oppressed ) to lend a hand instead of preaching from the pedestal in a holier-than-thou-attitude. We see that in Acheh, Christian groups were then not allowed out of the town , not granted access to those in need and made redundant. And I wonder if the ‘pagans’ in India and Sri Langka would treat their Christian countryman better now.

Yet , we have a just God. When Katrina hits New Orleans , the sole prophecy was that it was because God is punishing the city for its past history in vice, gambling , pubs etc. Suddenly , that prophecy ( only one that I hear ) caused a stir in the US. Yes , it worked in the tsunami because the affected people were in a different continent and perhaps of different faith. And suddenly, the caveat that God punishes pagans/ Christian persecutors / corrupt society does not seem reasonable or politically correct. The prophets were suddenly quiet. And when another hurricane hits Florida and stretches of Christian conservative homeland ( Texas , etc), not one prophet dared to speak up. In all fairness, I have also not heard any big prophecies on the earthquake on Pakistan. Hopefully they are putting their energy to better uses now by working on the field perhaps.

For sure, this is not a general sweeping statement that all of these prophecies are not true yet brings into question about some of the practices of us humans and Christians in specific. I would agree on the prophecy that in the final days there are more disasters , suffering and false prophets. But, this is already in the book of Revelation. And true to our human nature to want to reason out everything or to be in ‘the know’ , sometimes it is just better to see that in the bigger picture of what God has and again , it is in the bible. And of course, the bible ask us to be careful in the final days as the beast , the women and the false prophet do have its follower and priests ( prophets) and is as cunning as the roaring lion. Secondly , our conduct as Christians do impact other people. Esp. in this day of fast communication , it will come back to us. The storming of a Coptic church in Egypt 2 days ago due to the emergence of a DVD of the church’s Christmas play on a conversion of a Muslim is another example. Thirdly , we have to come out of our schema / worldview and test our understanding. Be humble in knowledge that “My tots are higher than your tots and my ways are higher than your.”.

Thanks for spending the time to read these tots. In the end , my ‘prophecy’ of the hurricanes is because the temperature on earth is warmer due our neglect as steward. ( Reap what you sow ) . And the hurricane hitting Texas is due to George Bush J


P.S On further tots.
1. Just amazed that that there is now a multi level marketing Prophecy system with churches paying money to get their pastors into this association. Next, there will have a Certified prophet programme perhaps.
2. this is not confined to Christians. I remember 2 years ago to reply strongly against an Muslim based email spreading accusations.. And when they try to link 26th December ( day of tsunami ) as the day that major catrastophies will / did happen as a judgment against Christianity , alcohol drinking and merriment - the almost same message was given.