Some Lessons Learned From Hurricane Katrina
Pastor Bret Lovitz of Grace Fellowship of Mtn.Home, ID.
Well, it has been a couple of weeks now since Hurricane Katrina devasted the New Orleans, LA area. We, along with many other churches and Christians, were able to financially help a church of like faith in the Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals (F.I.R.E.) that ministers outside of New Orleans in Slidell. Through my involvement in the Reformed Baptist E-Mail List, and Alpha and Omega's Website and Chat Room, I was able to have a closer look at things so to speak considering I was not down there personally. I would like to share with you some thoughts and concerns about the aftermath of Hurricane Katina. This will not be an indepth article. But it is my hope and prayer, that the Lord may be pleased to use this to provoke you and I to reflect on our own walk in the Lord, and perhaps prompt you to further study in any of these areas. May God receive the glory He alone deserves, and His people be built up and strenthened through not just the article itself, but the events themselves that have recently taken place.
1. The totally depravity of man manifested: As I am sure many of you have seen or heard, The depravity of man's heart has definitely been seen in many unsaved people in that area. This has been seen in the crime and looting that has taken place, of much more than food and other necessities. The accusations of racism, the grumbling and complaining of not getting almost instant help and relief, and the belief that they did not deserve to have that happen to them, are several ways such depravity is seen Is.64:6;Jer.17:9;Ro.3:10-18.
2. The glory of God manifested in His people there: I do not personally know many Christians in that area. I do know the Elders of the church in Slidell, and one of their members through Alpha and Omega's chat room. Instead of grumbling and complaining about what happened to the area, and at that time could have happened to their home and church, they were trusting in the sovereignty and goodness of God, and thanking and praising God in the midst of all that was happening Eph.5:20;1Th.5:18;Job 1:21;Ps.34:1.
3. The glory of God manifest in His people elsewhere: Many of God's people, and some that I know of through the internet have done various things to reach out to the people in the New Orleans area. As they have been able, they have given financially as churches and individuals, and have physically gone down there to help brothers and sisters in Christ, and share the gospel with the lost as they have opportunity Gal.6:10; 1Tim.6:17-18;Heb.13:16.
4. People's attachment to the things of the world: This of course could be part of #1, but I wanted to deal with this seperately. The external reason why people struggle more when they lose property and possessions is because of their attachment to the world and the things in it. And while I hope that it is mainly lost people that has this problem, my concern is that there are many in the "church" that have been affected by this. I'm not judging anyone about this, for I realize that I too need to take heed that I don't fall (1Cor.10:12). But we need to keep everything that we [think we] own in perspective. They are on loan to us and are supposed to used for the glory of God (1Cor.10:31;Col.3:17,23). I have as yet to see anyone go through what Job went through (Job 1, 2). But when things happen to us that are less than what Job went through, may we by the grace of God be able to say like Job: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD" (1:21). May we remember that we are not love the world or the things in the world 1Jn.2:15. May we remember that friendship with the world is hostility towards God, that those who are a friends of the world are enemies of God Jam.4:4.
5. Did God Judge the New Orleans area? Yes I believe He did. But did He judge them anymore than anywhere else? Did the New Orleans area deserve judgment anymore than anywhere else? Now don't get me wrong, I do find it interesting that God ordained (whether passively or not) Hurricane Katrina to hit there days before their annual "Southern Decadence" Aug.31st through Sept.5th, which is a celebration of homosexual life. God is sovereign and all powerful, and it's no mere coincidence that the Hurricane hit there when it did. But we still have to be careful. Remember, judgment first begins at the house of God 1Pet.4:17. And sadly, the New Orleans area is not the only place where homosexuality and sexual immorality abound. Places like San Francisco and the Florida Keys are still there despite the higher percentage of homosexuality there. Disney World is still there and they have their annual "Homosexual (Gay) Day Parade." Other types of sexual immorality abound in other parts of the world, the rest of our country, and right here in Mountain Home, ID. We all deserve judgment and death because of our sin. Yes we know what happened with Sodom and Gomorrah, and that God would have spared them if there was just 10 righteous people there. And perhaps that is why He has been pleased to spare many places in many time periods. But that doesn't mean God is obligated to do that forever. Mankind ought not to keep tempting God. We as God's people need to be salt and light to the world, and be actively (as opposed to passively) sharing the gospel with a lost and dying world, starting right here in our own Air Force town that also brings people from many parts of the country and world. For it is the gospel alone that is God's means to change hearts and save souls Rom.1:16; 1Th.2:13; Heb.4:12.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Rom 11:33-36)
Pastor Bret Lovitz of Grace Fellowship of Mtn.Home, ID.
Well, it has been a couple of weeks now since Hurricane Katrina devasted the New Orleans, LA area. We, along with many other churches and Christians, were able to financially help a church of like faith in the Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals (F.I.R.E.) that ministers outside of New Orleans in Slidell. Through my involvement in the Reformed Baptist E-Mail List, and Alpha and Omega's Website and Chat Room, I was able to have a closer look at things so to speak considering I was not down there personally. I would like to share with you some thoughts and concerns about the aftermath of Hurricane Katina. This will not be an indepth article. But it is my hope and prayer, that the Lord may be pleased to use this to provoke you and I to reflect on our own walk in the Lord, and perhaps prompt you to further study in any of these areas. May God receive the glory He alone deserves, and His people be built up and strenthened through not just the article itself, but the events themselves that have recently taken place.
1. The totally depravity of man manifested: As I am sure many of you have seen or heard, The depravity of man's heart has definitely been seen in many unsaved people in that area. This has been seen in the crime and looting that has taken place, of much more than food and other necessities. The accusations of racism, the grumbling and complaining of not getting almost instant help and relief, and the belief that they did not deserve to have that happen to them, are several ways such depravity is seen Is.64:6;Jer.17:9;Ro.3:10-18.
2. The glory of God manifested in His people there: I do not personally know many Christians in that area. I do know the Elders of the church in Slidell, and one of their members through Alpha and Omega's chat room. Instead of grumbling and complaining about what happened to the area, and at that time could have happened to their home and church, they were trusting in the sovereignty and goodness of God, and thanking and praising God in the midst of all that was happening Eph.5:20;1Th.5:18;Job 1:21;Ps.34:1.
3. The glory of God manifest in His people elsewhere: Many of God's people, and some that I know of through the internet have done various things to reach out to the people in the New Orleans area. As they have been able, they have given financially as churches and individuals, and have physically gone down there to help brothers and sisters in Christ, and share the gospel with the lost as they have opportunity Gal.6:10; 1Tim.6:17-18;Heb.13:16.
4. People's attachment to the things of the world: This of course could be part of #1, but I wanted to deal with this seperately. The external reason why people struggle more when they lose property and possessions is because of their attachment to the world and the things in it. And while I hope that it is mainly lost people that has this problem, my concern is that there are many in the "church" that have been affected by this. I'm not judging anyone about this, for I realize that I too need to take heed that I don't fall (1Cor.10:12). But we need to keep everything that we [think we] own in perspective. They are on loan to us and are supposed to used for the glory of God (1Cor.10:31;Col.3:17,23). I have as yet to see anyone go through what Job went through (Job 1, 2). But when things happen to us that are less than what Job went through, may we by the grace of God be able to say like Job: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD" (1:21). May we remember that we are not love the world or the things in the world 1Jn.2:15. May we remember that friendship with the world is hostility towards God, that those who are a friends of the world are enemies of God Jam.4:4.
5. Did God Judge the New Orleans area? Yes I believe He did. But did He judge them anymore than anywhere else? Did the New Orleans area deserve judgment anymore than anywhere else? Now don't get me wrong, I do find it interesting that God ordained (whether passively or not) Hurricane Katrina to hit there days before their annual "Southern Decadence" Aug.31st through Sept.5th, which is a celebration of homosexual life. God is sovereign and all powerful, and it's no mere coincidence that the Hurricane hit there when it did. But we still have to be careful. Remember, judgment first begins at the house of God 1Pet.4:17. And sadly, the New Orleans area is not the only place where homosexuality and sexual immorality abound. Places like San Francisco and the Florida Keys are still there despite the higher percentage of homosexuality there. Disney World is still there and they have their annual "Homosexual (Gay) Day Parade." Other types of sexual immorality abound in other parts of the world, the rest of our country, and right here in Mountain Home, ID. We all deserve judgment and death because of our sin. Yes we know what happened with Sodom and Gomorrah, and that God would have spared them if there was just 10 righteous people there. And perhaps that is why He has been pleased to spare many places in many time periods. But that doesn't mean God is obligated to do that forever. Mankind ought not to keep tempting God. We as God's people need to be salt and light to the world, and be actively (as opposed to passively) sharing the gospel with a lost and dying world, starting right here in our own Air Force town that also brings people from many parts of the country and world. For it is the gospel alone that is God's means to change hearts and save souls Rom.1:16; 1Th.2:13; Heb.4:12.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Rom 11:33-36)
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