The Warning has been given; the Alarm has Sounded; are You Listening?
Posted: Tuesday, May 03, 2011
by Carol Allen Anfinsen
AnfinsenArt
Isn’t that so like we humans. We want to be helpful, kind and neighborly. We want to be good citizens, husbands, wives, and parents. But then pressures pummel us through the rush of each day, and we put things off.
“I’ll get to it later,” we say, “after I check my e-mail, after I make a dental appointment, after I clean the bathroom, after I finish that report, after Little League, after Kaidyn’s piano lesson, after work, after I call the church, after I mow the lawn,” and on and on.
I was stunned and heartbroken watching the recent damage of tornadoes that swept across the country. Tears welled up in my eyes as I listened to survivors express words of gratitude for being alive even though they had nothing of material value left.
“We lost everything in 60 seconds,” said one victim. “One minute, we had everything: loved ones, family, friends, the American dream, and in the next our lives were changed.”
What saddened survivors most was the death of loved ones. Losing photographs and memorabilia, things that bind families together, ran a close second. Not only their material goods, but most of their keepsakes and memories were obliterated forever. Their lives were reduced to the basics: life and breath, and the clothes on their back. Raw and shaken, many of them suffering from injuries, they thanked God for the living and for sparing their lives.
Were those who died without warning prepared to meet their God and creator? When they woke up that morning, did they know that death would snatch them from those they loved? Did they anticipate their life would be over in a split second? Did they have any warning?
Our neighborhood received a wakeup call a few weeks ago. Hank, one of the elderly widowers who lived alone and seldom came outside, received his personal summons from God. The last time he was seen, he had moved his patio furniture outdoors to clean and wash the lanai. After several days past, we figured he planned to leave his furniture out by the shade tree during the summer.
We were distracted as new neighbors moved into the house between Hank and us. Even as Hank’s furniture sat outside, we respected the old man’s privacy and failed to inquire if he needed any help. No one else in the neighborhood did either. Snowbirds were preparing to return to northern climes, and everyone was either moving out or moving in. We were all focused on our own lives.
Hank’s children lived long distances away and made infrequent visits. Unanswered phone calls finally prompted them to involve authorities. Hank’s body was found sitting in a chair, the TV still on, the lights and air conditioner whirring. The deterioration after almost three weeks was devastating.
We were all shocked. None of us had known or even inquired. There were no offensive odors or noises. We ignored the tell tale signs of the outdoor furniture. The mailman commented that the mail was piling up, but everyone shrugged. We were all spinning our own wheels oblivious to anyone else’s needs but our own.
In our day and age, we are so isolated from each other. Our houses are built with construction codes for strength, weather, and calamity. We are walled off from the world. We seldom see our neighbors scurrying to their jobs, appointments or activities let alone hear them. Without special occasions to draw us together, our brief encounters have deteriorated to informal hellos and goodbyes.
Even when confronted with need, we sometimes watch as spectators and bystanders. Instead of reaching out a helping hand, we act as if we’re watching yet another sit-com on TV, another reality show of which we’re not a part.
“Who is my neighbor?” the Pharisees asked Jesus trying to trick him. Every man is your neighbor was essentially his answer. Not only are we to love our neighbors and treat them the way we would like to be treated, but we are to warn our neighbors and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them.
In Noah’s day, the people were vicious, evil, and violent. “Their hearts were evil continually,” it states in Genesis. “And the Lord was saddened that he had made them.” Noah and his family (eight survivors) were the only righteous people living among them. God commanded Noah to build the Ark: (a ship three-stories high and as large as a football field.). He instructed Noah how to build it and for what purpose.
It was a gigantic task that took many months. When Noah told the people why he was building the ark: to prepare for a flood that would cover the earth, they scoffed at him. Up until that time, there had never been rain upon the earth. How could the earth be flooded with water?
Noah and his family were laughing stocks, but they persevered. They continued to testify to the people and warn them of impending disaster. Trusting in God, they continued building the ark and gathering their supplies. When the time came, God summoned the animals and they came two by two into the ark; and those designated “clean” by seven. When they were all inside, Noah shut the door and he and his family waited.
Can you imagine how the people in their community hollered and hooted as the days past? There may have been threats and some throwing of stones. There may have been attempts at vandalism and foul play. But eventually they ignored Noah and his crazy family, and went about their lives.
Then after seven days, the rains came. The torrent formed rivulets on the dry ground and inundated the low places. At this point, there may have been some pounding on Noah’s door; some screams and pleadings from people eager to come inside. People who may have wished they’d heeded God’s warning through Noah. When the floods rolled down the hillsides and lifted up the ark, and the people had climbed as high as they could go; they were swept away. (Genesis 6-9)
Throughout the Bible, we read of God’s warnings to his children. When I was a child, I thought God was a mean avenger, destroying all who did not obey him; a bully, if you will. I was afraid of God. I had experienced abuse in my life at a very young age. Men were to be feared; and since God was a man (as I understood it), I was afraid of him. I was fearful of his commandments and the warnings which I viewed as threats.
When I experienced the love of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, my fear was replaced with peace and thanksgiving. I recognized for the first time that God’s commandments are not just a bunch of “thou shalt nots,” a lot of rules and regulations designed to keep us from having fun. God’s commandments were given to us out of love. He wants to prevent us from being hurt by our actions. He knows the long-term effects of illicit sex, of hatred, of breaking the law, of coveting our neighbor’s goods. His commandments of love were given to protect us and shield us from harm.
If we “listen and obey” our lives may be spared from disease, heartache, broken families, incarceration, or the life-threatening consequences of human behavior. God has even made it easy for us. He has asked us to focus on two great commandments that are easy to remember. If we live by these, all of the other commandments fall into place because instead of living for our own selfish purposes, we live for God.
Jesus said unto them: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matt 22:37-39 KJV)
They are easy to remember. They are difficult to live without the desire and the will.
Too many of us want to discount Biblical decrees and prophetic warnings preferring to place our faith in man’s reason and man’s intellect. In spite of all the evidence that God exists, we continue to thumb our noses at him and discredit him in the same way that people did long ago when God became man in the form of Jesus Christ and took our sins, our guilt upon him. He suffered, bled, and died to atone for our sins, to redeem us that we might return to our Father in Heaven and live with him forever.
We’ve stopped asking the age old questions: “Who am I? Where have I come from? Where am I going? In fact, most of us don’t really want to know. We’re caught up in “group think.” We’ve become a society of followers, copy cats, and protestors. We no longer know how we feel unless someone tells us. We ape our friends and the people we know because we want to fit in. We have faceless friends online who give us anonymity in the same way that costume parties provide a mask for our real selves in a make-believe world.
We believe the naysayers who claim with fear that all of these tornadoes, floods, fires, tsunamis and earthquakes are caused by global warming. We think we can control the earth and its temperature, the weather and destruction simply by using less energy, or by plugging up the hind-end of every horse and cow in captivity.
It never crosses our mind that the Bible predicted these climatic changes and disasters. God not only told us this would happen, he warned us so that we could prepare for them; not physically, which is almost impossible, but through spiritual preparation. How can we prepare and what should we do? Strive to know “the Lord your God,” and build a personal relationship with him. There is no other way.
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