How are we to take all this? One of three answers is commonly given:

these are "natural disasters",

they are signs of the end times, or

they are to be seen as the judgment of God, punishments for idolatry, fornication, abortion or some other sins of humanity.

To listen to some religious leaders, it would seem to be the latter - God is angry with us and we are being judged for our sins.

A few years ago, in India, a radical Hindu mob killed an Australian Christian Missionary and his two sons by purposefully setting fire to their car. A few months later a terrible storm came up from the Sea of Bengal and flooded Orissa State, the location of this martyrdom. When we arrived there a few months later, we learned that the local Christians believed this was God's retribution. The same message was heard a year later on the western side of India when a powerful earthquake struck in the state of Gujarat.

Concerning the tsunamis that occurred at the end of 2004, one author offered the explanation that the killer waves that hit South Asia were God's punishing an area where Christians have experienced particularly intense persecution. However, evidently this Christian commentator hadn't checked the facts very well. The truth of the matter is, while some persecution of Christians has occurred in the region, the most intense persecution was not in the areas hit hardest by the tsunami. Certainly there is persecution of Christians in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka, but ethnic strife between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia, for example, has been centered in portions of the country not greatly affected by the tsunami.

Another author stated that reports of miraculous survival by Christians revealed God’s hand in the disaster. Really? Then why weren't all Christians spared, and not just some of them? And what about the pagan fishermen who instinctively headed out to sea and were able to ride out the waves before shallow waters caused them to rise up like rushing mountains of water? They weren't Christians, yet they too survived.

Some believed that the tsunami was God's judgment on the child pornography industry that thrives in Southeast Asia - places like Thailand, well known as a destination for evil minded men who want to exploit the innocence of the young. When I ministered in the next-door country of Cambodia, where trafficking in child pornography is almost as bad as in Thailand, my ministering partner was asked by his scooter taxi driver if he would like to have his daughter come to his hotel room to give him a "massage." When my partner asked how old was the daughter, he was shocked to learn that she was only 10! Everyone knows that these South East Asian countries are hot spots where American businessmen travel for the express purpose of engaging in sexual activities with young Asian children. Was the tsunami God's judgment on such activities?

The most radical of all was comments by the Pastor of a Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. When CNN reported that up to a fourth of the 20,000 Swedes vacationing in southern Asia may have drowned in the tsunami disaster, the pastor gleefully proclaimed, “Thank God for the tsunamis - and for 5,000 dead Swedes." You see, he believed that the tsunami was God’s vengeance for the jailing of a Swedish Pentecostal pastor found guilty of offending homosexuals in one of his sermons.

Shockingly, this pastor went on to say, "We sincerely hope and pray that all 20,000 Swedes are dead, their bodies bloated on the ground or in mass graves or floating at sea, feeding sharks and fishes, or in the bellies of thousands of crocodiles washed ashore by tsunamis. These filthy, [expletive] Swedes have a satanic, draconian law criminalizing Gospel preaching, under which they prosecuted, convicted and sentenced Pastor Ake Green to jail - thereby incurring God's irreversible wrath."

Then he concluded, "Let us pray that God will send a massive tsunami to totally devastate the North American continent with 1,000-foot walls of water doing 500 mph -- even as islands in southern Asia have recently been laid waste, with but a small remnant surviving."

However, it's not just radical hot-heads who spout such misguided theology of retribution; even a prominent Anglican in Australia commented that the tsunami was “a warning of God’s judgment.”

More recently in response to our own hurricane "Katrina," there were many who believed that this storm was a consequence of the destruction of Gaza's Jewish settlements with America's urging and encouragement. One Rabbi said, "The U.S. should have discouraged Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from implementing the Gaza evacuation rather than pushing for it and pressuring Israel into concessions."

Another Rabbi, Joseph Garlitzky, head of an international movement's Tel Aviv synagogue, said, "We don't have prophets who can tell us exactly what are God's ways, but when we see something so enormous as Katrina, I would say the President and Secretary of State need to make an accounting of their actions, because something was done wrong by America in a big way.

"And," the Rabbi went on to say, "here there are many obvious connections between the storm and the Gaza evacuation, which came right on top of each other. No one has permission to take away one inch of the land of Israel from the Jewish people." By the way, one of the "obvious connections" cited was that Katrina begins with the same three letters as the name of one of the evacuated settlements, Katif!

A Christian prayer leader who had visited this Jewish settlement weeks before its evacuation, noted, "Is there a connection between [Katrina and Gush Katif]? I believe so. Is this judgment? I believe so. And I must say it. Outright! Many won't like to hear it. Many won't agree. But I believe America is in danger and something has to be done. America needs to repent. From Bush, Rice and the State Department on down. America must repent for actively opposing God's plan for Israel as revealed in His Word."

Admittedly, there may be people here today who are ready to stand up and shout a hearty, and even angry, "Amen." But let's not be too quick. Yes, the father of the Jews, Abraham, received a promise of God's blessing, and was assured by God, I ". . . will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee." (Genesis 12:3)

But the question is, what does it mean to bless Israel? Does it mean to agree with a particular political philosophy, or use our superior military might to back that philosophy? I say, to bless Israel has nothing to do with politicians or generals, but has to do with the preaching of the Gospel. What is the greatest blessing that could possibly come to the Jews? To accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah and thereby receive the full inheritance of eternal life.

In Romans 10:19, Paul quotes Moses saying, "I will make you envious by those who are not a nation" and in the next chapter (11:11) Paul clarifies what he means by this statement, "salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious." Of what is Israel to be jealous? The blessing of the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus.

But let's get back to our question about whether or not calamities represent God's judgments. Perhaps you remember that just a few years ago in America, one prominent Christian leader even went so far as to say that the 9/11 attacks were a sign that God was withholding divine protection to punish America for homosexuality and removing prayer from schools. He later tried to retract his statement, but he had already betrayed the fact that this kind of thinking lies just under the surface in the minds of many religious people.

We also want to observe that not only do some Christian leaders proclaim that disasters are punishments from God; Jewish, Hindu and Muslim clerics do the same.

In India, some organizations said the tsunami was “divine retribution” for the arrest of a Hindu leader. “The devastation by the tsunami in Tamil Nadu, could it be a caveat from ‘Up There’ about the atrocities being visited on the Kanchi Acharya?” wrote a columnist on a Hindu Web site. Obviously this was a rhetorical question meant to be answered in the affirmative.

Israel’s top rabbi said that the tsunami was a sign that “God is angry” and “we must pray more and ask for mercy.”

A Muslim leader in south Florida told the Miami Herald that the tsunami was wrath from God. “There has to be some kind of evil that has been happening in South Asia that the scriptures have forbidden, which has brought the wrath of God,” said Imam Maulana Shafayat Mohamed.

Now get this picture. All these notable world religious leaders are clearly proclaiming that calamities are judgments from God, and here's this little, unknown preacher from the hamlet of Hamburg (that no one has really heard about) standing up and saying, "It ain't so." Why would you believe this preacher instead of all the other religious voices proclaiming judgment in the form of earthquakes, storms and unrelenting waves and floods?

Let me provide some answers for you.

It is true that in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, there are times when God's judgment is visited upon large groups of people. There are the stories of Noah, Lot, the Passover and the Korahites, to name a few. But let's not forget, in all of these stories, whenever God judges, the righteous are saved.

Noah and his family were saved by the ark.

God agreed with Abraham not to destroy the twin cities of Sodom of Gomorrah if even a small group of righteous could be found - when there were not even 10, He made sure Lot had an opportunity for evacuation.

The main lesson of the Passover was that the righteous would be spared.

Before the destruction of rebellious Korah and his large family, everyone else was given an opportunity to get out of the way.

Certainly, if Katrina was God's punishment of a sinful city called New Orleans, why didn't God give the righteous an opportunity to get out before the storm hit? Or was this the judgment of some other god, not the God revealed in the Bible?

What kind of God is revealed in the Bible? I'll tell you, He's the One of whom Peter wrote, He is "not willing that any should perish" (II Peter 3:9), the One who "so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."(John 3:16)

So then, why is it that all these religious leaders say that killer storms represent the judgment of God? Because they are religious leaders, that's why. Unfortunately, to be religious is to take a position of superiority, to see oneself as being better than others. Like the man Jesus described as going to the temple and praying, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men -- robbers, evildoers, adulterers -- or even like this tax collector." (Luke 18:11) What is that? Pride. You see it's easy for the living to condemn the dead, because the dead victims of tsunamis and hurricanes can't stand up and defend themselves or be examined as to whether or not they were righteous.

Actually, none of us has the right to pronounce the judgment of God. Go back to Romans 11(vs.33,34) and hear the Apostle cry out, "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"

One thing we do know about judgment is that it comes after death, as indicated by the writer to the Hebrews, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment." (9:27) And do you remember the end-times story told by Jesus, the one about the sheep and the goats? Notice that the separation and judgment of the evil doers comes at the end, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory . . . he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." (Matthew 23:31,32)

But then, you might ask, what about Amos 3:6, that says, "When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?"

Well of course, because God created everything, ultimately He is responsible for everything that comes from it. This is no doubt what Job had in mind when he responded to his wife's plea to "curse God and die." Job said, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10) And didn't Jesus imply the same thing when He said, "your Father in heaven . . . causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous"? (Matthew 5:45)

It's much like the question that is asked when a teenager gets in trouble - are the parents responsible? In a way, because if they had never brought this person into the world, the son or daughter wouldn't have been able to get into trouble, would they?

Bill Cosby, playing the part of the father, once quipped to his son, "I brought you into the world and I can take you out - and it doesn't really matter to me 'cause I can make another one just like you."

Who really is responsible, the parent or the child?

A couple of days ago when I sat on the other side of thick plate glass and talked to a young inmate via a very scratchy telephone, I asked him who was to blame for his being in this isolation unit? Immediately, without hesitation, he answered, "I am." Although a parent is responsible in that they produced a child, that child, at some point must assume responsibility for their own actions.

Ezekiel explained it this way, "The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him." (Ezekiel 18:20)

By the way, how did Jesus coach His disciples to respond to the "signs of the times" such as wars, famines and earthquakes? This is what He said in Luke 21:28, "And when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." He didn't say, "Wag your finger at all those sinners, telling thim they are being judged for their sins."

Furthermore, if we're going to pass judgment, where should we begin? According to Peter, we must begin right here, "For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God." (I Peter 4:17)

And this same Peter, right after the verse about God not wanting any to perish, went on to say, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat." (II Peter 3:10-12)

In Luke's Gospel there's a unique account of a brief exchange between Jesus and some bystanders who ". . . told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices." Jesus' response was this, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?" He then referred to another disaster when a tower fell on, and killed, 18 people, and asked the same question, "Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?" He then gave a call to repentance, as if to remind us that we are all sinners, not just the victims of disasters like senseless murders, storms and falling towers. (Luke 13:1-5)

But we still want to know, does God cause such disasters in order to get a message across?

Actually, there are a number of passages in the Bible having to do with storms, and often they do carry some kind of a message.

Recently we looked at one of the scenarios in Psalm 107, where people who had wandered, lost in the wilderness, had been returned to a safe place. Another situation described there (vs. 24-31) had to do with people who had endured a terrible storm at sea. Here again, this is seen as the Lord's doing - "the works of the LORD, his wonderful deeds in the deep. For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves." However, nowhere is there any mention of this being the judgment of God. The message is the same as with the other three scenarios of Psalm 107 - when in trouble, they cried to the Lord and He rescued them. Then comes the real point, "Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men."

The other night, a comedian was poking fun at our President because he called for prayer in the wake of Katrina's devastation. The comic said, "If this was an 'Act of God', then I guess He had already made up His mind; what good was it to pray then?" This man evidently didn't understand that prayer has more value then just keeping us out of difficult times, but in realizing God's help in getting us through them.

A storm was used by God to bring famine to Egypt, but He had Joseph in place to make preparations to avoid the devastation that otherwise would have occurred (Genesis 41). No mention was made of judgment for sin.

Jonah also endured a great storm. (Jonah 1:4) However, rather than being for punishment, the intent was to get Jonah's attention and redirect this reluctant prophet. We all remember the New Testament stories of Jesus and the storms. In one, He calmly slept through it until wakened by fearful disciples, and in the other, Jesus walked across the water to meet them in their time of desperate need. In these situations, the only scolding received by the disciples was that their faith was weak; nothing was even suggested that they were being punished by the storm for their sin. (Luke 8:25)

We're familiar with the "blessings and curses" promised by Moses as he prepared the people to enter the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 28). If there were unfaithfulness and disobedience, God would send dust (v.24), locusts (v.38) and plagues (v.59). But let's remember these were all intended to be redemptive, not punitive - God believed that in times of trouble, His people would remember Him and cry out to Him for help.

Elijah experienced a great storm as he was holed up in a cave, depressed because he thought that he alone was being faithful to the Lord. However, the storm and earthquake carried no message other than perhaps to get Elijah's attention - the real message was in "the still small voice." (I Kings 19:12)

Perhaps we are too quick to view "Acts of God" as being for judgment and punishment. Storms and earthquakes may represent bad news, but the good news is that God is there to provide refuge and rescue. Listen to what Isaiah proclaimed, "The LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain." (Isaiah 4:5,6)

Later, in a great hymn of praise, Isaiah wrote, "O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago. You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigners' stronghold a city no more; it will never be rebuilt. Therefore strong peoples will honor you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you. You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert." (Isaiah 25:1-5)

And certainly Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he wrote, "A man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." (Isaiah 32:2)

We close with the parable Jesus told about the wise and foolish builders. One built his house on a solid foundation, the other on sand.

In both descriptions, Jesus ended with, "The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house." The one built on the rock stood, while the other "fell with a great crash." (Matthew 7:25-27)

So while others may be quick to name blame and view God as a revengeful God who sends earthquakes, fire, wind and floods to punish evil doers, we won't go there. This kind of theology certainly isn't supported by the Bible, and even if that is what God is doing, we have no way of knowing, and we choose not to speculate.

On the other hand, at the end of the day, the question is not so much about why the storm came, or why it inflicted damage on one group of people rather than another. Rather, the important question is whether or not our own house will stand. Instead of being preoccupied with judgmental thoughts about the sins of others, let's give adequate attention to our own stability by hearing the Word of the Lord and putting it into practice. (Matthew 7:24)

1. Approximately how many people died in each of the following: Asian Tsunami, US Katrina, and Pakistan Earthquake?

2. What three answers are commonly given to the question as to why such disasters have occurred?

3. Religious leaders have claimed that these large calamities are punishments from God for what sins?

4, Why are religious leaders so prone to do this?

5. What would be some arguments against the idea that Katrina was revenge for Israel's evacuation of the settlements?

6. What are some logical reasons to reject the idea that earthquakes and storms are the judgments from God?

7. What are some Biblical reasons?

8. How can we best "bless Israel"?

9. In the Old Testament, when God's judgment is visited upon large groups of people, what happened prior to the catastrophe?

10. What are two prominent New Testament verses which include the words "not" and "perish"?

11. Who can be sure they understand the judgments of God? (Romans 11:33,34)

12. What is the time relationship between death and judgment?

13. How is God being responsible for storms like a parent being responsible for the behavior of their grown children?

14. What did Jesus say to do when the "signs of the times" point to the end of the age?

15. What are some Bible stories related to storms?

16. How does the parable of the wise and foolish builders relate to storms being messengers of God?