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Nothing happens without a reason and let's not be deaf to the messages being sent.A couple of nights ago, as I was following the latest on the L.A. fires, I ran across a satellite picture of the tragedy. I could see the vastness of the conflagration, not closeups, not here and there a burning house or car, but the hugeness of this catastrophe. It looked like a monster had just taken a bite out of America. It brought me to tears.
I realized that a big chunk of American culture was being destroyed. So much of what was burning was symbolic of our civilization — the motion picture industry, Sunset Boulevard, the Zane Grey and Will Rogers estates, to say nothing of the thousands of anonymous homes and scenarios we’ve all absorbed as scenes in movies and television shows — the 1920s glamour, the Spanish tiled stucco houses, the swaying palm trees, the surfers on the beach. Los Angeles is a big piece of Americana. It’s where dreams came to either blossom or die. Note the past tense. I pray that isn’t over.
I have long maintained that Jesus Christ, as the second person of the Trinity, controls history. I can hear the skeptics shouting –What kind of a god would let something like this happen?!?! I’ll tell you — a righteous God, a God that deals with us individually and corporately. A God who demands justice. A God who wants California to survive, to once again be a safe, fair, prosperous place to live.
California, L.A. especially, has been the epicenter of much that is culturally amiss in our society and has been so for decades. Right now, the nexus is P. Diddy and the horrors that surround his, and his friends’ behaviors, but he and his were preceded by Weinstein and Cosby — behaviors that would have been right at home in Sodom and Gomorrah or in the harem of some sheik. Why would a righteous God tolerate American debauchery any more than ancient Middle Eastern nastiness?
Not only were so many of the big names in Hollywood guilty of shocking practices in their private lives, but Hollywood has promoted all kinds of sexual immorality and has done so for decades. Remember when The Graduate (1967) was shocking? Fast forward to Brokeback Mountain (2005) and this last year to a flick titled Queer. Societies that accept and applaud sexual deviation and general immorality suffer accordingly.
<img alt captext="Public Domain” class=”post-image-right” src=”https://conservativenewsbriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/in-the-hands-of-an-angry-god.jpg” width=”450″>The panorama of the LA fires clicked into my mind the remembrance of Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741). What I saw in that photo was indeed an angry God. Now days churches don’t often preach about God’s justice — His love, yes; His grace, of course; His benevolence, naturally. But His uncompromising justice? Rarely. But there it is — so uncompromising that His only Son came to pay off the sin debt we all owe.
So, I’m still hearing the skeptic’s horror. Yes. Thousands of good people have been swept up in this catastrophe — how is that fair? We must remember that God also deals with us individually, and as individuals we are affected differently by circumstances. Many will find unexpected and astounding blessing in the midst of all this suffering. I think of Daniel and his three friends who were swept up in the deportation of the Jews to Babylon in 597 B.C. Horrifying in the extreme, but for the rest of their lives (with two short-lived exceptions — the fiery furnace and the lion’s den) they were amazingly blessed, holding down positions of power in the Babylonian government under two different kings. Many will find this fire to be the catalyst for a positive change in their lives — a change they may not realize right away, but will grasp the magnitude of eventually. Others will meet people who turn out to be angelic blessings. Many will return to the God who now has their attention.
But all that doesn’t mitigate the suffering, the grieving, the trauma of what has happened, which brings up another aspect of the biblical worldview. We can recognize the punitive aspect of this tragedy and still pour out our love toward our fellow Americans who face the most difficult time — and likely for a long time — of their lives. The stories of bravery and loving kindness are just starting to trickle in — people who saved their own homes by fighting back the flames by themselves; folks passing out food and water; Musk sending in Wifi and battery-charging stations so that communication can be restored.
Of course, few of us have the resources or proximity necessary to be of immediate help, but as time passes, I know we will see Americans stepping up to assist — as we have seen with the Amish house builders in North Carolina. (We still have those hurricane folks to pray for.)
My own little valley suffered a similar catastrophe several years ago when wildfires, pushed by unusual winds, drove the fires through several small towns wiping out 2,500 residential structures. And these were not million-dollar mansions, but rather small tract homes, manufactured homes, rentals. The folks who lived in those dwellings didn’t always have the resources to find shelter, but the community — a largely Christian community — stepped up and opened our homes and our B&Bs to those displaced. Our local hospital set up a space close by that it filled with RVs for the hospital’s employees who found themselves homeless. Things are slowly being rebuilt. The scorched tree trunks still stand sentinel along the creek that the fire followed, so we won’t forget. My point is that we all learned how tenuous life is, how much we need to care for our fellow man, and how little our possessions really mean.
Now is the time for Christians to reach out to those who need a special dose of loving kindness. Yes, this may have happened because God has just had enough. It may have happened because of incompetent leadership. It may have happened because it often does in California. Probably all of the above. But regardless of the cause, the effect requires our prayers, (which is the most powerful thing Christians can do) our contributions, our physical effort when that’s feasible. I was pleased to see that Oregon sent 300 firefighters and several dozen fire trucks down to help.
My point is that nothing happens without a reason — the hurricane catastrophe included — and let’s not be deaf to the messages being sent. Let’s realize that, if L.A. is being punished for its immorality, that we are also to blame. We bought tickets to those movies, we oohed and ahhhed over those celebrities. We accepted their views. This is going to affect us all, so let’s roll up our sleeves, kneel in supplication and confession, and do what we can for our American brothers and sisters.
Image: Public Domain
