By Dr. Ken Matto

(Lev 26:21 KJV) And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

 

    There is probably no more greater question being circulated today than "who is to blame for the Terrorist attacks on the USA on September 11?" The above warning verse was given to Israel when they came out of Egypt and God was warning them to walk according to His holy law or else there would be consequences to suffer. Of course, if you are familiar with the Bible, especially the Old Testament, you know that both Israel and Judah were consistently sinning and walking contrary to God’s law which eventually led to their captivity and end of life as they knew it.

 

    Now that was Israel but what about in modern times? Is the God of the Old Testament the same God of the New Testament? In the New Testament we find the absence of national judgments but we find individual judgments. However, it must be understood that the Bible is one cohesive whole and God’s holiness does not change from then till today. He is still very much in charge of the world and everything that happens in today’s world, not matter how small or big, has been ordained of God. God is sovereign and there is nothing which is beyond His control. This treatise may seem harsh and to those who tout the belief that "God is ONLY love," do not really know the God of the Bible and His workings.

 

    It is a fact that we find in many places in the Bible that God does ordain and bring to pass national disasters. I am going to list some national disasters found in the pages of Scripture and then I will make the comparison and application to the attack on the United States to see if we fit the mold. If we do, then flag waving and singing "God Bless America" will not bring about safety to our shores.

 

Interfaith Meetings

The Interfaith services which are being held are also an abomination to God since Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and True Christians do not serve the same God. Only one group can pray to God and have their prayers heard and that is the true Christians.

 

    Why won’t God hear the prayers of the other four groups? The Jews reject Christ and therefore have no mediator. The Catholics serve their Idol gods, Mary and saints and idolatry was one of the reasons God judged Israel and Judah. The Muslims pray to Allah which is really the Moon god which is linked back to the Babylonian Bel (Jer 51:44) and the name Allah goes back to pre-Islam Arabia. Protestants have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. Normally in the Protestant churches are found the true believers of God but normally they are silenced in favor of their creeds and confessions. These Interfaith prayer meetings could be compared with Israel and Judah knowing that God was beginning to judge them so they began running to the Assyrians, Babylonians, Egypt, and the Medes/Persians and requesting them to pray to their gods for protection. It is interesting to note that many of the prayers which are going up are for the dead. The simple truth is that if you are saved you will go straight into the presence of the Lord but if you are not, you will go to a place of silence to wait for the judgment on the last day (Psalm 115:17)

 

Exodus 4:10-11

(Exo 4:10-11 KJV) And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. {11} And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?

 

    Here is a verse which is not overly popular especially in light of the modern Charismatic movement which blames Satan for every physical problem. Here Moses is arguing with God that he is incapable of speaking to Pharaoh since he did not have an eloquent voice. God counters his argument by telling him that He is the one that has the authority over the human body and that God is the one who creates the defects in the body. God is the creator of every human being and Satan has nothing to do with creation.

 

    Then the question comes up, what about Job as we read that Satan was the one who afflicted him with boils. I believe the key to understanding the power of Satan in such cases is found in Job 2:6 KJV, "And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life." Satan could only do with Job what God had allowed him too. Satan is subjected to the power of God and cannot act independently. We must also realize that in these last days right before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, Satan has been loosed and the restraining hand of God is being lifted from this world as we barrel ahead toward judgment day. This is why we see sin growing at an exponential rate as God is readying the world for judgment. Where do we find this principle in Scripture?

 

    We find this principle in Genesis 15:16 where God is presently withholding His judgment on the Amorites. (Gen 15:16 KJV) "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." It seems according to this verse that even the sinfulness of individual man and nations has been predetermined as to length of time and severity. This also reveals to us that even the sinfulness of man and nations are under the sovereignty of God. Maybe if God determines the length of time of a nation’s sinfulness, then maybe we in America are heading toward the end of our allotted time for national sins. Let us look at some of the disasters in Scripture which God Himself has ordained, both against nations and individuals. The idea that God is withholding all judgment until the last day is not found in Scripture as we see how He performed judgments on both individuals and nations, while they were still alive on planet Earth.

 

 

David Numbers the People

(2 Sam 24:15-16 KJV) So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. {16} And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

 

    Here we see when David disobeyed the Lord and numbered Israel the Lord was wroth with him and the Lord gave him an option of the punishment he was to receive for this act. David could not choose one but instead threw himself on God’s mercy and as a result 70,000 men died as a judgment upon the house of David. In verse 16 we also see God preventing the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. The body of believers is known as the New Jerusalem and never comes under the destruction or judgment of God since all the sins of the believers were paid for by the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

The Defence of Jerusalem

(2 Ki 19:34-35 KJV) For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. {35} And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

 

    Here we see that God Himself was going to protect the city of Jerusalem and as a result He smote 185,000 of the enemy and by morning there was a sea of corpses and Jerusalem was saved. In the beginning of that chapter we also see that Hezekiah was beseeching the Lord on behalf of his people. The Assyrians were counting on their false gods to deliver Jerusalem as they believed their gods delivered other nations into their hands. Their pride was their own destruction along with their misunderstanding of who they were dealing with. This is a great lesson for the leaders of America that if we beseech the true God and leave the results to Him, then things might be different but if we tout and trust alone our military superiority, then we may wind up as the Assyrians in all their dead pride.

 

The Firstborn of Egypt

(Exo 12:29 KJV) And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.

 

    Here is the LORD Himself smiting all the firstborn of Egypt which means that He also included children. We must keep in mind that children are juvenile sinners still in rebellion against God unless God has redeemed them. He even smote the Prince of Egypt which was a direct attack on Pharaoh since the ancient Egyptians believed that Pharaoh was a God, a direct descendant of Isis or Horus or one of the other false deities. This showed that God’s power was greater than all the false gods of Egypt because the son of Pharaoh could not be saved alive after the Lord smote him.

 

Agag and the Amalekites

(1 Sam 15:2-3 KJV) Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. {3} Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

 

    Here is a direct command from the Lord in which Saul was to completely destroy the Amalekites, even down to their children and animals. The Amalekites were also idolaters and the command was also to destroy the children because if they remain unsaved, they too, will become adult idolaters.

 

Judah and Israel

(2 Ki 25:21 KJV) And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.

 

(2 Ki 17:6 KJV) In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

 

    Here we see two God ordained incidents as the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah going into captivity after many years of disobedience to God. Both of these pagan nations were ordained of God to take Israel and Judah into captivity and they were to live under captivity for 70 years before being allowed to return to their homeland.

 

 

    We have seen six incidents in the Scriptures which openly show us that God ordains tragedies and disasters. I want to look at some Scriptures which are quite revealing on the subject at hand.

 

(Lam 3:38 KJV) Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?

 

The word "evil" in this verse carries with it the meaning of "disasters." This verse is showing us that if God speaks a certain incident to happen, it is as if it has already been done.

 

 

(Job 2:10 KJV) But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

 

Here we see the same principle in action that we receive not only good from the hand of God but we also receive disasters and tragedies.