Making Sense of Coast-to-coast Chaos
Making Sense of Coast-to-coast Chaos
Out in the west, “it’s wildfires blotting out the sun, turning day into an eerie twilight.” Sounds like a verse in Revelation. It’s actually a recent news headline covering the west coast fires.
Meanwhile, a new hurricane Sally pounds the Gulf shores. This has become a weekly thing lately it seems.
Mixed in with disaster headlines are reports of anarchists, uprisings, looting and law & order breakdowns in US cities.
Friends, the news feed is constantly rolling. On one hand, I find the headlines stunning. On the other hand – they’re boring and redundant. We’re far to numb to chaotic news.
And that, my friends, is how people miss the forest through the trees.
We’ve become so desensitized to the nonstop news stories that we miss the bigger picture of what’s going on from God’s perspective.
I took some time to scan through some online photos of the west coast fires. The fire’s gases, smoke and organic debris darkened the skies during the day. At night these same elements lit up the skies like a Halloween jack-o-lantern.
Revelation 6:12 came to mind – “the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood.”
I don’t bring this up to make predictions about end times, or to play apocalyptic games with readers. And no, I don’t think we’re experiencing tribulation events.
But I do think that God gives us foreshadows or snapshots of what end times wrath and judgment can look like.
And have we already forgotten about the wildfires that devastated the Amazonian rainforests in 2019? Occasionally I see news reports that they are still burning.
So when Revelation (8:7) says that one-third of the earth and trees will burn, that shouldn’t be so surprising. We’re getting a glimpse of this on a micro level.
On a lighter note, let’s talk about some geo-political news.
While fires were raging in California and waves were pounding the Gulf, the White House reported that Trump had brokered a series of breakthrough peace negotiations in the Middle East for Israel.
This report was relatively quiet – drowned out by all the ordinary news chaos.
Regardless of your views on end times events and the role of Israel – Christians can agree that just the name of these peace settlements deserves our attention: The Abraham Accords Peace Treaty.
Many believe (as I do) that future peace with Israel is a condition that occurs before all hell breaks loose (and I mean that almost literally).
Worldwide peace with Israel is part of the formula for latter day developments – before the antichrist ruler breaks up the peace accords.
So Christians, take note. Jews and Arabs are beginning to shake hands.
Again, the point is this: today’s news cycle is giving us relevant messages for our day.
Speaking of the news cycle. Did I mention we’re still reeling from a global pandemic?
Yeah – I know, we’re quite used to this aren’t we? (And I’ll spare you the prophetic Bible passages about plagues, disease and death).
For Christians, it’s time we start putting the pieces together and helping our families understand the big picture.
It’s time for us to open up our Bibles and pay attention. God is sending signals for those keeping watch.
As a father charged to keep spiritual watch for my family, I better not be sitting on the couch waiting for college football to fire up, oblivious to the world around me.
(Clarity: football is OK and can even be good. But football + ignorance is bad).
The world is confused. Frustrated. Directionless. We can’t solve problems. We can’t agree on much today. We can’t even agree on much of the past (burning flags and tumbling statues come to mind).
Elections won’t help us. Ideologies won’t protect us. Fed strategies won’t fully recover us. A vaccine won’t save us. Neither will masks.
Only our faith in Christ will save us. And we need the knowledge of God to sustain and strengthen our faith into the days ahead. We need hope in God’s future. And we need His prophetic reminders to keep us focused.
Pay attention to the news cycle. The events are tragic, but the news is a gift.
The details and drama are tireless and unending (I can’t stomach another study on the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of masks).
But the signals God is giving Christian families are glaring.
Join me. Let’s keep our families sharp and ready by making sense of the chaos.
