God’s judgments are positive toward those He judges, aimed at their ultimate good. In fact, the punishments we see are God’s way of warning humans of their coming doom. Do you see what is happening around you — plagues, viruses, tornadoes, earthquakes? Know that these are warnings. Unless you repent, you shall likewise perish. I believe the plagues and pestilences we are seeing today are just the appetizer of what is coming upon this earth.
All of God’s judgments are aimed at whatever interferes with love. Our society is very evil, and the most stunning thing is that most people do not realize it — they think it is normal. Why? Because most people are like sheep. They follow whatever the next person is doing instead of following the Bible. Let us find out five of the reasons why God is punishing people with plagues and pestilences.
1. Why God Is Punishing People With Plagues and Pestilences — Because of Pride.
God is definitely sending plagues and pestilences because of pride. I almost never hear a sermon about pride, yet it is all over the Bible. Pride is the sin God hates most — the hardest of all sins to cleanse. All sin originated in Satan’s mind because of pride. All the sins humans commit are rooted in pride — selfishness, lying, stealing. People do these things because they love themselves too much and do not love others enough.
Is this serious? Walk through any city in the world and you will see that most people are proud. If God did not care about it, would He not destroy and punish these people? The Bible says: “What is highly esteemed among men is abomination to God.”
You can do many things on earth that the police will never stop you for — yet God will stop you at the judgment and send you into the flames. Pride, selfishness, treachery, unkindness, and rudeness — if your righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of this society, you have no hope of eternal life.
The Bible also says in Psalms 12:3: “The tongue that speaks proud things, I will cut off.” For God to want to cut someone off and actually do it means the person is truly evil. God says He will destroy all the proud and cut them off.
Why does God not do it immediately? Because God is merciful and He waits for the person to repent. All nations and all individuals have a limit. If they pass that limit, they will receive punishment. We see that pride is offensive even to humble people, because proud people think they are better than others — when in fact it is a complete illusion.
“What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”
The Bible asks those two questions. Pride is an illusion. Pride is:
- Lying to God.
- Robbing God.
When we are proud, we lie by claiming we have or are something that did not come from God. When we are proud, we steal from God by saying, “God did not give me this — I did it myself.”
God’s judgments are positive toward those He judges for their good, because it is the only way to wake some people up to the reality of their coming doom and the soon destruction of the earth by fire.
Malachi 4 says: “All the wicked and all the proud shall be ashes under the soles of your feet.” The first of the seven things God hates is a proud look. Pride is a lie — it is not true that anyone is anything or has anything that did not come from God.
Christians need to be careful every day not to follow that example. Nobody is anything unless God gives it to us. Nobody has anything unless God has given it to us.
All of God’s judgments are aimed at whatever interferes with love. When people pass the point of no return, terrible judgments will fall on this earth such as we have never seen. The prophet Ellen G. White says:
“The most vivid representation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal.”
Even if we gathered the greatest artists and writers to try to depict what is coming upon this earth, it would only be a faint shadow of the incredible judgments and God’s righteous anger against the wicked, proud, apathetic, and unloving people of this world.
2. Why God Is Punishing People With Plagues and Pestilences — Because of Apathy.
This is definitely one of the most offensive things people do today — especially young people — and they do not even realize it. They simply do not care. What does the Bible say we need to do? Love. What is the total opposite of love? Apathy. All of God’s judgments are aimed at whatever interferes with love.
Recently I spoke with a young leader in a church and shared these things with him. He thought they were not important. It is incredible to see people acting the way society acts rather than the way the Bible instructs us. If we are a friend of the world, we become an enemy of God — and bearing the name Christian while living this way makes it even more dangerous, because the person is completely blind to their own spiritual condition.
They bear the name of God and of love, yet they are unkind, rude, and apathetic, without any natural affection. How much more blind can a person be? I once told a leader of a Christian conference that if I had met him on the street, I would have thought he was an evil man. No love, no compassion, no tenderness, no pity, no gentleness, no sweetness of character. The person was claiming to be a Christian yet did not possess a single trait of character that resembled Jesus.
God’s judgments are positive toward those He judges for their good. Just because society is apathetic and unloving does not mean you have to be that way too. Do you not know that those who follow this world will perish with the world?
All that is in the world comes from Satan — the fashions, the ways of speaking, the behaviors. Not only that, but if you say to God, “I do not need anything, I do not love anybody,” is it possible that God can answer your prayer? All of God’s judgments are aimed at whatever interferes with love.
Yes — the Pharisees said, “Let His blood be on us and on our children,” and it happened. God answered the Pharisees’ prayer. Your behavior is a prayer to God. Beware what you are asking God for. If you tell God, “I do not need anything,” God may answer that prayer.
3. Why God Is Punishing People With Plagues and Pestilences — Because of Refusing Truth.
Refusing truth is also a great offense to God. When people say, “What I believe becomes truth as long as I believe it,” they make the Bible a lie. Humans cannot make or create truth. Humans cannot decide or sit in judgment over God’s Word. Yet this is exactly what is happening today.
We seem to be living through a repeat of the French Revolution. Could the same results occur again? Ellen G. White says that a reign of terror — as people refuse all of God’s truth and the Bible — was the inevitable result of the French Revolution and its horrors.
Most people I speak with think that as long as they believe something, it becomes true. So I ask them — a terrorist believes something; does that make it true for him? No. God’s judgments are positive toward those He judges for their good.
I cannot see anything more offensive than this. It is like every citizen walking past the police and the president every day and saying, “You make no laws. There are no rules.” When humans say, “I decide what truth is, I can make my own truth,” we have reached a very dangerous point. Sadly, many Christians have begun to believe the same thing. What is troubling is that young people in churches are being given pulpits and are teaching this belief, leading sincere Christians astray through this satanic example.
- No human being can create truth.
- No human being can invent truth.
- No human being decides any truth.
If that were the case, why would we need the Bible? If that were the case, why would God need to teach humans? If that were the case, why would God need a judgment — since humans would be the ones deciding truth?
Humans only seek truth. Some are called to teach truth — but they are not deciding truth. They are taught by the Holy Spirit and deliver that truth to others from God. They are mouthpieces, not truth creators, for no human being is God.
If men say, “I am god,” then let them learn from what will happen to Satan. He was cast from heaven and is awaiting destruction.
4. Why God Is Punishing People With Plagues and Pestilences — Because of the Lying Spirit.
The lying spirit goes hand in hand with saying, “I decide truth.” That itself is a lie, and the person saying it is a liar and a deceiver. When truth is presented to most people, they call it false. Most people I speak with refuse the truth. Yet preaching the truth does not require people to accept it — all people must make a decision.
Noah’s flood would never have happened unless Noah had proclaimed the truth and that truth had been either refused or accepted. If everyone you preach to refuses the truth, you have done an incredible work — the angel records the refusal, and the person is marked accordingly. When all people shall have taken sides — either for the truth or against it — then the end will come, says Ellen G. White.
People hate the truth. All the points we have examined are rooted in a dishonest and lying spirit. When Jesus was crucified, nothing immediately happened to His murderers. The sun still shone, they had food to eat, they could breathe. But thirty years later, Emperor Titus came, and one million Jews were crucified. So much blood ran through the temple that it flowed like a river. Be careful, modern church — you are in the same danger as the Jews of old, of offending God so greatly that the only resolution is the destruction of the wicked. The Jews had definitively passed the limit of their probation when they crucified Jesus on the cross.
A proud person is a liar. An apathetic person is a liar — they say, “I do not need anything.” If God answered that prayer immediately, they would find themselves completely stripped of everything. People who say, “I decide truth,” are liars. They have become so inflated in their own minds that they think themselves to be God.
God’s judgments are positive toward those He judges for their good. The closer we get to the end of the world, the stronger God’s warnings will become — in nature and in society. Only those who have seared their hearts with iron will fail to see it. Lying spirits cannot enter heaven. Revelation 21:8 says all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire. We cannot expect to live in lies and yet accept the truth. A liar cannot accept the truth because he prefers lies. And this is how God will judge:
- All honest people will accept the truth.
- All liars will refuse the truth.
5. Why God Is Punishing People With Plagues and Pestilences — Because of Hatred Toward One Another.
People in society rarely smile anymore. There is no kindness. When they look at you, it is as though they are looking at a cow in a field. Their thoughts and feelings are so consumed with themselves and their own benefit that, without the restraint of laws, many would be ready to harm others.
The hatred and the unloving spirit spreading across the earth today is incredible. Why are people so unloving? Why are people so unkind? If life is so short — only 28,600 days on average — why waste it in false seriousness and unkindness? God’s judgments are aimed at whatever interferes with love, and those who are unloving and unkind carry a completely different spirit than the one Jesus had.
- Can one be unloving and be a Christian? No.
- Can someone be unkind and be a Christian? No.
- Can someone be rude and be a Christian? No.
This is the very heart of Christianity — almost everything else follows from it. “By their fruits you shall know them.” Unless the tree bears good fruit, it is cut down and thrown into the fire.
One can be an atheist, but if they are kind, loving, and gentle, they will enter heaven before millions of Christians who are unkind. Do not mock Jesus by calling yourself a Christian while living in evil at the same time. God and Satan have no partnership. Do not serve two masters — and deep down, if you prefer the ways of Satan, you will be destroyed with him.
We have seen that pride, apathy, rejecting truth, a lying spirit, and hatred toward others are among the key reasons why God is punishing people with plagues and pestilences. Will you repent of these things? Have you seen their evil character? Have you seen how offensive they are to God? Have you seen that you cannot truly be a Christian while doing these things?
Why not repeat after me:
Father God, I see that I have been an evil person, and I did not know that these things were evil. I ask You, please forgive me and give me the righteousness of Jesus. Help me to love others and to be honest, humble, kind, and loving, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
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