Quick Rant

***I have amended this post to hopefully remove any personal shots at the radio station or DJs. Using negative comments about fellow Christians as a base for my writing is not a path I want to begin, and is completely unnecessary in sharing my beliefs. I apologize to any staff or listeners of the organization that were offended.***

I wouldn't normally post anything so quickly after a previous post, but I heard something this morning that I just have to write a quick rant about.

I was listening to my local Christian radio station on my way to the River Bend Food Bank this morning, and they were talking about  as an abundance of media coverage of "natural disasters" lately.

One of the morning DJs was feeling anxious about the number of natural disasters that have occurred lately, and was asking callers to help her with her anxiety. I believe this topic to be an extremely worthwhile discussion to have, and is a constant conversation in many Christian circles. However, the comments from callers were driving me up the wall. One man called in and literally said when he hears about earthquakes, sink holes and floods that kill massive amounts of people he gets happy and excited because he knows the rapture is coming! I think there are a couple of HUGE issues with this comment, and others that were said on the show.

1. Natural disasters occur all of the time, and it does not mean the rapture is going to happen in our lifetime. I completely agree with the callers in there equating the disease of sin to the gradual decline of the earth. However, somewhere the callers missed a couple of important facts about God and his timing. First of all, I am not talking in Pat Robertson terms that the direct action of a specific group of individuals causes an earthquake in their community, but in terms of the overall sin of every human being having an effect on the earth since the first bite from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, remember that God has said his return will be like a thief in the night. Mathew 24:42-44 says, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." So, if he is coming like a thief in the night, do you think He is going to give a bunch of blatantly obvious warning signals before he shows up? Is a thief going to sit in your drive way and lay on the horn a few times before he busts down your door?

2. "So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him." If Jesus did happen to show up right after a natural disaster, do you think He would be happy if He found you reclined in front of a television grinning at the despair of Haitians who were killed in masses by a horrific earthquake? Do you think He would commend you for predicting His return, and deciding to just be happy that his children, your brothers and sisters in Him, were starving to death because you knew it meant the end was near? This complete ignorance of our call from God boggles my mind. How Christians can sit back and delight in the pains of others because they see visions of God's return in their moans of agony is absolutely disgusting and sacrilegious.

Stop waiting for God to return from your living room, and start serving the people who God has called you to love. Whether His plan is to return tomorrow or a million years doesn't matter. What matters is what you are doing to show your love for Him and His creation TODAY!