Unprecedented Lightning Strikes Bring Fires

by Michael G. Mickey
(6-24-08)

The Associated Press opened one of its stories last week on the gay marriages taking place in California in open defiance of Almighty God as follows:

Serenaded by a gay men's chorus, showered with rose petals and toasted with champagne, hundreds of tearful same-sex couples got married across the state Tuesday in what some are calling California's new Summer of Love.

Wearing everything from T-shirts to tuxedos and lavish gowns, they rushed down to county clerks' offices to obtain marriage licenses and exchange vows on the first full day that gay marriage became legal in California by order of the state's highest court. They were joined by jubilant crowds that came to witness the event.

So festive, isn't it all? No fear of God, His wrath, or even embarrassment that long-held sexual moralities common to all long-standing societies are being cast aside. Eat, drink and be...gay!

Abomination or a good way to generate revenue?

On the topic of same-sex marriage, the following comments were made by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom recently in an article entitled "California sees business boom from gay weddings" (emphasis added mine):

"I think you're going to see tens of thousands of couples and their families descend on San Francisco. People are looking at this as an opportunity to come and support their families, their partners and also the city's economy."

While I have been tempted to write a scathing rebuttal to all the same-sex jubilation taking place in the state of California reminiscent to the atmosphere in Sodom and Gomorrah preceding God's wrath falling upon those wicked cities, I have restrained myself.

The one thing I did consider addressing was the notion, as expressed by Newsom and others in the state, that California was surely going to experience an economic boom as a result of the same-sex marriage fiasco. Pondering comments like Newsom's I mused,"Do these people not realize that God could look their way, blink in disgust and wipe out all their profits?"

Blink?

Lo and behold, I came upon a story in the news last night that grabbed my attention. It was an Associated Press article that opened as follows, emphasis added mine:

More than 840 wildfires sparked by an "unprecedented" lightning storm are burning across Northern California, alarming the governor and requiring the help of firefighters from Nevada and Oregon.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he was told late Sunday evening that the state had 520 fires, and he found it "quite shocking" that by Monday morning the number had risen above 700.

In the latest update of the story, posted 1 hour and 40 minutes ago as I write this commentary, the headline is reading "Lightning sparks 800-plus fires in California".

If this story hasn't sparked a thought in your mind that God may be supernaturally ensuring that California's expected economic windfall doesn't occur as expected, there's more to consider.

Del Walters, assistant regional chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, is quoted in the article as putting the number of fires raging in California at a walloping 842.

Not only that, I want you to notice the language used and the numbers quoted concerning this lightning event as relayed by Walters (emphasis added mine), "This is an unprecedented lightning storm in California, that it lasted as long as it did, 5,000 to 6,000 lightning strikes. We are finding fires all the time."

While I'm fully aware that wildfires take place in California on a routine basis, this event seems to have been dramatic in both scope and intensity the way I'm reading it. Maybe this wasn't as dramatic as I'm reading it to have been. I'm not sure but I am sure of this: God can make His presence known whenever He likes. Sometimes He can do so dramatically, particularly during times when He is being mocked. Perhaps this was one of those occasions - a bit of an eye-opener for those willing to see it. I leave that for each reader to decide on their own. Regardless, whether the 'unprecedented' lightning storm that caused all of the fires, costing California no telling how much money to combat, was a judgment against what is presently going on there or not, it should serve as a reminder that God, although His mercy is abundant, still plays a role in the affairs of mankind. Praise God that He always will, from my perspective!

The Homosexual Agenda and Prophecy

In Bible prophecy we're told that in the days leading up to the return of Christ, it will be as it was in the days of Lot, when he lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. (Luke 17:28-30)

While conditions in Sodom caused just and righteous Lot to feel vexed often, he was eventually and supernaturally I might add delivered from that place by God. (2nd Peter 2:7-8) As soon as Lot was whisked away to safety, the wrath of God, in the form of fire from heaven, fell on the wicked and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:29)

Closing Thoughts

2nd Peter 2:9: The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

The Bible tells us, in Revelation 3:10, that an hour of temptation is going to come upon all the world, to try them that dwell on the earth. Prior to that, the godly, just like Lot, are going to be delivered out of both the temptation to come and the wrath of God via the Rapture of the Church.

In one of yesterday's commentaries, I encouraged my readers to remain at their posts until relieved of duty. Even so, while there's still work to be done here and we need to occupy until He comes, looking at the world around us should put a little spring in our step, in spite of how troubling much of what we're seeing often is to us.

Why? Because when these things BEGIN to happen, we are to look up for our redemption draweth nigh! (Luke 21:28)

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6-25-08 Update: In striking contrast to what happened in this instance, it is now being reported that, in all of 2007, there were 574 lightning-sparked fires. Compare this to 842 in just one day and we see why the fire that fell from heaven in this instance was unique and, indeed, unprecedented.

6-30-08 Update: Firefighters now battling more than 1,400 fires in California. The weather ahead isn't signaling any let-up is going to occur. So much for California's expected economic windfall from same-sex marriage!

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