Regarding that old song about how it ‘Never rains in Southern California’...yeah, well I doubt that is getting much airtime today. The reason being, in case you have been living under a rock, is that southern part of that state is being inundated with torrential rains, compliments of an unusually rare hurricane that came up the coast there in the Pacific ocean.

It remains to be seen at this point the full impact and extent of damage, if any caused  by the storm, not to mention loss of life, etc. But one thing is for sure: there’s been plenty of warning given. What people do with such warnings is up to them I suppose. Folks who live along the east coast or on the gulf states are used to such warnings. It is for the most part, an annual event depending on where they live and what part of that region hurricanes bear down on. But southern California? Not so much.

You can be sure that climatologist are pointing to this uncommon event as further proof of the warnings they have been heralding for years now. And I suspect many bible preachers will use their pulpits to point to another ‘natural disaster’ as signs that we are living in the ‘end times’. It seems so much that fills the news these days are more tragic reports of destructive floods and dangerous wildfires that target multiple locations not only in our country but around the world. It's not like 'weather disasters' are a new thing in our world but we do seem to hear about them more often with dramatic video and such documenting it all.

And because of improved technology, we are often warned in advance of potential danger heading our way, be it hurricanes or tornadoes or flooding rain potentials. Oftentimes, when it comes to raging wildfires, for example, the window of time to evacuate is shorter than say the warnings issued for hurricanes. Then there are those horrible cases like we heard recently when no warning was issued for those victims in that wildfire in Maui.

But make no mistake about it: warnings are a good thing. Warnings save lives. Warnings are to be heeded and - warnings are NOT threats. The difference between the two is a warning is intended to inform and protect, where as a threat is intended to intimidate or cause harm.

Those in authority, when they see impending danger in whatever form, issue warnings so that people will not ...perish.

Guess what? What do you think God has been doing for the past two thousand + years? Truth be told, God has been warning mankind ever since they inhabited this planet we live on to listen to Him. When God warned Adam and Eve to avoid that one tree in the garden, He gave them advance notice: “If you eat off this one tree, you will surely die.” (Gen. 2:17). They ate anyway.

There is something about our human nature that is prone to disregarding God’s warnings. The bible is full of examples of this. Yet, on occasion, we read where those who do heed God’s warnings are...saved. Yesterday, we looked at how Noah was ‘’divinely warned of things not yet seen, and moved with godly fear and prepared an ark for the saving of his household..” (Heb. 11:7)

Oh...if you never noticed this before, I find it interesting that whenever I listen to weather warnings, it is through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that these warnings are often issued from. In short, we hear it as ‘NOAA’. But I digress...

Now back to our ‘other Noah’...who was warned, by God, that a flood was coming. Noah was moved by faith, and prepared with a healthy dose of fear; and because he did, him and his family were saved because they took refuge in the ark.

Have you ever wondered at times what that had to be like, listening to the cries on the outside as the storm waters surged. Was there banging on the door of the ark? It wasn’t like Noah could do anything at that point, given it was God who ‘shut them in and closed that door’. (Gen. 7:16). Jesus tells another story where there would be some ‘foolish virgins’ who failed to take God’s warnings seriously and found themselves on the ‘outside knocking on a door begging to be allowed in’. (Matt. 25:11-12). That door remained shut as well.

Or what about that night of Passover as recorded in the book of Exodus. God issued a warning there as well, telling the people to apply the blood of the lamb over the doors of their homes. They were told that a destroying angel of death was coming to strike the firstborn of all who lived in the land but that the destroyer would ‘not be allowed to come to those homes to strike’ where he saw the blood. (Ex.12:13,22-29). Those inside their homes were also warned to ‘not go out the door of the house until morning’. (22). It comes as no surprise that “there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.” (30)

Much of what we read and study in the Old Testament was like a ‘blueprint’ of how God’s ultimate plan would be carried out in a ‘spiritual’ sense today, upon whom the end of the ages have come. Paul writes about this in 1 Cor. 10:1-11 citing those examples of old, and how God dealt with His people back then and that we should make note of it. Call it another ‘warning’ to us.

And we should all be familiar with the warnings Jesus gave there in Matt. 24 and Luke 17 how the times leading up to His return (whenever that is) would be ‘like it was in the days of Noah’. Noah heeded God’s warnings and was moved by faith to prepare an ark to protect him from the coming flood. Peter reminds us that Noah was a ‘preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5) but in the end, not many were saved. Jesus explains there seemed to be a bit of indifference among the people back in that day as well as today. Have you read Matt. 22:1-5 lately?

So when Jesus makes that connection with Noah’s day and the time leading up to His return, it should not go unnoticed that He again, alludes to a destructive ‘flood’ coming and how people will be ‘destroyed’ just like they were in the days of Noah. (Luke 17:27). But here’s the catch: we need not be looking at ‘natural’ floods and hurricanes and torrential storms that cause flooding. That’s not to say those things don’t happen. But the ‘flood’ that is on the earth today is an unleashing of the powers of darkness, demonic forces that come and take people captive. They come as a ‘thief and break into houses’. (Joel 2:9). We know what a ‘thief’ comes to do – to ‘steal, kill, and destroy’. (John 10:10). Jesus even warns us in Matt. 24:43 that if the ‘master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.” Oh, and how does Paul liken the ‘Day of the Lord’ coming as? He writes that we ‘know perfectly well...that the day of the Lord comes as a “ _______ __ __ ______” (1 Thess. 5:2). You might also make note of Revelation 3:3 and 16:15.

I need to also point out here, that we should see and understand God’s heart. Peter says it well when he writes: “The Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Pet. 3:9). That was the heartbeat of the gospel that Jesus came preaching...”Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 4:17). When people came asking Jesus about some horrible tragedies that had befallen some Galileans, Jesus turned and asked them: “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you ‘No’, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:1-3). And He did not stop there as you read on through the next few verses.

Jesus did not come to threaten the world, nor to condemn the world. God sent Jesus into the world, because of His great love, that through Him, the world might be saved. (John 3:16-17). “Saved from what?”, you might ask? Romans 5:9 tells us it is the ‘wrath of God’ we are saved from. But just because you ‘hear’ this message and even confess that you ‘believe’ the message, unless you ‘repent and get in the ark’, you will surely be destroyed. (Acts 3:22-23) And that is, I repeat, NOT a ‘threat’. Do you know why many will reject and not heed His loving warning? Because they are ‘not willing’ to come to Him and surrender their whole heart to His Lordship, which is what we must do in order to be ‘saved’. (Matt. 23:37; John 5:40). Remember the rich young ruler in Matt. 19? He was unwilling to ‘forsake all’ and he turned and walked away. (21-22)

I realize that I cannot make or enable anyone ‘see’ any of this. God has to confirm it and open people’s eyes and hearts, which is what I pray daily God will do before I ever post and share these writings with the public. And I’m telling you...that if you are fixed on all the ‘natural’ disasters, be it floods, tornadoes, wildfires, or hurricanes...as ‘signs of God’s judgments’, then you are looking at simply the ‘shadow’ of things coming and that are already here. The enemy is on the loose. (1 Pet. 5:8; Eph 4:27 6:12; Rev.12:12; Isa 59:19). And your only defense and protection is to be ‘in Christ’, or ‘in the ark’. And as you have heard/read me say repeatedly...IF...you are abiding in Him, you no longer continue to sin. (1 John 3:6). So when John writes in his first epistle that “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin...and the wicked one does not touch him” (1 John 5:18), you better not be so quick to dismiss what the word clearly states there. His word is truth. (John 17:17)

Here is the dilemma many of you may find yourselves in at the moment. You read scriptures like what I have laid out here for you in abundant supply; yet, something ‘in you’ is having a hard time embracing, let alone, believing it. The reason being...it simply does not ‘fit the narrative’ many have heard their whole life. And I want to elaborate on this more, but will do so tomorrow. I hope you come back. In the meantime, please study over and give thought to these verses I have shared with you today.