Jeremiah 24:10
And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.” (ESV)

If it’s any consolation, the ancients rejected the idea (fact, really) that God would use the natural world in unnatural ways to accomplish his purposes every bit as much as people do today.

This word from Jeremiah (I was going to say, “prophecy,” but that gives too much cover to those who are blind to the reach of God into our everyday existence) came during the final years of the Kingdom of Judah before Nebuchadnezzar sent his army in to burn its fortresses and palaces, and to tear down its walls and temple. God said, through Jeremiah, that he was going to use international conflict and local criminal enterprises, climate change and its consequent food shortages, and pandemic diseases to bring a nation that repeatedly rejected his right to rule to a catastrophic end.

Are we any different today? Are not Joe Biden and the Congress and Courts as set in their rejection of God’s sovereignty as was Zedekiah, the last king of Judah? Have not the American people, and the peoples of the world generally, chosen to worship their gods of gold and silver and stone rather than the Creator of heaven and earth? Is not wealth and fame more important than character and fidelity? Have they not embraced the LGBTQ perversion? How many violate the “No wed, no Bed” decree? Has not marriage become a renewable-term contract rather than a lifelong commitment? Do we not slaughter infants on the goddess’s abortion altar? Do we not teach our children in the public school system that there is no God and that man is the master of his destiny?

I could go on for pages detailing how we are no different than our ancient forefathers. Their rebellions are our own. The human heart and soul hates God unless it has been transformed by his Spirit, and every attempt to replace him with science so-called, or philosophy, or enlightened religion that has no place for a sovereign God, or the mindless pursuit of pleasure and entertainment, are but mankind whistling past the graveyard.

Just as our rebellions are the same as the fathers, so God’s judgments follow a similar pattern. Look at our world torn with wars, rumors of wars, and crime. Do you think that all the murders on our streets are just happenstances? Do you not believe the consistent rejection of Jesus Christ results in death here as well as in the hereafter? And yes, the climate is changing. It’s always changing, but can you not see God’s hand in the California fires, the gulf coast hurricanes, and the New York floods? I mention these three because California is the heart of the sex-is-god worship, New Orleans is dedicated to human decadence, and New York is, well, is New York. Need I mention Covid? It is sweeping millions of men and women around the world to their graves – many of them Christless graves from which there are no second chances to repent. If we would accept it, Covid is a call from God to turn to the One who has revealed himself in nature and in Jesus Christ.

I know some will read this as the rantings of a silly old man. And maybe I am! But silly and old, this I know: if there is a God, he has revealed himself in the natural world and in the supernatural revelation of himself in the prophets and in his Son, and if there is no God, then eat, drink, kill, and fornicate to your heart’s content because we are all just going to die and that’s it. But before you decide which course you are going to take, at least take a look at Jeremiah and maybe, just maybe, hear the voice of God calling you to faith, obedience, and life.