Signs, Signs, Everywhere There's Signs....

Signs, signs, every where there's signs....

Micah was on my reading list this morning, and as I was trying to understand what this prophet was going to say, and mean, my mind kept going back to the terrible scenes of destruction caused by Katrina. Micah, in this book, told us about a vision he had, and he started off with telling about the destruction of Samaria and Jerusalem. This in itself was interesting to me, as we normally think of Samaria as a land full of sin, yet Jerusalem is normally thought of as a place of righteousness. Micah tells us both cities were judged by God and found to be lacking. I wondered last night just before sleep hit me, if America is being judged and its destruction is nearing. In verse 6, of the first chapter, Micah says the Lord will make Samaria a heap of rubble, all the images will be destroyed, all this because of the rampant sin in that area. And the 'righteous' city of Jerusalem was not spared either, as sin was rampant there as well. When we thought of New Orleans, before this last Monday, we thought of it being a city of sin. Late night parties, prostitutes on corners, drunkenness in the streets. Even Mardis Gras, once a religious-related event, soon became nothing more than a huge drunken party. But this is not what was originally intended: The observance of a "Carnival" (aka Mardi Gras) before the Lenten period (a Christian symbolic penitence from Ash Wednesday to Easter) is not new. It originated in the middle of the second century in Rome when the Fast of the 40 days of Lent was preceded by a feast of several days during which time participants delivered themselves up to voluntary madness, put on masks, clothed themselves like spectres, gave themselves up to Bacchus and Venus and considered all pleasure allowable. Is this the reason God has attacked us here? Is this a sign of more events to occur as we near the last days?

The title of this lesson is derived from a song performed by the Five Man Electrical Band in 1970....years before some of you were even born. This song was written about the prolific use of signs telling us to "do this, don't do that", complaining about too many signs. I don't believe we should be complaining about the signs we are now getting from God. Micah wrote about the signs of destruction, yet he also wrote about the sign of the coming of the Messiah. Most of these signs about which he prophesied, fell on deaf ears, or blind eyes. Years later, when Jesus arrived, people still hadn't understood the signs about which Micah wrote. How about us today? What signs are we seeing about the NEXT return of Jesus. The Bible is chock full of signs warning us about the last days, and it isn't just found in the book of Revelation, either. Several of the older prophets wrote about it, just like Micah (read chapter 4). So did the gospel writers, and Luke, and Paul. The signs in the Bible are clear, but we are either ignoring them, or don't believe the events toward which they point will occur in our lifetime.

Put yourself in the shoes of the people in the cities hit by Katrina. Many, many poor souls lost their lives. Many, many, as well, lost their souls as well. Our evangelism about the signs of God is failing all around us. Many people in that area never truly heard or saw those signs before being killed by this 'natural' event. It hurts my heart to think how many people died without knowing Christ, without having seen the signs before their lives ended. I pray that there were many disciples in that area. I would rather know that disciples were killed, than non-disciples, as the former have a chance for eternal existence with God, but the latter do not. There are many, I am sure, who have seen the signs, such as described by Micah and other Bible authors, and to those people, congratulations on making it to heaven. To the remainder, I can only pray for the mercy of God to be upon them.

We have seen several natural disasters in the past few months. Countless lives lost. We lost thousands during an unnatural event, the destruction that occurred on September 11th, a very few years ago. These types of signs are occurring more and more often, it seems, yet I don't see the pews being overcrowded. In fact, I see fewer and fewer people attending church services. I see fewer and fewer people willing to get together and study the Bible. I see fewer and fewer people loving each other as the Bible describes. These are the signs I am seeing. People falling away from God, rather than running to Him. I would think the signs we are seeing, would change that. But sadly, it is not.

In the song, Signs, the singer ends verse two with these words: "If God was here, he'd tell you to your face, man you're some kinda sinner.." Well, God IS here, and He IS telling us we are "some kinda sinner". I caution everyone reading this to heed the signs you are seeing and reading about. A "Katrina" could enter your life any minute. You could be destroyed at any time. The signs are there. God put them in the form of words in the Bible. We hear about them from preachers. We see them every day in the news.