Mar 25, 2011

On my weblog for March 21, I mentioned this pattern:

Feb. 11 quake in Concepcion, Chile
Feb. 22 quake in Christchurch, NZ

Mar. 11 quake in Sendai, Japan
Mar. 22 ??

I also showed how the Feb. 11 and Mar. 11 quakes related, because "Chile" speaks of chileas, the Greek word for "thousand," and "Sendai" also means "thousand years" (or generations).

Of course, it was too soon to see what might happen on March 22. At the time, March 22 was just a "watch date" that probably would have some parallel to "Christchurch."

We now know that J. R. Church died on March 22, 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXRU9kZ6FpI&feature=player_embedded#at=18

What exactly does this mean? I do not know yet. I was just informed of this event today and have not yet had time to pray over it or to ponder its significance. It is apparent that J.R. Church was--in this event--a type of the Church itself. Is that good or bad? Well, it depends on your point of view, I suppose. It is either "bad" that he died, or "good" that he is now "touring the galaxies," as they put it.

Was the earthquake in Christchurch good or bad? Well, again it depends on one's point of view. From the perspective of those having to deal with the aftermath of the quake, it was a terrible disaster. The only "good" is when we look at it in the big picture and see it as a sign of God's correction of the Church itself.

As with all these signs, it seems rather heartless to step back and look at disasters from such a distance. It may seem cruel to look at a disaster and call it "good" on the basis of Rom. 8:28. Perhaps those who see it from a safe distance do not have much right to use Rom. 8:28. My hope is that the people in the midst of the disaster will see it and experience Rom. 8:28. It will be hard for them to see it at first, but when they do, they will have the right to say, "I know from personal experience that this is true."

I have had my own "earthquakes" in life where my belief in Romans 8:28 was tested beyond my own limits. I know what it feels like to know theoretically that the verse is true, but experientially, my mind had yet to see it. I know that Paul went through some serious stuff, and yet he was able to write from personal experience, "all things work together for good."

It is necessary to have both a close-up view and a long-term view. We need human eyes, but we also need to see history from the divine perspective. Short-term and long-term views.