The fires in California have been described as "apocalyptic" and "like armageddon." These are Biblical terms. What do they mean in the Bible?

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for spending some time here today. Full disclosure, I'm filling in for a different podcast called The President's Daily Brief hosted by Mike Baker. He is off on a four week camelback journey through the Jordanian and Saudi Arabian desert. I mean, we've all done that before.

It's fine. About time he's getting, I mean, I did that, I've done that like 10 times, like whatever. So it'll be gone for a while, so I'm filling in. It's a huge honor. It's one of the top podcasts in the country.

And I'm just gonna be honest, it's gonna take a lot of time, and a lot of time I don't have. So I'm gonna be going short on these podcasts for the next month. We've tried a different format,

a bunch of different formats for the show over the last couple of years. We've done 45-minute episodes, five-minute shows. Lately, they've been like 10 to 15 minutes. So we're gonna go like five minutes for a month or so. If you are tuning in from the President's Daily Brief,

you're like, who's this Mike Slater guy? If you go back a couple weeks, kind of get a better taste of what we've been doing lately. But the mission here is to take the news of the day, filter it through a biblical lens and some biblical truth so that our anxiety goes down. That's the goal. We want our anxiety down because

when your anxiety is up you can't think clearly. And we want to be fit and healthy and clear-eyed so we can fight another day. And we can't do that when we're in fight-or-flight panic mode. That's what the enemy wants us to be. There's nothing new under the sun. So anything that's going on today has biblical parallels and truths that we can apply. And that's the mission of our podcast. One thing that crossed my mind today I wanted to share, obviously looking at the

horrible fires in Los Angeles and we've been covering it on the radio show a lot and taking many different angles. One of the political, because it is political. I've lived in California for 12 years, San Diego. And I said for 12 years, there's a huge difference between a drought and a man-made water shortage. California does not have a drought any more than they've always had a drought because it's a

desert. What California has is a man-made water shortage and they have intentionally, purposefully, as we've detailed many many times, purposefully, intentionally failed to solve this problem. It's a man-made water shortage. Similarly, wildfires are natural but a citywide inferno is man-made. It's a political failure. And hopefully one of the things that can come from this fire are people realizing that the

Democrats, at least in California, not nationwide, are unable to govern. And they've been, they're totally inept and need to be voted out of power. Now one thing I've heard, and I don't think people are being blasphemous or anything. I think people are, they just say it out of habit or something, is they'll describe these fires as the apocalypse or apocalyptic, or it's like Armageddon.

And it got me thinking, you know, we should maybe define those things in a biblical way. So the Greek word for revelation, as in the book of Revelation, apocalypsis. it means to uncover or unveil, to lift off the veil, or to reveal. Revelation. The Greek word apocalypsis is where we get the word apocalypse. So Armageddon is

another word people will use to describe the fires. The word Armageddon appears in the Bible one time, Revelation 16 16, and Armageddon is an actual place. It is the climactic future battle between God and the forces of evil. Here's what it says in Revelation. The sixth angel, and we're going to go over all the angels this week. I think that'll be a fun, fun way to spend time.

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the king from the east. Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs that came out of the mouth of the dragon." What? We'll describe all this this week. Out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

They are demonic spirits that perform signs. And they go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. Armageddon is an actual place, it's a location.

We'll talk more about Revelation 16 this week and the description of this battle on Revelation 19. But I wanted to bring it up here, just the more you know. But the actual battle of Armageddon is going to be much worse than even these fires. As horrible, and as horrific, and as deadly, and as impossible to imagine these fires are with these flames whipping 30 feet in the air with a hundred mile-per-hour winds nothing compared to Revelation 16 and 19 and I thought this is a little bit of a tie-in to what we talked about last week with

you know people saying that this is judgment from God on the people of California I don't know maybe I don't know but what I do know is that this is tiny sign of the judgment that is to come. Similarly, what you're seeing in California right now with these fires, it's just a picnic compared to the actual Armageddon of Revelation 16. So I recommend we all make sure we're right with God and get saved now so we're on the right side of that battle.

Mike Slater dot Locals dot com is the website where we put this podcast for free with no commercials and a transcript. MikeSlater.Locals.com.

Nahum 1:3 says, "The clouds are the dust of his feet”. That should either terrify you or comfort you. 

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. This is our part two in regards to the fires in Los Angeles. Someone called into my radio show the other day, and we should just go listen to the part one so we don't need to redo this whole thing. But a very quick jog in memory.

Someone says that these fires are a sign of judgment against the people of California by God. And that made me a bit uncomfortable at first. I was like, okay, let's see what the Bible says about this. And we went through a couple of different points in the last segment. I think the two most important points are, I don't know if that's what this is. I do know that the fall

doesn't just apply to people, but to the entire earth. I do know that natural disasters are a sign of the judgment that is to come. There's no question about that. We talked about fire and hell in the last episode. And I do know that natural disasters are an opportunity to repent. Every moment is an opportunity to repent, but this is a pretty visible one for a lot of people.

It should be.

Could the fires be a judgment from God? Sure, it could be. But we talked a bit yesterday about this fascinating part of our nature to know every little thing that God moves and why. It's like, listen, it's beyond us anyway. We know, whether there's a fire or not, that there's plenty of reasons that we are under

God's wrath. There's no question. Proverbs 1, because I called and you refused, so this is to the point that it could be a rebuke from God. Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hands and no one paid attention. You neglected all my counsel. You did not want my reproof.

I will even laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your dread comes. When your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind. When distress and anguish come on you, then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently. They will not find me, because they hated knowledge, did not choose the fear of the Lord.

They would not accept my counsel. They spurned all my reproof. So they will eat of the fruit of their own way and be satisfied with their own devices." That is the terror of being abandoned by God and turned over to your sinful choices. Not a good place to be. So that could be what happened to L.A. here, too.

There's quite a concerning, not concerning, haunting line in Hosea 417. Ephraim, which is Israel, is joined to idols. Leave him alone. Leave him alone. This is, you don't want God to leave you alone. This is in Matthew 15. Jesus talking about the Pharisees. He said, their blind leaders of the blind let them alone. That abandonment is

serious business. The contrast to that is Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, like horrible things are, crazy things are happening, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,

though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. We will not fear. We will not fear. God is our refuge. Let me quote Spurgeon here. We did a little bit yesterday of a sermon he did on

Nahum one three that says the clouds are the dust to God's feet and the point of this is that God is much much bigger than us. So, big things does like the clouds are nothing but dust to God's feet. So, you should fear that uh if you're under judgment but you should be comforted by that if you love Jesus. Here's a little bit of his sermon. He said, uh the most

terrible things in nature are not terrible to the saints, thus. The clouds are the dust of his feet, of God's feet. Don't you see what I mean? There's nothing terrible now, because it is only the dust on my father's feet. Did you ever know a child who was afraid of the dust of his father's feet? No, if the child sees the dust of his father's feet in the distance, what does he do?

He rejoices, because it is his father, and runs to meet him. So the most awful things in nature, even the clouds, have lost all their terror to a child of God, because he knows that they are but the dust of his father's feet. He says we are not afraid, for we hear our father's voice. And what favored child ever quaked at his father's speech? We love to hear that voice, although it is deep, low, loud, yet we love its matchless melody, for it issues with the

depths of affection. Put me to sea, and let the ship be driven along, that wind is my father's breath. Let the clouds gather, they are the dust at my father's feet. Let the water-spouts appear from heaven, it is my father dipping his hand in the water. Fall down before his feet and worship him, for he has loved you by his grace. You know there are many fearful events

which may happen to us, but we are never afraid of them, if we're saints, because they are the dust of his feet. Deadly disease may ravage their fair city once again, and thousands may die, and the funeral procession may be constantly seen in our streets. Do we fear it?

No.

The pestilence is but one of our father's servants, and we are not afraid of it, although it walks in darkness. There may be no wheat. The flocks may be cut off from the herd and the stall. Nevertheless, famine and distress are our father's doing.

And what our father does, we will not view with alarm. There is a man there with a sword in his hand. He is the enemy, and I fear him. Yet my father has a sword, and I don't fear him. I rather love to see him have a sword, because I know he will only use it for my protection. Last part here.

But there is to come a sight more grand, more terrific, more sublime, and more disastrous than anything earth has yet witnessed. There is to come a fire before which Sodom's fire will pale to nothingness, and the inferno of continental sink into less than nothing in vanity. In a few more years, my friends, Scripture assures us this earth and all that is in it is to be burned up.

That deep molten mass which now lies at the bosom of our mother's earth is to burst up the solid matters to be melted down into one vast globe of fire. The wicked shrieking, wailing, and cursing will become a prey to those flames and will blaze upward from the earth, from the breast of earth. Comets will shoot their fires from heaven. All the lightnings will launch their bolts upon this poor earth and it will become a mass of fire." See how that fire is much bigger than the ones that we're seeing in LA right now? And Spurgeon says, but does the Christian fear it? No.

Scripture tells us we will be caught up together with the Lord in the air,

and we will forever be with the Lord.

Now, that's if you're a Christian. On the flip side, if you're a Christian,

it's very comforting. But if you're not, you should be very afraid of the dust of God's feet. The terrible fires and clouds, they're terrifying to you. Imagine how much more terrified you should be of God. You should not be at war with God. If the clouds are the dust of his feet, how foolish would it be for you to be his enemy? Instead, Psalm 46,

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. I'll conclude with this. We've talked about this many times and we will many more times. People say, you know, what kind of God would let terrible things like this happen? And that's never the right question. It's what kind of God would ever let anyone ever live and ever let anyone be saved. We all deserve to die, but instead God lets us live. Whenever there's a natural disaster like this or a tragedy of some kind, it's a reminder

that you don't know when you're going to die, but you will. You can't predict it and you can't plan it, but it's important to repent and be saved right now. And if you already did, and if you already are, we've got to be grateful for that every day and never fear the things of this world. Acts 11, 18, when they heard these things they fell silent,

and they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life. We must repent and be saved. Second Peter 3 9 says, God is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. Here it is, embracing full faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Death will come, and we must repent and turn to Jesus before it does. And then we'll get to go to heaven forever. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Transcripts commercial free on the website Mike Slater dot locals dot com.

Someone called into the show today and said these wildfires are God's judgment on the people of California. That made me uncomfortable.  Let's see what the Bible says about this.

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. We talked about the fires a lot on the SiriusXM radio show this morning. Someone called in at the very end of the show. I didn't have time to take her call, but they just in the call screen log. So the producer takes the call and then writes a little like one sentence about what the call is about. And in the call screen log, it said that this person believes that these fires are a judgment from God against California and the people of LA.

Again, that's all I knew from what she was going to say, right?

I see Sodom and Gomorrah trending on Twitter. You get the gist. I'll be honest, that makes me uncomfortable. That accusation. And then I thought, okay, it's a weird feeling. I don't care for it.

Let's dive into this. Because I don't really care how I feel. I wanna know what's true. So what does the Bible say? You know, people call natural disasters acts of God, but nothing good is ever called an act of God.

You notice that? It's always the bad things, the natural disasters. So a couple principles here that are important. First, God created the universe and everything in it and all the laws of nature that natural disasters operate within. Second, Jesus holds it all together. The Bible says, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things hold together so God created the universe and everything in it all the laws of nature and Jesus holds all things together third principles God can do anything he wants prevent anything he wants he's totally in charge in every way okay so then why does he let things like this happen why does he let any natural disaster happen I think it's a very similar question as to why he lets

evil people commit evil acts. It's the same thing. These are the consequences that sin had on creation. We did a couple episodes the other day and I've been thinking, I've been reading a lot recently on total depravity, the depth of original sin in our hearts and then contrasting that with Jesus who has zero sin and that he's our Savior is no sin at all but similarly to the total depravity within us the fall led to not just people sinning but to the earth breaking down Romans 8 19 says for the creation

was subjected to frustration not by its own choice but by the will of the one who subjected it and hope that the creation itself would be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. Earth is full of frustration and decay. And it says right here, Genesis 3, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife

and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, you shall not eat it. Cursed is the ground because of you, and pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. Sin causes death and disease and suffering in all forms. Which leads to the question of the day, can a natural disaster like this, can a natural disaster like this be a judgment from God?

It can't be. How about the flood? That was one. Sodom and Gomorrah? That was one. The plagues in Egypt? How about in Numbers, the earth opened up and swallowed the sons of Korah? That's another one. We don't like the idea that God can do such things, but he can. I don't know if that's what happened here. But here's where I'd rather spend my focus. Not on, is this a judgment?

What does God think about this place or that place or these people or their sins? Think I'd rather focus on the fact that this and all natural disasters are a taste of the judgment to come. I think fires are the most terrifying natural disaster. We kind of half-joked about this on the radio today, like what's the most terrifying natural disaster?

Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes. And I think it's fire. I think it's the roar of the fire, the height of the flames, the speed that it moves at, the sound, the wind whipping, and the sound it makes, just the fire itself, but then also the burning of buildings and trees and everything. It hurts.

It's hot.

It hurts.

And I think the fact, I've always had this instinct that that's the worst of natural disasters and I think that's reflected in the fact that that's what hell is like. Anyways, Revelation 21, 8, it is a place of black darkness. It's in 2 Peter. Matthew 25 says it's a place of outer darkness where weeping and gnashing of teeth is all that will be heard. So it's fire and darkness, which is really fascinating. Dante's Inferno speaks to this too. Dante's Inferno is not scripture. But poetically, it was the first time I've ever encountered this idea where it can be dark and full of fire at the same time.

And it's black, it's dark, because there's the total absence of divine light. God is present in hell, too, right? He has power over that, too. But you're separated from God's love there, as well. That's the torment. It's such an awful, horrible place. That's why it says in Mark 9, 47, if your eyes cause you to sin, tear it out. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell where their worm does not die

and the fire is not quenched." That line from Jesus is a reference to Isaiah 66 which says, "...and they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me." They're literally talking about dead bodies thrown into like a garbage dump, basically, and being eaten by maggots and stuff. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.

Hell is much worse than that. It's a place of agonizing thirst that can never be quenched. Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. Hell is worse than we could ever imagine. We look at these flames, and if you can do the best you can to imagine what it would

be like to be amidst these flames, it's nothing compared to what hell is. This should terrify you. It should terrify you. And so should your sin, because that's where you're going if you don't make Jesus your Lord and Savior people don't like that gospel message but it's true it's part of it I think fires are especially scary because it's a foretaste of the judgment that's to

come for most another thing I think is important to focus on this time maybe more important than God sent is doing this for his judgment. First is again it's a it's a sign of the judgment to come but also natural disasters are an opportunity to repent. Painful moments are an opportunity to repent. C.S. Lewis said God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. It is his pain, it's his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. There were disasters like this spoken of

in the Bible. Luke 13 Jesus says there were some present at the very time who told him about the Gileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, Do you think that these Gileans were worse sinners than all the other Gileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish,

unless you repent. Or those eighteen of whom the tower of Silium fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem now I tell you but unless you repent you will all likewise perish unless you repent I don't know if all natural disasters of this one is a judgment from God but it doesn't mean that there's no natural disasters that are not judges from God it could be we could we should treat it

And how should we respond? Repentance. We live in a post-fall world. We are mortal, and there's a greater judgment to come. Also worth noting that everything will burn up in the end. Disasters like this can be a reminder that life is short and time here is not eternal.

And you can lose it all in a night. You can lose it all in a night, in a moment, out of nowhere from a spark. Isaiah 38, 17 says, Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. That's a tough one. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction. And if I may, there's this urge we have to always know what God is up to on a day-to-day

basis. Like, big picture, I know that God wants everyone to be saved. It's what it says in the Bible, 1 Timothy 2, 3 says that God desires all men to be saved. So that's the end goal, but we're not going to be able to figure out every single one of his ways to make that happen. Spurgeon said, all things are worked together for good, but what each individual thing is

doing would be impossible to explain. Yet you, child of Adam, with your finite intellect, are continually stopping to ask, Why is this? Do you ask God to explain these things to you? I tell you God will not do it, and God cannot do it. For this reason, you are not capable of understanding it.

Should the ant ask the eagle why it flies in the skies? Will the giant sea monster, the Leviathan, be questioned by a minnow? These creatures might explain their actions to other creatures, but the omnipotent Creator, the uncreated eternal God, cannot explain himself to mortals whom he has created. We cannot understand him. It is enough for us to know that his way always must be in darkness and that we must never expect to see and understand much in this world. One last point because I don't make too many.

I'm so short of time here. We'll turn this into a two-episode. One last point for now is why these natural disasters happen. I think it speaks to how powerful He is. There are things in this world, like we think our sin is little, but they are great to God. There's also things that are great to us, but little to God. Think about that for a second.

We think these fires are enormous. They are to us, but they're nothing to Him. Nahum 1.3 says the clouds are the dust of His feet. No matter what our troubles are, God can bear it. He made the universe. He made the galaxies.

He can handle whatever it is we think is too much. I think part of this, part of these natural disasters is to wake us up a little bit to how powerful He is. And it would be great if this woke up the church. Spurgeon said, I'm afraid of the darkness, excuse me, I'm afraid of this deadness, this sloth, this indifference

that has come over our churches. The church needs shaking like the man on the mountaintop does when the cold numbs him into a deadly slumber. The churches have gone to sleep for the lack of zeal, for lack of fire. Even those who hold sound doctrine

are beginning to slumber. Oh, may God stir up the church. Natural disasters are an opportunity for the church to wake up, start preaching the gospel. And one of the messages can be that God is all-powerful, and the things that we think are great are small to Him. I don't mean that He doesn't care.

I just mean they're totally within His power and control. The clouds are the dust of his feet. The most terrible things that we ever experience in nature, they don't surprise God, they don't terrify God, they don't overwhelm God, and they should therefore not bring any terror to us either. Stop there for now, we'll finish this up tomorrow.

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