if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. - 2Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)
I remember back in 2005 during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina there were ghouls in the fake Christian community declaring it was judgment upon New Orleans for their debauchery and sin. Never mind that Katrina also destroyed places like Biloxi Mississippi, generally considered a very Christian conservative town. Was God indiscriminate? Did He just have bad aim? Or was the more likely scenario that these hatred merchants were using the suffering, pain and deaths of so many to further their own warped political goals? We see this same dynamic play out every time there is a natural disaster of some kind or another. The NAR, dominionist, apostate church cares only about their power and greed, accomplished through their politics. As such, the individual lives of people mean nothing to them. This is bad enough but they also teach those who attend their churches and follow their teaching to also hate. To extend the bony finger of accusation and loathing against the very people that need compassion and the gospel the most, probably at the very time they need it the most. Like Katrina before us, we are now seeing this play out with the devastating wildfires consuming southern California. Specifically, let us look at MAGA Pastor Shane Idleman, whose church is actually in California.
Idleman is a Trump worshipper who is using this tragedy to advance his own political ideology. The above short video from Facebook asks the same old tired Katrina question - are the fires God's judgment on California? He opens up by claiming he is speaking to this because people are asking. While that may be true, it is more of an indictment against Shane Idleman that he teaches people so poorly they would even consider such a moronic question. So far, at least five people are dead and countless people have lost their homes and everything they owned. Were they all reprehensible sinners incurring the wrath of God? Were they all unsaved? Is the age of grace over and God is starting to judge the world? This fire is unusually south and close to Los Angeles and Hollywood, which gives Shane and his merry gaggle of NAR Republicans an opportunity to lay waste to their political enemies as the fires lay waste to their lives. What about when the fires are more north? What about when they hit a city that voted for Trump? Are you asking the same question then? We just saw two hurricanes absolutely devastate Florida, which is decidedly a red state as well as areas of North Carolina that have been reported as extremely bible believing. I do not recall Shane doing a Facebook Short to ask if that was God judging them. Therein lies the unbelievable hypocrisy. I am reminded of the Sons of Thunder asking to reign fire down upon the Samaritan village that refused to listen to Jesus. He rebuked them and said they did not even know what spirit they were of. Neither does Shane.
He opens the short by admitting we have no way of knowing what God is doing. Then why are you speculating in the video! Because it scores cheap political points by exploiting people's suffering - very pastoral. He then misapplies the key verse, as so many NAR dominionist preachers do. Interesting that he admits these verses were intended for Israel but he plows through nonetheless to claim that this means God allows natural disasters to get his people to turn from their wicked ways. While it is nice that he does not completely misapply it by pretending it is the unsaved that must turn in order for God to heal our land, he still cannot see that it is the apostate church he serves that would need to turn. He has already used this tragedy to regurgitate stupid Republican talking points like claiming the Mayor of Los Angeles, who of course is a Democrat, is responsible because she cut 17 million dollars from the Fire Department budget. What Shane and the Republicans always leave out is it is an 800-million-dollar budget, which means this cut was 2%. Translation? It had ZERO affect on the response to these fires. Shane then makes accusations about California and New York, two Democratic states, regarding the porn industry, sex trafficking, and worshipping Satan. As if that does not occur in other, red states. What about the countless preachers that have fallen from grace for actually sexually abusing girls as young as 12? You know - Robert Morris and Mike Bickle, for example. Were they from California? No, they were from Texas and Missouri, two of the reddest states in the country. Maybe the excessive heat and failed electrical grids in Texas were God's judgment Shane? No Facebook short for that?
Idleman actually makes the argument that our just and loving God allows these tragedies despite "innocent" people being killed as well. Now, he is being very careful here because all events in this world, God "allows." His permissive will accounts for all events, including natural disasters. That does not make it His "judgment," however. Shane then mixes in that God is a holy God that requires holiness from His people and not sin, debasement and debauchery. God is of course holy but the reeking hypocrisy is that Shane Idleman spends his days defending and promoting Donald Trump as the Christian panacea for this country. Debauchery? How about demanding that followers of Christ must blindly support and defend a man who cheated on his first wife with his second wife and his third wife with a porn star? How about demanding idol worship of a man with 34 felonies and a rape conviction? None of that matters to a holy God?
Idleman then goes through several Old Testament prophets as examples of them telling people to turn back to God. This of course has no relevance to this topic. Isaiah, Ezikiel and Jeremiah were speaking to Israel. They were the ones that had to turn back to God. This goes all the way back to Deuteronomy and how the people of God should never worship idols and have false gods, like Shane has and promotes. Realize what he is teaching here. That God is trying to get His people to turn back to Him, by sending these raging fires that kill people who do not even know Him. That paints God as this capricious villain, who apparently is unable to directly communicate repentance to His own followers without destroying an entire portions of a state and killing people whimsically.
