Is it a sign?

Several have asked me if the bombing at the Boston Marathon and the explosion in West, Texas were a sign.  Are these a sign from God of the end?  Are they a harbinger, a sign from God of a judgment on our culture?

My answer is "no."  NO.

The question is very ethnocentric.  The question implies that if anything bad happens to us, that somehow it must be the end.  That America is somehow special from other countries and cultures, and if any difficulty comes to us, it must be a sign of the end.

Was it a sign of the end of the world, when Cortez destroyed the Aztec culture?  Was it a sign of the end when our forefathers kidnapped Africans and made them slaves?  Was it a harbinger of the end when we spent 300 years destroying Native American Culture?  Was the fall of Rome a sign of the end?

All of these things seemed like the end to those in the culture, but we must remember that nations rise and nations fall.  There is an ebb and flow of power among nations and cultures.  The Holy Land has been conquered 26 different times.

The only constant in our world is our God.  Heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool.  He calls all nations unto himself and invites them to bow the knee.  God alone is eternal and it is to him that we must go, it is upon him that we must lean.  No president, no political party, no comfort level in life can truly satisfy.  Only Jesus can satisfy the soul.

I am very sorry for the violence that has taken place in our country.  But let us continue to look to our Father and invite others to do the same.  The best thing that can come from painful things is a desire on our part to look to our Father.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.