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Continuing our discussion from part one, it has occurred to me that upon reading this article -- assuming that they even take the time to read it -- there may be certain people who will accuse me of making my point regarding God being capable of destroying and killing people, by only quoting verses that are found in the Old Testament. They may in fact argue that I am emphasizing the wrathful God of the Old Testament period, while ignoring the merciful, loving God of the New Testament. As you will see in a moment, that is far from the truth. In his attempt to convince me that I am wrong, and that it is only the Devil who kills and destroys, and not God, this man paraphrased the following verse:

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have ‭it‭ more abundantly."


Naturally, I agree one hundred per cent with that verse. The Lord most certainly came to give us life. Not a so-called "abundant life" as many prosperity preachers like to preach, but rather Eternal Life with rewards in Heaven. So, yes, the Lord is the exact opposite of Satan, who is a destroyer. In fact, in addition to the verses I shared with you in part one regarding God's patience and mercy, and His desire that we repent of our sins so that He can heal our lives, I will take it a step further by sharing the following verses with you as well, which further emphasize that Jesus came to save us and to give us Eternal Life. He did not come to destroy us:

"For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them . . ."


For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."


"For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost."


"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."


"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."


"But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."


"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed . . . And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst . . . I am that bread of life . . . Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you."


"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."


"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."


But here's the question that we need to ask ourselves: Do any of the previous verses really negate anything else that I've shared with you in this article? Think carefully before you answer. In my view, the answer is definitely not. What they actually do, is round out the picture, exactly as occurs in the Old Testament as well. In other words, as I explain in series such as "The Fruits of Disobedience", in the pages of the Old Testament, we discover time and time again that God demonstrated great patience and mercy when the Israelites backslid into deep apostasy. He waited for them to repent of their rebellion and return to Him. In fact, He pleaded with them to return to Him, as I explain in articles such as "Oh Israel, Why Will Ye Die?".

But that is not all that the Lord did. He also gave them repeated stiff warnings regarding what would happen to them if they did not repent of their idolatry and other sins; just as we learned in part one of this article. Ultimately, exactly as He had warned them via His Prophets, God had to lower the rod and punish them. Not just once, but many times throughout the pages of the Old Testament. And the way in which He chastised them is clearly described in those verses I shared with you in part one.

While foreign invasions were clearly one method that the Lord used to punish the Israelites, as we learned earlier, He also used natural disasters such as droughts, plagues, famines, wildlife, etc. Carefully examine the Old Testament. Collectively-speaking, the Lord killed at least hundreds of thousands of people when the Israelites sinned against Him. For example, as I share in a few other articles, when King David became proud and self-confident, and decided to take a census in order to measure the strength of his army, God was not pleased, because David was beginning to trust in the arm of the flesh, instead of in the Lord. As a result, we are told that He smote 70,000 Israelites, as we see by this verse:

"So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men."


Allow me to share another example with you. When King Ahaz rebelled against the Lord and fell into idolatry and child sacrifices, God was so upset with him, that He allowed the Syrians to kill 120,000 Israelite soldiers in one day, as we can determine by the following verses:

"‭‭Wherefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of them captives, and brought ‭them‭ to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.‭ For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, ‭which were‭ all valiant men; because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers."


Turning to the New Testament, while discussing the sins and disobediences of the Israelites as they wandered through the wilderness led by Moses, the Apostle Paul informs us that due to their sins of idolatry and fornication, the Lord yet again smote 23,000 Israelites in a single day, as we see by this verse:

"‭‭Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand."


Please take note that none of the previous sets of verses say that Satan did any of the killing. They clearly say that the LORD sent the pestilence upon Israel, the LORD allowed the Syrians to slay all those Israelites, and the LORD also slew the idolators and fornicators. That's straight Biblical truth in black and white. In those three examples alone, over 210,000 people died at the Lord's hand.

Now, while it is indeed true that the New Testament reflects God's loving and merciful side through Jesus Christ, similar to the Old Testament, it also reflects His wrathful side as well; and that is what some of these Urantia Book followers -- and even some weak Christians -- do not want to see, and even refuse to see. All they want to preach is a lovey-dovey, forgiving Jesus and a God of love and mercy. They only want to preach half of the story. But as we see in the Old Testament, a false balance is an abomination in God's sight, and it is not rightly dividing the word of truth either. Consider these two verses:

"A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight."


"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."


You see, while it is indeed true that God loves us and wants to save us; and while it is true that Jesus gave His own life on the Cross in order to complete His end of the deal, as I point out in articles such as "All Are Given a Chance, But", just like in the Old Testament, the sad, tragic truth is that not everyone wants to repent. Not everyone wants to forsake their sins. Not everyone wants to come to the Light. As crazy as it may sound, not everyone wants to experience God's love, mercy and forgiveness. They in fact want to stubbornly and rebelliously remain in their sins, hiding in the dark. They don't want to accept Jesus so that they can be saved; and by so doing, they condemn themselves. That is precisely what Jesus said in the Gospel of John, as we see by the following set of verses:

"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."


"If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. ‭‭He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father."


So let me ask you something. How is a righteous God supposed to respond to such incorrigible stubbornness and rebellion? Jesus and the writers of the New Testament give us a very clear answer; and it is the very same answer that we find in the Old Testament. That is, judgment, wrath and finally utter destruction in the Lake of Fire. Friends, all of the verses which follow are found in the New Testament. They clearly reflect the wrathful face of God in the New Testament. He is the same God that we see in the Old Testament. If we do not want His love, if we do not want His salvation, then we will eventually experience His wrath, plain and simple. Let me mention again that it is God and His Angels who are doing all of these things, and not the Devil:

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."


". . . he that cometh after me . . . will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."


"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and MANY there be which go in thereat:"


". . . He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."


"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."


"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;"


"Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience."


"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God . . . For our God is a consuming fire."


"And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"


"And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."


"These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will."


"The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb . . . And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God."


"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God . . . And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled."


"And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth . . . And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory . . . And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, ‭and‭ so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath."


"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues . . . Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her."


"And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."


"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."


"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife."


"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:"


Can you see it now? In both the Old Testament and in the New Testament, He is a God of love and mercy, but He is also a God of wrath, vengeance and destruction. Some people may not like it, and may even be offended by it, but those are just the facts. It is for this reason that we find Jerusalem and the temple being destroyed during the Old Testament period, as well as during the New Testament period. In the case of the Jews, they just never learned their lesson. Sadly, they still haven't learned it 2,000 years later. At least most of them haven't, Messianic Jews aside.

Switching gears, before concluding this article, I would like to turn our attention once again to the Urantia Book. When I first began investigating the Urantia Book back in May of 1997, I made a very interesting discovery. What I learned is that one reason why so many people are drawn to the Urantia Book in the first place, is because it either avoids, or in fact completely changes, a number of the uncomfortable truths which we find in the Bible, so that they are more palatable and acceptable to the human mind. With certain things that are difficult to understand, it likewise completely changes their meaning, or else it offers rather inventive stories -- fiction, really -- to explain what those things mean in the Scriptures. Some of it sounds very New Age, in my view. In short, the Urantia Book is a watered down, false gospel. It is another gospel.

Let's face it. There are some things which are in fact hard to accept in the Scriptures. One good example is the fact that we clearly find evidence of genocide being committed in the Old Testament by the Israelites. Another example is one we have already thoroughly discussed in this article. That is that God punishes people through personal afflictions and natural disasters. As we have seen with the man on Facebook, the way that some people get around this uncomfortable truth, is by denying it altogether. They claim that God isn't behind all of the natural disasters and calamities that occur in the world. That is just the Devil. God is only merciful and gracious, and He would never ever kill or destroy anyone.

But as I point out in my series "The Urantia Book: An Attack on the Blood Atonement!", one of the most dangerous things I discovered about certain Urantia Book believers, is that they absolutely reject the necessity of Christ's Atonement on the Cross. They cannot understand how a loving God would force His own Son to die a cruel, agonizing death on a Roman Cross. Only a monster would do that, they say. I believe it is in the aforementioned article where I mention the fact that the man I was exchanging emails with at that time, came right out and said that the Crucifixion was a barbaric act which he simply could not accept. So what was his "solution" to the problem? He twisted a few Bible verses and said that Jesus' Atonement was not even necessary, and that all we have to do in order to be saved, is to love and forgive each other. That's it.

So it is just like I said in earlier paragraphs. If there is something which they don't like or cannot accept in the Holy Bible, they either just eliminate it altogether, or else they just rewrite their own version of the truth in the Urantia Book so that it is more palatable and digestible. I was just reminded of something that the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans. While Paul is actually discussing idolatry in this verse, it does contain a truth which applies to other situations:

"‭‭Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen."


Do you see that? Those wicked Romans changed the truth of God into a lie. And that is exactly what some of those Urantians are doing as well. They are corrupting and perverting the truth of God's Word. They are putting darkness for light, as we see in the following verse:

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"


Taking this thought a step further, another thing I learned back in 1997 when I began investigating the Urantia Book, is that some Urantia Book followers apparently take delight in using a blasphemous tome called "The Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy". In fact, one Urantia Book reader sent me an email in which he stated the following:

----- Begin Quote -----

Regarding what you describe as "God's holy unerring Word, the Bible", I have a wonderful book here called "The Encyclopedia of Biblical Errancy". You can order one from Prometheus Press if you are unafraid.

----- End Quote -----

From what I have read, the general consensus amongst some of these Urantia Book adherents, is that the Bible is so full of errors, misconceptions, myths and inaccuracies, that we should just throw it out the door, and replace it with this modern, misguided work of deception, which they have the gall to claim is a much superior work. In other words, we should just replace the Bible with the Urantia Book, they claim.

The Urantians think that they are following the Light, but in reality, they are following the false angel of light -- that is, Satan himself -- and they have become his ministers who preach a false gospel, and share a false light as well. They are promoting doctrines of devils and damnable heresies, and not the true Word of God. Consider the following group of verses:

"For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him . . . For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works."


"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of."


"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them."


"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them."


"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."


"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;"


"If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself."


"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;"


"A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself."


"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds."


Regarding the man with whom I exchanged a few comments on Facebook, I honestly don't know if he reads and supports the Urantia Book or not, being as I did not have an opportunity to ask him. However, I do suspect that both he and the woman who started the Facebook thread have at the very least read parts of it. In fact, in one of her comments, the woman told me plainly that she is confused, because she supposedly has found a lot of contradictions in the Bible.

In the end, the man became a bit condescending and critical in his remarks, and even began to place a laughing emoji next to some of my comments. In fact, he said that he would pray that I would "contaminate as few people as possible" with my "religious devilish doctrines". He also said that he would pray that the "religious scales" would "fall away" from my eyes "before satan takes [me] in one of his evil intended disasters." He also said "Keep teaching that lying religious doctrine and you'll trap yourself in it's disastrous ending." Finally, he informed me that God prefers to keep me alive.

So as you can surely see, the man was totally unreceptive to everything which I tried to share with him. He may possibly be a Christian, but I am not really sure at this point, due to the fact that a lot of Urantia Book readers do know how to look up Bible verses, but they just don't believe them. There is no doubt in my mind that he is deceived about some things. In my view, he needs to take the advice he was giving me, and seriously apply it to his own life. At any rate, this has now become a two-part article, and I believe that I have provided you with enough Scriptural evidence to make your own personal determination regarding whether or not God causes natural disasters.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you have found it informative, enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Hurricane Katrina and Other Natural Disasters
The Urantia Book: A Dangerous New Age Doctrine!
The Urantia Book: An Attack on the Blood Atonement!
Genesis Flood: The Urantia Book Exposed Again!
Should Christians Engage in Doctrinal Debates?
Humility in Our Understanding of God's Word
Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: A Warning to Modern Society
Remember Lot's Wife: What Was Her Fate?
Queen James Bible: Blasphemous Abomination Exposed!
The Gay and Lesbian Agenda: To the Point!
When Sin is No Longer a Sin
Do You Want Love and Light, or Rod and Wrath?
The Fruits of Disobedience
Oh Israel, Why Will Ye Die?
Love, Mercy, Forgiveness and Chastisement
Beholding the Evil and the Good
Backsliding, Divine Chastisement and the Divine Agreement
Are Personal Tragedies Due to Sin?
Free Will and Personal Choice
All Are Given a Chance, But . . .

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