People In London. God's Hated You A Long Time

[debrand]

http://www.ourfullhouse.com/home/41-spi ... again.html

I thought that people in the UK would appreciate knowing that God was upset with them.

The Great Fire of London, 1666

When the Great Fire of London swept through the city in the fall of 1666, it destroyed an estimated 87% of the homes in the central city. A young minister was asked why God would do such a thing. His answer was not the typical pietistic response of the day. He did not try to invent imaginary characteristics of an imaginary god. He let God speak for himself, but few appreciated hearing the words of the Bible found in the Psalms, Deuteronomy, Leviticus, and the prophets.

If the people of London, Vincent asked, refused to worship God in their homes, why would it be a strange thing if God “burned down those houses wherein the inhabitants would not worship him?â€

Such an opinion would be ridiculed today as insensitive or cruel because “a loving God†would never intervene in the modern world with correction or punishment. Or would He?

Thomas Vincent had been giving serious thought to the question of judgment for over a year. Just the previous summer, the Great Plague of London had swept over the city, killing people faster than they could be buried. Vincent buried many of the 100,000 people who died, and kept careful records of their names and circumstances. After the plague subsided, Vincent sat down to write an account of what he had seen and how the people had died. Christians died with a quiet confidence in their Redeemer. But disbelievers fought and raged against the will of God, screaming and cursing until death closed their throats.

Thomas Vincent’s account has survived, known today as the book God’s Terrible Voice in the City. He says he wrote it “to keep alive in myself and others, the memory of the judgment.†Vincent’s memory was sharp, and his outlook remarkably honest. He catalogued more than two dozen specific sins shared by both Christians and non-Christians, and reminded his readers that God means what he says when he threatens to chastise a city or a nation that hates the law of God and the kind governance of God.

Here are five sins from his astute observation: slighting of the Gospel, lack of family worship, a toleration of the sins of the time, and a “neglect of family reformation. â€

“How few,†he lamented, “did labour to instruct their families, catechise their children and servants; to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.â€

Vincent also listed the “profane scoffing at God’s people.†Vincent remained in the city through the darkest moments of plague’s fury, sharing the Gospel, comforting the sick, burying the dead and urging people to repent of their willful blindness. He was astounded that the people of London refused to believe that God might have been trying to get their attention. Even Christians who survived the ravages of the plague made no effort to improve their habits or their way of thinking. Vincent was thus not surprised to see the fire that consumed the city a year later.

Letter from the UK

I just a received a letter from a young resident of the UK who is not surprised to see the current symptoms of judgment being focused again on London, for reasons he details in his letter, which reminds me much of Thomas Vincent’s candor and humility.

“Dear Mr. Botkin,†he writes,

it turns out that your What Hath Darwin Wrought? article was prescient: there are now summer riots over here, only two years later than your article suggested.

London is burning, but it's not a “hungry mutiny†as the foreign media would have it. Tottenham, Peckham, Brixton, Lambeth and (tonight) Lewisham are what might be termed “inner city†areas, but Clapham and Enfield are more upmarket, middle class suburbs, and it's designer fashion goods and electronics, not food, which are being looted.

What the country has run clean out of is not food (yet), but Truth. All three branches of government have now moved to open repudiation of Christ and His Gospel, and there has been nary a peep from the church; the nation therefore has rejected the One who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and floats about in a storm of self-reference and unfocused resentment. The coin of truth has been nationally debased, and no figure has any credibility remaining - not law enforcement, nor the press (after the hacking scandals), nor the politicians of any party, nor the Civil Service, nor the BBC (disgraced after several scandals). There is simply no-one left on a national level who has sufficient stature to lead, and the leaders of the ruling coalition have utterly disgraced themselves by staying away on holiday as the capital is ransacked and Europe goes bust.

The condition of the nation is not in doubt – that has been evident for many years. It seems to me that the Lord is sending successive waves of crisis to test the church, to see “if any did understand,†and to prove beyond all doubt that the church, too, is rebellious and deserving of sharing in the judgment of the nation.

[Deleted12]

I was just reading that not three hours ago.

www.westernconservatory.org/article/201 ... ning-again

gBot's such a douche.

[Guest Anonymous]

Here in my corner of the UK, we just had a 30 minute freak hailstorm which has killed all my lovely red geraniums. Once the storm stops, you can be sure that I will be knocking doors along the street to find out who is the Sin in the Camp! :lol:

[fundiefan]

I'm thinking god must have hated the whole of the European continent for roughly a thousand years as the dark ages were wrought with plague, famine, natural disasters, the mini-ice age, marauders, barbarians, etc...

I think god loved the Roman empire because its sacking was the catalyst for at least seven centuries of hell on earth.

[tehgoobster]

Oh, boy. That's ... interesting. Good ol' Geoff Botkin.

[JesusFightClub]

I've heard a lot of explanations for the riots but God being pissed off is a new one on me. Does that mean England is more sinful than Scotland as we didn't get riots up here? ;)

[finleeport]

Why should that matter to the people in the UK? religion is fading in the UK, its almost a minority. I read somewhere that only one third of the UK believes in God. So the UK is more non-religious or skeptical or indifferent. Either way its probably all thanks to Richard Dawkins for his works, and Christopher Hitchens, he definitely knows how horrible and deadly religion can be. or at least that's what I read in someone's comments

[ems]

I'm thinking god must have hated the whole of the European continent for roughly a thousand years as the dark ages were wrought with plague, famine, natural disasters, the mini-ice age, marauders, barbarians, etc...

I think god loved the Roman empire because its sacking was the catalyst for at least seven centuries of hell on earth.

God hates the world, just ask the Phelps clan.

[Jencendiary]

God needs to take a nap, drink an Ensure, and let us get on with it. It seems like he's been telling us to get off his lawn for forever.

[darkplumaged]

God hates the world, just ask the Phelps clan.

The world that he made. Right, then.

Logic is not the Phelpses' strong suit.

[clarinetpower]

Kelly.

(That is all.)

[Hane]

God needs to take a nap, drink an Ensure, and let us get on with it. It seems like he's been telling us to get off his lawn for forever.

:greetings-clapyellow: :flags-wavegreatbritain:

[Triplet3]

Ok Geoff, whatever you say :lol: Because of course, it makes perfect sense to ignore all sociological, economic, psychological and historical factors behind the great fire of London and the recent London riots...

Also, :flags-wavegreatbritain: :flags-wavegreatbritain: :flags-wavegreatbritain: