A Washington Post article reports “Firefighters continued to battle nearly 850 wildfires in Northern California yesterday. The blazes were sparked by what one state official called an ‘unprecedented’ lightning storm over the weekend in which more than 5,000 lightning strikes were recorded. Crews from Utah and Nevada have been called in to help fight the fires, which have blackened thousands of acres and threaten thousands of homes.”
Just how unusual is this? State records indicate the number of lightning-caused fires was 223 for the most recent year published (2004). And for 20 years of records the largest total number of lightning-caused fires for an entire year was 733. So in just one storm, a record number of fires has been set. The total number of lightning strikes for this storm “more than 5,000″ is equally impressive.
Curiously, this fantastic amount of lightning took place the week after a California court legalized Gay Marriage. California is the second state in the US (after Massachusetts) to legalize same-sex marriages. Just one week ago, a Reuters article reported “California begins marrying gay and lesbian couples on Monday afternoon in a step likely to challenge other states where laws define marriage as only between a man and a woman. A state Supreme Court decision last month overturning a ban on gay marriage has already produced one major change: marriage licenses will no longer list bride and groom but rather Party A and Party B.”
Many Americans may remember the ancient story of Sodom and Gomorrah. One Internet source notes “According to Genesis, Sodom and Gomorrah were two cities destroyed by God. For the sins of their inhabitants Sodom (and) Gomorrah… were destroyed by ‘brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven’ (Genesis 19:24-25) …In Genesis 18, God informs Abraham that he plans to destroy the city of Sodom because of its wickedness. Abraham pleads with God not to destroy Sodom, and God agrees that he would not destroy the city if there were 50 righteous people in it, then 45, then 30, then 20, or even ten righteous people. The Lord’s two angels only found one righteous person living in Sodom, Abraham’s nephew Lot. Consequently, God destroyed the city. In the Tanach version, Genesis 19:4-5, the final episode in the story of Sodom is described as the angels visit Lot to warn him to flee… As they made their escape the angels commanded that Lot and his family not look back under any circumstance. However as Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed with fire and brimstone by God, Lot’s wife looked back longingly at the city, and she was instantly transformed into a pillar of salt. In Ezekiel 16:48-50 God accuses Jerusalem of being worse than Sodom. He explains that the sin of Sodom was that ‘She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me.’ ”
This is definitely an historic low in the history of western civilization. A major state in the US has legalized behavior, which has been viewed as an abomination for thousands of years by civilized society. I’m sure a parade of arrogant atheists, Jews and liberals will insist that it’s inconceivable that there could this fantastic lightning display and record number of fires could be a “sign from God.” To me, this sort of attitude reminds me of the arrogant and unconcerned nature of the residents of Sodom, who happily co-existed with all sorts of perversity and who repeatedly showed contempt for God and His laws.
