If anyone thinks that believing in the Lord is a one-time solution to all problems, they will be sorely disappointed. A careful reading of the Bible reveals that many of God's chosen people lived through calamities, and even a strong nation protected and chosen by God could be ruthlessly destroyed! Why would God be so cruel? Even today, such justifiable questions continue to be raised. Why do Christians face disasters? You will find the answers here.

Questions to ponder:

What led to the downfall of the Kingdom of Judah?

Why do Christians encounter disasters?

How can we keep ourselves living within God's will in our daily lives?

Sin, Inviting Calamity

This chapter shows us how God's chosen people faced disaster when a nation was on the brink of destruction. Where did the disaster come from? The answer is from God! Applying this to Christians today, the disasters Christians face invariably originate from God. It is a dire matter if Christians do not do what is right in the eyes of the Lord God. Today, Sister KX testifies that because she did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, bad things happened to her, but that was actually grace! When God brought disaster upon the Kingdom of Judah time and again, the people did not know to repent, nor did they take it seriously. I am astonished at the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah: What on earth happened to those in power? What caused them to do what was evil in the eyes of the Lord?

When we read these things today, we believe that we certainly will not have problems, and we will surely walk in the will of the Lord throughout our lives. But that is not necessarily the case. Why? There is a very interesting phenomenon: During the time of Jesus, the Pharisees said to him, If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have killed the prophets. Yet, in the end, they crucified Jesus (see Matthew 23:29-36). Strange, isn't it? These kings who did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord all thought they were making clever decisions, and they believed that disaster would not befall them. When disaster struck, they did not even realize it came from God.

The author of 2 Kings wants to tell us: If you are not God's chosen people, you are born to be destroyed; if you are God's chosen people, receiving grace and becoming the people of the Lord God, then what does God require of you? This is a critical question! I do not think a half-hearted Christian will gain anything! Only disaster! What God wants is simple, but if you are a half-hearted, double-minded Christian, even if it is not half-hearted, but a full pail of water with a speck of rat dung in it, it is unusable. Through this, we must know: The Lord God is a jealous God, and He cannot tolerate Christians sinning.

We often hear Christians say, How can we live without sinning? Is it even possible for a person not to sin? Do not think that just because the church manifests God's presence today, we can sin. Precisely because God's presence is so greatly manifested in our midst, we must strive to enter into holiness. Do our best, as much as we can. Today, I want to ask everyone, are the requirements of our church excessive? Actually, they are far from it!

Therefore, brothers and sisters, this chapter shows that the disasters of God's people do not come from the devil, but from God. When we become God's people, if we experience any disasters, the first thing we must examine is ourselves: What problems do we have? In Numbers, Balaam said, Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel (see Numbers 23:23). So, who harmed Israel? Balaam advised the Moabites to have their women seduce the Israelite men, causing the Israelites to sin, and God's anger was kindled against them (see Numbers 25)! So, without the Moabites even having to fight them, they were finished.

A Christian's life must strive to be holy. If you say, Oh, it's just a small sin, it doesn't matter! Never have such an attitude. A small sin will become a big sin, a big sin will become an even bigger sin, and you will step by step walk into destruction.

Persevere, Becoming Holy

God once used His mighty arm to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness. Then they crossed the Jordan River as if on dry ground, entered Canaan, and destroyed the inhabitants of that land. But in the days of the Judges, the Israelites often did what was evil in the eyes of God. People cannot live without God: you can live without money, without a job, without anything, but you cannot live without God. You may not agree in your heart; how can you live without money? This may sound reasonable to people, but it is not helpful.

This calamity came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, for all that he had committed, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon. …He carried away all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, which Solomon king of Israel had made, as the Lord had foretold. (2 Kings 24:2-4, 13)

How resolute is God? He does not hesitate to destroy even the temple where He is worshipped. In God's eyes, that temple where countless ancestors had knelt to pray, where God's glory had once been manifested—if it is corrupted, He does not care about destroying it. You must know that people live by every word that comes from the mouth of God, not by wealth. In the face of disaster, wealth cannot save you; a ton of money is about as useful as a ton of toilet paper, truly useless. Money often corrupts people. People must be the masters of money, not let money be their master. I am very grateful that in my family, I have a son and a wife who do not love money too much. Because of this, we can serve God with a pure heart.

A few days ago, my wife said something to me that resonated deeply. She said that one sister is blessed because she does not have money for medical treatment, so she can only seek God. If people have a lot of money, they will place their hope in money and doctors. I think this is indeed true: if you do not have money for medical treatment, without the hope of money, you might still live; but because you have money, you place your hope in money, and as a result, you die in the corruption of money.

Do not think that money is a good thing; know that money can corrupt people. Some time ago, a young man came among us who came from a good family. He thought that with money, he could do many things, so he went to nightclubs, which brought much corruption. This era is an era centered on economics, where people measure things by money and profit. It is full of commercialism, but all of this is vanity. I share with you a concept: whether in abundance or lack, we can live a good life. I have seen the miserable state that wealth brings to people's faces, which is truly pitiful. When I was communicating with a sister, I said that our generation of the 1960s, although we were very poor when we were young, was happier than the children of this generation. Because material wealth cannot bring true abundance; spiritual wealth is what determines whether people are happy.

If a person's eyes are drawn to money, they will be dizzy and enter into vanity; even without caring about money, you can live happily today, and God will provide for our needs throughout our lives. Today we do not value work, but is there any work that is not done well? Today we do not value money, yet who lacks money? On the contrary, those who value work, who value money, who desperately give their lives for these things, live in corruption.

We have a sister in our church who is focused on following God. She works as a teacher in a school, and her job is good and easy. But a classmate of hers who worked hard instead was fired by the Ministry of Education. Today we must know that calamity comes upon these people at the command of the Lord. We Christians have no choice but to draw near to God often and do what is right in His eyes. All God wants is for us to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. See as God sees, act as God acts. God never puts life above work, but today many people put work above life, fearing their boss more than God. Why did Jehoiakim and King Manasseh before him fall into this? It is because of the knowledge of this life, economics, politics, etc. We Christians have only one thing to learn: the commandments of the Lord. We must love the Lord your God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength, and not do anything by halves.

Choose, Entering into Abundance

We have a sister who is very conflicted because she feels that she cannot do anything and cannot find a job easily. I feel sorry for her. What is she pursuing? It seems that her future depends on her work. Her future should actually depend on drawing near to God. Draw near to God well, do what is right in the eyes of the Lord, and not be deceived by worldly things, then disaster will certainly not fall upon her. Brothers and sisters, you must know one thing: either you will receive a curse from the Lord, or you will receive a blessing from the Lord. There is no middle ground; it is that simple. Start learning one thing: make up your mind, no matter what the environment, no matter what the state, just like Deuteronomy 28:

“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the offspring of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you. The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods to serve them. (Deuteronomy 28:1-14)

Before I talk about curses, I want to emphasize again: Carefully follow the commands of the Lord your God, all the commands, not just a little bit. Do not turn this gospel into a half-hearted gospel. It is a complete gospel, and we must receive it completely.

Today I want to tell you that I am determined to lead you into such blessings. When I saw the desolation of the church in 2011, our brothers and sisters had problems with renting houses, problems with work, problems with everything. I said this is not what God wants to do. When we read this passage, I could not see such blessed things. Later, in 2011, after we prayed and strived vigorously, the church was transformed. What do we see today? Everything we do is blessed. So don't worry. If you occasionally see a brother or sister in trials, you don't need to worry or be afraid, because that is when God wants to bless.

When our eyes are fixed on the things of this world, we think that owning the things of this world will give us life, and we will be deceived, enter into vanity, live in emptiness, and then die. This is a very sad process. Carefully follow the commands of your God. Remember, this is your choice, not your feeling. “I feel…” That is very dangerous. Oh, I haven't felt God's presence in me for a long time, I haven't had any feelings for a long time.” This is very dangerous. It is like a married couple who are passionately in love at the beginning, but after a few years, they have no feelings and then have feelings for another woman. That is very deadly! If you enter into marriage, do not go according to feelings, but according to all of God's commandments, statutes, and ordinances. Start learning to create feelings even without them, instead of going along with feelings.

Our following God is like this, not because we have feelings, but because of a choice of faith. No matter what situation you are in, start choosing God, believing in God, and not walking the worldly ways, not walking the worldly philosophy, and worldly theories. Today we see that people often make the wrong choices. People often make the wrong choices when everything is good: Everything is fine with me, why should I believe in God, why do I need God, why should I worship God? What is worshipping God?” Then God will leave. Nothing will happen at that time. In fact, you will see that Manasseh did those bad things seventy or eighty years ago, and as a result, seventy or eighty years later, God's anger began to manifest and come. Brothers and sisters, do not do such experiments. People live according to all the words that God has spoken, not all the results of your experiments. When Manasseh was testing, his economy was very developed when he ruled Judah. He thought his economic strategy was very effective, but was it really useful? No. That was doing what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.

There is a very interesting situation in this economic theory: the Chinese economy has experienced great development, but the stock market has not risen; the US economy is almost stagnant, but stocks have risen sharply. Why? Because of the relationship between the investment and return of funds in the market. If the return on capital goes back to the workers, then the capitalists have not made money, and their stocks will not rise. What is the situation in China? The benefits of development have been given to the people and the government, not to the capitalists, so capital is not so abundant. But in the United States, the investment and return of capital go back to the capitalists, so stocks will rise. See where the capital goes.

What was the situation in Israel in 2 Kings? The return on capital went to the rich, and no one cared that the poor were destitute. The God of Israel is a very compassionate God, but the king of Israel had lost his heart of compassion, allowing the return on capital to go to the rich capitalists, leaving the poor impoverished. Do you know what the laws that God has laid down are? If a person is sold to you as a slave, after seven years you must release him, release him for free. The Israelites were unwilling to release them. If you lend him money, you will cancel it after seven years, and you do not have to pay it back. Can you keep such laws? Do you want to keep them? In fact, whoever keeps them will be blessed, because the Lord your God walks with you, and then the blessings commanded in the scriptures will come upon you. The Israelites said, This is clearly a losing matter, how can I do it? As a result, they fell into confusion.

If a person's mind is fixed on money, he will lose his heart of compassion, so we must reflect on what causes these kings of Judah to encounter disasters. They just acted according to human common sense, but this common sense was a common sense that provoked God's anger. Today I lend you money, and after seven years I will exempt your debt. We humans see this as a loss, but we do not know that it is actually a blessing. Like tithing, now we know that it is a blessed thing, but if we look at it from a human point of view, this is not possible, this is unbearable. So, until today, the non-believing families of our brothers and sisters cannot get through this hurdle. We can talk about anything, but I cannot understand the matter of offering. This is actually very strange. He should go and see the results of that blessing.

If a person follows the customs and views of this world, he is doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord. Following the basic path of this world in this life is doing what is evil in the eyes of the Lord. Be sure to know that the Lord is God, and our life and breath depend on Him, so we must go all out and act according to His words, even if it seems so incompatible with human reason.

Regarding blessings and curses, Moses wrote this in the book of the law: See, I am setting before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. (Deuteronomy 30:15-16). In Deuteronomy chapters 28-30, he repeatedly repeats: You must choose between life and death, blessing and disaster. You must make a choice between human reason and God's laws and ordinances. You must know for sure that man does not live by anything else, but by God. If you establish such a concept, your life will be a blessed life, and your blessing will extend to your descendants for thousands of generations.

The curse says this: However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the heavens until you are destroyed. The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven. You will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. (Deuteronomy 28:15-25)

So learn to fear the Lord Jehovah and carefully follow all His statutes and ordinances. Become a precious vessel of the Lord God.

Scripture

2Ki 24:1 In the days of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.
2Ki 24:2 And the Lord sent against him bands of Chaldeans, bands of Syrians, bands of Moabites, and bands of the people of Ammon; He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by His servants the prophets.
2Ki 24:3 Surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done,
2Ki 24:4 and also for the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon.
2Ki 24:5 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
2Ki 24:6 So Jehoiakim rested with his fathers. Then Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
2Ki 24:7 And the king of Egypt did not come out of his land anymore, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Brook of Egypt to the River Euphrates.
2Ki 24:8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
2Ki 24:9 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.
2Ki 24:10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
2Ki 24:11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it.
2Ki 24:12 Then Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his leaders, and his officers came out to the king of Babylon; and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
2Ki 24:13 And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said.
2Ki 24:14 Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.
2Ki 24:15 And he carried Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
2Ki 24:16 All the valiant men, seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all who were strong and fit for war, these the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
2Ki 24:17 Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
2Ki 24:18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2Ki 24:19 He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
2Ki 24:20 For because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, till He finally cast them out from His presence.