My daughter, Joy and I booked a room in a newly built hotel in Georgia, so we could stay for a family function.  After our first night there, we were enjoying breakfast in the hotel restaurant when an ear-piercing announcement blared out over the loudspeaker:

It was disconcerting to hear this deafening, repetitive message.    The guests began running out of their rooms.  Many had just been awakened by the urgent automated alert, and groggily headed for the nearest exits.  Others ignored the warning, and some who were having breakfast just kept eating.

In less than 10 minutes the fire engines arrived, and the firefighters dressed in full fire gear began to search the upper and lower floors. Finally, they inspected the kitchen and dining room.  It was only after they were confident there was no fire, that the deafening alarm message was silenced.  After the firefighters left the building, the guests who had run outdoors began to return.

Because the hotel was so new, I thought perhaps the alarm system had malfunctioned. I walked to the reception desk and asked the concierge, “Is this emergency for real, or is it a malfunction in the warning system?”

“It’s a malfunction,” she admitted.

During the turmoil of that incident, both Joy and I had been feeling calm.  Later, as I reflected on the situation, the thought came to my mind that the Old Testament prophet, Joel had exhorted the priests of Israel to sound the alarm, because God was about to render righteous judgement upon their nation.

“Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill.  Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming.  It is close at hand – a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.  Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come.  Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes.  Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste – nothing escapes them.”  Joel 2:1-3 (NIV).  In this story, the judgement came in the form of a sky-darkening swarm of locusts.

Does this impending doom sound familiar?  God has sounded alarms in the United States. Prophetic voices are coming from the churches, but few are listening.  Many people think that these truths are false alarms, or a malfunction of their own perception. Here in America and worldwide, we are seeing devastating wildfires, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, cataclysmic mudslides, hurricanes, tornadoes, famines, droughts, and daunting plagues of sickness.  These calamities are becoming more frequent and more intense. (See Matthew chapter 24).

The mainstream news purports that the cause of these disasters is climate change.  It seems beyond the commentators’ understanding that these occurrences might be judgmental warning alarms from God. As America abandons its faith in God and His Word, He is warning us to return to the roots of our Judeo-Christian principles, so that we can once again be a blessed nation.

Wake up America! It is time to leave the glitter and deceptions of the world behind. The calls to repentance have been given, and the alarms have sounded.  Run to the only place where there is safety and peace; that is to the One true God who created the universe.  We can choose to live in fear or seek Jesus, who is called The Prince of Peace.  Accept His tranquility. Choose this day whom you will serve.  As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Photo by Jill Christensen