The Word “natural” is commonly used in relation to “nature.” Nature is that which exists or takes place of its own accord, rain and sunshine being two well-known examples. “Everyone knows” that “nature,” commonly known as “it,” does whatever “it” wants to do. For example, “IT will rain when IT wants to rain” or something to that effect is commonly heard relative to the weather. However, in Matthew 5:45 Jesus Christ makes the following statement relative to what “everyone knows: “… for He (God) MAKES His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and SENDS rain on the just(tified) and the unjust(ified).”

Another “truth” that “everyone knows” is that man has no control over nature. This is another case in which what “everyone knows” and what God says in His Holy Bible are exact opposites. In Mark 4:36-41 we find Jesus and disciples caught in a storm while on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was asleep when the storm suddenly strikes, as storms often do on that body of water. Gripped with fear, the disciples awaken Him and inform Him that they are all about to drown. He calmly stills the storm. Then He does something that undoubtedly shocks them almost as much as His control over the storm–HE SCOLDES THEM FOR NOT DOING WHAT HE HAD JUST DONE–CONTROL NATURE (Mk. 4:36-41). JESUS EXPECTED THE DISCIPLES TO STILL THE STORM AND NOT TO DEPEND ON HIM. Was He being unreasonable? Let His Words answer the question.

What religious man does not understand is that the Word (Who became Jesus of Nazareth–Jn. 1:1-4,14) has given His true saints the same power He had as a man. Read Genesis 1:26,28. Obedient believers have the same power and dominion over the earth, everything on it, under it and above it as did Adam before his sin. Note that Jesus is called the “last (second) Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45,47). Relative to mankind, God is no respecter of persons (Rom. 2:11). He also does not change. I know from personal experience that this is true for I have personally controlled the weather in a specific location by causing “IT” to rain, and rain hard, in an area where a drought was in full force and was projected to continue for the unforeseeable future. As the Lord said: “All things are possible to him who believes” (Mat. 19:26). However, belief (faith) must be accompanied by “works” in order for John 14:12 to be in effect. Read that verse now. Then read what the Apostle James wrote about faith in 2:10,14,17,18,20,24,26. The faith–works picture should be clear. The “works” necessary to make one’s faith come to fruition is summed up in four words: OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S LAW. FAITH WITHOUT OBEDIENCE IS LIKE A TREE WITHOUT ROOTS–DEAD.

The purpose of my personal story was to correct what “everyone knows” relative to man’s control over “nature.” What this series will prove Scripturally is that, either directly or indirectly, either positively or negatively, whether he means to or not– MAN CONTROLS NATURE BECAUSE GOD HAS DESIGNED NATURE TO BE UNDER MAN’S CONTROL (remember Genesis 1:26,28). God does not change, neither does His will. Man, including churchman, is at the mercy of what is called “nature” because he does not know, believe and obey God’s Holy Word. Therefore nature is something that supposedly “happens to” man. Ungodly man simply has to take whatever “nature” wishes to do TO him or, when God is being merciful, FOR him. We see this in news coverage where a tornado has devastated an area and people wearing crosses and quoting Scripture are thanking God for saving their lives though everything they own has been destroyed. True saints know that it was God Who sent the tornado and why–sin. Read Who are God’s People? and Would God Do That? Key words–People and Would respectively. This brings us to the focus of this series–“natural disasters” and what God said about them in His Holy Bible. Read Second Chronicles 7:13-15. Note that it is God who caused the drought. Notice also upon whom He sent the drought, and why, and what they must do to cause Him to hear their prayers and heal their land. This passage is ultimately informative relative to “natural” disasters, their cause, etc.

As is almost always the case when God’s Word is quoted as it is written, the overwhelming majority of readers or listeners reject what is in the very Book they say proves that they are “saved.” The irony is that the God they “know” has saved them is the same God they say lied about the part man plays in the way “mother nature” conducts herself. Let us now delve into the “fine print” of God’s Word where we will find some Truths that have remained undiscovered for many centuries. Church people, their eyes blinded and ears plugged by Satan, have remained ignorant of what you are about to read for thousands of years.

The Israelites of old not only rejected God’s Word, but persecuted those who brought it to them. Nothing has changed as their spiritual descendants (the church) follow in their spiritual footsteps. I trust that you will study the references I provide which will prove that it is man, not God, and certainly not “mother nature” who determines the weather. It is true that God is the One Who sends sunshine and rain, tornados and hurricanes, droughts, floods and perfect weather, earthquakes, etc. BUT IT IS MAN WHO CAUSES GOD TO DO WHAT HE DOES RELATIVE TO NATURE. IN THE VAST MAJORITY OF CASES, IT IS MAN’S OBEDIENCE OR DISOBEDIENCE TO GOD’S LAW THAT PROMPTS GOD TO EITHER BLESS OR CURSE HIM. THIS IS THE LESSON THIS SERIES IS DESIGNED TO TEACH.

We will begin this study with a familiar story from the Old Testament which features the Prophet Elijah, Israelite King Ahab, Queen Jezebel, the prophets of Baal and a showdown on Mount Carmel. A little background is in order. In this episode we find Israelite King Ahab accusing Elijah of causing the three-year-long drought that is destroying the nation of Israel. We pick up the story in First Kings 17 where God is speaking to Elijah about the drought and its cause. Here we find God sending the Prophet Elijah to speak to Ahab, the King of Israel, to tell him that He (God) would send rain on the devastated land (18:2). When they meet, the king accuses Elijah of causing the drought. But Elijah tells Ahab that it is because of the king’s sins and the sins of the people of Israel that drought is ravaging their land. Elijah informs Ahab that the nation of Israel is being punished because the people had “… forsaken the commandments of the Lord” and, in doing so, had “followed (embraced and obeyed) Baal” the god of Ahab’s heathen wife, Jezebel.

In the following posting we will pick up with First Kings 18:19. I will leave you with this Truth: GOD WANTS ONLY THE BEST FOR THOSE WHO SEEK HIM AND PROVE THEIR LOVE FOR HIM BY OBEYING HIS TEN COMMANDMENT LAW (read John 14:15,14; 15:10/ 1 Jn. 2:5). For proof of God’s cause and effect law, read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. Notice His responses to obedience and disobedience. God does not change. His Law still holds true. In it He reveals what He will do FOR those who obey Him and what He will do TO those who do not. The lesson is there for the learning. I will leave you with this oft-proven Biblical Truth: “The curse without a cause does not come” (Prov. 26:2). Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 prove this beyond a doubt. L.J.