From My Perspective - - -

From a secular perspective, it is safe to say that all of us have had some experience with a thunder and lightning storm… At nighttime – a  brilliant light is seen during a thunderstorm;  A jagged beam of bright and brilliant light flashes in the dark sky – frightening some and startling others; It appears suddenly and lasts but a fraction of a moment; The leader stroke reaches the ground in about 20 milliseconds; the return stroke reaches (or returns to) the cloud in about 70 microseconds…Based upon the knowledge one has regarding lightning – in our homes, we utilize SURGE PROTECTORS - - - WHY DO WE DO THAT? We use Surge Protectors because (a) We know there can be damage caused by a bolt of lightning; and (b) We want to safeguard costly electronics, such as computers, television sets,  etc.

In 2000, Dr. Ronald B. Standler wrote an essay regarding Damage Caused By Lightning and summarized:  “Lightning causes damage to buildings and equipment in three different ways. (1) There can be damage as a result of a direct lightning strike. Such damage includes damage to roofing materials, structures such as chimneys, heating or air conditioning units located on the roof or exterior of a building, or fires caused by lightning igniting combustible material, such as wood-frame buildings or flammable liquids or vapors. (2) Part of the lightning current can be carried inside a building by electric power, telephone, analog or digital data lines (e.g., closed circuit television cameras, sensors in an industrial plant, etc.). This direct injection of lightning current inside a building can cause immense damage to electrical – and especially electronic – circuits and equipment. (3) The electromagnetic fields from the current in a lightning stroke can induce currents and voltage in wire and cables inside a building. Such surge currents are typically less intense than direct injection of current, but can easily vaporize integrated circuits in computers, modems, electronic control circuits…Electronic equipment is typically designed to operate in a well-controlled electrical environment.

From a spiritual perspective, Isaiah 59:1-10 contains these thoughts regarding the darkness that prevails in our world: “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness. No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity…Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace. Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men.” What a picture! Men groping and stumbling in the darkness…grasping for a wall. How great is that darkness and how deceptive it has become. How greatly it surrounds and imprisons one!

In Psalm 77:18, The Psalmist observed and marveled when contemplating a display of God’s power, “…Your lightning lighted up the world; the earth trembled and shook…” In Luke 17:22-24, Jesus gives this word of instruction to His disciples regarding the power and glory at the time of His second coming: “…The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.And they will say to you, Look, there! or Look, here! Do not go out or follow them.For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.”  In John 1 at the announcement regarding His first coming, the descriptive words were: “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”  It is a sad fact that the world prefers darkness and alternative religious systems rather than the Gospel in Jesus Christ. However, even in the “Church” where the message of the True Light is to be proclaimed, there are those who continue to stumble in the darkness – groping for a wall like a blind person – completely lost and unaware. Before it is too late, come to The Light – Jesus Christ and follow Him only and always.  Consider these things with me!