On January 13 at 8:07 a.m., the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency triggered the following alert, “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” Everyone in the state of Hawaii immediately contemplated the ultimate statistic. Over 1.4 million islanders of the Aloha State were confronted with the fact that 10 out of 10 people die. One man even suffered a heart attack because of the fear it caused.
When the ballistic missile known as God’s judgment reigns down, the only safe place will be the shelter of salvation built by the works of Jesus Christ.
Thankfully, for everyone in Hawaii, this alert was recalled minutes later as a false alarm. But was it really a false alarm? No. Not at all.
The truth is, there is a “ballistic missile” called God’s judgment with every, single human being in its crosshairs. And that “missile” will never miss and always hit the target (Hebrews 9:27). The question is, “Are you ready for impact?”
When the ballistic missile known as God’s judgment reigns down, the only safe place will be the shelter of salvation built by the works of Jesus Christ. Only those who gather in the shelter of Jesus Christ will survive. For those who refuse to seek that shelter, the fallout will be much worse than just radiation exposure or even being pulverized.
How could it be worse? Simple. The pain and suffering of such an event would eventually be relieved by death. At that point, though the person would cease to exist, the pain and suffering would be over. Yet, such an event cannot reach a part of us that lives forever – the soul. And that is why it will be worse for those who did not make it into the shelter of Christ Jesus.
Sadly, this event also demonstrated man’s nature towards sin. I’ve lost count the times I’ve heard people in desperate situations cry out, “Oh God if you can just help me through this…… I promise I’ll…..” Yet, when the threat or situation is over, they return to their sinful lifestyles until the next time. Fox News reported that Pornhub saw a -77% decrease in web traffic for a typical Saturday among Hawaiians when the alert went out. Yet after the alert was found to be false, Pornhub’s pageviews surged to over a +48% increase above typical levels.
What an opportunity to springboard into Gospel conversations! Think about it. If a text message in less than 100 characters can bring our mortality before our very eyes in full HD, how much more of a case could you make with someone in person for 5 minutes?
Soli Deo Gloria!
JS
