Who am I?
Have you ever wondered about the wrath of God? What makes God angry?
Well, first we will look at the wrath of me, Belle.
I was reading Huffington Post last night and read an article about Pharmaceutical companies that made me so angry I could understand God's anger at sin.
The article began with Martin Shkreli, and how he has been arrested for conning wealthy investors. He was CEO of a drug company; they never said which one, which seems fishy to me. Here are just a few examples from the article.
"Shkreli took over a company with the rights to a 62-year-old drug used to treattoxoplasmosis, a devastating parasitic infection that can cause brain damage in babies and people with AIDS. He then promptly raised its price from $13.50 to $750 a pill.
Last month, Shkreli got control of a company with rights to a cheap drug used for decades to treat Chagas' disease in Latin America. His aim was to get the drug approved in the United States and charge tens of thousands of dollars for a course of treatment.
And the prices of new drugs are sky-high. Pfizer's new one to treat advanced breast cancer costs $9,850 a month.
... Big Pharma has wielded its political influence to avoid cost controls, to ban Medicare from using its bargaining clout to negotiate lower prices, and to allow drug companies to pay the makers of generic drugs to delay their cheaper versions."
You can read this article at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/of-rotten-apples-and-rott_b_8861526.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
When I finished reading, I was full of anger and pictured Jesus turning over the money tables of these corporations.
In Canada, the government tries to keep drug costs down, but guess what happened recently? My husband got an infection. He already has carcinoid syndrome, a rare form of cancer, so the doctors wanted to treat him with this special antibiotic. Well, there was none available. None available? I didn't understand that.
Then my mother needed another vial of Vitamin B12 because she has pernicious anemia. She said they didn't have any at her drug store. I was surprised, so I called around and yes, there was a shortage. I finally found a store that had two vials left so I got there as soon as possible and bought one.
When I got home, I was curious; why was there a shortage of drugs in this first-world country? I went online and found out the drug companies were slowing production. They wanted longer patent times and more money. They didn't care if people died, became sicker, had pain - nothing. All they cared about was money. Money, so they could buy a bigger house, a fancier car and go on vacations to Europe. Money, so they could buy the finest clothes, the best food and pay the nanny. Money, so their kids could go to the best schools, have the latest in technological gadgets and drive their own cars.
Remember Enron? I heard a tape of two executives of that company laughing about Grannies in California who wouldn't be able to pay their electric bills. I wish Jesus had marched into Enron offices with a whip of cords.
These people had better enjoy their evil money now, because people who do these things for money will not be going to heaven. They wouldn't enjoy it there anyway because there is no money there. Everyone is equal there; there is love all around and through every being in heaven. Life there is selfless instead of selfish.
Who is God?
Well, he is someone who hates this kind of sin more than I do. His wrath is against sin why? Because sin always hurts people. Always. God does not want us to hurt people. Ever. We can't be that good though without God in us, so if you want to be a better person you have to ask God to come into your life and give you a new heart.
And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’
“But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.
“ ‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’ ” Zechariah 7:8-14
The wrath of God is him leaving us to our own devices and reaping the cost.
So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. Romans 1:24
But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars.
Acts 7:42
“But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. Psalm 81:12
Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the LORD now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture? Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone. Hosea 4:17
God doesn't want to let people go, but he must accept people's decision not to follow him. He works hard and for years on people's hearts, but there comes a day when there is no use in it and he turns away in sadness.
"But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgement will be revealed. God "will repay each person according to what they have done." Romans 2:6
God won't punish people by keeping them alive forever in a place called "Hell." No, each person will be punished according to what they have done in this life. Jesus said, "And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn't prepared and doesn't carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly."
Luke 12:48
After punishment is an unconscious death lasting forever. They will be as if they had never been. "The LORD watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy." Psalm 145:20
This gives God no pleasure, it is something he must do to preserve the universe; to make the universe finally free from sin and evil.
"For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.” Ezekiel 18:32
