Today Mayor Ray Nagin said that God sent Hurricanes Katrina and Rita because He’s mad at the US for our involvement in Iraq and at black people for perpetrating violence against one another.

“Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it’s destroyed and put stress on this country. Surely he doesn’t approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We’re not taking care of ourselves. . . Why is black-on-black crime such an issue? Why do our young men hate each other so much that they look their brother in the face and they will take a gun and kill him in cold blood? We as a people need to fix ourselves first.

I think Pastor Jeff Box of Suburban Baptist Church in New Orleans has a sermon for Mayor Nagin:

“During the evacuation,” he said, “I was invited to preach in a church in a Mississippi town. Just before the service, the mayor said to me, ‘Katrina was the judgement of God on New Orleans. It was his judgement on a filthy city, on filthy people, who do filthy things.’ Then he said, ‘Furthermore, God sent Rita to rinse away what He had washed with Katrina.” Jeff said, “I thought to myself, ‘What an idiot.'”

That day, Jeff said, he preached on Luke 13:1-5 where Jesus mentions some well-known disasters and says, “Do you think those people were worse sinners than you for such a fate to befall them? I tell you, no, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” He added, “I looked the mayor right in the eye and said, ‘Do you think this town in Mississippi (he named it but I won’t) is less wicked than New Orleans? God says, ‘No! Unless you repent, you will perish!'”

I got this story from the blog I mentioned a couple of posts ago, that of Joe McKeever, Director of Missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans. Rev. McKeever is writing some good stuff, helping me to understand the situation in New Orleans a little better. In fact, I almost cried while reading about the first Sunday worship services of three NO Baptist churches this past Sunday.

Now if only some other folks would quit trying to decide what message God was sending to whom and get on with living their lives in repentance before God and helping others to do the same . . .