[Darris McNeely] As we're doing this BT Daily right now, a major storm system is barreling down upon the eastern corridor, the northeast corridor of the United States. Hurricane Sandy is packing winds of up to 85 mph and is basically shutting down everything from Philadelphia to New York to Boston, the entire northeast corridor of the United States. A major storm system who's impact upon the economy, even the political situation in America is yet to be told, not to speak of the impact upon lives and the economy of those areas.

I was looking at a blog post off of the web just this morning and this one is off of Forbes magazine—7 year storm cycle, Isaac, Katrina and Hurricane Sandy and the perfect storm. It said, "Earlier this year," just read the first paragraph, "Hurricane Isaac hit New Orleans exactly seven years to the day that Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005. Now Hurricane Sandy will slam the east coast of the United States 21 years, three cycles of seven years, to the day of the anniversary of the perfect storm in 1991." The article goes on ask, "Is that two major coincidences in one year? What are the chances that two major storms land exactly on the anniversary of two prior epic storms and disrupt U.S. politics in a presidential election year?" So they ask the question, "What are the chances? Is this a coincidence?" Perhaps it isn't just a coincidence because we are witnessing something of an enormous magnitude at a very critical period in American and world conditions.

[Steve Myers] I think we discount things if we just say it's just coincidence and then not think about it anymore. Can we really relegate it to that or should we step back and say, you know, maybe there's more to this? You know, is it possible that God is getting our attention this way? Certainly we want to pray for those that are in the path of this storm. Certainly we want to pray that that storm would take a right turn and go out into the ocean and the damage would be minimal. But at the same time as we're being prepared for this storm, we should also remember there may be spiritual implications that are involved as well and not just to relegate it as just pure chance.

[Darris McNeely] Students of Bible prophecy certainly are going to look at this and draw certain conclusions. Let's just go to an example and a statement that Jesus made in His time to His generation of people when He made a very perfect point that I think applies to us at a time like this with this major hurricane coming up or any other type of natural catastrophe upon our peoples. He said, "Whenever," as He was speaking to the multitudes in Luke 12:54, "Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say a shower is coming and so it is. When you see the south wind blow, you say there will be hot weather and there is." Then He said, "Hypocrites," to the group. "You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?" And so what Jesus said to the Jews and to His audience in the first century I think does apply to us today. We can discern a major hurricane well in advance and make preparations to save lives, but can we really understand and discern perhaps the spiritual implications that are behind this that there is a God and that there is a time perhaps of judgment upon our peoples for the way we have been living our lives and the moral uncertainty of our times. And it is coming, Steve, at a time just a week prior to this very significant national election in the United States.

[Steve Myers] And so I think we should take that into consideration. Certainly look at the signs of the times that we live in. Are we living in a bigger storm than we might want to admit? Is it something that we should check our personal lives with and make sure they're aligning with the principles of God? And I think Psalms 18 comes into play and it should be a basis for where we look at life. And it says here, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer" (Psalm 18:2). So as we look for a deliverer at this time of this massive storm, let's not just take refuge in our storm shelters, but let's make sure that we really put our faith and our trust and our hope in the Rock, our God, who can truly save us.

[Darris McNeely] I don't think that it is just a coincidence and I think that is it important that we go to the words of these verses, from Christ's words and the Psalms, and we draw some spiritual conclusions that we should be able to discern the times in which we are living and come closer to the Kingdom of God and examine our own lives in regard to this because the world that we do live in can be very, very fragile when the forces of nature are stirred as they are at this time.

[Steve Myers] That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.