By Pastor Carmen Rizzo

When the devastating tsunamis that struck the Indian Ocean rim occurred, they impacted primarily three types of people:

1. Those who were completely unaware of the very subtle changes that had begun for some minutes before the devastating waves came.


2. Those who witnessed the subtle changes that announced that something big was coming, but ignored what they were seeing or did not investigate what those subtle changes might be indicating.


3. Those who witnessed the subtle changes knew what they were pointing to and immediately responded by seeking higher ground.

I have spent hours reading and listening to the accounts of those who lived through that horrifying event, and what they witnessed, before during and after the waves hit.

In our time, in the Church, there is a fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith that has been completely disregarded except for occasional lip service in sanctified conversation and theology survey classes. This doctrine was in times past considered as important as any other of the great doctrines of Christianity. The Puritans wrote massive and numerous volumes on the doctrine of “Providence.” This doctrine like the others requires hundreds of hours of study to begin the process of unlocking its implication for our world and the child of God. In the 18th century with the rise of Enlightenment thought, the very subtle shift from a cosmological framework where providence was the guiding and ordering force of not only human life and events, but those of nature and the environment around us began its gradual shift. It’s very important here to understand the ebb and flows that occur during any paradigm shift. The easiest way for me to communicate what and how a paradigm shift occurs is by analogy. Imagine if you will a whirl pool of water circulating in a counter clockwise rotation. This happens because all of the surrounding factors and forces both facilitate this movement and work towards making this counterclockwise movement of water a fairly stable structure. Now imagine a hydraulic engineer being tasked with reversing the flow of the whirlpool without disrupting its motion and flow. The only way that he can accomplish this without at some point bringing the entire flow of water to a complete stop, is by the gradual introduction of numerous counter-currents. This introduces a gradual and increasing tension on the flow of water that eventually reaches a point of critical mass at which time in an instant the flow of water is reversed.



Now, imagine our culture as being that whirlpool. Culture is both ubiquitous, it’s all around us and its impact upon our life and ideology is such that immersion in it is quite nearly inescapable. As the culture flows, so too does everything that is encased in its flow and movement. Now imagine a ‘Social Engineer’ who has been tasked with reversing the flow of this culture without disrupting its motion and flow. The way he would approach this task is by using the same methodology as the hydraulic engineer. The gradual introduction of numerous counter currents.

From a historical perspective, this is indeed what has occurred over the last 200 years. One of the counter currents that was introduced as a result of Enlightment thought to shift the flow of culture, which up to that point was predominately dominated by Judeo-Christian cosmological thought, was the counter current of “Chance” in opposition to the current of “Providence.”

Now imagine a marine microbe living in the whirl pool of water described above. The impact of the flow of water upon the microbe is ubiquitous because it is completely immersed in the water and thus is at the mercy of the waters movement and flow. This is exactly the impact that culture has upon all of us. We are totally immersed in it and thus, we are subject at all times to its movement and flow.Now imagine a marine microbe living in the whirl pool of water described above. The impact of the flow of water upon the microbe is ubiquitous because it is completely immersed in the water and thus is at the mercy of the waters movement and flow. This is exactly the impact that culture has upon all of us. We are totally immersed in it and thus, we are subject at all times to its movement and flow.

The paradigm shift that began with the Enlightment era, reached the point of critical mass around the close of the 19th century. Social and Church historians sometimes refer to this shift as the “Great Reversal.” Due to the gradual introduction of numerous counter-cultural thought, the cultural flow reversed and moved from a Judeo-Christian flow, to that of a Secular-Neo-Pagan flow.

One of the most devastating results for the Church has been the loss of both the doctrine and understanding of “Providence.” Since the Church is “immersed” in the culture, it is subject to the ubiquitous force of the culture. While, we know that this should not have occurred, those who have studied the doctrines of Providence, know that it had to occur and was ordered to this end by providence. The result has carried with it two primary effects upon the Church:

1. Because the Church has been immersed in the whirlpool of culture, it has become powerless to work against the flow of the “Great Reversal.” Indeed, it has become an exact mirror image of the culture at large, though with a “sanctimonious mask’ to ease the ‘Angst” of those who are caught in its flow, yet have this inward anxiety that all is not as it should be.


2. A major revelatory path to the true child of God has been almost completely sealed. That revelatory path is “providence’.

As providence directs all things, including the forces of nature, we can learn something about God’s leading and direction from observing the effects of providence upon these forces.

This brings me back full circle to the events that occurred in 2004 with the tsunamis that hit the Indian Ocean rim nations. By studying those events coupled with an understanding of how providence works, we can gain knowledge of how people will react to the tsunami that is coming. When it finally reaches our ideological, spiritual shores, all who are caught in its path will be swept away. It will be too late then to take any remedial action.

As I stated in the beginning of this essay, the major factors of survival in the tsunami of 2004 played themselves out along three separate pathways which are illuminated to us by the actions, inactions, perceptions, or lack of perception among the three types of people groups that were in the direct path of the sweeping waves. They all had been exposed to the data that was pointing to an unusual event as being immanent. Their response, lack thereof was directly proportional to the advance body of knowledge that they did or did not possess to correctly interpret the data that was presenting itself prior to the arrival of the sweeping waves. The data that was presenting itself to those involved occurred along the lines of unusual wildlife activity prior to the arrival of the sweeping waves and the unusual degree of shoreline recession prior to the arrival of the sweeping waves.

1. Those who were completely unaware of the very subtle changes that had begun for some minutes before the devastating waves came. They were so engaged in their activities and pursuits so as to not notice the changes that were taking place around them. They may or may not have possessed the prior knowledge to correctly interpret the data that was presenting itself to them. Whether they did or did not does not really matter, what killed them was the lack of situational awareness. They were so involved in their pursuits and activities that they did not notice the changes occurring all around them. When they finally saw the wave approaching, in most cases, it was too late to do anything about it.


2. Those who witnessed the subtle changes that announced that something big was coming, but ignored what they were seeing or did not investigate what those subtle changes might be indicating. This group clearly saw the data, but did not know how to interpret it. They saw the changes, but did not have the prior knowledge to correctly interpret the data that was presenting itself. Thus what killed this group of people was lack of knowledge, not lack of situational awareness. They were not in prior possession of the tools they needed to correctly interpret the changes that they were witnessing. When they saw the approach of the sweeping waves, in most cases it was too late to do anything about it.


3. Those who witnessed the subtle changes knew what they were pointing to and immediately responded by seeking higher ground. The actions of this group are best represented by the actions of a young girl who was on one of the beaches on that day. She noticed the recession of water and the unusual activity of wildlife and immediately warned her parents that they needed to get off the beach immediately and seek higher ground. She had learned in school recently that the unusual data that was presenting itself to her, was an indication that a “tidal wave’ was coming. Situational awareness, coupled with prior knowledge to correctly interpret the data that was presenting itself, saved her life and the life of many others. By the time they saw the wave approaching, they were already on higher ground and thus survived.

This is how “providence’ instructs those who take the time to sit at her feet. What lessons, if any can we learn from observation of that catastrophic event which did not occur by chance, but by the decree and permission of God?

The Scriptures teach us that a catastrophic tsunami of a different kind is approaching the shores of our history and civilization. They warn us of the approach and give us the correct tools to interpret the data that is presenting itself to us. The warning signs very clearly began to manifest themselves at the close of the 19th century. The sweeping wave is just beyond the horizon of our view. Sadly the greatest tragedy is that those in the Church, not society at large were directly prefigured and represented by the three types of people groups on the shores of the Indian Ocean on that day in 2004.I won’t go any further than this in this essay, other than to say that this too, the coming sweeping waves and the response or lack thereof in the Church, is also an action of “providence” and there are lessons and tools for the child of God who learns to practice situational awareness, and takes the time to acquire the knowledge that will enable them to correctly interpret the data that is now clearly presenting itself.

If you care to, take the time to study the Scriptures below and they will give you instruction on how to survive the coming wave.

(Hosea 4:1-6) 1 Hear the word of the LORD, You children of Israel, For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: "There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land. 2 By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed. 3 Therefore the land will mourn; And everyone who dwells there will waste away With the beasts of the field And the birds of the air; Even the fish of the sea will be taken away. 4 "Now let no man contend, or rebuke another; For your people are like those who contend with the priest. 5 Therefore you shall stumble in the day; The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; And I will destroy your mother. 6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

(2 Timothy 4:1-4) 1 I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

(Revelation 22:8-13) 8 Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. 9 Then he said to me, "See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God." 10 And he said to me, "Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. 11 "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still." 12 " And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. 13 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last."

(1 Thessalonians 5:1-6) 1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.

God Bless
Pastor Rizzo