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Surge Summary: A rainbow – the symbol of God’s covenant faithfulness – makes a remarkable appearance at the site of an inconceivable tragedy. It brought a note of hope and consolation to a grieving community, reminding the rest of us what that phenomenon originally represented – before it was hijacked by the modern LGBTQ crusade.
by Steve Pauwels
One popular school of theology styles itself “sacramental”, emphasizing the view that creation, nature, history, etc. can become means by which God expresses Himself to humankind. It speaks of “finding the grace of God in the physical world.” Others might prefer the term “prophetic”, meaning God often providentially reveals truth through what might otherwise be deemed unassuming or accidental occurrences. (Paul the Apostle, jotting down his Holy-Spirt-inspired thoughts in Romans chapter one, would likely agree.)
Well, well … seems the Creator has freshly confirmed this perspective, giving those with eyes to see a sublime example on the heels of Nashville, TN’s recent, horrific mass-shooting.
Dave Barnes at his Instagram account summarizes:
You can’t make this stuff up, … Tonight is the first time the Covenant school family has gotten together for chapel since three Mondays ago. AT Covenant, no less. Right as we were about to start, this rainbow appeared. … [R]ight as we were beginning our first chapel back as the Covenant School Community and also back at Covenant Church, this rainbow came out of NOWHERE. … It was SO bright and SO intense and seemed to last forever. … It was like God was yelling from heaven – “I see you! I have not forgotten you!”
Indeed, spectators were treated to a mesmerizing vista; a luminous, unbroken arc yawning from one side of the horizon to the other. Someone could almost imagine he was catching a glimpse of not just another rainbow, but ontological “rainbow”; that from which all others are patterned.
In a video clip of the moment posted on Barnes’ Facebook page, one onlooker can be heard marveling, “I’ve never seen a rainbow like this one.”
For those not conversant with the biblical backstory which makes this episode especially significant, long before the image of the rainbow was transmogrified into a totem for modern proponents of sexual perversion and gender addle-headedness, God Himself painted it across the heavens as a splendiferous seal of something much more majestic.
Following the worldwide flood which unleashed God’s wrath on sin-curdled terra firma — and, in the mix, brought creation an opportunity for a new beginning — He pledged to Noah that never again would all life be wiped out by a planet-engulfing deluge. From Genesis 9:11-15 (NKJV):
I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.
This ancient divine communiqué — and the kaleidoscopic phenomenon accompanying it — remain among the most notable pledges from God to mortal man recorded in the Scriptures.
A bracingly timely reminder of it turned up — sovereignly — at the very spot where, three weeks ago, a mentally disturbed transgender individual invaded a private Christian school, mercilessly wreaking violent havoc (three murdered children, three murdered staff members), before being cut down herself by blessedly quick-responding and fast-thinking police officers.
The details mustn’t be overlooked: The name of the ambushed educational institution? The Covenant School. It’s an outreach of …? Covenant Presbyterian Church. And, in case the connection is still eluding anyone, what made a nearly theatrical appearance as the grieving school/church community assembled for the first chapel service convened since the March 27 atrocity? A biblically stamped, millennia-old symbol of God’s covenant with Noah and the centuries of posterity following.
Anybody picking up a common theme in this rather startling flow of circumstances?
The twenty-first century’s Bible-cherishing lot has run into a bit of a pickle the last two or three decades: How to seize back the holy relevance of the rainbow from a slim minority of the populace which has not only co-opted it, but done so to hype their decidedly anti-scriptural lifestyle and worldview? In popular culture nowadays, to spy a multi-colored bow or any permutation of same anywhere is to assume that place or group is all-in on the LGBTQ agenda; sanitizing same-sex confusion and gender anarchy. Whatever its doctrinal convictions, any church or Christian organization brandishing a rainbow image in any capacity risks being presumed a … ahem … “welcoming” (i.e., pro-homosexual, pro-transgender) outfit.
Looks like, a few days ago, the One Who created heaven, earth, human beings, sacred sexuality and true marriage said: Phooey on all that “woke” gibberish. The rainbow was My idea and I want it back … for My purposes … Comforting My covenant people who are mourning an incomprehensible loss.
American authorities and mainstream media seem suspiciously reticent about divulging certain specifics regarding the catastrophically disordered young woman who perpetrated this homicidal outrage. Suffice it to say, considering the shooter’s reported status as a transgender person it’s quite possible she was a big fan of the rainbow — at least as misconstrued by the LGBTQ+ set.
How bittersweetly ironic, then — and how appropriate! — that the God worshipped by her victims’ loved ones should settle on that polychromatic emblem to reassure them — and all of us — His eye is fixed on those who cling to Him; His presence is near to succor them; in times joyful and grievous.
Some religion-allergic skeptics might scoff, Ha! It’s merely an inspirationally convenient coincidence! — which reminds me of the musings of a pair or prominent clergy: Writing several years ago, Bishop Robert Barron cited John Paul II’s reflection that “there are no coincidences, only aspects of God’s providence that we have not yet fully understood.”
Two generations before that, another cleric piquantly retorted to pessimists thusly, ” ‘When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don’t, they don’t.” (William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury).
One thing I can guarantee is folks involved with The Covenant School and/or Covenant Presbyterian Church have been praying frequently and urgently these days. So, contra John Paul II’s caution, when that startling heavenly display broke out at their gathering last week, I doubt they had any difficulty at all understanding precisely what was going on.
(View video here: https://fb.watch/jWCSmZ7mn2/)
The views here are those of the author and not necessarily Daily Surge.
Images: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrBF_joOOMo/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=a7006221-6aff-4b64-9bea-b18b8ff5f099
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