Blinded By the Dust
During the 1930s, the “great plains” of the US
endured a plague of dust storms that ravaged the entire region, especially
Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
April 14, 1935 (known and Black Sunday) became an infamous day because
of the great dust storm that blew through the area. Read below:
“The
wall of blowing sand and dust first blasted into the eastern Oklahoma panhandle
and far northwestern Oklahoma around 4 PM. It raced to the south and southeast
across the main body of Oklahoma that evening, accompanied by heavy blowing
dust, winds of 40 MPH or more, and rapidly falling temperatures. But the worst
conditions were in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, where the rolling mass
raced more toward the south-southwest - accompanied by a massive wall of
blowing dust that resembled a land-based tsunami. Winds in the panhandle
reached upwards of 60 MPH, and for at least a brief time, the blackness was
so complete that one could not see their own hand in front of their face. It
struck Beaver around 4 PM, Boise City around 5:15 PM, and Amarillo at 7:20 PM.”
The
Dust Bowl got its name after Black Sunday, April 14, 1935. More and more dust
storms had been blowing up in the years leading up to that day. In 1932, 14
dust storms were recorded on the Plains. In 1933, there were 38 storms.
By 1934, it was estimated that 100 million acres of farmland had lost all or
most of the topsoil to the winds. By April 1935, there had been weeks of dust
storms, but the cloud that appeared on the horizon that Sunday was the worst.
Winds were clocked at 60 mph. Then it hit.
"The impact is like a shovelful of fine
sand flung against the face," Avis D. Carlson wrote in a New Republic
article. "People caught in their own yards grope for the doorstep. Cars
come to a standstill, for no light in the world can penetrate that swirling
murk... We live with the dust, eat it, sleep with it, watch it strip us of
possessions and the hope of possessions. It is becoming Real."
What
does this have to do with anything today? In 2013, at least three dust storms
passed through several towns in Arizona, and at least one so far in March of
2014. They were not of magnitude the one you just read about that on that
fateful day in April 1935.
These
storms are quite devastating to all living things that are in their paths. One
person reported that it became so dark that a person couldn’t see his hand
right in front of his eyes. Blinded by the airborne dust, one could hardly
breathe. The only thing to do was to find shelter and wait until the storm
passed.
Mankind
is dealing with another kind of blindness today. A wave of spiritual blindness
has swept across the entire world. Very few seem to know from where they came,
and hardly any know where they are going. They think that this current world is
all there is to life, blinded by lack of spiritual knowledge… knowing nothing
of Jesus!!!
2 Corinthians 4:4 (New King James Bible)
In
whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image
of God, should shine unto them.
The Message Bible (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
3-4 If
our Message is obscure to anyone, it’s not because we’re holding back in any
way. No, it’s because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and
refuse to give it serious attention. All they have eyes for is the fashionable god
of darkness. They think he can give them what they want, and that they
won’t have to bother believing a Truth they can’t see. They’re stone-blind
to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who
gives us the best picture of God we’ll ever get.
Our ancient adversary (the God of this
world) is stirring up dust storms of lies, deceit, and “corruption” that are
moving around the world. Man has become drunk with power and control,
instead of serving the people they are seeking to control the riches of the
nations, all under the guise of making everyone equal, socially and legally.
They disrupt the nation by bringing false allegations against one group, so
that another group (race or ethnic, healthcare, economic) will be dissatisfied.
Lawlessness is in the government leadership (where laws and regulations are
created and administered). People are taking sides and unrest is prevalent
across the nation and around the world. While some seek power and control, the
majority are left in confusion and strife. What better way to control a people
than to divide and conquer, reducing or destroying any opportunity for unity of
common good among the people. Turmoil is everywhere, yet people refuse to turn
to God their creator. Even some Christians are being drawn into the confusion.
They, we (I include myself), get caught up in worldly things, when it is so
obvious that it is the work of the ancient adversary of God. We wind up filling
our minds with thoughts that are not of God, as we lend our minds to the
opposite of the mind of Christ. Blinded by the dust of illusions of creating
our own destinies… easy prey for the devil, who comes to steal, kill, and
destroy.
“There
are some Christians that I think, sometimes they have been sprinkled with fear,
rolled in doubt, stuffed with unbelief, and insulated to the WORD OF GOD. They
will believe everything but the Word of God. Some will swallow the enemy’s biggest
lie, but won’t believe God’s simplest truth…” Capps, Charles (2012-03-13). The
Tongue, A Creative Force
Proverbs 4
20 My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my
sayings.21 Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in
the center of your heart.
22 For
they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their
flesh.
23 Keep
and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you
guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.
24 Put away from you false and dishonest speech, and
willful and contrary talk put far from you.
Are you going to seek shelter under the
wings of God Almighty, or fall prey to the adversary?
