WARNING

WARNING

The warning signs are located in Big Cabin, Oklahoma just off the I-44 turnpike. The signs are large and obvious, warning that ahead is a speed trap. There is not one sign but instead a number of them. The words “SPEED TRAP AHEAD” are emblazoned in red on the sides of truck containers. The warnings are bold, persistence and obvious and have been there for years.

As we have passed through the area, our family has speculated on why these signs were there. Were they put up by truckers who got tired of the speed trap and finally decided that enough was enough and made the warnings to teach the town a lesson.

Alternatively, perhaps the signs were put up by the town itself in order to slow down the speeders. The signs might be a cheaper alternative to patrolling the township and keeping the speeding down. Besides, the signs which are located on semi-truck bodies must be sitting on someone’s property. Who owns the property involved and do they lease the use of the property to those who put out the warnings.

In all of our discussions regarding these warning signs, our family has not assumed that the signs somehow evolved. We are relatively certain that that there is some type of creative intelligence involved. Now the statements in this paragraph may appear absurd; but really some of our nation’s courts might find that our view of creative intelligence to be outrageous. Our family, on the other hand, believe that there is somehow “creative intelligence” behind the signs and that there is meaning in them. This Creative Intelligence, be it truckers, the City, or its inhabitants, are trying to communicate with us.

That communication in this instance is direct, obvious and even bold. The issue is whether we get the message or choose it ignore it.

From time to time God tries to get the attention of all of us. He sent prophet after prophet to warn Israel of destruction if they continued to follow idols and do evil.

Jeremiah 11:7, 8 says:

For I solemnly warned your fathers in the day that I brought them up from the land of Egypt, even to this day, warning persistently, saying “Listen to my voice.”

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked, each one, in the stubbornness of his evil heart; therefore I brought on them all of the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.

Obviously, the failure to heed warnings or even admit that they exist is not a uniquely Jewish problem. It is the nature of all men and women to be hard of hearing when it comes to warnings.

We become hard of hearing when people warn us about things we should not do . Our bodies even give us warnings when we eat poorly or fair to exercise, but we ignore these warnings signs much to our later regret.

We also ignore warnings from God given through his people about the condition of our societies and families. We fail to hear and sometimes our hearts become calloused.

Jesus talked in Matthew 23:34 and 35 about God’s attempt to warn the people of Jerusalem by sending to them “prophets and wise men” some of whom were killed and crucified and others who were scourged in the temples. He then went on to say that righteous blood had been shed in Jerusalem from Abel to Zechariah. In effect the people speaking the warning had been rejected from A to Z. They had been warned.

In Luke 21 the disciples were discussing the beautiful temple of Herod and asked Jesus about the time when the temple would be torn down. Jesus explained that there would be a number of signs including nation rising against nation, earth quakes, famines and plagues and persecutions. All these were signs of judgment.

After the resurrection, the disciples continued to be curious about when the “Kingdom would be restored to Israel.” In fact right before Jesus was assumed into heaven the disciples wedged in one last question. That question found in Acts 1:6 was “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus in Acts 1:7 responds: ”It is not for you to know times or epoch which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will l receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you: and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”`

We continue to focus on the same question that the disciples asked Jesus just before his assumption.

And so we have a feeling that we are being warned. Even though things are going on, something significant is right around the bend. The picture that we subconsciously experience is like the feeling of Noah’s generation, something significant is coming our way. We experience Matthew 24:37-39:

“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For in those days before the flood , they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”


Likewise Christians are warned that in the last days it will be similar to the time of Noah when judgment was right around the corner. In 2 Peter 3:3-7 it states:

Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers came with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the Fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved by fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

Our society has not taken a good turn. We have chosen to allow God to be taken out of our schools and our courts. We have become addicted to materialism. Our dreams are of Hollywood and Disney World instead of the New Jerusalem. The rights of innocents are ignored and the blood of abortions flood was through our society just as pagan sacrifices of babies and children did in the Ancient World. Pornography is fed by the media into each home through the media and the internet. People sacrifice their free will and become enslaved by drugs.

We know it is not right. Our hearts tell us this.

And so what should we do?

We must heed the signs? The signs of what is going on around us are bold, open and obvious. We must heed them. God is speaking to us. We must not only listen—but we must obey his directions. We are speeding and it is time to slow down.

And if we do not heed the warnings? Then what?

Well, back to Big Cabin and the warning signs. Sure enough some people ignored the signs assuming there were not any police to enforce the speed limits. It looks like they guessed wrong.

See the pictures above.

HarleyDad