by William Trollinger
It is striking – but not surprising – how often fundamentalist leaders and preachers proclaim that this or that natural disaster or this or that act of violence is divine judgment on a community for sin. In response to Hurricane Katrina Franklin Graham observed that New Orleans is well known as home to “Mardi Gras,” “Satan worship,” “sex perversion,” and “every type of drugs and alcohol” as well as “orgies.” As a result “there’s been a black spiritual cloud over New Orleans for years,” but now it seems that “God is going to use that storm to bring revival” to this “wicked city.”
Then there’s Jerry Falwell’s explanation of 9/11, in which he mashed together a potpourri of sins and sinners:
I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America – I point the finger in their face and say, “you helped this happen.”
And no discussion of this topic would be complete without reference to Pat Robertson, who not only invoked God’s judgment to explain Katrina and 9/11, but also to explain the 2010 earthquake in Haiti which killed over 100,000 people. More than two centuries before the earthquake the Haitians
got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said, “We will serve you if you get us free from the French.” True story. And so, the Devil said, Ok, it’s a deal. And they kicked the French out. . . . But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another . . . That island of Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti [and] on the other is the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have, and we need to pray for them, a great turning to God.
As one commentator noted, the implication of this claim is that “if only they had stayed virtual slaves under French rule, God would have been pleased and they would have been earthquake free.”
Sex perversion and orgies. Abortion, feminism, LGBTQ, and the ACLU. All of this has brought God’s wrath down upon America (not to mention Haiti and its Satanic pact). Not greed and unfettered capitalism, or sex abuse in families and churches, or racial inequities in arrests and imprisonment.
And now there’s a new sin that may have provoked God’s violent anger. Taking God’s name in vain. Combined with wokeness, this may have, in the words of Answers in Genesis founding CEO Ken Ham, brought “a judgment from God on Hollywood, on woke California” in the form of the devastating January 2025 fires. For elaboration on this point, he encouraged readers to watch the video, “Hollywood Mocks God. Then This Happens,” produced by Ray Comfort of Living Waters.
Yes. That Ray Comfort, of the infamous banana video. The same Ray Comfort who has declared Halloween as National Evangelism Day, and who came up with the plan to pass out three million tracts at the 2023 coronation of King Charles in London. One side of the tracts appeared as if they were 1,000,000 pound notes (with a picture of King Charles), and on the other side there was an evangelistic message.
And now there’s “Hollywood Mocks God. Then This Happens.” In this video, Comfort, referencing the January 05 2025 Golden Globes awards ceremony, piously observed that “mocking God and using his name as a cuss word is nothing new for Hollywood.” But
less than 48 hours after the Golden Globes blasphemy, Hollywood was on fire. Are these fires some sort of judgment of God? No one really knows. But one thing we do know is that a good solid rain would immediately fix this terrifying nightmare. And the Bible tells us that God is the one who sends rain, the one Hollywood so joyfully mocks. The concept of God withholding rain is a form of judgment found throughout Scripture. And there to remind humanity that He’s the one who’s in charge.
Despite the classic distancing phrase – “no one really knows” – it is obvious that we are supposed to understand the L.A. fires as a judgment on Hollywood’s blasphemy and wokeness. Bringing this point home, Comfort then heads to the beach, where he asks folks, “What would fix the fire problem really quick? . . . What about rain? . . . Who’s in charge of the rain? . . . Why do you think He’s withholding rain from Hollywood? . . . Do you think God is judging Hollywood?”
The video ends with Comfort in evangelizing mode, asking beachgoers if they are good people, if they think they are going to heaven, and if they have ever lied, downloaded music off the internet that’s not theirs, and/or taken God’s name in vain. Having established that they are sinners, he makes clear that hell awaits if they don’t repent and put their trust in Jesus. As he told one person at seaside:
Steve, sin is so serious to a holy God that He’s given you a death sentence. You are on death row, you are in a holding cell that has a nice blue roof, good air conditioning, good lighting. But this life is a holding cell, and your death will be evidence to you that God is deadly serious about sin.
In quizzing these beachgoers about their sinfulness and suggesting their possible condemnation, Comfort could have quoted from the one place in the Gospels where Jesus speaks about the Last Judgment:
‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit.’ They will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or naked or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment. (Matthew 25: 41-46)
But of course Comfort was not going there. Cursing and wokeness. These are the sins that brought God’s wrath onto Hollywood.