This happened locally, but I guess it made the international news:
Quote:
FOREST -- Hundreds of people have driven past the First Baptist Church of Forest, wanting to get a look at its burnt out bell tower.
There have been hundreds of phone calls to the church, too. And media outlets from as far away as Bogata, Columbia, and the BBC in London, England, have contacted church members. There have also been television interviews broadcast on CNN, and NBC's Today Show ran a live report from the church for its Saturday morning show.
They all want to hear the story of how lightning hit the church during a revival meeting a week ago today. How the guest evangelist was citing Bible passages which liken God's voice to thunder, while he preached about repentance. How he kept asking God to speak, and then lightning hit the tower, and for a second the whole church -- and even the preacher -- looked electric blue. How no one got hurt, even though there were about 60 people in the church that night.
At about 7:45 p.m. on July 1, lightning hit the church, went through the electrical wiring and blew out the church's sound system. Afterward, services resumed for about 20 minutes, but then the congregation realized that the church was on fire and the building was evacuated.
Damage to the church was estimated at about $20,000, but church members and the evangelist, Don Hardman, who says he received his calling at First Baptist Church of Findlay over 25 years ago, believe they have witnessed a miracle.
And while the lightning may have silenced the church's sound system, Hardman said the event has allowed him "to tell the story of Jesus Christ to thousands."
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The link is
here, but you have to go to the archive to find the story (July 8th).
So to sum up: lightning hit the church's bell tower, cut out the sound system, caused damage to the tune of 20K, and these people think it's a blessing sent by God? If I actually believed in him, I would think it was a message more along the lines of, "shut the hell up!" Anyone else think this is backwards? Are there any Bible verses that would support their interpretation of this event??
07-12-2003, 07:23 PM
Lightning strikes church--they think it's great
