2020 Christianity 83 Comments

Pestilences, natural calamities, wars, and the escalation of human wickedness to a degree never imagined before are some of the signs of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, Himself, had foretold this to His Apostles when they asked Him, “What shall be the sign of thy coming?”

MATTHEW 24:4-7 (KJV) tells us what the Lord Jesus Christ told them:

4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

The Lord Jesus Christ said that before His coming, there shall be famines, pestilences or plagues, and earthquakes. A proof that the Bible is authentic and that the pronouncements of the Lord Jesus Christ therein are all true is the fact that we are experiencing these things now, including the wars or the uprisings of nations against other nations. And we know that wars and natural calamities can result to more problems, like famine and starvation.

That particular prophetic pronouncement was given by Christ thousands of years ago. During that time, it was unimaginable that people would ever starve because even beggars then had something to eat.

But today, food has become a major problem. There are people now who hardly eat in a day. We also hear of stories about people who die of hunger.

But what is more alarming is that there are pestilences now which are man-made. For instance, in Syria they were using something which seemed to have been meant for biological and chemical warfare, something that could annihilate people instantly. A video on the Internet shows that when a person inhales the substance, he suffers from a convulsion or a seizure attack and after a while, dies.

Undoubtedly, all these catastrophic events that we see around us now are signs of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The question is, how shall we prepare for that day of the Lord?

2 PETER 3:10-11 (KJV) says,

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.

The preparation that we should make should not be the kind of preparation that others are doing. They are preparing underground shelters or bunkers, which they believe could offer them refuge and protection.

In Singapore, for example, there are houses with built-in bomb shelters. Of course, such shelters cannot offer us absolute protection for they are all destructible. So, what is the kind of preparation that we have to make?

The Lord Jesus Christ, through the Apostle Paul, said that we have to prepare by leading a holy and godly life. Christ wants us to live a holy life filled with compassion to others, especially to the poor, to the abandoned children, to the widows, and to the orphans. We have to give them a part of ourselves.

Another video uploaded on the Internet showed that there were children in Haiti eating cookies made out of clay. What they did was they put sugar in a mixture of water and clay (similar to the clay used by potters) and shaped it into cookies. Then, they put the clay cookies under the sun to dry. Once dry, they are eaten by children.

When I saw that video I felt a pang in my heart. So I immediately told one of our Church workers in Latin America to go to Haiti, to the very place where those children eating clay cookies were situated.

I told him to look for a place there which could function as a feeding center for the poor. With God’s help, and in coordination with the concerned government agency in Haiti, this feeding center is already operational. And each day, there are lots of people who go there, falling in line to get packs of cooked food for free.

I am also contemplating on having similar feeding centers in the major cities in the Philippines to address the need for food of street children and beggars, and even of malnourished and neglected children.

Sometimes, I cannot help but feel bad about the rich people who feed their dogs with big cuts of meat, and yet they can’t even offer their starving neighbors something to eat.

It is apparent that the dogs of the rich are even in a much, much better position than the street children. Why? The rich owners of those dogs do not mind spending a huge amount of money for their dogs’ sustenance and maintenance — they are brought to veterinarians regularly; they are given vitamins; they are also given periodic grooming; and they even sleep in air-conditioned rooms.

Unlike those dogs, street children have to rummage trash cans in hope of finding something that could fill their empty stomachs. They are dirty; their clothes are tattered; and they sleep on the cold pavement because they are homeless. Indeed, we can say that the lives of the pet dogs of the rich are more enviable.

But which do you think will please God: caring for and feeding a dog sumptuously, or caring for and feeding a beggar or an orphan? Definitely, God will be pleased if you will spend your money on something that could alleviate the hunger and sufferings of your poor fellowmen, instead of spending it in pampering your dogs.

God wants us to live a holy life. In order to attain that, we have to live in accordance with His teachings, like not indulging in vices, in extravagance, and in worldly pleasures. Instead, He wants us to be compassionate to others, especially to the needy.

That is exactly what we, in the Church of God International, are trying to do. We do our very best to comply with what God wants from us. That is why we have put up a free diagnostic center to help those who do not have anything to pay for their laboratory tests and diagnosis.

We also have schools that offer full scholarship to poor but deserving students. And the scholarship grant that we offer is inclusive of free tuition and miscellaneous fees, free uniforms, free lunch, and free use of computers and other instructional materials.

We also conduct regular medical missions in different parts of the world wherein we offer medical, dental, and optical services, even vitamins and medicines. And we also have shelters for orphans, abandoned babies, and the elderly.

All these free services and forms of assistance are extended to all, regardless of their religion or race.

We do not know what tomorrow may bring. We can never tell if tomorrow we will still be alive; we do not know either if, one of these days, we will also become victims of man-made or natural calamities. And because of these uncertainties, it is very important that we are always prepared for what is to come, most especially for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But apart from doing works of holiness and showing compassion to others, it is best that before the Lord comes, you’ll be able to find the true Church where the true faith is, and where genuine obedience to God is practiced zealously.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!