As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. "Tell us," they said, "when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. (Matt 24:3-8 NIV)

"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." (Luke 21:25-28 NIV)


Unrest in the Middle East…civil wars, increasing frequency of major earthquakes, tsunami incidences, nuclear meltdown, hurricanes and typhoons, the Darfur Crisis, the economic meltdown in Europe and increased Christian Persecution are all signs pointing to the imminent return of the King. One may argue that Jesus cannot come yet and it is not the time for the owner to come, surely the vineyard is quite chaotic or so we think. But for more than 2,000 years, Christians have been praying the world over that the Kingdom of Heaven come and rule this world, observing religiously that we ought to be prepared for we know not when the master of the house will come whether by midnight, in the morning or by broad day light. Indeed no generation has been as certain and as sure as our generation that the return of Christ is imminent given the fulfilment of His description that, the fig tree has budded, a symbol of the State of Israel. And He told them a parable: “Behold the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they put forth leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that summer is now near.”Even so you, too, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near. (Luke 21:29-31)
The creation of the State of Israel against the backdrop of predominantly Islamic nations who are racing to devour even this tiny piece of land in the name of Allah has evidently become a barometer of the world’s condition. (Israel is a covenant nation, the first born of God and the only nation that was dispersed abroad but maintained its distinct culture, religion and language for a continuous period of more than 2000 years, until the Lord allowed its reformation in 1948.)

Christ’s description of the approaching summer is a symbol of His coming over the long winter condition that existed on earth since the fall of man. Light shines over darkness. The world has been in the state of deep slumber and darkness has been only pierced by the light occasionally for every truth revealed from the Bible that the Church practiced and lived. When the Lord came and discipled twelve men to do His work on earth and preach the Kingdom of God, this light also pierced the thick veil of religion, dividing in two the veil in the temple which signifies that through Jesus Christ, there is now “neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female” but all are one in Christ Jesus, all are accepted by their faith in Him and not by their works or circumcision. Simply told, this simplicity of faith in Christ that justifies the sinner through the cross has opened up the Gentiles to His mercy.

The freedom gained through faith in the Lord will not only spread and bring down the Roman empire to its knees but will become the very culture of the whole Empire so that it will be called the Holy Roman Empire in its latter days. However, the rapid gain of authority from public trust and legislation instead of the road of the cross and self-denial will quickly corrupt the priesthood of believers and become itself notorious in curtailing the freedom of the believers and people through doctrines that are meant to blind the people from the truth so that they cannot participate in the direction of the local church.
This doctrine of an elite group as the only people who can understand the Bible and speak in legalese led to the early demise of the Spirit-filled, power filled churches of the first century eventually bringing the whole age into a Dark Age. But when the Lord had determined to pour out His grace and mercy, and once more found a willing vessel who will speak the truth for Him and bid the heavens for God’s revival, He shone His light upon the earth so that the Dark Ages had to retreat forever. Martin Luther’s discovery of the Pauline epistles surrounding the simplicity of devotion to Jesus Christ instead of venerating saints, mariaology, doctrines of demons, idolatry and corruption led to the Reformation that changed forever the landscape of the World.

It was befitting to call it Reformation because it truly RE-FORMED the world afterwards, reshaping the boundaries of countries and empires. It not only tore the veil of the so called Church in two but the whole world shook in its foundations so that civil governments, and democratic reforms were instituted. Freedom of religious worship brought freedom to individuals and freedom of expression that we take for granted every day. Our generation has been a mixture of both light and darkness, we have a Church which is empowered by luxury and every gold and goods but at the same time we are also a very rebellious generation that refuses to agree and walk with Christ. The revealed Word of God has been translated into every tongue and language and there are pastors, preachers and priests into almost every village and country, in every media format but still, strangely enough, many refuses to turn their hearts to the Lord.

There are indeed demarcation lines in history where a turn is made and the world starts to a different path. History will record the March 11 earthquake in Japan as the beginning of a different turning for the world. This event that took more than 20,000 lives both due to the earthquake and the rumbling of the sea will not only cause emotional and economic strain in Japan but also in the whole world. Japanese companies are both major investors in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the US. In fact, their being a no. 2 economy in the whole world attests to their aggressive economic agenda that characterized their rebirth after the War. Because Japan has presence in more than 100 countries in the globe, this disaster will have a major global economic impact whether the leaders of the major countries will acknowledge this in public or not.
Add to this the sudden upheaval that is currently broiling over the whole Middle East, the Libyan wars and the catastrophic loss of state control in Sudan and Somalia. All of these perplexities will have disastrous results and take a toll on the human heart which is not protected by the cross. Unless the heart or the mind of man has an anchor to weigh on, it will just get confused. This paper will deal on three specific questions:

1) What does this mean?
2) The nature of events when Christ comes
3) How do we prepare?

This earthquake is not only one of the worst disasters, but it is also the costliest; the current estimates for rebuilding the destroyed towns, cities, villages and prefectures are around 300 billion US dollars in a five year time frame. Given the nature of the Japanese economy these days which is slow and had hardly advanced since the real state boom in the last 80s, it is speculated that it would need to borrow in order to refinance its reconstruction. To do that, it will have to begin cashing on the dollar bonds that it holds, particularly debts owed by the US. If this will not happen, and if its own dollar reserves are sufficient for the country, then it can finance its own rebuilding effort and there will be no additional burden. However it remains to be seen in the coming days what Japan will do. Our prayer and hope is for the Japanese Government to have the wisdom from above and its economic ministers as well as leaders to have courage to do what is right and that they could navigate well from this disaster.

As I have been pondering also and praying what the Lord is saying concerning the earthquake devastation in Christchurch at 7.0, in New Zealand, it becomes clear to us that 7 is perfect number often associated with the divine. And just as natural disasters are often classified as Acts of God, this was definitely an Act of God over New Zealand in waking her up from her slumber as well as view that the judgment of God begins with His Church and then to the world, eg, the next major earthquake struck Japan, a known place to be resistant to the Gospel of Christ.

For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)

What does this mean?

With this earthquake and the reality of a major nuclear disaster in the Japanese nuclear plants (it would seem to me that media reports are not clearly detailed and the facts are sketchy on the true condition and impact of the core meltdown), it is necessary that we must view this crisis as a judgment of discipline. Sometimes, the human mind does not want to hear the word judgment and it is the last thing on our ears. Of course, by judgment it does not always have to mean deaths and wars but also of mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment, but we must also understand that heaven has a timeline just as when the Word said that at the right time, the Son of God was manifested on earth through the virgin. It marks a demarcation point after which great change will come to the whole world, including an ultimate meltdown of the economy.

As various countries experienced a measure of economic pressures and depression, it is imperative that we all prepare for such a view. The remaining peacetime that we have should be used with wisdom in stockpiling Bibles, Christian literatures, food, seeds, medicine, and creating hidden hideouts for protection in cases of war. We all need to be ready for the worst and that includes even storing arms, disaster equipment such as boats, cutters, ropes, planks, etc. Every time there is an economic depression, jobs are lost, the economy goes down and the value of currency can be lost. We might have stored items in the banks but obviously you cannot withdraw them during emergency.

Sometimes, barter becomes the only means of currency unless some cooperative and orderly ways are done so that an established currency is printed and used. Any devalued currency has no actual value. Without this trust or value on the money, it represents nothing, a mere paper. Therefore we should start preparing for such scenarios and what should be done in cases as chaotic as that happens. How should we organize ourselves? Now my prayer is for our leaders to have the wisdom and understanding to lead us through in what is coming.

The nature of events when Christ comes

Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. (Matt 24:4-8 NIV)

"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." (Luke 21:25-28 NIV)

As Jesus has been discussing with the disciples, the nature of events that will precede His coming is characterized by increased deception, perplexity among the world and confusion due to wars, rumours of wars, bewildering signs in the heavens, earthquakes in various places, and the roaring and tossing of the sea. The escalation of violence on earth has reached an alarming level, with rates of crimes and lawlessness increasing at unprecedented levels in various countries around the globe. This indeed has a guise for war or a characteristic of a rumour of war, and in fact it is a reality that there are currently many wars being fought on various fronts today. Second deception from various cults, religions and hedonistic gospels have proliferated around the world, some of these unashamedly claims or says they know Jesus but their actions do not bring any resemblance with the Master.

We should avoid such groups at all cost, even association with them. One doctrine of demon in the west today that is eating up their time is the hedonistic gospel of “pleasure first before others.” Instead of heeding the call for the quest of the ultimate adventure of life in Christ, they heeded the call of their flesh. Third, the signs in the heavens spoken about is not climate change as many thinks it is, however, judging by our natural minds, it seems it is. Possibly the sun and the moon indeed could be affected by the upheavals on earth because of sin. Another, the various signs in the heaven spoken about may also include catastrophic failures of orbit of military satellites that contain junks, missiles, toxins that could cause destruction on earth. Fourth, various earthquakes and roaring waves or seas, we have witnessed already with the increasing intensity of earthquake magnitude in New Zealand, Japan and in the Indian Ocean with accompanying Tsunamis.

All these events could ultimately lead to an offended and confused heart. The only shelter provided by the Lord in times of confusion is the foot of the cross. There we will find repentance, forgiveness, new life, provision and a secure future. The Lord knows how to provide and protect those who are His as He has wonderfully protected Noah and Lot during the times of great darkness and judgment.

Given the repercussions that could happen from one disaster to the other, some may think that this will already be the end of the world, but this is not the case as the Lord pointed out that it will just be the beginning of birth pains till His coming. It does not have to be the end of the world for every one of us, the Lord indeed has mercy but we also need wisdom to know what to do in cases as when these various disasters can strike at once. How will our nation survive this? How will it feed itself? How will it protect its people? What alliances should be forged? What should be avoided? The right leadership is essential to steer the nation to a clear path. Without the right leadership in place and the right resolve of the nation, we can fall into a terrible enemy- chaos and tyranny.

The road to perdition

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. (2 Tim 3:1-5 NIV)

As obviously pointed out by the great apostle, these times are perilous days because people are lovers of themselves, more concern of building their names and dukedoms instead of building the name of Christ, they easily forget their roots and quickly abandon their traditional values in Christ because of money, sexual indulgence and brutal pleasures. These brute desires lead many of them to actually hire pastors, leaders that tickle their ears and pander their desires, “they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). But what shall we do then? Shall we hide our lights because of these tares that continue to coexist with us are abundantly manifest before His light?

Precisely the answer is NO. The Lord has challenged me and spoke to me saying, "No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light” (Luke 8:16 NIV).These days should be the greatest and most opportune time to those who have discernment. These are the days to shine brightly and do as the Lord has done, to shine His lamp among us, which is to prepare His way in our generation so that the people will come to know Christ, come into His Kingdom. Just as the greatest time of darkness fills the earth, so will also the greatest light of the Lord fill His Church, His glory will pierce the darkness in our hearts and arise with healing upon us, the Sun of righteousness will then arise and bring healing to every community that allows Him in. Indeed this is going to be the greatest time of the harvest of all time. The prophet Isaiah having foreseen this wrote,

“Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
“For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you.
“Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. (Isaiah 60:1-3)

Preparing the way

There is a right path for everyone in this crisis. We could either fall to the Rock or let the Rock crush us. If we go back to the Lord and repent of our misdeeds, repent of our sins, then these trials or upheavals will not crush us. Instead we can be used by the Lord to build, and encourage others who are experiencing perplexity and whose hearts are fainting due to expectations of such hardships and terrible scourge upon the earth. As stated in Proverbs, the path of the righteous becomes clearer and clearer as we continue to get closer with the Lord, the Sun of Righteousness.

He will enlighten us, our heavy burdens removed and our sins nailed to the cross. Because of our failures to do sound fiscal economy, we too are under discipline. If you have not yet experienced this, you are a happy and blessed man, but if you did, it does not mean you are a lesser man. But just as the wrong path cannot be the right path unless we change our direction, we are headed to perdition unless we repent. Although everything that is coming will become worse and worse, the believer will not be controlled by fear but faith. To everything there is a season, and this is the season to prepare for the worse crisis that would come. This is also the time to store things of value that could be used later from food, medicine, water, anti-cholera, anti-tb and influenza medicines, vitamins, alcohol, chlorox etc. This is the time to get educated in disaster preparation so that we will become proactive volunteers when disasters come instead of liabilities.

As the meltdown will eventually come upon every fabric of the society and communities, only the most prepared will be able to take advantage of these times. Our preparation should not only be on provisions but also on spiritual devotions. We should seek to get closer with the Lord and anchor our feet into the Rock firmly. Once countries’ governments will collapse, God’s government in His Church will also become more manifest among believers.  The economy of this world, despite having the shadows of a heavenly economy will always be imperfect and has to be done away so that the Kingdom economy will be setup.

It does mean however those countries that are already worshipping and following the Lord would have semblance of His Kingdom which will become more and more conformed to His Kingdom until these become His Kingdoms on earth. It is apparent that just as mentioned in the Bible that “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ” (Revelation 11:15) there would be countries that will transition from a world system to a Kingdom system, those whose allegiance will be for Christ and not for the beast. Until then we have a job to do, to proclaim the message of the cross, the forgiveness of sins and a King who is returning soon to rule this world. Christians have good news to share to this badly shaken world. The King is returning and all must bow the knee to Him,

A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
“Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5)

We all must help bring our nation to righteousness because when justice and righteousness rules our nation, then the King can claim a semblance among us. As Christians in this part of the world, we must continue to call on God, cast unrighteousness away, remove the roughshods, remove the prideful and insolent, those who are corrupt in our nation, and God can come and dwell even in this lowly part of the world, His glory will be revealed among us and will be upon us.

As this shaking continues now is the time to set our hearts and minds to obey the Lord and to repent of and correct every way that is not in obedience to Him. Now is the time to build His Kingdom in our lives, in our families, in our communities and in our cities. When I asked the Lord what is the best preparation for all the things that are coming, He gave me a key, He said His Kingdom will not be shaken. His Kingdom will come and only those who are seeking Him have a part in what He is going to build. Because this Kingdom is neither of this world nor part of this world, it cannot be shaken, it cannot be affected by the world system and control, it stands firm and secure because it is the King’s. We must live in this Kingdom now by doing what is given in Matthew 6:33-34:

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things will be added to you.
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”