http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONbLux_h0h0&feature=player_embeddedhttp://
- Friends let us pray for the victims of the recent devastation in Indonesia. (an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, and has the largest Muslim population in the world.) More than 700 people were confirmed dead across on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, and thousands remained missing in the wake of the 7.6-magnitude earthquake (and torrential rain) that hit the western coast on Wednesday.
- Let us also pray for the victims of the recent disasters in The Philippines; where a 6.6 Earthquake, and two Typhoons in succession have left a path of destruction killing almost 300 people; Presently two Typhoons are still wreaking havoc in the Philippines.
- Let's also remember our friends of American Samoa, victims of a Tsunami that has left at least 180 dead, with one in five Samoans significantly affected by the tsunami..
- Let's not forget to also pray for the brethren in Vietnam who have also suffered human casualties due to Typhoons.
- Let's also pray for the people of Messina; where landslides following heavy rains and mud killed at least 22 people in Sicily.
- Lastly, let's include in our prayers our friends in the State of Georgia. Eight days of rain contributed to flooding in Atlanta, killing eight people and causing an estimated $250 million in damages to homes, roads and other infrastructure.
Profound natural disasters are part of the labor pangs that our Lord Jesus Christ warns us about:
7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8All these are the beginning of sorrows.
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14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
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29Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
33So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the
thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
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Matthew 24.
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For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
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