"Jesus answered:  'Watch out that no one deceives you.  For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Messiah,' 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.  Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.  At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.'"  Matthew 24:4-14

The recent earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan along with yet another war heating up in Libya has me mindful of the words of Jesus in the above passage.  It is interesting to note that the earthquake in Japan has had a dramatic affect on the entire planet.  It is easy to see that an increase in earthquake activity and severity in various places will cause great difficulty.  Jesus has said that these things will happen; famines, earthquakes, wars, rumors of war, persecution and turning away from the faith.  He also said, "see to it that you are not alarmed."  We need to realize that this world is not our home.  If you have received Jesus as your Savior, your home is with Him.  This gives us a different world view.  We who are genuine followers of Jesus Christ do not expect this present world to last forever.  We know the end will come at some appointed time that only God the Father knows.  This world view should affect how we live every day.  This knowledge should cause us to live as if there is no tomorrow.  Let us be busy about sharing the Gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ.  The judgment of God is coming upon this world but the good news is that there is salvation in Jesus.  It's all about the relationship with Him.  Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life." (John 14:6)  Turn to Him and be saved.  Then you can face these things that will come without being alarmed.

Alan L. Thomas <><