It’s just after 8am here and we just learned that tragedy has struck in Manila: overnight, a fire destroyed a slum here leaving one dead and 4,000 homeless….and the press secretary of President Arroyo was just found dead in his home after a massive heart attack — we had just met him and chatted with him at the presidential palace on Monday….both are terrible tragedies and sobering reminders that we are all in our “last days”….none of us know whether we will have another day, or another hour….we don’t know what the future holds, but we can know the One who holds the future…we can know God in a real and personal way, have our sins forgiven, and be assured of eternal life in heaven when we pass from this world….how?….the Bible teaches in Romans 10 that we must receive Jesus Christ as our Savior by faith, confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, and then we shall be saved…please pray for the Lord Jesus to care for all these dear people and for the Church to know how best to help.
In a short while, I begin a day of media interviews and an address to businessmen at a luncheon sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce….please pray that the Lord gives me just the right words to say to bring God’s comfort and his message of eternal life.
UPDATE: Thank you for all your prayers. The Lord really blessed our day and opened some remarkable doors. Israeli Pastor David Ortiz, Iranian Pastor Hormoz Shariat and I were invited on a live, well-rated Filipino TV talk show for an entire hour. The host asked us to explain what the Bible teaches about End Times prophecies, to explain how each of us had discovered a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and how Christ has changed our lives, to explain God’s love and plan for the people of the epicenter, and how we can truly bless Israel and her neighbors in real and practical ways. David’s story of how a Jewish terrorist tried to kill his family with a bomb in March 2008, and all the miracles God has done to safe the life of his youngest son, Ami — and how Ami and the family chose to forgive the terrorist and now even hope to care for the man’s four children when he is sent to prison for the rest of his life — was so powerful the host said she was almost about to begin crying on live television.
Our time at the American Chamber of Commerce luncheon was also wonderful and well attended with several hundred business leaders there, including the presidents of several major U.S. and Filipino companies. I spoke for about 30 minutes on “Israel, the Iranian Nuclear Threat, and the Next War in the Middle East,” put the current crisis in the context of Bible prophecy, and took questions for 10-15 minutes. I thanked the audience for graciously listening and the Chamber for inviting me despite the fact that this was not the usual topics they discuss. My hope and prayer is that many hearts were stirred to give their lives wholly and completely to the Lord Jesus Christ given that all of us are in our “last days” — none of us know whether we have decades to live, or just another 24 hours, like the presidential press secretary, Cerge Remonde. [Would you like to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and be assured of going to heaven when you die?]
HEADLINES TO TRACK:
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