The Catastrophies Point to the End Times!

9th September 2005, Singapore - Worldwide calamity and destruction has caused economic turmoil and political upheaval. Property may be destroyed but can be recovered, livelihoods can be snatched but rebuilt, but lives lost are lost forever. The sheer power and impact of Hurricane Katrina is unfathomable! The levees could not contain it, nor would have any of man's devices and defences. The atheists call it the "the earth's wrath" or "the power of nature". Christians know it is just a show of a little of God's power.

Is it mere coincidence that so much devestation has happened in recent years, months and weeks? Apart from Katrina, there was Talim thumping China, Typhoon Nabi sweeping across Japan. Not too long ago, the tsunami ravaged countless coastal communities on Boxing Day last year. Terrorism became the buzzword following the attack on New York's Twin Towers and the Pentagon. How about epidemics like the worldwide spread of SARS, the plague of mad cow disease and the bird flu? In Singapore, is dengue getting to be the next big thing? What next? Life isn't getting better. Man isn't getting smarter nor is technological advancement solving many a problem. Planes are crashing at tighter intervals, viruses now inflict computer systems and paralyse organisations.

These are birth pangs of the signs of the times, the last days. Matthew 16:3 says, "And in the morning, [It will be] foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O [ye] hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not [discern] the signs of the times?" Yes, we can tell the weather by looking at the sky? But are we missing the bigger picture? Can we not see? Are our hearts stubborn when sign after sign surfaces? The Book of Revelations spells out in more detail the signs of the end times, of which we NOW live in. Are you concerned? This leads me now to share why I've turned the spotlight on the world's calamities. Let's get back to Kenya now as I continue my journey.

{Editor's note: I've done away writing in the third-person account at this juncture as I feel writing in a first-person account lends stronger testimony and emotes clearer convictions.)

When in Kenya, sing as the Kenyans do...in Swahili! I was blown away by their amazing sense of rhythm and pure harmony that didn't come from voice lessons and singing schools. One song that was particularly catchy that my fellow team member Iris and I asked to be taught was a song titled, "Siku Ya Mwana Kondoo", which when translated, means "When the day of the Lamb cometh". Oh how real the signs of the times we live in. Do we simply ignore it? I shall share with you the lyrics and loose translation of the song in the next entry.

Even as the world anticipates a Saviour's return, more cruelty makes headlines. Just hours earlier, a head is found in a bag near a train station right downtown at Orchard. What is man and the world coming to? Our world isn't about to get better.