What Warnings Do the Disasters Give Us?

What Warnings Do the Disasters Give Us?

Zheng Yi

On April 10, bomb blasts struck two Coptic churches in northern Egypt, killing at least 44 people and injuring more than 100 others.

On May 27, 10 masked gunmen stormed a bus transporting Coptic Christians to a monastery in the Minya Province of Egypt, leaving at least 29 people dead.

Four terrorist attacks, including the two attacks above, have taken place targeting the Christians in Egypt since December. As a matter of fact, each disaster is a warning God issues to us humans. We can’t help but reflect on this: Why do the disasters become more and more serious? Why can the Christians even not be spared from them? Every day we can read news about various disasters on the Internet: terrorist attacks, threats of war, continuing droughts and floods, terrifying earthquakes, sudden pestilences, and so forth. These calamities may befall us and pose threat to our lives at any time. For example, smog has repeatedly blanketed China and caused severe threat to people’s lives, which even influenced the air quality of South Korea and threw its people into a panic. On May 22, a bomb exploded at the exit of Manchester Arena in England after a concert of Ariana Grande, an American singer, had just come to an end, leaving at least 22 people dead and 59 others injured. The arena, which was filled with music and cheers, instantly turned into a place of blood and horror where everyone was desperately fleeing, tearful and howling with terror. On May 26, floods and torrents of muds in Sri Lanka killed 91 people and left 110 others missing. …

Faced with the disasters, if we merely view them as misfortunes, sigh with emotion, and then let them slide by without any reflection, we are just passively waiting for death. Every occurrence conveys God’s will and a message from the Creator to mankind. So, what messages does the Lord intend to send us through the frequent disasters nowadays? The New Testament records that when the disciples asked the Lord Jesus what signs there would be when He came again, the Lord Jesus said: “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows” (Mark 13:8). Obviously, this prophecy of the Lord Jesus’ return has come true and the last days have already arrived. We can only receive the Lord’s care and protection by focusing on hearing the voice of God like a clever virgin and by welcoming His second coming. Just as the Bible says: “A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you” (Psalm 91:7). “He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). We should really be alert!