A warning to us all

"It is appointed unto men, once to die, but after this the judgement" - Hebrews 9 v 27

The dreadful earthquake in New Zealand continues to dominate front pages with the inevitable stories of people killed, on the one hand, and miraculous escapes on the other. No doubt many will ask the question why did God allow this to happen? Why do earthquakes and natural disasters occur? Surely, people ask, if God was all-powerful He could have prevented this terrible calamity?

The short answer is that when God created the World everything was perfect. However, when Adam sinned the Earth was put under a curse with the inevitable consequence that earthquakes would occur. Moreover, the Bible predicts that as we come ever closer to the 2nd coming of Christ there will be an increase in these kind of events.

The most important question we should be asking ourselves is not "Why did God allow this?" but rather "Am I ready to meet God?". The most important lesson we should learn from this latest tragedy is that life is brief, and death is often unexpected.

I'm sure that most, if not all, of those who died in this quake had no idea that that day would be their last; I wonder how many were born-again Christian believers (and, hence, are now in Heaven) and I wonder how many were not Christians - and are now in torments. Of those who died in their sins I wonder how many had opportunities to be saved and turned away from them.

In my work of street evangelism I give out tracts that are clearly about God and the Christian faith. Most of the tracts cover the facts of Heaven and Hell; they explain the certainty of eternal blessings for the saved and eternal torments for the unsaved. However, because the devil has blinded them to these realities they refuse the offer of salvation.

One of the worst torments of the damned in Hell will be the knowledge that, if only they had listened to the Gospel and responded by accepting Christ their eternal destiny would have been so very different.

May the NZ earthquake awaken in many the realisation that God is not mocked; if people continue to live in sin and refuse the Gospel then they will experience bitter regret - for all eternity.