Greetings in the Precious Name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

We went through a week where we begin to value life more than ever. As we watch the pictures, videos, news-flashes of the catastrophes at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon I am certain many of us have asked the question - why the tragedies? Some of you may have even asked the questions, "is this the beginning of the end of the world?" "Will there be a WW3?" "What will happen next?" And as if to mock the world, take a close look at the picture taken by the Associated Press and you can see the face of the Devil complete with horn.

I am no prophet neither a soothsayer. But I believe that the answers to all those questions can be found in the Bible. You see, Jesus gave us some indications of what will happen in the end times in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 24 and again in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 21. Now some of the things mentioned in that chapter refers to what we call the Tribulation (the seven-year period) when more horrible things than what we have witnessed will take place but praise the Lord, Christians will not have to go through that Tribulation as we will be in Heaven enjoying the Presence of God. You see Jesus promised that He will come back for His flock (see Paul 's First Letter to the Thessalonians 4: 13 - 18) and only after the Flock (or the Church) has been removed from this fallen world will the Tribulation set in. Because the Church is the salt of the Earth and salt has preservation power, all these fierce troubles will only come about after the salt has been removed.

Now did God send this tragedy to punish USA? Definitely not! It is the work of the devil. But why did God allow all these things to happen? Our Creator God made mankind in His image, with a spirit that is meant to have communion with Him. In fact, God wanted to have a friend and thus humans were created with his spirit in constant communion with the Spirit of God. Along with that, God also gave man a free choice. Unfortunately, the first man, Adam, was not too good a chooser and so he chose to do that one thing which God explicitly told him not to do (read the creation account in Genesis chapters 1 to 3). When God realized that Adam chose the wrong tree to eat from, He was broken hearted. Yet God did not just abandon mankind. He hatched a plan of action to save mankind from his predicament. He promised that He will send a Savior who will be able to bridge that gap and restore to mankind what was meant to be - close communion with God the Father. God promised in Genesis 3: 15 that the Seed from the woman will crush the head of the serpent (the devil).
"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."

If you look at the original Bible which was written in Aramaic (or Hebrew), it is interesting that in Genesis chapter 1, the name of Elohim was used to address God the creator and our English translation has it as 'God'. However, the moment the account of the creation of man was given, the Author of the Bible called Himself "YHVY" which is the most holy name ever given and the Jews will not even think of pronouncing it. The English translation of that name is LORD and you will always find the Name spelt in capital letters. Now the Name is so holy to the Jews that they will skip the word in their reading or they substitute the YHVH with the word Hashem which is Hebrew for 'Name'. Later the Jews used the word Jehovah instead.
Now why am I saying this? Really it has to do with the Name 'YHVH' which is Yod-Hay-Vav-Hay and looking at each of the Hebrew alphabet, we have a very beautiful picture. 'Yod' is the tenth alphabet and it has the picture of a hand; 'Hay' is the fifth alphabet and it gives the picture of a window (opportunities) and it speaks of grace while 'Vav' is the sixth letter and it bears the picture of a nail. So putting them all together, we have this interpretation of "A Hand of Grace with the Nails of Grace" and God gave that name to Himself as early as during the Creation. God's plan of salvation for mankind was for Jesus to die on the cross all along,
When God created the world and everything in it, He gave everything that He had created into the hands of Man. Man had the keys to do whatever he wanted with it. However, later when man sinned and disobeyed God, the keys, representing authority over the earth, were given to the Devil and so the state of the Earth deteriorated. God is a just and righteous God; He cannot demand the return of the keys without paying the price required and that price was the Death of One Righteous and Sinless Man for the sake of everyone on this Earth. Now an ordinary man cannot be that price since all man was born under sin and thereby disqualified himself.

So God action plan was set in motion. He chose the time and the place. Jesus had to be born as a man to fulfill all the necessary requirements and yet He must be sinless. Now medical science tells us that the blood that a child receives comes from the father even though the mother carries the baby for nine months in her womb. No blood actually passes through the umbilical cord - only food. How then can Jesus be without sin? God therefore chose a virgin and supernaturally implanted His Seed in Mary and therefore Jesus was conceived with the Blood of God.

Now throughout His earthly life, Jesus performed many miracles and taught His disciples and His followers many things about Himself and about God. He used terms explicitly reserved only for God and He was arrested, tried, condemned and crucified. What was the charge? That He claimed to be God Himself (which He was). What? We crucified God? Yes, very definitely. In fact very interestingly, Pontius Pilate hung an inscription over Jesus' head and in English we read it as "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" but in Hebrew it reads as "Yeshua HaNazarei Vemelekh Hayhudim" No wonder the chief priest, and the religious leaders went to Pilate and requested that Pilate changed the inscription to read "Jesus of Nazareth, He says He was King of the Jews".

Now this same Jesus died that you and I can receive eternal life by believing in His Name. By His one Perfect Death and Resurrection, He has forever put "paid" to the debt that we owe and the devil now no longer has a hold on those who belong to Jesus. The devil has lost the battle and the war and is now on the way to his final destination - eternal destruction - and he knows it well. His days are numbered. Soon the Lord Jesus Christ will come back for His own children; my friends, will you be among those who will be with Jesus in eternity? How about making the decision to believe in Jesus and what He had done on the cross for you two thousand years ago. It is that simple. When we receive Jesus into our hearts, we also receive the whole Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit and where the Spirit of God dwells, there will be life.

If you choose to reject Jesus, then I am afraid there is no more hope because you have rejected the only Way back to God and eternal fellowship with Him. Please do not wait. As I have said, time is very short now and you do not know your future; what lies ahead, around the corner. The thousands of lives lost in the World Trade Center disaster is testimony of what can happen by events beyond our control.
Choosing to receive Jesus into your hearts is a very simple step. All you need to do is to say a very simple and yet powerful prayer acknowledging Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Once you do that, something powerful happens in the spirit realm - the heavenly exchange takes place. Your sins will be removed and Jesus will clothe you with His own righteousness and you will look good forever before God and that is how we can have access into the Presence of God. Not by what you and I have done but because of what Jesus did on the cross.

Please allow me to share with you the simple prayer that will make a difference in your eternal destiny.

"God our Heavenly Father,
I thank you that you love us so much that You sent Jesus into this world to die for our sins so that we can live eternally with you.
Thank you that I can have this privilege to be called a child of God.
I receive Jesus into my heart.

I pray this in the Precious Name of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior, Amen."
After you have prayed the prayer, please get in touch with one of the local churches and start attending church services so that you can learn to grow in strength as a Christian. Continue to learn and build your faith just like when you first started going to school. Soon you will be able to understand for yourself things that God says to you.

If you would like to get help in starting, please do not hesitate to drop me a mail.
Thanks and have a good week ahead.

Shalom.

Best regards,
Andrew L W Lee

Dated : 16 September 2001