"The Beginning of Sorrows" We are living in the last days before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth.  Jesus foretold accurately the signs of the times; indeed, they read like the headlines of the evening news:  “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24: 6-8).  In recent days, the earth seems to be heaving and revolting, bringing untold destruction upon the land and its inhabitants.  From the Tsunami in Asia, to the storms that have lashed the Gulf Coast, to the quake in Pakistan that claimed tens of thousands of lives, these terrifying kinds of events will only increase in frequency and intensity, like the birth pangs of a woman in labor, until the return of the Lord. Because of the depth of pain that people are suffering from such loss, ministers are reticent to attribute any of these catastrophes to God’s judgment on the earth, and call people to repentance.  Before judgment, God always gives His mercy, warnings, calls to repentance, and chastisement to mankind.  While it is true that God is love and longsuffering, God also declares that, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever…”  (Genesis 6:3).   God’s judgments are His mercies extended to hell-bound men, though those who live for pleasure rather than for God cannot understand this.  God’s judgments humble proud humanity, opening their eyes to the fact that they are not in control, and that their times are in the hand of God.   Without God’s judgments, men would continue to “treasure up wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,” according to their hard and unrepentant hearts (Romans 2: 5).  The Bible clearly states that when the land is saturated with sin, the land is defiled and God must judge sin.  The shedding of innocent blood, unwillingness to repent and acknowledge Jesus as Lord, and rampant sexual immorality provokes the wrath of God.  The Bible warns that the specific sins of incest, homosexuality, bestiality, killing one’s children and adultery defile a nation—God calls them an abomination:  “For the land is defiled; therefore, I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants” (Leviticus 18: 25).  After seeing the aftermath of the flooded New Orleans area with its stench and decay, “vomit out its inhabitants” is a very accurate description of the destruction.  Multitudes have been stripped of homes, jobs, possessions and memories.  This is a time of weeping and mourning, of soul searching and seeking the Lord, of helping one’s neighbor and sharing the good news of everlasting life in Jesus Christ, Who will “wipe away every tear from their eyes.”  There shall be no more death, sorrow, nor crying.  There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21: 4).  There are two responses to God’s judgment: men will fear God and repent from their sins, or men will harden their hearts, like Pharaoh of old, shaking their fists and cursing God, to their own demise.  Mankind is not prepared for the things that are about to come upon the earth; their hearts will fail from fear and the dread of it.  Only those who belong to Jesus will find peace in the midst of the storm.  Today is the day of repentance; today is the day of salvation. “Come, and let us return to the Lord; for He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.  After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight”  (Hosea 6: 1-2).