Greetings y'all,
By now, all of you should have received the very timely commentary Mr. Roderick C. Meredith made for our Web site, upon hearing about the massive 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the island of Sumatra.
His commentary is available at www.lcg.org and www.tomorrowsworld.org. We would also like to share with you some of the first-hand reports we received from our brethren in the various countries affected by the unbelievable catastrophe.
SRI LANKA
December 27
2:53 AM—Just to let you know that all brethren in SL are OK. The persons affected are Mrs. Virginia Thamil & family who live less than 1km from the beach in Negombo. Her house and property are safe as of now; I understand that the bridge is damaged there & that will cause many problems for the people residing in that area. She and her family have come over to her sister's home closer to Colombo and may put up there for a short while.
According to news SL is the most affected country. Much disaster in the coastal areas from Trincomalee in the North East upto about Putlam South West.—Frank Reckerman
A somewhat similar report was also received from John Bastiansz in Sri Lanka.
INDONESIA
December 27
9:46 AM—Thank you for your prayers and emails regarding the earthquake. By this email, I want to inform all of you that our Indonesian brethren (including a Malaysian brother who is working in Indonesia) are in good condition and not affected by the great earthquake disaster that happened in Indonesia yesterday. The earthquake occurred in the very western part of Indonesia, close to the island of Sumatra that is close to Singapore and Malaysia.
All of the brethren live in the island next to Sumatra Island, Java Island, and we live in the very eastern part of that island. While our Malaysian brother who is working in Indonesia is also living in a far place from Sumatra island, that is in eastern Borneo. We all are quite safe but terribly saddened to know the tragedy that is happening. It seems that Indonesia is still in a great threat of the several tsunami disasters to come. I received a news from my sister that Bali island resort has been attacked by tsunami. She was worried for her children were there but thankfully they have just come back to our island. Anyway, according to the recent news, our island is also in the threat of the same disaster. There are other 17 spots that are in tsunami threat. It seems that Indonesian seabed plates are being reconstructed due to the first quake in the border of East Timor and Australia a couple of weeks ago. Please pray for us.—Arius Nusantara
THAILAND
December 27
3:53 AM—It was a dangerous earthquakes in Thailand last night and killed hundreds of people in southern provinces such as Phuket Island, Phi Phi Island, Karabi, Satoon and etc; This evening, a lot of western people were sent to various hospitals. The views on the TV screen are really upsetting. Please look at the suitable web sites for the news. I have never experienced anything like this. The news stations are not able to announce the exact number of deaths, injury, lost and damage up until I am writing this message. It also affected our village for about 30 seconds last nigh. But we all are safe and sound.—Mehm Pho Saw
INDIA
December 28
5:02 AM—The Indian brethren are all okay. They live quite inland (I think about 20 miles) and were not affected directly. The location where they kept this past Feast however was hit by the tidal surge. I don't yet have all the details but will let you know as soon as I find out more—Bruce Tyler
MALAYSIA
December 27
11:21 AM—Thanks for the phone call yesterday. All the brethren are safe here in Malaysia. Penang Island where we had our Feast in the past was the worst hit. At least 53 people were killed, scores injured in several parts of Malaysia when the tidal waves of up to five metres high hit the coastal regions as a result of an earthquake in Sumatra in Indonesia.—Rajan Moses
FROM THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT
As the end of our accounting year comes to a close, we ask a small favor of all ministers, elders and those responsible for hall rental vouchers. If at all possible, please submit all remaining 2004 expenses by January 12 in order for our department to begin the annual closing procedure. This helps make sure 2004 expenses stay in 2004 and not get carried over to 2005. Your help is greatly appreciated. Merci, Gracias, Thank you.
TELEVISION DEPARTMENT
The Christmas holiday was good for us, in terms of audience and response! We aired program #226, "Origins of Christmas," offering The Holy Days—God's Master Plan! (HD) booklet.
From Thursday through Sunday, we received 2,066 live calls, and we are expecting the final count for the week to surpass 2,400. A new milestone was also reached. The first-time caller count passed 250,000, since the telecast began in January 1999.
COMMENTS
One can't help but feel a strong sense of urgency after reading the tsunami reports and listening to the dramatic, heartbreaking descriptions of the damage, primarily the loss of human life, reported by the media the last few days. As we mentioned above, almost immediately after the earthquake, Mr. Meredith delivered a forceful Internet commentary, showing that PROPHECY COMES ALIVE. That's exactly what we have been proclaiming on our Tomorrow's World telecast and magazine. There is no time, brethren, to remain lukewarm. No time to relax or to pretend that things aren't as bad as they seem. We must heed Christ's warning and watch and pray more than ever before. We must keep closer to God and ask Him more fervently every day, "Thy Kingdom come!"
Y'all have a peaceful Sabbath,
Dibar Apartian