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Dear Friends: 2001 was very painful and we have barely made it through this one, but look at the disasters that are happening! We felt so deeply for the poor folks hit by those terrible tornadoes! The restraining Spirit of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, disasters by sea and by land, follow one another in quick succession. The signs thickening around us, are telling of the near approach of the Son of God. It seems that every time we watch the news something hits us in the heart harder than the day before. If we didn't have Jesus, we would not be able to sleep nights, we would be so afraid. . .But He is our refuge and strength. The coming of Christ to usher in the reign of righteousness has inspired the most sublime utterances of the sacred writers. The psalmist sang of the power and majesty of Israel's King: "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad. . . before the Lord: for he cometh, for He cometh to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth." Psalm 96:11–13.
When the Saviour was about to be separated from His disciples, He comforted them in their sorrow with the assurance that He would come again: "Let not your heart be troubled. . . .In my Father's house are many mansions....I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself." John 14:1–3. "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God," Said the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians. John the Revelator said: "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him." Revelation 1:7. Around His coming cluster the glories of that "restitution of all things" which God has spoken of by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." Then the long-continued rule of evil shall be broken; "the kingdoms of this world" will become "the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." Revelation 11:15. That is something to pin our hopes on! That is something to look forward to no matter how bad the future looks.