Recieved the following this morning and hope there would be some prayerful thought given to this before responding, have some thoughts for later and haven't had a chance to search out the validity of it but...

[u]God Protects His own![/u]

We know that 80% of the town of Meulabohin Aceh was destroyed by the Tsunami waves and 80% of the people also died. This is one of the towns that was hit the hardest.

But there is a fantastic testimony from Meulaboh. In that town are about 400 Christians.

They wanted to celebrate Christmas on December
25th but were not allowed to do so by the Muslims of Meulaboh. They were told if they wanted to
celebrate Christmas they needed to go outside the city of Meulabohon a high hill and there celebrate Christmas.

Because the Christians desired to celebrate Christmas the 400 believers left the city on December 25th and after they celebrated Christmas they stayed overnight on the hill.

As we all know the morning of December 26 there was the earthquake followed by the Tsunami waves destroying most of the city of Meulabohand
thousands were killed. The 400 believers were on the mountain and were all saved from destruction.

Now the Muslims of Meulaboh are saying that the God of the Christians punished us for forbidding the Christians from celebrating Christmas in the city. Others are questioning why so many Muslims died while not even one of the Christians died there.

Had the Christians insisted on their rights to celebrate Christmas in the city, they would have all died. But because they humbled themselves
and followed the advice of the Muslims they all were spared destruction and can now testify of God's marvelous protection.

This is a testimony of the grace of God and the fact that as believers we have no rights in the world. Our right is come before God and commit our
lives to Him. Our right is kneeling down before the Lord almighty and commit our ways to Him. He is our Father and is very capable to care for
His children. Praise the Name of the Lord.

Bill Hekman
Pastor Calvary Life Fellowship in Indonesia.

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Mike Balog

Either way it is encouraging that we know that God protects his own. I like your comment that the Christians took their advice, that is a nice way of putting it. :-D

Hey, did you hear about those Elephants who hot-footed it into the hills because they knew something was coming? Creation calls that there is a God.

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Zeke Oosthuis

A helpful site for checking out things that come our way and as it relates to this posting;[url=http://www.snopes.com/religion/tsunami.asp]http://www.snopes.com/religion/tsunami.asp[/url]

But, also did some digging around and from the source of this story as it relates to the Pastor and the fellowship mentioned it appears to be true as far as they are confirming it, the account of it.

[url=http://www.expat.or.id/orgs/calvarylifefellowship.html]http://www.expat.or.id/orgs/calvarylifefellowship.html[/url]

It was passed on to me at work and didn't have the time to check it's validity then. The question brought originally to me from it, was my take on it and my initial reaction was not of "Hurray for the Christians" but more of sadness, that this would be construed as just that, rejoicing that 'we' were spared at someone else's expense, that this makes us somehow more deserving, being Christians? Couldn't get past these scripture's;

Luk 13:1 And some were present at the same time reporting to Him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
Luk 13:2 And answering, Jesus said to them, Do you suppose that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans because they suffered such things?
Luk 13:3 I tell you, No. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Luk 13:4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were sinners above all men who lived in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5 I tell you, No. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

There seems to be another spirit out there other than the Holy Spirit, even if this is only an illustration of what is lying deeper in the hearts of those who ought to know better. That's just my opinion and furthermore if it was indeed true that this was indeed the result of Gods protection, should we be happy for ourselves in the face of such a disaster?

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Mike Balog