This word is submitted by Teresa Seputis (ts@godspeak.org)

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                 Regarding The Dec 26 Tsunami

It was only 5 PM on Christmas Day where I live.  It was 6:30 in the morning 
the day after Christmas for the people in India.  It was 7 or 8 in that same
morning for most of the rest of the places that were effected by the Tsunami 
that devastated southern Asia.  It took about 12 hours for the news of this 
terrible disaster to travel throughout the world. Over 22,000 people are 
reported dead and the death toll is expected to climb even higher than that. 

And people are asking "Why did this happen?"  Christians around the world 
cannot help but notice how near this disaster was to Christmas Day and that 
the people effected by this were mostly idol worshippers.  And some have 
wondered if this was some type of judgment of God against idolatry.  In
fact, that question ran briefly through my own mind as I got past the 
initial shock of the terrible news.  I found myself asking God -- "was this 
a judgment or was it an attack of the enemy or what?"

It took about an hour before I was able to hear God's answer to my question. 
I think the delay was because this sad news hit me very hard, as I have 
close ties to the area.  I have flown in/out of Chennai (a.k.a. Madras) 
many times. The state of Tamilnadu, where Madras is located, was one of the 
areas hardest hit in India.  And I have ministered many times in the State 
of Andhra Predesh, and over 200 people are reported to have died from the 
Tsunami in that state.  In fact, I had a guest from Andhra Predesh in my 
home at the exact instant the tsunami hit, and his wife was in India 
visiting her family 15 miles from the coast.  (We did not know about the 
Tsunami until after he had gone home that night.) 

This is what God told me: This was NOT a judgment from God, it was an
attack of the enemy. The attack mirrors in the natural what God is about 
to do in the spirit, and it precedes an upcoming move of God in those
areas.  God has been hard a work behind the scenes to prepare South Asia
for revival. It is almost ripe and God is going to release a wave of 
great revival there, a revival that will draw people to the truth and 
sweep away the stronghold of idolatry and ancestor worship.  The devil
is one who comes to comes to kill, steal and destroy. And he has brought
this tsunami to kill as many people as he can before the revival hits.
He is doing this because he does not want them to be saved in the revival.
It is not God's heart or desire to destroy the people who live in great 
darkness in this part of the world -- it is His desire to shine His light 
into their darkness and to save them.

The Lord showed me a princple that relates to enemy activity in the area. 
The principle is that the enemy's "thing" is to kill and destroy, and the 
more of a hold he has on an area, the more of an ability he has to do his 
thing in that area.  For instance, in India, the state of Tamilnadu was the 
one that was hardest hit by the Tsunami, and where most of the death and 
destruction occurred. This same state is one that had given the devil a 
stronghold by passing a very strong anti-conversion law that could 
imprison anyone who leads a person to the Lord.  And because the devil had 
a stronghold on this area, he was able to bring more death/destruction to 
it than to other parts of India.  (I am not saying that Tamilnadu is the
only demonic stronghold in India.  But the devil was able to destroy much
there because it was one of his strongholds.)  The good news is that
Tamilnadu is almost ripe for revival and that area will be filled with 
God's light and presence."

We must remember that God's heart is for the lost and He wants to bring 
them to Himself.  The devil's heart is to kill, steal and destroy and to 
oppress and keep people in darkness.  God's goal and the devil's goal are 
diametrically opposed to one another. That is why there is a war going on 
between the two sides.  God has already won the war when Jesus rose from 
the dead, breaking the power of sin and death. But God values human 
free-will; He wants people to worship Him of their own free choice.  And in 
order to preserve our ability to choose (free will) God has not yet banished 
the devil to Hell.  The devil knows he is defeated, and like a trapped 
animal he still lashes out against God's kingdom and engages in warfare.

The Tsunami was a great and heart-breaking tragedy.  We need to ask ourselves
how God wants us to respond to this.  I would like to share three insights
to that question.  

First, He wants us to love them with the love of Christ.  That love does not 
sit idly by and hope the people will get the help they need -- instead that 
love helps those who become destitute from this Tsunami -- it gives both 
financial and practical aid.  We are not to limit our help to just those 
who are willing to convert.  We are to follow God's example: God sends His 
rain on both the just and the unjust, so we should help all who are effected, 
not just those who agree with our viewpoint.  

Second, we need to pray for God's will to be done in this area.  God's will 
is to bring a wave of His revival -- to break the power of darkness, to 
bring light and life and joy and peace and provision to these people. It is 
to bring them to the saving knowledge of Jesus so that they put away their 
idols and worship only Him.  So we need to pray and intercede in agreement 
with God's will for a great revival to come to South Asia.  

Third, we must participate with God in accomplishing His will in that area.
This means doing missions work in South Asia.  It also means supporting and 
equipping the indigenious believers as they evangelize their nations.

Great darkness has come to this area in the form of this terrible tradegy. 
Now it is time for the body of Christ to bring great light to dispell that
darkness. It is time for us to bring practical and tangible help, as well
as to bring God's love and the good news of the gospel to this region. It
is also time to demonstrate the reality and power of God's love by healing
the sick and doing the works that Jesus did.