'Lord, Lord... tama na please'

This column starts out serious but I promise you will appreciate the closing.

- CITO BELTRAN

As I watched the videos during the recent Cebu and Davao earthquakes, it was hard to ignore or not notice the desperate cries of people hiding under tables, pleading, almost shouting, “Lord! Lord! Tama na Lord”

I sympathized with each of them, praying they all made it out, shaken but unharmed. Then I thanked God that Metro Manila has been spared from such an earthquake.

After two major earthquakes in a row where videos caught victims crying out, “Lord, Lord, please tama na Lord,” I was reminded of a warning from Jesus Christ.

Chapter 7 verses 21 to 27 of the book of Matthew reminds us about disasters, rains and landslides. It also gives proper context to calling out to Jesus Christ out of fear more than real faith, or assuming “religion” gets us insurance coverage from God.

Jesus Christ began by saying, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

“Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.’

“Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken to a wise man who built his house on the rock: ‘And the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat on the house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.’