Day: September 20, 2017

​Steve Hammer

Steve Hammer

If you are easily offended dont read………..

………………………

Dear heavenly father please forgive this

nation for rewarding laziness by not

enforcing people who are able to work, to

where now people can get free food stamps,

free housing, free gasoline for their car, free

cell phone service, free cable, and a monthly

check just because they claim they are not

Americans. Please forgive this nation for

forcing Muslim teachings in class rooms

when we know they hate you, they hate and

abuse woman and children, plus they hate

this God fearing nation. Please forgive us

heavenly father for allowing so much racism

in music and movies and then claim we dont

know why it keeps growing, forgive us

heavenly father for our society, music,

movies, and media to claim that anyone who

has morals, ethics, values, good character or

is still a virgin must be stupid, ignorant and

dumb. Please heavenly father forgive us for

glamorizing woman that promote their

cleavage and want to show it to everyone.

Father forgive us for not honoring and

respecting woman that promote purity and

holiness instead we claim their just ugly and

stupid. Father in heaven forgive us for

creating dolls for pedophiles instead of

disciplining and teaching people how to find

freedom from their wickedness we are

creating ways to help them cope with their

sickness. Father in heaven please forgive

your church for becoming lazy,complacent

and lukeworm instead of confronting people

in their sins we are comforting people in their

sins, instead of telling people about Gods

discipline and judgments we are now wanting

to blame some one or something for people

going through heart ache while the bible

clearly says Godly sorrow will produces

repentance. Father in heaven please forgive

for rejecting your word because now so many

of your own children are getting married to

non-believers, Muslims, atheist and those

who serve demons and then they wonder why

you arent blessing their marriage. My God my

God for give this nation for the stupidity,

arrogance, pride and ignorance in our hearts.

Tim Thompson

Oswald Chambers 

The most beloved devotional of all time.By Oswald ChambersLEARN MORE
September 20 
The Divine Commandment of LifeBy Oswald Chambers
…be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. —Matthew 5:48
   
Our Lord’s exhortation to us in Matthew 5:38-48 is to be generous in our behavior toward everyone. Beware of living according to your natural affections in your spiritual life. Everyone has natural affections— some people we like and others we don’t like. Yet we must never let those likes and dislikes rule our Christian life. “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another” (1 John 1:7), even those toward whom we have no affection.
The example our Lord gave us here is not that of a good person, or even of a good Christian, but of God Himself. “…be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” In other words, simply show to the other person what God has shown to you. And God will give you plenty of real life opportunities to prove whether or not you are “perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s interests in other people. Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
The true expression of Christian character is not in good-doing, but in God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit divine characteristics in your life, not just good human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as God’s life, not as human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian’s life is that the supernatural becomes natural in him as a result of the grace of God, and the experience of this becomes evident in the practical, everyday details of life, not in times of intimate fellowship with God. And when we come in contact with things that create confusion and a flurry of activity, we find to our own amazement that we have the power to stay wonderfully poised even in the center of it all.
   
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WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The life of Abraham is an illustration of two things: of unreserved surrender to God, and of God’s complete possession of a child of His for His own highest end.

Not Knowing Whither

​Streams in the Desert – September 20

Streams in the Desert – September 20

Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?”(John 11:40).
Mary and Martha could not understand what their Lord was doing. Both of them said to Him, “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” Back of it all, we seem to read their thought: “Lord, we do not understand why you have stayed away so long. We do not understand how you could let death come to the man whom you loved. We do not understand how you could let sorrow and suffering ravage our lives when your presence might have stayed it all. Why did you not come? It is too late now, for already he has been dead four days!” And to it all Jesus had but one great truth: “You may not understand; but I tell you if you believe, you will see.”
Abraham could not understand why God should ask the sacrifice of the boy; but he trusted. And he saw the glory of God in his restoration to his love. Moses could not understand why God should keep him forty years in the wilderness, but he trusted; and he saw when God called him to lead forth Israel from bondage.
Joseph could not understand the cruelty of his brethren, the false witness of a perfidious woman, and the long years of an unjust imprisonment; but he trusted, and he saw at last the glory of God in it all. Jacob could not understand the strange providence which permitted the same Joseph to be torn from his father’s love, but he saw the glory of God when he looked into the face of that same Joseph as the viceroy of a great king, and the preserver of his own life and the lives of a great nation.
And so, perhaps in your life. You say, “I do not understand why God let my dear one be taken. I do not understand why affliction has been permitted to smite me. I do not understand the devious paths by which the Lord is leading me. I do not understand why plans and purposes that seemed good to my eyes should be baffled. I do not understand why blessings I so much need are so long delayed.
Friend, you do not have to understand all God’s ways with you. God does not expect you to understand them. You do not expect your child to understand, only believe. Some day you will see the glory of God in the things which you do not understand.

–J. H. McC
“If we could push ajar the gates of life,

And stand within, and all God’s working see,

We might interpret all this doubt and strife,

And for each mystery could find a key.
“But not today. Then be content, poor heart;

God’s plans, like lilies pure and white, unfold.

We must not tear the close-shut leaves apart–

Time will reveal the calyxes of gold.
“And if, through patient toil, we reach the land

Where tired feet, with sandals loosed, may rest,

When we shall clearly know and understand,

I think that we shall say, ‘God knew best.”‘

​Answers From the Book

Answers From the Book

QUESTION: Since we are all sinners (Romans 3:23), who are the ‘pure in heart’ mentioned in Matthew 5:8?

ANSWER: That is an excellent question! Let’s read Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (NKJV). We need to be clear that whatever is meant by “the pure in heart” it can NOT mean that they are “sinless.” In 1st John 1:8 & 10 we are told, “If we say that we HAVE NO SIN, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us….If we say that we HAVE NOT SINNED, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” These two verses teach us that even a true believer in Christ still has “sin” in him (the “sinful nature” that we were born with) and commits “acts of sin.” We will not be perfectly holy and incapable of sinning until we are in the glorified state in heaven. At that time we shall take on Christ’s likeness completely, as we see in 1st John 3:2, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM, for we shall see Him as He is.” The church of God, composed of every believer, will be presented to Christ in sinless perfection. Ephesians 5:27 declares, “That He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

The word “pure” in Matthew 5:8 speaks, first and foremost, of a believer’s POSITION IN CHRIST. Once we trust in Christ as our personal Savior, the Lord “purifies our hearts” by giving us a New Nature and a New Position before God. In 1st Peter 1:22 we read, “Since you have PURIFIED your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit.” This sounds like WE purified our souls, but it was actually God who made us PURE. This is borne out in Acts 15:8-9, “So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, PURIFYING THEIR HEARTS BY FAITH.” This is a most precious truth, through faith in Christ, God has now “purified our hearts!” We are indebted to God’s grace alone for this, for before the world even began He purposed us for this blessing. Ephesians 1:4 states, “Just as He chose us IN HIM before the foundation of the world, that we should be HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME BEFORE HIM in love.” Again, this is the POSITION we now occupy before God “in Christ.” We are now “the pure in heart!”

But there is also a PRACTICAL application as well. We stated earlier that once we reach the glorified state in heaven we shall be like Christ, for we shall be completely conformed to His image. Yet even now we are being conformed to His image; our lives are being transformed as we learn of Christ through the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. 2nd Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” So, as we “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2nd Peter 3:18) we become more like Him and thus more “pure in heart” in our PRACTICE (our walk here on earth). We had quoted 1st John 3:2 above to show that in glory WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM. The next verse goes on to say, “And everyone who has this hope in Him PURFIES HIMSELF, just as He is PURE.” The thought here is that as we meditate upon Christ and the hope we have of being with Him and like Him in glory, there will be a “purifying effect” in our lives HERE AND NOW! May it be the desire of every believer to become more “pure in heart” each and every day. This will take diligence on our part and we will need the encouragement of other believers who also have this desire. This is confirmed by Paul’s wholesome words in 2nd Timothy 2:22, “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace WITH THOSE WHO CALL ON THE LORD OUT OF A PURE HEART.

​Paula MailletSeptember 19

Paula Maillet

September 19

The Difference Between “You” And “They”

“For you yourselves know perfectly

that the day of the Lord so comes

as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’

then sudden destruction comes upon them,

as labor pains upon a pregnant woman,

and they shall not escape.”

1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 Notice that he is making a difference between “you” and “they.” “They” are the people who are not born-again, and upon whom the sudden destruction will come, at a time when they are talking peace. “They” will be here when the Day Of The Lord, the great Tribulation, comes upon the earth, and NO ONE will be able to escape it.

But YOU…

Vs: 4

“But YOU, brethren, are not in darkness, that that Day should overtake you as a thief.”

Those who are born again, who are not living in darkness, will not be here for the great Tribulation. That day will NOT come upon the true believers as a thief. “Come, my people, enter your chambers,

and shut your doors behind you,

hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment,

until the indignation is past…”

Isaiah 26:20 The great Tribulation is the time of the wrath of God falling upon an unbelieving, Christ-rejecting world, when the Lord pours out the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. It is the time of tribulation such as has never been seen upon the earth, nor ever will be afterwards. “For then there will be great tribulation,

such as has not been since the beginning of the world

until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

Matthew 24:21

“…and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”

Revelation 19:15

Jesus told us to pray that we may be accounted worthy to ESCAPE these things.

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy

to ESCAPE all these things that will come to pass,

and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Luke 21:36

Have you followed Christ’s admonition to pray this request? If He tells us to pray this, we’d better be praying it. The way to escape is to ASK to escape.

Watch, be sober, and pray to escape. Those who do, will be removed and will not be here to suffer those days. MORE:

The Rapture

http://rapture-generatio

​Answers From the Book

Answers From the Book

QUESTION: Can you explain Ephesians 2:10?

ANSWER: To answer your good question, let’s first read Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” These verses show us the way of salvation so clearly. We are saved by the grace of God through faith. This is one of the clearest verses in the Bible to let us know that we cannot earn our salvation by doing good works. You may be a very kind person. You may give your time and money to help out the less fortunate. You may work hard to gain salvation, but you cannot save yourself by your good works.

Isaiah 64:6 says, “But we are ALL AS AN UNCLEAN THING, and all our RIGHTEOUSNESSES ARE AS FILTHY RAGS; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” All those efforts you may put forward in order to be saved…the Lord calls them “filthy rags.” They are worse that worthless. Titus 3:5-6 tells us, “NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH WE HAVE DONE, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.” This is a necessary truth: we cannot work for our salvation!

Now let’s read Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” We, meaning all believers, are the handiwork of the grace of God. We are ‘created in Christ Jesus’. It is God that created the natural man and it is God that creates the ‘new man’. We read in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, HE IS A NEW CREATION; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (NKJV). When we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, the Lord causes us to become ‘brand new’. We are a NEW CREATION. We are not the OLD CREATION made better. NO! We become brand new creations when we have Christ. In that NEW CREATION, we have been “created in Christ Jesus UNTO GOOD WORKS.” It is as saved believers that we can truly do “good works.” It is only those who are saved that can work for God; that can truly serve Him and glorify Him. As Christians, the Lord has created us to work for Him. Indeed, we should walk according to the good works the Lord gives us to do.

So, what have we learned here? We have learned that:

* Works do not justify, but the justified man can work for God.

* We do not work so that we WILL BE saved; rather, we Christians work because WE ARE saved.

Titus 2:14, speaking of Christ says, “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, ZEALOUS OF GOOD WORKS.” Once again, it becomes obvious. REDEMPTION comes FIRST, and then GOOD WORKS will naturally come as we walk with and learn more about the Lord Jesus.

​Answers From the Book

Answers From the Book

QUESTION: Did Jesus and Paul preach the same gospel?

ANSWER: The word “gospel” means “good news.” The gospel may take different forms (as we shall see), but the gospel is ALWAYS focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is confirmed in Romans 1:1-3, “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ…separated to the GOSPEL of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, CONCERNING HIS SON JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD” (NKJV). With that in mind, we will now look at the gospel that Jesus and Paul preached.

In Mark 1:14-15 we read, “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel’.” Jesus preached “the gospel of the kingdom of God.” What does that mean? Throughout the Old Testament the prophets had foretold that Israel’s Messiah, the Son of David, would come to set up His kingdom on earth. When Jesus spoke these words He was presenting Himself to the nation of Israel as their Messiah. He states clearly, “the time is fulfilled,” meaning the prophecies related to His appearing were now being fulfilled, for He was the King and thus “the kingdom of God was at hand.” But they needed to REPENT and BELIEVE the gospel; that is, they needed to “repent of their sins” and “believe that He was their Messiah.” If they did, He would establish His kingdom. Did they repent and believe the gospel? No! Instead they rejected Him and His offer of the kingdom, and ultimately they delivered Him over to Pontius Pilate to be crucified. How solemn are the words recorded in John 1:11, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” Now let’s look at 1st Corinthians 15:1-3, “Moreover, brethren, I declare to you THE GOSPEL WHICH I PREACHED TO YOU, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved…for I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURE, and that HE WAS BURIED, and that HE ROSE AGAIN THE THIRD DAY ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES.” Here is the gospel that Paul preached. He preached the good news of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, which the Corinthians HAD BELIEVED and by which they WERE SAVED. This is not the same message that Jesus preached, yet the gospel in both cases was all about Jesus Christ, God’s Son. One had to do with Jesus Christ coming to set up His kingdom so He could bring peace and righteousness to the earth; the other had to do with His death, burial and resurrection so sinners could be saved from the penalty of their sins.

This does not mean that Jesus never spoke of His impending death and resurrection, for on at least three occasions He told His disciples that this would happen. In Matthew 16:21 we read, “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” Yet the main message that Jesus proclaimed was the “gospel of the kingdom.” It was only after it became evident that the nation was rejecting Him that He began to speak of His being crucified, buried and raised from the dead.

This does not mean that Paul never spoke of Christ as the Messiah and of the good news that He will one day return to earth to set up His kingdom. We had quoted earlier from 1st Corinthians 15 to show the gospel that Paul preached and in that same chapter Paul speaks of Christ’s reigning in His kingdom, “Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet” (verses 24-25). But in the main, Paul’s message had to do with the good news that Christ died for our sins on the cross, was buried, and rose victorious over sin, death and the grave three days later so that believing sinners could be saved.

​God’s Full ArmourGLOBAL GRACE – September 2017

God’s Full Armour

GLOBAL GRACE – September 2017

Heaven Is Our Hope and Earth Israel’s Hope

20. It Is Restrained

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7, “And you know what restrains him now [from being revealed]; it is so that he will be revealed at his own [appointed] time. For the mystery of lawlessness [rebellion against divine authority and the coming reign of lawlessness] is already at work; [but it is restrained] only until he who now restrains it is taken out of the way.” First, Paul says the tribulation is not here yet, because the antichrist has not yet been revealed. Now he says, as long as the antichrist has not yet come, there is something that holds him back and this has to be taken out of the way first. Millions of believers on earth, empowered with the Holy Spirit, are keeping the antichrist at bay. He cannot be disclosed yet. We must first be taken away! What a joy! Thank you, Lord, that you have planned it so that we will not have to deal with the damnation of the antichrist! Dear fellow-believer, as long as you are still here on earth, it is also your duty to resist the rise of the antichrist in any form. Our Lord will decide when it’s time for the revelation of the antichrist and then the one who stands in the way at present will be taken away.

This is in accordance with all the verses we have already dealt with on the subject. The hope of the Christian is the rapture and not the advent of the antichrist, or that the temple should be rebuilt in Jerusalem, nor a nuclear war between Israel and its enemies. We read in 1 Thessalonians 5:8-9,

“But since we [believers] belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope and confident assurance of salvation. For God has not destined us to [incur His] wrath [that is, He did not select us to condemn us], but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ”.

ten virgins

They Forgot The Oil

Posted on September 19, 2017

“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins

who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,

but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.”

Matthew 25:1-4

What is the difference between these two groups of people? It has to be a great difference because the story concludes with the Lord saying to the foolish virgins:

vs 12:

“But he answered and said,

‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’”

He never knew them. Yet they had gone out to meet him. In other words, they knew ABOUT him, they were “religious,” they knew enough to know that he would come at some point, yet they didn’t “KNOW” him.

The element on which this story stands is the oil that they did not take with them. In the Scriptures, oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. There are many – MANY – churches today who meet regularly on Sunday mornings and sing hymns and have a Scripture reading and do good works and love each other, but are lacking the most important thing, the Holy Spirit, which makes all their works worthless.

How can you tell whether they are lacking the Spirit of God? Here’s how – the Holy Spirit is all about testifying of Jesus. He is all about revelation. What revelation? Jesus. It’s all about Jesus. When a church gets off into “service,” good works, community outreach, building programs, books and videos, professional-sounding musicians, pot-luck dinners, and so much more, it’s all fine and good except that their focus is not on JESUS.

As time comes closer to the “last days,” as the world is being set up for the one-world religion, as Satan’s agenda is about to break forth – it’s no coincidence that Jesus is no longer the focus in the churches today. Those churches see the approaching Tribulation, and their response to it is to stock up with goods to get them through the hard times of the Tribulation. But there’s no stock up on …OIL. They’ve missed the whole point. And when the Bridegroom comes, they will be left behind to consume the goods they’ve prepared with.

One day I asked the Lord, “what is the difference between works of gold, silver and precious stone, versus works of wood, hay, and stubble, (1 Cor 3:12)? He answered me with a question: “Look back upon your walk with me and tell me what is the difference between each time you were successful in bringing souls to me, versus the times you weren’t.” That took awhile, because I wanted to look deeply and “get” what he was saying. After reviewing the stories, I came to a startling conclusion. Every single one of them was a story HE set up, they happened totally unexpectedly, and it was easy. The other stories in which I tried so hard to convince people unsuccessfully, failed. And I “got it!” The difference was the Holy Spirit. HE created the stories, HE brought about the circumstances that led to the success, HE did the work when the time came, and HE accomplished what HE was doing. These works were the works of gold, silver, and precious stone. Any other effort on my part was wood, hay and stubble, and the proof was in the pudding. One succeeded, the other didn’t, and the difference was the Holy Spirit.

To “know” the Lord is to have a PERSONAL relationship with him. That starts when a person recognizes his terrible sinfulness, realizes he can do nothing about it, hears the Gospel and responds with surrendering his/her life unto the Lord Jesus Christ. He becomes their Lord and they follow him intimately for the rest of their lives. All others, those who are perhaps religious, maybe grew up in a Christian home, go to church, do good works, but who have not been born again by the SPIRIT OF GOD – these do not KNOW him. And they will hear in the end, “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.”

We need to get serious with God. On HIS terms, not ours. Our good works and religious practices will not save us. In fact, the Scriptures say they are a stench in God’s nostrils, because they are done from self, not from his Spirit.

If your life is religious, take some time to

examine your heart to see whether your life is rooted in the Spirit of God. If you’re not sure, if you don’t have a strong assurance of your salvation, then go to the Lord and get this settled between him and you. You’ll need to come to a deep honesty about yourself, and pride has to drop. “God RESISTS the proud.” (James 4:6) If you can put down your pride and self-justifying before him, he will meet you there and you will come to know him in a way you’d never, ever, thought possible. And it will change everything. Then when the Bridegroom comes, your lamp will be filled with oil and you will go with him. Don’t miss this!

​Michael Hunt

Michael Hunt

Two famous men faced death

and left behind words worth repeating. The renowned Indian leader, Ghandi said as he neared death: “My days are numbered. For the first time in fifty years I find myself in the slough of despondent. All about me is darkness”

In contrast, Ira Sankey, beloved hymn writer, lived in Brooklyn the last few years of his life and after years of blindness died in 1908. But out of his blindness and frailty, he dictated a farewell message to his friends: “I have only a little longer of earthly darkness, and then the sunshine of the Father’s throne. God is love. Good night, good night.”

Ghandi led a nation while Sankey only led singing. But Sankey’s blind eyes could see God, when it mattered, the most.

The gospel made the difference.

Woodrow Wilson is reported to have said, “We have deprived ourselves of the best there is in the world if we deprive ourselves of knowledge of the Bible.” There is no comparison: the Bible is the best guide and the believer’s life is the best guided.

Don’t be deprived of the Bible’s rich blessings.

Read it daily.

Study it often. –James Haney

​Stephen ThomasWords to Ponder

Stephen Thomas

Words to Ponder

“Trying to do the Lord’s work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.” – Corrie Ten Boom.

​Over 100 killed as 7.1 magnitude quake destroys buildings in Mexico

Over 100 killed as 7.1 magnitude quake destroys buildings in Mexico

Mexico City – A powerful earthquake shook central Mexico on Tuesday, collapsing buildings in plumes of dust and killing at least 149 people. Thousands fled into the streets in panic, and many stayed to help rescue those trapped.

Dozens of buildings tumbled into mounds of rubble or were severely damaged in densely populated parts of Mexico City and nearby states. Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said buildings fell at 44 places in the capital alone as high-rises across the city swayed sickeningly.

Hours after the magnitude 7.1 quake, rescue workers were still clawing through the wreckage of a primary school that partly collapsed in the city’s south looking for any children who might be trapped. Some relatives said they had received Whatsapp message from two girls inside.

The quake is the deadliest in Mexico since a 1985 quake on the same date killed thousands. It came less than two weeks after another powerful quake caused 90 deaths in the country’s south.

Luis Felipe Puente, head of the national Civil Defense agency, reported on Tuesday night that the confirmed death toll had been raised to 149.

His tweet said 55 people died in Morelos state, just south of Mexico City, while 49 died in the capital and 32 were killed in nearby Puebla state, where the quake was centered. Ten people died in the State of Mexico, which surrounds Mexico City on three sides, and three were killed in Guerrero state, he said.

The count did not include one death that officials in the southern state of Oaxaca reported earlier as quake-related.

The federal go