A Postscript to 9-11 Anniversary

So where do I begin this week? Let's see: There was the remembrance this past Sunday on the tenth anniversary of the 9-11 attack. Memorial services were held around our country. Following one of our services at church on Sunday, one member came to me and exclaimed, "Pastor Max, that certainly was a tragic day." I agreed, but then added, "The greatest tragedy is that we failed to learn from the experiences of that day!" He got kind of a quizzical expression on his face. We did not have time to complete our conversation, but here is what I wanted to say to him, "I believe 9-11 was a wake-up call to our country that we were walking down the wrong side of the highway. We had decided to abandon God in our journey as a nation. Immediately following 9-11 churches were full, people were asking important questions about life and its meaning. But, in a matter of a few weeks, it was back to 'business as usual.' Our trust was now in the resources of our military who were seeking out and punishing those who had perpetrated that heinous act." What did we learn? Really nothing. Is the world a safer place because of 9-11? Ask those who live in neighborhoods in Detroit who cower in fear. Ask those believers living in Egypt. Ask the Christians in Sudan. And the list goes on and on. 9-11 was a call that should have resulted in repentance and fear of the living God. Instead, we have tolerated all gods because we don't want to offend any of them.

Can I share something with you? Well I am, anyway. For the past forty plus years I have been diligently studying the Old Testament. I see a remarkable resemblance between those days with ancient Israel and America in the twenty-first century. How many times did God sound the alarm admonishing the people that they were traveling down the wrong side of the road? Over and over again. Sometimes it was through natural catastrophes: earthquakes, plagues of locusts, famines. Sometimes it was through defeat by their enemies: Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians. Sometimes God warned them through the prophets. What was the response of the people to such warnings: an immediate turning to God, followed by the continuation of their lives as they had been in the past. The lingering effects of God's warnings really changed nothing concerning sinful society. In fact, to be perfectly honest, when you study the pages of the Old Testament you come to the conclusion that sinful practices became embolden as a consequence of the people's failure to heed God's warnings.

Do you see a pattern here with our world today? Just look where we have come since 9-11. The homosexual agenda has exploded where now it is a crime to even mention that you believe such practices are wrong. The status of marriage has crumbled to the point where States are actually having to have voter referendums on how to define marriage. Unthinkable that that should even have to happen.

I truly believe, friends, that God's anger toward our nation will shortly be released upon us. He has given us opportunity after opportunity, warning after warning, and yet we continue to hide our faces in the sand and continue in our sinful ways. Israel tried that approach for 200 years; but finally the day came when the armies of Assyria not only knocked on the doors of Samaria, but crashed through the doors. 150 years later something similar happened in Jerusalem when the armies of Babylon arrived.

I have been sharing with people that it is time for Christians to get right with God personally. Jesus is coming and we want to be ready ourselves. It may be too late to save our nation - and I only say those words with great sadness - but we can prepare ourselves. We can strengthen the witness of our churches with a renewed commitment to holiness, resulting in snatching a few more from the fires to come.

I am challenged with these words of Jesus: "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). Something to chew upon.

Postscript: Next week I will focus upon the United Nations vote to recognize Palestine as a nation. This vote is scheduled for next Tuesday. The repercussions of such a vote could be devastating. Stay tuned.

Postscript 2: By the way, the Middle East is about ready to explode. Over the weekend Turkey announced that it will be sending some of its warships to accompany the next flotilla destined for Gaza. And this past week the Turkish military removed equipment from their fighter jets that had indicated that Israeli planes were friendly; the Turks are not so friendly anymore. And then there was the assault in Cairo of the Israeli embassy there. Interesting to compare notes with that event and a similar one in Tehran in 1979 - the only difference being that it was the American embassy attacked there. If you want to read a definitive account of those days, I would encourage you to read Dore Gold's book: "The Rise of Nuclear Iran." It is powerfully written.