9/11....a world torn apart
Five years ago today, terrorists took the lives of over 2800 innocent people. The deaths of these everyday people caused a ripple effect, first in their own families. Imagine the horror felt when someone realized it was their father or mother, son or daughter, or brother or sister in one of the WTC towers as the planes crashed into them. Or in one of the planes. Or were one of the brave rescue personnel, when the towers came crashing down. Then there were the countless friendships, suddenly gone, in one senseless act of terror. The ripple spread, affecting churches, synagogues, businesses, and schools. It would go on to affect all the rescue, recovery, and clean up personnel. It affected almost every government agency in our country. It affected our economy, as the stock market crashed. It affected the thousand of military personnel who would be called to serve. In the end, it affected each and every one of us, each in a different way.Today, on this anniversary of sadness and pain, we need to pray for all those affected by this tragedy. However, there is one group of people that we really need to pray for; the Muslim extremists that continue spreading terror today.
One fact that gets missed easily in our anger is that the terrorists that crashed the planes into the WTC towers and the Pentagon truly believed they were doing the right thing. We know what they did was horribly wrong. Their own Koran, their holy book, clearly condemns the taking of innocent lives. And yet they believed they that not only were they right, but that they were doing God’s will. How does this happen, that people get so blinded to the truth, that they commit evil in the name of God?
The answer, of course, is anger. Anger is one of Satan’s fruits. By using anger and hate, the Osama Bin Ladens of the world are able to blind their followers to the truth. Once blinded, these followers become puppets, following whatever command given blindly. This is how Satan truly works; people, believing they’re doing God’s will, but so blinded by anger and hate, that they cannot see that it is actually Satan that they are serving. We must pray for these people, that God would remove the scales from their eyes, and that they would see the truth.
However, it is not just Muslim extremists that are being blinded. Satan is at work in our own church, creating divisions wherever he can. Hear the anger when you listen to certain Christian leaders speak about Muslims, or when certain Pastors talk about homosexuals. You hear the same anger in issues such as abortion and the death penalty. This anger is what keeps the Christian church divided, and keeps the Christian church from being what it truly can be. This anger keeps us at war, and continues to fuel more anger overseas. And as the anger continues to grow, there is only one winner, and it is not God. God sent His Son to teach us love; perhaps we, as the Christian church, need to actually start living the lessons. Perhaps we need to start loving, and showing forgiveness, instead of showing hate and judgement.
So, as you pause and pray for the victims of 9/11 today, pray for the Muslim church, and pray for all the blinded through out the world, that God would lift the veils, take away the hate and anger, and that all will see the Truth that comes only in Jesus. And pray for our own church, that we may lay aside our own anger, put aside our differences, and begin to reach out to the world as one Holy church, united in love, and devoted to serving, through He who has blessed us with so much. May God bless you all, Ken
posted by the voice @ 8:26 AM
5 Comments:
Beautifully said, Ken.
Nicely said. It is easy to breed and feed anger when we take things in part instead of a whole. One word passed on can take on a whole different meaning then the whole sentence... One verse from scripture can be used to mean something different than when that verse is kept in context of the whole passage. We must all be careful in what we speak and what we pass on, just as we must not misrepresent God's Word to justify our "issue" or point.
Ken, you touched on a whole new thought that I had not considered lately. Thank you for speaking your heart.
"Perhaps we, as the Christian church, need to actually start living the lessons." Truer words have not been spoken...
True, very sadly true!
I have to say we are studying a book called "Bait of Satan" and it talks a lot about this very thing. In a general sense that we get offended and how when we do, we are doing an injustice to ourselves and others and you are so right we need to stop the anger and pray pray pray for our world and the people who don't know Christ. You did a great job wording this.
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