Sept 11, 2001 oops
God's role Scriptures that warn a nation of God's discipline
Biblical examples of God's national discipline Sin?
healing Chart of God's and our role

September 11, 2001

Who should we blame?  Why did it happen?  Such a horrible act.  So much evil, so obvious.  Such a tragic shame.

Of course, we must blame the deceived, intensely evil, depraved, twisted minds of those who conceive of unthinkable acts, carry them out, and those who have prior knowledge that such immorality is imminent, yet choose not to warn.

As the worst of criminals, they deserve the worst punishment government can deliver.  God will follow with eternal punishment without repentance.   Absolutely.

Should we blame God?

Amos 3:6 When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?

This same question is touched on here.   It is not simple, it is difficult- until you look at the entirety of scripture in which to appropriately interpret the truth.

Isaiah 5:1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. 3 "Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? 5 Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge , and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. 6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it." 7 The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

It seems Almighty God will take away His protection when His people depart from Him.  Yes, the U.S. is not Israel.  The U.S. did choose to say "In God We Trust" and claims to be a 'Christian' nation.  Shouldn't we expect the same discipline upon His Christian children when they stray?

1 Corinthians 11:31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

Well, we also know that Almighty God is the source of love.   When we see His part in this horror, how will it make sense?

God loves us.  When we stray, in order to return us to Him, to guide us into a relationship with Him, to give us eternal life, He will correct us, getting our attention by adversity (since that is all we seem to respond to).  Similar to a father punishing his child who has done wrong, God punishes us in a way to help us obtain a fear of God and a desire to change our ways.

Given that, shouldn't we blame Him?  No.  He is not the author of evil.  He gives example after example in the Old Testament where he both punishes evil enemies and His people when they stray.  If He didn't love us, He wouldn't have protected us as long as He had.  He would not have allowed a measured attack on our country.  One if not 2 (or even more) planes failed to make it to their destination.   Why?  God's providence and mercy.

Why did the others make it to their destinations and why did the passengers in Pennsylvania die?  You won't like the answer.

It was not because the people in those buildings or planes were worse than the rest of us.

Luke 13:1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

The scripture immediately following the above prophetically shows what happens to the fig tree that fails to produce fruit.  It is destroyed by the planter.  What kind of fruit is our country producing?  Love of money and ignoring God as revealed in the scriptures, sexual immorality, abortion embraced by our government and our people, recently embryonic stem cell research, and on and on.

There is a good comparison to help see the truth.  Many Christians correctly understand that it wasn't just Pilate who was responsible for Christ's death on the cross.  It wasn't just the Jewish leaders, Judas or Herod.  It was only by Christ's choice that He was tasting such a horrible death and torture.  Why?  Christ loved us.  He chose to do that because you and I sinned and this was our only hope of salvation.

So, who else should we blame?  Ourselves.

As Christ would not have needed to die for us if we had followed God's commandments, the people who recently died were unknowingly giving their lives, partially because of our own sin.  Their lives certainly could not give eternal life to us but at the same time, their lives became a wake-up call that God is displeased and that we need to repent.   Many will be saved through the renewed interest in God.  From this standpoint, actually the most important standpoint, we see God's love through this act of pure evil.   He allowed this because He cares for us.

If we had kept ourselves clean, God would not have taken down the hedge.   He wouldn't have needed to in order to call us to Him, if we had not strayed.   Thank God He does care for us enough to discipline us.  If you doubt that there was a hedge, just think how much we will lose now and how much better it was before.   The question then becomes not why them, but why wasn't it me who had to die?

Americans who righteously declare that God is with us in this battle need to rethink their position.  If we neglect our own personal and national repentance, we insure further disciplining from our Almighty God!  That means (probably many) more of us and our families will die.  If we do as He says-

John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me . He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

Isaiah 66:2 Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the LORD. "This is the one I esteem : he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.

From this standpoint, if we repent and then go after the enemy, God likely will bless this decision and the outcome.

Christians!  Do not point fingers at the homosexual sinners until you stop your own divorces, purchase of pornography, etc.  Do not complain about abortion when you choose to not put the issue on top, where it belongs.  Stop putting commerce and consumerism ahead on God's Sabbath day.  Pray for repentance and then for others to repent.  Reach out to those hurting.

The unfortunate people who have died became great heros as their deaths help bring revival and countless souls will be saved.  Their deaths become meaningful and God takes what was meant for evil and uses it for good (Genesis 50:20).

If no revival comes...I'd rather not think about it.  Who could we turn to then?

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