Posted on 09/20/2001 7:28:28 AM PDT by LibertyGirl77
God is back.
It is not that He ever really left, of course, but that the people of this country have been trying to stuff Him into the confines of our nation’s Churches for so long. For years, Americans from across the political spectrum have been nothing short of frantic in their endeavors to make Him invisible to the general public.
But ever since last Tuesday, God is suddenly welcome again. Our President, who is a believer in Jesus Christ, not only declared last Friday a "National Day of Prayer and Remembrance," but has asked American citizens to pause two or three times a day to pray for our country.
Marquee signs in front of Cities’ Halls, McDonald’s’, and even strip clubs across the country proclaim things like "God Bless America," "God Save America," and "Pray for America" right alongside their usual messages of "Car Tax Due 10/5," "Happy Meal $2.99," and "XXX! Girls! XXX!" Residents of neighborhoods that used to be cold and detached urban enclaves are now meeting at intersections every evening to wave flags, sing patriotic hymns, hold hands, light candles, and yes -- pray.
Through all of this apparent revival, the ACLU has been sufficiently quiet to make me wonder for a moment if we might have lost them, too, in the horror of last Tuesday. Don’t get me wrong -- God’s newfound popularity is encouraging to me. In the aftermath of last Tuesday’s attacks, people are learning what many of us knew all along -- God is a source of comfort and strength to those who seek Him.
Many pundits of both the published and armchair variety soundly derided comments made last week by television evangelists Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Their statements were, without a doubt, some of the most callous and ill-timed I have heard come from the mouths of professing Christians. However, their words would not have cut so deeply had they not contained elements of truth.
Americans have a tendency to think of themselves as righteous by default. We live in a country that has, on the whole, a pretty decent populace. People are nice to each other here; that is, we don’t usually throw bombs at each other’s children or poison each other’s drinking water. We emblazon our currency with "In God We Trust," and pledge allegiance to the flag that represents "one nation under God." We stay home from work on Christmas, and toss our extra change in cans for the Salvation Army.
When we are nasty, it is in civilized ways: we write ranting missives to the local news editor, stage toothless boycotts of major corporations, and sue anyone who makes us uncomfortable or angry. Sure, a few Americans might fly off the handle now and then and murder their kids or shoot a bunch of classmates, but they are the rare exceptions to the general rule that Americans are Good People who have God on their side (assuming there is a God).
The problem with this world view is that we aren’t nice. We routinely sacrifice our unborn children on the altar of convenience. We try to chase God out of the public view in the name of tolerance. We convince ourselves that God doesn’t exist, or if He does, He isn’t listening.
Then September 11th happens.
Suddenly, we’re on speaking terms with God again. No one seems to be wondering if, after years of our pushing Him away, He still wants to talk to us. We just assume He’s like a lonely, abandoned lover, patiently waiting for us to come back to Him.
Well, the joyous, indescribably amazing truth is that He is. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "[If] My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." If we want America to have God on her side, then what we need to do is act like it.
I don’t know if last Tuesday’s attack was a judgment of God, or an act of Satan, or just a bunch of tragically misguided maniacs perpetrating heinous evil. What I do know is that God can use even the most evil of people and their demented acts for His good. As the nation looks heavenward, expect heaven to respond -- abundantly. From the miraculous few survivors at the World Trade Center to the outpouring of help we are receiving from even the unlikeliest of nations, God answers in a million ways, each day, as long as we keep asking.
Please, America...don’t stop asking.
- Forwarded by a GOPN&V reader
Perhaps things like this are happening all over America. It just takes saying, Oh yes we CAN!
Right. Let's have forced indoctrination of schoolchildren in religion in the public schools.
ISTR that the Supreme Court has ruled that violates the establishment clause.
You anti-freedom types are so misguided. Do you think the American flag in the auditorium is forced indoctrination?
Callous? Ill-timed? Well, yes, but way beyond that.....somehow claiming that we are to blame for the attack. You are far too kind to those guys, IMHO.
Dave Hunt is a Christian author of many books, some about cults and others about the condition of the church (parts of it in apostasy) and about doctrine and other Bible issues. He also writes about prophecy in the Bible.
A printable version of this newsletter is available at
http://www.thebereancall.org/pdf/2pgNLoct01.pdf
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THE BEREAN CALL www.thebereancall.org October 2001
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A Moment For Truth
Dave Hunt
America awakened September 11 to appalling scenes on TV of
passenger planes deliberately crashing into the towers of the
World Trade Center and into the Pentagon. Stunned disbelief gave
way to the question, who could so carefully plan and efficiently
execute such incredibly inhumane destruction and slaughter? What
cause could so powerfully motivate educated and trained
individuals to sacrifice their own lives and the lives of so many
total strangers in this manner? In the minds of civilized people
these men were unbelievable fanatics. But were they?
Could one call the spiritual leader of an entire major country a
"fanatic," a man universally recognized as properly representing
his religion? Who would know his religion better than the
spiritual leader himself? Such was Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini when
he declared, "The purest joy in Islam is to kill and be killed
for Allah."(1) Is that fanaticism?
And could you call the founder of a major world religion a
fanatic? Muhammad, who with his followers slaughtered thousands
in establishing and spreading Islam, said of Muslims, "Who
relinquishes his faith, kill him....(2) I have been ordered by
Allah to fight with people till they testify there is no god but
Allah and Mohammed is his messenger." (3) Was Muhammad a fanatic?
Are they fanatics who obey him today in exacting the death
penalty upon Muslims (as in Afghanistan, the Arab Emirates,
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan) who for the sake of conscience
convert to another religion?
Do we need a new definition of "fanatic"?
There is a certain hypocrisy in the new outrage with which
America and the world now view terrorism. History's bloodiest,
most vicious and successful terrorist, Yasser Arafat, has been
given the Nobel Peace Prize and embraced as a world statesman. He
is proof to would-be imitators that terrorism pays big. The
United Nations, European Union, and countless world political and
religious leaders have sided with him in his terrorism against
Israel. Arafat and his PLO held the record for the largest
hijacking (four aircraft in a single operation) -- which has just
been equaled, the greatest number of hostages held at one time
(300), the greatest number of people shot at an airport, the
largest ransom collected ($5 million paid by Lufthansa), the
greatest variety of targets (40 civilian passenger aircraft, five
passenger ships, 30 embassies or diplomatic ministries plus
innumerable fuel depots and factories), etc. (4) Instead of
being tried by an international tribunal as were the Nazi and
Serbian leadership, Arafat's bloody exploits gained for him
acceptance as a leader for peace!
In his brief speech to the nation the morning of the 12th,
President Bush declared that the attacks on New York and
Washington, D.C. were "acts of war." Indeed, they were -- jihad
("holy war"). He said that "freedom and democracy are under
attack [but] we will not allow this enemy to win the war
by...restricting our freedoms." Is it a mere coincidence that the
freedom of speech, religion, the press, and of vote and
conscience which we hold so dear in America are suppressed in
every Muslim country?
Who dares to make the obvious connection between this declaration
of war against America, and the declaration of war against the
entire world by Muhammad in the seventh century, a part of Islam
ever since? Since its inception, jihad has been waged by Islamic
warriors to spread that religion of violence and hatred. Islam
does not change. Rioting Muslim mobs invariably chant in their
"fanaticism," "Allah is great! Allah is great!"
In the wake of this terrible act of "holy war," our President and
Congressional leaders referred to God numerous times and invoked
His blessing in tracking down the perpetrators of this infamous
deed. The God of the Bible to whom they referred is not Allah,
the god of Islam, whom the attacking terrorists served so
faithfully!
We may be certain that the hijackers were not Israelis or
evangelical Christians. Never! The simple but horrible fact is
that only the religion of Islam could supply the motivation for
what they did. Why are Muslims responsible for most terrorism in
the world today? There is a definitive and foundational reason.
It would be extremely naive to imagine that terrorists who are
willing to blow themselves up in Israel or to crash a plane at
the loss of their own and many other lives do so for some
commendable humanitarian cause. The courage comes solely from a
unique doctrine of Islam. Abu-Bakr, the first Caliph to succeed
Muhammad (and one of the few to whom Muhammad promised Paradise
without martyrdom), declared that even if he had one foot in
Paradise he could not trust Allah to let him in. The only sure
way in Islam of achieving Paradise is to sacrifice one's life in
jihad. Yes, suicide is forbidden as self-murder. But to sacrifice
one's life in killing infidels carries the highest reward.
And what reward does Paradise bring to the jihad martyr? He is
promised a palace of pearls in which are 70 mansions; inside each
mansion are 70 houses and in each house a bed on which are 70
sheets and on each sheet a beautiful virgin. He is assured that
he will have the appetite and strength of 100 men for food and
sex. This is the fantastic dream that is fed to Muslim boys from
earliest childhood. This motivation alone gives the reckless
courage and determination to train and execute terrorist deeds in
which they sacrifice their lives in bringing death and
destruction to "the enemies of Allah."
America has been called "the Great Satan" by Muslim leaders
around the world. Thus the strike at America was a strike for
Allah against his chief enemy. Palestinians danced in the streets
to celebrate the destruction in America, shouting victory to
Allah. The day before the attack CNN showed routine footage of
third grade children in a West Bank school chanting death to
Israel. Only indoctrination into Islam makes possible such
incredible scenes and the terrorism they celebrate.
Though people of good will naturally recoil from attaching blame
to a major world religion itself, we can no longer afford such
sentimentality. No longer dare we allow Islam to escape its
undeniable responsibility. Yet former President Bush called Islam
a peace-loving religion.
The devastating acts of war by Islamic terrorists against the
United States were greeted by naive statements from
well-intentioned government leaders to the effect that we must
distinguish between terrorism perpetrated by extremist groups and
Islam itself which is peaceful. Yet there are more than 100
verses in the Qur'an advocating the use of violence to spread
Islam. In the Qur'an, Allah commands Muslims, "Take not the Jews
and Christians as friends....Slay the idolaters [non-Muslims]
wherever ye find them.... Fight against such...as believe not in
Allah..." (Surah 5:51; 9:5,29,41, etc..). Though most Muslims
would shrink from obeying such commands, this is official Islam
and it cannot change without admitting that Muhammad was a false
prophet and murderer.
Several years ago Steven Emerson produced for PBS an excellent
video titled Jihad In America. Its cameras went directly inside
cell groups associated with mosques here in America where eager
young Muslims were being recruited for jihad against the United
States. Muslim leaders are shown giving speeches about bringing
America to its knees through terrorism and making cold-blooded
statements such as the following from Fayiz Azzam in Brooklyn in
1989: "Blood must flow, there must be widows, orphans, hands and
limbs must be severed and limbs and blood must be spread
everywhere in order that Allah's religion stand on its feet!"
Yes, Allah's religion is the motivation!
In Kansas, in 1988, another leader recruiting Islamic holy
warriors against the United States exults, "O, brothers! After
Afghanistan [where Muslim "freedom fighters," aided by the CIA,
drove out the Soviets and installed the brutal Taliban regime]
nothing in the world is impossible for us any more! There are no
superpowers or minipowers. What matters is will power that
springs from our religious belief!" Yes, religious belief, the
particular belief of Islam, is the only motivation capable of
inspiring such "fanaticism."
At the beginning of the video, Emerson, who had tracked
international terrorism for the prior ten years, reported on what
he called "networks of Islamic extremists" inside the US. He
accurately warned that "for these militants jihad is a holy war,
an armed struggle to defeat nonbelievers, or infidels, and their
ultimate goal is to establish an Islamic [worldwide] empire." Yet
he later backpedaled into the incredible statement that "Islam as
a religion does not condone violence; the radicals represent only
themselves-an extremist and violent fringe...." That is simply
not true. It is not because men are Arabs or extremists that they
turn to terrorism, but because they are devout Muslims. Yet who
will face this obvious fact?
Hatred of Israel and the call to destroy America for supporting
her are also underlying themes of the terrorists seen in the
documentary. Another Muslim leader in the US declares that
Washington's Capitol Hill is "Zionist-occupied territory," that
the Jews control Congress, and that the United States deserves
what it gets so long as it continues to support Israel.
Referring repeatedly to "Islamic holy warriors," the video
documented as clearly as could be done that Islam is the driving
force behind terrorism. Astonishingly, however, the narrator and
counter-terrorism experts being interviewed repeatedly declared
that Islam was not to be blamed but only the "fanaticism" of
certain individuals. For example, Paul Bremer, former
Ambassador-at-Large for counter-terrorism for the State
Department, said it is "important to make a distinction...the
vast majority of Muslims and Arabs are peace loving."
It is true that the vast majority of Muslims are peace loving and
would protest that they oppose terrorism. Our sympathy is with
them. However, should they not ask themselves why they follow a
religion founded upon violence which from its very inception has
been spread with the sword? Under Muhammad's leadership in the
seventh century, thousands of Arabs (and many Jews and
Christians) in the Arabian Peninsula were killed by Islam's
fierce "holy warriors" to force that religion upon the Arab
world. Upon Muhammad's death, most Arabians abandoned Islam,
imagining that they were free at last. Swiftly, tens of thousands
of Arabs were slaughtered in the Wars of Apostasy, which forced
Arabia back under Allah. From that base Islam was spread
everywhere with the sword.
On radio and TV, during that black Tuesday in September which we
can never forget, we were repeatedly told by well-intentioned
government officials that we must be careful not to blame Islam
for what a few fanatics had done. In fact, terrorists act in
direct obedience to Muhammad, the Qur'an, Allah and Islam. While
nominal Muslims reject the idea, all Islamic scholars agree that
it is the religious duty of every Muslim to use violence whenever
possible to spread Islam until it has taken over the world.
We need to face some simple questions: Is not the attempt to
force them into Islam the cause of the cruel enslavement, torture
and slaughter of millions in southern Sudan? Is not Islam the
driving force behind the murderous and destructive riots against
Christians in Nigeria, Indonesia, Pakistan and elsewhere? Is it
not the enforcement of Islamic law that makes the Taliban deny
all civil rights to those under its control in Afghanistan?
And what is it but Islam that unites the otherwise divided Arab
world in an implacable and unreasoning hatred against Israel? No
Arab map in the world admits Israel's existence. It is only
Islam's claim that Ishmael, not Isaac, was the son of promise and
that the Holy Land belongs to them which unites Arabs in the
"fanatical" determination to destroy the Jews.
There is a natural reluctance to accept any statement which seems
to be a prejudiced attack upon a world religion. It is the fear
of such prejudice which prevents the world from facing the truth.
But is it prejudice to state the plain facts? No, it is not --
but it is difficult to face the truth that Islam itself is a
religion of violence and that those who practice it are not
extremists and fanatics in the ordinary sense of those words, but
sincere followers of Muhammad.
The world has sided with Islam in its false claim to the land of
Israel, which is now inaccurately called Palestine. This promised
land, given to Israel by the God of the Bible, has been occupied
by Jews continuously for the last 3,000 years, and they are the
only people to have done so. In recognition of that undeniable
historic fact, all of "Palestine" was to be given to the Jews for
a national homeland by a 1917 ruling of the League of Nations.
But steadily the Jews were betrayed by Britain's administration
of this mandate (and the demise of the British Empire can be
dated from that betrayal); the land was parceled out to Jordan,
Syria, Lebanon, etc. Israel is now accused of "occupying" land
which actually has been theirs for 3,000 years. The come-lately
"Palestinians" are sustained by the world in the lie that they
are the original owners of this land. As a result, terrorism is
perpetrated not only against Israel but now in this latest act
against the United States to apply pressure to force Israel out
of its rightful land and to spread Islam around the world.
We have arrived at a defining moment when truth could triumph if
the world would recognize that terrorists are not "fanatics" but
devout fundamentalist Muslims who are earnestly following their
religion. This recognition could bring fresh sympathy for Muslims
of all nationalities who are tragically trapped in that system.
The exposÇ of the truth could embarrass Muslim nations into
opening the Islamic Curtain and allowing freedom to enter their
borders. It could be a new day of open evangelism for the world
where not force but love and reason permit each person to
determine the faith he would embrace from his heart.
Let us pray to that end.
TBC
1 David Lamb, The Arabs: Journey Beyond the Mirage (Vintage Books,
1988), 287; David Reed, "The Unholy War Between Iran and Iraq"
(Readers Digest, August 1984), 389.
2 Quoted on authority of Ibn 'Abbas in Sahih of al-Bukhari
(Part 9), 19. Attested by numerous Islamic scholars.
3 Op. cit. (Part 1), 13.
4 John Laffin, The PLO Connections (Transworld, 1982), 18.
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Quotable
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Without doubt the mightiest thought the mind can entertain is the
thought of God....That our idea of God correspond as nearly as
possible to the true being of God is of immense importance....A
right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology
but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what
the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of
plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I
believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in
applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to
imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God....
The man who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of ten
thousand temporal problems, for he sees at once that these...
cannot concern him for very long; but...the one mighty single
burden of eternity begins to press down upon him with a weight
more crushing than all the woes of the world piled one upon
another. That mighty burden is his obligation...to love God with
every power of mind and soul, to obey Him perfectly, and to
worship Him acceptably....
Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any
other is more hateful to God than idolatry....The essence of
idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are
unworthy of Him....The heaviest obligation lying upon the
Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of
God until it is once more worthy of Him-and of her.
A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy
There is more to the newsletter, but the beginning article is the relevant part. If you want to see the whole thing, you can go to the web site (which is worthwhile, anyway).
He also listed a downloadable version of this newsletter, up above.
AppyPappy never came close to even insinuating a forced "indoctrination" of religion upon school children and yet you pounced on his rather enlightening point that two-thirds of the branches of the federal government (not to mention countless state and municipal governments) have openly asked Americans to pray in spite of the Supreme Court's rulings concerning prayer in public schools. Apparently the deafening silence of the USSC condones the ability of all governmental entities to pray, with the exception of schools.
Now do you understand, you fear-mongering liberal?
Of course! How ever could God get along without the help of the government? Surely we know that His message is too weak to be spread by churches, parents, friends and neighbors. That's why Jesus was wrong to try to convince people to follow Him, he should have convinced Caesar to do it for him. But we know better than Jesus, and this time we'll get it right!
Americans are far too fickle in their faith to preserve it without some government program. They lack resolve and dedication to their God, so government must give it to them.
So sign me up, I can't wait to see how successful this official religious crusade will be! Maybe it will be as successful as social security, welfare, the drug war, housing projects and public education. I can only hope and pray it will be.
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