Where Was Jesus on September 11, 2001?
Greetings,
In all the coverage I viewed and read seven years ago, God was very absent from the overall picture (except Allah), and there was certainly no Jesus. Even the minister who prayed at the Shanksville, Pa. memorial service with President Bush uttered a politically correct prayer and left Jesus out.
At the risk of sounding a bit self promoting, but in viewing our footage of 9/11 on The 700 Club, showing Bruce Porter and me praying on “the pile” at Ground Zero http://www.cbn.com/media/?s=/vod/DR7, it struck me that it is very possible that no one else did that on national (and international) television from that location. I spent three weeks on site and the streets of New York City following those tragic events.
Surrounded by the fire, smoke, and the stench of body parts, I mentioned that our setting could be described as the “fires of hell.” But I also added, “Here at Ground Zero we have seen the footprint of God and the hands of Jesus.” We saw that through the many who toiled in that ghastly environment to aid the fallen.
I say this only to underscore the fact that as the rhetoric and the very real war that we are engaged in ratchets up, it might be good to remember that the ultimate issue of the universe is all about Jesus Christ. And it’s when we call on that name and person that we “are saved.” And I don’t mean that to be some cutesy little religious catch phrase.
He is the final and last issue in the cosmos and the stumbling block that we either fall over or bow to:
“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see – kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities [including Democrats, Republicans, Muslims, and various and sundry holy men].
Everything has been created through Him and for Him. He existed before everything else began, and He holds all creation together” (Colossians 1:15-17).
I just want to be sure that when everything continues to fall apart we have the names straight and know who to call on.
Scott Ross
A Reflection on 9/11 Revisited, FROM BRUCE PORTER:
For more information on Bruce and his work, see the Web site address below. Bruce was also the chaplain on site for the tragedy of Columbine High School.
9-11 Revisited
Has it really been seven years? Is it possible that we have forgotten that our nation was brutally attacked by Islamic Jihadists and nearly 3,000 of our fellow citizens were violently murdered?
I for one can never forget. During the weeks I walked the ruins of the World Trade Center, helping where I could, counseling and praying with the men and women who struggled to find what was left of the victims, the memories never fade. The sights, sounds, and smells of that hellish place are forever etched in my heart and soul. So should it be for us all, for we lost more people on 9-11 than we did at Pearl Harbor.
I urge each of you to display proudly the U.S. Flag on this day that will live in infamy. Let us proclaim to the world that this is yet the land of the free and the home of the brave. Seek the grace of God for our nation, that men and women will awaken to righteousness, and come to understand our desperate need for the redemption found only in Jesus.
I leave you with the closing words of President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address...
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.