It was a cool September morning on the Oregon coast. I stepped out of the room on my way to get some coffee before breakfast. My wife and I were at the yearly pastors and wives retreat. It was something that we all looked forward to throughout the year, a fun time full of encouraging conversations, smiles, and laughter. However, just a few steps after leaving our room I had a strange sensation. No one was looking up, no one was smiling and almost no one was talking. It was like I had accidentally come across a funeral procession. Then I came saw a friend who was listening to a handheld radio, he could tell from my expression that I still didn’t know what had happened.
“New York has been attacked, Washington D.C. too, it’s bad”
My mind struggled to understand what was going on. “What does he mean attacked?” I thought. “Who is attacking, how are they attacking?” I made my way to the office of the retreat center. There I found a dozen or so people gathered around the television. Scenes of black smoke, people covered with debri, and an airplane flying into a building. No one talked much, we just watched too shocked to make any kind of worthwhile comments.
Everything changed that day. Many store owners decided not to open their stores for business. Our pastor’s retreat changed the schedule and we took time to pray for the country. It was the final day of our retreat and many of us now wanted to go home more than anything to check our families. What if they attacked the West Coast, what if this is just the start, what if this is World War III? There were many questions and much worry and fear.
That evening we gathered with all the pastors and their wives and listened as one of the senior pastors comforted us, encouraged us, and gave us wise counsel. I remember clearly that night when Dr. Jennings Senior got up to speak. He said, “Our country will never be the same again, your church will never be the same again.” He went on to tell us, “This Sunday you will have people in your church who have not been there for years, you will have people in your churches who may have never been to church before.” He told us how important it would be for us talk about these events in our sermons the following Sunday. “Whatever you planned to preach about, put it aside, this Sunday you must address the tragedy that is on everyone’s minds.” Furthermore he exhorted us, “Don’t be too quick to draw conclusions about why it happened or what the government could have done to stop it. Now is not the time for it and that is not your job, instead grieve with the people. Come beside them in their tears and simply point them to Christ, this is the best thing you can do for them.”
Dr. Jennings was right. We came back to our church and that Sunday it was fuller than it had ever been. There was fear, anger, and pain in the eyes of all. More than anything people just wanted to pray. Before 9/11 getting people to a prayer meeting was an impossible feat. In the weeks after 9/11 people came in droves to the prayer meetings.
20 years later, what can we say about the events of September 11, 2001? They really did change America, the church, and millions of souls. Nevertheless, as we look at America, sadly we do not see a country that is closer to God but rather farther from him. 20 years ago none of us would have dreamed that we would be dealing with a far greater tragedy than the one fueled by terrorist from the Middle East. Today’s tragedy is for a large part created by anti-christian humanists from America’s educational institutions. In one day 20 years ago nearly 3,000 souls were lost to Islam Terrorists, however, in the two decades millions upon millions of souls have lost their way because of “woke” propaganda, the LGBTQ agenda, and radical tolerance that leaves no room for the Christian idea of One God and one way through Jesus Christ.
It can be disheartening for Christians to look at the spiritual regress and degeneration of morality over the past 20 years in America. However, we must put our faith firmly in a God who can and will overcome terrorist and humanist. The truth is there were many who gave their lives to God after that fateful day 20 years ago and God did answer the fervent prayers that were given in the weeks afterwards. Why not go to our knees now and pray like we did then, but this time let our prayer be against humanism, against the evils it brings through its opposition to the Gospel. Let us pray that God would give us the spiritual fortitude to rise against the wave of anti christian philosophy that is pouring into our country through the doors and windows of every classroom and through the screens of every computer, tablet, and telephone.
20 years, later may our prayers for the country be no less fervent than they were on that tragic day 2 decades ago!
