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She was very hurt, as all Americans were. And at the time, all I could do was react in bewilderment. But since that moment, I have prayed and grieved over those disastrous events. Prayed and grieved like the entire county and most of the world has. And thankfully after much prayer, I believe that God has enabled me to become aware of the answer to that question.
Because now I know where my God was on the morning of September 11, 2001. He was very, very busy on that horrible morning. First of all, he was putting up obstacles in order to discourage a great many people from taking those deadly flights. Because those four flights together would have held over 1000 passengers; but yet there was only 266 aboard. Imagine for a moment had you been one of the many people who wanted to take one of those doomed flights, but for one reason or another were not on board.
As the morning progressed our awesome God was on those 4 commercial flights giving terrified passengers the ability to stay calm. Not one of the family members who was called by a loved one on any of the high-jacked planes, said that any passengers were screaming or were out of control. God was busy giving those passengers the strength to endure those terrible last minutes. Almighty God was busy instilling into each and every one of those passengers the knowledge that he was waiting for them. That soon, they were to be in his waiting arms, and that they were not to worry.
He was also busy trying to create obstacles for the employees at the World Trade Center. Only around 20,000 were in the towers when the first jet hit. Since the buildings hold over 50,000 workers, this was a miracle from God himself. Think of the many people who were employed at the WTC who told the media that they were late for work because of one reason or another like traffic delays, or that they had to take their children to school and were running late. Think of all the thousands of people who made it safely down floor after floor after floor. Think of the tens of thousands of visitors that daily enter those buildings not only to visit, but also to conduct business, to shop, or to just commute. God showing his extraordinary love kept most of them away or delayed them just enough on that fateful morning.
Our God was also busy holding up two 110-story buildings, so that just about all the workers could get out. The two planes came in from different directions. One from the north and one from the south. This is thought to have been done so that one of the buildings would topple over and knock the other building down. God prevented that from happening and thus prevented many surrounding buildings and their inhabitants from being crushed under the weight of the falling towers.
Only an act of God could have prevented the tops of those towers from being ripped off when the jets impacted, and only God could have prevented the debris from being hurled down on to the adjoining buildings, and down on top of the pedestrians in the streets below.
God was also very busy with one other thing on that day in September. He was extremely busy feeling the hurt and the pain that each and every one of those people that were involved in that horrible and evil tragedy was feeling. God was living all the horror, feeling all the pain, experiencing all the terror that each person was experiencing. As they hurt, God hurt. Their fear and discomfort was God's fear and discomfort. Think of it. The Creator of the universe was experiencing, at the exact same time, all the pain and suffering that each person was feeling. I know beyond a doubt that God felt all this pain and suffering, and I can prove it to you.
Remember when the Apostle Paul was roving the Middle East, trying to find every Christian he could so that he could persecute and kill them? And how Paul decided to go to Damascus to capture and persecute the Christians there? And do you remember how on that journey to Damascus, Paul was knocked to the ground by a brilliant light from God?
As Paul laid on the ground blinded, God asked Paul one simple question about his persecuting Christians. But what is interesting is what God asked Paul. God didn't ask Paul why he was persecuting specific Christians or specific churches. Nor did God ask Paul why he was persecuting Christians in certain towns. Neither did God ask Paul why he was persecuting Christians in general. What God asked Paul is absolutely incredible and can be found at Acts 9:4. What God asked Paul was, "Then Paul fell to the ground, and he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
Although this is without a doubt a terrible tragedy with an incredible number of people being killed, I can still see the miracles of God in every single bit of it. Even in this sea of sadness, a believer can still see the loving hand of God.
But many still ask the questions, how and why could this happen? Why has God allowed this horrible and evil deed to take place? Why did he allow so much suffering and death to occur? Could he not have stopped it? Are there any answers?
Well, there is an answer. A crystal clear answer. And the answer can be found in the very beginning of the Bible, at Genesis 3:4. "The serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die." This lie, and much more importantly, Man's response to this lie is why those evil events took place on September 11th.
Because something absolutely terrible happened with that first sin. For suddenly there was hostility and disrespect towards God. Man had foolishly committed two incredibly horrible acts. First, with his God given gift of free will, man had chosen to believe and follow the only other entity in all of eternity that had ever disobeyed God. And secondly, again using his gift of free will, man had chosen to directly disobey God and accept sin.
This was the moment in time when man broke the one and only rule that God had given him. And consequently this was the moment in time when sin made its grand entrance into this world, and on the coattails of sin came disease, pain, suffering, death, and every other evil and horror that mankind would ever be able to dream up.
Romans 5:17 "One man sinned, and so death ruled all people because of that one man."
You must remember that God created a perfect man and then placed this perfect man into a perfect world. Unfortunately, when man through his own free will decided to disobey the only rule that God had given him and to commit that first sin, it brought with it all the repercussions and all the consequences of sin. The curse of sin was not only on man, but also upon all of nature. In fact the entire world and everything in it would have to shoulder the burden of man's first sin. It was only after that first sin that such things as hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanos could hurt mankind. There were no volcanos erupting or flooding taking place in the Garden of Eden. Why? Because it was paradise. Only after that first sin did things like famine, disease, hardship, poverty, and disasters even come into existence.
That first sin also allowed man to create ingenious ways to embezzle and steal from others, commit assaults, and to harm and hurt others in all kinds of unbelievable ways. All the evils and hardships of this world are all a result of man's first sin, and unfortunately for mankind, that first sin has also allowed man to perfect sin to staggering heights. So God didn't create sin, evil, and all those many horrible events that are happening in the world today. Man did. All those things are a direct result of that first sin.
For it was man's response to that very first sin that explains the enormous consequences that we still suffer. For that first sin is why we hurt, are sad, become dejected, lose hope, have rampant hunger, get sick with horrible and painful diseases, and die. The evil and pain in this world, whether it is the unborn baby being torn apart at the abortion clinic, to the person out on the street that is suffering a massive heart attack, to the person being shot to death in a robbery, can all find its origin at Genesis 3:4.
This first sin also explains what man's rebellion did to God's creation, to mankind in general, and to us, you and me, in particular. Genesis 3:4 is basic in understanding the repercussions that first sin brought upon man. It is foundational. It truly explains the why of what is wrong with the world today! It explains why bad things happen. It explains why we have death, cancer, earthquakes, disasters, terrorists, pain, and all the rest of the evils and horrors in the world today. It explains why evil men can do evil things to Godly people. It explains why ungodly men can take over an airplane and crash it into a building. Had man not sinned then none of these evils would be on earth today. So it is sin that makes mankind wicked. Sins like hate, anger, and revenge soon result in pain, hurt and murder.
God had given mankind the tremendous gift of free will, and with this free will, man was given the ability and the power to chose between good and evil. But something happened to man when he committed that first sin. Something within man became disconnected from God. His peace with his Creator was shattered, and suddenly man was infected with the germ of violence and death.
Thus, that very first sin presented God with a huge problem. Since sin and evil were allowed to come into this world when man accepted and embraced that very first sin, then the only way that God could destroy sin and evil, was by destroying all of mankind. This was because man's blood had become tainted with sin through Adam's transgression. Romans 5:12 tells us, "Through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin with it, and thus death spread to all men, because all have sinned."
Mankind had tasted sin, liked it, and had accepted it. Thus, the only way for God to completely stamp out and eradicate sin, was to completely exterminate mankind from off the face of the earth.
Free Will
What you must remember is that at the same time that God was giving you free will, he was also giving the same free will to all those wanting to do you harm. And as you can see, in this day and age there are a great many ways for evil men to inflict terrible harm on others. You might ask, but why doesn't God simply prevent evil like this from ever occurring? But if God took away our free will, then what he would be doing is unmaking human beings. He would be removing our opportunity to trust him in the best and the worst of circumstances. And God knew when he gave each of us the gift of free will, that we would have the freedom to choose daily between good and evil.
The terrorists of September 11, as are all men with evil in their hearts, were tempted, seduced, and finally led astray by satan. And thus they became willing tools in the hands of satan. It is satan who influences ungodly men to bring calamities upon this earth. In the simplest terms those terrorists were listening to the voice of satan rather than the voice of God. Had those terrorists had God living in their hearts, those hijackings and all the horror that followed would never have happened. There are so many Biblical verses that discuss evil and where it comes from.
1 John 5:19 "The whole world lies under the sway of the evil one."
2 Timothy 3:13 "But evil men will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived."
Remember also that your status as a Christian, or the degree of your faith, is not related to the circumstances which cause you to suffer. Nor can you equate suffering to sin. Evil men who are being guided and directed by satan are the ones that will try and destroy any and all that they find in their path. No one, no one at all is safe from satan's evil. If you think about it, just a little change in any of our circumstances could have had any of us on one of those planes or in one of those buildings.
But you ask, why does satan do this? The reason is quit simple, and it is that satan hates mankind, and he hates mankind with a vengeance. He hates mankind as much as he hates God. He knows that only man has the opportunity to become members of God's family, and as children of God will eventually rule and reign over this entire universe. All satan ever wanted was to be worshipped and to be in a position where he could rule. But satan knows that his very existence will someday come to a very horrible and terrifying end. He knows that there is absolutely no chance that he is going to go through eternity ruling and being worshipped. And with this thought always in his mind, he long ago decided to take with him as many of us as he can. And the Bible tells us this is going to continue as long as satan exists.
So even though God allowed His creation to become marred by sin, he still provided a way for everything to one day be returned to its original purpose and beauty. God has provided a way, whereby sin and death and pain and sorrow, eventhough they entered the world because of man's disobedience, will one day be removed, and His creation restored to its original state. That day has not yet come, as you can tell by looking at your life and the lives of those around you. But, it is coming, and God has provided a way so we can be a part of it.
The description of man's first sin in chapter 3 of Genesis, explains how evil got here and what evil does to man. The rest of the Bible tells us of a remedy for this evil, and gives man a way to get back to the original and perfect state of this world.
For a truly incredible and haunting 5 minute narration of Sept. 11
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Spirit of America - Tribute to 911
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