February 1, 2002, Vol.1, No.1.

LESSONS to LEARN from SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

by Tom Rainwater

Few events are as horrifying as what this country witnessed on the morning of September 11, 2001. Thousands lost their lives within a few moments when suicide terrorists took control of four commercial airliners, intentionally slamming two of them and their passengers into the World Trade Center Towers in New York City and another into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The video of a plane crashing into the South tower plus that of the two towers crumbling to the ground will be forever etched in our memories.

Our prayers to God are for those who have lost loved ones and friends, and for those who bravely work in the rubble hoping to rescue those who may still be alive, and for our President who must make some difficult decisions in the coming days.

There is no question that the events of September 11 speak loudly to us. Sobering lessons should be learned from what happened. What are those lessons?

Atheists typically and foolishly say that disaster and suffering are proofs that there is no God. They miss a real and most obvious proof: that evil events such as these prove there is a devil and that we are at war with him.

Satan has been against mankind from the beginning. Jesus said that "he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44). The Apostle John said, "the devil sinneth from the beginning." (1 John 3:8). John describes him as "that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world" (Revelation 12:9). As Satan sought to destroy Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden through temptation (Genesis 3), and unsuccessfully tried to bring Job down through grief and physical suffering (Job 1,2), he likewise seeks our downfall today. The apostle Peter said, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). There is no question that the devil works in the world today. The presence of sin and suffering in this world is testimony enough that the devil wars against us.

Too many people are deceived by the devil's temptations and do many evil acts to others out of lust, hatred, and even in the name of "religion." The good news is that we can resist him and fight him together spiritually. "Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world." (1 Peter 5:8b-9 -NASB translation). James said, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 4:7).

If Noah and his family could serve God in the midst of a world totally given over to evil (Gen.6:5,8), then we can serve God today no matter what evil exists around us.

The key to fighting Satan is submitting to God through His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. When Jesus came to this earth, the devil threw every evil thing that he could at Jesus. Satan tried to tempt Jesus to sin, but Jesus resisted. Satan resorted to bringing physical suffering and death upon Jesus through wicked people. Jesus gained the victory over Satan and his allies by becoming our pure sacrifice for sin on the cross and by being raised from the dead. Hebrews 2:14 reads, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." John says, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8b).

The victory over the devil is already won. The devil knows he is lost and doomed to Hell (Rev.20:10). Therefore he, out of hatred, is going to try to take as many people with him as he can. "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." (Revelation 12:12). Will we let him take us down? Let's resist him and fight him by believing and obeying our Lord Jesus Christ!

One of the lessons we can learn from September 11, 2001, is that life is fragile and precious. None of us know when our own lives may end. All those people in those buildings were either going to work as usual, or they were visiting as tourists, or they just happened to be there for whatever reason. None of them expected to die that morning. Also those people that boarded those planes were either going on vacation somewhere or were flying on business or were headed home. Had they known ahead of time what was to happen, none of them would have been on those flights.

James says this about the uncertainty of tomorrow: "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.' Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." (James 4:14-15 -NASB translation). Death is a certain event. Are we prepared for it and what follows? Hebrews 9:27 says, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."

Pain and suffering are cruel teachers. But one thing they both clearly teach us is this: a better place exists beyond this earth and this life. God has promised to all those who serve Him an eternal home in Heaven, where "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelation 21:4) We will never again have to experience the pain and sadness we did on September 11 or on any other day. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." (Revelation 22:14).