Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
August 23, 2015 - W1534

(This message was originally given following the 911 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attack.)

As we share a national grief today, there is a message in the midst of it. There are many questions and God has an answer for each of these. There isn’t a life that has not been affected by the brazen act of terrorism that took place on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. For days, America was transfixed by the television news coverage of the events that rocked our nation. Our hearts of compassion go out to the many whose loved ones were lost or are still missing. Over 5,000 are reported to be missing or dead, making this the bloodiest day in our nation’s history—a greater number than even on that fateful day in Pearl Harbor where some 2,388 were killed or in the Civil War on September 17, 1862, in the Battle of Antietam where 4,700 Union and Confederate soldiers were killed. This week’s event is indeed the most tragic loss on American soil. The repercussion of this audacity and cowardice has brought shock, then blame, anger, doubt, fears of the future—then questions abound, such as, “Why did God let this happen?” and the dozens of lunch room prophets with their opinions of how this should be resolved. Probably the most burning question of all when reality sinks in is this: “How then shall we live?” Let me attempt to answer that and other questions.

First of all, we, at New Hope Christian Fellowship, wish to commend the many acts of true heroism that arose in the midst of such enormous loss—the individuals who rolled up their sleeves and faced such daunting odds without regard to their own personal safety; intent on saving the lives of others, they sacrificed their own! To the nearly 400 firefighters and police personnel who gave their lives on Monday were just ordinary everyday citizens, but on Tuesday morning when they donned their uniforms and put on their protective helmets, they followed through with the commitment they made from the very beginning to be true servants of the people of America—this they did till the very end! We do not have enough words to express our gratefulness to you. This church and country are honored by your courage and dedication. We applaud you.

Millions of prayers ascended to heaven, like incense before the Lord as thousands of churches opened their doors for prayers and many held candlelight vigils. We also saw on television, hundreds and hundreds of doctors, nurses, police, military reserves, and volunteers acting as Americans pulling together. Overnight, this nation exploded with the colors of red, white, and blue.

This was also exampled on United Flight 93 that went down near Shanksville, PA, when true acts of heroism by two Americans, Mark Bingham and Thomas Burnett, Jr. In a cellphone call to his wife, Diana, Thomas found out the true intention of this act and the two men were determined to make one last-ditch effort to deter and foil the hijackers’ plans. This they did! The plane (as we now know) was headed for the White House or Camp David. En route to its intended target, the plane crashed in the fields of rural Pennsylvania because of the true heroism of the two Americans. This is the highest form of bravery. This is America saying out loud, “We will pull together and will weather the storm.” It is an act of solidarity in our nation, rising to the call. The Spirit of America is not destroyed; it is alive and well in the steely resolve in the heart of America. It is resilient. We will be stronger than ever because America is more than just buildings—America is families and friendships. One of the saddest days of our country’s history may also be our finest hour!

So you ask, “What do I do about the angry emotions inside?” “How do I resolve those emotions?” At times such as these, it is easy to stereotype those espousing the Islamic faith; but just as strongly as we must fight against terrorism, we must fight against the tendency towards premature generalizations. Listen carefully, these attacks were planned and carried out by individuals, not by a whole ethnic race of people.

We in Hawaii must remember that not too long ago, every person of Japanese ancestry were presumed to be a supporter of the military attack on Pearl Harbor and were blamed, slandered, and generalized. On the mainland, they were confined to internment camps and their properties and businesses were stripped away. To stereotype and blame an entire race of people for the crimes of a few would be folly. Hopefully, we have learned from history and are a little wiser.

One question always seems to surface: “Why in the world did God allow this to happen?” “Couldn’t He have stopped it?” The answer lies both in our greatest blessing and our greatest curse—our capacity to make choices. You see, God made us free—free to do good or to do evil, to give life or to take it. In order to help us, God gave us His laws and His Spirit to guide us. We have been entrusted with the power to choose right from wrong and wrong from right, just as Adam and Eve did.

God could have kept the terrorists from completing their suicidal mission if He wanted to by removing their ability to make their own choices, rather than God’s. If God had done that for them, He would have to do that for every single one of us. We are not necessarily terrorists, but we do harm and hurt to each other with our own selfish choices. So if God removed the choice to do wrong, then every time anyone would try to do evil that choice would be divinely blocked. For example, in an attempt to steal a purse, a thief’s arm would freeze in the midst of his evil attempt and suddenly a light would eerily appear before him and blink the words, “Evil choice, invalid, please make another selection.” If God would have done that, we would be reduced to puppets and our humanity would have been stripped away. God wants to be loved by His children who voluntarily choose to do so. Love is not genuine if there is no other option. You see, God wants our hearts and in order to have that, He had to risk giving us the power to say “yes” and even “no” to Him.

In contrast, in heaven where God’s will is done perfectly, there is no sorrow, pain, and evil; but this is earth, a fallen, imperfect place, with fallen, imperfect people. Therefore, we must choose to do God’s perfect will every day. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

You may have heard some misguided people say, “This must have been God’s will.” That is nonsense. In this world of free choices, God’s will is rarely done; but doing our own will is much more common. We cannot blame God and say that was His will. No, that was man’s will. Blame the people who ignored what God told them to do. This is true in the Bible as it is in the Koran, where it says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” God has shown that attached to every choice is a consequence.

You might ask, “But Wayne, what about those that are responsible for what took place? What do we do? Do we just dismiss it and just forgive them?” Not necessarily. The Bible teaches that God delegates some of His divine authorities to civil offices and governments (the police and military) for the purpose of restraining evil and to maintain social order under just laws. Paul, the apostle, writes in Romans 13:1-4 NIV, “… for there is no authority except that which God has established...Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good, but if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrong to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” This authority is a minister of God to you for good. God wills that justice ensure a balance between one’s freewill to civil authority. The Bible says that government has the God-given right to enforce, to restrain evil, and to bring lawbreakers to justice.

I Timothy 1:9, “We also know that law is not made for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious (profane); for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers …” This week the United States, as well as many other countries worldwide, unilaterally, condemned this act against humanity. Congress passed a resolution to appropriate $40 billion towards the relief, investigation, and punishment against those responsible for this act of terrorism and murder. It is not retaliation.

On the other hand, neither do we want to become passive and tolerate the shameful act of terrorism that have ripped families apart with senseless brutality. This is not a matter of vengeance or retribution—it is an issue of accountability. The evildoers must stand accountable for their actions and be responsible for the choices they made because they were very aware of the consequences of their actions before they began; therefore, they will receive the consequences of their actions. This will be done in a timely fashion, not impetuously, but appropriately and timely. Ecclesiastes 8:11, “When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.” Solomon is saying that when a reprehensible act is disregarded, then terrorism would only increase their efforts until untold numbers of innocent lives will be destroyed. It doesn’t get rid of itself—it only infects more. There is no satisfaction in the heart that is bent on destruction. You never make conciliation or truces with terrorism. America must carry out the resolution set by the House and Senate. It deserves our best efforts to apprehend and bring to justice those who will stand accountable.

Some may ask, “Why didn’t the government with all of its sophisticated intelligence stop this blatant attack?” First of all, such an asymmetric warfare is not conventional, that even if they had known that the planes were hijacked, nobody in their wildest imagination would think they would come on a suicide mission and run headlong into the World Trade Center! Such a reprehensible act was the furthest thing from anyone’s mind.

Secondly, our nation’s security is the best in the world and our government, as great as it is, was never intended to be this omnipresent, all-knowing, all-seeing entity, to ensure protection against every single evil attempt on our lives. In fact, if the government had installed all the surveillance, hidden cameras, wiretapping necessary to monitor all evil everywhere, wouldn’t it be true that we all would be up in arms against the violation of our privacy? This would rob us of the very freedom that we fought so hard to achieve. America is an open country. Our borders are not closed. Because it is an open country, we live with the risks that come with making America the land of the free and the home of the brave.

There is only one omnipotent, all knowing, all wise one, who allows us to retain our freedom. There is only one who can truly bring peace and assures us eternal life. His name is not FBI, CIA, or NSA. His name is the Name that is above every other name. His name is Jesus Christ, Lord of lords and King of kings. He is the one who sits on His Throne. There is no other. We cannot expect the government to play God.

Religion is not enough to curb the evil in man’s soul. The suicide bombers and terrorists were religious people but that’s not enough to change a man’s heart. As one commentator said, “Even the Mafia attends church every Sunday.” Here at New Hope, we can leave church with an obstinate and rebellious soul because merely attending church will not change our heart. It’s only through a vibrant, genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, a willing heart unreservedly for the Lord, that alone brings transformation—nothing else will. God starts from the inside out, not from the outside in. Choose God even when there are other options. That’s the most eternal decision you will make!

Matthew 24:6-7 says, “You will hear of wars, rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Matthew 24:12 says, “Because of the increase of wickedness (lawlessness), the love of most will grow cold.” How then shall we live? Let me give you five very practical things we can do:

1. Show compassion to the suffering. Often, seeing the planes attacking the buildings again and again on the news, we get desensitized and distance ourselves from what doesn’t directly concern us. Don’t let that ever happen to you. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world,” which includes those who are hurting in Third World countries and other places. My prayer is that when things begin to settle back to some sort of normalcy that our hearts do not close up.

   2. Pray for the victims and their families, and for our leaders. There has been an ominous absence in the last five days of something that we forgot to do. That is, pray for our enemies. Pray that God would change their hearts.

   3. Help, even in small ways, in relief efforts through the Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc. to promote healing in our country.

 4. Repent. Most of us just want to destroy and get rid of the terrorists, but what about after that? It is in repentance that God opens our hearts to His wisdom. If there is no repentance (only arrogance, vengeance, and anger) then what God wants to show us will be closed off, just as the Promised Land was closed to the children of Israel for 40 years. When things went awry with the children of Israel as in the rebellion of Korah, it was Moses who fell on his face and repented for the people. It was the leaders who were constantly praying and repenting for the people, even though the leaders did no wrong. That is a hallmark of a leader. Every time God saw the leaders heart to repent, He brought healing to that nation. It was only one time that Moses, in a knee-jerk reaction, impatiently struck back in anger and as soon as that happened, the Promised Land was sealed off and he never entered in. Repentance does not mean that justice will not be served. It means, “Lord we need your help and if there is anything in our hearts that is blocking that, we repent.” II Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land.” If we will be brutal, let us be brutal in self-examination and honesty in order to bring healing.

 5. Renew your faith in Almighty God. He is the only one that can turn a disaster into a miracle. Only a relationship with Him will curb evil and transform a man’s heart, including the hearts of the leaders in the White House because the decisions they make can bring resolution or escalation in more bloodshed. No government, military strength, or intelligence efforts will bring peace. Peace only comes from The Prince of Peace and His presence alone will bring confidence and assurance of eternal life regardless of what the world does.

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. Why did God not prevent the disaster from happening?

2. Why is there no sorrow, pain, or evil in heaven?

   3.  What does Ecclesiastes 8:11 mean?

   4.  List five practical things we can do to answer the question, “How then shall we live?”