We all remember where we were 20 years ago this morning:
I had just arrived back to my church office after an exciting kick-off to a men’s morning Bible study – over 200 men were there, hearing a short lecture, then processing it around tables. We were excited. Then, I received an email from one of the news services: “A plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.” And, as we all remember, events and our reactions unfolded from there.
At the one-year anniversary, I was still on church staff, and one of the local television stations asked one of us to comment on the state of church attendance one year later. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it had something to do with the fact that for a few weeks, church attendance was up…for answers, for comfort, for encouragement…but one year later? Not so much.
How about 20 years later? We’ve just left Afghanistan in essentially the same state it was on 9/11 – harboring organizations that will continue to promote terrorism and jihad. In fact, if we look around we see, essentially, business as usual:
- Deception
- Wars
- Earthquakes
- Famines
- Plagues and epidemics
- Cataclysmic storms
- Religious persecution
And this list is precisely what Jesus told us to expect – not during the “end times,” but before the end times – that is, any time:
Jesus responded, “Deception will run rampant with many who will appear on the scene, saying I have sent them, or saying about themselves, ‘I am the Messiah!’ And the doomsday deceivers will say, ‘The end of the age is now here!’ But listen to me. Don’t be fooled by these imposters. “There will also be many wars and revolutions on every side, with rumors of more wars to come. Don’t panic or give in to your fears, for these things are bound to happen. This is still not the end yet.” Jesus continued, “There will be upheavals of every kind. Nations will go to war against each other and kingdom against kingdom—and there will be terrible earthquakes, seismic events of epic proportion, resulting in famines in one place after another. There will be horrible plagues and epidemics, cataclysmic storms on the earth, and astonishing signs and cosmic disturbances in the heavens. But before all of this happens, you will be hunted down and arrested, persecuted by both civil and religious authorities, and thrown into prison. (Luke 21.8 – 11, TPT)
Check, check, and check – Jesus is right as usual. But it’s not “the end.” It’s life on this earth before his return. An event like 9/11 wakes us up to what others experience daily as a matter of course. Whether it’s COVID or another 9/11-type event, C.S. Lewis’ advice that I posted last week still holds:
If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb [or COVID or a terrorist attack or an earthquake or a hurricane], let that bomb, when it comes, find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds. – C.S. Lewis, “Living in an Atomic Age”
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. (Psalm 91.1 – 6, ESV)
6 Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever.
7 They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
8 Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes. (Psalm 112.6 – 8, NIV)