Flip Benham , National Director
Originally posted on September 20, 2002

Our good friend Steve Lefemine went to New York City to be a witness for Jesus and His pre-born children, during the 9-11 memorial. He arrived three days before the memorial was to begin and passed out our press release: God's Message to America - Repent! When he approached "ground zero," he was amazed to find that the single most prominent feature of the entire sixteen-acre plot was a large steel girder cross. It was once a part of the infrastructure of the towers and was now set on a hill high above the depth of the six-story pit that was once the foundation of the World Trade Center.

The cross was discovered by firefighters in the rubble of the Twin Towers . During the clean up, it had become a refuge for the workers, and a safe place for a city deeply traumatized by such an incomprehensible tragedy. It had become a place where men could go to find peace in the midst of the senseless maelstrom that surrounded them.

This naked steel girder cross became for many, a shelter in the midst of a storm. Men prayed there. They looked for answers to the uncertainties and tragedies of life. They took account of their own lives. They looked to the One who hung on a cross so many years ago, and found refuge in the steadfast arms of Jesus. He was the One who made sense out of an Old Rugged Cross. Perhaps He could make sense out of this one.

Yes, this cross, more than anything else, symbolizes both God's call and His love for America. He is calling us to repent (turn back) to Him. The one thing that survived the mass of carnage and steel when the towers collapsed was this magnificent, albeit twisted, steel girder cross. It was a sign that when everything falls apart, and the foundations are shaken, we can be sure that God is still on the throne. Because He loves us, He wounds us to bring us back to Himself.

For the wayward children of Judah, who had pushed Him out of their busy lives, God brought cataclysmic judgments because He loved them. "This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says: 'In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it…Therefore you will flee…till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill." Isaiah 30:15-18. We too have pushed God out of our busy lives and have been left with only this banner on a hill at "Ground Zero" - this steel girder cross.

We have been left, completely exposed, with all supply and support gone! Why? So that we will cry to Him, and to Him alone! "…How gracious He will be when you cry for help! As soon as He hears, He will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,…your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'" Isaiah 30:19-21. God is calling us to Himself, through the cross, to hear His voice again.

If we hearken unto His voice and return to Him, He makes this breathtaking promise: "In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill…when the Lord binds up the bruises of His people and heals the wounds He inflicted." Isaiah 30:25-26.

The message of the twisted steel girder cross that is set on a hill above all that was once the World Trade Center, is that America must return to God. Not God as we perceive Him. But to Jesus Christ, the One who died on an old rugged cross, was raised from the dead, and now lives forever more. He is the One true God!

Now, did you ever see that cross during the national media coverage of 9-11? No, not once! There was not a newspaper or a newscast in all of the country that prominently displayed it even for a nano-second. Why not?

Flip Benham