Washington, D.C. or New York City – Glenn Beck or Jesus

God is Still Speaking – 9/11

Last Saturday afternoon, August 28, 2010, the eyes of many Americans desiring to turn this nation back from the brink of disaster were turned to Washington , D.C.  Glenn Beck of FOX News gathered together with somewhere between 300,000 to 500,000 like-minded people, many of them Christians, to call our nation back to God.  The call was made from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington , D.C.  But sadly, our nation’s capitol has no answers. 

Glenn told the large audience that he had been to the Lincoln Memorial earlier that week with his children and had allowed them to touch the words of the Gettysburg Address on one side of the memorial and Lincoln ’s Second Inaugural Address on the other side.  He said, “The words are alive.  Our documents, our most famous speeches are American Scripture, and are alive today just as any other Scripture is.”

No, sir, they are not!

At the close of the ceremony, he was joined by several clergy who surrounded him.  Many notable Christians were there.  He proclaimed, “These men and women here don’t agree on fundamentals; they don’t agree on everything every church teaches.  What they do agree on is that god is the answer.”

Umm, Mr. Beck…Which god?  What god?  Whose god?  Does it matter?

He went on to say, “These 240 men and women from all faiths represent thousands of clergy that could not fit up here.”  He likened those that surrounded him to the “Black Robed Regiment” that caused the heart of King George III to tremble as he attempted to thwart the patriots of the American Revolution. 

Sir, these 240 men and women were not and are not at all like the Black Robed Regiment.

The Black Robed Regiment of the American Revolution was none other than the preachers and clergy of the day that were filled with the Gospel fire of  Christ and true liberty kindled by the Great Awakenings.  The clarion call of this regiment - “No King but King Jesus!”  It was the God of the Bible they heralded.  

Mr. Beck then dismissed the throngs of folks with these words.  “Go to your churches, your synagogues, your mosques, anyone that is not preaching hate and division, anyone who is not teaching to kill – but go to those who are preaching and teaching lasting principles.” Let’s forget about what divides us and get on with the rescuing and rebuilding of our broken nation.  Yes, the “one world” ecumenical Church.

Nothing is easier than to tolerate when one believes that differences don’t matter.  Let’s just all get together in the name of any god however we perceive him, and take our country back from the bad guys.  The reason Mr. Beck desires to erase all differences in religion is because he himself serves the false god of Joseph Smith and the book of Mormon.  No Glenn, we cannot all just get along.  Truth does matter!

The reason Mr. Beck held his “Restoring Honor” convention in Washington , D.C. , is because he truly believes that our problems can be solved politically.  No matter how much he protests to the contrary.

However, Almighty God, Jesus, is directing America ’s attention to a different city – New York City !

It was in New York City that one of the most significant events in our nation’s history took place on April 30, 1789.  George Washington was inaugurated the first President of the United States of America .  This event took place in New York City because Washington D.C. did not exist at the time.  During the ceremony, Washington took the oath of office and placed his hand upon the open Bible.  It was opened to Deuteronomy chapter 28 (the conditions laid out for us that will either invoke the blessing of God upon a nation or the curses of God).  On that day, President Washington warned this nation that the blessings of God would be removed if America were ever to depart from God.

“If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all His commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.  All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God…However if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all His commands and decrees I am giving you today all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.”  Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 15.

President Washington then led his inaugural procession including Vice President John Adams and the Senators and Representatives of the newly formed government of the United States to St. Paul ’s church in lower Manhattan .  They all walked to the small chapel and there they spent two hours in prayer dedicating and consecrating the governance of this nation into the hands of Almighty God. Deuteronomy 28 was their focal point.  They acknowledged that the providential hand of God, whose specific name is Jesus, would make America great, and would bring her down if she were to depart from Him.

“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’  But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth…If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today, that you will surely be destroyed.  Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.”  Deuteronomy 8:17-20.

Fast forward 212 years to September 11, 2001.  Shock and terror was about to fill the heart of every American.  The curses in Deuteronomy 28 were about to become a stark reality.  We had long before departed from the commands of Almighty God.  We had become proud and self-sufficient.  We declared war on Him, casting Him out of our schools, workplaces, and streets.  We killed His precious children through abortion (over 50 million dead), called homosexuality (an abomination in His sight) good, and prostrated Him to the level of every other false god (pluralism).

Time and again, America was warned by signs and judgments, and the true prophets of God, that His hand was about to come down upon us.  Shedding innocent blood, calling that which is evil good, and idolatry, cried out to heaven for judgment.  Unfortunately, we took His delay in catastrophic judgment as His approval over what we were doing.  Nothing could have been further from the truth.  “Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance.”  Romans 2:4.  Yes, America was full of herself and held Almighty God in contempt.  

What fools!  “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.  Psalm 14:1.  We believed that it was by our own hand that America became great.  Though we acknowledged God with our mouths, our hearts were far from Him.  We opened America up to the worship of all gods, abandoning the One True God – Jesus!

God spoke to us once in New York City as our Founding Fathers consecrated this nation to Him in 1789.   He spoke to us once again from the same city on September 11, 2001.  His Word to us this time was not blessing, but curse.  We became the recipients of the most catastrophic judgment that has ever come upon the shores of this land by an enemy from without.  God Himself had become our enemy(Isaiah 63:10).  

Why New York?  It was the providential hand of God directing our attention to a forgotten promise our Founding Fathers had made to Him.  His rod of discipline was meant to turn our hearts toward this promise.  In His great mercy He had warned us through the prophets and now He was wounding us.  “Can you hear me now?” was His question.  He was calling us to repent and return to Him.

When the towers of the World Trade Center collapsed, the crash was so powerful that it registered on the Richter scale.  It was the equivalent of a small atomic bomb.  Two billion tons of steel and concrete pulverized everything in sight.  The windows of the buildings facing the Trade Center were all blown out. Many of the buildings were damaged beyond repair. 

All that is, except for a tiny little church.  That’s right!  The one building that stood at Ground Zero and remains standing to this day is St. Paul’s Church.  Although one window was cracked, nothing of its roof, foundation, or walls was compromised.  It was a sign from God Himself.  For those who have eyes to see, God was calling us back to the true foundation that made America great – Himself! 

St Paul’s was the church where America was birthed.  Friends, the foundation of the United States of America is sure and true.  We have just forgotten Him.  America was built upon the precepts of Almighty God!  No power in heaven or on earth could have destroyed St. Paul’s Chapel.  On September 11, 2001, God’s message was loud and clear!  His protection of this little church was a glorious reminder of His providential care for us. 

How did St. Paul’s Church survive?  No power in hell could have destroyed this church.  A sycamore tree prevented a shard of metal from crashing into the building.  The sycamore was completely uprooted.  It was really the hand of God.  His judgments are meant to turn us back to Him.  September 11, 2001, was a “living parable” of what happens when a nation forgets God.  The curses promised in Deuteronomy 28 will manifest themselves in startling reality.  Our Founding Fathers knew this well.

Did we get the message?  No!  Oh, our congressmen gathered together on the steps of our nation’s capital that 9/11 evening in Washington, D.C., to sing “God Bless America,” but there was no call to repentance.  With great American pride there were calls to rebuild, repair, reflect, recover, repay but no call to repent.   

How can we expect God to bless America while we kill millions of His children through abortion?  As a matter of fact, we kill more Americans by abortion every day than were killed on 9/11.  Do we not see what God is saying with the cataclysmic events surrounding 9/11?   Try this.

“The Lord has sent a message against Jacob; it will fall on Israel.  All the people will know it – Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria who say with pride and arrogance of heart, ‘The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the sycamore trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.’  But the Lord has strengthened Rezin’s foes against them and has spurred their enemies on…But the people have not returned to Him who struck them, nor have they sought the Lord Almighty.”  Isaiah 9:8-13.

On September 12, 2001, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in a Joint Resolution of the Condemnation of the attacks took this scripture out of context by using only Isaiah 9:10.  His speech is recorded in the Federal Register:  “…Nothing, nothing can replace the losses that have been suffered, but there is a passage found in the Bible from Isaiah that, I think, speaks to all of us in a time like this, ‘The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the sycamore (fig) trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.’  Isaiah 9:10.  We will rebuild.  We will recover…”

Although Senator Daschle had the right scripture, this passage in Isaiah is far from being a message of encouragement to rebuild.  Isaiah is referring to the judgment of Almighty God (Deuteronomy 28) curses coming against His own proud and arrogant people.  When disaster came, as depicted in Isaiah 9: 8-13, they didn’t turn to God in repentance.  They shouted, “We will rebuild!”  They climbed up on the temple steps and sang “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”  Sound familiar?   We will rebuild, we will repair, we will recover, we will repay; but we have no need to repent.

Israel was sacrificing her children (child sacrifice), prostituting herself with shrine prostitutes – both male and female (hetero and homosexual), and bowing to multitudinous false gods (pluralism), all the while proclaiming the name of the Lord.  What an abomination! They were too arrogant and proud to feel the need to repent so, in 721 BC, God completely obliterated the northern Kingdom of Israel by the rod of His chastisement – Assyria.  Isaiah 10:5. 

Did the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel hear God’s message.  No!  They just concerned themselves with rebuilding, repairing, recovering, and repaying.  “Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray!”  Isaiah 9:16. Senator Daschle used this Scripture, ignorant of its context, to mislead America – “We will rebuild.  We will recover.”  But, he gave no call to repent.

On that same day, September 12, 2001, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts proclaimed, “And I believe one of the first things we should commit to, with federal help that underscores our purpose, is to rebuild the World Trade Towers and show the world we are not afraid –but defiant!”  Senator Kerry, we’re not only showing the world our defiance, but we are shaking our tiny fists in the face of Almighty God!

Isaiah 9:10 is crying out to be heard today, for it is God’s rebuke to America.  The bricks have indeed fallen down.  The twin towers of the World Trade Center came crashing down in NYC in what seemed to be a moment.  All of us who witnessed this cataclysmic judgment of God realized instantly that the world would never be the same.  2,997 precious people were dead.  God had spoken.  “Do you hear me now?”

Sadly, the answer is, No!  “But we will rebuild with dressed (cut out of a quarry) stone.”   On July 4, 2004, when all that was left of the twin towers was a 16 acre hole in the ground, Governor George Pataki was present at Ground Zero when a 20 ton block of hewn Adirondack granite was lowered into the ten story deep hole as a new cornerstone.  He proudly proclaimed, “Today is a momentous day. Today we take twenty tons of Adirondack granite – the bedrock of our state – we place it as a foundation, the bedrock of a new symbol of American strength and confidence.  Today we lay a new cornerstone for a new symbol of this city and this country and our resolve in the face of terror.  Today we build the “Freedom Tower.’” 

We had forgotten our true foundation – Jesus.  My heart sank as I remembered, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.”  I knew that true biblical liberty, found only in Christ, was the cornerstone of America’s greatness.  But, as a nation, we had forgotten what our Founding Fathers knew so well.

Friends, if we are depending upon “dressed” stone to be the cornerstone and protector of our nation, we need psychiatric care.  God has more disaster than our federal government has relief!  We have forgotten so much since that faith filled April day in 1789 when our Founding Fathers gathered at St. Paul’s Church in New York City.  They gave us a nation built upon the precepts and providences of God and the Bible.

By the way, this 20 ton block of Adirondack granite was removed from Ground Zero on July 26, 2006, (due to construction changes).  This rock of shame is now 30 miles away in Hauppauge, Long Island. 

Are you wondering about the sycamore tree that saved St. Paul’s Church from being destroyed?  It was replaced, but not by another sycamore tree as one would expect.  It was replaced by a Norway Spruce (a cedar tree) on November 23, 2003.  That’s right!  The sycamore tree was replaced by a cedar.  The last half of Isaiah 9:10, “the sycamores are cut down but we will change them into cedars.”

The curses of Deuteronomy 28 (Dt 28:45-53) have come to life in New York City again as we watch an enemy (Islam), the one who struck us on 9/11, grow stronger every day because the Lord Himself has strengthened Islam’s hand.  This monstrous religion is planning to build a mosque (a symbol of victory over the God of this nation- Jesus) two blocks from Ground Zero.  Can we hear God Now?  

We are again traveling to New York City because the enemies of God are becoming stronger and more bold while the people of God are becoming weaker and more timid.  Islam is rising higher in America because the Lord Himself has strengthened him.  You say God would never do that!  Look again!

Isaiah 9:11-13  “But the Lord has strengthened Rezin’s foes against them (Israel) and has spurred their enemies on.  The Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west have devoured Israel with open mouth.  They shall devour Israel with open mouth…But the people have not returned to Him who struck them, nor have they sought the Lord Almighty.”

Who was the one who struck Israel almost 3,000 years ago?  It was the very same One who struck us on 9/11.  It was not Rezin, the Arameans, the Philistines 3,000 years ago, nor was it radical Islamic jihadists on 9/11.  They were simply the instruments He used.  The One who struck us was God Himself! 

Why would God do such a thing?  Because He loves us and desires us to turn back to Him.  “My son do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves as a father the son he delights in.”  Proverbs 3:11-12.

“He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.”  Proverbs 13:24. 

“Discipline your son for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.”  Proverbs 19:18.

“If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  2 Chronicles 7:14

There is only one action that we can take that will bring hope to our nation again.  “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.” Isaiah 30:15.

What would Jesus do (WWJD)?  Better to ask what Jesus did when confronted with calamities in His day.  When the people queried Him about the tower that fell in Siloam killing eighteen people or when Pilate killed the Galileans, Jesus’ response was short and to the point,“I tell you no!  But unless you repent you too will all perish.” Luke 13:1-5.  He said it twice to emphasize its simple truth. 

To bring the point home in Luke 13:6-7, Jesus tells a parable about a man who had planted a fig tree and, for three years, cultivated it but to no avail.  It bore no fruit.  So He told the vineyard keeper to cut it down.  The response of the vineyard keeper will help us understand both the wrath and the kindness of Almighty God.  

“Sir,” the man replied, “Leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.  If it bears fruit the next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.”  Luke 13:8-9.

God takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked.  “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness. He is patient with you not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.”  2 Peter 3:9.  It is in repentance and rest that we find our salvation.

Our call is to faithfully proclaim God’s Word of Repentance to a people who do not want to hear it and have born no fruit of repentance. God has given us one more year (however long that is).  America is arrogant and proud and refuses to believe that we in any way might be responsible for the calamity that is now upon us.  The best of us believe that if we can elect enough conservative Congressmen in 2010 and elect a new President in 2012 that many of our problems will be solved.  That is what we saw in Washington, D.C., this past week when Glenn Beck attempted to prostrate biblical Christianity to the level of all other false religions to gain political unity and victory.

He believes that God will simply overlook the murder of His precious preborn children.  That He will overlook the acceptance of homosexuality, and the outrageous prostrating of His Son Jesus to the false “jesus” of the book of Mormon.  Friends, the God of the Bible will never allow this to happen!

You see, there would be no problem with child killing, if it were not for the truth.  There would be no problem with homosexuality, if it were not for the truth.  There would be no problem with Islam, if it were not for the truth.  There would be no problem with unifying with Mormonism, if it were not for the truth. There would be no problem with anything, if it were not for the truth.  So why can’t we all just get along and accept everyone for who they are and “love” everybody.  Let’s get over that which divides us – Jesus, and get back to our founding documents.  What a catastrophic error! 

Jesus is the problem, isn’t He, Glenn?  Jesus said He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father but by Him. John 14:6.  Jesus is a divider.  Truth always divides.  The world will call Truth – that is, the very person of Jesus – “hate speech.” “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.”  John 7:7.