Pastor's Pondering - September 2007
Where was God on Tuesday September 11, 2001?
To answer this question we need to consider God’s principles in dealing with Israel in the Old Testament; God had called the nation of Israel out to a Holy Nation unto Himself, when they turned away from His holiness and righteous - ness then He would call them back to Himself. Many times through tragedy, ie…
Isaiah 1: 1- 20 1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. 3The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. 4Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 5Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. 7Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. 11To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. 12When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 15And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. 18Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: 20But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Today God is working through His Church (that is every believer in Christ) we are called to be holy, pure, and righteous before a Holy God. We can be proud that we live in a nation that was founded with a dedication to serve and honor God, but we have moved far away from the righteousness and morality that God sets forth in the Bible. So, as with Israel in the Old Testament God is calling America back to Himself. In Isaiah 1:15 God said “Your hands are covered with the blood of your innocent victims,” because of our policies on the subjects of abortion, homo-sexuality, sensuality, sanctity of marriage, the accountability of our elected officials, truthfulness, etc…God can truthfully say that the blood of our innocent victims is on our hands. The remedy to this rebellion against God is found in I John 1: 8&9 “ 8If w June 4, 2008 is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ as we pray for comfort for those who have lost family, loved ones, and friends in the recent attacks of terror, and as we pray for wisdom for our nation’s leaders as they decide who to respond to these attacks; let us not ignore the fact that God is in control of everything that happens and has a reason for allowing them to happen.
Let me remind you of God’s promise to Solomon in II Chronicles 7: 12 – 14 12And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. 13If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; 14If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Pastor John Townsend
September 2001
This article was published in the Roanoke Times News shortly following the terrorist attack perpetrated against the Twin Towers in New York, New York USA.
We are now coming to the sixth anniversary of that horrific day, and as I survey the state of our society I cannot see where we have grown any closer to God than we were prior to 9/11/01. God is speaking but we are covering our ears so not to hear. Brothers and sisters in Christ God has entrusted us with the truth of the Gospel and commanded us to “go into all the world and teach and preach the Gospel”; this world is marching gaily into a Christ less hell, I pray that God will break our hearts for the condition of our world and give us boldness to share the hope that we have to bring others to a saving knowledge of Him.
Pastor John Townsend
Please feel Free to Contact Me