for such a time as this, jesus... for such a time as this, you.
-->Watch this Morning Briefing instead: -->https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRMBCHZszuI
Transfixed – I am. So many thoughts, so many emotions. How to sort them out?
I put pen to paper to make sense of all that is in my head regarding the calendar, the memories, their meaning and what they hold in common.
Oh, and then there is the ‘So, what?’
Several life-changing events and their significance are uppermost in my mind. In calendar order, today, September 10, marks one year since Charlie Kirk was gunned down for speaking the truth. Which truth got him killed?
You pick:
>You cannot change your gender
>men cannot have babies
>women’s sports are for women only
>all life, including the preborn, is precious
>marriage was God’s best idea—and
>procreation? Let’s do it.
Irrespective of these, one year later, two toddlers are growing up without their daddy.
Then I’m thinking about September 11 tomorrow – the marking of 25 years since America was attacked on her soil. It is still shocking. On a beautiful, azure blue-skied morning in New York City, two planes—commercial passenger aircraft, hijacked by Islamic jihadists vowing death to all Americans, plowed into both towers at the World Trade Center. Another plane was flown into the Pentagon in Washington, DC. A fourth plane, presumably headed for the White House or the U.S. Capitol, was heroically diverted by passengers and ended up crashing in an empty field in Pennsylvania. After reports of the first plane hitting the North Tower, millions of us watched the second plane hit the South Tower on live television.1 Nearly 3000 people died that day.
What does 9-11 have to do with Charlie Kirk? Same root problem: hatred.
Yesterday, I listened to a firsthand ‘take’ of another shocking event:
A survivor of the October 7 massacre at an Israeli music festival,2 a lovely young Israeli, talked about how the world has turned on Israelis and Jewish people as a whole since that day.3 That day? Yes, on October 7, 2023, approximately 6,000 Hamas and other terrorists from Gaza invaded southern Israel, killing at least 1,200 people—mostly civilians—and abducting 251 hostages to Gaza in what became the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust. The horrors perpetrated on women, babies, men and women hostages were nothing less than despicable evil.
And yet, by the next day, there were Anti-Israel protests breaking out in New York City? How could this be? October 8, 2023, marked the day that America forgot the horrors of the Holocaust; and since, many Jewish people living in America do not give their last names when hailing an Uber; they’ve taken off the Stars of David from around their neck. What in the world?? Our God weeps.
Tomorrow, 9-11, coincides with the start of the Jewish High Holy Days; pray for peace.
What do the three things have in common? HATRED.
What fans the flames and spreads the hatred? Irresponsible media—news agencies and social media posts that people absorb and believe hook, line and sinker.
What is the remedy? Stop believing lies. 9-11 should have sounded a trumpet for all of us: Islam is bent on the destruction of America. According to the Q’uran, we are the infidel, and we should be killed.4 The Iranian regime has long referred to America as the Big Satan and Israel as the Little Satan—both are to be eliminated.
"So, what? These things happened; what am I supposed to do? Can’t do anything about ‘em, just gotta think positive thoughts and keep moving, right?"
Really? Not for this girl.
“Okay, but I’m just one person—what can I do?” Jesus had the answer:
“You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.”5
Learn the Truth. What is the truth? Truth is a Person, and his name is Jesus Christ. He alone sets us free to know and understand the truth of God—His love for us, His ways, His will, what He thinks of us, and what He has planned for us.
Be careful what you believe – there are lies aplenty according to the slant of the source. Go to the only wise Source—God, as he has revealed himself to us in His Word.
“I am God, there is no other; I am God, there is none like me.”6
Over the next couple months, we will examine John’s rendering of the life of Jesus Christ. In addition, I will be gleaning from the brilliant re-publishing of the little book More Than a Carpenter.7
Friend, I think you mean it when you say, “I’m just one person, what can I do?”
Imagine you are the one person who can tell people:
-What makes Jesus so different?
-And as C.S. Lewis wrote, he had to be either Lord, Liar or Lunatic
-The biblical records are reliable
-Aint no one that dies for a lie – at least if he knows it’s a lie!
So, come with me, won’t you be an eager learner? Be ready to dig and glean and think. And then… be ready to communicate it to someone else.
For such a time as this… Jesus Christ!
And for such a time as this, you ...
were meant to tell the Truth of Jesus with others.
Listen: "For A Time Such as This," sung by Pam Rozell, featuring the one and only Pastor Chuck Smith:
So glad we are on the journey together,
Christine
1 – Timeline: the September 11 Terrorist attacks, Miller Center, UVA. https://millercenter.org/remembering-september-11/september-11-terrorist-attacks
2 – The October 7th War: A Timeline of Key Events and Issues, https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/october-7th-war-timeline-key-events-and-issues
3 – The Israeli survivor interview/podcast I watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBNrpZKTvL8
4 – "Think Again: The Koran does say to kill the infidels" -
The Koran (translated by Dawood in Penguin Classics series) says, "When the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them" (Sura 9:5). "When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield, strike off their heads" (Sura 47:4). "Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate" (Sura 9:73). "The true believers fight for the cause of God, but the infidels fight for the devil. Fight then against the friends of Satan" (Sura 4:76). Who are these idolaters and unbelievers and infidels? Those who are not strict Muslims. "Muhammad is God's Apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another" (Sura 48:29).
5 – John 8.32
6 – Isaiah 46.9
7 – More Than A Carpenter Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell, updated, 2024.
Comments