Christians Failed To Heed 9/11 Wake-Up Call

10 September 2011

The Rev. Dr. Doug StringerEDITOR'S NOTE: Dr. Doug Stringer is the founder and president of Somebody Cares America/International, a worldwide network of churches and compassion ministries, and cofounder of Global Compassion Network. He has served as as a board member or advisor to the Asian Task Force, World Blessing Foundation, Mission America, Mission Houston and the Sentinel Group.

Who among us will ever forget the image of those blazing, then crumbling towers? Who could forget the gruesome sight of those who jumped to their deaths from the 110-story towers or the images of ash-covered New Yorkers in the streets? Or the days and weeks of sorrow that followed as the death toll climbed during search and rescue efforts?

But did America really change? Or did we too quickly forget and go back to business as usual?

"God please help us" were the words of many in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. But let us take a look at the 10 years after that tragic day.

In September 2001 and the weeks that followed, Americans turned to God. Church services across the nation increased as people searched for answers, comfort, and peace. But instead of experiencing a spiritual awakening and the fruits of righteousness that could have occurred, it seems that we are experiencing a deterioration of life as we knew it 10 years ago. We are seeing God moved more and more out of the public sector of our nation.

In 2003, Judge Roy Moore was removed as chief justice from the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse. Shortly after that in Houston, a Bible was removed from a privately maintained display on the Civil Courts building lawn honoring the faith and motivation of one of the city’s benefactors whose organization helps thousands of widows, single mothers, and homeless men and women. Last year, we saw the opening of the largest late-term abortion clinic in the Western Hemisphere, and this year, the director of Houston’s veteran’s cemetery issued a mandate that the name of God could not be mentioned in Military burials at the cemetery.

Marriages continue to fall apart all around us, leaving behind a broken generation of young people, while government leaders in New York and California openly celebrate the legalization of same-sex marriages. Church leaders have fallen to adultery, immorality, and pornography. Those who oppose any expression of Christianity continually harass Christian educators with frivolous lawsuits. Atheist groups even protested The Response prayer meeting held in Houston in August, attempting to prohibit the Governor from attending.

“God help us,” we cried in 2001. But on Sept. 11, 2011, his name will not even be mentioned at Ground Zero.

Amid the heart-wrenching stories that emerged from 9/11, there also emerged stories of great heroism: the valiant firemen, policemen, rescue workers and citizens who rushed to rescue the victims — many of them losing their own lives in the process of trying to save others. Although the fates of many were sealed as the towers collapsed, rescue workers labored for days in the faint hope of finding some of their brethren alive beneath the chaos and rubble. The passengers on United Airlines fight 93 made a conscious decision to give their lives in a crashing plane in order to spare the lives of many. Each of these became modern-day heroes.

There is a battle for the soul of our nation and for the soul of a generation. The only hope is the hope of Jesus Christ. Now more than ever we need courageous leaders to give our nation a vision of hope again, a vision of purpose, a vision of destination. We need a revival of character, from the pulpits to the White House and all in between. We need heroes, like those 9/11 firefighters, who are unafraid to lay down their lives and rescue the perishing.

Blood donors from around the nation responded to the call on 9/11, mirroring the greatest act of love ever — Jesus Christ, who gave his own blood so that we might live. He was the greatest fireman of all, who gave his own life to rescue perishing humanity from hell’s flames.

Jesus Christ is our savior, healer, deliverer, and liberator. There is nothing too difficult for him if he truly is on the thrones of our hearts and truly back on the thrones of our pulpits of America.

God can do exceedingly beyond all we can think or imagine. May we not look back 10 years from now and say that the harvest is past; the summer has ended and the people are still not saved, to paraphrase Jeremiah 8:20.

This is not a time for the church to draw back. It’s a time for us to move forward. In the midst of the darkness, God is still calling us to be a city on a hill. Ten years ago, he gave us a wake-up call — it’s time to stop pushing our snooze buttons.