Mailing address:
November 20, 2001 |
|
|
Stephen Pape |
Email: Speak to me. |
I am sitting here this morning, Tuesday September 11, 2001, staring in disbelief and helplessness as the world watches our Nation under attack by an unknown enemy. The twin towers of the World Trade Center have collapsed and a portion of the Pentagon is in flames.
Commercial air planes carrying hundreds of lives have rained down terror. The nation is in shock. Symbols of our great nation have collapsed in rubble and tens of thousands of lives may have perished.
No one knows what today holds or how the events today will forever affect our lives but we have one direction to turn.
Please join me in petitioning Almighty God for our Nation.
Dear God,
Please restore your ring of protection on our Nation.
Please intervene as thousands of people fight for their lives and as many others strive to save them.
Please cause additional attacks to be unsuccessful.
We have strayed from your teachings in many ways but we ask for Your forgiveness. We are Your people. We proclaim this to
the world.
Please protect us from the actions of these that would harm Your people.
You are our Rock.
Thank you for never leaving us or forsaking us. Please let us see your hand and feel your presence.
In Jesus name I pray.
Amen
Pray America Pray! Almighty God is our ROCK
It was a few minutes later that the news began reporting a fourth plane had gone down somewhere not hitting any buildings. God was already answering our prayers as they were being breathed.
OUR ROCK HAS NOT WAVERED. (from October 11, 2001)
I am sitting here this morning, Thursday October 11, 2001, beaming with great pride as I watch the mighty men and women of our nation pay tribute to those that fell exactly one month ago. A Memorial service is underway and "God of our Fathers" has just been sung. The entire world is watching as military men have come forward and quoted powerful excerpts from God's unchanging Word.
Today demonstrates a great shift in the attitude of our nation. Over the days of the past month my disbelief, my helplessness, my depression has all given way to this pride.
I am proud to be an American. I am proud to be a citizen of the greatest nation in the history of mankind.
Why are we great? The answer is really very simple. It is not because of our excellent schools for they may not be as good as others. It is not because of our superior intellect for we hold no patent on futuristic thinking. It is not because of our goodness for we have often been cruel.
The reason we can take pride today is because we have not forgotten our Rock, The Almighty God, The God of Abraham, The God of our forefathers. From the highest office in the country to the youngest of our school children, we as a nation have turned to God in this our time of need. We are now a changed people because we have heeded the wisdom of those that founded our country and we have called on God in our time of need. Today, there is no doubt that He has heard our prayers.
Today, we can say with complete certainty that even though the pillars of our Country have been attacked by evil doers, our foundation has held. We have been tested by fire and we have withstood the test. The world watched us on September 11 and we have lived a great testimony of faith for every man, woman, boy, and girl of the world to see. I am proud because we have proven to the world that our strength is not manmade but rather is due to our willingness to place God in his proper place of respect. While the twin towers of the World Trade Center have collapsed along with a portion of the Pentagon, this Nation has never been stronger and we have neither a single friend or enemy that has any doubt that this is true.
It is 10:56 AM and the President of the United States is speaking to our Nation. Words are being spoken this moment that our grandchildren will study in World History. The authors of the accurate history books will note that America went from soft to strong because Americans got on their knees, humbled themselves and prayed. America held fast to the Rock when under attack and America was strengthened. We have not wavered because our Rock has not wavered. As we succeed in our triumphs let us not forget to give credit where credit is due. To God be all Glory, Laud and Honor.
To God and God Alone Be the Glory!
Stephen
For those of you that are like me and often enjoy perusing news headlines and reading the most recent opinion of a nationally recognized columnist I recently have added a link to "Matt Drudges Links Page". I don't know if Matt actually does the work but someone spends a lot of time keeping that page as close to real time as any I have found. Enjoy!
Home of the Free and the Brave!
A couple of weeks ago, Becky and I took the kids to Vicksburg Mississippi to view the location of one of the greatest struggles that has ever occurred in our nations history. It was at Vicksburg that the American spirit was evident on both sides of the Civil War lines. Vicksburg sat upon the great Mississippi River and President Abraham Lincoln had ordered his army to seize Vicksburg at all cost. The Confederate Army had been ordered by President Davis to hold Vicksburg at all cost. It was a classic struggle. Union soldiers, against tremendous obstacles, were willing to charge up the hills as cannons and Minnie balls rained down on them. Confederate soldiers, though surrounded, held their positions for months until they finally ran out of food and ammunition. The citizens of Vicksburg were also defiant as they withstood several months of siege. It made me sad but also proud to see how each side had hundreds of stories of how men and women rose to the occasion when heroes were needed. They were America's Brave heroes of those days.
There have been times in our history that heroes were not so easy to find. I join with many who remain extremely critical of those that first responded to the calls for help in Columbine Colorado. How many lives were lost due to the lack of action by those that should have acted? They refused their assignment in history by establishing a perimeter even though they knew innocent lives were being lost within the school building. At the time and every since, I have wondered what might go through the minds today of those armed police officers that could have made a difference but chose to hold back while the killing continued. They missed their calling. History will remember them as something else. But even that day heroes existed. The young lady that refused to deny her Lord was a hero. The teachers and the students that comforted each other were heroes. The afflicted were America's heroes on that day.
Sometimes our heroes rise in unlikely places. On a Wednesday night in Ft. Worth Texas, shots were fired in the crowded Sanctuary of Wedgwood Baptist Church. A murderous maniac had charged into the church with the intent to kill as many people as possible. A young man refused to run and began confronting the shooter distracting him as an off duty police officer charged into the Sanctuary with his gun drawn. The last life lost that night was that of the shooter. He killed himself to avoid facing what he had done. His time had run out and many were saved because a hero stood his ground while another rushed into the danger. They were America's Brave on that day.
All of these tragic stories were eclipsed in the annals of History last Tuesday September 11, 2001. We cried on that day but it was not for lack of heroes.
As America and the world watched, America's Brave fought with valor and with as much selfless commitment as all the other heroes in our Nations history.
Tuesday we saw police and firemen running down the street and into the World Trade Center. We hear of how they stood their post and lost their lives while saving the lives of others. We hear of able bodied people that could have had time to exit but chose to stop and help strangers in need. We hear of people risking their lives by calling authorities from the hijacked planes alerting of the danger and hastening the decision to close the sky to air traffic. We hear of Father Michael Judge who rushed to the scene of the Twin Towers and lost his life while praying with a fallen fireman. We hear of doctors, nurses, and other emergency workers that also rushed into help. We watched with horror as the towers one by one came crashing down onto all of these heroic lives. In Washington, heroes were also risking their lives by crawling through the smoke and wreckage on each of the five floors of the Pentagon helping the injured and guiding the survivors away from the areas that soon would be engulfed in flames.
America's enemies had planned additional harm, but just like in Ft. Worth, their time had run out. America's finest were already organizing and fighting back.
A fourth plane had now been hijacked and the passengers of that plane, like those before, defied their captors by calling for help. From those calls, the passengers learned of the other attacks. Tuesday's heroes on Flight 93 chose to take deliberate action that led to their own death but thwarted the plans of the evil terrorist. Even though War had not yet been declared, the passengers on Flight 93 enjoined the battle and saved no doubt countless lives.
As America mourns the loss of Tuesday's Heroes, our President and other leaders have now taken the time to seek the wisdom of God and unapologetically call on His Righteous help. Without this humble approach, our actions of the future might not have God's Blessings. Our Nation has prayed for yesterday's heroes as well as tomorrows. We now honor our firemen, police, emergency workers, iron workers, dump truck and crane operators and a host of others that have converged on New York and Washington. Many of these brave will prove to be heroes as well.
Today, the heroes of the past are joined by courageous teachers that risk loosing their jobs by sharing God's love and His Word with their students in our public schools. These brave teachers, just as all the others, have chosen to defy the enemy. There is a war raging between good and evil. Even our most powerful leaders have shown us the importance of seeking God in this, our time of need. God has heard all our prayers and we find comfort knowing He has promised to never leave or forsake us. By humbling ourselves to Almighty God our nation's leaders and good people around the world have already launched the most powerful weapon against evil.
May God continue to Bless America as we rely on God to provide for tomorrow!
The car careened off the road narrowly missing the couple on the sidewalk. Everyone around agreed that they had been really lucky.
The tornado tore the roof off of several houses, up-rooted trees and tore down power lines but no one was seriously injured. Residents responded with statements of how lucky they had all been.
The drawing had just been made and the winner of the giveaway had just been announced. One woman was heard saying of the winner, she is so lucky.
My grandparents had nine boys (and four girls). Several that came of age during the Vietnam War era but not one of them had to fight in any type of military action. Would luck describe this? Were the parents of other boys that died not lucky?
Recent events have caused many to say things like: I feel lucky to have been born in the United States. Lady luck was with us. One reporter stated, "The bullets flew over our heads, luckily missing us by mere inches." Others have reported that our enemies luck is running out.
What is luck? Does it really exist? If so, how do you know if you have it? Do you feel lucky? Can you buy it or can you earn it?
We name our pets Lucky. We wear charms around our neck. We carry our lucky "rabbit foot" (whether an actual foot or a rock, marble, penny, or whatever). We throw salt over our shoulder, don't step on cracks, and some even study the formation of the stars to determine whether or not today will be our lucky day.
Being human, we are gifted with (or is it lucky enough to have) the ability to communicate using words to describe the things that we encounter. Often we adopt the words that we hear others using without even thinking about what the true meaning of their repeated use might be. Grouping of words using lucky could be termed clichés.
We use clichés all the time but are we short circuiting one of our most important functions in life by the repeated use of the word "LUCKY"?
At some point in life, and for some people, several times we ask: Why do we exist? Some would have you to think that we exist due to a series of accidents in nature that first, allowed nothing to become something and then second, allowed something to become intelligent enough to have conversations about what "lucky" means. These people would be called devout evolutionist. If you believe as they, you will never know the reason for us to exist because it has all been an accident.
But for most of us, while some of their ideas seem plausible, the entire theory of Evolution with all of its implications is just so unbelievable it cannot be accepted. As Christian Comedian Mark Lowry explains, "I would believe in Evolution, but I don't have enough faith."
Since there are no known instances of things randomly evolving from disarray into order, devout evolutionists throw in a little wiggle room phrase (or cliché) entitled "millions and millions of years ago". After all, even the most senior citizens cannot counter the claims of something that happened that far back and all of mankind cannot produce any documents further than a few thousand years ago. Even these documents cannot be used as an authority on "millions and millions of years ago" they think. This will have to be another article.
If this theory of "evolving from nothing to something" is your choice of belief, you can stop reading at this point because you won't understand, or agree, with the remainder of this article. Just suffice to say you are very, very, very, very lucky to be alive. However, if you doubt the evolution religion, read on.
A more plausible theory of our existence is to consider the words we find in the only "instruction manual" that we have been able to identify. The Bible, (Old Testament part at least) is a book recognized by the three major religions of the world that instructs us of the existence of a creator. There are many questions that the Bible does not answer but in this collection of recorded encounters with God (our Creator) we are given very clear instructions on one of our most important reasons for existing.
That reason for our existence is for us "To Praise and Edify our Creator."
Whether you are Muslim, Jewish, Christian or of a subset of Christian believers known as Baptist, Nazarene, Church of God, Church of Christ, or Independent you have the Bible in which to refer to find this purpose for living. If you believe as the founders of this great nation did and the majority believe today, that God sent his son Jesus Christ to make it possible for us to dwell with him in eternity, then you should be even more convinced that we are created by Him to Praise Him.
People seem so busy. If someone asks, How are you today? You would be "lucky" if that person stayed around to listen to your reply. People are so busy that much of what we say and do is actually done on automatic pilot. So given the chance to describe how you feel about escaping a near accident or encountering an unexpected positive experience, with everyone listening, wouldn't it be appropriate to say a word that edifies our Creator?
I feel Lucky can be translated God has Blessed Me.
Thank my Lucky Stars, translates to Thank you God.
We are lucky to live here, translates to We are blessed by God.
He ran out of luck, could be translated to God called him home.
The majority of us believe that our words as well as our actions have meaning. Let us choose our words to accomplish that which we have been created to accomplish.
Praise God from whom all Blessings Flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below,
Praise Him above all heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
AMEN
If you want to have a good neighbor you must be a good neighbor.
Other articles from Stephen's Desk.