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It Came Without Warning
~ Chapter I ~
A National Tragedy
"...Unless the lord shields the city
the guards maintain a useless watch."
Psalms 127:2
On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, at 8:45 A.M., the face of America was permanently altered. At that moment, American Airlines flight 11, a Boeing 767, bound for Los Angeles with 76 passengers and 11 crew members aboard, slammed violently into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.
But the horror of this national tragedy was only beginning.
Eighteen minutes later, United Airlines flight 175, also a Boeing 767, en route to Los Angeles with 51 passengers and nine crew members aboard, approached building two of the Trade Center. It then banked hard to the left and ripped with convulsions through the building, bursting into a giant ball of fire.
But the nightmare was not over.
At 9:43 A.M., American Airlines flight 77, a Boeing 757 which had departed and hour and a half earlier from Dulles Airport with 53 passengers and 6 crew members tore into the west wing of the Pentagon. According to estimates, the plane was traveling at 345 miles an hour at impact. Theodore Olsen, The Solicitor General of the United States was on the phone with his wife Barbara, a hostage on that flight, when the plane exploded in flames. When describing that call, he said, "The line just went dead, and I knew she was gone."
Seventeen minutes later, United Airlines flight 93, a Boeing 757 bound for San Francisco with 33 passengers and 7 crew members, was being forced down and crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Some have speculated the plane may have been headed for the Capital, or even the White House.
Almost every American knows where they were as the tragic events of September 11 unfolded, and just when we thought it couldn’t get worse, new devastation was being proclaimed over America’s television and radio airways. The two World Trade Center buildings, which stood as great cathedrals to America’s financial strength, were mortally wounded, and within two hours crumbled into rubble, burying hundreds of rescue workers and thousands of office personnel in a grave made of broken and melted glass, steel, and concrete. Meanwhile, as Americans stood stunned at the carnage unfolding before their eyes, halfway around the world, the enemies of Israel and the United States could be seen celebrating in their streets.
An Act of War
This day has been characterized as the worst in U.S. history.
Worse than Pearl Harbor. Worse than Oklahoma City. Worse than the explosion of
the Space Shuttle Challenger. It was a time that filled our nation with not only
grief, but rage, and if we’re really honest with ourselves, fear.
The events of September 11 have been characterized as an act of war. President Bush, when first speaking to the nation, called them "an attack on freedom [perpetrated] by a faceless coward." But later, these cowards were given faces and names, and today America tries to sort out this horrible act of viciousness.
The questions are simple: How could this act of terror have happened? And what can be done to prevent it from ever happening again? The initial word from the State Department was that this tragedy may have been unavoidable because IT CAME WITHOUT WARNING.
The Aftermath
Today, much of the world is still in a state of disbelief
over this senseless loss of life. Even leaders in professing Christianity seem
puzzled by such an apparent triumph of evil. They grope for answers. But the
answers are as elusive as the wind. We know it’s there but we cannot contain
it.
The nineteen hijackers who commandeered four commercial jetliners resorted to stealth and guile when boarding their designated flights. They looked as normal and as innocent as any other passenger. But they were very different. While the other passengers and crew settled in for what they thought would be an uneventful trans-continental flight, these killers prepared for blood. Their tools were surprise and confusion, and most of all, fear. And they used these tools well.
The scenes aboard the four aircraft were unquestionably heart breaking. On one side passengers were fighting back disbelief. Some tried to comfort each other. Others used phones on their planes to call loved ones to express their most intimate feelings and ironically their thankfulness. Most, if not all, must have spent their last precious moments praying to God for deliverance. Meanwhile in the cockpits of each of these planes, evil had run amuck and the forces of darkness were calling out to their god and preparing to offer him a "sacrifice."
In a free society the fanatics who orchestrated this horrific act may never have been detected. But God certainly knew what was going to take place that fateful day. He could look into the hearts of those nineteen terrorists whose despicable act would not only snuff out the lives of over three thousand men, women, and children, but also mangle the hearts of countless thousands of family members, business associates, and friends, not to mention an entire nation. Certainly God could have stopped this ungodly act. But He chose to allow it to happen. Why?
What does 9/11 say about the world in general and the United States in particular. Was this a random act? Or is it the beginning of a series of calamities that will cripple the mightiest nation in history and escalate to a point where human survival will be threatened? How does God see evil and how will he correct a world so driven by hate?