(By Olabode Ososami) At the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, a ceremony which includes traditional bell-ringing and wreath-laying holds. I do pray that those still hurting will find the relief they need. The Pentagon also plans a moving morning ceremony for victims’ relatives and survivors of the attacks, with more wreath-laying and comforting remarks from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and other officials, as well as an afternoon observance for Pentagon workers.
On Sep 11 2001, the world view changed permanently for many Americans and indeed for all of mankind. The possibility of a contemporary Hiroshima of a different sort looms …and the horror – that all it takes is for a few malefactors in possession of an evil agenda and more destructive weapons to plunge even a superpower into grief – becomes vivid. It is logical to consider that if we may not be able to eliminate all offense, it must be easier to envisage a world with little or no weapons of destruction … an utopia, where the wolf and the lamb feed together safely …
The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) was established in 1998 to promote this concept – Nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, strengthening of the disarmament regimes in respect to other weapons of mass destruction, and chemical and biological weapons and other disarmament efforts in the area of conventional weapons, especially landmines and small arms, which are becoming more popular in contemporary conflicts. The recent Syrian crisis is another test on how chemical weapons can indeed be brought under control if not outright disposal under managed international supervision. Syrians and indeed curious onlookers may not be quite convinced that a nation with weakened ethical values, unconcerned for the murder of millions of unborn babes annually through abortions truly cares for thousands of strangers in the deserts of Damascus, remote from the comforts of their everyday realities….the lamb suspects there must be a concealed agenda somewhere as it invites the wolf to help police its interests..
Isa 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
The Bible tells of a time and a place where everything shall be fully restored, when Christ shall reign. Christians accept that afflictions of the present life flow from the sin of the first man, Adam culminating in man rising up against man and mutual war against each other. Isaiah declares that the confusion or ruin that now exists in human affairs will only be removed by the coming of Christ – first in the hearts of men; because only at that time will vile corruptions be taken away and the world returned to its first origin. The lion eats straw like the ox. “The lion” eats harmlessly, and shall no longer seek his prey. The serpent, satisfied with his dust, will wrap himself in it, and no longer hurts by his envenomed bite. All that is disordered or confused is restored to its proper order when bloody and violent men, whose cruel and savage nature is subdued as they submit to the yoke of Christ.
Expecting man to be tamed in the dispensation that we now live without the gospel is optimistic. The very nature of men before the Lord converts them and receives them into his fold; is to be cruel, deceitful and untamed beasts. They only begin to abstain from doing any injury, when the gospel subdues wicked inclinations and an innate desire to harm each other.
Many nations admire America as the only nation on earth built on Christian values of puritan pilgrims seeking a place to worship in spirit and in truth – a holy mountain, free from the cruel repression that existed in monarchist England in those days. History reveals these puritans as the forerunners who nurtured the freedoms and pillars of democracy presently celebrated and unfortunately now being distorted. Modern day America is misled to assume it can spread its freedom and democratic ideologies without the Biblical value system seeded by its founding fathers and which was to harvest a free, fair and safe society.
The world is just relieved that US military strikes in Syria are no more immediately imminent. America is certainly right to be disbelieving – skeptical that Syrians will ever fully disclose the location of its stock of chemical weapons and hand them over to be destroyed or even controlled – obviously for fear that this weakens Syrian security in a region steeped in cut-throat hatred. The gospel of Christ tames the hatred of humanity and cures wickedness … there are Christians in Syria … perhaps if they are strengthened and helped in prayer and resources … If missions to the Muslim territories become top priority of American Church missions …if preachers preach more to the lost and not to the choir …if global evangelism goes into highest gear …if…
UNODA and other agencies working to control use of chemical weapons will have their hands full to cope even with all the noble intentions. Ceremonies, memorial speeches and comforting songs today will make us feel good …Still, the hearts of all men including those laying the wreaths will remain desperately wicked until touched and exchanged in an operation by the surgical instruments of mercy, grace and truth offered in the gospel of Christ
God Bless America. Amen.
