FAITH FRIDAY :: 10 SEPT 2021 - Thinking about America and 9/11

 It is always a hard time for me when 9/11 gets here.  This year it is 20 years since it happened.  I feel it was a turning point for our nation because we have strayed from our spiritual foundations.  To me, it was a sign that GOD's Hand of Protection has left us.

In the flow of prophecies about the End Times, morality and spiritual commitments are going to go away.  Living in these times is hard.  I don't want my country to lose the blessings that are part of being dedicated to GOD, saved by Jesus, trusting ourselves to the Will of GOD.  There is nothing in the Bible that says GOD has to keep protecting us when we fail to keep Him first in our lives.  Even Israel fell away and was forced to endure judgments for their sins and faithlessness.

Last year I discovered a YouTube video about how people with boats rushed to help after the Twin Towers were hit and later collapsed. It was a short video, but was very inspiring.  I hoped it would become a good memory for this major Anniversary of the event.  I wanted a hard copy to keep forever.

I just searched for it... here is the link ::  https://youtu.be/18lsxFcDrjo

BOATLIFT - An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience (HD Version)

That's the best I can do with the copy and paste option for info from the video page.  :-)  Tom Hanks is the narrator.  It was the ten year anniversary production.

We are not a godly nation anymore.

It is good to see something like this.

So, I am still praying for a lot of the same things in my life.  Thinking about how GOD provides, and what causes the things you pray for to not get to you.  

We can find different views of prayer and provision in the Bible.  I think I must not have the faith that makes it possible -- you know, the faith that will move a mountain, the faith where Jesus says that whatever we ask will be done -- and then there's the part that says we don't get because we ask amiss, to fulfill our lusts for things.  Then there's the knocking on the door passage... knock, seek, find.  :-)   

Which one applies?  (to my prayers.)

Faith is not a simple thing, unless you are that child the Bible talks about.  haha

I am still kind of stuck on the concept of "Free Will" and how it affects us as a person, a nation, a world... even the fulfillment of prophecy.  I don't know if you read about what happened (this year, I think) when I was writing a statement about Herod killing all the innocent babies because he wanted to kill the baby Jesus.  Herod was fulfilling a prophecy.  Could anything change that?  I don't know... I don't think so.  What GOD did was to warn Joseph and send him to a safer place until Herod was dead... and that became the fulfillment of another prophecy.

It's a huge example of how GOD works in our world.

We want GOD to end our suffering, to bring us the things we need (or want) so we don't have to deal with the pain of not having them.  He can't do that.  What would it look like if every single prayer by every single person was answered?  It's an impossible event.

So what does that mean to our lives?

I have shared these things before, somewhere in my writings, but I finally came up with a statement to clarify the whole matter of sin and suffering and free will, at least in my mind. I want to make it into something that can be shared, something that will be read more than once, maybe something that will fit into a Bible.

We suffer because others choose to sin, 

others suffer because we choose to sin.

Think about it. We are responsible for the condition of our world because of our choices... all of us... everyone.  It isn't GOD that has made all the suffering in our lives... but it is easy to blame Him, to expect Him to fix the consequences of every sin.

9/11 is an example of this ripple effect I talk about.  Innocent people died because someone hated America.  That's what we think caused it.  Why did they hate us?  What did they hope to accomplish by doing these actions?

I want to see GOD's people protected... somehow... as the End Times get worse and become what prophecy tells us they will become.

How can we do that? 

Well, let me know your ideas.  

I say to become One Body of Christ, in each community... so we can make sure everyone that is Christian or Jew or in need of care/protection is safe.  We can be the answer to each other's prayers.

The Anniversary of Terrorism in the USA -- Tuesday, 11 SEP 2018

Time passes and we forget things that have happened... so many disasters happen every year.  To me they are not all important, but the ones that affect me remain in my heart and mind and prayers.  If you have read my past blogs, you know how deeply I feel about this event, that I consider it a turning point in America's protection by GOD.

Here is a link to Billy Graham's speech at that time for the prayer memorial that was held...

Prayer at the National Cathedral after 9/11

Paul Ryan sent out an email message with a link to his video about it.  It reminds us how little we expected this to happen in our country.

Because I am always thinking about the Antichrist and what will happen in the world before and after he arrives, I see our vulnerability.  It is foolish to believe we can protect ourselves from future attacks, as politicians like Paul Ryan and his Democratic counterparts believe.  The attacks will just be different... and more organized than the one that caught us by surprise.

We are slipping into a fear mode as a country, with immigration issues, and the terrorism we think they will bring to us.  Fear affects our thinking.  We don't see the problems in healthy ways.  We make bad judgments.  Somehow, the thing we fear comes into our lives.

I have been thinking about all these things for some time now... with my own focus on the Christian populations first, but everyone good included.  9/11 was just a huge look into the destruction that war brings... and it is coming to America... eventually.

I guess I am really wondering about a Bible verse I read one day (and didn't keep track of, so I haven't been able to find it again) that was about those times when a third of the earth will be destroyed.  In that passage I read it said one third of the people who existed would be destroyed, and then shortly after that it mentioned that 5000 were killed.  It means the world will be reduced to 15,000 people at some point... and then down to 10,000.  I can't imagine what GOD means by this verse, and how it will happen.  It is part of my wonderings about America, about terrorism, about the timeline of GOD, and about Mankind.

I imagine this will be long after the Antichrist takes Christians out of the world.

It has been a long time since I have been able to study my Bible/s, so memory is selective.  I recall the big issues, the main details, the ones that affect my focus.  Technology is going to make our lives so very different.  The Mark of the Beast takes on a whole new meaning as the details about technology are developed.  We are becoming robots for the computer... there is the gradual move to depend more and more on automated processes, for everything.  The chip in our body seems, to the unsaved, to be the most logical move to take.  Wireless biological parts, wireless communications, wireless life... in time, there won't be a choice... it is all more visible to us now, but how long will it take?  We don't know.  All we can do is watch as it all unfolds.

I still cry when I see the Twin Towers attacked.

I hope GOD allows us to gather together for our own protections as these End Times unravel into the Antichrist... we are easier target when we are alone, and aging, and unable to fight.  We can do more if we are together.

Think about joining Working Together so we can start in that direction.


Until next time,
In Christ,

Deborah Martin

work2gather.us
Working Together Inc
Building for the End Times

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May we discover our need for each other.
May our lives be meaningful to the world we are in.
May life be good and shared and protected from unnecessary harms.
May we not fear, but be wise.
May GOD provide for us, and save us from our Enemy.
May we all be able to share.
Amen.

11 September 2017

Today is a day filled with tragedy and memories of tragedies.  Two major hurricanes have caused immense destruction throughout our southern regions; we are remembering the great hurricanes of the past, including Katrina; and this is the anniversary of the attacks of 9/11.  It reminds us of how little we control the world, and how vulnerable we are.  Life can change in a moment.

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9/11 is always an emotional memory for me.  Today I heard the early broadcast of a Focus on the Family program about a man who survived the twin towers and credited GOD with that blessing.  (http://focusonthefamily.org)  I cried a lot during the short testimony about that day, but I wasn't just crying for the program's content... I was crying because it happened.  I was remembering.  I was thinking about what it meant to our country.

For me, the attacks of 9/11 are a turning point in America's history... I call it the the day God's Hand of Protection left America.  We have been denying GOD in our national decisions, it was only a matter of time before God would stop protecting us from judgment.  Pearl Harbor was the only attack from outside sources I could think of as the last time we suffered like this...and that was so far away.  We might have lost our President or our Congressional leaders if Flight 93 had made it to their destination.  Our military was attacked via the Pentagon.  I don't know what was in those two buildings, but they had great meaning to the attackers... They went first.

The attacks of 9/11 changed the fields of battle, too.  Planes of any kind are now potential weapons.  Since that time, suicide car bombs in foreign nations have become backpack bombs left at big events here in the USA... or heavy trucks that roll over innocent spectators or holiday shoppers.  To avoid gun control issues, we are seeing simple everyday knives or cheap machetes become desperate weapons of terrorism against ordinary people in ordinary spaces.  Schools and churches are easy targets for anyone with a cause to get into the media.  We can never really be safe again... we are vulnerable in ways no one ever considered before.  Technology battles are a field of battle we don't know if we will keep winning.

Even if we were a police state, we would still be vulnerable.  How we continue our lives in the face of these growing threats will define us as a nation.  Fear may destroy us if we try to control every possibility...every person... every potential weapon.  Controlling every detail of millions of people's lives is an impossible goal.  The best we can do is to find a rational way to prepare... for prevention, fighting back, and recovery.  I guess my key word here is "rational" -- something reasonable... not becoming a police state, maintaining our personal freedoms.

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I was homeless when 9/11 happened.  I was living in my van in Oregon.  I don't remember how many days it was before I discovered what had happened, but it was years before I watched any of the video coverage of the planes hitting the twin towers.  I didn't have a smartphone, or internet, or computer, or tv, or radio.  I was too busy surviving being homeless.

For me 9/11 is a spiritual event... it is a turning point in our relationship with GOD.  I don't know if we can ever go back to our blessed status.  We were attacked on our own soil.  It is a sign about our place in the world, how things are changing, and a warning about what is coming.  I wrote "America" because of 9/11... You can link to it at my website homepage ::  http://work2gather.us

We need to change the way we do things, individually and as a nation.

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It's almost time to end this post, but I want to add that I have been seeing some of the destruction from the hurricanes in Texas, Florida, and the surrounding areas.  I heard on a news report somewhere that recovering from Katrina, which is still not done, cost over 100 BILLION dollars.  Some expect the bill to be that and more for these natural disasters.  The debt ceiling has again been lifted to meet these needs.

I see the debt as a credit card for government.  Basically, they are raising their own maximums... and the payments are going to rise with each increase.  We can't afford what we pay now.  Somehow, we need to get the debt down so we have an emergency cushion and our dollar doesn't become worthless, like the Confederacy dollars in the Civil War.  Detroit said it took them 60 years to reach the stage of bankruptcy.  How long will it take the US government?

I have been praying about these issues for years, looking for answers, looking for better ways of doing things.  I know we can find them, but how will they ever get implemented ?!?  The government controls the process, including taxation for their budget desires.  We cannot continue in these directions financially... It is really impossible.  The consequences will be devastating for every American, but our actions do affect the world so the entire globe will be affected.

I am in tears sometimes when I watch the pain of other people and there is nothing I can do.  We can't control the weather, or earthquakes, or fires, or any natural disaster... but we can control our budget, our wages to government employees, our programs for subsidies, our tax levels and sources, our program contributions, our priorities.  Government is just one source of funding.  We need a solution that creates opportunities for other community-level involvements.

I know we can find them, but is government really able to decrease its power, its wages, its control, its bargaining for benefits mentality.

In Christ,
Deborah Martin

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May God help us to find a way to change.
May our priorities be better than they are.
May we put our nation ahead of ourselves.
May our people find good solutions to our problems.
May we see the ability of the government to earn through other ways than taxation.
May our taxes be fair, to all Americans.
May America discover the protection of God again.

May those who are suffering find strength to make it through this difficult time.
May the water recede quickly, may power be restored soon, may food and shelter be available for all who need it.
May those spending the money we give use it wisely, frugally, as it is needed... saving what they can for later.
May those who can give money find a place to share their bounty.
May this Christmas season become a time of renewed joy for those who cannot see happiness in their future.
May we all remember the suffering for as long as they need our help.
Amen.