The earth – a region of hell?

Sep

11

2018

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Sep

11

2018

September 11 2018 – Click here to listen

I recently visited a friend in the hospital at Duke in North Carolina. As I was walking down the corridor located inside the hospital, I happened to notice a large American flag. As I got closer I saw that the red and the blue on the flags were comprised of names. Upon closer inspection I noted that the flag contained all the names of those who lost their lives on September 11th in the World Trade Center bombing. I silently stood before it for some length of time reading thousands of names that were listed in alphabetical order, I looked to see if there were any Williamsons listed and sure enough I found one. I was aghast at the number of names and then remembered reading the other day that the number of first responders who died after the attack has now exceeded the number who were lost in the initial attacks. I shook my head at how large a flag would be needed if it were to contain them all. I silently prayed for them and those who grieve them.

The eerie feeling that I experienced as I stood there reading all those names was reminiscent of the time I visited the holocaust museum in Israel. I was struck by seeing a huge pile of shoes that had been removed from those in the camps before those who wore them were burned in furnaces. So many people dying gruesome deaths and then I thought of the 415,000 brave soldiers who died fighting in defense of those and other people in World War II and how large a flag it would take to list them in alphabetical order, or how big the pile of shoes would be if all of them were placed in a pile.

My mind wandered to reading an article where Nike’s sales jumped 30% after their ad glorifying Colin Kaepernick. I wonder if some bright ad executive for Nike might come up with a scheme to sell shoes in honor of those who lost their lives in wars defending this country . . . Not likely!

It’s ironic really. Here we have a mega-millionaire mediocre quarterback who just got a whole lot richer thanks to the hatred he has for this country and those who defend her. He has been joined by mega-mega-millionaires Serena Williams and Lebron James who agree with him about disrespecting the flag of this country that has blessed them all so much, and yet for some strange reason, they still seem to hate her? Kaepernick wears a Fidel Castro shirt, kneels for our sacred National Anthem, and calls out police officers “pigs.” Apparently, they agree.

They rant about social injustice and yet have had an African American president, Attorney General, National Security Advisor among others for the past 8 years. What exactly do they want? There have been over 1000 people shot in Chicago alone this year, the overwhelming majority of which is black on black and gang related. Is this the fault of the first responders or the military that keeps this country free?

Now that other “celebrities,” big corporations like Nike and ESPN, and of course the haters of Hollywood have gotten into the act I suppose it has become “fashionable” to disrespect our country and flag.

Famous intellectual and one-time atheist C.S. Lewis who turned to Christianity once wrote: “But what, you ask, of earth? Earth, I think, will not be found by anyone to be in the end a very distinct place. I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself.”

Today the headlines coming out of China tells of Bibles being burned, churches destroyed, Christians imprisoned and persecuted. Yet to see the headlines all one sees is the trade war and fear that material goods will rise in price. Will we have that here? As I view those who attacked the World Trade Center, the Xi’s, Hitlers, Stalins, and Fidel Castro’s of the world I think of the aforementioned quote and that our brave soldiers and first responders are really the last line of defense between an earth that is a region in hell and heaven. May God be with them always and bless them. Please remember on this special day all who have fallen and their grieving families in order that we might enjoy freedom.

And yes, they died even to protect rights of those like Colin Kaepernick whose despicable, vile, comments have done so much to divide this great country.

They also died to preserve our right to condemn their actions and words, for whatever that is worth.

Remember 9/11 today – Stop, reflect, and pray . . .

Gal. 4:16

Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

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