People will fight and lay down their lives for a cause, especially a religious cause like the Taliban have, but most won't lay down their lives for an imported, materialist and hedonistic culture. So the well-trained Afghan army just melted away, and even the Taliban were surprised at how fast and easily they won.
In 'Word' to America, is a message placed on the WWW 24 February 2001, seven months before 9/11, which called upon the USA to repent.
In Why Did God Allow 9/11? is a suggestion that the USA should have repented for the evils that it was responsible for, particularly in relation to its "affluence, arrogance and unconcern". Instead, its leaders chose to 'tough it out' with a "war on terror" and so occupied Afghanistan.
In Trying to Gain God's Perspective on 9/11 (September 11th 2001) is a detailed, but clear, exposition of the Biblical theology behind this view, in tabular form.
In 9/11 - Ten Years On ... is a review of what had happened in first decade after 9/11, and ends with
"Because the USA chose not to repent of its evil (see 2001 'word'), and its leaders chose not to lead the nation in repentance, they have left a more volatile Middle East, a greater bitterness towards the West, a more unstable 'Stan' region along with a financial crisis. Was it worth it?"
This article is 9/11 - Twenty Years On ..., perhaps speaks to what has been called the post-post-9/11 era.
Immediately after 9/11 in 2001, the US President announced the "war on terror" and the US military went into Afghanistan, because the country that had sheltered Al Qaeda, which had carried out the 9/11 attack. The USA wanted to change its regime (which had been Taliban) so that it would no longer nurture terrorism. Now, 20 years on, even though maybe the terrorists have not been able to achieve all they wanted, we find:
Instead of ridding the world of "terror" or even suppressing it, the opposite has happened. As Haggai 1:6 says,
"You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."
As someone has said, "God's ways work; man's ways don't." The secular West despises, reacts against or ignores, rather than understands, religious faith [Note on secularization]. It kills those for whom death is martyrdom and glory!. It is religious faith that keeps people going - for good or ill - whatever religion they follow. Instead, the secular, materialist West looks to weaker things for its answer; military technology and skill, science, education, democracy, freedom, and so on - things that gain their power only from belief.
God's ways work. Truly confessing sin, repenting, seeking God's face and heart, and being changed in heart and mindset by God's Spirit - these are the things that work . And, after that change, wisdom, right belief and commitment, with love, mercy and forgiveness giving their flavour to justice, leisure and economy, will build up good society that lasts.
Toughing it out, declaring war, declaring (as happened just a couple of weeks ago) "We will never forgive" and, a few years ago, "America first" are the opposite of that. Frankly they are what C.S. Lewis' Screwtape called "the philosophy of Hell."
Since calls for repentance went out several times from 2001 onwards, and they have not been heeded, maybe a stronger message is needed now.
In the Song of Moses [Deuteronomy 32] we find a description of the apostasy of an Israel that grew prosperous for a time. It is a warning of the way Yahweh God ("the LORD" in capitals) interacts with God's people. Might it apply to the USA today?
"Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
filled with food, he became heavy and sleek.
He abandoned the God who made him
and rejected the Rock his Saviour. ...They sacrificed to demons which are not God ...
The LORD saw this and rejected them
because he was angered by his sons and daughters.
'I will hide my face from them,' he said,
'and see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation, ...
I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding ...'They are a nation without sense,
there is no discernment in them ...
How could one man chase a thousand
and two put ten thousand to flight
unless their Rock had sold them,
unless the LORD had given them up?"
Was it not God who allowed the USA to become the world's leading nation, because its people hearkened to the Gospel of Christ, so that the USA prospered and could bless the rest of the world?
Has not the USA become "heavy and sleek" in recent decades?
Have they not "sacrificed" to the demonic philosophy of Hell, of individualism that displaces others?
Then, did not the USA become "angry" with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, ISIS and others - and might not 9/11 have been part of Yahweh's plan, as I have argued in Why Did God Allow 9/11??
And now, has not the Taliban "chased" the USA and its allies out, more easily than even they had expected?
What is the sin of Sodom that got it destroyed and the sin of Judah that got it exiled? Is it not "affluence, arrogance, unconcern" [Ezekiel 16:49], as we have mentioned above? And is not this the attitude of a large number of American Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians towards climate and environmental responsibility today?
God's people are the ones who should lead society, not be led by it [Note on representing God]. Sadly, many have, unwittingly maybe, taken on and absorbed the mindset of "the world, the flesh and the devil" [Catecism] even while trying to be Christian in activity.
What do I mean by that claim? American Christians are hugely generous, and affirming of individuals. Those are great qualities. Yet is it not easy for the wealthy to give "out of our abundance" [Mark 12:44]? Is our activity not tinged with "affluence, arrogance, unconcern." Unconcern especially nowadays for the planet as well as the poor of the Earth, and concern only for our pleasant lifestyles, our finances, our families, our standing in their communities, and the nation remaining top of the pile? For example, why on earth and in heaven, have American and other Western Christians not taken climate and environmental responsibility seriously?!
Instead, popular within American Christianity, and that of nations who follow it, is the dead-end idea of spiritual warfare, personal protection and personal prosperity. Many of this mindset see "environmentalism" as an enemy!
Yet the Earth, created and owned by God, and to Whom we are responsible, cannot support the lifestyles of the affluent nations. One solution to this is to divide the world into nations that live this lifestyle and those that live in destitution to provide the affluent with the means to their lifestyles? I do not believe God applauds that.
Instead, God calls us to willingly and humbly give up our demands for this lifestyle, to find on instead that is like Christ. Then, and only then, will we truly represent Him on Earth.
Yet, Hell is not the victor; Christ is. "May Your kingdom come ... on Earth as in Heaven" is not just for the personal life but for global society and policy too.
Matthew 6:33, and the verses around it, are a very strong message. When will we listen. It is a matter of the attitude of our hearts, our mindset (Greek noos in Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:23).
Note on revival. Spiritual revivals like the 1904 Welsh revival demonstrate the truth of this. See Why Revival Happens - or Tarries and A New Revival ?.
Note on representing God. Through the Scriptures we find the theme of representing God, from humans representing God to the rest of Creation, Israel representing God as a nation among nations, Jesus as God representing Himself among His people, and Christians representing God among and throughout the peoples. We are supposed to demonstrate and show God's ways, which work, as salt and light, and God works with us as we do so. For a full exposition of this, see Representing God.
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is on-going work, designed to stimulate discussion on various topics, as part of Andrew Basden's pages that open up various things from one of the Christian perspectives.
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Created: 5 September 2021 Last updated: 6 September 2021 Biblical comparison with the Song of Moses; link to CCGE.