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The
Twin Towers of Terrorism Terrorist Attacks Designed to Spread Fear 
Where were the Watchmen?
Beware the
new cold war backdoor
Fighting Terrorism with big government
Modern Day
Christian 'Prophets' Speak Out
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| By Keith
Newman So What is the spiritual and political impact of this overt attack on the US which has the world on stand-by for war and citizens of middle eastern and western nations in the grip of fear? The terrorist attacks are exactly that – an attempt to spread terror, fear and paranoia, suspicion and division. Rather than an act of all Islam against the West, against Christianity or even Judaism, as some have suggested, September 11th was an attack of extremists in support of extremist views.
After the event new agers and astrologers looked up their charts seeking retrospective revelation or spoke of previous visions and dreams they’d been afraid to talk about. Christians spoke about the opportunities that existed for spreading the Gospel now that people weere again asking the biog questions: 'why am I here?' and 'What does it all mean?' Fox news reported that for every attack on Moslems in the US since September 11 there had been at least 10 acts of love, kindness and reaching out to them, mostly by churches. They interviewed a number of Islamic Americans who were overwhelmed by the kindness and support that they had received from their neighbours. Church is growing, the number of people recommitting their lives or accepting Christ for the first time is growing massively. Osama Bin Ladin’s intention was to spread "fear from North to South and East to West." The best course of action is to remain calm, replace fear with faith and weigh up the events that are having such an impact on the world with a rational mind and a prayer about what this means to you, your family, your community and your destiny. So why didn’t God warn the world that sudden destruction was about to hit New York with such dramatic force that it would lead us close to war? Perhaps he did. |
Conspiracy
theorists are working over time, urban legends are spreading like
wildfire, the US is in retaliatory mode, end-time preachers are in ‘told-you-so’
mode. Government are forging unholy alliances that would never have been
possibly earlier this year, the march toward globalism has turned into a
quick trot. Spy agencies and lawmakers are taking advantage of the FUD
factor (fear, uncertainty and doubt) to pass legislation that forever
undermines individual freedoms.Keith Newman wonders if the Christian early warning system still works?
Rather than an act of all Islam against Christianity or even Judaism it was the work of extremists to destabilise what they see as the heartland of a morally corrupt western world.
In February 1998 Bin Laden announced: "The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies, civilians and military, is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it."
And for the aggrieved nation, there was a multi-billion dollar ‘eye for an eye’ retaliation on many fronts impacting not only terrorists but every citizen of the world. The fallout has been more far reaching than the destruction of key buildings, the emergence of biological warfare and the loss of about 4500 lives.
It has created an era of suspicion and fear. There’s a fear of flying, investing in the stock market, employing new staff and a fierce revival of nationalism compounded with a new xenophobia of things vaguely Middle Eastern or Islamic. American flag makers and firearms suppliers faced an immediate economic boom, while many other industries went further into recession mode.
Freedom of speech was undermined. Far-reaching law changes, that never would have made it through the process in saner times, gave governments and their spy agencies sweeping powers of data gathering and surveillance over individuals.
In short the world is a vastly different place – business will never be as usual again. So why didn’t God warn sudden destruction was about to hit New York? Perhaps he did and we weren’t listening?
While most of the ‘prophetic’ uttering from both new age and
Christians camps came after the fact, in among the regurgitated warnings
from the Y2K non-event (In one hour your doom has come…etc Rev 18:10),
were a few serious insights.
Dr Cindy Jacobs, co-founder of US-based Generals of Intercession, ‘widely
recognized as a prophet to the nations’, posted a warning on her website
on July 27 saying the US was"standing upon a precipice (with)
judgment at the gate," unless that nation exchanged its cup of
injustice for mercy and justice.
"'Over the next 30 days there is a …moment of decision as to what I will do with this nation, says the Lord… Cry out! For you have not seen in this generation a great depression…You are at a pivotal time in history where either there will be great revival … or a great depression, 'says the Lord."
Days after disaster David Wilkerson, author of a number of books including the apocalyptic 1973 work The Vision, describes weeping over his latest sermon with the smoke from the ruins of the World Trade Centre still visible from his study window.
Times Square Church, which he attends, was warned a calamity was coming
during the seventh week of a visitation from the Holy Spirit. It put all
its programmes on hold and one evening an awesome and numbing silence fell
on the congregation. "Then the Holy Spirit spoke clearly … a
tragedy … a calamity was coming to this city and to the nation and we
didn't know what it was," said Wilkerson.
Less than a week after the twin towers attacks, Paul Cain another of
America’s so-called prophetic voices, interrupted a conference in Kansas
City claiming this was "the beginning of the end" and the time
to pray for revival.
"If our lives are in alignment with the word of God, and we're
living in obedience to the conviction of the Holy Spirit… we need not
fear pestilence, nor plague, nor germ warfare (he specifically mentioned
anthrax), or even nuclear warfare. The bottom line is, it will get
worse."
Rick Joyner, a prophet with a gentler message proposed Isaiah 30:25:
Joyner’s advice was to resist fear, hold on to faith and "the peace of God which is not dependent on any earthly circumstances" and take advantage of "one of the widest open doors for the gospel in the last 50-years." He said the attacks were not judgment from God but Satanic and designed to undermine the temporal things we place our faith in, economic and military security.
So what is the appropriate Christian response? Do we respond by taking physical or spiritual sides? Do we get political, religious or just carry on as passive observers watching so-called ‘end time events’ unfold like some sports programme on the TV?
For evil to succeed all it took was 12 men prepared to sacrifice their lives. Such misdirected dedication surely put to shame the half-hearted efforts of many Christians who’s calling is to be a living testimony of personal transformation through the image and example of Jesus the Christ.
As ambassadors of the Kingdom we’re called to make some kind of
response both as individuals and as a body of believers. Like any good
warrior we should have a battle plan, put on the full armour of God
(Ephesians 6), and stand our ground.
As always we are called to be lights in the darkness, peacemakers and
harbingers of justice, mercy, faith, hope and above all love. Remember, we’re
spirits with skin on and our greatest weapons are those fashioned by
Christ as he conforms us to his image. Our warfare of course is not
against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers.
The concern is there seems to be no strong modern prophetic voice rallying
the troops.
Perhaps those commissioned to sound the alarm, our watchmen and women,
have been distracted, desensitised to the signs, or worse fallen asleep on
the watch. Perhaps the twin towers of terror were sentinels marking our
entry in the second millennium, a prophetic omen or a stark testimony that
in these times of relative comfort our love for the Creator and our
neighbours, whatever nationality they may be, is growing cold.
Essentially we have received a wake-up call to renew our search for truth
and answers to the big questions: Who are we? Why are we here? What are
our priorities? And what are we going to do about it?
Beware the New
Cold War Backdoor
- Sept 21st, 2001 
The right of governments to pry into private encrypted communications is
being revisited as intelligence agencies increase internet surveillance
in the wake of the US terrorist attacks.
Within hours of last week’s devastation
FBI agents were pushing for internet service providers to
install their controversial Carnivore, or DCS1000 email
monitoring software. Within a week legislation was passed
to broaden the use of the snooping software and to allow
other agencies to use similar technologies. September 11th's attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon will most likely prove to be "Watershed II" in the move
toward greater and global government - and one that will reach beyond the
boundaries of the U.S. Political watersheds tend to break the deadlock holds of
competing political ideologies - promoting some and extinguishing others.
When times of undeniable crisis arise, politicians invariably make poor
decisions and pass bad legislation. Opposing a crisis tide is something
that lawmakers seem incapable of doing, and besides, many lawmakers see
crisis as an excellent opportunity to forward laws, agendas and
regulations which could not succeed under normal conditions, all in the
name of protecting the public from a future crisis. When the next crisis arrives, the fact that the promised
protections failed to materialize is conveniently forgotten and more
"protections" are subsequently offered for the future, which
always involve the increase of big government, more tax money and a
diminishing of rights for individual citizens. 
Fighting
Terrorism with Big Government:
The Second Great Watershed
by John
and Carol Loeffler, Steel on Steel
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