Don't Stand On The Sidelines Series

[Who is my enemy?]

Slide graphics

Left side – pictures of demonic faces in the smoke from the world trade center attack on 9-11

See for example http://www.snopes.com/rumors/wtcface.htm

Center – Steel cross in rubble of WTC towers

See for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center_cross

Right Side – people fleeing the tower, covered in soot, all looking eerily similar

Sorry- don’t remember where I found them

Slide Text –

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12)

The Bible tells us this war is not an earthly battle between people, but a spiritual battle raging through the centuries.

One of the more tragic events in our countries recent history was the 9-11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center towers in New York. This event ignited a war that has our young men and women fighting and dying on the other side of the world. Our country is at war against terrorism. But in reality, this is just a shadow of the real war. When the terrorists flew hijacked planes into those towers, many people remarked that the smoke and flames were filled with demonic images. Many of these images were captured in film and shown on network television.

These images may or may not be coincidental artifacts – random images in the smoke. But the Bible says that Satan himself that goes around seeking to destroy mankind. The men who hijacked those planes and flew them into the towers are not the real enemy. They were the first victims – taken by Satan years before.

One of the more striking images I have in my mind from that day is the survivors running from the tower covered in soot. They all looked the same. There was no black or white on that day, no Christian or Jew. The same clouds of smoke that were on those newscasts covered every man woman and child, making them look strikingly uniform. I think this is a tragic, horrific picture of the real war. A war against all humanity, attempting to destroy them all.

The police and the firefighters there that day are like the church. Their mission was to save people. All people. They didn’t ask who was a Christian. They didn’t ask who was wealthy. They didn’t ask who deserved to be saved. They tried to save them all. Many of these brave men and women died – giving their lives to save others. There was no judgment. No asking who was worth saving. They considered everyone worth saving. Everyone was worth dying for. If you had been there that day. If you had been the only one in the towers, every one of those heroes would have entered the building to bring you out, so that you could LIVE.

That’s what Christ did for you 2000 years ago. You were doomed to die in this same war, but Christ sacrificed himself so that you could live. One fascinating thing that the rescuers found right in the middle of the ruins after the towers fell was a steel cross rising from the ruins.