Sent e-mail message 1-15-02 Another calamity from 9/11 where
over 300 heroic firemen died is the squabble over that picture of three who
raised the flag, because the artist wants to make it inter-racial for his
memorial bronze statue.
Even worse news is now known concerning those who survived, plus other rescue workers. Many have developed life limiting lung problems, which extend the pain in that momentous collapse.
We recall the great Apostle's message.
Remember how Peter preached on that ancient Jewish holiday called Pentecost to declare Joel's prophecy (2:28-32) as being fulfilled: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered "(quoted as Acts 2:17-21).
All of this apocalyptic imagery seems to me like a TV newscast today. And I find myself in the middle verse of it, "your old men shall dream dreams," because I'm watching for Christ's return in everything. The dreams I have may just be my youthful visions translated to a transcendent dimension; though both Josephs of the Bible, in O.T. and New, were recorded as dreamers rather than visionaries. Still, a vision is just a dream happening in the wide-awake state.
I'm rejoicing now in a new (for me) type of ministry in which singing about the Lord combines with the mention of current events. GOD is in the mainstream of history even more than in private personal prayer. We only come apart from the rush of affairs to gain perspective on this daily avalanche of events sweeping over us, the way an artist stands back from the canvass on which he is working to behold the whole picture that's being painted one stroke at a time. Thus inspiration comes upon him bit by bit to complete the masterpiece.
A few weeks ago it was Argentina nearly bankrupt and now it's Enron over the edge We don't feel the tidal waves so much from South America, but when our seventh biggest energy industrial giant goes belly up here at home, it gets more attention than even the war on terrorism. It seems that the famous accounting firm, Arthur Anderson Inc., gave faked reports about Enron's financial well-being. So the CEO kept assuring employees that it was a sound place to have their life savings invested. At the same time he was secretly sending signals of trouble ahead to the federal government in hopes of a rescue. The chief executives heard rumors, so they withdrew and invested elsewhere before Enron sank.
It caused me to recall that pleasure cruise vessel that started to sink several years ago over in Europe. So the captain and top crewmembers got in a boat "to go seek help" while the ship and passengers were going down. It was a maritime scandal to the whole world because the skipper is supposed to be the last to leave ship instead of the first one off. That noble naval tradition clearly doesn't hold in modern business either. So if we change the metaphor to aviation, when a firm as huge as Enron is going to crash, the big shots who know about it will bail out in their "golden parachutes" while employees go down with the plane. I sort of hope some of those parachutes land inside prison walls.
I've been to Guantanamo Base myself. It was back in the late '40s when I was in the naval reserve. We left New Orleans for a cruise down the south coast of Cuba and spent a couple of days at "Gitmo" as it was called then. All I recall is what a huge place it seemed to be. Then we went on to Kingston Jamioca aboard that destroyer. Seems there were a gillion of us crammed aboard, so it was a great relief to finally get back to the USA. I know that place can probably hold all the terrorists we can catch, especially 8 by 8 foot cells. I'm glad we give them prayer mats but think a Bible should go along with the Korans they are getting, since Islam claims to accept the Bible too. And we Americans acknowledge it in our national life as having final authority.