by Arnold Kennedy.
In the aftermath of the World Trade Center demolition, there are many questions that people
are asking. The most common question is, “Why did God allow it”? Very few are acknowledging
any possibility that God did it, because if they did, they would be going against the popular flow.
We will make some examination into the verse below that literally says, “God did it”.
Isaiah 45:7 “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the
LORD do all these”.
In this short verse, there are several different verbs translated as, “form”, “create”, “make”
and “do”. These are all in what language experts call the “participle active mood”. A definition of
this mood is as follows, “The participle represents an action or condition in its unbroken continuity,
and corresponds to the English verb, “to be” with the present participle. It may be used of present,
past or future time”. From the use of these verbs, together with the associated nouns, we can see
that these facts never change. What God does in a given situation never changes.
In the Hebrew, we have:
“form” = yatsar” (Strongs 3335),
“create” = bara’ (Strongs 1254),
“make” and “do” = asah (Strongs 6 213).
These verbs “cover the field” in regard to activities such as:
[a] What a potter does, in terms of human activity, including conception, and divine activity,
[b] What a creator does, in terms of choice, choosing a people for Himself,
[c] What an organiser does, in terms of fashioning, transforming, and shaping, changing
circumstances, and also cutting down.
[d] What an accomplisher does, in terms of attending, working, making, celebrating,
ordaining, preparing, dealing with, and offering.
Going a stage further, we can see these activities include opposites which are translated as:
[a] “light” and “darkness”.
[b] “peace” and “evil”.
“Light” is ‘owr (Strongs 16) which is inclusive of all forms of light, life, prosperity, instruction
and of Jehovah as being Israel’s light.
“Darkness” is choshek (Strongs 2822) usually translated as “darkness”.
“Peace” is shalowm (Strongs 7965) that conveys the idea of completeness, soundness, health and
prosperity, contentment, and good relationships.
“Evil” is ‘ra (Strongs 7451), which conveys everything opposite to what “shalowm” means.
When we study verses like Isaiah 45:7, there is absolutely no suggestion, that when evil
occurs, it is just a case of “God allowed it”, as we hear so often said in religious circles. All the
different verbs , together with the opposites immediately above, declare to us that there is no field
of activity in heaven and earth that God is not the prime mover of. As the “Almighty” there is no
other authority or originator of anything. Paul indicated that not everyone has this knowledge,
saying in this 1 Cor. 8:4 passage, “There is none other God but one”, and continues on to say, “But
to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him”. “One” in Greek is a numerical term, so there is no
other being in competition with Him.
If we agree with this, then how could we say that God was not the originator of the WTC
disaster? There is no shortage of passages in the Bible such as those below. These show God’s hand
as being the creator of evil against Israel, when Israel was sinning against God.
Judges 2:14-15 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered
them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the
hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand
before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD
was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had
sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.
Judges 3:7-8 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the
LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves. Therefore the anger of
the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of
Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served
Chushanrishathaim eight years.
2 Kings 19:3 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he delivered
them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad
the son of Hazael, all their days.
Who did these things (as emphasized) to God’s people? God did! And always there is a similar
reason given, and the reasons are not commonly accepted. Churches say it is not be the nature of
God to do those things.
In the New Testament pages we are told that all these Old Testament happenings are
examples to us to show that God’s method of dealing with His sinning people has not changed.
1 Cor. 10: 6-10 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust
after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of
them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to
play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell
in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of
them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as
some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all
these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
These verses determine that God’s method of operation and reasons have not changed through the
New Testament, even up to our day. Churches should note it is still the nature of God to do this!
Even a little of the fear of God would work wonders in the congregations.
Although we read about, “All those innocent people being killed” at the World Trade Center,
we can hardly accept that the U.S.A. was a godly-living country, living in the fear of God, when
this happened. All these people referred to may have been innocent of committing deliberate
offence to Islam, but were they all innocent of sin against God? Is not the rest of the population,
including the US Government, likewise ungodly? Concerning “towers” falling, we read in Luke
13:2-5 “And Jesus answering said unto them …. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam
fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell
you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. So the USA has had a stark warning of
what will come unless the “except you repent” is heeded!
The selection below from a message presented at Times Square Church, shortly after the
WTO event, confirms this view and “says it all”:
“The Bible makes it crystal clear: God used enemy nations to chasten his people. The Lord
wielded these enemies as an instrument of warning to Israel, calling the nation to repent.
“O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will
send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the
streets” (10:5-6).
God charged this coalition of Israel’s enemies to chasten his chosen people. The Lord was
trying to warn Israel, “You’ve lifted yourself up with pride. Now I’m about to bring you
down. I’m going to allow you to be disciplined by your enemies.”
The enemy coalition launched their massive attack. And, suddenly, the Israelites watched in
horror as their buildings began to collapse. Fires raged throughout the cities, burning down
stately structures. In a short time, Israel was in flames. And God’s people began to wail,
“The bricks are fallen down…the sycamores are cut down” (9:10).
After witnessing the recent disasters in New York and Washington, we can begin to imagine
the emotions of the ancient Israelites. Yet, did Israel repent after this horrifying attack? Was
there a nationwide acknowledgment that God was sending them a warning? Did the rulers
hear God speaking through the awful calamity? No. Israel’s reaction was just the opposite.
The people’s initial fear quickly gave way to a flood tide of national pride. “All the
people…say in the pride and stoutness of heart” (9:9).
The Hebrew word for stoutness in this verse signifies a sense of greatness. In other words,
once the attack died down, the Israelites regained their confidence. They declared, “The
bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but
we will change them into cedars” (9:10). They were saying, in other words, “These
calamities aren’t from our Lord. They’re simple fate, unfortunate disasters that can’t be
explained.
“We’re a great and mighty nation. We’re made up of a proud, unbending people. And we’re
going to let the world know we’re coming back. We’ll build everything back bigger and
better. Where we used bricks before, we’ll use stone. And where we once built with cheap
construction, we’ll use better materials. We’re a God-blessed nation. And we’re going to
come through this disaster stronger than ever.”
Doesn’t this all sound very familiar? The Lord himself used an evil enemy to send a warning
of chastisement to his people. He wanted to wake them up to their compromise, bring them
back to himself, pour out his blessings on them, and surround them with his protection. Yet,
throughout their days of grief and horror, God’s people never once acknowledged his hand
in it all. No one asked, “What is the Lord saying through all this? Is he trying to speak to
us?” No one thought for a moment that such a proud, great nation could be humbled and
chastised. On the contrary, the people used the occasion to defy any such thought. They
refused to hear God’s warning to them.
.
Yet, even so, we risk missing God’s message to us. Think about it: when our public
assemblies call for a moment of silence, we think it’s true repentance. When we see
politicians singing “God Bless America,” we think our nation has turned back to God.
When we see sporting events observe a silent minute at halftime, we think it’s a spiritual
experience.
But is this all that’s going to come out of our recent disaster? Will people in sports stadiums
stand in silence for a minute, then go back to painting their bodies in wild colour chug beer
after beer, and scream maniacally for their favorite team?
Like most Americans, I wept as I saw Senators and Congressional leaders standing on the
steps of the Capitol, singing, “God bless America…stand beside us, and guide us…” Yet, as
I was crying, the Lord reminded me, “Many of the leaders you see singing have worked to
rule me out of American society. They are even determined to remove my name from
American history books. And they’ve allowed the murder of millions of babies through
abortion.”
Suddenly, I was struck by the absolute hypocrisy of it all. We give lip service to God, but we
continue our slide into the mire of immorality. If God wouldn’t spare other nations that have outlawed him, why would he spare America? He’ll judge us even as he judged Sodom,
Rome, Greece and every other culture that has turned its back on him.
Then David Wilkerson went on to say prophetically:
Devouring fires will rise to the heavens. Darkness will cover the land. The economy will be
hit with a staggering blow. And there will be disunity in the nation, in communities, in
neighbourhoods, in families. People will look out only for themselves, in a desperate fight to
survive. And God help you if you come near them. I believe our window of opportunity to
respond to God’s call is brief. We all should pray that our nation repents and turns back to
the Lord. But our most intense prayers should be for our own hearts: “Lord, let me tremble
not at the disasters, but at your Word. I want to hear your voice in all of this. Cause me to
turn wholly to you.”
So, in all this, did God send a warning to the U.S.A.? Did God “do it”, referring to WTC?
Is God raising up Moslem extremists in order to chasten the U.S.A.? Let us go ahead a little further
in chapter 47 of Isaiah where we started. In verse 9 we read, “Woe to him that striveth with his
maker”. This is about arguing against God’s righteous judgements. What is President George W.
Bush doing? Does he think he can strive against God where God has “created evil”? He says the
USA is going to destroy evil, where “evil” to him is anything that operates against the welfare of
the U.S.A. We hear nothing from him, or church leadership, about either the evil of the internal
sins of his nation, or of the external sins his country commits against other countries. Some people
consider the control of other nations by the USA, through the applying of economic sanctions and
financial manipulation, to be a form of terrorism. So far there has been no trumpet sounded to call
for national repentance to that morally corrupt nation. We can read in many places in Scripture
where God hears the genuine national call for mercy, and then God turns and judges those He used
to chasten His people. In this God says, “I have created the waster to destroy” –(Isaiah 54;15), this
time destroying those opposing God’s children, when God’s children are in a repentant state.
So where are the churches in all this? Mostly supporting President Bush, or otherwise
silent! There is wicked multi-faith prayer for “remembrance”, but none for repentance to the God of
Israel. One reason for this is their concept that the whole thing is part of an ongoing war between
God and what they think of as being lesser god they term “Satan”. They do not realise that the
latter term is used for anything that is an “adversary” to God in thought or deed. Scripture records
that the Jehovah became a “satan” to Israel when Israel was sinning. Jesus once called Peter
“satan”. This shows we should not ascribe personality to a particular being (as translators have
done) to whom we can ascribe blame for our misfortunes. In what churches affirm, most are
actually “satans” themselves in believing God is not sovereign. They do not understand the full
meaning and implications of, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I
the LORD do all these”. Can it now be seen how many churches think when they say, “God
allowed it”? That could never be in the way they think! But the Internet pages and television
responses show the prevalence of the ideas most of our churches hold.
Although they may not like to admit it, their thinking leads to wrong conclusions; their
secret thinking goes like this.
[1] A good God would destroy evil.
[2] An all-powerful God could destroy evil.
[3] Evil is not destroyed.
[4] Therefore, there cannot possibly be such a good and powerful God.
Their conclusions effectively are that if God was effectively and totally good, He would destroy
evil. It is not God who creates “evil”, in their view. This follows on to conclude, “If God is unable
to prevent evil, therefore He is impotent”. We may claim otherwise to other people and amongst
ourselves, but most have a secret inner thought that places them where they will have their portion
with the unbelievers. Listen carefully; you will hear this “God allowed it” theme in churches. It comes out too in the much-debated theme, “Why does God permit evil”? If we were to ask instead,
“Why does God create evil”, we would take much care with our God-given freedom of choice. We
would understand the blessings of obedience are set out before God’s people, as are the curses of
disobedience. It is God who “forms”, “creates”, makes” and “does” both! Yes, both!
It would help if we put the following verses from Hebrews 10 behind our pulpits,
“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no
more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which
shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was
sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that
hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord
shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.
Numbers might well dwindle for a start, but so be it. There would then be a “righteous
remnant”. God then could (and would) destroy the evil against His people.
