Sermon on 9/11/01 – Part 2

In an earlier post and this one is the sermon I gave on the Sunday following the events of 9/11/01. I entitled it “Lessons from Pearl Harbor”.

Current Attacks Strategic Failure

Do I believe the attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon were strategic failures?
Yes I do.

Certainly they were successful in their execution and in causing short-term disruption. But from a long-term strategic viewpoint, I believe they will be shown, just like Pearl Harbor, to have been failures, by the grace of God. I’m not sure why these attacks were carried out, but by almost any measurement, they will be determined to have been strategic failures.

1. They caused an interruption in the heart of our financial district, but there won’t be serious long-term effects. Life will go on pretty much as before.

2. They caused a disruption of business and commerce, but I am guessing that the effect on the economy will be relatively mild. Increased spending for the military may actually help the economy.

3. They have united America in a way not seen for 60 years. Philosophical and political differences have been set aside and a spirit of unity prevails. If the objective of those attacks was to discourage Americans, they did just the opposite.

4. Much of the world has rallied around the US in an unprecedented show of international solidarity. The war against terrorism will be a united front because countries now realize all are vulnerable.

5. It will make the US more sympathetic to Israel and more supportive of its struggle against Palestinian terrorism.

Why were the recent attacks strategic failures? Again, I believe God will protect us from serious long-term harm so that we can be used as his instrument to fight against this new evil.

Although the death and destruction is more than we can bear, it may have been the only way we could be united as a people and have to resolve to do what only the US can accomplish in the world.

So the reason for the history lesson this morning is to show that God’s sovereignty always prevails, and ultimate good can come out of disasters, terrible as they are.