After the terrorist attacks of September 11, we all returned home to life in a world which, as the press said, had "changed forever." Indeed, subsequent events are now showing us how much the world has changed.

Past terror

I was a young teenager in England during World War II. My school years included gas mask drills and air raid drills where each day we would file in an orderly fashion to the nearest shelter. Each night I slept inside a steel mesh and steel plate indoor Morrison shelter set up in the dining room, listening to heavy aircraft overhead. In the earlier years of the war, the engines had the distinctive sound of the German Junkers bombers. As the war progressed, there was a different note to the engines as the Allies' Lancasters and Flying Fortresses flew eastwards. Then came a new sound--that of the engines of approaching flying bombs, the V-1 bombs launched by Nazi Germany to kill those who had done nothing except be born British. Following the flying bombs came the supersonic V-2 rockets. My school was destroyed by a V-2 the day before we were due back from school holidays.

We lived with the daily danger of anti-personnel bombs, dropped at night and designed to attract the attention of curious children. Bombs such as the butterfly bomb were of odd structure and looked very unlike a bomb. But touch it and it would explode.

My father served as a Royal Naval Reserve engineer officer on ocean-going tugboats ready to tow back to England any ships of the Russian convoys to Murmansk, or Archangel, that might have been damaged by predatory U-boats. My wife's father served in the Royal Navy and was torpedoed twice in quick succession in the China seas. He was rescued by the Japanese and then imprisoned in a camp in Java. He died in that camp just as the war with Japan was ending. My wife, Tina, born and brought up in Plymouth in southwestern England, was witness to a bomb in her own back garden and to the destruction of the city in virtually 48 hours.

Since the end of World War II many conflicts have brought untold suffering upon the people of this world. My wife and I have served as a minister to God's people in both Northern and Southern Ireland. We lived and worked there for five years from 1982. We became very familiar with the roadblocks, the security and the obscenity of the bombings, the shootings and the knee-cappings (destroying a person's kneecaps with a pistol or bat) by paramilitaries on both sides of the religious divide.

However, over all the years that have passed since the declaration of war in 1939, we have never witnessed such a situation as is facing the world today. Who, in their worst nightmare, could have imagined such an appalling event as the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York? In a few moments all those thousands of people dead, thousands of families bereaved of their loved ones. Sudden death and suffering without even the formality of a declaration of war.

The newspapers said "the world will never be the same again." Indeed it won't be and it isn't! Since the 11th of September, hostilities have opened in Afghanistan against the terrorists and those who give them aid. It is possible that we are now about to witness the death of many thousands of people in that area from starvation, from the rigors of a severe winter or from war.

As I write, further terrorist attacks continue in the United States by the use of biological means. Even if this does not result in mass murder of innocent civilians, it may result in a number of deaths and more sorrowing families, generate panic and disrupt government.

A world held captive

Why? The real reason is beyond anything you will read in your newspapers. This world is not God's world. It is held captive by a spirit being who was originally known as Lucifer, or light-bringer, but who became Satan, Apollyon or Abaddon. These last two names mean "destroyer."

We cannot remain on the sidelines! The issue truly is one of life or death. God says, "Choose life."
Satan is intent on destroying you! And not just you, but the whole of mankind, and even the very planet itself. Is this a far-fetched concept in today's world? Even just 10 years ago it would have been! Even 12 months ago, would you have prophesied the way the world is now?

Satan and his demonic cohorts know they have but little time (Revelation 12:12). They know their ultimate fate! In the meantime they want to wreak as much destruction on the earth as they possibly can. But God will bring their destructive activities to a halt.

Bringing the message of hope

However, right now we are looking into the abyss with the dreadful prospect of witnessing even worse things coming upon this world before the real hope for humanity, Jesus Christ, steps in and sets up the government of God on this earth. The scripture in 2 Timothy 3:13 says that evil men will grow worse and worse as we near the end of this age and the return of Jesus Christ. Knowing this truth, we have to maintain faith, direction and our commitment to Jesus Christ, to God the Father and His work. We have to dedicate ourselves, as God makes it possible, to taking the only message of hope that there is for this poor, suffering planet. Let us join in bringing that message of hope to the people of this world.

We cannot remain on the sidelines! There is a battle going on and we are part of it. In World War I there was a famous poster showing General Kitchener pointing at the onlooker. The slogan on that poster read "England needs you!" Today there is another war, another poster with another slogan (metaphorically speaking), which reads, "God's work needs you!" The battle we face is for a people and a planet. The issue truly is one of life or death. God says, "Choose life."

If you would like to understand more about God and His plan and the times we live in, request the following free biblical literature: Who Is God?, Is There Really a Devil?, The Book of Revelation Unveiled and World News & Prophecy.

We look forward to being of greater service to all those God calls as we seek to serve our heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.