Window on the World

From Randal Dick, superintendent of missions

'Comfort ye my People'...

God does not waste the suffering of his children. Each account is personally known, remembered and recounted in heaven.

Let’s look at one of those accounts through the eyes of Serge Volpe, a WCG member in Queens, New York: I was at work at the Bank of New York adjacent to the Twin Towers when the first plane struck. Some of us were upstairs in the cafeteria buying breakfast when we heard a whistlelike sound and then a huge explosion. Our building shook (much like it did eight years ago after the first World Trade Center attack) and then an enormous fireball went up from the impact.

As we watched, some people gathered by the huge hole in the building. Apparently the heat became too intense for them and they joined hands and jumped. This was about 75 to 80 stories from the bottom. Many of us in my building observed this, and many wept openly and some began to pray and cry out to God.

I prayed and went back to my desk to call loved ones to ask for prayers, but the phones were dead and cellular use was nearly impossible.

Then the second plane struck the other tower with an even greater explosion. By then the people in the streets were running, and some were just staring in shock or disbelief.

Emergency announcements in my building were advising everyone to remain calm and recommended all remain in the building. But after observing more victims jump to their deaths, I decided I didn’t want to be on the 16th floor so I went down to the lobby.

Because I was there during the first terrorist attack eight years ago, and I remembered how nearly impossible it was to leave the area, I decided to leave the building and walk north.

By then the streets were filled with people and confusion ruled. There was little in the way of crowd control or police presence yet, and those few officers on the streets were urging everyone to head north.

I walked over to City Hall and saw that the subway station was still open. I went down the stairs to try to catch a train heading north just as the first tower began to collapse.

I made it as far as the south Bronx when it was announced that all subway service was suspended. The buses by now were overcrowded, but everyone remained calm and civil. The prevailing mood among people was shock, horror, sorrow and anger.

Serge, and millions of the rest of us, will never be quite the same. It is important for us, as Christians, to recognize that the stress of what we are experiencing right now in the United States is rending a huge hole in the hearts of many. The Christ in us creates a need in us to respond in some meaningful way, but how?

We can give blood, write letters and pray, but what directly spiritual help could we give someone without hope at a time like this?

It is ironic that one of the biggest mistakes we make in this country, evangelistically speaking, is that we try to force-feed spiritual food to those who are not spiritually hungry. Now we have people whose spiritual malnutrition has rendered them emotionally incapacitated, and we don’t know what to do.

You may ask, "In what way can I serve Christ in the process of making disciples?" First let me suggest what not to do. Well-intentioned Christians will be inoculating thousands of people against Christ because what they say (in an effort to lead a person to Christ) will convey the message that we care more about you being in our church than we do about you.

This is not the time to run around trying to get "decisions" for Christ, by asking people if they know what would happen to them if they die tonight. They will get a lot of decisions from scared people who later reject being manipulated. Some will be more concerned about their doctrine than people.

I was disappointed to see a major religious figure being interviewed on national television after the attack. The morning show host was asking for any spiritual guidance and comfort that the religious figure might be able to give at this time. All he seemed to be able to focus on was the need for people to get right with God so they could face him at the judgment.

He said: "I know that some of those people in that tower are in heaven right now … and they wouldn’t want to come back."

This is no help to the living who are struggling to understand where God was when this tragedy occurred.

The unbelievers in that tower, their family and friends are the ones that need the gospel now, and all you can do is tell them that their loved ones are lost eternally?

Is fear the basis for the grace of Christ? I thought perfect love casts out fear. It would seem to me that the power of Christ’s decision to save is greater than the power of Satan to blind. But this leader’s theology has them in hell for eternity at this point. What hope or comfort could he offer the families of those who did not know Christ? None.

What about the families of the ones he thinks are in heaven now? Where is the comfort for those who are left behind? If this is the best we can do, in terms of helping unbelievers know our God, then it’s no wonder that many people find organized religion of little value.

In order to overcome the obstacles in our path, this nation needs to draw close to God. Those who are lost need a path. They need some light on that path, and they need someone who is already on that path to offer to walk with them for a while. Christians should be sought after, not considered part of the pain.

Let me leave you with some simple truths that hurting and lost people need to hear at this time—presented to them in a sensitive, unconditionally supportive manner.

The love of God is the critical component that transforms us from fearful to faithful, from wandering to being secure in all aspects of life.

Jesus as a person is the self-revelation of the love of God, expressed in a way we can perceive. That’s why he is so important. It is through him that we perceive who we are and how much we are loved.

Express relationship with God. Avoid the mistake of putting God in transactional terms. God is not contractual— he is covenantal.

Too many take the tremendous security that is in a relationship with Christ and reduce it to a series of transactions. Repent—and you’ll be saved; pray—and God will intervene; obey—and you’ll be rewarded; disobey—and you will be punished.

People need to know that their God knows all the depravity that is in humanity. Help them sense what the prodigal son experienced when he returned home. He came home to ask to be a servant. He knew he was disqualified to be a son.

But the father said, "No, you’re coming back, but as my son, not as a servant." That assurance is what lost and hurting people need, not to be dangled over the fires of hell.

Convey to people the reality of Isaiah 40: "Comfort ye my people." Tell them that their warfare is ended. Sure, we experience all the depravity of humanity, we get sick, we will die. And sometimes we die senselessly. But the price has been paid and the outcome has been secured the moment that Jesus burst from that grave.

People need to know that their iniquities are pardoned. The power of God in Jesus Christ to save is greater than all the evil in whatever form that could be hurled against us. People need to know that God gave the ultimate gift to demonstrate his commitment to us. Christ took on the suffering that humanity has brought on itself in order to conquer it.

Isaiah says we should make for the hurting person a highway to our God. Make it a known, navigable path. Most people deep inside know how guilty they really are. To be led to Christ, most people need to know just how special they are to him—in spite of all that guilt.

At this time, masses of people who don’t know Christ are hoping he really exists. Even those who are angry at God and reject him, are hopeful. If there was no hope or desire, they would be matter of fact, not angry.

Now is the time for us to be available and transparent to the unbelievers around us. As in the parable of the Good Samaritan, will we hurry past the one who was beaten up and robbed, taking comfort in our own assurance?

Or will we love them and assure them that if they grasp the feet of Christ, he will uphold them through the warfare in this life and free them from the anguish and fear that comes from feeling they are alone in the universe.

WHERE SERGE WORKED—Bank of
New York building, where Serge Volpe
worked. Seven World Trade Center
collapsed in the distance. [Photo by Bill Lowe]

Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2001