Fifteen years ago, 19 evil Islamist terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners and massacred 2,977 men, women and children in New York City, New York, Washington, D.C. and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. At 8:46 A.M., ET, American Airlines flight 11, on its way from Boston to Los Angeles, crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. At 9:03 A.M., ET, United Airlines Flight 175, also traveling from Boston to L.A., crashed into the South Tower. The shock rippled through the Nation like a tectonic plate shift.

Then, at 9:37 A.M., ET, American Airlines Flight 77, traveling from Dulles, Virginia to Los Angeles, California, flew right into the Pentagon Building. It was surreal. America was in collective shock. The command center of our military forces was struck by a hijacked commercial airliner, filled with passengers, turned into a missile. Minutes later, at 10:03, A.M, ET, United Airlines Flight 93, on its way from Newark, New Jersey to San Francisco, was, at least for a short time, diverted by the heroic action of passengers, and crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

As the reports of those acts of war hit media sources, the visual images of the South and North Towers of the World Trade Center, a once-great center of commerce, collapsing in a pile of rubble and smoke, captured the collective eyes and heart of a Nation in utter shock. All of this occurred within 102 minutes. 102 minutes shook the United States of America to its core.

Osama Bin Laden, the diabolically motivated leader of that evil band of Islamists calling itself al-Qaeda, an arabic word meaning “the base,” admitted the heinous act of war. He gloated in its aftermath as if it were some kind of noble act! Fifteen years later, we still face the evil acts rooted in the ideology which fueled that organization. This ideology of darkness claiming to be light and murder masquerading as martyrdom has not been decimated, it is growing and spreading.

Osama Bin Laden may be dead but Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed Caliph, has taken his place. ISIS attempted to ground its Caliphate in lands formerly referred to as Syria and Iraq. Make no mistake, its singular goal is world subjugation under Sharia law. It is engaged in a pattern of beheading, crucifixion, group slaughter and terrorist intimidation against the innocent. It particularly hates Christians, the United States of America and the Jewish and Christian values which once grounded Western civilization.

The force behind this entire undertaking is not the good God, but the devil himself (2 Cor. 11:14). I am reminded of the words spoken through the Hebrew Prophet Isaiah “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! “(Is. 5:20)

Every anniversary since that fateful day provides an invitation to reflect on who we are becoming as we continue reject the very idea that there even are self-evident truths and inalienable rights. The actions of those evil men and the heroic response of those Ground Zero heroes calls us to just such a reflection. So too, does the continuing menace of the Islamic State and radical Jihadist ideology.

I vividly remember the events of that fateful day. I remember right where I was — and the immediate way in which I responded. Fifteen years later, the memory of the day evokes a deep seated response within me — a love for this nation, accompanied by a deep concern for her future.

Every year since September 11, 2001, we are reminded of who we can become as a good and free people. The heroes of Ground Zero were lights in an age of increasing darkness. That darkness still threatens. It is growing and threatening to engulf the whole world in its evil.

We routinely reject the Jewish and Christian vision of the dignity of every human person and the primacy of marriage, family and the natural law based value system which enabled us to live out that great national motto, Out of many, One. We deny that true human rights come only from God and that the proper role of civil government is to recognize, respect and protect them.

Remember, Repent and Return

Remember when the first responders rushed into that devastated wasteland in New York? Remember the way we came together in prayer? All over the Nation, following the lead of people in the streets all over New York City, we prayed. Remember the steely resolve, as we responded to the horrible acts of war committed against us? We quickly became “One Nation, Under God, and Indivisible,” as we cleared away the rubble in the streets, and rediscovered a treasure in our National heart.

What has happened to us? Are we really a free people? Or, have we lost sight of the true source of our liberties, the God who brought us together in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. Only that true God can help us rediscover our real identity. The question of Thomas Jefferson, inscribed on the third panel of the monument which bears his name, calls us to our knees, “God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?”

We may still mouth the word freedom, but we are building our own chains and enslaving ourselves under new masters. Freedom is not about the fact that we can choose. It is about what we choose. Authentic human freedom will never be found in choices which are made against God, against the truth and against the Natural Moral Law.

I will never forget when that cross emerged out of the rubble at the World Trade Center. We all knew it was a sign. That Cross, rising from the rubble, visually demonstrated the source of true freedom to a mourning Nation. It is time we got back to it. Remember, repent and return.