The grain is ripe
The day is new
It's time for the harvest
But the laborers are few.
The Master stares
As the sun climbs high
No one's coming
The grain will soon die.
Midday passes
Dusk draws near
No one is willing...
No one is here.
Shadows lengthen
The day is gone
It's too late
For another dawn.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Seven years is not very long.
For many of us, we've lived more than twice that long. And for some countries that have been around for thousands of years, seven years is nothing; like a fleeting breath in the time line of eternity.
Yet seven years is how long it's been since September 11, 2001. Why then, do we Americans treat it like so long ago?
The answer is simple: we haven't been around for thousands of years. Even though our culture was drastically different when the United States was first formed, it truly hasn't been very long since then. Sometimes we treat two hundred years ago like ancient times; but in reality, it's nothing compared to many other nations. When it comes to time, we're only a baby country.
So, seven years seems to be a lot longer than it really is. However, once we realize that it practically happened yesterday, we see that tragic day with completely new eyes.
And we realize that the terrorists could come back.
My parents remember that day better than I do. I asked them a couple questions about their experiences; first, how they had found out the attacks were happening on that fateful day. According to Mom, she was on the computer when someone sent her an instant message, telling her about what had happened, and to turn on the TV. Dad also called her from work. He had found out about the attack, as he remembers, from someone in the hallway who said, “Something's happening in New York.” However, Dad's first reaction to the news was not that this might be a terrorist attack. “What an idiot,” he thought. “Who would fly into a building!” But this was when only the North Tower of the World Trade Center had been crashed into; when another airplane seemed to come out of nowhere and crash into the South Tower as well, Dad's attitude changed.
“There can't be two accidents,” he realized. And it was then that he understood we had been attacked by terrorists.
By the time Mom could turn on the TV, both towers were already crashed into and smoking like monster bonfires. “I was shocked, scared,” she said about her first reaction to the sight on television. “I immediately realized it was terrorism.”
Meanwhile, news reached Dad's ears that the Pentagon building had also been crashed into. “I questioned whether it happened,” he said. “There was no footage yet, and there was a lot of confusion as to what was going on.”
When the videos of the burning Pentagon finally appeared on the news, Mom started to panic. “I tried to reach Dad,” she said. “because [the attacks] were so close to us. [This made me] more afraid, and I just wanted to know where Dad was... The cell phones were overloaded... and I couldn't reach Dad at first. I was feeling very fearful.”
During our interview, I asked Mom what she had thought about the people jumping from the 110-story-Twin Towers. “It was horrid,” she said. “I was literally watching people jump to their deaths. [I figured] they were surely not committing suicide; they must have thought they would survive. There was no other way out [from the flames], perhaps they thought it was their only way to escape. It was horrible watching it. It was just awful.”
Neither Mom nor Dad, however, ever suspected that the towers could collapse. “No, never,” Mom said when I asked her. But the towers did fall. Instead of tipping over though, they collapsed on themselves; story by story crushing beneath the weight as they crumbled to the ground. After one fell, the other toppled down in the same way. Dad was surprised. Mom recalls: “I was completely shocked. Dumbfounded. Just... dumbfounded.”
Apparently the terrorists were not content with just three attacks. Another plane, possibly headed toward the capital building, was on its way; but before it could reach the hijackers' destination, it was taken back by the passengers and crashed into a field. I asked Mom what she remembered about that incident. “I remember wondering how many more there was,” she said. “How long would it last? I just wanted Dad home. I didn't know how many more attacks there would be.”
Finally Dad did come home, safe and sound. There were no more attacks that day. Since we lived near the Pentagon, we were able to drive past it later to see the ruins. Mom remembers her feelings when she saw the crumbled, black remains: “Disbelief... seeing it in person. That we had been attacked on American soil... just disbelief, sorrow for those who died, prayerful that we'd catch the terrorists.”
Almost three thousand people were killed on 9-11-01. Solely based on what happened that day, I asked my parents if they thought we as a country should be at war.
Dad looked at me as if there was no question. “Yes,” he said.
Mom grew passionate as she answered, “Absolutely! I don't think George Bush is perfect, but I completely support his decision to be at war and whole-heartedly stand behind the military. I think they should be allowed to remain until the job is done, and do what they've been trained to do. And I think, had we not gone to war, we would have been attacked again.”
Does this country really want another 9/11? Of course not! Then why does it seem everyone is so anxious to drag our soldiers home?
The answer is simple. No one likes war. No one likes the fact that American soldiers, and sometimes innocent civilians, have to die. However, has it been too long that we've forgotten the 2,977 civilians killed on our own soil? We didn't start the war. It wasn't our idea that there should be death. We have powerful enemies whose religion tells them to hate us, and destroy us. Unless we want to die, it is vital that we defend. Are we not the “home of the brave”?
Did you know...
We read it in the textbooks. We see it on TV. The myth that strata actually proves Evolution is a serious misunderstanding. When examined closely, strata layers actually point to Creation!
The Evolutionists claim that strata (layered sedimentary rocks) are created over long periods of time. As millions of years pass, sand and other minerals are laid down, creating the layers that allegedly represent the certain periods of time they were deposited. For an example, one layer may have been laid down over a period of 50 millions years, the next over a period of 80 million years, and so on. According to their theory, these layers are like pages in a geological history book; we can find out about our earth 300 million years ago by examining the layer laid down at that time.
So, how do they prove their point? It all has to do with the fossils buried in strata. Many fossils can be found in the layers of strata rock; fossils of animals, plants, shells, footprints and more. Evolutionists believe that creatures were buried and fossilized over time, and depending on which strata layer they are found in, so their age is. Excitedly they refer to this as proof of Evolution; every few million years, they see a newer, more complex organism in the strata record. A fish may be in one layer. Then a reptile in the next! This must be proof that fish evolved into reptiles! Well, I'll return to that thought soon.
But first, what do Creationists believe about strata? A Creationist view says that instead of millions of years, most of the strata were laid down in a matter of months. That's right. Months. Instead of sediments being slowly deposited, Creationists believe they were suddenly and violently packed together in a catastrophic, world-wide flood (Genesis 6-8). On it's own, that may sound hard to believe, but evidence for this idea is much stronger than evidence toward the Evolutionists' idea.
Firstly, in spite of how Evolutionists may argue, the fossils are rarely in perfect order, according to their theory. Many “more advanced” species have been found next to, or even beneath their “ancestors”. Secondly, Charles Darwin predicted in his book, The Origin of Species, that if his Theory of Evolution was correct, “the number of intermediate varieties, which have formerly existed on the earth, [must] be truly enormous”. Yet never – I repeat, never – out of the 100 million fossils discovered in 150 years – has one single transitional fossil been found. There are no half-fish, half-reptiles, or half-monkeys, half-men. Certainly many fossils have been found that were thought to be transitional, but each time they were later rejected, and instead accepted as one species. Heribert-Nilsson, a scientist of Lund University in Sweden, said after forty years of studying paleontology and botany that “the deficiencies [the missing links] are real; they will never be filled.”
I can imagine that if Darwin himself were here today, he'd hold up his hands and say, “Never mind! My theory is wrong after all.” Yet scientists still devote their lives to finding those missing links – and as Heribert-Nilsson said, they will never be found.
Another puzzler for Evolutionists is the existence of polystrate fossils; fossilized trees that shoot upwards through layers of strata! If the Theory of Evolution is true, then these trees stood upright for millions of years while rock and sediments slowly covered them! Of course that is impossible, and such “mysteries” are mostly kept hush-hush from the public, lest faith in the Evolutionary Theory begins to waver.
Unknown to most people, strata actually can be created in a short period of time. An example would be the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, a volcano in Washington, state, where the hot ejecta flattened forests and gorged deep canyons, like mini-versions of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and created layers of strata that represented days and weeks – not millions of years.
Another thing most people don't know is that fossils don't just happen. In other words, if an animal dies, it doesn't stay intact as sediments slowly cover it and preserve it for millions of years. If scavengers don't devour it as soon as dies, it will rot instead, and it certainly won't become a fossil. Very special conditions are required for fossilization, including rapid burial and high pressure; both of which would be present in a world-wide flood.
Although fossils are not in perfect order according to the Evolutionary theory, they do tend to appear in the strata with smaller and slower animals generally beneath the larger and faster ones. Why is this so? Well, this makes perfect sense in a flood. As Vance Ferrell says in his pro-Creation book, The Evolution Handbook: “When the Flood overwhelmed the world, the first to be covered were slow-moving animals, the next to be covered were somewhat larger, somewhat faster-moving animals, and so it went.” The quickly rising flood waters would result in quick deaths, quick burials, high pressure, and ultimately, lots of fossils.
In conclusion, the strata record clearly does not point to Evolution, but to sudden catastrophe, and to the Biblical world-wide flood. And if the Bible was right about the flood, there's a fair chance it was also right about creation – and the Creator – and our submission due to Him.
Sources Consulted
Ferrell, Vance, The Evolution Handbook, Altamont, TN: Evolution Facts, Inc., 2005
Steele, DeWitt, and Gregory Parker, Science of the Physical Creation, Pensacola, Florida: A Beka Book, 1996
Richards, Lawrence O., It Couldn't Just Happen, Nashville, TN: Tommy Nelson, Inc., 1989
Mount St. Helens: Explosive Evidence for Catastrophe, (Steve Austin, Ph.D.), Institute for Creation Research