We are living in troubled times but God is on the throne. He is in control and this ministry has been called, formed, shaped, prepared and made ready for such a time as this. I believe He is calling women in an unprecedented way. He has prepared us in an unusual way and we are ready to step into the battle.
I think of the recent summit in Cuba, earlier this month. A 118 nations representing two-thirds of the nations of the world attending this non-aligned nations summit. The president of Iran, Syria, North Korea was represented, Chavez from Venezuela and the rhetoric that comes from the voices that we are hearing. The voices that entered our own nation with taunting words, threatening words over this nation primarily, but the nations within the western world. They are wanting to counter balance the power of the US and the leadership of the western world, and I will include Canada in this as well. We are so glad that Canada is with us in this Conference. We are redefining what defines terrorism, they said. And they all agreed that the US is a terrorist nation, and they all agree that they hate the United States. One news commentator said it is all just bluster on their part. For years we believed that Osama Bin Laden was just bluster, but things are coming to a head in an astonishing rate and an astonishing speed.
The Iranian president said that he has a hatred of the Jews, of Israel, Zionism, Christians, America, and the Western world. He has repeatedly stated that this cancerous tumor of a state, Israel, should be removed from the region. Like it or not, he said, the Zionist régime is heading toward annihilation. It is a rotten, dead tree that will be eliminated by one storm. This one who boldly refuses to back down with regards to Iran's nuclear program, this one who backs Hezbollah is allowed to come to US soil. We give him a visa, we give him security while he is here, so that he can spew out his brazen, evil remarks, his hatred, right under our nose and we listen to the escalation of his rhetoric.
We have just had a prime example of two distinct world systems; the world's reaction to the words spoken by the President of Iran and the world's reaction to the word spoken by the Pope. The New York Times was one of the first to demand an apology from the Pope.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, western forces are doomed to defeat. Future attacks are eminent. Your days are pregnant. In warfare there is always a sound and a language to it. The sound is intimidation. Goliath said, I'll feed you to the birds. Who are you to come out and set your battle in array? There is always a sound to the voice of the enemy.
In Minnesota, a Muslim won the primary and if he wins the election, he will be the first Muslim to serve in Congress. We are living in changing, shifting, dangerous times.
We recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of 9/11, where 3,000 lives were lost. And the question that I heard continually on television from the public, are we safe? Have security measures been put in place that make us more secure than before? There was talk about sleeper cells, terrorist cells, right here within the United States. There is a fear. There is a concern. But there is this desire to just go back to life as normal. Can we just feel safe again? We are living in a different day. There was a shift that took place in the year 2000. We are not going back to the days we knew before that.
Recently I listened to a message by a Messianic Jew, Rabbi Jonathan Cowan. He pastors or leads a Messianic congregation in New Jersey, and he spoke about 9/11 and Katrina. He feels that there were several key signs given related to 9/11, several specific signs that the Lord gives a nation when they are at a critical juncture, and it is something that goes back to the ancient days of Israel. In Isaiah 9, northern Israel had gone into apostasy, so God sent prophets to warn them. He had allowed them to go on in their way until a critical time and then things began to shift so that He could get their attention. He had allowed judgment to begin to come to them, even though it was strongly laced with mercy. But He lets judgment to come to get the attention of the nation. In Isaiah 9 we read: "The bricks have fallen down but we will rebuild with hewn stones. The sycamores are cut down but we will replace them with cedars."
He went to 9/11. Living in New Jersey, he lived close to New York City, obviously, and so He went to the site where the towers were brought down. He said God has pleaded with America to turn back to Him and after many pleadings, He will allow the hedge of a nation to be breached. For the enemy to bring a measure of destruction, but on a limited scale, and then follows a period of grace. Will they turn? Will their hearts be awakened to Me? Will they listen? Following 9/11, the churches were filled for about a thirty-day period. It sort of gave the sense of what revival would be like if a whole nation turned back to God. And then, after thirty days, things shifted back to normal.
Because the Rabbi lives in the New York area, he was at ground zero following 9/11, the ground that was covered with fallen bricks. And he said the officials began to speak out. We will rebuild. We will rebuild stronger and higher. We are going to build a freedom tower, higher than the trade center. We will rebuild with quarried stone.
July 2004, leaders gathered at ground zero, the Mayor and other significant leaders. And the purpose of the gathering was to begin the rebuilding, and according to the pattern of Israel, it began with quarried stone. Over ground zero, an object was being lowered from the sky and it was a giant quarried stone, cut from the mountain rocks of New York and they called it the freedom stone. A big deal was made out of this. They kept saying we are going to rebuild stronger, and higher. This will mark the rebuilding of America. One of the leaders said we are the heirs of the spirit of defiance. America had not moved closer to God.
In that period since 9/11, the Supreme Court struck down all the sodomy laws. Another court case sought to remove God from the Pledge of Allegiance. There was an issue with the Ten Commandments in one of our Southern states. We say God bless America, but as a nation are we blessing God?