[Editor's note: The following

column was provided by Dr. Howard E. Dial, founding pastor of Berachah

Bible Church, 310 Corinth Rd. in eastern Fayette County.

The following responses to

the World Trade Tower terrorism of Sept. 11, 2001, represent only a part

of what God has revealed in the Bible. We can take heart in the fact that

God has given us a trustworthy revelation of His will and that it is "profitable

for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work"

(2 Timothy 3:16-17).

1. We must go to God with every

emotion we experience and express ourselves to Him. We are to cast all

of our burdens upon Him. The psalms of the Old Testament demonstrate how

we can relate honestly to God. They contain verbalizations to God of joy,

disappointment, anger, grief, and fear. Read the psalms to find encouragement

in the Lord (e.g., Psalm 34, fear; Psalm 58, anger). Psalm 46:1 "God

is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." 1 Peter

5:7 "Casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you."

2. We must handle our anger

in a God-honoring way. Righteous anger over the evil deeds of wicked men

must not be allowed to settle into sinful and vengeful anger. Express

your anger to God and take refuge in the fact that He is a God of justice.

Luke 18:7-8 "Now shall not God bring about justice for His elect,

who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell

you that He will bring about justice for them speedily." Ephesians

4:26-27 "Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down

on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity."

3. Listen discerningly to the

news and interpretation of events of the attack upon America. Children

must be given the light of biblical wisdom as to why this happened. While

we don't know the full mind of God on this awful experience, He has given

us His word, the Bible. Many, if not most, of the representatives of the

various religions interviewed on television have failed to express accurately

the real issues involved in the vicious act of terrorism witnessed this

past week. Deuteronomy 29:29 "The secret things belong to the Lord

our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever,

that we may observe all the words of this law."

4. Express your grief to God

and rejoice in His compassion, faithfulness, and sovereignty over all

things. Nothing happens that is contrary to His wisdom. Grief is the God-given

capacity to respond to the losses that accompany the pain and suffering

of life in a fallen world. Lamentations 3:22, 23, 32, 38 "The Lord's

loving-kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail.

They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness. For if He causes

grief, then He will have compassion according to His loving-kindness.

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth?"

5. Pray for opportunities to

minister to people. Be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in

you. This is a season for special opportunities to declare the good news

that forgiveness of sin, eternal life, and fellowship with God is in Jesus

Christ. 1 Peter 3:15 "But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts,

always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give

an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence."

6. Pray for our President,

Vice President, Congress, and all governmental officials that they will

seek and receive God's wisdom, that they will make well-informed decisions,

and do what is just and right. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 "First of all, then,

I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made

on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order

that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity."

7. Do some act of compassion

and encourage those who are involved in the recovery efforts (e.g., donate

blood to the Red Cross). Ask God to make you a comforter to those who

are hurting. Romans 13:8 "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one

another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law."

8. Do not allow fear to rule

your life. Fear is a terrible tyrant. God does not want us to live by

fear but by faith. We make choices. We can choose not to be fearful by

placing our confidence in God and rejoicing in His salvation. God knows

what He is doing and will enable His children to deal with the most difficult

of circumstances. Habakkuk 2:4 "Behold, as for the proud one, His

soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith."

9. Assist children by helping

them to understand, as much as is possible, what has happened. Attempt

to shield younger children from needless exposure to scenes of the tragedy

on the television. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 "And these words, which I am

commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them

diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house

and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up."

10. Pray that many will repent

and put their faith in Jesus Christ as a result of this human tragedy.

It is a reminder of the kind of world that we live in and the greatest

need sinful man has. When evil displays its awful work, people must ask

themselves what lesson is there in this for me? Death tells us that we

live in a fallen world and that we must seek the Lord while He may be

found. Luke 13:3 "I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will

all likewise perish."

11. Meditate upon the biblical

teaching regarding the problem of suffering. God is not the cause of evil

and the suffering it brings, but is the Savior from it. All suffering

can be traced to the fall of man and man's chosen path of disobedience.

The sufferings of Jesus Christ serve as God's complete and final answer

to human suffering. God alone can give meaning to suffering. God can enable

the Christian to have the proper response to suffering. Romans 5:8 "But

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,

Christ died for us." Romans 5:12 "Therefore just as through

one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death

spread to all men, because all sinned." Isaiah 53:5 "But He

was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;

The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging

we are healed."

12. Do not allow the darkness

of evil to eclipse the cross and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The cross of Jesus Christ reveals the kind of world in which we live.

It is one of injustice. The cross of Jesus Christ reveals God's answer

to the problem of suffering. The answer is found in the triumph of justice

and love. They have kissed at the cross.

The cross of Jesus Christ reveals

the destiny of evil. Satan was judged and evil was issued a death warrant.

The cross of Jesus Christ reveals the trustworthiness of God. He is a

God of sacrificial love. The cross of Jesus Christ and its great guarantee,

the resurrection of Jesus Christ, reveal a door of hope for all who will

embrace the grace of God in Christ through faith in Him. John 3:16 "For

God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever

believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

13. Appreciate the biblical-prophetic

nature of the disaster in New York and Washington, D.C. One of the reasons

terrorists have attacked America is because of our support of the nation

of Israel. Once again Israel is the focus of world attention. Israel plays

a strategic role in the plan of God. We also know that Satan wants to

destroy Israel in order keep the Abrahamic Covenant, Davidic Covenant,

and New Covenant from being fulfilled as they relate to the nation of

Israel. Romans 11:1 "I say then, God has not rejected His people,

has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,

of the tribe of Benjamin."

14. Pray for the Muslim world

that many will turn to their only hope, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Confess any sin of bitterness and hatred of the Arab people or Muslims

anywhere. Pray for those missionaries serving in Muslim countries for

their boldness in witness. The church must not allow unsettled world conditions

to keep it from taking the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends

of the earth. This includes the Muslim world. Matthew 28:19-20 "Go

therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the

name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe

all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end

of the age."

15. Prepare yourself for a

war of a different kind. It will be difficult, requiring many sacrifices

and will significantly alter the way we conduct our lives as a nation.

Human government has been given the right by God to use force to restrain

evil. We cannot look the other way and ignore evildoers or think that

if our nation "turns the other cheek" that evil will lay down

its arms. Romans 13:3-4 "For rulers are not a cause of fear for good

behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what

is good, and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister

of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it

does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger

who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil."

16. Do the next thing. Don't

let your life revolve around the television or allow yourself to become

morbidly obsessed with the evil done by the terrorists. Listen to God-exalting

Christian music, memorize and read Scripture. Be faithful to your God-given

responsibilities. Live hopefully. 1 Cor. 15:58 "Therefore, my beloved

brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

17. Pain and suffering expose

the inadequacy of the conceptions of unbelief: that there is no such thing

as good and evil, that meaning in life is defined by wealth/money, that

we don't need God, that man is good, and that tolerance means that all

religions are equal.

All religions do not worship

the same God and there is only one way into God's heaven and that is through

Jesus Christ. John 14:6 "Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the

truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me."

Ephesians 4:17-18 "This I say therefore, and affirm together with

the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the

futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded

from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because

of the hardness of their heart;"

18. The church of Jesus Christ

is in need of reformation and revival. We have become spiritually flabby.

There must be a return to biblical preaching and a passion for the glory

of God. The church must not be too quick to lay blame at the feet of others

when its own sins need to be confessed to God. 1 Peter 4:17 "For

it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God;" 2 Timothy

4:2 "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove,

rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction."

19. Satan is not all-wise,

all-knowing and all-powerful. God has him on a leash. The devil is self-deceived

and his evil schemes will fall in upon themselves. Job 1:12 "Then

the Lord said to Satan, ... Behold, all that he has is in your power,

only do not put forth your hand on him.'" Luke 10:18 "And He

said to them, ... I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning."

20. We are not helped when

we seek to explain evil only in terms of "free will." God rules

over evil and accomplishes His purpose by the free choices of Satan and

sinners. God governs and guides all events both good and evil to the accomplishment

of His will. The ways of God cannot be fully understood by finite man.

But our attempts to understand what He has revealed must not diminish

either His power or His love. Ephesians 1:11 God "works all things

after the counsel of His will." Isaiah 45:7 "The One forming

light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity;

I am the Lord who does all these."

21. Expect grief to have an

effect upon the entire population as well as yourself. There will be weariness,

inability to concentrate, the eruption of old emotional or mental wounds,

anger, and fear. But God's grace is available for whatever test comes

our way. Be patient with people. Be kind. Don't be prejudiced toward immigrants

and "foreigners." Galatians 6:10 "So then, while we have

opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are

of the household of the faith."

22. Be prepared for a sorting

out of people during this time of pain, suffering, and war. Some will

faint and fall. Some will be strong and courageous. Suffering brings our

weaknesses out into the open. It uncovers flawed thinking. We are seeing

this in many of the interviews on the television. Some Christians are

writing and saying things that are very unbiblical. Let these difficult

times drive you to God's eternal and infallible Word. James 1:2-5 "Consider

it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that

the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its

perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men

generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

23. The evil of death has visited

our nation in a brutal way. It sends a message to all of us. We live in

a fallen world where death reigns. It wields its terror because of sin.

We are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. An infinitely holy

and righteous God cannot wink at sin. Because God's standard is perfection

and we are not perfect, we have earned death. We deserve to die and be

separated from God forever.

But God has come to our rescue.

Like those brave firemen who rushed into the World Trade Towers to save

people and died doing it, so Jesus Christ died for us. He came into this

world, lived a perfect life, and died on a cross in our place. He took

the penalty that we deserved for sin. Three days later Christ came back

to life having conquered sin and death.

We can be saved from sin's

penalty through faith in Jesus Christ. By placing our trust in Jesus Christ

and through no effort of our own, we can have the forgiveness of sin and

eternal life.

Are you facing an eternity

of suffering? We can be sure of one message that comes to us from the

World Trade Towers. It is as one writer has said, "The worst thing

that can happen to you is not the death of a loved one, a prolonged illness,

or a painful accident. The worst thing that could happen to you would

be to suffer for nothing, die, and be lost forever." Romans 3:23

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans

6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is

eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 5:8 "God demonstrates

His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died

for us." Ephesians 2:8, 9 "For by grace you have been saved

through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not

as a result of works, that no one should boast."

John 3:16 "For God so

loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes

in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

[Dr. Howard E. Dial is the

founding pastor of Berachah Bible Church where he has been ministering

since 1970. Dr. Dial received his Master of Divinity and Master of Theology

degrees from Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Ind., and his

Doctor of Ministry degree from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in

Portland, Ore. in 1992.]