Hope of Israel Ministries (Ecclesia of YEHOVAH):

In the aftermath of the World Trade Center demolition, there are many questions that people are asking. The most common question is, “Why did God allow it”? Very few are acknowledging any possibility that YEHOVAH God did it, because if they did, they would be going against the popular flow. We will make some examination into the verse below that literally says, “God did it”:

Isaiah 45:7: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these”.

In this short verse, there are several different verbs translated as, “form”, “create”, “make” and “do”. These are all in what language experts call the “participle active mood”. A definition of this mood is as follows, “The participle represents an action or condition in its unbroken continuity, and corresponds to the English verb, “to be” with the present participle. It may be used of present, past or future time”. From the use of these verbs, together with the associated nouns, we can see that these facts never change. What YEHOVAH God does in a given situation never changes.

In the Hebrew, we have:

“form” = yatsar' (Strongs 3335),

“create” = bara’ (Strongs 1254),

“make” and “do” = asah (Strongs 6213).

These verbs “cover the field” in regard to activities such as:

(1) What a potter does, in terms of human activity, including conception, and divine activity,

(2) What a creator does, in terms of choice, choosing a people for Himself,

(3) What an organizer does, in terms of fashioning, transforming, and shaping, changing circumstances, and also cutting down.

(4) What an accomplisher does, in terms of attending, working, making, celebrating, ordaining, preparing, dealing with, and offering.

Going a stage further, we can see these activities include opposites which are translated as:

(a) “light” and “darkness”.

(b) “peace” and “evil”.

“Light” is ‘owr (Strongs 16) which is inclusive of all forms of light, life, prosperity, instruction and of YEHOVAH God as being Israel’s light.

“Darkness” is choshek (Strongs 2822) usually translated as “darkness”.

“Peace” is shalowm (Strongs 7965) that conveys the idea of completeness, soundness, health and prosperity, contentment, and good relationships.

“Evil” is ‘ra (Strongs 7451), which conveys everything opposite to what “shalowm” means.

When we study verses like Isaiah 45:7, there is absolutely no suggestion, that when evil occurs, it is just a case of “God allowed it”, as we hear so often said in religious circles. All the different verbs, together with the opposites immediately above, declare to us that there is no field of activity in heaven and earth that YEHOVAH God is not the prime mover of. As the “Almighty” there is no other authority or originator of anything. Paul indicated that not everyone has this knowledge, saying in this 1 Corinthians 8:4 passage, “There is none other God but one”, and continues on to say, “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him”. “One” in Greek is a numerical term, so there is no other being in competition with Him.

If we agree with this, then how could we say that YEHOVAH God was not the originator of the World Trade Center disaster? There is no shortage of passages in the Bible such as those below. These show YEHOVAH’s hand as being the creator of evil against Israel, when Israel was sinning against YEHOVAH God --

Judges 2:14-15: "And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed."

Judges 3:7-8: "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves. Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years."

2 Kings 19:3: "And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, all their days."

Who did these things (as emphasized) to YEHOVAH’s people? YEHOVAH God did! And always there is a similar reason given, and the reasons are not commonly accepted. Churches say it is not be the nature of YEHOVAH God to do those things!

In the New Testament pages we are told that all these Old Testament happenings are examples to us to show that YEHOVAH’s method of dealing with His sinning people Israel has not changed:

1 Corinthians 10: 6-10: "Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt the LORD, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come."

These verses determine that YEHOVAH’s method of operation and reasons have not changed through the New Testament, even up to our day. Churches should note it is still the nature of YEHOVAH God to do this! Even a little of the fear of YEHOVAH God would work wonders in the congregations!

Although we read about, “All those innocent people being killed” at the World Trade Center, we can hardly accept that the U.S.A. was a godly-living country, living in the fear of YEHOVAH God, when this happened. All these people referred to may have been innocent of committing deliberate offence to Islam, but were they all innocent of sin against YEHOVAH God? Is not the rest of the population, including the U.S. Government, likewise ungodly? Concerning “towers” falling, we read in Luke 13:2-5 “And Jesus answering said unto them….Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." So the U.S.A. has had a stark warning of what will come unless the “except you repent” is heeded!

The selection below from a message presented at Times Square Church, shortly after the World Trade Center event, confirms this view and “says it all”:

“The Bible makes it crystal clear: God used enemy nations to chasten his people. The LORD wielded these enemies as an instrument of warning to Israel, calling the nation to repent. 'O Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger, and the staff in their hand is Mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of My wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets' (10:5-6).

"God charged this coalition of Israel’s enemies to chasten His chosen people. The LORD was trying to warn Israel, 'You’ve lifted yourself up with pride. Now I’m about to bring you down. I’m going to allow you to be disciplined by your enemies.'

"The enemy coalition launched their massive attack. And, suddenly, the Israelites watched in horror as their buildings began to collapse. Fires raged throughout the cities, burning down stately structures. In a short time, Israel was in flames. And God’s people began to wail, 'The bricks are fallen down…the sycamores are cut down' (9:10).

"After witnessing the recent disasters in New York and Washington, we can begin to imagine the emotions of the ancient Israelites. Yet, did Israel repent after this horrifying attack? Was there a nationwide acknowledgment that God was sending them a warning? Did the rulers hear God speaking through the awful calamity? No. Israel’s reaction was just the opposite. The people’s initial fear quickly gave way to a flood tide of national pride. 'All the people…say in the pride and stoutness of heart' (9:9).

"The Hebrew word for stoutness in this verse signifies a sense of greatness. In other words, once the attack died down, the Israelites regained their confidence. They declared, 'The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars' (9:10). They were saying, in other words, 'These calamities aren’t from our LORD. They’re simple fate, unfortunate disasters that can’t be explained.'

“'We’re a great and mighty nation. We’re made up of a proud, unbending people. And we’re going to let the world know we’re coming back. We’ll build everything back bigger and better. Where we used bricks before, we’ll use stone. And where we once built with cheap construction, we’ll use better materials. We’re a God-blessed nation. And we’re going to come through this disaster stronger than ever.'

"Doesn’t this all sound very familiar? The LORD Himself used an evil enemy to send a warning of chastisement to His people. He wanted to wake them up to their compromise, bring them back to Himself, pour out his blessings on them, and surround them with His protection. Yet, throughout their days of grief and horror, God’s people never once acknowledged His hand in it all. No one asked, 'What is the LORD saying through all this? Is He trying to speak to us?' No one thought for a moment that such a proud, great nation could be humbled and chastised. On the contrary, the people used the occasion to defy any such thought. They refused to hear God’s warning to them.

"Yet, even so, we risk missing God’s message to us. Think about it: when our public assemblies call for a moment of silence, we think it’s true repentance. When we see politicians singing 'God Bless America,' we think our nation has turned back to God. When we see sporting events observe a silent minute at halftime, we think it’s a spiritual experience.

"But is this all that’s going to come out of our recent disaster? Will people in sports stadiums stand in silence for a minute, then go back to painting their bodies in wild color, chug beer after beer, and scream maniacally for their favorite team?

"Like most Americans, I wept as I saw Senators and Congressional leaders standing on the steps of the Capitol, singing, 'God bless America…stand beside us, and guide us…' Yet, as I was crying, the LORD reminded me, 'Many of the leaders you see singing have worked to rule Me out of American society. They are even determined to remove My name from American history books. And they’ve allowed the murder of millions of babies through abortion.'

"Suddenly, I was struck by the absolute hypocrisy of it all. We give lip service to God, but we continue our slide into the mire of immorality. If God wouldn’t spare other nations that have outlawed Him, why would He spare America? He’ll judge us even as He judged Sodom, Rome, Greece and every other culture that has turned its back on Him."

Then David Wilkerson went on to say prophetically:

"Devouring fires will rise to the heavens. Darkness will cover the land. The economy will be hit with a staggering blow. And there will be disunity in the nation, in communities, in neighborhoods, in families. People will look out only for themselves, in a desperate fight to survive. And God help you if you come near them. I believe our window of opportunity to respond to God’s call is brief. We all should pray that our nation repents and turns back to the LORD. But our most intense prayers should be for our own hearts: 'LORD, let me tremble not at the disasters, but at your Word. I want to hear your voice in all of this. Cause me to turn wholly to you.'"

So, in all this, did YEHOVAH God send a warning to the U.S.A.? Did YEHOVAH God “do it”, referring to the World Trade Center? Is YEHOVAH God raising up Moslem extremists in order to chasten the U.S.A.? Let us go ahead a little further in chapter 47 of Isaiah where we started. In verse 9 we read, “Woe to him that striveth with his Maker”. This is about arguing against YEHOVAH’s righteous judgments. What did President George W. Bush do? Did he think he could strive against YEHOVAH God where YEHOVAH has “created evil”? He said the U.S.A. is going to destroy evil, where “evil” to him was anything that operated against the welfare of the U.S.A.

Although they may not like to admit it, their thinking leads to wrong conclusions; their secret thinking goes like this --

(1) A good God would destroy evil.

(2) An all-powerful God could destroy evil.

(3) Evil is not destroyed.

(4) Therefore, there cannot possibly be such a good and powerful God.