I blew it – but the warning still holds
Posted: March 17, 2009
1:00 am Eastern
© 2010
I blew it. I was wrong, and I'm sorry.
Despite the fact that
multiple people told me they read about Times Square Church members making sandwiches
prior to Sept. 11, 2001, in the Times Square Newsletter –
and the fact that when a staff member of mine called the church he got
someone who answered the phone who confirmed it, saying they knew "exactly" what we were talking about, that information was wrong.
There
were sandwiches. There were lots of them. But they were not made prior to Sept. 11, according to the officials at Times Square Church I talked with Thursday (who were unavailable at my deadline last week). WND has already added an editor's correction to my column, but, while the sequence of the sandwiches was incorrect, the rest of the story was confirmed to be true.
I'm very sorry for the misinformation about the timing of the event. This is what their official spokesperson told a Faith2Action staff member when he called:
Beginning in July 2001, during one of the services, a strong presence of God came in and there were times of silence before the Lord ... times when the entire congregation was silent before the Lord. … They canceled the church's schedule of activities, and kept the regular services/sermons ... but it all changed into what they described as a heavy burden. They didn't know what was going to happen, but they knew NYC was in trouble, and that they needed to pray, and that's what they did.
The day the planes hit the towers, they knew that was what they were sensing, and they were quickly able to mobilize to help people. They grabbed supplies and vans and headed for the site. They made it past all of the check points, right to Ground Zero, where only the military and official emergency personnel were allowed to go. They were able to share the Gospel with many at the site including victims and rescue workers.
While many were still in shock, Times Square Church, because they were prepared, helped to coordinate those who wanted to help from around the world. According to the Oct. 29, 2001, Times Square Church Pulpit Series newsletter (World Challenge, Inc insert), Times Square Church Pastor Carter Conlon presented a check for $350,000 to the New York firefighters, and another check for $350,000 was given to the local police for the widows and children of 9/11.
I wish I could say that because I was wrong on the sandwiches detail the rest of
Pastor David Wilkerson's warning was also invalid, but I don't believe that is the case. Please read below and come to your own conclusions.
I've attached
the blog where Pastor Wilkerson's original warning of "an earth-shattering calamity … about to happen" was posted. Several other postings have been made since the March 7 warning I wrote about.
At the end of this column, I've included four links to sermons from Dr. Wilkerson, which I believe apply to where we are right now. This excerpt is from his Sept. 16, 2001, message entitled, "The Towers Have Fallen, but We Missed the Message":
I've sent you prophets and watchmen. You've been warned over and again. I prospered you above all nations. I endured your worship of gold and silver. I endured your shameless sensuality. I endured your mockery, your continuous shedding of innocent blood and murdering of babies. I've endured your timeless efforts to eradicate my name, even from your history books. Now I've stricken in hopes of saving you, that you would repent and turn from your wicked ways so that I could heal your land, and I will destroy your enemies.
Now folks, show me where that's not scriptural. Prove to me from God's word that He will not judge America as He's judged Sodom, Rome, Greece and now Russia.
I just returned from Russia a few months ago and walking through St. Petersburg and Moscow. I was shocked at the total depression. The average wage is $50 a month. Nothing but broken down infrastructures. Everywhere men are lying on the streets drunk on cheap vodka. Drug addicts everywhere now. Such devastation.
I broke down in front of the ministers and wept and wailed.
We met at a hockey arena in Moscow because they tried to rule God out of their society. They went down the same road we're going down and God said, "That's enough." Russia is under severe judgment. He's turned it into a Third World nation.
Here's the message from the prophet Ezekiel.
"Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed. Make you a new heart, a new spirit, for why would you die, O house of Israel? I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, says the Lord God. Wherefore turn yourselves and live."
I'm with you – I don't want a calamity to come. I don't want judgment to fall during my lifetime. I hate reading this stuff. But it's now coming from so many sources, so many watchmen on the wall, that we can no longer ignore it.
The only way I know to avoid it is to get on our knees and repent. To follow the checklist God gave us in 2 Chronicles 7:14: 1) humble, 2) pray, 3) seek God's face, and 4) turn from our wicked ways. If we don't follow that very clear warning directly from God Himself, I'm afraid that the calamity Wilkerson spoke of will, in fact, approach us quickly – regardless of when any sandwiches were made.
