The Towers Have Fallen But We Missed the Message
by David Wilkerson, October 8, 2001


On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City were destroyed. Five days later, as I was preparing this message, I looked out the window of my study in our 30th-floor apartment. Huge clouds of smoke were still smoldering from the ruins. They rose from the rubble and drifted out over the Hudson River, passing above the Statue of Liberty.


The following Sunday, just before I preached this message at Times Square Church, I wept at the sight of the utter devastation. I pleaded with God for mercy: mercy for the grieving families who lost loved ones. Mercy for the workers still digging through the rubble, hoping to locate survivors, but finding only corpses and severed body parts. Mercy for all the police officers, fire fighters and volunteers, who wept openly over the indescribable horrors they saw.


Our church was allowed to set up a relief tent at ground zero of the disaster. Ministry leaders and volunteers from our congregation worked tirelessly around the clock, helping to feed and encourage the weary workers.


Six weeks prior to the disaster, the Holy Spirit forewarned our pastoral staff that a calamity was coming. We had scheduled several major events for the weeks ahead, including our Missions Conference and Youth Convention. But God's Spirit prompted us to cancel them all. Instead, we felt stirred to call our congregation to prayer.


We decided to hold prayer meetings four nights a week. From the very beginning, each meeting was marked by an awesome stillness that settled over the congregation. We sat quietly in the Lord's presence, often without a sound, for up to an hour, followed by soft weeping and heartrending repentance. In one meeting, I had to steady my knees with my hands, to keep them from trembling in God's awesome presence.


During this visitation from the Lord, the Holy Ghost revealed there was a reason for the weeping in our hearts. We were being so moved because a tragedy was coming. A severe calamity was coming to the nation. And even though we didn't know what it was, our hearts were stirred to intercede concerning it.


Then suddenly, the calamity struck. And it hit not only our city, but the nation's capital. One network anchor declared, "Think of it, our two symbols of power and prosperity have been smitten in one hour." Little did he know, he was quoting Revelation 18:10: "Alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come."


As a policeman from our church helped out at ground zero, his fellow officers kept asking him, "What's this all about? What's happening?" Meanwhile, the whole nation has been asking, "Where is God in all this?"


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