The memo was stamped July 10, 2001, and sent to FBI headquarters from Kenneth Williams, a well-respected agent who was part of the bureau's antiterrorism task force. The classified document warned of a pattern the agent had noticed of Middle Eastern men signing up for lessons at U.S. flight schools. Williams recommended an investigation, speculating that al Qaeda could be using these men in some sort of twisted terrorist plot.
The agent had no idea how soon his dark premonition would be realized. Two months later--almost to the day--his intuition proved right, as Americans recoiled in horror at one of the worst nightmares ever to take place on U.S. soil. It was Sept. 11, 2001--one year ago this month.
But as alert as Williams had been to the clues leading up to the attacks, the FBI, it seemed, had been fast asleep. The memo was ignored. America basked in her dreamland, enjoying the illusory lull of false security. And while we were sleeping, the enemy caught us off guard. We dozed; terrorists formulated a scheme. We snored; they sent coded messages; we hit snooze; they boarded planes.
We were finally forced out of our slumber when American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center at 8:45 a.m. It was a jolting call back to the reality of the times in which we live. We were only just beginning to realize the scope of what had been going on right under our noses all along, while we were sleeping.
In 1 Chronicles 12:32 we read of the sons of Issachar in David's army, "who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do" (NKJV). Like Agent Williams, they could read the signs and follow the clues. They could propose an effective strategy. They weren't oblivious to what was going on around them. And they wouldn't be caught dead sleeping while they were supposed to be on watch.
But sometimes I wonder about the church. It seems some things escape our attention as we slumber in a cocoon of self-centered unreality. We somehow miss the fact that our message has become too much about us and not enough about Him and His power. Meanwhile the enemy concocts his schemes, millions go to hell, even believers fall into heresy and don't walk in victory, and a postmodern society marches on without the bearers of truth understanding what it is really going to take to reach this generation.
Memo to the church: We can keep ignoring the signs, or we can wake up from our slumber before it is too late.
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