The unheeded terror alert

The security measures employed to safeguard the city of Boston for the Democratic National Convention cost taxpayers almost $40 million. Keeping the delegates to the DNC safe was of utmost importance.

Before the custodial staff at the Fleet Center could clear away all the confetti and the red, white and blue balloons unfurled at the convention, intelligence reports indicated that certain financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark had been targeted as potential sites for terrorists’ attacks. Consequently, the terror alerts were elevated from yellow to orange in those cities.

Frances Townsend, presidential homeland security advisor, said, “We believe the arrests of suspected al-Qaida terrorists and the seizure of information about the group’s surveillance of financial centers have disrupted some of al-Qaida’s plans for attacks in the U.S.”

Yet, Townsend acknowledged that intelligence reports indicate that an attack is possible before the U.S. presidential election in November.

Consequentially, Homeland Security has developed a strategic plan to insure the safety of visitors to the nation’s largest city as New York prepares to host the Republican National Convention. Law enforcement officers, national guardsmen, secret service agents, and local and state police will be keeping a vigilant watch to preserve and protect both the citizens and visitors to the Big Apple.

Yet, how safe can we really expect to be considering the climate of the times? Those who think the atrocities of September 11, 2001 are merely a one-time blip on the radar screen of history are probably fantasizing or simply out of touch with reality.

I don’t think I am suffering from some kind of abnormal paranoia, but on a recent flight to New York City I must admit to feeling a slight twinge of apprehension as I boarded the plane. When the flight attendant asked me if I would accept the responsibility of helping passengers out the exit door in case of an unlikely emergency, I nodded in the affirmative, but fought off an uncharacteristic attack of hyperventilation.

Even though Transportation Security agents had practically strip-searched me before I boarded the plane, I began to doubt the effectiveness of the screening process administered by the TSA. Could they have missed something in checking others who were on my flight?

I had already scanned the passengers in the vicinity of my seat to see if any of them looked suspiciously like terrorists. I wondered if I would have to assume the courage of Todd Beamer and inspire the more valiant passengers to subdue hijackers if they tried to commandeer the plane.

The flight was pleasant and uneventful, but when the Manhattan skyline came into view I realized how naked, how incomplete it looked without the twin towers of the World Trade Center rising high above the financial district in lower Manhattan. I was relieved and extremely grateful when the plane landed and my feet were securely planted on terra firma.

The thought of another terrorist attack is an ever-present reality. The fear of imminent danger may forever be a part of our lives. Biological warfare, threats of the diabolical use of chemicals, exploding bombs strategically placed, and rocket launchers maliciously employed are weapons of ruthless terrorists and call for constant vigilance.

Jan A. Larson, a staunch supporter of honesty in government and fiscal conservatism declares, “We can no longer bury our heads in the sand and wish that we lived in the carefree world we knew in 2000.”

However, there is a greater terror that is more imminent and certain and grossly more unheeded. It is the terror of the Lord. The Apostle Paul writes in II Corinthians 5:11: “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men … ”

Paul believed in the judgment of God, eternal retribution and the torment of hell. It was the terror of the Lord that motivated him to preach the gospel, to witness, to plant churches and to rescue the perishing.

In a society that pictures God as some kind of benevolent grandfather who winks at sin and welcomes everyone into his everlasting kingdom, we have forgotten all about hell and that “God is angry with the wicked every day”(Psalm 7:11). If we were as concerned about the eternal security of the soul as we are about the homeland security of the nation, we would be making a far greater impact upon our society.