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      • 18. The Motivation of a Sucide Terrorest
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      • 67. Tribute to My Mother
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      • 105. Continue
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      • 139. What Parents Should Teach their Children
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      • 182. Choosing the Right Shepherd
      • 183. The Lord's Requirements
      • 184. Your Ear Lobe. Thumb, and Big Toe
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               The Message of The Terrorist

What is the message the terrorists were sending US(A)? My first guess was that they were telling us to stop siding with Israel. In the day after the attack, there were no indications that such was their message.

There was more evidence that they were telling us to get out of the Middle East. Ben Laden wants the US out of Saudi Arabia. There was also talk about the terrorists being against our lifestyle and simply want to destroy US. They rammed planes into symbols of who we are, our economic systems and our military.

To my knowledge, the terrorists themselves did not say what their message was before they killed themselves and thousands of others. Several hours after our military response, however, Osama bin Laden said on TV that the actions were to support the Palestinian cause. The next day the Los Angeles Times said, “He took a new tack by casting his actions as a response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Previously Al Qaeda has made little mention of the Palestinian uprising.” Later in the article, it stated, “Previously, they had invoked their jihad by reference to supposedly corrupt Arab governments and the U.S. presence in Muslim countries.”

There may be a question about the exact message of the living terrorists, but there is no doubt about the message of the dead terrorist. It is, “tell my brothers not to come where we are.” How do I know that? Jesus said so.

Jesus told of a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus. When the beggar died, the angels carried him to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was in torment in Hades (Lk. 16: 19-23).

The rich man, cried and said, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.” But Abraham said, “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us” (Lk. 16:24-26).

The rich man then asked that a message be sent to his brothers, who were still living. He said, “I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him (Lazarus) to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment” (Lk. 16:27-28).

May I suggest, that the message today of the terrorist who died in New York, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania is the same as the rich man in Luke 16?

                                  © G. Michael Cocoris, 10/8/2001
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