(This was written shortly after 9-11 and our great disaster in 2001)
You are sitting in the Oval Office surrounded by all the key leaders in America. Some are hawks and some are doves.
Some want to wage all out war against our enemies who wreaked such havoc on America.
Some realize that all out war will only add to the body count.
If I were the President at this time in history, knowing that the Congress has pretty much given me a free reign to do whatever I want to do, here is what I would do.
I would gather my trusted advisors around me, and talk about the response from the rest of the country during the week following the tragedy.
I would remind them that Americans around the world, and most of the other countries of the World had a concentrated effort on prayer.
Suddenly in America, it was not improper for government leaders to call for local prayer and memorial services for the victims of the disaster. Nowhere did I hear the cry of the ACLU or any other organizations crying out to stop these local prayer meetings.
They know better and would have looked like a bunch of unpatriotic idiots if they had raised a protest voice.
I would point out that even last week before the crashes, they had pursued in the courts complete separation of church and state, and had litigated successfully removal of the Ten Commandments from public buildings. They had raised their voice in protest over prayer in local schools and in many other places.
Where were these folks last week? I imagine that many of them were at local prayer and memorial services.
My thoughts went back to 1967 when I was in Vietnam for the whole year. I had many conversations with young men, who were headed for the battle field. I spoke with young men, with their M-16's slung over their shoulder, waiting in line to get on an airplane to fly to the DMZ near North Vietnam. Many of these men were killed a short time later. They had a ready ear to hear the Good News about Jesus Christ, and many of them bowed their heads in that line, and asked Jesus to come into their hearts.
That year, our small band of believers at Cam Rhan Bay Air Force Base saw 240 men accept Christ. The old saying that "there are no atheists in fox holes" was true.
And so as President, I would remind my staff and advisors that we should have a concentrated effort to call our nation to prayer.
Let us take a lesson from our Middle East friends who regularly face toward Mecca and offer daily prayers. They are dedicated to praying several times a day.
Americans have failed in their devotion to God. We are so busy running to and fro, that we do not have time to pray.
Let us wake up and pray, and do not let up when the dust settles from the carnage in New York and Washington.
As President, let me suggest that you pray about these things specifically.
1. That Afghanistan would voluntarily surrender Osama Bin Laden to stand trial before a world court and answer for these charges.
2. That all the Islamic countries would denounce these cowardly acts of terrorism that are devastating our world.
3. That the events of September 11th would bring the world together, not drive it apart. We know that the Middle East experiences acts of terrorism on a daily basis.
4. That all the countries of the world would pledge not to give harbor to terrorists.
5. That we would be able to bring settlement to this crisis without shedding of more blood.
6. That God would change the hearts of our enemies.
Yes, only God can bring these things to pass. They sound like impossible things to do. But I know that we serve a God of the impossible. The Bible is full of promises about God answering prayer.
Yes, as President, I would prepare for war, and pray for peace.
