The Meaning Behind the Empty Flight
A commentary by Melvin Rhodes
United Church of God pastor, Lansing, Michigan, and senior pastor, Ghana
Posted January 28, 2010
 The
flight was three-quarters empty.
It wasn't surprising. I had been expecting it.
Ever since the "underpants bomber" attempted to blow up
the Amsterdam-Detroit flight over the city of Detroit, I had expected
people to avoid the flight, the one I almost always catch when returning
from visits to Ghana.
Logically, I had felt it would now be the safest flight in the world,
but clearly others did not feel the same way.
There's no doubt about it—the threat of terrorism is affecting
the airlines and people's confidence in flying.
It wasn't just the empty flight that I noticed. Ghana, which
I was visiting in my capacity as senior pastor of the United Church
of God in that country, turned out to be the country where the "underpants
bomber" started his journey.
I've often read articles since 9/11 highlighting al-Qaeda's
presence in Ghana and other parts of West Africa. An unmarked "fault
line" runs horizontally across Africa, separating Islam in the
north from the more Christianized (and Westernized) south. The nation
of Sudan has suffered greatly from this, spending most of its postcolonial
years in civil war between adherents of the two religions.
During my visit to Ghana, nearby Nigeria was going through Christian-Muslim
violence on a horrendous scale and certainly not for the first time.
Muslims were burning down churches while people were in them! (Similar
attacks were taking place in Malaysia in faraway Asia.)
Ghana's Muslims represent only about 15 percent of the population,
and they are mostly concentrated in the north. Iran recently built a
university in the region to help develop the area. This could, of course,
turn out to be a major influence in spreading radical Islam into the
country.
Will it stop me from going to Ghana? I hope not, as I love Ghana and
its people. My wife and I lived there for seven years, and our three
children all attended school in the country.
However, the ongoing and unsolved problem of terrorism is an outside
factor none of us can control. Any day could bring a monumental terrorist
attack that could conceivably end all international travel!
You don't even have to go back a century to remember a terrorist
act that ended an earlier attempt at globalization. It was the assassination
of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914,
that triggered World War I. This ended an era of peace, growth and rising
prosperity. The world has never been the same since.
When Jesus Christ was asked by His disciples, "What will be the
sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3),
the first thing He warned about was religious deception (verse 5).
Jesus then went on to predict "wars and rumors of wars" in
many areas (Matthew 24:6). The "underpants bomber" who started
his journey in Ghana was originally from Nigeria but had been radicalized
in England and trained with al-Qaeda in Yemen. His planned "death
flight" began in the Netherlands and was intended to kill hundreds
in and over Detroit. It says a lot about our modern world when so many
countries were involved. The war against radical Islam is clearly spreading,
with many nations now actively involved in the conflict.
 Where is this world headed? Jesus warned of the ultimate danger of
annihilation but promised that God would intervene to save mankind from
extermination. Be sure to read our booklet Are
We Living in the Time of the End?
"Your kingdom come" should be our daily prayer (Matthew
6:10). It's certainly mine whenever I consider the high risk of
travel in this increasingly dangerous world!
Related Resources
Coming:
God's Solutions to the World's Problems
Nearly everywhere we look, the world seems to be spinning out of control. Why
do we see so many problems? Can we find a solution? Does the Bible offer hope
for answers?
Seven
Prophecies That Must Be Fulfilled Before Jesus Christ's Return
Previous generations have thought that Jesus Christ would return in
their lifetimes, but they were proven wrong. Many people alive today
think that Christ's return is imminent. Certainly, the Bible contains
prophecies that could not have been fulfilled until this generation.
Coming
Calamities: Does God Offer Protection?
Where will you be when terror strikes the nations? Does God offer safety for
anyone? Will He care about you when your fellow man doesn't?
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