That was the caption on the front page of a Philadelphia paper not long ago. I had a rough idea of what the story was about - picked up a free copy but never read it. But yesturday many things I had noticed over months and months of traveling through city streets was confirmed after a personal encounter with what was no doubt, some of those very truthers in flesh and blood.

Among several demonstrations that were staged within a few blocks of the September 11th memorial services held yesturday in lower Manhattan, there was a group of mostly younger, grungier, and enthusiastic protestors who were likely getting noticed more than all the rest put together. The typical pro-islamic groups were there. The anti-jihad defenders were there also. And then there were these. The "truthers'. Their message, what they wanted to get people's attention about, might be summed up like this: the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an 'inside job', presumably within the US government. And that people should examine the evidence for it.

That wasn't all of course. In fact, most of us would find alot to agree about with them in general, whether you take their main premise to be true or not. Having spent a short while talking with a few of them some things stood out to me that I thought worth sharing with you all.

The first was that there is a large and appearantly growing segment of the population(many if not most of whom are not Christian believers) who are starting to say some of the same things that many Christians have been saying for years, things like 'turn off your television' because it is being used to control, corrupt, and enslave the masses(I'm gathering this is the thought behind some of the graffiti stickers I see of sheep with the phrase 'aware' printed nearby(aware because they know it and the masses don't). Don't follow the sheep or herd mentality, in other words don't be conformed to the world system. That the devil is real. And everything is moving to a satanicly controlled world system and government. As I'm writting this there is a grotesque image of an 'angel(a man) with blood splatters in the shape of wings behind it on a bus going by(an advertisement for some television show).

And not only did they say many of the same things Christians have been saying for years, they were preaching their message with just as much enthusiasim and conviction as a preacher of the Gospel. One man standing within eyeshot of the partially rebuilt World Trade Center towers drew a considerable crowd.

A few things stood out to me about the people themselves from talking to several of them at once: that they may or may not have a religous conviction; in that way they reminded me of what the Jewish zealots may have looked like at the time of Christ - people who could see that something was very very wrong with the way things were, but for whom a religous solution, especially one that involved faith and relied upon God for its furtherance and end, was not a credible. One young man that I talked with at length stood out to me in particular. A self-described athiest who had likely lost any faith he had after years of Catholic school and religous instruction, nevertheless made this startling concession as our conversation began: that after all of the things he had discovered since learning about the truth, he was almost ready to believe in the existence of the Devil, even without the existence of God! And he seemed very serious in that. We talked about faith in God and how he could see reasons for and against it. I suggested to him that in the end what we believe in has more to do with our hearts than the evidence that we can see and percieve with our minds. Please pray for him if you would.

Maybe this is true for many of the 'truthers' in general. From what I saw I like them. They are freethinkers. They know something is wrong with this world and can see it is headed for something very bad. It may be that they were turned away from faith in God by some experience in early life. They may have been shown horrible examples of faith in the past. Maybe they are not far from the Kingdom. But stuck looking in the world for ways out of it.

Please pray for some of them. And for us all.


The truth is out there for sure.

_________________
Christopher Joel Dandrow

I will pray for these young people. They remind me of the student radicals,of the 60's (Yes I am that old). In some ways they are more open to the reality of Jrsus Christ then the Christians are.

Blaine

Thank you Blaine!

_________________
Christopher Joel Dandrow

ChrisJD,
I also had the image of Jewish Zealots in my mind...

I like your heart for these people. Praise God for putting a burden on our hearts for specific groups of people. Some have a burden for "truthers", others have a burden for young people in general. For some, it's the persecuted church, and for others, it's the Muslims.

I thank God for such a burden, since it leads us to pray for them, and to proclaim the truth about Jesus Christ to them. May the Lord be pleased NEVER to take away this burden to share the truth with people out of love and concern for them.

In Christ,
Renoncer