There is always the temptation to interpret today's headlines as messages from God. How often in the weeks following the terrorist attacks on September 11 have you heard a Christian say something like, "God must be trying to tell us something." Such statements are usually followed by that Christian's opinion of exactly what God is trying to tell us.

God Himself tells us in Isaiah, chapter 55:

My word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

God never tries to tell us anything. If God wants to say something, He says it. And if God says something, it gets said. 

Do we always hear and understand what God says? No. And that is precisely why God does not speak through headlines; God speaks through Scripture. Headlines change every day. Scripture never changes. 

When Christians scour the headlines, the TV news, their own imaginations or their dreams and visions for divine communication, they are looking for God in all the wrong places. Could God communicate with us through such means? Of course He could. The question is never what God can or can't do. God can do anything He likes. The issue isn't what God can do, the issue is what God has promised to do. 

When Christian scour the headlines, the TV news, their own imaginations, their dreams or visions for divine communication, what they end up doing is making Scripture fit the headlines, their own imagination or dreams. This is completely backward. Paul says, we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ, not the other way around.

The other thing they end up doing is writing new chapters of Scriptures with every new headline or vision. After all, if it's genuine communication from God, doesn't that make it God's Word too?

One of the hardest things for Christians to believe today is that God has already said everything He has to say. God has literally uttered His final Word in Jesus Christ. He has nothing more to say. With the closing words of the New Testament God has said everything He has to say.

If Christians want to know what God is "trying" to say then they ought to look to what God has already said in His Holy Word. Any alleged divine communication outside Scripture is suspect and to be ignored. 

The most glaring recent example of "God must be trying to tell us something" are the words of the Rev. Jerry Falwell. The Rev. Falwell appeared on The 700 Club days after the terrorist attacks in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania and said: 

The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way — all of them who have tried to secularize America — I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.' 

The problem here is that, as political rhetoric, Falwell's words are golden. He leaps at a prime political opportunity, he names names, he resonates with all the right interest groups. But, as theological formulation, Falwell's words are garbage.

Now, there is always the temptation to see tragic events like this as God's judgment on a specific nation, people or society. Those on the right are saying its judgment for abortion, homosexuality, and general secularism. Those on the left are saying its judgment for capitalism and the military-industrial complex.

For those who will assert that the events of September 11 were God's judgment specifically on the American nation. How specific are you willing to be? If it was specific to America as a nation, was it even more specific than that? Was it as specific as the state of New York or the District of Columbia or the countryside of Pennsylvania? New York City? Lower Manhattan? The blocks immediately surrounding the World Trade Towers?

You see, you can make it as specific as you want, and what is there to stop you? It is nothing more than spin and speculation. Why? Because there is no certain Word of God on the what happened on September 11.

The impulse to use this tragedy for our own agenda is strong. But we must resist it. The terrorists who did this thing were trying to make their own point. Do we want to follow in their footsteps and use this tragedy to make our point too? 

If we do this, How are we really any different than the terrorists themselves? And haven't we really outdone the terrorists in cowardice? At least the terrorists had the conviction —as wicked as it was— to actually do something to make their point. We, on the other hand, wait for someone like them to carry out these heinous acts, and then claim them for our own agenda. It actually disgusts you when you think about it.

Were the events of Tuesday, Sept 11 God's judgment? Yes, but not in the sense that most prominent evangelicals are claiming. Every tragedy and trouble, big and small, which God permits in this sinful world signals and warns of His final judgment to come. Jesus tells us to observe them as continuous signs and warnings to all men: 

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them — do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. (Luke 13:1-5) 

All these things are permitted in order to call us to repent and seek his mercy in Jesus. 

The simple message is clear to all of us, not just to the abortionist, the homosexuals, the ACLU, The People for the American Way. The message is not found in the headlines or in the spin and speculation of Jerry Falwell. The message is found right there in Jesus' own words: Repent. 

We didn't need a terrorist attack to communicate that message to us. It's right there in the Bible.

God permitted man's sin and its consequences to run their deadly course for a few hours on Tuesday, September 11. We need to remember that it is only because of God's merciful protection that such things don't happen more often. If God did not constantly curb and turn aside the schemes of sinful people like us, every day would be like that dark Tuesday. 

There is another message that is clear in Scripture. And you'll never find it in the headlines. It is the message that always follows the message of repentance. It is the message of forgiveness for Jesus' sake. 

That message of forgiveness seems conspicuously absent from the Rev. Falwell's words. I know he knows it, but he doesn't say it. He seems to imply that if the abortionists, the homosexuals, the ACLU and The People for the American Way would just stop their sins, God would stop the terrorist attacks. But isn't there more to God's Word than that? He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) Doesn't God make it clear in Scripture that His patience is designed to bring us to repentance and to faith in Jesus Christ?

God our Savior wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men — the testimony given in its proper time. (1 Timothy 2:3-6)

Doesn't all men include the abortionists, the homosexuals, the ACLU and The People for the American Way? Yes, it most certainly does. 

This is what is so often missing when we see such great tragedies and conclude, "God must be trying to tell us something." That "something" so seldom includes God's call for us ALL to repent and trust the saving work of Jesus. 

But it is just that message of repentance and forgiveness in Jesus that God is always telling us, through His Word. 

The Rev. Todd Wilken is the weekday host of Issues, Etc.