On Tuesday, September 11th, A.D. 2001, terrorists destroyed The Twin Towers of the WorldTradeCenter in New York and damaged the Pentagon. Five thousand people were murdered and many more were wounded. We all grieve and sorrow for this tragedy.

The whole nation is asking… “What’s this all about? What’s happening? Where is God in all this?” We need to understand the truth in this calamity and to do that we have to trust the Word of God alone which is the truth. The greatest grief and sorrow of all this is missing God’s message. It’s turning a deaf ear to what the Lord is loudly and vividly proclaiming. If we don’t hear God’s truth and face it, much worse is in store for U.S.

In (Luke 13) the Lord Jesus gives us the understanding and the truth we need to understand what happened on Sept. 11th. In Jesus’ day, the tower of Siloam fell and eighteen people were killed and Jesus said it was punishment by God on sin and he warns that “Except ye Repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” The tragedy came because we are sinners and if we don’t repent we will perish soon and it will be with the same sudden destruction upon every city in one hour. It’s repent or perish time for America. God’s Judgment is starting now to fall on this exceedingly wicked nation and only sincere repentance will save us.

This truth is borne out in scripture again and again. God Himself struck men and whole nations and killed them in punishment for their sins. Yes, God has killed every human being for their sins… “The wages of sin is death.” That’s the truth of death… that’s why we die. God’s judgment on sin is the cause of death and that includes premature death…. “And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Rom. 5:12)

God is judging us for our violence, for our crimes, for our backsliding from a godly heritage, for our murdering of millions of babies by abortion, for our flaunting of sodomy and fornication and adultery, for our corruption, for our drunkenness and drug abuse, for our rampant divorce, for our lewd pornography, for our child molestations, for our cheatings, for our robbings, for our filthy books and movies and T.V., for our sorcery, for our murders, for our covetousness, for our rebellious children, etc. etc. etc. The Sept. 11th judgment of God upon us is a loud wake-up call to repent of our sins and our time is running out.

(Isaiah Ch. 1.) Shows the prognosis of America. It’s a vivid portrayal of the U.S.“Ah, sinful nation, a people “Laden” with iniquities, a seed of evildoers etc.” It’s not the terror of Osama Bin ‘Laden’ we need to worry about but the terror of the Lord upon this nation ‘Laden’ with sins. “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” (2 Cor.5:11) Knowing the terror of the great tribulation soon to come and the terror of the lake of fire which is the second death, we persuade men to repent or perish.

The Towers in New York and The Pentagon points directly to our defense. While the defenders of our nation quibble over what measures of defense to use, they have neglected the only true defense, - Faith and dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ and living a Godly, righteous life. What happened on Sept. 11th has proved that “Except the Lord keep the City, the watchmen waketh but in vain.” (Ps.127:1) It showed us that we are very vulnerable to attack and that our only true defense has departed from us.

In Bible times, towers were part of the walls built for defense. Watchmen secured the towers and soldiers fought the enemy from there. We have no such walls and towers today. The modern-day weapons have made them obsolete, especially the H-Bombs. But the principle is the same. All our high-tech security such as radar and spy satellites used by our watchmen. All our bombers and fighter planes and tanks and ballistic missiles and our armed forces, will not save this wicked nation for destruction. Our armed forces cannot keep this nation safe any longer because our sins have turned the Lord against U.S. to fight for the enemy.

(Ps. 7:10-12) “My defense is of God which saveth the upright in heart. God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turn not, he will whet his sword: he hath bent his bow and made it ready.” TheU.S.A. has wickedly departed from the Lord and the Lord our defense has departed from us. President Bush has made Bin Laden the devil. He has called him the evil one – but we conveniently forget our own evil. God has spoken to us in a very plain way (TOWERS AND PENTAGON). Except we immediately repent of our sins, we shall perish. But will this deaf nation continue to turn a deaf ear to God’s truth?

In (Deut.28) we see how God blesses and curses a nation and it all depends whether we’re a Godly, righteous nation or not. The blessings of God upon a righteous nation is stated in (verse 7). “The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face.” And the curses upon an ungodly nation is in (verse 25) “The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thy enemies.” To stand up and sing ‘God bless America’ and continue on in our wickedness is foolishness and hypocrisy. (Prov.3:33) says, “The curse of the the Lord is in the house of the wicked: but he blesses the habitation of the just.”

God’s word is truth. Don’t listen to the words of President Bush and Dan Rather and the devils ministers (2 Cor.11:14-15). Don’t follow the words of the world – Follow God’s words. The devil’s ministers everywhere are saying “God had nothing to do with this disaster. He wouldn’t allow such awful things to happen.” Yet nothing could be farther from God’s truth. This kind of thinking is causing our nation to miss the message that God wants us to hear through this tragedy. We need to turn back to our foundation. We have backslid far downward from our Godly Christian roots of Pilgrims and Puritans.

It is written in (Jer.18:7-8) “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it. If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.” God’s great mercy and grace is still here, but we must repent soon or we’ll perish. (Prov.21:31)says “The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord.” And (Prov.18:10) says “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it and is safe.”

Like the early church preachers, we preachers need to be set for the defense of the Gospel. (Philip.1:7-17).For that is the only true defense we have. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded us “That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations: (Luke 24:47).Now is the time for bold preachers not cowards. The Prophet Zephaniah prophesied of these end days. “The great day of the Lord is near. That day is a day of wrath. A day of trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities and against the high towers.” (Zeph.1:14-16). He saw the day of God’s wrath known as the great tribulation just preceeding the second coming of the Lord Jesus. It’s a day when the proud towers of great cities fall and what happened on Sept. 11th is a prelude to that day. The towers became towering infernos.

Proud towers are symbolized by the Tower of Babel (Gen.11:1-10). It symbolized human pride and rebellion against God. It was the first skyscraper built by man and GOD WAS AGAINST IT. These towers are monuments to human pride, built purely for ego. They are vanity buildings with no rationale. Built so people can boast of their tallest buildings in the world. “Let us make us a name,” The builders of Babel’s Tower said… and so it is yet today. Babel became Babylon.

The U.S.A. is the nation that perfected the modern-day skyscraper, following after Babylon of old. We are the New Babylon spoken of in (Rev.17&18). The U.S.A. is number one in the world for building proud towers, boasting of our wealth. And ManhattanIsland in New York, has hundreds of them of which the TwinTowers stood the tallest.

Read (Rev.18). New Babylon more closely describes the U.S. than any other nation on earth. And of all of our cities, New York City personifies Babylon, U.S.A., the best. And Manhattan and its’ towers behind the Statue of Liberty symbolizes the city. Visitors relate the excitement of witnessing Manhattan’s forest of skyscrapers as their ships sail into the harbor. No other city in the world has such a skyline and no other city can puff up his chest like a New Yorker can. New York is the center of world trade and financing. It’s the center of world shipping and a symbol of our wealth and luxury and our sins. (Rev.18:5) says, “For her sins have reached into Heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities.” (Verse 7) says, “How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously.” No nation lives as deliciously as we do. “So much torment and sorrow give her: for she sayeth in her heart, I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow.” She sits as the superpower ruling over the world. She’s rich and powerful and she is haughty and puts on airs like a queen. I call your attention to Queens, N.Y. The largest of New York’s five boroughs. Named after the Queen of England. (Rev.18:9, 10, 17, 18) says, “And the Kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her and lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, sating, Alas, Alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come. For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster and all the company in ships and sailors and as many as trade by sea stood afar off. And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, what city is like unto this great city.” The shocking pictures of a smoked and dust-filled New York skyline seem as if they came straight from headlines in the newspaper reporting on Babylon in (Rev.18). It took only one hour for the symbol of world riches and decadence to collapse in ashes and dust. (And this is exactly what will happen to our whole nation if we fail to repent).

The New York harbor was closed after the attack on Sept. 11th and merchant ships from the world over sat out in the sea looking at not only New York City, but (BABYLON, N.Y.) as well. Babylon, N.Y. lies just 37 miles E. of New York and it is the only Babylon in the world. Are you listening?

How could anyone name their city after the wickedest city in the Bible? A name that is the symbol of materialism and luxury and pursuit of sensual pleasures and fornication. She is called the ‘Mother of Harlots’ teaching the whole world to fornicate through her Hollywood Babylon. A preacher friend of mine phoned Babylon, New York and spoke with city officials and they were amazed that Babylon was in the Bible. And that’s the answer - - ignorance of God’s Word. – Amen.

The tower of Babel was also a religious tower. It stands for both a secular tower and also a religious tower. It speaks of religious Babylon of (Rev.17) and Political Babylon of (Rev.18). It stands for the TwinTowers of the WorldTradeCenter and the TwinTowers of St. Patrick’s Cathedral just a short distance away. Some cathedral’s towers are over five hundred feet high. Once they were the tallest towers in the world. Yes, religious Babylon is seen also by her towers. (Hos.8:14) says, “For Israel hath forgotten his maker and buildeth temples.” God condemns the great church cathedrals and temples of the world. God’s true temple is no longer made of wood and stone but of saved, sanctified people made of flesh and bone. Building brick and stone temples reaching up to Heaven like the tower of Babel and neglecting the true temple of God by not preaching the true Gospel of Salvation and not getting anybody saved, is blasphemy. “What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.” (I Cor.6:19). That was written by Paul who was a wise master builder and he never built one single building in his life.

These builders of the wrong temple are religious Babylon. These buildings are the grand delusions of unsaved religious men fleecing the poor worldwide to build monuments to their pride. And let’s not forget Oral Roberts who built his city of faith in Tulsa, Okla. Its’ medical center includes three towers. The tallest is sixty stories – 640 ft. high. He built a prayer tower 200 ft. high. He built a church seating 4,000 for four million dollars. The cost for the city of Faith Medical center and towers was four hundred million. That he huckstered from gullible Christians, making merchandise of them. Religious Babylon- Amen.

And then there’s Jim Baker of PTL fame who swindled hundreds of millions of dollars while building a “Christian Disneyland” and committed adultery with a harlot from Babylon, N.Y. – religious Babylon – Amen. Mother of harlots indeed.

I’m not suggesting that the U.S.A. is the only Babylon of Rev., but she is the center and most integral part of it. She is the richest and most powerful and only political superpower in the world, Babylon stands for the cities of the world in enmity against God, having the spirit of the world. It stands for the cities of the world. It stands for both worldly religion (Rev.17) and the worldly state (Rev.18). It’s the city of man. It stands in direct contrast to the city of God- New Jerusalem.

As (Rev.18) more closely describes the U.S., so also does (Rev.17) more closely describe the Roman Catholic Church. She is the richest and most powerful and only religious superpower in the world. All apostate worldly church religions are uniting with

her along with other false religions. But the Catholic Church is the center and most integral part of it. (Rev.17) shows an alliance between this worldly church and the state.

This unity of the worldly spirit united in opposition to God is shown first at the tower of Babel, where they became ‘One’. That’s why we’re hearing so much about unity in the United States since Sept. 11th as Satan pushes for a one-world religion and a one-world state.

In the U.S. we have sixty million Roman Catholics and almost all of the mainline churches are united with her in ecumenical ties. This is religious Babylon, U.S.A. They are typified by the CathedralTowers reaching up to heaven. The skyscrapers reaching up to Heaven

the secular state Babylon, U.S.A.

In (Rev.16) at Armageddon it shows that Babylon typifies many cities in many nations. (Verse 19) says “And the cities (plural) of the nations (plural) fell and great Babylon came in remembrance before God.” (But Babylon, U.S.A. is the center of worldwide Babylon).

Jesus Christ is coming soon. And it’s repent or perish time. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness: But is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should Perish but that all should come to Repentance.” (2 Pet.3:9)

First – Repent of you sins - turn away from

your wicked ways.

Second – Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in

your heart.

Third – Confess with your mouth the Lord

Jesus Christ to others.

Pastor Mike Storti

5000 N. LaCholla- Lot 76

Tucson, AZ 85705

Email:

When the Towers Fall Repent or Perish

“Or those eighteen, upon whom the Tower in Siloam Fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

(Luke 13:4-5)

“A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities and against the HighTowers.”

(Zeph.1: