Lest we forget.

It was a Tuesday afternoon in Johannesburg, South Africa. I had held my morning healing service at the church, had a quick lunch, and was going about other church business in my office. Then the phone rings. It’s a friend all the way from Brazil who asks me, “Are you watching this?”

“Watching what?” I reply. “You don’t know what happened in New York this morning?” my friend asks, making me feel like the least informed person on the planet. As I sense the urgency in his voice, I run to find the nearest TV set and turn it on.

Shock and awe. I don’t remember how the rest of the call went. It took me a while to take in what I was seeing. Was that for real? Was it really happening?

When the penny finally dropped, I remember one of my first thoughts was about the audacity of the terrorists. I was sure even Hollywood couldn’t have thought of that. It brought Jesus’ words to mind: “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.” (Luke 16.8)

That is a sad, hard truth to swallow: Evildoers are bolder, smarter, more dedicated to what they do than those who do good. 3,000 people lost their lives in the attacks that day. The evildoers were only 19. That’s 1 terrorist for every 157 victims. Take a moment to think about these numbers.

The mistake that the sons of light often make is to limit themselves to being law-abiding citizens. They complacently just get by with good behavior. Meanwhile, the sons of this world are scheming, and daring, and pushing through their latest evil idea.

We need to wake up. God too needs terrorists — people who will give their lives to terrorize the devil.