Failed terror attacks

Two weeks ago, we issued a special edition of The New Bus regarding 9/11 with a prophetic word of redemption and hope over the country. We specifically highlighted how the attacks on 9/11 ended up backfiring and their main purpose ultimately failed. This, of course, speaks to how the plans of darkness always end up backfiring, which gives us a tremendous amount of hope for the future.

Since that post, there have been more attempted terror attacks on American soil (in a short period of time) than any other time since 2001. Yet all of these incidents failed to bring about the terrorists’ intentions.

Four incidents occurred in the states of Minnesota, New York, and New Jersey. Thankfully, there were no casualties in any of these attacks. Two of these incidents occurred in New Jersey, the state that Elisha’s Riddle is operated and published. The events surrounding these attacks were quite miraculous. One bomb was planted in a garbage bin and was supposed to go off during a crowded 5K race to benefit Marines. However, due to delaying issues with registration at the starting line, no one was in the designated area when the bomb went off. This was absolutely incredible. There were tons of children and families, senior citizens, and off-duty servicemen who were all safely kept from the explosion.

The man who was responsible for planting the bomb was then successfully caught within a matter of hours after he was publicly identified. This was described as an uncanny success story in the fight against terror.

The other bomb had been planted in a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. A homeless man saw a blue backpack in a garbage can and figured he could use it. But when he opened it up, he discovered the bomb within and alerted the authorities, who had enough time to safely destroy the bomb.

As a side-note, the bombs in NY and NJ were both planted in close proximity to a ministry that does outreach to the poor–the NYC Relief Bus. We felt a strong connection here to the fact that our nation’s outreach to the poor and needy is such an important part of our heritage and a huge thing that the enemy hates. 

One of our staff writers, Dylan Demarsico, wrote the piece last week on laughter overcoming fear where we specifically highlighted the failed nature of the enemy’s attacks. Ironically enough, Dylan (who is a resident of California) visited New York and New Jersey this past week (for the first time in years) and was in the general areas of each of the three attacks on the east coast. He was even supposed to be in the train station on the morning that the bomb was found in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Dylan and his wife Whitney were specifically spending a portion of their time visiting the NYC Relief organization.

We share all of this because we felt an overwhelming reassurance of the message that was issued through The New Bus. If you missed it, please check it out here. The plans of the enemy against the nation (and its poor) will always backfire and fail. There are too many doom and gloomers filling both wooden and online pulpits of this world and we truly need a message of hope and victory to resound in these days!

Note: During this same exact time period, there was also an uncovering of three ISIS cells in Saudi Arabia, which were all planning significant attacks. These cells were shut down and all those involved were arrested.

A “cold” civil war (an introduction)

Also in our 9/11 edition, we mentioned how God still speaks in parables to the listening world. One of the ways He speaks in parables is through film. Artists and writers are often unknowingly channeling divine inspiration as they create their stories. While not everyone understood Jesus’s parables when he walked the earth, not everyone understands these parables today. Our hope is to help bring some insight and revelation into an important “parable” being told through one of the most successful movie studios today — Marvel Studios.

Two weeks ago, I (Nick Padovani, editor) was thinking about this concept and I felt a random urge to watch the movie “Captain America: Civil War.” I felt there was a message for the country in it. I knew I had missed my chance to see it in theaters so I immediately went on the internet to find out when it would be released on video. I figured it would still be a couple months before I could view it. To my surprise, the very day I felt the urge to look it up was the actual video release date. I immediately felt there was something important to check out and so we will be sharing some thoughts on this in the weeks ahead. For now, here’s a brief sketch of the concept:

It doesn’t take a social commentator to recognize the internal “civil war” happening in this nation. Divisions over politics and race are escalating left and right and polarization seems to be increasing. The word that I specifically felt highlighted to me was that we are in a “cold” civil war. A cold war is one that doesn’t necessarily result in physical fighting (though that can happen in small segments). It is more of an ideological war.

In our 9/11 issue we specifically highlighted how God was going to bring forth a new unity in our nation. The image of two towers falling in destruction, but the subsequent rising of one Freedom Tower is a beautiful and redemptive picture of this.

As a result, we will be doing a series on the Civil War movie (and the larger “Avengers” films) to help bring some encouraging (and challenging) insight into the things that are transpiring.

Stay tuned!