The man was returning home from work on September 11, the day
that terrorists attacked America.
He stopped at a local convenience store on the way, only to
find cars lined up five and six deep at each gas pump.
“What’s going on?” he asked the cashier.
The man was returning home from work on September 11, the day that terrorists attacked America.
He stopped at a local convenience store on the way, only to
find cars lined up five and six deep at each gas pump.
“What’s going on?” he asked the cashier.
“Haven’t you heard?” the woman behind him responded.
“Gas is going up at least $2 a gallon tomorrow. My friend’s son said
the refineries already have been shut down. You better fill up now while you
can afford it.”
Have you heard? Nostradamus actually predicted the recent terrorist
attack on the World Trade Centers more than four centuries ago.
A picture of the smoke curling out of the trade center buildings
following the attack clearly show an image of satan.
The pictures of Palestinians celebrating the terrorist attacks
actually were taken from old footage by CNN.
There is significance in the numbers related to the terrorist
attacks. They all add up to the day of attack – September 11.
Clear Channel Communications has banned radio stations from
playing certain songs in wake of the attacks.
Some 4,000 Jews employed by companies located in the World
Trade Center buildings stayed home on September 11 after being warned of the
pending attacks.
ABC News anchor Peter Jennings said that President George Bush
should “quit hiding behind the Secret Service, come out and face the nation
and explain his failure to protect the country from these terrorist attacks.”
A photograph on the day of the World trade Center attack shows
a tourist standing on the observation deck of one of the buildings as the attacking
plane is seen in the background.
Believe it all? Maybe, it would be best to read a little farther
before answering that question.
And maybe it would be best to check the facts of a story before
passing the information on as well.
Unfortunately, in the hours and days following the recent terrorist
attacks, little checking was being done as rumor after rumor spread across the
nation at the speed of light – or to be more accurate, at the speed of
the World Wide Web.
E-mails arrived on a regular basis, warning of upcoming attacks,
sinister conspiracies, unbelievable developments. Some even were repeated on
national radio stations.
Most were unfounded. Still, they spread.
And in many cases, Christians were on the front lines of helping
them do so, eagerly buying into the circulated stories.
That really should not come as a surprise. They are the same
ones fueling the seemingly omnipresent Madalyn Murray O’Hair petition to
ban religious broadcasting in the nation.
Never mind that O’Hair is dead, the petition never existed
and the Federal Communications Commission has released explanation after explanation
of the true facts.
The petition still lives. Christians still e-mail it and copy
it and pass it on and urge action by fellow believers.
Many of them have followed the same pattern with the terrorist
attack rumors of recent days, anxiously passing them along. Numerous preachers
have joined in as well, using uninvestigated stories in sermons, offering them
as truth.
In the process, all those involved have allowed themselves
to look foolish – and to damage their witness, observers warn.
“God alone can accurately assess damage and ridicule to
the Christian cause and the needless waste of time incited by undiscerning reaction
to continuing fables,” insists Jack Taylor, head of Dimension Ministries
in Melbourne, Fla.
But what causes Christians to be so easily deceived, asks John
Williams in his book, “The Cost of Deception.” Williams is a pastor
and former broadcaster from Edmond, Okla.
Christian researcher Bob Passantino offers various reasons
in the book. For instance, one reason is that many stories fit into the Christian
world view, he explains. In addition, Christians tend to accept what they are
told, he adds.
“We forget that finding someone willing to tell us what
to think about a certain situation is not the same as finding the right person
to tell us what can be verified,” he explains.
Also, Christians (and many others) tend to base their knowledge
on common sense, even though that is not always a trustworthy way to discern
truth, Passantino says.
Likewise, Christians tend to place too much faith in so-called
“experts,” he continues. “We seem to think that truth gets truer
if someone important said, even if that important person has no particular knowledge
of that field.”
Finally, Christians tend to believe what makes them feel comfortable,
Passantino says. “We like to spread the idea that Madalyn Murray O’Hair
is on a crusade to stamp out Christian broadcasting. It makes us feel good that
we are such a threat to atheists like her.”
Of course, some of the reasons are not unique to Christians
– and they are not alone in falling prey to rumor and speculations. However,
they do tend to respond in greater numbers and with more force than many others,
observers say.
They also put much more at stake, Passantino says.
“Our credibility is on the line. People might think if
Christians are stupid enough to fall for this falsehood, maybe early Christians
were gullible enough to fall for the resurrection story. In my view, these are
consequences.”
Williams agrees, arguing it is time for the church to seek
godly wisdom and become the pillar and foundation of truth for a confusing and
information-heavy society.
“Erroneous expectations and false predictions have made
us look foolish and irresponsible to a world that needs direction,…”
he says. “One of the reasons for existence of the church is to introduce
truth into a world inundated with error, with imagination, a world that follows
humanistic ideas. We live in a confusing world that is getting more confused
all the time. …
“In this information age where knowledge abounds and where
the Internet can spread a myth or legend at the ‘speed of lies,’ we
must become more prudent in our assessment of the truth. It is crucial that
our testimony to the world not be tainted with exaggeration, fabrication or
fear.”
Williams notes that the Internet offers a wide-open avenue
for information. No judgement is passed or evaluation made.
The church must not follow suit, he emphasizes.
Instead, Williams urges Christians to heed the biblical admonitions
against allowing themselves to be deceived. He also urges leaders to be responsible
and sure to speak truth.
At that point, the Internet can be as much a help as a hindrance.
Just as it allows the easy spread of rumors, there are several Web sites set
up to investigate circulated stories.
All it takes is a little initiative and time, observers note.
Unfortunately, many people are too anxious to pass a “good story”
along instead of checking it out first, they relate.
Christians should not be among those, Williams concludes.
“Paul refers to the Holy Spirit as ‘a spirit of wisdom,’ ”
he says. “It follows that those who are under his direction and influence
should be ‘children of wisdom.’ We should strive for this sensitvity
to the Spirit of wisdom daily. If we only listen to those around us, we may
not only miss who God wants us to be but also miss golden opportunities to share
truth when myths and legends are being spread. …
“We must strive to hold fast to the truth.”
Perhaps that has never been more important than now, when the
nation is struggling to find its footing, anxious to understand, desperate to
hope and believe in a future that offers promise instead of fear.
Christians can offer an answer to each of those points. Indeed,
they can offer “the” answer – but only if they are not too busy
passing along the latest e-mail rumor.
By the way, as for the items listed above:
• Gas prices did not rise immediately. Only spotted increases were noted
on the day of attacks, when anxious retailers raised prices on their own.
• Nostradamus did not predict the attacks, despite the cleverly-worded
prophecies (there are several being circulated) about “two brothers torn
apart by chaos” and “metal birds” crashing into tall statues.
Actually, investigation shows that one of the prophecies was composed by a student
in the 1990s in order to show how easy it was to write in the style of Nostradamus.
The others are taken in bits and pieces from other Nostradamus prophecies –
with some material added.
• An Associated Press photographer took the picture of smoke that supposedly
reveals the image of satan. Some believe it, and some do not. The photographer
insists the image was not altered and was simply one of many shots he took.
“It could be an optical illusion, or it could have broader meaning,”
one observer notes. “I’m sort of caught between being rational about
it and being concerned about what I saw.” To add to the mystery, two other
photos also are being circulated with an apparent image of satan. In fact, one
of three found on the Internet purports to display the whole body of satan.
• The rumor about old footage of Palestinians dancing was traced back
to a Brazilian student, who has apologized for his accusation. News services
involved have affirmed the footage – and eyewitness accounts have verified the
reports.
• One certainly can manipulate the numbers related to the attack to add
up to 11. For instance, after September 11, there are 111 days left in the year.
The twin towers of the World Trade Center look like the number 11. New York
was the 11th state in the Union. So it goes. But what does it mean? The number
11 has no real significance. And as one Internet site noted, it would be just
as easy to manipulate related numbers to add up to two. For instance, there
were two towers, two attacking planes. Also, September 11 is the 254th day of
the year, and 2+5+4 = 11 = 1+1 = 2. So it goes.
• A list of inappropriate songs did circulate among Clear Channel Communications
stations in the wake of the attack – but there was nothing mandatory about it.
It began as local managers began compiling lists of songs that might not be
appropriate to play following the attacks. The list hit the Internet and took
on a life of its own, stretching to 150 titles. But there never was a mandate
against playing the songs.
• One of the most disturbing legends has 4,000 Jews staying home World
Trade Center jobs on September 11, implying that they had been warned and insinuating
that Israel was behind the attacks in order to provoke an American war against
Arabs. To say there is little basis to the rumor is absurd. There is absolutely
none. Jews already have been identified among the dead – and New York rabbis
already are struggling with how to amend Jewish mourning guidelines when no
remains can be found.
• Simply put, Peter Jennings did not say the comments attributed to him,
despite the fact that Rush Limbaugh reported on them on his national radio show.
Limbaugh has offered a retraction, admitting he relied on the e-mail of a friend
and did not verify it. The conservative Media Research Center also has affirmed
that Jennings comments were incorrectly reported.
• The photograph of the tourist as the attacking plane nears is almost
too easy to debunk. Several inconsistencies arise. For one thing, the tourist
is wearing a winter coat when September 11 was warm and sunny. Also, the approaching
direction of the plane (from the north) means the tourist had to be standing
on the first World Trade Center building hit, which does not even have an outdoor
observation deck. In case, that is not good enough – the outdoor decks on the
second tower were not even open at the time of the attack. Finally, the plane
in the photo is a Boeing 757 with American Airline markings, while the American
plane that hit the towers was a Boeing 767.
(Some information for this article was obtained from Web sites at www.snopes2.com
and urbanlegends.about.com)