KNU International English ChurchJosh Broward
October 22, 2006
(Show Pearl Harbor Video.1)
On December 7, 1941, Americans throughout Hawaii were enjoying a quiet Sunday morning. Some were sleeping in. Others were having a nice cup of coffee with their morning paper. Some were getting ready for church.
Beginning at 7:53 am, some 353 Japanese planes attacked US forces at Pearl Harbor. The Americans were caught unprepared and lost 12 warships, 188 airplanes, 2,403 military personnel, and 68 civilians. It was the single worst attack on American ground in history.
Disaster struck suddenly.
But what if someone had warned them?
Someone did.
In 1924, General Billy Mitchell predicted a war with Japan including an attack on Pearl Harbor. He was court-martialed and ignored.
Throughout the summer and fall of 1941, military and public news warned that war with Japan was coming soon.
On the morning of December 7, General sent a message to Pearl Harbor warning of an immediate attack. Some how the “urgent” part of the message was deleted. The message was delivered two hours after the attack had finished.
Radar observers actually saw the Japanese fleet approaching, but they did not warn anyone because they thought they were American planes.
Yet despite all of these glaring warning signs, the US forces remained asleep in Pearl Harbor.2
Then it was too late.
(Show World Trade Center 9/11/01 video.)
On the morning of September 11, 2001, when many New Yorkers were just sitting down at their office desk with the morning’s first cup of coffee, 4 planes had been hijacked. Two of them flew into the World Trade Center. One crashed into the Pentagon. A fourth later crashed in an empty field in Pennsylvania. By the end of the day, 3,000 people were dead.3
Disaster struck.
But what if someone had warned them?
Someone did.
As early as 1994, the U.S. government knew that terrorists were seriously considering using airplanes as a means of terrorist attacks.
In 1998, the U.S. had information that a group of Arabs planned to fly an airplane into the World Trade Center. Some of these reports even suggested that Bin Laden intended to use airplanes for attacks on New York and Washington. However, the Federal Aviation Administration found the plot “highly unlikely.”
A month before the attack, the CIA sent a message to the FAA warning of a possible hijacking.4
Despite these warning signs, the U.S. remained woefully unprepared.
Then it was too late.
Enron was started in 1985 as a merger of two energy companies in Houston, Texas, my hometown. The first CEO was Kenneth Lay. Enron quickly became one of America’s favorite companies. It was involved in energy and power markets around the world. Fortune Magazine named Enron “America’s Most Innovative Company” six years in a row from 1996 to 2001. Enron employed over 21,000 people worldwide. Business and labor experts praised Enron as a great company and a great company to work for, partly because of their wonderful pension plans for employees. The U.S. government regularly sought Enron’s advice on energy related issues.
That’s when disaster struck. In 2001 Enron was in the news almost every day. But this time the news wasn’t good. The world slowly discovered that Enron’s billion dollar profits were really just fancy numbers. The company had used illegal accounting practices and a variety of other tricks to hide huge losses for years. In December of 2001, after being investigated by the US government, Enron filed for bankruptcy.
Before the collapse, knowing that the company was going down, Enron executives awarded themselves with huge multimillion dollar bonuses.
Executives sold stock throughout 2001, but CEO Kenneth Lay repeatedly advised employees and the general public to buy more and more Enron stock. Many of them did. When things started getting bad, some Enron employees wanted to sell out their Enron stock. But the company put a freeze on the employee retirement plan for “administrative reasons.” Many Enron employees had invested their life savings, their retirement funds, and their children’s education funds in Enron stocks. By the end of 2001, Enron’s stock had fallen from $90 to 30 cents. These hard working people found themselves without jobs and without savings.
Disaster struck.
But what if someone had warned them?
Someone did.
Several of the Enron executives were investigated for insider trading or questionable accounting practices in the late 1990’s. In January of 2001, California Governor Gray Davis publicly criticized Enron’s ethics. Throughout 2001, individuals within Enron and news agencies voiced complaints about Enron’s accounting practices. As the stock fell throughout 2001, some investors decided to sell out. Others saw this as an opportunity to get a bargain.
Despite internal warnings, Enron executives played dirty till the end. Despite some external warning signs, investors kept their trust in Enron.
Disaster struck.
Then, it was too late.
Our text from Revelation today tells the story of one more disaster: the Fall of Babylon. Let’s read it together now. (Revelation 17-18)
John’s first readers would have immediately known that “Babylon” is Rome. Babylon was a common nickname for Rome, and Rome was famous for having seven hills (17:9). And Rome fits the description here perfectly. Rome was the political, cultural, religious, and economic center for the Mediterranean world. Rome imported the wealth, the luxury, and the children of people around the world. Rome became the symbol of power, wealth, and even sexual satisfaction. Rome used and abused the people and the resources of the world.
Rome eventually about 400 years after John wrote Revelation, but that is not really John’s point. For John, Rome symbolizes a wider system. Rome was the current illustration or incarnation of Satan’s trickery in our world. Rome was the best example John could give of making gods of money, sex, and power. Rome was one of the peeks along this mountain range of making gods of money, sex, and power. But it is not the only peek or even the highest. Satan continues his trickery throughout time, and new Babylons, new Romes, continually rise up.
Earlier this year I went to a KOTESOL (Korea Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) conference at Hoseo University. While I was there, I saw a man wearing a white T-shirt that read: “America is Babylon the great! Come out from her my people. Do not take part in her sins.” I remember thinking something very kind like, “What a weirdo.”
I don’t agree with his interpretation method. I don’t think we can isolate any one city or nation or system as the literal fulfillment of “Babylon the great.” But on the other hand, he may not be too far off. Modern culture is another illustration of Babylon the Great. Our culture and our systems have made gods of money, sex, and power.
It looks great on the outside. Everyone seems to be getting wealthier and healthier. Incomes and lifespans are increasing. Entertainment, travel, and fashion industries are growing rapidly. Life is good, right?
But disaster has struck. This world’s systems of outward glory and glamour and glitz are actually fallen. They are like the hollow Enron company: beautiful and wealthy on the outside, but hollow and corrupt on the inside. This evil system of idolizing money, sex, and power will come to a crashing, crushing, burning end. One day it will all be finally thrown down. The smoke will rise, and all of this system’s merchants and participants will cry bitter tears.
But what if someone warned them?
Someone did. This is our warning. The Bible is our early warning system. The fall of corrupt businesses, crooked politicians, and hollow movie stars are the smoke that tell us this system is going down. But like the Enron executives, this world’s leaders are still telling us to buy more stock in this doomed system.
One Day disaster will strike.
One Day it will be too late.
But it’s not too late yet. We still have time to heed the warning signs. We still have time to prepare.
Let me suggest some stock trades:
Sell your stock in KEEPING money for your self.
Buy stock in TITHING (giving 10% of your income as an offering of thanks to God).
Sell your stock in SPENDING money on yourself.
Buy stock in SPONSORING a child. (You can go to www.ncm.org to sponsor the basic food, medical, and educational costs for a child in a poor country.)
Sell your some of your stock in ENTERTAINMENT.
Buy some stock in PURITY by refusing to watch sex scenes in your movies.
Sell your stock in defending your RIGHTS.
Buy some stock in voluntary SACRIFICE.
Sell your stock in SUCCESS and POWER.
Buy stock in LOVE.
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
1 The Pearl Harbor story and the 9/11 story are both on this video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5137545634635608931&q=pearl+harbor&hl=en
2 “Attack on Pearl Harbor,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor.
3 “September 11, 2001 Attacks,”
4 “Report Cites Warnings before 9/11,” September 19, 2002,
http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/09/18/intelligence.hearings/. Downloaded 10.19.2006.
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