Why No Major Terrorist Attacks Since 9/11?

A commentary by Don Hooser
United Church of God pastor, Austin, Waco, and Coleman, Texas

It's now been more than two and a half years since September 11, 2001. Why have there not been more terrorist attacks on U.S. soil?

After 9/11, Americans realized how our nation is extremely vulnerable to sabotage, destruction and mass murder, what with our porous borders and the open society we cherish. Many feared that we were about to experience a continuous onslaught of terrorist attacks similar to those that Israel suffers.

We waited for the other shoe to drop—and many more. Month after month has gone by and nothing has happened. It's baffling as to why Islamic terrorists have not again terrorized their most-hated enemy, America. We relish the relief, but with eerie apprehension that disasters are coming, sooner or later.

America and other nations have been feverishly reinventing and reinforcing their security measures. As a result, the security of our citizens is considerably better, but our enemies can choose among many kinds of weapons and strategies. And the number of potential targets is countless. So as to why we have not suffered more attacks, probably no one would give all the credit to our deterrent efforts.

Why do people avoid talking about this important question? Perhaps the main reason is that we know another attack could happen anytime. It's hard to celebrate something that seems so fragile, temporary and doomed to disappear. But it seems to go beyond that—to a subconscious and superstitious belief that to celebrate peace today will bring about disaster tomorrow.

When intelligence experts speculate as to why no more attacks, most of their ideas are probably valid factors. Al-Qaeda has been disrupted, dispersed and weakened. Major decisions by al-Qaeda leaders may be prompted by pride in maintaining its reputation and mystique—preferring to wait until it can pull off a few spectacular attacks rather than going ahead with easy attacks on soft targets. We have improved security strategies and intelligence gathering.

But all these reasons put together seem inadequate to explain the absence of any attacks for nearly three years.

There is another obvious possibility that the Western secular press would naturally dismiss. And that is that God has been giving us divine protection. God is real and He is all-powerful. If He chooses to protect people and nations, it is done. No human security measures remotely compare to the absolute safety God can provide.

Many religious people have assumed all along that God is the reason we haven't had more attacks. It's wonderful when people give God credit. We should be thanking Him profusely. But those same religious people often are making two other assumptions that are false.

One mistaken viewpoint is that the United States is a Christian nation and therefore it deserves God's protection. In actuality, even though the majority of Americans claim they are Christian, their religion is superficial and mostly disconnected from the source of true Christianity—the Bible.

Sad to say, many of their lifestyles differ little from non-Christians. They experience almost as much promiscuity, adultery, divorce, dishonesty, poor choices of entertainment, indulgence in pornography, etc., as the non-religious. After 9/11, there was some spiritual revival in America, but it was short-lived with virtually no long-term improvement.

The other assumption concerns God's timing. The Bible has many examples of when God made decisions to either bless or punish an individual or a nation, and then waited a long time—sometimes many years—before He executed that decision. People tend to assume that because lightning doesn't immediately strike them dead, God must approve of what they're doing. When people do wrong, they suffer consequences, but the consequences are often delayed. The United States will suffer calamity, but it will be according to God's timing.

The Bible contains many examples of God offering individuals and nations help and protection for His reasons even when the people were not righteous. Often, those reasons have to do with God's long-range plans, promises and prophecies.

In the Bible, much space is devoted to end-time prophecies concerning the descendants of Israel (Jacob). And there is an abundance of evidence that the peoples of America and the former British Commonwealth comprise the bulk of the latter-day Israelite people. With the knowledge of the identity of "Israel" in the Bible, these prophecies are highly enlightening about the future of the United States, Britain and other Anglo-Saxon people.

For valuable understanding of the present and future of these nations, please request or download our free booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy.