As I heard about and then watched with horror, those haunting images of the planes crashing into the two World Trade Center Towers and later the Pentagon, waves of various powerful feelings engulfed me. First there was shock, disbelief and numbness followed by grief, fear, vengeful rage and despair. Then as the potency of those feelings waned a little, and after I had sought the solace of scriptures such as Psalm 46 – ‘God is our refuge ..’, a thought started to develop within me, ‘Is God saying something to the USA and us in the West through this horror?’ Is there a prophetic voice to be heard?

I recalled the Old Testament prophets who condemned the ancient nations of Assyria and Babylon for their cruelty and sinful motives in their attacks upon and ultimate conquest of Israel and Judah. However, these prophets also recognised that Assyria and Babylon were God’s unwitting instrument for disciplining a people who had miserably failed their calling to be a ‘light to the nations’and a ‘holy people’. Certainly neither the USA nor the West in general can be termed ‘the people of God’ and equated with ancient Israel but perhaps we can still learn something from the events of 2,500 years ago and apply it to today, for God still reveals himself in history and real life events.

That black Tuesday, rightly horrified us at the thought of over 5,000 innocent people losing their lives through a deliberate execution without any court determining guilt. Yet in the week since, approximately 4 times that number of innocent unborn children were executed mercilessly in the USA by abortion. While we in the West were further outraged by the adulation and justification of the terrorists by some Middle Eastern people, many Americans and Westerners continue to laud and justify the perpetrators of abortion while their governments actively collude in these grizzly acts.

Much of the outrage within the USA and the West comes from a sincere yet smug view that our culture is benevolent and superior to that of the terrorists and the nations who support them. Certainly, our culture does have many virtues and much to offer. On balance, I’d rather have America as ‘top gun’ in the world than nations like Iraq or Afghanistan and their current crop of psychotic leaders. But it is sheer arrogance to conveniently ignore our own dark side and proclaim the lie that we are superior and righteous in absolute terms.

What kind of society have we developed where CEO’s of large corporations now receive several hundred times more in salary than the lowest paid workers in their companies? Just a generation ago that difference was more like 30 or 40 times more and in those days CEO’s did not need to sack loyal workers to be so rewarded. In some cases they are still given outrageous amounts even when profits slump. In Australia, executives have received massive bonuses on the eve of their companies going bankrupt, throwing thousands of people out of work and owing many small businesses vast sums which threaten to pull them down too. Why has this happened? How is it justified? Is it not just GREED?

Then there is trade. No I do not think the anti-globalisationists have it right. But as an Aussie I see the unfairness of European and US trade policies on us when we try to play by the rules of free trade. In the USA, under the guise of supporting American farmers, Aussie farmers have to compete against massive US (and European) Government subsidies which undermine our foreign markets and prevent us exporting to the USA. When the agreed trade ‘umpire’ ruled in favour of our lamb farmers a couple of years ago, the US Government carried out a series of delay manoeuvres to prevent the ruling being implemented! Also we have a very efficient and cutting edge ferry manufacturer in Tasmania (a state famous for the Tasmanian Devil) – but the US has trade restrictions to prevent their export! These are just a couple of examples – and Australia is a long term loyal friend of the USA who has (rightly in my opinion) fought beside the USA in every war of the past century. If that is how friends are treated is it any wonder that some in the Middle East who are less than friends react with such hatred! And by the way, with regard to farm subsidies in the USA, the tens of billions of dollars don’t really support the continuity and viability of family farms, which is how the propaganda is presented in support of these policies (that is, it is a lie in support of greed – the dark side of US culture again). Most of it goes into the coffers of huge agribusinesses that take over family farms with the result that small town rural America is dying rapidly. Oh and by the way, would it surprise you to learn that those agribusinesses make substantial political donations to buy the support of members of Congress and presidential candidates (ie, corruption).

Yes, America and the West are right and justified in pursuing and punishing terrorists and their host nations. But to what extent has our greed, sloth, lies and hedonism without considering the consequences on others, been a cause of the underlying problem?

The USA uses 25% of the world’s energy, primarily in the form of oil. So much of US and Western foreign policy has been premised on protecting oil supplies from the Middle East to allow us to continue our self-centred lifestyles. The primary foreign policy objective has not been to support good, just and democratic societies against tyranny and corruption. Instead Iraq, run by a tyrant was supported in the 1980’s until the same tyrant turned on its erstwhile supporters. For a long time now, the corrupt Saudi regime has repressed women, executed Christian converts and those who speak of Jesus. Yet it has been strongly backed by the USA and the West. The Taliban who do the same thing are however opposed. What is the difference? The Taliban do not have oil to sell us! How many of Osama bin Laden’s disciples were recruited as they looked with disgust on the shameless corruption and resultant oppression and poverty of ordinary people in Middle Eastern countries supported by the USA? Certainly there are other motivations but this is a significant factor.

Meanwhile, the propensity to use energy continues to grow despite all the evidence regarding the Greenhouse effect, which even President Bush acknowledges. Soon the statistics will start to emerge that rising temperatures are leading directly, or indirectly through climate change induced cataclysms, to many deaths. Perhaps 5,000 or more a day! But what have we done to counter this? America (and much of the West) could survive without Middle Eastern oil by showing restraint. Simple things like not overheating buildings in the winter (as an Aussie I ironically find most American and European homes and buildings oppressively hot) or the reverse in the summer (how hard is it to wear a sweater indoors in winter and remove it in summer?). Why must people use their car when they could walk (and lose a few pounds of fat at the same time!) Why use energy expensive clothes driers when the sun and fresh air can dry clothes better while reducing wear and tear? You can actually get to know your neighbours again over the back fence while you hang out the clothes – not to mention another opportunity for a little much needed exercise (I suggest compulsory inclusion of the Aussie invented rotary clothes line in all American back yards!)

Governments can get involved at higher levels – proper transport planning and better building design. If we all cut back our energy use by 20% – not that hard – the savings could be invested in renewable energy – yes it is more expensive now but becoming less so. For the medium term we could be using more nuclear energy – much safer and very much cleaner than coal or oil despite the unwarranted fear campaign by ‘greenies’ (or are they actually in the pay of the global coal and oil companies?) With these measures the West could ignore Middle Eastern oil supplies and start to allow the principles it does claim to uphold to determine foreign policy.

I could go on with other examples of the decadence of US (and Western) societies – the dark side we prefer to avoid at times like this when we so want to justify ourselves and pursue the evil in a demonised foe rather than in ourselves.  · Youth (mainly young males) suicide at alarming levels – the leading cause of death in under 30’s in Australia now – evidence of a deep and disturbing despair;  · anorexia most common in girls seeking to obtain a ‘Barbie Doll’ figure which popular culture promotes despite its harm;  · people spending billions of dollars on cosmetic surgery out of vanity, while in the richest country in the world poor people die for lack of money to afford life saving medicines or surgery;  · the AIDS epidemic – exacerbated by Hollywood approved and promoted sexual immorality and illicit drug use (trendies promote ‘harm minimisation’ as the answer so we can still justify our hedonistic and destructive lifetyles despite the consequences);  · increasingly vile pornography which depersonalises human love for the sake of raw lust on the basis of personal ‘freedom’ – the powerful Western cult of egocentric individualism;  · drug addicition on a massive scale not known in the history of the world, where ‘war’ is allegedly declared on the suppliers but continues to fail miserably. The truth is not faced that demand is the real problem, aided by a culture that demands and gets instant gratification without care for the consequences. As we ‘righteous’ point the finger at the addicts we conveniently ignore our instant gratification and indiscipline regarding gluttony making us the most overweight people in history;  · the whole economy that now depends on us spending on ever new ‘toys’ to amuse ourselves – retail therapy for more instant gratification to keep us from facing the shadow of oursleves and our culture.  · many selfish baby boomers who ignore their aged parents – just yesterday I met a sad recently widowed old woman whose daughter has not visited her since Christmas. Also this week I met another elderly widow whose two children died in their 30’s – she has not seen or heard from her grandchildren for 11 years!

Enough! But can you see – greed, selfishness, gluttony, vanity, corruption, pride, sloth, lust, deceit – close enough to the seven deadly sins and then some! And does God look down, see it all and ignore it concerned only that we just get those Arab devils? Is it possible that this recent day of terror has a prophetic element we can too easily ignore? Yes let us pursue the evil Osama bin Laden and his crazed disciples – but let us also pursue that same evil in ourselves and our culture with equal vigour.

Please pass this on to others if you found it sufficiently provocative to make you think. I would appreciate a dialogue with those with similar or contrary views.

Guy Yeomans – email: