Bible and the Headlines: News You Can Use

By Editor | September 10, 2025

Not forgotten

By David Bachelor, PhD

In 2003, Darryl Worley wrote the song, “Have You Forgotten,” about the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. This article will be published just before the 24th anniversary of the attacks of September 11th. The headlines make it clear most people have not forgotten.

New York’s ABC7 News edition on September 5th carried, “Annual 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony in NYC to Honor Victims Killed 24 Years Ago.” The article lays out the schedule for the service at The National September 11 Memorial & Museum built on the site where the twin towers stood. In addition to reading the names of the 2983 people killed in the attacks, “… six moments of silence will be observed, acknowledging when each of the World Trade Center towers was struck and fell, and the times corresponding to the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of United Airlines Flight 93.” In addition to the 2001 attack, this ceremony will also honor the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

On September 8, the Morris County, New Jersey government webpage featured, “Morris County Marks 24th 9/11 Anniversary With Remembrance Ceremony.” The county invited retired NYC firefighter Rudy Sanfilippo to be the keynote speaker. During 9/11, Sanfilippo was trapped in the rubble when the North Tower fell. He stated, “I tried to breathe and I realized basically I was done… for about ten seconds, and then said, ‘You know what? This is BS — I’m a New York City firefighter.’ So I stood up and I just marched north.” Many lives were saved that day because of his actions.

The September 9th edition of Millersville University blog had the headline, “Annual 9/11 Memorial Ceremony at Millersville.” The Pennsylvania campus has an emergency management department and hosts a student chapter of the International Association of Emergency Managers. A professor noted, “Remembering one of the most horrific events in our nation’s history is an important part of the educational process. We need the professionals and leaders of tomorrow to understand the importance of that day in our nation’s history.” Many of the students studying emergency management at Millersville were not yet born when the attack happened.

Texans aren’t the only people to command remembrance of a notorious attack. In the book of Psalms, the people of Jerusalem prayed to God, “Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. ‘Tear it down, tear it down to its foundations!,’ they cried. We say, ‘Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us’” (Psa 137:7-8).

Toby Keith also wrote a song about the 9/11 attack. His song was called, “The Angry American.” In the song, Keith expressed many of the sentiments contained in Psalm 137. Not everyone is willing to go that far in their prayers. Let me suggest a different hope on the 24th anniversary, “Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies. Lord, You have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished” (Psa 9:6). Amen.

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