Remember the Maine? Not many do.

How about Lexington? Oh, likely here in New England they still teach about that one. But what about the Lusitania, or impressments, or the Zimmerman letter? Not so much.

Pearl Harbor, that one is somewhat still current, I'd hope most people know about that still. And today, 9/11. With only 10 years past, this is pretty fresh in our minds.

There have been many times in our country's history that we've had a shocking event occur, usually with bloodshed, that united people from coast to coast in a single minded quest for justice. Funny thing, every time we think nothing like this has ever happened before, we have merely to look at history to see that it has indeed happened before, and gotten people just as fired up and united.

I don't want so much to focus on those things. Today is a day of remembrance of this event and plenty of other people in the media are not going to let you forget it, so you don't need me to talk about it. Still, there is some consolation we can draw on. These other times I've mentioned above shook our country in the same way, yet they too have passed from our country's consciousness. We forget these things over time, as we go on living and growing as a nation as generations come and go. For 9/11, this too shall pass even as horrible as it was.

No, I want to compare this to something else. There were times when Christians, true followers of the bible, were persecuted. It seems like only in modern times that supposedly science and modem thinking took the saints to task but so-called Christians have done it in the past and so have those in other places who follow false gods or teachings. I hesitate to name names because many of these groups are still around today. I read a book once about how in the middle ages there were those who passed copies of the word around by baking them in loaves of bread, so the "ruling religious government" couldn't find it. Because the bible was illegal. The awful intolerance of other religions is well documented but isn't mentioned much today.

In the bible, the apostles themselves had to deal with false teachers that sprang up and, because they couldn't take the competition, made war on the church and those who taught the truth. No surprise there, Stephen accuses his audience of "religious people" of being resistive to the will of God even while they themselves believed they were dispensing it. The old testament is full of examples of those who know God, know his power, know his will, but persecute his people anyway.

I guess the sober message I am putting forward today is that just as treacherous men will again attack our country someday, and have done so many times in our past, there will also be those who will persecute us who follow the will of God, which have indeed done it many times in the past. So far, our nation has pulled together at a time of crisis but has not done so well in times of peace - becoming lax and weak. How will we fare when our time of crisis comes as Christians? Will we pull together? Will we further stay vigilant in the meantime, so we might be able to stand? Or will we forget the bloodshed made on our behalf 2000 years ago as just a foggy event in history? I hope, when the time comes, we are more than conquerors.

Randy