9·11

9/11 is presented as a defining national crisis in the book’s argument about prayer: its immediate aftermath produced an extraordinary return to churches and prayer meetings, but the fading of that response became evidence of how easily people leave God alone once danger recedes.

Crisis and Collective Response

The author recalls the uncertainty that followed 9/11 and describes the Lord as the only dependable answer amid widespread confusion. Churches and prayer meetings suddenly filled, and people throughout the country began calling on God in unprecedented numbers. The attack therefore functions not only as a remembered catastrophe but also as a moment of collective spiritual hunger, when ordinary confidence was shaken and dependence on God became publicly visible.

A Temporary Return to Prayer

The response did not last. Drawing on the biblical pattern that people tend to forget the Lord in prosperous times but run to Him when trouble strikes, the author treats 9/11 as a contemporary example of that cycle. People sought God intensely during the crisis, yet their return to prayer was described as brief. The event thus exposes a contrast between seeking Jesus as Savior during calamity and accepting Him as Lord through regular, ongoing devotion.

Prayer, Protection, and Public Risk

The book uses 9/11 to define sporadic prayer as risky business. Prayer motivated only by tragedy is portrayed as an unstable form of spiritual life because it waits for the next disaster before seeking divine help. In contrast, the author argues that regular communion with God keeps people within His protective hand and makes daily commitment, rather than fear, the proper source of prayer.

The same argument is extended from national trauma to war. The author remembers that, early in the war, a strong mandate of prayer existed for American service members. Later, as concern diminished, the author links the reduced visibility of good results and the deaths and violence that followed to the loss of prayer coverage. The claim is presented as a theological interpretation of changing wartime circumstances: when people stopped praying, they left God alone regarding the men and women serving in the military.

Memory as a Call to Persistence

9/11 is therefore not treated as an isolated historical reference. It becomes a recurring memory through which the author urges readers to exchange crisis-driven religion for persistent prayer. The event’s lasting significance lies in the warning that collective dependence on God must not disappear when immediate fear does. Genuine spiritual ascent, the book argues, begins with hunger for fellowship with God rather than with the pressure of catastrophe.