It Wasn’t Hell – PART 3
From an interview with my friend Charlie Edmond, NYPD
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
9/11 woke us up for a while, but I believe people have already forgotten. For example, we cops were liked for about 30 days, but after that people didn’t like us any more. In the beginning we’d be going back down to Ground Zero and people would be holding up signs cheering for us. Crowds of people cheering as you drove down the west side highway. But after 30 days it went back to business as usual. They forgot. We all forgot. We’ve forgotten who our enemy is. It’s sad. I don’t want to get hit again.
One day I received a phone call from a good friend, one of the cops on our tour. He was not a believer. Like me, he was a recovered alcoholic, and he still lives the AA lifestyle. So he calls me and he says,
“Charlie, I can’t take this. I can’t go back down there again, and I don’t know what to do.”
Seems he’d been exposed to one of the makeshift morgues, and he’d seen all the dead bodies and it had shaken him up. And just the fear in his voice . . . he sounded like he was unraveling. “Where are you?” I asked.
“I’m down by the pumps.”
Now the gas pumps are under the precinct. It’s dark down there. And when I get down there he’s sitting alone on this wall, knees drawn up tightly to his chest. I could see the fear in his eyes, so I told him, “You know me. You know my beliefs. The only thing that’s worked for me, the only thing that’s changed my life, saved my marriage, given me peace here . . . is Jesus Christ.”
I saw him shake his head.
“It’s not religion,” I continued. “It’s not theology, or Methodist or Roman Catholic, it’s a person. And all you’ve got to do is ask him into your heart. Say, “Lord, I’m sorry, I’m a sinner, and I want you to take over. I want you to be my savior.”
What I told him wasn’t a perfect gospel presentation. I didn’t tell him you’re going to burn in hell forever, I didn’t say those things, I simply presented Christ. The Savior. The loving God. Still, he just looked at me and said, “I’m not ready for that.”
For me that was the scariest thing about 9/11. That moment. I mean, with all that was going on, that was the most frightening thing I saw—a man who was literally having a nervous breakdown refusing the good news of Jesus Christ.
You know, God didn’t do this thing. Fallen humans did it. God allowed it because we turned away from him. So I believe our country needs of a savior. We are in need of a cure, and Christ is the cure. Many of us mean well, but there’s a part of this whole thing we forget. God said, If my people will humble themselves and pray, I will forgive their sin and heal their land. He promised to heal our land, if we will turn from our wicked ways. If we will only remember that part.
So today I’m praying that the Christians in America will turn from their wicked ways. Period. The non-believers are doing their job, and they’re doing it well. Hollywood is doing a great job at what they are, and the rest of the world is doing a great job at being sinners. But if Christians will turn from their sinful ways, if we turn, then I think we’ll see the revival.
I forget who said this, but someone once said, God is a gentleman. He’s a gentleman. And if we walk away from him he’s not going to force himself on us. And when these bad things happen, it’s not God punishing us so much as we didn’t put on our seat belts. You know you’re riding in the car, you don’t put on your belt, you have a wreck and you’re going through the windshield. But if you call to Christ, he will grab you every time. And I don’t believe God sends people to hell either. He’s done everything he can to get us right. Look at the cross. But if you reject God, where else are you going to end up? God has no choice but to say, “You can’t come live here [Heaven] because you didn’t want any part of it.”
I’ve heard people say, “9/11 was hell.” But for me, it wasn’t. Hell is hopeless. At Ground Zero I saw lots of hope. The outpouring of help was just unbelievable. Like I said, they came with their little cart. There was so much help we had to turn people away. That was the Christian spirit. That selflessness.
You remember Trudy from Facts of Life? She was there spooning out food for us. That meant a lot. She wasn’t there saying, “Hey, look at me.” We had to ask her, “Are you…” “Yeah.” She wasn’t boasting, she just wanted to do her part. And that’s why I say it wasn’t hell, because people just wanted to pitch in and help. And that was encouraging. It helped.
No, 9/11 wasn’t hell. Christians across America awoke, and in the end, Christ was glorified. There’s still hope.
Books by Pat Patterson:
Answering the Call, Inspirational Devotions from a Tested Paramedic
Tested by Fire, A Medic-7 Novel
Paramedic Killer, A Medic 7 Novel
