I want to tell you a story that goes back to September 2001. I was 19 years old. I had been locked up for four years, and I worked in the prison kitchen. On September 11, we were up at 3:30 in the morning, working in the chow hall. We got off about 7:30. I had been off work for a little while when my cellmate pointed to his TV and got my attention about something on the news. Together, we watched the second plane hit the towers just after 8:00 a.m. Our eyes were glued to the screen for the rest of the day. When the towers collapsed, I was dumbfounded.

Then I remembered something. Over a month earlier, I had received a magazine in the mail with an article in it written almost 100 years before. I went to my footlocker, dug through my paperwork, found that magazine, and read the article again. I believed it predicted what was going to happen.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of September 11, I reflected not only on what I believed that article said prophetically, but also on its lessons, warnings, and spiritual applications. I urge you, my friend, to consider those powerful words as well.

I share this for two reasons. First, so few people know about it, and I want to bring attention to it. Second, many of my friends and followers believe every random conspiracy theory about 9/11. I would not say I have all the answers. The attacks were carried out by terrorists, as documented in the 9/11 Commission’s official report. I am persuaded that God’s hand was also at work in that tragedy, calling us to wake up spiritually. And here we are, 25 years later, and I think we are on the verge of even bigger and more calamitous disasters and warnings that we would do well to heed before it is too late.