I will always remember 9/11/2001! For Americans like myself who love our nation, it will always be a day of solemnity! At the moment of infamy, I was in Ethiopia on a mission’s trip with my church—Wheaton Christian Center. We were returning from a great day where we had just finished some missions' work and visited some historical sites. Ethiopia is 8 hours ahead of
America, so it was about 4:45 pm when the first plane hit the World Trade Center’s North Tower at 8:45 am eastern time. Just as our bus dropped us off at our hotel, one of the hotel workers ran up and began shouting that America had just been attacked. So, I ran to the elevator and then to my room. I turned the TV on and fell to my knees grabbing the monitor on either side as I saw the two smoldering buildings. At first, I didn’t believe my eyes and thought I was looking at a movie. So, I kept changing channels only to find the imagery remained the same. By this time, I was weeping profusely, crying out to God, while simultaneously trying to contact my wife and son who were back home in Naperville, Illinois. When I finally got through, my wife having just returned from picking up my son from school, was hysterical believing that our nation was under attack.
  I felt helpless to do anything as I watched alone in my hotel room as the other planes crashed. All I could think was: ‘WE” are at war, and I am in another nation on the other side of the world unable to get home to my family because the skies over America were closed down!! 
  For the next several hours all I could do was watch, pray, and weep as I saw people plunging one hundred stories to their death, millions of pieces of falling paper, and then the two buildings collapsing into huge clouds of dust and debris. Ironically, the firestorm, explosions, crashing metal, and suffocating dust did not discriminate between white, black, Asian and Hispanic—for over 3,000 Americans perished that infamous day from the evil of 25 scandalous terrorists and their leader Osama Bin Laden!
  On the contrary, at that one particular moment, America was unified as One Nation under God! The words of then-President George Bush still echo in my ears. As he was thanking all the first responders for their tireless work, one person shouted back that they could not hear him. Spontaneously, he turned and with a response now permanently etched into my heart and mind, as well as the hearts of all American patriots, Bush declared: “I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people – and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear from all of us soon." The crowd erupted with cheers and began chanting, “USA! USA! USA! USA!"
  Although the horror of this time still haunts me, it is NOT the reason I am an American patriot. I do not proclaim my patriotism simply because I was born and raised in America. My patriotism comes through hard work, aka Bible research, and the study of American history both White and Black! Even as a child I was keenly aware that despite all of America’s faults something was different about this nation—but I didn’t know why. However, as I grew in the Word of God, I began to understand God’s view of history—which is called Providential History. P.H. rests upon the Sovereign nature of God which means that He rules over all; and nothing and no one is outside of His rulership. In addition, PH rests upon God’s nature of love and goodness. The bottom line of PH is that because God is good and reigns over all, He is constantly working to bring about His good will in our lives. This means that not only is God working to answer our prayers, but much more importantly, because our human knowledge is limited and we most often do not know what we need, nor can we always understand His divine purposes for our life, God works behind the scenes---apart from our knowledge---to bring about His good will for us!! One place this great truth is illustrated is the story of Joseph in Genesis 50 when he revealed himself to his brothers after they had sold him into slavery:
“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”      
                       -Gen50:20 KJV
 
  When Joseph was sold into slavery and imprisoned for 13 years, God was working using the evil of his brother’s betrayal to prepare Joseph to “save much people alive”. As I looked at America, throughout our history, I also knew God was working behind the scenes using any evil in America’s past to bring about His good will for this nation:
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  
                                     -Rom8:28
 
  It was this divine revelation that revealed God’s hand upon the nation directing the existence of Black people in America. I repeat, it was the goodwill of God that brought Blacks across the oceans in chains to America! Presently, American Blacks are overwhelmingly the most prosperous Black people on earth---including in all of Africa!!! And...it’s not even close!! More Blacks have come from Africa to America voluntarily over the last 20-40 years than were ever brought to America on slave ships!!!
  This is not an accident—but the divine hand of God—i.e.the Providence of God! Like God used the enslavement and imprisonment of Joseph to bless the world at that time, so God both turned and used the enslavement of Blacks, turning contemporary African-Americans into the most prosperous Blacks--not only in the present world---but in the history of the world!!  
  Charles Kaufman wrote, “If you don’t see the divine hand behind the scenes history becomes an incomprehensible enigma.” If both Blacks and Whites ignore the Providential Hand of God in American history, Americans will be filled with hatred and revenge!!! Tragically, we are now watching this unfold in our beloved America!!!
   Nevertheless, it is because of the Providential Hand of God upon America—Who turns evil into good(Gen50:20; Rom8:28)--that to my last breath--I am an American Patriot!!!! 

 
Quotebit
“I love the land that gave me birth. I love the stars and stripes. This country is where I intend to live, where I expect to die; to preserve the honor of the national flag and to maintain perpetually the union of the states, for which hundreds and I may say thousands of poor, brave and true-hearted colored men have fought, bled and died.”
 
-John Roy Lynch- born into slavery in 1847; he became the first black speaker of the house in Mississippi; the first black American to preside over a national convention occurred in 1884, the National Republican convention. 

  In the first 3 tidbits of this series, I have emphasized the point that God’s nature is infinite! Therefore, His infinite nature is foundational to all living and non-living things of His creation. Remember, the word infinite means without boundary. Another facet of God’s nature is Fatherhood*, which means provider. So, when both facets of His nature are practically applied to His creation, the conclusion is God provides for His own without boundaries. 
  For example, scripture says God opens His hand and provides for every living thing (Ps145:16). So, as THE infinite God, He can only provide without boundaries. Let’s be brutally honest, how can God provide for every living thing: from an amoeba, to an ant, to a bird, to a lion, to all of humanity, and be limited in His provision?!? And, what’s more, the God Who provides for every living thing provides as much as those living things desire to consume!!!!
  For example, in the wild each Killer Whale eats up to 375 lbs of food per day, but in captivity, they consume up to 500 lbs a day!!! Yet, also consider that these whales exist in ‘small pods’ that contain between 6-40 whales! That’s a lot of food!!! Furthermore, elephants spend 80% of their day eating and according to Sea World consume 330-375 lbs of vegetation per day!
  On a lesser note, lions in the wild require 10-25lbs of food daily; Gorillas 40 lbs of vegetation per day; Cranes only 3 lbs per day; Pelicans 4 lbs per day; small dogs less than 1 cup of food; and large dogs 3 cups of food daily; while cats require only ½ cup of food per day.
  As one considers the daily amount of food that a zoo requires, along with the ‘kind’ of food that each animal; bird; or sea creature requires, one can easily determine that zoo animals require a great deal of work…and money---just to feed!!! Of course, as we remember that God created the earth full (Ps24:1), and that He provides for every living thing using the earth. It becomes mind-boggling the amount of sustenance God has provided to man in fulfilling His promise Psalms 145:16: “You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing” (NAS). Notice the NAS uses the word “desire”…not “needs”. In other words, my original point is that God not only provides what each living thing needs to exist…'BUT' also considers what they desire! This absolutely requires unlimited provision!!!
  Moreover, the incredible idea of ‘unlimited provision’ (Ps24:1) especially applies to mankind. For example, Jesus fed 5,000 people in Matthew 14:15-22, and in verse 20, scripture declares, “And they did all eat, and were filled.” Because some people could eat more, while others ate less, the source of the supply…had to be abundant in its capability to provide! There simply is no possible way for the apostles to estimate exactly how much food will ‘fill’ the stomachs of 5,000 men; especially when the probable number of people was upwards of 15,000, when considering the presence of the women and children!! In other words, when the disciples gave food to the people, they did not measure a certain amount, or limit the amount of food per person!! On the contrary, they fed people until they were filled! Why? Because God is a Father and cares to meet each individual person’s desire, which is the reason His provision must be abundant, i.e.more than enough! Of course, the proof of the abundant provision of Jesus is the remaining 12 baskets of leftovers!!!
  Remember, God’s infinite nature inspires His provision which means that provision must be without boundaries, and the reason it’s called ‘more than enough’! I repeat abundance is the nature of God’s provision…and His only standard!
  How do my previous points apply to financial prosperity? Ecclesiastes 5:19 declares, “Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.” This is a ‘mic-drop’ verse!!!
1.This text plainly teaches that ‘God’ gives “riches” and “wealth” to man! The Hebrew words for “riches” and “wealth” are the following:
-“riches” (nekec̨, neh´-kes) means to accumulate; treasure:—riches, wealth. -Strong’s
-"wealth” (ôsher, o´-sher) means wealth:—× far [richer], riches. -Strong’s
  I repeat, the text unequivocally declares that God gives, i.e.gifts, both riches and wealth to man!
2.The text teaches God gives to “every” man, not some men…riches and wealth! The word “every” is an all-encompassing word, which means it applies to all mankind—not just Israel!!!
3.The fact that God “empowers” man to eat from the “riches” and “wealth” means the words cannot refer to spiritual riches and wealth—because man requires physical food to be sustained.
4.The final phrase of the verse is the mic drop moment: “this is a gift of God”!! But…what exactly is a ‘gift’ of God? Although everything in the verse are gifts from God including “reward” and “labor”, however, the word “this” in the phrase “this is a gift from God” can only refer to “riches” and “wealth”—as gifts of God! Why? Because the first part of the verse says “…God has given…”; which can only mean what God gives, by the definition of the word “given”, must be a gift!!! So, when God gives “riches” and “wealth”—they are His gifts…to every man!!!! 
  Incredibly, in case one misunderstands Ecclesiastes 5:19, two verses later in 6:2, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, 5:19 is repeated: “A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth….”  
  Furthermore, if one still chooses to miss the plain teaching of Ecclesiastes 5:19 and 6:2; God repeats Himself again in 1Chronicles 29:12 where King David prays: “Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all…” In other words, in merely these scriptures the Bible irrefutably and undeniably declares God gives “riches” and “wealth” to mankind…which means they are gifts!!
  However, my following point is the mic-drop, of the mic-drop moment! If God gives “riches” and “wealth” to mankind, and God is infinite in His nature, how exactly are we to interpret this? Well, if we allow the words “riches” and “wealth” to retain their original definitions—and we do---then the reason Holy Scripture uses these two words to describe what God gives to mankind is because they are the only words that can define giving according to His infinite nature!!!!  In other words, everything that man possesses is a gift from God---whether in spirit, soul, body, or natural! Because one of the ways God gives to mankind is provision for his physical needs, when He provides physical things to meet man’s physical needs, it has to be according to His infinite nature!! Therefore, if God gives money to mankind---which Ecclesiastes 5:19; 6:2; and 1Chroncles 29:12 attest to--He can only give that money abundantly! This means the reason the Holy Spirit inspired the use of the words “riches” and “wealth” in the Biblical text is because those two words appropriately define the amount of money God provides!!!
  This is financial prosperity!
 
 
Quotebit
"If our posterity neglects religious instruction...no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity."       -Daniel Webster