It’s a rare thing when one man is able to change the entire world.

We were recently reminded that one man can indeed accomplish that. In the space of just under a decade, this man upended the thinking of much of the human race. He changed many people’s perception of religion. His actions changed the pattern of daily life for much of the human race, and nearly all of the Western world.

He spawned the birth of new industries and created hundreds of thousands of jobs. His actions helped create massive new government programs at a cost of trillions of dollars. He almost killed off some industries at the cost of hundreds of thousands of jobs.

He caused governments to rise and caused governments to fall. He caused some governments to rethink their place in the world and to reorder their military and economic priorities accordingly.

He affected the lives of every one of us.

He was a mass murderer.

His name was Osama bin Laden.

Unless you’re under about age 15, you can probably remember exactly where you were on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. You probably remember exactly how and when you heard the news of the unimaginable, the incomprehensible.

America was attacked. Thousands were dead. The nation’s entire air-traffic system was shut down. Even the Pentagon wasn’t safe. Nowhere was safe. Where would they strike next?

America lost its innocence that day. The country would never be the same again, at least not in this lifetime.

With several hijacked airliners, he changed the world as we know it.

Two wars and thousands of American casualties later—not to mention countless innocent bystanders slain by bullets and suicide bombings—we’re still dealing with Bin Laden’s heinous legacy.

Who was Osama bin Laden?

He’ll be most remembered for perfecting mass murder as a tactic of terrorism. His devotees have used planes, trains, buses, bombs, bullets and beheadings to spread his message. The list of attacks and carnage attributed to his followers could easily fill this page; a list of his thousands of victims would fill many more.

Bin Laden is gone, but his legacy lives on. The week after his death, in London, “Hundreds of Osama bin Laden supporters clashed with English Defence League extremists today as a ‘funeral service’ for the assassinated terror leader sparked fury outside London’s US Embassy,” said the intro to one article. “Islam will dominate the world,” said the protesters’ signs.

In the Middle East, the Hamas prime minister of the Gaza Strip condemned Bin Laden’s killing, as did the Muslim Brotherhood, poised to gain great political clout in upcoming Egyptian elections. (And these are the people Western governments are pushing as “partners for peace” with Israel!)

Bin Laden is gone, but sadly, there will be others to fill his shoes. Another of his accomplishments was to essentially “franchise” his al-Qaeda terror operation by encouraging other to set up similar groups such as “al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia” (Iraq) and “al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula” (Saudi Arabia and Yemen). They are pledged to carry on his bloody work. How successful they will be remains to be seen. Bin Laden is gone, but the fight is far from over.

These events remind us that we worship another Man who was able to change the entire world.

Rather than a mass murderer, He is a mass life-giver.

Rather than one who spreads chaos and confusion, He spreads peace and perfection.

Rather than trafficking in terror, fear and hatred, He traffics in care, compassion and love.

He has already changed the world, but those changes are nothing compared to those He will yet bring! He will return to earth to establish a Kingdom of peace and righteousness, when the ultimate terrorist will be bound away for a thousand years, man will no more learn the ways of war and terror, and, as Micah 4:4 tells us, “no one shall make them afraid”!