From the WSJ Opinion Archives
THE WESTERN FRONT
America's Sunday Best
First Flight 93, now the sniper: Bible teachers save the day.
Did God have a hand in the capture of the Washington sniper suspects?
For Ron Lantz, the 61 year-old truck driver who found the two men now charged with the string of murders, this is more than an academic question. He wasn't the only one to phone in finding the 1990 Caprice parked at a Maryland rest stop two weeks ago, but he takes it as a matter of faith that the Lord led him to that car.
Mr. Lantz offers us a simple but powerful story, one that reveals an underlying strength in American society that the media often neglect: Religious character matters. It's no coincidence that the best defenders of our domestic security are also turning out to be some of our most upstanding, moral citizens.
During the week he hauls cargo from Kentucky to Maryland. On the trip, he listens to talk radio. Like everyone else, he was horrified at the news of each sniper attack. On one recent trip he decided to do something about it. He got on the CB and announced he'd be leading a prayer service at a truck stop along his route. At least 50 truckers and as many as 200 others, in all manner of vehicles, heard the call and came to pray with him.
They prayed for the sniper victims, but before disbanding another prayer was added. They asked for God's help in catching the culprits.
The following Wednesday, Oct. 23, Mr. Lantz was called into work even though it was his day off. During the drive he heard a description of the snipers' car and the suspects on the news. It is rare for Mr. Lantz to be pulled over by the police. On this day, he was pulled over three times. Each time delayed a few minutes, as the cops double-checked his paperwork. He wasn't ticketed.
On his return trip, he pulled into a rest stop on Interstate 70 in Frederick County, Md., and immediately recognized the Chevy Caprice the police were looking for. Inside the car, John Allen Muhammad was sleeping. John Lee Malvo was resting on a park bench. Mr. Lantz quickly called 911 and then he used his rig to block the exit. He got on the CB and asked another trucker to block the entrance. Fifteen minutes later the area was swarming with cops. The police used a flash grenade to disorient the suspects before smashing the car windows and grabbing both men. All of this happened less than 30 miles from where Mr. Lantz had led his trucker prayer service.
Mr. Lantz is a humble man. But on the following Sunday parishioners at his church hailed him as a hero and, as his pastor describes it, he "gave testimony" of his experience. He begged off the hero treatment, saying he "only done what anyone would do."
What is less well known is that Beamer was also a Sunday school teacher. The prayer he said was much more than simply God help us. Although, in a pinch that would've sufficed. No, Beamer chose the prayer that Jesus gave us the words for, according the gospel of Matthew, the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen."
Perhaps there's a reason that again and again it is the Sunday school teachers who are helping deliver us from evil.
Mr. Miniter is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com. His column appears Mondays.
