A Great Ship Down
A little over a hundred years ago, on April 14, 1912, one of the greatest ships ever built sank to the bottom of the ocean. The Titanic was a huge mass of metal weighing over 46,000 tons. Now it was gone, along with over 1500 souls.It was her first and last voyage. It was considered to be practically unsinkable by the shipping industry. How wrong they were! They were presumptuous and proud.One of the saddest things, though, is how easily it could have been avoided. Iceberg alerts had come from other ships for 48 hours prior to the sinking of the Titanic.Dr. Greg Frizzell, in his book Iceberg Dead Ahead! begins with this story. As it turns out, another ship ahead of the Titanic and close to it gave specific warnings about ice in the shipping lanes.At 11 p.m. on April 14, the wireless operator on the Titanic was tired of hearing the warnings and finally replied back, “Shut up, shut up, I am busy!” At 11:40 the Titanic hit a giant iceberg, which was the beginning of the end.Just think what would have happened if the warnings had been heeded. In a similar way, could it be that America is much like the Titanic? Are we not full of pride and presumption? As a nation, don’t we think we are invincible? Unsinkable?Another great city and empire is described in Revelation 17–18. Consider these verses in chapter 18:
I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her. To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’ For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.”
What we sow, we reap. What if He were to say about us, “To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning”? How great would our torment, mourning, and destruction be?As a nation, we may very well be headed on a collision course, not with an iceberg but with the God of the universe. Are we like the wireless operator saying, “Shut up, shut up, I’m busy!”?We are a busy society. Christians are busy. Churches are busy. Are we so busy that we are missing the warnings around us that there is a collision (judgment) coming unless there is a turning of the ship (repentance)?OneCry exists to be at the forefront of sounding the alarm and helping to turn the rudder. Will you do your part?All of us are either part of the problem or part of the solution. None of us is neutral, and all of us are on the ship.We must humble ourselves, seek His face, pray, and turn from our wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14). Carry this message with you and share it with others.