As a kid raised in Buffalo one of the most exciting days of the year was the annual Westinghouse employee picnic....across the Peace Bridge into Canada....and on to Crystal Beach....with the Comet roller coaster....and all the games....and the water....and the cotton candy. The worst thing that ever happened was that my dad lost his hat and bit his tongue coming down the Comet's big drop.
The Western Electric Company had a similar employees picnic day. It was in 1915....and five steamers were contracted to take the thousands of people about 35 miles out of Chicago across Lake Michigan....but tragedy struck. Over two-thousand people loaded the first steamer....and the people....probably so that they could wave to those on the dock....crowded to one side....the steamer began to rock....and capsized.....with 844 lives lost....including dozens of whole families and many young children.
Twelve years later a tour boat left the Chicago dock....once again mostly women and children....and a sudden squall came up. The people crowded on one side to get out of the driving rain....and the tour boat capsized. Sixteen children....ten women....and one man drowned.
You may never of heard this....even if you are a World War II reader....but in December of 1944....three United States Navy destroyers capsized and sank....in a typhoon in the Philippine Sea. Admiral Halsey had received bad weather information and made an equally bad decision sending the task force into the center of the typhoon. Loss of life was 790. Some ships....low on fuel at this time....pumped sea water into the fuel tanks to keep from capsizing. Damage to the task force was extensive....with carrier planes sliding off the deck....and others ramming into the conning tower causing explosions.
From man taking flight....to transportation to medicine....to communication to splitting the atom.....to artificial intelligence....we have gained much but we seemed to have have lost the perspective on human life as our knowledge increased. The words to Daniel in chapter 12 verse 4 sum it all up best...."But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase."
Did you notice the word....until.....used here as a conjunction between the sealing of the book....and the time of the end. As 'knowledge' has overtaken us....and we generally have become blinded by our own perceived glory....so have veils been taken off God's prophetic word....to those who desire to see the return of our Lord Jesus Christ....to this world spinning out of control.
I spent most of today.....since waking up early this morning....dabbing my right eye....from a stye that developed overnight. I had a three hour conversation with a Christian friend and it was hard to concentrate. In our area we had a tornado watch and a severe thunderstorm warming this evening....but I had trouble even finding The Weather Channel....as I struggled to find the right buttons on the remote. Only within the past hour has my eye begun to clear up....and I've I been able to open my computer and type.
As I typed that last sentence....a Charles Spurgeon sermon that I recently recommended came to my mind....on the topic of being blinded to the things of God....and I find it a fitting way to conclude this post. You can easily listen to it by Googling....Spurgeon sermon YouTube....Blinded By Satan.
