Unsinkable:
A contentious spirit is a sign of immaturity.
Unsinkable:
The name Frederick Fleet is a name from history’s past that most people have forgotten, or never heard of.
He was the deck-hand on the Titanic, who was in the crow’s nest on the fateful night of April 14, 1912. Fleet had filled out a request before the ships departure for a pair of binoculars to be used by the lookouts during the ship’s premiere crossing of the Atlantic.
Amazingly, the request was denied as a “frivolous and unnecessary expense.” After all, the ship had been deemed “unsinkable” by its builders, and the crew from the captain to the lowliest hand in the boiler rooms all conducted themselves as through this were true. The captain himself ignored multiple warning of other ships preceding the Titanic that there were icebergs all along the north Atlantic route, because he desired to break the world record for a trans-Atlantic voyage.
The ship was a marvel of modern engineering as she left Southampton, England the pride and promise of a new age of luxury and speed. Her staterooms, restaurants and ballrooms were unrivaled by any other liner. Her decks were wide and airy because she only carried 20 lifeboats rather than the usual 48 – because after all; she was unsinkable! The opulence of her detailed finery in lounges and stairways, her paneled and decorative passageways, rivaled the great palaces and cathedrals of the world. She displayed the best of the arts, an extensive library of the greatest of works by the world’s best authors. Stunning furnishings, themselves works of art were the norm. Her bathrooms had all the latest amenities, including fixtures of gold. Surely she was a sight to behold.
On the third day of the voyage, along about 11:40 P.M. Frederick Fleet was perched in the crow’s nest. He peered through the darkness and fog and saw a giant white mass dead ahead. He quickly sounded the alarm and passed the word “Iceberg dead ahead!”
Down in the ship’s library sat a never used book entitled Futility by Morgan Robertson. It was a fictional work about a ship called the Titan which struck a large iceberg and sank with a huge number of casualties lost to the icy waters.
The First Mate ordered the ship’s speed cut and ordered the wheel to be turned hard over to port. Thirty seven seconds later there was a rumble down the starboard side of the ship. A gash of just twelve square feet punctured the ship’s hull.
"That which can be shaken, will be shaken..."
At 2:20 A.M. on Sunday April 15, 1912 the unsinkable marvel of the seas, slowly slipped beneath the surface.
Lookout Frederick Fleet was ironically one of the survivors. He contended until his death that the ship would never have been lost had he been granted the request for a pair of binoculars that cost only $50.
In the midst of all the opulent expenditures made because of their pride and arrogance all was lost and many died, due to the lack of a simple pair of binoculars.
For many years now contemporary prophets have been predicting the collapse of the American economy. I recall reading an article by Rick Joyner (author of There Were Two Trees in the Garden – one of my favorite books) called the Titanic and the Stock Market. It was written in 1987 (the very year that the wreck of the Titanic was discovered). This article was a prophetic warning of the collapse of the American economy in which we are currently experiencing. It (the financial collapse) is a result of our own arrogance, pride and self-centeredness. We as a nation have continued to turn our back to God and do it “our way!”
The result is a nation and a church that has failed for the most part to embrace its inheritance in Christ, to seek position, power and property. It has become more about numbers and the size of our sanctuaries than about reaching out to save, deliver and heal the needy around us. Much of the church has become an imitator of the business world, rather than a transforming influence in it.
This is not about God’s wrath, but about our ignorance to stay under His protective arm. God is a God of love and compassion. He continually calls us back to himself, even when we have been blatantly rebellious. His desire is that we humble ourselves and repent of our own selfishness and ignorance of His statutes and commands. If we as a nation were to do so, God will bring healing to our land and abundant blessing again.
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV
30fkj
A contentious spirit is a sign of immaturity.
Unsinkable:
The name Frederick Fleet is a name from history’s past that most people have forgotten, or never heard of.
He was the deck-hand on the Titanic, who was in the crow’s nest on the fateful night of April 14, 1912. Fleet had filled out a request before the ships departure for a pair of binoculars to be used by the lookouts during the ship’s premiere crossing of the Atlantic.
Amazingly, the request was denied as a “frivolous and unnecessary expense.” After all, the ship had been deemed “unsinkable” by its builders, and the crew from the captain to the lowliest hand in the boiler rooms all conducted themselves as through this were true. The captain himself ignored multiple warning of other ships preceding the Titanic that there were icebergs all along the north Atlantic route, because he desired to break the world record for a trans-Atlantic voyage.
The ship was a marvel of modern engineering as she left Southampton, England the pride and promise of a new age of luxury and speed. Her staterooms, restaurants and ballrooms were unrivaled by any other liner. Her decks were wide and airy because she only carried 20 lifeboats rather than the usual 48 – because after all; she was unsinkable! The opulence of her detailed finery in lounges and stairways, her paneled and decorative passageways, rivaled the great palaces and cathedrals of the world. She displayed the best of the arts, an extensive library of the greatest of works by the world’s best authors. Stunning furnishings, themselves works of art were the norm. Her bathrooms had all the latest amenities, including fixtures of gold. Surely she was a sight to behold.
On the third day of the voyage, along about 11:40 P.M. Frederick Fleet was perched in the crow’s nest. He peered through the darkness and fog and saw a giant white mass dead ahead. He quickly sounded the alarm and passed the word “Iceberg dead ahead!”
Down in the ship’s library sat a never used book entitled Futility by Morgan Robertson. It was a fictional work about a ship called the Titan which struck a large iceberg and sank with a huge number of casualties lost to the icy waters.
The First Mate ordered the ship’s speed cut and ordered the wheel to be turned hard over to port. Thirty seven seconds later there was a rumble down the starboard side of the ship. A gash of just twelve square feet punctured the ship’s hull.
"That which can be shaken, will be shaken..."
At 2:20 A.M. on Sunday April 15, 1912 the unsinkable marvel of the seas, slowly slipped beneath the surface.
Lookout Frederick Fleet was ironically one of the survivors. He contended until his death that the ship would never have been lost had he been granted the request for a pair of binoculars that cost only $50.
In the midst of all the opulent expenditures made because of their pride and arrogance all was lost and many died, due to the lack of a simple pair of binoculars.
For many years now contemporary prophets have been predicting the collapse of the American economy. I recall reading an article by Rick Joyner (author of There Were Two Trees in the Garden – one of my favorite books) called the Titanic and the Stock Market. It was written in 1987 (the very year that the wreck of the Titanic was discovered). This article was a prophetic warning of the collapse of the American economy in which we are currently experiencing. It (the financial collapse) is a result of our own arrogance, pride and self-centeredness. We as a nation have continued to turn our back to God and do it “our way!”
The result is a nation and a church that has failed for the most part to embrace its inheritance in Christ, to seek position, power and property. It has become more about numbers and the size of our sanctuaries than about reaching out to save, deliver and heal the needy around us. Much of the church has become an imitator of the business world, rather than a transforming influence in it.
This is not about God’s wrath, but about our ignorance to stay under His protective arm. God is a God of love and compassion. He continually calls us back to himself, even when we have been blatantly rebellious. His desire is that we humble ourselves and repent of our own selfishness and ignorance of His statutes and commands. If we as a nation were to do so, God will bring healing to our land and abundant blessing again.
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV
30fkj
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