A Voice in the
Wilderness
The following came as a forward via e-mail:
This is the script of an actual radio conversation of a U.S. naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland, October 1995. In the moonless, pitch-black night, the American Captain sees a light ahead and radios a message...
Americans:
Please divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a
collision.
Canadians:
Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the south to
avoid a collision.
Americans:
This is the captain of a U.S. Navy ship - I say again, divert
YOUR course.
Canadians:
No, I say again, you divert your course.
Americans:
THIS IS THE BATTLESHIP USS MISSOURI THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP
IN THE UNITED STATES ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE
DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT
YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, THAT'S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH,
OR COUNTER MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS
SHIP!!
Canadians:
This is a lighthouse. Your call.
While I burst out laughing at the end of this, I was immediately reminded of the words of the psalmist, "Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying 'Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.'"(Ps2:1-3)
Whether or not this may be a true account (isn't the "Missouri" in mothballs since WW2?); Proud America would play "Don Quixote" against a lighthouse. And yet, this is the very thing the world does against God. God's Word is not sure. It's open to interpretation. My "own" situations dictate how I will read the Scriptures. And if I don't like what I see, I will simply change it, and call it a new translation. My own "version." Make God into what suits my personal fancy.
But God says, "..I am the LORD, I do not change.."(Mal3:6) While the world in pride pretends to be their own little gods, running around making their own rules, and demanding that the Most High cater to their whims, they are on a headlong course towards destruction...as God says, "I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, And against those who turn away an alien; Because they do not fear Me," Says the LORD of hosts." (vs5)
As, I'm sure, the Canadians probably would have had a good laugh about the "mighty US navy", "He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision."(Ps2:4) The Canadians were on solid "immovable" ground.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up (James:4:10)! If we are on the Lord's side, doing His commands, we are situated on a rock (Mt7:24) and we can then be as Paul exhorted, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1Co15:58)
