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| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 1568 Registered: 9-2006  |
No instrument training, A few years back a male and female reporter rented a small plane at Sea Tac destined for a small town in western Washington. They had the training common to day pilots, with no instrument training for landing an aircraft in the dark, little did they know, that this trip would soon turn deadly. Things began to sour right off the bat, as someone had forgotten to turn on the emergency beacon in the plane, perhaps trusting the rental company; they failed to check it during preflight inspection. The desired destination has a mountain range that runs along side the Columbia River along the landing strip of the little air port. They left, estimated about 3:00 PM for the short flight, by the time they got to the town, the cloud cover was extremely low, the fog had moved in, and it was “soupy” clear to the ground. I remember hearing the plane as it came in from the direction of Seattle because it sounded very low as it circled overhead and then headed back toward Seattle in the late evening. It was almost dark and I settled in for T.V. and a snack. I soon forgot about the plane, although an inner alarm went off about the strangeness of plane coming so close, but not landing. I looked but could not see a plane and the sound was soon swallowed up in the low cloud cover. Being affiliated with the local S.A.R. unit (search and rescue) later that night I got a call to be ready, a plane was missing, The S.A.R unit looked for the plane for nearly three days and nights figuring they would have followed the I-5 corridor. I spent time on the search and it began to look bleak for the crew of that plane. After an extensive search, and getting desperate, the Sheriff called Ft. Lewis Army base for help. They sent down a crew of Army Rangers to assist in the search, and they found the plane on the side of the mountain, both passengers were dead. One had died of hypothermia not more than two miles from the I-5 freeway. If the emergency beacon had been turned on, we could have found them easily and quickly. If one of them had an instrument rating, they could have landed easily. But without the instrument training the pilot dared not come so low to that mountain, I am fond of calling nosebleed hill. Our Bible is our “instruments”, as we make the short flight through this place called earth, destined for another place. The terrain and visibility is sometimes treacherous, so we desperately need a good “grounding” in the word and the Holy Spirit is our “Beacon”. He gives out a continuous signal “This is the way, walk ye in it”, and always pointing to Jesus and His Word, our compass. With a combination of these, training in the word, and the Holy Spirit guiding us, we are equipped to make the flight. Although the clouds are lowering, the days foggy, and dangerous terrain on every side, we can safely navigate our way, trusting our instruments, Gods Word, and trusting the Holy Spirit who lives within. Not only that, we can rescue others who have no training. When the days get cloudy and uncertainty overtakes us, we must trust that Word, we can’t trust our senses. Many times we can’t tell which is up or down, and without the Word we become lost and confused if we listen to the voices in the world. There are so many voices telling us they have the solution, like theologians shouting great swelling words, some good and some not so good. The bible tells of itself in Timothy II 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, Timothy II 3:17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Our final trust must be in the word of God, it is our “instrument” and we are not left without comfort, the Holy Spirit never sleeps. Ephesians 4:14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, Today with our mass communications, the various doctrines blow across this land with hurricane force strong enough to blow one completely off course, and into the side of a mountain, were it not for our good “instrument” the Word that is the source of good doctrine. With our mass communications, fast moving modes of transportation and voices constantly demanding our attention, through cell phones, computers, T.V. signal lights, crowded streets and freeways it becomes even more important to spend time in Gods word. Always brushing up on our training, staying fit in season and out of season, and there’s not much “out of season” in our day and times. Adventism is in such a pickle, because it filters the Bible through the lenses of E.G White and the Adventist doctrine, when it should be, that they filter E.G White and the Adventist church doctrine, through the lenses of the Bible. They have chosen the senses of flesh and the doctrines of men as their “instrument” to guide them through the fog. When they reach their destination there will be great fear of the flight and uncertainty of a safe landing, I think their fear will be justified. What I suspect happened to that pilot was that he lost confidence in his altimeter, trying to “see” through the cloud cover. He should have used his altimeter to pull up, the minute he decided not to try to land and take a chance on hitting the mountain. He would have been in complete darkness by the time he got back to Sea Tac anyway and I believe he realized that so he panicked, letting worry take the helm. Someone told the story, on the forum of an old Adventist fella who wept so much at his looming death, just like that pilot, he knew there was no time left to go back and do it again later. Some kind of landing was eminent, he had made the flight. Can we trust the Word as an instrument for assurance? I have staked my life on it. We can live by it, but can we die by it? People stake their life on things they cannot prove, E.G White and others, mere humans. The Bible talks about a certain weeping and gnashing of teeth that will take place with many, I personally don’t want to go to my death bed with weeping and gnashing of teeth, I have seen it and I want no part in it. Will they weep and gnash their teeth on the other side of that landing strip we call a grave? I don’t know, that has to be left with God, as day by day I cling to that old rugged cross and Gods Word. River P.S. I just thought you all might enjoy this, I enjoyed writing it. It is for my November article and a little bit added for the Adventist. | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 4362 Registered: 3-2004  |
I understand very well what you wrote. I have over 60 hours of student flying and belonged to the Civil Air Patrol for a long time. My instrument is now the Bible only. Thanks River. Diana | ||
| Jorgfe Registered user Username: Jorgfe Post Number: 870 Registered: 11-2005 |
River, I can certainly relate to your story. I have in about 350 hours, about 60 of it night and instrument. No matter what, you always trust your instruments! The temperature-dew point spread can close up at dusk faster than you can say "jack sprat", and then everything suddenly turns to fog. I had that happen one time over Ocala, Florida, and I was so glad for the instrument training! Seems like the pilot would have landed on a road before he got himself in that kind of situation. You can always declare an emergency, and then land anywhere you deem safe. It seems also like even if he was VFR that he would have been in contact with "center", and they could have vectored him and given him the assistance he needed. Wow! The Bible is there for the asking. When we ignore it and start trusting anyone else we are lost. Gilbert | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 6918 Registered: 12-2003  |
River, what a great article. Thanks for sharing it! Colleen | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 1569 Registered: 9-2006 |
I must confess I have no pilot training whatsoever accept on a simulator, I do have experience in navigation both on the water and under water. What made me suspect the pilot panicked and failed to use the instruments he did know, altimeter, flight level indicator and so forth was from experience I have in zero visibility weather both on the water and under the water. We tend to want to head for the last place we felt safe in times of uncertainty which in his case was his home airport, he went flying back through the cloud cover at much the same altitude as he came in, perhaps he was following, he thought, the compass course that would take him back to Seattle. Perhaps if he had climbed up through the cloud cover he could then have figured out what to do rather than flying so low knowing there was a mountain there. This is pure conjecture on my part, I just connected it as a demonstration for how we sometimes fail in not trusting the Bible as it is written and not trusting the Holy Spirit to guide us. So if you see holes in this just remember the purpose of the story was not the accuracy of the pilots actions, it is a lead to try to find some truth in our own actions. I don’t doubt that some of you felt at times to flee back to Adventism where everything would seem normal, but like the pilot you have made the flight and there really is no turning back. The pilot would have found himself in the same predicament if he had returned to Seattle, only it would have been completely dark by that time. Isn’t that so like the Adventist who has made his flight out of Adventism if he turns back? Wouldn’t he be in complete darkness and confusion if he turned back? You tell me, like my story, I have no real experience in Adventism my only information is what has been revealed by the Holy Spirit and the Word. What would seem like home to a Adventist once he has made his flight into truth would no longer be home, you would only return to complete confusion as would that pilot having returned to Sea Tac only to look down and see a confusion of lights below, no safe landing there either. I have a feeling I am talking to somebody. If you have made the flight out of Adventism into truth, you may feel that you are flying in dangerous terrain, it may look “soupy”, you know there are dangerous mountains down there, but you also know there is an airport down there with a warm coffee room and a place to throw your feet up on the table and rest from all the uncertainty. Friend, you have to trust your “instruments”, the Bible. By trusting in his Word and His Word alone you will be able to throw your feet upon Gods table and bask in the warmth of his love and find rest from the uncertainty. Psalms 18:28 For You will light my lamp; The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. Psalms 18:29 For by You I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall. Psalms 18:30 As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. Look at Psalms 22:16 For dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; Psalms 22:17 I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. Psalms 22:18 They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots. This was written many years before Christ, it was foretold even to the detail of the casting of lots for his clothing. Have faith in his Word. River | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 1570 Registered: 9-2006 |
Remembering the last Kennedy accident, I was fascinated by the details given on the news, of the weather, time of day and so forth surrounding that accident. Having some experience in sailing and having observed accidents at sea and with aircraft, I have always been fascinated enough to follow the incidents that sometimes leads to the failure of the pilot or equipment failure or whatever. I suppose you might call it a morbid fascination, but having put to sea depending on the coastal weather reports I can tell you things can deteriorate unexpectedly and I have learned to learn off others mistakes rather than making them myself and I have made my share of misjudgments. Most times it is a series of things that add up to catastrophic failure and injury or death. So I set up the simulator with the same plane and the same conditions that Kennedy faced and I crashed; only I could walk away from a simulator. One time my brother and I put to sea in a sail boat I had built myself and we hit heavy weather, we were sailing along at full sail, the boat heeled sharply and my brother, having no experience at sailing kept ask me if I thought he should put on his wet suit, I was busy with the rudder and sails and I didn’t answer him, finally though I told him “yes, you’d better put on your wetsuit” even though I knew that he couldn’t possible swim to shore that many miles out, but it calmed him and kept him off my back. About 30 minutes later one of the chain plates let go with the sound of a shotgun and I found myself with a scared passenger and a mast under full sail with only three stays and me fighting to get that mess under control, when I tried to bring down the main sail, it would not come down, it was in a bind somewhere, so I lashed the mast as high as I could to a cleat and we limped back with a mast not quite straight and a scared brother. The thing that led up to that incident was that I bolted the chain plate to the deck, trusting that the deck would hold the chain plates. What I should have done was bolted the chain plates through the hull, although I followed the plans of the marine designer whom I trusted, I should have caught the mistake and corrected it when the boat was being built, I knew better and he knew better. We both knew that those stays are under tremendous pressure under full sail in a high wind and heavy seas where every seam of a boat begins to moan and groan. You never ever build a boat with shore weather in mind because out there things can come apart in a hurry and bring disaster. I guess I said all that to say this, you’d better not be depending entirely on theologians, or churches or book authors, there is just too much at stake. It just never fails to amaze me that millions are going on the word of an old dead crazy woman on how they eat, act and worship. Like my boat, I trusted the marine designer who was sitting there on a drawing board not to make a mistake and he made one. I knew better, I knew to check his work according to known principles of future pressures on that craft. We have the Bible and the principals are solid and where that is concerned I don’t even trust my own mother. I don’t like that song “What was good enough for father is good enough for me” I have a problem with that. What I think about Adventist is that it would be terrible to find out you didn’t really know Jesus and he really didn’t know you. You run the entire basis only to find home plate wasn’t where you thought it was! You try to land only to find out there’s nothing but a mountain there! Guys and gals I know I say too much, but there is such a sense of urgency to encourage you to get grounded in the Word. River | ||
| Jorgfe Registered user Username: Jorgfe Post Number: 872 Registered: 11-2005 |
River, Something that is really striking about this story is the apparent lack of radio communication for guidance. There is a definite spiritual anology here. For example, I was flying down the eastern seacoast one night from South Carolina to Florida -- basically the I-95 corridor. Even though I was VFR (Visual Flight Rules) I was in frequent contact with FAA radio control for the region I was flying over, eg "Atlanta Radio, this is N49945" when I entered their airspace. They would keep me informed of traffic, and always had me on their radar. They knew my airspeed, altitude and transponder ID. If I was in trouble, or just wanted the weather somewhere, a click of the mic put a live person on the other end. It was so reassuring. As we moved from coverage area to overlapping coverage area we would get transferred to the next controller on a new frequency, and continue the process. Help was always only a mic click away. And then, of course, there are the VORs and now GPS to help us know right where we are. The new glass panel displays even display ascrolling map with all the nearby airports, weather overlays, etc. People who try to fly on their own without being tuned into God are doomed to failure. Gilbert Jorgensen | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 1571 Registered: 9-2006 |
Amen Gilbert! | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 6919 Registered: 12-2003 |
River, what you have written is profound. I agree with you; all of us who have left have a big cavern in our—I'm not sure what: minds? hearts? foundations?—left by yanking out EGW and the Adventist authority. We not only realize that we ourselves aren't sure what is real, but further, we distrust pretty much everyone because we used to believe others so implicitly, and they deceived us. We look for someone respected, authoritative, educated, learned, experienced--whtaever, to validate what we are learning. It is very easy to begin to rely on writers and thinkers to validate our own conclusions instead of personally grappling with the Bible ourselves—even regarding subjects we struggle with. Gilbert is right: even reading the Bible without submission to the leading of the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit can lead us astray. The two things are inseparable: surrender of our own paradigms and submission to God's teaching, and commitment to hearing God speak to us through His word. They can't be teased apart. At first it's scary to realize that we stand alone before God, fully answerable to Him with no external props or support, and we want validation that we are "on track". But Jesus has given us the security to be able to deal with Him directly. As Richard said to his dad a couple of weeks ago, "You will stand one day before the Lord Jesus alone. You won't have Mom to answer for you. You have to answer for yourself. You have to study for yourself. You have to know what you believe yourself." Colleen |
