Voice of the Kingfisher speaks out …from a different perspective
by Elinor Montgomery
Titanic
July 04, 2011
Last night, as I gazed up at the stars on a moonless night, I reflected upon the movie film, Titanic, which I had just finished watching for, perhaps, the fourth time. I looked at the silky-smooth water outside my window, on the surface of the lake, and pondered the fact that they were the same stars shining in the same universe over the same waters, which had shone so brightly over the ocean and over the Titanic, the night she went down. There were the depths in front of me, though not as deep as those into which the ship descended and disappeared forever, to claim the great ship Titanic, as she broke into two pieces and plunged to her watery grave.
The film created a myth around the event, which focused on a triangular love story including the romance between Jack Dawson and Rose DeWitt Bukater, with the third party of the triangle being Caledon Hockley. He was a man who loved himself and his riches more than anyone or anything, which included an amazing piece of jewelry constructed around an enormously expensive blue diamond called the Heart of the Ocean. It was a gift purchased by the very rich Cal for his intended bride, Rose.
The theme of the powerful love story overshadows her planned, upcoming wedding to the pompous Cal, which has been clouded for Rose by his preoccupation with wealth, society and the enforced submission of this free-spirited woman to that of a controlling man. The whole scenario had suddenly become what appeared to be a death-trap for her. She had obviously been a partner to this arrangement at one time, but now was beginning to have doubts about her future. How she could ever remain in such a situation when there was an entirely different life beckoning her out there beyond these restrictions, one that she had come to believe she was missing!
It is at this point, when she is becoming suicidal, that Jack Dawson, a free-spirited kind of amateur psycho-analyst comes into her life. He has gambled his way into winning the tickets that allow him and his friend passage on this monstrous iron leviathan, which was a disaster waiting to happen, but one that did not need to take place. It was all about thinking with the ego instead of the heart. Above all, it was the arrogance of man, which dared to say that even God could not sink this massive ship. Such foolishness it is, which causes man to look to the creation for strength, instead of to the Creator.
I next began to wonder about the iron ship, Titanic, departing from land for the open sea on April 10, 1912, and whether or not this world would be departing for the separated seawaters of creation, one hundred years later. Would it take this amount of time, from the sinking of the Titanic on the morning of April 15, 1912, until 2012 for man to completely forsake God and His truth, in order to worship only Satan, the Antichrist, in place of God? Satan is about to establish his iron, world-wide Roman Empire on a foundation of religion and liberalism from God, all of which began in the Garden of Eden, when his rule in this world was established with the rebellion of Adam and Eve.
The economic system, devised to benefit a very small group of very rich men, was pictured on board the ship, pointing to the control of a very few men of wealth, ultimately taking control over the world’s masses in a form of the old Communist-style regime. Like Cal, who had a demonic look to him, Satan’s aim is to control mankind and bind it every bit as much as Rose was bound by the tight corset she wore and the traditional restriction of the very rich society into which she had been laced so very tightly.
As compelling and luring as the piece of jewelry called the Heart of the Ocean was, her own heart within her had responded to the incredible offer from Jack to be free of it. The heart within her cried out for freedom from the restrictions of her society, knowing that it was not money, which Jack could offer her in the way that Cal could offer it. Jack had a love for her that could set her free of her world, which was about to go down as quickly and as easily as the Titanic had slipped away into the depths of an ice-cold hell.
Did this ship not have smoke-stack funnels that stood out against the starry night like the pillars of a religious temple built by man? They reminded me of the pillars, which God allowed Samson, His elected judge of Israel, to bring down in the strength of His Spirit, bringing destruction to all who were worshiping and cavorting with pagan gods, within the pagan temple.
Temples, like the great ship, Titanic, had been constructed with masses of untold riches enjoyed by a few at the cost of the givers. They were generally poor because of taxation, the funds from which were also used to support a priesthood in its rich life style, to only further bind their lives in poverty. The gates to freedom on the Titanic were locked for the poorer, lower classes, which, like Jack, did not come from the families of America with whom John Jacob Astor was familiar – he, being the richest man of all, on board ship.
This was a ship designed to give the appearance of a first-class hotel for the privileged, to deceive them into believing that they were not out cruising on the seawaters of the world along with the dregs of society. It is amazing how wealth can be so deceiving. A ship made of iron most certainly would sink if the conditions were right, and they had been made right when man rejected the power of his Creator over His creation. The evil spirits of the leviathan of the sea, that serpent of old called Satan, can cut his way right through iron – and never underestimate his power for destruction.
The entire twentieth century has been a time in which man speeded up the race toward the disaster of the up-coming Revived Roman Empire, which the prophet Daniel saw some 2500-plus years ago as being made of a combination of iron and clay. This was to suggest it would be made up of nations having many different roots and values, coming together in a union very vulnerable, indeed, to the solid Rock of Jesus. He will ultimately come against it and shatter it to pieces before sending the entire iron mass and the rivets holding it together to the bottom of the sea where it belongs.
Jack’s relationship to Rose is like that of Jesus to His bride, the church. She begins to see the world, full of pride, where the very rich men gather together in a small controlling group, congratulating each other on being masters of their own universe, after having eaten of the finest foods and dressed in the finest clothes available. Jack opened to her the passion for a life in freedom from such captivity, which he attained without having any of the riches of this world. Is the Heart of the Ocean, representing these riches encompassed in a lifeless, cold stone, worth the warmth and passionate love of the heart of Jesus, promising man a future in love with Him, throughout eternity? The sinking of this giant Titan of a ship, rightly named for false gods, is portrayed in stark contrast to the passionate love story on board.
When some were safely ensconced in the lifeboats, one cannot begin to imagine the unspeakable horror they felt, while still so close to the sinking ship, as they watched the humongous propellers rise up out of the sea and then disappear. These were the same propellers, which were driving the ship to her destiny, while the rich and the proud were enjoying all of its luxuries, so unaware of the dangers and lack of preparation made for their safety with respect to the disaster that was about to happen.
Once in the lifeboats, they would scarcely be able to breathe at the realization of the enormity of that which drove them toward the disaster. In his own words, the director of the film, James Cameron, described the monstrous impact of the sinking stern as being the result of “God’s boot heel”. How could one direct such a film and not become aware of the presence of God in such an event?
The sinking of the Titanic was a disaster that never needed to happen; for God, not man, provides the lifeboat of salvation for all, along with the light in the darkness, which reveals the pitfalls of the beast. He has written a guide Book to steer us through the dangerous waters, which always lead to death, so why, like the captain of the ship, would we speed up the boat of life and refuse to listen to the warning signs, while disregarding the Book?
Did Jesus not say that He, and not man, is the Light of the world? It is the sheer arrogance of man that causes him to love the control of the heart of stone more than he loves the heart of God. To say He has no power to sink man in his foolishness is to look for the strike of His ‘boot heel’ to the head (see Genesis 3:15).
Perhaps the saddest scene of all is the one where we see Rose, supported by a tiny piece of the ship’s elaborate structure, which the world had loved before the disaster, clinging to the hand of the one she passionately loved, whom society had rejected. She sees nothing but disaster in the silence that surrounded her, as the frozen bodies floated by in their lifeless state (see Revelation 8:1).
Yes, Jack saved her, but died himself in order to do so. The world lost the presence of Jesus at Creation when the first man and woman looked at the life, which God had given them, without an iron empire of religion in it, and responded to the gift with the words “Thanks, but no thanks!” They chose the deadly, sinking iron empire, destined to go down in the seawater of Satan instead of having the joy, the peace and the love that come from the spiritual living water of God.
Slightly short of 100 years later, Rose found herself at the stern of another boat with the Heart of the Ocean, worth about 30 million dollars in its day, now held in her hand. She had a choice facing her as to what gave meaning to her life and what it was that she would choose to embrace. With memories of the great love of her life that had never left her, she lets go of the hard, cold, priceless blue diamond to see it disappear in the seawaters, gone from her life forever, into the depths where it belonged. As Jack requested, she never let go of his hand spiritually to embrace the Heart of the Ocean.
A woman, destined to marry the world, chose, instead, her Beloved who saved her, giving to her a heart passionate for the heart of the God of truth and love. Is this not the kingly heart of David, the possessor of the kingdom, who had a heart that panted after the heart of God? This was a bride who had chosen the greatest lover of them all, who, like Jack, would raise her arms to the wind in total abandonment and liberty. She would be able to say in all truth, “I am the bride of the King of the world.”