Do you like a good mystery? Here is one that has been around since Christopher Columbus. It involves a 500,000 square foot region where many lives have been lost. Conspiracy theorists claim aliens, time warps, reverse gravity fields, and monsters. The area is infamously known as the Bermuda Triangle with boundaries going from Miami, Puerto Rico, and to Bermuda.
The Triangle “has been credited with the deaths and disappearances of over 8,000 lives since the mid-19th century.”1 “It is reported that at least 20 planes and 50 ships have gone missing in the Bermuda Triangle in the last 100 years. 1,000 people have died or disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle in the last 100 years.”2 While this sounds ominous, it has not stopped ships and planes from travelling through the region without incident.
As Columbus travelled through this area, he began to experience compass issues with erratic readings. In March 1918, the USS Cyclops sank, taking 300 men and 10,000 tons of manganese ore to the ocean floor. This happened without warning and no SOS distress call was made.
Then, on this day in 1945, “five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers comprising Flight 19 take off from the Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida on a routine three-hour training mission. After having completed their objective, Flight 19 was scheduled to take them due east for an additional 67 miles, then turn north for 73 miles, and back to the air station after that, totaling a distance of 120 miles. They never returned.
“Two hours after the flight began, the leader of the squadron, who had been flying in the area for more than six months, reported that his compass and backup compass had failed and that his position was unknown. The other planes experienced similar instrument malfunctions. Radio facilities on land were contacted to find the location of the lost squadron, but none were successful. After two more hours of confused messages from the fliers, a distorted radio transmission from the squadron leader was heard at 6:20 p.m., apparently calling for his men to prepare to ditch their aircraft simultaneously because of lack of fuel.
“By this time, several land radar stations finally determined that Flight 19 was somewhere north of the Bahamas and east of the Florida coast, and at 7:27 p.m. a search and rescue Mariner aircraft took off with a 13-man crew. Three minutes later, the Mariner aircraft radioed to its home base that its mission was underway. The Mariner was never heard from again. Later, there was a report from a tanker cruising off the coast of Florida of a visible explosion seen at 7:50 p.m.”3
The latest disaster in the Triangle occurred on October 1, 2015. The SS El Faro, with a crew of 33 aboard, went down, killing all. The wreckage was found at a depth of 15,000. No mystery was involved here. The ship sailed into Hurricane Joaquin.
Are there explanations? The boring answer blames nature and human fallibility. This has been the stance taken by people like Australian scientist Karl Kruszelnicki as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and Lloyd’s of London. A lot of people reject the boring for the sensational and would rather believe something extraterrestrial is happening.
There are numerous Biblical mysteries that have fascinated Bible students for the centuries. A Biblical mystery is simply a truth that has not yet been revealed. Consider a few for a moment.
1 Timothy 3:16 says, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” The incarnation of Jesus was – is – a great mystery. Virgins just don’t get pregnant and then claim that the “dad” is the Holy Spirit. Invisible God doesn’t just become visible and, yet, Immanuel means God with us. At the birth of Jesus, this mystery was solved and all people were required to do was believe the truth.
Another mystery is found in Ephesians 5:30-32. “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (31) For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. (32) This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” Marriage can be mysterious enough without adding the element of Christ’s relationship to the church. However, that is an invisible relationship that God wanted to make visible. He chose to use something as common as marriage to make that happen.
A great mystery that pertains to you and I is found in Ephesians 3:3-6. “How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, (4) Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) (5) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; (6) That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.” Gentiles are welcomed into the family of God just like a believing Jew. We are fellow heirs of all God’s promises.
Several other mysteries are mentioned in Scripture. The Lord isn’t trying to keep us in the dark, though. Careful study reveals the truths God has for us. The answers are logical based on the Word of God. All we must do is believe the obvious truth right before our eyes.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”
1https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/vanished-without-a-trace-inside-the-myths-and-mysteries-of-the-bermuda-triangle/articleshow/74309795.cms
2https://softschools.com/facts/geography/bermuda_triangle_facts/974/#google_vignette
3https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/aircraft-squadron-lost-in-the-bermuda-triangle
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