When I saw the 2022 footage of the accident between a P-63 Kingcobra and a B-17 Flying Fortress at a vintage military aircraft show in Texas, I was filled with many troubled emotions which led to a long process of searching for its meaning to me.
While I did not serve on a military aircraft, much less a legendary bomber like a B-17, like most in my American baby boom generation, I grew up with a strong exposure of WWII and military history. Armed with those memories and knowing how important the memorials are to who we often refer to as the Greatest Generation (many of who were our parents), I began to piece together, like the broken pieces of the once great aircraft, the spiritual meaning to a born-again Christian, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I was deeply saddened by the loss of life and dreams, of the last good byes and the ones that were never said.
The practical side told me, despite the practice and discipline involved in aerial performances, accidents like this one, are within the realm of possibility in our imperfect world.
Moreso, I would venture to believe that everyone who died that day would agree. Planes like the B-17 are paradoxically a beautiful aircraft. They are long and slender, are powered by four powerful engines and have a character of grace on the ground and in the air. We identify with them, and yet they are an instrument of death and destruction wreaking havoc with people who we now call friends but who were once our arch enemies.
These war machines are part of our shared history and culture. They are a substantial symbol of America’s industrialization and victory at war and a memorial to the many aircrew members who fought and died during WWII. They are as much of an instrument of war, death and destruction, as they are the bosom that held the crews who served in them.
It’s no simple task to keep planes like these flightworthy and thousands of hours of enthusiasts’ contributions, care, and skillful attention goes onto keeping them “alive”.
Yet, in a moment, in one terrible and shocking moment, two planes came crashing down in a flaming ruin. Symbolic of the non-eternal nature of most of our work, if not worship, become ashes before our eyes in a Biblically prophetic glimpse of the death of all material and worldly things.
Idols challenge the spot meant for God
I’ve written about idolatry before, but I believe it’s useful to continue the drum beat in effort to raise the awareness for Christians and non-Christians alike. It’s one of our greatest obstacles and attacking it from different angles should be useful.
This reality of idol worship is something that for me, took on many influential forms and hard to recognize before I surrendered to Christ. My former passionate desire and emotional turmoil experienced to preserve the submarine I served on remains a good example. The turmoil is something I dubbed Submarine Decommissioning Syndrome. The loss of something like the B-17 stands as a reminder that what we can deeply idolize objects we can see that we have attached great personal value.
The Bible is explicit in its instructions to seek things that have eternal value, things that cannot be destroyed, stolen or rot. For example:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” – Matthew 6:19-20.
It can be good rule to go by for a minimalist life style, but the human reality is that what one treasures is where ones heart and allegiances are. An earthly treasure can become part of ones self-identity whereas ones core identity should be held by God. As a follower in Christ, the emphasis must be on developing a desire to achieve goals that are God inspired and have eternal value.
In order to know what God wants, you need to understand who God is and that comes substantially and primarily from the Biblical perspective. The Bible, which contains the Old and New Testaments, is God’s revelation of who He is and the Gospels, Matthew, Mark Luke and John, are based on eye-witness accounts of Jesus Christ’s ministry, redeeming work and death, followed by His life-giving Resurrection.
More warnings on idols
When the invisible God communicated the moral ground rules for His chosen people, He specified unique laws that are in synch with His unchanging character. The fulfillment of the Old Testament was revealed through God’s Son, Jesus Christ, the focus of the New Testament. The moral law remains unchanging and serves as a guide for repentant behavior for believers in Christ.
It is possible to be involved actively supporting material projects and still be a follower of Christ, though one strives to avoid placing all worldly things, the material objects, and even our personal relationships, above God and the desires of God. When the object, persons, institutions, companies, governments, or philosophies, become a consuming fire greater than God Himself, they become objects of idol worship.
This does not mean you are to ignore things of the world if they are deemed important, most of us deal with that every day to varying degrees, but putting God first, aside from being a Commandment, helps put priorities in essential order.
Idol-able keepsakes to paganism
While the Bible doesn’t explicitly explain this, it is apparent to me one of several reasons why Jesus lived on earth during a time when He did: He lived when there could be no photos taken or that there are any art objects that can be directly attributed to the true likeness of Jesus. If there were, people would start worshipping it when the true glory must go directly to God who is invisible to us.
To further the point, while not an idol as per the 2nd Commandment, the paradoxical symbol of the Cross should characterize the transformation of our hearts more so than an object worn on our collars or on a necklace. There are plenty of people who wear a crucifix and have not any idea what being a faithful believer in Christ means.
God gave several instructions through Moses and the Prophets to destroy all the idols used to worship because it is a sin, it is against God’s moral law, not just some sundry ordinance. This moral law against the worship of objects was so important, God ordered it as the 2nd of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:4). He did gave the Ten Commandments twice actually, because Moses destroyed the first stone tablets in a fit of rage as a result of the Hebrews choosing to worship a golden calf idol at the base of Mount Sinai.
At best, idol worship misappropriates the direction of worship, because it is God Himself who is deserving of our worship and of all glory. At worst, the worship of idols can lead to paganism – not only distracting the focus of the worshipper but ultimately, as illustrated by over thousand years of Israel’s history of the rise and fall of kingdoms, will lead astray people and even entire nations to the point where God’s judgment can no longer be avoided.
One of the classic destructions of idols was the serpent pole that Moses, by God’s instruction, created and raised up (during the time of the Exodus) so that the people, by looking at it, could be saved from a fatal disease that was spreading through the desert camp (NUMBERS 21:7-9). It was the very same serpent pole that King Hezekiah had to destroy about 700 years later because the people had given it a name and were worshipping it, among other many other pagan things, instead of the living God (2 KINGS 18:4).
Nowadays? Destroy a 700 year old Biblical artifact? Are you kidding? That in itself would start a new religion or, otherwise, the Judas Iscariots would be auctioning it for millions of dollars on the modern ritual site called EBay.
If you treat the Bible with its historical narratives, poetry, or prophetic visions as instructive and revealing the nature of God, you may find, like I did, that it is often straightforward and the warnings quite direct.
Who or what reigns in your life?
I exhort you not to wait until the day that comes like a thief in the night or the plane that comes crashing down to earth in a fiery mass of destruction to find out for yourself who Jesus Christ is, what He claimed and what He means for you.
For a detailed explanation of who Jesus Christ is from the Bible’s perspective go to the video in this website , “Who is Jesus Christ?”
For a review of the Ten Commandments: https://www.challenyee.com/the-ten-commandments/
CKY
typos and all, I do not use AI
Image source: B-17 and P-63 collision: Cleveland.com via google images
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