The Oceangate Submersible
Not A Good Way To Die
As of today, hopes for the 5 passengers on the OceanGate submersible vehicle Titan are dim. The 5 explorers – each of whom paid $250K for their ride to the wreckage of the Titanic - lost contact with the outside world less than 2 hours into their adventure. They have not been seen or heard from since. The mini-sub, which was about the size of a minivan, had oxygen for 96 hours, and just a plastic bottle and some small bags for a toilet. Search crews have covered 7,600 square miles of the Atlantic — an area bigger than the state of Connecticut.
I feel sorry for these people and pray that they are saved and rescued alive. And whatever the outcome - I hope every one of them called on the Lord for their rescue.
But as of this moment, the 5 passengers are lost, suffering, terrified, hopeless, trapped, in the dark, unable to communicate, unlikely to be saved and unable to help or rescue themselves. And they know why they are there… That would be a horrible way to die.
As I read this awful story it reminded me of what hell might be like.
Jesus described hell as a place of “…outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 25:30) No one should want to go to a place like that.
Thinking about the plight of these 5 passengers, I recalled a Scripture, as follows:
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” — ROMANS 10:9-10
We all die, at some point, from some cause. No one gets out of here alive.
I believe that we will all spend eternity somewhere. Jesus Christ promised every person, you and I and everyone we know, a 100% guaranteed way into a place that is always pleasant, perfect, beautiful and at peace forever. Pain and fear don’t exist there. It’s called ‘heaven.’ I want to be there. And I believe.
One final note. I am not trying ‘to scare you into heaven’ as many fire and brimstone preachers have done. I hate that. This is a clear invitation from a loving, forgiving God to make a personal choice that can have very positive, pleasant and eternal consequences. Please choose rightly.
—Russ Minary 6/22/2023