Volume 27, Issue 1
WisconsinChristianNews.com
Page 5
Perspectives Opinions • Commentary • Letters Lessons To Learn From the Titanic
By Jerry Newcombe April 2026 Here’s a trivia question…Who christened the Titanic? I’ll answer that question later.
into a night of horror.
So, who was it that christened the Titanic? No one. It was never christened. It didn’t need to be. After all, it was unsinkable.
I gleaned the following facts from Butler’s book. Be- cause the Titanic was viewed as unsinkable...
The father of our nation, George Washington, wrote his Circular to the States letter on June 8, 1783, in which he prays that Americans would practice the humility of Jesus — “the Divine Author of our blessed Religion.” And he adds that if we don’t humbly imitate Him, “we can never hope to be a happy Na- tion.”
Interest in the Titanic never seems to abate. My wife and I got to visit an interactive, high-tech ex- hibit on the Titanic, which included a few artifacts brought up from the bottom of the sea, such as Captain Smith’s binoculars. The website for the exhibit notes: “Titanic: An Immersive Voyage in Florida is an extraordinary expedi- tion that takes you deep into the history of the Titanic. Immersive video animations, and 3D projec- tions allow you to experience what it was like to be a passenger aboard the ship, while discovering one of the most famous tragedies in his- tory.” April 10, 1912 began the maiden, and only, voyage of the Titanic. The steamship was 885 feet long, and it
We would do well to learn the les- sons from the Titanic.
In a funeral service around the time of its sinking, the Bishop of Winchester said, “The Titanic, name and thing, will stand for a monument and warning to human presumption.” That message is still relevant, a century later.
Jerry Newcombe , D.Min., is the executive di- rector of the Providence Forum, an outreach of Coral Ridge Ministries. He has written/co-written 33 books, including George Washington’s Sacred Fire (with Providence Forum founder Peter Lillback, Ph.D.) and What If Jesus Had Never Been Born? (with D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.).
• The crew didn’t bother to make sure they had look- out glasses, i.e., binoculars, on-board. (They were ac- tually there, it turns out, but locked up and stashed away, unknown to the present crew because of a last- minute change in personnel.)
was more than ten stories tall. As of that time, it had been described as “the largest moving man-made ob- ject in the world” and a “floating palace.” On its maiden voyage, this huge steamship was going from Southampton, England to New York City, when late in the night of the 14th, it collided with an iceberg about 400 miles from Newfoundland and sank within three hours. There were 2,207 people on board, and about 1,500 perished, including the millionaire John Jacob Astor. The lifeboats were for women and children first. Daniel Allen Butler wrote a classic book I highly rec- ommend, entitled “Unsinkable” (Stackpole Books, 1998). In the Preface, he wrote, “No other disaster in history could have been more easily avoided or was more inevitable…a once-in-a-lifetime combination of weather and sea conditions came together to make the iceberg nearly invisible to the ship’s lookouts.” The Greeks had their ancient plays where the flawed hero ended up in tragedy because of his hubris — his arrogance. And when you look at many of the facts surrounding the sinking of the Titanic, you find mul- tiple examples of pride, in the worst sense of the word. The Titanic is indeed a reminder of that ancient prin- ciple from Solomon the Wise: “Pride goes before de- struction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” One error compounded on another….but each was predicated on the assumption that the ship was unsinkable. Before the voyage, one woman, a Mrs. Albert Cald- well, watched “a group of deck hands carrying luggage aboard the Titanic. Impulsively, she stopped one of the men and asked him, ‘Is this ship really nonsinkable?’ ‘Yes, lady,’ he replied, ‘God Himself couldn’t sink this ship.’” (Butler, Unsinkable, p. 39).
• They should have gone through a practice drill in case of emergencies, but they didn’t. • They should have had far more lifeboats, one space for each passenger. Instead, as was the custom of the day (which was changed after the sinking of the Titanic), they used an elaborate mathemat- ical formula to derive a much smaller number of lifeboats. • They were going at the fastest speed of the voyage at the time of the brush with the iceberg (22 1/2 knots). The captain was trying to make the trip in record time. • They should have heeded the six wireless messages from different ships warning them about the ice-fields. The last one, at 11 PM (about a half hour before the accident), came from the Californian ship: “Say, old man, we are surrounded by ice and stopped.” To that message, the Titanic’s radio operator responded, “Shut up! Shut up! I am busy.” In retrospect, what made him so busy — compared to 1,500 human lives lost that night?
Wayne Wiedeman An Independent Candidate For Wisconsin Governor
Retired for four years after working a variety of jobs, including as a business owner for several years. Widowed for more than four years after being married for over 38 years. One son who lives in Central Wisconsin. Most importantly, a fol- lower of Jesus Christ for 55 years.
Sanctity of life The first duty of the law is to pre- vent the shedding of innocent blood. The sanctity and protection of innocent human life from fertil- ization to natural death is the highest priority. Education It is my conviction that the state of Wisconsin government should be phased out of the education system, elementary, secondary, universities and technical col- leges. Crime Only criminals that are a danger to society should be in prisons. All other crimes can be handled with restitution to society and to the victims. Wisconsin needs the death penalty as a deterrent. Gun ownership I support the right of the individual to own and bear unregistered arms. Taxes I believe Wisconsin should phase out property and income taxes. Voting Immediate elimination of elec-
tronic voting. Paper ballots in per- son only, except for the usual very restrictive exceptions. Exam- ple: military personnel overseas. Land ownership Federal lands returned to Wis- consin ownership. Then in the course of time, State lands handed over to the counties to best decide how to use their re- source. Size of government All Wisconsin government needs to be analyzed to see what changes need to be made. We wouldn’t need so much taxation if our Wisconsin government was smaller and more lean. By freeing the people of Wisconsin to be more prosperous and making our state safer and one of the clean- est. We would become a beacon of what a great state we are and even more so in the future. Welfare We should be handing out wel- fare benefits much lower than all our neighboring states. We do not want to be a magnet for peo- ple who are willing to move here
to get more aid. Able bodied men and women should be phased out of benefits. Minerals One way to help offset lower taxes is to pursue our mineral wealth. Wisconsin has been very effective at much hardship on those trying to tap into our abun- dant resources. Republicans/Democrats As an independent, I am not against the Republican and Dem- ocratic people. The leadership, however, has played “good cop, bad cop” long enough. Both par- ties are leading our state in the wrong direction. DNR The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources should be changed into a law enforcement agency only. No state parks or other state land. Contact Questions? Please email or mail us a letter. If you would like to do- nate to the campaign make checks out to “Wiedeman for Governor.” Thank you.
Hindsight is always 20/20. But that wasn’t a very smart thing to say.
Because of a ten second brush with a 5,000 year old iceberg, April 14-15, 1912 turned the luxury voyage
MISSIONARIES TO THE PREBORN Speaking Up For the Oppressed Preborn Babies P.O. Box 26931 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226 (414) 462-3399 defendbabies@missionariestopreborn.com www.MissionariesToPreborn.com
Paid for by Wiedeman for Governor, Keith Wiedeman, Treasurer PO Box 201 • Weston, WI 54476 Email: Wayne4Wisconsin@yahoo.com
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