Where’s That Plane?

I don’t usually write about current events. But the story of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370 which vanished 4 days ago has a number of things to it that I really wonder about. First, this is not going to be about alien abductions and the New World Order. Well, maybe a little about the New World Order but not the way it’s regularly presented.

Malaysian Airlines flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur airport on March 8,  12:40 AM local time and was due in Peking 6 hours later. With 227 on board and a crew of 12, it was just another of the 10’s of thousands of planes in the sky each day around the world. But an hour into the flight it disappeared off of commercial radar. A search was started and all available avenues of inquiry have been made since then. There really are a lot of questions, including the ones that are not being mentioned on mainstream media but which can be asked in a post like this.

First, just to illuminate a few things, Malaysia is no slouch of a country. I’ve been there a few times and flown in and out of that airport. It’s a very modern state-of-the-art place. And if you’ve ever heard of Mahathir Mohamed, you may know that his strong, almost autocratic rule in Malaysia for years brought very robust gains virtually across the board in Malaysian economic growth and material advancement. This  has been known and respected in Asia for years.

Another point to make: they are not just being nice people by trying to find that plane. Ever heard of Pan Am flight 103? That’s the one that was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. And if you’re younger than me, you may have never even heard of Pan Am airlines. That’s because the airline was sued out of existence in the aftermath of the disaster by relatives of the ones on that flight. Airlines don’t want to have unsolved airline disasters, not because they love you but because the lawsuits can literally cause them to go bankrupt, like with Pan Am.

A similar disaster happened in 2009  when an Air France flight 447 crashed in the ocean between Rio and Paris. The authorities moved heaven and earth for many months to find the wreckage of that flight at a depth of 13,000 feet in the Atlantic in order to establish exactly what happened so the information could be used in court and that changes could be made to planes so it won’t happen again.

But what about Malaysian Airlines flight 370? Why am I writing something about a recent disaster that may all be figured out and forgotten about a week from now by most of the world? It’s a tragic loss of life and the anguish of the families and loved ones is something that all of us who travel always pray won’t happen to us.

But here’s an angle in all this that has surprised me. In 1948, George Orwell wrote a book called “1984”. It was a futuristic look at a time when surveillance would be so complete that cameras would be everywhere, including in every room in your house. Society would be ruled by “Big Brother”, presented as a benevolent father figure who is basically all-present and all-knowing through the means of technology.

We didn’t quite make the timetable of “1984”. But now, in 2014, just about anyone in the Western World or the economically advanced world, east, west, north or south just takes it for granted that “every move you make, every breath you take, I’ll be watching you”, as the song by The Police said.

There may be no central figure of “Big Brother” (at least not yet). But don’t all of you reading this more or less take it for granted that every email and text message you send and every call you make is most likely accessible to someone, somewhere, if they want to pick up on it? You have a cell phone, right? And you know that even if it’s turned off, you can be tracked by others through your phone. And, so I’m told, even if your phone is off, your conversations can be picked up by some if they need to.

There are satellites in the sky that can read your license plate as you drive down the street. Your computer can be accessed with ease. And for many of us, we see this as an obvious harbinger of the time the Bible predicts when “No man might buy or sell unless he has the mark of the beast in his hand or in his forehead” (Revelation 13:17). Predicted nearly 2000 years ago, the final world economic system is now technologically ready and could go into effect in many places if the societies themselves are brought around to willing acceptance.

So, How. In. The. World. With all this incredible technology, can they lose an aircraft and still not find it after 5 days? Perhaps they’re not as clever as we think they are? Are there cracks in the smothering, all-knowing technological envelope that’s engulfed our earth? If some of us enter into the very last days predicted in Daniel and Revelation, will ineptitude and technical failures at times make it so that, even if the future world government seems so utterly on top of everything so that they can see and know all of us everywhere, perhaps they’ll be unable to find the people of faith?

If these guys can’t even find a huge airplane with every bit of technology that can be mustered worldwide, then perhaps if “The women fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there (for 3½ years) from the face of the Serpent” (Revelation 12:6 & 14) , science and technology may not be quite as able to hunt us down as we may now fear? Perhaps we won’t be found by all the ultra high tech gadgetry that we can be afraid of now as we think of how it will be for some in the last days before the coming of the Lord. I personally, honestly have been surprised. I really didn’t think that, in this day and time, the advanced governments of the world would not be able to get this all figured out and cleared up pretty quick.

The book of Revelations talks about a final “Big Brother”, called the Antichrist in the Bible. In the last 3½ years before the return of Jesus, this Antichrist “Will make war with the saints and overcome them, and power will be given him over all kindred’s, tongues and nations.” (Revelation 13:7) But both Satan himself and the final Antichrist are not, and will not be, omnipotent and omniscient. The Bible says that the Antichrist will fight a number of wars during his final reign. And perhaps, if they can’t even find a giant airliner with all their technology, some of us may also be able to hide out, stay underground and keep our candles of faith burning to the very end and the coming of the Lord.

This isn’t the view and conclusions you’ll be hearing on most mainstream sites or media outlets. And again, the tragedy and anguish of those who’ve lost loved ones is something that we all should grieve for, as well as pray it never happens to any of us. But for me, it’s been a genuine surprise to find that “almighty technology”, infinite in wisdom,  evidently has some serious flaws. For those of us who see a future as renegades against the atheist anti-Christian government prophesied to be here in the final days, it raises a glimmer of hope that they’re not as omnipotent as we have thought. “To the woman were given two great wings of an eagle, that she might fly into her place, where she is nourished for 1260 days from the face of the Serpent.” (Revelation 12:6 & 14)