Flight 90 and Laodicea

Two experienced pilots sit at the controls of their Tampa-bound Air Florida Flight 90 on what is to be a tragic, snowy January 1 3, 1982. The plane is cleared for takeoff, and the engines roar as the 737 plows down the frozen runway of Washington's National Airport. The pilots have forty-seven precious seconds before they must make a final decision whether to proceed or to abort the takeoff.

Only ten seconds into the flight it becomes apparent that something is wrong: the lumbering plane is not picking up speed as it should if the critical moment of takeoff flight is to be reached safely. The copilot senses possible disaster, but ultimate responsibility for the flight is in the hands of the pilot, who evidently doesn't want to believe his eyes, according to the flight recorder transcript of their conversation as reported in Science Digest (November, 1982).

At the critical ten-second point the instrument readings are disturbing:

Copilot: "Look at that thing."

Three seconds later: Copilot: "That don't seem right, does it?"

Two seconds later: Copilot: "Well..."

One second later: Copilot: "Naw, I don't think that's right."

But the pilot is strangely silent, unwilling to accept the copilot's warnings. The copilot is actually flying the plane today, though he obviously feels he must still defer to the judgment of the pilot. Nine seconds later he is willing to back down from the truth his eyes and senses have been telling him. Copilot: "Ah, maybe it is."

Four seconds later the copilot again has doubts about their speed: Copilot: "I don't know."

Eight fatal seconds later the pilot announces that they have reached the go no-go decision point. On they will roar—to plunge across a bridge and into the Potomac, killing 78 people.

Only twenty-eight seconds after the go no-go point an undetermined voice announces, "We're falling."

One second later: Copilot: "Larry, we're going down, Larry!"

Pilot: "I know it." Adds Science Digest: "Almost simultaneously, the recorder picks up sounds of impact."

Drs. Robert Trivers and Huey P. Newton, scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have advanced the startling opinion that what actually doomed Flight 90 was the self-deception of the pilots, as registered by the flight recorder. The thirty-minute transcript of their conversation prior to the crash reveals that the pilots were overconfident, overoptimistic, unwilling to face obvious facts that stared them in the face, and heedless of the warnings. Says Science Digest: "The transcript . . . suggests a pattern of self-deception and reality evasion on the part of the pilot that contributed directly to the tragedy. By contrast, the copilot comes across as reality oriented, but insufficiently strong in the face of his captain's self-deception."

Dr. Aaron Waters, of the same university, adds a disturbing comment: "It was the pilot's complete insensitivity to the copilot's doubts, and to his veiled and timid pleas for help, that was at the root of all the trouble. ... I've found that the people who lead others into trouble are the hale and hearty insensitive jocks trying to show off. . . . The copilot is also at fault; left to himself he would have called the tower and not flown the mission, but in the presence of his companion, he was guilty of self-deception. "—Ibid.

The Lord Jesus warns "the angel of the church of the Laodiceans" against the frightful danger of the reality evasion that accompanies overoptimism: "You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked" (Rev. 3:17, N.I.V.).^* Self-deception has been the great tragedy of the church of Laodicea, as it was of the Jewish nation in the time of Jeremiah.

The prophet's fellow countrymen deliberately denied their prophetic "instrument readings" and assumed their invincibility: " This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!'" (Jer. 7:4, N.I.V.). "Prophet and priest alike are all deceitful, treating the wounds of my people slightly and lightly, saying 'All's well, all's well,' when all is not well" (chap. 6:13, 14, Moffatt). t They were sure that no harm could come to them so long as they sought refuge inside the city of Jerusalem in time of siege from their enemies. They said, " 'This city is a cooking pot, and we are the meat [safe inside]'" (Eze. 11:3, N.I.V.).

But like Flight 90, disaster overtook Jerusalem, because of an unwillingness to admit reality. Surely the message of Jesus Christ to the "angel of the church of the Laodiceans" is present truth. The spiritual conditions that pervaded Judah in Jeremiah's day are illustrative of those that pervade our times as well. Overoptimism, arrogant pride, and the assumption that no harm can come to us so long as we stay safely in the "cooking pot" of the church are dangerous.

One example of our "instrument reading" is this: "If all that appears to be divine life were such in reality; if all who profess to present the truth to the world were preaching for the truth and not against it, and if they were men of God guided by His Spirit—then might we see something cheering amid the prevailing moral darkness. But the spirit of antichrist is prevailing to such an extent as never before. Well may we exclaim: 'Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.' I know that many think far too favorably of the present time. ... In the mighty sifting soon to take place we shall be better able to measure the strength of Israel."—Testimonies, vol. 5, pp. 79, 80.

To apply this solemn testimony only to a generation long past is a cogent example of the same "self-deception and reality evasion" that Science Digest attributes to the pilots of Flight 90. The above words from the Testimonies are indeed present truth, for "the mighty sifting" long awaited has not yet taken place. "We are too easily satisfied with our attainments. We feel rich and increased with goods and know not that we are 'wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' . . . There has been so little self-denial, so little suffering for Christ's sake, that the cross is almost entirely forgotten."—Testimonies, vol. 5, pp. 214, 215.

Drs. Trivers and Newton suggest three significant aspects of the Flight 90 pilots' self-deception. First, their careless overoptimism was reinforced by their mutual comradeship. If either copilot or pilot had been on his own he would very likely have aborted the flight in time or applied the necessary thrust for a successful takeoff. But each reinforced the other's self-delusion. Unless committee members and leaders constantly feel their need of divine guidance and have the courage to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit they will inevitably succumb to mutually reinforced self-deluded patterns of thought.

Second, "the pilot was positively 'cool.' Nothing fazed him." Experience and expertise had made him disregardful of serious danger owing to snow and ice buildup. Says Science Digest: "Both pilot and copilot know that their plane needs a second deicing, but instead of seeking it, the pilot leads them into a fantasy world in which they get their second [ineffective] deicing without losing their place in line waiting to take off." The more experienced and expert a leader in God's cause may be, the greater the danger of his leading the church to disaster unless he maintains a state of contrition and dependence on God.

Third, the copilot sensed the dangers during those last fateful seconds, but copilots are required to relate in a certain way to their superiors. Says Science Digest: "We can speculate on the cost to the copilot of becoming known as 'chicken,' someone too frightened to take on the role of a pilot when circumstances are adverse." So the copilot swallows his conscientious convictions and plunges his flight to disaster. The fear of ridicule or loss of personal reputation causes many a man in God's work to become a coward in the face of duty. "The greatest want ... [in the cause of God] is the want of men... who will stand for the right though the heavens fall."—Education, p. 57. That is the only way to be sure that the church entrusted to our care does not fall!

In Jeremiah's day it was tragically possible for Jerusalem, with the nation of Judah, to fall, and it did fall. In our day we are assured that the church will "not fall" (Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 380). We often cite this passage to critics and offshoot propagandists. But this divine assurance can also be misunderstood to the point that we assume the reckless and arrogant overoptimism of those in Ezekiel's day who proudly assumed that as long as they stayed in Jerusalem, the " 'cooking pot,'" they were safe, regard less of their disloyalty to the God of Jerusalem.

A failure to heed the counsel of the True Witness, who says we are self-deceived, will cause us to be spewed out by a Saviour who is made sick with nausea by our continued lukewarmness. Whether or not we are personally saved at last is not the most important question. Such personal "assurance" gives place to the honor and vindication of the Saviour in His closing work on earth. It is not certain that the Lord Himself will close the gates of heaven in a vindictive manner against ministers and leaders guilty of self-delusion in the final hours of human probation, but it is a question that they could ever be happy in heaven if the final judgment reveals that unnecessary tragedies have befallen the cause of God on earth as the direct result of their indulged self-delusion.

"Only the work accomplished with much prayer, and sanctified by the merit of Christ, will in the end prove to have been efficient for good."—The Desire of Ages, p. 362.