Mirror in the Ocean
“For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” [2.Corinthians 11:14]
On August 4,1914, the magnificent British luxury liner RMS Carmania was three days out of New York City with 800 passengers on her way to Liverpool when she learned from another ship that England had declared war on Germany. As soon as the Carmania arrived in Liverpool the British Admiralty assumed command. Within one week of entering port as a first-class cruise liner, the Carmania was converted into a warship in service of the Royal Navy.
On September 2, the Carmania was assigned to the West Indies with orders to scout the vicinity for enemy ships. Three days later the lookout sighted a ship off the coast of Trinidad. At that point the Carmania crew might have thought they entered the Twilight Zone. The ship they spied in the distance from the decks of the Carmania was… the Carmania! Or at least a ship that bore her name and looked exactly like her. The other vessel was in fact a German luxury liner called the Cap Trafalgar that had also been converted into a warship and then disguised in every outward detail as the Carmania .
Because of the short-range guns which had been installed on the German ship, she could only be effective in battle if she could get close enough to the enemy. So the Cap Trafalgar was disguised as the British liner Carmania, and that was the German ship’s downfall. On September 14, the disguised Cap Trafalgar was attacked and sunk by the real Carmania .
The incredible mirror encountered in the ocean by the Carmania was a two-way mirror. Just as the Cap Trafalgar was redesigned – even to the dismantling of one smoke stack – to look like the Carmania, the Carmania was also redesigned and repainted so that she could get closer to the enemy. In the process a dummy smoke stack was added to the British ship. That’s right! When the two vessels coincidentally met in midAtlantic on September 14,1914, each was masquerading as the other!
The Bible teaches in the last days Satan will perform his masterpiece of impersonation. Jesus warned of false christs coming (Matthew 24:24-26), but God’s people will not be caught off guard for they know the Scriptures. The devil cannot counterfeit the universal coming of Christ (see v.27). If we study the Bible we will detect the deceiver and not be fooled, even if the outward details look like the real thing.
