Volume 31

This week's Cross Current is coming to you a bit early because Susan and I are leaving on a vacation to Bermuda. You'll notice this week's piece is on the Bermuda Triangle. If Cross Current doesn't appear next week, it's not because we vanished (I hope) but because I won't be back in time to put out a newsletter. To all of you, thanks for your support of the Cross Current ministry. It's humbling — and a bit intimidating — to know the articles go everywhere they do because of readers like you! May the blessings of our wonderful Father be with you!

Also known as the Devil’s Triangle, the area is bounded by Bermuda, Miami, Florida and San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s infamous for the unexplained disappearances of almost 100 ships and aircraft during the past century. Most seemed to just dematerialise, leaving no distress signals and little or no debris.

Starting in 1964, those disappearances were linked in books and magazines with supernatural causes ranging from giant sea monsters and mysterious rays from the sun, to UFOs and the lost city of Atlantis. One incident, in particular, caught the public’s imagination.

On December 5, 1945, five Avenger bombers took off from Fort Lauderdale on a training mission with 14 men aboard. At 4 p.m., a radio transmission indicated the squad leader was disoriented and none of the aircraft compasses were working. Soon after, radio contact was lost and no sign of the planes was ever found. When a rescue aircraft with a 13-man crew went searching, it vanished too.

The truth is, the squadron leader had a history of getting lost. According to a Navy report, he likely got turned around and led his inexperienced crew the wrong way into the open Atlantic where they ran

As for the rescue plane, the PBM Mariner could fly for 24 hours but those aircraft, nicknamed “the flying gas tank”, were notoriously prone to explosions. A merchant ship near Florida reported a huge burst of flame and an oil slick close to the plane’s presumed last location, though that didn’t satisfy fans of the paranormal.

But researchers say several factors explain the Triangle’s reputation: the area is one of the world’s most heavily travelled, so there are greater odds of tragedy; it’s one of only two places on the globe where true north and magnetic north line up perfectly, meaning even experienced navigators can veer off course several degrees and end up hundreds of miles from their intended destination; and the region’s notorious for intense mini-hurricanes that last only a short time. Also,the Gulf Stream amounts to a river within the ocean that’s so turbulent it can create waves up to 40 feet high; the area has many rocky shoals and deep marine trenches, and the Coast Guard gets about 23 distress calls a day, mostly from inexperienced sailors.

In the spiritual realm, there’s a Devil’s Triangle, too. It’s found wherever we allow anything or anyone to come between us and God. The more that happens, the greater the odds we’ll lose our way. Though it’s tempting to blame Satan and other supernatural forces — even God — we bring most of our spiritual problems upon ourselves. “[No one] who wants to do wrong should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ God is never tempted to do wrong and never tempts anyone else either,” the Bible says. “Temptation comes from the lure of our own evil desires.” (James 1:13,14.) If we allow pride or apathy to jam our moral compass, we’ll veer off course with tragic results.

In the Devil’s Triangle, we’re also much more vulnerable to the sudden and intensely destructive storms of anger and moral turmoil, waves of guilt, and the rocky shoals of regret. So “Cling tightly to your faith in Christ and always keep your conscience clear. For some have deliberately violated their consciences [and] their faith has been shipwrecked.” (1 Tim. 1:19) By that time, we’ve usually drifted away from the church and those who love us. When the big crash happens, there are no distress signals and sometimes no one even spots the wreckage.

By Rick Gamble. Published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications. To subscribe to this free weekly article, send a note to Rick at