Eerie, Powerful, Time-travel Preaching

Unless you have been on another planet, you have seen and heard about two major disasters that have taken place in the Southeast. The last count I heard was that 19 people were killed in the tornadoes, and 6 college students were killed from the bus going off the overpass in Atlanta.

I found it quite amazing, because just the day before I had read something that applies to these tragedies in an ironically profound way.

I was reading about the renown C.H. Spurgeon on Wikipedia. He is considered by some to be the greatest preacher who ever lived (Jesus excluded). His nickname is "The Prince of Preachers". I came across an interesting passage while reading about him:

On the death of missionary David Livingstone, a discolored and much used copy of one of Spurgeon's printed sermons "Accidents, Not Punishments" was found among his few possessions, along with the handwritten comment at the top of the first page "Very good, D.L." He had carried it with him throughout his travels in Africa, and it was returned to Spurgeon and treasured by him (W. Y. Fullerton, Charles Haddon Spurgeon: A Biography, ch. 10).

Of course, David Livingstone is the famous missionary to Africa. And I thought, wow…one of his few physical possessions was this typed sermon by Spurgeon. So I decided I wanted to read this sermon, held in such personal regard. So I followed the link to the sermon, "Accidents, not Punishments."

Here is the paragraph summary of the topic of the sermon:

Spurgeon preached this message in response to two disasters that had hit very close to home. On Sunday, August 25, 1861, a nightmarish collision between two trains in the Clayton Tunnel (a 1.5-mile long tunnel between London and Brighton) had claimed 23 lives and severely injured hundreds. Barely more than two weeks later, on Monday, September 2, another train wreck in Kentish Town Fields (in North London) claimed 15 more lives.

Little did I know, how relevant this sermon could be in the next 24 hours. It is a powerful sermon. Besides speaking to the topic, the latter part of the sermon deals with death, which comes for us all. The man had a God given gift of powerful preaching, and it gave me goosebumps.

I realize that some of us don't like extensive reading…but if you want to hear the sermon that the Prince of Preachers would preach this coming Sunday, had he lived during this tragic week, I implore you to read this powerful sermon.

"ACCIDENTS, NOT PUNISHMENTS"