The Phantom Flagman [Brochure]

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Many years ago an express train raced through the chilly darkness, but soon it had to slow down because of fog.

Now, being the engineer of a train isn't easy at any time, but on this particular evening it was really hard work. Fog pressed in on the train from all sides like thick folds of heavy black velvet. Even with the powerful headlight stabbing the darkness ahead, the engineer had to strain his eyes to see the track. The engineer wanted to be on time, because in addition to the several hundred passengers, a royal dignitary was also a passenger on this train.

Suddenly he shuddered. Dead ahead, and outlined in the brilliant beam of the engine's headlight, stood a figure in a black cloak in the middle of the tracks waving his arms frantically! The engineer made a desperate grab for the emergency brakes and brought the express to a screeching halt.

If not saved by God’s grace, like the passengers on this express train, you are racing onward to your eternal doom because of your sin. The Word of God faithfully reminds us concerning the unsaved “these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” Matthew 25:46.

Also like these passengers, perhaps you are completely unaware of this danger. The dense fog of ‘popular opinion’ and the common darkness of Satanic power may have left you ‘blinded’ to what lies ahead. Even the “powerful headlight” of your own intellect can never reveal it to you. In 2 Corinthians 4:4, God clearly states that “the god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

After quieting the excited and frightened passengers the trainmen got out to investigate. They searched and called, but there was no sign of the mysterious figure who had flagged their train.

Who had he been, and why had he stopped the train? The crewmen were puzzled. They decided that someone had been playing a joke. Even the engineer was almost convinced that it had either been somebody's poor idea of a joke or his imagination playing tricks. But he wasn't absolutely sure.

Just to make sure, he climbed down from his cab and walked up the tracks. He stopped when the tracks suddenly ended. There, not even two hundred yards ahead of the stopped train, he found a washed-out bridge! The whole bridge had toppled into a swollen stream. If it hadn't been for the mysterious flagman, the train would have plunged into the stream, killing many passengers and crew.

Before the train backed up to detour around the washed-out bridge, the train crew again looked for the mystery man who had saved the train. It wasn't until the train reached the station in London safely that the strange mystery was solved.

Lying at the base of the locomotive headlight, the engineer found a huge dead moth. Now, most people would have brushed the insect off and thought no more about it. But as he held the dead insect gently in his hand, he frowned thoughtfully.

Then he did a strange thing. He wet the wings of the moth and carefully pasted it to the glass of the headlight. Then he climbed back into the cab of his engine and switched on the light.

“Ah!” he cried triumphantly, “I thought so!” For as the bright beam stabbed ahead into the darkness, there appeared once again the “phantom” the engineer had seen earlier. But now the “arms” weren't waving wildly. They were still.

Yes, the mysterious rescuer had been this huge moth! Somehow, in the few seconds before the train reached the wrecked bridge, it had flown into the beam of the headlight and had gotten stuck. In the dense fog, the wriggling, trapped insect had wonderfully created the image of a cloaked figure waving his arms! An entire train and many lives had been saved by the projected shadow of a mere moth.

This moth reminds us that God has sent a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. At Calvary’s cross, He paid the price to free you from this awful penalty that your sins demand. Many however, unlike this train driver, fail to hear the Savior’s voice and stop to investigate. They foolishly race on, unwilling to accept God’s offer of salvation; and they perish eternally.

Be wise today! Stop and listen to the Savior’s loving call, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28. Trust Him, and Him alone, for salvation. Escape the “everlasting punishment” and receive “everlasting life” which God has promised in His Word.

“He that believeth on the Son HATH everlasting life.” John 3:36.