A small portion of the border between Canada and the United States involves the Niagara River. People from around the world have heard not only about the Niagara River, but more importantly, the Niagara Falls. This post will deal with the point of no return as one approaches the falls as well as metaphorical uses of the same phrase.

The speed of the Niagara River varies from location to location as it flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario according to the Niagara Falls Tourism Bureau.

“At the southern end of the river, water flows approximately 8 kilometres (5 miles) per hour as it passes under the Peace Bridge at Fort Erie. Just above the falls in the Upper Rapids the speed of the water can reach 68 kilometres (41 miles) per hour. The speed at the crest of the falls is 32 kilometres (20 miles) per hour.”¹

Early accounts

The first European to actually see the falls was Father Louis Hennepin of Holland in the winter of 1678-1679. He wrote:

“….Betwixt the Lake Ontario and Erie`, there is a vast and prodigious Cadence of Water which falls down after a surprizing and astonishing manner, insomuch that the Universe does not afford it’s parallel. Tis true, Italy and Suedland boast some such Things; but we may well say they are but soory Patterns, when compar’d to this of which we now speak. At the foot of this horrible Precipice, we meet with the River Niagara, which is not above a quarter of a League broad, but is wonderfully deep in some places. It is so rapid above this Descent, that it violently hurries down the wild Beasts while endeavouring to pass it to feed on the other side, they not being able to withstand the force of its Current, which inevitably casts them above Six hundred foot high….

“….This wonderful Downfall, is compounded of two great Cross-streams of Water, and two Falls, with an Isle sloping along the middle of it. the Waters which fall from this horrible Precipice, do foam and boyl after the most hideous manner imaginable, making an outrageous Noise, more terrible than that of Thunder; for when the Wind blows out of the South, their dismal roaring may be heard more than Fifteen Leagues off….”

About six miles upstream from Niagara Falls is the North Grand Island Bridge, accepted by the locals as the “point of no return.” Beyond this point, a typical boat caught in the drift will not be able to break free of the pull towards the falls, and the passengers in that boat will likely be only minutes away from their deaths.

When we no longer can escape the current

The current is barely imperceptible when it is first noticed. Objects around us such as fallen leaves drift lazily as if stirred by a slight breeze. Slowly but surely, however, objects begin to move at a faster rate. And as the current gains momentum, the force of the water increases almost exponentially. According to the National Weather Service:

• Water flowing at 7 mph has the equivalent force per unit area as air blowing at EF5 tornado wind speeds.
• Water flowing at 25 mph has the pressure equivalent of wind blowing at 790 mph.

Though many miles away, the falls exerts its presence at great distances with the determination and inevitability of a black hole.

Yet, water in a river does not flow in a straight line. Large rocks in the gorge can cause water downstream to recirculate, and these same obstacles can cause buffer waves on the upriver side of the objects. Meanwhile eddys cause water to swirl and can cause water to actually flow upstream. The downward slope of the river (called the gradient) and even the nature of the river bed all affect the current.

The water flowing closest to the river bed and the water at the surface of the river moves more slowly than the water between these two other layers. The unimpeded swift middle layer of water is called the laminar flow. The opposite to laminar flow is turbulent flow, where you begin to see “white water” caused by large objects in the water or the nature of the gorge or river banks, the dynamics of the flow, itself, etc. Sometimes the river is tempestuous. Other times, it is easy to overlook the danger one is facing, and for this reason, the authorities place warning signs for boaters, swimmer, and others.

The point of no return

Imagine yourself floating ten miles upstream from the falls. At that point, you can feel the current, but if you are a good swimmer, you may likely escape it and save yourself. But as you get closer and closer to the falls, it becomes more and more difficult to make any headway, until finally your strength gives out and you’re tossed by the current ever closer to the edge as the current repeatedly pulls you down and the sound of the falls becomes positively deafening. You’ve reached the point of no return.

If you disregard or misinterpret the river and ignore the signs, you are sure to cross the point of no return. At the Falls in this case, you become a statistic–another victim whose body was recovered downstream or perhaps was never seen again.

Requiem for the dead

According to broadcast journalist Stacy Lee, at least 5,000 people are thought to have plunged over the edge of the Falls, either the American or the Canadian falls. They include (as quoted from the article):

·  Professional baseball player Ed Delahanty was killed over the falls in 1903 after falling from a nearby train bridge after he was kicked off a train for disorderly conduct.

·  In 1930 a man went over the falls in a barrel and survived the fall, but his barrel got stuck behind a curtain of water and he died of suffocation trapped for 18 hours. His turtle (or tortoise) went along with him and survived. It was estimated to be 150 years old.

·  In 1951 a man went over the falls in a barrel he made himself and dubbed “The Thing.” It broke on impact and killed him.

·  In 1990 Jessie Sharp went over the falls in a kayak. He didn’t wear a life vest because he was afraid of being trapped. His body was never found.

·  In 1995 Robert Overacker went over the falls in a Jet Ski with a rocket-propelled parachute. The parachute didn’t open and he plunged to his death.

·  In 2011 an exchange student from Japan crawled over the railing to sit on a rock by the river. While climbing back up she slipped and fell in and died.

When your worldview becomes your point of no return

For conspiracy theories and lies to proliferate, there must first be an erosion of confidence and trust in our institutions, whether the Congress, the courts, the military or the press. Recently, we’ve seen all of these estates under attack. Once a subset of people believe they can no longer trust the FBI or the CDC, or cannot depend on the network news, or factual, even if biased journalism from NPR or CNN, they must then seek elsewhere for their information. This is similar to the swimmer in the Niagara River who believes that he can perhaps cheat death, or doesn’t believe the warning signs and what he’s read.

I’ve seen fear in the eyes of people in the <alt> right. The first time was when a reporter was interviewing some pro-Trump demonstrators in 2020 who we sitting on a bus. The reporter was just going from row to row asking people questions about the event and why they came so far to participate. One woman made an unbelievable comment to the reporter about current events in the country. When the reporter asked her where she got that information, she refused to tell him, saying it was “out there” if you looked. Asked again for her source, she replied “I’m not going to tell you, but you can find it for yourself.” I also hear this from people who believe that borax can remove the COVID vaccine from your body or that you become magnetic if you take the “jab.” I’ve also heard people who refuse to give their names and of others who refuse to even speak to reporters. When I see this I’m reminded of people in Russia, today or radical Muslim states such as Afghanistan who are afraid to be seen talking to reporters or outsiders.

When we no longer can discern the truth

The website PsychCentral asks the question: “Why does some misinformation ‘stick’ in the public consciousness? Why do people continue to believe untrue things, even after they’ve been shown to be a lie?”

The website goes on to explain:

“Researchers at The University of Western Australia — who noted several instances of misinformation, such as childhood vaccines cause autism, global warming is a hoax, or President Barack Obama was not born in the United States — say that rejecting information requires more cognitive effort than simply accepting that the message is true. It’s easier for a person to believe a simple lie, than to have one’s mind changed by information that is new and novel.”

PsychCentral

The Addiction Center believes that people obsessed with conspiracies are actually addicted, themselves.  They have a definition of a conspiracy theory as follows:  “A conspiracy theory can be defined as the belief that a secret-but-influential organization or individual is responsible for a circumstance or event.” An event like 9/11 for example. The Anti-Defamation League notes that:

“Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, a rumor circulated on the Internet claimed that 4,000 Jews did not report to work, or “called in sick” that morning. It suggested that no Jews died because they somehow had foreknowledge of the attack. There are several variations of this rumor, including one suggesting that Israel was behind the attacks.”

https://www.adl.org/news/article/4000-jews-absent-during-world-trade-center-attack

How could you possibly keep that a secret?

The same participants who believed misinformation were also less likely to report that they complied with COVID-19 health guidance, such as wearing masks, and were more likely to express vaccine hesitancy. The finding supports a body of research that shows people’s willingness to believe fake news can have real behavioral effects, says Jan-Willem van Prooijen, a social psychologist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Experts also say that people are more likely to believe misinformation that they are exposed to over and over again—such as allegations of election fraud or claims that COVID-19 is no more dangerous than the flu. “The brain mistakes familiarity for truth,” researcher Sander van der Linden says.

“There is no doubt that conspiracy theories and misinformation have been used by powerful figures over the ages. They serve as an extremely dangerous political weapon, helping manipulate the public to gain the power. First you search for imaginary enemies, then you prepare yourself for a fight. The final stage is usually tragic: You hurt innocent people.”

Martha Marchlewska

Another psychological factor that can lead to belief in conspiracies and other lies is what experts call “collective narcissism,” or a group’s inflated belief in its own significance. Marta Marchlewska’s research suggests that collective narcissists are apt to look for imaginary enemies and adopt conspiracy explanations that blame them.

“These people tend to be more suspicious, untrusting, eccentric, needing to feel special, with a tendency to regard the world as an inherently dangerous place,” Hart said. “They are also more likely to detect meaningful patterns where they might not exist. People who are reluctant to believe in conspiracy theories tend to have the opposite qualities.”

Josh Hart, Journal of Individual Differences

This urge is particularly strong when narcissistic people fail, or members of their group fail. “For some people, conspiracy beliefs are the best way to deal with the psychological threat posed by their failure,” Marta Marchlewska, a social and political psychologist who studies conspiracy theories at the Polish Academy of Sciences says, adding that this phenomenon was likely at work as rioters stormed the Capitol.

Hart’s study also showed that conspiracists had distinct cognitive tendencies: they were more likely than nonbelievers to judge nonsensical statements as profound (a tendency known as “BS receptivity.”)

In turn, they were more likely to say that nonhuman objects — triangle shapes moving around on a computer screen — were acting intentionally.

“In other words, they inferred meaning and motive where others did not,” he said.

Here is a good five minute video on the topic that the BBC has.

“There is no doubt that conspiracy theories and misinformation have been used by powerful figures over the ages,” Marchlewska says. “They serve as an extremely dangerous political weapon, helping manipulate the public to gain the power. First you search for imaginary enemies, then you prepare yourself for a fight. The final stage is usually tragic: You hurt innocent people.” Like the Capitol Police on January 6, 2021.

When sin in your life is your point of no return

Sin can be a point of no return. I read about a sermon once when the minister had a pile of bricks on his left. Each brick had a word painted on it. One brick said “theft” and another “adultery” and yet another “unforgiveness,” or “gossip” or “liar,” you get the drift. To his right side, he had a makeshift coffin on a wooden support. During the sermon, he would pick a brick called “murder” and speak not just of physical murder, but of people merely wishing another person (or parent) were dead. That is a sin, too. Then he would put that brick in the ciffin and choose another brick (maybe “blasphemy” or “fear.”) He would speak on that a few minutes, place it in the coffin and grab another. Half way through his message the congregation became wide awake when they heard a loud crash. It seems that the weight of the bricks in the coffin had caused the supporting structure to collapse.

The coffin, of course, represented a hypothetical person and as the bricks (sins) multiply in a person’s life, at some point the person can’t bear them and there must be some release. It may be they become alcoholics or drug users to escape the pain. They may harden their heart permanantly, wishing they could enjoy God’s love and be born again, but (falsely believing) that their sins are too many or too great to forgive. They may commit suicide. They may wind up in inpatient psychiatric care. Sin in their life has pushed them to their point of no return.

But, they may also find Jesus. A well thrown life preserver can pull a person out of the Niagara River current. It’s been done. There does not necessarily have to be a dreadful ending.

Unbelief as a point of no return

God is truth. In Genesis 6:3 Moses writes “Then the LORD said, ‘My Spirit will not contend (οὐ κρίνει) with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.'”

Let me take this out of context (which does not contradict it’s meaning in the passage.) We all have a conscience (super ego) hard-wired into us. It tells us fundamentally what is right and what is wrong. For example, in almost every society in the world, no matter how primitive, incest is not practiced, nor is cannabalism. Note that I say “almost” every society, because clearly a relatively few do. If a society has private property, then societies intuitively know what theft is and that is also frowned upon.

The Holy Spirit is what God is referring to in 6:3. The Holy Spirit convicts (impresses upon) an unregenerate person that they are sinning. Luther says that an unbelieving person sins without knowing it by doing something as simple as eating, because this person consumes his or her food unthankfully and without asking God’s blessing on it. He can’t even eat without sinning.

When you visit a church out of curiousity, or because your wife or girlfriend drags you there, and you hear the preacher talk about sin (and not all pastors speak on sin very often any more, at least in the U.S.), you may very well feel guilty if you are commiting that sin in your own life. When the sermon is over and there is an altar call, as people are invited to come forward if they are troubled or involved in sin, you may feel an “inner urge” to come forward, yourself. This is the Holy Spirit Who is contending with you, seeking to reconcile you with your Creator so you can be free of the guilt and bondage of your sin. But you have the choice on whether to respond, and all too many people grasp their chair or pew and do not go forward. They may fear looking foolish, or that others will make fun of them. It is at this precise moment that you’ll have the devil’s undivided attention as he seeks to distract you. So you ignore the pastor and remain glued to your seat.

If you go back the next week, you notice the urge to respond once again, but if you refuse (if you harden your heart), eventually the urge will disappear. God doesn’t force you to be a Christian. He is very patient with us because He loves us and does not want up to go to Hell (II Peter 3:9). But at some point it seems like the Spirit stops striving/convicting us. That’s one reason why ministers who teach God’s Word encourage us not to put off responding to the message. Because now is the day of salvation. It may be possible to come to faith many years later, long after your uncomfortable experiences in church, but that’s a big risk to take. You may never go to church again, or die in your sins. Nor are you saved by coming forward in church, but rather simply by believing in Jesus. When you become a Christian, you are like a baby being born. It happens naturally in natural, but a believing pastor can be like a midwife and facilitate your delivery with Scripture and welcome assurances, not to mention follow-up.

Caught in a vicious circle

Not knowing fact from fiction or wrestling (or not) with unbelief is like circling the drain or a sink or toilet. Like a Niagara whirlpool, it lies, doubt and sin suck people into its orbit and pulls them down to another, deeper point of no return.

I hope that you’ll take this post to be my personal invitation for you to ask Jesus into your life now, while you still can, while there is still time, before you reach the point of no return.

Endnotes

¹https://www.niagarafallstourism.com/blog/how-fast-does-the-niagara-river-flow/

Citations

Joshua Hart, Molly Graether. Something’s Going on Here: Psychological Predictors of Belief in Conspiracy Theories. Journal of Individual Differences, 2018