The city of London is renowned for its fog. Londoners have even come up with a word for thick fogs that settle over the city. They call them “pea-soupers.”
On December 5, 1952, a pea-souper settled over the city. In the morning, the fog was thick. As the day began, Londoners didn’t think anything strange or abnormal was happening. But as the day progressed, the fog got thicker and mixed with pollutants in the air until the fog turned to a yellow-blackish color. The fog got so thick that pedestrians had difficulty seeing their own feet as they walked. A visitor to London at this time said being outside was “like being blind.” Those driving cars had to stop and leave them where they were because they couldn’t see. Ambulance service stopped, as well as buses and taxis.
The smog didn’t just affect people outdoors. It also crept indoors. Theaters closed since the screens could not be seen from the seats. Smash and grab robberies and violent crimes increased because criminals saw the opportunities the fog presented.
The Smog of 1952 Covered the city for five days. No smog in London before or after this time compares to it for severity. The fog was caused by a weather condition known as an “anticyclone” settling over London. In this condition, a large high-pressure weather system dropped beneath warm upper air producing a large amount of condensation in the form of fog.
With no wind to blow it away, the fog combined with pollution. Many of the homes in London at this time were heated by coal furnaces. To stay warm, folks living in London pumped an enormous amount of coal smoke into the atmosphere. Also, most of the electricity in the city was produced from coal-burning power plants. These plants had enormously tall smokestacks that were meant to help disperse the pollutants, but without a breeze these pollutants settled over the city.
On an average day, the city of London produced tens of thousands of pounds of atmospheric pollutants including hydrochloric acid, fluorine, sulfur dioxide, and sulphuric acid. The water droplets from the fog gathered around these pollutants.
The smog remained settled over London until the weather system changed and the wind and the sun dispersed the fog away.
During the great smog, it is estimated that some 6,000 people died directly from breathing it in. These were people who were mostly very young or very old and suffered from some type of respiratory illness. Mortality rates would remain high for people with respiratory problems long after the fog passed.
The Great Smog of 1952 proved extremely costly and deadly. Thankfully, the government soon took steps to reduce the coal emissions so history would not repeat itself.
Can you imagine walking down a street and having to shuffle your feet to feel for obstacles because of a thick smog? Or not even being able to see the street lamp a few feet away at night because of all the tarry, sooty substances trapped in the fog? This is what Londoners passed through for five days in 1952.
Another Deadly Smog
Something like this Great London Smog is going on throughout the world today. Daily a vast amount of poisonous, deadly spiritual pollutants are being pumped into the atmosphere. They are not being pumped out of tall smokestacks but out of the entertainment industry, educational institutions, and media outlets. “God is dead,” “faith is useless” and “no sin is to be despised if it gives pleasure” are some of its deadly particles. These statements might seem innocuous and harmless, but in truth they are deadly to our well-being.
Then, because our society has turned so godless, these pollutants settle like smog over us. They are not dispersed by any wind. They mix with the fog that comes from unbelief in people’s minds and make a spiritual “pea-souper” where people are trapped and cannot see what clearly lies before them.
Millions of people are going through life in a state of spiritual blindness, living like God doesn’t exist. They cannot see what lies clearly before them. They deny the evil of sin and that all men will come into judgment with God. They cannot see, in the terrible smog that has invaded the atmosphere of their minds, that God is true, good and loving. They cannot see that He hates evil, but loves the sinner. They don’t see that unless they repent, when they die they will pass into a lost eternity.
The Alternative
But just let them look to God in faith in this life and the terrible smog will blow away. They may stop breathing in all the poisonous lies and breathe deeply the fresh, clean air of truth. They may know their sins are forgiven through faith in the Savior. The Holy Spirit will be like a wind to dispel the clouds of smog. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but [can’t tell] whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:88The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)).
Those who come to the Savior also come to know God’s love. “God is love,” the Bible says (1 John 4:88(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) (John 4:8)). His love, like the sun, brings warmth into our hearts. It burns away the fog of doubts. Without the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we will always remain in a state of alienation from God. We will be shuffling about in a thick fog, not even knowing what things we bump into which make us stumble. We will stumble about calling good evil and evil good until at last we stumble one last time into a lost eternity where there’s no escape.
And You?
Several thousand people died in London in 1952 from the Great Smog. How many people die daily in this world in sin and unbelief toward God? God only knows. But you don’t have to be one of them. You can turn to the Lord Jesus in faith. You can repent and renounce your sin. “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:88Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)). Faith in God purifies the mind. It gets rid of many of the contaminants and pollutants that once filled our lives.
Through faith in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, the thick fog that once darkened our vision can be dispelled. How can you escape the terrible fog and pollution that is spiritually settling over this world? Only through faith in Christ. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)).
Consider another view of confusion and enlightenment in Living in a Land of Make-Believe.