You’d think you’d know his name each time you switched on a light or turned on your radio. Among others, he is one of the greatest inventors of his time. Yet who has ever heard of the name Nikola Tesla. Hello, my name is David Kruse and today I will be speaking about a lost man in history, Nikola Tesla. First we will see Tesla’s success and then something that we never got and why we never got it, and lastly we will see some similarities between Christ and Tesla.
1) Tesla’s Success –
Before electricity, America was filled with the dust and filthy soot of the coal mines. And then a man came. Nikola Tesla. Tesla knew, without a doubt, that he could change all of it with his future inventions. Presently he invented alternating current (or AC) in 1887, and went to tell the famous inventor, which you
have probably all heard of, Thomas Edison. Edison knew that Tesla’s AC system was
far superior to his direct current (or DC system) and would do anything to stop him. He began to incite fear by killing stray animals frequently, using Tesla’s AC system.
Despite all the disapproval & condemnation, Tesla would ultimately triumph over Edison by electrifying the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Late at night, Tesla lit up Edison’s incandescent light-bulb with his alternating current. Everyone there was startled; light suddenly appearing as if a great door had swung open in broad daylight. Morning coming at the middle of the night some thought. People who had never seen a light bulb were astonished at this miracle! Tesla felt that he was beginning to change the world!
Nikola Tesla then moved on toward bigger & more useful things such as utilizing the power of Niagara Falls. With his partner George Westinghouse, Tesla designed and then created the world’s first hydro-electric system at Niagara Falls in 1896. It was another smashing success! Million’s, from all over the country, flocked to see this new system and were amazed. Tesla knew that he was headed in the right direction.
2) What we did not get, and why –
Shortly after 1896, Tesla realized that he could create a station which would give free electricity, free energy, to every human being around the globe. Whenever someone needed power, they could just get it out of the atmosphere using Tesla’s stations which would be placed around the globe to receive and give out energy to each other. As he needed money for the operation to be possible, Tesla called upon one of the biggest bankers in the country. J.P. Morgan. Tesla told Morgan that if he had the money, he could make a station to send wireless communication across oceans. So Morgan, thinking of all the extra money and profit he would gain if the invention went through, he thought, gave Tesla the approval.
While the building began, another man, Marconi, the inventor of the radio, had also found a way to send wireless communication (or radio waves) across the ocean and was almost finished with his project. Tesla was racing against time. Then, suddenly, J.P. Morgan heard of how Tesla was also going to use his station as an outpost to send free electricity. He was enraged! He quickly withdrew all of the money that he had given to Tesla and the station remained unfinished, never to be completed. Marconi, shortly after, did succeed in sending his trans-Atlantic signal on Dec.12, 1901. Later that day, Tesla was on a walk with one of his engineer’s who said, as Margaret Cheney says in her book “Tesla, Man out of Time” – “Looks like Marconi got the jump on you.” Tesla replied, “Marconi is a good fellow. Let him continue. He is using 17 of my patents.”
Tesla was a man who did not care of reputation. He wanted to help humanity move forward. But he was just too good and for that he was forgotten. Not by accident mind you, but by greedy men who wanted wealth and money. You see, they could not get it with Tesla’s plans & so… they ruined him & after he died, all of his inventions, his paperwork, his journals, were taken & are perhaps still hidden today. We do not know what became of them. So, what did we not get? Free electricity. We did not get free electricity. Why? Because men want money. Tesla, did not.
3) How is Tesla like Christ? –
Nikola Tesla wanted to help humanity move faster into a new era. An era filled with electricity, free electricity, where we would not have to pay to get around. Tesla, rather, was pushed away by the world because greedy men do not like free things. They want power, possession, & position. So what did they do? They took over Tesla’s projects and absolutely ruined him. So much so, that today people cannot recollect, in the least, who he was, what he did, and why they do not know of him. This reminds me of Christ. He came to save sinners here on earth. But many did not like him. They did not want help. They wanted to remain in sin and so they crucified him.
Tesla came to change things but could not give his full potential because the world pushed him away. This is also similar to Christ. Christ came to change things. He came to break the Pharisee’s old traditions which they had put far above God. Christ came to bring new life into a dead world full of sin and corruption. Christ brought healing, grace, & salvation to sinners who deserve nothing but death. Christ was a Savior. We must try, every day, to be more like Christ & share all the gifts that God gave us as Tesla did & happily use them for his glory so as to advance his kingdom here on the earth!
Today, we have seen a couple of Tesla’s inventions that were quite successful; that are still useful today. Next we saw how Tesla was used by J.P. Morgan for his own purposes & how Tesla’s dream was destroyed and why. And finally, we learned how Tesla is somewhat similar to Christ and what he did for us.
In conclusion, the next time you turn on your cable television, your computer, your radio, or your light switch, just remember what it would have been like if Tesla’s plans were not ruined. How would the world be? What would our world be if electricity and energy were all, absolutely, free?