There are so many inventions that we use in the 21st century to magnify, project, amplify our voices for speaking, speeches, lectures, singing, and for music and other sounds, you name it. In the 17th century, Athanasuis Kircher and Samuel Morland produced a horn shaped device with the premise that it was for those who were hard of hearing in the year 1655, that was said to project sound about a mile and a half away and was later called the ‘megaphone’ by Thomas Edison in 1878. I can remember people using megaphones for outdoor tent revivals when I was just a child. This led to the invention of the public microphone system. David Edward Hughes invented the carbon microphone that used carbon granules to modulate electric current and vibration in the 1870’s. Prior to this, Antonio Meucci developed a dynamic microphone that used a coil of wire within a magnetic field to generate electric current, in 1856. His invention also proved crucial to telephone technology.
Emile Berliner a young entrepreneur from Germany, was the first to bring the microphone to the public; however, Thomas Edison got the credit because of legal patenting rights. In 1917, Harold S. Osborne, a General Electric engineer, patented the first electric megaphone, which was able to be used for larger audiences. Alexandar Graham Bell the inventor of the telephone, also made a major contribution to advancing microphone technology because he realized the need for a device that would translate sound into electric signals. Ultimately, it took the work and innovation of multiple men over decades and even centuries to revolutionize modern communication as we know it, and it continued to evolve from there. However, these facts do not mean that we are any smarter than those who have gone before us, I could argue on the contrary. We always piggyback on the inventions and thoughts of others, as did those in the 17th century.
There are several questions to contemplate on this subject, such as: How did ancient kings address a crowd of hundreds or thousands? How were Goliath’s threats heard by the Philistine army so that they were paralyzed with fear? How was David’s response heard? How did Noah preach for one hundred and twenty years of the judgement that was coming? How did Moses address a nation of almost two million when he stood on the shore of the Red Sea and told them, “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord”? How did Presidents address the people, or members of parliament before them? How did Jesus, the originator of the ‘Mega Church,’ teach thousands and how did His disciples after his ascension preach to multitudes before the invention of microphones? It seems to be a mystery, since our teenagers cannot even hear us from the next room when we ask them to take out the garbage! Well, that will be a different subject for another time but let us take a quick look at possible answers to these questions.
Here are some insights and fun facts from the trusty rusty internet.
In battles standards flags of color were used as visual signals and as rallying points.
In a battle scenario a speech might be given to commanding officers who would be expected to memorize the thrust of it and then reiterate it to their subordinates.
From the Ancient Greek era to the nineteenth century, before the invention of electric loudspeakers and amplifiers, megaphone cones were used by people speaking to a large audience, to make their voice project more to a large space or group.
Julius Caesar was known for pitching his voice higher when public speaking (in his legal advocacy work and when addressing troops). He worked out that this helped to carry his voice further away.
The initial inventor of the speaking trumpet is a subject of historical controversy. There have been references to speakers in Ancient Greece (5th Century B.C.) wearing masks with cones protruding from the mouth to amplify their voices in theatres. Masks used in Greek dramas enabled the voice to project in the direction of the audience and people spoke loudly.
In medieval times the job of ‘news shouter’ was a specific profession in Western Europe. Town Crier There are modern revivalists of this tradition. You must be able to shout very loudly and clearly to be a good Town crier, it takes a healthy pair of lungs.
When giving a speech to a crowd a simple but effective technique that was often used was to utter sentences one at a time with lengthy pauses in between. This would give people at the front of the crowd time to reiterate what they had heard to those behind them and for the message to be passed along in a simple but effective relay system. If you’ve watched the sermon on the mount scene in ‘life of Brian’ you’ll have seen how this could turn in to Chinese whispers if it went awry.
Church sermons were used to disseminate information to the general public, secular political speeches would be read out at church services. This might be anything from a change to local taxation rates to a re-production of a grand speech by a Monarch. The Church was a focal point of a community and functioned as a town-hall as well as a religious building.
Benjamin Franklin attended a revival meeting in Philadelphia and was greatly impressed with Whitefield’s ability to deliver a message to such a large group. Franklin had previously dismissed, as an exaggeration, reports of Whitefield preaching to crowds of the order of tens of thousands in England. When listening to Whitefield preaching from the Philadelphia court house, Franklin walked away towards his shop in Market Street until he could no longer hear Whitefield distinctly. He then estimated his distance from Whitefield and calculated the area of a semicircle centered on Whitefield. Allowing two square feet per person he computed that Whitefield could be heard by over thirty thousand people in the open air.
Speakers from ancient to modern times delivered orations and addresses to large outdoor crowds long before the advent of voice-amplification equipment. I would say that a combination of voice projection on the part of the speaker; proximity of the listeners to the speaker; attention on the part of the listeners; physical elevation of the speaker (as in Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount); and the natural acoustics of the setting could all have played a part. Also, perhaps there were individuals spaced at outward intervals from the speaker who repeated or relayed what the speaker was saying to those who were located outside of normal hearing range.
So, with all these thoughts in mind, we can see that those who have gone before us were very innovative, which led to us benefiting from their inventions. We see more technology in a singing birthday card now than what used to be in an entire room back in the sixties and seventies. When I was a kid, we did not have computers or cellphones, but we did have microphones. With the advancement of technology, we have gone from large microphones that would cover your entire face and long chords, to wireless mics, to small lavaliers that can be pinned to your clothing and can hardly be seen. There may be something to be said about our own ingenuity looking back on when we were kids playing with toilet paper or paper towel rolls as our megaphones, that we never even realized existed. How fascinating.
All this discussion about microphones and projecting our voices brings me to my subject. God works in mysterious ways daily, which become miracles to us, and should be proclaimed to the world as much as possible and as loudly as possible. Isaiah 55:8-9 states, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Psalm 77:14 says, “Thou art the God that does wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.” Psalm 40:5 says, “Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” In the twenty first century we have no excuses to not proclaim his wonderful works in our lives. With old fashioned methods such as meeting in person, or mailing a letter, or more modern ways such as blogs, podcasts, videos, cellphones, social media and more at our disposal, we become obligated to tell others about Jesus and about what He has done for us and continues to do.
Though we need to herald his greatness when he performs miracles in our lives, he does not need a microphone to speak to us and give us directives. In fact, he works in the total opposite way. In the story of Elijah, 1 Kings 19:11-13 tells us, “And he said, go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?” In the Old Testament God was with them, but now in the New Testament era He can be in us through the infilling of the Holy Ghost. Jesus said in John 14:17, “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you.”
I recently had a new realization and appreciation of this more than ever before while traveling for work one day. I have been auditing child care centers for the last couple of years and must physically go onsite at least two to three times a month. I audit these centers in a city that is considered one of the most dangerous cities in the United States with crime reported at 3.5 percent higher than anywhere else. Reports say the murder rate has risen there by forty-three percent in 2023. The center I was scheduled to visit on that day was not in one of the better areas of the already overall bad area. I made it to the facility safely with time to spare. I had been instructed not to go into the center until my co-worker had arrived, in the event there was an issue with the contractor being upset that we were there on an unannounced visit. Because of the long drive, the delicious coffee that had accompanied me, and my age, I needed to use the restroom desperately, so because I had time, I decided to go in search of one because I was desperate. Going back in the same direction I had come into town, passing old, unkempt houses and garbage filled streets, I found a small convenience store. Granted it was very sketchy, but I thought I would try it. After walking through the crowd of ne’er-do-wells standing in the doorway, it was a bust, because they did not have a public facility. I made my way back to the daycare center and decided to go in the opposite direction and just see what I could find. As I proceeded, I said a short prayer aloud, “Lord, help me to find the one.”
Two blocks down I noticed the most beautiful apartment buildings without bars or fences, and a well-manicured park with new playground equipment. I honestly felt like I was in a different world altogether. I did not see a gas station right away, but as I came to what seemed a main road, mind you, I had no clue where I was, I made a right hand turn and there it was. A brand new looking gas station, like a Shell, with two trucks parked outside, and as I turned into their parking lot, I looked up and saw in huge white letters the name of the store was, “The One.” I cannot express to you how thankful I felt at that moment. I felt like I had heard the still small voice of the Lord saying these words from scripture directly to me, “Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you.” What an awesome sight that was to my eyes! What a beautiful confirmation and encouragement that was, that Jesus does go with us, and He does hear our prayers, no matter how small or great our issues may be.
Now the final addition to the miracle that God performed for me that day was still to come. As I walked in the door, I realized that this establishment was indeed so brand new that it was not even opened yet. It was still under construction! The two trucks outside belonged to the contractors who were in the back having a meeting before any workers arrived, and there was not another soul around. I proceeded to go to the back and find them, introduce myself and request the use of the facilities that I had already spotted as I entered. To which one of them replied, “Go right ahead, I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t take much to make me happy.” To which I replied, “Yes Sir, I agree fully!” They got a good chuckle out of me that day, but they said yes, and that was all I needed. Little did they know it was not a small thing, but an actual miracle for me that day, which is an intervention by a divine, supernatural power, whom I call Jesus.
Atheists believe there is no God, and that originally there was nothing, until millions of years after the ‘big bang,’ a life form came about all on its own by some weird, mysterious chemical reaction. Agnostics believe that there is a God who created the world, but after he was done, he is not directly involved with the creation daily. He is just out there in the far blue yonder somewhere. I have to say, not just from all my years of study, but from personal experience as well, both notions are faulty. God is absolutely with us, He is watching us twenty-four seven, and when we receive His Spirit, he dwells within us. Psalm 37:23-26 tells us, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he falls, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.” God sees the ‘whole picture’ of this thing we call life. He knew that ‘The One,’ was only two blocks down the road waiting for me that day, and I just had to follow the leading of his voice, turn around, and go the opposite direction.
God wants to meet our needs. Do not stop believing in what God has promised you. Your answers are on the way, and could just be two blocks down, two doors down or two days away. Going back to 1998, the title of the beautiful song from the cartoon movie, “Prince of Egypt”, called, ‘There can be Miracles if you Believe”, says it all, especially when followed by 1 Corinthians 1:20 that makes this absolute statement, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” God will lead us, work miracles for us, hear our prayers, and just be with us daily when we put our complete trust in Him. Traveling for my job I have come to rely on the GPS in my car, but in my walk with the Lord, I rely on the spiritual GPS we have been given, His Spirit. We must keep our hearts tuned into His ‘still small voice.’ Jonah did not obey God’s voice and he found himself in a seaweed soup supper served up to an enormous fish that was later thrown up. Balaam was not tuned into God and had to end up taking orders from a donkey. Paul was so blind spiritually that he had to be struck blind physically to see that Jesus was indeed God come in flesh, the Messiah, and that he needed to start following Him instead of resisting Him.
Your miracle, your word from the Lord, your answer, is just around the corner. Do not give up now. I cannot say if it will be two minutes, two hours, two days, two months, or two years, but it will be worth continuing this road that God has put you on when you finally see it come to fruition. There will be ne’er-do-wells and neigh sayers, loitering around you from time to time, but just continue to follow His directives. Hebrews 12:2 admonishes us that it is because of those who are watching that we forge ahead and keep the faith. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Paul wrote a letter to the saints in Phillippi and gave them this assurance in Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Remember, when you get your miracle, shout it from the rooftops, proclaim it from the mountain side, with or without a microphone the name of the Lord is to be praised! Use every means we have at our disposal in this world of modern technology to let others know the wonderous works of the Lord. Psalm 150:2 admonishes us, “Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Psalm 145:4 says, “One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.” Use your platform and influence to tell the next generation of His greatness starting today!