With a lump in its throat and a tear in its eye, America cheered John Glenn!
HE MADE IT!
But what is the meaning of these fantastic accomplishments?
What lies ahead?
The answer, from your Bible, is shocking!
BOY! THAT WAS A REAL FIRE-BALL!" shouted Astronaut John Glenn as his tiny space capsule hurtled into the thickening atmosphere to glow a fiery red with tremendous heat!
He was plunging back toward earth, and a wonderful hero's welcome, after flashing around the world three times in four hours and 56 minutes.
America was elated! The western allies rejoiced! Hearing the terse, expectant, excited words crackling through the distance from shortwave radios and relayed over BBC as I was returning to Ambassador College from London, England, I couldn't help but experience a momentary thrill — when I heard the capsule was being hoisted safely up into the air, to be lowered aboard the Destroyer Noa! But the thrill soon dissipated, and in its place came the real realization of what this latest achievement really means!
Unbelievable Age!
Men have a NEW KIND of courage today! It took COURAGE for a World War I soldier to fight in the trenches, for a soldier to charge an enemy machine-gun emplacement in Italy in World War II, or for the Marines to repulse charge after charge of screaming Chinese on Pork Chop Hill in Korea.
But it takes a new kind of courage to lie, strapped flat on your back, in the nose of a giant bullet, knowing you are about tote hurled HUNDREDS OF MILES UP INTO SPACE — to the vast, yawning, unsearchable, mysterious, UNKNOWN reaches of — SPACE! It takes plain, raw "guts!" Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel John Herschel Glenn Jr. proved that man, with the proper equipment and technological know-how, has the COURAGE to LEAVE THIS EARTH — and VENTURE INTO SPACE!
What an age! Think of it!
Giant new strides in science and technology, rapidly multiplying inventions that defy description, and, more important, FANTASTIC plans for the future — dreams of INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL — of colonies on the MOON, then MARS, SATURN, PLUTO, JUPITER!
And from there . . .? Where will man stop? Where will man draw the line? WHEN will man decide he has gone far enough?
Short of God's Divine intervention in man's plans — man would never decide he had gone far enough! The "new breed" of modern space-men do not place limits on their dreams and plans. They feel it only a matter of TIME until they will be moving freely about the UNIVERSE, conquering new horizons, discovering new planets, colonizing other worlds!
Can you comprehend? Man's ambitions will NOT stop with putting a man on the moon! That, space-age technologists assure us, is only the barest BEGINNING!
Where Will It Stop?
How far will man go? Where are these fantastic events leading us? Where will it all end?
That's just it — left to man's own planning — left in man's own hands, without interference from Almighty God, there is only ONE SURE END!
Notice it! Observers are saying the MILITARY implications of Gagarin's, Titov's and Glenn's orbital flights far outweigh the purely scientific ones.
Moscow toned down the real MILITARY significance of Russian astronaut's orbital flights at first but the meaning was clear! Later, Khrushchev, trying to use pressure to gain his ' ends in Berlin said, "The rockets that sent our astronauts into orbit can deliver super-bombs to any spot on earth!" The threat was plain. But he made it even more evident, by saying "Let the imperialist aggressors know they will have them [the astronauts] hanging over their heads like the Sword of Damocles."
Think of it! Manned '$spaceships" or space capsules, equipped with H-Bombs, able to be triggered either automatically from the ground upon electronic signal or manually from within the capsule by the astronaut, hurtling around the world every 90 minutes!
Space is being called the "new realm of battle!" Mankind now wants to carry his pollutions, his differences, his arguments and his wars into outer space! Military experts all know the conquerors of SPACE will be WORLD conquerors!
Said Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, Air Force Chief, "A nation that has maneuverable space vehicles and revolutionary armaments can indeed control the world — for peace or for conquest."
Space-age planners are calling Colonel Glenn's capsule, named "Friendship 7" a prototype of tomorrow's space bomber! Just as the rickety plane the Wright Brothers flew at Kittyhawk was the prototype of today's supersonic bombers — so today's first feeble attempts into space may appear to be but crude beginnings in the few years ahead!
God said it would be this way! Your Bible prophesied man would be trying to conquer space! Jesus talked of a time when the ULTIMATE weapons, called "DOOMSDAY weapons" would be in the hands of destruction-minded men! "For then shall be GREAT TRIBULATION, such as was not since the beginning of the world 'until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days shall be SHORTENED [Unless God would STOP it, unless He would supernaturally INTERVENE] THERE SHOULD NO FLESH BE SAVED!" (Matt. 24: 21-22)
NO FLESH SAVED means just what it says — human annihilation! For the fast time in man's history on earth, human annihilation is an ever-increasing POSSIBILITY!
Where would the race to conquer pace end? UNLESS GOD WOULD INTERVENE, it would end in UTTER DESTRUCTION OF MANKIND!
Fantastic Times Ahead
Believe it or not, 90% of all the scientists who have ever lived are alive right now!
Scientific knowledge has snowballed at an alarming rate! Each year, newer and more fantastic discoveries render last year's discoveries obsolete. Test models of aircraft, rocket ships, satellites and military weapons are barely in the testing stage when they are declared obsolete by even newer designs flowing in a never-ending stream from the drawing boards!
Your Bible described these days! God told Daniel that the amazing prophecies he was given were to be cloaked in mystery, sealed, UNTIL the time when KNOWLEDGE WOULD BE INCREASED! Today TECHNICAL knowledge is increasing at a truly frightening pace!
Jesus said, "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also THE COMING OF THE SON, OF MAN be!" (Matt. 24:37) Just as WORLD-WIDE VIOLENCE was taking thousands of lives, as fusion of the races, disease, brutality, beastiality brought about the total destruction of ancient man through God's intervention to STOP man's violence — just as, at the tower of Babel, when man envisioned CONQUERING SPACE — GEIIING INTO THE HEAVENS — GOD CONFUSED and SCATTERED human beings, SO JESUS SAID GOD WOULD AGAIN SUPERNATURALLY INTERVENE IN HUMAN PLANS IN OUR TIME NOW!
Could Man Succeed?
Could man actually leave the earth, and venture into space? COULD scientists, pooling their rapidly-increasing knowledge, devise huge man-made asteroids capable of carrying colonies of humans through the universe? COULD mankind actually CONQUER SPACE — COLONIZE THE PLANETS?
Your Bible gives the SHOCKING answer! When mankind FIRST tried to UNITEDLY conquer space — to pool scientific knowledge — to organize himself into ONE great society, God said, "Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language, and this they begin to do [build a huge tower] and now NOTHING will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do" (Gen. 11:6).
God said absolutely NOTHING would be withheld from man — NOTHING would be restrained from man which he would imagine or envision in his wildest dreams! God meant what he said!
God reveals in His Holy Word that man actually has the capability, the capacity, the technical skills, and the raw COURAGE needed to CONQUER SPACE!
Notice it! "What Is man, that thou [God] art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands; thou hast put ALL THINGS under his feet" (Heb. 2:6-8).
Yes — God said ALL THINGS were placed at man's disposal, given into his hands, placed "under his feet!" Think of it — ALL THINGS! But WHEN? Is man really READY to assume control over ALL THINGS?
Can carnal-minded, selfish, headstrong, rebellious, nationalistic, warring man actually become RESPONSIBLE if he conquers space?
Would Conquest of Space Bring Peace?
Look around you! What do you see? Everywhere, you see the MISERABLE, WRETCHED FAILURES OF MAN! Today, we stand facing the awesome possibility of ALL-OUT NUCLEAR WAR the totally destructive super-war to end mankind's existence on this planet, and perhaps the very existence of the planet itself!
Can man — so totally INCAPABLE of living at peace in his own environment — take his "culture" out into SPACE? No! What mankind would carry into space is SPACE WARFARE! ALREADY today there are government CONTRACTS given to private manufacturers for the building of SPACE WEAPONS! Deadly RAY-guns of the fantastic, unbelievable "Buck Rodgers" type are actually being WORKED on! Huge space mirrors are envisioned, to burn enemy forces to a crisp through directing rays of the sun! Solar-powered weapons are talked of, NUCLEAR-powered weapons, generating enough heat and energy to burn metal, concrete, solid stone into mere VAPOR are already in the planning stages!
Observers say the MILITARY significance of John Glenn's flight is of far greater importance than the merely scientific view.
No — man will NOT peacefully colonize space! But HE WILL. IF ALMIGHTY GOD DOES NOT INTERVENE TO STOP HIM — CARRY HIS GARGANTUAN DESTRUCTIVENESS, HIS TITANIC DEPRAVITY LIKE A FESTERING DISEASE RIGHT OUT INTO OUTER SPACE TO POLLUTE THE FAR-FLUNG CORNERS OF THE UNIVERSE!
But God IS GOING TO STOP him! God will INTERVENE!
God will take a hand!
Yes, Almighty God said man WOULD be capable of getting into outer space! He said man could — if God would let him!
But the infallible word of that Mighty Creator God says God will NOT LET him! Notice the rest of these striking words of Hebrews, "But now we see NOT YET all things put under him" (Heb. 2:8).
No — NOT YET! Until man can PROVE himself capable of living at peace with his neighbor, of LIVING ACCORDING TO THE LAWS OF GOD, he will be DENIED the acquisition of "all things!" Jesus Christ said so! He said, "And except those days should be shortened {CUT SHORT, by the INTERVENTION OF GOD} there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake THOSE DAYS SHALL BE SHORTENED!" (Matt. 24:22)
You are living in the last days of man's allotted time. You are living just prior to the time when once again GOD will come down to SEE what man is doing — and will INTERRUPT man's plans! YOU are living on the brink of a NEW AGE, and a totally NEW WORLD!
Jesus said, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven" God will send Jesus Christ to STOP man from committing suicide!
"And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall SEE the SON OF MAN coming in the clouds of heaven with POWER and GREAT GLORY!" (Matt. 24:29-30).
Little do we realize how CLOSE we are living to this very time!
The real meaning of successful SPACE flights, little realized by this heedless, reckless, man-made society, is that we are EVEN CLOSER THAN WE HAVE THOUGHT TO THE INTERVENTION OF ALMIGHTY GOD — THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS CHRIST!
You need to be PRAYING as never before, STUDYING YOUR BIBLE as never before — remembering the words of Christ, "So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors!" (Matt. 24:33)