Basic HTML Version
few weeks ago, I was sitting
in our Ambassador Audito-
rium here in Pasadena look–
in g in o n Mi ssion Co ntr o l
Headquarters at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory located only walking
distance away as scientists manipu–
la ted the safe landing of the Vi–
king I spacecraft on Mars.
The JPL scie ntists had coopera ted
with Ambassador College a nd the
Amba sador International Cultural
Foundation so that eve rything at
Mission Control - as the scientists
ma neuvered the Mars landing -
was shown on a la rge screen in our
auditorium. We had opened the au–
ditorium to the public. A thousand
or more people were there.
I had risen a t 3:30a.m. Ma ny had
been watching in th e auditorium
from 11:00 p .m . the previous night.
l
ar ri ved in the auditorium just be–
fore 5:00a.m .
T he Viking I spacecraft is a mar–
ve ! of mechanical precis io n. It
landed safely right on schedule at
5: 12 a.m. (It actu a lly landed at
4 :53 a .m. Pacifi c Standard Day–
light Time, but due to the vast
dis tance, the signa! did not reach
Mission Control a t Pasaden a unti1
5: 12 a.m.) Enthusias tic applause–
filling the auditorium - gree ted the
landi ng.
Very soon , just before 6:00 a.m ..
the first strip of two spectacular pic–
tures arrived. We a t the Ambassa–
dor Audito rium were looking in ,
justas if we were a t Mission Control
ourselves. Dr. Thomas Munch, geol–
ogy professor and leader of the team
of scien ti sts in the M ission Contro l
room, gave a cry of de1ight as the
first s trip of the first picture carne
through. As strip after s trip of the
pictures carne thro ugh , he was un–
able to conceal his excitement. As
the s trips were pieced together. the
scient ists were absolute ly amazed at
the quality and clarity of the pic–
tu res of the Ma rs surface- pictures
taken perhaps o nly fo ur or five feet
above the surface. It was just as if a
man were sta nding the re, pointing
hi s came ra straight down, taking
el
ose-up pictures.
Later. the second picture looked
out over the landscape to the hori–
zon. The pictu res showed the Mar–
ti an surface as a sandy desert
litte red with rocks - from very
The
PLAIN TRUTH Oclober
1976
Personal from ...
VIKING 1
AND MAN'S DESTINY
minute s ize up to perhaps a foot or
more in d iameter.
Bu t
1
had to think tha t it showed
precise ly what
1
had expected from
what is revea led from the God of
creation in the Bible . It was a dry,
barren surface of futility.
Few indeed have any remote con–
ception of the fact that God Al–
mighty often
revea/s
facts about this
un ive rse - the origin of pl anets,
the ir present s tate, and the causes
and reasons thereof. Somet imes it
seems futile tha t many of the
BEST
MINOS
of humans a re devoted to a
lifetime of vain specul ation. based
on erroneous hypotheses totally un–
true.
I
had to realize that from this sci–
entific labora tory, right here in Pas–
adena, great minds are, in fact,
uncove r in g fa c ts
ACTUALLY RE–
VEALED IN THE BOOK THEY DO NOT
UNDERSTAND A1 D PROBABLY DO
NOT ACCEPT -
t he revea!ed
FACTS
and
TRUTH
of the
ETERNAL LIVING
Goo!
For example, in Hebrews we find
this: " For unto th e ange ls ha th he
[God] not put in subj ecti on the
world to come, whereof we speak"
(Heb. 2:5). In o the r words. this pas–
sage is
speaking about
"the world to
come." T he Bible mentions three
worlds: ( l ) the world " that th en
was," from Adam ro Noah, (2) " this
present
e
vil world."' and (3) the
coming millennial world - which
We call
SO
often "the
WORLD TOMOR–
ROW."
Also. the Bible spcaks of
three heavens :
(l)
the air. or earth's
a tmosphere, (2) outer space, and (3)
the heaven wh ich i the seat of
God's throne, to which no man ex–
cept the resurrected Christ has as–
cended (John 3: 13).
So now. speaking of the
NEXT
world, "the world to come," con–
tinue in Hebrews 2 : " ... What is
MAN.
that thou [God] art mindful of
him? ... Thou madest him a little
lower than the angcls; thou
crownedst him with glory and ho–
nour, and didst set h im over the
works of thy hands: Thou hast put
ALL TH INGS
in subj ection under his
fee t. For in that he [God] pu t al! in
su bjection under him [man), he left
norhing that is
1101
PUT UN DER HIM.
But now we see
not yet
al! things put
under him" (Heb. 2:6-8).
1n the fi rs t chapter. "al! things" is
translated in the Motratt translat ion
as
"rhe universe. "
lt
means
EVERY–
THI NG
God has creatcd - every–
thing that exis ts.
Th is remarkable. almost
INC'RED–
IBLE
revelation of the fantastic
HUMAN POTENTIAL
con tinues
lO
re–
vea! how what we do now see or
know is that Jesus, as the firstborn
(Co111inued on page 44)