On July 20, 1969, at 9:56 p.m. (C.D.T.), Neil A. Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the surface of the moon. At 10:16 p.m., Edwin E. Aldrin joined him on the lunar surface. Together with Michael Collins, their pilot, they deserve every credit for bravery and devotion to service.

The world looked upon this as, without doubt, the greatest achievement of all time by man. Nor would we say one word to detract from the absolute marvel of it. Listening to the account of it, as we did at the time, we were simply dazed by the incredibility of it. We suggest that this feat could be accomplished (although not before the invention of the computer) only because men were dealing with physical laws and factors that were entirely predictable, and predictable with absolute certainty.

God, the Creator of the universe, has created and placed each celestial body in space as it pleased Him. These bodies are maintained by Him, and orbit with unerring accuracy in paths chosen by Him, so that their course can be predicted exactly, by observations and mathematics, any number of years in advance.

Now consider, on the other hand, the efforts of men in the realm of human behavior and affairs:here, all is unpredictable. Consequently, what a contrast! Rather than achievement there is frightening failure. How absolutely powerless men are to check the tide, rising at an alarming rate, of lawlessness and violence that is in the world through lust. "The world by wisdom" may send men to the moon, but it "[knows] not God" (1 Cor.1:21). That is the cause of its moral chaotic state_it has left out God. In its spiritual blindness, ignorance, rebellion, and self-will, it has come under Satan’s authority and power. Satan has become "the god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4), "the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience" (Eph. 2:1,2 JND). However much its scientific and technological skills and achievements may advance, and men grope for words in the superlative to express their wonder and admiration, "the whole world lies in the wicked one" (1 John 5:19 JND) as the Word of God declares.

Times greatest -wonder, we unhesitatingly affirm, is the Cross. It proved incontestably man’s fallen and ruined moral condition:a condition which is incurable and irremediable by any effort or combined efforts of man. The Cross is the story of the mighty grace of God to ruined and sinful man, for He was "rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins" (Eph. 2:4,5). This divine grace was brought down to us by our Lord Jesus Christ, who came all the way from the heights of eternal glory to go to the Cross:a distance infinitely beyond the moon. He, "the Son of Man, [came] to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10).

Tis the Cross of Christ the Saviour,
Hath the Father’s heart made known:
All His grace to me, the sinner,
Told in Judgment on His Son!
Measured by that Cross, that Darkness,
O how deep God’s love must be!
Deep as were Christ’s depths of anguish,
Is the Father’s love for me!
The world remains unchanged by the Cross. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ draws men out of it in heart, attaching them to "those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Col. 3:1). "But the present heavens and the earth by His Word are laid up in store, kept for fire unto a day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. . . . But the day of the Lord will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a rushing noise, and the elements, burning with heat, shall be dissolved, and the earth and the works in it shall be burnt up. All these things then being to be dissolved, what ought ye to be in holy conversation and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements, burning with heat, shall melt?" (2 Peter 3:7,10-12 JND)

The above thoughts on the Cross, and the Scriptures, prompt us to add a word about the Balance later on in this issue." In nothing is greater watchfulness called for than in maintaining a gospel testimony while, faithfully, being sensitive and obedient to assembly truth. "Our Saviour God . . . desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:3,4 JND). A little further on we are told that "God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, [is] the pillar and base of the truth" (1 Tim.3:15 JND). Another has ably pointed out our responsibility and stressed the consequences of failure in this respect. We believe this to be of the utmost importance at the present time. We quote it here:

"If the Church in its union with Christ, or rather if Christ and the Church, be the special witness of divine counsels, the gospel is no less the standing witness of God’s grace to the world. The saints therefore, knowing both, are responsible to bear a true testimony to the one no less than the other. And in practice it will be found that overemphasis in one tends not only to cause the loss of the other, but the corruption of that which becomes the exclusive object. For Christ is the truth; neither the gospel nor the Church has an undivided right to our love, but both in subjection to Christ. And we are called to bear witness to the truth as we are sanctified, not by this or by that truth, but by the truth.

"Such is the danger today as it was of old. Saints like other men are apt to be one-sided. It looks spiritual to choose the highest line and stand on the loftiest point and fancy oneself to be safe at that heavenly elevation. On the other hand, it seems loving to steer clear of the church question so constantly abused to gratify ambition, if not spite and jealousy (and thus scattering saints instead of uniting them wholly around the Lord’s Name), and to devote all one’s energies, in the present broken state of Christendom, to the good news which wins souls to God from destruction. But this is to surrender the nearest circle of Christ’s affections and honor. The only course that is right, holy, and faithful, is to hold to all that is precious in His eyes _ to love the church with all its consequences on the one hand, and on the other to go out to all mankind in the grace that would reflect the light of a Saviour God. Let us seek to walk in both."