I
was driven by automobile, a few months ago, within ten miles of the Red
Chinese border. I visited, at that point, a world-famous carpet and rug
factory. I inspected samples and arranged for production of the special
carpeting for the new auditorium now under construction on the
Ambassador College campus in Pasadena.
The managing director
of the rug company drove me out to the factory and back. Along the way,
he pointed out a district of hillside residences. He said the people of
this comparatively small district represented many different religions
- Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Hinduism, Roman Catholicism,
Protestantism. "They're very tolerant toward religions other than their
own," he said. "Even different members of one family living in the same
house may belong to as many as three different religions:
I
couldn't help asking myself, "Why so many different religions in the
world?" No two agree. Yet I suppose most feel that theirs is the one
and only RIGHT religion.
And then there are the millions,
religious and nonreligious, who, through modem education, accept the
theory of evolution. Evolution is a theory UNPROVED, and by its very
nature UNPROVABLE. Therefore it is another FAITH or BELIEF, even though
most of its adherents may not think of it as a RELIGION. Why do people
believe whatever they do?
How did they come to believe it? Do
you know that most people never stop to ask themselves those questions?
Of course most who accept a religion were simply brought up to believe
the particular religion of their parents, or of their part of the
world. They never made an examination of it, or of other religions, to
PROVE whether it is true. And that is true of most who accept the
evolutionary theory of origins. That is, they were taught it in school
- in college or the university - and they simply went along with the
others who were being taught it, and simply ASSUMED it to be truth.
But
something must be lacking in them all! For none has really made this a
better world. None has shown us the WAY to a lasting world PEACE. None
has the answer to all the poverty, the destitution, the illiteracy, the
filth and squalor of the hundreds of millions in Asia, Africa, South
America - or to the moral degeneracy, the tragedy of broken marriages
and split-up families, the crime, the violence, the discontent
throughout our supposedly educated and affluent Western world.
Not
one of these religions - nor the evolutionists - nor modern science -
has been able to explain why man is as he is - with the most AWESOME
human mind that can send men to the moon and back, but can't solve his
problems here on earth.
Do you know that there is a source
that does explain all this? There is a source that can be PROVED to be
true - and the only source that can give us the answers. It is the
source the Christian religion is supposed to follow, but doesn't! It is
a source not followed by the Eastern religions - a source rejected by
modern science. This very REJECTION is the REASON that modem science
offers NO SOLUTION for humanity's greater problems - the way to lasting
world PEACE - the way to universal happiness, prosperity, and abundant
well-being.
You can PROVE the existence of God, the Creator of
all, the Ruler of all, and the Great Educator, whose revelation of
BASIC KNOWLEDGE is the FOUNDATION of ALL knowledge, understanding and
wisdom.
You can prove the authenticity and the AUTHORITY of
the revelation of that Supreme God - which revelation we call the
Bible. Why not write for the free booklet titled Does God Exist?, and
another booklet as well, also gratis, Seven Proofs God Exists.
Why
is there so much MISSING knowledge? Or, why is the most VITAL and
important knowledge MISSING? And on the other hand, WHY is there so
much mis-knowledge - so many fallacies, fables, untruths being taught
in the guise of fact or of truth?
Let me tell you, when you
really let the true answer to those questions come into your mind,
you'll be on the way to understanding this whole riddle of life - and
the REASON for the really terrible and sickening conditions that exist
on this earth today.
Let me tell you some of the vital factors
of knowledge that have been HIDDEN from this world - yes, hidden from
the world's leading educators, hidden from modern science, hidden from
all religions, hidden from statesmen, heads of state, and the world's
rulers, hidden from the public - yes, and hidden from YOU! One vital
factor of knowledge hidden from the world is knowledge of the CAUSE of
a lasting world PEACE - and, conversely, knowledge of the CAUSE of the
lack of it!
Another vital factor of knowledge hidden from the
world is the true MEANING of life - the PURPOSE for which humanity was
put here on the earth. Another is the REASON why man can invent such
marvelous machines, can fly to the moon, yet can't solve his own
problems here on earth.
The Bible is our Maker's Instruction
Manual - His basic revelation of necessary knowledge. And this book
claims that ALL mankind, as a whole, is deceived! All nations are
deceived. Listen! Let me show it to you. "The great dragon was cast
out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world"(Revelation 12:9).
Notice Jesus' warning: "For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive
many. "And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be
not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is
not yet. "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes,
in divers places.
"All these are the beginning of sorrows....
"And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many....
"For
there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew
great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall
deceive the very elect" (Matthew 24:5-8,11,24).
And notice the
apostle Paul's warning to the Gentile Corinthians: "... the god of this
world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine
unto them .... for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as
the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their
works" (II Corinthians 4:4; 11:14-15).
These passages
represent Satan the devil as the arch-deceiver of mankind. Probably
most people today are deceived into thinking there is no devil. The
very arch-deceiver has deceived the world into thinking he doesn't
exist and untold millions into thinking that God doesn't even exist.
Another
important fact the knowledge of which has been hidden from the world is
that there was once peace on this earth - peace worldwide - happiness,
joy! Originally this world was populated with angels - not humans. And
that's another bit of knowledge hidden from most people today. So let
us now notice the very first verse in all the Bible: "In the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). The Hebrew words
in which Moses originally wrote that sentence imply a perfect creation
- not one in chaos and confusion, as described in the second verse.
Many
scriptures in other parts of the Bible reveal great world-shaking
events that occurred between the time of the first and second verses of
Genesis one.
In the book of Job the original creation is
described as so perfect and so beautiful that the angels shouted for
joy. God the Creator is described as asking Job: "Where wast thou when
I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast
understanding. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons
of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:4,7).
There was worldwide
peace on earth for some time after the earth was first created, because
the government of God was being administered here then. For how long a
duration is not revealed. It could have been millions of years. In any
event it lasted until about 6,000 years ago.
When this earth
was first created, God the Creator-Ruler of the universe set one of two
highest-ranking archangels - a cherub - who was thoroughly experienced
in the administration of God's government as King to administer the
government of God over the earth.
And all that, too, is
knowledge hidden from the world today. And that involves also another
important bit of hidden knowledge - the very ORIGIN of this Satan, the
devil. Where did he come from? Did God deliberately create a devil?
Notice
Ezekiel's description of the origin of Satan: "Son of man, take up a
lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the
Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in
beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone
was thy covering... the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was
prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the
anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon
the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of
the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that
thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.... thou hast
sinned. Therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of
God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the
stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou
hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee
to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee"
(Ezekiel 28:12-17).
The real ruler of the ancient city of
Tyre, the economic giant of those days, was Satan. Notice what Isaiah
reveals about this Lucifer or Satan. "How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground,
which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I
will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:
I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the
north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like
the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of
the pit" (Isaiah 14:12-15).
This super archangel who became
Satan led one third of all the angels - the whole earth's population -
in his war of aggression. And he is deceiving the whole earth today! -
As a result of this colossal earth-wide mutiny and rebellion against
the government of God, a physical destruction put this whole earth into
chaos and darkness, and that's what we find described in Genesis 1:2:
"And the earth was; without form, and void; and darkness was upon the
face of the waters."
And the. Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters." Then in six days 'God RENEWED the face of the
earth: 'Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou
renewest the face of the earth: (Psalm 104:30).
So now, notice
the first thing God did in renewing the face of the earth: "And God
said, Let there be light: and there was light" (Genesis l:3).
It
was on the sixth day of renewing the face of the earth that God created
the first HUMANS - when MAN was first put here on this earth - and for
a tremendous purpose which also has been WITHHELD from public
knowledge. "And God said, Let us make man in our image after our
likeness: and let them have,dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and
over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26).
Satan DECEIVED the first woman and got to Adam through his
wife. Adam rejected God's revealed knowledge - just as humanity has
been doing ever since - disobeyed the government of God, allowed the
SAME ATTITUDE that Satan had.to enter his heart - the self-centered
attitude of vanity, lust and greed, of selfishness, of resentment
against authority - especially the authority of God - of total
unconcern for the good or welfare of others, of jealousy, envy, and
hatred.
And all humanity, under the sway of this active Satan,
is traveling that way of life still. And that is the very CAUSE of all
humanity's ills and evils in this sick, sick world today.
Happily,
the time is coming, SOON, when this whole world is going to be jolted
into waking up to this vital knowledge, so long HIDDEN from a sleeping
and sick world!
