Basic HTML Version
self-containing life inherent- im–
mortal ity. The other, DEATH!
The tree of LJFE symbolized the
gift of God's Ho ly Spirit, the
begettal 9f eterna! LJFE. The forbid–
den tree was called the tree of "the
KNOWLEDGE of good and evi l."
When Adam disobeyed God and
ate the fruit from that tree, he
TOOK TO HJMSELF "the knowledge
of good and evil" - that is, potential
SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE!
Understand at this point. God
had created man wi th a mind
capable of acquiring and utilizing
material knowledge- the knowl–
edge to work with matter- with
things! This knowledge he could
acquire on his own. But he had
not been created with a mind that
could discern, by itself, right from
w r o ng - th at is, SP IRITUAL
KNOWLEDGE!
The one human spir it created in
man-and born in all humans
since--can acquire physical, mate–
rial knowledge. But it is unable of
itself to discern spiritual knowl–
edge. And spiritual knowledge can
be imparted
to
the mind
ONLY
BY
Goo!
Adam, in
taking to himself
the
"knowledge of good and evi l"–
that is, potenti a l SP IRIT UAL
KNOWLEDGE- limited himself to
material knowledge only. WHY?
Because the one human spirit in
man is not the faculty that sees,
hears, smells, tastes or feels . The
physical brain sees through the eye,
hears through the ear, smells
through the nose. And human man
is LJMITED IN KNOWLEDGE tO that
which may enter his brain through
these five physical senses!
Adam, father and progenitor of
the human family, had chosen self–
produced humanly acquired knowl–
edge and death. He lived 930 years
and he died. All his children subse–
quently died after a temporary phy–
siochemical existence! And so, at
that time, "the foundation of the
world," Christ, the Lamb of God
was slain (Rev. 13:8). That is, it
was set by God at the foundation of
the world that in due time Christ
should come and die to pay the
penalty for human sin.
lt
was also decreed that "it is
appointed unto men once to die,
but after this the judgment" (Heb.
9:27).
4
It
was then that God shut up the
" tree of LJFE"-that is, the Holy
Spirit, from mankind until after
J esus Christ, the second Adam, had
come and paid the penalty of
human sin in man's stead.
How Civillzatlon Was Built
God did not shut himself off from
man, however. God even appeared
to or communicated with Cain,
Adam's first son and the first mur–
derer. God called out the Hebrew
slaves from Egypt and communi–
cated with them en masse at Mt.
Sinai. He gave them bis spi ritual
law- but, not having t he Holy
Spirit they neither comprehended
it nor obeyed it. Lacking the Holy
Spirit of God, they neither under–
stood spiritual truths nor obeyed
them.
However, God d id make one
necessary exception, for the ult i–
mate foundation of his Church! He
did reveal truths to his prophets,
for the writing of the Holy Scrip–
tures, the very written Word of
God!
Much of the Church of God is
based on the writ ings of the proph–
ets, and they, with the apostles,
became the foundation of the
C hurch, J esus C hrist being the
chief cornerstone (Eph. 2:20 ).
Now consider the building of
this world's civilization, and the
world into which Christ carne to
build his Church.
With the Holy Spirit shut off
from man , the human family
started bui lding its own world,
influenced and swayed and de–
ceived by Satan.
ALL
have been
deceived by Satan (Rev. 12:9).
Perhaps man d id not realize it.
Satan is a spirit being, invisible to
humans.
Without the spiritual perception
of God's Spiri t, man does not rec–
ognize spirit beings or truths as
existent.
Y
et Satan has been the
"prince of the power of the air"
(Eph. 2:2) working
in
and deceiv–
ing humans in a manner not real–
ized.
Ideas are transmitted through
the air by radio and television
waves and ultimately appear in the
form of aud ible words and visible
pictures. Does it , the n, seem
strange or impossible that Satan
has transmi tted att itudes, impres-
sions, motives and impulses inaudi–
bly and invisibly into human minds
whose human spirits are tuned
automat ically to S atan 's wave–
length?
I t is thus that even infants under
one year old, when the teaching of
whom is neglected by human par–
ents, are being insti lled subscon–
sciously, by satanic broadcast, with
selfishness and resentme n t of
authority. Satan doesn't neglect
them.
So, as man began to expand in
numbers on the earth,
taking
to
himse/f
the knowledge of relation–
ships with others, man, swayed by
Satan, began building bis own sys–
tem of society. He built his own
concepts of human GOVERNMENTS,
utterly contrary to the government
of God.
Through human-devised and Sa–
tan-swayed GOVERNMENT, humans
began regu lat ing human l ives.
Humans began and developed a
system of EDUCATION by which an
adult generation seeks to brain–
wash, instill, inject into the minds
of coming generat ions their con–
cepts, ideas, opinions and supposed
knowledge.
Humans developed their own
system of economics, business,
indus try, commerce. They devel–
oped thei r own systems of RELI–
GION, created their own concepts of
God-and to this day
not one
orga–
nized religion except God' s true
Church knows WHO and WHAT
God really is! Humans developed
their own social customs and sys–
tems.
Thus CJVILIZATION was pro–
duced actua lly by Satan, using
humans as his pawns!
God's way of life is based on
LOVE-outgoing concern for the
good and welfare of others, and
!ove above all toward God who
/S
LOVE! The world's civi lization was
built on the cont rary way of GET–
of vanity, covetousness, envy, jeal–
ousy, competition, s tri fe, violence,
rebell ion against authority.
And
that
is the world into which
Jesus Christ was born.
Remember God's ultimate PUR–
POSE is to reproduce himself in and
through MAN- to create in MAN
God's own holy, righteous spi ritual
and perfect CHARACTER! But all
(Continued on page 41)
Th•
PLAIN TRUTH