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gion." Of course, 1 had never
researched the question deeply and
thoroughly, to PROVE whether God
exists, or whether evolution is true.
Few ever have. l just took God for
granted, and
supposed
evolution
was a false theory. Nearly all who
believe either in God or evolution
have
assumed
their belief WITH–
OUT PROOF!
But that was no longer good
enough for ME! Now 1 bad to
KNOW!
lt
became an almost night-and–
day study of the Bible, and of
in-depth research in books on evo–
Jution, geology, paleontology, biol–
ogy, physics. I delved into the
writings of Darwin, Haeckel,
Huxley, Vogt, Chamberlin. 1 did
research into radioactivity. That
proved there had been no past
eternity of matter, but CREATION!
1
studied
the creation account in
Genesis.
lt
was a six months'
intensive research, which often
involved studying until 1 or 2 a.m.
But in the end 1 PROVEO the exis–
tence of Goo and the infallible
inspiration of the Bible; 1
dis–
proved the evolutionary theory
and
did
make the sister-in-law
"eat those words"!
But in the argument with my
wife,
l LOST!
She was right. 1 was
wrong. It was by far the bitterest
pill to swallow that had ever con–
fronted me.
Y
ou see, it meant not only con–
fessing 1 was wrong. That is hard
enough for the carnal mind. But l
now learned HOW wrong 1 was, not
onÍy what I had believed through
assumption, but what 1 had done
and what I
was.
1 had thought I
was
pretty good!
Human nature
always thinks that. 1 learned human
nature is just plain BAO and EVIL.
1 thought immediately: lf 1
accept Bible teaching, and begin to
LIVE by it- if 1 give in to accept
Christ, become converted, live a
Christian life, what will all my
former business associates and
friends say?
In my mind, it meant GIVING
THEM ALL UP-for good!
lt
meant conversion! And that
is something I don't believe hap–
pens
real/y,
and
fui/y,
without an
inner struggle. It certainly didn't
in my case.
It
meant GIVING UP!
It
meant giving up everything my
16
heart had been set on-my life
goal. It meant forsaking my way of
life- a total about-face! Actually it
meant giving up my IDOL, though
1 didn't see it that way, then.
It
meant UNCONDITIONAL SURREN–
OER to God.
It
meant giving up MY
LIFE, actually, and GIVING IT TO
Goo!
In the end, 1 did it!
But now 1 faced a NEW CHAL–
LENGE! In this intensive study, 1
had found that "all these churches"
CAN BE WRONG! 1 found that,
SO
far
as I knew of what the church I was
reared in believed, it taught what
was diametrically contrary to the
Bible.
Where ls the True Church?
Now the question carne, WHERE is
the
TRUE
Church- the one Jesus
Christ founded-the one he HEAOS
today-the one that carries out bis
MISSION-the one he said he would
never leave or forsake?
I had been shockingly disillu–
sioned! lt had been virtually a trau–
matic six months.
When I read Romans 6:23, I
stared at that verse in my Bible in
shocked, incredulous disbelief!
Jt
said, "For the wages of sin is
OEATH; but the
gift
of God is eter–
na! life through Jesus Christ our
Lord." I had always believed the
wages we earn for SIN was
just the
opposite of
OEATH. 1 had been
taught that what we get paid for
SIN was ETERNAL Jife-in helJ fire!
This verse says eterna) life is some–
thing we can only receive AS AGIFT
from Goo.
But NO! Surely no! We aiready
have
eternal life- so I supposed–
we are immortal souls! 1 learned
that many theologians INTERPRET
that verse- that is, they PUT A
DIFFERENT MEANING INTO IT.
They
c.hange
the meaning of the
words to make them conform to
their belief instead of letting
God's Word
change their beliefto
conform with God's truth. They
manufacture a new definition of
the word
death.
They define
death
to mean "separation from
God." 1 looked at this verse again.
On the one hand, for sin, we get
death.
On the other hand, the
opposite
of that penalty is ETER–
NAL LIFE. Now, it certainly was
clear, if ETERNAL LIFE is the very
opposite
of OEATH, then OEATH
cannot mean eternal life!
I was shocked to find that in
many-if not most- teachings of
Jesus Christ and the New Testa–
ment, the churches now teach the
very opposite, and follow opposite
customs and practices! 1 was con–
fused! My head was swimming!
But there it was, in plain lan–
guage. l read that souLS can die!
"The soul that sinneth,
it
shall
die"! (Ezek. 18:4, 20).
It
was
important enough to be stated
twice. Then my startled eyes read,
in Revelation 16:3: "And every liv–
ing
sou/
DIEO in the sea." That sa,id
SOULS can DIE. Then 1 saw where
Jesus said souls can be DESTROYEo!
" . . . But rather fear him which is
able to destroy both soul and body
in hell [Gehenna]" (Matt. 10:28).
Jt
began to Jook like the churches
were
wrong, after aU! But did not
Jesus Christ found bis CHURCH? He
surely did, and 1 found where he said
the gates of the grave would never
prevail against it-IT COULD NOT BE
DESTROYED! I found where Jesus
Christ said he would never leave nor
forsake it- he would always be "in
the midst" of it. 1 found where he
was the living HEAD of it! Jesus
Christ was resurrected from the
grave. HE IS STILL
ALJVE!
So
WHERE
was the Church he
was guiding, directing and using?
1 was perplexed. But 1 kept
searching. I continued studying. 1
found this discovery of new-to
me-truth the most fascinating and
interesting pursuit of my life. It
was like finding new gold nug–
gets-new riches-only these were
spiritual riches.
But 1 was not to learn for sorne -
time WHERE, and WHICH, is the one
true Church Christ founded. I
Jearned that Jesus called bis disci–
ples, who were to become the foun–
dation of the Church, to come out
of the world and "be ye separate"
(11 Cor. 6:17-18'). Also Jesus said
to God his Father that he did not
even pray for the world (John
17:9). In Matthew 24:1-3 he was
talking about the END of the world.
1 found the world spoken of in the
Bible as "this evil world."
In due time 1 carne to realize that
even though the world, especially in
this 20th century, has made AWE–
SOME progress and advancement, yet
The PLAIN TRUTH