Basic HTML Version
it is shot through and through with
APPALLING EVILS. And the evils are
multiplying. WHY this paradox of
good and evi l?
1was not to learn the PURPOSE of
the Church-the reason why Jesus
started it- untiJ 1 learned the truth
about the very foundation of the
world itself.
Who, What ls God?
1 had to learn, first, not only proof
that God exists, but WHO, and
WHAT, God is. Many of the church–
es o f trad iti o nal Christian i ty
believe God is a trinity-God in
three persons. The religion of
Judaism believes God is one per–
son. Sorne believe God is mere
" principle"-or a better something
within each human.
But 1 found God reveals himself
in the Bible. In John 1:1 -5, we read
of "the Word." Verse 14 says the
Word was made flesh and became
J esus Christ. The Word was with
God, and the Word also was God.
How can that be? It was as if there
was J ohn, a nd John was with
Smith, and John also was Smith.
John might be Smith's son, and
Smith is the family name.
1 learned that in Genesis 1:1, it is
revealed that God created the heav–
ens and the earth. But Moses wrote
that verse, and the English word
" God" is tra ns la ted from the
Hebrew
Elohim
as Moses wrote it.
Elohim
is a PLURAL word- more
than one person. In verse 26 of that
chapter ,
Elohim
said: " Let us make
man in OUR image, after OUR like–
ness." The word
God,
then , is the
FAMILY name of the GOD FAMILY.
And although cattle were made after
the cattle kind (verse 25) , man was
made after the Goo kind.
In the New Testament we learn
that God 's Spirit in us wi tnesses
with our spirit that we are the begot–
ten sons of God. Jesus is the Son of
God, and the Church is to be mar–
ried to him (Matt. 25:1-13; Rev.
19:7). So God is actually a FAMILY,
into which, through Christ, we may
be born. Romans 8:29 states that
J esus was the fi rst to be born of
many brethren. He was born very
God "by the resurrection from the
dead" (Rom. 1:4).
Since the fi rst man, Adam, was
of the Goo kind, could he possibly
have been made Goo?
July / August 1984
What ManIS
God is composed of Spirit-he
JS
Spirit (John 4:24). But he made
MAN of the dust of the ground
(Gen. 2:7). God breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life and man
(dust) became a soul- the dust of
the ground became a soul. The man
had only a temporary existence,
kept alíve by the breath of air, and
círculatíon of blood- and contin–
ual ly refueled by food and water
out of the ground.
' But God is revealed as IMMOR–
TAL- havi ng self-containing and
inherent life.
Yet we see God offered Adam
immortal life, through the " tree of
life" in the garden of Eden.
But God díd not purpose to gíve
thís ínherent immortal life to the
man unless a nd until the man
received the very holy, righteous,
spi ritual and perfect character of
God. And this the man had to
choose for himself-else it would
not be righteous character. The
other special symbolic tree was that
of "the knowledge of good and
evil. " God commanded Adam not
to eat of that tree, lest he die. That
was therefore a tree of death. But
the tree of LIFE also was a tree of
knowledge-that is, of spiritual
knowledge as imparted from God.
When Adarn chose the t ree of
death, he took to himself the
knowledge of good and evil.
Let me explain at this point that
other scriptures reveal that God
c reated man with a human spirit in
the man. J ob 32:8 says "there is a
spi rit in man," and verse 18 says
this spirit in man constrains him–
suggests, sparks, impels. 1 Corin–
thians 2: 11 says one could not pos–
sess human knowledge save by the
spirit of man that is in him. Man is
wholly matter-not spi ri t. The soul
is matter from the ground, but
there is a spiri t IN that soul , how–
beit only human spirit. This spirít
imparts the power of intellect to
the human brain .
Let me explain at this point that
the recent science of brain research
has shown that human brain is very
similar to animal brain. But animal
brain is governed by inst inct and
cannot think, reason, plan or devise
as man can. Animal brain cannot
know good from evi l-cannot have
appreciation of music, art and liter–
ature. The human spirit adds the
psyche to human brain.
WHY, then, did God place the
human spirit within humans, and
not in animals? The answer is a
profound TRUTH! The human spirit
within man is the only real value of
a human life- for it is the means
by which a human may be uni ted
with God . On repentance and belief
those called by God may be BEGOT–
TEN of God, to be BORN as chi ldren
of God- very God-part of the
Goo FAMI LY. God's Holy Spirit
may thus unite with the human
spirit. Thus, as in Romans 8:16,
God's Spirit bears witness with our
spirit that we are children of
God- now begotten of God and to
be born at the resurrection as spirit
beings.
As God was later to reveal in this
intensive open-minded study of his
Word , the human FAMILY, started
by Adam, was potentially the Goo
FAMILY through which God pur–
posed to reproduce himself. And
human reproduction is the very
type of God's divine reproduction .
But this has 'been revealed knowl–
edge too profound for a sinning and
Satan-deceived rationality to com–
prehend-except to those God has
called and who have been begotten
by him through his Holy Spirit.
This tremendous TRUTH leads to
unders tanding of WHY the Church, ·
and WHICH
/S
the one true Church
of God!
Now back to the garden of Eden
and FOUNDATION of this world .
The Foundatlon of This World
The first human, the man Adam,
was led by his wife Eve to disobey
God, and reject the tree of LIFE.
The tree of life would have united
him with God. But upon his choice,
God CLOSED OFF the tree of LIFE
from Adam and his famíly-UNTI L
God would send J esus, the SECOND
ADAM, to make possible the recon–
ciliation of humankind with God.
Actually the PURPOSE of God's
Church is to reconcile man- unite
man- with God.
Eve had believed Satan. He said
she would not die-she was an
immortal soul. S he believed that ,
and her chi ldren have bel ieved that
líe ever since. Adarn folJowed her
(Continued on page 28)
17