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knowledge 1 found them of little
help.
1
also used, in questionable pas–
sages, the Hebrew Old Testament
and the Greek New Testament ,
with the lexicons. And I used every
transla tion or version then pub–
lished- especially the Moffatt ,
Ferrar Fenton, Srnith-Goodspeed,
American Revised and the Wil–
liams New Testament.
My Experience Unique
My research was totally different
from that of students in a seminary.
They absorb what they are taught
in the doct rines of their denomina–
tion. Education has become a mat–
ter of memory training. The child,
and the adult student as well , is
expected to accept and memorize
whatever is taught.
For example, in an elementary
grade one of my grandsons was
once asked by the teacher, "Who
discovered America?"
" The l ndians," promptly an–
swered the grandson. The teacher
was astonished.
"No, Larry, don't you know that
Columbus discovered America? "
"No, Ma'am, the Indians were
already here to greet Columbus
when he finally arrived."
The lad was given a zero for his
answer and severely instructed to
always remember that the book says
Columbus discovered America!
A pupil, or a s tudent in high
school or university, is graded on
memorizing and believing what he
is taught by the textbook, the
teacher, instructor or professor .
In the first dummy copy of the
magazine
The Plain Truth ,
which I
put together in 1927-seven years
before the magazine was actually
published- 1 had an art ist draw a
picture of a schoolroom, with chil–
dren si tting at the desks, each with
a funnel stuck into bis or her head.
The teacher was pouring out of a
pitcher ready-made propaga nda
into each child's head.
A student enrolled at a Method–
ist seminary receives Methodist
doct rine and teaching into his head .
A Catholic student studying in a
Catholic seminary is taught Roman
Catholic teachings. A student in a
Presbyteri an seminary is gi ven
Presbyterian doctrines. A student
in Germany studying history is
September 1985
instructed in one version of World
Wars 1 and 11, but a history student
in the United States is taught a
somewhat different version.
But 1 had been called specially
by the living Goo.
l
was trying to
prove the very opposite of what
1
found clearly and unmis takably to
be what the Bible SAYS!
1
was
taught by Christ what
I
did not
want to believe but what he showed
me was TRUE!
J esus Christ is the
personal
Word of God. He, in person, taught
the original 12 apostles and the
apostle Paul. The Bible is the SAME
Word of God IN PRI NT today. Thus
it was the same J esus Christ who
taught both the original apostles,
beginning A.D. 27, and 1,900 years
later, beginning 1927, myself.
And Jet me add here that my
study of God's revelation of truth
has never ceased. Later Christ used
me in found ing three liberal arts
colleges-including one in En–
gland. Through constant study,
teaching and collaboration with
spirit-minded faculty members in
theological courses, my mind has
remained OPEN. And knowledge of
God 's revealed truth has in–
creased.
But in my initia l six-months
intensive in-depth study 1 was
undergoing a process of UNiearn–
ing- discover ing that church
teachings had been the diametric
opposite of Bible TRUTH!
" Eating Crow"
This is not the place for a lengthy,
detailed account of my intensive
search in the Bible, and of my con–
version. 1 had been bent on proving
to
my
satisfaction that "all these
churches can' t be wrong, for their
teachings carne from the Bible!"
The essential point here is the sim–
ple fact that 1 did fi nd irrefutable
PROOF of the divine inspiration and
supreme AUTHORITY of the Holy
Bible (as originally written) as the
revealed Word of God. Even all the
so-called contradictions evaporated
upon unbiased s tudy.
The most difficult thing for any
human mind is to admit being
wrong.
It
was not more easy for me
than fo r others. Bu t God had
brought me, t hro ugh ci rcum–
stances, to the point where he had
made me willing.
To my utter dismay and chagrín,
was forced to "eat crow" in
regard to my wife's supposed "fa–
naticism."
It
was not what
1
wanted
to believe
then!
But by that time
1
had taken a severe beating.
1
had to
accept PROVEO truth, contrary to
what
1
had wanted to believe!
It was humiliating to have to
admit my wife had been right and
1
had been wrong in the most serious
argument that ever carne between
us.
Disillusionment
But to my utter d isappointed aston–
ishment,
J
found that many of the
popular church teachings and prac–
tices were
not
based on the Bible.
They had originated, as research in
history had revealed, in paganism.
N umerous Bible prophecies fore–
told it. The amazing, unbelievable
TRUTH is that the SOURCE of these
popular beliefs and practices of
professing Christ ianity was, quite
largely, paganism and human rea–
soning and c ustom ,
N O T the
Bible!
1 had first doubted, then
searched for evidence, and found
PROOF that God exists- that the
Holy Bible is, literally, his divinely
inspired revelation and instruction
to mankind. 1 had learned that
one's God is what a person OBEYS.
The word
Lord
means MASTER–
one
you OBEY! Most people, 1 had
discovered, are obeying
fa/se
gods,
rebelling against the one true CRE–
ATOR who is the supreme RULER of
the universe.
The argument was over a point
of OBEDI ENCE to Goo.
The open ing of my eyes to the
TRUTH brought me to the cross–
roads of my life. To accept it meant
to throw in my lot with a class of
humble and unpretentious people 1
had come to look upon as inferior.
It
meant being cut off from the
high and the mighty and the weal–
thy of this world, to which 1 had
aspi red .
lt
meant the final crushing
of VANITY . It meant a total
change
of ilfe!
Life-and-death Struggle
lt
meant real REPENTANCE, for now
1 saw that 1 had been breaking
God's law. 1 had been rebelling
against God in many more ways
than just breaking the Sabbath
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