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WhoandWhat
IsGod?
We continue, with this third installment, the serial publication of
Herbert W. Armstrong's latest book
Mystery of the Ages.
1
W AS RETURNING
to my
hotel in N ew Delhi sorne
years ago from a prívate
conference with the late
Indira Gandhi, prime minis–
ter of India. Ever since arriv–
ing in India I had noticed
cows and oxen wandering
through the streets. I had
never seen s uch a nimals
straying loosely through city
streets in any other country.
" Don 't these catt le s tray
quite a distance from home?" I
asked of the car driver.
"Oh, yes," he answered.
" But when,"
I
asked , "they wan–
der all over the streets so far away,
how do their owners find them, to
drive them back home for the
night?"
The car d r iver smiled. "The
owners don't. But the cattle and
oxen know their owners and where
they live. They find their own way
home in the evening."
Immediately I thought of the
scripture in the first chapter of
lsaiah, which 1 had never under–
s tood so perfectly before this living
explanation.
" Hear, O heavens, and give ear,
O earth: for the Lord hath spoken,
I have nourished and brought up
children, and they have rebelled
Oc tober 1985
against me. The ox knoweth his
owner, and the ass his master's
crib: but Israel doth not know, my
people doth not consider. Ah sinful
nation, a people laden with iniquity,
a seed of evildoers, children that
are corrupters: they have forsaken
the Lord ... they are gone away
backward" ( Isa. 1:2-4).
And this was spoken of ancient
Israel, a nation to which God had
revealed himself by many evidences
and miracles. How much less do
other nations know about God–
about WHO and WHA
T
God is!
Nevertheless, other nations are
human beings just like the nation
Israel.
It
is important at the very
outset of this chapter that you
notice God calls these humans his
own children. Many people say,
"God just doesn't seem real to me."
God is a great mystery to them.
Their own human fathers don't
seem like a mystery. They seem
real.
Why
Does
God Seem Unreal?
In this chapter 1 hope we will help
make God as real to you as your
own human father. God does reveal
himself to us in the Bible, if we will
just understand it, so that he will
seem real to us.
Of the peoples of the Roman
Empire, God inspired the apost le
Paul to wri te:
"For the wrath of God i s
revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and wickedness of men
who by their wickedness
suppress
the truth.
For what can be known
about God is plain to them, because
God has shown it to them. Ever
since the creation of the world his
invisible nature, namely, his eternal
power and deity [spiritual], has
been clearly perceived in the things
that have been made [physical]. So
they are without excuse; for
although they knew [about] God
they did not honor him as God or
give thanks to him, but they
became futile in their thinking and
their senseless minds were dark–
ened. Claiming to be wise, they
became foo ls" (Rom. 1:18-22,
Revised Standard Version) .
The billions now living on earth
not only are ignorant of the most
important knowledge-WHO and
WHA
T
God is-they seem
not to
want to know!
They are willingly
in ignorance of this most important
knowledge and relationship possi–
ble in human life!
Astonishing- but
TRUE!
And why have humans been
wi/lingly
ignorant of man's most
important relationship? One expla–
nation, only, is possible! All nations
have been
deceived!
(Rev. 12:9.)
And the
fact
of this uni versal
deception makes certain the fact of
a super DECEIVER! More of this,
later. Now back to the problem of
5