Basic HTML Version
has ever achieved these dual aims
fully, or permanently. None has
achieved lasting peace and pros–
perity.
All human governments have,
at sorne point, failed!
Instead of peace, mankind has
known in almost every generat ion
war and violence. War has been
the way of history. There have
been well over 15,000 wars
throughout recorded history.
Sorne 100 million people have
died in wars
in this 20th century
alone!
Instead of prosperity, the vast
majority of human beings have
known nothing more than slavery
or wretchedness and squalor. Pros–
perity for the few, poverty for the
many has been the age-old rule.
The world's problems- today
and throughout history- are a
stinging indictment of the world's
systems of government! In fact,
governments, more often than
not, have created more problems
than they have solved!
Man has proveo bis utter inca–
pability of ruling himself!
Why should this most gifted of
God's physical creatures have
failed so miserably?
The Human Factor
There is a definite cause- a
c lear-cut reason why govern–
ments have fallen so short of the
mark.
Governments have failed sim–
ply because they don't know how
to succeed! Mankind has rejected
the only knowledge that would
allow its governments to suc–
ceed- the knowledge of God and
His way!
Mankind simply does not know
the way to peace and prosperity
(see Isaiah 59:8). Man, separated
from God, is incapable of under–
s tandi ng the requirements for
peace!
Understand this: The world's
problems are essentially
spiritua/
in nature. They have a deep–
rooted spi ritual basis. They can–
not be solved through the use of
mere physicaJ knowledge alone.
l n rejecting the knowledge of
God, man has had to rely on bis
16
own philosophers-on humanly
devised approaches that appear
right to him. He has failed to
heed a vitally important biblical
admonit ion.
Read it for yourself in Prov–
erbs 14: 12: "There is a way which
seemeth right unto a·man, but the
end thereof are the ways of
death!"
Man has chosen to pursue his
own way, the way that seems
right to bim. He has rejected God
as bis ruler. Even God's own
chosen people cut themselves off
from Him by
sin.
Nations today are not imbued
with the gift of God's Holy Spir–
it, which would open their minds
to comprehend spiritual knowl–
edge and give them the power to
restrain human nature.
It
is man's own Satan-seduced
nature-of vanity, jealousy, lust
and greed- that prevents him
from achieving a world of Jasting
peace and prosperity. Mankind
has utterly failed to bring that
nature into rein.
The human factor is the unrec–
ognized seed of destruction with–
in every form of earthly govern–
ment. Man's governments are
inherently imperfect because
man
is imperfect.
An addit ional factor com–
pounds the problem even further.
Not only does unrestrained hu–
man nature disqualify man from
ruling- human nature doesn't
want to be ruled! Satan's attitude
of defiance and rebellion perme–
ates this world. In recent years,
the world's governments have
been toppling at the rate of one
each month!
In this world, the only check
on human nature is human nature
itself. One man's lust for power is
checked only by another man's
greed to keep it. The result: civil
strife, chaos, struggles for politi–
cal power, war.
Man's attempts todo it bis own
way, apart from God, have proved
utterly disastrous!
This ls Satan's World
Unrealized by many, the Almigb- .
ty God of the Bible is
not
tbe
"god of this world" ! Throughout
history, the C reator God has gen–
erally kept hands ·off-with the
exception of those occasions when
divine intevention has been neces–
sary for accomplishing His pur–
poses.
God is permitting the world
to go its own way, to learn for
itself that Satan's way of reject–
ing the law and government of
God can in the end bring noth–
ing but disaster. That bitter les–
son has been written in blood,
suffering, unhappiness and
death!
Thc record of bistory makes
abundantly clear that this is
Satan's world! The "god of this
world," your Bible reveals, is
Satan (see I
1
Corinthians 4:4).
Thi s world is under Satan 's
rule, not God's government.
J esus Christ has qualified to
unseat Satan as ruler over the
earth (Matthew 4:1-11), but
H e has not yet returned to
earth to assume the throne and
establish God's kingdom over
all nations.
In the meantime, God is
aJlowing human governments to
function (Romans 13), for the
primary purpose of maintaining
law and order (see verse 4).
God will not allow anarchy. But
God also places definite limits
on these human governments.
This world's governments do
not have unlimited authority!
When governing authorities
abuse their power and overstep
their bounds, coming into con–
flict with God's laws and pre–
rogatives, God's laws must
clearly take precedence. "We
ought to obey God rather than
man," the early Apostles de–
clared (Acts 5:29).
The Bible teaching is clear: As
individuals, we must be
subject
to
the humanly devised laws of the
land- and when human laws are
contrary to God, we must obey
God and suffer whatever penalty
men impose.
Satan has continually used civil
governments to oppose God's way
and God 's purposes. But Satan's
(Continued on page 44)
The
PLAIN TRUTH