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and it is "not biblical" to say that
the Cospel is an EOUCATIONAL
messagc!
THAT false s u ppost l ton is a
MAJOR CAUSE of all the world's
unhappy ills!
WHY!
How
could that be?
Millions have SUPPOSEO that the
"Cospel" is a sentimental, nebulous,
ethereal sort of EMOTION, irrational
and UNreJated tO the MINO. They SUP–
POSE that THIS faJse "gospel" carne
out of the Bible! T berefore they
ASSUME that the Bible is an impracti–
cal book of maudlin sentimentality,
utterly unrelated to rational KNOWL–
EDG E. Thus the Bible has come to be
regarded as outmoded superstition–
a book of fables--or, in the O Id Testa–
ment , the writings of Jews ignorantiy
searching for
a
nationa l conccpt of a
god.
So THINKERS,
without
t hinki ng,
and
without
checking to SEE what
the Bible is, or what it says, have
relegated it to t he scrap heap of
outworn superstition. The "Eou–
CATEO" have thrown it out t he win–
dow, without searching to PROVE
their biased assumption.
And many r e l ig io u s peop le
have SUPPOSEO that "the Bible
was not written to inform man's
mind, bu t to change man's
hcart." They have acccpted a
sanctimonious sentimentalism, in
which t hey get to "feel" that
they a re spi ri tual, and tha t they
are "saved," largely shutting up
their minds agai nst the rational
teaching of the Bible.
A very "religious" woman of this
category once exclaimed, in sur–
prised amazement, "Why, you
surely don't read the Bible to try to
UNOERSTANO it, do you?"
"Why,
of course!"
1
replied
emphatically. " Don't you cvcr read
the Bible?"
"Oh yes!
1
read it every day,"
s he said in a ver y sanct imonious
tone.
"Well then, do you mean you
rcad it , but you don ' t Jet it SPEAK to
you- you don't get any meaning
from what you read?"
"But we're not
supposed
to
understand the Bible," she per–
sisted . Like the lady in London , s he
thought it was no t written to
inform man's MINO.
2
" Then WHY do you read it," 1
asked.
"Why, just for INSPIRATION,"
she rep1ied.
Entirely too many people are
OECEIVEO by this false idea. No
WONOER the men of science and
the cducators of t his world have
ASSUMEO that the Bible contai ns
nothi ng RATIONAL- but o nl y
senseless, sentimental superstition,
enti rely irrational!
Well , Iet 's
read
a few words of it!
l t won't poison your mind!
To the gentile-born Thessa1oni–
ans, Paul wrote: " Bu t 1 would not
have you to be IGNORANT, breth–
ren, concerning them which ar e
as leep ..." ( 1 Thessalonians
4:13).
W as
this
written to inform man's
MINO- prevent IGNORANCE? But
of course MOST people today ,
because
they embrace a sanctimon–
ious superstition TNSTEAO OF the
MESSAGE OF THE 8IBLE, do not
u nders tand this! l f the Bib le was
wr itten to
change
man 's heart
(ANO IT WAS INOEEO!) HOW can
it change man's HEART, if it is
never understood by the MINO?
Just what does the Bible
mean
when it speaks of man's ·" heart"?
The word
heart
is used , in this
sense, to imply the ATTITUDE of
MINo! The BIBLE says: "The heart
is deceitful above a ll things, and
desperately wicked ... " (Jeremiah
17:9).
l t is not referring to the organ
that pumps blood under man's
c hest.
lt
is referri ng to man's
NATURE-his attitude, or spirit , or
tendency of MINO.
It
is referring to
his natural CHARACTER!
But HOW does Cod go about
changing
this deceitful NATURE–
t h is "heart " - this attitude of
MI NO?
Only the Holy Spirit of God can
do this. So
how
does one receive
Cod's Spirit?
J esus began His Cospel ministry
and teaching saying, " ... The time
is fu lfilled, and the Kingdom of
God is at hand: REPENT ye, and
BELIEYE t he GOSPEL" (Mark 1:1,
14-15).
T wo conditions H e said WE
must perform: REPENT and BE–
LlEVE!
Yes, TWO cond itions. That, WE
must do. Then Goo does the "sav-
ing"- the converti ng. God GIVES
H is Holy Spirit.
But now HOW does one REPENT?
What does the word
repent
MEAN?
The d ictionary definition is, " To
change one's MINO." "Godly sor–
row worketh repentance ... " (
lJ
Corinthians
7: 10) .
This is done in
and by the MINO!
Pau1 was concerned about the
MINO. H e said : " Let this MINO be in
you, which was a lso in Christ
Jes us" (Philippians
2:5).
How does one BELIEVE, in a rder
to be "saved"? One must BELI EVE
with the MINO.
The very last words of t he apos–
t le Peter's le tter were: "But grow
in g race, and in the KNOWLEOGE of
ou r Lord a nd Saviour J es u s
C hrist ... " (TI Peter 3: 18).
What is t he FOUNOATI ON of
knowledge- the
starting ap–
proach
to wisdom? "The fear of
t he Lord is the beginning of wis–
dom : a good UNOERSTANOI G
have a ll they that d o his com–
mandments: h is praise end u reth
forever" ( Psalm lll: 1
0).
Speaking of the spi r itual GIFTS–
which Cod gives to His begotten
chi1dre n- to the hei r s of salva–
tion- we read this INSTRUCTI ON to
the MI NO:
"Now concerning spiritual gifts,
brethren,
1
wou1d not have you
ignorant." Through Paul , Goo says
He does not want us to be IGNO–
RANT- but UNOERSTANDING and
KNOWLEOG EABLE Of MINO!
Continue: " Whe refore
1
give you
to UNOERSTANO.... Now there are
diversities of gifts, but the same
Spirit. ... For to one is given by
the Spirit the word of WISDOM; to
another the word of KNOWLEDGE
by the same Spi ri t; to another
FAITH by the same Spirit ... "
(l
Corinthians 12: 1,
3, 4, 8-9).
The
MOST IMPORTANT of all t he Spiritual
gifts which Cod gives H is people
are, fi rst of a ll , WISOOM; second in
impor tance, KNOWLEOGE; third,
FAITH. These all a re imparted to
the MINO!
J esus C hrist said that we s hou ld
actually uvE BY "every word of
God" - that is, every word in the
Bible ( Luke
4:4).
How may we do
that , unless we allow God's Word
(Continued on page 39)
The
PLAIN TRUTH