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(Conrinued
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ment times, to the Church, being
persecuted and having "fled into the
wilderness," where she was pro–
tected from persecution and martyr–
dom for 1,260 years. That carries
the time sequence past the Middle
Ages and into modern times.
Then, either referring to
now
or
the very near future, "there was war
in heaven" - speaking of
future
prophesied events in the
past
tense,
as is often done in prophecy - "Mi–
chael [see Daniel 12:1] and his an–
gels fought against the dragon; and
the dragon fought and bis angels,
and prevailed not; neither was their
place found any more in heaven.
J\nd the great dragon was cast out,
that old serpent, called the Devil,
and Satan, which deceiveth the
whole world, he was cast out into
the earth, and his angels [now de–
mons] were cast out with him. And 1
heard a loud voice saying in heaven,
Now is come ... the kingdom of our
God ... for the accuser of our breth–
ren is cast down . . . . Woe to the
inhabiters of the earth and of the
sea! For the devil is come down
unto you, having great wrath, be–
cause he knoweth that he hath but a
short time" (verses 7-12).
There is no question but that we
are
now very close
lO
(if not actually
in the beginning oj)
this time of
trouble.
Today it may sound a little ridicu–
lous to speak of an actual, living
Devil. But also today, no one seems
to UNDERSTAND this time of trouble,
worldwide.
But, when we blow the dust off
the Bible, open it, take it
as
it
is,
with open minds, we find it makes
sense - and no other explanation of
the world's troubles does!
Jesus Christ spoke of the Devil,
named Satan. The Bible speaks of
Satan in 19 different places in the
Old Testament and 34 in the New.
26
It
uses the term Devil
iri
34 places in
the New Testament (in 16 places it
speaks of"devils" in the King James
version, where it should be trans–
lated "demons").
Perhaps
if
we understood what
this book does say, we might come
to understand why we on earth can–
not solve our problems.
In the book of Ephesians, it is
written, "For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against princi–
palities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness [evils] of this
world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places" (Ephesians 6: 12). A
better translation is, "against wicked
SPIRITS in high places."
All our troubles on earth today
are linked up with the mind of man.
In 1972
The
PLAIN TRUTH carried a
series of articles for severa! months
on the DIFFERENCE between animal
brain and human mind.
Robert Kuhn, who earned his
Ph.D. in the field of brain research,
contributed a series of articles from
the science viewpoint, and I contrib–
uted a series on the biblical revela–
tions on the subject.
Dr. Kuhn's inevitable conclusion
was simply that, of necessity, there
has to be a nonphysical component
in connection with the human brain
that does not exist in the animal
brain.
The physical brain of a dolphin,
whale, or elephant
is
larger than the
human brain, that of the chimp
slightly smaller. Qualitatively the
difference between them and the
human brain is very little - not
enough to even remotely account
for the vastly superior intelligence
and output of the human brain.
The Bible reveals the presence of
this nonphysical component. In Job
we find revealed that there is "a
spirit"
in
roan.
It
is not a spirit
being! lt is not an "immortal soul."
lt is something IN the man, that is
not, itself, the roan.
In 1 Corinthians 2 we find the
explanation, grossly misunderstood
by most. The chapter
is
explaining
how, without having received into
the mind the Holy Spirit from God,
one simply cannot UNDERSTAND the
spiritual things of God.
How does knowledge enter the
human mind? Mostly through the
eye, or the ear, and beyond that
only
by the sense of taste, feel, or smell.
You cannot SEE spirit
or
spiritual
knowledge. Neither can you hear
spirit, nor taste it , nor smell it, nor
feel it.
And right there is the explanation
of why man has the intellectual
power to learn to fty to the moon
and back, or to produce the com–
puter, yet he cannot solve his prob–
lems on earth. His real problems are
SPIRITUAL, -and he simply does not
UNDERSTAND spiritual problems. In
producing the computer or in ftying
to the moon, he is dealing with
PHYSICAL matters, which he CAN un–
derstand.
In the second chapter of 1 <;:orin–
thians, this is explained. Paul says,
"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart
[mind] of man, the things which
God hath prepared for them that
!ove him" (verse 9). God has pur–
posed a transcendent destiny that is
possible for man that cannot enter
the human mind through the eye,
the ear, or any natural sense.
"But" it continues, "God hath
re–
vealed
them unto us [referring to
those who have received the Spirit
of God] by his Spirit" (verse 10).
The true answer comes in the next
verse: "For what man k:noweth the
things of a man, save the spirit of
man which is in him?" That is, what
man knows - has knowledge of the
things of a man - natural human
knowledge - know1edge above the
animal brain - save by the spirit of
man,
not the Spirit of
God,
but the
spirit of man, which is IN him.
Notice tbe second part of the
verse: "even so" - that is, in like
manner - "the things of God know–
eth no man, but tbe Spirit ofGod."
Just as the Spirit of God, baving
been given to and having entered
the human mind, imparts to the
mind the power of
spiritual
compre–
hension by revelation, so, in like
manner, no human brain could
PLAIN TRUTH May 1974