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vantage point is like going into a
movie or turning on a movie on TV
with the picture ha lf over. Not hav–
ing secn what went before, you
sim–
p~l'
don't understand what y ou are
seeing now!
Let me give you rhe big picture
from lhc bcginning -
ve1y
briefly.
Begin wilh John
1,
ve rses
1-3:
"In
the BEG INN ING was thc Word, and
the Word wa with God. and th e
Word was God." Here were from
eternily
two
individual
beings,
one
called lhe Word, 1he other, God.
Bul lhe Word was also God. Let me
compare it with someone saying,
" 1
saw Garner Ted, and Garner Ted
was wilh Armstrong, and Garner
Ted was (a lso) Armslrong." In lhe
beginning from elernity the Wo rd
was
not
the son of God a Garner
Ted
is
the son of "Armstrong" - if
you are referring lo myse lf. But
la ter, ve r. e
14,
it is stated that "the
Word was made ftesh. and dwelt
among us.. .." At which lime, born
of the virgin Mary. lhe Word be–
came Jc us Christ, and at that time
He became the son of God!
But from elernity - which means
ALWAYS - there were the two, and
we a re made in the image and lik e–
ness of God - His form and shape
- and ha ve been given minds like –
though inferior to - God. and since
we think out and plan the things
that we design, th e Word and God
first thought out. de igned. and
planncd what was to follow.
First they designed and crea ted
ange!s.
Apparently that was before
th e creation of matter . The fact of
radioactivity proves there has been
no past eternity of malter. God CRE–
ATED matter. But He created ange ls
first. The Bible says MUCHabout an–
gels. They are spirit beings com–
posed of spirit, not matter. Next we
come to Genesis 1: 1 - compared to
Joh n
1:1:
" In the beginning Goo
[Hebrew
Elohim,
meaning more
than onc person forming one God –
that is the God family] crea ted the
heaven ['heavens' in the Hebrew]
and the carth.'. This was after the
creation of angels beca use God says
(Job
38:7)
the angel "shouted for
joy" at the creation o f the eart h.
Now we read of the "angels that
sinned" (Il Peter
2:4),
and ve rses 5
and 6 place the time of this angelic
si n as
p rior lo
the creation of Adam.
42
that is, before the span of time from
Adam to the Flood. The angels were
led into sin (the transgress ion of
God's law - l John
3:4)
by the ir
king Lucifer. Lucifer (lsa.
14: 12)
was a great archangel. a cherub. the
very most supreme type of being
ca pable of being created. He wa s
PERFECT and created full of wisdom,
perfection. and beauty (Ezek.
28:14-
17).
He administered THE GOVERN–
MENT OF Goo over angels - over
the earth that then was. But "in–
iquity" was found in him (Ezek.
28: 15).
The government of God was
based on the spiritual
!aw
of' God.
Any government is the administra–
tion of a law. and without law there
can be no government. The law of
Goo is spiritual.
Jt
is
d(fferent
from
any man-made law.
lt
is A WAY OF
LIFE - in fact THE way of life that
produces PEACE.
There are only TWO basic. pri–
mary ways of life. God 's way -
God 's spiritual law - is a way of
!ove. th at i , an outgoing concern
toward others. Toward God it is ac–
tually a return of His !ove given to
us. expressed in !ove, adoration,
obedience, and worship. Toward fel–
lowman , it is
outgoing concern
for
the good and welfare of others
equa lto self-concern. The other way
of life
1
simplify by the word "GET."
¡
lt is toward
se(f
lt is vanity, lust.
and greed. Toward oth ers it is envy.
jea lousy. rivalry, competi ti on. and
strife.
It
is resentment of any au–
thority - whether God 's or man 's.
1t
is revengeful. hostil e, and violent.
God crea ted
minds
in angels. He
gave them the free moral agency to
think, reason, form opi ni ons. and
make choices. Otherwise there could
have been no personality. individ–
uality, or character.
Lucifer was a supreme archa nge l.
trained a t the very thronc of God.
His wings spread over the throne of
the universe (Ezek.
28:14
with Ex.
25:8. 18-22).
He was thoroughly
trained in the administration of the
GOVERNMENT OF GOD.
But Lucifer rea soned - and
fal sely. He concluded that GETTING
was to him more desirable than GIV–
ING. So when he led his angels into
rebeUion against God and God's
way, THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD
ceased to function on the earth.
Few know that the government of
God once existed on earth. God
could create. automatica lly by fiat,
no
greater
than Lucifer. This left
God - not limited to one person -
the
only
being who had se t Himself
incxorably never
to
violate His LAW,
the ONLY bcing who
would not.
and
therefore
could not,
sin - that is.
violate His GOVERNMENT. The solu–
tion that the Word and God had
planned - undoubtedly long before
- was tha t God would now repro–
duce Himself. and the Word God
would now reproduce HtMSEu-! (AII
of this was covered in the series on
the
"incredib/e human potentia/"
published in
The Plain Tnuh.)
Angels had been pl aced here for
crea ti ve purposes of improving th e
earth. Instead they defiled iL
brought it to the state of decay. con–
fu sion, waste. and emptiness im–
plied by. the Hebrew words
to!w
and
bohu.
which a re translated "wi thout
form and vo id" in the King James
Yersion . "void and vaca n!" in the
Moffatt tra n lation. "wastc and
empty" and "chaotic and in con–
fu ion" in other transla ti ons.
Psalm
104: 30
says : "Thou sendest
forth thy spi ri t, lhey a re created :
and thou
renewest !he .face of the
earth."
ln Genesis
1:2.
the watery
surface of the earth was covered
with
darkness.
God is th e author of
LIGHT - Satan of DARK ESS! The
spirit of God "moved upon the face
of the walers." And. verse 3. "God
said, LET TIIERE BE LI GHT." In six
days God RENEWED THE FACE OF
THE EA RTH forMAN- for God's pur–
pose of
restoring His governmenl
on
earth by reproducing HIMSELF by
creating man in His image to have
the potential of being begotten a nd
born into the family ofGod.
But now Lucifer. whose name
meant "shining star of th e dawn" or
" bringer of light." becomes Satan
the devil - whose name mcans ' ·ad–
versary." He is immorta l. as are all
angels. He must rema in on ea rlh
UNTIL
a successor qualifics to re–
store the governmenl of God on
earth and is
inducted into o.!Jice.
1
n Genesis
1:26.
God said, "Let
us [not me] make man in
our
im–
age." God created man maJe and
fe male (Gen.
1:27).
He inst ructed
them in His WAY to qualify to re–
sto re the GOVERNMENT OF Goo. It
(Continued on page 44)
The
PLAIN TRUTH November 1976