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weeks' series of nightly meetings in
1933 in the country schoolhouse
west of Eugene, Oregon. a local
Bible "scholar" sought to catch me
off guard and expose what he sup–
posed was my ignorance of the
Bible by heckling. He said. "Mr.
Armstrong. may I ask you a ques–
tion? Have you been saved yet?"
1
replied. " l f you know your
Bible. you know that Jesus said. 'He
that shall endure unto the END, the
same
sha/1 be
saved' "(Malt. 24: 13).
So again
1
ask: ls CONYERSION a
sudden experience. or a 1ifelong
PROCESS?
1
had to ask myself. IF we humans
are destined to live an ETERNAL LIFE
in HELLFIRE beca use of what ADAM
did UNLESS we "accept Christ" at
sorne time during this life's journey,
lhen why- yes. \YHY-were we ever
pul on earth in the first place? If we
then get the "reward" of idleness
and ease and NOTHING ro oo for all
eternity in heaven. then WHY did
God pul us here?
That belief made no sense at all
tome.
But
1
read in the eighth Psalm the
question: "WHAT IS MAN, that thou
art mindful of him?" (Verse
4.)
Yes. what is a mere man? Why
should God even CONSIDER us; have
His mind on us? Of what impor–
tance are we? WHY did He put us
humans on earth? Was there any
reason-any PURPOSE?
This same question is asked in the
book of Hebrews. where it is more
fu lly answered.
Begin with verse
5.
chapter
2.
where we find the subjecl matter of
the chapter: "For unto lhe angels
halh he not pul in subjection THE
WORLD TO COME. whereof we
speak." The conlext here is speaking
about the WORLD TO COME. The im–
plicalion is that there was a time
when the world
was
in subjection to
the angels. But the world to come
will NOT be in subject ion to angels.
WHv? Continue on: "But one in a
certain place (here referring to what
1 quoted above from the eighth
Psalm] testified, saying, What is
man, that thou art mindful of him?
Or the son of man. thal thou visitest
him? Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels [elsewhere trans-
The
PLAIN TRUTH April 1977
lated 'for a little while lower than
the angels']."
Yes, roan, lower than angels.
WHY should God be concerned
about us? Even though man pos–
sesses the capacily lo invent in–
tricate machines and fly to the
moon, he is really nol much now.
Puny man is filled with evil , always
fighting, struggling. doing evil,
bringing suffering on himself.
The lncredlble Human Potentlal
Bur, now notice the incredible. fan–
lastic. unbelievable future HUMAN
POTENTIAL we can fulfill- if we are
willing. " ... Thou crownedst him
with GLORY and HONOR, and didsl
set him over the work of thy hands"
(verse
7).
What does "lhe work of God's
hal).ds" include? THE WHOLE VAST
UNIYERSE- the PHYSICAL universe
and the SPIRITUAL universe!
Unbelievable? Read on!
"Thou hasl pul ALL THJNGS in
subjeclion under his feet. [In chap–
ter
l.
'all things' is trans1aled by
Moffatt as 'lhe UNIVERSE.') For in
that he [God] pul ALL in subjection
under him [man], he 1eft NOTHING
that is not pul under him."
INCREDlBLE? But notice the next
words: "But now we see NOT YET all
things pul under him."
Verse
9
goes on to exp1ain that
NOW what we see is JEsus a1ready
crowned with GLORY and HONOR,'
and, as in chapler 1. UPHOLDING
ANO SUSTAINING THE ENTIRE UNI–
VERSE by the word Of His POWER.
Yes, Jesus, as chapter
2
continues
to show, is the pioneer who has gone
on before, the captain of our sa1va–
tion, the first lo be BORN of Goo of
MANY BRETHREN! (Rom.
8:29.)
Now the above passage from He–
brews
2
was speaking about the
world to come, NOT today's wor1d.
Angels will not be in power over it.
But angels WERE on this earlh-lhe
earlh
was
in subjeclion lo them–
before the creation of Adam
(11
Pet.
2:4; Jude 6; Isa. 14:12-15; Ezek:
28:
12- 17).
The ange1s sinned and became
demons. Lucifer. then king over the
earlh, the supergreat archangel. be–
carne Satan. And NOW, God has
placed MAN on earth and given lo
him the potential thal was THE AN–
GELS'-if we "make the grade"
where they failed.
The a·ngels turned from, rebelled
against, and rejected the GOVERN–
MENT OF Goo which lhen ruled the
earth and the angels that inhabited it.
What about MAN? Man has also
rebelled-SINNED!
But through Jesus Christ, who
paid man's PENALTY of death in his
Stead, man MAY, if he will, REPENT–
turn FROM Satan's way of "GET," of
SELF-CENTEREDNESS and rebeJlion–
and through Christ's sacrifice be
reconciled to Goo.
Upon real repentance, turning to
God's law of LOYE and FAITH in
Jesus Chrisl, being baptized in His
name, we may be reconciled to God,
from whom our sins have cut us off,
and we may then receive the GIFT of
His HOLY SPIRIT.
That may rightly be called the
experience of CONVERSION.
1
could
write a whole book on that experi–
ence- what it means to receive the
HOLY SPIRIT of Goo; what the
HOLYSPIRIT really is, and MEANS.
It
BEGETS us with the very life of
God-for the Holy
~pirit
IS His life,
coming into us from His very Per–
son.
It
begets us with Goo-life. We
become HEIRS of God and joint–
heirs with Christ, who has already
had put under Him the WHOLE VAST
UNIYERSE.
Not Yet Bórn of God
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of UN–
DERSTANDING-the very MINO of
God which, with our spiril, opens
our minds
lO
UNDERSTAND God's
KNOWLEDGE as He
reveals it
(re–
vealed knowledge) lhrough lhe
Bible.
·
Bul we are NOT YET BORN of
God-not yet POSSESSORS-only
HEIRS; nol yet BORN-only BEGOT·
TEN, as we once were begotten in
our mother's womb before we were
BORN. And just as we were first an
embryo and a growing fetus in our
molher's womb, so now we must
GROW in the knowledge of Christ
and in grace (11 Pe
t.
3:
18).
We start out the Christian life 1ike
newborn babies.
WHY were we put here on earth?
(Continued on page 44)
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