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possible a personal relationship be–
tween human MAN and divine Goo.
Two Stages of Man
God creates, as previously men–
tioned, by the principie of OUALJTY.
So it is with the creation of MAN. It is
accomplished in TWO STAGES: 1) the
physical phase, which began with the
first man, Adam; and 2) the spiritual
stage, which begins with the "second
Adam," Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians
15:45-46).
So also, man was made from crea–
tion (and birth) with the one "human
spi rit"- but he is INCOMPLETE. He
was made to need another Spirit–
the HOLY SPIRIT of God, and when
that gift of God is received, His
"Spirit itself beareth witness with
our spirit, that we are the children of
God" (Romans
8:
16)-in the begot–
ten or first stage of the
spiritual
creation.
This is most clearly explained in
1
Corinthians 2.
" ... 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)-:-spiritual
knowledge. The natural mind can
know only what the brain can physi- ·
cally see, hear, taste, smell or feel.
The natural mind is
confined
to phys–
ical, material knowledge!
" But God hath revealed them
[spiritual things] unto us by his Spir–
it ... " (verse 1O).
"For what man knoweth the things
of a man, save the spirit of man
which is in him? ... " (verse 11). A
cow, sheep or dog cannot know the
things a MA!'I knows-and neither
could a man, except by the spirit of
man which is
in
him. Likewise, the
natural man with this one spi rit is
limited
to material knowledge:
" ... even so the things of God know–
eth no man, but the Spirit of God"
(verse
JI).
ÜNLY when the Holy Spirit enters,
combining with the "human spirit,"
can a man come to know that which
is spi ritual. "But the natural man re–
ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God: for they are foolishness unto
him: neither can he know them, be–
cause they are spiritually discerned"
(verse 14).
40
That is WHY the most highly edu–
cated are overall the most ignorant.
They are confined to knowledge of
the material. Knowledge of God and
the things of God are foolishness to
them. But , of course, God says,
" .. . the wisdom of this world is fool–
ishness with God"
( 1
Corinthians
3:19).
World Cut Off from God
Now back to the first human,
Adam.
Remember God's PURPOSE in
creating man on the earth: 1) to re–
store the GOVERNMENT OF Goo on
earth, and by regulating human life
through that GOVERNMENT, lO com–
plete the physical creation of earth
where angels turned it to ruin, and in
the process to complete the creation
of MAN by developing righteous spiri–
tual CHARACTER; and
2)
tO establish
the KINGDOM OF Goo and eventually
the incredible human potentia! of fin–
ishing the creation of the vast UNI–
VERSE.
This supreme PURPOSE required:
! )
that MAN reject Satan's WAY, em–
bracing Goo's
w
AY of LOVE, based
on God's spiritual law; and
2)
that
man be made first of matter so that if
he were led into Satan's way of GET,
he could be CHANGED, converted to
Goo's WAY of LOVE.
Spirit, once a finished creation,
cannot be changed!
That is why the
one-third of the angels who followed
Satan are forever demons. Spirit is
constant and eternal- not subject to
change. But physical matter is con–
stantly
changing.
Through God's master plan for
His spiritual creation, to be covered
later, it had been determined by God
and the Word that the Word would
divest Himself of His supreme glory,
and in due time take on Him the like–
ness of human flesh as Jesus Christ,
making possible the spi ritual phase
of the creation of MAN- God REPRO–
DUCING HtMSELF! What a MASTER
PLAN for the extreme ULTIMATE in
creative accomplishment! How
GREAT is our God- in mind, purpose,
planning, designing, as well as
CREATJ NG- from the tiniest germ or
insect to the most huge sun, dwarfing
our own great sun to insignificance!
And the incredible human poten-
tia! is that the GREAT MAJESTJC Goo
is, in MAN, reproducing Himself–
man can be born into the Goo FAMI–
LY!
The first human, Adam, was
created with the potential of qualify–
ing to replace Satan, the former Lu–
cifer, on earth's throne, restoring the
GOVERNMENT OF Goo.
But it was necessary that he resist
and reject Satan's GET way and
choose Goo's WAY of His law- the
way of LOVE (GIVE)!
His Maker talked first to Adam
and Eve- instructed them thorough–
ly in the GOVERNMENT and spirituaJ
LA
w
of God-even though in Genesis
2
only the most condensed summary
of God's instruction to them is re–
vealed. Satan was restrained from
any contact with them until God first
had completely taught them.
Two Symbolic Trees
In the gloriously beautiful Garden of
Eden, in which God placed them,
were two symbolic trees. One was the
"tree of life." Taking its fruit, freely
offered, symbolized obedience and
faithfulness to God's law of outgoing
LOVE and receiving the gift of God's
Holy Spirit.
The other was the "tree of the
knowledge of good and evil." Taking
of its fruit was ta·king
to themselves
the knowledge of what is good and
what is evil-deciding for themselves
what is right and what is sin. This, of
course, meant rejection of Goo's
LAW, which defined
for them
the
right and the wrong.
The glorious archangel Lucifer, as
God originally created him, was the
pinnacle of God's creative power in a
single being. Few today remotely re–
alize the great power, now turned to
cunning deception, possessed by Sa–
lan. Apparently Adam completely
underestimated him.
The wily Satan got to Adam
through his wife Eve. He did not say,
"CHOOSE MY WAY." He appearcd as
a subtle serpent. He cleverly deceived
her. He pul DOUBTS in her mind
about God's veracity. He deceived
her into believing God had been un–
fair- selfish. He subtly injected van–
ity of mind. He misled her into think–
ing it was
right
to take of the forbid–
den fruit.
The
PLAIN TRUTH March 1979