Page 4637 - 1970S

Personal from...
(Continued from page 1)
instruction manuai- His basic reve–
lation of necessary knowledge. And
this book claims that ALL mankind,
as a whole, is deceivedl All na tions
are deceived. Listen! Let me show it
to you. "The great dragon was cast
out, that old serpent, called the Devil,
and Satan, which deceiveth the
.whole world" (Revelation 12:9).
Notice Jesus' warning: "For many
shall come in my name saying, I am
Christ; and shall deceive many.
"And ye shall hear of wars and
rumours of wars: see that ye be not
troubled: for all these things must
come to pass, but the end is not yet.
"For nation shall rise against na–
tion, and kingdom against kingdom:
and there shall be famines, and pesti–
lences, and earthquakes, in divers
places. All these are the beginning
of sor rows.... And many false
prophets shall rise, and shall deceive
many.... For there shall arise false
Christs, and false prophets, and shall
shew great signs and wonders; inso–
much that, if it were possible, they
shall deceive the very elect" (Mat–
thew 24:5-8, 11, 24).
And notice the apostle Paul's warn–
ing to the Gentile Corinthians:
" ... the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not,
Iest the light of the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the image ofGod, should
shine unto them .... for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light.
Thereforc it is no great thing if his
ministers also be transformed as the
ministers of righteousness; whose end
shall be according to their works" (11
Corinthians4:4; 11:14-15).
These passages represent Satan the
devil as the arch-deceiver of mankind.
Probably most people today are de–
ceived into thinking there is no devil.
The very arch-deceiver has deceived
theworld into thinking he doesn't exist
and untold millions.into thinking that
God doesn't even exist.
Another important fact the knowl–
edge of which has been hidden from
tbe world is that there was once
peace on this earth-peace world–
wide-happiness, joy! Origina Uy this
world was populated with angels–
not humans. And that's another bit
of knowledge hidden from most
38
people today. So Jet us now notice the
very first verse in all tbe Bible: " In
the beginning God created the heav–
en and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).
The Hebrew words in which
Moses originally wrote that sentence
imply a perfect creation-not one in
chaos and confusion, as described in
the second verse. Many scriptures in
other parts of the Bible reveal great
world-shaking events that occurred
between the time of the first and
second verses of Genesis one.
In thé book of Job the original
creation is described as so perfect
and so beautiful that the angels
shouted for joy. God the Creator is
described as asking Job: " Where
wast thou when I laid the founda–
tions of the earth? Declare, if thou
hast understanding ... When the
morning stars sang together, and all
the sons of God shouted for joy?"
(Job 38:4, 7.)
There was worldwide peace on
earth for sorne time after the earth
was fi rst created, because the govern–
ment of God was being administered
here then. For how long a duration is
not revealed. lt could have been mil–
lions of years. In any event it lasted
until about 6,000 years ago.
When this earth was first created,
God, the Creator-Ruler of the uní–
verse, set one of two highest-ranking
archangels-a cherub- who was
thoroughly experienced in the ad–
ministration of God's government, as
king to administer the government of
God over the earth.
And all that, too, is knowledge bid–
den from the world today. And that
involves also another important bit of
hidden knowledge-the very ORIGIN
of this Satan, the devil.
Notice what Isaiah reveals about
this Lucifer or Satan. "How art thou
fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of
the morning! How art thou cut down
to the ground, which didst weaken
thé nations! For thou hast said in
thine heart, I will ascend into heaven,
1 will exalt my throne above the stars
of God: 1 will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation, in the sides of
the north: I will ascend above the
heigbts of the clouds; I will be like
the most High. Yet thou shalt be
brought down to hell , to the sidés of
the pit" (lsaiah 14:12-15).
This superarchangel who became
Satan (see Ezekiel 28:12-17) led one-
third of all the angels- the whole
earth's population- in his war of ag–
gression. And he is deceiving the
whole earth today!
As a result of this colossal earth–
wide mutiny and rebellion against
the government of God, a physical
destruction put this whole earth into
chaos and darkness, and that's what
we find described in Genesis 1:2:
"And the earth was without form,
and void; and darkness was upon the
face of the deep. And the Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the
waters."
Tben in six days God RENEWED
the face of the earth: "Thou sendest
forth thy spirit, they are created: and
thou renewest the face of the earth"
(Psalm 104:30).
So now, notice the first thing God
did in renewing the face of the earth :
"And God said, Let there be light:
and there was light" (Genesis 1:3).
It was on the sixth day of renewing
the face of the earth that God
created the fi rst HUMANS- when
MAN was first put here on this
earth- for a tremendous purpose
which also has been WJTHHELD from
public knowledge. "And God said,
Let us make man in our image, after
our likeness: and Jet them have do–
minion over the fish of the sea, and
over the fow1 of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and
over every creeping thing that creep–
eth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26).
Satan DECEIVED the first woman
and got to Adam through his 'Yife.
Adam rejected God's revealed
knowledge- just as humanity has
been doing ever since-disobeyed the
government of God, allowed the
SAME ATTITUDE that Satan had tO
enter his heart-the self-centered at–
titude of vanity, lust and greed, of
selfishness , of resentment against au–
. thority-especially the authority of
God-<>f total unconcern for the good
or welfare of others, of jealousy, envy
and hatred.
And all humanity, under the sway
of this active Satan, is traveling that
way of life still. And that is the very
CAUSE of all humanity's ills and evils
in this sick, sick world today.
Happily, the time is coming, SOON,
when this whole world is going to be
jolted into waking up to this vital
knowledge, so long HIDDEN from a
sleeping and sick world! o
The PLAIN TRUTH September 1979