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aware of the fantastic reality and
power of God-and better prepare to
utilize that power asan instrument in
His hands?
To have the spiritual strength and
impact you need in this life and to
prepare yourself to serve as a
powerful instrument in Chrlst's gov–
ernment, which will soon be set up
on earth, learn and use the key of
exercising God's power. Here are
three basic steps you need to
take:
l. Proper Fear of God
Should you fear God as sorne sort of
monster? No! Not at all.
But we human beings tend not to
respect our parents, teachers, police–
men, government officials--or any–
one else- unless we become im–
pressed with their closeness and their
power.
Let .me illustrate.
As a grade-school child, I al–
tended a school that had an elderly
principal. This principal was, I am
sure, a very ·fine person. But she
was somewhat senile and slow mov–
ing.
Like God probably seems to many
of you reading this, she seemed far
off, out of touch, venerable but pas–
sive, and almost helpless io really do
anything about explosive daily prob–
lems. The point is, we did not fear
tbis elderly principal or her office.
Yet we should have!
The kind of "fear" I am discussing
is the sense of awe, deep respect, and
appreciation of active
POWER.
That
is the kind of fear we ought to have–
and eventually must have-for Al–
mighty God!
Proper Fear
In my final year or two of grade
school, this principal, described
above, died . She was replaced by"a
fairly young, alert, masculine fellow
who immediately took steps to alter
the somewhat permissive atmo–
sphere.
On the second or third day after he
' became principal, a large group of
students was coming in from the
playground. As we lined up, there
was the usual pushing, shoving and
pulling of the girls' pigtails by us
"bad little boys." There was constant
The PLAIN TRUTH October/ November 1979
giggling and scuffiing-few paying
any attention to the admonitions and
warnings of the other teachers. _
Suddenly, I heard a strange sound
just behind me.
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quickly turned to
see a shocked boy being jerked off his
feet, propelled through the air, and
landing across the new principal's
knee!
Clutched in the principal's hand, a
large wooden paddle streaked down
and landed with a fierce "whop" on
its appointed target. A yowl of shock
and fear carne from the boy's lips–
quickly giving way to real cries of
pain and penitence.
Immediately, all scuffling and
misbehavior stopped! Great peace
and tranquillity descended upon
West Central Grade School!
To us, the new principal stood ten
feet tall and seemed to be always
nearby, alert and powerful. Yet, he
was fair and friendly-as well as
firm when necessary. We soon carne
to admire and respect the new princi–
pal even more tban tbe former one.
He inspired us to strength, manhood
and accomplishment.
But we knew he would not tolerate
misbehavior. We respected and
feared his determination and power
to enforce his standard of behavior.
His "presence" was always felt with
a certain awe and respect.
The great God who created the
heavens and the earth is soon going
to bave to intervene- as our new
principal did- and show His power
to a self-indulgent and rebellious
race ofmen. He is going to show such
awesome and powerful signs that
men will stand in fear and awe of His
majesty and His office. Then-and
only then-will there be peace in this
war-torn world!
Since God has allowed man to go
his own way for six thousand years,
men have begun to assume that their
very Creator is "dead," impotent, or
"way off' somewhere. They have
never realized He is nearby and very
available for help. They have never
prayed to the true God. Tbey bave
never expected a supernatural an–
swer, if that is required. They have
never feared to disobey His plain
written Word and His command–
ments!
Because of this, mankind is in ter-
rible trouble. Man is about to blast
himself off this planet!
Tbe true Gód is going to stop
it.
The Beginning of True Wisdom
The Word of God tells us: "The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of knowl–
edge: but fools despise wisdom and
instruction" (Proverbs 1:7).
Yes, fools sneer, ridicule and de–
spise the true wisdom and under–
standing that comes from God. But
those wbo will be leaders in truly
helping this world today and in bless–
ing and saving it in the world tomor–
row will be those who have true wis–
dom and knowledge through the deep
acknowledgment and fear of the liv–
ing God!
Again: "The fear of tbe Lord is to
hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and
the evil way, and the froward mouth,
do I hate" (Proverbs 8:13). This
proper "fear" of God causes us to
understand the nature of evil and to
sincerely bate it-to turn away from
it and from al! the self-willed vanity
and rebellion that causes every hu–
man woe and
i1l
today.
A few years ago-very few as the
Eterna! God counts time
(11
Peter
3:8)- God removed a great Babylo–
nian king from bis office and bis ma–
jesty for seven years. This king, Ne–
buchadnezzar, was brought down
and humbled in a way that no other
king has ever been.
After that time-and after he had
learned a great lesson- Nebuchad–
nezzar was restored to bis kingdom,
and he lifted up his eyes to praise and
honor the true God. Nebuchadnezzar
said: "Al! the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing: and he [God]
doeth according to bis will in the
army of heaven, and among the in–
habitants of the earth: and none can
stay his hand, or say unto him, What
doest thou? ... Now
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Nebuchad–
nezzar praise and extol and honor the
King of beaven, all whose works are
truth, and his ways judgment: and
tbose that walk in pride he is able to
abase" (Daniel 4:35, 37).
This great king learned- as the
men and rulers of this present civili–
zation will soon learn- that God is
very real and that He rules over the
nations according to His will!
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