Good News 1952 (Vol II No 11) Nov_w

7/28/2019 Good News 1952 (Vol II No 11) Nov_w

1/16

VOL. II, NUMBER 11

The National MagazIne ofAMBASSADOR COLLEGE

NOVEMBER, 1952

How Would Jesus Votefor PRESIDENT?This may he the most fateful presidential election in American Histo-ry. Christ's Message was concerned with the government of nations.Christians are those who folloU' Christ. Here's what He would do.

by Herbert W. Armstrong

T HE PRESIDENTIAL campaign is onfull blast. The issue of survival ofthe nat ion will fall squarely on theshoulders of the next president.World war is now a daily threat.Frightful atomic war. War that meansannihilation of civilization. America thisminute is in grave danger.

"I n His Steps"In such a momentous presidential

year, what would Jesus Chr is t do aboutthis election if He were here as a nativeborn American?

Would He vote for Eisenhower?Would He use His great influence tokeep the Democrats at the helm in thisworld-crisis?Many of you undoubtedly have readthe famous book, "In H is Steps," by Dr.Charles M. Sheldon. I t has been one ofthe all-time best-sellers. I t is the storyof an ent ire congregat ion which set outto do, in all circumstances daily, just asJesus would do-to "follow His steps,"as we are admonished by Peter . My onlycriticism of the book is that its characters, like most people who think theyfollow Jesus, acted as they supposedJesus would act instead of s tudying the

Bible to find out how He did act.The Apostle Paul said: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet

nor I, but Christ liveth in me." (Gal.2: 20.) He admonished, "Let this mindbe in you, which was also in ChristJesus." (Phil. 2:5.) A person is notreally a Christian unless he followsChrist-acts as Christ would act-unless Chris t is l iv ing his life for him.

Christ Was Interested inGOVERNMENTFew realize it, because they do not

hear it today, but the GOSPEL OF CHRIST- t he Gospel Jesus brought from Godand preached, was a message about gov-ernment!Yes, Jesus was interest ed in government. His Message was about a government to RULE THE WORLD, and bring usWORLD PEACE!But to understand it, we must take aquick, condensed flash-back of the governments of this world f rom its foundat ion unt il now. This is necessary for atrue perspective. We are prone to viewpolit ics, government, and world eventsfrom the standpoint of this presentworld.

In the beginning, God created theheavens and the earth (Gen. 1: 1 ). Inrulersh ip over this earth God sent anarchangel who sealed up the sum-totalof perfection, wisdom, and beauty. Histhrone was in Eden. He was ruler overa peaceful world populated by beingssuperior to humans-spirit beings calledangels. (Ezek. 28: 12-15.)But as this br illiant shining "Star ofthe Dawn"-Lucifer-contemplated hisglory, pride lifted him up, ambi ti onseized him, and suddenly he became dissatisfied with a rulership l imit ed to onesingle planet. He became jealous ofGod, set his heart to rival the EternalCreator Himself, and left this p lanet ina war of conquest, in which a third ofhis angels followed him, attempting toconquer and rule the universe. (Isa.14: 12-15; Rev. 12: 4.)But he was cast back down to earthin defeat, disqualified even asearth ruler,tbo n ot to be detbroned until a successoris both qualified and inaugurated in of-fice.

Just as the sins of the antediluvianworld brought physical destruction tothe earth by a flood; just as the fornication of Sodom and Gomorrah brough


2/16

Page 2physical destruction and chaos to thosecities by fire; just as the sins of the present evil world have doomed it to physical destruction once again by fire, sothe sins of the angels caused the face ofthe earth to suffer great violence, and itbecame chaotic, in confusion, waste andempty (Gen. 1:2) .

First Chance at World RuleThen in six days God Almightybrought order out of chaos, created thepresent vegetable and animal life, andcreated upon earth a new race, the raceof human mortals. Adam was given ruleover the lower species-animals. Lucifer, an archangel, had been given ruleover angels. But, whi le man was made alit tle lower in status than angels, he wasmade in the image of God wit h possibilities, thru conversion, of being bornof God, and changed into immortal spiritbeings, higher in order than angels.In the Garden of Eden was the tree

of Life-symbolic of the Holy Spirit ofGod Himself, by which Adam couldhave been raised to this higher immortaland divine level.First, Adam was given opportunity toqualify as WORLD RULER. He could havebecome successor to the former Lucifer,now re-named Satan (meaning Adversary, Rival, Aggressor). Adam was putto the test to determine whether hewould obey God and prove able to RULEwith God's Laws.In the fateful test with Satan, Adamdisobeyed God, accepted the rule ofSatan over him-yielded to human pride,lust and greed. Thus he placed himselfand his chi ldren under the rule of Satan.He failed to overthrow Satan. He failedto prove he could obey God and carryout GOD'S government over those Godshould have placed under him.Had Adam obeyed God and provedable to defeat Satan in this test, he couldhave partaken of the "Tree of LIFE" -he would have been begotten of GOD,later BORN of God, changed from mortalhuman to immorta l and divine God, ofthe very family-the KINGDOM--of

GOD! All earth's mortals, as his children,would have been under his rule. Hewould have become world ruler forever!But Adam placed himself and hischildren UNDER THE RULE OF SATAN.Adam was driven from the Garden ofEden lest he take of rhe tree of life, andgain immortali ty (Gen. 3:22). Thus henever received immortality, which is the

gift of God by and thru His Holy Spirit.Satin thus retained his rulership, thruinvisible sway of influence, temptation,and deception, over the world.How Ou r Present System StartedJUSt how Satan manipulated humanmortals in the ways of government on

The GOOD NEWSearth during the first 1600 or 1700years, there is no historic record. Weknow merely that with very few exceptions humans under Satan's invisiblesway followed the course of human passions, the wickedness of man was greaton the earth, and God destroyed all buteight souls by the Flood.Noah and his descendants should havelearned their lesson, but they didn't,Satan found in one of the great-grandsons of Noah, Nimrod, the grandson ofHam, a very able and powerful man whocould be "used" politically. Thru Satan'sinfluence, instilling great ambition thrugreed and pride, this Nimrod organizedthe people into a system of human government, by which man ruled over mancontrary to the principles established byGod. Such government never could begood or bring blessings to humanity, butthe Eternal purposed to permit man tolearn that lesson by hard experience. Weare learning it still, and haven 't learnedit yet.Now notice how the present world'ssociety became organized.Nimrod organized the present world'sfirst government-the city of BABYLON.Later he organized Nineveh and othercities. He ins ti tuted the system of regimentation, whereby one or a few at thetop, by directing their efforts, profit fromthe sweat and labor of others.Thus the BABYLONISH system of government was started. Soon there weremany cities, each ruled by a king. Thenan ambitious king, swayed by Satan'sphilosophy, seeking more worlds to conquer, organized a portion of his manpower into a fighting force and by aggression ruled over adjoining cities.Thus nations were born, and then Empires.This BABYLONISH principle of government, intertwined with economic manipulation, has ruled the world eversince. It has ruled under various forms-whether called oligarchy, monarchy,dictatorship, autocracy, democracy, communism or nazism-but it's the sameold BABYLONISH PRINCIPLE underslightly different modes of administration.And this is the origin of what we call

CIVILIZATION. Its forms of administration have undergone change in theconstant struggle and turmoil-in therise and fall of empires, of cultures, ofrival modes of polit ical, economic, religious, or social administration. But itsbasic principle has remained the sameth e principle of competition and strife,based upon greed and vanity.Regardless of the form in which itappears here or there, it is a systembased upon exploitat ion of the people,aggression, regimentation, delusion anddeception. And the entire system is

November, 1952founded on the idea of huddl ing peOPletogether in crowded cities.Since it is the system of strife and .compet it ion, each of the four phases ofthis Civilization-political, economic, reoligious, and social-has striven constam.ly to dominate and rule. In ancientRome the politicians ruled over theChurch, Business, and Society. Then aft.er 554 A.D., the Church ruled over theState, Business, and Society. In America,where we are supposed to rule ourselves,it has been a constant st ruggle for dominance between Big Business and thepoliticians. In Russia today a small groupof godless atheistic Marxists have set upa polit ical Dictatorship manipulated bys ti rr ing up class hatreds, inducing thelaboring class to feel downtroddenenough to put in the saddle this Dictatorship pretending to rule for the benefit of this one class.But regardless of the particular formof administration, this CIVILIZATIONwhich holds the entire world in its organized grip today is the same oldBABYLONISH SYSTEM started at theoriginal BABYLON by Nimrod!"Babylon" means CONFUSION. Compet it ion and stri fe have produced confusion in the world. And God is not theauthor of confusion (1 Cor. 14: 33).Should Christians Strive to MakeThis a BETTER WORLD?

Now we come to the reason for needing a true perspective.Most churchmen today, viewingeverything from the perspective of THISWORLD TODAY, blindly assume this isGod's world. They see certain forces ofevil in it, and these they feel they mustoppose. They see the Christian duty tobe that of working to make this a bet terworld.That concept is a wrong viewpointaltogether.This is not a world of God's making.This is SATAN'S world! Satan is the invisible god of this world. He is theauthor of its organization, its basic philosophies, its systems of government,business, society-yes, AND RELIGIONS!This thing we boast of as CIVILIZATION is, in actual fact, Satan's handiwork, not God's! Strange as it mayseem, that is true!

Al l nations-not just the heathenpowers, bur all nations, including ours,are DECEIVED, swayed, led, by Satan.(Rev. 12:9; 18:3; 20 :2-3. ) The Biblespeaks of this world as "this presentEVIL WORLD." (Gal. 1: 4. )

Did Jesus Come to Make Thisa BETTER WORLD?Into such a world, in His own duetime, God sent forth His own Son, bornPlease continue on page 13


3/16

HOW and WHEN ChurchFestivals were Changed

Here is the astonishing eye-opening history, thoroughlydocumented, now published for the first time.by Herman L. Hoeh

FOR CENTURIES a continuous andviolent controversy has raged overthe observance of religious days.This controversy still exists today.Multitudes of conflicting sects claimthat Sunday, with its eucharist, communion or Lord's supper, is a divinely instituted day for Christians.Controversy exists over Easter, Christmas, saint's days, Pentecost or Whit-sunday, All Souls' -day, the feasts of theAnnunciation, the Assumption and others as sacred occasions. Are all, some, ornone of these, "Christian" institutions?This problem is vitally important. Itinvolves the fundamental teachings andtraditions of opposing religious denominations which claim to follow JesusChrist. For centuries the Catholic Churchdeemed it essential to salvation thatmany days and feasts be held sacred.Protestants are in great confusion as toexactly which days are obligatory andhow these days came to be observed. Afew affirm the sanctity of the Sabbathbut reject the Holy Days given by Godto His people.But the disagreement is not simplyamong the mill ions who bel ieve it is essential to observe special days. Thereare thousands of individuals and groupswhich maintain that it is absolutelywrong to celebrate any day whatever.Certain other sects, which pass tracts onstreet corners, contend that it does notmatter which days are to be regardedas sacred.The Scripture CANNOT SUPPORT each

of these contradictory ideas.What is the truth?WHY Churches Disagree

Certainly the contradict ing tracts,pamphle ts and books cannot all be correct. False teaching must have creptinto Christianity at some time sinceJesus founded the original, true church.Every sect c.l.mirs this.Each believes that at s'1rpe particulartime certain teachings contrary wi t sparticular renents crept into Christianity.When did these errors arise and by

whom? What denominations are teaching error today? What is the "faithwhich was once delivered unto thesaints"? (Jude 3) These are questionsthat must be answered!How to Find the TRUTH

It is our purpose to examine and explain the historical records of the Bible.Scripture gives the only inspired account of the practices of the early churchbecause it was written by the inspiredleaders of that church. The letters ofPaul were recognized by Pete r to be inspired "scripture" (2 Peter 3: 16).Then the councils and early writingsof the Catholic Church must be searchedto reveal the practice and heresies of socalled Christianity in the following centuries. This is one of the most misunderstood portions of history ever to be recorded. Most Catholics and Protestantsnever learn what occurred in those earlychurch councils.Also the findings of secular history,which are often disputed by certainsects, will aid in determin ing exactlywhat teachings bear the s tamp of Biblical truth, and which are errors andsupers ti tions veiled under the name ofChrist.Too often it is the policy of certainchurch teachers to contuse people. Ministers KNOW that if they can keep theirfollowers confused, that they will cont inue in the religious customs learnedfrom childhood. These leaders know thathuman beings are not inclined to changereligious beliefs when t he ir minds arein confusion. Churches perpetuate faultycreeds rather than allow their adherentsto examine with an open mind the following facts of Scripture and history.But no one needs to remain in doubtor ignorance. The facts can be known.To neglect these facts is tantamount torejecting the Bible revelation.

The time has come to present thetruth, from whatever source it may beobtained. Instead of seeking to provespecial preconceived arguments, the declarat ion of the apostle Paul must be fol-

lowed: "Prove all things; hold fast thatwhich is good" ( I Thess. 5:21) .Common Teachings False

The vast numbers of pamphle ts andbooks writ ten on the observance of religious' days are utterly lacking intruth. They deceive the people becausemost readers are unable to dis tinguishthe true facts from the "wished-to-be-believed" facts or preconceived notions.False doctrines are often due to unwillingness on the part of many wri ters toexamine all sources of information. Thereason for this lack of all the f a c ~ s is thefear that creeds and dogmas will notstand the full light of penetrating research.Modern critics follow the trend of thea g ~ . They do not accept or trust theScripture as the revelation of God toman. That is why they have not presented the correct answers with all theirscholarliness and abundance of facts.They grope in the darkness of conflicting historical evidence without any surefoundation.Even those few books which containPART of the truth are highly inadequate.Half the truth can be as misleading astotal error, for the very reason that itseems to be so near the truth.

HOW to Learn the Whole TruthWhere did Christians acquire the custom of observing Christmas, Easter, theAssumption, Halloween and other days?The only way to understand the truth

about church days and f e s r i v a l . ~ is tofind the origin of the present differencesof practice. The very beg inning of human civilization is involved. Strange asit may seem, the observance of days didNO T start with the church in the NewTestament.Without examining ancient civilization, and the days held sacred by heathennations, it is impossible to arrive at thecorrect conclusions. Why? Here is theanswer!"Many of the holy days in the religiouscalendar of Christendom were borrowed,


4/16

Page 4as is well known, from the public festivals, of ancient nations" (Webster, RestDays, page 306).

The quest ion of tradition must beexamined. Catholics and even many Protestants acknowledge that Christian practice cannot be understood without it.Many Protestants hold that the Bibleshould be the only standard. By others,tradition is accepted in determiningchurch festivals. If tradition, then whichtraditions are .correcr? There is muchdisagreement on this point betweenProtestants and Catholics. The formeraccept only a small port ion of the multitudinous traditions of the CatholicChurch.Did Jesus give the apostles the right,as Catholics believe, to introduce different days from those He Himself observed? How far are Christians expectedto follow the example of the life ofJesus?Was Paul commissioned by Jesus toalter the days that the Genti le churcheswere to hold sacred?The Protestant attitude is that theCatholic church has not preserved the

truth of the Bible whole and inviolate.The reformers supposedly purified thefaith.Then, why all this disagreementamong Protestants? Are they really conti nuing false practices instead of the"faith once delivered"?Also bear this in mind. The practiceof the Christian world has never beenthe same through all ages. The Bibleteaches that it does matter what one be

lieves. We must know once and for alltime, exactly wha t festivals the Bibledeclares to be right, and which traditions, if any, are to be followed.The Church in the HeathenWorIdThe early church developed under theguidance of the apostles during the decades when the Roman Empire was at itsfull power. She had to meet the great

Roman civilization with its civil, socialand religious customs tha t were oftendiametrically opposed to the teachingsof Jesus. To convert men and womensteeped in heathen rites necessitated thepower of God and an understanding ofthe ideas of the surrounding heathenworld.

What was that world, with its heathenholidays, really like? Did the churchmeet it with compromise?No one can fully understand todayhow the early Christians dealt withpaganism unt il it is first grasped whatthose pagan customs were and how theydeveloped. What was basically wrongwith heathenism?

Origin of HeathenismModern evolutionists and skepticspic ture heathen ideologies as the pro-

The GOOD NEWSgressn/e cultural acts of man as he developed beyond his bestial tendencies.Nearly every child has been indoctrinated in the first years of g rammar schoolwith fascinating stories supposedly explaining his own "primitive" ancestors'superstitions when the magnitude ofcreation was first visualized.I f the truth would be known, civilization did not develop in this way. Rather,the overwhelming evidence of historyand archeology verifies a different-asurprising-account of the origin ofheathen civilization. I t began forty-twocenturies ago with Nimrod and his associates in the Middle East. No t tens ofthousands of years previously, as evolutionary theories purport to explain.

The apostle Paul, in the first chapterof Romans, gives a precise, vital summary of the real beginning of heathenism-those customs that surrounded theearly church in the days of the RomanEmpire. Here iswhat he writes about thewise and dignified ancients and paganphilosophers:"Because that, when they knew God,they glorified him not as God, neitherwere thankful; but became vain in theirimaginations, and thei r foolish heartwas darkened. Professing themselves tobe wise they became fools, and changedthe glory of the uncorruptible God intoan image made like to corruptib le man. . .Who changed the truth of God intoa lie, and worshipped and served thecreature more than the Creator. . . Andeven as they did not like to retain Godin their knowledge, God gave them overto a reprobate mind . . ." (Romans 1:21-32).Here is the origin of Roman society!It was developed by men who "knewGod." Who "changed the t ruth of Godinto a lie." Who "did not like to retainGod in their knowledge." God wa-s NOTunknown by the ancients.Notice that the apostle Paul pic turesthe founders of civilization as doing thisin their human wisdom. They wanted toglorify God in their own way. I t seemedr ight to them. Paganism is not a societyof deliberate evil, but of what appearsto be right to the natural man. Heathenism is what men want to do, not whatthey ought to do. I t is a mixture ofgood and evil.There was not a single phase of lifethat remained untouched by human contamination-the desire on the part ofhuman beings to develop a society inopposition to God's way. Heathen customs ever since the build ing of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11) have affectedthe social, political, economic and religious life of all people to this veryday. The great men who founded ancient civilizations "liberated" men fromGod. They received in return honor and

November, 1952even worship as mighty leaders "before"or "in place of" the Lord (Genesis 10;9). They were later deified as "gods,"says Alexander Hislop, in The TwoBabylons.Because the ancient founders of civili-zation didn't want to retain God in theirknowledge, their understanding becameperverted. They garbled and pervertedstories of the creation, of the garden ofEden and life before the deluge. Thesetraditions were combined with the livesof those heroes and became the myths ofantiquity. Modern sceptics believe mythology "is man's first effort to know hisGod" (Bullfinch's Age of Fable, p. ix):In reality it is the degraded and corrupted remains of the recorded episodes andexploits of men who, knowing God,turned the truth of God into a lie! Thesedeified heroes were soon clothed withthe splendor of the stars and planetsthat were symbolic of their att ributes.Thus the heavens bear the names ofheathen deit ies or heroes to this day.

The Heathen Knew About theSabbath!The Bible records the fact that ancient nations at one time knew of Godbefore they descended into gross idolatl'y with the rebellion at the tower ofBabel. They knew He was the Creator.One of His acts in being Creator, according to the second chapter of Genesis, was the hallowing of the seventhday. "And God blessed the seventh day,and sanctified it; because that in it hehad rested from all his work which Godcreated and made" (Genesis 2: 3) .Jesus declared to the Pharisees thatthe Sabbath was made for man. No tthe Jews alone, but for man and henceat man's creat ion. Man was not made toserve the Sabbath, but the Sabbath wasmade to be a blessing for man (Mark2: 27). In declaring His law, God toldthe Israelites to "remember the Sabbathday, to keep it holy.... For in six daysthe Lord made heaven and earth, thesea, and all that in them is, and restedthe seventh day: wherefore the Lardblessed the Sabbath day, and hallowedit" (Exodus 20:9-11). The Sabbath daythat God blessed according to Genesis2 was the seventh day. It was hallowedat creation for man, not just Israel only.Now, the Bible declared that the Sabbath was from the beginning, not justfrom the time of Moses. Since Paul saysthat the heathen originally knew God,

but turned the truth into a lie afterwardthen there ought to be some recordwherein the ancient heathen nationsrecognized that at creation, long beforeMoses was born, God set apart the seventh day as .1 rest or holy day. Is theresuch a record?Yes!


5/16

November, 1952In the library of Asshur-bani-pal ofAssyria, many clay tablets have beenfound relat ing the epic of creation according to the l imited knowledge of theBabylonians. One of these tablets reads:

I "On the seventh day He appointed aholy day, and to cease from all businessHe commanded" (Henry H. Halley,Pocket Bible Hdndbook, p. 64).Here is absolute proof from the ancient records collected by this Assyr ian

King that the Babylonians knew God setapart the seventh day as a holy day atCreat ion, not at the time of Moses.But how long did they observe orpreserve the knowledge of it?Heathen Lose Sabbath

It has long been the fancy of scepticsand cr it ics that Moses derived the Sabbath from ancient Babylonia. This ideahas been almost totally abandoned asmore truth comes to lighc. God gave theSabbath to the world at creation, bu t theworld after the deluge lost it. Within afew generat ions the seventh day, whichwas originally ordained for joy and restfrom physical labor, became a day ofsuperstition in the few heathen nationsin which it was remembered.Here is what happened. The Sabbathwas disassociated-separated from thetrue week-according to most modernscholars. It became connected with themonth. The early Babylonians divided"the first 28 days of each month into fourweeks terminating respectively on the7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day, and by

making the first week of the new monthalways begin with the new moon." Theseventh day of each Babylonian weekwas called a shabattum, the pagan corruption of the Sabbath. Kings, doctorsand others were to ref rain from cer tainlabors as displeasing to the de ity on the7th , 14th, 21st, 28th and certain otherdays of each month. (EncyclopaediaBiblica, T. K. Cheyne and J. SutherlandBlack, editors, pp. 5290,4179.)Thus th e t rue Sabbath was changedinto periods of ill omens. And no wonder! The heathen originally knew thejust "judgment of God" against thosewho violated His laws (Romans 1: 32) .When once the true Sabbath wasChanged, God became the UnknownOne. Displacing Him from their minds,the nations began to fear their herogods on days they made for themselves.With passing centuries all semblance ofthe true Sabbath was lost to the heathen,although many near eas tern nat ions didpreserve a corrupt form of a seven dayweek.Of this preservation of a form of theweek among middle eastern nations,Smith's Bible Diet 'onary, page 745, says:"Its ant iqui ty is so great , its observanceso widespread . . . that it mus t probably

The GOOD NEWSbe thrown back as far as the creation ofman. The week and the Sabbath arethus as old as man himself."The Roman civi lizat ion at the t imeof the early church was just beginningto recover a knowledge of the week andof the Sabbath (through the dispersed

Jews) . The Romans had previously departed so far from God tha t they lostthe week. Any per iod of t ime less thana month was measured by the lunarides, the kalends and the nones. (Webster, Rest Days, p. 170.)True Origin of "Church" FestivalsThe early Chri st ians encoun te redscores of festivals in the Roman Empire.These days had the ir idolatrous begin

ning two thousand years prior in Mesopotamia, where the original Babylon waslocated. Pagan feasts with the ir manycustoms were commemorative festivalsordained to the honor of the heroes whofounded human civilization contrary tothe ways of God, and who formed the irown re ligious bel ie fs by mrning thetruth of God into a lie.These hol idays dep ic ted episodes inthe l ives of the apostates Nimrod, Semiramis, Tammuz and others. Under theinfluence of Satan, they organized acounterfeit plan of redemption to deceive the world in order to acquire power for themselves. This Babylonish system of religion and government wassecretly exp la ined by the anc ient mysteries against which Paul warned thetrue church (2 Thessalonians 2: 7). Thisancient pagan system had to be mysterious. The patriarchs were still alive. Thetruth of Go d was known, as Paul states,(Romans 1: 25). The truth had to beturned into a lie with stealth.The glory of the planets and stars wassoon connected with the "glorious" exploits of these leaders whose namesare still affixed to them (Deur. 4: 19) .Hence the pagan commemorative festivals were associated with the movementsof the heavenly bodies very early in history. Nimrod became Baal the sun-god,

mentioned so frequently in the OldTestament. This sun-worship coveredall nations of heathendom.The Family of Nimrod

The death of Nimrod and his traditional rebirth through Tammuz, the sonof th e Queen of heaven, according tothe lying mysteries, was commemoratedat the winter solstice when the "rebirth"or annual r is ing of the sun occurs in theheavens. This fest ival of Babylon evenreached Rome where it was called theSaturnalia (December 17-24) and preceded the Brumalia (December 25).Associated with this fest ival were evergreen trees, the fir in Rome ana thepalm in Egypt, and the giving of gifts,

Page 5says Hislop in The Two Babylons, p. 97.Why do these pecul iarly pagan cus

toms now prevail among Chr ist ians atthe same time of year?Yes, why? Did the o rigina l purechurch which abhorred idolatry finally

graft idolatrous customs into the church?Together with Nimrod was Semira

mis, his wife, the self-appointed Queenof heaven. In the Old Testament she istermed Asbteroth; in Assyria she wascalled lsbtar; by the pagan Germans,Ostara; by our Anglo-Saxon ancestors,Eastre (Hislop, pp. 103-113). At Rome,where her name was Cybele, spring festivals were held in her honor, accompani ed by the customary use of bunsand dyed eggs (Hislop, p. 108).Today these same customs prevail inChristendom at the same time of year.Why? Are these customs part of thefaith once delivered? Or were they added afterward in an apostat iz ing churchage? The t ru th of history which willfollow makes the answer to this quest ion so plain that there shall be no doubtin anyone's mind.Tammuz, an illegitimate son of Semiramis, became the great mediatorial sonof the sun-god, supposedly begotten ofthe spirit of Nimrod after his death.Semiramis and Tammuz were the original Mother and Child which have become so prominent in Catholic worship.After the death of Tammuz , "a Lent offorty days was held in the spring" inthe Roman Empire, as elsewhere, incommemoration of him (Hislop, P:105). The prophet Ezekiel saw this veryidolatrous practice occurring in Jerusalem (Ez, 8: 14) .By whose authority is this same fortyday period of Lent celebrated in somany churches in honor of the dea th ofChr is t instead of Tammuz? Did Paulteach this adaption of idolatrous customs? Or did he forbid it? How did theoriginal true church in the days of theapostles regard these days that were thencelebrated by the pagans in the RomanEmpire?

Hundreds of FestivalsThe major feasts just mentioned werebut a minute number of the hundreds ofidolatrous and licentious occasions ob'served in the pagan world into whichthe early church spread. Most festivalshad their real origin in Babylon fromwhence they travelled eastward andwestward engulfing all civilization.These holidays, now found in Christendom, were Satan-inspired memorialsof pagan traditions-memorials whichanticipa ted by two thousand years the

beginning of the true plan of God. Theaverage Roman, of course, saw no harmPlease continue on page 16


6/16

Page 6 The GOOD NEWS November, 1952

Herbert W. ArmstrongPublisher and Editor

Heart to Heart TalkWith the Editor

Sent free on personal request, as theLord provides. Address cornrnunicar ions tu the Edi to r, Box Ill, Pasadena,California.Copyright, October, 1952By Ambassador College

sunshine, also necessary? Here we haveman, air, water, food, sunshine-all nee.essary in harmonious association. Yet noone of these had anything co do withbringing about the presence of any orher. How did all these-and many othernecessary factors-all come co be provided and joined together on this planetin exactly the manner required to supplyJ!our needs, that you may live, accomplish, and find happiness? How, unlessan All-Wise, All-Powerful, Benevolentand REAL God planned it, created it, setit in motion, and now keeps it going?There are things that YOU need!Among them are fresh air, sunshine,water, and food. And these things areall active-the very Power who createdthem keeps them in motion-NOW! TheCreator is active, TODAY! He is REAL!Is He not more real than that He produces and acts upon? Of course!But there are many other things youneed! How about the need of wisdomand guidance when important decisionswhich may alter your whole life are atstake? How about needing a Great Power that can, and will if you are in contact ancl ask it;: give you favor in theeyes of another when disfavor couldcause you great trouble? How about theneed of an all-powerful Friend to deliver yuu from real or threatened calamity or loss? How about One co turn cowhen you are about to lose a loved one,or in time of grief? How about theneed of One who is both able and willing to prosper you, cause things co turnout r ight for you, guide you and protec tyou through life? How about the needof One who has inherent immorta li tyand is able and willing co impart ETER-NAL LIFE to you as His gift?Yes, there are other things you NEED!You stand in greater NEED than youprobably ever stopped to realize! Andthe One who sends the rain-and thesunshine-upon the just and unjust alike-who provides food, and air, and otherbasic necessities for all, is more REALthan what He provides-and just asable and willing to establish PERSONALCONTACT and continuously supply yourevery other need as well-including deliverance from every trouble, wisdom,guidance, faith in place of worry, assurance in place of doubt, security in placeof uncertainty, favor in the sight of others, healing when sick-all these andcountless other needs He stands com-mitted to supply, because HEHAS PROM-lS12D--upon condii ion yuu become His,establish and maintain contact, trustHim and obey Him!

GOD is more real than you or l--orany of the things abort us.Why, then, does He seem so far away,until it seems He has faded in the dis-

OTHER STATIONSWAIT-Chicago-820 on dial- l :00P.M. Sundays.KMAC-San Antoni0-630 on dial

-7 :00 P.M. Sundays.KVSM-San Francisco-1050 on dia l

-3 :00 P.M. Sundays.

HEARD ON PACIFIC COAST:XERB-50,00tl waccs-1090 on dial

-7 :0 0 P.M. every night.KALI-Los AngeIes-1430 on d ia l 7:30 A.M. every morning.KXL-PortIand-l0,000 watts. 750on dial-2 :30 P.M., Sundays .KVI-Seattle-Tacoma-570, first ondial- l0:30 P.M. Sundays.

TO THE NATION & CANADA:XERF-1570 on your d ia l ( ex tr emetop of dial) every Sundaynight, 7: 15 P.M. CentralStandard time.XEG-I050 on your dial, every night,8:00 P.M. Cent ra l Standardtime.XELO-800 on your dial, every night,9 :00 P.M. Central Standardtime. (8 :00 Mountain Standard time.)

Herbert W. Armstrong analyzes today 's news, with the p rophec ie s ofThe WORLD TOMORROW!

'T he WORLD TOMORROW"RADIO LOG

"WHY? Here's a l iving, moving, realphenomenon. What causes it? How didthe process get started? What keeps theprocess perpetually in motion? Is therenot a Great Mind, a Supreme Intelligence, an Omnipotent Power-more realthan this thing He produces and causesto grow in such marvelous manneractually present, and acting upon thesevery real things, keeping them alive andin motion.Everywhere we see life, motion, REALITY! Here it is, close and real-andliving! And most wonderful of all isyour own self-the marvelous mechanism of your body, and still more wonderful, your mind-performing all itsfunctions. And about you is every needco keep you fed, breathing, living. Didthis all happen by accident?Out of the ground grows vegetation-food. On or our of the ground comeswater. A layer of air is provided around

the solid earth. What--or Who-provided this? Did the air produce the manwho needs to breathe it? Or did theman produce the food to satisfy hisneed? Or the food provide the water toaccompany it in susraining the life ofthe man? Did any of these provide the

NUMBER 11OL. I I

Herman L. Hoeh, Executive EditorRod Meredith, Norman Smith,Raymond Cole, Marion McNair,Raymond McNair, Wayne Cole

Associate EditorsCalvin Allen, Campus Editor

Kenneth Herrmann, Science EditorDick Armstrong, Picture Editor

The national magazine ofAMBASSADOR COLLEGE

ministering to The Church of Godscattered abroad, andreporting on campus happenings

I WONDER how many of my readersare like one who said to me recently: "Well, I'll tell you why I'mnot a Christian. It isn't that I don'tbelieve in God or in being convertedI believe it, all right-and I've of tenwanted to be a Christian-but somehowit just all seems so FAR OFF-So UNREAL."Tonight I cur a large slice of watermelon and ate it. It was delicious-andI was sure it was real. It didn't seem faroff, mysterious, unreal. The th ings wesee, and handle, come in constantdaily contac t and association with allseem REAL.Yes, this slice of watermelon wasreal. But I thought, as I worked to ext ricate the seeds,"What caused these seeds co grow inside this melon? Out of the ground,from another seed, sprouted a vine, andon the vine a tiny watermelon began

to form, and as it grew these seeds developed inside it. And if we keep onplant ing and growing watermelons forten thousand years those seeds, whichwill sprout more watermelons, will continue to develop inside every watermelon.


7/16

November, 1952ranee? Why does He seem mysteriousand unreal? Why do the objects withwhich you come in daily contact, your

I friends, your pleasures, seem more real-when actually they are less so?You may say, "Because I can see, feel,and hear these things or people."But that is not really the reason at all.You don't see the air you breathe, butit seems very real to you. You cannot

I see, or hear, or feel the power of gravity,yet it seems very real to you, and youknow that if you slip it will pull youdown in a fall that might hurt youyou know that if you let go of and dropa sack of eggs the power of gravity willpull them down and break them.Perhaps you say, well, these thingsare real to me because they are close tome. But that is not the reason. GOD is asI close as any of these-He, too, is REAL,and He is CLOSE! Yet He seems unrealand far away!Now let me tell you the REAL REA-

SON.If you are away from a childhoodchum for 35 or 40 years, never hearfrom or about that person in all thattime-totally out of contact-he finallyseems like a faint, dim, far-off dreamor ngmenr of imagination. He doesn'tseem REAL any more.But, if there is another childhoodchum you also have not seen in the same35 or 40 years, but with whom you havekept constantly in touch all these years-constantly corresponded, even talkedover long distance telephone frequently,heard about from mutual friends whohave been with this old chum-thent ha t friend, even tho you have not seenhim, will seem still real, and close.

God seems unreal and far away onlyto those who have not established, andare not actively maintaining close per-sonal contact! It is not a matter of distance or visibility-it is a matter ofCONTACT.Even though you read the Bible, andpray-if you have not established personal contact with God, you just won'tunderstand much of the Bible or bemuch interested in it, and your prayerswill not seem to go as high as the ceiling! You can't keep up a contact whichhas never yet been established!Yet God is the SOURCE of everything!- o f your EVERY NEED! In HIM youmust live, and move, and have your being-and you have never yet BEGUN toreally live unt il you are l iving in Him!You are now making mistakes you wouldnot make if you had I lis guidancemistakes which are costly, and fromwhich you suffer! You are sufferingpains, heartaches, fears, troubles, becauseyou have not established contact withthe only One who can help you! YouNEED HIM!

The GOOD NEWSAnd you can find Him, if you'll seekHim-you'll find Him CLOSE, not faraway. But something has been standingBETWEEN you and Him-a far greaterbarrier than a l iteral i ron curtain. Yoursins have formed an impregnable wall,so that you can't establish contact-can't'reach-can't enjoy communion with the

One you need most of all! And yoursins are your transgressions of His loving LAW-His great immutable spiritualLaw given in love to b ri ng to mankindsuccess, accomplishment, peace, happiness, and joy! In breaking the law youhave severed yourself from these goals,too!Yet THAT GREAT WALL CAN BE BAT-TERED DOWN-instantly-NOW! Thereneed be no delay. God in His wisdomand mercy knew you would sin andseparate yourself from Him. He provided a way for you. He GAVE His onlybegotten Son to pay the penalty youhave incurred in your stead!

It matters not how BLACK your pasthas been. No matter how terrible aresome of these secret sins you have neverconfided to anyone. They don't need tostand between you and your greatestNEED, which is God. Jesus Christ wasmade flesh, and He who never sinneddied to pay the pena lty of all your guilt,Why then should you carry this gui ltaround on your conscience any longer?Why let it separate you from God? It isevery bit of it PAID IN FULL, by theblood of Jesus Christ-His very lifeblood. But God Almighty resurrectedHim to eternal LIFE, and today Helives as YOUR LIVING SAVIOUR fromyour guilty past, if yOll will accept Himas such!

If you want.to find God-be a Christian-you can-and here 's how: First,you'll have to REPENT-turn from theold life of sinning, and surrender yourSELF wholly to God-give your life toHim, to serve Him and to live by Hisperfect laws and right ways that willbring you only blessings. You'll have tobe IN EARNEST, for no one can deceiveGod. Then, ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST asyour personal Savior. Don' t put it off.Don't say, "I don 't know how," but DOIT NOW! Take the "bull by the horns"and DO IT-you know you ought to,so exercise your WILL and DO IT! Justgo to a room ALONE-close the doorand with no one else around, except justyou and God alone-GIVE YOURSELFTO HIM, ask Him to FORGIVE all yourpast sins-confess them to Him (not toany human' being) - and then just say-yes, SAY IT: "I here and now acceptJESUS CHRIST as my Personal Saviour."Everything may be HARD, until you SAYTHAT-but the minute you say thosewords, the unseen power that has causedyou to hesitate , and put it off, and, has

Page 7made it seem so difficult (the power ofthe devi l), will let loose, and YOU'LLBE FREE-you'll know you are nowcoo's-i-rhe contact will be ESTABLISHED!You call talk to Him, and HE WILLHEAR! You can pour out your heart toHim, and He will LISTEN-and comfort, and come close and give you whatyou NEED.Jesus Christ came into this world anddied to reconcile YOU to God the Father- to join you to Him-to establish con-tact for you! Accept this, and know theGREAT PEACE that will come over yoursoul!

Then you must be baptised-not intoany religious denomination or organization, but into CHRIST JESUS. I f thereis no one locally in your town who cando this for you the Bible way, write tome. I will help you if I can.

Then God PROMISES to pu t His spiritin you-to give you, and radiate fromyou a LOVE you never had, a new FAITH,PATIENCE, UNDERSTANDING. Thru HisSpirit you will be given power for selfmastery. Power to understand the Bible.You accept Christ, and receive God'sHoly Spirit by FAITH. Believe you arenow HiS-KNOW i t-and then keeptip the contact now established! You dothis thru constant daily Bible study andprayer. God talks to you thru His Word.You talk to Him in prayer. It is a twoway conversation. Thru it you BECOMEACQUAINTED--get to KNOW God, andwhere once He seemed far away andunreal, He will now seem close, andreal! KEEP IT UP! You'll experiencean inner joy you didn't dream couldexist-you'll have a HELP t ha t is real inevery time of need.You won't be perfect all at once.You'll still have your SELF to wrestlewith, Trials, tests, afflictions, persecutions will come-but now you'll havean ever-present HELP and deliverancea constant Source of inspiration, andcourage, and power-an inner peace andfaith-and you'll live the full and ABUN-DANT life for the first time, with assurance of LIFE ETERNAL. Don't becomediscouraged and give up, though, whenyou have made a slip. You' ll be star tingout as a spir itual BABE in Christ. Babiesstumble and fall down many times before they learn to walk. Don't let thatdiscourage you-get up and try all theharder. And, as you continue the CHRIS-TIAN LIFE, the Bible and God's waywill become a new, and the supreme,INTEREST of your life!The main thing is, don't let ANY-THING cause you to hesitate or delayJust "take the bull by the horns." GOAND DO IT NOW!


8/16

WHY Must Men Suffer?ffMany are the affiictio1lS of the righteous," says Scripture. WHY? " I am the Eternal

. I create evil," says lsa. 45:5,7. HOW can this be? Who was responsiblefor Adam's sin? Did Satan thwart God's purpose? Was God unable to

prevent it? The real meaning of the story of JOB brings the true answer.by Herbert W. Armstrong

W HYDOES God permit war? WHYdoes God allow human suffering and misery? "I f God isGOOD-if God is LOVE-if He is MER-CIFUL, He would not wish for peopleto suffer," is the reasoning of many humans. "And if He is ALMIGHTY," theyconclude, "He could, and would preventit."What's wrong with this reasoning?Is GOD Author of EVIL?Years ago a post-office clerk came tome with a question."I have asked every preacher in town

(Q explain this Scripture," he said, "andnot one of them can. Let's see if youcan."Then he quoted from the 45th chapter of Isaiah."I am the ETERNAL, ... there is no

God beside me. . . . 1 form light andcreate darkness: I make peace and createevil: I the ETERNAL do all these things.""There!" he exclaimed. "God says hecreates evil. How do you explain that?"

I gave him the true explanation,which I now give you in this article. Itis also the explanation of what is called"the original fall."The common idea is that God createdthe first man perfect, complete, immor-tal. But when God wasn't looking, Satanentered, succeeded in overthrowing theman, wreck ing God' s per fect c reation,

thwarting God's purpose, upsettingGod's plan. Consequently God wasforced to figure Out some new plan fortepairing the damage. Redemption, people believe, is that plan-Gad's effort torestore man back to a condition as goodas Adam before the fall.

What Men Don't UnderstandEither this common idea is true, orthe only alternate possibility, - t ha t Godknew in advance that Satan wouldtempt, and Adam would sin-that it wasall a part of God's original PURPOSE andPLAN-that God expressly permitted it,and tha t God therefore is RESPONSIBLEFOR IT!And the preachers, the churches, andthe professing Christian people of this

world s imply canno t believe this! Ye t,to reject it makes Satan more cunning,more powerful than God. The commonidea represents Satan as outsmart ingGod.What men do not understand isGOD'S PURPOSE, and GOD'S PLANfor accomplishing His great purpose.Yes, God is responsible! And beingresponsible, God wil l see to i t -He andHe alone is responsible for accomplishing H is g reat original purpose. All thathas happened is a necessary part of tha tgreat des ign. Satan can do nothing Goddoes not allow. "My purpose shall stand,"says God.There is NO CONTEST being waged

between God and the devil. God reignsSUPREME, and every creature and everybeing stands subject to God's will!Becoming the Sons of God

What the world does nor grasp is tha tGod is reproducing Himself-creating,in mortal humans, His very own divineCHARACTER-permitting humans tolearn by experience, for character cannot be automatically or instantaneouslycreated, imparted or imputed-it mustbe developed, and this only thru EXPERIENCE, and experience requirestime.We humans must have our part in thedevelopment of righteous and holy character. We must first come to realize thetrue values, and to thoroughly repent ofthe false way_ We must come to seek,with our whole hearts and minds, God 'strue way of righteous character.We mustset our wills in rune with God's will.Then we must come to realize ourutter helplessness, and learn to rely onGod, in living FAITH, for the power,the strength, the understanding, ther ighteousness we ourselves are incapable of a tt aining .We receive eternal life, and all r ighteousness, from GOD. But we have ou rpart to do! We must come to desire itabove all else-to seek it with all ourmight-to yield ourselves. u tter ly toGod' s will, and to trust implicitly andunswervingly in HIM. In no other man

ner could we become the supreme char-

acters which it is God's PURPOSE tomake of us.To th'is end, we must now be begot tenas God's own children, inheri ting Hisdivine nature. Thru His power, thrufeeding on His Spir it , we GROW ingrace and knowledge and spiritual character, until , at the resurrection, we shallbe BORN of God as His very SONSelevated to HIS plane and level!That's God's supreme purpose. I t canbe achieved only thru EXPERWNCE, andin process of TIME. And men LEARNby suffering.Jesus suffered. "For it became Him,. .. in bringing many sons unto GLORY,to make the captain of our salvation

(Christ) perfect through sufferings."(Heb. 2: 10). Again, "Though He werea Son, yet learned He OBEDIENCE bythe th ings which He suffered." (Heb,5:8) .Now see how Job's experience explains all this.LET'S UNDERSTAND IT!

Job's Experience Explains I t !Thousands of years ago, t here was a

man named Job. You've heard of theman. He lived, as you live today, for aPURPOSE. And the solution of this wholequestion is made clear by the life-experiences of Job. Many know the story, butfew understand its MEANING!This Job was a wealthy man-s-thewealthies t in all the East. Solomon mayhave possessed grea te r wealth. But , asSolomon was the wisest man who everlived, so Job was the most righteous!So let's glimpse, briefly, this thrilling

story and its revealing lesson."There was," begins the scripturalrecord, "a man once in the land of Uz,whose name was Job; and tha t man wasperfect and upright, and one that fearedGod and shunned evil. He had sevensons and three daughters; also in liveSlack he possessed seven thousand sheepand goats, three thousand camels, fivehundred pair of oxen, and five hundredshe-asses, besides a very large household;so tha t this man was the greatest manin all the Easr." (Job 1: 1-3, Moffatttranslation. )


9/16

November, 1952"Now there was a day when the sonsof God came to present themselves before the ETERNAL, and Satan came alsoamong them."And the ETERNAL said unto Satan,'Whence earnest thou?' Then Satan answered the ETERNAL and said, 'Fromgoing to and fro in the earth, and fromwalking up and down in it.'"And the ETERNAL said unto Satan,'Hast thou considered my servant Job,that there is none like him in the earth,a perfect and an upright man, one thatfears God and shuns evil?'" (Verses6-8, A.v.)"Satan answered, 'Bu t is it for nothing that Job reverences God? Have younot hedged him safely in, his house andall he has? You have prospered him inhis business, and his flocks are teemingon the land. Only put out your hand,touch whatever he possesses, and see ifhe will not curse you to your face!'"(Verses 9-11.)

This World's PhilosophyNotice, please, Satan couldn' t pointout one imperfection in the man'srighteousness. Even God said it was perfect. Yes, undoubtedly Job was the mostrighteous man who ever lived.But Satan tried to get around it. Heargued that it paid Job to be righteous.So, Satan argued, just takc away fromhim what he has, and the man will losehis temper and start cursing God!Well , God deliberately PERMITTEDSatan to take away Job's possessions,and put Job to this test."Then said the ETERNAL to Satan,'There! I leave all he has within yourpower: but lay no hand upon the manhimself.''' (Verse 12.) .Notice , will you, Satan did this withGod's permission! Satan was the activeagent. But he did it with God's expresspermission-he could go just as far, ininflicting evil, as God permitted, andno further! God set a l imi t on how farSatan could go! There is no contest herebetween God and Satan-no equality.GOD IS MASTER OF THE SITUATION!He gives the orders, grants permission,sets the limitations!"So, away went Satan from the presence of the ETERNAL."

What flappened to JobThen one day a servant came runningto Job with the startling news thatArabs in a foray had carried off all hisoxen and asses. Even while he was stilltalking, in dashed another servant shouting that lightning had just struck andburned up all the sheep, goats, and shepherds. While he was yet speaking another rushed in breathlessly announcingthree parties of Chaldeans in a raid uponthe camels had carried them off, slaying

The GOOD NEWSall the servants except the one whoescaped to bring the news.

And even he was yet speaking whenin burst another."Your sons and daughters," he exclaimed, "were eating and drinking winein the house of their eldest brother,when a whirlwind swept across thedesert and struck the four corners ofthe house, till it fell upon the youngfolk; they are DEAD! And I alone escapedto tell you!" (Verses 12-19.)Well, now Job was stripped of allhis great wealth-wiped out! Worse,all his children were killed!Did Job blame this ill-fortune uponGOD? Did he lose his temper and curseGod? Did he sin, as Satan expected?

"Then Job rose, tore his tunic, shavedhis head, and dropped upon the groundin humble worship, crying, "Naked Icame from my mother's womb, andnaked I must return: the Eternal gave,tbe Eternal has taken-blessed be theEternal!" In all this Job did not sin,nor did he give offense to God." (Verses20-22.)Notice, Job attributed ALL to God.The wealth he had had, God gave. Thegood-the prosperity-all came fromGod. But also "The ETERNAL has taken!"The Eternal, too, 'was responsible forthe disaster! NOTHING happens contraryto God's purpose!

Satan Tries Again"One day the sons of God again cameto present themselves before the Eternal,and among them came Satan."'Where have you been?' said theEternal to the Adversary; and the Adversary answered, 'Roaming here andthere, -roving about the earth.'"Then the Eternal said to Satan, 'Haveyou noticed that there is no one like myservant Job on the earth, a blamelessand an upright man, who reverencesGod and shuns evil? He still holds to hisloyalty: it was idle of you to entice meto undo him.' But the Adversary answered," 'He has saved his own skin! A manwill let all he has go, to preserve hislife. Only pu t out your hand, touch hisflesh and bones, and see if he will notcurse you to your face! '" (Job 2: 1-6.)Notice, there is no contest here between two equals. God sits in authoritysupreme. Satan cannot do one thingwithout permission from God!And here, in this heavenly court, Godpermits Satan to advance his arguments-even to pu t them to the test of experience on the most righteous humanon earth! It is a thrilling drama herebeing enacted-a drama with great purpose-tremendous meaning!"So the Eternal said to Satan, 'He is inyour power; only spare his liffi!'"

Page 9Notice again, ALL AUTIIORITY comesfrom God. It is GOD who put poor Jobin Satan's power. Satan was permitted todevise his most cunning and cruel affiic-non-s-with but one restriction: "Sparehis life," commanded God. Satan couldgo no further than God specificallyauthorized! And God did permit thisevil! WHY, we shall soon see!So "Away went the Adversary fromthe Eternal's presence, and he smote Jobwith painful ulcers from the sale of hisfoot to the crown of his head, till Jobtook a potsherd to scrape himself."As he sat among the ashes, his wifesaid to him, 'Still holding to your loyalty? Curse God, though you die for it!'"

Was. God Just and Fair?But Job retor ted to his wife," 'You are talking like an impiousfool. Are we to take good from God'shand, and not evil too?'"Notice, all the GOOD had come from

God. Also all the evil! Beside Him thereis no God-no power equal or superiorto His. God is responsible for EVERY-THING-both good and evil, becauseGod's power is SUPREME-absolute! Isthis a sin to charge the EVIL, as well asthe good, to God?"In all this," answers God's Word,"Job sinned not with his lips." Chargingthis evil to God, then, was no sin-noerror. It was the TRUTH!Job's Friends Have an Argument"Now, when Job's three friends heardof all the trouble that had befallen him,

they came, each from his own home,Eliphaz FrornTernan, Bildad from Shuah,and Zophar from Maan; they arrangedto go and condole with him, to comforthim. But when they caught sight of himat a distance and could not recognizehim, they wept aloud; evety man ofthem tore his tunic and flung dust onhis head. For seven days and sevennights they sat beside him on the ground;none said a word to him, for they sawhow terrible was his anguish." (Job2:9-13.)Here is human suffering to comparewith the horrors of World War II . Hereis anguish almost beyond description!Satan inflicted it. But God permitted it,and therefore is RESPONSIBLE!

Now in the long conversation thatfollowed between Job and his threefriends-a conversation occupying thenext 34 chapters in the Bible-Jab'sfriends blamed it all on JOB. Their ideawas a good deal like many people believe today. Since God is GOOD, it wasimpossible to attribute this evil to GOD.But Job continually denied his friends'allegations. Continually HIS OWN RIGHT-EOUSNESS he upheld and maintained.He at tributed it all, rightly, to God -


10/16

Page 10yet, wi thout imputing any b1a:ne Offault to God. JOB UNDERSTOOD GOD'SGREAT PURPOSE being worked out herebelow!And it is important that u/ e under-stand! For here Job, as one single individual, is used as an illustrat ion for ourlearninR TODAY, typical of all the masssuffering we see about us in this worldtoday!

God Enters the ArgumentFinally, after all these long conversat ions run themselves our, God Himselftakes a hand in the conversation.Now we begin to see WHY this afflic

tion had come to Job."Then the Eternal answered Job outof a storm, saying:"'Who darkens MY DESIGN with acloud of thoughtless words? Confrontme like a man; come, answer these Myquestions.'" (Job 38:1-3.)Let me interrupt here with an interesting side-light explanation whichthrows light on the conversation to follow. Some aurhoriries believe that J obwas the architect and director of thebuilding of the Great Pyramid-stilltoday the largest building on earth, andprior to the construction of the Woolworth building the tallest. That Job wasproud of his righteousness is plain. Thathe also might have been puffed up overconstructing the world's greatest building clears up much that God says nowto him.Job was too well aware of his righteousness. God now proceeded to deflatehis ego. Can it, then, be possible Godnow compares His creation of the earth,and all tha t is, to the comparat ively insignificant accomplishment of buildingthe Great Pyramid? It's interesting tokeep this possibili ty in mind."'When I founded the earth,' JJ Godopened up on Job, "'where were you,then? Answer me that, if you have witto know! Who measured out the earth?- d o you know that? Who stretchedthe builder 's line on it? What were itspedestals placed on? Who laid the corner-stone, when the morning-stars weresinging, and all the angels chanred intheir joy?'" (Verses 4-7.)

I t is significant that a pyramid is theonly kind of building on earth wherethe corner-stone is the top srone-thelast stone laid-at the COMPLETION ofthe building! And here God representsthe symbolic "corner-stone" of theEARTH as being bid at its completionwhen the angels shouted for joy!And so Gc')d continued to deflate poorJob. Job may have been the most r ighteous man on e,uth-yet how insignificant he was, campI/red to GOD!Man was created to need GOD! Mancannot live his full life, fulfill his mis-

The GOOD NEWSsian, or be happy, unless he keeps himself in his r ight relat ionship with GOD!That is the very first lesson man needsto learn and keep euer in mind!A first principle in character-in thePURPOSE of our existence-is to exaltand worship only GOD, to humble theself, to realize man's utter helplessness,and his total DEPENDENCE upon GOD!" 'Who helped shut in the sea ,' " Godasked, " '... when I swathed it in mistsand swaddled it in clouds of darkness,when I fixed its boundaries ... sayingThus far, and no farther! Here yourproud waves shall not pass!' .. ."'Have you ever roused the morning,given directions to the dawn? . . . Whatpath leads to the home of Light, andwhere does Darkness dwell? Can youconduct them to their fields? ... Haveyou grasped earth in all its breadth?

How large is it? Tell me, if you knowthat!"'Can you bind up the Pleiades

(cluster of stars) in a cluster, or loosethe chains of Orion) Can you directthe signs of the Zodiac, or guide theconstellations of the Bear? Can y.ou control the skies? Can you prescribe theirsway over the earth?'"GOD does all these things. HowMIGHTY is God! And how little, howweak, how impotent and insignificant isman-yes, even the most righteous man,Job! How Job must have begun toshrivel up in his own estimation!Smaller and smaller Job shrank, as Godcontinued. Job didn't seem so important,now!"'Who, then, '' ' God is not throughyet -" 'is able to stand before ME? Whohath prevented me, that I should repayhim? Whatsoever is under the wholeheaven ISMINE. . . .' ' ' And so God continued to bring down Job's self-righteousimportance-and to show the unmatched, awesome MAGNITUDE of God,thru four whole chapters, before Hefinished.And by the time God finished, Job'sestimation of himself was exactly nil.All through his conversation with histhree friends, Job stoutly maintained hisown righteousness-his self-importance!Even though Satan had taken away hiswealth, his children-even tho reducedto a pit iful sight, covered with nauseating boils-Jab's own righteousness hestoutly maintained!Job was able to maintain his caseagainst Satan-against his friends. Butnow he could not answer GOD! Job'strouble was not what he had done, butwhat he was-SELF-RIGHTEOUS! Theself in Job had never died!In just 5 'verses of Job's conversationhe used the personal pronoun 15 times;and in- the 29th chapter alone, he usedit 50 times!

November, 1952Now, for the first time, he began torealize the TRUTH-he began to catcha vision of GOD!

The Lesson Learned!Then Job answered the Eternal , andsaid," 'I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can bewithholden from thee, I thoughtlesslyconfused the issues; I spoke without intelligence, of wonders far beyond myken. I had heard of thee by hearsay, butnow mine eyes have seen thee; wherefore I ABHOR MyseLF, and REPENT indust and ashes.' ''That was Job's SURRENDER to Almighty God-a surrender every humanmust make before he can be converted-before God's PURPOSE in him can befulfilled! A man may be naturally GOOD

- bu r even the self-righteousness of aJob, God says, is like a filthy rag to Him!The only righteousness that is reallygood is the Righteousness of GOD, imparted to us BY FAITH!Job at last had learned his lesson! Justhuman goodness is not enough. GOD isall in all. And the only goodness that isgood IS God's own goodness, imparted,thru God's Holy Spiri t, within us! Alltrue righteousness comes from GOD.ALL humans have this great lesson tolearn. It's the one supreme lesson oflife! To learn it, and conform to it, isthe PURPOSE of human existence!Job's calamity and great sufferingproved a great blessing to him, in theend! Actually, great good, double prosperity, and eternal happiness, came ofit! For, after he repented, and came toreally know God, he was given anotherseven sons and three daughters, andtwice the materia l possessions he hadhad before!"So the Eternal blessed the latter endof Job more than his beginning," it iswritten (Job 42: 12). And verse 11speaks of "all the evil that the Eternalhad brought upon him."

Saran Never Altered GOD'SPURPOSE

So notice this! Satan has never upsetGod's program-never altered God'spurpose! In Job 42: 2, the alternate marginal translation of the original inspiredHebrew words is: "no purpose of thinecan be restrained."Almighty God is SUPREME in the universe! Supreme not only in Love, andin Power-bur in WISDOM! There wasdivine WISDOM in God's permittingSatan to afflict Job. Out of all this experience of suffering, Job was humbled,his ego deflated, his self-pride removed.It hurt, to have these things torn out ofhis charac ter-s-job suffered--even asPlease continue on page 15


11/16

Inside COMMUNISTYugoslaviaWhat is it really like in a Communist State? Are the people happyand prosperous under a "People's Government" asthe propagandistssay? What about the freedom of religion in Yugoslavia?

by Herman L. Hoeh

O UR HUNDREDS of miles of t ravelin Yugoslavia has been anastounding revelation to us. Unless one has been here he can 't imaginehow different life is-so regimented, sopoverty stricken, so sad.Yugoslavia is the only communistcountry in the world which has brokenout of the Russian I ron Curtain. T iro 'sbrand of communism naturally would beslightly different from Stalin's. But it isstill communism! On the cap of everysoldier, 011 hundreds of public buildings, is the infamous red star. Over factories the red hammer and sickle protrudes high into the sky.We could not enter Yugoslavia untilwe obtained the proper visas at Trieste.We spent an entire day, standing in aroom crowded with people who werealso waiting for visas. Th is was only alittle foretaste of the bureaucratic redtape that we saw everywhere in Communist Yugoslavia.

With the visas proper ly s tamped. inour passports, Dick Armstrong and Iboarded a train for Belgrade, the capitalof Tiro 's communist state. At Sezana, asmall customs station, we had our firstencounter with a Communis t spy sys-tem.An Amazing Spy System

In our train car as we were stationedat Sezana, we experienced first hand acommunist spying system. It all beganwith the collection of our passports.Armed communist 0 fficials in themost unkempt uniforms appeared at ourseat. There wasn't just one man, bu tseveral! One fellow collected our passports. Next to him stood another fellow,poker-faced, watching to see that thefirst official really did collect our visasand passporrs His only duty was to spyon the other official. And a third lookedon to see that the other two did theirjobs!Later another official, armed and ina soldier's uniform, appeared. Whatdid he want? You guessed it, he wanted

to know if we still had our passports!The same lengthy procession of officials continued for over an hour. Afterthe passport routine was over, the samespying system appeared again, this timeto exchange our dollars into dinars, thecurrency of Yugoslavia. One governmentrepresentative gave us dinars, then afew minutes later another appeared,wondering how we acquired the dinars!So it went with our train tickets andwith the customs checking. Every officialis an armed government representative,almost always in special uniform. It isthe excessive use of officialdom and themilitary that makes Yugoslavians fearfulof one another. And think of the tremendous tax burden to support all theseemployees, most of whom carry theirpistols and even bayonets to demonstratetheir authoriry.From Sezana we proceeded through amost desolate and rocky area, hardly fitfor pasture and grazing land. Much ofthis resulted from a drought that plaguedthe country this year. God was indeedfrowning on Tiro's communism. Foranother eighteen hours we continued totravel, passing through the major citiesof Ljubljana and Zagreb.We spent an entire night in thecrowded compartment of the train.The re was only room for six persons inthe compartment, bu t there were nine ofus trying to catch a wink of sleep. Everycompartment was so overflowing withpeople tha t the ent ire length of the aislewas filled with people standing or seatedon their suitcases. Almost everyone wasin rags or dirty suits. In our compartment a poor barefoot lady, her feet having sores on them, tried to console asick child.As if this were not all, at every trainstop, officials would go through the entire length of the train . We were awakened at least every hour by army officerscarrying kerosene lamps. They wantedto check our tickets to see if we belonged on the train.Travel is amazing in Yugoslavia. AI-

'most everyone has to go by rail to travelany distance. And sad to say, the poorlypaid natives have to pay twice as muchas foreigners for the same distance. Tirowants to attract tourists and the economic friendship of the Western nations.Farmers Merely Serfs on Land TheyOnce OwnedAs we passed the countryside dur ingthe eighteen hours of travel to Belgrade,we watched the toiling peasants of Croatia and Serbia (two districts of Yugoslavia). Just imagine yourself once having owned a farm, but now having towork on it for the "People's Government" which took it away from yoa!

That is the state of most people in ruralYugosl av ia-sl aves, merely modernserfs, on land once privately owned.Just after the Second World War, Mr.Armstrong had a- lengthy conferencewith Mr. Constantin Fotirch, formerYugoslavian Ambassador to the UnitedStates. Mr. Fotirch, a s trong anti-communist, told Mr. Armstrong that prewar Yugoslavia had more farm-owningpeasants than any other country in theworld. Yugoslavians love their land. Titoknew, he said, that the only way to impose Communism on the country wasfinally to break the will of the peasants,to deprive them of their land and forcethem to become slaves on the state-controlled farms.To enforce his ruthless regime, Tirohad thousands of peasants murdered because they would not leave the ir farmsHundreds of thousands of acres of formerly privately owned land passed under communist state ownership. Bu t thepeasants still resisted. The governmenfailed to receive the quanti ties of foodthat it expected. "I'iro's government wafailing to fill all the demands and ordersof Russia.To safeguard his Own posit ion, Titoknew he had to bow to the determinedstubbornness of the peasants. A breakwith Moscow was inevitable. The Yugo


12/16

Page 12slav peasants had to be appeased, butMoscow would not tolerate it.Today, Tire's Communist Party hashad to allow each family a few acres forits own use. Nevertheless, almost allfarm labor still occurs on state operatedfarms.The means of cultivation is centuriesoutdated. Men and women can be seenas early as five o'clock in the morning ontheir knees with sickles, or standing withscythes, cut ting weedy clover for thestock. Actually the clover is almostwholly weeds and most of them are littlemore than three or four inches highvery poor pasture, yet it serves as hay.Oxen and poor mules and horsescult ivate the countryside. A soldier onthe train saw me observing the countryside. Thinking that I was admiring it( ! ) he cautiously said that in threemonths it will look much worse! Hemeant that winter was approaching andit would be even harder for the peasants.

A few houses were being bui lt in the'countryside through which we werepassing. The mountainous scenery andthe river below are beautiful, but such acontrast to the tired and furrowed peasants as they were building their homes.There was not even a wheelbarrow atone place. The man and his wife werehaving to carry a wooden box filled withcement from the place where it wasmixed to the site of the house. Whilethe younger people would be doing suchback-breaking labor, elderly womenwould be nearby, carrying grass on theirbacks for the cattle.

Th e City of the UnemployedOur arrival in Belgrade was earlyWednesday morning. There were manyhorse drawn taxis waiting at the rail station, bu t only a few auto taxis. Thestreets had only a few people on themand almost no automobiles. Actually theonly autos in the country are taxis orprivate cars belonging to governmentofficials or to tourists. The "super-highway" that leads from Belgrade to Triesteis a very poor country road, often onlypaved with gravel, here and there cut bydeep ruts, and in places dangerously

undermined by the continuous flowingof the river.The real shock to us came Wednesday afternoon and evening-the city ofBelgrade turned into a varitable city ofwondering, dejected unemployed. Itseems that little work is done beyondtwo o'clock in the afternoon-there is

JUSt nor enough work nor money to keepthe people occupied in this Communist"paradise."Although there are mill ions of manhours that could be readily utilized toimprove the living conditions of thecity and the rural areas, there is almost

The GOOD NEWSa total lack of equipment to do the work.The cost of hand labor is too expensivefor the government because so much ofthe tax money is spent upon maintaining a gigantic administration and thearmy.I don't believe any of you have everseen a more hopeless city than the capital of Yugoslavia-a city of formerlyhappy people caught in the throes ofCommunism and drought. Imagine being in a large city, with wide sidewalksand stately green trees. On each side arelarge buildings reflecting happier times.Amid this background thousands of ragged men, women, and children-and anoccasional well dressed person-standgazing into shop windows or walk aimlessly along the streets. Nearly all theyoung men are in uniforms with a redStar on 'their caps.At nearly every corner, stand armedpolicemen forbidding tourists to takepictures of military centers and also giving silent warning of what could happen if anyone should decide to get outof line as the "march to progress" proceeds.

There is hardly a child in the entirecity who wears shoes. Dir ty rags drapeabout their bodies. At one point threelittle girls stopped us. Here we at lastsaw what Communism does for children. Tangled black hair, bare legs andfeet scarred, dirty little dresses.What didthey want? Just a l it tle money for theirmother who can't work.A Visit to an Auto Repair Shop

Just before this event we had emergedfrom an auto repair shop, where wewere invited by a "commissar" and his"comrades." Inside this shop were threeautos being repaired, outside was a truck.There were only a few tools available,although at least seven men were givingthe appearance of work. When we camewith a camera all work ceased. It seemeda great relief to have an excuse to ceaseworking-and why not? They earn almost nothing for their labor. The minutes that followed in conversation withthese workers provided us with the onlyhappy faces we saw in all our time inYugoslavia. How they did enjoy havingDick Armstrong take their pictures!Several spoke broken English, but others conversed in German, learned duringthe war. From them I was able to learnthat the propaganda which is being toldthe people stresses the fact that all thatails their society is lack of technology.Just grve us a few more years, I wastold, and it won't be like it is now.

How true!What these workers failed to realizewas that it is the system that is wrong.It's not merely a lack of technology.

That may aggravate the condition, but it

November, 1952is not what produced this condition. TheONLY hope for Yugoslavia is in an alteration of the Communist policy. Thatwill take a few years, but we saw theseeds that are bound to produce thatchange.Communism is actually appealing toonly a fraction of the people. Manyyoung people and a few older folk notice the giant new apartment buildingsthat have been constructed in Belgrade.Many are not yet completed, but at leastthey provide fuel for the propagandathat it will take only another year andall will be different-housing for everyone.Even very few of the men in uniformreally believe in the party line with theirwhole hearts. Perhaps they have hopesof its success. But in their faces is registered the same apathy and despair whicheveryone has. The most profound causefor such an outlook on life is idleness,mental and physical idleness. There isnothing more burdensome than to havenothing to do when so much ought tobe done.

Food Is PoorYou in America are accustomed tosee wholesome and reasonably fine appearing fruit on the markets. Usuallythe wormy fruit is discarded hy givingit to the animals or else it is left underthe trees to provide fertilizer. Not so inYugoslavia.In stores that we passed were bins offruit, especially apples. They werewormy and rotting. For the pigs? No.

For the people.There were flies and wasps everywhere in the shops. With people beingreduced to this privation, it is little wonder that a change is inevitable.In the very best stores in the capital,most of the commodities were expensively priced for the people and verycheap in quality. Of course, for us theprices appeared reasonable. But it mustbe remembered that a person may haveto work an entire week for the cheapestshirt in town.Is Religion Tolerated in Communist

Yugoslavia?.This is THE important question foreveryone in the country.One evening, at five thirty, just asmany people were baing to their homes,I seemed to have been guided to a largedomed building, that, on closer observation, was a church-of the Orthodoxfaith. To my amazement, dozens of poorpeople were streaming through the twoside doors and the large entrance. Inside,the services were already in progress.

The only seats were those affixed to thewall; everyone, except the very old, wasPlease continue on page 15


13/16

November, 1952

HowWouldJesus Votefor PRESIDENT?

Continued [rorn. page 2of the human virgin Mary.WHY did Jesus come? To get intopolitics, to strive against the forces ofevil in this world, to make this a better

world?WHAT was His Message? CertainlyNOT a Gospel merely about Himselfa Gospel of merely accepting Him, andthen, as part of this world, helping tomake it better!When Jesus reached the approximateage of thirty He was baptized, andanointed with the Holy Spirit as theChrist. But before He preached a word-before He could even enter upon Hisministry, He, like the first Adam, hadto meet Satan in the greatest contest inall eternity!

I t was a contest for the rulership ofall the earth. Jesus Christ met and conquered Satan by the Word of God. Satan, like his ministers today, quotedScripture, but he twisted and pervertedits meaning. Christ quoted Scripture,accepted it to mean what it says, overcame Satan by obeying it! Jesus withstood Satan's temptations, rejected hisdeceptions, refused to obey him, conquered him by obeying GOU! Then Hecommanded Satan, "Get thee hence!"-and the devil obeyed and slunk away!

Then and there Jesus Christ qualifiedto succeed Satan as RULER OVER ALLTHE EARTH! But the time had not yetcome for Him to be inaugurated in office. First, He had to return to the throneof God and receive God's official authorization.God had allotted ONE MILLENNIALWEEK-that is, a period of seven thousand-year "days"-for the accomplishment of His divine PURPOSE in humanity on this earth. That divine Purpose isthe creation of righteous spiritual Sonsof God. God allotted the first six of thesethousand-year periods for Satan's laborof deceiving the human race-six thousand years in which mankind is permitted, if he chooses, to suffer from the"labor" of sin. When the first Adamfailed to depose Satan, God extendedthe duration of Satan's dominion over theearth for six thousand years. This wasnecessary for the accomplishment ofGod's great Purpose.Then, as "in six days God made theheaven and the earth, and the seventhday He rested and was refreshed," evenso in the seventh mil lennium humanityis to "rest" from sin, those convertedare to enter into God's spir itual rest ; and in this coming millennium Satanshall not do any work-that is, his workof deceiving the world!

The GOOD NEWSThen Jesus will come to earth again,this time in all His Power and greatGlory as KING of kings, and LORD oflords.But, in God's grea t Plan, He has purposed tha t Christ shall rule by and thrumany saints then made immortal. Theyshall form the world-ruling kingdomthe KINGDOM OF GOD--which King

dom shall rule over all the mortal nations on earth. Time had to be allowedfor their conversion.Jesus Preached GOVERNMENTSo, after meeting and conquering Satan, Jesus devoted three and a half yearsto teaching His Gospel to His Disciples.His Gospel-the only true Gospelof Jesus Christ-is not what most people think today. Few have heard it, today!I t was, and is, a Gospel of GOOD GOV-ERNMENT! The word "gospel" means

"Good News." And what Jesus preached- t he Message He brought to mankindfrom God-was the GOOD NEWS of thecoming GOVERNMENT OFGOD--the coming world-ruling government whichshall overthrow, blast out ofaxistence,and rule in place of every present gov-ernment on earth!Yes, Jesus Christ said to Pilate thatHe was born to be a King! He, Himself,is coming again as WORLD KING!And His Gospel was merely, as onemight say, His political platform for HisKingdom. He revealed the way to enterit as one of its immortal citizens-theway of salvation. He revealed its laws.What Jesus taught was that this present world, with its governments, its religions, its economics, its society, is anevil world-it is Satan's world-it is aworld in competition against, and ATWAR AGAINST, HIS COMING KING-DOM-THE WORLD TOMORROW!No, [esas did no t enter into THISWORLD'S politics! He called His Disciples out of this present evil world-outof all its customs and philosophies andways-to a life of SEPARATION fromthe world.Jesus said to His disciples, "FollowMe!" And one cannot follow Him andalso follow this present world! He didnot mean for Christians to go out of theworld, physically. He knew they mustlive in it, but He taught that theyshould not be of it. In his final prayerfor His disciples, Jesus said to His Father, "I pray not that thou shouldesttake them out of the world, bur thatthou shouldest keep them from the evil.They are not of the world, even as I amnot of the world." (John 17:15-16.)To His called ministers Jesus commanded: "Go ye into"-(not awayfrom)-"all the world, and preach the

Page 13Gospel." lI e did uot go into theworld and become par t of it, st riving tomake it a better world. He said go intoit and "preach the Gospel." And HisGospel is the Good News of a differentworld altogether-of a coming worldto be ruled over entirely not by thesepresent various world governments thenreformed, but by HIS KINGDOM whichshall blast forever out of existence everygovernment that operates today!

"AMBASSADORS fo r Christ"Thus Jesus' disciples live in this present evil world as though they were foreigners, here merely as the guests of thenat ion where they reside, as AMBASSA-

DORS for Christ and His coming Kingdom, here as representatives of HIScoming Kingdom, not of any of thisworld's governments.As the Word of God reveals in IICor. 5: 17-20, "I f any man be in Christ,he is a new creature: old things arepassed away; . . . Now then we areambassadors for Christ."The United States sends an ambassador to the Kremlin. He resides for thetime in Moscow, Russia. The Christianin the United States is in the same relative position as the American ambassador in Russia. He is not a Communist.He does not regard the Soviet as hisgovernment, and he knows well it is agovernment mortally opposed to hisgovernment. He does not serve the Soviet government, nor enter into its politics, nor devote his time in Moscow totrying to eradicate the evils he SEes inthe ir system, or to making their state abe tte r state, or to emering into theirpolitics, or voting or entering theirarmy or fighting for their cause.Yet, he subjects himself to all theirrules and regulations that in any wayconcern him or his life while there. Ifthey drive automobiles on the left sideof the street, he conforms to their regulations. He does not oppose them, he isSUBJECT to them while there, endeavoring to cause them to like him so as tobetter represent the interests of his government, the United States.Jesus taught His disciples to renderunto Caesar the things that are Caesar's.Specifically he was referring to paymentof taxes. I f the government levies taxes,pay them. The Bible teaching for theChristian is to be SUBJECT to the powersthat be in this world, but, on the otherhand, Christians shall obey God ratherthan man.The true Christian will so conducthimself as to be highly regarded by thepowers of government where he lives.He will 'be regardecl by them as a goodcitizen. He will appreciate the privileges, advantages, and opportunities extended. He will regard himself as the


14/16

Page 14paying guest of the country where heresides, and he will act w ith due courtesy, submission to its rules and regulations insofar as they do not conflict withthe commands of God, and submissionto their penalty where they do.But the true Christian is one whofollows Christ, and Christ did not vote!Jesus did not try to reform Caesar. Hedid not try to make this a better world.Rather, He preached the doctr ine of aradically different world to come-andHe called His followers out of all participation in this present evil world,and to allegiance to HIS KINGDOMwhich is to come.

Citizenship in HeavenBut His World is the World Tomorrow.' His Kingdom, He told Pilate,is not of this world-that is, of this AGE,this present time. This is Satan's worldand Christ did not come to reform Satan,or improve Satan's handiwork, bu t to saveHis followers from Satan and his system.Since God's Kingdom is not lite ra llyset up as yet, the true Christian 's cit izenship, in his heart, is now reserved inheaven ( I Peter 1:4, Eph. 2:19).Christians are called to be separatefrom the world (I I Cor. 6: 1 / ), and allits affiliations, whether social, political,economic or religious. They are not tolive by the p h ; l o ~ . ( ' J p h i e s , customs andways of this-world, but by EVERY WORDOF GOD (Luke 4:4). Jesus taught usnot to live by traditions of the presen tsociety and civilization, bur by God' slaws (Mark 7: 7-9), and He taught herethat those who disobey this teaching

WORSHIP HIM IN VAIN. Yes, thousands call themselves Christians, thinkthey are converted, believe in Chr ist,worship Him, bur worship Him in vain,following the course of this world andits customs and ways, instead of thecommandments of God! (Mark 7: 7-9. )Read it!Jesus said for the Chris tian to seekfirst the KINGDOM OF GOD (Mat. 6: 33),and He also said we cannot give allegiance to and serve two kingdoms(verse 24).How and When Christians

Are to Help Run GovernmentIn the prophecy of Daniel 7, andespecially in verses 17-18, and 21-22,and 27, we find revealed how and whenChristians are to cake. par t in the running of the government.In this prophecy Daniel is shown theempires of this world from his day unt ilthe Kingdom of God. First was theChaldean Empire, to be followed by thePersian, the Grecian, the Roman. Thereis now to be one more resurrection ofthe Roman Empire-a United States ofEurope now forming.

The GOOD NEWSBur finally, at Christ's second coming,"the saints of the Most High shall takethe Kingdom, and possess the kingdomfor ever, even for ever and ever."These present goverml1ents are to runtheir course "UNTIL the . . . time camethat the saints possessed the kingdom."

That time has not yet come. Unti l thenChristians are to obey God and be subject to the powers that be.Whe,n Jesus comes again, it is proclaimed: "The kingdoms of this worldare become the kingdoms of our Lordand of His Christ, and HE shall reignfor ever and ever :' (Rev. 11:15.) Thenit is, as Jesus has said, "He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto theend, to him will I give power over thenations.' and he shall rule them." (Rev.2: 26-27.) The smashing of the present governments of the world is picturedin Daniel 2:34-35, 44.

Then Satan shall be shorn of powerto rule the world. (Rev. 20:1-4.) Hisqualified successor, Christ, shall then beinaugurated in office. Then begins theSabbath Millennium of Christ's reignwhen He shall set His hand again tosave Israel and the world.WIlY the World's Greatest Church

"Is Fallen"In the prophecy of Revelation 17 ispictured the greatcst church in thisworld-s-a professing Christian church,ruling over many nations, but she iscalled in Bible language "the greatwhore"-a most ugly name!But you will notice, verse 5, she isshown to be a MOTHER church. She hasmany daughters, who, even tho theyhave come out of her in "protest" naming themselves from the word "protest,"nevertheless are labeled by God's prophecy as "harlots."And what caused the fall from graceof these great, popular churches-whohave DECEIVED ALL OCCIDENTAL NA

TIONS? (Verse 2 and 18: 3 ) . What waxher fornication?Notice it-verse 2: "Wirh whom thekings of the earth have committed fornication." The "Beast" on which she sitsrepresents the GOVERNMENTS OF THISWORLD.

The true CHURCH is the affiancedBride of CHRIST. She is to be marriedto Christ in a spiritual Marriage ATHIS SECON

Good News 1952 (Vol II No 11) Nov_w

Documents

Transcript of Good News 1952 (Vol II No 11) Nov_w