Vol. XXV No.7

ARTICLES

1

8

10

12

14

22

24

FEATURES

6

17

18

29

July 1976

Why Does This World Need Jesus Christof Nazareth?

Romans 8:30 - "Whom He Did Predestinate"

Romans 8:30 - "Them He Also Called"

Romans 8:30 - "Them He Also Justified"

Romans 8:30 - "Them He Also Glorified"

Blessed Are the Beggars

The Mystery of God

Questions and Answers

The Bible in a Changing World

Update

Letters

ABOUT OUR COVERPress facility etRedtett, England(top) , where English newsstandedition of The Plain Truth is printed;aerial view of the Bricket Woodcampus (bottom left) ; WorldwideChurch of God congregationmeeting at Bri cket Wood(bo ttom right).

Phil Stevens - GN

Editor in Ch iefHerbert W . Armstrong

EditorGarner Ted Armstrong

Senior EditorsDavid Jon Hil l. Raymond F. McN air

Manag ing EditorBrian W. Knowles

Ass istant Managing EditorJohn R. Schroeder

Assoc iate EditorsLawson C. Briggs. D. Paul Graunke , Robert L.Kuh n, George Ritter, Richard H. Sed liacik

Contributing EditorsDavid L. Antion , Dibar Apartian , Rober t Boraker,Peter Butler , Charles V. Dorothy , Jo AnnDorothy , Lester L. Grabbe, Dennis G. Luker,Leslie McCullough. Roderick C. Meredith ,L. Leroy Neff, Caroie Hit ter . Robert C. Smi th

Copy EditorsRonald Beideck. Kathleen Prohs

Art DirectorGreg S. Smith

Art StaffRandall Cole

Editoria l StaffLesley Kalber , Barbara McClure, Le il aMcMichael, Ronald B. Nelson , Janet Schroeder

Church Admin istration DirectorRonald L. Dart

Business ManagerRaymond L. Wright

Publishing CoordinatorRoger G. lippross

Circ ulat ion ManagersUnited States : Richard Rice: International Edi­tions: Leslie McCullough

Published monthly by the Wor ldwide Church ofGod , 300 W Green St. , Pasadena, Calif . 91123.© 1976 Worldwide Church of God. All RightsReserved. Second-class postage paid at Pasa­dena, California ~nd additional offices. Reenteredas second-class matte r at the Manila CentralPost Office on January 18, 1974.

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WHYDOES THIS

WORLDNEED

JESUS CHRISTOF

NAZARETH?Few people ever think of Jesus Christ as the ,Advance Emissary of a world-ruling

government. There are millions of people who believe on Christ, who believe Jesus is theChrist, who believe He died for the sins of the world - and yet don't believe

Christ. That is, they don't believe what He plainly said in scripture afterscripture about bringing a global-governing authority to this earth .

by Garner Ted Armstrong

M illions of professing Chr is­tians are willing to forgiveChrist! They are willing to

forgive what He said and what He.did - and just believe on His per­son.

.They seem to think that Jesus gotall carried away wi th Himself whenHe talked about a soon-coming glo­bal government , about His futurerulership and about apportion ingposit ions of responsib ility to futurekings, presidents, premiers, gover­nors and mayors . All of those scrip­tures are convenientl y catego rizedas just so much spiritual salt andpepper to flavor " the Golden Rule."

Their enormousl y practical valueto this modern world is all but totallyforgotten.What the World Needs Now. Theleaders of the world are gropingabout for some kind of assuran ce ofhuman survival! Agreements are ar­duously negotiated over long , hard ,tiresome weeks, months , and .evenyears in some cases. Negotiatorstirelessly sweat it out over coffee

GOOD NEWS July 1976

and cigarettes . Diplomats hop theglobe in search of some small ves­tige of peace. Politic ians keep theirfingers crossed: they hope thathalf-insane terro rists will somehowbe prevented from pulling the nu­clear trigger ; they worry about theconstant escalation in the numberof members in the " Nuclear Club ."

People work for peace, they hopefor peace and they even pray forpeace. And yet there is preciouslittle real peace on . th is earth .Human survival is threatened fiftytimes over by the ever-present starkspecter of thermonuclear warfare.Brush-fire skirmishes break outhere and there all over the globe .The Middle East continually boilsover with " rumors of war." AfterLebanon , you wonder which coun­try will be next.

The tortuous twists and turns ofinternational politics are somethingelse again. Afr ica is a case in point .One military dictator on the conti - .nent had the unmit igated gall to tellthe United States government that it

had to choose between freedomand oppression in decid ing whetheror not to support " the illegal Rho­desian regime." He forgot to men-

. tion that he had recentlyconfiscated virtuall y all privateprope rty in his count ry and wasengaging in a program of " re-edu­cation " (a polite word for politicalincarceration and brutal oppres­sion) of hundreds of its citizens .

Such blatant hypoc risy can onlybe rivaled by the OPEC ministerwho dared to tell Washington that itshould not use its natural resourcesas a polit ical weapon (meaning em­bargoing our food shipments in theevent of another oil embargo).

As a matter of fact, the UnitedStates government did declare its" unrelenting opposition " to minor­ity rule in both Rhodesia and SouthAfrica (even to the point of the StateDepartment urging the U.S. to joinin a total embargo against Rho­desia). At worst we may be lookingat a bloodbath ; at best the " forced"resettlement of thousands of Euro-

Jesus Christ of Nazareth: " And if those days had not beenshortened, no human being wou ld be saved" (Matt. 24 :22) .

Edward Teller: " Some form of supranational government is abso­lutely necessary if the wor ld wants to end the danger of nuclearwar .. ."

Clement Attlee: " The world needs the consummation of our con­ception of world organization through world law if civilization is tosurvive. "

Winston Churchill: "Unless some effective world super­government can be brought quickly into action , the proposals forpeace and human progress are dark and doubtful. "

" colonial" empire emerging, care­fully camouflaged by a clever fa­cade of anticolonialism.

The Soviet Union continues tocarve out a gigantic, global colonialempire . It has the largest navy theworld has ever seen. It has the larg­est standing army on the face ofthis earth . Its nuclear capability riv­als that of the United States.

The prospects of obtaining a SALTII agreement with the Soviet Unionare bogging down . U.S. options forsolving Middle Eastern problemsappear to be painfull y limited. Africais in ferment in the aftermath of An­gola .

The piecemea l efforts of evenvery dedicated and partially suc­cessful ambassadors , envoys anddiplomats are somewhat discour­aging at best.The Only Answer. Every thinkingperson seems to know that the onlyultimate solution to our deep-seatedglobal problems is the creation of asuper government , a supranationalauthority that would constitute aworld-ruling government.

Many famous politicians, states­men, presidents, prime ministers,scientists and leaders of world bod­ies have echoed this solution overand over again until it begins tosound like a broken record . I havequoted their words verbatim onmany a radio and television pro­gram , on evangelistic campaignsand in the pages of The Plain Truthmagazine . (See the accompanyingbox for a small smattering of theseauthentic quotations from famousmen who seem to speak as withone voice .)

Virtually all statesmen recognizethe stern fact that one worldwidegovernment is the only permanentsolution to man's ills. They knowthat only a super-global govern­ment, embodying all nations , withworld courts , world laws and aworld police force, could ever suc­ceed.

And yet, they also know thatsuch a government in the hands ofmen is impossible! Should it everhappen , it would be a nightmare ofhideous proport ions . For con­firmation of this fact, we need tolook back no further than Hitler. Ifhe had. succeeded in ushering inhis 1,OOO-year Reich, ' the 'world

national diplomat. New despotsemerge here and there ; guerrillawarfare, politica l kidnappings,bombings and assassinations pock­mark the globe all the way fromCentral and South America to Eu­rope and beyond. One conflict, asin Angola , seems to spark anotherlike as not on the same continent.Amid the near total dismantlementof the tradit ional colonial empires ,parado xically you find another giant

Charles E. Osgood of the University of Illino is: " What we need ,and that most urgently, is an enlivened search for new alternativesof war as a means of resolving human conflicts. A world govern­ment may be the only permanent solution. "

Hans J. Morgenthau : " There is no shirking the conclusion thatinternational peace cannot be permanent without a world state,and that a world state cannot be established under the presentmoral, social, and political conditions of the world. There is alsono shirking the further conclusion that in no period of modern his­tory was civilization more in need of permanent peace and, hence ,of a world state . . . ."

Joseph Rotblat, Polish-born physicist who helped develop thefirst atomic bomb : " Some sort of world authority must be found. Ican 't see any other way of the world surviving ."

Albert Einstein: " In the light of new knowledge, a world authorityand an eventual world state are not just desirable in the name ofbrotherhood, they are necessary for survival."

Norman Cousins: " The management of the planet , therefore ,whether we are talking about the need to prevent war or the needto prevent ultimate damage to the conditions of life, requires aworld government. Humanity needs a world order ."

WORLD GOVERNMENT:NEEDED

FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL

peans currently residing in thosetwo nations . Ever deeper racial po­larities in the United States may beanother unwanted side effect. Quitea price to pay to help prevent anyfuture Cuban intervention on theAfrican continent. Such are thestrange twists and turns afflictingthose who are unfortunate enoughto be caught up in the confusedworld of international diplomacy.

Consider the plight of the inter-

2 GOOD NEWS July 1976

would have been bathed in bloodfor decades . It would have beendragged through a new Dark Age ofhorrible repression, religious mar­tyrdom and " big brotherism " - thelikes of which can only be envi­sioned by reading George Orwell 's1984 and Fox's Book of Martyrs.

So national leaders acknowledgeon the one hand that world govern­ment is an absolute necessity forhuman survival, and yet on theother they admit it is an impossibi­lity in the hands of men.

If they would only be ' willing totake one step further and concludethat world government taken out ofthe hands of humankind is the onlysolution. A national news magazinecame the closest to this conclusionabout a decade ago. It talked aboutthe world needing "a Strong Handfrom Someplace. "The Dream Has Never ComeTrue. From time immemorial ,humankind has dreamed of puttingtogether some sort of a global au­thority . And each and every time,some one or some thing has comealong to thwart every single humanattempt. God Himself frustratedmankind 's first organized try at theTower of Babel by confusing oralcommunications.

Then, each in its turn , beginningwith ancient Babylon , followed byPersia, Greece and the Roman Em­pire (with its many revivals), firsttried and then eventually failed toglue a global community of nationstogether .

The first serious modern attemptat some form of world governmentwas the League of Nations. How­ever, the seeds of collapse weresown in the League at its very cre­ation . The short -sightedness ofWestern allies resulted in the ter­rible inadequacies of the Treaty ofVersailles. Intolerable political andeconomic concess ions wereabruptly demanded of Germany fol­lowing her defeat in World War I.Included in the demand for repara­tions was the stripping away of herentire colonial empire - all her EastAfrican colonies, all her eastern Eu­ropean possessions , and all herSouth Sea holdings. The League 'seffectiveness was also torpedoedby the lack of U.S. support, in­fluence and active participation fol ~

GOOD NEWS July 1976

lowing the death of WoodrowWilson. Subsequent failure to meetthe Nazi threat sent the League intopermanent political oblivion .. Enter the Atlantic Charter amid

the battles of World War II. The pro­visions of this Roosevelt-Churchillpact proved to be the forerunner ofthe United Nations charter in 1945.Leaders of nations (great and small)assembled at the world conclave in 'San Francisco . Great statesmenthere called the United Nations theworld's " last chance " for peace.And truly this world body does rep­resent man's greatest single effortin all history to bring all nations to­gether in mutual understanding andcooperation.

What has happened in the thirtyyears since is true testimon y to itsreal effect iveness. The veto provi­sion in the Security Council and the" one nation -one vote" concept inthe General Assembly built in thebitter fruits we see today . All thegood the United Nations has donein relieving suffering around theglobe (i.e. , UNESCO, UNICEF ,WHO) has been more than over­balanced by its failure to alleviatediscord and enmity between na­tions .

So far no national government orinternat ional body in the history ofth is world has ever brought itspeople lasting peace, prosperit yand happiness. True, certain gov­ernments have succeeded inachieving dizzying military con-

. quests and glamorous economicheights . But each, in its own turn ,tottered and toppled , leaving onlythe splintered shards, ruined build­ings and dust-covered monumentsto mark its passing .

Further , this war-weary worldseems, at this moment, further fromthe dream of world peace, harmonyand understanding between nationsthan it has ever been. The dreamhas never come true!

But the imperative for world gov­ernment is now greater than any­time in history. The stage is set.Enter a message from outer spacefrom that' 'Strong Hand from Some­place."The Destiny of the Christ Child. .Today the Christian ' religion isbased upon the worship of a per­sonality. The message that person-

.ality brought has long since beenlost track of. The emphasis beginsin the Christmas season with thebirth of "a little Lord Jesus away ina manger " and ends in the Easterseason picturing His death hangingon a cross . There is precious little inbetween.

It all begins with little school chil­dren annually reenacting the storyof the Christ child 's birth in pag­eants and plays complete with allthe accoutrements of the nativityscene. Somewhere in the story ap­pears a little boy dressed up in " an­gel 's wings ." He pipes up and says:" Fear not , Mary : for thou hastfound favor with God. And, behold ,thou shalt conceive in thy womb ,and bring forth a son, and shalt callhis name Jesus " (Luke 1:31).Though the rest of the archangelGabriel 's message may then beread, the comprehension generallycomes to a halt right there - rob­bing the annunciation or announce­ment of Jesus ' birth of its real,intended impact. All the ceremon yand folderol has obscured the realmessage almost beyond belief.

But read on: " He shall be great,and shall be called the Son of theHighest: and the Lord God shallgive unto him the throne of hisfather David: and he shall reignover the house of Jacob for ever;and of his kingdom there shall beno end " (verse 32) . To most peoplethis scripture means anything butwhat it plainly says. The popularinterpretation revolves around anebulous , ethereal, wishy-washy," never-never," "spiritual" kingdomin the hearts of men. That it couldmean a never-ending literal king­dom with real subjects , actual terri­tory and tangible laws has simplynever occurred to the majority ofWestern churchianity.

But the biblical meaning of thisscripture is very literal and very pre-.cise! Contrary to the suspicions ofsome secular historians , King Davidwas a real person who occupied areal throne on this earth in an an­cient nation called Israel . TheDavidic Covenant consists of a de­cree or statement that God made toDavid that his throne would neverperish from the earth - so some­where, somehow that throne stillexists on this earth today (see

3

Psalm 89). Jesus Christ of Nazarethis of the lineage of the House ofDavid (see Luke 3 and Matthew 1).So far , so good . It all comes to­gether in a literal sense!

Now , according to the seventhcha pter of the book of Revelation,the twelve tribes of Israel will sti ll beextant at the second coming ofChrist in numbers no less than12,000 strong in each tribe . Thereis the biblical proof that a resur­rected, literal, living Chr ist couldrule over the House of Israel for­ever.Supporting Scriptures. The castof supporting scriptures is a hugeone. Seven hundred years prior tothe birth of Jesus, the prophetIsaiah predicted: " For unto us achild is born , unto us a son is given :and the government shall be uponhis shoulder: and his name shall becal led Wonde rfu l, Counsellor , Themighty God , The everlasting Father ,The Prince of Peace. Of the in­crease of his government andpeace there shall be no end, uponthe throne of David, and upon hiskingdom, to order it, and to estab ­lish it with judgment and with jus­tice from henceforth even for ever "(Isa. 9:6-7).

In Matthew 2:2, Jesus is calledthe " King of the Jews ." In Micah 'sprophecy (quoted in Matthew 2:6) ,He is called a governor or a ruler ofthe peop le of Israel. Micah wrote :

. And you, Bethlehem Ephratah [theplace of Jesus ' birth] , you who arelittle among the tho usands of Ju­dah , out of you shall come forth tome to be ruler of Israel , he whosegoings forth have been from of old,from everlast ing " (Micah 5:2). Theapost le John tells us of a woman(biblical symbol for a church) who" gave birth to a son, 'a male ch ild,who is to shepherd all the nationswith an iron flail [rod] . . ." (Rev.12:5, Moffatt translation) . Theprophet Zechariah says He will "beking over all the earth " (Zech.14:9). These scriptures expandChrist' s Kingdom far beyond theborders of ancient Israel to everynation on earth.

Jesus Christ of Nazareth was the 'prom ised descendant (called in theB ible " see d ," " r o o t ," and" Branch" ) of Davia whose ult imatedestiny is to fulf ill Jeremiah 's

4

p rophec y : " Be ho ld , the dayscome . . . that I will raise unto Davida righteous Branch, and a King

.shall reign and prosper, and shallexecute judgment and justice in theearth. In his days Judah shall besaved, and Israel ' shall dwell sa­fely . , ." (Jer. 23 :5, 6) .Encounter with Pilate. Mill ionshave misunderstood the timing ofthe arrival of the Kingdom of God .Motion pictures, passion plays andtelevision screen ings of the crucifix­ion sometimes reenact scenesshowing Jesus being spit upon ,clothed with a purple robe andcoronated with a crown of thorns.

. The obvious intent is to ridicu le theidea that Jesus had come as a co n­quering king to set up a kingdomthen - by those who tend to dis­believe in His div inity and Messiah­ship now.

"For unto us a child isborn,unto us a son

is given: and thegovernment shall be upon

his shoulder . . . .Of the increase of

his government and peacethere shall be no end."

His last hours with Pontius Pilate- the Roman rule r - do in factreveal that He came two thousa ndyears ago only as the Advance Em­issary of the coming Kingdom ofGod .

Pilate was in a political quandary- between a rock and a hard place- over the illega l trial of JesusCh rist. His wife had had somestrange dreams. He sensed thatJesus was not gu ilty and that politi­ca l motives and professional jeal­ousy were the real reasons behindHis indictment. Yet Pilate fearedthat the chief pr iests would stir up ariot and the Roman governmentwould " have his head " if he inter-

. vened too strong ly on Jesus' be­half .

The famous conversation beginsin John 18:33 : " Then Pilate enteredinto the judgment hall again, andcalled Jesus , and said unto him, Art

thou the King of the Jews?" Jesuswas aware of Pilate 's prev io usmeetings with His accusers , so" Jesus answe red him, Sayest thouthis thing of thyself , or did otherstell it thee of me? Pilate answered ,Am I a Jew? Thine own nation andthe chief priests have delivered theeunto me: what hast thou done?"(Verses 34-35.)

Then Jesus Chr ist answe red Pi­late 's orig ina l question directly :"My kingdom is not of this world[th is age, th is system , this soc iety- Greek, cosmos]: if my kingdomwere of this world , then would myservants fight, tha t I should not bedelivered to the Jews: but now ismy ki ng dom not from hence"(verse 36) .

By now Pilate is really puzzled.He knew that they were discussinga real , literal kingdom - not somek ind of ethereal " in-your-heartnothingness." And yet Jesus toldhim that He possessed no kingdomthen - He was not exerc isingkingly prerogatives and authorityover real, ·Iive subjects at that time.

Pontius Pilate simply couldn 'tgrasp a king without a kingdom, sohe repeats the original question :" Pilate therefore said unto him, Artthou a king then?

" Jesus answered , Thou sayestthat I am a king. To this end was Iborn , and for this cause came I intothe world .. . " (verse 37). JesusChrist of Nazareth plainly under­stood the long-run purpose of Hisbirth as a human being - not justthe fact that He was to die for thesins of the world. The prophecies ofHis eternal kingship by Isaiah andthe angel Gabriel were not in vain.

But that Kingdom would neverput. in an appearance until the endof th is present age of man - or" present evil world " as the apostlePaul later described it.

Whether Pilate ever did ' 'tumble" .to what Jesus meant is a moo tquestion. But judging by what tran­spired afterwards , Pilate apparentlyat least halfway believed Him. Afterthey had hung Jesus upon the 'stake , " Pilate wrote a title , and putit on the cross . And the writing was ,JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OFTHE JEWS. This title then read manyof the Jews : for the place whereJesus was crucified was nigh to the

GOOD NEWS July 1976

city: and it was written in Hebrew,and Greek , and Latin. Then said thech ief priests of the Jews to Pilate ,Write not , The King of the Jews; butthat he [Jesus ] said, I am King ofthe Jews " (John 19:19-21 ).

The chief priests and the jewishnationals had previous ly shouted:" We have no king but Caesar"(verse 15). They simp ly didn 't wantJesus recognized as the ir king.However, Pontiu s Pilate was ada­mant and said: " What I have writtenI have written " (verse 22) ." Thy Kingdom Come. " Thepeople of Jesus' generation, be­cause they misunderstood the tim­ing of many of the Old TestamentMessianic prophecies, never didseem to get the true time factor ofthe Kingdom of God straight.

The parable of the pounds is acase in point: " And as they heardthese things, he [Jesus] added andspake a parable , because he wasnigh to Jerusalem, and becausethey [erroneously] thought that thekingdom of God should immedi­ately appear" (Luke 19:11).

Later , just before Jesus ' ascen­sion to heaven, the disc iples werestill very anxious about exactlywhen the Kingdom of God wouldactual ly come to this earth: " Whenthey therefore were come together,they asked of him, saying , Lord , wiltthou ' at this time restore again thekingdom to Israel? And he [Jesus]said unto them, It is not for you toknow the times or the seasons,wh ich the Father hath put in hisown power" (Ac ts 1:6-7).

Notice that at no time did thesediscuss ions revolve around the Pro­te stant concept of an ethereal" kingdom in your heart ." Alwaysthey would talk about a literal king­dom with a literal king!

What was one of the cardinalpoints that Jesus told His disciplesto pray about regu larly as a majorport ion of the ir daily prayers? Sim­ply : " Thy kingdom come. Thy willbe done in earth , as it is in heaven "(Matt.--6:10). Do you think JesusChrist would ask His followers topray for a kingdom to come that

. was already here? Is the Father 'swill being done on earth now as it isin heaven?

Anyone who has been readingThe Good News very long knows

GOOD NEWS July 1976 '

that this is not God 's world , butSatan 's (see Rev. 12:9; II Cor . 4:4 ;Eph. 2:2; etc .) . God 's will is notliterally being done on this earthtoday except in the overall sense ofHis great long-term purpose.

Plainly , the Kingdom of God hasnot yet come to this earth!A Global Issue. The good news ofthe com ing gove rnment of God is ahuge, broad global issue. It is not a" religious issue". in the traditionalsense . What is " religious" abouthuman survival? What is " religious"about all the wor ldwide reforms thatmust take place if the human spe­cies is to survive? Never forget that 'these biblical scriptures I quoted inthis art icle have everyth ing to dowith this problem-prone world inwhich we now live.

The Kingdom of God is runn ingon a campa ign of global reforms. Its

"He shall be great,and shall be called the

Son of the Highest:and the Lord God shall

give unto him the throne ofhis father David . . .

of his kingdom' there shallbe no end."

coming prom ises to solve the age­old prob lems of feeding , clothing,

. housing and educating human kind .It involves the tota l abolition of mili­tary co nscription . It involves funda­mental agrarian reform , a parcel ofland for every family, the completeabolition of the present pr ison sys­tem , full employment, lingui stic re­form , and perhaps most importantof all , religious reform . In fact , itabsolutely guarantees man 's firstutopian state since the " micro­cosm ic " Garden of Eden .

The United States of America iscurrently going through the long,tiresome exerc ise of choosing its.Presidential candidates for the No­vember election . Richard A. Falk,professor of International Law andPractice at Princeton University anda Senior Fellow at the Institute ofWor ld Order, had something veryinte resting to say about the quali-

ties we need in a President: " Thatperson shou ld be the ' next Presi­dent who can beg in the process ofcop ing with the world order crisis ina pos itive manner. As yet, no po liti­cal leader of national stature .hasdone more than merely acknowl­edge the dangers generated by theinterplay of suc h trends as popu­lation gro wth , mass poverty , eco ­logical deca y, political repression ,and spread ing technolog ies ofmass destruction . . . . We desper­ately need leadership that canawaken the American people to themagnitude of the challe nge withoutgenerating a sense of anxiety andhelplessness.

. " We need, in othe r words, aPresident who can begin the pro­cess of adjus tment that involves aseries of difficult mora l and pol iticalchoices about the direction of na­tional develo pment. . . . The effortto reorient nat ional developmentshould proceed with in a far widerframework of global reform. . . .Hence I envisage the process of ad­justment . . . on the global level byincreasing supranational authorityand coordination of spec ific tasks(managing the oceans , distr ibutingfood and cap ital, overseeing thedisarmament process, protectingthe environment) " (Worldview, Apr il1976, pp . 9-10, emp hasis minethroughout quote).

Is anyone of our present crop ofcandidates able to effectively ini­tiate such a " process of coping "with ou r incredible, unbelievabledomestic and international prob­lems by succe ssfully reorderi ng ournational priorities? The answer is alltoo obvious. Such a gig antic task issimply " beyond the ken " of oneman in this super-complex spaceage.

Professor Falk also said in thesame art icle: " . . .-This posit ive na­tional mood can evolve only if thePresidential leadership can projectan image of a new politica l orderorgan ized around a set of posit ivevalues - peace , economic well­being for all, widespread realization

. of human rights , ecological balance- anchored finally in a coheringnew pattern of identity and loyaltythat is expansive as to both timeand space . This pattern of identity

(Continued on page 16)

5

Q UESTION: "We have beenreading 'Is All AnimalFlesh Good Food?' with

much interest. We live in thecountry and have our own gar­den and meat for the table butneed to know if liver, heart ,tongue and kidneys are ediblemeats. We are certain it is in theBible but are unable to find it."

Mr. and Mrs. A.H.,Marion, Texas

ANSWER: The reason youcannot find any instructionin the Bible regarding the

eating of organ meats is because itisn 't there . The Old Testament doesmention that some organs were tobe burned along with the fat whenan 'animal was sacrificed , but thishad nothing to do with the normalkilling and eating of these animals(Ex. 29 :13) .

There is no Old Testament prohi­bition against eating organ meats of" c lean" animals . However, theIsraelites were told not to eat fatand blood (Lev. 3:17; 7 :Z6-27 ).Th is admonit ion aga inst eatingblood was repeated in the instruc­tions of the elders of the earlyChurch to the Gentiles (Acts 15:20­29 ; 21 :25).Q: "You wrote that the Biblesays, 'No one has ever seen God'(John 1:18;' 5:37). What do youhave to say about the followingscriptures? In Genesis 18:1-8,God appeared to Abraham, andGod did eat! According to Gen­esis 32:24-30 , Jacob wrestledwith God and wouldn't let go un­til God blessed him. In II Samuel22:9-11, God appears with smokepouring out of His nostrils andriding on the back of a cherub!Everyone knows that God doesnot have a physical body. Why dothe Old Testament writers saythat He does? This implies thatHe has mortal needs such asfood and water. Did or did notGod appear to the people theBible says He did?"

Debra N.,Emporia, Kansas

6

A: The article specifically referredto no one having seen God theFather. The verses c ited (John

· 1:18; 5:37) make the same dis­tinction . So who did Abraham dinewith? The answer is that the mem­ber of the God family who becameJesus Christ was the God of the OldTestament , the God who appearedto Abraham, Moses and others .This is explained in the free reprintarticle " Who - What - Was JesusBefore His Human Birth?"

The Old Testament writers didnot say that God has a physicalbody. They merely recorded thefact that God appeared in physicalform. As the Creator of all physicalthings, God certainly has the powerto manifest Himself to men in phys i­cal form , though He is a spirit. Andagain , the Old Testament recorddoesn't say God needs food , water,and so on, but He is certainly ableto partake of physical amenities andenjoy them. The free article "WhatWill You Be Like in the Resurrec­tion? " explains further.

Commentators agree that the de­scription of God in II Samuel 22:9­11 is clearly a case of poetic licenseand not a literal description.Q: "Could you please tell me if itis wrong to read the Apoc­rypha?"

Robert R.,Coleman , Wisconsin

A: The Greek term apocrypha orig ­inally meant " hidden" or " mys­terious. " Later it came to mean" spurious " or " heretical" andhence was applied to writings thatwere regarded as questionable interms of inspiration or canonicity .The term is now generally used torefer to those books not included inthe Jewish and Protestant Old Tes­tament which are, however , in­cluded in the Roman Catholiccanon of the Old Testament.

The Old Testament Apocrypha. consists of 14 or 15 books (seven

of which have been inc luded in theRoman Catholic Old Testament ),mostly composed in the period fromabout 200 B.C. to AD . 100 . Forunknown reasons, some of these

books came to be incl uded in theGreek translation of the Hebrew OldTestament known as the Septua­gint, the work of Greek-speakingJews in Alexandria , Egypt . (Thistranslation was evidently spreadover the last two or three centuriesB.C.)

The New Testament teachingclearly seems to be that the Jewswere given the custody of the OldTestament Scripture. Romans 3:2states : " The Jews are entrus tedwith the oracles of God" (see alsoActs 7:37-38; Matt. 23 :1-3; I Peter1:12) . Regardless of when the finaldecisions were made, the bookslater known as the Apocrypha werenever lncluded in the offici al Jewishcanon of the Old Testament. Thissituat ion is reflected in the state­ment of the first-century Jewish his­torian Joseph us, who wrote: " Forwe have not an innumerable multi­tude of books among us, dis­agreeing from and contradictingone another, as the Greeks have ,but only twenty-two books, whichcontain the records of all the pasttimes ; which are justly believed tobe divine " (Against Apion, book I,section 8) . From Josephus' enu­meration it is hard to see how theseven apocryphal works could havebeen regarded by the Jews as di­vine ly inspired in the first century .

Later , in the second to the fourthcenturies AD., it appears that someof the early fathers of the CatholicChurch reparded certain Apocry­phal books as canonical. Others ,however, did not. For example , Je­rome , who translated the Scripturesinto Latin circa AD. 400 (the LatinVulgate), did not regard the Apoc­rypha as inspired : "Jerome ex­plici t ly stated t ha t the O ldTestament Apocrypha might beread for edification, but not for con ­firming the authority of church dog­mas" (Interpreter's Dictionary ofthe Bible , article " Apocrypha" ).

However , later Catholic leaderssuch as Augustine accepted certainApocryphal books as Scripture.During the Reformation, ProtestantOld Testament scholars rejected

GOOD NEWS July 1976

QUESTIONS& ANSWERSthese books as uncanonical andaccepted only the Jewish Old Testa­ment canon . In response to this,the (Catholic) Council of Trent in1546 declared them canonical and 'inspired . The situa tio n has re­mained basically the same until thepresent day.

According to the New Testament ,Chr istians should accept as canoni­cal Old Testament Scripture onlythose books which have been offi ­cia lly accep ted by the Jews. ThoseApocryphal books generally in­cluded in the Catholic Old Testa­ment would not , therefore , qualifyas canonical Scripture . However ,this does not mean that a Christianshould not read them! These booksdo contain valuable historical dataof the intertestamental period aswell as interesting and inform ativewritings by Jewish religious thinkersof that day. It would not be wrong atall to read them for educational, in­formative purposes ; in fact, it wou ldbe good for Christians to be awareof their contents since they illus­trate aspec ts of Jewish history andreligio us thought just precedingand during the time of Jesus.

In addit ion to these, there are anumber of early Christian writingssometimes referred to as " New Tes­tament Apocrypha." These consistof a great number of books of allkinds - gospels, acts, letters,apocalyptic literature , etc. Nearly allof these works are spurious embel ­lishments of the contents of NewTestament books . " That any ofthem preserve authentic tradit ions

.of words or doings of their heroes- notably Jesus, the apostles, theVirgin , and other characters in thecanonical New Testament books ­is most unlikely " (ibid.). None ofthese books can be seriously re~

garded as having a claim to NewTestament canonicity . The NewTestament canon has been prac­tically undisputed for the lasi thou :sand years.

For more information on this sub­ject , write for our free reprint article" Do We Have the Complete Bible?"Q: " Should a Christian read

GOOD NEWS July 1976

science-fiction literature? Or anytype of fictional literature, for thatmatter? "

Gary H.,Orrville, Ohio

A: What one chooses to read islargely a matter of persona l taste.Unless such literature causes a per­son to break God 's law (like porno­graphic or hate-oriented mater ialmight), there is noth ing wrong withreading many different types of lit­erary works - both fiction and non­fic tion . If one approaches suchbooks solidly grounded in God 'sWord and His law, there is 'muchthat can be learned and gainedfrom reading various fiction works.For example , the apostle Paul waswell versed in the secular poetryand literature of his day, andquoted this material in his dis­cussion with unbelievers and in hisep istles (see Acts 17:28 ; Titus1:12).

Of course, there are some reallypoor-quality books (both fictio n andnonfiction) that would be a waste oftime to read. Also, some books canproduce emotionally objectionableeffects such as depression. Butwhether one reads a book or not isbas ically a matter of personal judg­ment and preference.

Well-written science-fiction mate­rial can be informative, educational,entertaining , and very intellectuallystimulating to read.Q: "A friend and I had a dis­cussion on the subject of makingjokes about sex. He says 'jesting'about sex is out. I don 't see anyharm in this. Obviously, filthyjokes are no good, but aren 'tthere harmless jokes aboutsex?"

J.A.,Beckley, West Virginia

A: The verse on which your friendbased his opinion is foun d in Eph­esians 5. Here the apostle Paul isinstructing the Ephesian church tobe " imitators of God " and " walk inlove." Verse 4 reads: " Let there beno filthiness, nor silly talk , nor lev­ity, which are not fitting ; but insteadlet there be thanksgiving ." In the

original Greek the word translated" filthiness" is aischrotes, meaning"ugliness or wickedness ." " Sillytalk " was translated from the wordmorologia meaning " silly or foo lishtalk or conversation"; " levity" fromeutrapelia whic h came to have theconnotation of " coarse jesting " or" buffoonery" (Arndt-Ginqrich Lexi­con of New Testament Greek).

Obviously, wickedness is some­thing in which we shou ld not par­ticipate. Also fool ish talk , coarsejesting and buffoonery are some­thing Christians wo uld want toavoid .

But there is a place for a sense ofhumor and a joyful apprec iation ofwit in the Christian personality. Theapostle Paul himself made a punwhich he recorded in his letter toPhilemon . Verses 10 and 11 con­tain a play on the word " useful"and the name of the slave One­simus , which in the Greek meant" useful." In most of our presentEnglish translations the relationshipof these Greek words is not evident .

Sex of and by itself is not ob­scene . It is a normal body functionand is perfectly wholes ome andgood within the God-defined limitsof marriage (Gen. 1:28, 31; Heb.13:4 ; I Cor . 7). There are somejokes abou t the subject of sex thatare not "evil " or " obscene!" Eachindividual Christian shou ld be ableto discern which jokes are funnyand inoffensive, and which arecoarse and vulga r to him andothers, and to act according ly.

But don 't offend your friend bytelling him even harmless jokes onthe subject if he has made it clear toyou that " jesting about sex is out"with him. Each one of us has aspec ial obl igation not to offend ourneighbors in joking about some ofthese more sensitive subjects . Eth­nic jokes are in a similar category .The apost le Paul wisely advised usnot to " put a stumblingblock or anoccasion to fall in [our] brother'sway " (Rom. 14:13, KJV).

For a more complete bibl ical per­spective on the subject of sex, writefor our free booklet Is Sex Sin? 0

7

••

Romans 8:30 - a definitive scripture of profound implications!In a single passage, the 'apostle Paul sums up the entire Christian experience

from predestination to glorification. Each key word in this important passage isworthy of amplification. And that is exactly what this series of articles is

designed to do. Four authors have collaborated to provide you withfour important descriptions of these basic steps in a Christian 's spiritual development:

predestination, calling, justification, and, 'finally, glorification. We hope you willfind these specially prepared articles valuable and enlightening.

'f

"•••WHOM HE DID PREDESTINATE"I n the long centuries of church

history, perhaps few other sub­jects have been debated over suchan extended period of time as pre­destinat ion,

The word " predestinate" is foundin only two passages in the Autho ­rized Version: Romans 8:29-30 ;Ephesians 1:5, 11, Each time theunderl ying Greek word is ptootizo .The word does not appear to beused before the time of Paul. Thus,he may even have coined it himself.Another way of translating it mightbe "ordain" or " decide upon be­forehand ."

Each conte xt in which the wordoccurs - Romans 8 and Ephesians1 - con tains a powerful and mov­ing discou rse on the Christ ian goal.It is God 's purpose that Christ iansbecome very children of God.

With such an awesome back­drop, no wonder predestination hasbeen so fiercely debated!

But is it true, as some Christianshave believed , that God has alreadydetermined the good and the evil ,the saved and the lost, the sheepand the goats? Is Christian life onlya stage on which a prearrangedfarce is played out according toparts chosen at random? Or a pup-

8

pet show with auto-co ntrolled man­nequins oblivious to true freedom ofchoice?The God Who Acts. God 's physi­cal creatio n is only a part of thegreat histor ical drama. According tothis magnificent script, Christ " waschosen before the founding of theworld even though not revealed un­til the end of time" (I Peter 1:20,t ran slati o ns are the auth or ' sthroughout). Even the sacr ifice ofJesus on the cross was in this plansince he was " the lamb slain fromthe time of the earth's foundation"(Rev. 13:8).

The whole of the Bible is thegradual unfolding of this great pre­arranged plan . God worked withdifferent individuals through thelong millennia of time: Noah, Abra­ham, Jacob , Moses, David, andothe rs. But much of God 's workingwas tied up with physica l promisesto physical descendants. The na­tion of Israel became the focus ofGod 's concern , to obey and live ordisobey and die. It was never theformer for more than a short periodof time.

The re are ma ny sta temen ts 'throughout the Old Testament ­espec ially in the prophetic and wis-

dam writings - which take the mostprofound spiritu al insight to appre­ciate. We are not surprised to findthat few did apprecia te them. Onth e whole , the pro phe ts werescorned , ridiculed , ignored and re­jected . The end result was corr up­tion, con quest, captivity.

Yet this was not the end of theplan. It was only another scene inone of the many acts. The curtainwent down ; it rose again to theJudaea of the post-exilic period .God had not forsaken the earth , butthe great prophets no longer spo keto the chosen people. It was intothis world that the leading actorcame , though not as yet JesusCh rist Superstar.

Jesus ' sojourn on earth was asthe humble carpenter from Naza­reth who ended his physical life ona Roman instrument of execut ion .Yet it soon became apparent thatthis was not the end. First His dis­cip les and later their followers sawthat Jesus ' death and resurrectiononl y foreshadowed the final resolu­tion of the divine plot.The Christ ian Goal. At first theNew Testament Church thoughtthat Jesus would soon return as theco nquering Christ and bring -down

GOOD NEWS July 1976

••

the final curtain . As time went on ,they began to see that much morewas yet to come. But the writings ofthe early Church tell us of episodesyet to follow, even in our future .

The . final denouement is de­scribed in a number of passages.But few summarize better than onein Acts and one in Paul 's writings :" So even the expectation of thecreation longingly awaits the reveal­ing of the sons of God" (Rom.8:19) . The very inanimate universeis, as it were, earnestly desiring thetime when puny mortal man - and ,yes, even the most humble, the verylowest, the Christian - becomesGod 's own divine son . Then willcome the " time of restoring every­th ing to perfec tion " as God had al­ready promised long before (Acts3:21).

This is God 's great plan. It hasnot cha nged. The script has notbeen altered . The scenes yet tocome cannot be rewritten. The ba­sic outcome was decided long ago .

Yet some things have been as­sumed about God 's plan whichhave no basis in the stage direc­tions of the original author. It is atthis very point that the analogyneeds to be changed lest it give thewrong impression.' Christians arenot robots who unerringl y act ac­co rding to a present pattern andspeak only the words already re­corded for them. Neither are theydumb figu res on a chessboard tobe manipulated unprotesting by thedivine power .Free Choice. Although God 's ba­sic plan is fixed, the part of theindividual - your part and my part- has not been determined. To an­cient Israel God said: " I call heavenand earth as witnesses against youtoda y that I have put life and death ,blessing and cursing , before you .May you choo se life so that youand your descendants will live!"(Deut.30:19.) .

The choice which God gave tophysical Israel now becomes the

GOOD NEWS July 1976

eternal choice of the spir itual Israel­ite. Granted , God has to make thefirst initiative just as he did withIsrael: " No one is able to come tome unless the Father who sent medraws him" (Jo hn 6:44) . The NewTestament makes it clear that Godis not " drawing" everyone at thistime.

Those whom God calls have atremendous reward in store forthem, as descr ibed in such pas­sages as Romans 8 and Ephesians1. It is by the power of God's Spiri tthat they are able to live a Christianlife pleasing to Him (I John 3:22­24) . Our salvation is ultimately dueto His grace, not our own gooddeeds (Eph. 2:8-9).

Yet a Christian life is not a pas­sive one . It should sho w goodworks as the fruit of God 's Spirit(Eph. 2:10 ; Matt. 16:27; I Tim.4:14). It must not be assumed thatthese good works are automat ic forthe Christian . On the contrary , hemust exert himself and put forth hisown effor t to use the power Godgives. Even Timothy had to be ex­horted to use the special spiritualgift given to him (I Tim. 4:13-16) .Further, it is possible for a Chris­tian , even after receiving the HolySpirit and experiencing God 's call­ing , to fall away and reject God 'soffer (Heb. 6:1-8) .

Consistent with the cho ice whicheach Christian has is the fact thatGod does not know what each of uswill eventually choose. God choseAbraham . Yet He tested him be­cause on ly then did He really" know" of Abraham 's unswerv ingcharacter (Gen. 22:12). Some ofthose God chose to use repaid theoffer , such as Jacob. Others wentalong for a time but eventuallymade the dec ision to reject God 'sgrace. Saul is a sad example of howa good start does not guarantee astrong finish.

In each case God did not knowwhat they wou ld do. They had freechoice , and free choice rules out

specific foreknowledge. Freechoice means that one can choosewrongly. But there is no responsi­bility without risk, and there is noeternal life without the risk of eter­nal death.Freedom Within God 's Plan. As ameans of understanding freedom ofchoice yet within certain limits, onecan think of an officer on a ship.The officer was given his post as afree gift; he did not earn it. Yetalong with the post came the abil ityto fulfill it. Once the ship gets underway, there is no way he can changeits destina tion . Its goal is fixed and itsteams inexorab ly toward it.

Yet the officer has a great deal offreedom . He can work hard andcarry out his dut ies well . If he does,he knows a great reward awaits himat the end of the voyage. Yet thedut ies are not easy: long watches,frequent storms, grueling physicallabor. He can slack off and make iteasier on himself , though he knowshis commendation at the end will beless. He could stop work altogether.He could even actively oppose therest of the crew.

These are all cho ices he has. Hehas ince ntive to do well, and acounter incentive to take it easy.There is no way he can keep theship from reaching its ultimate des­tination. But within the limits of theship and the time of the voyage , hisopportunity of choice is very great.And only he can make the choi ces- no one will make them for him.

The Christian finds himself in avery similar role. He did not askGod to call him. But God did callhim accordi ng to His plan - be­cause He already intended to call acertain numbe r even before theworld began. Those that He doescall , He " foreknew" in a sense eventho ugh it is not implied that speci fickno wledge of specific persons wasinvolved. (The word, proginosko inGreek , can refer to general ex­pectat ions , even of human beings,as in Acts 26:5 . It does not by any

9

ROMANS8:30means say that God caused spe­cific spermatozoa to impregnatespecific ova to produce specific in­dividuals all down through histor y.)

Once God calls a person , Hegives that person His Holy Spir itupon the individual 's repentanceand baptism. This already requ irescertain decisions. At every turn inhis Chris tian life , he must make de­cisions . He has the help of the HolySpiri t, but he also has the powe r torejec t that help . He even has thepower to give up God 's ca lling and

salvation completely . All the time healso has the pulls of his physicalnature, as Paul so vividly describesin Romans 7 and the first part ofRomans 8.

Thus, there is indeed a type ofpredestination . God 's basic plan in­cludes the calling of certain individ ­uals throughout the ages from thetime of Jesus. But that by no meansremoves free choice or the power ofthe individual to act' within the limitsof God 's plan . No one is pre­destined to be lost , even thoughsome will not be called until later.(Write for our free article " Is Thisthe Only Day of Salvation?") Yet

when one does have his chance forsalvation , it is not automatic . He hasall the help he needs; he does nothave to use it, though . Yet God isalways wi lling to wo rk with him solong as he is wil ling to work wit hGod .

Therefor e, neve r for get: " Be­loved, we are God 's ch ildren noweven though it has not been re­vealed what we will be like [in theresurrection]. For we know thatwhenever Christ is revealed, we willbe just like him and see him just ashe is" (I John 3:2). What greatercall ing can poss ibly be imagi ned!

- Lester L. Grabbe

"•••THEM HE ALSO CALLED"The days and months following

the day of Pentecost , A.D . 31,were exciting and momen tous timesfor the fledgling Church of God .Each day God was adding moreand more believe rs to the body ofChrist (Acts 2:4 7). Thousands werecoming into the Church .

The Holy Spir it was at work in thelives of many - often in ways littlesuspected by those involved!Ethiopian EunUCh. The case of theEthiopia n eunuch is such an ex­ample: " But an angel of the Lordsaid to Philip , 'Rise and go towa rdthe south to the road that goesdown from Jerusa lem to Gaza. 'This is a desert road . And he roseand went. And beho ld, an Ethio­pian , a eunuch, a minister [servant]of Candace, queen of the Ethio­pians , in charge of all her treasure,had come to Jerusale m to wo rshipand was returning; seated in hischariot, he was reading the prophetIsaiah . And the Spirit said to Phil ip ,'Go up and join this cha riot' " (Ac ts8:26-29) .

Philip had been one of the origi­nal deacons (Acts 6:1-6) . He hadbeen ordained to minis ter to thephysica l needs of the Church ofthat day. But God had even greaterservice in mind for this HellenisticJew. Philip was led to do the work

10

of an evangelis t and later becameknown as such (Ac ts 21:8).

God , through the Holy Spirit, andso metimes through an gel s , ledPhi lip to preach the gospel in Sa­maria and in many othe r parts ofIsrael. This is how he came intocontact with the Ethiopian eunuch.

The eunuch was a trusted ser­vant of the queen-mother of theEthiop ian king ("Candace" was adynastic title given to the queenmo ther). He may have been a Jew,or he could have been a God-fear­ing Gentile. The former is unlikely ,however, since there was a prohibi­tion against allowi ng eunuchs intothe spiri tual communi ty of Israelbased upon Deuteronomy 23 :1.

In any case, he was a devoutman who feared God and studiedhis Bible. As the chariot lurc heddown the dusty desert road, the eu­nuch , in his zeal, strained to read aco py of the book of Isaiah. His eyeslighted upon the passage found inchapter 53, verse 7. As he read thewo rds in the Greek version (thewor ding here follows this version ­the Septuagint - rather than theHebrew), he pond ered their mean­ing .

At that po int, God inspired Philipto join the chariot. Overhearing theeunu ch readi ng the wor ds of Isaiah

aloud , Phili p inquired if the man un­I derstood their meaning .

The queen 's treasurer replied :" How can I, unless so me oneguides me?"

The eun uch recognized the needfor scriptural explanation.

Philip then explained that thepassage concerned Christ who wasthe Messiah . Proceeding from thatpoin t, he began to expound thegospel to the eunuch. As Philipco ntinued to talk, the Holy Spi ritwo rked to bring about co nvictionand co nversion in the Ethiopian.

Philip 's explanation must have in­cluded the matter of baptism , forwhen they arrived at a stream theeunuch exclaimed: " See, here iswater! What is to prevent my beingbaptized?" (Acts 8:36 .)

Philip knew that God was call ingthe eunuch to His Kingdom. That iswhy the Holy Spirit had worked insuch a dram atic way to br ing abou tthe circumstances whereby the twomen met. Immediately they haltedthe cha riot and went down into thewater . Philip immersed the eunuchunder the swirling waters of thestream and the two of them joyful lyreturned to the shore .

The Ethiopian eunuch had an­swered the call of God !'How God Works Today . God does

GOOD NEWS July 1976

not always work so dramatica llytoday to cal l those he seeks to at­tain to salvation. Often God 's cal l­ing is quite subtle. A man in abarber shop picks up a stray copyof The Plain Truth or The GoodNews. A friend casually mentionssome point of spiritual truth . Curios­ity arouses the mind of one who isstudying some passage of Scr ip­ture. His inqu iries lead him in­exorab ly to the truth of God. (If youhave had an interesting experiencein " stumbling " across the truth ,we'd be happy to hear from you !Drop us a line.) '

Some have been called by a ran­dom twirling of the radio dial. Theyjust " happened" to chance uponThe World Tomorrow broadcast.Somehow the words and the toneof the speaker rang true. The lis­tener was transfixed. " There issomething ' different about thisman ," he exclaims . One thing leadsto another and the person writes forlit erature. He · simply can 't getenough. He wants more and morebook le ts , repr int a rti cl es andperiodicals. The Bible begins toopen up to him as the glorious planof salvation unfolds before his eyes." This is it!" he determines. " This isthe Church of God!"

Like the Ethiopian eunuch , theman asks: " What is to prevent mybeing baptized?""Join" the Church? Those whoare led through these various pathsto truth and to .conversion are beingcal/ed of God. The y are beingcalled to have a part in the preach­ing of the gospel in this life and toan incredible, mind-boggling eter­nity in the Kingdom of God.

And this cal ling is not of men.It is no t some thing you can

choose for yourse lf.Jesus said: " No one can come to

me unless the Father who sent medraws him; and I will raise him up atthe last day" (John 6:44 ).

It is God who adds to the Churchdaily "such as should be saved"(Ac ts 2:47, KJV). God takes the ini­tiative. He acts first. John said: " Welove [God ], because he first lovedus" (I John 4:19).

God draws those He is callin glike a magnet draws iron filings . Hedraws them through ci rcumstances.He exposes them to truth little by

GOOD NEWS July 1976

little. He reveals understanding. Astruth is unveiled , conviction deep­ens. At some point in the process,the potential Christian becomesco nvinced of the need to act upo nwhat he is learning. " I simply can 'tcon tinue to sit on the fence," hedetermines, " I've got to do some­thing about what I've been learning.God will hold me accountable forwhat I now know .'Religious Hobbyists. Some, ofcourse , treat their cal ling lightly .They do not take it seriously. Theymerely dabble in religion and maybe labeled " religious hobbyists."To such , religion is much like stampcol lec ti ng . They co mpare , th eyevaluate, they trade, but , somehow ,they never determine which one

God draws those He iscalllnq (John 6:44) like amagnet draws iron filings.

He draws them throughcircumstances. He exposes

them to truth littleby little. He reveals

understanding.

they are going to keep forever!There is only one true religion .

There is only one faith (Eph. 4:4-6).Once you have found it you hadbetter hang on to it. You had better" make your cal ling and electionsure "! (II Peter 1:10, KJV.)

You have a God-given " right" tobecome a tull-tlecqed member ofthe family of God. Yet God will notforce you to enter His divine family .You are a free moral agent - not anautomaton. You have choi ces tomake. You must arrive at your owndecisions .

But no decision is more cruc ialthan that of whether you will answerthe call of God!

We believe that this Work, being.done by the Worldwide Church ofGod, represents the work of JesusChrist on this earth today . We make

no apologies for that. We are con­vinced.

Not that we are perfect. We arenot. We make no claims to per­fecti on . We, too, are learning andgrow ing as we are led by the Spiritof God. But we believe that Godand His truth can be found in thisWork.

Many of you are seeing thingsyou have never seen before - rightin the pages of your own Bibles.Many of those things " ring true ."They make sense.

As you learn, study, pray andgrow in grace and in knowledge,the fact of God 's calling becomesmore apparent . Conviction will setin . Your conscience, your reasonand heart will demand that you actupon your heavenly calling .

As you come to understand thetruth of God, it will set you free fromthe doubts, errors and conflicts ofthe past. You will know you r ulti­mate destiny. You will have hope !

" See what love the Father hasgiven us, that we should be calledchil dren of God; and so we are. Thereason why the world does notknow us is that it did not know him.Beloved. we are God' s childrennow; it does not yet appear what weshall be, but we know that when heappears we shall be like him, for weshall see him as he is" (I John 3:1­2) .

What a magnificent hope! To beju st like Christ! To live forever in theeternal Kingdom of the living God!This is the hope of your calling andof mine .

Can we be anything but gratefulto God, from the very depths of ourbeings, that He would grant us sucha reward? " But we are bound togive thanks to God always for you,brethren beloved by the Lord, be­cause God chose you from the be­gi nnin g to be save d , throughsanc tification by the Spirit and be­lief in the truth . To this he calledyou through our gospe l, so that youmay obtain the glory of our LordJesus Christ " (II Thess. 2:13-14) .

We are called to obtain the glor yof Christ! We are set apart (sanct i­fied ) by the Holy Spirit for this verypurpose. We are convicted of thetruth of the gospel. In short , wehave been called by God!Respond to Your Calling. Those

11

ROMANS 8:30who have been called have a re­sponsibility to that high calling. Youand I must respond to the God whomade us and seeks to bring us intohis glorious, everlasting Kingdom. Itis our duty " to lead a life worthy ofGod , who calls you into his ownkingdom and glor y " (I The ss.2:12).

Those who have been called tothe Kingdom cannot continue tolive as they have lived. Now theymust experience a change of direc­tion . Their lives must become ori­ented to God and to the fulfillmentof His purposes instead of to self­indu lgence and self-w ill.

Peter said: " Repent, and be bap­tized everyone of you in the nameof Jesus Christ for the forgivenessof your sins; and you shall receivethe gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts2:38) .

To repent means to change! It

means to do an "a bout-face" andgo the .opposite way . Paul ex­pressed it this way to the Romans:" Do not be conformed to this worldbut be transformed by the renewalof your mind, that you may prove[put to the test] what is the will ofGod, what is good and acceptableand perfect" (Rom. 12:2).

When you are called of God, it istime to put away the fleshly, carnalmind and seek to acquire the mindof Christ. Paul said: " Let this mindbe in you, which was also in ChristJesus" (Phil. 2:5 , KJV).

The mind of Christ is given by theindwelling and working of the HolySpi rit, which follow s repentanceand baptism. Those who have re­ce ived the Spirit of God begin tobear its fruit s: " . . . love, joy, peace,pati ence , kindness , goodn ess,faithfu lness, gentlen ess, self-con­trol .. ." (Gal. 5:22).

Those who bear such fruit walkworthy of their high calling inChrist!

Ministers Available. Those of us inthe Worldwide Church of God sin­cerely want yo u to join us in an­swering God's call. We want you toshare with us in this great Work.

The Church maintains loca l con­gregations headed by ordained ,qua lified ministers all , over theworl d. These ministers are willing tovisit you as time permits and cou n- .sel with you about the Word of Godand your own personal goals in life.They will put no " pressure" on youto join anything. Only God can putyou into His Churc h. They aremerely there to serve you and toanswer your questions.

If you wish to have one of our(yo u r !) mini st er s co ntact yo u ,please give us a call on the nearesttoll-free number listed in the box onpage 29. Or you can write to theaddre ss of our office nearest you.We'll be more than happy to putyou in con tact with a representa­tive l

- Brian Kno wles

"•••THEM HE.ALSO JUSTIFIED"A nd whom he called, them he

also justified ... " (Rom. 8:30) .Justif icati on is an imp ortant andmajor New Testament doctr ine. It isespecia lly propounded (and used inalmost a unique way) by the apostlePaul; more is said about justifica­tion in his epistles than in any otherpart of the New Testament.

But " justification" is a difficu ltconcept for many to understand .Part of the problem is that theEnglish word " justify" conjures upa meaning in people's minds differ­ent from that intended in the origi­nal Greek of the New Testament.Also, over the centuries, the Englishword has taken on a differentmeaning in English than it originallyhad in the 1600 's when the KingJames translation was made. In theWorld Boo k Encyclopedia Dict ion­ary. the word " justify" has as itsfirst meaning, " to show to be just orright ; give a good reason for."

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Probably most people today associ­ate the word " justify " with this pri­mary definition : i.e., giving a reasonfor an action . However, listed alsoas defin itions are " to clear of blameor gui lt; vindicate," as well as to" show a satisfactory reason or ex­cuse for something done ."Just and Right. What makes theterm " justification" so difficu lt tounderstand , as it is used in theBible, is that we read it all by itselfand do not connect it with anothervery important biblica l term, whichin English seems to be a quite dif­ferent concept. That word is " righ­teous" or " righteousness."

In actuality, in the Greek of theNew Testament, the word " just" isdikaion ; its verb is " justify" ordikaioo. Related to these is thewo rd "righteousness," dika iosune.A " just" man is a man who is" right" or " upright."

To " glo rify" something is to

" make it gloriou s." To " rectify"something is to " make it right. " To" dignify" something is' " to give itdignity " or " make it have dignity."In the same way, to " justify" is tomake " just" or " righteo us."

This is the usage of the New Tes­tament term . A ft er a b ri ef in ­troduction, Paul begins the book ofRomans by talking about the revela­tion of the " righteousness of God."In verses 16 and 17 of the firstchapter, he states that he is notashamed of the gospel of Christ, forin it is revealed the "righteousness[dikaiosune] of God .. . from faithto faith : as it is written, The just[di kaios] shall live by faith ."All Are Unjust. After this, Paullaunches into a long explanation ofthe " unrighteousness" that is onthe earth. This will bring God 'swrath from heaven against menwho hold . to unrighteousness andsuppress the truth (verse 18). As

GOOD NEWS July 1976

we read in verses 21-32 , these menare primarily Genti les.

In chapter 2 of Romans, Paul tellshis reade rs (prima rily Jews) thatthey are also wi thout excuse .Though they wou ld like to judge theGentiles, are they any better? Inverse 11, he says' 'There is no re­spec t of persons with God :' ­whether Jew or Genti le, whetherwith law or without it, every man isgoing to be judged accord ing towhat he has done , on the basis ofwhether his deeds have been rightor wrong . He then proceeds to con­demn those who have the law andpay lip service to it , but have notkept it (verses 17-23). Finally, Paulends in chapter 3 by showi ng thateveryo ne has sinned, regardless ofwhether Jew or Genti le. " Whatthen? are we [Jews] better thanthey [Gentiles]? No, in no wise: forwe have before proved both Jewsand Gentiles , that they are all undersin ; as it is written, There is nonerighteous, no not one " (verses 9­10) .. Furt her, Paul goes on to empha­

size that what the law says it says toeveryone who is under it, becauseGod co nside rs all the wor ld to begu ilty (verse 19). The law brings theknowledge of sin (verse 20) , butsince no one has kept the law per­fectly , no one can be justified(made just or righte ous in God 'ssig ht) by the law.God 's Righteousness. But nowGod is revealing the righ teousness(dikaiosune) of God apart from thelaw or " without the law," although" the law and the prophets" (aphrase signi fying the first two majo rsec tions of the Old Testament) bearwitness to it (verse 21). Paul says itis " the righteousness [d ikaiosune]of God which is by faith of JesusCh rist unto all and upon all themthat believe: for there is no differ­ence: for all have sinned , and comeshort of the glory of God" (verses22 -23).

Paul asserts that everyone hassinned , that the world - both Jewsand Gentiles - is in utter hope less­ness either with or withou t the law.Those withou t the law have sinnedwithout it , and those with it havesinned with it: thus everyone isgui lty before God . There is only oneway to be made right in God 's sight:

GOOD NEWS July 1976

that is through faith in the Sonwhom He has revealed.

Notice verse 24: " Being justifiedfreely by his grace through the re­demption that is in Christ Jesus ."" Being justified" means to be maderighteous - the passive form of theverb dikaioo , which is dikaiousthai .This is defined in the Bauer, Arnd t,Gingrich Lexicon of the New Testa­ment as " to be acquitted , to be pro ­nounced and treated as right eous,and thereby become dika ios, re­ceive the divine gift of dika iosun e[righteous ness]" (p. 196). HerePaul tells us that we are made righ­teous by the grace of God which isfreely given . We stand in the di ­kaio sune of God, that is, the righ­teousness of God . And we do it by

"God commendeth his lovetoward us, in that,

while we were yet sinners,Christ died for us.

Much more then,'beingjustified by his blood,

we shall be savedfrom wrath through him"

(Rom. 5:8, 9).

the grace of God through the re­dem ptio n that we have in ChristJesus.

In verses 25 and 26, Paul goeson to exp lain that this redemptioncomes to us because God sentChrist for th as " a pr opitiationthrough faith in hi:;; blood . . . to de­clare , I say , at this time his [God 's]righteousness [dikaiosune]: that he[God] might be just [dikaion ], andthe justifier of him which believe thin Jesus." God dec lares His own'righteousness by passing over oursins .

Remember that the words " righ­teousness," " just, " and ..just ifier "are all from the same basic family ofwo rds in the Greek language. Godis declaring His own righteousnessapart from the law in order that Godmay be just (righteous Himself) and

tha t He might be the One whomakes righteous (justifies) the per­son who believes in Jesus.

This exc ludes boast ing becausethis righteousness comes from faith(verse 27). " Therefore we concludethat a man is justified [made rig h­teous] by faith without [apart from]the deeds of the law" (verse 28) .Case in Point: Abraham . This trul yis an amazing doctrine! How canGod make sinners righteous? Howcan He, wh ile we are enemies , loveus so much that Christ would diefor. us that we might be reconci ledto God and therefore be " justified "by His blood? (Rom. 5:6-10.) Paulanswers from the law itself : " Do wethen make void the law throughfaith? God forbi d: yea, we estab lishthe law " (Rom. 3:31).

Here the " law" means the firstfive books of the Old Testament.Paul uses the law - the book ofGenesis in this case - to explainhow God counted for righteousnessthe faith that Abraham had.

" For what saith the scripture?Abra ham believed God, and it wascounted unto him for righteous­ness " (Rom. 4:3; see Gen. 15:6).The word " counted" is the sameGreek word trans lated " imputed " inverses 6 , 11 , 22-24 and " rec k­oned " in verse 10.

This " imputing" of righteousnesswas reckoned as a result of Abra­ham 's faith and belief in God 'sword . " Now it was not written forhis sake alone, that it was imputedto him [Abraham] ; but for us also,to whom it shall be imputed [theright eousness of God will be im­puted to us like it was to Abraham],if we believe on him that raised upJesus our Lord from the dead ; whowas delivered for our offences, andwas raised again for our justifica ­tion [diakaiosis] " (verses 22-25). .

What is God doin g When He jus­tifies us throug h faith? When we .allow God 's faith and His word toenter us, when we have a change ofheart which comes from repen­tance , and we express that chang eof heart through living faith and be­lief in God , that faith is attributed tous as right eousness. God counts itas righteousness. We may not ac­tually be righteous in the sense wehave done all the things that a righ­teou sperson shou ld do as de-

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ROMANS8:30manded by the law. But because ofthis intrins ic change of heart thereis in a Christian righteousness (anattitude of faith and wanting to fulf illthe law) which is apart from the law,which God sees and counts asmore important. This is the righ­teousness which comes throughfaith .Blessings of Justification. Paulgoes on to explain the wonderfulbenefits of being justified . Theseare outl ined for us in Romans,chapter 5.

The apostle writes: " Thereforebeing justified [made righteous inHis sight] by faith, we have peacewith God through our Lord JesusChrist " (verse 1). Notice that thefirst benefit is the fact that we arenow at peace with God. When wehave a change of mind (repen­tance ) and come to believe in Godand in His Son that He raised fromthe dead, we are at peace. Prior tothat, we were enemies and werefighting Him. And God 's wrath wasagainst us because we were sin­ners. But now we have put all thataway. We have buried the hatchet ,so to speak, and through this justifi ­cation we now have peace - peacethat comes through Jesus Christ.And it is through Him that we have

" access by faith into this gracewherein we stand " (verse 2).

Through Jesus Christ we haveaccess to God . We are not worth yto stand before God on our own ; itis God 's grace that allows us tostand .

Also , we " rejoice in hope of theglory of God " (verse 2). So we havethree immediate benefits : 1) peacewith God , 2) access by faith toGod 's grace, and 3) the hope ofGod 's glory.

But there are other benefits thatcome from this justif ication as wellas this grace, for Paul says that aChristian who has been justi fiedcan even meet tr ibulation head onwith exaltation . For the Christianknows why he suffers . He knowsthe purpose for patience and hopeand experience , and he knowsabove all that God loves Himthroughout this tribulat ion (verses3,4).You Can Be Sure. But how do weknow that God loves us when wehave trials and problems?

Because we have this hope , thismeaning and purpose to life, we aretold that this hope will never let usdown or disappo int us. We willnever have to be ashamed, forGod 's love is shed abroad in ourhearts by the gift of the Holy Spirit.We know God loves us by the HolySpir it which we have in us (verse 5).

But how can we be sure? Paulexplains that although a man mightscarcely , or rarely, die for a reallygood , kind and righteous ma n,Christ died for us while we wereenemies, while we were yet sinners ,that we might be justified by Hisblood (verses 7-9).

Now if God loved us enoughwhil e we were His enemies to per­mit Jesus to die for us, how muchmore does He love us now that wehave accepted His Son and we areHis friends? " For if, when we wereenemies , we were reconciled toGod by the death of his Son, muchmore [now that we're His friendsand chi ldren], being reconciled, weshall be saved by his life" (verse10).

To be justified is to stand inGod 's sight clean of your guilty pastbecause you have believed in theonly begotten Son of God and havehad a c hange of mind whichchanges your life. The first step inliving this new life is to recognizethat God imputes to you righteous­ness for the faith which has comeout of this change of heart. Thisfaith is in His Son.

" And whom he called [by HisWord which brought you to His SonJesus Christ]. them he also justi­fied " - made righteous - made tostand clean and just in His sight.

- David L. An tian

jj

"•••THEM HE ALSO GLORIFIED"A fter being justified, the apostle

Paul says Christ ians are to be" glorified" (Rom. 8:30).

How? What does it mean, really?Is this just some spir itual-sound ing" fluff-fluff" about a nebulous exis­tence in a never-never land withnothing to do?

The true answer is perhaps themost exciting realization in the an­nals of human history! When youunderstand you will see that this isnot an exaggeration or a hyperb ole.Because this basic truth is tremen­dous , thrilling and genuinely heart-

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warm ing . It invo lves the verypurpose for which you and I werecreated and given the breath of life.Why We Were Created. KingDavid , the shepherd of Israel, hadspent thousands of hours out underthe stars at night - keeping hislonely vigil , quietly contemplatingthe vastness of the heavens aboveand his own smallness as a merespec k in the infinite universe. Later ,the great God , the Creator of thatuniverse, inspired David to write :"What is man that thou art mindfulof him, and the son of man that

thou dost care for him? Yet thouhast made him little less than God ,and. dost crown him with glory andhonor. Thou hast given him domin­ion over the works of thy hands;thou hast put all things under hisfeet .. ." (Ps. 8:4-6).

Man was made to have dominion ,or rule, over ALL things - ultimate ly.For man was created " in the im­age " of God . And God said: " Let usmake man in our image, after ou rlikeness ; and let them have domin­ion over the fish of the sea . .. "(Gen . 1:26).

GOOD NEWS July 1976

You and I were created to exer­cise rule or government over allthings which God has created . But ,as the apostle explains in the bookof Hebrews : " Now in putting every­thing in subjection to him, he leftNOTHING outside his control " (Heb.2:8). Eventually, then , man has toindirectly control the entire uni­verse!

Can we begin to grasp our ulti­mate purpose?

Continuing in Hebrews: " As it is,we do not yet see everything insubjection to him . But we seeJesus , who for a little while wasmade lower than the angels,crowned with glor.y and honor .. ."(verses 8, 9) . Here we see thatGod 's own Son was also made"lower than the angels" - yet isnow glorified! For it was fitting thatGod , " in bringing many sons toGLORY, should make the pioneer oftheir salvation perfect through suf­fering " (verse 10).

Ah , there it is!Christ. after suffering through

many trials and tests, was glorified.Now, He is bringing many othersons to "glory" also. This is, in fact ,the " mystery" of God 's eternal pur­pose wh ich is being revealedthrough the true gospel (Eph. 1:9).For God also is reproducing afterHis own kind (Gen. 1:24). He hasmade mankind in His image ulti­mately to be born of Him as mem­bers of the God family , theKingdom of God . It is God's masterplan for the entire human race, "aplan for the fulness of time, to uniteall things in him, things in heavenand things on earth" (Eph. 1:1 0).Need for Divine Character. Yes,we are to be added as members ofthe very family of God, to becomelike Christ: " . . . That he might bethe first-born among many breth­ren " (Rom. 8:29) .

After true Christians have re­pented and have totally surren­dered their wills to God , He givesthem of His Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) .His Spirit is His very nature , a bit ofthe divine character implantedwithin His begotten children by amiracle (II Peter 1:4) . This is whyJesus could say to His followers:"You , therefore , must be perfect, asyour heavenly Father is perfect "(Matt. 5:48) .

GOOD NEWS July 1976

The true Christian is to "grow inthe grace and knowledge of ourLord and Savior Jesus Christ "(II Peter 3:18). He or she is to be­come ever more li ke God ­through the power of the Holy Spiritwh ich imparts God 's character.

Through constant Bible stud yand prayer - daily, personal , heart­felt prayer - the Christian focuseshis mind and his very being on be­coming like Christ. As King Daviddid , he will meditate on God 's lawthrough the day - seeking how toapply the Ten Commandments in alltheir spiritual richness more andmore perfectly in his life.

This true Christian ' will seek toglorify God in his mind" body , per­sona lity and charac ter - his entire

We will share the samemagnificent, dazzling glory

that Christ shares withthe Father, for

"we know that when heappears we shall be

like him, for weshall see him as he is"

(I John 3:2).

being. He will yearn for the resur­rection when there is to be no moresickness or pain, no more suffer ingor death - and no more temptationand mental anguish. Daily, he willbeseech God: "Thy kingdomcome ."

This man, being still human , willmake mistakes . But he will never doso willingly, and will constantly re­pent and learn from his mistakes.He will imitate Jesus, who " offeredup prayers and supp lications withloud cries and tears, to him whowas able to save him fromdeath . .. . Although he was a Son,he learned obedience through whathe suffered ; and being made per­fect he became the source of eter­nal salvation to all who obeyhim . .. " (Heb. 5:7-9) .

What a picture!

God is fashioning and moldi ngfuture sons - testing them thro ughtrials and chastenings. Preparingthem to become members of thevery God family after they haveproved that they will yield to Hisway and literally, willingly, build Hisvery character in to the ir l ive sthrough the po wer of the HolySpir it.The Glory We Will Share. Noticethe apostle Peter's inspired descr ip­tion of the process of glorification :" But the God of all grace, who hathcalled us unto his eternal GLORY byChrist Jesus , after that ye have suf­fered a while , make you perfect ,stablish, strengthen , settle you "(I Peter 5:10 , KJV). Yes, after wehave suffered through many tests ofour total willingness to surrender toour Maker , He gives us a glorifiedspirit body .

Is it worth it?Listen ! " For I reckon that the suf­

ferings of this present time are notworthy to be compared with theglory which shall be revealed in us "(Rom. 8:18, KJV). The very glory ofGod is not merely to be revealed tous, but is to be manifested in us.For we will become like the resur­rected Jesus Christ , " who wi llchange our lowly body to be like hisGLORIOUS body .. ." (Phil. 3:21).

How does Jesus Christ looknow?

As we have just seen, Jesus ' ap­pearance now is the prototype ofwhat our appearance will be in theresurrection. Notice this descriptionof Christ's appearance now: " Hishead and his hair were white aswhite wool, white as snow ; his eyeswere like a flame of fire, his feetwere like burnished bronze, refinedas in a furnace, and his voice waslike the sound of many waters ; inhis right hand he held seven stars ,from his mouth issued a sharp two­edged sword , and his face was likethe sun shining in full strength "(Rev. 1:14-16).

Can you imagine sharing thatkind of glory with your Creator?

In a world of sickness , suffer ing ,mental angu ish, death and even thethreat of cosmocide , this hopeshould be tremendously inspir ing toeveryone who comes to under­standing . The absolute promise ofeternal life as part of the very family

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ROMANS 8:30of God in a total atmosphere oflove, joy , peace and prosperity isalmost too much for some to grasp.But God is reproduc ing Himself l Heand the Son do des ire - in ou t­going co nce rn - to share theirp la ns and opportuni ties on theGod-level of existence wit h millionsof others .

For true love is outgoing con ­cern. And God is love.

God is reproducing after Hiskind , not after the chicken-kin d, orthe cow-kind , or some other kind .As my sons look like me, so all trueovercomers will look like God in theresurrecti on . Can we grasp that?True Ch ristians who overco me andqualify in this life will become Godas God is God . There is no greaterglory than to look and to be likeGod Himself!Jesus Prayed for This. In His finalprayer just before He was taken tobe t r ied and execu ted , Jesusasked: " Father , glorify thou me inthy ow n presence with the glorywhic h I had with thee before thewo rld was made " (John 17: 5).W hat grea ter glo ry is there than tohave the same glory He had sharedwith God from etern ity? Yet Chr istand the Father do not have an ex­clusivist urge to " hang on " to theirglory as something apart fromothers. They want to share it withevery human being made in theirimage!

So, in His prayer, Jesus prayeddirectly for us who now believe be­cau se of the words recorded by theapostles in the Bible. Including ourgeneration, He asked " that theymay all be one ; even as thou ,Father, art in me, and I in thee, thatthey also may be in us, so that theworld may bel ieve that tho u hastsent me. The glory whic h thou hastgive n me I have given to them, thatthey may be one even as we areone " (Jo hn 17:21-22).

God will hear that prayer from Hisfirst born Son!

Those of every generation whotruly walk with God are to be liter­ally BORN of Him, as was Jesus , atthe resurrection (Col. 1:18). We willshare the same magnificent, daz­zling glory that He shares with the

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Father, for " we know that when heappears we shall be like him, for weshall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifieshimself as he is pure " (I John 3:2­3).

As it says , if we have this kind ofhope, there is a real reason to bepure, to overcome, to build charac­ter. It is not a matte r of forsak ingour fun because God is a cro tchetyold figure in the sky who looksaskance at pleasure. The reality isthat God wants us to full y appreci­ate life in all its var iety , but only in.the way that does not involve dam­agi ng or h urt ing ourselves orothers. Then , all of us can appreci­ate the total joys of loving , laugh­ing , giving , sharing for all eternity ­with no hangovers and no delayedpenalties.Filled with God's Fullness. OurCreator has good wisdom and goodreason for wanting us to build char­acter - to become pure as He ispu re.

He allows us to be tried andtested now. He fashions and mo ldsus like a maste r potter. Slow ly butsurely, thr ough constant prayer andpersonal Bible study, through per ­sonal effo rt and overcoming all thetemptations that surround us - withHis divine help - we grow unto" the measure of the stature of thefulness of Chr ist " (Eph. 4:13).

Then, and only then , will we betruly ready for the " last trump " toso und - hera ldi ng the secondco ming of Jesus Chr ist , and herald­ing also our time to be born into thevery fami ly of God and share theglo ry of tha t family, the God ' King­dom, th roughout all eternity .

Then, truly , we " may have powerto comprehend with all the saintswhat is the breadth and length andheight and dep th , and to know thelove of Christ which surpasseskn owl edge, that you may be filledwith all the fulness of God " (Eph.3 :18-19) .

Th ese wo rds have profo undmeaning.

This is our hope and our calling .This is the very purpose for whichwe were created . This is the gloryfor which true and understandingChr istians are willing to serve andto suffer now.

- Roderick C. Mered ith

WORLD NEED JESUS?(Continued from page 5)and loyalty depends on seeing theplanet from afar as a whole andupon a sense of destiny that ex­tends concern forward to futuregenerations. It is, in other words, acall for spiritual or religio us under­pinning to guide and sustain thenew focus of political energy. "

Utopia can never be broughtabout by leaders without an over­view or a view from afar. In fact ,man has never been able to mar­shal forth the proper mental att itudeand broad capacity to bri ng about ahuman mille nnium here on earth .

And more importantl y, utopia cannever happen without leaders pos­sessing a strong spiritual capacity.This is perhaps the greatest lack inau r modern world.

If a Presidential candidate evercomes along with the wisdom ofSolomon, the pat ience of Job andthe mercy of Chr ist , then I guaran­tee you that I will vote for him. Iwou ld cam paign for such a candi­date with every fiber of my being. Iwo uld use all of the media tools atmy disposal to get such a manelected .

Trouble is, Jesus Ch rist of Naza­reth is the only Being who has everbeen flesh and blood who pos­sesses all of these qualities! Noother man ever has!

Jesus Christ has the overview!He literally sees th is planet fromafar . He is the Visitor from OuterSpace wh o knows just what thi searth needs! This is why th is worlddesperately needs Jesus Christ ofNazareth! Only He can bring it theKingdom of God! Did you know Heoffers you a chance for cit izenshipin advance? 0

RECOMMENDED READINGHow 'does one become a citizen ofthe Kingdom of God? What is theKingdom of God? Is it the Church?Where will it be? How will it be set up?What will Chr istians do in the King­dom of God? These basic questionsare answe red in the booklet JustWhat 0 0 You Mean . . . Kingdom ofGod? To obta in your free copy simplyrequest it by title (see inside frontcover for the addre ss of our officenearest you).

GOOD NEWS July 1976

THE BIBLE IN ACHANGING WORLDTHE STARSANDSCRIPTURE

Recent opinion polls show thatsome 35 million Americans believethat astro logy has some value inhelping one lead a successful life.But what does the Bible say abou tastrology?

As with other superstitions ofman, there may be some element oftruth amidst the mass of astrologi­cal mythology . Recent scientificevidence suggests that certain as­tronomical relationships can affectliving organ isms on earth - e.g.,some biological rhythms of plantsand an ima ls are reg ulated byphases of the moon, sunspot cy ­c les , etc. Hither to unknowninfluences - electromagnetic , grav­itat ional, etc. , from beyond theearth may even do the same. Butastrology is, to say the least, scien ­tifically unprovable.

Certainly a God who could createboth the astral bodies (Gen. 1:1)and all the forms of life found onearth is able to have ordained manynot-so-obvious inter relat ionshipshitherto undiscovered by man. " Hetelleth the number of the stars; hecal leth them all by their names.Great is our Lord , and of greatpower: his understanding is in­finite" (Ps. 147:4-5).

Furthermore, God did definitelyintend that the stars should be stud ­ied by man and used for humanpurposes. Says the book of Gen­esis: " And God said, Let there beligh ts in the firmament of theheaven to divide the day from thenight ; and let them be for signs , andfor seasons, and for days, andyears " (Gen. 1:14).

But the same God absolutely for­bade astrology for the followingreason : If a person looks to thestars for guidance - makes himselfany form of astrolog ical religion ­he worships the created more thanthe Creator (Rom. 1:25).

Dependence upon astrology forspiritual answe rs to life's problems,

GOOD NEWS July 1976

therefore , breaks one of the basicTen Commandments - that againstid ol at ry: " I am the Lord thyGod . . . . Thou shalt have no othergods before me" (Ex. 20:2-3) . Forthis reason Moses also wrote :" Take ye therefore good heed untoyou rselves . . . lest thou lift up thineeyes unto heaven, and when thouseest the sun and the moon , andth e stars, eve n all the host ofheaven, shouldest be driven to wor­ship them, and serve them . . ."(Deut. 4:15-19).

Violation of this law carried thedeath penalty in the theocracy ofIsrael (Deut. 17:2-5). This was ­and is .; the Word of God. No truebeliever in the Bible can regulatehis or her spiritual life by astrologyand remain loyal to the Creator .On the othe r hand , dependenceupon and obedience to God pre­vents the evil effects of idolatry andproduces a more abundant life hereand now and eternal life in the fu­ture.

As an example for us today(I Cor. 10:11; Rom. 15:4), biblicalhistory records the apostasy of theanc ient House of Israel. Those peo­ples failed to follow the laws Goddesig ned to bring them peace ,prosperity and happiness. Instead," . .. They left all the com mand­ments of the Lord their God ... andworshipped all the host of heaven"(II Kings 17:16). The House of Ju­dah later fell into this same idolatry.Manasseh, king of Judah, " wor­shipped all the host of heaven, andserved them" (II Kings 21:3).

The prophe t Isaiah forecasted theult imate penal ty for stubborn con ­tinuance in the practice of astrology- at least in the biblical sense ofthe term: " Thou art wearied in themultitude of thy counsels. Let nowthe astrologers, the stargazers , themonthly prognosticators, stand up,and save thee from these thingsthat shall come upon thee. Be-hold they shall not deliver them-selves " (Isa. 47:13-14) .

We ourselves may not always beable to exac tly determine whetheror not many who practice some

forms of what is called astrologytoday actually come under the bibli­cal condemnation . However, it is farsafer to simply avoid the practice ofsuch things altogether. For furtherinformation on this subject, write forour free booklet about The OccultExplosion .

MARRY IN HASTE,REPENTAT LEISURE

Time magazine recently reportedthat a California state law allow ingfor co nfidential marriages was mak­ing it possible for more than 20,000co up les yearly to enter into quickieunio ns without going through a lotof red tape. This law, designed tomake it easier fo r commo n-lawcouples to legalize their relation­ship, not only provides a loopholefor people intent on bigamy , but in­creases the dange r of the spread ofvenereal disease because no bloodtest or waiting period is required .

The Bible con tains some per­tinen t advice on entering into hastycon tracts such as this without duecounsel and consideration. Prov­erbs 11:14 says: "Where there isno guidance , a people falls; but inan abundance of counselors thereis safety." Proverbs 24:6 repeatsthis p rinciple: " By wise guidanceyou can wage your war, and inabundance of counselors there isvicto ry." Proverbs 15:22 adds that" Without cou nsel plans go wrong ,but with many advisers they suc­ceed ."

Marriage espec ially should not beentered into hastily . Again we readin Proverbs that " It is better to livein a corner of the housetop than ina house shared with a contentiouswoman ." Finding out if you are ableto spend a lifetime together com­patibly takes a good deal of time,and quickie marriages don 't makefor suc h careful consideration.

(Further information on this sub­ject may be obtained by writing forthe free booklet entitled ModernDating. ) 0

17

~ -~

The Work in Britain

THEBEST IS

YETTOCOME

by Brian KnowleswiM D. Pau l Gr aunke

F irst impressions have a way ofsticking with you. Arriving this

spring on the campus of Ambassa­dor Col lege set in the beautiful" green belt" north of London was ameaningful and enlightening expe­rience . Soft, cumulus clouds lookedheavy wi th rain . Th e greens,browns and soft blues of the rollingEnglish countryside were muted bya moist haze. The campus was allbut deserted.An End and a New Beginning. No

18

more could one see the bustlingact ivity of hundreds of studen tsfrom ma ny nati ons around theglobe on the magnificently mani­cured grounds of Ambassador Col­lege, Bricket Wood. The col legebuildings and grounds are now upfor sale.

In many ways it seems a shameto sell such a beautiful and func ­tionally efficient facilit y. But , in an­ot her way, it will pro ve to bebenefic ial for the Work in Britain.The Bric ket Wood cam pus hasborne much fruit over the years.Hundreds of graduates are now liv­ing all around the world helping tosupport the goals and message ofthe Worldwide Church of God . Inaddi tion, they are making valuablecon tributions to their local comm u­nities .

But now that era is past. It's anew ball game , as they say. It's timefor other things - better things.Once the campus is sold, moneywill be freed up to plow back intothe main ' effort of preaching thegospel to the British people.Planting a Mustard Seed. Fromthe beginn ing, the British Work hascontinually faced hard times and

roadblocks, only to surmount eachobstacle and spr ing fo rwardstronge r and more determined. Thedoor opened to preaching the gos­pel to Britain at 4:15 p.m. on Janu­ary 1, 1953 , whe n The WorldTomorro w broadcast was beamedacross the channel by Radio Lux­embourg . To handle the mail re­sponse, Richard D. Armstrong, lateelder son of Herbert W. Armstrong,came to London in February. Hestayed unt il September, but re­turne d the followin g June with Ro­derick C. Meredith to hand le themounting backlog of mail from theRadio Luxembourg broadcasts .

About 75- 100 pieces of mail wereco ming in a month , a small begin ­ning . " Remember, we never hadlocal radio stations carry ing theprogram like in the United States orCanada ," said Mr. Meredith whenasked about those ear ly years." The program came across thechan nel through fog and static . Itwas very hard to get it in the envi­rons of London . Dick [Armstrong]and I used to drive out on Westmin­ster Bridge by Parliament to hearthe broadcast at 11:30 p.m. Wecouldn't get it in our flat but cou ld

GOOD NEWS July 1976

UPDATE

on the bridge. Big Ben would to llm id night j us t as the pr ogra mend ed."

In September 1954 , Herbert W.Arm strong condu cted a series ofevange listic campaigns in Belfast,Glasgow, Manchester and Lond on .On September 17, the first personin Britain was baptized into theChurch .

Many of us, if we had been onthe scene in those forma tive years,might have become discouraged. Oh,there was fruit being borne all rightas a result of the broadcast andcampaigns. But it was a long wayfrom being a bumper harvest! It wasnot unt il six mon ths after Herbert W.Armstrong 's campaigns that a per­mane nt off ice in Lond on was estab­lished by Richard Armstrong andGeorge Meeker . And it was not untilJun e 1956 that the first regularchurch services were held in Britainwhen 16 people met in London. Itlater slumped to just three!

These were humble beginn ings.But Mr. Armstrong was not one to

. be easily discouraged . As he wroteseveral years later in a review of thegrowth in Britain: " The things ofGod , when buil t thro ugh human in-

GOOD NEWS July 1976

struments , always start the smallest.but like the proverbial grain of mus­tard seed , they continue growingunt il they become the largest. Goddoes not stop growth ."

Roderi ck C. Meredi th returned toBritain in the fall of 1956 to replaceRichard Armstrong, who was trans-

. ferred to Pasadena. Mr. Meredithpromptly set out to stimulate newgrowth in th e minute " mustardseed ling ."

In January 1957 . he began a lec­ture series, speak ing five nights aweek at the Royal Empire Soc ietyCommittee Rooms in London. Fou rweeks of intensive preaching andcounseling were rewarded with asmall but ded icated churc h num­ber ing 30 people.

In Ap ril, the Feast of UnleavenedBread was observed in London byabout 40 persons . With the LondonChurch now well establ ished , Mr.Meredith returned to his adminis­trat ive and teaching dut ies in theUnited States. He was replaced byGera ld Waterhouse. who remaine dunt il June 1958 .

In March 1958, Radio Luxem­bourg offered Mr. Armstrong twonigh ts a week . The hour was late

LEFT TO RIGHT: Rich ard D. Arm­strong, late elder son of HerbertW. Armstrong; Raymond F. McNair.Deputy Chancellor of Bricket Woodcampus in a 1968 picture; press­man working in the Watford com­plex; one of the "p irate " shipsthat broadcast program in 1965-67.

(11:30 p.m.) but the prog ram sti llbor e fruit. (The World Tomorrowbroadcast remained on Radio Lux­embourg until June 1966.) Churchmembership co ntinued to grow . Bythe end of 1958 the ci rcu lation ofThe Plain Truth in Great Britain hadclimbed to around 12,000 and thefledg ling church had increased to'75 members .Campus and Press. The followingyear proved to be a watershed . Mr.Armstrong wanted to locate anothercampus of Ambassador College inBritain . Raymond McNa ir, who hadsucceeded Mr. Waterhouse, began anintensive search that eventually ledto the purchase of the 33-roommans ion and 8 acres of HansteadEstate at Bricket Wood , Hertford­shire . Workmen bega n to co nvertthe estate into the second campus

19

of Ambassador College. In Novem­ber of that year, the first Reader 'sDigest advertisement appeared inBritain, yielding 5,136 responses . Inthe first five months of 1960 , over21,000 responses to Reader 's Di­ges t ads poured in.

Mr. Meredith returned in the sum­mer of 1960 for month- long lec­ture s (five nights a week again) inBirmingham , Bristol and Manches­ter. As a result of his efforts, threechurches of about 40 persons eachwere raised up. Meanwhile , Ray­mond McNair and Robin Jonesmade a tour of other parts of Britainand Ireland, baptizing 45 people.And to cap off a year of hard workand good grow th, Ambassador Col ­lege , Bricket Wood , opened itsdoors on October 14.

That year also saw the beginningof the British printing plant - againin a very inauspicious manner. Itwas born of an idea by the late Dr.Benjamin Rea, then dean of facultyat Bricket Wood . To serve theSpanish Work, Dr. Rea asked ifSpanish reprint artic les and co rre­spondence cou rs es cou ld beprinted on the campus. The answerwas yes, and so the press was born

20

with one man, Leon Walker , andone primi tive machine. In succeed­ing months the press expanded, ac­quirin g new equipmen t andpersonnel. By 1963 campus pressfa c il it ie s were bu rs ti ng at theseams, so the operation was movedto new industrial premises in nearbyWatford. Once men and equipmentwere settled in, the first British edi­tion of The Plain Truth rolled off ourown presses .

In those days, the floor space atWatford seemed vast. But in lessthan a decade, continual growth re­duced the wide expanses of theWatford co mplex to cramped quar­ters. In 1972, the operation movedonce again to a new press compl exat Radlett. Within a year , the presswas gobbling up 1,000 miles ofpape r to produce English, Dutch,French , and German editions ofThe Pla in Truth. Over 750 ,000copies were printed a month at anaverage speed of 25 ,000 signaturesper hour.Doors Open and Close . Throughthe first half of the 60 's the Workgrew steadily. By early 1965 , PlainTruth ci rculation in England hadgrown to 48,000 . One church con -

gregation had become nine , andthe Church had increased to about900 members . On January 5, 1965 ,a new door opened - Radio Lon­don, a "pirate " ship station broad­casting . offshore Britain, beganairing The World Tomorrow once aweek. By March, it was carrying theprogram seven nights a week . Bythe end of the year, the prog ramwas being aired over fou r pirate sta­tions.

In a litt le over 2Y2 years of broad­casting on th ese sta t io ns, TheWorld Tomorro w ' program nettedsome 63,000 first-time responses.This door to preaching the gospelremained open until August 1967,when the British government tookeffec tive action to ban the " pirateship " stations .

But another door was soon toopen . The gospel had to be pro­claimed ! In July 1968 , a new meansof reaching the British people be­gan through advertisements in sev­eral large circu lation publications,including Drive, the Sunday Ex­press, the Sunday Times and, forthe secon d time, Reader's Digest.In fou r weeks, over 25 ,000 re­sponses came in.

GOOD NEWS July 1976

UPDATE

The growth stimu lated by the ad­vertisemen ts brought the total num­ber of church congregat ions to adozen and attendance to over 1700by the midd le of 1971. But by thattime the effor t to get the gospel toGreat Britain had reached an im­passe. As successful as the adswere, they began to suffer from thelaw of diminishing returns. So, Ron­ald Dart, then direc tor of the Inter­national Division, came up with anidea. Why not place The Plain Truthon newsstands? Why not presentthe gospe l direc tly for people topick up and take home?

After weeks of negotiations withnewssta nd dea lers, a "mustardsee d " of 399 magazi ne's wasplanted on select newsstands for atrial distr ibution in July . The resultswere encouraging - some 7.5 per­cent of those who picked up themagazine wrote in for a one-yearsubscription . The next month an8.8 percent response came in from1100 magaz ines . Reassured bythese percentages ' - higher thanfrom any other. media we had usedin Great Britain, Mr. Armstronggave the green light to expand theprogram .

GOOD NEWS July 1976

Newsstand distribution eventual lyspread to Eire, France, and Scandi­navia. By the end of 1973, over100,000 magazines were being dis­tributed on British newsstands eachmonth. Another 16,700 were beingsent to librarians. Total newsstanddistri buti on, inc lud ing Europ eanoutlets, was 227 ,000 .New Challenges and Programs.In 1974 the Work began a period oftran siti on an d change . With in­flation outstripping increases in in­co me, it became imp racti cal toopera te the co llege in Britain. OnJun e 7, Ambassador College, Bri­cket Wood , graduated its last classof 61 students. Other austeritieswere necessary to make the BritishWork less dependent on the gener­ous subsidy from the United Statesthat had been supp lied for two

,decades. But the front line effor t ­the proc laiming of the gospe l - didnot cease! In wake of ·saturationnewsstand coverage, a series oflect ures beg an allover Britain .These co ntinued into 1975, creat­ing greate r interest and involvementin the Work by British readers.

Tod ay , th e Br it i sh Wor.k isheaded by Frank Brown , a native

Phil Stevens - GN

LEFT TO RIGHT: Newsstand out­let for Plain Truth in England;English edito rial staff of PhilipStevens, John Dunn and PeterButler; Y.O.U. soccer match atBricket Wood; Franc is Berg in ,business manager; Frank Brown,director of British Work.

Englishman with some nine years ofbroad admin istrative experience atHeadquarters in Pasadena.

After nearly a quarter of a centuryof hetp from their cousins acrossthe Atlantic, the British Work is ap­proaching self-suffic iency . The Brit­ish brethren will eventually financeentirely the ministry of the World­wide Church of God to their ownpeople.

H undr ed s o f th ous a nd s o fpo unds will.be poured into aggres­sive newsstand programs, di rectmail effo rts, Good News circulationdr ives and an expanded book letpr ogr am : The Correspo ndenceCourse will be sent out to additionalthousands of interested students.And the result will be as it has al­ways been - new growth and de­velopme nt. D

21

BLESSEDARE THE BEGGARSby D. Paul Graunke

Christ presented many impor­tant truth s to His follo wers inthe form of paradoxes. " He

who finds his life will lose it, and hewho loses his life for my sake willfind it " (Matt. 10:39); " If any onewould be first, he must be last of alland servant of all" (Mark 9:35) aretwo examples. In both , Christ juxta­poses opposite terms in a relation­ship that at first glance may seemabsurd . But further tho ught revealsan important principle that becom esmore intelligible and valid when it ispracticed as well as pon dered.

Such is the case with the firstbeatitude given in the so-called ser­mon on the mount. " Blessed arethe poor in spirit, fo r theirs is thekingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3).

Christ cannot mean that weshould be impoverished of the HolySpirit. A Christian is by def initionsomeone who has the Holy Spi rit:" Anyone who does not have theSpirit of Christ does not belong tohim " (Rom. 8:9). We are exhortedto " be filled with the Spirit " (Eph.5 :18) - not dest itute of it .Similar to Meek? Several trans­lations render " poor in spirit',' as" humble" or " humble-minded."This creates the impression that" poor in spirit " in verse 3 and" meek" in verse 5 are closely re­lated , if not synonymous . The twoterms do share a common con­notat ion of humil ity. But if Christwas tryin g to convey only one con­cept , then verse 5 is somewhat re­dundant.' A s i t i s , the NewTestament Greek uses two differentwords in verses 3 and 5, for Chr istwas emphasizing two distinct butvery com plementary attitudes ofmind.

22

The Greek word for " meek" inverse 5 is praus . It means" gentle," "pleasant," " unassum­ing ." It connotes a person whocalmly accepts the vicissitudes andinjustices of life , who perhaps is op­pressed and bowed down (see theTheolog ical Dictionary of the NewTestament, vol. VI, pp . 645-649).

The Greek word for " poor" inverse 3 is ptochos. In earlier Greekusage the word meant " beggar." InNew Testament times the word hadexpanded to mean any poor per­son. Yet it is often used in referenceto literal beggars, such as Lazarusin Luke 16. If we take the word inMatthew 5:3 in this sense , it sug­gests a number of sign ificant con ­cepts. The fo llowing expos it ionfol lows from this interpretation eventhoug h it is .not the only possibleconnotation in the context.

In our Western culture, where wecontinually wage wars on povertyand promote various kinds of wel­fare , the word "beggar" sometimesconjures up the image of the socialmisf it or work-shy. But this is notwhat Christ intended to convey toHis hearers . No , He was speakingin a culture where the disparity be­tween rich and poor was very great ,where beggars were numerous andin genuine need . He used the wordptochos metaphorica lly to mean" happy are those who in spiritualmatters are obviously and con­sciously in need, who realize the irutte r dependence on God 's graceand benefi cence." Thus, The NewEng lish Bib le ren ders verse 3 :" How blest are those who knowthe ir need of God .. . ."Nothing Apart From Christ. To bea beggar in spirit is to be keenlyaware of your dependency upon

God, to realize that your relation­ship with God is not a convenienceor a luxury but a life-or-death ne­cessity. It is to realize that you don 'thave within your own resources thepower to do God 's will , but must bedependent upon God supplying HisSpirit. " As the branch cannot bearfru it by itself , unless it abides in thevine , neither can you, unless youabide in me," said Christ. " I am thevine, you are the branches. He whoabides in me, and I in him, he it isthat bears much fruit , for apart fromme you can do no thing " (John15 :4-5 ).

The oppos ite of a begga r is, ofco urse , a ric h man . So me ex­pos itors see in the first beatitude animp lic it warning to those who enjoyan adequate or abundant suppl y ofworldly success and possessions.The Bible has much to say in otherplaces about the pitfalls of covet ingor possess ing great physicalwealth . Not that riches , per se, areevil . But they can create a falsesense of security and self-suffi­ciency . They can lead to pride andpretens ions of supe riority . Richescan distract people from realizinghow utterly dependent they are onGod . It can destroy the begga r-in­spirit atti tude that Christ proc laimedto be beneficial.

"I n God We Trust" is the mottofound on American money. But toooften people trust more in whatmoney can do than in what Godcan do . They desire financial gainover godl iness. That is .why theapostle Paul wrote : " There is greatgain in godl iness with contentment;fo r we brought nothi ng into theworld , and we cannot take anythingout of the world ; but if we have foodand clothing [i.e ., the basic essen-

GOOD NEWS July 1976

tials to sustain life], with these weshall be content. But those who de­sire to be rich fall into temptation ,into a snare, into many senselessand hurtful desires that plunge meninto ruin and destruction. For thelove of money is the [a] root of allevils; it is through this craving thatsome have 'wandered away fromthe faith and pierced their heartswith many pangs" (I Tim. 6 :6~1 0).Proud in Spirit. But there is an­other warning implicit in the firstbeatitude . It is directed to thosewho desire godliness, but havemissed the mark in terms of the ap­proach to religion that God ap­proves. Such people think they areendowed with' " spiritual riches,"but are not. They find security andpride in their own religious knowl­edge and religious deeds, and havelost sight of their need and depend­ency upon God. In a purely spiritualsense, the opposite of the "beggarin spirit" is the " proud in spirit" ­the self-righteous.

The parable of the Pharisee andthe tax collector in Luke 18:9-14contrasts the "beggar-in-spirit" and"proud-in-spirit" attitudes.

"He also told this parable to" some who trusted in themselves

that they were righteous and des­pised others: " Two men went upinto the temple to pray, one a Phari­see and the other a tax collector.The Pharisee stood and, prayedthus with himself, "God, I thankthee that I am not like other men,extortioners, ' unjust, adulterers, oreven like this tax collector . I fasttwice a week, I give tithes of all thatI get." But the tax collector, stand­ing far off, would not even lift up hiseyes to heaven, but beat his breast,saying, "God, be merciful to me a

GOOD NEWS July 1976

sinner!" I tell you, this man wentdown to his house justified ratherthan the other; for everyone whoexalts himself will be 'humbled, buthe who humbles himself will be ex­alted.' "

What the Pharisee said abouthimself was strictly true. But Godlooks at the inner heart - not justthe external deed. And what he sawin the Pharisee was anything buthumility and a desperate feeling of ,dependence upon God. The manobviously had great faith in his ownrighteousness, as if he could"earn" salvation by merit.

He believed he had fulfilled thelaw by going through the motionsof observing specific parts of it. Butin actuality he missed completelythe whole point of God's law, fallingwoefully short of what God reallywants: " . .. And what does theLord require of you but to do jus­tice, and to love kindness [margin :steadfast love], and to walk humblywith your God?" (Micah 6:8.)

The publican, on the other hand,knew exactly where he stood withGod; he realized his desperateplight and threw himself uponGod's mercy. His prayer got results.He went home justified - that is,forgiven of his sins and reckonedrighteous. He was found acceptableby God ---.: but the Pharisee, for alihis great religious deeds, was not!Christ Our Only Gain. The moralof the parable is not that we mustalways be wretched sinners in des­perate need of forgiveness. "Arewe to continue in sin that gracemay abound? By no means!" ex­claimed the apostle Paul (Rom. 6:1­2). He then proceeded to describethe new life in the Holy Spirit we areto live. A key factor in that life is a

deep, abiding respect for God'srighteousness and an absence ofself-righteousness. It operates un­der the premise of total depend­ency upon God with no delusions 'of spiritual self-sufficiency.

Paul continually gave credit toGod for everything. He prized onlyhis relationship with Christ whereinChrist accomplished whatever goodhe, Paul, did. "If any other manthinks he has reason for confidencein the flesh, I have more," he statedin Philippians 3:4. ' He then pro­ceeded to enumerate his creden­tials for boasting, which included"as to the law a Pharisee ~ '

(verse 5). But he went on to say:"But whatever gain I had, I countedas loss for the sake of Christ. In­deed I count everything as loss be­cause of the surpassing worth ofknowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Forhis sake I have suffered the loss of 'all things, and count them asrefuse, in order that I may gainChrist" (verses 7-8).

A beggar in spirit is always con-. scious that he has no spiritual re­

sources or wealth he can call hisown. He is totally dependent onGod. This continuing sense of spiri­tual poverty is the basis of his salva­tion , the factor Christ claims iscrucial to obtaining the blessing ofthe Kingdom of God. 0

RECOMMENDED READING, Prefacing Jesus' "sermon on the

mount " (Matt. 5-7) , the beatitudesare among the heart , root and core ofthe teachings of Christianit y. TheWorldwide Church of God publishesa full-color booklet expounding andexplaining each one. Write for ourfree publication entitled What Is aReal Christian? Mailing addresses areon the inside front cover. .

23

24 GOOD NEWS July 1976

" Ye are gods," said your Sav­ior. An anthropomorphicidea? Spiritual salt and pep­per? A theological euphe­mism? Or did He really meanit - literally? "Thou art God!"What a mind-boggling possi­bility! Is God literally ourFather? Are we literally Hissons? What is the mystery ofGod? .

Blasphemy!" shouted the righ­teously indignant and gener­ally enraged religious bigots

of Jesus ' day when He said, " I amthe Son of God " (John 10:36). " Fora good work we stone thee not; butbecause thou , being a man, makestth yself God ," the y explainedsmugl y in their theological strait­jacket as they stooped to pick uprocks (verse 33).

But for some reason they pausedto give Jesus time to pose a puz­zling question from the heart oftheir own Scriptures : " Is it not writ­ten in your law, I said, Ye are gods?If he called them gods , unto whomthe word of God came, and thescr ipture cannot be broken ; say yeof him, whom the Father hath sanc­tified , and sent into the world, Thoublasphemest; because I said, I amthe Son of God?" (Verses 34-36 .)

Having posed a question theycouldn't answer made them evenmore angry, and they tried again tofol low through with their stoning,but Jesus escaped again , that time.The Son of God. Lying at the veryheart of Christian belief is the abso­lute necessity of recogni zing whatthose of Jesus ' day labeled " blas­phemy!" Every good Christ ian be­lieves as the most cardinal point ofdoctrine that Jesus Christ of Naza­reth was and is the Son of God ­but how many good Christians doyou know who also believe equallyin the words of that same Jesus ofNazareth when He said, praying toHis Father in heaven just before Hiscruc ifixion: " Holy Father, keepth ro ugh . thi ne own name thosewhom thou hast given me, that theymay be on e, as we are . . . . Neitherpray I for these alone, but for themalso whic h shall believe on methrough the ir word; that they all

GOOD NEW S July 1976

may be one; as thou , Father, art inme, and I in thee, that they alsomay be one in us . . . " (John17:11 , 20-21 ). How many do youkno w who believe that ?Pick Your Purpose. When you getright down to it, are you really satis­fied with any religioil 'sexplanationof the meaning of life, the key pur­pose of our creation , the ultimategoal to be attained by any religiousexercise? Let' s briefly examine themajor options offered.

Billions have believed that the ul­timate goal of mankind is to achieveNirvana: " the state of perfect bles­sedness achieved by the absorpt ionof the soul into the supreme spirit. "That is: an unconscious continued

THEMYSTERY

OF

GODby David Jon Hill

existenc e as it were like a cell in thebody of the great One. It may haveserved billions, and driven them toextremes in their worship to achievethat Nirvana - but I must admit thatit does not satisfy me personally ­what good is it to live forever andyet not even realize that you are?

A nearly equal number have be­lieved that the afterlife of the faith­ful , forever , will consist of living atease in an oasis called the Gardenof Allah, where, lounging in a ham­mock strung bet ween two datepalms , the men (because it is arather male-dominant religion ) willbe fed delicacies by a bevy of vo­luptuous women (an eternal ha­rem?) and have a little hashish asneeded to keep them in a properstupor (because alcohol is notallowed) so the boredom will not

bother them. In the name of the godof peace , true believers have con ­verted others by the sword to be­lieve and seek this reward.

This goal may be pleasing tomany - it does have some few spe­cific rewards offered - but I mustadmit that it does not satisfy meperson ally.Two Camps. Christianity is sepa­rated into two basic camps. Themore universal belief is that the pur­pose of life is to achieve the beatif icvision. After wading through sixpages of fine print in the encyclope­dia of that religion attempting to de­fine just whet the beatific visionreally is, you come to their disap­poin ting conclusion that no onereally kno ws!

The best you can get is that it is astate of blessedness in which you"living forever, will be able to gazeupon God, seeing Him better thanyou see Him now, but not as Hereally is, because He is too perfectto be seen even by the spirituallysuc cessful in their lower state ofperfect ion , beyond which there isno hope of attainment . Vague as itmay seem, it is avidly pursued byhundreds of millions as the goal oftheir existence . Perhaps the threatof the only other alternat ive - suf­fering unimag inable torments inhellfire forever - spurs them on.

Again I must admit this theorydoes not satisfy me. To think thatthe Creator who has fashioned thisfabu lously complex, intricate, spe­cific and real universe would pro­pose such a vague purpose for Hishighest creation - man - does notcompute with me.At the Pearly Gates? The othe rChristian belief - developed in pro­test and shattered into hundreds ofsplinters, each having a slightl y dif­ferent variant of doctrin e regardingthe after life - is basically this: when.you die you go to heaven as a spiritbeing of some sort and live eternallyin bliss (somewhat similar to the'beatifi c vision - but more detailsare added). You check in at thePearly Gates with Peter, get yourwings, your harp , your cloud andyour golden slippers with which towalk the golden streets - and thenyou do virtually nothing, but you doit forever. And you never hunger orth irst or cry Qr suffer . Again, the

25

only prod to achieve this eternalgoal seems to be the awful alterna­tive: suffering forever in hell.

It's a little more specific , butagain I must admit that for me it isnot personally satisfying, not some­thing I would like to do forever.

There are many more beliefs withgoals equally vague - these coverthe majority of mankind , with theexception of that segment of peoplewho believe we are born and dielike dogs with no purpose what­soever: this doesn 't satisfy me ei­ther and I refuse to even address it.Empty Phrases. Why do we use allthe words and slogans so commonto Christianity in vain? Do we be­lieve that neither Jesus nor theFather in heaveri really mean whatthey say? Do we believe that thegospel message so plainly statedby Jesus is all allegory, all sym­bolism, all parable, all fable, allmyth? Do we say by our beliefs andactions that the communists areright after all when they say thatbelief in a supernatural being, reli­gion, is indeed " the opiate of thepeople "?

Do we believe that plain, clearwords in the Bible describing thepurpose of life,'the plan of God, thegospel defined are empty phrasesholding no practical meaning? Thatthey are to be taken with a grain ofsalt as mere religious vocabularyhaving no real meaning or sub­stance? That words used in the rev­elation of God to mankind have ameaning apart from reality? Thatthe Bible says one thing, but meansanother?Why the Mystery? There is a verydefinite reason for all this con­fusion. The vagueness of the ulti­mate reward of the true believer ofany religion, and particularly theChristian religion, is specificallypredicted and explained in yourBible . It is nobody's fault ; no one isto blame. All who cling to thesefaiths can easily be given the bene­fit of the doubt and truly be said tobe deeply sincere - the blood ofbelievers, saints and martyrs of allthese religions bespeaks eloquentlythe indelible fact of sincerity .

But there is a reason why no faithgives the clear purpose of life, thereason for creat ion, the plan ofGod , the ultimate goal God set for

26

mankind . The reason is that Godlocked up that truth and gives thekey to unlock it only to those of Hischoosing at the time of His choos­ing.

Many a sermon has beenpreached on how impossible it is forus to understand just what it is thatGod has in store for us. The textmost often used is this scripture:" But as it is written , Eye hath notseen, nor ear heard, neither haveentered into the heart of man, thethings which God hath prepared forthem that love him" (I .Cor. 2:9).This conveniently explains away thevagueness. This allows all mannerof speculation, of scenario devel­oping for possibilities, of doctrinaldiscrepancies among believers.This brings comfort to the con­fused , helps in swallowing the im­practical visions advancedregarding God 's purpose .

It also fulfills the scripture itself.Nobody has seen the perfect will ofGod . Since nobody has seen it, ob­viously nobody has heard of it. Noman has thought up or conceivedthe plan God has in mind, trythough they may have. Intelligence,wisdom , dedication - all in abso­lute sincerity - have been appl iedin vain. Still no one has come upwith the plan.Next Text. The text for the dayseems an inadequate tool - let 'scheat just a little and read the nexttext also! Maybe we'll see, hear andbegin to conceive what others havenot: " But God has revealed themunto us by his Spirit : for the Spiritsearcheth all things , yea, the deepthings of God" (verse 10). Thisplainly says that despite the factthat man alone (in his own imagina­tion and with all the effort he hasexpended at it) has not been able tocome up with the plan God has inmind for those who love Him, thatHe, by His Spirit , reveals it!

In short, God 's purpose for man­kind can be known , but only by HisSpirit. " Now to him that is of powerto stablish you according to mygospel , and the preaching of JesusChrist, according to the revelationof the mystery , which was kept se­cret since the world began , but nowis made manifest, and by the scr ip- .tures of the prophets, according tothe commandment of the ever-

lasting God , made known to all na­tions for the obedience of faith : toGod only wise, be glory throughJesus Christ for ever" (Rom. 16:25­27).

Thankfully, if God grants His spir­itual key, we can turn to the Scrip­tures and unlock the unknown truth- without prejudice, without priorconcepts cloud ing the plain truth ,just having God 's Spirit help us un­derstand the clean, clear truth, be­lieving the words mean just whatthey say and have no meaning inantithesis.

Let 's try .Some say you can interpret the

Bible to mean anything you want itto say. And the multitude of beliefswould seem to confirm this state­ment. But let 's cheat again and notinterpret anyth ing. Let's pretend thewords God uses have straight­forward, clear meanings and arenot clouded with double , hidden orallegorical meanings . When Godsays " son" he means son, not justsomeone of younger years or lessexperience or intelligence. WhenGod says "Father" He means onewho has produced sons, not fatherimage , or father idea. When Hesays " brethren" He means sons ofthe same father and mother, notjust people who hold the same gen­eral belief. Keep it clean.

Let's try .The Bible Says . . . you are madein the image of God!

Why?None of the other millions of

creatures God created are made in.His image. God doesn 't look like asnake , a bull, a bird or a fish - Helooks just like a human being , or,better, human beings look just likeGod. " And God said, Let us makeman in our image, after our like­ness . . .. So God created man inhis own image, in the image of Godcreated he him; male and femalecreated he them" (Gen. 1:26-27).God is not a male chauvinist: Heplainly declares that both male andfemale are in His image.

We look like Him, but we are notexactly like Him. An image showsdesign and shape, but is not madeof the same substance as the origi­nal. We are physical flesh, tempo­rary , mortal - God is Spirit, Eternal,Immortal.

GOOD NEWS July 1976

David knew that God had createdus in His likeness , yet he said : " Asfor me, I will behold thy face in righ­teousness: I shall be satisfied, whenI awake , with thy likeness " (Ps.17:15). To be like God as God isGod - to be totally in the likenessof God - requires a change in ourcomposition from physical to spir i­tual. " Now this I say, brethren, thatflesh and blood cannot inherit thekingdom of God ; neither doth cor ­ruption inherit incorruption. Behold,I shew yo u a mystery ; We shall nota ll sleep , b ut we shall all bechanged, in a moment, in the twin­kling of an eye, at the last trump[th e when David referred to that hewou ld finally be satisfied]: for thetrumpet shall sound, and the deadshall be raised incorruptibl e, andwe shall be changed " (I Cor . 15:50­52) .

Job was familiar with this neces­sary change: " If a man die , shall helive again? [The basic questionevery religiously interested personasks about a possible afterlife.] Allthe days of my appointed time wil l Iwait, till my change come. Thoushalt call [the last trump] , and I willanswer thee : thou wilt have adesireto the work of thine hands . . . . ForI know that my redeemer liveth , andthat he shall stand at the latter dayupon the earth and though aftermy skin worm s destroy this body[corruption], yet apart from [moreproper rendering of the Hebrew] myflesh shall I see God " (Job 14:14­15; 19:25-26) .

What is changed is flesh , att itude,ch arac ter - not personality, the in­teg ral, personal, co nscious you.Job makes this clear: " Whom [God] .I shall see for myself, and mine eyesshall behold, and not another . . ."(19 :27) .

There are other clues. But themystery of the gosp el is not clearlyexpla ined in the Scriptures of theOld Testament. Jesus came for thatpu rpose (among others ) as He said :" All things are delivered unto me ofmy Father: and no man knoweththe Son, . but the Father; neitherknoweth any man the Father , save

. the Son , and he to whomsoever theSon will reveal him" (Matt . 11:27).And again : " No man can come tome, except the Father which hathsent me draw him . . ." (Joh n 6:44).

GOOD NEWS July 1976

The direct Father I Son relationshipis not plainly revealed in the OldTestament. The term " father" isused , but plainly in a metaphor (seeNumbers 11:12 and Isaiah 9:6) .Power To Become Sons. Jesus isthe Son of God - no good Chris­tian denies that. Jesus is unique :He is the only son of a human beingwho had God the Father in heavenas His litera l father who caused Hisimpregnation in the womb of awoman (Mary), i.e.,t he only Son ofGod.

But He is also called the " first­born ." Now, granted, one can befirstbo rn even tho ugh there arenever any others born after - butthere is a clear implication thatothers will come, being born afterthe first born. And there are specif icscriptures which demand this un­der.standing.

"For whom he didforeknow, he also did

predestinate to beconformed to the image of

his Son, that he mightbe the firstborn

among many brethren"(Rom. 8:29).

Jesus became the firstborn Sonof God by the resurrection from thedead : " And dec lared to be the Sonof God . . . by the resurrec tion fromthe dead " (Rom. 1:4). Even Jesuswas physical, flesh and blood. Thathad to chan ge . And that over­whe lming change came abou t atHis resurrection . But the beautifulth ing about the resurrection of ourSavior, the Captain of our Salvation,our Redeemer who lives, is that itbecomes possible through thepower of that resurrect ion for youand me to also be cha nged , to alsobecome a Son of God , to be God asGod is God : to be God as Jesus isnow God!

" For whom he did foreknow , healso did predestinate to be con ­formed to the image of his Son, thathe might be the firstborn amongmany brethren " (Rom. 8:29) . Suresounds like there are to be "many"

more sons born into God 's family!" For it became him, for whom areall things [the Father] , and bywhom are all things, in bringingmany sons to glory , to make thecaptain of their salvation [JesusChrist] perfect through suffer ings "(Heb. 2:10). This also makes it plainthere are others yet to become glo­rified sons! " For both he that sane­tifieth and they who are sanct ifiedare all of one: for which cause he[Jesus] is not ashamed to call thembrethren " (verse 11). "And he[Jesus] is the head of the body , thechurch: who is the beginning, thetirstoott. from the dead ; that in allth in gs he mig ht have th e pre­eminence . .. . Christ in yo u, theho pe of [y our] g lo ry " ! (Co l .1:18,27.)

In fac t, the Bible plain ly statesthat the pur pose of Chris t' s comingwas to make it possible for us tobecome God 's sons. " But as manyas received him, to them gave hepo wer to become the sons of God,even to them that believe on hisname : which were born , not ofblood, nor of the will of the flesh,nor of the will of man, but of God "(John 1:12-13) .Not Yet Born. This is all very diffi­cult, because the Bible calls phys i­cal human beings "sons of God ."Yet the Bible also plainly says fleshand blood can 't inheri t, be sons.Humans must be born again. Notjust an experience of the mind, butan actual birth, a com plete cha ngeto a new being as different from ourpresent state as a mature plant isfro m the seed which is planted inthe ground (to use an analogy Paulused in I Corinthians 15).

The diff iculty is resolved whe nyo u realize that the New Testamentwas written in Greek . The Greeklanguage uses one word, gennao,to refer to conception, the begottenstage of fetus growth and the actualbirth . So, from the beg inn ing of the

. new life, conception , the indiv idualis considered to be a son eventhough he is not yet born . Whenyou as a natural parent are firstaware that there is new life in thewomb, don 't you think of it as yourch ild , even though it is not yetborn ? And do not most of thoseconceived final ly achieve birth?

It's the same with God.

27

Jesus said " Thou art God " be­cause that is your awesome poten­tia l whether you know it yet or not.Bes ides , God 's way of referr ing tosomething He plans to do is to refer

. to it as if it were alread y done, or ," calleth 'those things which be notas though they were" (Rom. 4:17).So I take this license in faith .

God 'begins the birth of His sonsvery small , just as we begin thebirth of ou r own ch ildren , " For hethat hath wrought us for the self­same thing is God , who also hathgiven unto us the earnest of theSpirit " (II Cor , 5:5).

Now an " earnest" is a very smalldown payment carrying with it apromise of more to co me, until theful l com mitme nt is reached.

" For as many as are led by theSpirit of God , they are the sons ofGod" (Rom, 8:14). There are nocapita l letters in Greek by the way,it is onl y the transla to rs of the KingJames Version who dec ided to cap ­italize " Son" when it referred toJesus and not to capi talize " son"when it referred to us. A mosthumble and sincere reverence , butperhaps it leads us to misunder­stand .Not Metaphors or Niceties. " Forye have not received the spirit ofbo ndage again to fear ; but ye haverece ived the Spirit ' of ado ption ,whereby we cry, Abba, Father"(verse 15). Again the word " adop­tion " can just as wel l be translated" sonship" or even " Sonship," but ,according to the very sc ripturesthey were translating , it never didenter into their minds that we couldbe the actual Sons of God - theyonly took the words to be meta­phors or niceties, co ndescensionfrom God as it were. But th is scrip­ture clearly declares that we are tocall God , Abba, which is Hebrew forFather, and then ampl if ies it by add ­ing Father, An actua l Father, not apretend Father.

" The Spirit itself beareth witnesswith our spirit, that we are the chil­dren of God " (verse 16), Not bornyet, of cou rse. Just beg inn ing . Notchanged yet from phys ica l to spir i­tual totall y , but the process begun.

Fact i s nobody h as beenchanged yet except Jesus of Naza­reth. All the holy men of old aredead and in their graves, waiting as

28

.Job stated he would wait. Somedust (as Peter said of David afterthe resurrection of Christ - Acts 2) , 'some ashes, some poss ib ly partl yphysically preserved (Joseph, forexam ple, whose body was mummi­fied after the Egypt ian style) - allwa it ing for a " better resur rec­tion .. . God having provided somebetter th ing for us, that they withoutus should not be made perfect "(Heb. 11:35, 40 ). The general as­sembly of the church of the first­born, the spir its of just men madeperfec t (Heb. 12:23) . .. waiting .

" Behold , what manner of love theFathe r hath bestowed upon us, thatwe shou ld be cal led the son s ofGod . . .. Beloved, now are we thesons of God , and [would yo u be­lieve, " but" ] it doth not yet appearwh at we shall be [we're not bornyet, just begotten): but we knowthat, when he shall appear , we shallbe like him; for we shall see him ashe is " (I John 3:1-2) .

What is Jesus going to be likewhen He comes back to this earth?A metaphoric , allegorical , myth ical" Son of God " - or a real, spiritual,all-po werful, actual Son of God?You guessed it ; the second answeris right. Now if He is like that , andwe are go ing to be like He is - whatdo yo u suppose we will be like???God As God Is God! God is notplaying games. God is not per ­petrating some cosm ic joke. God isnot sp on sor ing an eternal res thome in the sky for retired Chr is­tians.

God is reproducing Himself!" Let th is mind be in you , whic h

was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil.2 :5) . " Whereby are given unto usexceed ing g reat and prec iouspromises [beyond the sco pe ofhuman imagination): that by theseye might be partakers of the divinenature . . . " ( II Peter 1:4). " I [Jesus 'says] w ill make them [people ,human beings] to come and wor­ship betote thy feet . .. "! (Rev.3:9.) Now, you know, and I know,that only God is worthy of worship!

There is on ly one inescapableconclusion .

If we are to be changed fromph ysica l to spir itual - and not justordinary spi ritua l, but by and intothe Spirit of God ; if we are taught byJesus to pray " O ur Fath er in

heaven .. ." ; if He really is our (notjust His) Father; if we are (to be) Hisso ns ; if we share the Father 's andthe Son's glory; if we inherit eterna llife ; if we partake of the divine na­ture ; if we are to be just like Jesusno w is;' if we have the co mpletemind of Chr ist ; if we are worthy ofworship - WE MUST BE GOD!

Blasphemy?No!That is the unbel ievable truth of

your Bible.One short art icle is totally in­

suff ic ient to expla in God 's tota lplan, but this is the co re of it. If youare interested in pursuing the sub­jec t, I'm sure there are ministers ofthe Wor ldwide Church of God nearyo u who would be more than happyto help you understand more . (Seebox on the next page .)

But, believe it or not , you are apotential omnipotent power. Youwere born to become God! This isthe myster y of God! 0

Just what doyou mean-

CONVERSION?

According to the dictionary, re­ligious conversion is " the ex­perience of a definite anddecisive adoption of religion ."That' s fine as far as it goes , butthe Bible c lea rly shows thatreal Christia n .conversion isalso an ongoing pr ocess. Inthe booklet Just What Do YouMean - Conversion? HerbertArmstrong gives th e readervaluable insights into the sub­ject and points out the dangerof a false convers ion . For your

free copy ofthis helpful ,i n s t r u c ti v ebooklet, wr iteto The GoodNews officenearest you .(See i n s id efront coverfor the ad­dresses.)

GOOD NEWS July 1976

A Man from SpaceMuch better than any sel-f story I

ever read as a teenager! The artic legave me a greater apprec iation forthe One who made everything in­side and outside of me.

Harlan S.,Oregon City, Oregon

, Irene B.,Lebanon , Indiana

See the box on this page for theinformation you need.

TithingThank you for the beautiful book­

let on tithing. I don 't doubt God 'sway of tithing since our experienceshave proved it is better when youdo . There have been times, like thispaycheck, when I wondered how Iwou ld pay these bills: taxes for realestate have gone out of sight. Butmy confidence is in God and Hisway .

LETIERS

Mr. and Mrs. Eric A,.Everqreen Park, Illinois

Naresh K.,Calcutta, India

Conscientious ApproachI want to thank you for sending

me your magazine and tell you howvery much I enjoy every article in it.I would particularly like to com ­pliment you on your very con­scientious approach to the subje ctmatter in your articles; for examp le,being careful to not link the rise infemale crime to Women's Lib, tak­ing a reasoning rather than a con­demnatory attitude toward druguse, and a balanced, sensible posi­tion on the role of corporal punish­ment in child rearing.

Geoffrey G.,Grand Rapids, Mich igan

GN Has AnswersIt seems that every time I need an

answer to a problem, here comesThe Good News magazine andthere is my answer. I would like ,tohave the name and telephone num­ber of the nearest minister in ourarea.

rassed before others , a sign ofweak character . ' To your wisewords I'll add a few of mine: a prob­lem needs an answer or solution, 'not an explanat ion. Lonel iness, es­pecially the " interpersonal" k(nd,does affect many, and this articlestrengthens hope (Rev. 21 :3-4) thatin tomorrow's world it simply won 'tbe there.

The Apocalypse GenerationMy thanks to ,Jeff Calkins for his

" Open Letter to the ApocalypseGeneration ." I am also twenty-threeyears old , and the very things hespoke of had been troubling mymind for quite some time. Mr. Cal­kins helped me to realize that it isfor the good of all mankind that thedays of my generation will be cutshort , and to resent that is not onlyselfish but contrary to the will ofGod .

All. ,lone , California

This apparent discrepancy is dueto part of the original Greek textbeing left out of the King JamesVersion of the Bible (Matt. 27:49).The omitted verse reads: "And an­other took a spear and pierced hisside, and there came out water andblood." For a' more detailed ex­planation, write for the free reprintarticle " Did Christ Die of a BrokenHeart?"

Paul H.,Mandan , North Dakota

Coping With LonelinessThank you for the April GN article

" Coping with Loneliness." As wasso competently mentioned in thearticle , how very often I have foundlonel iness to be looked on as asymptom rather than a cause ,something to make one feel embar-

" When a Man from Space VisitedEarth " was an excellent article ex­cept where you wrote that Christdied from a spear thrust. The Bible ,in both the , Gospels that relate toth is, says that the Romans brokethe legs of the two thieves, but find ­ing Christ already dead pierced Himwith the spear. Please tell me if I'mwrong .

IF YOU'D LIKETOKNOWMORE

Many hundreds have writtenasking if we have representativesin their areas to counsel withthem personally and to answer~heir quest ions.

: ~ The answer is yes, we do.

. The Worldw ide Church of Godstations personal representatives(most are ordained ministers) inthe United States and BritishCommonwealth and many otherareas of the world. These menwill visit you, if invited, direct ly inyour own home.

So if you have spiritual matters .to discuss or questions to askabout biblical topics such as re­pentance, baptism, etc ., pleasefeel free to write us and request aprivate appo intment. Worldwidemailing addresses are as follows:

• United States: P.O. Box 111,Pasadena, California 91123(Or simply dial this toll-freenumber in the continentalU.S.: 1-800-423-4444. Read­ers in California, Alaska andHawaii may call 213-577-5225collect.)

• United Kingdom , Europe, In­dia, and Africa : P.O. Box 111,St. Albans, Herts., England

• Australia : G.P.O. Box 202 ,Burleigh Heads, Queensland4220 (Or dial this number:075-35 -4233 - reverse thecharges. )

• Canada: P.O. Box 44, StationA, Vancouver , B.C.

• South Africa : P.O. Box 1060,Johannesburg 2000 (Or dialthis number : 011-216406.)Other areas of the world

should check the inside frontcover (staff box) for the addressof our office nearest you.

29

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