What next in world troubles and violence? I just returned from another visit over into the Middle East and into Europe and I've come into contact with a lot of this worlds violence's as it is now. I tell you the average person doesn't realize the violence that is going on in this world. On this trip I had visits with King Hussein of Jordan, with Prince Charles the Prince of Wales in England. I had luncheon with one of the Judges with the World Court of International Justice at The Hague and I had a private meeting of approximately a half hour with the British Prime Minister... Who and What is Man? Man Made of Matter, God Made of Spirit Man is Offered Immortal Life Man Needs Another Spirit Satan's Influence Related Reading
What next in world troubles and violence? I've just returned from another visit over into the Middle East, and into Europe; and I've come in contact with a lot of this world's violence as it is now. I tell you, the average person doesn't realize the violence that is going on in this world.
On this trip, I had visits with King Hussein of Jordan, with Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales in England. I had luncheon with one of the judges of the World Court of International Justice at The Hague; and I had a private meeting, of approximately a half hour, with the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.
Now while I was in Amman Jordan waiting to see King Hussein, the King had to take a quick flight over to Iraq, to Bagdad in Iraq, and back; because his country is allied with Iraq in the war against Iran, and Iran was attacking Iraq in a new front. And the King had to hurry over there, then he came back; and I had a nice visit with him. But he has trouble all around, and of course, he is concerned a great deal about the Israeli and the PLO controversy just now. And the Israeli, you might say, invasion of Lebanon, to drive the PLO out of there. Although I'm sure, because I know the Israelis, that they have no intention of trying to annex Lebanon.
But, in London while I was there the two bombs exploded, the one in Hyde Park that killed a number of the Queen's Guard. They were just going for the change of the guard; that is, they were on their horses and going down for the change of the guard in front of Buckingham Palace when a bomb in a car exploded. It almost shattered the window of my hotel room, I was about two blocks away at the time, just across Hyde Park. It was the loudest explosion that I have ever heard, it almost made me jump out of my chair. I began to realize the kind of violence that is going on.
Later that afternoon I was riding in the car, and on the car radio I heard of a second bomb explosion of a bandstand in another park. In my talk with Mrs. Thatcher she had just emerged from a war of Britain in the Falklands.
While I was having dinner with Dr. Nagendra Singh, a judge on the World Court of International Justice, we were discussing the Israeli/PLO plight, and I heard his opinion and what the World Court would probably decide if the case between them were ever brought to the World Court of International Justice to decide.
My friends, why such a world, such a world of violence? And violence is increasing everywhere momentarily, day by day, month by month, year by year. How much longer can it last?
If human origin came by way of evolution, instead of special creation by an immortal God, then I say to you; there is simply no hope, because evils are escalating and they are evolving, if you please, day by day. Violence is evolving. Certainly, the process of evolution, and evolving, is offering us no hope for the future whatsoever, except the final doom.
Modern science came along in the last 150 years, and modern science has said they are the new Messiah that will deliver us. They've said give us sufficient knowledge and we will solve all of our problems, and we will rid the world of all of its evils. What has modern science done? It has provided the weapons of mass destruction that is destroying more and more, and leading us into human extinction. Unless something intervenes, unless that strong arm from someplace appears, which is God Almighty; to intervene and to stop this hellish war, and this hellish kind of violence that is disturbing this whole world.
We face a terrible problem in this world. Now, evolution doesn't offer us any hope, science doesn't offer us any hope. Education has no solution, it's only educating us into more and more violence, education is wholly materialistic, it is not bringing peace. Religion has been no substitute, it has given us no deliverance of any kind whatsoever.
Why is human nature as it is? Why do we have the kind of world we do? Why do we have the kind of civilization that we have? But what is man anyway? Let's go back to the very beginning and you read in the very first book, the first chapter, the first verse of the Bible, which is the Word of God. It is the Book through which God Himself, the Creator, speaks to man. Do you believe in evolution instead of God? You have no hope. Listen to what God says and see if it makes sense; evolution makes no sense:
"In the beginning God [Elohim, meaning more than one Person, but one God] created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)
Now dropping down to verse 26 we come to the beginning of humanity:
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, [in] our likeness..." (Genesis 1:26)
He didn't say let Me, there was more than one Person. Who and What is God? Listen my friends, there is no religion on the face of the Earth that really knows and understands WHO and WHAT God is. Do you know what God is? Is God one Person? Is God just one Being, one Personage? Is God three persons, a trinity? That's what many religionists, and that's what traditional Christianity believes. That isn't what God says about Himself. The Bible is God speaking, the Bible is God revealing Himself and telling us who and what God is. Well let's go on, I'll give you a little more of that as we go along. What is man? "...God said, Let us make man in our image..." (Genesis 1:26). In the very next chapter, the second chapter in verse seven:
"And the [Eternal] God formed man of the dust of the ground [now He took the dust of the ground, and that's what we are, we're made out of the dust of the ground], and [God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7)
Man, made of the dust of the ground. What was made of the dust of the ground? Earth became a soul. It doesn't say that the soul is composed of spirit. Spirit did not become a soul, but matter. Living dirt became a soul. The soul is mortal. God said to that soul that if they took — made the wrong decision they would surely die. Twice, in the book of Ezekiel it is stated:
"...the soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:4,20)
The soul is not an immortal soul, there is no such thing, and there is no such word in the Bible, where God reveals the truth to us. Nothing about the immortality of the soul.
God is composed of spirit, God is formed of spirit, God is formed out of spirit. Let me read you something now about God. I said a while ago that God is not one single Person, God is not a trinity. Well, here is the beginning of God, and the first statement in the Bible that shows God in the original state, further back than any other scripture in the Bible. In other words, further back than Genesis 1:1 and that is in John 1, verse one, in the New Testament. It says here:
"In the beginning [in the beginning] was the Word [the Word was a Personage, the Spokesman, called the Word], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)
I've gone over this many times on this program before, but let me go over it once more because I want to make this very clear:
"The same was in the beginning with God [now we have two Persons, two Personages, and the Word was God]. All things were made by him [He is a Creator]; and without him was not any thing made that was made [and then in verse four]. In him was life..." (John 1:2-4)
L-I-F-E, life. God is immortal, God has immortal life, self-containing life, inherent life within Himself. Now man was made of the dust of the ground just like an animal. Man has the same kind of life as any animal, we have the same kind of brain as an animal, we have the same kind of body as an animal but it's a different form and shape. We have a body and mind in the form and shape of God, not in the form and shape of an animal.
But we live the same life, a sort of a chemical existence, that's all it is. Just like the chemical existence that keeps your engine in your motor in your car running, in your automobile. And when it runs down, if it runs out of fuel, or if it runs out of air through the carburetor the motor will die. And if we run out of air, or we run out of fuel, we could starve to death, or we run out of breath, we will die. We are mortal, we have a temporary life. God has immortal life inherent within Himself. So, there is a great difference, God is a spirit, God is composed of spirit. He made man out of matter of the dust of the ground. Now get that difference, and yet there is a similarity between man and the animals.
Now then, God had life and He had life inherent in Himself. Now let's go back to Genesis two {1} And I want you to notice how God offered man eternal life. He offered him life. In verse seven:
"And the [Eternal] God formed man of the dust of the ground...[now in verse eight] And the [Eternal] God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed [He didn't create him there, but He put him there after he was formed and made]. And out of the ground made the [Eternal] God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life [L-I-F-E]...in the midst of the garden, and [also] the tree of knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:7-9)
Now later, you read in verses 16 and 17:
"And the [Eternal] God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat [including the tree of Life, He offered him eternal life]: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: [because if he ate] thereof [he would] surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17)
You are mortal, you are not an immortal soul — you are a soul made out of the dust of the ground — you will surely die. That's the Word of God, that is God speaking; It is Satan the devil who said that you are an immortal soul.
"But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." (Romans 8:11)
In other words, we will gain immortality, the Spirit of God dwelling in us will make us at the time of the resurrection immortal in spirit life, immortal life, self-containing life, inherent life, the same as God has. IF we have the Spirit of God. Now, the Spirit of God gives us immortal life, that's what was offered Adam, the Tree of Life and God said of that tree you may freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not.
Now man was made with a mind. The human mind is a brain, and one spirit, the human spirit added with that mind. Now animals have brains; and an animal's brain, believe it or not, the modern science of brain research has shown that animal brains — say, the brain of a cow, the brain of a chimpanzee, the brain of an elephant — are exactly like the human brain, and just as good. An elephant brain is larger, the chimp brain is a little bit smaller.
But they don't have the psyche, they don't have the knowledge, they don't have the spirit or the attitude that a man can possess. The spirit in man adds the intelligence and the ability for man to acquire physical knowledge, materialistic knowledge. It also enables him to have an attitude, either good or evil. That is, either an attitude of love, of cooperation, of humility. Or else an attitude of self-centeredness, an attitude of coveting, an attitude that is hostile toward others, a competitive attitude, leading to competition, to strife and violence and to war. And that's what we have and that's what the world is filled with.
Now this Adam, the first man created, had to make a choice. In other words, it was a matter of developing the character of God. If he had taken the Tree of Life he would have received the Spirit of God, because God gives us immortal life, and gives us permanent life through His Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. Man does not have that Spirit, man is not born with the Spirit of God; but with a human spirit, such as animals do not have. So, man can have that Spirit. For example, let me give you a little example:
You may see a couple of cows, or maybe it's a dozen cows or more out in a pasture. And they are tranquil, they are peaceful, they are contented and they are just munching on the grass, each one going about his own munching and not paying much attention to the other ones. And so, the Carnation milk company some few years ago, you may remember, had a lot of advertising going out saying; 'Milk from contented cows'. But you don't find many contented people, my friends, in this world. Oh yes, cows are contented, they don't have the spirit that gives them the chance to have an antagonistic, and a hostile nature against others. Cows don't have a hostile nature against other cows. You don't find one cow trying to root out another cow, and shove him out, and take his grass away from him, and get it all for himself. But you do find human beings doing that, and human beings are not contented, and they are not happy. And we are full of competition, and strife, and violence, and unhappiness, and discontent; and this world is filled with it, and that's the world that you live in. That's what's wrong with the world.
Now the man, when God created him was alone. God wanted him to reproduce but the man couldn't reproduce alone. You've never seen a man produce a child all by himself, never. And so, the man needed a woman to be his wife and so God created a wife for him, mother Eve, who was the mother of all living. And so, Eve had a human spirit in her. Well, just as Adam was alone, just being male gender only, so he had only one spirit and it was alone, it wasn't enough. He was only half there.
He needed another spirit, he needed the Holy Spirit of God to give him a right attitude. To give him an attitude of love, of harmony, of cooperation, of peace and to enjoy the company of others. And to have an attitude that could have a contact, and a loving, a peaceful, and a joyous contact with God his Maker. And that's what God made us to need, Adam needed another spirit. If Adam had taken of the Tree of Life he would have received then the Holy Spirit of God. Adam did not take of that. Satan came along and tempted Eve and; "Eve took of the forbidden fruit, and she gave to her husband also with her and he did eat." (Genesis 3:6 paraphrased). In other words, she led him, and Adam failed in his responsibility to be the leader.
Now there was God, and there was the Word; and it was the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word became Christ later! But God and the Word had harmony and peace; they are the source of love, of cooperation, of peace, of everything good, of happiness, of joy. And joy is just happiness brim full and running over. Now then, I'd like to have you notice a minute in I Corinthians the second chapter, I Corinthians 2. I've gone into this before too, but see it now in this particular connection that I'm speaking of now. Beginning with verse nine:
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither [has it] entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (I Corinthians 2:9)
In other words, that is spiritual knowledge. The things God has prepared are spiritual. And you cannot receive spiritual knowledge. You can receive a wrong spirit of contention, of hostility, of competition and strife. But it's rather hard in this natural state to receive a spirit of love and cooperation, and obedience to God.
Now then, we receive knowledge through the eye, through the ear primarily, also through the sense of taste, feel and smell. But you cannot taste, feel, or smell, nor see, nor hear spiritual things or spiritual knowledge. God is a Spirit, you have never seen God, no man has seen God because He is not visible, spirit is not visible to the human eye. But, it says here these spiritual things:
"...God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: [because] the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." (I Corinthians 2:10)
If we have the Spirit of God which is offered to us today through Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God. And your mind is not complete until you have the Spirit of God. The mind of man is not complete, that is why man without God, and without the Spirit of God is a hostile being. That's why he has the spirit of hostility against others. As I said, cattle don't do that, they're contented and they're peaceful. Now then notice, verse eleven:
"For what man [knows] the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? ..." (I Corinthians 2:11)
We couldn't have human knowledge except the spirit of man that is already in us. Now cows don't have that spirit; they don't know anything about chemistry, they don't know anything about astronomy; they don't have the knowledge that we can have. Humans have knowledge that animals do not have because of that spirit. Also, that spirit gives us an attitude that animals do not have. They have instinct instead of spirit. Now notice the second half of this same verse, the eleventh verse in I Corinthians 2:
"...even so [in the same manner] the things of God knoweth no man, [save by] the Spirit of God." (I Corinthians 2:11)
You can't have knowledge of spiritual things and knowledge of God except by the very Spirit of God. And you can't have peace without the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God is lacking on this earth and that is why we don't have peace, and it comes through Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ our Lord; and Christ came to start another world. As Adam was the one through whom this world was founded, and through the influence of Satan; so the new world was started through Christ and the Church and through the influence of Almighty God, who is now called God the Father, since Christ was born as His Son.
There's so much more that I wish I had time to go into; but Christ, as you read in the sixth chapter of II Corinthians in verse 17, called us of the Church; "...out from among [those of the world, to] be separate..." (II Corinthians 6:17). To a different mind, a different attitude altogether. And also, to receive different spiritual knowledge that the world does not, and cannot receive, doesn't have, doesn't understand.
That's why there's no peace in the world today. But Christ is coming again and He is going to rule on this world and He's going to build a new civilization, the Kingdom of God. That was the Gospel that Jesus preached — the Kingdom of God.
And so, until next time this is Herbert W Armstrong — goodbye friends.