Herbert W Armstrong

   Senate investigating committees want the truth when they're investigating communism, government kickbacks, payoffs, or maybe favoritism in some of the contracts. But you know, people who look into the Bible to find out about Jesus Christ don't care what they find. We all have to be satisfied somehow with our own interpretation of the Jesus Christ. His universality is evident, they say. Everyone has to come up with his own idea of what Christ means to him, the evangelical types tell us. But is it true that in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, everyone has to find something that is acceptable to them? Is it true the Bible is capable of any kind of interpretation? Well, you can prove anything from the Bible, people say. Is that true?

   Was Jesus the first hippie? Was he a vagabond? Did he continually come head to head with the establishment when he overthrew the money changers' table, you know, that's in the song, "Put Your Hand in the Hand"? Now, the buyers and the sellers were no different fellows, and from what I profess to be, we sing it all the time. But did Jesus Christ of Nazareth break a law when he did this? Well, I wrote an article some months ago now for the magazine we call "The Plain Truth." And when I did, I talked about the Jesus trip, and this as a result of a tremendous amount of information coming out in national publications about the Jesus people. Now, since that time, leading evangelists all over the United States have gotten in the act. We've had Expo 72 and the like. And so the kids are standing around in their chenille bedspread, and they're singing songs, and they're saying, "One way, man." But is that the whole thing? Was Jesus a hippie? Did he come head to head with the establishment? Did he break laws? Did he always camp out of doors and never have a place to go to lay his head? Did he completely reject upper crust in society? Did he go out and lead anti-war demonstrations and would he, if he were here today?

   So I wrote an article on that entitled "The Jesus Trip," and I got an avalanche of mail. Some of them called me all sorts of things. Some were, I think, mildly pityingly forgiving. A lot of them warned me. "Now, you better not judge." I'll tell you why, because I called the historic concept of this Jesus, whoever he is, that had long hair and that looked petulant and very much put upon, wore a halo, a white robe, open-toed sandals, and seemed to have a giant inferiority complex one everybody would believe on him, was supposed to have been a vagabond and a hippie. I called him a putrescent put-on, as I recall, a pusillanimous pansy, as I recall. And boy, them fighting words to some people, because the Jesus that they were clinging close to as their own private talisman had suddenly been ridiculed in some fashion.

   Now, I can understand why a skeptic, an atheist, or an agnostic. And I've done this whole series of programs now on seven proofs God exists, at which time I got pretty plain about evolution being a religion all of its own. I can understand why if I were to say at the conclusion of such an article, I challenge you to find the real Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Look it up in your own Bible and discover the true Jesus for yourself. I can see why an atheist might say, "Well, who do you think you are?" But it is difficult to understand why a person who fancies himself a Christian, a seeker of truth, a worshiper of Christ would get angry because I told him to find the true Jesus. Oh boy, I'll tell you, some of them got angry.

   And so, I followed it up with another article in which I proved that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was a taxpayer. His own disciples said he was, that he owned definitely one home and very likely two, that he headquartered out of Capernaum in a home that was large enough to have a large upstairs room, which I can prove to you in the scriptures and intend to in this series of programs and go right through it at which time he could have up to 120 people and then some in one room. So that, plus the fact of the casting out of the people at the temple, which I'm going to come to in a few moments and show you exactly what did happen. Claims that he broke the law when he went through the cornfield on the Sabbath and shuck some corn, began to peel it and eat it raw, which I've done as a boy and a lot of us have. It's beautiful that way and they did it that way. But that wasn't the only way he got his meals. He showed up at wedding feasts and banquets, and sometimes there were leaders of the government and very wealthy people, multimillionaires in our language today. Heads of some of the occupying forces of the Roman Army were personal friends of Jesus.

   Now, if the kids don't know this, it's not my fault because we are a nation of biblical illiterates. A lot of people own the Bible, but very few people seem to read very much about it. More than 75 million copies of the Bible or scripture portions are distributed every year, according to a past president of the American Bible Society. You know, it's been translated into more than 1,200 languages, including five in Braille. It's the book that almost everybody owns and almost nobody reads, and practically nobody seems to understand.

   The Bible has become a status symbol. You can find it on reading racks in airplanes, at various public areas like the bus station, and we always see one conveniently there at the funeral parlor. As a matter of fact, I told you, I think earlier, the one Bible I found that was in crisp mint condition like it had just come off the press, and I think it had been there for 20 years, it was in a funeral parlor. And I thought to myself, well, if there is ever a time when you would think bereaved relatives would want to turn to the Bible to find out what Jesus Christ of Nazareth had to say about death and about what happens at death and what happens to the body, and if there is a soul and so on, you would think that, that Bible would be absolutely dog-eared and just well-used. But no, nobody ever picked that one up, you know, some years ago.

   Now, this is kind of old. I'd like to see if we couldn't somehow conduct our own survey on this. But people were asked to name the first four books of the New Testament correctly. 35% of them managed to do that. But here's the amazing thing, 53% of these people could not name any, any one of the first four books of The New Testament where the very heart and the core of the teaching of Jesus Christ of Nazareth is found, where his personal description is found, where the account of him casting the money changers out of the temple is found, where the gospel is preached and taught, where all of his miracles, his private personal life, what he and his disciples, how he called them, his commission to them, his death, his resurrection, everything in short that is the real heart and core of the Christian message of this modern Christian professing era is found in those four books. And over half of those who were polled could not name a single one of them.

   Some years ago, I was walking down the aisles this time, the aisles in the supermarket and my kids were pretty small in those days. I think two of them are walking and toddling along and one was in this little baby part, you know, and I was going along, gathering the groceries and a little old lady came up. Pasadena has many very nice little old ladies who are still living in many of the apartments and the hotels and so on, many of their husbands died or retired or something before they came here. And it used to be known as the city of little old lady, but don't believe it, there are a lot of young people around Pasadena too, but one of these very nice little old ladies came up and wanted to, you know, the way people are to pat the kids on the head and talk to them and so on and said, "Oh my, what are their names? You know?" So I said, "Well, this one's Mark and there's David and there's Matt for Matthew and Sure." Well, originally I didn't name my older son, Mark, because of a Bible name at all. I just liked the sound of the name. But she says, "Oh my," she said, "nice gospel names, you know," and she was so sincere because she thought that David, any name out of the Bible. I mean, if I'd have said Ebenezer and Hud, you know, and Nun, she'd have said, "Oh, nice gospel names," probably wouldn't have been quite so pleased as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I don't know, Matthew, David, and Mark. But she thought those were gospel names, but they weren't really.

   Well, I'll come back in just a moment and show you how practically nobody seems to understand the straightforward gospel of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, just the way he taught it.

   The splendor of kings has awed man for thousands of years. Every kingdom, whether despotic or benevolent, has four important aspects: its ruler, subjects, laws, and territory. Bible prophecies foretell the kingdom that will rule the whole world with the laws of God as its guide. It's called the Kingdom of God. Some say it's the church, others are sure that it's set up in the hearts of men, and many insist it's in heaven. But what does the Bible say? Where will it be and how will it be set up?

   The booklet titled "What Do You Mean... Kingdom of God?" brings you the answer from your Bible. Write for your free copy today and read the big news about "What Do You Mean Kingdom of God?" Send your request to Ambassador College Box 345 GPO Sydney, New South Wales. Again, that's Ambassador College Box 345 GPO Sydney, New South Wales.

   What is the gospel Jesus Christ preached? Was it a message about his person? That's the way it's pretty much understood in the world today. The gospel is a message about Jesus loves you. People say one way, man, "Jesus loves you." They've even got skivvy shirts on the back of it that says anything you believe is all right, as long as you're sincere. Do people appropriate Jesus Christ to themselves? Like a religious talisman. People carry pocket-sized Bibles around, and it's been found that a lot of people very rarely ever read them, but they have them there. It's kind of like a good luck charm anymore. I've heard stories of soldiers in the war whose lives were saved because they had a little pocket Bible right there, close to their heart, and a piece of shrapnel hit it and didn't go all the way through, which of course, would have been a very religious experience to somebody. But what the individuals know about what is inside that book is the amazing thing.

   Many people know little if anything. I found in some of the letters that came back to me about that Jesus trip that people thought Jesus Christ came head to head with the establishment, that he demonstrated against law-abiding authority, that he was against the institutions of his day, that he broke the law on the Sabbath when he ate the corn, that he broke the law in healing a person's withered hand in a synagogue, that he broke the law when he kicked those people out of the temple, the money changers and those who were selling the doves and the cattle and so on. And so, I have had young people try to justify to me demonstrations, sit-ins anti-war demonstrations, flagrant violent confrontations with police officers and members of the so-called establishment and claim they're doing it all in Jesus' name. But you can't prove that from the Bible.

   Here in the fourth chapter, the book of Matthew, you find the very first words about the ministry of Christ beginning in verse 17 (Matthew 4:17). "From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, 'Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.'" Now, what is a gospel message? The word gospel doesn't mean "go spell." I had a guy come to me, had it all figured out one time, one of the funniest things I've ever heard, and he had all these words and the meaning of these words, everybody gets some weird interpretation and he said it means "go spell." So he said, for instance, you know, was he the guy that said that he had it figured out about what it meant, what the word, the Bible word abomination was. He said it means "a bomb, a nation." So there's where Hiroshima was predicted. It's a bomb, a nation, abomination. Oh, he lost me real fast.

   But anyhow, the word gospel merely is an old Anglo-Saxon word. That means good news. If you were to read that in modern English, it would merely say for he came preaching the good news of the coming Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. Now there are three gospel accounts. And really when it says the gospel, according to John, that's something man added. It is merely John as a reporter who wrote about the life and the times and the teaching and the preaching of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It isn't John's gospel people say according to John's gospel, John never had a gospel. John didn't even believe what Jesus said about the gospel. John left him with everybody else when he died. So did Matthew and Luke and Mark and all the rest of them. So did Peter. He said I go fishing. They didn't even believe the gospel that Jesus himself brought.

   But Jesus Christ of Nazareth came to the earth with a message about a soon coming kingdom of God. It was not a message about his person. Today you hear a message about Christ, about his person. You hear about a little Lord Jesus away in a manger. You hear about his death. You hear a little bit about the resurrection and certainly you would think with all of these Easter Sunday morning, sunrise services that people must wholesale around here believe in the resurrection. But we don't seem to live our lives like we believe in the resurrection. We don't see military leaders and labor leaders and government leaders and leaders of big business living their lives included in this. You can even say oftentimes, unfortunately, many a minister living their lives as if they really believe Jesus Christ of Nazareth is alive and sitting up there sort of on a countdown waiting to come back to this earth. We don't live our daily lives as if we thought that was imminent and about to occur. We think it's way often than ever and ever ethereal reaches of space somewhere. Maybe someday when all the babies get out of limbo.

   So, Jesus came down to this earth and began to preach and say, "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Mark, Luke, and John say Kingdom of God. Matthew says Kingdom of Heaven. Is that the Kingdom in heaven any more than the building of somebody or the bank of somebody is a building or a bank inside of them? The Bible describes a kingdom as being just the way your dictionary would describe it. That's an area over which a king rules, which has subjects and a territory and laws. And you know, the Kingdom of God is no different.

   Now, many people will even began to think way back years ago that the Kingdom of God is some earthly human conglomerate of nations or maybe some empire? Some people used to believe the British Empire was the Kingdom of God on earth. Hitler, with his toetish egotistic vanity, began to think he could usher in upon the world a virtual millennium German style. So everybody could sit around the beer schuber forever clanking steins and saying Deutschland is and getting roaringly drunk on that good Bavarian beer. And that was supposed to be with the Volkswagen in the garage and the chicken in every pot. No, Hitler didn't say that anyhow, that was supposed to be virtually the millennium on this earth.

   Now, that's hard for me to figure out. Once in a great while, these political types begin to think that they're practically offering to the electorate the same thing that a savior could. When you stop to think about it. If they can offer you the good life, if they can offer you a higher income, if they can offer you protection from sickness and disease, Medicare, etc., all these other benefits, if they can offer you a good sound foreign policy, if they can offer you a better domestic life and tranquility and freedom from fear and want. And all this, it begins to sound almost like this cradle to the grave kind of, "I'll take care of you" thing. You might as well be singing songs, you know, "he will take care of you" except that's the politician who's up there asking for your votes because that's what people seem to begin to believe.

   How many times has this world gone rushing off like a mob after every bright young new politician came along? Remember what happened down in Cuba when originally the Cuban people and even the United States government thought that Fidel Castro was going to be a good thing? How many tiresome times have people thrown off the yoke of one despotic ruler to find that they had leapt into the arms of yet a worse tyrant? Well, it's a sad commentary on human nature but the Kingdom of God is just what its name implies. It is a kingdom, it has a king, it has a territory which is described in the Bible. It has laws by which that king is going to rule.

   Jesus went about all their synagogue, that says in verse 23 Jesus went about all Galilee teaches in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria and they brought to him all sick people were taken with various kinds of diseases and torments and those who were possessed of demons and those which were lunatic and those which had the palsy and he healed them and there followed him great multitudes of people.

   So, the fact that he went about Galilee is not the gospel. The fact that Jesus was here is not the gospel. The fact that he called his disciples is not the gospel. What he said to Simon, the Pharisee is not the gospel. What he said in the Sermon on the Mount by itself and of itself is not necessary to the gospel. The gospel that he preached if you can find where it is in here to these multitudes of people, when you put it all together and you add it up is the message that Jesus brought, which is called the gospel. So, Jesus Christ of Nazareth brought a message from God the Father in heaven, which is called the gospel. It says here was preaching the gospel and healing. So healing was not the gospel. And when you read about healings in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you're not reading the gospel, you're reading some signs, some very dramatic miracles which God performed through Christ to give the stamp of approval. The identifying proof that he was the Messiah to make the gospel message believable, to make them realize it was of God. But the gospel Jesus brought was not a message about his person about what a nice man he was about the things he did. It was just what he said. It was a message he brought. Now, what is the real heart and the core of that gospel? I'll come right back and we'll find out.

   Human life comes from a single pinpoint-sized egg cell beginning a conception that cell grows, divides, and gradually develops into a small human being. The process by which the baby is delivered into the world is called birth.

   In speaking to a leading religious figure of his day, Christ referred to this process of human birth as an analogy to explain spiritual rebirth into God's family, saying, "You must be born again." Nicodemus wondered what Christ meant by the term "born again," actually being reborn physically or what? The Ambassador College publication, "What Do You Mean Born Again?" brings you the Bible answer to this intriguing question. Write today for your free copy of "What Do You Mean Born Again?" Send your request to Ambassador College Box 345 GPO, Sydney, New South Wales. That's Ambassador College Box 345 GPO, Sydney New South Wales.

   Jesus Christ of Nazareth came with a gospel which merely means good news, good news about what? About the Kingdom of God. And he said in John 18 and verse 36 (John 18:36), "My kingdom is not of this world." He said, "If it were, then would my servants fight?" You know, it was at the time of his trial, he was about to be illegally put to death. And he said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would be out here with arms and they would be trying to get me out of these bonds. I would be rescued by them. We would be a warring earthly kingdom." But he said, "My kingdom is not of this world, not at this time."

   Not of this cosmos, this orderly system, this society, this age. But he said it was going to come. Now, you know, a scripture that is so often repeated in campaigns and religious literature is this business. "You must be born again." Well, it ought to be repeated, but it also ought to be understood. Take a look if you would in your own Bible, when you get a chance, if you've got one, if not borrow one and if not do that, well, go buy one someplace and I don't have any to sell. I don't know where you can buy them. But a Bible bookstore would be a good idea.

   Here in the third chapter, the book of John, you read to this man, a ruler of the Pharisees named Nicodemus and also a ruler of the Jews who came and said privately to Jesus, "Rabbi, we know you're a teacher come from God." So, he acknowledged that he and they with him, those minority leaders of that day knew that Jesus was a man come from God because he said, "No man can do these miracles except God be with him." And Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

   So, everybody right away says, "Oh yes, praise the Lord. I'm born again." What does it mean to be born again? Well, why don't we ask Jesus? He used the word, the Greek word is Gennao from which we take gender and engender generation. Gennao. It can mean really the whole process of birth which involves both the impregnation and the birth. So, a little later on Nicodemus said, "Well, how can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus didn't think Jesus meant a spiritual experience. He knew he was talking about a process that had to do with birth. He said, "How can a man who was already walking around the earth go back into his mother's womb?" He said that exactly. "Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?"

   Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he can't enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh." Why don't you hear that scripture repeated when people say you must be born again? Praise the Lord. Everybody says, "Amen." Amen. You said it too loud. You know, I don't know what all that is. But anyhow, he said you must be born again. He said that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Were you born of the flesh? You bet you were so were cows and dogs and chickens and pigs and all the rest of them. And that which was born of flesh is flesh. I'm flesh, you're flesh that which is born of the spirit is spirit. I'm sorry. It's not my fault. I didn't put it in there. Please don't get mad at me. It says that which is born of the spirit is spirit.

   Therefore, if a person is born again, according to Jesus, not according to the tract, the pamphlet, maybe not according to the religious doctrines of men, maybe not even according to the last sermon you heard. I don't know, but it's not my fault it's in there. It was in our way before I was born of the flesh and I am flesh. It says that which is born of the spirit is spirit. I said, now, wait a minute, don't marvel that I said to you you must be born again. Then he went on to give an example. He said, the wind blows where it will and you hear the sound of it, but you can't tell where it came from and where it goes. So, is every one that is born of the spirit? How does that square I ask you with the common concept that being born again means that you have an experience and you say praise the Lord. I'm born again.

   I don't want to disappoint anybody. I don't think Jesus meant to disappoint people when he said you must be born again. That ought to be good news. But you know, it says flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God in I Corinthians 15:50. And Jesus said, if you're born of the spirit, you're invisible like the wind. Do you know anybody invisible like the wind wafting around through the ease of your house? Well, unless you do, you don't know anybody that's been born of the spirit because Jesus Christ of Nazareth was born by a resurrection as the Son of God. And it shows that he was the first from the dead in verse 20 of I Corinthians 15 (Corinthians 15:20).

   But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. And it says a little later on every man in his own order, Christ, the first fruits and afterward they that are Christ's at his coming and not before. So, Jesus said you have to be born again. But he called it a process that had to do with some spiritual miracle which changes what you are, not just what you think.

   You ought to write for this booklet on, Why were you BORN? What is the real purpose in human life? Does life after all have any real meaning? I don't remember anything at all about the day of my birth. Matter of fact, I don't think my parents even told me very much about it except to say that I, I was born and told me which hospital it was in and later the hospital burnt down and I hoped and prayed there was no connection.

   But I remember seeing my birth certificate once or twice. I think it's been lost since they did a dirty trick to me when I was born. They, uh, they put my little feet on ink pads and then held up a piece of paper and gave me some ink footprints. I guess that was so they figured if I ever robbed a bank and did it barefoot, they could track me down. No. But anyhow, I didn't know a thing when I was born. Everything I learned I learned since that time, I've had to unlearn a lot of things and I've been able to learn other things. But the one thing that I didn't even begin to understand until I was well on up into my twenties. And even then it wasn't my doing, but it was a blessing from God that it was given to me. Knowledge came to me about the purpose for human life. What was I doing on this earth anyhow? I mean, a lot of times we see people that are so fed up with it all, they simply put an end to it every single day in your newspapers or the television news you're hearing of horrible stories of people who put an end to themselves, who murder themselves or a murder-suicide pact or something because people are simply fed up with life.

   Now, here we are in a world where science has bequeathed upon us the ability to destroy ourselves before we ever found out why we are here. So, write for this booklet on, Why were you BORN? What is the real purpose in human life? Does life after all have any real meaning? It goes into the origins, the question of where we came from, the question of human survival, how we are creatures not of instinct but of brain, whether or not science has run a little amok and lost its way, in giving us we human mortals the wherewithal to annihilate ourselves but not really telling us what we are. What is the real cause of evil in the world? And are we really God's workmanship or did we just happen? What is redemption? What is salvation? What is the purpose of our living? And what is this thing about being born again? It's in this booklet. Why were you BORN? Is the ultimate purpose in your life just to acquire material possessions, honestly, or dishonestly as rapidly as you possibly can to enjoy the interim, as much as you possibly can and then to do whatever it is that happens when people die, you ought to write for this booklet, Why were you BORN?

   Now, I know a lot of you have heard that advertised many times. You put it off, you're driving your car right now or you're, you're sitting there, maybe you're not too close to a pencil. So, you think, well, I'll get around to doing that someday. You know, it's amazing how even a simple little human chore like picking up an envelope and writing an address down on it sometimes is very difficult for us to do, you do it, promise yourself you're going to do it before you do anything else. And all you need to do is to request it by sending your letter to, Post Office Box 345, Sydney, New South Wales. Be sure to tell us the call letters of your station. We need that. That's all, there is no cost. But tell us the name of the radio station to which you've been listening, the call letters and then send your letter to Box 345 Sydney New South Wales. Until next time this is Garner Ted Armstrong saying goodbye friends.

   You have been listening to the World Tomorrow. If you would like more information, write to Ambassador College Box 345 GPO Sydney, New South Wales. That's Ambassador College Box 345 GPO Sydney, New South Wales.