The Bible Answers Short Questions From Our Readers
Plain Truth Staff
"I have often heard you compare America and Britain with ancient Rome. Are we really going the way of ancient Rome? From time to time you have alluded to the five cardinal sins of the Roman Empire. In what way are we committing those sins today?"
Indeed we are going the way of ancient Rome. We are committing the same five cardinal sins. And our leaders today do not realize what is happening any more than the Romans did! You have probably thought that Rome was the first nation to experience these five tragic sins. Not so, Rome had the lesson written in the collapse of every great nation and empire that preceded it. The Greeks, the Persians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, all passed through the same experience. Even ancient Israel committed the same sins. God had Israel's experience recorded in the Bible so we, their lineal descendants, could avoid repeating those sins and suffering the downfall! But who reads — let alone studies, or understands — the Bible today? The five cardinal sins of Rome — and of all past great nations — are described in detail in Edward Gibbon's famous work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. These five reasons for the fall of Rome may be summarized as follows: 1. The rapid increase of divorce and the breakdown of the family. 2. The spiraling rise of taxes and extravagant spending. 3. The mounting craze for pleasure and brutality in sports, 4. The building of gigantic armaments while failing to realize that the real enemy was the moral decay from within. 5. The decay of religion into a mere form, leaving the people without any guide.
"What is the prophetic significance of the unexpected death of America's first Catholic President?"
The sudden and tragic death of America's first Roman Catholic President is of major significance. You may not recognize it until after the next election. It will have its effect on domestic affairs, possibly delaying the explosion in the race crisis. But — and of far greater significance — is the effect it will have on foreign affairs, Bible prophecy reveals a coming United States of Europe. (Daniel 2 and 7 and Revelation 17:7-17.) It will restore the Holy Roman Empire. But Bible prophecy also reveals that it will not be formed without major economic and political crises first hitting Europe. Already signs of that are apparent. The Common Marker may possibly be split by (he adamant views of France's DeGaulle. It will take the Roman Catholic Church to settle jealousies and bring about final cultural, political and religious unity in Continental Western Europe. (Rev. 17:1-6, 18.) This coming union of ten nations in Europe is prophesied to rum on Britain and America and destroy us in World War III. Such an astounding turn of events would have been far less likely — perhaps impossible — under a Catholic Administration in Washington, D.C. There are literally hundreds of Bible prophecies foretelling the events rocking today's world to its feet. They cannot all be explained either in this department or in any two or three articles in The PLAIN TRUTH. But you can understand them, and study them in your own home, in our free Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course. You will find it the most fascinating study you have ever made. To most people the Study of the Bible is a dull, uninteresting, irksome task — done, if at all, only as a duty out of tear of a harsh God. Bible study call and SHOULD be the most interesting, most enjoyable, most profitable interest in our lives. But mankind has forgotten God, His laws, neglected Bible prophecy. Man has never starred to really understand God's inspired Word. The Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course begins the study of the Bible with this very present the world in which we live — this time of upset world conditions. You will find that the study of your Bible will mean more to you if you first fully understand its vital relationship to your life today — and its direct connection with the tragic world events you have been reading about in your daily newspapers. You will find that far from being a dull, uninspiring chronicle of ancient history, your Bible will make life interesting. You will find that no entertainment, Sport or mundane pleasure is ever so vitally interesting, so truly enjoyable, so delightful, and so satisfying as the study of your own Bible. You will find that God, through His Word, will reveal to you the way out of boredom, emptiness and discontentment. You will find, perhaps for the first time in your life, that you begin to understand God's message as it has been preserved in your own Bible. You may enroll for the Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course without any obligation whatsoever. It is offered by Ambassador College, tuition FREE! Thirty-one lessons have already been completed. You may discontinue receiving lessons at any time. But past experience has shown us that the average person finds this study so engrossing, so rewarding, so entertaining, that you will not want to discontinue it. The Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course is not difficult. There is no extraneous memorization of facts ABOUT the Bible. This course gives you a greater understanding of God's plan, God's overall purpose as it is revealed in His Word. You will begin to understand how the Bible applies to your daily life in this modern twentieth century! If you would like to enroll for the Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course, send your name and address to the Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course, Post Office Box 111, Pasadena, California — or to our British, Canadian or Australian addresses. (Our overseas mailing addresses will be found on the inside from cover, under "Address all communications.") You will be enrolled with the next monthly class of students, and receive one lesson per month for as long as you desire to continue. You will be joining the ranks of tens of thousands of ACTIVE Correspondence Course Students who are now receiving their lessons.
Your recent article explaining that God intended distinct varieties of plants, animals and human beings to keep separate prompts this question. Are nectarines, grapefruit, and rutabagas all hybrids? Some claim so, but is it true?
Many have assumed that these species are hybrids. The truth is that not one of these is. Many accept one or more of these "old wives' tales" without proof. Some assume that the nectarine is a hybrid cross between a peach and a plum just because it is smooth and fuzzless like a plum and has the ocher qualifies of a peach. This idea — very commonly held today — is a fallacy and has no scientific basis whatsoever. It would be just as rational to assume that an artificial egg is a cross between an egg and a light bulb because it resembles both. Many people hear a tale over and over again and assume it to be true. Human nature is such that if you hear a statement repeated often enough, you begin to think that it is true! Hider capitalized on this foible of human nature to sway millions and make them believe his deliberate lies. Horticulturists and plant specialists know that the nectarine is in reality a smooth-skinned, fuzzless mutation of the peach. In fact, nectarines were known to the ancient Romans, over 2000 years ago! You can verify this information in any standard work on horticulture, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, or even a reliable dictionary. The grapefruit, also, is a natural plant and not a hybrid, as many have assumed. Its unusual size, color and flavor do not mean it is a hybrid, but that God put chose qualities in grapefruit for our benefit. Another common misunderstanding is in regard to the rutabaga. Because it has as many genes in a chromosome as a cabbage and a turnip combined, this vegetable has been assumed to be a cross between those two vegetables. This is an assumption. Just try crossing cabbages with turnips! You won't get rutabagas! You had just as well not waste your time trying! We need to be careful about the rumors we hear often repeated and taken, by others, for granted. The truth doesn't need to begin as a rumor, hearsay, or "old wives' tale."
If God took one of Adam's ribs in order to create Eve, why don't we find men today with one less rib? Doesn't this disprove the Bible?
Disprove the Bible? Not at all! This kind of change — Adam's loss of a rib for example — is not passed on from parent to offspring. A man who loses an arm in an automobile accident will not have children lacking one arm! Adam's loss of a rib in order that God could create Eve does not mean chat all of Adam's male children were born with one less rib than their sisters. Yet this sort of hazy, inconclusive-medieval-thinking is what this world has blindly accepted as a basis of evolution. In the 1500's the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church were shocked! Andreas Vesalius, Doctor of Anatomy, discovered that both men and women had the same number of ribs.' It had long been assumed that because God had taken one of Adam's ribs (Gen. 2:21), that all men — Adam's children — had one less rib than women. Vesalius was called into account for his amazing discovery. The religious leaders of his day believed him to be contradicting the Bible. If those church leaders had read the Bible they would have known his findings were correct. Vesalius had merely discovered one of God's natural laws. God set in motion a law that characteristics acquired through accidental injuries are not inherited. Can you imagine what a world would be like if these acquired or new characteristics of the parent animal could be genetically passed on to it! offspring? It would be a world of hair, maimed and blind!
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