MARCH 1985

emsOFTHE WORLD TOMORROW

COVER: There 's a hidden enemy in your home! You haven't seen th is enemy. He'sright in your family - he 's made you all suffer - he's broken up many families,caused untold suffer ing and a world of unhappi ness. Editor-in-Chief Herbert W.Armstrong explains exactly who this enemy is and how to defeat him in the articlebeginning on page 3. Photo by Nathan Faulkner.

VOL. XXXII, NO.3

Danger ofMake-BelieveSee page 6

Assistant Managing EditorNorman L. Shoaf

ContributorsDibar K. ApartianJerold W. Aust

K. Neil EarleJohn A. Halford

George M. KackosRonald D. Kelly

James P. LichtensteinGraemme J. Marshall

L. Leroy NeffBernard W. Schnippert

Richard H. SedliacikClayton D. Steep

Philip StevensEarl H. Williams

GraphicsGreg S. Smith

Minette Collins SmithEditorial AssistantColleen M. Dixon

Editor-in-ChiefHERBERT W. ARMSTRONG

Managing EditorDexter H. Faulkner

PUBLISHED BY THEWORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD

PublisherHerbert W. Armstrong

TreasurerL. Leroy Neff

Director of Publishing ServicesRay L. Wright

Production DirectorRoger G. Lippross

Production ManagerRon Taylor

Circulation ManagerBoyd L. Leeson

International EditionsDutch: Bram de Bree

French: Dibar K. ApartianGerman: John B. Karlson

Spanish: Don Walls

3 .....

9 ""

6 ......

23 -

18 ...,.

22 .....

25 -""

28 --

25

Contents:

MARCH 1985--\1~U~~

CIRCULATION: 485,000

Danger of Make-Believe

- Personal From Herbert W. Armstrong : Let God Fight Your Battles!

There's a Hidden Enemy in Your Home!

-...What Satan Doesn't Want You to Know

- Coming - A Temple in Jerusalem? Part Two

- Watch World Events

Letters

- Ministudy: Why Water Baptism?

- You CAN Be Positive in Today's World

- Prove All Things: Sin - A Matter of Life and Death

The Good News is published monthly (except com­bined June-July and October-November issues) by theWorldwide Church of God, 300 W. Green St., Pasa­dena. Calit., 91123 . Copyright © 1985 WorldwideChurch of God. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.Reentered as second-class matter at the Manila CentralPost Office on Jan. 18. 1974.Address all communications to the Good Newsaddress nearest you:United States : 300 W. Green St., Pasadena, Calif.,

91123. For literature requests you may call toll free1-800-423-4444; in Alaska and Hawaii. call818-304-6111 collect.

Canada : P.O. Box 44, Station A, Vancouver, B.C.•V6C 2M2. For literature requests you may call tollfree 1-800-663-2345; in British Columbia, call112-800-663-2345.

Australia : P.O. Box 202, Burleigh Heads, Queensland4220

Bahamas : P.O. Box N3934, Nassau NPBarbados: P.O. Box 1021. Bridgetown

Bermuda: P.O. Box 908, Hamilton 5-24Colombia: Apartado Aereo 11430, Bogota 1, D.E.Denmark: Box 211, DK-8100 Aarhus CFiji: P.O. Box 3938, Samabula, SuvaGhana : P.O. Box 9617. Kotoka Int. Airport. AccraGuyana : P.O. Box 10907, GeorgetownIndia: P.O. Box 6727, Bombay 400 052Jamaica: P.O. Box 544. Kingston 5Kenya : P.O. Box 47135. NairobiMalaysia : P.O. Box 430, Jalan Sultan. Petaling Jaya,

SelangorMauritius : P.O. Box 888, Port LouisMexico: lnstitucion Ambassador, Apartado Postal

5-595, Mexico 06500, D.F.New Zealand and Pacific Isles: P.O. Box 2709,

Auckland 1Nigeria : P.M.B. 21006, ikeja, Lagos StateNorway: Box 2513, Solli, Oslo 2Philippines : P.O. Box 1111, Makati, Metro Manila 3117Puerto Rico: G.P.O. Box 6063, San Juan, Puerto Rico

00936

Singapore: P.O. Box 111, Farrer Road Post Office,Singapore 9128

Solomon Islands: P.O. Box 508, HoniaraSouth Africa: P.O. Box 5644, Cape Town 8000Sri Lanka : P.O. Box 1824. ColomboSweden: Box 5380. S-102 46 StockholmTonga : P.O. Box 127, Nuku'alofaTrinidad: P.O. Bag 114, Port of SpainUnited Kingdom: P.O. Box 111, Borehamwood ,

Herts., WD6 lLUZambia: P.O. Box 50117. LusakaZimbabwe: P.O. Box U.A. 30, Union Ave.,

HarareBe sure to notify us Immediately of any changeIn your mailing address. Please include your oldmailing label and your new address. U.S. POST­MASTER: Send address change to: The GoodNews, Box 111, Pasadena, Calif., 91123. Thepublishers assume no responsibility for the safe­ty or return of unsolicited artwork, photographsor manuscripts.

PERSONAL FROM

LetGodFight Your Battles!T he world you live in

today is a very trou­bled world. You not

only have your own person­al problems, but you alsosuffer from the deliberateOPPOSITION and ANTAGO­

NISM of the world aroundyou.

I t is time you consideredhow to conquer these troubles- how to be FREE from them- how to let GOD fight yourbattles instead!

One le ssonn ot yet learned

Fir st , unders tand this: If theWORLD today is not happy - ifwor ld conditions are in a ch aoticstate, if lives are empty and pur­poseless, if minds are filled withfears and worries , bodies wrackedwith sickness and disease ­THERE IS A REASON!

Conditions are exactly whatwe make th em!

Mortal HUMANS, groping in thedarkness of confusion, have madecondition s wh at they are. Hu­manity is REAPING what it hasSOWN! Only the direct and all­powerful su pe rn atu ra l interven­t ion of ALMIGHTY GOD candeliver this world from all itstroubles.

What th e world doesn 't knowis that God will not cau se itspresent ways of wrong li ving tobring an y human utopia. Rather,G OD ALMI GHTY WI LL SOONHA VE TO STEP IN AND R ULEOVER THE WORLD - bringing it

INTO THE WA YS of His just laws,which alone can produce thishappy TOMORROW!

WE, TOO, AS GOD'S PEOPLE,HAVE LESSONS TO LEARN. Eventhough stubborn and rebelliousmankind brings upon the worldeven DARKER days in the immedi­ate future, REM EMB ER - it'sDARKEST just before DAWN. T akehope in the SURE knowledge thatthe new world of GOD'S making- and RULING - is VERY neartoday!

Bu t in the meantime, whatabout YOU and your own privatelife an d problems?

Let us consider some of yourown private; personal TROUBLES.I know that you have them! And Iwant to tell you something - Iwant to tell you GOOD news. Youare carrying a lot of worries andfears and troubles that y ou don'tneed to carry!

Life is simply filled with pri­vate, personal battles. We have tobattle fears and worries. Some­times it seems we have to battlePEOPLE who appear to be enemies- often it's a husband, a wife ora mother-in- law - and whetheryou realize it or not, YOU alsohave to battle YOURSELF!

It is like having to fight a hostof ENEMIES - all these TROU­BLES, these CIRCUMSTANCES,these adverse CONDITiONS, theseTEMPTATIONS! But there is a wayyou may FREE yourself from thesetroubles that confront you. Thereis a WAY OUT! You can be FREEfrom fighting all of these enemiesexcept just ONE - your own self- and you can receive a lot of

HELP a n d KNOWLEDGE a n dPOWER in doing th at!

Here's where that help can befound!

Jesus Chri st is the deliverer

The et ernal C reator-RULER ofthe universe - the G od whogives you the very air you breathe- sent H is ow n begotten SON,Jesu s C hrist , in to this wor ld mo rethan 1,900 years ago to BRINGYOU THE WAY OF DELIVERANCEfr om all your t ri als, your worries,your problems.

WH Y, then, do some of you notLISTEN to th e way H e taug ht us ?A nd WHY do so many peopl ethink of Hi m as a dead C hristh anging on a c ross? G ODALMIGHTY RAISED H IM FROMTHE DEAD!

Jesu s Christ is our LIVI NG Sav­ior and H igh Priest , j us t as theCreator is a LIVING R ULER OFALL THE UNIVE RSE!

Do YOU REALIZE THAT J ESUSC HRIST, THE LIVING, RESUR­RECTED CHRI ST, TO WHOM ISGIVEN ALL PO W ER, HAS APR E SENT MISSION TO PER­FORM? Do yo u realize th at Hispr esent mi ssion is to FIGHT YOURBATTLES FOR YO U - to DELIVERYOU - to FREE you from all yourfears, you r TROU BLES and eventh e ci rc umst ances that besetyou?

Tho usands of you would cometo m e for help in your troubles ifI had time to see and talk to you- you'd come wit h husb and-and­wi fe troubles, funera l troubles ­every kind of t rouble. Yes, you' dcome to m e becau se I'm human

March 1985

- one you can see - whosevoice you hear.

But because I'm only human, Ihave not the ability, the strengthnor the TIME to render such a per­sonal ministry to so many in dif­ferent parts of the world.

Now think this over carefully,and ANSWER THIS! WHY do youfight your own battles, when HE- the LIVING Savior - is livingin ALL POWER to fight them foryou?

He's REAL. He's DIVINE. WHYdo some of you go on worrying,when HE is right there in ALLTHE POWER OF THE DIVINE CRE~

ATOR to FREE you from all yourworries?

WHY? There is one of two rea­sons. Either you have not fullyKNOWN of this great, all-encom­passing DIVINE SOURCE OFPOWER that YOU can call on atwill - you have not REALIZEDwhat ALL-CONQUERING HELP youcan have - or else you have,through lack of faith or neglect,FAILED to CALL ON that supernat­ural HELP in your times of need!

CAN I open your eyes to seethat God is a God of LOVE - thatGod in all His supreme powerwills above all things for you toPROSPER and BE IN HEALTH andto find the way to the HAPPY,FULL, ABUNDANT LIFE? ThatJesus Christ is a LIVING SAVIOR,to whom you can go AT ALL TIMES- a Savior to save you from yourpresent everyday fears and wor­ries, adverse circumstances, trou­bles, sicknesses and trials, as wellas to save you from eternal DEATHat the end?

Notice what Scripture com­mands: "Let us therefore comeboldly to the throne of grace, thatwe may obtain mercy and findgrace to help in time of need"(Hebrews 4: 16) .

God is interestedin your life now

God's salvation is NOT some­thing you collect only after youdie - IT IS A PRACTICAL, COM­MONSENSE, USEFUL salvation thatstarts in your everyday life RIGHTHERE AND NOW!

What needless pains some havebeen suffering. What NEEDLESS

2 The GOOD NEWS

fears and worries you may havebeen carrying around. WhatWONDERFUL TIMES - what HAP­PINESS you may have cheatedyourself out of, just because youhave not REALIZED and takenadvantage of the very PRESENTand all-powerful HELP of yourLIVING Savior!

Actually what is happening isthat you may have found yourselffaced with foes far more powerfulthan you. These foes may come informs of troubles, of unforeseencircumstances, of worries, of sick­nesses or even of other persons.These foes NEED not make yourlife unhappy.

Old Testament illustration

Did you ever really thinkthrough the full meaning of ICorinthians 10: 11 - that theincidents in the lives of God'speople of Old Testament timeswere written into the Bible forOUR LEARNING AND HELP?

I want now to turn to the expe­rience of a man who lived in thattime. This man found that hecould RELY on the almighty GOD.This man was faced with a FARmore terrifying trouble than hasever beset you. He found theHAPPY SOLUTION. His experiencewill show you what YOU can do,this very day!

Once you UNDERSTAND, youwill have to learn to TAKE GODAT HIS WORD - TO CALL UPONGOD IN PRAYER ---' you will haveto ASK GOD for what you need ­and you may have to learn how toPRAY.

GOD ALMIGHTY will actuallyintervene in your life and helpYOU and fight YOUR battles foryou . Remember, God is norespecter of persons. He will notdo more for one than another. Hewill do as much for YOU as forany person who ever lived. Hewill do as much for you - if youobey Him and rely on Him - asfor any ancient king of Israel orJudah!

You may have a problem thatcompletely overwhelms you. Youmay be at your wit's end - youmay not know where to turn orwhat to do! It may be a familyproblem, a personal problem, a

financial problem, a problem ofsickness or disease.

But let me tell you now asJesus Christ's apostle of a manwho came upon a situation proba­bly far more terrifying than yours- one that would throw frightand terror into the stoutestheart.

The solution this man used willsolve YOUR problems - put anEND to your troubles. The sameGod who heard anddelivered himwill hear and deliver you - IFyou will obey Him and trustHim.

The fact that this man was anancient king makes no difference.God is no respecter of persons ­He will do as much for YOU. Godis the SAME today and tomorrowas He was yesterday.

This man was King Hezekiahof the ancient kingdom of JUDAH.He was an ordinary human mor­tal, the same as YOU today.

God intervenes for a man

The vast armies of Assyriawere marching westward andsouthward to invade Judah. TheJews were greatly outnumbered.They had no army or power tostand up against such a powerfulfoe.

They were HELPLESS. Theyfaced certain defeat - just asYOU may feel HELPLESS in theface of your troubles today.

If some of you try to solve yourproblem or overcome your badhabits or resist sin in nothingmore than your OWN power andstrength, you, too, will find your­self outnumbered, overpoweredand doomed to defeat!

You must learn, as this ancientking did, that GOD stands readyand willing to fight your battlesfor you .

Read his experience in IIChronicles 32, from the Moffatttranslation :

"It was after this, after all thisloyal service, that Sancherib kingof Assyria invaded Judah, besieg­ing the fortified towns and mean­ing to seize them. When Heze­kiah saw that Sancherib had comedetermined to attack Jerusalem,he and his nobles and his chiefs

(Continued on page 11)

There's aHidden EnemyinYour Home!

Have we been overlookingthe very first lesson in true Christian living?

By Herbert W. Armstrong

T here's an enemy inyour home, proba­bly. You haven't

seen this enemy. He's rightin your family - he's madeyou all suffer - he'sbroken up many families,caused untold suffering anda world of unhappiness.

But you never saw him.He's kept hidden from yoursight.

It's high time you opened youreyes and took a good look at him,so you can recognize him for thevillain he is.

The psychologists call him"emotional immaturity."

But that's something manypeople know nothing about. It'ssomething "educated" people talkand write about, but seldomunderstand.

What is emotional maturity?It is not something to be

learned about by college grad­uates. It is something that oughtto be taught in the first grade ­and taught to 4-, 6- and 8-year­olds in the home. It is the techni­cal art of putting into practice theTen Commandments. It is thereal secret to human happiness.But it is just not taught! How,

after all, can parents teach theirchildren, when they themselvesare emotionally immature? Howcan teachers instill emotionalmaturity in children when theyhave not grown up emotionallythemselves?

Yet here is the real secret ofability to live the Ten Command­ments . It's the real secret toChristian living and perfection.It's the real distinguishing markof the truly educated person.

That it is not realized andinstilled in children while theyare growing up - that it is not arequired basic course of trainingin all colleges - is a terribleindictment against education,religion, society.

One author defines emotionalmaturity as development from thestate of taking to the state of giv­ing . Taking is the way of Satan.Giving is the way of God, and theprinciple of His law. LOVE is giv­ing. A little baby learns, general­ly, only how to take. He will takehis bottle, his rattle, his toy. Itbecomes his human nature totake. Humans know absolutelyNOTHING at birth. But a babyresponds to Satan's negativeinfl uence, develops a selfishnature and begins to reach out totake whatever attracts or tempts

him. Humans must be taught togive. Giving is something thathas to be LEARNED. But howmany begin teaching their babiesthis principle - the very princi­ple of God's law and of truelove?

What we overlook

Let us define it further. Allhuman beings are actuated bytheir emotions. But do we everstop to ask and analyze what arethese emotions?

An emotion is a strong feeling- a disturbance - a departurefrom the normal calm state ofrational thinking and acting - animpulse toward an action that hasnot been reasoned and approvedby the mind.

Among the emotions are suchfeelings or impulses as fear,anger, disgust, grief, joy, surprise,yearning.

And first cousin to emotion areour moods. An emotionallyimmature person is usually onewho is moody and has neverlearned to control his moods.

More and more I am impressedthat one of the most importanttruths we humans overlook is thathuman beings are not equippedwith instinct, like dumb animals,to guide us into the proper

March 1985 3

course. Animals do not have themind power, knowledge, ability toreason and mentally direct theiractions. God endowed them,instead , with instinct that guidesthem along in the channel Heintended.

God endowed man, in His ownimage, with MIND. Man must firstlearn and acquire knowledge. Heis endowed, also , with capacity toreason from that knowledge - tothink, to plan, to arrive at conclu­sions, to make decisions. Godintended man's mind to direct hisactions. But man must learn to dothis, and he can never achieveGod's PURPOSE in placing him onthis earth until he does.

The development of rightCHARACTER is the purpose ofhuman life . And character is abil­ity to come to right knowledgeand wisdom and then to direct themind and body into this rightcourse. But we poor humans actas though we believed man to bemerely the highest of the dumbbrutes - as if man wereequipped with instinct, and thepurpose of life were merely toENJOY such feelings, sensations,emotions and moods as impulseattracts us to, without thinking ormental direction!

Emotional maturity is the key to humanhappiness. It's the secret to Christianliving and perfection. It's the distinguishingmark of the truly educated person.

A tragic case

I once knew a tragic example, aman highly educated, whose lifehad been devoted to the field ofeducation, assuming readily theresponsibility of teaching others,when he himself had not learnedthis central truth of life .

His mind was stored 'wit hknowledge of science, history,mathematics, literature. He hadknowledge of facts about theearth, the sun, the moon, thestars. He had acquired knowledgeabout many other things, but notabout himself - his moods, hisfeelings, his drives, impulses anddesires. He had not stopped tostudy and analyze them, let alonelearn to control them.

As a child he had been pam­pered, petted, spoiled - permit­ted to have his way, never taughtself-restraint, self-control or howto understand his moods, feelingsand desires, and to control and

4 The GOOD NEWS

guide them according to thesound reasoning of the mind,instead of impulsively followingthem without mental direction.

He was married, had a finefamily , an honored position withrare opportunities. But lettingfeelings, moods, impulses domi­nate his mind, instead of makinghis mind rationally and wiselydirect them , his marriagecrashed, his home was broken upand he fled in fear from his highposition and brilliant future .

He not only wrecked his ownlife, he forced great sorrow,unhappiness and suffering onmany others . His emotions had so

dominated his mind that he cameto see circumstances through theeyes of his feelings, and hisunderstanding became warpedand distorted.

Physically he grew to normalmaturity, and was reasonably pro­ficient in athletics. He possesseda number of university degrees.He was mentally mature so far asthis world's fau lt y educationinst ru cts. But, emotionally, he q;

was still somewhere between ages ~8 and 12! And, sadly, his spiritual ~age was no older. ~

The great tragedy of our gener- ~

ation is that nearly all people ~mature physically, perhaps half to ~

two thirds mature mentally, butvery few ever grow up emotional­ly or spiritually.

One is not a fully mature manor woman, as God intended, untilemotional and spiritual maturityhas been reached!

Should st art in child training

The time to start this emotion­al "growing up" is the same timemental training is begun . Itshould be started in th e home,within the first months of achild's life.

Parents, STUDY your own chil­dren . Remember that training ofthe emotions involves control andright direction of feelings, tem­pers, impulses. It means controlover anger, jealousy, hatred, fear,grief, resentment , se lfishness,vanity. And since the RIGHTdirection is the way of God's law- and since that is the way ofLOVE, and love is the principle ofgiving instead of taking - itmeans the teaching of your chil­dren to use their own minds tounderstand their moods and guid ­ing them in the direction of GIV­ING - of love toward others,equal with love toward self.

Yelling, loud talking, bursts oftemper, rudeness - all these arelack of emotional "growing up ."Emotional immaturity is simplyletting human nature run swaywithout an y control from a right­thinking, reasoning mind . Teachyour children to let their MINDSdirect their natures properly andwisely.

I remember the first funeral Iwas called on to officiate. Atfunerals man y people let theiremotions of grief run uncon­trolled . A great fear seized me. Iwas afraid I would not be able tokeep calm and control my ownfee lings, and I knew I must dothat and, with calm tendernessan d sympathy, comfort the be­reaved . I was much younger then,and in the emotional struggle thatwent on inside my mind over abil ­ity to carry thi s responsibility, Ibegan to go to pieces.

I announced to my family Ijust couldn't do it. We were atthe time visiting in my father 'shome, and he came over to me ,

put his hands on my shoulders,and calmly shook me, say ing in avoice of authority with which hehad not spoken to me since I wasa child: "Here! Snap out of it!This is your responsibility! Thisfamily is broken up in sorrow,and they are relying on you . Youcan 't back out of it! Wake up!Come to yourself! Get a grip onyourself! You are going throughwith this, and you're going to doit with credit and calm dignityand sincerity !"

That, I remember, sobered andcalmed me and brought me backto my right senses, and I repliedquietly, "Yes, Dad, of course Iwill."

Then I went to a private room,closed the door and talked to myheavenly Father about it , andreceived from Him the emotionalcontrol I had lacked for thisordeal - and th at first funeralwas an ordeal. But when I literal­ly placed myself in God's handsas Hi s instrument, He used me,and the words He spoke throughmy mouth resulted in the conver­sion of th e bereaved parents.

I found it difficult, as I waslat er more and more frequentlycalled upon to officiate at fun er­als, to so contro l my own em o­tions as to achieve right balance- that outer calmness, withoutgoing to th e opposite extreme ofhardening my senses so that Iwould not feel proper sym pathy.It was through God's help andmuch prayer that I was abl e toachieve em otional control, withdignit y and poise , ye t withextreme tenderness, gentlenessand heartfelt sympathy for thosein sorrow, so th at I could givethem the help they needed intheir greatest trial , and still notbreak down with them.

Emotion in religion

Surely no one can achieve realChristian growth and perfectionuntil he has acquired emotionalstability . Our tempers , feelings ,emotions were given to us for apurpose! They are not to be nul­lified - merel y in telligentl yguided by mind control into theproper channels of God's law!

Of all the ph ases of life , there

is non e in which emotional imma­turity is more apparent than inrel igion .

Here, too , people are prone togo to extremes. Either they delib­erately work up the emotions to afrenzy or they make their religiona wholly mental expressi on ,restraining the emotions and feel­ings entirely.

M an y, usuall y the more illiter­ate or at least less educated, fol­Iow a religion th at is almost whol­ly emotional. In " meeting," thepreachers sa y no th ing th at isthought provoking, but onl y th atwhich is emotion arousing. Theydo not teach or instruct, they gen­erate unrestrained emotion.

They ask th e congregationsuch questions as " A re you hap­py ?" - echoed by thunderous"Amens" or shouts of "HALLE­LUJAH!" The main job of thepreacher is to generate wi ldshouting, uncontrolled emotion,until the whol e congregation isou t of control in a frenzy of fanat­ical exuberance.

Then there are the more quietemotional sects - but who alsoaccept the counterfeit of senti­mentality and emotion for deepspiritua lity . Indeed it seems mostfundamentalist groups accept oneform or anothe r of EMOTION inplace of true spirituality.

But em otion is not spiritua lity .Emotion is phy si cal reaction .While a certain emotional reac­tion sho uld naturally follow trueand de ep spiritual experience,nevertheless it is a physical reac­tion from that experience and isnot , in itself, spiritua l experience.Emotion is produced by the ner­vous sys tem of the fleshl y bod y.It is, therefore, of the FLESH, notof th e SPIRIT!

The Hol y Spirit of God is giv­en onl y to those who OB EY God(Acts 5:32) . Most religious bod­ies who mistake the emotionalcounterfeit for genuine spir i­tu ality preach th at " God 's law isdone away" - preach a doctrineof "salvat ion without works," bywhich they mean without obe­dience to God or to God's law.

N o one is a re al Christianunl ess he has received and is

(Continued on page 13)

March 1985 5

of Make-BelieveWhat are you really like inside? The character

you display outwardly must be more than "special effects."

By John A. Halford

Jeff and Susie,newly wed andvery much in

love, sit by theocean gazing intoeach other's eyes.In the backgrounda gorgeous sunsetlights up the sky.

What a beautifulpicture!

What a fake!Oh, Jeff and Susie ­

are real, and their lovefor each other is real.But Jeff is sitting on apile of blocks - Susieon a low stool - in theAmbassador CollegePhoto Studios in Pasadena. Theoceanside park bench is made outof some old floorboards a staffphotographer arranged on twolow stands.

And the "sunset"? A 35-mm.slide projected on the wall. Thephotographer used a long focallens to compact the distance,increasing the illusion of reality.Then he arranged the light toshow Jeff and Susie in silhouette,and calculated the exposure.

The result? A fake that only anexpert could tell was not the realthing. Only in the movie and pho­tography profession, they don'tcall it a fake . It is known as a

6 The GOOD NEWS

"special effect" - an elaborateform of make-believe.

We have all seen some incredi­ble special effects created on thecinema and TV screen and won­dered, "How did they do that? "Today, creating special effects isa highly skilled profession .

A job fo r experts

Some techniques are welIknown - " tons" of foam rubberrocks that crash down on the heroas he rides through the canyon, ora brawl in the saloon as cowboyshit each other over the head withbalsa chairs.

But did you realize that the

river of molten lavathat threatens to engulfthe heroine is actuallyoatmeal mixed withgray paint - or thatthe delicious lookingice cream in the com­mercial is reallycreamed potato (thereal stuff would meltunder the hot studiolights)?

By painting sceneson glass, special-effectsartists can producewhat are known asmattes, which maskout unwanted parts of ascene. In this way acity skyline can beremoved to give a mod­

ern scene a 19th-century look or,by adding a skyline, project it farinto the future. And who hasn 'theard of the studio towns withstreets of solid-looking buildingsthat are only 18 -inch-thickfacades?

By using laser and computertechnology today's special effectsare becoming ever more sophisti­cated, as spacemen soar throughthe galaxies battling legions ofaliens and a never-ending array ofmonsters. The skill of special- geffects experts continues to aston- ~ish us. :.

But maybe it shouldn't, be- ~cause most of us have spent life- ~

times creating some impressivespecial effects of our own.

You - a special-effectsartist

You see, a special effect is adeception or make-believecreated to give an impression ofreality. In building our personali­ties we have all resorted to some"special effects" to disguiseunwanted scenes and make otherslook like something they are not.

When people look at you, whatdo they see? What you are reallylike? Or what you want them tosee?

Most of us have a facade orimage that is not the real us.Maybe you like people to thinkyou are the sporty type, or maybethe debonair and sophisticatedman or woman about town. Or ·perhaps you like to appear a cool,macho man. Or a dear little oldlady who couldn't hurt a fly.Whatever it is, you have learnedto talk, act and perhaps evendress according to an image youwant to portray.

In fact, you may have becomeso good at your special effect thateven you are deceived. Perhapseven you can't remember whatthe real you is like . In one way oranother you have become askilled special-effects artist. .

What's so bad about that?Nothing, if this life is to be like amovie, just a time to pretend. Butyour life is not meant to be usedlike that. It is not a frivolousgame of make-believe.

If you are a Christian, your lifehas a vital purpose, and it must be .used for that purpose. Your lifemust be used to build character- character like Jesus Christ had- so that one day you, too, canbecome a born child of God.

A Christian life, therefore, isserious business. It is time to facereality. There is no room for thepretense, false fronts and specialeffects that we have so carefullybuilt to obscure the truth.

The real danger ofmake-believe

God has promised to helprebuild us until we have holy,righteous character. But He must

build on a solid foundation. Hewants to deal with the real you,whatever that may be. His goal isto help you become "a perfectman" with "the measure of thestature of the fullness of Christ"(Ephesians 4: 13) - not just aconvincing look-alike.

There is nothing particularlywrong in using special effects inthe film industry. They have to.Otherwise things just wouldn'tlook right. But have you noticedhow people who spend all theirlives in a make-believe worldbecome so accustomed to shamand falseness that they no longerseem to be able to distinguish realfrom false, or right from wrong?

Many actors and movie starsactually pride themselves on theircosmopolitan, tolerant, modernapproach to adultery, fornication,perversions, drunkenness andother vices condemned by God'slaws. Even whole cities havebecome well known for their per­missive, freewheeling life-styles.

The ancient city of Corinthwas like that. Corinth was a sea­port, and because of its positionhad become rich through trade.The people of many nations min­gled freely, and the city hadbecome a byword for the liberalapproach to life. "To corinth­ianize" had become a synonymfor a life-style of debauchery.

This attitude permeated Co­rinthian society and had evenaffected the members of theChurch of God that the apostlePaul had raised up there. Theyhad become so liberal in theirthinking that when a memberbecame involved in an incestuousrelationship with his mother (or itmight have been his stepmother),the other members weren'tshocked - they seemed even tobe proud of the situation.

Paul wrote those brethren astern letter. He was horrified thatGod's chosen people in Corinthhad become so tolerant of a situa­tion that would have appallednormal, decent, unconvertedpeople elsewhere.

He wrote: "It is actuallyreported that there is sexualimmorality among you, and suchsexual immorality as is not even

named among the Gentiles ­that a man has his father's wife!And you are puffed up, and havenot rather mourned, that he whohas done this deed might be takenaway from among you" (I Corin­thians 5:1-2).

Paul confronted them withtheir tolerant attitude toward aserious sin. He commanded theCorinthians to disfellowship orexcommunicate the erring mem­ber until such time as he learneda lesson and repented.

This was not just a fit of prud­ishness on Paul's part. He knewthat if this lackadaisical approachto immorality continued, it wouldnot be long before the entirechurch was affected.

Today we might say, "One rot­ten apple can spoil the wholebunch." Paul used another analo­gy, one that was readily under­stood by the Corinthians:

"Your glorying is not good . Doyou not know that a little leavenleavens the whole lump? There­fore purge out the old leaven, thatyou may be a new lump, since youtruly are unleavened. For indeedChrist, our Passover, was sacri­ficed for us" (verses 6-7).

Leaven and sin

Paul used the simple analogyof the action of a leavening agentin bread making to show theeffect of sin in the Christianlife.

When a leavening agent(usually yeast) is mixed withdough, it begins to react. Thelump of dough expands to manytimes its original size. The leaven­ing agent literally puffs up thelump of dough with gas. This iswhat gives bread its light, softconsistency. It isn't really likethat - it is a special effect - amake-believe. Bread dough bakedwithout leaven is hard and flat,more like a crust or cracker thanthe familiar loaf.

The Corinthian church wouldhave known exactly what Paulmeant. Once a year, in the firstmonth of the year according tothe biblical calendar (approximat­ing spring in the Northern Hemi­sphere today), God commanded afestival to be observed. It was

March 1985 7

called the Days of UnleavenedBread. You can read it describedin Leviticus 23 :6.

The Days of Unleavened Breadlasted for seven days. The firstand last days were Holy Days tobe observed as Sabbaths . And oneach of the seven days when thepeople ate bread, they were sup­posed to eat unleavened bread ­bread baked without .s pec ialeffects. Moreover, they were toldto literally put out of their homesall leavening agents and all prod­ucts that contained leaven,according to the commandmentin Exodus 12:18-20.

Jesus Christ observed this Fes­tival when He was on earth(Mark 14:12, Luke 22 :7), and so

did the early Christian Church. Itis obvious that the Corinthianchurch was keeping, or was aboutto keep, these Days of Unleav­ened Bread when Paul wrote theletter, since he wrote: "Thereforelet us keep the feast, not with oldleaven, nor with the leaven ofmalice and wickedness, but withthe unleavened bread of sincerityand truth" (I Corinthians 5:8).

In later centuries, however,this and other festivals and HolyDays commanded by God werereplaced by holidays of humaninvention. So today, not manyprofessing Christians have evenheard of the Days of Unleavened

8 The GOOD NEWS

Bread, and even fewer actuallyobserve them. This should not be.God commanded that these daysbe observed by His people forever(Exodus 12:17). Jesus nowheresaid we should not keep them.Quite the contrary (Matthew5:17-19). Jesus warned againstreplacing God's commandmentswith human ideas (Mark 7:7).

Why unleavened breadtoday?

Now all this should make usthink. Not only does God want usto be aware of the Days ofUnleavened Bread, but He alsoexpects us to keep them. Why?

Leaven is used frequently inthe Bible as a type or analogy of

sin. There is, ofcourse, nothing wrongwith using leaven orleavened products theother 51 weeks of theyear. It is only ananalogy of sin. But itis an effective one.

Just as leaven actson a lump of dough,puffing it up and dis­torting it out of allproportion, so doessin act with an indi­vidual. God cannotwork with a characterthat is puffed up anddistorted.

Jesus said to becareful about pre­tending to be some­thing you are not(Luke 12:1) . Don'tmasquerade as a righ­

teous, God-fearing person whilestill clinging to your sins. In otherwords, avoid sham, fake, spiritualspecial effects in your life.

That was the charge that Paulleveled at his Corinthian breth­ren. Stop pretending to be God'sChurch while tolerating sin inyour midst, he thundered. If theincestuous member persists in hisreprehensible behavior, put himout before he contaminates therest of you. Face the truth. Don'tbe hypocrites - be sincere.

The Corinthians understoodPaul's stern warning, becausethey had. gone through the act ofputting all leavened products out

of their homes, searching even forhidden scraps and crumbs thatmay have fallen into cracks andcrevices. They had begun to eatunleavened bread - hard, chewycrusts baked without any specialeffects.

Now Paul was teaching themthe spiritual point: The leavenwas a type of their sins, sins thathad to be located and gotten ridof. The bread baked without spe­cial effects was a type of the solid,genuine, bedrock character andattitude that God can build on.

"You desire truth in theinward parts," wrote David(Psalm 51 :6) - not just an out­ward show.

The Corinthians got the point,and this story has a happy ending.They did what Paul commanded.The man repented of his sins, andPaul instructed · that he berestored to full fellowship (IICorinthians 2:6-8). One day wemay well meet these Corinthiansin the Kingdom of God.

God doesn't waste our time.He instituted the Days of Unleav­ened Bread as an annual reminderof the need to put sin out of ourlives and become genuine so thatHe can build perfect character inus . The physical aspects of thesedays - the literal putting out ofleaven and eating unleavenedbread - are designed to help usgrasp the spiritual significance.

The Days of Unleavened Breadin 1985 are from April 6 to April12, with April 6 and April 12being the Holy Days to beobserved as Sabbaths.

The Worldwide Church ofGod offers, free, a color calendarshowing the Days of UnleavenedBread and all of God's other truefestivals and Holy Days for 1985­1986. You may have a copy ofthis calendar by mailing the enve­lope in this issue or by writing toour address nearest you.

We also offer, free, a bookletentitled Pagan Holidays - orGod's Holy Days - Which? It"explains the annual festivals ~ordained by God and reveals the ~shocking truth behind the holi- ~days most observe today. You ~

may request a copy of it with the iHoly Day calendar. 0 e

generation. How does he do this?He doesn't appear personally toevery individual and lie to eachone, as he did to Eve . He doesn'thave to. He has a more effectivemethod.

Doesn't WantYoutoKnow

All humanity deceived

It wasn't long after the devel­opment of radio broadcasting thatthe governments of variousnations discovered what apowerful tool radio could be tospread propaganda - to in­fluence, confuse, even deceivetheir own or enemy pop ulations.Rad io, and now television, too,have at times been used effective­ly to that end.

The airwaves have been used,especially in wartime, to promul­gate blat ant lies, as well as what islabeled " disinforrnation." Disin­formation is a sort of mixture oftruth an d error - enough truthto make it sound authentic, butenough error to render the wholemisleading and deceptive.

Satan long ago realized the

What

By Clayton D. Steep

Satan the devil is veryclever.

No wonder. Beforehe became the devil, he was aresplendent spiritual 'being -an archangel. At that time hewas "full of wisdom" (Ezekiel28:12).

When Satan rebelled againstGod's government, however, allof that wisdom became perverted(verse 17) . It became tricky anddeceitful. That is one of the rea­sons he has been able to fool allhumanity (Revelation 12:9) . Hehas deceived the whole world, asthe Bible clearly states.

When you think about it, thatis no small accomplishment.You've heard the saying: "Youcan fool all of the people some ofthe time, and some of the peopleall of the time, but you can't foolall of the people all of the time."But don't you believe it - Satanhas done it. Starting with Eveand, through her, Adam, Satanhas fooled all humanity in every

potential of media propaganda.He is the father of the lie (John8:44) , the first and most effectiveminister of propaganda ever.

In the same way broadcastinghas at times been misused byhuman propagandists, Satan"broadcasts" his deceptive mes­sage. He is the "prince of thepower of the air" (Ephesians 2:2).He emits an attitude of rebellion.He radiates a spirit of defiance, ofdisobedience. Some of his mes­sage consists of outright lies;some of it is disinformation - amixture of truth and deceit.

But the thrust of his message isalways the same: Do not totallysubmit to the government ofGod!

Sa tan's fall

When Satan was still a righ­teous archangel, God made himruler of this earth. But that posi­tion did not satisfy him. Hewanted more. He became drivenby vanity and greed. He wantedcontrol over everything, not justthis earth. His desire was to belike God (Isaiah 14:12-14, Eze­kiel 28:12-15).

So Lucifer mounted a rebellionagainst God's throne in heaven.But he was defeated and castback down to earth, as were theangels that rebelled with him.Jesus was there and saw it hap­pen. He recalled, "I saw Satanfall like lightning from heaven"(Luke 10: 18).

Though Satan has fallen, God

March 1985 9

has not yet removed him from hisposition of being "the ruler ofthis world," as Jesus acknowl­edged him to be (John 14:30).The devil has authority over thekingdoms on earth (Luke 4:5-6).

Jesus Himself, at His fast­approaching return to this earth,will take the rulership of theworld from him. Satan will thenbe bound, not allowed to deceivethe nations for 1,000 years (Reve­lation 20:3).

Until then, his work of deceiv­ing all humanity continues.

The whole world?

"Well," some will exclaim, "Ican agree that Satan has deceivedmany people. I'm sure he has theatheists in his camp. And thereare certain tribes of people thatopenly claim to be devil-worship­ers . And then there are individu­als in every nation who are justplain evil. I'm sure Satan hasdeceived those people.

"But the whole world? Comenow, what about all those church­es that teach professing Chris­tians that Satan is the wicked one,that he is the enemy of God andman? How can it be said all thosepeople are deceived?"

What about that? It is a factthat vast numbers of people sim­ply do what they believe is right.They would never knowinglychoose to have anything to dowith Satan. Many are, by any ofthe world's standards, exception­ally "good" people. Can such bedeceived?

There are sincere theologianswho teach against the works ofthe devil and his demons, some ofthem eloquently, even going sofar as to try casting demons out.Is it possible for such to bedeluded by the very devil theypreach against?

And if you are one of thosewho have come out of Satan'sworld, spiritually speaking, as alltrue Christians have, does thatmean you are now immune tobeing misled by Satan's evilinfluence?

Can Satan fool you?It is vital that we understand,

that we not be "ignorant of hisdevices," lest he get the advan-

10 The GOOD NEWS

tage over us (II Corinthians2: II). Here is one of Satan's mostimportant devices. Here is some­thing the devil for sure does notwant you to know.

Satan compromises

Satan is a compromiser. He isflexible. He will bend. He willengage in give and take as long as- and this is the ultraimportantpoint - as long as he gets his wayin the end. That is to say , as longas those he is dealing with stopshort of fully submitting to God'sgovernment.

The Bible clearly states, as wehave seen, that Satan hasdeceived the whole world (Reve­lation 12:9) . How has he accom­plished this? By compromising.

The devil has something foreverybody. The broad highwayleading to destruction - thehighway humanity is following ­is broader than perhaps you real­ized. It is divided into innumer­able lanes. Everybody is sure tofind at least one of these lanesappealing. But they all lead to thesame destination: perdition.

If the devil had his preference,he no doubt would want every­body to be God-hating, atheisticanarchists bent only on doing evil.But he hasn't succeeded in bring­ing about such a condition.

True, there are a few individu­als in the world who are like that.But most are not. There are devil­worshipers. They, too, are smallin number. But they do exist.There are those who deny Satanis real and those who have noopinion in the matter. Satandoesn 't really care, though. Aslong as they don't obey God.

You've seen the pictures ofSatan as a funny-looking, red­faced personality with a goatee,little horns growing out of the topof his head and a long , pointedtail. He is portrayed cavortingamidst flame and smoke, bran­dishing his pitchfork and emittinggleefully evil peals of laughter.This concept is accurate to some,ridiculous to others.

Satan doesn 't care either way .If people want to poke fun at thedevil, to think of him as a super­stition, a fable, it makes no differ-

ence to him, as long as he hasthem going his direction.

Do you know that, if he must,Satan is even willing to allow youto obey many of God's laws? Aslong as there is at least one pointof the law - whichever one itmay be for you - that you refuseto keep!

The reason is that Satan knowsGod has ordained that to breakone point of His law of love is tobreak it all (James 2:10-11).Therefore, to refuse to submit toone point is to rebel against God'sentire divine code of behavior.Anyone guilty of such an attitudeof rebellion obviously is not total­ly submitted to God.

That's good enough for Satan.

God's law in force

There are those in the worldwho may preach powerfullyagainst Satan and his evil works.They may condemn his ways ascorrupt. They may accuratelyshow how he gets to peoplethrough much of today's musicand entertainment. They may sayto resist the devil. They may evenurge acceptance of Jesus Christas personal Savior.

Believe it or not, all this, too,can fit into the parameters ofSatan's scheme. How? It can bepossible if church denominations,however eloquent the sermonsmay be, stop short of teachingthat we must obey all of God'sholy laws - if, instead, they sayGod's laws have been done awaywith, that they are no longerbinding upon Christians.

Listen to what Jesus taught!He declared: "Do not think that Icame to destroy the Law or theProphets . I did not come todestroy but to fulfill" (Matthew5:17). Yes, Jesus showed how tofulfill God's royal law. In this Heset Christians an example thatthey are to follow, because theyalso are expected to fulfill the law(James 2:8-12). It is a question oflaw - of government, of obe­dience to God's way of life asrevealed in His Word - anddon't ever let anyone tell you anydifferently.

Total submission to God's lawis what makes the difference

If you will let GOD have HIS way in yourlife, then you will have begun to learn howto let Him fight your battles, solve yourproblems and deliver you from so manytroubles and worries that you are suffering.

between Satan's broad, all­encompassing, something-for-ev­erybody way to destruction andGod's narrow way that leads tolife (verses 13-14).

But the devil doesn't want youto know that. He wants you tothink that what makes the differ­ence is whether or not a church"preaches Christ" and believesChrist is the Savior. He doesn'twant you to know you can believeJesus Christ is the Savior, evenworship Him, all in vain (Mat­thew 7:21-23, Mark 7:7)!

Don't trust appearances

Satan is an expert in makingevil look good. By compromisinghe can take something that is eviland combine it with enough goodto make it look perfectly inno­cent. His strategy is to use dis­guise (Matthew 7:15). He madeEve believe that the innocent­looking but forbidden fruit wasgood for her (Genesis 3:1-6).When he tried to get Jesus todisobey God, he quoted good, vai­id scriptures (Matthew 4:6).

But beware: A glass of goodwater with a few drops of cyanidein it still looks like an innocent,perfectly good glass of water.

Satan is deceitful. Your onlyhope of not being fooled by him isto study and believe God's Wordand obey God's laws. You need toask for God's Holy Spirit to giveyou light and understanding.

Do what Satan doesn't wantyou to do: Surrender to God .Then "resist the devil and he willflee from you" (James 4:7).

That's how to get rid of Satan'sinfluence in your life. That's howto come to the place where youcan make the same victoriousstatement Jesus made when Hedeclared concerning the devil,"He has nothing in Me" (John14:30)!

For more information on thispowerful and supremely evilbeing known as Satan the devil,send for our free booklet Did GodCreate a Devil? It contains muchmore that Satan definitely doesn'twant you to know! Just use theliterature request envelope orwrite to our mailing address near­est you. 0

PERSONAL(Continued from page 2)

agreed to stop the water of thefountains outside the town ....

"Then, appointing officers overthe citizens, he gathered them inthe open space at the gate of thecity, and encouraged them. 'Befirm, ' he said, 'be brave, be notdaunted nor dismayed for theking of Assyria or for all his host;we have with us One greater thanall he has; he has a mortal force,but we have with us the Eternalour God, to help us and to fightour battles' " (verses 1-3, 6-8) .

Continuing: ." His officers saideven worse things against God theEternal and his servant Hezekiah.

(Sancherib also wrote letters,insulting the Eternal the God ofIsrael and attacking him thus: 'Asthe gods of the nations elsewherein the world have failed to savetheir folk from me, so shall Heze­kiah's God fail to save his folk.')The officers shouted aloud inHebrew to the citizens of Jerusa­lem on the walls, to terrify themand scare them, that they mightcapture the city. They talkedabout the God of Jerusalem asone of the gods of the nations onearth, mere handmade idols"(verses 16-19).

Now notice what the king ofJudah did : "King Hezekiah andthe prophet Isaiah the son ofAmoz PRA YED over this andcried to heaven" (verse 20).

They PRAYED for help. Theydid not know exactly HOW Godwould intervene. But they knewGod would ACT! Here's what hap­pened: "Then the Eternal sent anangel who swept off all the gal­lant fighters, the leaders, and cap-

tains, in the camp of the king ofAssyria, till he had to go home indisgrace. He [later] went into thetemple of his god, and there hisown offspring murdered him withtheir swords. So the Eternal res­cued Hezekiah and the citizens ofJerusalem from Sancherib theking of Assyria as well as from allother foes, protecting them onevery side" (verses 21-22).

That experience was writteninto . the very WORD OF GOD foryour learning and to SHOW YOUTHE WAY TODAY! Perhaps YOU arefaced with a foe more powerfulthan you. It may be some TEMPTA­TION. It may be some circumstanceor condition or trouble. Some seri­ous WORRY.

Then let me ask you, WHAT

ARE YOU RELYING ON to with­stand the siege of this trouble ­to deliver you from it?

Rely on God and His power

What do some of you do whensome fear, worry, trouble comes­up against you? Do you not firstFEAR AND WORRY, and theneither try to RUN FROM this trou­ble or else try to meet it in yourown power and strength - withyour own thinking and planningand doing?

Do YOU ever search your ownheart and life to see if it is YOURfault? In almost every in-law ormarital trouble, for example, bothare at fault.

Did you never realize that thevery CREATOR who caused you tobe born - who gives you the lifeyou have - who called you intoHis truth - is able and anxiousto fight all these battles for youjust as He did Hezekiah's - ifyou will only turn to Him and askHim for wisdom and guidance,

March 1985 11

RELY on Him and TRUST Himwith the result?

Two examples

I know of a lady who, when inher middle 20s, had a problemthat was MOST SERIOUS in her life.Three times this girl had beendisappointed in love. She had atlast been tempted to marry a manshe had no right to marry. Shebrought her problem to me, asGod's representative. I found shewas looking ONLY AT PHYSICALAPPEARANCES.

She reasoned that, so far as shecould see, if she obeyed God andrefused to marry this man, shemight never be married.

I counseled her to OBEY GOD- to stop looking at the materialcircumstances and using humanreason to disobey God. I coun­seled her to do, first of all, WHATGOD INSTRUCTS IN THE BIBLE,and then to TRUST HIM for theoutcome.

But that girl did not RELY ONGOD - she relied on her humanreason. She obeyed impulse andtemptation and married the man.He left her to commit adulterywith another woman on their verywedding night. Her life becamemiserable, terribly unhappy.

Then at another time, anothersimilar case was brought to me.THIS young woman rejected thetemptation - she obeyed Godand RELIED ON THE ETERNAL towork out circumstances - shetrusted HIM with the result. Herfaith was tried and tested. God .did not answer AT ONCE - but indue time, just the RIGHT mancame into her life, they fell inlove, they were married and GODHAS BLESSED THEIR MARRIAGEWITH SUPREME HAPPINESS.

The experience of KingJehoshaphat

Now I want to bring you onemore case history - a REMARK­ABLE experience that will showyou the way out of all your diffi­culties and troubles.

If you will let GOD have HISway in your life, then you willhave begun to learn how to letHim fight your battles, solveyour problems and deliver you

12 The GOOD NEWS

from so many troubles you aresuffering.

Now, notice the experiencewritten for OUR learning and helptoday:

" It was after this that the Mo­abites and Ammonites, with someof the Meunim, made war onJehoshaphat. Word came to Jeho­shaphat that a huge host wasmoving against him from Edom,over the Dead Sea, and that theywere already at Hazazon-tamar(or Engedi). Jehoshaphat wasafraid" (II Chronicles 20: 1-3,Moffatt).

Is fear your usual reaction ,too? But observe what the king ofJudah did .

"He resolved to have recourseto the Eternal, and proclaimed afast all over Judah. So Judahassembled to seek help from theEternal; people came from everytown in Judah to worship theEternal" (verses 3-4) .

Jehoshaphat did exactly whatGod wants you to do today whenfaced with any temptation ortrouble - HE TOOK IT TO GOD INPRAYER AND FASTING!

And as he continued to askGod for help, he said (verses 6­10): "0 Eternal, the God of ourfathers, art not thou God in heav­en, and ruler of all realms onearth? Such power and might isthine that no one can resist thee.o our God, didst not thou evictthe natives of this land before thypeople Israel, giving the land tothe offspring of Abraham thyfriend, for all time? And they set­tled in it, they have built a sanc­tuary in it to thine honour, think­ing that if evil befell them, thesword in judgment, or pestilence,or famine, they would stand infront of this temple and beforethee (for in this temple is thypresence) and cry to thee in theirdistress, till thou didst hear andsave them.

"Now here are the Ammonitesand Moabites and folk frommount Seir, whom thou didst notallow Israel to invade, when Israelcame out of the land of Egypt ­no, Israel turned away from themand did not destroy them!"

There was no reason for theseneighbors to be enemies. Some-

times your own neighbors becomeyour enemies, too, don't they?

But notice what the king saidto God: "Look how they rewardus, coming to eject us from thyvery own country which thou hastgiven us to be ours. 0 our God,wilt thou not deal with them? Weare helpless against this mightyhost that is attacking us; we knownot what to do, but we look tothee" (verses 11-12).

God answers prayer

Now I want you to notice! Je­hoshaphat cried out for God tocome to their aid . Here is God'sanswer (verses 14-17):

"Jehaziel ... was inspired bythe spirit of the Eternal in themidst of the gathering to cry,'Listen, all ye men of Judah, yecitizens of Jerusalem, and you, 0king Jehoshaphat; the Eternal'smessage to you is this: "FEARNOT, falter not before this vastarmy; it is for God, not for you,to fight them. March downagainst them to-morrow; they arecoming up by the ascent of Haziz,and you will come upon them atthe end of the ravine in front ofthe desert of J eruel. You will notneed to do any fighting; take upyour position, stand still, andwatch the victory of the Eternal,who is on your side, 0 Judah andJerusalem. Fear not, falter not.Move out against them to-mor­row, for the Eternal is on yourside." , "

And notice that Jehoshaphatobeyed after God instructed him.Verses 20-23 declare: "Nextmorning they rose and movedinto the open country roundTekoa. As they advanced, Jehosh­aphat stood and said, 'Listen, menof Judah and citizens of Jerusa­lem! Take hold of the Eternalyour God and you will keep holdof life; hold by his prophets, andyou will prosper.'

"A fter this counsel to thenation, he appointed the Eternal'ssingers to praise him in sacredvestments, marching in front ofthe army and chanting, Givethanks to the Eternal, for hiskindness never fails .

"As they began to sing andpraise him, the Eternal set men in

ambush against the Ammonites,the Moabites, and the folk frommount Seir, who had attackedJudah, and they were routed . T heAmmonites and the Moabitesturned on the natives of mountSeir, determined to wipe themout. "

They turned against one anoth­er! That is how God answeredJ ehoshaphat. "And then, afterdestroying the natives of Seir,they all helped to kill one anoth­er. So when the men of Judahreached their post of attack look­ing over the open country, theysaw the host were so manycorpses stretched upon theground; not a man had escaped"(verses 23-24).

J ehoshaphat did not merelyleave this trouble with God andthen do nothing about it himself.First, he prayed and asked forwisdom, guidance and HELP.Then he DID WHAT GOD SAID. Hehad to do HIS PART - but theBATTLE WAS GOD'S, and Jehosha­phat did not try to fight GOD'Sbattle. He merely did his ownpart. But he BELIEVED God, andRELIED on God.

The point I want you toREMEMBER is that YOUR battlesare not really yours, but GOD'S. Ifyou look to Him, He makes themHIS battles, and HE fights themfor you. How FUTILE for you totry to fight GOD'S battles forHIM.

God says, "Many are the afflic­tions of the righteous, but theLord delivers him out of themall" (Psalm 34: 19).

In the New Testament weread, "By GRACE are ye savedthrough FAITH" (Ephesians 2:8,Authorized Version). Yes, butthe FAITH that saves us is a livingfaith that is practical- it WORKS----:- it really RELIES on God! SOPUT IT TO PRACTICE!

God does not promise us anEASY time during this life in thisworld. But He DOES promise tofight our battles for us - todeliver us from EVERY troubleand affliction.

WILL YOU LET HIM DO IT, ANDLEARN HOW HAPPY YOUR LIFEMA Y BECOME? GOD HELP YOU TOUNDERSTAND! 0

Hidden Enemy(Continued from page 5)

being led (in obedience to God'slaw) by the Holy Spirit (Romans8:9, 14), and the Holy Spirit in usis the LOVE OF GOD (Romans5:5), which is the only love thatfulfills God's law. And also theHoly Spirit is the Spirit of aSOUND MIND (II Timothy 1:7).

True spirituality, therefore, isSOUND MINDEDNESS, for true spir­ituality can come only from theSPIRIT OF GOD within us. Truespirituality is RATIONAL.

On the other hand, true spiri­tuality is not a mere mental reli­gion divorced from all feeling andemotion . There are the purelymental religions that do not evenbelieve in the Holy Spirit ofGod.

And there are some of US, per­haps, who have come to knowGod's truth - who have surren­dered to God, truly repented ofour own way, turned from theways of the world and who aredevoted to studying the Bible tolearn God's way so that we maylive by every word of God - andwho also pray a great deal, butwho yet LACK the very secondFRUIT of God's Spirit - JOY!

NOT emotionless maturity

Emotional maturity does notmean emotionless maturity anymore than it means uncontrolledemotion. The truly emotionallymature are Spirit-guided bysound Spirit-rnindedness - byGod's Word - and the emotionsare CONTROLLED, but not anes­thetized. The emotionally grown­up DO express enthusiasm, JOY,happiness. They DO feel andexpress gratitude, reverence, ado­ration in their worship of God .They do feel and express compas­sion, mercy, sympathy.

God is a spirit, and they thatworship Him must worship INSPIRIT and IN TRUTH. One cannotworship IN SPIRIT unless he hasreceived and is led by God's Spir­it. One cannot worship IN TRUTHwithout UNDERSTANDING ofGod's Word with a sound mind.But this kind of worship is not

devoid of feeling and resultantemotional expression. Eventhough the emotion is physicalreaction, it does truly accompanyor react from true spiritual expe­rience. But it is not a substitutefor it.

The emotionally mature willproperly express sympathy in amost sincere manner, from theheart. They will express, on occa­sion, when called for, sorrow,anguish, compassion. And theywill also express good cheer, hap­piness, enthusiasm, zeal and thathappiness that is brimful and run­ning over, called JOY!

It sort of sums up, then, thatthe emotionally mature combinethe controlled expression of emo­tion with physical health and an

educated mind that is Spirit­begotten and Spirit-led, doesn'tit? In other words, emotionalmaturity develops hand in handwith physical, mental and spiri­tual growth, the four blendinginto, finally, the perfect spiritualCHARACTER we were put here tobecome.

You probably have a long wayyet to go. You have a graveresponsibility, if you have chil­dren, in their EMOTIONAL trainingas well as their physical health,mental education and spiritualguidance. We shall all be called toaccount someday. How will YOUanswer? 0

March 1985 13

COMINGA1emple

•In

Jerusalem?

PartTwoIs the construction of a temple in Jerusalem

necessary to fulfill prophecy? Thefuture holds some startling possibilities.

By Ronald D. Kelly

14 The GOOD NEWS

Will there have tobe a temple in

Jerusalem beforeprophesied end-time eventscan take place? Must sacri­fices be offered on the Tem­ple Mount?

Or will a physical buildingand sacrifices not be necessaryuntil the Messiah has comeand God's Kingdom is set upon earth?

The answers are important forJews and Christians alike!

The Temple is probabl y themost famous building in allhuman history. Last month wetraced its history until the timedevout Nehemiah , a high-rankingJew in the Persian government,obtained permission to lead anexpedition to Jerusalem and com­plete the building of a secondTemple.

Now to continue with thi s sec -

ond installment: In 457 B.C. thePersian king Artaxerxes issued adecree to restore and rebuildJerusalem. This is a most impor­tant date.

During the Babylonian exilemore than 100 years before, Godrevealed an unusual prophecy toDaniel. He said : "Know thereforeand understand, that from thegoing forth of the command torestore and build Jerusalem untilthe Messiah the Prince, thereshall be seven weeks and sixty­two weeks; the street shall bebuilt again, and the wall , even introublesome times" (Daniel9:25).

This amazing prophecy, datedfrom 457 B.c., predicted not onl ythe rebuilding of Jerusalem, butthe coming of the Messiah.

From this, many thought theMessiah would appear in the daysof Ezra and Nehemiah . But thatis not what the prophet meant.He did prophesy the reconstruc-

tion and resettlement of Judea.However, the 69-weeks prophecywas not a period of 69 literalweeks, but prophetic weeks .

God reveals in prophetic sym­bol that a day equals a year inprophecy (Ezekiel 4:6 , Numbers14:34). To know how many yearstill the fulfillment, we would haveto know how many' days are in 69weeks. Since there are seven daysin a week, we would multiply sev­en times 69 and arrive at 483 .The Messiah would not appear ,then, till 483 years after Arta­xerxes' decree.

That would bring us to the yearA.D. 27, as we count the years. Inthat year, according to the NewTestament, Jesus of Nazareth,when He was about 30 years ofage, began His public ministry(Luke 3:21-23).

The Messiah had indeedarrived . Most of the world did notaccept Him at that time. He hadcome to die for" the sins of the

Western Wall (far left), considered holyby Jews; Dom e of the Rock mosque is inba ck gr oun d. Left, Temple Moun t ( fo re­ground) and Jerusalem skyline .

world. After only 3V2 years ofactive ministry, He was put todeath by crucifixion.

For more than 1,900 years theChristian world has been waitingfor the Second Coming of Jesus.And for longer than that, theJews have looked for the appear­ance of the Messiah . Christianand Jew both are concerned aboutJerusalem, a temple and animalsacrifices in relationship to thecoming of the Messiah. But moreabout that later.

Continued trying times

Now back to the second Tem­ple. After the reform period ofEzra and Nehemiah, there was atime of great turmoil in Judea.The Persian empire fell to theon slaught of the Macedonianruler, Alexander the Great. AfterAlexander 's death, his empirewas divided among his lead inggenerals.

Judea lay in the path of twoconstantly warring factions , thePtolemies of Eg ypt and the Se­leucids of Syria. Wars raged backand forth for nearly three centu­ries. In 175 B.C. AntiochusEpiphanes became ruler of theSeleucids in Syria. In 168 heattempted a campaign to Egypt,but was thwarted by the risingRoman power. He turned hiswrath on the Jews.

Jerusalem was again ravagedby war. The city was capturedand a Syrian garrison headquar­tered near the Temple Mount.The Temple sacrifices, obser­vance of the seventh-day Sabbathand feast days, along with cir­cumcision, were forbidden to allJews. The penalty for practicingany of these was death. Afterabout two months, the crowningblow was struck. Antiochus setup an alt ar to the Greek god Zeuson the Temple Mount and offeredswine upon it. It was , as had beenprophesied , an abomination ofdesolation (Daniel 11:31) . ~

This date, to live in infamy in -aJewish history, was the 25th of !Kislev (the month of November- ~December on the Roman calen- <3

March 1985 15

dar) in 167 B.C. This event alsohad been prophesied in the bookof Daniel. In Daniel 8: 13-14,New International Version, Godrevealed: "Then I heard a holyone speaking, and another holyone said to him, 'How long will ittake for the vision to be fulfilled- the vision concerning the dailysacrifice, the rebellion that causesdesolation, and the surrender ofthe sanctuary and of the host thatwill be trampled underfoot?' Hesaid to me, 'It will take 2,300 eve­nings and mornings; then thesanct uary will be recon se­crated.' "

In other words, there would be2,300 evening and morning sacri­fices that would not be offered ­a period of 1,150 days or justmore than three years till Godwould permit restoration of thesacrifices.

Those three years were to beamong the most trying in Jewishhistory. Jews were forced to eatpork and worship pagan gods.Those who refused were merci­lessly killed. In the Judean hills, aband of zealous Jews under theleadershi p of a Jewish priestnamed Mattathias steadily grewin numbers and strength. Theybecame known as the Maccabees- the "hammerers."

After the death of Mattathias,his son Judas took command ofthe Jewish forces. They gainedone victory after another andfinally, on the 25th of Kislev in164 B.C. (exactly three years tothe day from the setting up of theZeus statue on the TempleMount), the Maccabees liberatedJerusalem, tore down the pagangods from the Temple Mount andrelit the lights of the Menorah.

To this day the Jewish eight­day winter festival of Hanukkah,or Festival of Lights, recalls thecleansing of the Temple in thedays of the Maccabees.

In all probability it had been1,150 days or 2,300 evenings andmornings since Antiochus hadforbidden Jewish sacrifices.

Roman dominion

During the next century, Jeru­salem was to undergo greatchange. By 63 B.C., the Roman

16 The GOOD NEWS

general Pompey marched hislegions into Judea. Huge warmachines hurled boulders into thecity and at the Temple.

Jerusalem once again suc­cumbed to foreign forces .

After the assassination ofJulius Caesar in 44 B.C., anEdomite noble named Herod wasappointed king of Judea in 37B.C. He was a loyal subject ofRome, and was at the same timeone of the most infamous person­alities of his day.

Herod was a cruel taskmaster,even putting to death his wife andseveral sons, whom he suspectedof subterfuge. But his buildingprograms made that area of theworld a showplace. He built pal­aces at Herodium, Jericho and onMasada. He built and named theseaport city of Caesarea afteremperor Augustus .

But there was great unrest inJudea. To settle the Jews, Herodundertook a grand project - therebuilding of the Temple of Godin Jerusalem to make it a show­place, one of the most magnifi­cent buildings in the empire.

Plans were drawn up in about22 B.C. with construction begin­ning in 19 B.C.

A huge retaining wall waserected on the southwest corner.Tons of fill dirt were hauled in.Natural rock outcroppings werecarved flat.

Glistening white marble set offby sparkling gold formed the out­er walls of the Temple itself. Sol­omon's Temple had not beenmore than 40 feet high andmaybe 115 by 70 feet in lengthand width . Herod's newly reno­vated masterpiece would be morethan 100 feet wide, 130 feet longand 150 feet high.

Some 162 huge Corinthian col­umns formed a colonnade on thesouthern edge of the courtyard. Itwas in this area that Jesus ofNazareth would turn over themoneychangers' tables and driveout the animals. Here also Jesuswould teach His disciples, andlater those disciples would teachothers in the early days of theNew Testament Church.

But this renovated secondTemple would not exist in a time

of peace an y more than Solo­mon's original Temple or the onebuilt by Zerubbabel.

I n A . 0 . 70, the Ro man sdestroyed Jerusalem and thebeautiful Temple of Herod. NoJewish temple has to this day everbeen rebuilt on Mt. Moriah.

All that remains from the gloryof the past is a lower portion ofthe retaining wall including aISO-foot section on the southwestcorner of the Temple Mount. It isconsidered holy by the Jews ,since it is all that remains fromthe glorious days of the first andsecond Temples. This WesternWall came into Jewish possessionin 1967 after the Six Day War.

What about the future?

Ever since the Six Day War,speculation has run rampant onwhether, how and when the Jewswould again worship on the Tem­ple Mount, offer animal sacrificesor build a temple.

Today observant Jews do noteven go on the Temple Mount.There are two major reasons.

First , the Temple Mount isnow, and has been for centuries,under Muslim control. The Domeof the Rock mosque, built in thelate seventh century A.D., nowoccupies the traditional site of theTemple. Muslim law does notpermit other religions to worshipon the Temple Mount.

Second, Jewish religious lawdoes not permit Jews on theMount since the exact location ofthe Holy of Holies is not known.Only the high priest was permit­ted in the Hol y of Holies, so Jewsdo not wish to even accidentallyenter that location.

Many fundamentalist Chris­tians believe that three importantevents have to occur in the HolyLand before the Second Comingof Jesus Christ. One is that Israelmust again become a Jewishnation , second that Jerusalemmust be a Jewish city and thirdthat a temple must be built on the ­Temple Mount. Two of thosethree events have taken place.

Jews themselves are divided onthe matter of the Jewish state andthe building of a temple. Someultraorthodox Jews do not even

recognize the state of Israel andbelieve it should not be a nationtill the Messiah appears.

On the other hand, the Jewishdream of centuries began to befulfilled when Jews began toresettle in the Holy Land. By1948 the Jewish state of Israelhad been declared a nation. ManyBible students viewed this as afulfillment of prophecy. Then in1967 , when Israel occupied all ofJerusalem, the West Bank terri­tory and the Golan Heights ,many felt the prophesied time ofthe end was at hand.

It seemed to some that verysoon the Jews would take over theTemple Mount, offer animal sac­rifices and construct the long­awaited temple.

But time has passed and a tem­ple does not seem to be forthcom­ing . Many questions yet remainto be answered: Would the Domeof the Rock have to be torn downto construct a Jewish temple? Is

the site of the Dome of the Rockeven the site of the first and sec­ond Jewish Temples? Is a templenecessary to offer sacrifices?Could worship services be con­ducted on the Temple Mountapart from a temple?

These and other questions arebeing given careful consideration.The Jewish high court in 1983decided that the Temple Mountwas indeed a holy site for Jews.They also declared that Jews haverights of access and worship onthe Temple Mount. However, thepolitical situation in Jerusalem isso delicate that no move has yetbeen made to attempt Jewishworship atop the Mount.

For a number of years now,certain Jews have been undergo­ing preparation and education forTemple Mount service, shouldthat become a reality. A 15-yeartraining program of priests atYeshivah . Ateret Hacohanim ispreparing priests for temple ser-

Dome of the Tablets, controversial siterecently proposed for Second Temple, isreje cted by professional archaeologists.

vice . Other groups are studyingpriestly ritual and the manufac­ture of priestly garments.

From the example during thedays of Zerubbabel, it seems evi­dent that religious worship ser­vices and a sacrificial altar couldbe set up even if no temple isbuilt. There is some support, ifnot for a temple, for a synagogueon the Temple Mount.

Archaeological studies have ledsome to believe that the site ofthe Holy of Holies was not wherethe Dome of the Rock is situated,but more than 100 yards to thenorth. If so, a Jewish structurecould be built without destroyingthe Muslim holy place, if thepolitical problems · could beworked out.

Prophecy will be fulfilled

All in all, it makes for a greatdeal of speculation. Some scoff atbiblical prophecy. Others lookeagerly for events to fulfill it.

There is no doubt that some ofthe prophecies that looked for­ward from the Babylonian captiv­ity were fulfilled, at least in type,in the days of Ezra and N ehe­miah. Other prophecies about thetemple will not be fulfilled untilGod's Kingdom is established.

But many Bible propheciespertain to events that will soontake place in Europe and theMiddle East before the end ofthis age. Certainly we should beaware of events in the MiddleEast and in Jerusalem. We willsoon see the establishment ofGod's peaceful government onthe earth!

Events brought about bypeople are not necessary to fulfillprophecy. God will inspire thoseevents He has prophesied. We'llwait and watch with interest tosee what happens in the comingmonths and years.

For more information on thiscritical region and coming eventsthere, send for our free bookletThe Middle East in Prophecy.Just use the literature requestenvelope in this issue or write toour address nearest you. 0

March 1985 17

How can you get a bettergrasp of this fast-paced world of ours?

By Gene H. Hogberg

Wh a t events andtrends in the world

are of most signifi­cance as we approach "theend of the age" ­the end of 6,000years of hum anmisrule , and thedawning of theworld tomorrow?

Most importantly,for th e purposes ofthi s article , whichnews sources aremost beneficial andreliable in the job weall have of watchingworld events (Luke21 :36)? What 's thebest way to judge theva lu e ' of a newspa­per? And what is theoverall approach ofthe news media in analyzingcurrent events?

The correct perspective

First of all , when studyingworld events from the viewpointof Bible prophecy, one must knowwhat to look for . We have notbeen left without guideposts inthi s vital area.

The 24th chapter of Matthewconstitutes one of the most

18 The GOOD NEWS

important prophetic passages inthe New Testament. This chapterdetails the signs of Jesus Christ'sSecond Coming and the end ofthis age .

Hallmarks of the end time, wehave been taught, will be re li­gious deception (verses 4-5, 11) ," wars and rumors of wars " (verse6) , famines, pestilences, earth­quakes (verse 7) and religiouspersecution and martyrdom forsome (verse 9) . Through it all ,the true Gospel of God will be

ft==~::==:;;=;.-- proclaimed with ever-increasing power till -before the end - itwill have a powerfulimpact upon all nations(verse 14).

In addition to focus­ing our attention on thebroad outline of Mat­thew 24, we need tokeep a sharp eye onevents in Europe, lead­ing up to the final, 10­nation revival of theRoman Empire. TheMiddle East also mer­it s continuous newsmonitoring, especiallythe growth of religiousradicalism.

Plummeting moralsin the Western world, the decayof famil y life , en vironmentaldestruction and the threat of aglobal economic catastrophe show

we are near the end of humanity'sprofligate ways .

We need not go into detail atthis point concerning theseprophesied end-time conditions.The Plain Truth magazine con­tinually devotes considerablespace to these very trends. (If youare not already a reader of ThePlain Truth. you may have a freesubscription by writing to ouraddress nearest you. See theinside front cover for a list.)

Identity of America, Britain

There is another extremelyimportant area that opens oureyes to what to look for. This keyis the national identity of theUnited States, the British peopleand the democracies of north­western Europe. These nationsare, in the main, the descendantsof the ancient House of Israel ­the so-called "lost 10 tribes."(Write for our free book TheUnited States and Britain inProphecy for more information.)

The modern-day self-appointed"shepherds of Israel" (Ezekiel34:2) do not understand this vitalkey to prophecy, or they simplydismiss it. They have not "soughtwhat was lost" (verse 4).

This understanding is so vitalin comprehending world eventsthat without it one is left prophet­ically rudderless.

Equipped with this under­standing, we can readily grasp theportent behind one of the singlemost significant trends in theworld over the past two decades- the decline of British andAmerican power and the corre­sponding rise in the militarymight of the Soviet Union.

This major trend affects nearlyeverything in the world today,from the changed power relation­ships in the Middle East to theneed for Europe to unite.

Approach of news media

No news analysts, aside fromthose in the true Church of God,are going to look at the worldfrom the above perspectives ofBible prophecy.

But some analysts are definite­ly better than others in helping uswatch world events. Such analysts

belong to what has been calledthe realistic school of internation­al relations.

Generally speaking, realistslook at the world the way it reallyis. They are not blinded to politi­cal and moral evils in this world.They can plainly see the variouspower struggles among thenations, the principal one beingthe East-West conflict centeredin Moscow and Washington.

They believe that major powersact the way they do because ofhistorical precedence and nationalcharacter and are not likely to"change their spots" and moder-ate their policies. ,

Realists understand that in theworld - which the Bible revealsis not God's world but lies underthe influence of Satan (Revela­tion 12:9 , II Corinthians 4:4) ­lofty, abstract principles such as-" social justice" and " hu m anrights" are unattainable, even ifall people and nations knew whatthese concepts really meant. Tothe realist, the lesser evil is pref­erable to some human-defined,absolute "good."

The second broad approachtoward the world and society, tak­en by many political leaders andthe majority of news analysts ofthe popular press of the Westernworld, is the idealistic. also calledthe utopian or liberal. approach.

Basically speaking, the idealis­tic school holds that humannature is inherently good and hasinfinite malleability. Those hold­ing to this approach believe manhas the power to make societybetter and better according toconstantly changing (supposedlyimproving) human standards.

Regarding the moral bas is ofsociety, the idealistic or liberalschool rests on a shifting groundof no absolutes. The results ofthis "enlightened" approach, cutoff from biblically based orinfluenced tradition, are all tooobvious: the New Morality, livingtogether , feminism , gay rightsand the drive to " unisex" society- even the Bible. -

Choosing a newspaper

In general, the news media ofthe Western world hold marked

liberal views, in almost reverseproportion to the public at large.

Knowing the two broad ap­proaches to current events analy­sis should help us better selectfrom the news sources availableto us .

For some Christians, this israther difficult, especially if theylive in more closed societies. Inthese instances, choices of newssources are limited. Newspapers,radio and television are ofteneither government controlled orheavily supervised to reflect offi­cial government positions.

In -pluralistic Western socie­ties, on the other hand, a widerselection of newspapers, maga­zines and electronic media isavailable.

In Britain and other countriesin Europe, entire newspapers gen­erally reflect a certain philosophy.The Daily Telegraph . for exam­ple , an excellent news source forthe Church's News Bureau, isconservative in tone, in both pre­sentation of news and commen­tary. The Guardian. on the otherhand, reflects a definite left-of­center viewpoint.

The Times of London is in themiddle of the road, politically.The Times is regarded as thebest-written, most informativenewspaper in the English lan­guage.

Throughout Europe, anotherexcellent news source is the Inter­national Herald Tribune. anAmerican-style newspaper jointlyoperated by The New YorkTimes and The WashingtonPost .

For their own experience,people in the United Statesshould scan copies of the Timesof London or the Daily Tele­graph in their nearest big-citylibrary, if for no other reason thanto realize what they are missingon a daily basis in their newspa­pers. Reading the Times each dayis an education.

Choosing a newspaper in theUnited States presents more of aproblem. With the exception ofthe relatively new USA Today (abit shallow on in-depth analysis ofinternational news) , the UnitedStates _does not have national

March 1985 19

newspapers as does Britain. Twospecialized newspapers, however,enjoy national circulation.

The business-oriented WallStreet Journal now has thelargest circulation of any Ameri­can newspaper. Day in and dayout, its editorial pages containsome of the most sound-mindedanalyses of the news.

The small-circulation Chris­tian Science Monitor presentsperhaps the greatest scope ofinternational news of any dailyU.S. newspaper.

The highly informative (buteditorially liberal) New YorkTimes is steadily expanding itscirculation nationwide.

Americans who do not regular­ly read the above sources are lim­ited to local or regional newspa­pers. And far fewer of them existnow than before the advent oftelevision. Television and nightlytelevision news have all butdestroyed the afternoon newspa­per in America. Many cities arenow one-newspaper towns.

When a choice between two ormore newspapers is available, theprime consideration in decidingwhich paper to subscribe toshould revolve around the stableof columnists who appear on thenewspaper's editorial-opinionpages. Newspapers of the samesize will vary little, in general,concerning the hard news of theday. The difference in a newspa­per's relative worth will usuallyshow up on the opinion page. Inthis regard one should note howmany syndicated realist colum­nists appear regularly.

Who are some journalists ofthe realist school? Here are a fewnotable names in the UnitedStates to watch for: WilliamSafire, George F. Will, Evans andNovak, Patrick J. Buchanan,James J. Kilpatrick, NormanPodhoretz, Phyllis Schlafly andGeorgie Ann Geyer.

One may not always agree witheverything these journalists write,but more often than not theypresent topics worth reading.

Beneficial magazines

It also helps, budget permit­ting, to read a weekly newsmaga-

20 The GOOD NEWS

zine in addition to a newspaper.The magazine U.S. News &

World Report has always pro­vided the News Bureau withimportant information everyweek. U.S. News concentrates onessential facts and figures, withhelpful, readily understandablecharts and graphs.

Regarding Time and News­week, personal preference is thekey . These magazines are mosthelpful in covering major storiesin depth. The overall slant, ofcourse, remains American andliberal, especially in Time.

Unfamiliar to many Americansbut respected around the world isBritain's Economist, probably themost comprehensive newsweeklypublished anywhere, usually con­taining important news items thatescape American eyes.

Business Week is another finepublication with a good "Interna­tional Outlook" section on worldaffairs and excellent occasionalin-depth reports. However, as abusiness magazine, it ranks belowthe fortnightly Fortune.

A leading journal of opiniontoday is The New Republic,which is published weekly. Itoften contains thought-provokingarticles on a wide range of politi­cal and social affairs topics, repre­senting a fairly broad viewpoint.

Another supplemental newssource worth mentioning is Com­mentary, a monthly published bythe American Jewish Committee.Commentary is one of the mostinfluential journals in America.

The fortnightly National Re­view, while essentially political intone, often has articles of broadsocial significance.

A person may not wish to sub­scribe to any of the magazinesmentioned above. But one shouldat least scan them, as well as theselection of other newspapers andperiodicals available at libraries.

One might come across otherinformative English-languagenewsmagazines, such as M a­clean's from Canada, The Bulle­tin from Australia and Asiaweekfrom Hong Kong (which coversthe whole gamut of Asianaffairs) .

An excellent source covering

events In Europe, especially theCommon Market countries, isEurope. It is published everyother month by the EuropeanEconomic Community Commis­sion's office in Washington, D.C.Similar magazines are available inall member countries of the Com­mon Market.

Also take a look at WorldPress Review, a supplementalAmerican news source thatreprints news articles and edito­rials from the international press,representing a wide spectrum ofviewpoints.

Why not make a trip to thelibrary a monthly or semimonthlyhabit?

Remember that time is pre­cious - we are counseled to "re­deem" it (Ephesians 5:16). Don'twaste time on the scandal tabloidssold in grocery stores, nor onmost of the many popular person­ality magazines (People is proba­bly the best of the generally poorlot).

Have sound-minded approach

One last area needs to beaddressed, specifically because itaffects a few members of God'sChurch: This is the fascinationwith theories that purport toexplain world events as a grandconspiracy.

There are variants of the con­spiracy theory of history, but theynearly all revolve around an elitecabal of bankers, financiers andwealthy capitalists who are said tobe manipulating events interna­tionally with the goal of subjugat­ing the United States and West­ern nations to the control of atotalitarian , one-world govern­ment. The conspirators , it isclaimed, not only manipulateWestern-world leaders like pup­pets, but secretly control the gov­ernments of the Soviet Union andmainland China.

Conspiracy theory literature is,in general, very negative, accusa­tory and often anti-Semitic.

There is undeniable evidenceof similarity of thinking (interna­tionalist, moderately left of cen­ter) on the part of the majority ofmembers of certain organizationsoften accused of being part of the

conspiracy, such as the Councilon Foreign Relat ions and the Tri­lateral Commission.

Yet the fact that such organi­za tions exist and that the view­point of most of their members issimilar does not itself prove delib­erate, calculated conspiratorialintent.

Knowing the fruits of the flesh- "contentions, jealousies, out­bursts of wrath, selfis h am bitions,dissensions, heresies" (Galatians5:20) - it is illogical to believethat the alleged conspiratorscould pursue such a unified, sin­gle -minded course of action forany length of time.

America and Britain are goingdown not because of the willful

machination of unseen manipula­tors but for a compendium ofnational sins spelled out in Isaiah1:4-6: "Alas, sinful nation, apeop le lad en with iniq uity , abrood of evildoers, children whoare corrupters! They have forsak­en the Lord, they have provokedto anger the Holy One of Israel,they have turned away back­ward.. . . The who le head [gov­ernment] is sick, and the wholeheart [national morale and moral­ity] faints. From the sole of thefoot even to the head [meaningthe entire society and all its com­ponents], there is no soundness init, but wounds and bruises andpu trefying sores."

For 51 years, the pages of The

Plain Truth have pinpointedhumanity's problems as being adirect result of sin and lack of theknowledge of God and His laws(Hosea 4: 1). The English-speak­ing world is suffering the nationalcurses of disobedience (Leviticus26 , Deuteronomy 28) .

Let's keep a sound-mindedapproach (II Timothy I:7). Andlet's never think that we are privyto information important to salva­tion beyond what God has grevealed to His Church through]His chosen apostle. ~

In this way, and by using the ~steps outlined in this article, we'll ~know better what to look for - gand how to look - as prophecyjunfolds before our eyes. 0 ~

competitive that TV news execu­tives, frantic in their search fornew talent, resort to high-poweredconsulting agencies (called "newsdoctors" in the trade) who main­tain thousands of videotapes ofprospective "news stars."

Are your ratings slumping? Isyour present "news star" getting alittle gray at the temples? Has he(or she) lost his (or her) sexappeal?

Go to the "news doctor" andfind a new "pretty face"!

Knowing that this is the wayTV news functions, concentrate onthose newscasts that present worldand national affairs and take localtelevision news with a huge dose ofsalt.

To those who feel that televisionplaces them on a starvation newsdiet, one remedy might involve thepurchase of a relatively inexpen­sive portable shortwave radioreceiver. The top-notch BHCWorld Service from London canbe easily picked up nearly every­where in the world, together wittransmissions from Radio Austrlia, Radio South Africa andEnglish-language services oferal other nations.

whose prime time newscasts arehelpful.

There are, in addition, supple­mental television programs of val­ue, such as Public Television'sMac NeilfLehrer Newshour aswell as specially scheduled pro­grams. In these cases, let the TVGuide be your guide. .

Be cautious, however, of thenewscasts in your area. They canbe time wasters . All too often alocal newscast is only entertain­ment disguised as news!

Local newscasts, such as the 5to 6 o'clock or 6 to 7 o'clock "newshours" are big business in Ameri­ca, generating from a third to ahalf of a television station 'sincome.

The ratings wars between thechannels during these time slotsare fierce. To stay at the top of themarket, a station will do anythingto make its local "news" juicier:scandals, exposes - anything tohook the unwary viewer.

Worst of all, the on-screenanchorpersons ("news ' readers" toour British readers) are hired

ore for their goda looks than forhei~ joprnalistic ability. c;The local news game ' is now so

elevision as a News Source-T elevision can be an informa-

tive supplement to yournews diet, providing that thenewscasts are selected properly.

Unfortunately, however, manyeople waste hours each day look­

ing at what they think is news, andrarely -watch those newscasts andspecial programs that could reallyhelp.

This is especially true in theUnited States, becau se of the over­all dominance of the medium ofcommercial television.

It's a pity that Americans can ­not ' view Britain's -h ig h-q ualityBBC news or similar first -class,noncommercial newscasts in otherparts of the world.

In the United States, the mostworthwhile regularly scheduledommercial newscasts on worldnd national affairs are the nightlyO~minute (actually 22 minutes ofews plus the commercials and

tion breaks) ABC, CBS andC network programs.Iso seen in many areas is the

led fourth network news pro­nown as International Net­

. Inaodition,receive the

CNN)

March 1985 21

.LETTERSUnderstanding opened

I realize that your Mail ProcessingDepartment at Pasadena is a giganticoperation and that you receive thousandsof letters daily. Nevertheless, I feel com­pelled to write in response to Mr. Arm­strong's "Personal" in the October­November issue of The Good News.

Mr. Armstrong wrote : "But first wemust reach past their prejudices andplant the right KNOWLEDGE in their con­sciousness. That requires an EDUCATION­

AL, not a religious , program." How verytrue these words are!

I had never been "religious." I did notattend church or read religious literature,nor had I ever bothered with the Bible.Although I was not actually antagonistic,I did feel intensely put off by all thesentimentality, emotionalism and holier­than-thou attitudes that worldly churchesportrayed. Religious people and their talkused to embarrass me, hence I shiedaway from any such situations- until Idiscovered my first Plain Truth.

I picked up a copy at a stand in a smallcountry airport in Queensland, Australia.At first I was very wary, expecting to bepreached to. But instead I received awonderful, exciting surprise.

That was less than one and a half yearsago. Recently I became a baptized mem­ber of God's Church. I simply had towrite and show my appreciation for thetremendous educational messagesbrought to us through the pages of ThePlain Truth and The Good News, by thepeople in God's Church. Had they beenpresented in a religious language, I knowI would never have responded.

It's not difficult to see where God isworking . I can only hope that this lettermay reach Plain Truth and Good Newswriters responsible for such inspiringmessages of hope.

Zoe SummersNew Milton, England

I cannot thank you enough for sendingme the Good News magazine. I didn'trealize until I read it that I was spiri­tually starving to death . The warmth ofthe writers comes through and theyexpress themselves so well, I find myselfdrawn to rereading The Good Newsagain and again .

Deanna BushMount Clare, W.Va.

Your magazine, along with The PlainTruth and other publications of theWorldwide Church of God, have opened

22 The GOOD NEWS

my understanding to some of the misun ­derstood mysteries of the Word of God.

Like most professing Christians, Iknew very little concerning the Kingdomof God until about 10 years ago after Istarted reading your publications and lis­tening to the World Tomorrow broad­cast, and now I have acquired a vast vol­ume of biblical understanding. ThankGod for the truth!

Daniel SandersHampton, S.C.

Thanks to you, Mr. Armstrong!thought I was a real Christian, until Istarted reading your Plain Truth andother literature about 35 years ago.

My husband and I were running asmall country store . A good customerand friend .received the mail at our storeand was getting the Plain Truth maga­zine and let me read it. I was shocked,too - I found I wasn't keeping the com­mandments. I didn't know what to do. Iwas teaching a class in Sunday school.What would the people think of me?

We soon sold out and moved to town.Then I started keeping the Sabbath. Myhusband died in 1969, after 50 yearstogether. I quit going to Sunday servicesand have been trying to keep the trueSabbath holy ever since. The Bible sayswe can't serve two masters.

I'm still getting The Plain Truth andalso The Good News and Youth 85. Sothanks to you, Mr. Armstrong. Godchose you to open the eyes of the people,to show us where we have gone wrong,and you have helped so much to turn usback to Christ.

Mrs. Roy CharlesBernie, Mo.

December issueThe December Good News had three

articles that really impressed me verymuch .

K. Neil Earle's "How to Win OverWorry" will always be close to my mindas I have been terribly sick from worryand his article cured me. I will pray forhim to keep writing articles like this. Somany people are sick from worry today.This article was wonderful.

"Overcoming Prayer Block" by JohnA. Halford was really very good. I am afree-lance writer myself and I know whatwriter's block is. Most people today don'treally know how to pray or what prayeris.

The Ministudy "Jesus Teaches UsHow to Pray" was really good. I myselfdidn't know how to pray properly or

understand prayer the way these twoarticles described it. I prayed with what Ibelieved was communication with God,but I never understood it the way thesetwo articles tell it.

Bertha R. SelfridgeButler, Pa.

Thank you, Mr. Earle, for your helpfularticle "How to Win Over Worry." Atsome point in our lives, all of us worryover one thing or another. If we just fol­low the points in your article, we caneliminate all worry from our lives.

I hope all the contributors on the GoodNews staff realize how much thesearticles are appreciated by us in theChurch. Keep up the good work.

Carolyn HeltonJacksonville, Fla.

I thank you for sending the GoodNews magazine, which I just finishedreading yesterday. I enjoyed the wholemagazine, especially the articles aboutpraying. I was sure surprised to learnabout the right way to pray, which I hadnever been shown before.

Elmer D. FleckShipshewana, Ind .

Appreciate free subscriptionsPlease renew my subscription. Every

issue is exciting to me. I am a housewifeand enjoy reading and studying the Bible.I often read the Bible, but now I havefound how to rightly divide the Word ofGod . There is a big difference betweenreading and studying the Bible.

Mrs. Carl NaveElizabethton, Tenn.

I am a disabled veteran on a fixedincome, so I have very little money.There is no way I could have gotten thisvaluable magazine without the freeopportunity you have given me. I appre ­ciate it so much . It has been a greatblessing to me.

ReaderWaycross, Ga.

All our publications, including TheGood News, The Plain Truth, Youth 85,the Ambassador College Bible Corre­spondence Course and all our bookletsand reprints are sent free to all whorequest them. As Jesus Christ said,"Freely you have received, freely give"(Matthew 10:8). It is the commission ofGod's Church to publish the true Gospelin all the world as a witness to allnations (Mark /3:10).

WhyWater Baptism?MINISTUDY

The most direct biblical passage concerningwater baptism is found in Acts 2:36-41 . In hisinspired sermon on the day of Pentecost, A .D.31, the apostle Peter convicted his listeners fortheir part in having put the Messiah, JesusChrist, to death.

Several thousand became filled with guilt andshame. Their spontaneous response was, "Menand brethren, what shall we do?" (verse 37).

A very good question.When a person comes to recognize, as this

first-century group did, that he has been livingcontrary to the laws and purposes of his Creator,what should he do?

Notice the inspired answer to that question:"And Peter said to them, 'Repent, and be bap­tized everyone of you in the name of JesusChrist for the forgiveness of your sins; and youshall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit' " (verse38, Revised Standard Version).

Last month's study made clear the necessityof real repentance for salvation. But the verynext step, as stated in Acts 2:38, is baptism. Inthis study, let's look into the Bible to learn thereal meaning and purpose of baptism, and whyit is a required step in God's great master planof salvation.

There is great confusion in the religiousworld about how baptism should be done. Somechurches sprinkle or pour only a small amountof water; others practice complete immersion.What does the Bible instruct regarding thiscommanded practice?

The method practiced by the majority of pro­fessing Christian churches today is sprinkling.Yet the word sprinkle occurs only a few timesin the New Testament, and always in connectionwith the blood of Jesus Christ - but never doesit refer to baptism. Pouring is also mentionedseveral times - but not in regard to baptism.

The word baptize is not an English word perse. In translating the New Testament fromGreek into English, the translators left thisword untranslated. The Greek word is baptizo.

The definition of the word baptize is "im­merse." It means "plunge into" or "put into." Itdoes not mean "sprinkle" or "pour." The Greekword for "sprinkle" is rantizo and "pour" ischeo.

Therefore, sprinkling and pouring are not

Prepared by Richard H. Sedliacik

forms of baptism. Immersion - being placedcompletely under water - is. Water baptismhas great symbolic meaning, as we will soonsee .

But first, let 's notice several examples ofimmersion (baptism) as recorded in the NewTestament.

1. Why was John the Baptist baptizing in theriver Aenon? John 3:23.

John would have needed only a handful ofwater to sprinkle or a cupful to pour - butbaptizing requires "much water."

2. Even though Jesus' Christ had no sins torepent of, was He baptized by John, setting anexample for us to follow? Matthew 3:13-15, IPeter 2:21 . How does Jesus' baptism prove thatHe was immersed? Matthew 3:16.

Jesus had to be put down into the water, forHe "went up straightway out of the water"(Authorized Version). It would have beenimpossible for Him to have come "up .. . out"of a sprinkle or pour!

3. When Philip baptized the eunuch, did theyboth go into the water? Acts 8:38 .

There was no reason whatever for Philip to gointo the water, except that there was no otherway he could plunge the eunuch into the river.Had sprinkling or pouring been a proper meth­od of baptism, Philip would have needed only tobend over and scoop up the water while standingnext to the water.

The above examples clearly show that totalimmersion in water was the method practicedby the Church Jesus founded. And that is themethod we are to practice today!

But what is the purpose of baptism? Whatdoes it mean?

The meaning of baptism is strictly symbolic.We need to understand that symbolism to knowwhy God requires baptism of those He calls tobecome true Christians. .

Water baptism itself has no mystical or mag­ical effects. Its only physical effect is to get aperson thoroughly wet! Nor is the Holy Spiritgiven by water baptism. Yet baptism is com­manded by God for salvation (Matthew 28:19­20, Acts 2:38) .

Baptism is simply an outward sign of inwardrepentance. It demonstrates to God one's will­ingness and desire to permanently put away his

The short study you'vejust completed is a sampleof the study meth od usedin each monthly lessonof the eye-openingAmb assador Co llege BibleCorrespondence Course.You can enroll in this freecourse by writ ing to theGood News office neare styou. See inside front coverfor addresses.

ENROLL IN FREEBIBLE COURSE

commandments as made possible through HisHoly Spirit.

Finally, baptism shows our total , absolutesurrender to God. It symbolizes th e completeburial of the old sinful self and our beginning anew life surrendered to the will and authority ofGod .

Have you already been baptized? If so, was itdone by immersion as God commands? Had youre ally repented ? Did you know what repentanceis? Did you come to feel deeply broken up overand thoroughly abhor your past way of life,which was contrary to God's way?

Did you not only feel this as a deep and veryreal emotion, but did you thoroughly under­stand that you are to strive to obey the livingGod and His law from that day forward ? Hadyou really come to Jesus Christ in unconditionalsurrender, admitting your rebellion againstGod's way? Had you really repented of living bythe standards of this world?

If you were baptized by immersion, did youfully understand that you were being buried,and that a "new you" was to emerge from thewater?

Did you have hands laid upon you, and prayergiven for the receipt of God's Spirit? (We willlearn more about the Holy Spirit of God in nextmonth 's study.)

If you did not properly fulfill all the require­ments for baptism that we have covered in thisand the previous study, then your baptism wasnot valid in God's sight!

In this brief study we were able to cover onl ya few major points about water baptism. Foradditional information, be sure to request yourcopy of the free booklet All About Water Bap­tism. Also, an entire lesson of the AmbassadorCollege Bible Correspondence Course coversthis important subject in depth. Be sure toenroll in the course today, if you are not alreadya student.

No matter what your previous religious his­tory and experience may have been, you need tocheck up on yourself to see where you standwith God. 0

or her old life of sin and begin living a new lifeof obedience to God. Let 's make sure we under­st and clearly.

4. After Jesus was crucified for our sins,what happened to Hi s dead bod y? I Corinthians15:3-4, Romans 8: II.

After three days and three nights in thegrave, Jesus Christ was made alive and givenimmortal, spirit life by God's Spirit. His resur­rection shows He triumphed over sin anddeath .

5. Is baptism symbolic of one's death, burialand resurrection from a "grave"? Colossians2:12-13, Romans 6:3-13.

Just as Jesus died for our sins and was buried,our baptism - being immersed in a watery"grave" - pictures the symbolic death andburial of our old sinful life. And as Jesus wasresurrected "in newness of life," our coming upout of the waters of baptism is symbolic of ourbeing brought out of the " grave" to live a newlife of obedience to God, free from the guilt ofpast sins and the death penalty those sins haveincurred.

Baptism, as these verses show, pictures thedeath, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Italso pictures the death and burial of the sinnerand his resurrection to begin living a Christianlife surrendered to God - to walk henceforth"in newness of life." After baptism he reckonshimself as dead, so far as sin is concerned, butalive to God through His Son Jesus Christ (Ro­mans 6:11).

6. After baptism and the receipt of God'sHoly Spirit (Acts 2:38), does Jesus Christ beginto live within us through His Spirit? Romans8:9-10, Colossians 1:27-29.

God's Spirit gives us the spiritual strength, aswe yield to God, to resist the sinfu l influences ofthe devil, the world and our carnal natures. Andit imparts to us the faith and love of God to obeyHis spiritual law of love (Romans 5:5 , 13: I0).

The apostle Paul said: "I am crucified withChrist: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christliveth in me: and the life which I now live in theflesh I live by the faith of the Son of God , wholoved me, and gave himself for me" (Galatians2:20, AV) .

Water baptism is sim ply an ordinance bywhich we express our faith in Jesus Christ asour personal Savior - our acceptance of Hisdeath, burial and resurrection for us . Baptism isalso an expression of our repentance from sinand our desire to totally destroy and bury ourold , sinful life.

Baptism clearly shows our realization of ourown sins, vanities and wretchedness. It is anoutward acknowledgment that our selfish, vainand sinful old self must die so that we might riseto live a new life of spiritual obedience to God's

24 The GOOD NEWS

•In

YouCanBePositive

that, if followed , will guaranteethat we stay in a positive frame ofmind: "Finally, brethren, what­soever things are true, whatsoeverthings are honest, whatsoeverthings are just, whatsoever thingsare pure, whatsoever things arelovely , whatsoever things are ofgood report; if there be any vir­tue, and if there be any praise,think on these things" (Autho­rized Version) .

In other words, God wants usto focus our minds not on the

negative side of this life , but on

H .d 'we ld the positive.

O ay S or Ph~~~\/.~~~~~~n~~i~g :~~~examples In each area wherePaul said we should direct our

thoughts .

By Colin Adair

Sure, there's a better world comingIn the future, but how can you stay positive

in this evil age? The Bible tells!

~~FinallY,brethren,whatsoeverthings are true,whatsoeverthings arehonest,whatsoeverthings are just,whatsoeverthings arepure

"Finally, brethren, whatsoeverthings are true ..."

God's promises are true andsure. In Psalms 119: 160 we readthat God's Word is true in itsentirety. God has revealed thepurpose of life, that He is repro­ducing Himself and desires thatevery human being enter HisFamily (Romans 8:14-17) .

In spite of the appalling condi­tions now prevalent in this world,God will soon restore health andwell-being to hu­manity and makethe earth a spark­ling, magnificentgem (Isaiah 35) .That is what istrue!

It's also truethat humanity 'sgreatest enemy ­death - will beabolished, andthat all our lovedones will see God(I Corinthians15:26) .

One of JesusChrist's names, infact, is True :"Then I saw heav­en opened, andbehold, a white horse. And Hewho sat on him was calledFaithful and True" (Revelation19:11).

When we read the Bible we can

Focus on truth

Formula for a right attitude

But does God simply tell us tohave peace of mind, without tell­ing us how? No indeed. In Philip­pians 4:8, God gives us a formula

supreme in our minds. We asGod's people are called to peace.Those whom God has called andchosen to be in His Family havethe assurance that nothing canforce them to fall prey to Satan.

Consider John 6:37 and 39:"All that the Father gives Mewill come to Me, and the one whocomes to Me I will by no meanscast out. ... This is the will of theFather who sent Me, that of allHe has given Me I should losenothing, but should raise it up atthe last day."

Most people are in bondage tothe uncertainty, fear , worry andanxiety of the times in which welive. The Christian is different.He has tranquility and peace ofmind. Romans 8: 15 explains,"For you did not receive the spiritof bondage again to fear, but youreceived the Spirit of adoption[sonship] by which we cry out,'Abba, Father.' "

U errOriSm ! Murder!Financial crises!War! Family break­

ups! Weather upsets! Fam­ine! Pollution!

Every day, terrifying trage­dies jump out at us in startlingheadlines from the front pagesof our newspapers.

Just hearing the morning newsis enough to make anyone startthe day gloomy and pessimistic.

Thinking only of today's diffi­cult times and the even moretraumatic times to come can leadus into discouragement and de­spondency. While Jesus Christtells us to watch world events(Luke 21 :36), He also expects usto think and act in a positive man­ner. We should not become over­whelmed or dismayed by what wesee happening or what we know isprophesied to strike the earth.

Paul, in Colossians 3: 15, says,"And let the peace of God rule inyour hearts, to which also youwere called in one body; and bethankful. "

God's peace should reign

March 1985 25

.. .whatsoeverthings arelovely ,whatsoeverthings are ofgood report;if there be anyvirtue, and ifthere be anypraise, thinkon thesethings 99

know absolutely that whateverGod has promised, He will do,because He speaks truth an d can­not lie (N um bers 23: 19). Thisshould be a great comfort to us.There is never any need to doubtwhat God says.

"Whatsoever things are honest[or honorable] . . ."

Dishonesty is everywhere.People write checks knowing thatthey will bounce. Advertising isnotorious for its exaggeratedclaims and outright falsehoods .Theft has reached into every per­son's pocket.

But occasionall y, when a littlehonesty comes to light - when a

taxi driver returnsa watch left by apassenger, for in­stance, or a dry­cleaning workerhands in moneyfound in a pocket- we see a littlelight in the dark­ness . Think whatthe world tomor­row will be likewhen similar ex­amples will be thenorm, not rareexceptions.

Now let's turnto the othermeaning of thisphrase - "honor-able." What canyou think of that

is honorable?Hebrews 13:4 tells us that the

marriage union is honorable. Ifyou arc married, think of theways you can honor your spouseand your marriage by giving ofyourself.

The Bible tells us that anyonewho fears God should be honored(Psalm 15:4).

The elderly couple who havereared fine children or led lives ofservice to others are worthy ofhonor (Proverbs 16:31). So is theyoung man or woman who showscharacter and clings to high val­ues. Even the child who strivesdiligently to master long divisionis worthy of honor.

"Whatsoever things arejust ..."

In the Bible, the word just

26 The GOOD NEWS

means far more than fair or equi­table. It also refers to righteous ­ness. God's commandments arejust (Romans 7: 12) , and are anexcellent subject for meditation .David said that God's law is per­fect, sure, right and pure (Psalm19:7-8), and that meditation on itmade him wiser than his teachers.God's laws and statutes are excel ­lent subjects to think on , forGod's commandments reveal j ustwhat a righteous and just God Heis.

In God's Kingdom , JesusChrist will rule justly. We canlook forward to disputes beingsettled justly, whether amongnations or individuals, for Godcan read the thoughts and intentsof the heart.

Notice the attitude of theworld's coming ruler , Jesu sChrist: "His delight is in the fearof the Lord, and He shall notjudge by the sight of His eyes,nor decide by the hearing of H isears; but with righteousness Heshall judge the poor, and decidewith equity forthe meek of theearth" (I saiahII :3-4) .

Un der · God'srule, humani tywill receive thebenefits of its la­bor. No human orgovernment willtake away thatwhich rightfullybelongs to anyindividual. Imag­ine how wonder­ful the world willbe when everyonecan rest assuredthat his problemwill be resolvedjustly.

"Whatsoeverthings arepure ..."

Purity meansclarity or freedom from anythingthat weakens or pollutes . Andwhat is the most importan t thingof all for anyone to keep pure?Character.

Developing pure character ­the courage and conviction to findout what is right and the will and

ability to do what is right, despitetemptations to compromise - isthe very purpose for which manwas put on the earth.

Pu re love and fr iend ship arehard to find in this era of me-firstattitudes. Bu t we can learn to lovewith purity, without reservationor deceit.

I Peter 1:22 states, "Since youhave purified your souls in obey­ing the truth through the S piri tin sincere love of the breth ren,love one another fervently with apure heart."

I Timothy 1:5 reads, "Now thepurpose of the commandment islove from a pure hear t. " KeepingGod's co mmandments leads tobeing able to love with puremotives.

"Whatsoever thi~gs are love­ly .. ."

God 's creation is the quintes­sence of loveliness. The majestyof the Rocky Mountai ns of NorthAmerica, the Alps of Europe andNew Zealand, the fjords of Scan­dinavia, lift the spirit. Think of

the spectacularly or subtly beauti­ful places you have seen, either inperson or in pictures.

Many of humanity's highestworks and achievements can alsobe called truly beautiful. Learn toadmire and enjoy beauty andloveliness in art, literature, poe­try, dress, ornament and music.Enjoy what is lovely now, antici­pating the time when God willmake the earth a lovely place tolive, a place where beauty will beperfected.

"Whatsoever things are ofgood report . . ."

Remember what God saidabout His Son Jesus when Johnbaptized Jesus in the Jordan Riv­er? "And suddenly a voice camefrom heaven, saying, 'This is Mybeloved Son, in whom I am wellpleased'" (Matthew 3: 17) .Words of praise and appreciation

•" II

from a parent or respected personare like music to a son's or ada ughter's ears.

R ejoice when othe rs succeed,not when they fail. An d don't for ­get that there's potential for suc­cess in all people. God likes tohear good reports of His people.He has planned for everyone toreceive a good report at Jesus'return if they accept His way.

What else is of good report?The work of God is growing allover the world. The true Gospelof God's Kingdom is reachingmore people now than everbefore, adding hope and happi­ness to these people's lives everyday . That's definitely a goodreport.

How encouraging to think ofwhat God is accomplishing!

"If there be any virtue, and ifthere be any praise . .."

How often do we count ourblessings? Do we praise God forwhat we have? We may not haveperfect health, but we can beencouraged by the strength andhope that others, with even moreserious problems, show. Rernern-

ber the man who com­plained that he had noshoes ? He changed hisattitude when he saw aman who had no feet.

God is to be praised forall He has done for us.Read the Psalms , forinstance. They are full ofwords of praise for thegreat God who madeheaven and earth.

As a pe rsonth inks ...

Philippians 4:8 ends

with the admonition, "Think onthese things."

Thought leads to action. Dwell­ing upon sinful pleasures leads tosin, but a positive approach to lifeleads to success.

David had a positive approachtoward his battle with Goliath.He understood what Proverbs23 :7 explains: "For as he thinksin his heart, so is he. " David knewthat he could beat the Philistinegiant because he had faith Godwas on his side. He didn't let neg­ative thoughts about Goliath 'ssize and power deter him.

In his match with Goliath,David was battling for his physi-

cal life. We are in a simi­lar battle, but our eternallife is at stake.

Satan would like tohave us feel it is useless togo on . He would like us tothink only on the hope­lessness of this world . Ifhe can get us into a nega­tive frame of mind, hecan destroy us!

But God is on our sidewith a full arsenal of spiritualweapons!

As Christians we are to belights to t he world (Matthew5:14-16) . We must stand positiveabout the future and the ultimate ,destiny of humankind. A negative ~

Christian cannot inspire others to ~

follow God's way . ~

We need to keep our thinking ~

positive and work on qualifying ~for God's Kingdom with the i

<:assurance that the greatest power-gin the universe is behind us, wait- &ing to share His glory and charac- ~

ter for eternity. 0 ~

March 1985 27

PROVE ALL THINGS

Sin-AMatter ofLife and Death"Sinis fun!" So scrib-

bled the graffiti au­thor on a decaying bricktenement wall deep in theslums of a large city.

While the elements maysoon wash these words fromthe masonry, false beliefsabout sin , like this one, willlong engrave the minds of mil­lions of humans everywhere.Few people, graffiti artists andprofessing Christians alike,really understand the biblicaldoctrine of sin!

This state of spiritual blindnessis dangerous, for our Savior JesusChrist gave His life to pay thepenalty for sin .

Surely, anything that de­manded the life of God Himselfmu st truly be a matter of life anddeath for you and me!

The basic d octrine

In spite of the supreme impor­tance of understanding what sin isand what it does, the actual bibli­cal teaching about sin is easy tostate in a few words:

Sin is transgression against theway of God as defined by God'sperfect law. Although the penaltyof sin is death, forgiveness is glad­ly given by God to those whorepent and accept Jesus Christ astheir Savior and continue inGod's way.

The usual teachingsof this world

Although the biblical truthabout sin is easy to define (and,when fully understood, also deep­ly profound) , nonetheless the ver­itable hodgepodge of human mis-

28 The GOOD NEWS

conceptions about the topic is anightmare of confusion.

Some believe that there is nosuch thing as sin. Others feel thatsin is not sin unless the act inquestion "hurts somebody," or isagainst some sort of personalcode. O thers include almost anyand everything un der the defini­tion of sin - such as all movies oreven wearing any type of clothingbut drab, all-black fashions out ofthe 17th or 18th century. Othersdivide sin into vari ous categoriessuch as "original sin" and "mor­tal " and "venial" sins.

Truly, this subject needs to bemade plain.

The Bible teaching

W hen it comes to understand­ing the su bject of sin, the Bibledoes indeed devote much time tothis doctrine, and in the plainestwor ds.

For example, the Bible leavesno doubt about the definit ion ofsin when it proclaims, "Whoso­ever committeth sin transgressethalso the law: for sin is the trans­gression of the law" (I John 3:4,Authorized Version).

This statement that sin is thetransgression of the law goes a

long way in d ispelling manymyths about sin, such as thefalsehoods that there is no sin orthat sin is onl y sin when it " hurtssomebody" or transgresses yourown personal code. It says plainlythat sin is disobedience to God'slaw, period, regardless of inten­tions, beliefs or personal codes tothe contrary.

But sin in thi s context meansfar more than only a technical orin-the-letter violation of one ofthe Ten Commandments . Itincludes, as I John 5: 17 states," all unrighteousness. " For wefind that Jesus Christ expandedthe law of God to include not onl ytransgression in the letter (how­ever broadly defined) , but alsotransgression in the spirit andintent of the law (Matthew 5:21­28).

Thus sin includes not onlywrong actions we commit, butalso the evil attitudes of mind andthoughts of the heart of everyoneof us.

Since sin is the transgression ofthe law, it is' obvious that there isno sin without law (Romans 7:7).God's law is in force today. Thatalone will come as a shock tomany people.

Yet, the law is not our enemybut our friend , even though itdefines s ins : "The law isholy ... and just and good "(verse 12).

This is because God 's lawexists not merely to providemeaningless dos and don'ts forGod's amusement (like mere arti­ficial rules in a board game), bu tto reveal and define to humanswhat actions and attitudes areharmful if engaged in.

Certainly, when we see how far

and how deeply sin can permeateeach of our lives, we can easilysee how "all have sinned and fallshort of the glory of God" (Ro­mans 3:23) .

And yet, it is vitally importantto realize much more about thissubject of sin.

For example, we must knowthat pure temptation, not fol­lowed by wrong actions or atti­tudes or thoughts, is by itselfdecidedly not sin. It is plain thatJesus Christ Himself wastempted severely (Matthew 4:1),in "all points ... as we are" (He­brews 4: 15), and yet did not sin .Therefore we see that sin comesonly when the temptation takesroot in us - " conceives" (JamesI: 14-15) - and brings forth itsevil results.

We must also realize that Godis not the author of such tempta­tion or its resultant sin . Rather,Satan was the first sinner and ishence its author (Ezekiel 28: 13­15). And humans, in turn, sinwhen drawn away by the lusts oftheir own nature (James I: 14-15)or tempted by the unseen butpowerful evil hand of Satan andhis demons (Genesis 3:1-6, Ephe­sians 6:12).

Further, we need to be awarethat sin came into the human racefrom Satan, but through Adam,the first man. Nonetheless, weare all guilty of our own sins andnot, instead, born with the sin ofAdam staining us (as the teachersof the false doctrine of "originalsin " would have us believe). For,as the apostle Paul wrote, "As byone man sin entered into theworld, and death by sin; and sodeath passed upon all 'men, forthat all have sinned" (Romans5:12, AV) .

Hence , the blame for sinbelongs in two distinct places ­on Satan as its instigator andupon us as its willing participants.Truly, this important lesson is theone taught by the symbolism ofthe two goats in the sacrificialritual performed by ancient Israel

on the Day of Atonement (Leviti­cus 16).

No discussion of the topic ofsin would scratch its surface,however, without explaining themost important characteristic ofsin - its penalty. That penalty isthe ultimate - death! "For thewages of sin is death" (Romans6:23) .

Such a direct and plain Biblestatement may astound those whocling to the false belief in theimmortality of the soul and whowould think that the penaltywould be to burn forever in hellfire, but God's plain and directstatement cannot be gainsayednor doubted. " T he wages of sin isdeath"!

And notice that the wages isthe same for all sin, great andsmall. God does not categorize sinspiritually, calling some "mortal"and others " venial." All sin ismortal in the sense that it gener­ates the death penalty if unre­pented of.

That is not to say that some sinis not more morally depravedthan other sin, or involves morecharacter destruction, or incursgreater bad results here on earthnow. But the spiritual penalty forall sin - the spiritual death pen­alty - is equal in every case ofsin.

Yet the wages of sin are notonly death, but include the suf­fering that such sin may bring inthis life, such as broken mar­riages, wars and every other typeof suffering, and the alienationand cutting off of the sinner fromthe living, eternal God (Isaiah59:1-2).

Certainly, we who have allsinned and therefore stand injeopardy of suffering alienationfrom God and ultimate death,need an escape from and a protec­tion and antidote to this horribleenemy of sin. Thankfully, wehave it, through Jesus Christ ourLord (Romans 7:13-25).

But the details of this escapefrom and antidote to sin cannot

By Bernard W. Schnippert

be handled in this space and mustawait the discussion of the doc­trine of justification.

With all that has been saidabout sin , one question stillremains: Why does God allowsin?

The answer is that sin is a nat­ural possibility arising out of thefreedom of choice - the freemoral agency - God has given ushumans.

Since we have freedom tochoose, we have freedom to sin.And we must have freedom tochoose if we are to build the char­acter God wants to build in us,since character is by definitionthe choosing of right over evil.

Key verses

Since the topic of sin is so vitalto the understanding of the Bible,it is good to remember a few keyverses on the subject. Here aresome:

I John 3:4 says sin is the trans­gression of God 's law. Romans6:23 shows that the penalty of sinis death. Isaiah 59:1-2 shows thatsin cuts one off from God.Romans 3:23 states 'that all havesinned. I John 1:9 shows that Godis faithful to forgive our sinswhen we repent of them.

This subject of sin is tooimportant to lie misunderstood inthe minds of those whom Godwould call to salvation. Sin istransgression against the way ofGod as defined by His perfectlaw. Although the penalty of sinis death, forgiveness is gladly giv­en by God to those who repent ­turn from sinning - and whoaccept Jesus Christ as their per­sonal Savior and dedicate theirlives to living God's way, obeyingHis perfect law.

Yes, sin may be "fun" for awhile, but its penalty is anythingbut fun - death! Yet we who canlearn what sin is, and who repentof it bitterly, can rely upon themerciful forgiveness of the greatGod who yearns to give us HisKingdom and eternal life. 0

March 1985 29

CO INGIN THE GOOD NEWS

DoesEaster Commemoratethe Resurrection?Here is clear proof from the Bible, includingJesus' instructions to His Church on the subject.

Inside Bible ProphecySometimes menacing, sometimes sublime, yet always vividand arresting, Bible prophecy speaks across the ages.

What Was Jesus Like as a Human?If your idea of Jesus the human being is the traditionalportrait - an effeminate, unappealing, rather pitifulcreature - brace yourself for a pleasant shock.

"HallowedBeYour Name"God devotes a whole commandment of the TenCommandments just to protecting and glorifying Hisname. Why is His name so significant?

You DO HaveTalent!Do you feel uncreative, workworn, bored with yourself?Here's how to start developing the talents you havein order to enjoy a more fulfilling life.

T)1e Good News.' ~ :'adena. CA 91123

't' N";":PfOfit Org.U.S. POSTAGE '

. PAIDWorldwide Churc h.r of God

.' '---_ ----l

I