By Herbert W. Armstrong
I was driven by automobile, a few months ago, within ten miles of the Red Chinese border. I visited, at that point, a world-famous carpet and rug factory. I inspected samples and arranged for production of the special carpeting for the new auditorium now under construction on the Ambassador College campus in Pasadena.
The managing director of the rug company drove me out to the factory and back. Along the way, he pointed out a district of hillside residences. He said the people of this comparatively small district represented many different religions - Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Hinduism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism. They're very tolerant toward religions other than their own, he said. Even different members of one family living in the same house may belong to as many as three different religions:
I couldn't help asking myself, Why so many different religions in the world? No two agree. Yet I suppose most feel that theirs is the one and only RIGHT religion.
And then there are the millions, religious and nonreligious, who, through modem education, accept the theory of evolution. Evolution is a theory UNPROVED, and by its very nature UNPROVABLE. Therefore it is another FAITH or BELIEF, even though most of its adherents may not think of it as a RELIGION. Why do people believe whatever they do?
How did they come to believe it? Do you know that most people never stop to ask themselves those questions? Of course most who accept a religion were simply brought up to believe the particular religion of their parents, or of their part of the world. They never made an examination of it, or of other religions, to PROVE whether it is true. And that is true of most who accept the evolutionary theory of origins. That is, they were taught it in school - in college or the university - and they simply went along with the others who were being taught it, and simply ASSUMED it to be truth.
But something must be lacking in them all! For none has really made this a better world. None has shown us the WAY to a lasting world PEACE. None has the answer to all the poverty, the destitution, the illiteracy, the filth and squalor of the hundreds of millions in Asia, Africa, South America - or to the moral degeneracy, the tragedy of broken marriages and split-up families, the crime, the violence, the discontent throughout our supposedly educated and affluent Western world.
Not one of these religions - nor the evolutionists - nor modern science - has been able to explain why man is as he is - with the most AWESOME human mind that can send men to the moon and back, but can't solve his problems here on earth.
Do you know that there is a source that does explain all this? There is a source that can be PROVED to be true - and the only source that can give us the answers. It is the source the Christian religion is supposed to follow, but doesn't! It is a source not followed by the Eastern religions - a source rejected by modern science. This very REJECTION is the REASON that modem science offers NO SOLUTION for humanity's greater problems - the way to lasting world PEACE - the way to universal happiness, prosperity, and abundant well-being.
You can PROVE the existence of God, the Creator of all, the Ruler of all, and the Great Educator, whose revelation of BASIC KNOWLEDGE is the FOUNDATION of ALL knowledge, understanding and wisdom.
You can prove the authenticity and the AUTHORITY of the revelation of that Supreme God - which revelation we call the Bible. See Does God Exist?, and another booklet as well, also gratis, Seven Proofs God Exists.
Why is there so much MISSING knowledge? Or, why is the most VITAL and important knowledge MISSING? And on the other hand, WHY is there so much mis-knowledge - so many fallacies, fables, untruths being taught in the guise of fact or of truth?
Let me tell you, when you really let the true answer to those questions come into your mind, you'll be on the way to understanding this whole riddle of life - and the REASON for the really terrible and sickening conditions that exist on this earth today.
Let me tell you some of the vital factors of knowledge that have been HIDDEN from this world - yes, hidden from the world's leading educators, hidden from modern science, hidden from all religions, hidden from statesmen, heads of state, and the world's rulers, hidden from the public - yes, and hidden from YOU! One vital factor of knowledge hidden from the world is knowledge of the CAUSE of a lasting world PEACE - and, conversely, knowledge of the CAUSE of the lack of it!
Another vital factor of knowledge hidden from the world is the true MEANING of life - the PURPOSE for which humanity was put here on the earth. Another is the REASON why man can invent such marvelous machines, can fly to the moon, yet can't solve his own problems here on earth.
The Bible is our Maker's Instruction Manual - His basic revelation of necessary knowledge. And this book claims that ALL mankind, as a whole, is deceived! All nations are deceived. Listen! Let me show it to you. The great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world(Revelation 12:9).
Notice Jesus' warning: For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
All these are the beginning of sorrows....
And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many....
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect (Matthew 24:5-8,11,24).
And notice the apostle Paul's warning to the Gentile Corinthians: ... the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them .... for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works (II Corinthians 4:4; 11:14-15).
These passages represent Satan the devil as the arch-deceiver of mankind. Probably most people today are deceived into thinking there is no devil. The very arch-deceiver has deceived the world into thinking he doesn't exist and untold millions into thinking that God doesn't even exist.
Another important fact the knowledge of which has been hidden from the world is that there was once peace on this earth - peace worldwide - happiness, joy! Originally this world was populated with angels - not humans. And that's another bit of knowledge hidden from most people today. So let us now notice the very first verse in all the Bible: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1). The Hebrew words in which Moses originally wrote that sentence imply a perfect creation - not one in chaos and confusion, as described in the second verse.
Many scriptures in other parts of the Bible reveal great world-shaking events that occurred between the time of the first and second verses of Genesis one.
In the book of Job the original creation is described as so perfect and so beautiful that the angels shouted for joy. God the Creator is described as asking Job: Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:4,7).
There was worldwide peace on earth for some time after the earth was first created, because the government of God was being administered here then. For how long a duration is not revealed. It could have been millions of years. In any event it lasted until about 6,000 years ago.
When this earth was first created, God the Creator-Ruler of the universe set one of two highest-ranking archangels - a cherub - who was thoroughly experienced in the administration of God's government as King to administer the government of God over the earth.
And all that, too, is knowledge hidden from the world today. And that involves also another important bit of hidden knowledge - the very ORIGIN of this Satan, the devil. Where did he come from? Did God deliberately create a devil?
Notice Ezekiel's description of the origin of Satan: Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering... the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.... thou hast sinned. Therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee (Ezekiel 28:12-17).
The real ruler of the ancient city of Tyre, the economic giant of those days, was Satan. Notice what Isaiah reveals about this Lucifer or Satan. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit (Isaiah 14:12-15).
This super archangel who became Satan led one third of all the angels - the whole earth's population - in his war of aggression. And he is deceiving the whole earth today! - As a result of this colossal earth-wide mutiny and rebellion against the government of God, a physical destruction put this whole earth into chaos and darkness, and that's what we find described in Genesis 1:2: And the earth was; without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the waters.
And the. Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. Then in six days 'God RENEWED the face of the earth: 'Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth: (Psalm 104:30).
So now, notice the first thing God did in renewing the face of the earth: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light (Genesis l:3).
It was on the sixth day of renewing the face of the earth that God created the first HUMANS - when MAN was first put here on this earth - and for a tremendous purpose which also has been WITHHELD from public knowledge. And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness: and let them have,dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth (Genesis 1:26).
Satan DECEIVED the first woman and got to Adam through his wife. Adam rejected God's revealed knowledge - just as humanity has been doing ever since - disobeyed the government of God, allowed the SAME ATTITUDE that Satan had.to enter his heart - the self-centered attitude of vanity, lust and greed, of selfishness, of resentment against authority - especially the authority of God - of total unconcern for the good or welfare of others, of jealousy, envy, and hatred.
And all humanity, under the sway of this active Satan, is traveling that way of life still. And that is the very CAUSE of all humanity's ills and evils in this sick, sick world today.
Happily, the time is coming, SOON, when this whole world is going to be jolted into waking up to this vital knowledge, so long HIDDEN from a sleeping and sick world!