IS THIS

WORLD REALLY
NECESSARY?

Editor in Chief
Herbert W . Armstrong
Editor
Garner Ted Armstrong
Senior Editors
David Jon Hill. Raymond F. McNair
Managing Editor
Brian W. Knowles

The Good News

Vol. XXIV No. 10

Anistant Managing Editor

John R. Schroeder

October 1975

Contributing Editors
David L. Antion, Dibar Apartian , Robert Boraker,
Arch Bradley. Peter Butler. Charles V. Dorothy,
Jo Ann Dorothy, Charles F. Hunting. Dennis G.
Luker, Gerhard O. Marx. Leslie McCullough,
Roderick C. Meredith, David R. Ord , Richard
Plache. Carole Ritter

ARTICLES
Are You Brave Enough To Face Truth?

8
20

Associate Editors
Gary L. Alexander, Lawson C . Briggs, D. Paul
Graunke, Robert L. Kuhn , George Ritter, Richard
H. Sedliacik

A Message From Amos

Significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls
for the New Testament

22

Is This World Really Necessary?

26

The Sheep Instinct and You

Copy Editors
Ronald Beideck, Kathleen Prohs
Art Editor
Greg Smith
Art Staff
Randall Cole
Editorial Staff
Susan Flesher , Barbara McClure. Leila
McMichael, Ronald B. Nelson, Janet Schroeder
Church Administration Director
C . Wayne Cole
Business Manager
Frank Brown
Advertising Manager
Terry Warren
Circulation Managers
United States : Benjamin Chapman ; International
Editions: Leslie McCullough

FEATURE
Update

14

ABOUT OUR COVER

If God is good, kind and just, why did
He create this misery-laden world
for His children to live in? Why war,
starvation, pain and suffering? Is there
a I~gical reason for it all?
(See article beginning on page 22.)

Ernst Herb -

Clockwise from top right:

GN; GN; Peter Gridley - FPG;
GN; Black Star; James Robinson.

Published monthly by the Worldwide Church of

God, 300 W. Green St.. Pasadena . Calif . 91123
1975 Worldwide Church of God. All Rights
Reserved.
Second-class postage paid at Pasadena, California. Reentered as second-class matter at the
Manila Central Post Office on January 18. 1974.
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GOOD NEWS OFFICE NEAREST YOU.
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~
8

________________________________________________________________________________________

na back-page ad appearing on a
fairly recent number of the Plain
Truth, we tested the Bible knowledge of our readership. Ten true-orfalse questions were posed to our
Plain Truth readers - without the
benefit of a handy crib or answer
sheet neatly tucked away elsewhere
in the tabloid.
What doctrines were true and
false to our readers is a little astonishing to say the least (see box on
next page for the results) - just one
more eye-opening revelation confirming the extent to which even this
Western world of Christianity has
been virtually engulfed by a plethora of paganism .
One of the seven major, incontrovertible proofs of the true
Church of God is its knowledge concerning "The Real Truth About Pagan Doctrines." I propose to answer
each and everyone of these ten doctrinal questions straight out of the
pages of your own Bible.

The Real Source of

Your Religious Beliefs

But first, why do you believe the

things you do about the Bible? How
did our Plain Truth readers arrive at
GOOD NEWS

October 1975

ARE

YOU
BR
ENOUGH
TO
FACE
TRUTH
~

by Garner Ted Armstrong

How much of what you believe

about religion is really true?
How do you discover doctrinal
truths? And if you do finally
find the right doctrine, are you
courageous enough to face and
accept it?

their vanous doctrinal beliefs as

shown on this short ten-question
quiz? How did we all come to our
religious convictions and beliefs?
Was it by actually studying the
Bible for weeks, months and years oftentimes on our knees, comparing,
searching, praying for guidance and
then living by what we found there?
Let's most of us not kid ourselves.
If such is your case, you are a very
rare person indeed! The majority of
our readers would have to admit
that their religious beliefs, if they
really would sit down and stop to
think about it, came from anywhere
but the Bible. The actual sources
were first of all parents, perhaps an
aunt, an uncle, grandparent, friends,
various denominations of "churchianity," books about the Bible, even
concepts almost automatically "read
into" the Bible, etc.
Fra~kly, people believe what they
are taught - true or false! A human
being is not, of himself (or hersell), a
rational being. Rather, as a little
baby, he openly and freely admits
into his little mind any and everything that is taught him.
Think about it! You were a little
baby once. You were utterly help-

less - utterly dependent upon your

p1!rents for your very survival. As a
growing young child, you innocently
and eagerly believed most of what
your parents said to you.
For example, you firmly believed
Aunt Bessie's soul went to heaven if
your parents said so! And that is
about how most of your convictions,
beliefs and concepts about the
Word of God got lodged into your
mind - other people were by far and
away the main source.
There Is a Source of Truth

If you had been taught the truth

of God from infancy, you would believe it today. But regardless as to
what you have been taught - irrespective of what you believe about
any biblical subject - there is a way
for you to find out whether or not
you are believing biblical truth or
doctrinal lies.
There is a positive, absolute and
unshakable source of truth! Jesus
said: "Thy word is truth"
(John 17 : 17). The apostle Paul

wrote: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable

for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (II Tim. 3: 16). Peter wrote:
"For the prophecy came not in old
time by the will of man: but holy
men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit"
(II Peter 1:21).
Everywhere in the Bible, God
gives cross-checks, balances and especially corroborative points on vitally important doctrinal truths. The
Bible - the one source of absolute
spiritual truth - is simply filled with
consistent scriptures ("here a little
and there a little") on the most
foundational doctrines of God.
Truth Is Ego Shattering

To believe that we could actually

be wrong about something - almost
anything - is unfortunately a very
ego-shattering experience for some
(if not most) human beings. The exposure of even false religious myths
and biases can be so psychologically

disruptive that it is tantamount to

complete ego destruction.
When the doctrinal or religious
security blanket is gone, so is the
particular niche of comfort into
which we can conveniently creep
when some challenging new thought
comes along to disturb our: mental
processes. We do have our first line
of defenses against truth, and they
are far more effective than any radar set or military advance-earlywarning missile system. They unfailingly tell us that we are not wrong,
but right after all!
.
Most people stubbornly resist any
new truth with a whole series of
first-line defenses and several backup systems to boot. But when truth
finally exhausts all their defenses,
they are forced to resort to that oneand-only tired old excuse: "Just who
do you think you are? Where did
you get your authority from?" If all
else fails, people tend to fall back on
this "put-down."
Actually, according to the Bible,
admitting that we have been wrong

Results From GN Ad in PT:

"TEST YOUR BlaE KNOWLEDGE"

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~~:~:::~
MAGAZI~~ ~I

GOOD NEWS

----------~~~~~

The correct answer to all of the statements

Is false.

No
Answer
2

False

Heaven is the reward of the saved

True
60

Jesus was resurrected on Easter Sunday

43

31

The King James Version is the original

Bible text

37

35

Dead sinners suffer for eternity

in the fires of hell

38

32

Bible prophecies are found only in

the Old Testament

18

56

Man has an immortal soul which leaves

the body at death

60

13

A "Christian" is any person who

professes belief in Christ

42

Jesus was born on Christmas day

31

32
42

Jesus' Olivet Prophecy was all

fulfilled in 70 A.D.

24

32

19

God is a Trinity

53

17

13

GOOD NEWS October 1975

all of our lives about major doctrines and revered religious concepts
should be the first step to becoming
a really mature human being. It is a
very vital and real part of a spiritual
process called repentance.
Are you willing to burn your doctrinal bridges behind you when you
discover new truth in the pages of
your Bible? Or are you going to continue to cling to illogical, shopworn,
old religious myths that are completely inconsistent with the true
biblical teaching?
Truth sometimes has a price on it
- albeit not a monetary one. "Buy
the truth, and sell it not," advised
wise
old
King
Solomon
(Prov. 23 :23). Sometimes not going
along with the long-believed opinions of family and friends brings
with it some religious persecution.
Sometimes it takes a little courage
to free your mind from doctrines
and concepts that common sense
tells you are totally illogical and do
not even square with what you
know about nature and science,
much less the Bible. True biblical
doctrine just rings true!
But regardless of what you choose
to do about truth, it is still there!
And the Bible is an ego-shattering
book. It exposes and explodes most
of the major doctrines of mainstream, Western-world "Christianity" as sheer myths.
A Book of Opposites

It is a book absolutely fraught

with what I've always referred to as
"diametric opposites" - many times
totally opposite to the various bizarre "doctrines and beliefs" of even
the religion that is supposed to be
based on a biblical foundation.
So open up your Bible and discover that it does noi say what you
probably always thought it did but often the exact opposite!
No better example of this incredible irony can be found in all of the
Bible than in the shocking "Sermon
on the Mount" which contains the
basic, down-to-earth fundamentals
of real Christianity - the very heart,
root and core of the teachings of
GOOD NEWS

October 1975

Christ. Again, the very basic doctrines of this world's Christianity,

believe it or not, are in direct opposition to the simplest and clearest
teachings of Christ found in the 5th,
6th and 7th chapters of the book of
Matthew.
Heaven Is the Reward
of the Saved?

The overwhelming majorIty of

our Plain Truth readers (who took
this little quiz) believe that "Heaven
is the reward of the saved" - a
place for Christian retirement. And
without any exaggeration, many
millions in the Western world fully
expect "to get to heaven" someday.
They have, in many cases, been imbued with this false concept (both
consciously and unconsciously)

If you had been taught the

truth of God from infancy,
you would believe it today.
But regardless as to what you
have been taught - irrespective of what you believe there is a way for you to find
out whether or not you are
believing biblical truth.

since early childhood, having accepted it without question - yet

never having seen a shred of real,
tangible biblical proof.
Perhaps some of them actually
saw and heard a "death-bed repentance" of a "departed" loved one
who claimed to have seen a "vision"
of heaven - and then accepted this
as absolute proof positive that this
friend or relative "went to heaven."
But millions do not realize that
anciently a great and powerful spirit
being became virtually obsessed
with the idea of "getting to heaven."
This greaf spirit - called in the
Bible "Satan the devil" - has managed to instill this tenacious, selfish,
grasping desire to "get to heaven" in
the minds and hearts of these millions . He is called in Revelation 12:9 "the great dragon" who

has deceived the whole world. He

even inspired one of his ministers
(see II Cor. 11 :13-15) to ask the
question, "Dear Reader: Are you
willing to settle for earth?"
However, the first few verses in
the "Sermon on the Mount" dispel
and put to rest the idea that heaven
is the Christian reward, and, as a
bonus, teach a very vital lesson on
how to study the Bible. In verse 3 of
Matthew 5, Christ said: "Blessed
are the poor in spirit: for theirs is
the kingdom of heaven" (Mark,
Luke and John all refer to it as the
"kingdom of God')'
Now skipping ahead just a couple
of verses, Jesus continued: "Blessed
are the meek: for they shall inherit
the earth" (verse 5). Does Christ
then mean to imply that "the poor
in spirit" are going to heaven while
it is very clearly stated that "the
meek" (a very similar quality of
character) are to remain on earth?
No! It plainly says: "The meek
shall inherit the earth. ' ? Jesus said
so; and so did David (cf. Matt. 5:5;
Ps. 37: 11 , 22, 29).
The truth is that Jesus never
promised heaven as a reward for the
saved! The saints (true Christians)
shall rule and reign on the earth
(Rev. 5: 10) for a period of one
thousand years (Rev. 20:4). Jesus
promised all overcoming Christians
that they would rule over the nations on this earth with Him (see
Rev. 2:26; 3:21).
Now read Matthew 5:3 again,
very carefully. "Blessed are the poor
in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven." That little word " of"
makes a very great deal of difference in understanding this verse.
Christ promises His elect a kingdom
ruled by God, but from heaven. It is
a kingdom of heaven, but not a
kingdom in heaven - and there is a
great distinction!
The proverbial example I've always used to illustrate this principle
is the Bank of Morgan. If Jesus had
said: "For theirs is the Bank of Morgan," would that mean that He was
promising (to the saved) the stocks,
bonds, securities and wealth inside
3

of Mr. Morgan? Of course not that would be ridiculous! The truth

is that both "the poor in spirit" and
"the meek" shall inherit the earth!
The "kingdom of heaven" is a
kingdom ruled by heaven, which is
to come down out of heaven - to
this earth! As I already pointed out
earlier, only Matthew used this expression anyway - Mark, Luke and
John all called it "the kingdom of
God." Matthew, writing initially and
primarily to the Jewish people of his
day, used "kingdom of heaven" for
a very vital reason and purpose.
Many Jews regarded themselves as
already being, since Sinai, the Kingdom of God.
The literal Kingdom of God (or
Kingdom of the Messiah - Christ)
will be a spiritual kingdom far transcending the scope of any earthly,
physical kingdom of men on this
earth - then or now. Matthew
wanted to be doubly sure that his
Jewish audience understood the important difference.
Heaven Makes No Sense

Jesus talked of a coming resurrection of the dead in John 5:25-29 :

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The
hour is coming, and now is, when
the dead shall hear the voice of the
Son of God: and they that hear
shall live . . .. Marvel not at this: for
the hour is coming, in the which all
that are in the graves shall hear his
voice, and shall come forth ; they
that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have'
done evil, unto the resurrection of
damnation [Greek, judgment]."
But the resurrection itself presents
a perplexing dilemma to people
who believe that the dead go immediately to heaven when they die. If
Christians who die "in the Lord" are
already in heaven - living in beautiful mansions and sporting white
wings and the whole bit - why
bother with a resurrection?
If they have been released from
this sin-sick world, from their old,
worn-out, disease-ridden, corruptible bodies, and if they have been
with Jesus Christ in heaven - why
4

would Jesus take them out of

heaven, bring them back to earth,
plunge them back into their graves,
and then go through the fantastic,
laborious effort of resurrecting
them? Doesn't really make sense,
does it?
I could go on and on, easily taking up this entire article just answering the first question, and I wouldn't
get to any others. The scriptures I
have presented are only a few of the
literally dozens of plain scriptures
(and sometimes whole chapters) in
the sacred Word of God which absolutely prove that the "get-toheaven" idea of this spiritually
darkened world is of purely satanic
origin and strictly nonsupport able
in the Bible.
One important verse I should in-

Most people stubbornly resist

any new truth with a whole
series of first-line defenses
and several backup systems.
But when truth finally exhausts
all their defenses, they are
forced to resort to that tired
old excuse: "Just who do
you think you are?"

clude here is John 3: 13: "And no

man hath ascended up to heaven,
but he [Jesus] that came down from
heaven, even the Son of man which .
is [at the time John wrote his Gospel] in heaven." And that includes
the great patriarch David - a man
after God's own heart (Acts 13:22).
The plain Word of God (which is to
judge each of us) says through the
mouth of Peter: "Men and brethren,
let me freely speak unto you of the
patriarch David, that he is both
dead and buried, and his sepulchre is
with us unto this day" (Acts 2:29).
Verse 34 nails the lid on the coffin
of this crazy idea that the saints are
already in heaven: "For David is
not ascended into the heavens."
This is plain biblical teaching, utterly incapable of mistranslation . .
No interpretation needed - it says

what it means; it means what it

says!
Oh, I know that there is a scripture on heavenly mansions in
John 14, but those mansions (or offices) are being prepared of God in
heaven now to be brought down to
this earth at Christ's second coming.
These verses ' are covered in technical detail in our booklet What Is the
Reward of the Saved? Most of the
scriptures that seem to indicate that
there might be something to this
heaven concept are fully and completely explained and expounded;
including the one about the "thief
on the cross" (Luke 23:43), Paul
wanting to depart and be with
Christ (Phil. 1:23-24), Paul supposedly being bodily in the third
heaven (II Cor. 12:1-7), etc. Be
sure to write for this free booklet
and get the answers to all of these
"difficult-to-be-understood" scriptures.
If you have questions concerning
Enoch and Elijah and those verses
that supposedly show that these two
great men of God "went to heaven,"
be sure to write for another free
booklet entitled Where Are Enoch
and Elijah?
Man Has an Immortal Soul?

Skipping all the way down to

question six (I'll not take them in
order for purposes of continuity of
subject matter), we come to the
question of the fabled and muchbelieved doctrine of the immortality
of man's soul.
I'll just quote directly out of the
Bible some of the surest scriptures
on the subject - both Old and New
Testament. "The soul that sinneth,
it shall die" - that's mentioned
twice (Ezek. 18:4, 20) . Solomon
wrote: "For that which befalleth the
sons of men befalleth beasts ; even
one thing befalleth them: as the one
dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they
have all one breath; so that a man
hath no preeminence above a
beast . .. " (Eccl. 3: 19). And : "For
the living know that they shall die:
but the dead know not any thing"
(Eccl. 9: 5). And in verse 10:
"Whatsoever thy hand findeth to
GOOD NEWS

October 1975

"

~
~

~~------------------------------------------------~----------------------------------~
do, do it with thy might; for there is
no work, nor device, nor knowledge,
nor wisdom, in the grave, whither
thou goest."
Solomon's father, King David,
taught exactly the same doctrine.
"For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who
shall give thee thanks?" (Ps. 6:5.)
Also: "Put not your trust in princes
[rulers], nor in the son of man, in
whom there is no help [by comparison with God]. His breath goeth
forth, he returneth to his earth; in
that very day [that he dies] his
thoughts perish" (Ps. 146:3-4).
Death is the absence of life, the
cessation of life - not the continuation of life under different circumstances. In Romans 6:23, God
tells us through the pen of the
apostle Paul that the wages of sin is
death. And the "golden scripture" in
all of the Bible instructs us : "For
God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life"
(John 3: 16).
Death and life are opposites, not
the same thing. There is a great gulf
between them as the parable about
GOOD NEWS

October 1975

Lazarus and the rich man explains

(Luke 16). Paul continues on in Romans 6:23 to tell us that "the gift of
God [not something you already
have] is eternal life."
The Soul Doesn't Make
Sense Either

Some astounding questions would

be precipitated if the pagan doctrine
of the immortal soul were true.
Why, if the "soul" immediately departs to go to its "heavenly reward"
at death, did Jesus Christ resurrect
His beloved friend Lazarus? Why, if
the whole purpose of Jesus Christ
was to save our souls, did He call
Lazarus back into his frail, human
body , when he had been experiencing "heavenly bliss" for four
whole days? (See John 11.) Does
this make sense? Is it logical? The
answer is obvious!
Again, why would God want to
grab all those wonderful, comfortable souls (I asked this same question about heaven) walking around
among the beautiful gold bricks and
put them back on this earth in a
foul, old, decayed, decrepit and
maybe cancer-ridden body?
Is there any sense or logic to these

WHAT HAPPENS at death? Most people erroneously believe the diametric

opposite of what the Bible teaches.

crazy doctrines many people assume

come out of the Bible? What do you
need a resurrection for if you have
already got a "soul factory"?
Jesus' True Teaching

Jesus did not teach any such doctrine as the "immortality of the
soul." Rather, He taught that the
"soul" would perish unless it (the
person) repented (Luke 13:3, 5). He
also showed that God has the power
to burn it (the soul) up in Gehenna
fire, which is the second death
(Matt. 10:28; Rev. 20: 14).
I could take up the space of this
entire magazine explaining and expounding the many scriptures proving there is no such thing as an
immortal soul, going into the Greek
and Hebrew words which is proof
all by itself, detailing the verses
proving that only God (when compared to men, not angels) has immortality (I Tim. 6: 16). In each
biblical case in which the word "immortality" is used, it is something
that must be obtained, and in no
5

case is something man already possesses.

Years ago I wrote an article on
the subject which has since been
edited, added to, and is now a thorough, complete and fully comprehensive biblical exegesis of the
subject. I titled it: Do You Have an
Immortal Soul? This free publication goes into the amazing origin of
this false concept. It explains the
verse about "souls under the altar"
(Rev. 6: 9-11), all about reincarnation, and many other vital aspects of the question. Be sure to
request your free copy by mail.
The soul is mortal! No amount of
rationalization, or of arguing, or of
merely "supposing," can change
these plain, straightforward truths
of the Bible about this subject. Belief in this false doctrine is one of
the basic and beginning errors of all
of modern professing Christianity.
People simply don't want to believe that what is "them" - their life
- could ever just cease to exist. We
have an inborn, so to speak, desire
for survival - which God built into
our natures. And that, of itself, is
certainly not wrong.
The Spirit in Man

Don't worry! God has you "on

tape"; you won't just cease to exist!
The Bible speaks not of an immortal soul but of a "spirit" in man
(see I Cor. 2:9-14; Job 32:8;
Zech. 12: 1). The spirit is not the
man; it is something that is in the
man. Joined with the physical brain
(matter) of the man, it forms human
mind. It is this spirit that God will
use, after the death and complete
dissolution of the physical body and
brain (in most cases), to reproduce
anew each individual at the resurrection of the dead.
It is apparently from the pattern
locked up in this "spirit in man"
(comparable to a "tape recording")
that God, at the resurrection, will
re-create each individual with
exactly the same mind, personality
and general appearance he had at
death, perhaps automatically correcting any physical defects.
6

For instance, several famous

country and 'western singers are now
dead: Jimmy Rodgers (the one ofthe
twenties and thirties), Hank Williams, Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline and
Tex Ritter. Yet country and western
fans are able to hear their voices
any time they choose via recordings.
But these singers are, at this moment, totally dead; they don't know
anything; they can't think anything
- yet their music lives on for posterity through the miracle of tape
recording. In the same sense, movie
films enable us to see long-sincedead actors and actresses in old
talkies on TV. The image of the person moving about and talking in the
picture is preserved as long as there
is a movie projector and someone to
operate it.

when referring to the ancient kings

of Israel and Judah. For example,
"David slept with his fathers . .. "
(I Kings 2: 10). Now David's body
didn't sleep while ' the conscious
David was off in heaven - we have
already seen the plain New Testament scriptures that prove he was
dead, buried and in his grave - not
in heaven. No, David slept! It was
the conscious person who fell
"asleep" in death - later to be resurrected to immortality - to rule the
twelve nations of Israel forever!
At any rate, this bookIet entitled
Do You Have an Immortal Soul? explains all of these and many other
concepts in thorough, documented,
technical, scriptural detail. We have
a copy on reserve for you in our
mailing room.
Do Sinners Suffer
for Eternity in Hell?

It takes courage to free your

mind from doctrines and
concepts that common sense
tells you are totally illogical
and do not even square with
what you know about nature
and science, much less the
Bible. True biblical doctrine
just rings true!

These "miracles" of modern

science ought to give us some idea
of what the Almighty God is able to
do - only much more so!
Death Is a Sleep

But at death the conscious man

utterly disappears! Death is pictured, in the Bible, as a sleep from
which one must be awakened. Daniel the prophet wrote: "And many
of them that sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake . .. " (Dan. 12:2).
Matthew records: "And the graves
were opened; and many bodies of
the saints which slept arose"
(Matt. 27:52). "And when thy days
be fulfilled," said God to David,
"thou shalt sleep with thy
fathers ..." (II Sam. 7: 12).
Death is described as a sleep literally dozens of times in the Bible

One time I was eating lunch with

a good friend of mine in a long,
narrow restaurant in downtown Pasadena. During the meal, three
rather unkempt and disheveled
women walked in. About halfway to
the rear of the restaurant, one of the
women burst out in a loud voice
screaming, "Fire! Fire! Fire! Hellfire and brimstone!"
Panic struck! Diners jumped to
their feet and dishes clattered to the
floor as patrons tried to leave
through the nearest exit in response
to the one word they had hearq over
the hubbub of conversation "Fire!" But the women foolishly
went on informing all of the patrons
they would go to hell and suffer in
ever-burning flames unless they accepted Jesus Christ.
Am.azingly, the majority of our
Plain Truth readers who took the
test believed (like these three selfstyled prophetesses) that God would
punish the wicked with the pains of
"hellfire" for all of eternity.
But Jesus Christ of Nazareth said:
" ... Fear him [God] which is able to
destroy both soul and body in hell
[Greek, Gehenna]" (Matt. 10:28).
The incorrigible sinner will be burnt
up (Mal. 4: 1), becoming ashes unGOOD NEWS

October 1975

t
I

der the soles of the feet of the righteous (verse 3). David wrote: "But
the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat
of lambs: they shall consume; into
smoke they shall consume away"
(Ps. 37:20).
Many of the very same scriptures
I have used to totally disprove the
doctrine of the immortality of the
soul also completely dispel and disannul the false doctrine of an eternal, ever-burning hellfire. Someone
who is totally unconscious could
hardly be suffering excruciating
pains in the "fires of hell."
An eternal, ever-burning hellfiIe
(not the biblical lake of fire) is a
figment of the distorted imaginations of the minds of men influenced by a devil who indeed will
have a lake of fire prepared for him
and his angels (who are now called
demons, see Matt. 25:41). (I do not
include Dante Alighieri with whatever group of churchmen and pagan
philosophers helped invent the doctrine; he actually tried to dispel this
doctrine as much as was possible in
those dark ages of almost total religious superstition and ignorance.)
Fear Religion

;:

In one sense, the false doctrine of

hell is worse than all the others worse even than the false concepts
of "going to heaven" and "having
an immortal soul." It has been used
by "fear religionists" to promote
and perpetuate a completely false
notion about our very Creator picturing Him as a God who, like
the proverbial hanging judge, seeks
to vent His wrath on helpless
human beings. Many people conjure up in their minds a god who
will consign sinners to a blistering,
steeping, seething, spitting, crackling existence in an ever-burning
hell - burning, burning and burning, but never quite completely
burning up.
Thankfully Jesus came to free us
from any and all "fear religions"
that would seek to enslave us in the
terror of a god of unreasoning wrath
- incl uding even professing ChrisGOOD NEWS

October 1975

tian religions that teach an everburning hellfire that would roast

men made in His very image for all
eternity.
Lazarus and the Rich Man

Totally ignoring the many plain ,

scriptures of the Bible concerning
the state of the dead, many church
"philosophers" (and even presentday ministers) have perpetuated the
ever-burning hellfire myth by seizing upon a vague (to them) parable
in the sixteenth chapter of Luke.
Undoubtedly, thousands of lurid,
frightening, raving and shouting
sermons have been based on a misunderstanding of that parable account given by Jesus.
Most people simply do not realize
what the Bible really says about this
parable of Lazarus and the rich
man. They seem to forget the fact
that the rich man and the beggar
both died and were buried
(Luke 16:22). Space does not permit, however, a fully detailed explanation in this article. But we do
have available a special booklet, Is
There a Real Hellfire?, which thoroughly covers the whole subject.
The second part of the booklet
explains the parable of Lazarus and
the rich man. Part one covers some
very vital and important points
about this whole overall subject, i.e.,
about those "worms which never
die" that Jesus spoke of in the ninth
chapter of Mark, the three different
Greek words - all of which are
translated into the English word
"hell" (one of which simply means
"the grave," and has nothing to do
with any hellfire). Many other "difficult-to-be-understood" verses are
explained in the light of the many
plain scriptures on the subject.
Space has about run out and I
have only covered three of these vital questions. How are you doing
about now? Are you able to accept
these biblical truths into your mind?
Do you have the courage to do like
the Bereans did - to "search the
scriptures daily, whether these
things be so"? (Acts 17: 11.)
0
(To be continued)

Where will you go when you

die?
Most of us were taught as
children that good people go to
heaven and bad people go to "the
other place" ... but what does
the Bible say?
The Biblical teaching about life
after death is fully explained in
these four booklets:

Doyou have an IMMORTAL

SOUL?
IS THERE A REAL HELL
FIRE?
What is the Reward of the
Saved?
Where are ENOCH and
ELIJAH?
To receive your free copies,
check your selection on the
enclosed card or write to:
GOOD NEWS, Pasadena,
California 91123.

Amos, herdsman of Tekoa,

was sent from God with a powerful message of correction for
the ancient House of Israel. In
spite of withering opposition,
he fearlessly indicted the nation for its hollow, meaningless piety, social injustice
and general immorality. Amos'
message must not be lost on
our modern generation!
by Brian Knowles

am no prophet," protested
Amos, "nor a prophet's son; but
I am a herdsman, and a dresser
of sycamore trees, and the Lord
took me from following the flock,
and the Lord said to me, 'Go,
prophesy to my people Israel'"
(Amos 7: 14-15).
Amos was hardly a theologian.
He was not even a member of the
priestly or prophetic castes of his
day. He was neither scholar nor
Levite, yet God used him mightily
to bring a powerful message of
warning to his own people.

The Scene

A
MESSAGE

FROM

During the long and peaceful

reign of Jeroboam II (circa 786-746
B.C.) the House of Israel had been
lulled into a false sense of security.
National borders had been extended to their maximum and the
country was basking in comparative
opulence and prosperity. Religious
activity and ceremony was at a peak
and the people had come to believe
that God was smiling benignly
down upon them.
Into this scene of national selfsatisfaction stepped the prophet
Amos. His indicting message was
something less than popular and he
was met with immediate opposition
from the religious and political elements of his nation. He was even
accused of conspiracy and disloyalty
to the royal house : "Then Amaziah
the priest of Bethel sent to J eroboam the king of Israel, saying,
'Amos has conspired against you in
the midst of the house of Israel; the
land is not able to bear [tolerate] all
his words ' " (Amos 7: 10).
"The land is not able to bear all
his words" ! He conspired! Treason!

Disloyalty! Amaziah attempted to

inflame the king's emotions against
this unqualified upstart who presumed to represent God and to
prophesy against the nation.
But Amos had a job to do
through no choice of his own. He
would not be intimidated by . the
priest's threats and false charges. He
spoke out even more pointedly:
"N ow therefore hear the word of the
Lord. You say, 'Do not prophesy
against Israel, and do not preach
against the house of Isaac.' Therefore thus says the Lord: 'Your wife
shall be a harlot in the city, and
your sons and your daughters shall
fall by the sword, and your land
shall be parceled out by line ; you
yourself shall die in an unclean
land, and Israel shall surely go into
exile away from its land'" (verses 16-17).
God backed up the words of his
prophet. He brought about a devastating round of famines, droughts,
disease epidemics and insect-induced crop failures (Amos 4:6-10).
"Yet you did not return to me," says
the Lord. God warned; He punished ; He th r eatened and He
pleaded' through all of His prophets
including Amos (Hosea, Isaiah and
Micah were contemporaries). But
the stubborn Israelites still refused
to repent.
All attempts to warn the people of
the end result of their national conduct failed. Amos was but one of the
many prophets God sent to the two
nations, Israel and Judah, before
their demise. As God said through
Jeremiah: " . .. I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not
listened" (Jer. 25 :3).
Within three decades ofAmos' proph-

ecy Israel experienced the ultimate

prophesied punishment - national
defeat and captivity. From 721-718
B.C., the northern house went captive
to the murderous Assyrians under the
leadership of the dreaded Shalmaneser (II Kings 17).
Cause and Effect

Why didn't Israel heed the messages of her prophets? What made
them so complacent - so intent
upon self-justification?
Amos described the national condition in chapter 6: "Woe to those
who are at ease in Zion, and to those
who feel secure on the mountain of
Samaria, the notable men of the first
of the nations, to whom the house of
Israel come!" (Verse 1.)
The problem was centered on the
political and religious leaders who
sat in the seat of government. They
were "at ease," lulled into a false
sense of personal security. After all,
were they not the leaders of the
"chief of the nations" - Israel? Was
not Israel the chosen nation of God,
the Covenant People? And did not
its citizens come respectfully to
these great sages for advice and
counsel? Why should they become
alarmed at the preachments of some
self-appointed shepherd-cumprophet?
They were willing victims of their
own self-deception! The leaders and
the people alike had blinded themselves to the critical seriousness of
the national condition. They looked
upon the deceptive barometer of
temporary national prosperity as an
indicator of God's approval. They
allowed themselves to become preoccupied with the pleasures of high
living and personal self-indulgence.

Amos indicted them for their hedonism: "Woe to those who lie upon
beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat
lambs from the flock, and calves
from the midst of the stall; who sing
idle songs to the sound of the harp,
and like David invent for themselves instruments of music; who
drink wine in bowls, and anoint
themselves with the finest oils, but
are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!" (Verses 4-6.)
Eat, drink and be merry - for
tomorrow will never come, was the
national philosophy. The nation's

through Amos : "I abhor the pride of

Jacob ... " (verse 8).
"Pride," wrote wise King Solomon centuries earlier, "goes before
destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18). The fall of
the House of Israel was not far distant.
Specific Sins

What, exactly, was ancient Israel

guilty of before God? What was
happening within that nation that
so angered God that He was willing
to bring about such devastating
punishment?
Amos does not leave any room
for uncertainty. The record is clear.
Chapters 3 through 6 of the book of
"I hate, I despise your feasts,
Amos specifically list the many sins
and I take no delight in your
of which the northern house was
solemn assemblies . ... Take
guilty.
away from me the noise of
Before itemizing the sins of the
your songs . .. I will not listen. _ nation, God pointed out that he had
But let justice roll down like
entered into a special relationship
waters, and righteousness
with Israel that rendered her more
like an everfTowing stream." . accountable: "Hear this word that
Amos 5:21-24
the Lord has spoken against you, 0
people of Israel, against the whole
family which I brought up out of the
land of Egypt: You only have I
elite was preoccupied with petty
known of all the families of the
pleasures while the country disinteearth; therefore I will punish you for
grated from within. No one seemed
all your iniquities" (Amos 3: 1-2).
to be sufficiently concerned to take
In the days of Moses, when God
action. Somehow the nation's leadhad brought Israel out of slavery in
ers were unable to exercise sufEgypt, He had entered into a covficient vision to see the end result of
enant relationship with her. The nawhat was happening within IsraeL
tion was to become a showpiece for
Amos spoke of them as those "who
God's way of life upon the earth.
put far away the evil day" (verse 3).
They were to become a nation of
~ny national crisis was relegated to
priests, an example for all to follow
the distant future.
(Isa. 42 :6; Deut. 4:6-8).
The national conscience was
Instead, the Israelites rebelled
seared and no sense of guilt seemed
from the beginning. They failed to
to exist. Pride and self-satisfaction
prevailed. Therefore God said
(Tex t continued on page 12)

Courts and Jails

Political Corruption
Both Britain and the United States have had their
share of political scandals. The British Profumo affair and recent sex scandals, though, are paled into
insignificance by American corruption . Throughout
the states, public contracts are tied to "campaign
gifts" - just like the contract award that eventually
put the former Vice President out of office. Watergate is only the tip of an iceberg - those who are
actually indicted and convicted are few in comparison to the number of politicians who operate
daily in the gray areas of political morality.

Justice is only for the wealthy in many cases. Those

with the means to hire lawyers to exhaust every legal channel usually walk free, while the poor (usually minorities) comprise a disproportionate number
of prison inmates. Seventy percent of America's
500,000 inmates and % of Britain's 30,000 are repeaters. Prison conditions - racial polarization,
rampant and oftentimes violent homosexuality, easily available hard drugs, the sale of soft jobs and
good cells - plus indeterminate sentences which
allow prison officials the chance to mentally torment prisoners and manipulate their behavior have been cause for serious rioting and bloodshed
in jails on both sides of the Atlantic.

Religion in Turmoil
The State of the
Poor and Elderly
Out of sight, out of mind - the urban poor are often
relegated to undesirable areas of town where they
are victimized by air pollution, inadequate sanitation and rodent control, lack of educational opportunities, consumer frauds, loan sharks,
muggers, high disease rates and minimal health
care. Although over 13 million Americans are on the
food stamp pro.gram, malnutrition is still a fact of life
as elderly pensioners and Social Security recipients
eke out a toast-and-tea existence in the face of spiraling inflation.

The quiet sanctity of the church has been smashed

of late by the same forces troubling the rest of our
society. ~ The Roman Catholic Church and other
conservative groups are being attacked from within
by demands for a reevaluation of the traditional
stands on priestly celibacy, birth control and ordination of women to the priesthood. Schism has
rocked several denominations, including the 2.8
million Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Church
attendance continues to wane (40% in the U.S. attend regularly) as United States membership
slipped another .14% in 1974. The Roman Catholic
Church of Canada reported a standstill membership
for the same period, while the same church in
England showed a loss of 250,000 per year. The
Church of England also reports a significant drop in
the period from 1956-1970.

Big Business
Corruption
Alcoholism
In 1971, 9,600,000 known U.S. alcoholics were responsible for a loss of $12 billion in wages and productivity. Alcoholism is responsible for 50% of all
fatal auto accidents. Only 5% of alcoholics are on
Skid Row, though - most function as white and
blue collar workers, professionals and housewives.

The Equity Funding scandal, Penn Central corporate thievery, and Canada's "Hydrogate" case are
all symptomatic of the present muddy business morality. Monopolies fix prices for corporate gain and
corresponding consumer loss. Big companies have
to pay foreign countries bribes to operate and merchandise fails to live up to its label, while consumer
advocates are few and far between. Personal interest prevails as few feel obligated to blow the whistle
on questionable practices.

Crime and Violence

Organized Crime
Organized crime is a well-paying business. Together, loan sharking, hijacking and the sale of stolen goods are said to gross $100 billion a year.
General Motors is a $36 billion a year industry - but
drug trafficking brings in $75 billion and illegal
gambling $50 billion. A successful drug importer
can clear $165,000 a year, tax free.

Crime is on the increase at a frightening rate . The

FBI reported a 17% leap in U.S. crime in 1974 over
1973. Canada showed a 5.7% jump in violent
crimes. In the past decade Britain has shown a 50%
growth in indictable crimes. In the past 14 years in
the United States the rate of robberies has increased 225%, forcible rape 143%, aggravated assault 153%, and murder 106%. Out of all crime
(reported and unreported) only 5% result in arrest.
1% in convictions and another 1% in imprisonment.
- Carole Ritter

live up to their part of the bargain.

Again and again God sent prophets
to warn them and remind them of
the curses that were in store for
those who would disobey
(Lev. 26: 14-46; Deut. 29:21).
Prophet after prophet reminded
them of their failure to fulfill the
covenant obligation (Jer. 11: 1-4;
22:9; 31:32; Ezek. 16:59; 44:7;
Mal. 2: to). Still, the nation rebelled.
Internal decay and corruption
continued to worsen. In King James
terminology, "Their sins waxed
worse and worse."
And just what were these sins?
Drastic Increase in Crime

Crime, graft, bribery, political

corruption and resultant societal instability prevailed in the days of
Amos. He spoke of "great tumults"
and "oppressions" within Israel
(Amos 3:9). He said: "They do not
know how to do right . . . those who
store up violence and robbery in
their strongholds" (verse to).
It was .also a time of pay-offs,
hush money and political corruption. Every man had his price.
Therefore Amos wrote: " ... How
great are your sins - you whci afflict
the righteous, who take a bribe, and
turn aside the needy in the gate ....
It is an evil time" (Amos 5:12-13).
Bribe-taking was commonplace.
Political leaders could be bought
and sold. When in government office - "in the gate" - these leaders
were unwilling to dispense social
justice; the "little man" bore the
brunt of such corruption and lack of
character.
Social Injustice

Amos lived in a day when the

"rights of the poor" were made a
mockery. Only those who could buy
their way out of trouble escaped political oppression. The self-indulgent, hard-drinking wives of
political leaders were instrumental
in grinding the poor into the dust of
Israel. Amos minced no words in
addressing them: "Hear this word,
you cows of Bashan, who are in the
12

mountain of Samaria" who oppress

the poor, who crush the needy, who
say to their husbands, 'Bring, that
we may drink!'... the days are
coming upon you, when they shall
take you away with fishhooks ... "
(Amos 4: 1-2).
Their husbands turned "justice to
wormwood" and "cast down righteousness to the earth" (Amos 5:7).
So greedy for wealth were the
leaders that they could hardly wait
for the end of the traditional holy
days to resume their corrupt,
money-making activities. As always,
"John Q. Public" was the victim:
"Hear this, you who trample upon
the needy, and bring the poor of the
land to an end, saying, 'When will
the new moon be over, that we may .
sell grain? And the sabbath, that we
may offer wheat for sale, that we
may make the ephah small and the
shekel great, and deal deceitfully
with false balances, that we may
buy the poor for silver and the
needy for a pair of sandals, and sell
the refuse of the wheat?"
(Amos 8 :4-6.)
It was the day of the "Almighty
Shekel." Everything was for sale even the "falling off" of the grain,
normally given as fodder for animals, was sold to the poor for exorbitant prices. The poor became
yet poorer, and many were forced to
sell themselves into slavery in order
to survive.
Meanwhile, the "idle rich" became richer, at the expense' of the
working classes. In addition to their
preoccupation with pleasure-seeking pursuits, the wealthy classes involved themselves in elaborate
religious rites and ceremonies. This
factor represented a kind of "spiritual insurance policy" and gave
them a feeling of being "right with
God."
But God was not pleased with
their rites or their wrongs! They
were denying the true essence of the
Faith ,and replacing it with elaborate ceremonies and traditions.
Isaiah - a contemporary of Amos said: "This people draw near with
their mouth and honor me with

their lips, while their hearts are far

from me, and their fear of me is a
commandment of men learned by
rote ... " (Isa. 29: 13).
God wanted justice and righteousness more than He wanted
songs and ceremonies! He ' demanded peace instead of pageantry.
The outward forms of religious worship had become hollow, meaningless vanity. The people
erroneously measured righteousness
quantitatively instead of qualitatively.
.
These endless rituals - though
originally commanded through
Moses - had become a stench in the
nostrils of God because of hypocrisy. They had become nothing
more than hollow proceedings without real meaning. Spiritually, that
ancient nation was bankrupt. Therefore God said through His prophet:
"I hate, I despise your feasts, and I
take no delight in your solemn assemblies .... Take away from me
the noise of your songs ... I will not
listen. But let justice roll down like
waters, and righteousness like an
everjiowing stream" (Amos 5:2124).
A Message for Today

The same God who sent Amos to

Israel still sits on His throne in
heaven looking out over the nations
here below. Sin is no less sinful
today than it was in Amos' time.
Social injustice, the oppression of
the poor, graft, bribery, corruption,
crime and violence are every bit as
abhorrent to God today as they were
in the 8th century B.c.
Today's religious ceremonies often masquerading as "Christian"
but unaccompanied by true righteousness and justice - are often
every bit as hollow and meaningless
as those of ancient Israel. So long as
Catholic "Christians" are willing to
bomb, maim and kill Protestant
"Christians" (and vice versa), their
religion is vain and empty. It means
nothing. The sheer volume of violence in today's "civilized" societies
is as much an odor in the nostrils of
God today as it was when the herds"-

GOOD NEWS

October 1975

1!

man of Tekoa walked the trails of

the northern kingdom.
So long as modern politicians can
be bought and sold, corrupted by
political ambition, or induced to
tread on the rights of the poor, they
are no better than the "cows of Bashan" or the "husbands in the
gates" described by Amos. So long
as crime - organized and disorganized - can flourish within
modern society, the words of Amos
have powerful meaning for today's
world.
The United States claims to be
"One Nation Under God." Its coinage reads "In God We Trust." In
spite of these noble and high-sounding words, how much of God do we
see in Britain and the United States?
How much mercy, true justice, honesty and purity of heart and intent?
In Britain, according to one source,
only about 2% of the people attend
church regularly. The Soviet Union,
with an atheistic government, claims
3%!
In the United States, organized
Christianity is rapidly losing its influence . Noted religion writer Leo
Rosten was recently quoted in Saturday Review: " . . . The fortresses of
faith are experiencing the most
profound alterations in centuries.
Church authority is being challenged on a dozen fronts. Traditional creeds are being drastically
revised. Hallowed canons are being
shelved. Religious practices are
changing daily. Church leaders are
beleaguered by new,bold, persistent
demands - from their clergy no less
than from their congregations.
"It is not hyperbole to say that we
are witnessing a remarkable erosion
of consensus within the citadel of
belief" ("Ferment in Our
Churches," Saturday Review, July
12, 1975).
Rosten also spoke of the "mounting skepticism about the validity or
effectiveness of church teachings."
He said: "About 75% of the American people think religion is losing its
influence" (ibid.).
Religion that does not change its
adherents for the better is merely a
GOOD NEWS

October 1975

form of godliness. It means nothing

to God.
"Politics as usual" is an admission
of corruption that is ultimately destined to exact a heavy national
price. As long as the nation's courts
and prisons are still full and overflowing we are in deep moral
trouble. So long as simple monetary
greed and lust for power are the
criteria for union/management relationships, the nations are headed for
certain oblivion. The utter pride and
stubbornness of human political
and religious leaders is in itself a
terminal moral illness.
But Will We listen?

God sent a herdsman from Tekoa

to warn ancient Israel to help them
get their priorities straight. Of
course they didn't listen. They rejected the humble prophet of God
and labeled him a traitor.
Messages like that of Amos are
rarely taken seriously by those in
political or ecclesiastical power.
They are relegated, most often, to
the same category as doomsday
prophets, Jeremiahs and religious
fanatics who have paraded before
the populace from time immemorial.
But Amos' prophecies came true.
The House of Israel entered a time
of national captivity and suffering
unparalleled in its long history of
nine dynasties and nineteen kings.
Amos' Message -

For Us?

Whether you accept the idea that

our peoples are the modern descendants of the ancient House of Israel
or not, Amos' message is still valid
for us today. Why? Because God
has one standard for all of mankind.
Sin is sin wherever it is found .
And, as the apostle Paul wrote:
" . .. Is God the God of Jews only?
Is he not the God of Gentiles also?
Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is
one . . ." (Rom. 3:29).
If these frightening parallels between ancient Israel and our peoples today hold true, then it might
be best to close this article with yet
another message from Amos: "Prepare to meet your God, 0 Israel!" D

.,You'd
'Like to Know
More
Many hundreds have written
asking if we have representatives
in t~eir areas to counsel with
them personally and to answer
their questions.
The answer is yes, we do.
The Worldwide Church of God
stations personal representatives (most are ordained ministers) in the United States and
British Commonwealth and many
other areas of the world . These
men will visit you, if invited, directly in your own home .
So if you have spiritual matters
to discuss or questions to ask
about biblical topics such as repentance', baptism, etc., please
feel free to write us and request a
private appointment. Worldwide
mailing addresses are as follows:
United States: P.O. Box 111,
Pasadena, California 91123
(Or simply dial this toll-free
number in the continental
U . S . : 1-800-423-4444.
Readers in California, Alaska
and Hawaii may call 213-5775225 collect.)
United Kingdom, Europe,
India, Africa and the West Indies: P.O. Box 111, St . Albans, Herts., England
Australia: P.O. Box 202,
Burleigh Heads, Queensland
4220 (Or dial this number:
075-35-4233 reverse the
charges.)
Canada: P.O. Box 44, Station
A, Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2M2
South Africa : P.O. Box 1060,
Johannesburg 2000 (Or dial
this number: 011-216406 .)
Other areas of the world
should check the inside front
cover (staff box) for the address
of our office nearest you .

I "'-----------'
13

,,'---~~--~--

UPDATE

IlpnaT~

UPDaT~

UPDaTE

UPDATE
The Relationship Between the
Ambassador Inter_tional euftural Foundation
andthe
Worldwide Church of God
b y Herbert W. Armstrong, Board Chairman,
President and Pastor-General of the Worldwide Church of God

Although the Ambassador Auditorium was built on the Ambassador College campus to
serve the college, it was dedicated to the honor of the Great God. Therefore, at the
beginning of construction I emphasized to our people that it must never be in any
way commercialized.
We have always wanted to share with our community such cultural, artistic,
educational and musical events as we were able. For years we have invited the
public to share with us such productions two or three times annually, either at the
Pasadena Civic Auditorium or in our own facilities on campus. The beautiful new
auditorium provided a superb new facility. We wanted to provide such programs
more often. But how? - when we could not commercialize it by direct sale of tickets.
Several of us put our minds to work on the opportunity - keeping it noncommercial and nonprofit as we have always done.
The new Foundation emerged as the most unique means of bringing many toprated cultural, musical and educational programs here, while benefiting many
charitable and humanitarian organizations at the same time! It was a natural!
Immediately we were all emotionally excited and inspired to have such an opportunity to doubly serve the community.
We have always stressed the fact that Ambassador College is a cultural and
character-building institution. We have wanted to contribute to the cultural and
character upbuilding of the communities in which our colleges are located, as part
of' our self-accepted responsibility.
But I want to emphasize that the new Ambassador International Cultural
Foundation (AICF) is entirely separate from the Worldwide Church of God and
Ambassador College. Many of its Board members and advisers are in no way
connected with the Worldwide Church of God.
14

GOOD NEWS

October 1975

Weare also organIzIng Ambassador International Cultural Foundations in

Tokyo and in Bombay, where most of the directors are prominent in government,
educational, or industrial life and in no manner connected with the Worldwide
Church of God.
What do we hope to get out of it?

Let me explain candidly and forthrightly that 49 years ago I personally came to
believe that the saying "It is more blessed to GIVE than to receive" is the practical
way of life, and I then dedicated my life to that principle, as a way of life. I have put
it into practice in the Ambassador College campuses, and in all our operations, and
~ have proved it is practical as well as right. We seek not to get but to give.
What do we expect to get out of this? Just what I have been getting out of life
these 49 years - great personal fulfillment, the joy of finding it truly is more blessed
to give than to receive - the satisfaction no opposition or criticism can take from me
- the realization of having helped many thousands - and perhaps many millions!
Worldwide Church of God -

Nonproselyting, Nonmissionary

The Worldwide Church of God is completely nonproselyting, and always has been. We have no
missionary program, have no program either in the Church or Ambassador College for training
missionaries.
It is emphatically contrary to our belief and practice for any minister or representative of this
Church to directly or personally solicit any potential member or urge anyone to become a member.
I, personally, a number of times in speaking before audiences up to 10,000 or 12,000 of our
members at the Feast of Tabernacles services, have said to these congregations, "Not one of you has
ever been solicited personally, or urged by any representative of this Church to become a member.
In no case have we approached you - but you had to approach us."
It is our belief and practice that our great commission is to proclaim our belief in all the world
for a witness to all nations - but not with the objective of making converts, or gaining members.
Important: The word "gospel" has an entirely different meaning to us than the commonly
understood meaning of that term. We neither believe nor preach what is commonly known as "the
gospel" in the organized Christian world. It has nothing to do with proselytizing. What we
proclaim is the "Missing Dimension in Knowledge" that had not been discovered by science, nor
proclaimed by any religion - and that it is not in contradiction or opposition to ANY religion, but
in reality is outside the field of religion. We are not competitive, and certainly do not intend to be,
in any sense. Our goal is to work for humanity's good, and the way of world peace. Because of the
entirely differe,n t meaning the word "gospel" has come to mean to the world in general, I am
personally coming to use it very sparingly.

GOOD NEWS

October 1975

15

Leapfrogging
Around
Latin
America
Bogota, Colombia:

The witness to the Spanish-speaking

peoples of the world continues to
show encouraging growth. La Pura
Verdad, the Plain Truth in Spanish,
now has a circulation of over
150,000 and continues to grow at an
average rate of 3,000 per month. Almost 29,000 people are taking the
Correspondence Course. We now
have over 400 Spanish-speaking
brethren, the bulk of them living in
Latin America.
Ministering to these members
scattered throughout Latin America, as well as contacting the scores
of individuals requesting a visit, is
the challenging job given to three
men: Senores Fernando Barriga,
Pablo Gonzalez and Robert Flores.
The latter two have been particularly active in Latin America this
year.
(Worldwide Church of God ministers and representatives call only
on those people who have first contacted this Work and specifically requested private counseling of their
own free will and volition. Our ministers do not proselyte.)
The first half of 1975 saw Senor
Robert Flores acting virtually as
"minister at large" for Latin America. In two months of travel extending from February 16 through April
18, Senor Flores visited members
and prospective members in Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela ,
Chile, Peru and Ecuador.
Leapfrogging "Flores style" involves visiting not only the modem
16

and progressive capitals of South

America, but also the out-of-theway places that are reached only by
train or careening bus.
The first stops on his itinerary
took him to Caracas, Valencia and
Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, where
he visited a number of prospectives
and baptized one person. The
Church in Venezuela has been
progressing slowly, but we now have
several members and even more
prospectives.
From Venezuela, Senor Flores
moved next door to Colombia for a
visit with the members in Bogota
and then a trip into the interior of
the country. An all-day bus trip
through winding Andean roads to
El Banco kept him on a forced fast
with no chance to eat or drink. He
finally arrived in El Banco at 10
p.m. and eventually found something to eat at a local market, located midst El Banco's mud streets.

ROBERT FLORES, shown here

speaking to first all Spanish-speaking
church in Los Angeles area, has
been serving as "minister at large"
for Latin America.

After Colombia, Senor Flores

made a short stopover in Peru to
visit with our members there, but
had to hurry on to Argentina to
spend the beginning of the spring
festival with the Church in Bahia
Blanca. The Church in Argentina
has been showing good growth, including the recent establishment of
a Boy Scout troop, all under the
direction of a local deacon who is in
charge in the absence of a minister.
The second half of the Days of
Unleavened Bread was spent with
the Church in Santiago, Chile. In
addition to spending time preaching, visiting and counseling, Senor
Flores inquired into methods of obtaining full legal registration for the
GOOD NEWS October 1975

held from February through April,

Church in Chile so that we may
had attendances of 57,35, 30 and 63
handle more growth in the future .
(a total of 185). In addition, Senor
Upon his return to Peru after the
Gonzalez arranged as many private
festival, he made arrangements for
meetings as possible (he also conthe members in Lima
to
meet
,
ducted weekly Sabbath services
weekly in a local hotel under the
while in Bogota).
guidance of a local member who
In his report on the meetings, he
presj!nts material from Headquarstated that "those present were from
ters to them. While in Peru, Senor
all walks of life : lawyers, doctors,
Flores performed a wedding in a
politicians, university professors,
town some thirty miles from Lima.
students,
priests, nuns, businessmen
The groom was one of our first Perand
plain,
simple people. They were
uvian members. We now have 11
interested
in
finding out more about
members and 70 prospectives there. ,
Ambassador
College, the WorldFrom Peru, Senor Flores prowide
Church
of God, Herbert W.
ceeded to Quito, Ecuador, where he
Armstrong
and
Garner Ted Armbaptized three; he then flew to Bostrong.
Many
were
encouraged to
gota for a Sabbath meeting with
study
and
prove
things.
With few
twenty-seven in attendance. After
exceptions, everyone wanted to
that, he finally returned to Headhave a personal chat with me at a
quarters hoping for a well-deserved
future date. Some have already
rest. Instead, he arrived just in time
come and talked. Others will be
to raise up the first all Spanishcontacted in the future."
speaking Church in the Los Angeles
It is hoped that in the not-tooarea. During the entire trip he visdistant future, the growth of the
ited close to 150 people and bapChurch in Colombia will make it
tized 18.
worthwhile for Senor Gonzalez and
In addition to Senor Flores' visits
his family to become permanent
to Colombia, the Bogota Bible study
Colombian residents.
has seen some very encouraging
Mark O. Rorem
growth under the direction of Pablo
Gonzalez, who divides every month
into two weeks spent in Bogota and
two weeks in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
As a result of letters sent to a
number of long-time subscribers in'forming them that Senor Gonzalez
would begin visiting Colombia on a
regular basis, he found himself deluged with over 900 visit requests.
Rather than asking many individuals to wait for many months before
Johannesburg, South Africa:
a visit could be arranged, a number
On arriving at my hotel in Lusaka,
of Bible studies ' were organized in
Zambia on May 15, a knock at the
Bogota for those who could attend.
door interrupted the unpacking of
my bags. On opening the door I
A total of four special meetings
found my first visitor - a member
were held for four different group!>
who stopped by to see if I had arselected from the 900. The meetings,

African Diary:
Zambia,
Rhodesia,
South Africa

GOOD NEWS

October 1975

rived. That was the beginning of

five action-packed days of visiting,
touring and counseling with the
brethren. (Our ministry contacts
only those individuals who have initially requested personal help and
advice from the Church. In the past,
some few in Africa have literally
had to wait for years before we
could dispatch a minister to their
area. Our ministers are not missionaries.)
Twenty-seven attended the Sabbath and Pentecost services, some
coming from the copper belt in
northern Zambia, others from the
northeastern region of Petuake and
the desert area of the southwest.
In my departing remarks, I assured the brethren that God's Work
was just beginning in the vast continent, and urged them to continue to
pray for oneness of spirit so vital at
this stage of the Work. I was happy
to find that all are holding up the
hands of our leaders as well as supporting the Work in many other
ways. Their particular interest, however, is the establishing of a church
in their country.
From Zambia, I traveled to Blantyre, Malawi to confer with Mr. Bob
Fahey, director of the South African
office, with whom we are cooperating to establish working relations
with the Black African Division of
God's Work.
I learned plans had been made
for two lectures each in the cities of
Bulawayo and Salisbury, Rhodesia.
On arrival, an interracial study was
held in the beautiful hall located on
the second floor of the Jamieson
Hotel. There were about forty in attendance. Our hosts, Mr. and Mrs.
Owen Willis, had arranged for advanced notice of the lectures, so I
was not surprised when on arriving
in Bulawayo a record number
17

turned out. On the Sabbath, May

31, 135 anxiously awaited our arrival; 85 were new. The following day
120 enthusiastic people came, and
80 were new. Most of these were
readers of the Plain Truth. The response to the lectures was remarkable in that they answered many
unanswered questions some had
been asking t~eir spiritual leaders
for years.
/
It is difficult to realize the spiritual hunger that plagues this world
until you look into the faces of those
in a Plain Truth lecture. After each
session, a number would come to
my room for counseling and to ask
further questions. One afternoon 27
asked to come up after lunch for
information concerning the Work of
God, Ambassador College and any
other news a vailable. They re-

TV Specials,
Bible Lectures
Promote
Growth
in Rhodesia
Salisbury, Rhodesia:

The past year has been an encouraging one for ' the Church in Rhodesia. Though the country is facing
political uncertainty, the Work has
made a number of breakthroughs.
The year began with the screening by Rhodesia Television (RTV)
in Salisbury of Garner Ted Armstrong's TV special Is This the End
Time? (filmed during a New Orleans
campaign). RTV officials later said
the program was the most successful
religious program they had aired in
their IS-year history. An estimated
26,000 people saw it, almost 50 percent more than the normal viewing
audience for that type of program.
The RTV switchboard was kept
busy the next day answering inquiries about the special; all together almost 200 phone calls and
~ letters were received.
The television critic on the na~ tiona I newspaper, The Rhodesia
.~
_ Herald, published a review describ~ ing Mr. Armstrong as "brilliant"
and the program as "amazing." He
Mr. Harold Jackson
added that Mr. Armstrong's description of the dropping of the atomic
mained five hours! The following
bomb "surpassed all previous acweek was spent in and around Jocounts."
The Sunday Mail critic
hannesburg, the South African mewrote
that
the program was "devastropolis. Two lectures were given in
tating."
Sowetto, the Bantu city located a
With the screening of t~e profew miles outside Johannesburg.
gram
by the R TV station in BuThe Church attendance numbers 50.
the entire country was
lawayo,
However, 135 turned out, 85 for the
covered
by
Mr. Armstrong's mesfirst time.
sage. Officials ofRTV (the only teleHarold Jackson

18

vision network in the country) are

now anxious to receive more of Mr.
Armstrong's programs. But showing
U.S.-produced television programs
is difficult because the videotape
system used in the United States
cannot be used here.
However, the Ambassador College Agency here hopes to obtain
from Pasadena film versions of Mr.
Armstrong's Portland, Oregon, campaign and a half-hour special.
Because of the favorable response, and since a number of
people wrote in after the program
asking to see it again, we decided to
arrange a public showing of Is This
the End Time? as well as Herbert W.
Armstrong: Ambassador for World
Peace before two Plain Truth lectures that were planned for Salisbury in May.
The Church tried every method it
could to advertise the show. Advertisements appeared in the press;
members walked miles delivering
GOOD NEWS

October 1975

handbills over half of this city (on

what turned out to be the hottest
day ever recorded in May); a member who is a photographer prepared
slides for the major cinemas.
As the evening drew closer, everything seemed to be going wrong.
The day before the show, the local
board of censors informed the
agency that it lacked the necessary
certificates and that getting them in
time would be impossible.
But six hours before the scheduled time of showing the certificates
were granted.
Customs officials said the Ambassador College Agency would not
be allowed to have a batch of Plain
Truth magazines airfreighted specially for the evening. They added
that the agency could not obtain
them for two weeks. And yet, thanks
to the persistence of two men on the
staff here, the magazines appeared
in less than an hour, five hours before the show.
GOOD NEWS

October 1975

Then, after a series of lesser difficulties, came the last straw. Just before the showing the projector
malfunctioned. First the sound went
and then the picture. However, a
projector repairman was in the audience. Thanks to him everything
was soon all set to go and running
smoothly.
The response was surprising.
More than 400 attended. It was the
biggest crowd ever in the hall, which
is the most prestigious in Salisbury.
As more and more people came, the
doors had to be closed and a repeat
showing had to be arranged for the
next night. Altogether 440 nonmembers attended, a gratifying result, especially considering the European
population of Salisbury is only
110,000.
The film was followed one week
later by two Plain Truth Bible lectures conducted by Robert Fahey,
director of the Work in South Africa. Mr. Fahey spoke out pow-

HOTEL IN SALISBURY (above) was

the site of public showing of two
films. Harold Jackson (above left)
speaks at Plain Truth lecture.

erfully about the Kingdom of God

to audiences of 104 and 138 people,
including 71 and 114 nonmembers.
One encouraging first was a series
of Plain Truth lectures in Africa specifically designed for the Negro population. Harold Jackson of the
Work's Bricket Wood, England, office, director of the Black African
Work, extended a trip to Zambia in
late May (see preceding story) to
take the lectures. Results were favorable. In the southern part of the
country, in Bulawayo, audiences of
135 and 120, including 85 and 80
nonmembers, came.
In Salisbury the figures were 221
and 150, with 138 and 78 nonmembers.
Owen Willis
Director, Salisbury Office

19

SIGNIFICANCE OF

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT

by Lester L. Grabbe

esus was an Essene.

Jesus was already anticipated in His crucifixion and
resurrection appearance by the
leader of the Qumran sect more
than a century earlier.
Significant sections 0,( the New
Testament have surfaced among the
Dead Sea Scrolls which bid fair to
revolutionize scholarship.
These are some of the more sensational claims for the Dead Sea
Scrolls which have appeared in
newspaper headlines over the last
few years. We will examine the veraci ty of such assertions. Yet they
illustrate what many people may
not have realized: the Dead Sea
Scrolls are important not only for
the Old Testament, but also for the
New.

Did Christianity Begin

at Qumran?

Some of the more extravagant

claims made are outlined in a box on
page 29. Suffice it to say that only
one of those listed, John Allegro,
can claim any scholarly expertise in
the area. Yet his statements which
have caused the most public excitement were based on anything but
sound scholarship. No wonder they
were generally repudiated by everyone from his father-in-law (the late
Professor H. H. Rowley of Manchester University) and colleagues
on down.
Some of the wilder pronouncements from journalists included
charges of "conspiracy" among
scholars to withhold the "truth"
about what the Dead Sea Scrolls
showed in regard to early Christian20

ity. Edmund Wilson, for example,

suggested New Testament scholars
were "boycotting" the revelations of
the Scrolls. The irresponsibility of
such melodramatic exclamations is
really all the refutation needed.
Yet one could also point out that
information on the Scrolls is hardly
the property of a few secretive
scholars working clandestinely in sequestered cells. Thousands of articles - a large percentage of them in
English - and dozens of books are
easily available. Many of these are
quite readable for any adult with a
normal education. The books, reviews, challenges of the theses of
colleagues, expression of contrary
opinions, and the diverse religious
backgrounds of those writing on the
subject give the impression of anything but a united conspiracy.
Of course, these simple facts may
still not be convincing to a few. After all, there are still people who
believe in the Illuminati!
A quick comparison between the
beliefs and practices of the Qumran
sect show essential differences between it and the early Christian
Church. Some of these include:
The Qumran group lived in isolation in the desert, having little or
no contact with outsiders. Jesus and
His disciples had free exchange with
others and even ate with publicans
and those looked upon as sinne~s.
Jesus and His followers often
frequented the Temple area when in
J erusalepl. The Qumranites, on the
other hand, regarded the Temple
and priesthood as polluted and
refused to have anything to do with
the Temple ritual.
There is no clear evidence that
Jesus kept any of the major annual

festivals at any other time than did

the Jews regulated by the priesthood (leaving aside the question of
the Last Supper). All the references
in the Gospels give no hint of His
using a different calendar from that
used by the official religious authority. The Qumran group was quite
different since it followed a purely
solar calendar. Its festivals often fell
at a time quite different from tho.se
within the rest of Judaism.
The Qumranites are usually
identified with the Essenes. Yet neither the Essenes nor the Qumran
community are anywhere named or
referred to in the New Testament.
This is not likely to have been the
case if Jesus was one of them or
greatly influenced by them.
Other important differences could
also be listed. No wonder Qumran
scholar Pierre Benoit could write:
"To say that Jesus was not one of
the Essenes is an understatement"!
("Qumran and the New Testament," Paul and Qumran, 13.)
Positive Parallels

Even though neither Jesus nor his

followers were Essenes (nor did the
early Church have its roots in Qumran), this does not mean the Dead
Sea Scrolls are not important documents for better understanding sections of the New Testament. Along
with other early material such as
rabbinic literature, intertestamental
and Hellenistic Jewish writings, the
Qumran scrolls help to elucidate the
thought and language of Judaism in
the time of Jesus.
One thing the Scrolls have helped
show is the continued use of the
Hebrew language. Scholars once
tended to think Hebrew ceased to
GOOD NEWS

October 1975

be used among the Jews in favor of

Aramaic. The Dead Sea Scrolls,
however, contain material in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek - showing the use of all three languages in
Palestine at the time. Yet much of
the material is in Hebrew. This Hebrew often imitates the language of
the Bible which had become somewhat archaic by that time. But the
vernacular Mishnaic Hebrew of the
writers shines through in various expressions and in some of the more
secular writings less influenced by
the language of the Bible.
The New Testament was written
in Greek. Yet that language is often
influenced by Hebrew and Aramaic
expressions. Thus, some Greek expressions are simply literal translations of Semitic expressions and
would have sounded rather peculiar
to a native Greek. The Semitic
idioms which lay behind some of
the idiosyncratic Greek wordings of
the New Testament have now surfaced for the first time in the Scrolls.
One very interesting example is
Luke 2: 14. This is best known
through the King James, "Peace on
earth, good will among men." However, scholars have long known this
is not the reading of the earliest
manuscripts. Instead of "good will"
(eudokia in Greek), the oldest attested reading is "of good will" (eudokias) . There was no known
parallel Hebrew expression until
some of the Scrolls were deciphered.
It was found that the expression
"good will" or "good pleasure" was
used in a number of places (Hebrew
rason). In two passages in a collection of hymns (lQH iv, 32-33;
xi, 9), the expression "sons of his
good will" (Hebrew bene rasono)
GOOD NEWS

October 1975

was used - a Hebrew equivalent of

the Greek "men of good will" (anthropoi eudokias).
This not only supported the reading of the oldest Greek manuscripts,
but also helped explain its meaning.
As E. Vogt wrote: "The Qumran
texts do more than lend decisive
support to this reading. They also
indicate that 'God's good pleasure'
here refers more naturally to the
will of God to confer grace on those
he has chosen, than to God's delighting in and approving of the
goodness in men's lives" (The
Scrolls and the New Testament,
edited by K. Stendahl, 117). Dr.
Vogt suggested the best translation
of the last part of Luke 2: 14 is
"peace among men of God's good
pleasure," meaning those whom
God has chosen.
Common Thought Milieu

There are also a number of expressions of thought and concept

which Qumran shares with the New
Testament. This does not necessarily
mean the New Testament writers
drew on Qumran literature but
rather that both groups shared in a
common language and thought
heritage within Judaism of the time.
Because of the vicissitudes of history
it just happens that ideas and language widespread in the time of the
New Testament have come down to
us only in the Qumran literature.
As Raymond Brown wrote specifically in relation to some interesting
parallels between the Johannine
writings: "The resemblances do not
seem to indicate immediate relationship, however, as if St. John
were himself a sectarian or were
personally familiar with the Qum-

ran literature. Rather they indicate

a more general acquaintance with
the thought and style of expression
which we have found at Qumran"
(The Scrolls and the New Testament,
p.206).
One of the resemblances Professor Brown specifically discusses is
the figure of "light" and "darkness"
which has a prominent place in the
writings of John. The figure is a natural one and hardly surprising, yet
its use in the Gospel of John is
frequent enough to be a characteristic feature. Important passages include John 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12;
12:35-36. Two expressions used
throughout the Scrolls are "sons of
light" and "sons of darkness." One
sectarian writing, the so-called War
Scroll (lQM), describes an endtime, eschatological battle between
the forces of good ("sons of light")
and the forces of evil ("sons of darkness").
However, despite the strikingly
similar imagery, there are some significant differences. What constitutes a "son of light" with the
Qumran sect is the acceptance of
the sect's particular biblical interpretation. The ultimate criterion for
John is faith in Christ. As Raymond
Brown states: "It should be evident
the basic difference between the two
theologies is Christ " (op. cit. ,
pp. 194, 195). For a Christian the
difference is enormous.
Quotations in the New Testament

Another interesting discovery

coming from the Dead Sea Scrolls
relates to quotations of Old Testament passages in the New Testament. The New Testament writers
(Continued on page 29)

21

If God is good, kind and just,

why did He create this miseryladen world for His children to
live in? How come He allows
war, torture, mass starvation
and ecological atrocities? Why
. is nature itself cruelly balanced
by the "Iaw of the jungle"?
Did God create all this misery
out of a sense of divine cruelty
or sadism - or is there a logical reason for it all?
by Carole Ritter

ne of our Good News readers

asked the following question:
"If God is so just, why does
He allow babies to suffer so horribly
/ efore death - for example, a baby
abandoned in a garbage can to die
of painful exposure or starvation, or
a child trapped in a burning house,
or a toddler being mauled by a mad
dog? What kind of lesson does it
teach these children who are too
young to comprehend life?"
Such penetrating questions have
troubled philosophers and theologians for ages. Those of us who are
parents could have trouble believing
in a God who causes small children
to suffer unnecessarily. In fact, it is .
hard to picture a Father who subjects adult human beings (His children whom He supposedly loves) to
wars, starvation, plagues and martyrdom - unless there is an awfully
good reason for it.
One of the greatest philosophers
of all time, King Solomon of ancient
Israel, lamented: " ... It is an unhappy business that God has given
to the sons of men to be busy with. I
have seen everything that is done
under the sun .... What is crooked
cannot be made straight, and what
is lacking cannot be numbered"
(Eccl. 1: 13-15).
He viewed corruption in government as one of the facts of life: "If
you see in a province the poor oppressed and justice and right violen tly taken a wa y, do not be
amazed at the matter; for the high
official is watched by a higher, and
there are yet higher ones over them"

24

(Eccl. 5:8). He saw accidents as part

of the natural order of things:
" ... The race is not to the swift, nor
the battle to the strong, nor bread to
the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the men of
skill; but time and chance happen to
them all" (Eccl. 9: 11).
Continuing in the same cynical
vein, he wrote: "What has a man
from all the toil and strain with
which he toils beneath the sun? For
all his days are full of pain, and his
work is a vexation; even in the night
his mind does not rest" (Eccl. 2:2223). Solomon "sawall the oppressions that are practiced under the
sun. And behold, the tears of the
oppressed, and they had no one to
comfort them! .. . And I thought the
dead who are already dead more
fortunate than the living who are
still alive; but better than both is he
who has not yet been, and has not
seen the evil deeds that are done
under the sun" (Eccl. 4: 1-3).
Is God an Ogre?

Along with Solomon, we too

might ask why all this misery is permitted. Would it really be better
never to have drawn breath? Is God
some kind of sadistic monster who
enjoys watching people suffer? Or is
there a better explanation for this
world and its sorrows?
God says He loves people .
John 3: 16 reads: "For God so loved
the world that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life. For
God sent the Son into the world, not
to condemn the world, but that the
world might be saved through him."
Then why hasn't the world "been
saved through him"? What is taking
Him so long? You would think an
all-powerful God would be able to
do away with man's misery by divine fiat. Why hasn't He stopped all
the suffering, or does He even want
to?
Freedom of Choice

God Himself did not create evil.

He looked at His creation and saw
that "it was very good" (Gen. 1:31).

He placed Adam and Eve in paradise, told them His ways were best,
and made the "tree of life" (symbol
of the immortality they could have
if they went His way) readily available to them. He told them to
choose the tree of life, but they ate
from the forbidden tree instead. If
they had eaten from the right tree,
they would have symbolically chosen to obey God's laws - the only
way to peace, happiness and every
good result.
But they chose instead to follow
the way of Satan the devil. In effect,
they rejected God's government and
willingly placed themselves under
Satan's rule. And people ever since
have followed their lead, choosing
to follow Satan's way rather than
God's.
God would rather mankind had
chosen His way, but He allowed
them to do their own thing (see
Judges 21:25). Thus the world runs
on greed, hatred, rebellion, jealousy
- all the motivations that produce
wars, heartache and the other assorted miseries we see around us
today. "Since they did not see fit to
acknowledge God, God gave them
up to a base mind and to improper
conduct" (Rom. I :28). God didn't
create this kind of world, but since
we ourselves chose it He allows us to
live in it. His way would have
brought us peace and happiness,
but He didn't want to cram it down
our throats.
The Devil Made Us Do It

But we can't blame Adam alone

for this world's troubles. God
allowed Adam to choose, and he
chose Satan's government. Now that
Satan is in charge, he influences
world leaders to go to war with each
other (see Revelation 16: 14 and
DaniellO: 12-13). He is the real
"god" of this world (II Cor. 4:4;
Eph. 2:2; John 12:31). He inspires
great religious figures to hand down
illogical,unreasonable edicts that
further this world's ignorance, overpopulation, hunger and disease.
Satan, appearing as an "angel of
light" (II Cor. 11: 14), has been the
GOOD NEWS

October 1975

rI

force behind every "holy war," inquisition, or crusade since the creation of mankind. In Matthew 4:89, Satan offered the kingdoms of
this world to Christ as a temptation.
He could do this because he had
them to give. In short, Satan is the
one who makes this potentially fine
world such a miserable place in
which to live.
But what good does it do for God
to allow Satan free rein? Why
should man have to be ruled by his
mortal enemy - couldn't God have
come up with something a little less
painful?
Since we have chosen Satan's
way, God is going to let us see it
through to its natural conclusion man's ultimate total destruction unless Ghrist intervenes (Matt. 24:22).
We at e being brought to the point
where we are beginning to realize
that mankind cannot solve his problems alone - that only God can
rescue us from our plight. We are
being given time to discover collectively and individually that Satan's
way is futile ; that we should have
gone along with God's rule in the
first place.
God's Merciful Plan

One point that many fail to understand is that God's overall plan
does not include calling everyone to
salvation now in this age (for more
information on this, write for our
free reprint article "Is This the Only
Day of Salvation?"). Some people
are quite concerned about the unsaved starving masses of India, the
gigantic numbers of Communist
Chinese who have never even heard
the name of Jesus Christ; in short,
every body who dies "unbaptized" or
"unchurched."
But all of these people are eventually going to have their chance for
salvation. Those who have suffered
and died, never really knowing
God's way, will be resurrected to
physical life in a utopian setting.
This is the period of time referred to
as the "white throne judgment" in
Revelation 20:11-12. During this
age the children who had such a
GOOD NEWS

October 1975

rough time of it in their first life will

be able to grow to adulthood. They
will be able to compare the sufferings of Satan's world with the happiness of God's. They will have a
chance to choose God's way for
eternity, and to be changed to immortal spirit beings like Christ their
elder brother (Heb. 2: 11).
This is the hope that kept cynical
King Solomon alive - the knowledge that, although things were totally unjust in the satanic world he
saw around him, "God will [finally]
judge the righteous and the wicked,
for he has appointed a time for
every matter, and for every work"
(Eccl. 3: 17). All people, good and
bad, oppressors and oppressed, will
be called into account during this
period of judging. If they fail to accept God's ways and repent, they
will be punished (Rev. 20:14-15).
And if they live righteously, they
will be rewarded. The last chapter
of Ecclesiastes reaffirms this basic
truth: "For God will bring every
deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil"
(Eccl. 12: 14). Even Satan will eventually receive his just deserts
(Rev. 20: 10; Jude 13).
The End of Satan's Rule

When Christ returns at the beginning of the millennium, Satan will

be imprisoned (Rev. 20: 1-3), and
even the nature of wild animals will
be changed. God will turn lions into
gentle herbivores; snakes will no
longer be poisonous - "They shall
not hurt or destroy in all my holy
mountain; for the earth shall be full
of the knowledge of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea" (lsa. 11 :9).
Looking back on a half-dozen or
so millennia of suffering, people living then will be able to make a
clear-cut comparison between the
two ways of life. Even so, the lesson
of history will be hard for many to
digest. They will probably experiment for themselves, just like Adam
and Eve.
The Bible prophesies that toward
the end of the millennium there will
be multitudes who have experienced

nothing but peace. Some may not

have it clear in their minds which
way is best" and these will be ripe for
the picking when Satan is "loosed
[for] a little season" (Rev. 20:3, 7,
KN). They will be deceived into attacking the very God who gave them
peace and plenty (verse 9). They, too,
will have to learn their lesson the
hard way.
God's Perspective

In the meantime, whether we re, alize it or not, all of us are learning

now by the things we go through in
this world. The more we hurt, the
more disgusted we become with
Satan's government - and the more
determined we will be to follow
God's way when it is clearly revealed to us.
If we could back off and view the
universe and this world from the
perspective of eternity, we might
come closer to comprehending why
God has allowed us to take such a
painful course.
It may be hard for us to understand from our limited vantage
point, but in God's eyes "the flesh
is of no avail." Rather, "It is the
spirit that gives life" (John 6:63).
God cares a lot more about which
way we are going to choose for eternity than He does about whether or
not our physical flesh is comfortable
for th.e moment. He is still a merciful God who hates to see us going
Satan's way, but He can't stop us
without totally stripping away our
free moral agency.
But - and here is the good news
- once we have learned the lesson
that His way is best, He promises to
do away with all suffering. He "shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes;
and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain: for the
former things are passed away"
(Rev. 21 :4, KN) .
So yes, this world with all its ugliness really is necessary. It is an integral ,part of a wisely thought-out
plan. But once it has served its purpose, it will be replaced by a new
earth filled with peace.
0

25

by George Ritter

26

GOOD NEWS

October 1975

Ot too long ago, one of our

readers had this to say after
taking exception to a recent
Good News article: "Now I feel I
must take each article apart looking
for possible errors rather than just
believing the whole magazine like I
used to. And it was such a relief
when The Good News used to come,
b~cause here was a magazine that I
could just sit down and relax and
read without playing the game of
true or f~lse with."
The reader raises a good point.
Shouldn't a converted Christian be
able to "sit down and relax" without
giving what he or she reads or hears
a second thought? Isn't that part of
being a good, loyal, sheep-like follower?

The Nature of the Flock

~ii1~
.~

.,

'"
.~
~

.~
:il!

Does conversion mean the end

of all active, creative and original thought processes? Were
Christians meant to have
everything spoon-fed, spelled
out and also to be relieved of
making major personal decisions on their own? Does
Christianity involve a nonthinking type of existence
where the individual accepts
everything at face value without substantiation or proof?
GOOD NEWS

October 1975

There's no question about the fact

that the Bible often refers to God's
people as sheep, the flock, or the
little flock. But what is this meant to
signify? In the tenth chapter of the
book of John, Jesus Christ refers to
the flock as follows : "A stranger
they will not follow, but they will
flee from him, for they do not know
the voice of strangers. . . . I am the
good shepherd; I know my own and
my own know me, as the Father
knows me and I know the
Father ... " (verses 5,14-15, RSV).
Fine , but couldn't any selfrespecting sheep do this? The differences between the real shepherd
and would-be impostors should be
more than obvious. The problem,
though, is that distinctions between
the two are often very subtle and
unobtrusive. Considering the fact
that even Satan the devil can pawn
himself off as an "angel of light"
(II Cor. 11: 14), this little bit of perceptive ability turns out to be no
mean feat. It sounds as if Christ
were describing a very discerning
group of sheep.
Notice another statement Christ
made about His sheep in Matthew 10: 16: "Behold, I send you

forth as sheep in the midst of

wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."
Christ's words are pretty plain.
He doesn't want a flock of dumb
sheep representing Him! He wants
some pretty sharp individuals. Now
maybe you say, "Sure - that's a
command for the ministry." If you
want to take it that way, fine. It
doesn't really change anything, because the people - or the flock are supposed to emulate the best
qualities they find in their ministers
(I Cor. 11:1; Heb. 13:7).
A Thinking Flock

God didn't intend that people

outside the Church be the only ones
who actively use their heads. The
New Testament is full of enjoinders
to Christians to diligently engage
their mental gears, especially regarding spiritual matters. Paul's
command to "prove all things"
(I Thes. 5:21) was certainly not
meant to be suspended upon a person's baptism. The apostle John
warned the "sheep" of his day to
" try [test, discern] the spirits"
(I John 4: 1). Again, this can't be
done by gullibly swallowing every
religious morsel that is thrown your
way.
The art of making sound decisions was and still is every
Christian's responsibility. In
I Corinthians 6: 1-3 (RSY), the
apostle Paul wrote: "When one of
you has a grievance against a
brother, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the
saints? Do you not know that the
saints will judge the world? And if
the world is to be judged by you, are
you incompetent to try trivial cases?
Do you not know that we are to
judge angels? How much more, matters pertaining to this tife!"
An Educated Flock

Education and learning should be

an ongoing, active facet of every
Christian's life. Some of the last

27

"For thirty years, on the

air and in the Plain Truth,
I have been saying: 'Don't
believe me - believe your
Bible - believe God!' Always I say - and so does
Garner .Ted Armstrong 'Check up!' Listen without prejudice, with an open
mind, then check up go to your Bible, and be-:
lieve what you read there. "
Herbert W. Armstrong, Plain Truth,
September 1963

"Again I say, 'Don't believe us; believ:e what you

read in your Bible. ' Don't
believe us -just because
we say so. But believe us
if and when you find we
speak according to the
very Word of God, and
then only believe us as
we speak according to
that Word!"
Garner Ted Armstrong, Plain Truth,
February 1965

"I think our readers know

by now that we always
say: 'Don't believe what
we say because you believe
in us. ' We say, 'Listen with
an open mind, without
prejudice, then check up
in your own Bible - prove
whether it is true and
believe what you find
proved!'''
Herbert W . Armstrong, Plain Truth,
May 1966

28

words the apostle Peter wrote included the exhortation to "grow

in grace and knowledge" (II Pet.
3: 18). Paul had this to say in
writing to the Colossians: " ... We
have not ceased to pray for you,
asking that you may be filled with
the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to
lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully
pleasing to him, bearing fruit in
every good work and increasing in
the knowledge of God". (Col. 1:9-10,
RSV).
This type of spiritual and mental
growth is one of the primary factors
that separates "the men from the
boys," so to speak. As Paul wrote in
the book of Hebrews: "For when for
the time ye ought to be teachers, "ye
have need that one teach you again
which be the first principles of the
oracles of God; and are 'b ecome
such as have need of milk, and not
of strong meat. For everyone that
useth milk is unskilful in the word
of righteousness: for he is a babe.
But strong meat belongeth to them
that are of full age, even those who
by reason of use have their senses
exercised to discern both good and
evil" (Heb. 5: 12-14).
A Stable Flock

A Christian cannot hope to

achieve this level of spiritual maturity unless he is willing to think
about, evaluate and assess the information that he is constantly confronted with. And unless or until he
reaches this point, he may discover
that he is resting his beliefs on very
shaky spiritual ground. For example, he may easily find himself
being "tossed to and fro ... with
every
wind
of doctrine"
(Eph. 4: 14). '
He could end up like the person
Christ 'described in Matthew 7:26
who built his house on a foundation
of sand. Or he may be typified by
the seed that was sown on rocky
ground. In this case the newly germinated plants that quickly
sprouted looked good on the surface, but their staying power was
limited (Matt. 13). The reason, as

Christ explained, was that this class

of converts "had no root in themselves" (verse 21).
Or a person could end up like
some in the early Corinthian church
who were lining up behind their favorite hero. Some were of Paul,
others of Apollos. Clearly, most, if
not all of them, were failing to stand
on their own two spiritual feet
. (I Cor. 3:2-4).
The blatting, brainless "groupthink" approach just can't hack it
when the chips are down and trials
come. And increased trials, pressures and difficulties are prophesied
to come. As the apostle Paul said:
"But evil men and seducers shap
wax worse and worse, deceiving,
and being deceived" (II Tim. 3: 13).
He continues in Acts 20:29 : "For I
know this, that after my departing
shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock."
Again, would-be shepherds were
posing as leaders of the flock. Paul's
advice to said flock: " . .. Continue
to hold to the things that you have
learned and of which you are convinced, knowing from whom you
learned them" (II Tim. 3:14, The
Amplified Bible).
Don't be a victim of the sheep
instinct. Prove your own faith now
(II Cor. 13:5), that you may be
able to stand with Jesus Christ when
He returns to this earth.
0
RECOMMENDED READING
The following volumes listed contain excellent material on how the
sheep instinct works. The first three
deal with some rather unsavory episodes of the past (basically from a
negative standpoint). The last book
listed is an example of one way
various aspects of the sheep instinct
can be overcome. Most or all are
available at local bookstores and / or
libraries.
Lederer, William J. A Nation of
Sheep. W. W. Norton & Co ., Inc.,
1961 .
Speer, Albert. Inside the Third
Reich. The MacMillan Co ., 1970.
Woodham-Smith, Cecil. The Charge
of the Light Brigade. New American Library, 1953.
Flesch, Rudolf. The Art of Clear
Thinking . Harper, 1951.

GOOD NEWS

October 1975

DEAD SEA SCROLLS

(Continued from page 21)
used a variety of sources for quotations. Sometimes they translated directly from the Hebrew. But since
the New Testament was in Greek
and aimed mainly at Greek speakers, about two thirds of the quotations are from the Septuagint
directly or with minor changes. The
reason is that Greek-speaking
people were familiar with the Old
Testament through the Septuagint
translation just as many people
today know the Bible primarily
through the King James Version.
Some New Testament quotations
seem to be taken from the Targumic
versions (Aramaic translations and

paraphrases of the scripture). But

certain sections of the New Testament quoted from textual-types
unknown before the Scrolls were
found . Several of the quotations in
speeches in Acts, for example, exhibit a particular type of wording
which is paralleled in the Qumran
writings. This shows the New Testament writers were not just making
up their own edition of the passage
but actually quoting from versions
known and used among the Jews at
that time.
Conclusions

This article has given only a few

examples of the way in which the
Qumran scrolls are helpful for a
better understanding of the New

aewareol
Sensational Claims
Many laymen have been misled by irresponsible and incorrect claims. These have usually
come from journalists or other
nonexperts, though occasionally even a scholar in the field
has succumbed to the temptation of sensationalism . Here are
a few misstatements to avoid:
A. Powell Davies, The Meaning of the Dead Sea Serol/s,
talked of a "Battle of the
Scrolls" in which he made it
appear as if theologians were
opposing the implications of the
Scrolls for early Christianity.
J. Lehmann states in his book,
Rabbi J, that Jesus "did find the
cardinal point of his truth and
his teaching among the Essenes" (p. 143).
Edmund Wilson, while by no
means a scholar, has a reasonably well-researched book in
The Dead Sea Serol/s 19471969. However, in the first edition of the book (1955), he

GOOD NEWS

October 1975

stated: "New Testament scholars, it seems, have almost without exception boycotted the
whole subject of the scrolls."
That statement is still found in
his later edition (p. 100) even
though it was clearly inaccurate.
John M. Allegro, certainly a
capable scholar in the language
and text of the Qumran manuscripts, shocked and dismayed
his colleagues by unprofessional activities (such as unauthorized publication 0f a text
assigned to another scholar)
and a number of unscholarly
statements about the Scrolls
(documented in W. S. LaSor,
Dead Sea Serol/s and the New
Testament, 19ft, and to some
extent in Wilson, op. cit., 162ft).
He has since gone on to publish
claims about the origins of
Christianity in a mushroom cult
which no legitimate scholar has
taken seriously.

Testament. A thorough treatment

would require a book or books. But
the examples given should illustrate
the value of the Scrolls.
As with the Old Testament, so
with the New Testament: the manuscripts from the wilderness of the
Dead Sea are an important contribution toward our understanding of
the origin of the early Church and
the first Christian writings. Any information which throws light on the
cultural, religious and literary environment of the first Christian century can also help in elucidating and
expanding our understanding of the
-apostolic writings.
The sensational claims about the
Scrolls have on the whole died a
natural and certainly unmourned
death. Jesus was not an Essene; the
Church did not receive its birth and
nourishment from Qumran : "The
continued study of the scrolls should
contribute to the better understanding of New Testament background
and origins. But there is nothing in
the contents of the scrolls or in a
careful comparison of them with the
New Testament which warrants
hasty statements that the Christian
gospel was taken over from the
Qumran sect or is basically dependent on that sect for its message and
way of life" (F. V. Filson, "The
Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament," New Directions in Biblical
Archaeology, 155).
Whether the recent claims of
finding portions of the New Testament among the Scrolls will prove
true is a matter for history to tell.
But the present indications are
rather negative. (See the article on
the subject in the June 1975 GN.)
To read the New Testament only
in the light of the Qumran documents would create a gross distortion of the truth. But to approach
it as if it had received no influence
from its environment also produces
a caricature. Only when the New
Testament documents are viewed
against their entire first-century
background do their true uniqueness and superiority become absolutely lucid.
0

29

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