What Science Can't Discover About
the Human Mind
By Herbert W. Armstrong
THINK! Will any human
person still be alive on this earth in another five or ten years? The number
one problem we all face today is that of HUMAN SURVIVAL! WHY has the human mind
produced such AWESOME modern progress, yet remains HELPLESS in the face of such
appalling EVILS? The answer to this baffling enigma lies in the HUMAN MIND. In
the following pages you will learn what psychologists and scientists do not
know about the HUMAN MIND!
Why cannot the greatest minds solve world
problems? Scientists have said, "Given sufficient knowledge, and we shall
solve all human problems and cure all our evils." Since 1960 the world's
fund of knowledge has doubled. But humanity's evils also have doubled.
WHY? Is something wrong with the human
MIND? Is something MISSING? There most certainly is a MISSING DIMENSION in
human knowledge. A human manufacturer sends along with the instrument or device
he manufactures an INSTRUCTION BOOKLET describing what his product is intended
to do with full directions for accomplishing its purpose. The most perfect
mechanism ever designed and made is the marvellous mind and body that is MAN.
And it is also only natural that our Maker sent along His INSTRUCTION MANUAL --
revealing for our good what we ARE, WHY we are, where we are going, and what is
the way.
That instruction book is the Holy Bible.
Yet man has made this the most misunderstood, misinterpreted and maligned book
that ever came into human hands.
Nevertheless, the MISSING DIMENSION IN
KNOWLEDGE is all there revealed. The incredible HUMAN POTENTIAL is there
revealed and made plain -- if MAN would only read it -- and BELIEVE WHAT IT
SAYS!
It is our source book. It reveals to us
WHY we humans were put here on earth -- WHAT we are -- WHERE we are going --
the unrealized incredible human potential -- HOW to operate this human
mechanism of mind and body to live happily in peace and to achieve that awesome
potential.
But the greatest human minds have never
comprehended that divinely-revealed KNOWLEDGE. It is as if God our Maker had
sent his message to us in an unbreakable secret code.
And the greatest human minds have never
cracked that secret code. Modern Science cannot understand it. Psychologists do
not themselves understand of what the human mind is composed.
Something of supreme importance is MISSING
from the greatest of human minds! That something is revealed within this
instruction manual. It is NOT taught in any college or university. It is HIDDEN
from the worldly wise and prudent. The greatest mind which ever lived said of
it: "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth because You have hidden
these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes"
(Matt.
But to the spiritual babe our instruction
manual reveals that originally from eternity, there existed GOD and with Him
there coexisted, also from eternity, "THE WORD," a second PERSON who
also is God. God created all things by and through this coexisting SPIRIT BEING
called "THE WORD" (John 1:1-4).
In Genesis 1:1, the Hebrew word translated
"God," is Elohim, a uniplural name meaning ONE GOD who is composed of
more than one person. In other words, a Divine FAMILY, of which the GOD
mentioned in John 1:1 is HEAD.
God first created angels -- also composed
of Spirit, though lesser beings than God, and lacking in creative power.
Next, God created -- brought into
existence -- the physical universe, including the earth. At earth's creation, a
third of the angels were placed here. They were put under rule of the
GOVERNMENT OF GOD, administered by the great archangel Lucifer, a cherub. Under
the GOVERNMENT OF GOD the earth was filled with wonderful PEACE, HAPPINESS and
JOY. But ultimately Lucifer led his angels into rebellion. The GOVERNMENT OF
GOD was rejected, no longer enforced. The earth as a result, became waste and
empty, in confusion and utter darkness.
Then in six days God renewed the face of
the earth. During this "creation week" of Genesis 1, God formed the
first life forms that reproduced themselves -- the flora and then the fauna --
without the thinking, reasoning, decision making process, and without ethical,
moral or spiritual capabilities.
Finally came the creation of MAN --
created in God's own image and likeness -- form and shape -- but like animals
composed of physical MATTER from the earth. MAN, to be born ultimately into the
very GOD FAMILY, was designed to have GODLY-type MIND -- ability to think, to
reason, to make choices and decisions, capable of forming ethical, moral and
spiritual attitudes.
Remember, God's PURPOSE in creating man is
to reproduce Himself -- with such perfect spiritual CHARACTER as ONLY GOD
possesses -- who WILL NOT and therefore CANNOT ever SIN! (I John 3:9).
Such perfect spiritual and holy character
cannot be created by fiat. It must be developed, and that requires TIME and
EXPERIENCE.
Such character is the ability in a single
entity to come to comprehend and distinguish the true values from the false,
the right way from the wrong, to choose the right and reject the wrong, and,
with power of WILL, to DO the right and resist the evil.
Animals are equipped with BRAIN and
instinct. But they do not have power to understand and choose moral and
spiritual values or to develop perfect spiritual CHARACTER. Animals have BRAIN,
but no intellect -- instinct, but no ability to develop HOLY and GODLY
CHARACTER.
And that pictures the transcendental
DIFFERENCE between animal BRAIN and human MIND.
But WHAT CAUSES that vast difference?
There is virtually no difference in shape
and construction between animal brain and human brain. The brains of elephants,
whales, and dolphins are larger than human brain, and the chimp's brain is
slightly smaller.
Qualitatively the human brain may be very
slightly superior, but not enough to remotely account for the difference in
output.
What, then, can account for the vast
difference? Science cannot adequately answer. Some scientists, in the field of
brain research, conclude that, of necessity, there has to be some non-physical
component in human brain that does not exist in animal brain. But most
scientists will not admit the possibility of the existence of the non-physical.
What other explanation is there? Actually,
outside of the very slight degree of physical superiority of human brain, science
has NO explanation, due to unwillingness to concede even the possibility of the
spiritual.
When man refuses to admit even the very
existence of his own Maker, he shuts out of his mind vast oceans of basic true
knowledge, fact, and UNDERSTANDING. When he substitutes FABLE for truth, he is,
of all men, MOST IGNORANT, though he professes himself to be wise.
When man, in the name of science, denies
-- or by indifference, ignores -- his Maker, he blinds his mind to what he is,
why he is, where he is going, and what is THE WAY! No wonder this world is
filled with evils! There has to be a CAUSE for every effect!
But when our minds are opened to the
knowledge of our GOD and His purposes, then we have glorious access to the vast
MISSING DIMENSION OF KNOWLEDGE: the very knowledge that God is the Divine
FAMILY -- that God is REPRODUCING HIMSELF -- that He is using MATTER in the
process, and that He opens our understanding to vast vistas of new knowledge.
So now CONSIDER. God is composed of
SPIRIT. God is CREATOR, DESIGNER, RULER, EDUCATOR. God has SUPREME MIND. He IS
the PERFECT HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS CHARACTER!
But He is using material substance from
this physical earth with which to REPRODUCE HIMSELF. Out of physical EARTH He
has formed MAN in His image and likeness (form and shape).
But if man is to BECOME God, in the
process of God reproducing Himself, then the character
that is to be built in him MUST emanate from God -- and the Spirit LIFE that is
to be his also must emanate from GOD.
In other words, God has had to plan to
bridge the gap between MATTER (of which MAN is now wholly composed) and SPIRIT
(which God now is, and man must become).
Matter is NOT Spirit -- cannot be
converted into Spirit. HOW, then, can God change mortal material MAN into
immortal, Spirit- composed GOD?
Man is composed wholly of MATTER. God
says: "And the ETERNAL God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living
soul" (Gen. 2:7). MAN was made out of the dust of the ground. He receives
his temporary human life from air, breathed in and out of his nostrils. His
life is in the blood (Gen. 9:4, 6). But the lifeblood is oxidized by breathing
air, even as gasoline in the carburettor of an automobile. Therefore breath is
the "breath of life" even as the life is in the blood.
Notice carefully that MAN, made wholly of
matter, BECAME a living soul as soon as the BREATH gave him his temporary
physical life. The scripture does NOT say "immortal" soul. Man does
not have an "immortal" soul. He IS a soul as soon as physical LIFE
enters him.
The Hebrew word for "soul" is
nephesh. In Genesis 1:20-24, animals are called nephesh three times -- only the
translators translated the Hebrew word there "creature." Animals have
the same temporary physio-chemical existence as man. Both die the same death
(Eccl.
"The soul that sinneth, it shall
die" (Ezekiel 18:4). Again, God's Word says: "The soul that sinneth,
it shall die" (Ezek.18:20). Adam was a soul, and God said to him, in
regard to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, "... in the day that
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17). But Satan denied
this, and Adam and Eve believed Satan, as most of humanity has done ever since.
So let us UNDERSTAND! Man is FLESH and
BLOOD -- composed wholly of MATTER -- and that living matter IS a living soul.
The SOUL is composed of physical MATTER,
not Spirit.
I have explained that human brain is
almost identical to animal brain. But man was made in the form and shape of
God, to have a special relationship with God -- to have the potential of being
born into the FAMILY of God. And God is SPIRIT (John
In Job 32:8, we read, "There is a
spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them
understanding."
This is a great TRUTH, understood by but
very few.
I call this spirit the HUMAN spirit, for
it is IN each human, even though it is SPIRIT ESSENCE and not matter. It is NOT
a spirit person or being. It is not the MAN, but spirit essence IN the man. It
is NOT a soul -- the physical human is a soul. The human spirit imparts the
power of INTELLECT to the human brain. The human spirit does not supply human
LIFE -- the human LIFE is in the physical BLOOD, oxidized by the BREATH of
life.
It is that non-physical component in the
human brain that does not exist in the brain of animals. It is the ingredient
that makes possible the transition from human to divine, without changing
matter into spirit, at the time of resurrection. That I will explain a little
later.
Let me make clear a few essential points
about this spirit in man. It is spirit essence, just as in matter air is
essence, and so is water. This human spirit cannot see. The physical BRAIN
sees, through the eyes. The human spirit IN a person cannot hear. The brain hears
through the ears. This human spirit cannot think. The brain thinks -- although
the spirit imparts the power to think, whereas brute animal brains without such
spirit cannot, except in the most elementary manner.
A scripture often used by believers in an "immortal
soul" explains. In I Corinthians 2, the apostle Paul is explaining to the
Corinthians that he did not come to them using hard-to- understand speech as
many do to exalt their own vanity. He came to them with plain and simple
speech, in humility. And yet none of the princes, the elite, the highly
educated -- the rulers -- of this world could understand.
WHY couldn't the more highly learned
understand? Because he was preaching Christ's message of the
Then he explains that in this manner (verse
11) no MAN could have the knowledge a man possesses, except by "the spirit
of man which is in him." The brute animal has a brain virtually identical
to human brain -- and some even larger. But their brains cannot KNOW --
comprehend -- what man knows. Neither could man without the spirit of man which
is in him. In other words, this spirit imparts the power of intellect to the
human brain.
Yet this human MIND is limited to
knowledge of the physical. It cannot KNOW -- comprehend -- the spiritual things
of God. WHY? Because even the human MIND only can know, naturally, what
knowledge comes to it through the senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting,
feeling. A brute animal also may see, hear, smell, taste or feel what a man
does, and still be unable to utilize what enters his brain in thought or
knowledge. The reason for this will be explained later.
Now the second half of I Corinthians 2:11:
"EVEN SO" (in like manner) no man can know -- have knowledge of,
understand or comprehend -- the things of GOD, except by ANOTHER spirit, the
Holy Spirit of GOD.
Just as no dumb animal can know the things
of man's knowledge, neither could man, by brain alone, except by the spirit of
man -- the human spirit -- that is in man. So also, in the same manner, even a
man cannot know -- comprehend -- the things of God, unless or until he receives
another spirit -- the Holy Spirit of GOD.
Stated still another way, all humans have
from birth a spirit called "the spirit of man" which is IN THEM.
Notice carefully that this spirit is NOT the man. It is something IN THE MAN. A
man might swallow a small marble. It is then something in the man, but it is
not the man or any part of him as a man. The man was made of the dust of the
ground -- mortal. This human spirit is not the soul. It is something IN the
soul which itself IS the physical MAN.
Notice, further, verse 14: "But the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned."
So, from birth, God gives US one spirit,
which for lack of a better term I call a human spirit. It gives us MIND power
which is not in animal BRAIN. Yet that MIND power is limited to knowledge of
the physical universe. WHY? Because knowledge enters the human mind ONLY
through the five physical senses.
But notice that God had not completed the
creation of MAN at the creation of Adam and Eve. The physical creation was
completed. They had this "human" spirit at their creation.
But now must follow the spiritual creation.
This required a second spirit in man -- the HOLY SPIRIT of God.
"And the [ETERNAL] God formed man of
the dust of the ground ... and planted a garden eastward in
Actually and literally, Adam, as yet, was
"not all there." The spirit of man was in him -- but not the Spirit
of God. God offered him freely the fruit of the TREE OF LIFE -- which
symbolized God's HOLY SPIRIT. Taking of the tree of LIFE would have done two
things: (1) opened his MIND to comprehend spiritual knowledge, and (2) imparted
within him the GIFT of God's Holy Spirit, leading to ETERNAL LIFE. But, when
God explained to him the
"And the [ETERNAL] God said ... and
now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat,
and live for ever: Therefore the [ETERNAL] God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden
Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the
tree of life" (Gen. 3:22-24).
Now GRASP THIS, please!
Do not forget God's great PURPOSE! Through
human man, composed of material substance, God is reproducing Himself -- adding
to His own holy, righteous, sinless GOD FAMILY. But God is composed of SPIRIT.
How does God bridge the gap between mortal physical MAN and immortal
SPIRIT-composed God?
The very first human had made the wrong
choice, and by SIN rejected the GOVERNMENT OF GOD. God then drove him out of
the Garden of Eden and blocked all possible re-entry to the tree of life. But
of course God anticipated the probability of this. God's PURPOSE must STAND!
But HOW?
It now required the "second
Adam" -- Jesus Christ. He had offered Himself before the world was. But He
was not to come, born human for the purpose of death, for about another 4,000
years.
God had marked out a 7,000-year period --
the first 6,000 for mankind, cut off from God (with a few exceptions), to go
his own way -- to write the lesson in human suffering and anguish of living
contrary to GOD'S WAY OF LIFE, commanded by THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD -- which Adam
rejected.
This 6,000 years, with Satan still here, would be
followed by a single 1,000 years, during which CHRIST would rule, having
qualified to restore THE GOVERNMENT OF GOD on earth. Satan would be totally
restrained during the seventh millennium.
During that seventh millennium, the
Meanwhile, during the first 6,000 years, a
FEW would be offered opportunity to enter into the spiritual creation, which
begins with the receiving of the SECOND SPIRIT -- that is, the gift of the HOLY
SPIRIT of God. Outside of this comparative few, God adopted a
"hands-off" policy toward the human race. Abel, Adam's second son,
apparently followed God's way, for Christ called him "righteous
Abel." Enoch "walked with God." Noah found favour with God --
but apparently that was all during the first 1,900 years or so.
After the Flood, Abraham,
Human Reproduction the Type of
God's Reproducing Himself
Few people realize that human reproduction
has a sacred and GOD- PLANE MEANING NOT APPLICABLE TO ANY OTHER KIND OF LIFE.
Human reproduction pictures spiritual
salvation -- which is actually God the Father reproducing Himself in the GOD
FAMILY.
Now see the ASTOUNDING comparison!
MAN, remember, is composed wholly of
MATTER from the ground (Gen. 2:7 and
It starts with a spirit (a portion of
spirit essence) IN the wholly physical man. Remember, this spirit is NOT the
man -- only something IN the man. Remember, too, this spirit cannot see, hear,
or think. The MAN sees, hears, and thinks through his physical brain and the
five senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling. The spirit in
man imparts the power of PHYSICAL INTELLECT the physical brain, thus forming
human MIND.
This spirit acts, among other things, as a
computer, adding to the brain the psychic and intellectual power. Knowledge
received in the brain through the eye, ear, and the senses is immediately
"programmed" into the spirit computer. All memory is stored in this
spirit computer. This "computer" gives the brain instant recall of
whatever portion of millions of bits of knowledge may be needed in the
reasoning process. That is to say that MEMORY is recorded in the human spirit,
whether or not it also is recorded in the "gray
matter" of BRAIN.
This human spirit also adds to man a
spiritual and moral faculty not possessed by animals.
God had made the needed second spirit --
the HOLY SPIRIT -- available to Adam. But on Adam's rebellion and taking the
forbidden fruit, God had driven Adam out and closed all access to the tree of LIFE
-- symbolic of His Holy Spirit.
Yet through Christ, a repentant humanity
may yet receive God's GIFT of His Holy Spirit. To Nicodemus Christ said,
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the
Now to become human, each of us had to be
begotten by his human father. Likewise, to be born again -- of THE SPIRIT which
is of GOD the Father, one must first be begotten of the SPIRITUAL FATHER -- of
GOD.
This is explained in Romans 8:16-17:
"The Spirit [of God] itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are
the [begotten] children of God: and if children, then heirs [not yet inheritors
or possessors]; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ ...."
And God's Holy Spirit, now combined with
our human spirit in the human MIND, does two things: (1) begets the human with
divine eternal life to be later BORN into the GOD FAMILY as a Divine Being,
then composed wholly of Spirit; (2) imparts to the human mind power to
comprehend SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE -- to understand the things of God (I Cor.
2:11). Also God's Holy Spirit imparts divine LOVE, FAITH, and POWER to overcome
Satan and sin.
This Spirit-begotten Christian now has,
conditionally, the PRESENCE OF ETERNAL LIFE -- GOD LIFE -- within him (or her),
but He is NOT YET an immortal SPIRIT BEING -- not yet composed wholly of
SPIRIT.
He is now an heir of God as the son of a
wealthy man is the heir of his father -- but NOT YET "born again," --
NOT YET an inheritor or a possessor. But IF His Holy Spirit dwells in us, God
will, at Christ's coming back to earth as King of kings, "quicken" to
immortality our mortal bodies BY His Spirit that dwells in us (Rom. 8:11; I
Cor. 15:49-53).
Now see how the astonishing analogy
continues:
Just as in human reproduction, the
impregnated embryo, which later becomes the fetus, is not yet BORN, but still
being nourished through the human mother; so the begotten Christian is not yet
BORN into the God Family. The divine life has merely been begotten.
Satan has managed to deceive most of
fundamentalist Christianity into believing they already are "born
again" on accepting Christ.
But just as in human reproduction when the
Human characteristics of form and shape and the human body and brain gradually
begin to form during the period of gestation, so now the RIGHTEOUS and HOLY
character of God begins to take form and GROW.
Actually in many, this Divine character
may form so slowly it seems hardly in evidence at first, except that in some
there will appear the glow of that ecstasy of spiritual "romance" --
which may radiate in that "first love" of spiritual conversion. But,
so far as growing in SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE (II Pet.
When newly converted, one is now a
spiritual "Emissary." Now he must be nourished and fed on Spiritual
FOOD. Jesus said man must not live by bread (physical food) alone, but by EVERY
WORD OF GOD. The BIBLE is the written Word of God, just as Christ is the
personal Word of God. This growth is the character development that REQUIRES
TIME and comes largely by EXPERIENCE. Above all, it requires continual BIBLE
STUDY to show ONE'S SELF approved of God, as well as much continual and earnest
PRAYER. When you study the Bible, GOD is TALKING TO YOU. When you PRAY, you are
TALKING TO HIM. You get to really KNOW God in this manner, just as you become
better acquainted with people by conversation.
Yet much of this spiritual character
development comes through Christian fellowship with other spiritually begotten
people in God's Church.
Further, just as the human physical embryo
and fetus are given physical nourishment through the human mother, God's CHURCH
is the spiritual MOTHER of its members. God's Church is called "
Notice the exact parallel. God has set
called and chosen ministers in His Church to feed the flock, "for the
perfecting of the saints, for THE WORK OF THE MINISTRY [proclaiming Christ's
gospel of the Kingdom of God in all the world], for the edifying of the body
[Church] of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:12-13).
It is the duty of Christ's true ministers
(and how few today) to PROTECT the begotten but yet unborn saints from false
doctrines and from false ministers!
What a wonderful picture of God's
reproducing Himself is human reproduction!
And remember God intended human
reproduction to be a FAMILY matter. It adds human children to the human FAMILY.
The HUMAN FAMILY is the exact TYPE of the GOD FAMILY. God has bestowed MARRIAGE
and FAMILY life on NO OTHER form of life except on HUMANS, whose potential it
is to enter the FAMILY OF GOD! But consider further! As the physical human
fetus must grow physically large enough to be born, so the begotten Christian
must grow spiritually in grace and knowledge of Christ (II Pet.
That is well illustrated by the parables
of the pounds and the talents. In the parable of the pounds (Luke
In the parable of the talents (Matthew
25:14-30), one was given five talents, another two talents, and another one --
each according to his own ability (like handicap golf). On Christ's return, the
one who had been given five talents had gained five more (representing
spiritual growth and overcoming in this life). He was commended as a good and
faithful servant and given responsibilities accordingly in God's Kingdom. The
one who had gained another two accomplished just as much in proportion to
ability. He, too, received an equal reward. But the one who had been given the
one did NOTHING WITH IT. In other words, in his Christian life here and now, he
did not overcome, he did not grow spiritually -- he developed no character. The
pounds or talents in these two parables represent the initial measure of God's
Holy Spirit given at conversion. But as the Spirit begotten person is continually
led by the Holy Spirit -- following where God's Spirit opens his understanding,
growing in spiritual knowledge and overcoming -- the measure of God's Spirit in
him increases. But Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit -- not by measure
(John
What he didn't realize is that while
salvation is a FREE GIFT, we are REWARDED according to our works (Matt.
Christ's answer to such, when He returns
with the
Many have been deceived into a FALSE
"salvation."
To conclude the parallel: As the physical
fetus gradually develops the physical features, organs and characteristics one
by one, even so the begotten Christian must develop the SPIRITUAL ATTRIBUTES
during this life, one by one, love, faith, Spiritual knowledge, patience, gentleness,
kindness, and temperance. He must be a DOER of the Word of God. The fetus that
fails to grow would die and never be born!
Bridging the Gap
Finally, HOW has God planned to
"bridge the gap" from physical to spiritual composition -- to
reproduce Himself out of PHYSICAL HUMANS THAT COME FROM THE PHYSICAL GROUND?
First, God put IN the physical MAN a
"human" spirit. It is NOT, however, the human spirit that makes the
decisions, comes to repentance, or builds the character. As I have emphasized,
this spirit does not impart life, cannot see, hear, feel or think. It empowers
the PHYSICAL MAN, through his BRAIN, to do these things. But this spirit
RECORDS every thought -- every bit of knowledge received through the five
senses and it records whatever character -- good or bad -- that is developed in
human life.
The human MAN is made literally from CLAY.
God is like the master potter forming and shaping a vessel out of clay. But if
the clay is too hard, it will not bend into the form and shape he wants. If it
is too soft and moist, it lacks firmness to "STAY PUT" where the
potter bends it.
Notice in Isaiah 64:8: "But now, O
[ETERNAL], thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we
all are the work of thy hand."
Yet God has given each of us a MIND OF HIS
OWN. If one REFUSES to acknowledge God or God's ways -- refuses to repent of
the wrong and turn to the right, God cannot take him and create Godly character
in him. But the human CLAY must be pliable, must yield willingly. If the human
stiffens up and resists, he is like clay that is too dry and stiff. The potter
can do nothing with it. It will not give and bend. Also, if he is so lacking in
will, purpose, and determination that he won't "stay put" when God molds him partly into what God wants him to be -- too
wishy-washy, weak, lacking root of character, he will never endure to the end.
He will lose out.
We are, in truth, the WORK OF HIS HANDS.
Yet WE ourselves must do our part in this spiritual development. If we lazily
neglect Bible study and prayer -- or if we let other material interests become
more important and we NEGLECT such great salvation, we lose out.
But if we have the strength of character
to YIELD, OF OUR OWN WILL to put ourselves in God's hands, HE will instil
within us His SPIRIT and by it His righteousness -- His character -- open our
minds to His spiritual knowledge. We have to WANT IT! We have to work AT IT! We
have to PUT IT FIRST, above all else.
It must be GOD'S righteousness, for all of
OURS is like filthy rags to Him. He continually instils His knowledge, His
righteousness, His character within us -- IF we
diligently seek it and want it. BUT WE HAVE OUR VERY IMPORTANT PART IN IT. Then
all credit goes to GOD.
As we receive the CHARACTER OF GOD through
the Holy Spirit of God, more and more God is REPRODUCING HIMSELF IN us.
Finally, in the resurrection, we shall be
as God -- in a position where we cannot sin, because we ourselves have set it
so and have turned FROM sin and have struggled and struggled AGAINST sin and
overcome sin.
God's PURPOSE WILL be
accomplished!
WHY Made From Material Substance?
Once again, STOP AND THINK!
WHY did God choose to make MAN out of
physical matter instead of Spirit? He made angels out of Spirit.
Remember God's PURPOSE is to reproduce
Himself! His Divine children are to be begotten of Him and then BORN into His
God Family. Christ, our pioneer, was begotten by the Father in a manner no one
else ever was, when conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary. He was the
begotten (the ONLY begotten, in that manner) Son of God from human conception
and birth. He is already the FIRSTBORN of many brethren (Rom.
To show the pre-eminence above angels that
is already Christ's and also is our potential, remember we are joint-heirs with
Christ, and God says of Christ, "being made so much better than the
angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For
unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I
begotten thee?" (Heb. 1:4-5.) In the book of Job angels are spoken of as
sons of God in chapters 1, 2, and 7, but only as created "sons."
Still, as in Hebrews 1, God never said to them, "You are my own begotten
sons." But when we humans receive the Holy Spirit of God, we do become His
begotten sons and His heirs, to receive by inheritance His NAME -- just as my
begotten sons inherited my name.
When we are BORN of God, we shall BE
Spirit. Then why did God form man in the first place of material substance out
of the earth?
I have partially answered that question
already. Angels, being spirit, are immortal. Those who sinned shall go on
bearing their punishment forever. Their punishment is NOT death. Their
punishment is loss of the glorious opportunity God gave them to accomplish His
purpose on earth, and to live forever in the resentment, bitterness, attitude
of rebellion, and utter hopelessness and frustration of mind their own sins
brought upon them. Once they perverted their own minds, they can never regain
balance. Happiness and joy has left them forever.
Whereas, if MAN, composed of matter,
sinned and refused to repent and turn from his sin, he will die the second
death -- he shall utterly PERISH (John 3:16) -- he will be as though he had not
been (Obadiah 16). This reflects God's MERCY.
The Physical Changes, the Spiritual is Changeless
But there is another all-important reason.
As the humanist philosopher Elbert Hubbard said, "Nothing is permanent but
change." Matter does not remain as it is, unchanged, permanently. But it
continues changing permanently. Perhaps stone or iron is as unchanging as any
element. But after a few thousand years, the giant stones in the wall around
Spirit however, is CHANGELESS -- except as
God instilled in angel beings the power of mind -- of thinking, reasoning,
making decisions and exercising will to act on decisions or choices. But Spirit
substance apart from the mind power of God or Spirit beings is CHANGELESS. Once
Satan and his demons made the decision they did, being spirit, they cannot
change!
In reproducing Himself God requires
righteous CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. And that requires change. If God had made us
of Spirit, once the decision was made to reject God, we could never have
repented -- could not change from Satan's way to God's! Man, composed of
matter, is subject to CHANGE. Man, if called by God, can be made to realize
that he has sinned, and he can REPENT -- CHANGE from his sin -- turn to GOD'S
WAY. And once his course is changed, with God's help he can pursue it. He can
GROW in spiritual knowledge, develop character, overcome wrong habits,
weaknesses, and faults.
And this is all done by the PHYSICAL MAN,
through the PHYSICAL BRAIN.
The human spirit in man empowers the brain
with physical intellect, and the Spirit of God united with it empowers the
brain with spiritual comprehension, and these spirits RECORD the knowledge and
the character and preserve them, as well as the physical shape and appearance.
These spirits do not develop the righteous character, but through the Holy
Spirit God does give us His faith, HIS righteousness -- as long as we ourselves
earnestly desire it. But once holy and righteous character is developed in
physical man, HOW does God bridge the gap, changing MAN into SPIRIT?
The Spirit MOLD
I have shown you that the Scriptures
picture man as the clay -- which he literally is -- and God as our Potter. We
might call God, also, our SCULPTOR, for with our submission and eager
willingness, we are the WORK OF HIS HANDS in spiritual and character
development. As Job said, "If a man die, shall he live again? All the days
of my appointed time will I wait till my CHANGE come. Thou shalt call, and I
will answer thee [in the resurrection]: thou wilt have a desire to the work of
thine hands" (Job
This brings us to the question of death of
the physical MAN, and the resurrection -- Job called it the "CHANGE"
-- into the
Now notice, as quoted before, in Isaiah
64:8: "But now, O [ETERNAL], thou art our father; we are the clay, and
thou our potter, and we all are the work of thy hand."
God could not form, shape, change, and
develop His character in us -- once we had sinned -- as all have -- had we been
made of Spirit. Notice further: "Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth
it, What meekest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?" (Isa. 45:9.)
Another passage of scripture so often
misapplied says: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it [the faith] is the gift of God: not of works" (Eph. 2:8-9).
We do not earn salvation by good works or
gain it by WORKS -- BUT when we receive it as God's GIFT, the degree of reward
will be according to our "works" (Matt.
But now read the rest of this passage
which is nearly always purposely omitted by those misleading people on this
point: "... not of works" ... WHY? ..."lest any man should
boast. For we are HIS WORKMANSHIP, created in Christ Jesus UNTO GOOD WORKS,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:9-10).
I have tried to point out that we must
gain contact with God and that HE is the potter -- or sculptor -- fashioning,
moulding, and shaping our lives and righteous character into His Character
IMAGE, AS WE DESIRE AND YIELD.
All right. The godly character in us, I
have stated, cannot be created by fiat. It must be developed. We must yield. We
must desire it, seek it. But it comes from GOD. Thus if we keep a close daily
contact with our Creator, through His Spirit and through our spirit -- for
remember, His Holy Spirit "beareth witness with our spirit, that we are
the children of God" (Rom. 8:16) -- then He is fashioning and shaping our
characters. Had God made us of Spirit, this could not be done once we had
sinned.
Now, as Job brought out, we die. Afterlife
comes through the resurrection. When we die, all consciousness ceases. The
physical brain becomes unconscious and decays.
With what BODY do we come, in the
resurrection? That question is answered in I Corinthians 15: "But some man
will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what
body do they come? ...that which thou sowest [burial in the ground], thou
sowest NOT that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or
of some other grain: but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him ..."
(I Cor.
The body that dies is NOT the same body
that will come up in the resurrection.
Now we come to a MOST IMPORTANT part
concerning the SPIRIT IN MAN -- which I have termed the "human
spirit." It does not impart human life. It does not see, hear or think.
The HUMAN MAN makes his decisions, and it is in the physical MAN that character
must be built. It is the human CLAY that God forms into His character. The
SPIRIT in man RECORDS what the brain comes to know, even the attitude, the
facets of CHARACTER, not only of the human brain, but also of the whole body.
It keeps the imprint even of the fingerprints.
Compare it to a sculptor's mould. The
sculptor may want to produce a bronze statue of a man. The sculptor might use
clay to form a clay model -- or plaster of paris. Then the sculptor makes a
MOLD of the model he has formed and shaped. The mould is a hollow form, made
from the finished model. Into the mould is poured molten liquid bronze which
then solidifies. The mould is removed, and the bronze figure is an EXACT COPY
of the original model.
The spirit that is in every human acts as
a MOULD. It PRESERVES the human's MEMORY, his CHARACTER, his FORM AND SHAPE.
Now I do not conceive, naturally, that the
spirit is a hollow form. But it supplies the same purpose as the sculptor's
mould. If one has received the Holy Spirit, then in the resurrection, God will
provide a SPIRIT BODY, formed and shaped by the Spirit mould. The resurrected
being will be COMPOSED of SPIRIT, not matter as the human model was. In the
resurrected SPIRIT form he will suddenly come ALIVE. It will seem like the next
flash of a second from his loss of consciousness at time of death. He will have
all his memory intact. He will look as he did in human life in form and shape.
Even his fingerprints will be the same.
The CHARACTER which he allowed God to
build within him will be there. He will be alive FOREVER! And, like God the
Father, by his own will, he will have been made so that he CANNOT sin (I John
3:9).
The body that comes in the resurrection is
not the same body that was flesh and blood in this human lifetime. God does not
turn flesh and blood matter INTO Spirit. The flesh and blood physical body,
after death, decomposes and decays, but the spirit that was IN that body, like
the sculptor's mould, preserves all the form and shape, the memory, and the
character INTACT. And that mould, being spirit does not change -- even though
the resurrection may take place thousands of years after death.
Notice what happens AT DEATH.
"Then shall the dust return to the
earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." After
death, whether buried in the earth, cremated, or what, the physical body
returns to the earth. But the spirit that was IN the man, now having recorded
everything -- the body's form and shape, the facial identity, the memory and
the character -- returns to God.
It will be PRESERVED UNCHANGED.
Such saints as Abraham, Moses, David and
Daniel died thousands of years ago. STOP AND THINK ABOUT THAT! God had to
provide some way to PRESERVE the form, shape, appearance, mind and character of
saints for thousands of years. They were composed of corruptible flesh and
blood. All that was THEM (man is composed wholly of matter) long since
decomposed. Yet in the resurrection, it will seem to them as the next fraction
of a second since loss of consciousness at death.
In the interim of death, they knew
absolutely NOTHING. Says God's Word, "For the living know that they shall
die: but the dead KNOW NOT ANY THING" (ECCL. 9:5).
The spirit which returns to God is the
human spirit that was in them throughout life. It was not an "immortal
soul," for the soul was mortal and corruptible.
Those who died with God's Holy Spirit will
be in the first resurrection (Rev. 20:4-5). They will come forth IMMORTAL, in a
glorious body of SPIRIT composition, their faces aglow as the SUN.
All others who have not been called to
eternal salvation by God during their human lifetimes will be resurrected after
the thousand-year reign of the
Then, ahead of the millions of immortal
redeemed, shall lie the tremendous awesome HUMAN POTENTIAL -- when God the
Creator shall have put THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE under our jurisdiction (Heb. 2:7-8).