[Mystery of the Ages Index]
[Chapter 1]
[Chapter 2]
[Chapter 3]
[Chapter 4]
[Chapter 5]
[Chapter 6]
[Chapter 7]
Chapter 4
Mystery of Civilization
FEW stop to think about it, but when you do, could anything be wrapped in more
mystery
than this world's civilization? How explain the astonishing paradox, a world
of human
minds that can send astronauts to the moon and back, produce the marvels of
science and
technology, transplant human hearts -- yet cannot solve simple human problems
of family
life and group relationships, or peace between nations?
The developed nations have made awesome progress. They have produced a highly
mechanized
world providing every luxury, modern convenience and means of pleasure Yet
they are cursed
with crime, violence, injustice, sickness and disease, broken homes and
families. At the
same time more than one-half the world is living in illiteracy, abject
poverty, filth and
squalor. Violence and destruction are rapidly multiplying. Many ask,
"Why, if God
exists, does he allow so much violence and human suffering?"
We were born into this 20th-century world as it is. We take it for granted.
But we can't
explain it. It's like viewing a movie at a point already near the end. We see
what is
occurring at that point, but, not having seen it from the beginning and not
knowing how
events developed to the point of viewing, we simply cannot understand what we
are seeing.
A fiction writer wrote about a time machine that could transport one back to
some time in
history. If we had such a time machine, we should now transport ourselves
backward 6,000
years where we could actually see what was transpiring in that original Garden
of Eden, at
the foundation of the world. That's where this civilization started. Then we
may better
understand why there is now talk of the imminent end of the world.
How did our civilization develop to our 20-century state? What a mystery that
is to
thinking people! Of course most are not thinking people and never ask
themselves that
question. But if one does, he finds the question enveloped in mystery. So let
us
understand.
It has already been explained in this volume how God created man for the
supreme purpose
of reproducing himself. But this supreme purpose necessitated the creation in
us with our
own assent, diligence, effort and joy, the supreme spiritual character of God.
But in so
doing, why did God place man on the earth? Why this particular planet?
The Unfinished Earth
God placed man here to restore the government of God to the earth. Lucifer and
his angels
had been placed here originally. God had put them here on an unfinished earth.
Remember,
God creates in dual stages. Like a woman baking a cake, she bakes first the
body of the
cake, but it is not finished until she puts on the icing. The substance and
body of the
earth had been created before the angels were placed here. But God intended
for the angels
to develop the surface of the earth, to beautify and improve it. For this
purpose he gave
them his government to regulate their conduct and performance together in so
doing.
But Lucifer, on the throne to administer the government in cooperation and
harmony for
their world, rebelled. He turned cooperation and harmonious activity into
competition,
evil, rebellion and destruction. Light on earth was turned to darkness.
Wasteness, decay
and ruin came to the surface of the earth.
Then in six days (Ps. 104:30) God sent forth his Spirit and renewed the face
of the earth
for man.
But still "the icing on the cake" had not been added. God placed man
here to do
that which sinning angels had not done.
Man was to finish the beautification of the earth. God is not the author of
confusion,
ugliness or decay, but of beauty, perfection, character, the best in quality.
Look at the description of God's heaven -- the seat of God's throne -- where,
we might
say, God lives as described in the fourth chapter of Revelation. God sits on a
throne
surrounded by brilliant splendor, quality and beauty and character. More
dazzlingly and
gloriously beautiful than anything human eyes have ever seen.
God intended man to work this earth, improve it, beautify it, give it glorious
character
-- and in so doing to build into his own life the "beauty of
holiness" (I Chron.
16:29). God never intended humans to live in poverty, filth and squalor or
ugliness. Man
should have beautified the earth, and developed man's character in so doing.
His
civilization should have been a "heaven on earth."
What Man Has Done
But what has man done on the earth where God placed him? Man has made ugly,
polluted,
defiled, profaned everything his hands have touched. He has polluted the air,
befouled the
water in the rivers, lakes and seas. He has deteriorated the land, denuded the
forests,
thus altering rainfall and causing the expansion of deserts. He has worn out
the soil by
neglecting to give it its sabbaths of rest every seven years. Man has built
cities and
allowed them to deteriorate into slums, filth and squalor.
All because the very first human rejected and turned from God, relying solely
on himself
-- and all Adam's children have done likewise.
Thus man has built a man-made and Satan influenced civilization. Man not only
has ruined
the earth he should have developed and improved, he has destroyed his own
health by wrong
living, and degraded and perverted his own spiritual character. Now, at last,
as we near
the end of the 6,000 years God has allowed him this free rein, man has created
the
Frankenstein of weapons of mass destruction that can destroy all mankind
utterly -- unless
a merciful God intervenes to save us from ourselves.
A Modest Foretaste
We now live in the era biblical prophecy calls the last days -- the last
generation before
the coming of Christ to rule and accomplish on earth what mankind should have
done. In
these last days, according to biblical prophecy, knowledge, spiritual as well
as material,
was to be increased. The true Church of God was to be set back on the track,
restoring the
glorious knowledge of the faith once delivered to the saints in the days of
the original
apostles.
Jesus Christ, through the Church, built three colleges -- two in the United
States and one
in England. The three campuses, in material beauty, have mutually excelled
each other, as
a high character physical setting for the development of God's righteous
character in
students. The beauty of godly character in these students has excelled the
physical beauty
of the campuses. A royal Queen on a recent six-day visit to the headquarters
campus in
Pasadena, California, on touring the campus, exclaimed, "I have just been
in
heaven."
Three times this campus has won the award of being the most beautiful, best
landscaped,
and best maintained campus in the United States. These campuses are an example
of what
mankind should have done, and a modest foretaste of the beauty that will
blossom forth
over the whole earth after Christ and his saints in his kingdom are ruling the
earth in
the wonderful world tomorrow.
Deteriorated, former millionaire mansions have been restored. An area behind
them that had
deteriorated into Pasadena slum area has been cleaned out, and been built into
the most
beautiful area in Pasadena.
What If Adam Had Taken the Tree of Life?
How did this material and human character degradation start? Had Adam taken of
the
proffered tree of life the whole course of civilization would have been
entirely
different. Peace, happiness, joy, health and abundance would have spread over
the earth.
But what did result?
Adam took to himself the knowledge of good as well as evil. But it was only
human good, no
higher than the carnal human level of the human spirit within him. He rejected
reliance on
God and relied on himself for knowledge, ability and power -- all limited to
the fleshly
human plane, deceived and led by the perverted Satan.
Had he taken of the tree of life, he himself undoubtedly would have succeeded
Satan on the
throne of the earth, restoring the government of God, empowered, influenced
and led by the
Eternal God. But he allowed Satan to enter within his mind. He was, as it
were, kidnapped
and held captive by Satan.
Thus the first created human disbelieved God, disobeyed God, chose to go HIS
OWN WAY, do
his own thing. Adam did it willingly, but not apparently willfully or with
malicious
intent.
Willingly, Adam was led into captivity by Satan. He had willingly gone along
with Satan,
the arch kidnapper of all time.
A World Held Captive
Adam had been created with the potential to be born a son of GOD. Even though
not as yet
even a begotten son of the GOD FAMILY, he had been created as potentially just
that. Once
he succumbed to Satan's WAY of choosing to "do his own thing," in
rebellion
against a deliberate command of God, he became spiritually the property of
Satan. He
actually had succumbed to the GOVERNMENT of Satan, choosing the LAW of that
government --
the law of vanity, self-centeredness -- leading automatically into attitudes
of
self-glory, coveting, competition, desire to GET rather than God's way of
GIVE.
All humanity came out of Adam and Eve. The present world was FOUNDED in them.
The WORLD
has ever since been HELD CAPTIVE! The world had thus chosen THE WAY of the
kidnapper,
rather than of the potential Parent!
But God the Father was to pay the ransom price and even yet bring his
potential spiritual
children back to him. God did not choose to redeem, correct and restore
humanity to him at
that time.
At the Foundation of the World
Upon Adam's sin, God closed off the tree of life to the world as a whole until
the second
Adam, Jesus Christ shall have deposed Satan and taken over the throne of the
earth.
There cannot be a law without a penalty. The penalty of human sin is DEATH.
The penalty of death had passed on Adam and all his children. That penalty had
to be paid.
There was no escaping it. Satan must have gloated, believing he had totally
defeated God's
purpose of restoring God's government and unseating Satan on earth's throne.
Truly all
Adam's children would come under the penalty of death, for all would sin.
But what even Satan probably did not realize, God's plan was yet to save
humanity, and
remove Satan from earth's throne.
At this very foundation of the world, it was determined that Jesus Christ, as
the
"Lamb of God," should be slain in payment of the penalty for all
human sin (Rev.
13:8), which substitute sacrifice is effective only upon repentance and faith.
It was also
determined by God at that time that all Adam's children should die, but after
dying be
resurrected to judgment (Heb. 9:27). But as in Adam all must die, so in Christ
the same
ALL shall be made alive by a resurrection from the dead to be judged (I Cor.
15:22).
But still, none could ever be born of God until God's holy and perfect
spiritual character
had been instilled within, by individual choice and proof by performance.
God set apart a 7,000-year period to complete his original SUPREME PURPOSE of
reproducing
himself through man. It was a masterminded MASTER PLAN for working out the
PURPOSE here
below.
For almost 6,000 years a civilization has developed, which we call the world.
But it has
been a world held captive. It has become SATAN S WORLD though millions have
been deceived
into believing it is God's world. To this day Satan is still on that throne.
Meanwhile Satan has worked IN all humans. He has injected into the world
enormous EVILS.
But how has Satan injected those evils into the minds of all humans, even of
the most
scholarly and advanced in education, science, government and areas of awesome
human
accomplishment? Even that question is a mystery understood by almost no one.
Satan -- the Master Broadcaster
In Ephesians 2:2, Satan is called the prince of the power of the air, working
in -- inside
the minds of -- people. I could never have understood this until: 1) I had
understood how
radio and television sounds and pictures are transmitted through the air; and
2) I had
learned the truth about the human spirit in the human brain. If your radio is
set on the
proper radio wavelength, or television set is tuned to the proper channel, the
broadcaster's message comes through clearly. Satan as prince of the power of
the air
broadcasts -- not in words, sounds or pictures, but in attitudes, moods,
impulses.
For example, we read in Ezra 1:1, when King Cyrus of Persia issued a
proclamation to send
a colony of Jews back to Jerusalem to build the second Temple, he was moved to
do so
because God stirred up his human spirit -- in other words, put the suggestion
and impulse
in his mind, and the king acted on it. In the same manner Satan moves on the
human spirit
within people to move them in attitudes of envy, jealousy, resentment,
impatience, anger,
bitterness and strife. People have no realization of the tremendous power of
Satan. The
human spirit within each human is automatically tuned to Satan's wavelength.
It seems as
if Satan has surcharged the air over the entire earth with his attitude of
self-centeredness and vanity.
And so a world -- a civilization -- developed from the original Adam and Eve.
When God
shut off the tree of life, that act marked the foundation of the world. It was
founded on
rejection of God, on disobedience to God's law, which defines God's way of
life. And all
the evils, sorrows, pain and suffering in 6,000 years of human civilization
have resulted.
God had designed a 7,000-year master plan for accomplishing his tremendous
purpose. The
first 6,000 years were allotted to allow Satan to remain on earth's throne,
and for
humanity to learn the bitter lesson, through experience, that Satan's way of
self-centeredness in opposition to God's law leads only to pain, suffering,
anguish and
death.
The whole world of humankind has been deceived into preferring this
"getting,"
self-centered way of life.
At this point, remember, the world had never known of the existence of God the
Father
until Jesus came and revealed the Father (Matt. 11:27).
The world, from its foundation, was cut off from God the Father. Jesus came to
reconcile
repentant believers to the Father (Rom. 5:10).
The Beginning of Civilization
But notice briefly how human civilization developed. God created the first
humans, perfect
specimens physically and mentally. Physically this perfectly created pair had
no chronic
ailments or tendencies toward diseases or illnesses. That is testified in part
by the fact
that Adam lived to be 930 years old. And for nearly 2,000 years the human life
span from
Adam to Noah averaged close to 900 years.
Think of it! The first man lived nearly one sixth of all the time from human
creation
until now!
Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. When they were grown, perhaps still
in their
teens, Cain became envious and hostile against his brother Abel. Even though
by the
closing off of the tree of life they were cut off from God the Father, the
"Word" (the "Lord" or the "Eternal" in English)
spoke to
Cain and warned him. But Cain was being led by Satan. This prince of the power
of the air
stirred Cain to an attitude of resentment, anger and hostility. Cain slew his
younger
brother, and when the Eternal asked him about his brother, he lied to God
about it. The
very first human ever born was moved by Satan to become a murderer and a liar.
God sentenced him to become a vagabond and a fugitive. But even though the
human family
had rejected God, chosen to rely on self even as swayed by Satan, the human
mind was
capable of working with material substance. In a few generations a son of Cain
was making
harps and organs and musical instruments (Gen. 4:21) and another, an artificer
in brass
and iron.
Mankind was making progress in material development, even though growing
further from God
spiritually. But remember at this point, that "except the Lord build the
house, they
labour in vain that build it" (Ps. 127:1). Also in Matthew 7:24-27, a
house built on
a faulty foundation is bound to fall. Civilization as we know it was built,
not on the
foundation of God and his direction, but on man's self-reliance under the
deception and
sway of Satan.
The Bible tells us little of human development prior to Noah, but after 1,500
to 1,600
years human civilization had become so evil that only one man, Noah, remained
righteous.
There was a population explosion, but humanity had turned to evil continually.
After 100
years of warning by Noah, God sent the Flood to drown all living except Noah,
his wife,
three sons and their wives -- eight people.
The Extent of Evil
Notice to what extent humanity had been turned by Satan to evil. In Genesis
6:5, "God
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." The earth was filled
with violence.
Man's thoughts, contemplations and plans were continually on self-centered,
lustful and
evil objectives.
This violence had become so universal that God determined to spare humanity
from suffering
longer in mounting misery and anguish.
God took away their miserable lives, by the earthwide Flood, to be resurrected
in the next
second of their consciousness in the "Great White Throne"
resurrection (Rev.
20:11-12). They will be brought back to life in a time when Christ is ruling
the earth in
righteousness, peace and happiness. Satan will be gone. Their minds then will
be opened to
God's TRUTH, and eternal salvation will be opened to them.
But God intended to preserve human life -- to give humanity a new and fresh
start.
God found only one man, of all the millions, who was walking with God. Two
can't walk
together except they be agreed. Noah alone agreed with God and God's way of
life. God used
Noah as a preacher of righteousness (II Pet. 2:5). For 100 years Noah warned
the unheeding
world, from age 500 until he was 600 years old.
Noah, was "perfect" in his generations. That is, his heredity,
ancestry (Gen.
6:9).
Proof of this lies in the meaning of the Hebrew word translated
"perfect." It
may refer either to spiritual character (Gen. 17:1) or to physical
characteristics (Lev.
22:21). Therefore Genesis 6:9 allows the translation that Noah was either
"blameless" or "unblemished." The context (Gen. 6:2)
clearly indicates
the latter is the intended meaning of "perfect." So a good rendering
of Genesis
6:9 is that Noah was the only "just" man (in spiritual character),
and also
"unblemished' (in his genetic heritage) among his contemporaries.
End of the Antediluvian World
The subject matter of the chapter is the generations ancestry of Noah.
Exceeding
wickedness had developed through those generations, by Noah's generation
reaching a
climactic crisis that ended that world.
What was this universal evil and corruption? Jesus described that universal,
corrupt evil
as "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage" (Matt.
24:38). Eating
food and drinking is not evil. Marrying is not evil in itself. There had to be
wrong use
and excess in eating, drinking and marrying -- the evil was in the manner, and
in the
extent of eating, drinking and marrying.
It could only be eating improper food, drinking excessively of alcoholic
drinks, revelings
(Gal. 5:21), rioting, violence. Marrying, to be evil, had to be as in Genesis
6:2, when
men "took them wives of all which they chose." There was rampant and
universal
interracial marriage -- so exceedingly universal that Noah, only, was
unblemished or
perfect in his generations -- his ancestry. He was of the original white
strain.
It is amply evident that by the time of Noah there were at least the three
primary or
major racial strains on earth, the white, yellow and black, although
interracial marriage
produced many racial mixtures.
God does not reveal in the Bible the precise origin of the different races. It
is evident
that Adam and Eve were created white. God's chosen nation Israel was white.
Jesus was
white. But it is a fair conjecture that in mother Eve were created ovaries
containing the
yellow and black genes, as well as white, so that some of the children of Adam
and Eve
gave rise to black, yellow, as well as white.
The one man God chose to PRESERVE the human race alive after the Flood was
perfect in his
generations -- all his ancestry back to Adam was of the one strain, and
undoubtedly that
happened to be whatnot that white is in any sense superior.
If you are a livestock breeder, planning to enter your prize animals in a
livestock show
-- perhaps at a state or county fair -- you will be sure to enter only
thoroughbred or
pedigreed stock! Mixing the breed alters the characteristics.
God originally set the bounds of national borders, intending nations to be
SEPARATED to
prevent interracial marriage. Notice, "When the most High divided to the
nations
their inheritance [speaking of land or geographical boundaries], when he
separated [notice
-- he separated] the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people ..."
(Deut. 32:8).
But people wanted to intermarry -- until there would be only ONE RACE!
That desire seems still inherent in human nature today! Noah was of perfect
lineage in his
generations. His wife and three sons were of that same white strain. But
Japheth evidently
had married an Oriental woman, and Ham a black.
We know little more than stated above about civilized development prior to the
Flood.
Mankind should have learned its lesson by the Flood, but man cut off from God,
and swayed
by Satan had not, and has not to this present day. But once again, "as it
was in the
days of Noah," Jesus said in a prophecy, there is a population explosion,
and evils
are multiplying. This time worldwide nuclear war will threaten to erase all
humanity from
the earth. But, for the sake of the "elect" of God's true Church
(Matt.
24:21-22), God will cut the destruction short -- and this time send Jesus
Christ as King
of kings to replace Satan and sit on earth's throne.
Origin of Cities
It was only the second generation after the Flood until a man named Nimrod
organized
people into cities. First was the tower of Babel and the city of Babylon. Then
Nineveh and
other cities, which became city-states.
God had set the bounds of the nations, intending geographical segregation of
the races.
At this point I quote from "Satan's Great Deception", a thesis by C.
Paul
Meredith (pages 14-16):
Everyone on earth after the Flood knew of God and why he had drowned the
wicked. They
feared to do evil -- at first .... Men lived ... without cities and without
laws, and all
speaking one language ....
This group, composed of the only people on the earth (for the others had all
been
destroyed by the great Flood) began migrating from the mountains of Ararat
(Gen. 8:4)
where the ark had landed: "And the whole earth was of one language, and
of one
speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found
a plain in
the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there" (Gen. 11:1-2). These people,
now known as
Sumerians (Miller's Ancient History in Bible Light, page 51), pushing through
the
mountains of the east, came upon a prodigiously fertile plain built up by the
deposits of
the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers. This land of Shinar is now known as
ancient Babylonia
(J. H. Breasted's Ancient Times, page 107). Here was a land that would produce
all they
desired in abundance ....
These people, like Adam and Eve, disobeyed God and brought trouble upon
themselves. The
land was productive, but the wild animals were multiplying faster than the
people due to
the destruction of the former civilization by the great Flood. Because of
their primitive
weapons, there was a great danger to life and possessions (Ex. 23:28-29). What
could be
done about it?
Nimrod, the son of Cush, was a large, powerfully built black who developed
into a great
hunter. It was he who gathered the people together and organized them to fight
the wild
ferocious beasts. "He was a mighty hunter before the Lord" (Gen.
10:8-9). In
other words, the name of Nimrod was known everywhere for his might. He
emancipated the
people of the earth after the Flood from their fear of the wild animals. His
prestige
grew. He became the leader in worldly affairs. He was ambitious.
First City -- Babylon
There was a better way to protect the people from the wild animals that roamed
the earth
than by constantly fighting them. Nimrod built a city of houses and surrounded
this city
with a high wall and gathered the people therein. Thus the people were
protected and
Nimrod was able to rule over them. This arrangement was agreeable to the
people for
"They said ... let us build us a city and ... make us a name, lest we be
scattered
abroad" (Gen. 11:4).
The people not only protected themselves from the wild animals by building a
walled city
but also established authority of their own -- "let us make us a
name." This was
to be a central place of mankind's authority -- the necessity of their
obedience to God
was not going to be recognized! Nimrod was their leader. Also they built a
tower whose top
was to "reach unto heaven." With a tower this high they could do as
they wished
-- disobey God and still be safe from his punishment which had drowned the
inhabitants of
the earth before. This was mankind's first act of open rebellion against God
after the
Flood -- they thought they had placed themselves out of God's reach if they
wished to
disobey him. They, like Satan, thought that if they could "ascend above
the heights
of the clouds," they could "be like the most High" (Isa.
14:14). Cush,
Nimrod's father, also had much to do with the building of this tower and city
("The
Two Babylons," by Alexander Hislop, page 26).
These people were not only of one language, they were of three races or
families -- white,
yellow and black. Just as God created varieties in many species of flowers and
of animals
-- for example, many varieties and colors of roses -- for greater beauty, so
God created
the three races and colors of human skin. God intended to prevent racial
intermarriages.
But man has always wanted to violate God's laws, intentions and ways. They
wanted to
become one race or family through intermarriage of races. As mentioned before,
God had set
the bounds of the races, providing for geographical segregation, in peace and
harmony but
without discrimination But the people wanted to be of one amalgamated people.
One purpose
for the tower of Babel was to unite them, and to prevent them from being
scattered in
racial geographical segregation.
They built the tower, "lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the
whole
earth" in geographical segregation (Gen. 11:4). But God looked upon their
building of
the tower and said, "Behold, the people is one, and they have all one
language; and
this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which
they have
imagined to do" (Gen. 11:6).
What has mankind "imagined to do"? By this twentieth century man has
gone into
outer space, flown to the moon and back, invented and produced the most
intricate
machines, computerized instruments, transplanted hearts, and even attempted to
produce
life from dead matter. The human mind's capacity for material accomplishment
seems
unlimited. But his problems are not material, but spiritual. And before them
he is still
helpless without God.
So God confounded their languages and "scattered them abroad ... upon the
face of all
the earth" (Gen. 11:8). Continuing from C. Paul Meredith's thesis, now
out of print
(pages 16-17, 25-29):
Then it was that Nimrod "began to be a mighty one" and a
"mighty hunter
before the Lord" [Gen. 10:8-9] in a ruling sense (the Hebrew word for
"mighty" is gibbor which means "tyrant," Strong's
Concordance of the
Bible) Nimrod became a tyrant over the people. He made the laws. Not only that
but he was
"mighty ... before" the Eternal. (The Hebrew word paniym translated
"before" here should be translated "against" -- Strong's
Concordance
of the Bible.) The Bible says Nimrod was against God! ...
Nimrod kept growing in power but the inborn desire of the people to worship
must be
satisfied. Nimrod and his followers had turned against the true God. They
wanted to
glorify God in their own way! They "changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into
an image made like ... creeping things" (Romans 1:23) -- the snake, and
other things
God had created. (They should have worshiped God in spirit and in truth and
not through
idols -- John 4:24 and Ex. 20:4-5.) With the civil power he wielded, Nimrod
set himself up
as the priest of the things worshiped by the people, to obtain a still
stronger hold on
them and gradually put himself in place of the true God ....
[But] Noah, the preacher of righteousness (II Pet. 2:5) did stand fast and
gained a
staunch supporter in his son Shem. While Nimrod was expanding his kingdom so
rapidly there
was opposition to Shem, the representative of Noah .... Nimrod became the
representative
for the forces of evil in opposing Shem ....
Shem, a very eloquent person, is said to have obtained the aid of a group of
Egyptians who
overcame Nimrod.
The death of Nimrod seemingly halted the counterfeit pagan worship which he
started.
Semiramis ...
[If] Nimrod had been a man of unbounded ambition, the ambition of ...
Semiramis -- the
future "Queen of Heaven" (Jer. 7:18) -- exceeded even his. Nimrod
... had become
the greatest and most powerful figure in the world. He was dead. She clearly
saw that if
she were to ... have the great position and power ... of the most powerful man
on earth,
something must be done to assure ... her power.
Nimrod's kingdom, which consisted of most of the populated world of that time,
had fallen
to her. Much of Nimrod's power had come from his setting himself up as the
human
representative of the Sun-God. She must retain this world rule by any and all
means. The
religious control which had given so much power to [Nimrod] must be used by
her also if
she were to retain the maximum hold on her subjects .... In life [Nimrod] had
been honored
as a hero; in death she will have him worshiped as a god ....
Semiramis was actually the founder of much of the world's pagan religions,
worshiping
false gods. Even such so-called Christian observances as Christmas, New Year's
and Easter
emerged from the false religious system she developed. For details of this the
reader is
referred to "The Two Babylons," by Alexander Hislop.
Today, the English language is fast becoming the chief international language.
Men are
entering mixed marriages, and starting to get back to one worldwide language.
Present Evil World Develops
The only survivors of the great Flood on earth composed the one family, that
of Noah. It
consisted of Noah, his Wife, their three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth and their
wives. The
whole human population came from that one family.
The Bible speaks of three worlds -- the world that then was being overflowed
with water,
this present evil world, and the world to come.
As the flood waters evaporated the whole earth consisted of the one family of
Noah. But
Shem, who was white and married to a white woman, started his own family. Ham,
married to
a black woman, had black children and began his own family. Japheth, married
to a yellow
woman, started his own family, which were of yellow extraction. The early
history recorded
in the Bible speaks of "families," rather than "races."
At the incident of the tower of Babel, God divided the speech of the people so
that they
were able to communicate each one only in his new and different language.
And so as time passed, the families grew, each family speaking its own
language. God had
intended geographical segregation, not integration of races.
Nimrod built a number of cities -- Babylon, Erech, Accad, Calneh, Nineveh,
etc. There
developed city states, each with its own local government. As time passed,
nations arose
with national governments. Among these were Babylon (which became known as
Chaldea),
Egypt, Assyria. The religion started by Semiramis was carried into the
different nations
in the language of each. Semiramis and Nimrod were also identified with the
names Isis and
Osiris in Egypt. Each nation had its own names for its gods. But the whole
labyrinth of
pagan religions developed from that which originated with Semiramis.
As the generations of humanity continued, this world's civilization developed.
It started
with a government system started by Nimrod, through a religious system that
stemmed from
Nimrod and Semiramis. The modern system of academic educations was started by
Plato,
taught by Socrates. Systems of commerce, industry, finance and banking
developed but none
of these Satan-influenced and humanly devised systems originated with God. All
laws were
made by humans -- either decrees by kings and despots, or human lawmaking
groups, such as
city councils, state legislatures, national congresses, parliaments, diets, or
whatever.
Social customs developed and all facets of civilization up to the chaotic
present.
In such a world God called out a special nation of his own, not a favorite
nation for
special favors, but a nation chosen for a special purpose that that nation
failed to
perform.
After the Flood profane history implies that Shem continued more or less in
the knowledge
and way of God. But no man really walked with God until Abraham. To Abraham,
God made all
the promises on which ultimate human salvation depends, as well as the
Material and
economic prosperity that has come to the United States and the British.
Summation of Human Civilization
Humanity was created on earth for a glorious and wonderful purpose. God was
reproducing
himself. Stated another way, God's purpose was to create humanity to become
supremely
happy and joyful in peace and perfect comfort, to become productive, creative,
joyfully
successful with eternal life.
This meant the supreme perfect spiritual character of God -- perfect utopia.
This purpose
shall be accomplished.
But to accomplish it, humanity must make its own decision. The former cherub
Lucifer had
chosen a course of action and being that led in the diametrically opposite
direction. The
first man had to choose either to accept and live the way of God's purpose, or
Satan's way
of self-reliance in the opposite direction. The first man Adam chose to take
to himself
the knowledge of good and evil. He started his human family relying on self
for good on
the human level, mixed with evil, and relying on human self not only for
knowledge of the
way, but for the solution of all problems that might arise. He rejected
spiritual
knowledge from God and reliance on God for power to live the way of utopia.
Man built his world on self-sufficiency without God. God set in motion a
master plan for
accomplishment of his purpose, consisting of a duration of seven thousand
years. Satan was
allowed to remain on earth's throne for the first six thousand years. God
purposed that
man must learn his lesson, and come voluntarily to accept God's way and
character.
For nearly six thousand years mankind has been writing that lesson. But even
at this late
hour he has not yet learned it. He has not yet given up on his own self-
centered way and
come to accept God's way to his ultimate happiness. God is letting the law of
cause and
effect take full toll. Man's society, deceived and misled by Satan, has not
even yet
brought man to admit failure of his course of self-sufficiency.
Today man's world is reeling on its last legs. Wars, violence, destruction,
terrorism
engulf the entire world. Half the world exists in ignorance, illiteracy,
poverty, living
in filth and squalor. The developed half is sick with ill health, disease,
mental stress,
fear, frustration, wracked with crime, alcoholism, drug abuse, perverted and
misused sex,
broken homes, hopelessness in frustration.
Mankind is nearing the end of his rope. But even now, God will not intervene
to save this
defiant humanity from itself until man is finally brought to the point where,
if God
delayed longer in intervention, man would annihilate himself. God will not
intervene and
usher in the next world under the kingdom of God until the remnant of mankind
has been
brought to fully realize human inability to solve problems or bring worldwide
peace in
happiness and joy. Man must be brought to realize his helplessness and
futility without
God.
At last the weapons of mass destruction have been invented and produced that
can erase all
life from this planet earth. In these last days of mankind's last gasping of
breath, Jesus
foretold how it would all end. After Jesus' gospel had been suppressed,
replaced with a
false gospel of men about a different Jesus, he said, "This gospel of the
kingdom
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then
shall the end
[of this world] come."
This gospel now has been preached into every nation. During its 50 years of
proclamation,
nuclear energy has developed with capacity for the first time in history to
destroy every
human alive on earth. Next, Jesus foretold the great tribulation -- a time of
trouble so
great that, unless God does intervene, no human being would be saved alive.
But, for the
sake of his Church, God will intervene supernaturally before total destruction
of
humanity. Mankind will be brought to acknowledge human insufficiency without
God.
Immediately after, Christ will come in the clouds in supreme power and glory
to unseat
Satan, and start God's own new civilization toward utopia (Matt. 24:14, 31-
41).
These are the very last days of Satan's evil world. God's utopian civilization
will be
started with the present generation.
[Mystery of the Ages Index]
[Chapter 1]
[Chapter 2]
[Chapter 3]
[Chapter 4]
[Chapter 5]
[Chapter 6]
[Chapter 7]