There Is a Source of Truth!
Man speculates concerning certain physical phenomena. He then postulates, or supposes how it may be explained. In the various exact sciences, he is then able to experiment, in an attempt to PROVE whether his postulates and theories are true.
If all the experiments are finally successful, and certain absolute FACTS are established, man is able to KNOW certain things through such experimentation.
But the FOUNDATION of all knowledge cannot be discovered by EXPERIMENT!
Do you know why infant humans so readily believe whatever they retaught? Because they were meant to be taught — but they were meant to be taught the TRUTH!
Parents today believe they can NEGLECT to teach their children anything about religion, and wait until they are old enough "to decide for themselves."
But God has ordained that parents who KNOW the TRUTH, and KNOW THAT THEY KNOW it, should TEACH that truth to their children!
God told His people: "And these words, which I command you this day, [the words of the Ten Commandments] shall be in thine heart [Heb. 10:16] And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes" (Deut. 6:6-8).
It's RIGHT to teach your children — to be POSITIVE about it — as long as you are teaching them the TRUTH! J. Edgar Hoover said, "A child who has been taught to respect the laws of God will have little difficulty respecting the laws of man."
But it's WRONG to teach your children FAIRY tales, FANTASY, LIES, GUESSWORK, HAZY NOTIONS, PREJUDICES, RACIAL HATREDS, FALSE INFORMATION ABOUT SEX — OR ANYTHING that is FALSE! God condemns it as wickedness! If YOU had been taught GOD's TRUTH, FROM INFANCY — YOU WOULD BELIEVE IT TODAY! But regardless as to what you HAVE been taught — irrespective of WHAT you may believe about ANY important subject — there is a way for you to PROVE whether or not you are believing the TRUTH — or LIES!
There is a SOURCE of truth!
It IS POSITIVE. It IS ABSOLUTE. It is absolutely UNSHAKEABLE!
Think what a monumental catastrophe it would have been if you had been unable to depend upon your parents to tell you the truth about ANYTHING! What if they had said the stove was COOL, that knives didn't cut, and encouraged you to play with matches? What a diabolical thing to do to a child! You learned, and sometimes through burnt fingers and bitter experience, to DEPEND on what your parents said — especially if it was a warning of danger!
What a CATASTROPHE it would be if you COULDN'T DEPEND ON GOD, AND ON HIS WORD!
Jesus said, "Thy word is TRUTH!" (John 17:17) "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).
Your Bible says, "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 Pet. 1:21).
David said, "All thy commandments are righteousness" (Ps. 119:172); "They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness" (Ps. 111:8).
Everywhere in the Bible, God gives cross checks — balances — specially corroborative points, PROOFS of Him!
With regard to His laws of tithing, God, said, ". . . prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Mal. 3:10).
"Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away!" said Christ (Mark 13:31).
The Bible Is the ONE source of ABSOLUTE TRUTH! You can DEPEND on it. (If you have not yet read our booklet, "The PROOF of the Bible," then write for your free copy immediately)
Willing to FORGIVE Christ?
But people today are WILLING TO FORGIVE CHRIST! Strange! ICS supposed to be the other way around! The Bible tells us Christ must FORGIVE US — but many people are willing to OVERLOOK Christ's "mistakes" — His "errors," His "failures."
Remember the letter in the May issue of The PLAIN TRUTH?
The writer said, "In your April issue under 'personal' from the Editor, you state that Christ said 'no man had ascended up to heaven, except He that had come down to earth from heaven.'
"I can't understand how that agrees with the passage in II Kings chapter 2, verse 11, wherein it states that Elijah did ascend up into heaven.
"Can this be explained in a manner that I will be able to read your writings again with confidence?" B.E.S., Greensboro, North Carolina.
I answered, "Let's go back and reword that a little, B.E. It's not OUR WRITINGS you're wondering about — but the BIBLE! You see, WE DIDN'T WRITE Christ's plain statement of John 3:13 — JOHN did, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
"So — it's not OUR WRITINGS you're wondering about reading with confidence, but the BIBLE! Briefly, however, there are THREE 'heavens' spoken of in the Bible! The first, our atmosphere, is where the birds fly, and clouds form. The second, outer space, is where the stars, galaxies and constellations orbit. The THIRD (II Cor. 12:2) is the place of God's THRONE, to which 'NO MAN HATH ASCENDED' except in VISION, as did John! Elijah was taken up into the AIR, not the Heaven of God's throne. David is NOT in heaven (Acts 2:34). You can read the Bible with CONFIDENCE, B.E.!"
Do you see? This man was unwittingly CHARGING CHRIST WITH ERROR!
He didn't really GRASP this was what he was doing — but he was doing it, nevertheless! You see, it was two separate PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE he was so nettled over — NOT something "WE STATED" in our writings.
Today, vast armies of people believe in the IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL!
Yet the BIBLE plainly denies this as a PAGAN teaching (write for our free article on the subject — and DON'T make up your mind in advance — CAREFULLY PROVE it to yourself)!
Millions fondly hope they will "get to heaven" when Jesus plainly said this is IMPOSSIBLE! (Write for our free article, "What Is the Reward of the Saved," and the free booklet, "Just What Do You Mean, Salvation?").
Millions believe — because they have been TAUGHT — that God's LAWS are DONE AWAY, and that SUNDAY has long since replaced God's SABBATH as the day for Christian worship (write for our free, BRAND-NEW booklet, "Which DAY Is the CHRISTIAN Sabbath?").
WHY do millions believe these, and various other ideas?
It's what they have GROWN UP believing. They found OTHERS who believed it. It was diligently TAUGHT to them — NOT by comparing, searching, checking up in SCRIPTURE, to be sure — but taught constantly by lurid examples, by repetition, by suggestion, by preponderance of opinion.
MILLIONS accept Christ. But they DENY He will come again. Yet, HE SAID HE WOULD! They call Christ a LIAR — yet still claim to "BELIEVE" on Him!
Ever wonder why so many people "believe ON Jesus" but stolidly REFUSE to BELIEVE HIM — TO BELIEVE WHAT HE SAID?
PROVE All Things!
Paul said, "PROVE all things; hold fast that which is good" (II Thes. 5:21).
"STUDY to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (II Tim. 2:15).”To the law and to the testimony," shouted Isaiah, "if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isa. 8:20).
What about it?
Have you sincerely, REALLY, wholly STUDIED to absolutely PROVE some of these biggest questions to your very future destiny? Have you carefully researched, carefully checked, thoroughly proved these most basic doctrinal questions in all your Bible? According to extensive surveys in American and British church-attending, professing Christendom, most have not. Many pastors cheerfully admit their own people simply do not KNOW, thoroughly, what their own church teaches!
Others openly lament that America's "return to religion" is only skin deep!
What about YOU?
Can you "afford" to take such a thing as the day of your death — which is ominously, irrevocably, surely, unalterably, and positively approaching every single day you live — carelessly and lightly?
Can you treat ETERNITY with impunity? This is not an old-fashioned "altar call!" This is not some type of "come on" to get you to "join" anything! It Is a straight-from-the-shoulder appeal for you to research into WHY you believe the things you do — and how you came to believe them!
Admit it. You KNOW vast percentages of human beings on this earth firmly believe in out-and-out LIES!
You KNOW you have believed in lies. Are you really and positively SURE you know the plain truth of God? Remember the stern admonition of the Apostle John, "He that saith, 'I know Him' and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the TRUTH is not in him!" (I John 2:4)
"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you FREE" (John 8:32), said your Savior! God intends that every line, every punctuation mark, every word of the Bible is ultimately thoroughly understood by His people! But God has carefully guarded the secret things of His truth! He has placed a BARRIER before the door of His truth. He says, "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Eternal!" "A good understanding have they that DO His commandments!" said David.
The very starting place is that most vital and important knowledge that God DOES EXIST, that He LIVES, that He is going to call each human being into a definite accounting for all his actions and thoughts, and that God stands back of His Word!
God said, "For all those things hath mine handmade, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word" (Isa. 66:2).
The man whose letter you have read certainly was not intentionally flaunting God's authority! Perhaps human beings do not do this type of thing intentionally, or with full knowledge of what a tremendous transgression it must be in God's sight! But they DO it, nevertheless! We have all done it. We have all taken God's Word too lightly — treated His precious TRUTH too carelessly!
It's time you realized how truly EASY it has been for you to believe in a series of lies — and to sincerely and earnestly STRIVE to understand God's TRUTH!
In this magazine, with its apt and well suited name, The PLAIN TRUTH, we do not pull punches. We let the chips fall where they may. We speak PLAINLY. It is entirely up to you what you then DO about the knowledge you receive.
NEVER FORGET, Satan the Devil understands all the Bible essentials! He KNOWS Jesus is the Christ! "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble" (Jas. 2:19). Yes, even the demons BELIEVE, and tremble! They BELIEVE — but they will not OBEY!
And so, even KNOWING the truth is not enough — but knowing it and OBEYING it is one of the beginning steps to salvation. Are you OBEYING the truths you learn through the pages of The PLAIN TRUTH, or hear over The WORLD TOMORROW program? Don't "kid yourself" any longer. Don't "deceive yourself" any further! "But be you DOERS of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves" (Jas. 1: 22).