GOD'S PLAN FOR MAN AND THE ANGELS

By Roger Waite


Introduction

        We owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to Mr Herbert W. Armstrong for being the instrument through who God revealed a tremendous amount of His truth to each of us in God's church.

        Of all the precious truths God revealed to us through Mr Armstrong one of the greatest and most profound truths He revealed was that of the incredible potential for all mankind of one day becoming full sons and daughters of God. It staggers the mind this "clod to God" program that God has in store for us when you let it truly sink in and consider the enormous transformation that we will go through at the resurrection if we overcome sin in this life with the help of Almighty God!

        Mr Armstrong wrote two tremendous books which covered this awesome subject - "The Incredible Human Potential"(1978) and "Mystery of the Ages"(1985). They both covered the WHOLE of God's plan from just God and the Word to the creation of angels, the sin of the earthly angels, why God wanted to reproduce Himself and how He purposed to do that, right through to the Incredible Human Potential of inheriting the universe. As I write this, no breakaway group from the WCG that I'm aware of has written anything that covers the whole of the plan of God from the very beginning of time like Mr Armstrong did in those two major books. United and other groups have written booklets that cover the subject of man's destiny. In all cases they start the story of the plan of God from the Garden of Eden and don't cover the events that led up to the creation of man. This is something I hope each group would rectify in time as it is good for new members to also know what led up to the events described in the Garden of Eden.

        Though I agree with the vast majority of what Mr Armstrong wrote about God's plan in those two books there are a few points that he covers that should be re-evaluated and looked at in a new way. There are also other questions that spring from the material that he covers that we should also look at.


In The Beginning

        With that in mind let's let Mr Armstrong open up the story in the beautiful, clear and simplistic way that few writers come near to:


        "Did you ever start viewing a motion picture when it was more than half way through? You probably were bewildered—not having seen what occurred before and led up to the point where you first began to see. It's the same in coming to an UNDERSTANDING of what God has prepared for humanity—of the ultimate human potential. True understanding can come only by beginning the story at the beginning!

        "If one should ask, where do you find the actual beginning of events in the Bible, most who possess even a slight knowledge of the world's 'best seller' would say, 'Why in Genesis chapter one verse one, of course.'

        "WRONG! The real beginning, in order of time sequence, is found in the New Testament, in the first chapter of John, verse one. The events portrayed in Genesis occurred later—possibly even millions of years later. But the event recorded in John 1:1 reveals an existence perhaps long prior to the time God created the earth and the material universe.

        "Note it: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.' It continues, 'The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.' The term 'all things' is translated in Hebrews 1:3, in the Moffatt translation, as 'the UNIVERSE.' The entire UNIVERSE was made by Him! The fourteenth verse of John 1 says: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.'

        "The Personage called the Word was the one who ultimately—yet more than 1900 years ago—was born Jesus Christ. The name, 'the Word,' is translated from the original Greek text, and means, literally, just what is translated into English—'Spokesman.' But He was not the Son of God 'in the beginning.' Yet the Scriptures reveal that He has always existed, and always will—'from eternity to eternity.' He was 'without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. . .' (Heb. 7:3).

        "So think on this, if you will! Originally there existed only these two Spirit Personages, self-existent. They had creative powers—they had perfect supreme minds—they possessed perfect, holy and righteous CHARACTER. But THERE WAS NONE ELSE—NOTHING ELSE! There was no matter—no material universe—YET! No other living being or thing. Only these two, equal in mind and powers, except that God was supreme in authority, and the Word in perfect harmony under that authority. They were of one mind, in absolute agreement.

        "But ALL THINGS—the universe and everything existing in it—were made by the Personage called the Word. Yet, as we read in Ephesians 3:9:'God . . . created ALL THINGS by Jesus Christ.' And prior to becoming Jesus Christ, He was 'the Word!' Also, in His human life Jesus said He spoke only as the Father directed.

        "Yes, THINK! In the eternity even prior to 'prehistory' there were these two Supreme Beings. Alone! In the emptiness of space! No other life forms—no other living beings! Nothing else!"(Incredible Human Potential, p34-36).

Was Christ Created?

        Imagine that - nothing but these two beings - God the Father and the one who would become known as Jesus Christ. Two beings who are both God beings - two beings who are BOTH GOD (John 1:1) for God is a KIND of being just as man is a kind of being. God is a family - the Father and the Son. God is the family name just as human families share a surname. Mr Armstrong tells us that they have both existed from past eternity.

        Therein lies our first controversy that has been debated in the Church of God, not just in recent years, but for centuries if you care to dig into the history of the debate. There has for much of the history of the church existed a minority who believe that Christ was a created being, that He was the first being that was ever created before anything else. Even the Jehovah Witnesses believe in this idea.

        I never took much of an interest in the debate about whether Christ was created until I ran across a scripture that is rather hard to explain if one believes the traditional view Christ has existed from past eternity with God the Father.

        Regardless of what evidence people may bring up that Christ was created at some time in the past the Bible is very plain that Jesus Christ is GOD – He is a God being! He is not some sort of super archangel. John 1:1 shows plainly that Christ is a God being, as is Hebrews 1 and many other verses.

        On the traditional side of the argument that the church has believed it seems a pretty clear cut case. We have the scripture in Hebrews 7:3 that says that Christ, who we believe to be Melchizedek, is 'without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life.' Micah 5:2 says much the same thing - how the Messiah's "goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."

        Let me show you the scripture I ran across that, at first glance, seems to plainly support the other side of the argument. It's found in John 5:26. We read, "For as the Father has life in himself so He(the Father) has GRANTED the Son to have life in Himself." How on earth could the Father grant Christ life inherent if He has always had it? Doesn't it say that Christ has no beginning or end in Hebrews 7:3? How do we reconcile these verses which seem to contradict each other?

        The word granted is in the past tense and is here stated before Christ was crucified so it doesn't seem to refer to the Father restoring Christ's life after His crucifixion. Because the context is that of the resurrection from the dead it may still mean that, though it's not clear from the context.

        Of the two commentaries that I have, which support the traditional side of the argument, their explanation of the phrase "the Father has granted the Son to have life in Himself" is that Christ has been given the authority by the Father to give and take life as He is the way, the truth and the life and no-one has life except by Him. I'm not fully convinced of that explanation because it says He's been given life in Himself. It doesn't seem to indicate His authority over the life of others based on them living His way.

        Another explanation could be the Father's begettal of His physical life in the womb of Mary. I am not totally convinced of this either as the life the Son has in Himself is described as the same life the Father has in Himself - eternal life.

        I am open to any other explanations other than the simple reading of it that seemingly says that the Father gave the Son, by creation, eternal life way back at the beginning of time.

        At the Bunbury, Australia Global Feast site in 1996 David Pack gave a sermon on why we should want eternal life. He said that in Romans 2:6-7(KJV) it says that we seek BOTH eternal life and immortality. He felt that there was a difference between the two. Immortality is like a stick which has a beginning but no end whereas eternal life goes infinitely in both directions.

        IF that is the case, which I'm also not totally convinced of, then the reason we would have eternal life in the Kingdom would be, because we would be God beings composed of the Holy Spirit, we would be tapped into all the knowledge and experiences of the Father as if we had no beginning. That statement really got my attention. Maybe Mr Pack's explanation of eternal life might explain our apparent contradiction we've been discussing. Maybe, because Christ has always been a God being composed of the Holy Spirit, Christ has always been tapped into all the knowledge and experiences of the Father as if He had no beginning and therefore He has eternal life that way.

        A friend of mine in Sydney once while we were having a discussion about the creation of Eve asked me, "Could God have cloned Himself in a similar way back before He created the angels?" An alternative explanation for Hebrews 7:3 might be, as strange as it might sound, that Christ was created before God created time. The whole concept of time being relative is strange enough as it is, even though we know it to be true.

        Just as an aside, I heard once that a minister asked a Hebrew scholar about the meaning of the word YHVH translated as LORD or the Eternal in the Old Testament. He didn't agree that "the Eternal" was the best translation for it because the word eternal is connected to time. He felt that the best translation for it was "the Timeless One" - someone who transcends time. An interesting thought.

        I'm not saying that God cloning Himself is what actually happened at the dawn of time. I'm just trying to follow through on both possibilities to the fullest degree to come up with a possible verdict. Could this be how it happened? In the beginning of time could God have cloned Himself with a similar but slightly younger looking face. His pre-eminence over all the angels would still apply because Christ has never sinned; He was one who created the whole universe including the angels as well as the fact that He is comprised of the Holy Spirit, as opposed to just angelic spirit.

        This alternative explanation might answer a few other questions. If God the Father did clone Himself this may explain why the Word has always been subject in authority to the Father and enhance the understanding of some of the scriptures that constantly talk about the Father and the Son being one. It could possibly be the reason why Christ is called "everlasting Father" in Isaiah 9:6-7, a point I have never heard a minister give a proper explanation for.

        It may also be at the heart of the gut feeling why many people have leaned in this direction on this subject. Think on this point. It's hard enough to comprehend the fact that a perfect, loving, almighty being has ALWAYS existed - but two!

        There are two other scriptures that are used frequently by those who believe that Christ was created before anything else was created. The first is Colossians 1:12- which says, "[The Father] Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son . . . Who is the image of the invisible God, THE FIRSTBORN OF EVERY CREATURE. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible."

        The other scripture is found in Revelation 3:14. In the book of Revelation, in the seven letters to the seven churches, Jesus Christ said to the Church in Laodicea, "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION OF GOD" (Rev.3:14).

        If Christ wasn't created then one can ask, "How can He be the beginning of the creation of God?" Does this mean that He was created before anything else was created? Does it mean that He is the beginning of the creation because He was the one who created the universe according to the Father's will? Or does it mean that He is the beginning of the creation of billions of God beings after going through the process of being begotten by the Holy Spirit through Mary and then born as a spirit God being at His resurrection. The context of the verses don't make it clear which of the three options Paul and John had in mind when they wrote it.

        I'm not saying that I am totally convinced of this point of view of Christ being created but it does have a positive case. One point that is very difficult to explain with this point of view is how Christ in the days He appeared on earth as Melchizedek was "without father" as it states in Hebrews 7:3. Also, if it did happen this way, and that Christ was created by the Father and that character is not something God can create instantly, did Christ have to develop character? He has ALWAYS been comprised of Holy Spirit - been a God being. Does that mean as a spirit God being He could never sin, unlike when He was in the flesh?

        If He couldn't have sinned as a spirit being, a God being, then why create us fleshly beings first and not of the Holy Spirit if we are to also be a part of the God family? We're starting to open up a Pandora's box of questions. There will be even more of these questions as we go along. As much as we'd like to have it all figured out we need the humility to say with certain things that we just don't know and won't know until Christ returns and answers those 101 questions for us.

        Before closing this rather unclear subject I'd like to offer some historical quotes from what the early church fathers believed on this subject and let the reader decide what to make of them.

        Justin Martyr wrote the following:


"But to the Father of all, who is unbegotten, there is no name given.... And His Son, who is properly called Son, the Word, who also was with Him and was BEGOTTEN BEFORE THE WORKS [of Creation], when at first He created and arranged all things by Him, is called Christ . . ." ("The Second Apology of Justin,'' chap.6, page 190).


        Later, in his dia with Trypho, a Jewish intellectual and scholar, Justin Martyr goes into some detail, proving the Origin of the Logos of God, who later became Jesus Christ. In clear, lucid language, in chapter 61 of his lengthy treatise, Justin declares:


        "'I shall give you another testimony, my friends,' said I, from the Scriptures, that God BEGAT BEFORE ALL CREATURES A BEGINNING, [who was] a certain rational power [proceeding] from Himself, who is called by the Holy Spirit, now the Glory of the Lord, now the Son, again Wisdom, again an Angel, then God, and then Lord and Logos; and on another occasion He calls Himself Captain, when He appeared in human form to Joshua the son of Nave (Nun). For He can be called by all those names, since He ministers to the Father's will, and since He was begotten of the Father by an act of will; just as we see happening among ourselves: for when we give out some word, we beget the word; yet not by abscission, so as to lessen the word [which remains] in us, when we give it out: and just as we see also happening in the case of a fire, which is not lessened when it kindled [another], but remains the same; and that which has been kindled by it likewise appears to exist by itself, not diminishing that from which it was kindled.

        "THE WORD OF WISDOM, who is Himself this GOD BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER of all things, and Word, and Wisdom, and Power, and Glory of the Begetter, will bear evidence to me, when He speaks by Solomon the following: 'If I shall declare to you what happens daily, I shall call to mind events from everlasting and review them. The Lord made me the BEGINNING of His ways for His works. FROM EVERLASTING He established me IN THE BEGINNING, BEFORE He had made the earth, and before He had made the deeps, before the springs of the waters had issued forth, before the mountains had been established. Before all the hills He BEGETS ME....

        "When He made ready the heavens, I was along with Him, and when He set up His throne on the winds: when He made the high clouds strong, and the springs of the deep safe, when He made the foundations of the earth, I was with Him ARRANGING. I was that in which He rejoiced; daily and at all times I delighted in His countenance, because He delighted in the finishing of the inhabitable world, and delighted in the sons of men...." ("Dia with Trypho," chap.61, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol.1, page 228).


        In the next chapter, Justin goes further, proving his case. Showing that God the Father, and His first-begotten before Creation, were together the "Godhead," Justin quotes and expounds from the book of Genesis, as follows:

        "These are the words: 'And God said, Behold, Adam has become as one of us, to know good and evil.' In saying, therefore, 'as one of us,' [Moses] has declared that [there is a certain] number of persons associated with one another, and that they are at least two.... But this Offspring, which was truly brought forth FROM THE FATHER, was with the Father before all the creatures, and the Father communed with Him; even as the Scripture by Solomon has made clear, that He whom Solomon calls Wisdom, was BEGOTTEN AS A BEGINNING before all His creatures and as OFFSPRING BY GOD" ("Dia with Trypho," chap.62, ANF, vol. 1, page 228).


        Another early church leader was Hippolytus, a Greek, who was the disciple of Irenaeus. His dates are A.D. 170 to 236. Hippolytus, like Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, also discussed at length the nature of the Godhead. Obviously this was a subject of great importance to these early "church fathers."

        In his book, The Refutation of All Heresies, Hippolytus tells us in no uncertain terms that in the original beginning there was only ONE God -- the One who became known as the "Father." As Hippolytus himself puts it:


        "The first and only [one God], both Creator and Lord of all, had nothing coeval [CO-EQUAL] with Himself .... But He was One, alone in Himself By an exercise of His will He created things that are, which antecedently had no existence, except that He willed to make them" (book 10, chapter 28, Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume 5, page 150).


        What was the FIRST thing the Father created, before anything else was brought into existence? Says Hippolytus:


        "Therefore this solitary and supreme Deity, BY AN EXERCISE OF REFLECTION, BROUGHT FORTH THE LOGOS FIRST. . . Him alone He produced from existing things; for the Father Himself constituted existence, AND THE BEING BORN FROM HIM WAS THE CAUSE OF ALL THINGS THAT ARE PRODUCED. The Logos was in the Father Himself, bearing the will of His progenitor, and not being unacquainted with the mind of the Father. For simultaneously with His procession from His Progenitor, inasmuch as He is this PROGENITOR'S FIRST-BORN, he has, as a voice in Himself, the ideas conceived in the Father. And so it was, that when the Father ordered the world to come into existence, the Logos one by one complete object of creation, thus pleasing God."

        That phrase in the last quote where it says God created the Word by "an exercise of REFLECTION" is fascinating and quite similar to the idea I was mentioning before about the slight possibility that God may have cloned Himself before he created anything else. Only time will tell whether this view espoused by Hippolytus is indeed what really happened. What we do know for certain is that in the earliest beginnings of time there existed these two God beings before anything else was created.

What Is God Like?

        What were these two God beings like? Mr Armstrong tells us the following in Mystery of the Ages:


        "God is Creator of all - of everything in the vast Universe - the stars, the galaxies in endless space, this earth, man, and everything in the earth. That is what God is - what He does. He creates! He designs, forms, and shapes. He gives life! He is the great giver. And His law - His way of life - is the way of giving, not getting which is the way of this world.

        "But what is God like?... God is Spirit (Jn.4:24 RSV). Why is God not real to so many people? Because God and the Word are composed of spirit, not matter, not flesh and blood like humans. God is invisible to human eyes (Col.1:15). He does not seem real. To seem real the mind naturally wants to visualize a definite form and shape. But even though God is composed of spirit and not of visible matter, God nevertheless does have definite form and shape. What is God's form and shape?

        "In Gen.1:26 God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness. We know the form and shape of man. That is the image, likeness, form, and shape of God. In various parts of the Bible it is revealed that God has a face, eyes, a nose, mouth and ears. He has hair on his head. It is revealed God has arms and legs. And God has hands and fingers. No animal, fowl, bird, fish, insect, or any other kind of life we know of has hands like human hands. Even if any other living being of which we know had a mind to think with, without hands and fin gers he could not design and make things as a man does. God has feet and toes and a body. God has a mind. Animals have brians but no mind power like man's. If you know what a man looks like, you know what is the form and shape of God, for he made man in his image, after his very likeness!

        "One of Jesus's disciples asked him what God the Father looks like. Jesus replied 'Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father'(Jn.14:9). Jesus looked like the Father. Jesus was actually God with us (Mt.1:23)....And what was Jesus's appearance? It was that of a human man, for he also was the Son of man. He looked so much like other Jewish men of his day that his enemies bribed Judas to point him out and identify who in a crowd at night was Jesus.

        "So now we know God has the same form and shape as a man. We also know He is composed of spirit, not of matter as is man. Spirit is invisible to human eyes, unless manifested by some special process. And if so manifested we should see both God the Father and Christ now glorified in heaven with faces, though formed and shaped like human faces, as bright as the sun full strength! Their eyes flames of fire, feet like burnished brass, and hair white as snow (Rev.1:14-16).

        "Most important of all however is what is God's nature - His character - like? One cannot know what God is unless He knows what His character is! The character of both God the Father and Christ the Son is that of spiritual holiness, righteousness and absolute perfection. That character might be summed up in the one word love, defined as an out flowing, loving concern. It is the way of giving, serving, helping, sharing, not the 'get' way. It is the way devoid of coveting, lust and greed, vanity and selfishness, competition, strife, violence and destruction, envy and jealousy, resentment and bitterness. God's inherent nature is the way of peace, of justice, mercy, happiness and joy radiating outward toward those he has created!

        "The Word and God lived. What did they do? They created. How did they live - what was their 'life-style'? They lived the way of their perfect character - the way of outflowing love. When Jesus was baptised, God the Father said 'You are my beloved son'. God loved the Word. And the Word loved God - obeyed him completely.

        "Two can't walk together except they be agreed. They were in total agreement and cooperation. Also two can't walk together in continuous peace except one be the head, or leader in control. God(the Father) was leader. Their way of life produced perfect peace, cooperation, happiness, accomplishment. This way of life became a law. Law is a code of conduct, or relationship, between two or more. One might call the rules of a sports contest the 'law' of the game. The presence of law requires a penalty for infraction. There can be no law without a penalty for its violation. The very fact of law presupposes government. Government is the administration and enforcement of law by one in authority. This necessitates authoritative leadership - one in command....God(the Father is the) leader(p.33,38-40,softbound)"


        God is holy(Ps.99:9). The word holy means pure of heart or free from sin. God is spirit(John 4:24). Since God is comprised of spirit and has this holy attitude it is correct to call God a Holy Spirit. God is the very personification of the Holy Spirit. Since both the Father and Christ are God(John 1:1-2) - both individually have the Holy Spirit which issues or FLOWS (John 7:38) from them and fills the WHOLE UNIVERSE. We read in Psalm 139:7-8:"Where can I go from YOUR SPIRIT? Or where can I go from YOUR PRESENCE. If I ascend into heaven you are there. If I make my bed down in hell, behold you are there." God's spirit is equated with God's presence. The Father and the Son are not present everywhere in person but they are through their power - the Holy Spirit. In one sense, it's like God's extended arm by which He can act on anything anywhere. The Bible's very own definition for the Holy Spirit is found in Luke 1:35 where it is called "the POWER of the Most High". It is also called the power of God in Romans 15:19,Jeremiah 32:17 and Judges 14:6.

        The Father and the Son's spiritual bodies are not omnipresent, but the Father and the Son are omnipresent by and through the Holy Spirit in the sense that they can see, know and do anything anywhere through their all-pervading spirit that issues from them and fills heaven and earth. How they are able to do anything anywhere by their spirit is beyond our limited human comprehension, just as we can't fully grasp how a brown cow eats green grass and gives us white milk from which we get yellow butter.

        Mr Robert Fahey in a sermon that he gave in 1987 discussed why God created the universe and why He wanted to create other beings to fill the universe with. He tells us:


        "In the beginning there were these two spirit beings of almighty power and perfect, holy righteous character. They lived the way of GIVE. They were kind and generous, always at peace and in perfect harmony. They had no selfishness whatsoever. They lived the way of love, of giving and sharing. They had life inherent within them, not like you and I, and they wanted to SHARE that life. They decided somewhere that they wanted to share life. They wanted more beings. They wanted to be able to talk with these beings. They wanted to fellowship, to work together, to have a diversity of beings that would dwell in peace and harmony - to have a family to live in joyous unity. But they didn't want someone that would spoil the nest.

        "They didn't want some selfish, self-willed or arrogant person. They didn't want some contentious, touchy, critical, self-exalting type of person or some angry, irritable, grouchy type of person but instead they wanted to have co-operative, humble people who are pleasant to be with and are gracious and kind to enjoy fellowshipping with and to enjoy their viewpoints because different minds look at things differently and it's fascinating. God wanted to have beings with different viewpoints and experiences to share the company and even wisdom with. God knew that if He wanted to have harmony He would have to have givers, not getters. He would have to have people of a similar nature who would always respect the Father, first of all, and also would respect their fellow beings and have their welfare in mind, who would be helpful and co-operative and considerate just like God. After He would create the universe He wanted to have a FAMILY of immortals to share it with."


The Creation Of Angels

        What happened then? Let Mr Armstrong pick up the story:


        "They did not create matter first. The laws and facts of radioactivity tell us with certainty that there was a time when such matter did not exist. But the Great God through the Word first designed and created SPIRIT BEINGS— angels, each individually created— millions or perhaps even billions of them! They were composed wholly of Spirit. They were given self-containing life— life inherent—immortality. But also God created within them MINDS— with power to think, to reason, to make choices and decisions!

        " But there was one super-important quality that even God's creative powers could not create instantly by fiat—the same perfect, holy, righteous CHARACTER inherent in both God and the Word! This kind of character must be DEVELOPED, by the CHOICE and the INTENT of the one in whom it comes to exist.

        "So mark well this super-vital truism—that perfect, holy and righteous character is the supreme feat of accomplishment possible for Almighty God the Creator—it is also the means to His ultimate supreme PURPOSE! His final objective!

        "But how? I repeat, such perfect character must be developed. It requires the free choice and decision of the separa y in whom it is to be created. But, further, even then it must be instilled by and from the Holy God who, only, has such righteous character to endow. Perfect, holy and righteous character is the ability in such a separa y to come to discern the true and right way from the false, to make voluntarily a full and unconditional surrender to God and His perfect way—to yield to be conquered by God—to determine even against temptation or self-desire, to live and to do the right. And even then such holy character is the gift of God. It comes by yielding to God to instill His LAW (God's right way of life) within the entity who so decides and wills.

         "Actually, this perfect character comes only from God, as instilled within the entity of His creation, upon voluntary acquiescence, even after severe trial and test. I have devoted a few paragraphs to this point because it is the supreme pinnacle means in God's overall PURPOSE!

         "Now as to the pre-historic angels: God 1) created them with minds capable of thinking, reasoning, making choices and decisions with self-will, and, 2) revealed plainly to them His TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS WAY. But God, of necessity, allowed them free moral agency in accepting God's right way, or turning to contrary ways of their own devising."

         "What was God's ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE for the angels? Beyond question it is that which, now, because of angelic rebellion, has become the transcendent potential of humans! As the testing ground, and opportunity for positive and active creative accomplishment, God created—brought into existence—the entire vast material universe.

         "God now created not only matter, but with and in it energy and such laws as man has discovered in the fields of physics and chemistry. God formed matter to be present in both the organic and the inorganic states. And so we come now to that which is revealed in Genesis 1:1: 'In the beginning [of the physical universe] God created the heavens and the earth'.

         "As previously stated, in the King James English language translation (AV) will be found the word 'heaven' in the singular. But this originally was written by Moses in Hebrew. And in the Hebrew the word is in the plural—'heavens'— thus including not only our earth, but the entire material UNIVERSE. It is therefore indicated that at that time—after the creation of angels—the entire universe was brought into existence at the same time as the creation of our earth. I find strong indication of this in other biblical internal evidence.

         "The original Hebrew words (the words originally written by Moses) imply a perfect creation. God reveals Himself as Creator of perfection, light, and beauty. Every reference in the Bible describes the condition of any completed phase of God's creation as 'very good'—perfect. This first verse of the Bible actually speaks of the original PHYSICAL creation in its entirety—the universe—including the earth, perhaps millions of years ago as a perfect creation, beautiful and perfect as far as its creation was a finished, completed work. God is a perfectionist!

         "In Job 38:4, 7, God is speaking specifically of the creation of this earth. He said all the angels (created "sons of God") shouted for joy at the creation of the earth. This reveals that angels were created before the creation of the earth—and probably before the material universe. The suns, planets, and astral bodies are material substance. Angels are individually created Spirit beings, composed solely of Spirit.

         "It will come as a surprise to many to learn that angels inhabited this earth before the creation of man. This passage from Job implies it. Other passages place angels on earth prior to man. Notice II Peter 2:4-6. First in time order were 'angels that sinned.' Next in time sequence, the antediluvian world beginning with Adam, carrying through to the Flood. After that, Sodom and Gomorrah.

Sinning Angels

        "This Book of books, containing the revealed knowledge of the Creator God, tells us that God created angels as composed of Spirit. But can you imagine angels becoming sinning angels? Angels were created with power of thought, of decision and of choice, else they have no individuality or character. Since sin is the transgression of God's law, these angels rebelled against God's law, the basis of God's government.

         "Notice carefully what is revealed in II Peter 2:4-5: "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly"....

        "The verses quoted above place the sinning of the angels prior to the antediluvian sins that started with Adam, prior to the creation of man. And that should be a surprise revealing of one phase of the missing dimension in knowledge! Angels inhabited this earth before the creation of man. And the government of God was administered on earth until the rebellion of the sinning angels. How long these angels inhabited the earth before the creation of man is not revealed. It might have been millions— or even billions—of years. More on that later.

         "But these angels sinned. Sin is the transgression of God's law (I John 3:4). And God's law is the basis of God's government. So we know these angels, apparently a third of all the angels (Rev. 12:4), sinned—rebelled against the government of God. And sin carries penalties. The penalty for the sin of the angels is not death, as it is for man. Angels are immortal Spirit beings and cannot die. These Spirit beings had been given dominion over the PHYSICAL EARTH as a possession and an abode.

         "The universal, worldwide sin of the angels resulted in the physical destruction of the face of the earth. God is Creator. God is also ruler over His creation. He preserves what He creates by His government. What God creates, He has created for a purpose—to be used, preserved, and maintained. And this use is regulated by God's government. When the angels rebelled against God's government, the preservation of the physical earth and all its original beauty and glory ceased—and physical destruction to the surface of the earth resulted!....

         "How did this sin of the angels come to take place? How did it start? Remember, God the Creator preserves, improves and enhances what He creates by His government. What He creates is created to be used. This earth was to be inhabited and used by angels, originally. When God placed angels—apparently a third of all (Rev. 12:4)—on the newly created, perfect, beautiful and glorious earth, He set over them, on a throne, to administer the government of God, an archangel—the great cherub Lucifer. There were only two other beings of this extremely high rank of cherub, Michael and Gabriel....

         "First, notice what is revealed in Isaiah 14....This passage in Isaiah 14 speaks of the doom of this coming king(of a United European power) at the hands of the glorified, all-powerful Christ. It refers to him as Satan's chief political ruler and military destroyer, totally deceived by Satan in the years very shortly ahead of us. Then, coming to verse 12, this human earthly type of Satan the devil suddenly transposes to Satan himself—the former archangel, Lucifer:

         "'How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!' A better translation here is: "How art thou, who didst weaken the nations, cut down to the ground." The RSV translates it: "How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!" This the former Lucifer did through the human political-military leader in his power— spoken of in the first eleven verses.

         "The name "Lucifer" means "Shining star of the dawn," or "Bringer of light," as God first created him. Now continue: "For thou hast said in shine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars [angels] of God." Notice, Lucifer had a throne; he was a ruler. His throne was on earth, for he was going to ascend into heaven. Continue: "I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (verses 13-14). Actually, it is plain that Lucifer had nothing less in mind than knocking the Creator God off His throne and becoming supreme God himself. (It says that he tried to ascend above the CLOUDS, so obviously Lucifer was stationed on the earth at this time)

         "Apparently he planned to put himself in place of God, over the universe!

         "But finally, as the context returns again to the human type: "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell [Heb. sheol ], to the sides of the pit" (verse 15). From that point, the thought returns to the human king. Lucifer was the supreme masterpiece of God's creative power, as an individually created being, threatening, as a Frankenstein monster, to destroy his own maker—and assume all His powers to rule the whole universe.

         "His rebel rule was NOT a government based upon the principle of love—of giving, of outgoing concern for the good of others, but based on SELF-CENTEREDNESS, on vanity, lust and greed, on envy, jealousy, the spirit of competition, hatred, violence and destruction, on darkness and error, instead of light and truth, on ugliness instead of beauty.

         "Look now at the other biblical passage describing this supreme angelic creation of God, in Ezekiel 28....at this point(verse 11), as in Isaiah 14, the lesser human type lifts to a greater spirit antitype. Instead of the prince of Tyre—a human man—it now speaks of the KING of Tyre. This is the same Lucifer.

         "Ezekiel the prophet continues:'Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the KING of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the [Eternal] God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty" (verses 11-12). Please read that again! God would never say anything like that of a human man. This superb spirit being filled up the sum total of wisdom, perfection and beauty. He was the supreme pinnacle, the masterpiece, of God's creation, as an individually created being, the greatest one in the almighty power of God to create! The tragic thing is that he rebelled against his Maker!

         "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God" (verse 13). He had inhabited this earth. His throne was here. 'Every precious stone was thy covering . . . the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou west created' (verse 13). He was a created being—not born human. He was a Spirit being—not human flesh. Great genius and skill in music was created in him....But continuing the particular revelation of this crucially important missing dimension in knowledge: 'Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so,' says God of this Lucifer. This takes us back to the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus, where God gave Moses the pattern for the Ark of the Covenant. The description begins with verse 10, and verses 18-20 show, in the material pattern, the two cherubs who were stationed at each end of the very throne of God in heaven—the throne of the government of God over the entire universe. The wings of the two cherubim covered the throne of God.

         "This Lucifer, then, had been stationed at the very throne of God. He was trained and experienced in the administration of the government of God. God chose such a being, well-experienced and trained, to be the king ruling the government of God over the angels who inhabited the whole earth. Continue: '. . . thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.' This is not talking about any human being. But continue: "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity [lawlessness] was found in thee" (Ezek. 28:15).

         "He had complete knowledge, understanding and wisdom. But he also was given full powers of reasoning, thinking, making decisions, making his choice. And, with all this foreknowledge—even of results and consequences—this superb being, the highest that even God could create by fiat, turned to rebellion against his Maker—against the way that produces every good. He turned to lawlessness. He had been trained in the administration of perfect law and order. As long as Lucifer continued in this perfect way, there was happiness and joy unspeakable over the whole earth. There was glorious peace—beautiful harmony, perfect love, co-operation. The government of God produced a wonderfully happy state—so long as Lucifer was loyal in the conduct of God's government.

         "What caused the angels on earth to sin, to turn to lawlessness'? Certainly the ordinary angels did not persuade this great superbeing to turn traitor. No, it was in him that iniquity was found. But, after how long? We don't know. God does not reveal that! It could have been any number of years from one or less to millions times millions.

         "And then, even after Lucifer himself made the decision to rebel and try to invade God's heaven to take over the universe, it is not revealed how long it took him to persuade all of the angels under him to turn traitor and follow him....But think how long it must have taken the soured and embittered Lucifer to turn millions of holy angels into resentment, bitterness, disloyalty, and finally open and vicious rebellion. It could have taken hundreds, thousands, or millions of years. This was all before the first human was created.

         "All this happened after the original creation of the earth, described in verse 1 of Genesis 1. Verse 2 of this "creation" chapter describes a condition resulting from this sin of the angels. The events described in verse 2, therefore, may occurred millions of years after the original creation of the earth....

         "But why did God create man on the earth (Gen. 1:26)?

         "Look at this situation as God does. God has given us humans minds, like the mind of God, only inferior and limited. God made us in His image, after His likeness (form and shape), only composed of matter instead of Spirit. But God says, 'Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus' (Phil. 2:5). We can, to some degree, think even as God thinks. How must God have looked at the situation, as He started renewing the face of the earth—after the colossal debacle of the angels!

         "He had created a beautiful, perfect creation in the earth. He populated it with holy angels—probably millions of them. He put over them, as king, on an earthly throne, the archangel—the cherub Lucifer. Lucifer was the supreme masterpiece of God's creative power as a single separately created Spirit being. He was the most perfect in beauty, power, mind, knowledge, intellect, wisdom, within the almighty power of God to create. God can create nothing higher or more perfect, by instantaneous fiat.

         "Yet this great being, knowledgeable, trained and experienced at God's own throne in heaven over the universe and the administration of the government of God, had rejected that government, corrupted his way, rebelled against administering or even obeying it. He had led all his angels astray and into the sin of rebellion and disloyalty.

         "Now consider further. Apparently the entire universe had been created also at the time of the earth's creation. There is no evidence either in God's revealed Word, nor in science, that any of the planets in endless outer space had been inhabited with any form of life. But God does nothing in vain. He always has a purpose.

         "Apparently all such planets in the entire universe NOW are waste and empty—decayed (tohu and bohu)—like the earth was, as described in Genesis 1:2. But God did not create them in such conditions of decay—like our moon. Decay is not an original created condition—it is a condition resulting from a process of deterioration. Evidently if the now fallen angels had maintained the earth in its original beautiful condition, improved it, carried out God's instructions, and obeyed His government, they would have been offered the awesome potential of populating and carrying out a tremendous creative program throughout the entire universe. When they turned traitor on earth, their sin must have also brought simultaneously physical destruction to the other planets throughout the universe, which were potentially and conditionally put in subjection to them.

         "As God surveyed this cataclysmic tragedy, He must have realized that since the highest, most perfect being within His almighty power to create, had turned to rebellion, it left God Himself as the only being who would not and cannot sin. And God is the father of the Divine God Family. Notice John 1:1-5. The 'Word' who was 'made flesh' (verse 14) has existed always—from eternity—with the Father. God the Father has created all things—the entire universe—by Him who became Jesus Christ (Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:16-17)....

         "The fourth word in all the Bible is 'God' (Gen. 1:1). And the original Hebrew word is 'Elohim,' a uni-plural noun like the word family, church, or group. The family is God. There is one God—the one Family, but more than one Person.

         "God saw that no being less than God, in the God Family, could be certainly relied on never to sin—to be like God— who cannot sin. To fulfill His purpose for the entire vast universe, God saw that nothing less than Himself (as the God Family) could be absolutely relied upon to carry out that supreme purpose in the entire universe.

         "God then purposed to reproduce Himself, through humans, made in His image and likeness, but made first from material flesh and blood, subject to death if there is sin unrepented of—yet with the possibility of being born into the Divine Family begotten by God the Father. God saw how this could be done through Christ, who gave Himself for that purpose.

         "And that is why God put man on the earth! That is what caused God to do this most colossal, tremendous thing ever undertaken by the supreme, almighty God—-to reproduce Himself!" (The Incredible Human Potential, p38-51).

Were We God's Backup Plan?

        Recently an article appeared in the Journal(p.28,Sept.25,1997) by Bruce Lyon which echoed the feelings that many people in the church, including myself, have had regarding a couple of points of Mr Armstrong's understanding of the plan of God.

        In that article Bruce Lyon makes these comments:


        "(Mr Armstrong believes)because of angelic rebellion, God's backup plan (us humans) was put into motion. I have never seen this proven from the Bible, neither by Mr. Armstrong nor any other minister....

        "God Himself apparently did not possess the ability to foresee that He had designed a plan for the angels that could not succeed. As a result of God's lack of foresight (and of course I am speaking here as a fool), one third of all the angels, along with Satan, must writhe in agony for eternity because of God's inability to prepare a proper plan for them....

         "Mr. Armstrong simply contends that God realized after the one third failed that He did not have a good plan for these beings. But not to worry. Since the first plan with the angels failed....We (God and the Word) have a better plan on the shelf in case the first plan proved faulty beyond redemption: the reproduction of God Himself through mankind!

         "Why would not God undertake this backup plan first? Why even bother with the questionable plan with the angels? We know that the angelic plan was questionable even before God implemented it, because God already had the plan with man prepared in case the angelic plan failed; see pages 61-62.

         "Further, since the plan through mankind produces a far-superior product—sons of God in God's very own self-replicated family vs. just proven-righteous angels—why would God favor the angelic plan (had it been able to succeed) as the first plan? According to The Incredible Human Potential, had the angels succeeded then we humans would not have been needed....

        "If a backup plan produces a superior result and is an inherently superior plan, would not an all-wise Creator implement such a plan in the first place?....

        (On)"Page 85(of I.H.P. HWA writes): "Matter does not remain as it is, unchanged permanently. But it continues changing permanently.

         "'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! Man . . . can REPENT—CHANGE from his sin—turn to God's way.'

         "Again, who failed to think this scenario through? Also, since two thirds of the angels obviously have decided to go God's way, then they succeeded, and they cannot change to unrighteousness now. So, then, the backup plan using us humans is not needed, and we do not exist....(Just kidding)"


        Bruce Lyon really hits the nail on the head very well showing that the plan for God to reproduce Himself could not have been the backup plan if the angels failed to choose God's way. The two points that prove this are:

1) The supposed "backup" plan produces a far better product than the first plan if it succeeds and can be destroyed if it fails.
2) Two-thirds of the angels did succeed so there should not have been any need to create mankind in God's image if it was only the backup plan should the angelic plan fail.

        Ellis Stewart in an article which appeared alongside(on page 29) the one that Bruce Lyon wrote in the Journal made these interesting comments about Mr Armstrong's changing views on this point:


         "An assistant to Mr. Armstrong in the early 1980s had as part of his duties to review all the new correspondence-course lessons before they were published. The original version of one of the lessons included information about angels similar to that that later appeared in Human Potential, that God originally intended the angels to reign over the universe. This assistant felt this teaching was not correct, and he said so. In a meeting to discuss the points, Mr. Armstrong asked him why he felt the information was not right.

         "This man gave two reasons:

         "First, God says that He declares the end from the beginning and that His counsel will stand (Isaiah 46). But to think that God started with angels then saw belatedly that His first choice of plans wouldn't work and started over with humans, is the same as saying that God did not see the end from the beginning.

         "Second, God's Word states in Romans 11 that 'the gift and the calling of God are irrevocable.' If God intended angels to be over the universe, sooner or later angels would be over the universe."

         "Mr. Armstrong agreed with these points when his assistant brought them up and directed that the lessons be changed accordingly. The correspondence course from 1981 on did not include information about angels being placed over the universe."

Why Did God Create Angels?

        God had purposed in mind all along to reproduce Himself irregardless of whether the angels that He had created chose to live God's way or not. So why did God create the angels? They are ministering servants(Heb.1:14). Based on what has occurred in the pre-Adamic world on this planet, which we will soon go into in detail, they have been assisting God in the creation of various lifeforms on this planet and given the sheer number of angels that God has created(at least 100 million - Daniel 7:10) there is little doubt they will assist us in the creation of life forms and beautification of planets all across the universe after the Great White Throne Judgment.

        Mr Armstrong gave us a lot of details in Mystery of the Ages of what they are doing now. In chapter 2 entitled "Mystery of Angels and Evil Spirits" he wrote:


        "God has had angels specifically assigned to supervise and protect his Church throughout all of its history (Rev. 1:4,16, 20; 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). He has angels who continually walk through the earth to observe and report back to him the overall conditions on earth (Rev. 5:6; Zech. 4:10; II Chron. 16:9). And God has angels specifically assigned to look after his begotten human children (Acts 12:15; Matt. 18:10[These angels have instant access to God we are told in this verse]). God promises: "For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways" (Ps. 91:11).

         "Twelve of God's angels will be the gatekeepers in the new city of Jerusalem (Rev. 21:12), one for each tribe of Israel. These 12 may be assisting the archangel Michael now. Angels are messengers. They appeared to Abraham, Lot, Hagar, Moses, Manoah, Gideon, Elijah and many of the prophets and apostles. When these angels manifest themselves to human beings, they generally do so in the form of men.

         "The Bible mentions three angels of high rank: Lucifer (Isa. 14:12), now Satan the devil; Gabriel, who appeared to Daniel on two occasions (Dan. 8:16; 9:21), to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist (Luke 1:19), and later Mary, the mother of Jesus (Luke 1:26); and third, Michael, called one of the chief princes (Dan. 10:13), and whom Jude identifies as an archangel (Jude 9). Michael is the archangel specifically assigned to protect and minister to the 12 tribes of Israel (Dan. 12:1;10:2-13, 21) and to the true Church of God today (Rev. 12:7)"(p.57-58,softbound)

What Is The Fate Of Satan And The Demons?

        Bruce Lyon in the earlier quote above stated: "As a result of God's lack of foresight (and of course I am speaking here as a fool), one third of all the angels, along with Satan, must writhe in agony for eternity because of God's inability to prepare a proper plan for them." This quote begs a very important question. "Why did God create angels if they could not be destroyed should they choose the way of sin?" If angels could not be destroyed then this implies God made a huge mistake of not preparing a merciful way of dealing with them should they choose the way of sin.

        What will be the fate of Satan and the demons? Will they write in agony, mental or otherwise, for all eternity because they cannot be destroyed since they are spirit beings? Or does the Bible say they will be destroyed?

        This is one doctrine I believe the church seriously needs to re-evaluate. I believe the Bible does show a clear case for Satan and the demons being destroyed - at least a much stronger case than being tormented for eternity.

        The case for Satan and the demons not being able to be destroyed is built upon three scriptures - Revelation 20:10, Jude 13 and Luke 20:36. Let's look at each of these verses.

        First of all, we have Revelation 20:10 which plainly says,"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever." Does it not say that Satan will be tormented day and night FOREVER? Hold that thought.

        Let's go back a few chapters in the same book to Revelation 14:9-11 where we read,"If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up FOREVER AND EVER: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."

        It says here that the smoke of the torment of those men who worship the beast will go up forever and ever. Do these men writhe in agony for all eternity also along with the demons? We know better than that. "Forever" should be rendered age-lasting or age-during or while conditions last like in Exodus 21:6 which talks about someone who is a slave 'forever' - that is, only until he dies. Revelation 19:3 has smoke rising forever, yet it continues only while there are things to burn and finally dissipates, not rising above the atmosphere. Indeed, Satan and the demons will be tormented "forever" - until they lose consciousness and die! The Greek word "aeonian" can and often means "age-lasting," or "so long as the conditions exist." This tormenting will go on for many days and nights as there will be many demons over a period of time who will receive their punishment at this time in the future.

        Let's now look at Jude 13 which talks about "wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever." Will these evil angels be roaming the blackness in the universe forever? No, their eventual fate will be "blackness of darkness forever". This means they will have their lives snuffed out in the lake of fire, and to be totally unconscious and dead, forever!" Blackness of darkness is a term that can mean unconsciousness. The very thought of Satan and the demons being cast into a lake of fire begs the question, "What for if they can't be destroyed by fire since they are spirit?"

        Since we know God can die(Rev. 1:18) by being made into flesh and being killed in the person of Jesus Christ, cannot God also convert the demons into physical bodies which will also die? Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death, not continuous punishing. Same law and punishment for men and angels. In Mark 1:23-24 we read, "And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to DESTROY us?" The demons asked Jesus if He was going to destroy them. If they couldn't be destroyed why would they ask this question? Yes, those demons will be destroyed but not ahead of schedule.

        Regarding the last of the three proof-texts for Satan and the demons never dying William Dankenbring in his fine article "Satan's Fate - Will Satan Be Punished Forever?" has this to say:


        "Some may wonder why Jesus then said that of those in the resurrection, that they 'cannot die any more: for they are equal unto the angels' (Luke 20:36). Does this mean angels cannot 'die' because they are immortal spirit beings? Let's not read into this verse our own pre-determined belief! All it says is that angels of God IN HEAVEN (see the parallel passage in Matthew 22:30), who did not rebel against God, who proved themselves to be loyal, cannot 'die' a natural death! This means that since they proved themselves loyal to God, He will ALLOW them to live forever, and they will not die....

        "God goes on, describing this celestial being(Satan) who turned to sin, saying, 'Through your widespread trade you were filled with VIOLENCE, and you SINNED. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O GUARDIAN CHERUB, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became PROUD on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. . . So I made a FIRE come out from you, and it CONSUMED YOU, and I reduced you to ASHES on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a HORRIBLE END and will be NO MORE" (Ezek.28:12-19).

        "This is a very clear prophecy of the coming FATE of Satan the devil! What could be more clear? He will be turned into ASHES! He will be consumed by a FIRE! He will exist, or "be," "NO MORE"!

        "Moffatt translates this passage as follows: 'By the greatness of your guilt, by the crimes of your commerce, you have profaned your sacred position; therefore have I made you SET FIRE TO YOURSELF, WITH FLAMES THAT CONSUME YOU,AND REDUCED YOU TO ASHES ON EARTH in the sight of all who behold you. All who know you among the nations shall be APPALLED at you -- YOUR FATE IS AWFUL, there is NO FUTURE for you'(Ezek.28:18-19, Moffatt)."


        Scholars believe much of the apocryphal "book of Enoch" which has come down to us, preserved primarily in Ethiopia, dates to the pre-Maccabean period, before 165 B.C. Some parts near the end of it appear to be additions made in the post-Maccabean period. It is a composite book representing numerous periods and writers. Much of it may well go back to the time of Enoch himself, I believe, since Jude directly quoted from it when he wrote, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 14-15, Enoch 2).

        In reading the Book of Enoch I only found two things which weren't in harmony with the Bible - references to Enoch living much longer than the 365 years that ALL his days were(Gen.5:23) and a reference to him seeing the birth of Noah. These two errors are towards the end where material has been added to the original text. Aside from that I found the book of Enoch's teachings remarkably in accord with our understanding of various doctrines which differ from traditional Christianity, unlike the Book of Mormon which is loaded with trinity references and weird understandings of heaven, hell, immortality and the resurrections.

        In Enoch 10:15-17 we read, "To Michael likewise the Lord said: Go and announce his crime to Samyaza, and to the others who are with him(evil angels)....bind them for seventy generations underneath the earth, even to the day of judgment, and of consummation, until the judgment, the effect of which will last forever, be completed. Immediately after this shall he, together with them, burn and PERISH; they shall be bound until the consummation of many generations." According to the book of Enoch these demons will perish - they will die!

        God does not believe in prisons (for long) but capital punishment. He wants sinning angels and men in the third resurrection to see what they missed out on before cremation. As someone put it, "All are cremated equal." The God of love will not permit torment of any being for eternity.


What Were The Angels Doing Before Adam And Eve?

        Now let's move onto the question of what the angels were doing on the earth before God created our first parents, Adam and Eve? The fascination information I will now present over the next few pages is a compilation of quotes from sermons on the subject that Dr Hoeh gave in 1977 shortly before Mr Armstrong came out with "The Incredible Human Potential".

        Quoting Dr Hoeh:


        "We have taught that angels were on earth before Adam, being trained. What was their primary function? To rule trees and rocks and streams? What were they given experience in? More than merely ruling over each other. We should expand our former concepts and see that they were on earth to govern in a small way (as an opportunity to learn and to prove they could be trusted) before being sent out further into the universe. Their role on earth should be seen as equipping or qualifying them to rule in the universe. This means they were governing nature in great detail. As God Himself is concerned for even a sparrow that falls, so God is concerned for the balance of nature. If God knows the hairs of our head, He is concerned over the intimate aspects of life of every creature. If He rules through angels, then they also would be likewise concerned with the minute aspects of nature. This is what they were asked to govern--not a barren world, but a world full of life forms throughout geologic history. The Church has a responsibility to teach the role of angels in the world before Adam....

        "We do not see a world of which we could say that God was 'experimenting'--that term has overtones that could be misunderstood. I would prefer the concept that God was 'developing' a creation in which angels were being challenged and tested on how they would carry out God's government in guiding that nature, and in ruling over ever more complex forms of life....

        "The world that we see in the future though the eyes of the prophet Isaiah--the world in which a child can play on the hole of a poisonous snake without being poisoned because it is no longer poisonous, that the lamb and the leopard and the bear and the ox and the lion and the little child shall all be together--and they are not devouring one another. Now you all know how the Millennium has been pictured--the whole of nature will be subject to the government of God. Now this may sound very strange to our ears until it has taken root. The whole of nature is to be subject to the government of God, and instead of one creature devouring another for survival, we are going to have an entirely different system of nutrition and a different system of birthing because the two are interrelated.

        "The world today from nature is not a reflection of the kind of government God intended to be exercised by the angels throughout nature. It is in fact a reflection of the Devil's idea of competition, of devouring, and keeping in balance by each thing competing with something else. Now Mr Armstrong long ago conceived of the idea of competition as being the lifeblood both of our economy and business and society and government. He said this is, as far as he is concerned, the fundamental characteristic of the Devil's philosophy, whatever each individual may have been personally taught....The angels had knowledge and could see the picture clearly as far as what they were going to do and who they were going to listen to. As God started out He said 'I want to make sure the creation reflects the spirit of love, and it's going to be a beautiful world. We are not going to have competition. Therefore the pattern of nutrition and the pattern of birth will not need to have competition to keep ever thing in that order we see it in.' (We could also add diseases and viruses and so on.) Can you imagine a World Tomorrow in which mice reproduce at the present rate with no cats to catch the mouse? I just have to question. What would happen in Africa if we took away competition and left the birth rate the same? We see the whole of nature is going to change, both in terms of what an animal eats and in terms of the reproductive systems, because they are all tied together....

        "You can look at the whole of geology, and you will not find a single period, geologically speaking, that corresponds to a nature such as will be in the Millennium. It is all a nature such as we have it today--creatures were devouring in the Tertiary, they were devouring in the Cretaceous, they were devouring in the Mesozoic, they were devouring in the Archaeozoic and the Paleozoic. And for all we know, in the earliest forms we can probably assume the same thing. There is this competition because it goes hand in hand with the statement Jesus made that the Devil was a murderer from the beginning. That is, the spirit of competition such as we viewed it reflected itself in the spirit of murder..... And indeed murder--the spirit of it--is the consequence of the philosophy of competition. And he(Lucifer) said 'I'll work to take the patterns that God has given and instead of exercising God's government I am going to design it in such a way that nature is in balance by competition, by devouring, by strife--the way of the survival of the fittest--the swiftest mouse getting away most of the time, the slowest cat doesn't survive.'

        "Now I think when we see that we will have a whole new view - that when we talk about the Devil's government we can in fact extend the Biblical account and we have looked at nature and we have to conclude that the WHOLE of the geologic history that we can uncover reflects a world that had gone astray, and therefore there was no reason anywhere along the line to view that there should not have been some catastrophe--local or of wider range--during this whole period. The Devil may have gone so far with certain things, and he may have wanted to change certain things, but then God also may have said 'Well look, I want a change. I want certain new life forms to be produced. I will see what you will do with them.' And so there is no reason to discount what you see when you travel down the walls of the Grand Canyon. One period after another that cannot be accounted for by anything we know of except for major periods of time - major only as (we) comprehend time. Now presumably not more than a third of the angels followed the Devil. The other two thirds profited by the experience and took no part in the spirit of competition as developed in the biological world...

        "It does take some time for some people to poison other peoples minds and it takes time, as Mr Armstrong said, for the Devil to pursuade angels, who were greater in knowledge by far than human beings. And the Devil was going back and forth, and he kept arguing with God over the necessity of the creation being patterned after a different philosophy than God's. But God never listened, and the Devil always came back and told the angels that 'God never listened', just as 'Mr Armstrong never listened'--you've heard that. Well God never listened to the Devil either....Apparently all this time God allowed the Devil the chance to see whether after he had examined the nature that he was governing (or abusing--whatever term you want to use), whether he would change or whether he would not. They finally came to the point, as Mr Armstrong said, where spirits apparently do set their character, and you can go only so far in the realm of spirit until your attitude so poisons you that it can never be altered."


        During a taped forum on the subject of "Young Earth vs Old Earth" Stephen Collins makes the point that the progression of dinosaurs in the fossil record supports a gradual degeneration of Lucifer. He tells us:


        "Palaeontologists divide the dinosaur era into several periods of time, the Triassic, the Jurassic and the Cretaceous. The earliest dinosaur fossil period, the Triassic, is dominated by herbivores. The middle dinosaur period, the Jurassic, had herbivores and smaller predators and the Encyclopedia Americana...states a larger predator, the Allosaurus, first appeared in the strata in the late Jurassic. In the final period, the Cretaceous, we see the emergence of huge dinosaurs equipped for fighting on a grand scale. According to the Americana 'the Ankylosaurs were a heavy armoured group of dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous. The horned dinosaurs, the Triceratopsians also appeared in the Cretaceous. The massive Tyrannosaurus Rex represents the end of the line. It and it's relatives did not appear until the late Cretaceous...It's brief existence along with all other dinosaurs was terminated at the end of that period'...I believe that we see in the progression of the dinosaurs a gradual testimony to Lucifer's degeneration. It goes from peaceful herbivores then bringing in smaller predators. Then in the Cretaceous you have large, armoured herbivores and predators who could fight each other followed by the dinosaurs extinction."


        Stephen Collins believes that many of the dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus Rex were made by Satan and the other fallen angels as they are serpent-like in appearance which is the image of Satan. There have been several global catastrophes and mass extinctions of life on this planet over the many geological ages. One of the most well-known is that of the dinosaurs believed to have occurred about 65 million years ago. The most likely cause is that of the earth being hit by an extraterrestrial object such as an asteroid.

        In the June, 1989 issue of National Geographic in article entitled "The March Toward Extinction" we are told about how the dinosaurs might have wiped out. The article tells us:


        "(an) iridium-rich clay (lies) right at the boundary between the Cretaceous period, when there were dinosaurs, and the Tertiary, when there were none. Because iridium is rare on earth but common in meteorites...[three Berkeley scientists] proposed that earth had been hit by an asteroid ten kilometers (six miles) across...the proposal has since been backed up by abundant and convincing evidence from around the globe. Most scientists now concur that at least one great extraterrestrial object struck the planet around the time the dinosaurs died out."


        After the Cretaceous period we see the emergence of a great many more species of mammals begin to flourish on earth. Another major mass extinction of animals occurred during the Pleistocene era around 11 000 B.C. Vast numbers of species were wiped out, virtually overnight. After that completely new creatures never seen before appear on the earth bearing very little resemblance to the creatures just previously wiped out, completely confounding the theory of evolution. The intermediate and transitional links that should be there between living and extinct species if evolution were true is embarrassingly missing according to scientists who are honest enough to admit it.

        The many ice ages that this planet has gone through appear to prove the point that the pre-Adamic world under Satan did not have the salubrious climate God created in the pre-Flood world by means of a water canopy which acted like a greenhouse and evened out the temperature around most of the planet. Genesis 1:7 talks about how God "divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament". There are accurate maps of Antarctica and Greenland dated to around the 16th century that show what Antarctica looks like without the ice which covers it; and that it actually is two islands underneath the ice. Greenland is shown in another map as three islands with topography that reflects what would be the underneath the ice. In the last few decades it has indeed been confirmed that Greenland is three islands under the ice which covers it. How could they have known back then? It appears that knowledge has been passed down from a time when there was no permanent ice covering Antarctica and Greenland.

        The last global catastrophe that occurred before man came on the scene was the worldwide flood that left the earth 'tohu and bohu' before God renewed the face of the earth during 'creation' or more properly 're-creation' week 6000 years ago. It was probably at the time of this destruction that Satan and the fallen angels launched their attack on God in heaven and tried to take over the universe(Isa. 14:14, Luke 10:18).


Some Questions Regarding God's Plan For Angels

        In discussing the development of character in angels Mr Armstrong talked about it in terms like the setting of concrete - that they have free moral agency and then after a certain period of time their character is set, either in God's way or sin. Now this idea leads to a few interesting questions. First of all, how long does it take for angelic character to set? Is this why it's taken so long for God to create man on this planet after placing Lucifer and the angels under him here on earth? Maybe He was waiting until their character was set before doing so. Who knows? Maybe the extreme length of time it was taking to progress through what God had planned for this planet and not being able to go out to other places in the universe and create new worlds is what Satan used to sour the angels under him against God. There are lots of interesting possibilities.

        Here's another very interesting one. Once any of the fallen angels committed their first sin could they turn back to God's way and have their character set in God's way and not the way of sin? Using the concrete analogy above we know that concrete before it sets can be smoothed out if someone puts a footprint in it. Is this how it works for angels? It's very hard to imagine being doomed to be set in the way of sin once you have committed your very first sin. Dr Hoeh believes they could turn around. In the above quotes from his 1977 sermons he said, "Apparently all this time God allowed the Devil the chance to see whether after he had examined the nature that he was governing...whether he would change or whether he would not."

        If this is how it is it begs an even more profound question. Since the wages of sin is death(Rom.6:23) who pays for those few sins committed by those angels who turn back onto the path of righteousness afterward? Did Christ die to not only pay for our sins but those of the angels as well?

        In Revelation 12:4 it says that Satan drew a third of the stars with him in his rebellion against God. Was this a third of all the angels in the universe there has ever been or could this percentage have been a third of those put under Lucifer on the earth only? The verse, talking about the third, calls them the "stars of heaven" so it leans towards the former rather than the latter but who knows?

        Of the two-thirds of the angels who have remained righteous are any of those doing preparation work on planets in other parts of our galaxy or near galaxies at this time? That remains a very real possibility. Given the amount of time since Project Earth began with the angels assigned here there's every chance those who succeeded in the project have been given responsibilities elsewhere in this universe.

        Mr Armstrong said that there appears to be no life anywhere else in the universe at this time.(I.H.P., p.50) What did our solar system's planets look like before they were struck by catastrophes which is clearly evident? Mars is a very interesting planet. There is clear evidence that the planet underwent a global catastrophe within the last 10 000 years because of the lack of erosion in its highly corrosive atmosphere. There is also very strong evidence based on the shape of valleys and gorges on the planet that Mars before this catastrophe had a great amount of water on it. As water is a great agent of erosion why have great amounts of water on a planet without any plants to hold the soil together? So far there is no evidence whatsoever of any plant life having ever lived on the planet in the past.

        Of all the angels ever created is the character of them all now set or can some of them still go one way or the other?

         A rather interesting passage of scripture is found in Daniel 10, verses 12 to 14. Daniel has just been given a lot of prophecies which he intensely desires to know the meaning of, so he been praying and fasting for understanding. After a period of time an angel comes to answer his request for understanding of those prophecies. The angel tells him: "Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set shine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days (Daniel 10:12-14).

         Ron Dart in the booklet he wrote called "The Tracks of the Devil" makes these fascinating comments on this passage:


         "Now the vision Daniel received in answer to his prolonged prayer is fascinating enough, but in the process of revealing the vision, the messenger of God dropped a small piece of tantalising information. Most of us believe that God is all powerful, that all He has to do is say the word and all powers, human and demonic, fall down before Him. Yet here is an emissary of God who is held up for three weeks by someone called the 'Prince of Persia.' Who is this 'Prince of Persia' and how was he able to thwart an angel of the Almighty?

         "Consider the picture. Daniel fasts and prays to God. God hears him and immediately dispatches an answer. The problem is that Daniel is inside the kingdom of Persia, and God's messenger has to fight his way in! It is no small battle—it takes three weeks to make it. Think what this means. There was a spirit being, called the Prince of Persia, who was strong enough to stand off an angel of God for three weeks. In the end, it takes two to one odds to win, and the battle is still not over. Michael, another Prince of God, keeps the Prince of Persia busy while the angel comes to Daniel to deliver the message.

         "One would have thought that God could have whispered in Daniel's ear, or that the angel could simply have materialised in Daniel's room....What this story reveals to us, almost as an aside, is that there is a spiritual world alongside our world, invisible to us, but real, vibrant, alive and dangerous. We use the word infrastructure to describe the physical structure underlying our society—water pipes, sewers, utilities—things underground and invisible, but real and necessary, nonetheless. What comes as a shock is the fact that there is also a spiritual infrastructure—unseen, unsensed, invisible, but nonetheless real and powerful. Not only is there a spirit world co-existing with our own, but there are spiritual battles routinely fought around us, and the outcome is by no means automatic"(p.3-4).


        Another good example of a spirit forces ready for battle can be found in 2 Kings 6:15-17. In those verses we read, "When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. Oh, my lord, what shall we do? the servant asked. Don't be afraid, the prophet answered. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them. And Elisha prayed, O LORD, open his eyes so he may see. Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha."

        Now God is All-Powerful. If the character of the angel sent to Daniel was set in God's way, never to sin again, what is the point of God allowing this angel of His to go through this battle? He was obviously allowing it for some purpose? Was it to test this angel? Maybe, with some of the angels, they were created at a later juncture of time than those original angels who were there at the beginning of the creation of the earth(Job 38:4,7) and as a result the time when their character sets is later than those original angels.

        In Daniel 10:20 we are told about a demonic spirit called the Prince of Greece. Ephesians 6:12 tells us that we spiritually fight "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." There are demon spirits in Satan's kingdom over certain areas of the earth. In Australia, our aborigines talk about various spirits that they contact for wisdom. In their religion, which is heavily demon-influenced, the most powerful spirit is the Spirit of the Olgas - the Olgas being a group of rocky mountains near Ayers Rock in the central Australian desert. There are other demons who specialize in working on certain human weaknesses like lust, vanity, drunkenness, etc. The spirit world is a very real world and we should not have anything to with the evil side of it.

        We find another very interesting passage of scripture in Genesis 18. We read that, "The LORD said, The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know"(Gen 18:20-21,NIV). Now we tend to think sometimes of God sitting up in heaven in front of a bank of TV sets seeing and knowing everything that we do. This scripture tells us that the Lord God went down to see if Sodom and Gomorrah was as bad as He had heard, presumably from the angels who observe what's going on around the world and report back to God(Zech.4:10). He didn't know automatically. He chose to have it reported to Him instead and then rather than viewing how bad the cities were on a screen in heaven He chose to make a personal visit without deciding to know ahead of time. It makes you wonder how often Christ makes these kind of anonymous personal visits to earth to see what's going on here up close and personal.

        There is in the Old Testament a record of a time when Christ in vision to Ezekiel made such a visit. The record of this is found in Ezekiel, chapter 1 and gives us a fascinating glimpse into what the spirit realm, God's holy angels and the "portable" throne of God looks like. We read the following in Ezekiel 1:


        "Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.

        "And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

        "As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

        "As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

        "Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

        " And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above. And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies. And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings. And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.

        "And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake (Ezek 1:1-28, KJV)"


        The Bible gives us a tremendous glimpse into the majesty of God's throne room in Revelation 4. Here now is what God tells us of the splendour and magnificence that surrounds Him in heaven:


        "After this I(John) looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

        "And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

        "And the four beasts ha of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created (Rev 4:1-11, KJV)".


Pre-Adamic Hominids

        We have taught that the man-like creatures called hominids archaeologists have confirmed lived prior to Adam were proto-types of man without the spirit in man that God created. Man, made in God's image, makes proto-types when he designs. Who's to say God doesn't do the same thing? This in no way denies the seven day literal re-creation week 6000 years ago when He created Adam. In fact, it fits in perfectly. Archaeologists confirm prior to 6000 years ago the hominid culture was very primitive indeed and suddenly makes a dramatic jump very shortly after Adam's creation when the first true civilisation, as archaeologists call it, appears on the scene. God, if you remember from the Genesis account, told Adam and Eve to RE-plenish the earth(Gen.1:28,KJV) - that is, to fill again. God breathing into man the 'spirit in man'(1 Cor.2:11) made the incredible difference between Adam and the pre-historic hominids.

        I'd like to continue with the Dr Hoeh sermon quotes on the subject of the pre-Adamic world. This is what the church has taught with regard to pre-Adamic hominids.


        "When Australopithecines appear in Africa (they have not been discovered elsewhere) 'late' in the history of the world we have a creature that can make tools, but not according to a pre-conceived pattern. An outline of development follows. First, we have a creature who looked somewhat like apes, who tended to walk somewhat upright, who made tools, but not enter a pre-conceived pattern--the form of the tool is after the natural characteristics of the rock. Then we have a creature who walked upright called "Homo Erectus". He had the capacity to make a tool from a pre-conceived pattern, but did not have modern man's brain capacity so he was not classified as 'Homo Sapiens' because he did not think and reason as man reasons. At this level (of Java Man and Peking Man) the term 'homo' may be misleading because it is not 'man' as a son of Adam. It would be better to correct this misconception of modern evolutionary science to conform to the truth of the world we see. There was no developmental progress or advances in culture of these creatures though they existed for maybe hundreds of thousands of years. If you examine geology with radiometric dating you will have to conclude that there were steps in creation, with the presence of new forms of life at each step which continue for a very long time without variation(evolution).

        "Now after Homo Erectus we come to....Neanderthal Man, where 'man' is again a misnomer. He made tools, a bed, a shelter--but so can other animals. He could make rather involved tools, but had no sense of art. Man is an artistic creature, but this doesn't mean all artistic creatures are men. But no art is ever associated with Homo Neanderthalensis. And there is also the question whether he could speak or just made sounds with his voice. Then 35 to 40 thousand years ago angels had the responsibility of governing a world that changed from creatures lead primarily by instinct to creatures less and less so. There is thus the indication that angels were being trained not just to utilise the natural world of plants and animals and to supervise the climate and all other aspects of nature, but to train creatures who had the capacity to begin to fashion something out of the nature in which they lived, and in more and more complex form....To our knowledge, 'apemen' do not now exist on earth though there are reports of 'big-foot' and the 'abominable snowman'(If these creatures do exist and they are descendants of the Neanderthals how would they have survived until now? It's possible that the flood of Genesis 1:2 may not have risen anywhere near as high as Noah's Flood and the Neanderthals, per chance, may have been counted as animals on the Ark)....

        "After Homo Neanderthalensis we come to Cro-Magnon, or Upper Palaeolithic "man", who once again should not be called 'man' but it would be better to use a term like 'hominid' for him. At the close of the Ice Age or Arctic Climate this creature could make tools and houses and could communicate better than any former creature. He could draw--perform aesthetic operations. He could hunt, fish, and make weapons to find his food. Upper Palaeolithic hominids are therefore unusual in that they have gone beyond former creatures in many areas such as art and an aesthetic sense, and in the capacity to communicate ideas. For 20 to 25 thousand years they lived on earth and hunted and fished--but they knew no agriculture, they domesticated no animals, they neither sowed nor reaped the fields. While they were here these ideas never penetrated their minds or brains, though they had the other advancements.

        "In the Bible, Adam and Eve were put in the Garden of Eden and told to 'dress and keep it'. Adam is therefore of sufficient mentality to be a gardener and able to perceive the fundamentals of agriculture. He could also reason about such things as eternal life and death. Adam's older son Cain built a town and was an agriculturalist and tilled the field or used the plough. Adam's second son Abel kept sheep, and therefore may have kept other domestic animals--at least he was advanced enough of an agriculturalist to tend domesticated stock. Man has not been on earth more than 6000 years according to the Bible. He starts out capable of thinking of eternal matters, as well as the fundamentals of agriculture and town building. In Isaiah we are told that certain things were engraved with 'the pen of Enoch' or 'the stylus of a man'. There the implication of the Hebrew text is that Enoch, the son of Seth, invented the art of writing, because it was named after him. In Genesis we find 'the book of the Generations of Adam' which implies that in the lifetimes of Seth and Enoch, men had the capacity not only to write, but to convey, preserve, and perpetuate the written word, not necessarily in scroll or codex form. We should have realized that Homo Erectus did not write, paint, or farm. Likewise Homo Neanderthalensis, Upper Palaeolithic hominids(Cro-Magnon) etc. though they did paint and draw, did not domesticate animals, nor sow and reap, nor build cities, but only preyed on the environment like other animals. Modern man is just a refined and reduced Cro-Magnon man....Angels had been given responsibility to rule creatures who could clothe themselves with skins to keep warm in the cold, but could not think out agriculture. they were being introduced to gradually, more and more complex forms of life.

        "After Cro-Magnon we come to 'Mesolithic man'....Mesolithic man is even more refined than Cro-Magnon. He used tools different from his predecessors, who used just stone. He used bone and wood and jewellery. He also reaped wild grains, though he did not sow, and he domesticated a few animals, but did not yet have pottery. He did live in groups, or tribes, or clans--whatever term we might like to apply from our perspective. Later we have development of the use of clay. There was just about 4000 years from the beginning of gathering (like berries, nuts, and wild grains) to the conclusion of the Pottery Neolithic period. This was 4000 years in which hominids made the most rudimentary developments, slowly but surely. Angels were given charge for the first time over creatures that could think out new techniques of domestication, step by step the gradual making of pottery, the invention of a king of village or community--only this in 4000 years from about 8000 to 4000 B.C. do these stages occur. Compare this with the progress from Adam to Herod the Great. Humans in only 1700 years progressed to the point where God said 'nothing shall be restrained from man that he has imagined to do'. In the last pre-Adamic phase the hominids lived with little instinct and at a level not unlike the most primitive men live today. Apparently, they were not accountable to sin because God did not reveal certain things to them. Though they could not be distinguished skeletally from modern man, they obviously did not have the 'spirit in man' which gives him the capability to reach the moon in 6000 years of progress. Something was yet missing though they had incipient agriculture and village life.

        "Even if the angels had not rebelled, presumably the next step would have been the impartation of spirit in man--to create out of matter a form of life which the angels might originally have ruled over. Mr Armstrong has said that God must have always had in mind the possibility of an alternative. If angels would not do what God wanted done, then He would create creatures capable of doing it. And if spirit beings, the angels, would not do it and be obedient, then He would put His Spirit in matter and test that before it is made spirit. Some one-third of the angels very early on decided to 'do their own thing' and rebelled. Two-thirds apparently remained faithful to God. Following Satan, the disobedient angels abandoned this world as their inheritance. While on earth for a very long period of time, they introduced into nature a world subject to tragedies. But Romans 8 tells of a time when the sons of God in God's government will regulate nature in an entirely different fashion. 'The creation will also be delivered from the of corruption to the glorious liberty of the children of God. The whole creation (not just man) groans and travails together in pain till now.' Mr Armstrong said this is a reflection of the mind (or brain from another point of view) of the Devil. What we are looking for is the 'manifestation of the sons of God'.

        "In this we will not have a world that devours itself. Today there is no fish, plant or bird that is not subject to the 'law' that reflects the mind of the Devil. We live in the same kind of world as the whole of geologic history. As far as our knowledge goes, the whole of the history of creation revealed in history shows that same suffering that Romans 8 speaks of, which is unlike the peaceful World Tomorrow. The laws of reproduction have been woven together with the laws of food consumption so that it reflects the Devil's way of how he thinks nature should be controlled. Now if this were the way God intended it, then the description of the Millennium given by Isaiah would be wrong. But the evidence of geology indicates the Devil was already 'doing his thing'. When he appeared before God, He didn't listen to him because God said it was wrong but God let Him go ahead. Then the Devil went back and argued and reasoned with the angels until a third of them agreed with him that 'God doesn't listen'.

        "The final act of rebellion was a crisis in which the Devil and the angels perceived that the next step God had in mind was to terminate their experiment...and create a creature like the hominids but one step higher, with the capacity to reason like the mind of God - higher than the creatures with a 'brutish mentality' that is not accountable for sin, but one that has capacity to govern himself and decide for himself apart from any instinct which way he shall go. When the angels perceived that this was likely the case, they decided to abandon this inheritance, to scale the heavens, and dethrone God so they could set up the universe with a nature in accordance with their ideas of competition and strife and keeping in balance by dividing and conquering and devouring--the 'philosophy' of nature today. But they were cast down, held in restraint.

        "When God created Adam, in whom the 'spirit in man' was added he had the capacity to reason and build without limit. Every former man-like creature had an upper limit beyond which he could not progress. Suddenly a creature was created who had no upper limit to his thinking in the natural world, no limit to his speculation. We can contemplate eternity and be held accountable for law and sin. God tested Adam at this point and you know that our first two parents failed the test in the Garden of Eden, and the world once again passed to the realm of Satan, and human civilization instead of being developed under God's law and nature under God's law--everything passed under a curse. Notice in Gen. 3:14 addressed to the serpent: 'Because you have done this you are cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of our life'. This can be symbolic, but it can also be literal. The implication is that the curse was not only on the serpent through whom the Devil spoke, but also on the cattle--one was cursed 'above' the other. The curse fell on all nature. The creature that was at one time 'more subtle than any beast of the field(Gen. 3:1)' was reduced to crawling on the ground. (And there is the symbolism of the Devil himself being cast to the earth in the past and the future.) Nature was cursed with the 'philosophy" of the Devil--this is the way he wants to run the world. God put man in this world to see what it is like when run by the Devil's philosophy....

        "He said, 'Cursed is the serpent ABOVE the rest of the beasts of the field' with the indication immediately that the rest of nature was cursed because in the Garden of Eden we don't have this experience. Adam saw all these animals and there were no feelings in the Garden of Eden that he had to be careful of the lion who was getting hungry at nightfall. There was no fear that we sense in that account....Also He let a curse fall on man and woman. The ground brought forth thorns and thistles, climatic problems, toil and sweat. This is the world of the last 6000 years. Man is now responsible for making choices in that world. God then called out a few patriarchs, prophets, apostles and us saints who will be the firstfruits resurrected out of the earth, and assigned(with Christ) the responsibility to restore the government of God on earth, a government which the angels failed to exercise for millions of years."


        Describing this profound difference between the pre-Adamic hominids and mankind William Dankenbring in his book "Beyond Star Wars" makes the following comments:


         "Modern man can think rationally, can progress from the methods of his forebears. He can think up new ideas, new concepts, he can imagine, he can create. True man has the capacity to wonder about and investigate himself. He inquires about his origin, his future. He can appreciate beautiful art, music, humor, satire, creativity.

         "As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote: 'Admittedly the animal knows. But it cannot know that it knows . . . In consequence it is denied access to a whole domain of reality in which we can move freely. We are separated by a chasm—or a threshold—which it cannot cross. Because we are reflective we are not only different but quite other. It is not a matter of change of degree, but a change of nature, resulting from a change of state.'

         "The vast gap between animal brain and the mind of true man has never been satisfactorily bridged. We are indeed unique. We have the ability to be self-aware, and our self-awareness is the most compelling of all realities. As individuals, we can experience our own unique self-awareness and individuality. We possess the wonderful divine gift of a conscious existence. The human mind—the product of the 'spirit in man' which God imparted to Adam and all his descendants—is the great gift which sets modern man apart from all the pre-Adamic races and breeds uncovered by the spade or archaeology and anthropology(p.212)."

The Creation Of Man

        Immediately before God created man He cleaned up the earth from the last global catastrophe that Satan and the demons had wrought upon the earth. Genesis 1 is an absolutely beautiful, poetic description of that week when God re-created a whole myriad of new life forms on this planet, many of which He and the angels(both good and bad) would have had a hand in creating prior to this before so many perished. Mr Ron Dart in an article entitled "I'll Make Me a World" presents a beautiful commentary of this wonderful re-creation of God's. He wrote the following:


                  "And God stepped out on space
                  And He looked around and said:
                  'I'm lonely.'
                  I'll make me a world."

                  From "The Creation," James Weldon Johnson.

         "Once upon a time, there was no world. There was no universe as we know it. There was only space. There was a time when God arrived at a decision to create the world—when the world was born in the mind of God.

         "Before there could be a man, there had to be a place for man and that place had to be carefully designed. Man would be physical, so his environment had to be physical. He would need food, air, water, a survivable temperature range. He would need companionship, animal and human, and the opportunity to grow and develop. All this took thought and planning.

         "And so the planning began. A planet would be required— and power....

         "'First of all we will need a star. The star will have to be big enough to be far away and still provide light, warmth and power. Too close, and we might fry our man with radiation. Too far, and he can't grow food. The star needs to be big enough to have sufficient fuel to last over time. We want it to remain stable for as long as we need it.

         "We must give careful consideration to the quality of the radiation from this star. Part of the radiation will fall in the visible range and will be called light. Light must have certain properties to be useful. Unlike ultraviolet and X-rays, it must not be harmful. X-rays will go right through tissue and cause damage. Light will simply be reflected from the skin and will be harmless. Yet light must penetrate the atmosphere, while X-rays must be absorbed. A nice little problem in physics must be solved.

         "Since man will be able to see, we want him to like what he sees. For that matter, we want to like it ourselves. If we make different frequencies of light different colors, and vary the qualities of absorption, diffusion, refraction, and reflection, we can get rainbows, red sunsets, green leaves, yellow lemons, blue skies, and blue-green water. What we can do with flowers and birds is only limited by our imagination.

         "The planet we have in mind will have to be 93 million miles from the selected star—no more, no less. This will give it the optimum climate. Our man win have to grow food, and the food will have to be watered. At 93 million miles, the sun will evaporate and raise about 5,435 tons of water from one square mile of ocean surface every hour. The temperature differential, and the weight of water vapor should serve to get the water to high altitudes and keep it there long enough for the wind to carry it over land. If we cool it at the right time, it should serve as an effective sprinkler system.

         "The planet will have to be just the right size. If it is too large, gravity will make everything heavier. It will hold more oxygen and more oxygen will mean more water. A much larger planet could have oceans that are 1500 miles deep. If we make it too small, it won't hold the lighter gasses at all. There is, it seems a rather narrow range of size for this planet we want.

         "We can also see that one side of it will be too hot and the other side too cold. We can handle that by simply turning it on its axis. We must, however, get the speed of rotation right. Our man can get used to days of varying lengths, but if we turn too slow, we burn everything up in the days and freeze it at night.

         "Even with the planet spinning, there is still a problem. The equator will be too hot, with perpetual summer, and the northern latitudes will be too cold to be useful. What if we tilt the earth a few degrees? This will give us seasons, and much more of the earth can be cultivated. The cycles of heat and cold will help keep the insects under control. A 23 degree tilt should be optimum. If we vary much at all, life won't survive....

         "By the way, the evaporation we have been talking about will make the oceans saline. What will that do to marine life? And how will our fish breathe? Simple. We make oxygen soluble in water. Plankton, tides, waves, rain, surface absorption will all oxygenate the water. We will equip our fish with gills that will take the oxygen directly from the water.

         "What are tides? Well, we have to move these huge oceans to keep them from getting stagnant. We