The Restoration of Truth

By M. John Allen

Chapter 1.

The Story of Creation and Prehistory

In understanding what God is doing today, in your life, in the lives of your friends, in the history of our nation, and the history of the world, we have to wind the tape of history back to the beginning.

Most people think the Bible begins with the first chapter and first verse of Genesis, but they would be wrong. You see, the bible is a coded book. It is purposely written so that THE VAST MAJORITY WILL NOT UNDERSTAND, because God is not trying to save this world now. We will get to that part of the story later, but for now, let’s find where the TRUE BEGINNING is!

If you will turn with me in your Bible to John 1:1-4: “In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the light was the life of men.” [NKJV throughout unless otherwise noted.]

These verses take us back to the time before the earth or the material universe ever existed. Not even the angels had yet been created. There were only two Great Beings, one was the Word, which in the Greek is translated from the word Logos (note: some people try to say that the name for God can only be in the Hebrew language, and that unless you make the RIGHT NOISES with your mouth, you can’t be saved; much of the New Testament makes this argument utter nonsense, because the writers of the New Testament used primarily Greek names instead of Hebrew, as this example shows; also, some of the New Testament may have been written in Aramaic, and they didn’t revert to the Hebrew names for God there, either), which can be translated Spokesman, and the other is simply called God. But, at the same time that this Word was with God, this Word was also God. It also states that this Being referred to as the Word is the one through whom the entire work of creation was done [“All things were made through Him, and without him nothing was made that was made.” Now understand this, by adding Ephesians 3:9: "...God, who created all things by Jesus Christ." Thus, as we read further, in Colossians 1, beginning verse 12, "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath ...translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son...who is the image of the invisible God [same appearance, form and shape and character]...for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist" (verses 12-13, 15-17]

Instead of revealing some Trinity, then, or some other mystery brought out of paganism, your Bible reveals that there existed at first, before everything else, only these two God Beings. These Two have always existed, and they will always exist. They are Eternal.

How did we get the Trinity Doctrine, if only two persons are revealed in the God Family?

To answer this question, let me quote a section from the book, Mystery of the Ages, by Herbert W. Armstrong, p. 35:

“There is only one small passage in the Authorized Version of the Bible that is generally used by Trinity adherents to support the Trinity doctrine. This passage is found in I John 5:7-8, and is bracketed in the following quotation: ‘For there are three that bear record [in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth], the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.’ The bracketed words were added by editors to the Latin Vulgate translation probably in the early fourth century. They do not appear in any of the older Greek manuscripts nor in other modern English translation. They were added to the Latin Vulgate during the heat of the controversy between Rome and Dr. Arias and God's people.

“Bible commentaries explain that these words were never written in the apostle John's manuscript or any existing early copies of it. The apostle John in his three epistles and the Revelation speaks of "the Father, and... Son" (I John 1:3), but never of ‘the Father and the Word,’ except in this uninspired part of I John 5:7-8.

“There was a real reason why the arch deceiver Satan wanted that spurious verse added in the Latin Vulgate from which it crept into the Authorized Version. The Trinity doctrine completely does away with the gospel of Jesus Christ. His gospel is the MESSAGE he brought mankind from God the Father, the good news of the coming KINGDOM OF GOD! That is the ONE thing above all Satan wants to defeat. This will become plain as we proceed.

“One world-famous evangelist said: ‘When I first began to study the Bible years ago, the doctrine of the Trinity was one of the most complex problems I had to encounter. I have never fully resolved it, for it contains an aspect of mystery. Though I do not totally understand it to this day, I accept it as a revelation of God.... To explain and illustrate the Trinity is one of the most difficult assignments to a Christian.’

Much is also made of the fact that in a number of places in modern translations the masculine pronoun he is carelessly used in connection with the Holy Spirit. But not always-- sometimes the Holy Spirit is referred to as it in these very same translations. For example, in the passage describing the first coming of the Holy Spirit for the founding of the Church of God on that memorable day of Pentecost.

Holy Spirit Poured Out

“The Holy Spirit came from heaven, audibly, sounding like a mighty wind, ‘and it [the Holy Spirit] filled all the house where they were sitting.’ Next, the Holy Spirit appeared--WAS VISIBLY SEEN--manifested--’And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it [the Holy Spirit in the form of divided tongues] sat upon each of them’ (Acts 2:2-3). In verse 18, Peter is quoting from the prophet Joel: ‘I will pour out...of my Spirit....’ The Holy Spirit, like water or a fluid, can be ‘POURED OUT.’ Can you pour out a person from one into another--as from God into those assembled there? John 7:37-39: ‘In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy [Spirit] was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)’

“Again in Acts 10:45, ‘...on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy [Spirit].’”

I could go on and give more examples, but this will suffice for now. Further information on these topics is available in our online website or through ftp. Check out the wealth of material there for more proof on this and other subjects.

God is a Divine Family

Thus, God is revealed, at the outset, as a Divine Family, at this time made up only of these two. The Logos, or Spokesman, is the one used by the God Family to actually do all of the work of creation. He was also the One who has, throughout the ages, been the One to always deal with mankind. He is the Creator and the revealer of the other One, who after Christ’s birth, became known to us as the Father.

Verse 14 of this same chapter says that this Word is the One who “became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Word became the One known to us now as Christ.

But let’s go back now to this setting in pre-history. The Father and the Son (as they later became known) were the only two Beings in existence. It is not revealed how long it was before they thought of beginning a Creative Work, but, when one has always existed, that question loses its meaning. Suffice it to say that at some point they decided that it would be nice to have company -- to have other beings to share their existence with.

How long they thought about this is not revealed, but we do know that God plans things very thoroughly, with painstaking care before He does them. In any case, they planned their first creations, which were to be immortal spirits like themselves, though on a slightly lower plane of existence. These beings that they created became known as ANGELS.

The first part of the thirty eighth chapter of Job tells about God laying the foundations of the earth when it was created. Verse 7 talks about the “morning stars” singing together at this Creation of the physical universe. “Star” is often used in the Bible when it speaks of angels. We will see later that this name of star was applied to Lucifer before he fell and became Satan.

Getting back to our story thread, though, we don’t know how long the angels existed before the material world was created. It could have been billions of years as we count time, we just don’t know. In those countless ages, the angels had time to be TRAINED BY GOD, to learn about His way of life, His Laws (yes, I am certain that God had to devise Laws even for Angels to make sure that their character was formed properly, and they acted correctly towards each other), and His Divine Character. I can’t help but think that God may have originally thought that the angels could develop His Holy Righteous Character -- but, if this had been His intent, what was the purpose for the physical universe? Were they originally supposed to “dress it and keep it” as the original man was commissioned to do? We do not know.

I need to explain something right here that is a very important point: Even though God creates things PERFECT at the time He makes them, He often does things in STAGES. One of the reasons He seems to create in stages is because He wants His created beings to participate in the act of creation itself by finishing the work that God starts. Unfortunately, the track record of God’s created beings has been bad, because, rather than BEAUTIFYING, or IMPROVING on what God has created, His creatures more often than not DESTROY what is already there!

What a paradox. God in His love wants to participate and work side by side with His created beings in the act of creation, but, instead, they more often than not DESTROY what is there instead. We will soon begin to understand the reason for this problem, and what God’s ultimate answer to this problem is.

It is not revealed, then, whether or not God originally intended to create man, or whether He at first planned to deal only with His angels. My personal opinion, though, is that God intended to create man at the very beginning.

After the creation of the earth God placed one third of His Holy Angels on it.. Over the host of ordinary angels, God had created three great cherubs, each over a third of the angels. The Cherub Lucifer got the privilege of taking his angels down to the earth to begin the next phase of God’s creation on it, possibly to prepare it for man. Lucifer was set on a throne, having authority over the earth, a position he holds to this day, despite his later rebellion against God.

We don’t know how long this Lucifer and his angels dwelt on the earth before Lucifer began to grow discontented with his lot. It is not revealed in the Bible exactly what his so called “grievance” was with God, but he evidently began to find fault with some aspect of what God was doing, His Plan, or the fact that Lucifer was “stuck” on the earth while the other angels and God were still in Heaven.

Instead of recognizing the fact that he had been given a very special commission and job to do, he instead began to resent the fact that he had been sent to the earth and was over “only it.”

Lucifer was the most beautiful, intelligent being in the universe next to the members of the God Family, probably even somewhat above the other two cherubs. Let’s read what God’s Word says about this super being!

“How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer [the margin says the literal translation of this name is Day Star], son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into the heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars [angels] of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like [some other translations render this become] the Most High.’ Yet your shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.” [Is. 14: 12-15 NKJV]

This passage tells us that Satan wanted to ascend into heaven and knock the Creator God off His Throne! What incredible vanity it must have taken for this Lucifer to think he could accomplish this!

But this passage only gives us PART of the story. There are other passages in the Bible that shed more light on this gigantic tragedy. A parallel to this passage can be found in the book of Ezekiel, which tells us more of the reasons for this tragedy.

“You were the anointed cherub who covers [there were two cherubs who covered the Throne of God, represented by the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies]; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, ‘till iniquity [or “lawlessness,” as some others translate this] was found in you.

“By the abundance of your trading you became defiled within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.

“Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.” [Ez. 28:12-17]

By combining these two passages, we can see that Satan became lifted up with pride because of his great beauty. Among his talents was music. He god infused, over time, with how wonderful he was, and this perverted his judgment so that he began to think he was better than God.

He had been at the very Throne of God as the covering cherub. He was at the top, next only to the God Family in administration of the entire universe!

God intended to honor him by selecting him to carry out the next phase in the Divine Plan, which was to take place on the new planet earth. God set Lucifer up as the ruler of the earth on earth’s throne, along with a third of the angels under him. their commission was to beautify the earth and prepare it for the next phase in God’s Plan. This probably, even then, included the creation of man.

We don’t know how long Lucifer wand his angels were on the earth before things went wrong. It could have been only several years, or it could have been millions. For some reason, though, Lucifer allowed himself to become carried away with his own vanity. Once his mind began to be clouded by self exultation, he began to view God’s blessing in a different way. He looked at the vast universe, and heaven itself. Then he no doubt looked at the puny planet over which he ruled, and began to think that, rather than being generous, God was somehow being unfair.

He began to look at his own abilities, intelligence, and beauty, and no doubt thought to himself, “What am I doing down here on this little speck of dirt? Michael and Gabriel are still in heaven enjoying themselves, while all I have is this one small planet and a lot of hard work. Besides, it looks to me like this plan God has of reproducing Himself will permanently relegate me to the sidelines. I’m as good as God is. I think I can run the universe better!”

As he thought about things more and more, he began to think that God’s give way of life, the way of helping, serving and love was no good. He reasoned that it would be much better to take for SELF, to serve SELF, to take whatever he could from OTHERS SO THAT HE COULD HAVE MORE FOR HIMSELF! It seemed to his mind that by having more for self, he could be happier. He also knew that teaching this philosophy to the other angels would eventually turn them from God, just as it had him.

He could now envision that if everyone worked for THEIR OWN SELF INTEREST, then perhaps they would have MORE INCENTIVE TO WORK HARDER. If he could co- ordinate this effort, playing other angels off each other, putting them in competition with each other, and subtly guiding them so that they believed that what served their own best interests just happened to coincide with his own interests, he could sit at the top and skim off the cream.

It was a brilliant scheme. We don’t know how long it took, but, by casual comment here, innuendo against God and how unfair He was there, Satan slowly perverted the angels under his power, slowly turning them into demons. The tragic results of Satan’s wrong reasoning are reflected in the world today, and once started down this path, it seems that one almost always gets continually more perverted, more selfish, and more evil.

After Satan had thoroughly convinced his angels that God was wrong, and he was right, he hatched a plot to swoop up to heaven and knock God off His throne, replacing God and ruling the universe himself. He had probably deceived himself into thinking that the other angels in heaven would somehow see the “rightness” of their “popular cause,” and that enough of them would join him so that his side would prevail.

Unfortunately, he did not realize that the other angels would remain loyal to God, neither did he, in his self deluded vanity, realize that God was so immensely powerful that even if all the angels turned against Him He would still win!

I think perhaps the ancient Greek myth about the Titans, the first, greatest gods, who were bound by the smaller, weaker gods who came after them so that they could take control from them is Satan’s wishful thinking that sheer numbers of angels could combine to overcome God. This shows the depth to which a great mind can go into self delusion once vanity, jealousy, lust and greed have taken over. But it is sobering to realize that the first of these is vanity.

Unfortunately, Satan does not learn from his mistakes. He rose up to heaven to try and throw God out once, and, just before the Tribulation, he will make a second attempt.

“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven anymore, so the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” [Rev. 12:7-9]

One thing to bear in mind is that most prophecies are dual, there is both a former, typical fulfillment, and a latter, archetypal fulfillment. Even though this passage talks directly of Satan’s second attempt, it also, I am sure, pretty much sums up the results of the first attempt. Luke 10:18 quotes Christ as saying that He saw Satan fall as lightning from heaven. This was not, of course, the final attempt mentioned in Revelation, but was, no doubt, the first time in prehistory.

As a result of this gigantic battle, when Stan was thrown back down to the earth in prehistory it caused a tremendous cataclysm. Whether as a direct result of this titanic battle, or, rather, as a result of Satan “taking out his anger” about what happened on the earth by destroying it, we do not know. It is also possible that he caused some destruction to other planets in our solar system at this time. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that there once was a planet where the asteroid belt now is. There are also millions of meteor storms circling the sun. This planet, and perhaps some moons, could have been destroyed by Satan “on his way down,” so to speak. Once cast down to the earth, Satan was bound here, although God does permit him and some other evil spirits to go up to heaven [Satan is referred to in Rev. 1:10 as the “accuser of the brethren” who does this “before God day and night.”] Since God is in heaven now, God must give Satan access to heaven on a regular basis even today. Otherwise, though, he is no doubt normally restricted to the earth.

In any case, after Satan was cast back down to the earth, it went into a form of universal chaos, destruction, and darkness. The world was covered by ocean, and a deep cloud layer kept the world in total darkness (to this day, it seems that demons like hot, dry places -- and no wonder, if they had spent millions of years in wet darkness). Satan hadn’t wanted to go along with God’s way of Love, and had, instead, chosen the way of get. God is the one who brings true light. Satan, when he had been created, had been called Lucifer, which meant “Day Star” or “light Bringer.” But, though a long period of wrong thinking and doing, he had become the opposite of what he had started out as. The Light Bringer had become the Prince of Darkness.

Surveying this terrible tragedy, God must have been very unhappy. It seemed as if His hopes had been dashed, His plan ruined. But God’s purpose is never thwarted, He can take any situation and make it turn out fine in the end. I can’t say whether this rebellion had been foreseen as a strong possibility, or had only been acknowledged as a possibility. But, whenever God gives free moral agency, the final outcome cannot be absolutely known, even by Him. In fact, when Christ came, the Father couldn’t have known with 100% certainty if even the Logos, become flesh, would remain loyal. The chance of Christ sinning could not have been all that great, but it had to have been there, nevertheless, or He could not have been our Savior.

Whether or not God had thought that what had happened was only a remote possibility, or a probability, is actually besides the point. It happened. Not only Lucifer, BUT, apparently, all of the angels under his influence had gone astray, had sinned, had chosen a way of life other than God’s way of Love and give.

This tragedy was especially bad because spirit is not like matter. Once a spirit creation is finished, it is set for all eternity. Thus, by deciding to follow the wrong way of life, and by actually rising up and trying to replace God Himself, these angels had set the course of their lives forever. These sinning angels are bound in chains now on this earth, awaiting their final judgment. [Jude 6; II Pet. 2:4] I imagine that it is just barely possible that one of them might repent, but, when a spirit mind sets itself firmly in a certain direction, it is almost impossible for that to change.

Let me explain further. When Lucifer and his angels, as well as the rest of the angels were formed, they were, like little babies, morally neutral. They were neither good nor bad, because they had not as yet made any decisions through the exercise of their free moral agency. But, as they, like a human being, began to make choices, they began to build up certain habits. Since the angels were fully aware of God and in contact with Him whenever they wanted, there was no excuse for a wrong decision, save maybe for weakness. Yet, it is almost unimaginable that a powerful spirit being could make a decision from weakness, as we fleshly humans do.

A wrong decision made from weakness is excusable in God’s sight. Perhaps even an occasional knowing sin would be, as long as it didn’t have a defiant force of will behind it. But, as life went on for these angels, patterns of behavior and habits formed. Some angels had good habits, because they followed God’s Law, and others didn’t, because they listened to the train of thought that Lucifer was developing. ?Sin is so subtle. It is so easy. In Lucifer it probably started with a simple thought of pride and vanity, like a woman looking at herself in a mirror and staring at herself just a little bit too long, thinking “I’m lovely!”

To honestly see one’s self in the proper perspective, admitting the truth about something that one does well is one thing. But, if pride and vanity begin to creep in, there is a slight warping of the thought processes. Finally, we begin to think that we are BETTER than we actually are, or, we begin to compare ourselves with others. The being who is being taken over by pride starts looking around. He looks down his nose in contempt at those who are less endowed with natural gifts (which come from God, anyway, we had nothing to do with them), or whatever else it is that we think makes us “better,” and we tend to look with jealousy, resentment, and growing anger at those whom we think are somehow “superior,” or “acting superior” to us. It just doesn’t seem fair somehow. They must not really BE BETTER, it JUST LOOKS THAT WAY, and they have a BIG EGO for trying to palm themselves off as better, Just WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE, ANYWAY?

As you can see this thought progression begins with but a single wrong thought, and soon mushrooms out into a way of life and thought that breeds strife, competition, and the desire to harm others. Once these habits of thought are developed in a human being they are very hard to correct -- but, once these habits are formed in a SPIRIT BEING it is almost impossible to stop this chain from going further. Once started down the wrong path, like a train, the spirit being’s mind tends to just go faster in the same line. Thus, Satan’s mind becomes, believe it or not, MORE WARPED and more PERVERTED all the time. He is insane and getting more so!

As the habits of thought and action became deeply ingrained in Lucifer and his angels, they changed from mere habit to CHARACTER -- and that character WAS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF GOD’S CHARACTER. This is what resulted in the first war of the universe, and it is how wars develop among men to this day.

James summed up this idea quite well when he said: “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your [wrongful] desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust, and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” Yes, GOD WOULD GIVE US WHAT WE WANT if we would only ask Him, although it must be according to His will. And He does not deny us anything other than that which would do us harm. Let’s continue: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” [Jas. 4:1-3]

If only Lucifer and his angels had waited, God would have given them their desires in due time. They would have been recognized for their accomplishments. Instead, they were impatient and developed an “alternative path” that they thought would be a short cut to what they wanted. It wasn’t. Instead, it ROBBED THEM not only of any rewards in the future, but also of WHAT THEY HAD IN THE BEGINNING!

A person who is a robber, a liar, an extortioner, etc., may be able to grab a lot for himself for a while. But, eventually, even if the law doesn’t catch up with him, life will. And even if life doesn’t, God will at the judgment. There is no escaping the evil consequences of sin, or the get way of life, save through the sacrifice of Christ.

After these angels sinned and developed evil character, though, they lost hope of repentance because a spirit mind, once firmly flowing in one direction, can’t be diverted.

This left God with no alternative. Until the other two thirds of the angels made their decisions and formed either righteous or evil character, then there was always the possibility that even more angels would eventually sin. And, in addition, the loss of a full third of His created beings must have hurt God very deeply. God hates to see suffering of any kind including self inflicted mental torment, so this must have troubled Him greatly. There must be a better way, He must have thought to Himself (unless, of course, man was planned from the beginning anyway, which is a strong possibility). Also, angels could not be absolutely relied upon NEVER TO SIN, only the two God Beings in the universe could be relied upon not to sin.

However, God must have thought, if He created physical beings in His image, with the power of intellect and character development and free moral agency, then perhaps the success rate would be better. Matter is in a constant state of change. Matter is not permanent. This is contrasted with spirit essence, which is almost unchangeable, and is permanent.

So, a human being, if he or she sinned, could be forgiven those sins and could CHANGE THE DIRECTION OF THEIR LIVES, because matter is subject to change. God refers to us as a “clay” in His hands, which means we are malleable, able to be worked with. And, if a mistake is made, it can be taken out of the clay vessel. Once the clay models are in the shape and form that God wanted them to be in, He can then CHANGE THEM INTO PERMANENT SPIRIT, thus freezing in the good character in a new spirit composed body. If the human refused to repent and build good character, as God wanted him or her to, it could be destroyed and taken out of existence as if it had never been. The flawed being would not have to suffer for eternity in mental torment like the demons and Satan. Also, because it could be guaranteed that these new Beings, once transformed, WOULD NEVER SIN, God could entrust to them the status of being His very sons. He could give them power like His, and admit them to His very Family! This meant that God would have the true companionship of beings on His plane of existence!

In other words, God was now preparing for the most exciting, daring, phase of His creative efforts: He was getting ready to REPRODUCE HIMSELF! I know that those words sound shocking, but I will shortly prove to you that this is exactly what God intended. This will be brought out later in this book, when we examine why Christ came and died for our sins! God was getting ready to start His God Family, also known as the Kingdom of God.

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