The World Tomorrow, the Worldwide Church of God presents Herbert W. Armstrong, internationally recognized ambassador for world peace, visiting prominent leaders around the globe, discussing the cause of world problems, and proclaiming the good news of the World Tomorrow. Ladies and gentlemen, Herbert W. Armstrong.
Universal prosperity, awesome world of peace, all of the good things of life, universal happiness. That means utopia. You look up the word "utopia" in the dictionary, and it'll tell you it's a fanciful sort of an imaginary world where everything is just perfect and there's plenty for everybody and no poverty or anything of the kind but imaginary and impossible. Well, why should it be impossible now when it comes to prosperity? And we think of that as material prosperity; all material wealth comes from the ground, and there's enough of it in the ground to supply for all that is needed for happiness and peace for every man, woman, and child on the face of the earth if we just use it properly and if it were properly developed.
Why do we hear so many talk about God's poor as if God loves only the poor? Does God love the poor and hate the wealthy or hate the prosperous? Does God love failure and hate success? Let me read you a little of what God Himself says in the Bible. In third John, the second verse (III John 2), we read this: "Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers." God wishes above all things that we might prosper. Now again, in the first Psalm and in the first three verses (Psalm 1:1-3), we read this: "Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord." Now that seems a little bit strange because the Christian, that is traditional Christianity, is a religion today, is claiming and has claimed through the years that the law is done away, the law of God they view as a terrible thing. Well, then why does it say here in the Psalms, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, but his delight is in the law of the Eternal and in His law does he meditate day and night?" Not very many meditating on God's law day and night anymore today. And yet a blessing was pronounced there on the one who does.
Now in Genesis 39, verses two and three (Genesis 39:2-3): "And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. The Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did do prosper." There was a man who was obedient to God, and God prospered everything that he did. I would like to have you notice the 84th Psalm (Psalm 84:11-12): "For the Eternal God is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusts in thee..." In other words, if we trust in God, we will be blessed and have blessing. That's back in Deuteronomy, the 28th chapter, in the first two verses (Deuteronomy 28:1-2). "And it shall come to pass if thou shalt hearken diligently under the voice of the Eternal thy God, to observe and to do all of his Commandments." Now, there is if you do his Commandments and yet traditional Christianity has preached all along that the Commandments are done away. Jesus came and nailed the Commandments to the cross. They tried to tell you, you can't find that in the Bible. That is not true, but it has been taught nevertheless. "And to do all of his Commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Eternal thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth." That was a national promise to the nation. What about the United States today? That applies to us today if we would honor God, if we would obey His laws.
Now, we have, in one sense, been set already economically on the top of the nations of the world, but we're not staying there. Now, the second verse: "And all these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Eternal, thy God." And that voice was the one that gave His law, His Commandments, and the law of God. The Commandments of God are merely the way of life. It's God's way. Well, you might say it's God's lifestyle. God pronounced blessings and cursing and told the people to choose the blessings if they would only obey Him. That would bring economic and financial blessings and other blessings, also.
Now, in the 92nd Psalm, verse 12 (Psalm 92:12), I'd like to have you notice: "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like the cedar in Lebanon." The righteous, in other words, will flourish and will grow in prosperity, but also in health and in happiness and in all of the good things that are considered as blessings and things that are to be desired and things that we want. At the same time, God does warn us about not setting our hearts on material prosperity.
Now, I've had a great deal of experience in that, and I have known many multimillionaires. I've done business in my earlier life with presidents and board chairmen of many of the largest industrial corporations in the Middle West and the East and the United States. I've known millionaires who had more money than they needed, but it was never enough. And the more they had, the more they wanted, and the more they had, the less satisfied they were because it still wasn't enough, and they wanted more, and they were unhappy. Money alone does not make you happy if you set your mind and your heart on money and the material possessions; that alone is not enough.
And you notice that God promises material prosperity if you have the other things, because His Commandments are a way of life. In other words, the law of God can be stated in one word, love. Love. But it's outflow love, away from the self, love toward other people. It is not lust. Lust is coming in toward yourself, self-love, self-desire, vanity. And that is what we do have. And that's what we do find in the world. But God says, if you have that love, which is toward others, toward God first of all, and then toward neighbor, obedience to God and to God's way of life, obedience to God merely means His law, His code of conduct, and how you conduct yourself, not only toward God but toward your neighbor.
Today, everybody is in competition against his neighbor. He wants to get, he wants to take away from his neighbor. If possible, he wants to prevent his neighbor from getting or having anything. He wants to take it all to himself. And that does not make for happiness. You see, prosperity goes along with the right kind of happiness, and happiness goes along with the right kind of prosperity if you have them both in the right balance.
Now, the Ten Commandments simply give you the only way that can bring both prosperity and peace to the world. If everybody is concerned for the good and welfare of his neighbor, then we won't have the troubles that we're having in this world today. We won't have the curses that are on the people and on all humanity as it is today. All poverty and evil come from breaking the Ten Commandments of God. The Ten Commandments are only a manifestation of the law of outflowing love, first to God and then to neighbor.
Now, the first four of the Ten Commandments define love or the general principle of love toward God. The last six of the Ten Commandments simply give you the principle of love toward your neighbor. It starts out with "Honor your father and mother." The closest person of all to anyone is his father and mother, his parents; they should be honored. And then there is the one against adultery. In other words, faithfulness to the one you've chosen as your life mate to live with. And if you love your neighbor, you won't steal from him. If you love your neighbor, you're not going to harm him or try to kill him. And we have so much murder to be contended with in the world today. If you love your neighbor, you won't covet what he has, whether it's his wife, or his jewelry, his automobile, his money, or whatever. It's only the way toward peace, and it also is the way to prosperity.
Now, the Bible has a lot to say about sin. And in I John, the third chapter, and verse four (I John 3:4), you get the Bible definition of what sin is. Sin is the transgression of the law. And sin is a term that we use only in connection with God. If you sin, shall we say, to use that term against the government, the laws of man, we don't call that sin, we call that crime. And in Romans, seventh chapter, the 14th verse (Romans 7:14), it says that the law is spiritual, it's a spiritual law. Now, a lot of people don't understand a spiritual law and how that differs from a material or physical law. A spiritual law has to do with the operation of one mind or the attitude or spirit in one mind in association with other minds, that is, with your mind in association with the mind of God. And God intended for us to have a relationship with Him, and the world has forgotten God. The average person has no relationship whatsoever with God. He should have because God loves all of us. I've heard programs saying that God loves you. Yes, he does. He loves everybody, but do you love God? Most of you might say you do, but actually, when you get down to it, you really don't because you don't even think much about God. Most people just don't.
Now, let's go back to the beginning of the world and see what happened. The first man, Adam, was one man. God started this whole world with one man, and all of us and all humanity and all the races have come from that one man. Now, before that man, were two trees: one was called the Tree of Life. And if the man had taken of that Tree of Life, he would have received the spirit of God. Now, the man was made in something that even scientists don't understand today. One of the latest sciences today, the science of brain research, and they can't seem to understand the difference between the human mind and the animal brain. They try to take the brains apart, but they won't admit that a man has a mind any different than an animal. And yet, its output is millions of times greater. An animal can't think, can't reason, can't come to conclusions, make decisions. Doesn't have such things as wisdom or judgment. An animal has no appreciation of art, literature, and music. He does not have the attitudes of a human being of good or evil and things of that sort.
Now, those are spiritual things, attitudes of good or evil and your conduct toward other people. Well, if this man had taken to the Tree of Life, the root of that tree is God, and out of the root comes the Holy Spirit of God. In the trunk of the tree, and it comes up, and if you have it coming into you, it'll produce the fruit of love and peace and joy and prosperity and happiness and all of the good things of God and the things of God's law.
But there was also another tree in that garden, and that tree looked very pleasant and inviting to Mother Eve. In that tree, what she saw was success by taking it away from other people, and wealth, and vanity, and self-glory. And somehow, those things all appealed to her. The root of that tree is Satan, the devil, and the trunk was the spirit of Satan. And the real fruit that it produced was unhappiness and competition, strife, destruction, murder. It was all of the evils that are taking place and besetting all humanity on this earth today. And somehow, man has never come to see what is wrong with his world because it started out on that foundation. Man chose that tree, Eve was deceived, into taking it. And the first man, Adam, went along with his wife and also took of that tree, though he knew better. And everybody has been taking of that tree. And what comes out of the roots of that tree are the attitude and the spirit of vanity, of self-centeredness, of greed, of competition and strife, of envy and jealousy toward others. And that's why we're having the troubles we're having in the world today. And that has led to poverty, that has led to abject poverty and sorrow and suffering and all of those things that we have and that beset the whole world today.
Now, getting back to the nation, there was ancient Israel, a nation, and God said to them as you find in Leviticus, the 26th chapter, I just want to read you a little of that because it has a great deal to do with the United States and the British people and Canada, all of our people today. Now, you'll find here at the beginning in verse one, Leviticus 26 (Leviticus 26:1), God said to that nation, Ancient Israel, "You shall make you no idols nor graven images," that is having other gods before the true God, "neither rear you up any standing image. You shall keep my Sabbaths." God says His Sabbaths, "reverence my sanctuary. I am the Eternal. If you walk in my statutes and keep my Commandments," again, of his command, the Sabbath incidentally is one of those Commandments. Then he says, "If you do that, I will give you rain in the due season, your land shall yield the increase," and that is wealth. That's where prosperity comes from. "And I will give you peace in the land." You see peace goes right along with it.
But now listen, coming to verse 14 (Leviticus 26:14), "If you will not listen to me and do all of these Commandments and if you shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhors my judgments so that you will not do all my Commandments," there again, are the Commandments they're trying to say are done away today, "but that you break my covenant. I also will do this unto you. I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague. And I will set my face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when none pursue. And if you will not yet for all of this, listen to me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins." And that, in biblical language, figures out to a time of 2520 years. And that did happen to Ancient Israel, and we are the descendants of those people. And that 2520 years ended in the year 1800.
By 1800, London was the financial hub of the world. By 1803, the United States had acquired the Louisiana Purchase and become a great nation. And all wealth has come to us as God had promised it to Abraham. And through these people, it was denied for 2520 years. It came to us. President Abraham Lincoln knew that we hadn't toiled and earned it, that it had come through the mercies of God because he had promised it to our ancestors. But what have we done with it?
And we put on our money 'In God, we trust,' but we don't trust in God. We say His law has done away, and we teach it in our churches in this world. God says His tithe is holy to Him. Now, God says in Malachi, the third chapter (Malachi 3:8), 'Will a man rob God?' And yet you have robbed me, even this whole nation. You say, 'How have we robbed you in tithes and offerings?' You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation because we're not tithing. And that's why we have such a great national debt. That's why you're having to pay far more than a tithe into the government to run you because we're not heeding God's laws, and we're in economic trouble, and we're in spiritual trouble, and we're having all kinds of trouble. We're in mental trouble. We're in physical trouble. Our land is dotted with hospitals and with multiple thousands of physicians and doctors because we're sick, and we are sick in every way. We're sick economically, we're sick morally and spiritually. And we're paying the price because we haven't learned what success is. We haven't learned the way of success. We haven't obeyed our God. And that is what is wrong in the country. That's why we've been having the troubles that we've been having.
When will this country wake up? God Almighty has said to me, 'Cry aloud and spare not, lift up your voice and show my people their sins,' says God. And that's what I'm doing, and you're hearing it in your ears this minute, and I hope you will take the message.
Now, I don't want to close this particular program without offering a certain booklet that I have not offered for a long, long time on television. And that is the "Seven Laws of Success". Now, this is dealing with economic success. That's true. But nobody needs to be a failure in life economically. There are laws that govern whether you're going to be successful or not. There need to be no poverty whatsoever but there is, and there's a cause for it. You need to know the cause. I told you a while ago that I have known many multimillionaires who have made money. They have observed these laws and they've made money. That's where I learned about these laws first before I learned them out of the Bible. And they're there too. But they're practical. They are the practical laws that have made the success of every life that has been a success.
You need this little booklet the "Seven Laws of Success". It's short; you can read it in one setting. It's illustrated with pictures of some of the men that I knew earlier in life that were very successful are given here. Also. Now let me tell you, oh, I want to just mention once again before I close this book that "The United States and Britain in Prophecy", where we're mentioned in prophecy and what it says about our nation and why we became so great where we got our national wealth and why it's being taken away from us today. You need this booklet, millions of our listeners and viewers have received this booklet. There's no charge, there's no cost. And I'd like to send you it if you haven't received it yet. Now, many of you have.
But if you haven't, you need that booklet and we'll also give you a year's subscription to "The Plain Truth", the greatest and finest magazine in this world. I wonder how many of you know that the circulation of the Plain Truth is greater than Time or Newsweek or our news publications. It's published in seven languages all over the world. It's beautifully illustrated and it carries no advertising and for reading content, it carries more reading in it than the average larger magazine because they're stuffed with advertising. And this is all reading matter and there's no subscription price and we will send you a year's subscription, but you have to ask for it for yourself.
And then if you receive it another year, you'll have to renew or you won't receive it, you don't have enough money to buy it and we don't request money. We don't request the public for money. And this is the only program I know that practices that policy for this booklet, "The Seven Laws of Success", this other booklet, "The United States and Britain in Prophecy" and your free subscription to the Plain Truth. If you're not already a subscriber, just send your request to me, Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California. That's Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California 91123 or better yet. Go to the telephone right now and just make a free telephone call. This call is free. You dial 800-423-4444, you dial 800-423-4444. And if you find the lines are busy because thousands of calls are coming in and actually of the hundreds of people are waiting to take your call but jot it down and keep calling till you get through. And so, until next time, Herbert W Armstrong, Goodbye Friends.
For the free literature offered on this program, write Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena California 91123 in Canada Box 44, Vancouver BC or in the Continental United States including California. You may call this toll-free number 800-423-4444 in Alaska and Hawaii Call, collect 818-304-6111. If the lines are busy, please try again. The preceding program and all literature were produced and sponsored by the worldwide Church of God.