Herbert W Armstrong

   The World Tomorrow. The Worldwide Church of God presents, The World Tomorrow with Herbert W. Armstrong. Ladies and gentlemen, Herbert W. Armstrong.

   About a week ago, I said that Satan the devil is now once again in world news and how he is in world news. Satan the devil is in world news in a way that you don't understand, that the world does not understand because Satan the devil is a spirit being, and you can't see him. And what you don't see, or what you can't hear, taste, smell, or feel, you don't know anything about because all knowledge comes into your mind through one of those five senses. And there's nothing about Satan that can come into your mind through any one of those five senses.

   Now, Bible prophecy tells about Satan the devil, and it tells of a real space war that is not fiction at all. It tells of one that already has happened and a prophecy of another one that is prophesized to happen. In the 12th chapter of the Book of Revelation, beginning with verse seven (Revelation 12:7-9), the Apostle John is showing what he saw in vision that was to come to pass in our time. Now, on the very last days, 'And there was war in heaven. Michael', who is a Cherub, a super archangel, 'and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels.'

   Now, who was the dragon? Let's read on. 'And prevailed not, neither was their place found anymore in heaven'. That is the dragon and his angels. 'And the great dragon was cast out.' Now, who was he? 'That old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world', has deceived the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels or demons were cast out with him.

   But is there a devil after all? Is the devil real? Or is he only a figment of imagination? Science has tried to pinpoint the origin of Satan in myth, just as mythology or make-believe, or just something made up in the minds of men. But science knows nothing of spirit, and Satan is a spirit being. Angels are spirit beings. Now, the Bible reveals the truth regarding Jesus Christ, regarding Satan, the devil, regarding angels, regarding demons. And you either accept what the Bible says about them, or, so far as they are concerned, you are ignorant. You know nothing.

   Science has no way of finding out. Science is material. Science knows only what can be seen, heard, felt, smelled, or tasted. Beyond that, they know absolutely nothing. They are ignorant because they're confined to merely the five senses.

   Now, what is God? Why doesn't science know about God? Science won't tell you anything about God. The reason is that science knows nothing of spirit, and God is a spirit. He can't be seen. No man has ever seen God, says your Bible. But now notice in John four, verse 24 (John 4:24), 'God is a spirit'. Science doesn't believe in spirit because they can't see spirit. They can't taste, smell, or feel the spirit. So, they just say He doesn't exist. Well, what you don't know, you don't know that you don't know. Just stop and think about that. You don't know. And science simply does not know.

   Now, about angels, let me read you what the Bible says about angels in Hebrews, the very first chapter and verses six and seven (Hebrews 1:6-7). 'And again, when God brings in the first begotten into the world, he said, 'and let all the angels of God worship him.' And of the angels, he says, 'who maketh his angels spirits.' Angels are spirits; they are spirit and spirit is invisible. Science knows nothing about it. You won't get any knowledge about it in the colleges or the universities or in any kind of education, unless it's a certain religious education. And too often they don't follow the Bible.

   Again, let me ask once again. Did God create a devil? Well, let's go back to the 14th chapter of Isaiah (Isaiah 14:12-14). And here it's speaking of someone that is not human. 'How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning?' Now, 'son of the morning.' The name Lucifer is a Hebrew name and it means 'shining star of the dawn' or 'a light bringer,' one that brings light. He had had light, but he ceased to bring it. 'Oh, Lucifer, son of the morning, how art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations?' A better translation would be 'thou who did weaken the nations, cut down to the ground.' For thou hast said in thine heart, 'I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne.'

   Now notice, you hear that he had a throne; he was going to ascend into heaven. There's going to be a war in outer space or in heaven. 'I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.' Stars are a symbol of angels. 'Above the angels of God, I will set upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north.' I want to tell you that that is the only place in the Bible that gives any hint as to where the throne of God, where God's heaven is.

   There are three heavens mentioned in the Bible. There is atmosphere where we fly in airplanes; it's the first heaven or it's sometimes called the Firmament as it is in the first chapter of Genesis. That first heaven is merely the earth's atmosphere. It's part of the earth. It's the earth in gaseous form, instead of solid form or liquid form like water. Then there is outer space, on beyond that, there's no part of the earth. Then beside that, there is the third heaven, which is the heaven of God's throne.

   Now, nothing in the Bible and nothing in science and nothing in history gives us any clue as to where is the heaven of God's throne, except this one place here, 'in the sides of the north,' in the far north. And astronomers find very few stars off in that direction. 'I will ascend,' continuing this scripture as this being said, 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.' So his throne was here on the earth. Now, having a throne, he was a ruler. He was a ruler over the whole earth, and he was going to go up there and start a war. 'I will be like the most high.' And I think a better translation would be 'I will be the most high.'

   This being was Satan the devil, and he existed before the first man Adam, before the first human being was ever created on the face of the earth. Let's go back to the book of Genesis in the third chapter. And you find that when Adam and Eve were first created, that Satan was already here.

   Now, you will notice in verse one (Genesis 3:1-5). 'Now, the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Eternal God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea hath God said, thou shalt not eat of every tree of the garden?' In other words, hasn't God held something back? Isn't He a little selfish? Didn't He keep all of it for himself? Well, the woman answered that they could have every tree of the garden, including the tree of life, except the one tree that had the forbidden fruit. Whenever they took of it, they would surely die.

   In verse four, the serpent said unto the woman, 'Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, or become God, knowing good and evil.' Satan said, 'You shall not surely die'. You are an immortal soul. That was the first lie ever told. And you know nearly all of the world believes that lie to this day. 'You will not surely die.' You are an immortal soul. No, death doesn't mean death. It just means passing away to some other place, but you still live, you still exist. The Bible does not teach that; science cannot prove that; science has never found or demonstrated anything like that. That is myth. That is the Satan. The first lie ever told by Satan, and the world is following it and believes it.

   Now, this Satan is a former Cherub. Next, I want to read you the other scripture in Ezekiel 28. And here it's speaking of the Prince of Tyre, who was the greatest on earth in the commercial and the merchandising sense. It was a great shipping center, and the Prince of Tyre ruled over it. But again, he was only a type of the greater one who was Satan, who gave him his power, his political Satan, great authority.

   Now we come to verse 12 in this chapter (Ezekiel 28:12-17), 'Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre.' Now, the Prince of Tyre was the human man who ruled Tyre, but the king of Tyre is representing Satan. And I will show you it is not speaking of a human man. 'Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.' He sealed up the sum total of wisdom, perfection, and beauty. God can't say that about any human man.

   Now, in verse 14, 'Thou art the anointed Cherub that covereth.' He was a Cherub, a super archangel, and there are only three mentioned in the Bible, and two of them had wings that spread out over the very throne of God. He had been stationed at the very throne of God. Later, he was put down on the earth and given a throne on the earth. And his name was Lucifer, as I read to you in the 14th chapter of Isaiah.

   Now, notice some other things about this Lucifer. 'Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created.' He was not born; he was not human. He was a created being, and God created him as a perfect being. Until iniquity was found in him. Jealousy and envy entered in him, and then rebellion, vanity, and so on. Again, in verse 17, 'Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.' You can't say that about a human being. He is a created being, a super archangel. And he turned because of his vanity and his splendor and beauty. It corrupted him, and his wisdom was corrupted. He became a corrupt being with a twisted mind, even though he was a superior super angel being.

   I want to go back to the 12th chapter of Revelation. Now, let's begin with verse one (Revelation 12:1-6). 'And there appeared a great wonder in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun.; A woman is always a symbol in symbolic language and especially in the Book of Revelation, of a church. There, the message, the seven churches in the 2nd and 3rd chapters of the Book of Revelation. But the church is referred to as a woman, 'a woman clothed with the sun'. But this is the Old Testament Church, which was Israel and Israel's called not church of Israel, but congregation. But congregation has the same meaning as the word church. It's exactly the same thing. The congregation of Israel 'and the moon under her feet, and upon her head, a crown of 12 stars'. Now that is ancient Israel, but the church is merely Israel converted.

   Now here 'being with child', this is Israel 'travailing in birth and pained to be delivered' And there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold a great red dragon'. Now here it gives the color red, a dragon. This again is only a symbol of Satan 'having seven heads and ten horns' and the governments that he gave the power and strength and authority to had seven heads and ten horns 'and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew a third of the stars of heaven'. That's a third of the angels had followed him and became demons 'and did cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman ready to devour her child as soon as he was born and she brought forth a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up to God and to his throne.'

   Now you see the time element is fleeting along very rapidly here. First, there was ancient Israel, then came Jesus Christ of Israel born of the nation Israel and it covers his ministry. It covers his crucifixion, resurrection, and now his ascension to heaven. He was caught up to heaven under God. And then there was an apostasy. And in the 17th chapter, you find a great persecuting church and here you find a persecuted church which had to flee to the wilderness. Verse six, 'And the woman fled.' This is the Church of the New Testament. Now, 'the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there 1,260 threescore days'. And in history, it happened to be exactly 1,260 years in the Middle Ages.

   'And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there'. That is for 1,260 years 'and there was war in heaven'. Now, that's the scripture that I read that is coming now, that is a second time. You know, there are so many things in the Bible that are in duality. They happen once; they happen again. There was the first Adam; Christ was the second Adam. There was the old covenant made with Israel, a human materialistic nation. And then there is the new covenant to be made with the church that will be spiritual and converted into spiritual God beings, no longer human.

   'There was war in heaven'. Now, this is another war prophesied for approximately our time, Michael and his angels. And Michael is also an archangel of the same rank as this Lucifer. 'Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, which is Satan, and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not; neither was their place found anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out.'

   Now, who was he? 'That old serpent called the devil. And Satan who deceived the whole world.' He was there to deceive Eve. She led Adam around by the nose, and he took of the forbidden fruit and then God withdrew the tree of life, representing the Holy Spirit. God didn't withdraw Himself from mankind, but He did withdraw His Spirit from mankind until Christ, the second Adam, should come. Very few people realize that 'which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels which now became demons were cast out with him.'

   Now notice, it goes on. 'And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come.' Now get the time element when this is. This is not before Adam was born. This is in our time, approximately an hour or the immediate future. 'And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren', which is Satan, the devil, the accuser of God's people, 'is cast down, which accused them day and night before God. And they overcame him with the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, which is the word of God, the Bible. And they loved not their lives unto death. Some to be martyred. Therefore, rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath, because he knows that he hath but a short time'.

   How does he know that he has but a short time? In the 24th chapter of Matthew, the disciples had asked Jesus, 'What would be the sign of his second coming as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords'. Jesus Christ came and the devil tried to kill Him as an infant as soon as He was born. But an angel warned Joseph and Mary. Mary was the mother of Jesus and they fled to Egypt as God had them do. And so, the Christ child was not killed.

   And then when Jesus was about 30 years of age, He met the great temptation of Satan. And Satan offered Him all the kingdoms of this world because He said, 'They're all mine and I can give them to whosoever I will.' Jesus didn't deny that he sat on the throne of this earth. Satan is the one who has ruled this earth. Satan is the one who is causing all of the wars and all of the troubles in the world today. Did it ever strike you of why we live in a world of such awesome progress, such great progress materialistically, and yet of such appalling evils, and troubles, and suffering, and everything wrong going on problems that humans can't even solve?

   The answer is Satan the devil, and he is coming down with great wrath. And he's the one that is causing the great tribulation to come. Then the Day of the Lord will follow that immediately after the tribulation. But the disciples asked Jesus for a sign about his second coming in the 24th chapter of Matthew. And in the 14th verse (Matthew 24:14), Jesus said, 'And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.' And then shall the end come. The gospel of the Kingdom is the gospel that Jesus preached. That gospel was suppressed. It was not preached to the world for 19 centuries, 1900 years. And God raised me up to preach that gospel, and it began going to the whole world 1900 years later, in 1953, on the most powerful station in the world, Radio Luxembourg in Europe, and afterward other stations all around the world. And it has gone to all the world as a warning, and now the wrath of Satan. He knows he has but a short time. He knows this sign. He knows it. If you don't know it.

   I want you to notice what happens next in verse 21 of Matthew 24 (Matthew24:21-22). For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this same time known, or ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there shall no flesh be saved alive', not a human being left alive. This has to be a time when there are the weapons of mass destruction that can annihilate all human beings. That has never happened until after this program went on the air, sounding the warning and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God for the first time in 1900 years, just as Christ preached it.

   And now what is going to happen immediately after that tribulation? 'No flesh would be saved alive, except God shortened it'. But He will. In verse 29 (Matthew24:29-30). 'Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened. The moon shall not give her light. The stars of heaven will fall'. And that is the time, as you will read in the sixth chapter of Revelation, of the Day of the Lord. And I've had a lot to say about the day of the Lord, of God's plagues that will follow the great tribulation caused by Satan. 'And then, men will see the Son of God or Christ coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great authority'. That is the next verse, verse 30.

   I tell you, we're very close to these times. Oh yes, I want to tell you, Satan is real and there has been a war in heaven that is real. And Satan is very much in the news. When you read of the troubles over in the Middle East, you read of the troubles in Iran and Iraq, you read of the troubles all over the world, against Ireland and England, other places around the world, all caused by this Satan who has deceived the whole world and giving them lies and who blinded the people to God's truth. Suppress the gospel of the Kingdom of God was Jesus' preach, and a false gospel has gone out preaching about the person of Jesus Christ. And that's wonderful, just to preach about Christ. But there's so much more. Let's, we should hear His message, which He brought about the Kingdom of God. We're living in the Kingdom of Satan. And we need to know about the Kingdom of God that is coming, into which we may be born.

   My friends, I don't have time to go on with more of this. I wish I had, but I'm out of time. I'd like to send you a book that I've only mentioned it once before on the air, 'Did God Create A Devil?' It'll go into much more detail than I've had time to do. Now, did God create a devil? You need to know whether a devil is real? Does the devil exist or not?

   Now again, something that you need to understand, to understand this world and why this is the world of Satan. Another booklet that I've announced a few times before on the air, 'Never Before Understood Why Humanity Cannot Solve Its Evils?' Why can't we solve our troubles and evils? Why can't we have world peace? Why can't we have peace among ourselves? You need that booklet, the two, Never Before Understood' and the booklet, 'Did God Create a Devil?' And then, we'll send you a year subscription to I think the greatest magazine in the world. And now, one of the world's great mass circulation magazines of over 5 million copies a month, 10 times a year, The Plain Truth. And a year's subscription free, and there's no charge, there's no request for money, no follow-up, no request for money. This program is just a little bit different and I hope you notice the difference. There is no other program like it. This program is preaching the same gospel that Jesus Christ preached and which has been suppressed for 1900 years.

   So, all you do remember just send your request to me, Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena, California. 91123. That's all the address you need. Herbert W Armstrong Pasadena California 91123 or a toll-free call 800 then 423-4444. That's dial 800-423-4444. But in California, Alaska and Hawaii, you call collect, and we pay for the call 213 then 577-5555. That's area code 213-577-5555. 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 continent of the United States. You may call this toll-free number 800-423-4444 in California, Alaska and Hawaii call collect 213-577-5555. If the lines are busy, please try again. The preceding program and all literature were produced and sponsored by the Worldwide Church of God.