Why Is the Bible Clouded in Mystery?

I wanted to talk about today about the mystery religions. Very interesting to get into the discussion of the old Babylonian mystery religions. Many people, of course, are not aware of any connection between the mystery religions of ancient Babylon and modern-day Christianity. I looked up in Wikipedia—this is what they record—about mystery religions under that heading.

Mystery religions, sacred mysteries, or simply mysteries, were religious cults of the Greco-Roman world. Interesting that sometimes we're called a cult in the church. But here it talks about the mystery religions being the cults of the Greco-Roman world. Participation in which was reserved to initiates are those who were inducted into these mystery religions. The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the cult practice, which may not be revealed to outsiders. This was something that was kept to those who were initiated into these mystery religions. This is what Wikipedia records under mystery religions.

If we understand the origins that are in modern Christianity today, indeed the foundation of Christian churches is in fact imported from this Greco-Roman world from the earliest days of the Roman Empire. These mysteries influence the Jews, even, of Christ's Day. You can go back and look at again the idol worship, which affected temple worship.

Remember, they were worshipping the sun. You can look back in Ezekiel 8 to see that. Other places show again that they were wholly sold on some of these mystery religions, even among the Jews. And, of course, in regards to Israel, particularly to the north, after the split between or in the time of Jeroboam and Reoboam. But not only is there a connection with the old Babylonian mystery religion, but it goes back even to the Egyptians. And it probably even goes back to the Sumerians, you know, even prior to the flood of Noah, because the world became a very nasty place. And that's why only eight survived the Noatian deluge.

But probably there's a connection, again, going back even to the Sumerians, probably 4,000 years ago. Now, it's important for us to realize that here the influences of the mystery religions with the nation of Israel and among the Jews, that that is important because Israel, remember, you know, that little tiny spot right now over in the Middle East, was the birthplace of what became Christianity, and very much influenced, again, by the Jewish background.

And, of course, that Christianity, you know, that was influenced more so a little later, by the way, than early on when Jesus Christ founded the church in 31 A.D. But a little later on, you know, we find, in fact, that the Christian church becomes greatly saturated with these mystery religions.

And so it is important for us to know that this is, again, why. You know, this is why we have the Christianity, the general Christianity we look at in the world today. And this is why, of course, they observe holidays that have no connection with the Bible, other than that they're condemned.

And, of course, we know that, you know, eventually, probably beginning about 33 A.D., there was an individual by the name of Simon Magus who began what became the universal church. This is where the universal church comes from. And so you have, in fact, the true church, you might say, existing right alongside with the false church that began to grow and eventually became the Catholic church.

You know, that's just a matter of record and a matter of history. And the Catholic church, the universal church, as others call it, it was, in fact, the mother of all churches. You know, the Muslims love to say the mother of this, the mother of that. Well, the Catholic church was the mother of all churches, you know, that have been in the world in Christianity, of course, with the exception of God's truth.

A church and God's true people. Let's go to Revelation 17. Revelation 17 and verse 1. And we all know this prophecy over here, but let's be reminded, you know, again, where modern Christianity came from. But I want to ask also a question, and hopefully we can answer it today in the course of this sermon. But in Revelation 17, verse 1, it says, They were trying to establish the kingdom of God upon the face of the earth, and they worked in conjunction with the political system of their day. And, of course, there's been a marriage there.

That's why it says that she's committed fornication with the nations of the earth. But let's go on down through here in verse 4. Verse 4, And the woman who was red and purple, which is supposed to be a sign of royalty, but scarlet is a sign of a harlotry, by the way, and adorned with gold and precious stones, in other words, great wealth, and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations in the filthiness of her fornications.

And on her forehead a name was written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots. And so she is the mother. She's the progenitor of all of the daughter churches that sprung out of her.

The Protestant Reformation that took place, by the way, was not so much a protest of the doctrines of the Catholic Church. It had to do with, as you know, a lot of the things that the priests were doing, exacting basically money from people by promising them indulgences and all that sort of thing. But Martin Luther, by the way, himself was not against the Catholic Church. He was against what the priests were doing. There were other things involved in it, but just a basic thing.

So interestingly, of course, the churches have not rejected the doctrines of the Catholic Church. The Protestant churches did not reject the teachings of the Catholic Church, and they go right along with it. They have not changed to this very day. And so, notice it says, Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and of the abominations of the earth. And it says, I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints. And so this woman, this church, this fallen church, this harlot church, has killed through much violence the saints of God, the true saints of God.

And there is no other church, by the way, that qualifies here. All of the courts know about the inquisitions and have studied about. They say that as many as 50 million people were martyred during the time of the Inquisition alone. And how it worked, basically, is the church would pronounce anathema on people, but the political side, the, you know, the, would execute. In other words, they would not do the executions, but the kings, you know, the political system would do the executions. And here it says, they're drunk on the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. But the angel said to me, why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. So we're talking about, again, the political system, you know, the seven heads and the ten horns, and you're talking about the religious system, which of the beast's power is going to be a union of both of those in the end time. And of course, not my purpose to go into this, but the seventh resurrection of what is the Holy Roman Empire is yet to occur.

And we don't, of course, see that final configuration over there as yet. But here in verse 5, the word mystery, by the way, comes from the Greek word mustyrian, which is a derivative of muō, m-u-o. You know what it means? It means to shut the mouth.

That's what it means. Mysteries. Just shut the mouth. Through, in other words, the idea of silencing that is imposed for initiation into, you know, religious rights. In other words, you can't tell other people about these things.

And, you know, here we see in Revelation 17 that the greatest religions of the world are shrouded in mysteries. You know, again, mysterious. Shut the mouth. Hush, hush. Of one kind or another. You know, of course all of us know, you know, about different societies, but we probably don't think about this in regards to, you know, Catholicism. We don't think of that in terms of, in fact, other churches, for that matter, that sprung out of the Catholic Church. You know, what do we think of when we think about, you know, basically having to keep your mouth shut about certain rights? We think about secret handshakes. We think about secret initiations, secret robes. You know, isn't it a surprise to us that, you know, in the universal church they wear the robes that are there? It shouldn't be. Secret knowledge only known by certain people. Unfortunately, these false mysteries, by the way, after a certain time in history, probably after 100 AD, we see these mysteries start to creep into the true church and begin to pollute the true church of God. You know, going back probably the time after Polycarp. Remember, Polycarp was a disciple of John, and politicalities came after him, and of course, he contended, remember, with the bishop of Rome, and that's where Easter was born, basically. Because, Polycarp said, well, you know, we should observe the Passover, as great luminaries have passed this down to us, and they observed the 14th. If you want to look again at some quotes about that, I'd be glad to give them to you. But, you know, so we find that these mysteries began to creep into the church. And finally, the true church fades off the scene. Remember Jesse Lyman Halbert's book on the history of the church? He says it talks about the age of shadows, and it talks about how the church goes in on one side, and the church that comes out on the other side is entirely different. In other words, it's very hazy as to what exactly happened. But what emerges, as we all know, was the dominance of the great universal church. And, of course, when the Reformation took place, you have the birth of these other churches in the Protestant Reformation. And so these things creeped into the true church of God, and the church faded, the true church faded off the scene. You know, very hard to spot, in fact, in history. The thing, though, I want to talk to you about here that ties into this, brethren, though, is we talk about these mysteries that are associated with the different churches of the world, of Christianity of the world. But did you know the truth of the Bible is shrouded in mysteries, too? You see how smart Satan is? He counterfeits. What, in reality, happens and is in the true church of God. The truth in the Bible, brethren, is shrouded, it's hidden from mankind's mind. They can't understand this book because of the mysteries that are here.

Why, brethren? Why is the Bible clouded in these mysteries? We're going to talk about what mysteries the world has not comprehended. We're not going to spend a lot of time on each of these. That would be a separate sermon altogether.

You ever wondered, brethren, why is the truth not easily understood?

I remember we used to write the plain truth. Mr. Armstrong said that a child can understand it, from 9 to 99, and he could understand it. I heard Mr. Armstrong say, by the way, he felt that we'd made the truth too plain. We'd made it plain.

I remember hearing him say that, and I really do agree with him now. I think we made it too plain for people. So plain, in fact, they thought they understood.

But as we found out in 1995, that was not the case.

I believe we had, most of the people attending the church were co-workers, but not converts. But that's another subject. But why is the truth not easily understood? How is it the truth that is surrounded from the majority of all mankind that they cannot understand?

Well, you know, everybody loves a mystery, don't they? I know you get caught up in things. You know, I don't like to get caught up in things, by the way, if you're watching TV, especially if it's more than one television show. I don't know, but I hate to get caught up in series. Because you get too interested and you get hooked, and that's what they want, isn't it? And I hate to be hooked on things like that, but the world loves mysteries. And one mystery, you know, the world that even Christianity has not understood is the truth of the Bible. They haven't understood it. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3.

And verse 18.

It says, Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, then it may become a fool that you may become wise. You want to take the philosophies of the world today and understand this book, and you're barking up the wrong tree. You're not ever going to understand it. You're not going to see it. You can be the most intelligent person upon the face of the earth. You know, the wisdom of the world just will, in fact, not help you understand the Bible. It just will not. I remember when I first started studying the Bible, and I got so mad at myself because I read it over and over again. And I never understood it. At least I was smart enough to know I didn't understand what it was saying. And I think I've mentioned to you before that I got angry at myself, and I said, I am going to understand this. And you know, that didn't work either. Just getting angry and saying, I'm going to understand this, you know, doesn't help you get understanding. Where I began to get understanding is I told God that if He would reveal this book to me, that I understood what it was all about, that I would do it. I didn't realize how much of a promise that was. And that's when the understanding began to come. But, you know, you can't understand it by the wisdom of this world. Because, He says, for the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God, it is written, He catches the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise at their futile. Therefore, let no man boast in men, for all things are yours.

And so we ought not boast in the things of man, how smart people are, how intelligent people are. You know, sometimes I've heard people say, well, you know, we've got people that have IQs of 150 or 60. So what? So what? Doesn't matter, does it? It really doesn't matter. You know, there were those who were brilliant like Augustine. I mean, he was a very brilliant man. And you read his writings, and some have written volumes on the Bible, and they put us to shame, brethren. I mean, they've looked at every nook and cranny of this book, searching for meaning in it.

And they have done, you know, research that blows our minds. But, you know, you have, in fact, most of the major universities, the Ivy League universities, were founded as religious institutions. Harvard was a religious institution. Of course, you have others, Cambridge, Oxford, the greatest schools of today. But you know what? What is amazing to me? All the scholarship in the world that these people have, they haven't discovered which day the Sabbath is.

That always brings me right back down to the very basics. They're so smart, they haven't discovered when the Sabbath is. You know, they're mired in philosophy.

And all of us know what that is. I remember, in fact, during the, I think it was, 94 down there in that town. I can't remember the town that's right on the coast there now, but a beautiful little community where we had the meetings back, you know, I think 94, when the idea of the Trinity was put forth to the ministry at that particular time. And it was all philosophy, all came from the Greek Orthodox Catholicism. That's where it came from. It came from the Greek Orthodox Church. But it was all philosophy. And so many in the ministry of the church got mired, you know, in that eventually. And, you know, it's interesting how some have even become atheists. Sort of go where heads eventually. But let's go to chapter 4, chapter 4, verse 1. It says, Let a man so consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. And so here Paul is saying here that the ministers are servants of Christ and stewards, custodians, if you will, of the mysteries of God. And moreover, it's required in the stewards that one be found faithful. And so God's ministry needs to be faithful in securing those mysteries. You know, the word ministers here, by the way, is an interesting word, you know, here in verse 1. You know, in fact, in the King James, I believe it is ministers and not servants that is here. But in the Greek, that word, you know what it means? It means under rowers. Like one of the many rowers on the old ancient ships that were below deck and that were rowing, the ministers are that. You know, they're under rowers, keeping the ship sort of going forward. And Paul says this to the Corinthians so that they will know the ministers are not in some exalted position, but they are servants or they are ministers of Jesus Christ. And a steward, by the way, is a master deputy, by definition, in regulating the concerns of the family. And their duty is to provide food for the household, seeing it served out at the proper times and seasons and in proper quantities. He received all the cash expended what was necessary for the support of the family and kept exact amounts, which he was obligated at certain times to lay before the master. So that's what a steward is. He has that responsibility to secure the mysteries, and of course he also has a responsibility as a minister to take care of the family, which is the church, because we are a family. Now, the mysteries that we have, you know, the same word is used, by the way, in the Greek, but it has a different meaning for us. You know, we don't have the world's mysteries, but we have God's mysteries.

But those mysteries have indeed clouded the truth so that one cannot see it, one cannot see it and perceive it unless you understand the mysteries. Now again, why is the truth not easily understood? Well, let's go over to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and see why the truth is not easily understood. We began to understand it.

It says, but even, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3, but even if our gospel is veiled, so here's the good news of the kingdom of God that Christ said we are to preach to the entire world. He says, even if our gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing. Or if you look at the King James, I think it's being lost. And of course, by that we don't believe that the world is being lost, but it's heading in that direction. But we know Jesus Christ has made it possible later for them to be saved at a certain time. Whose minds the God of this age, of course, is Satan the devil, has blinded, he's blinded their minds, who do not believe, lest the light, unless the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. And so their minds are shrouded.

You know, by a cloud they can't understand it. It's not that it's not out there. It's not that it's not been preached. It's not been taught. It's not been instructed. It's that their minds are clouded. And brethren, I believe, like I said, back in 95, we had a lot of people who were part of the church. I don't think they understood. Many of the people. Mr. Armstrong used to say, half of you don't get it. Remember that? I wish he were wrong. I wish he had been right about that. But he was wrong. Because I think only about 90% of people got it, or didn't get it, I'm sorry. The opposite. 10% of the people got it, but 90% didn't get it. But when you understand what God is doing, it's predictable. Because remember, a seed cannot grow unless it's fertilized. And usually the seed is inside, and there's a lot on the outside dead that is there to make the seed possible to spring forth life. And that's the 10% that were helped by it. And so we had probably 90% of the people were coworkers. They were baptized coworkers. And so anyway, just a thought to put in your mind and understand what we're doing sometimes. Sometimes we get discouraged. We want more people to respond. We want more people to understand, but brethren, it's not going to be the way it is. It's not in this first dispensation that results in the first resurrection. Let's go to Mark 4. Mark 4. In Mark 4, notice what Jesus Christ says over here? Mark 4, verse 2, bypassed it.

It says, He taught them many things by parables and said to them in His teaching. And He gave there a parable of the sower. Not going to go through that, but remember, He talks about how the seed is thrown out. Some of it falls on stony ground, but some of it falls on fertile ground. So that's the message that He gives. And so He says again, He talks about it here. Mark talks about how Christ taught with parables. And a parable can mean many things, but in verse 10, And when He was alone, those around Him were the twelve asked Him about the parable. And of course then He gave them the understanding. But He said to them, To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside all things come in parables. So the outside cannot understand this, Jesus is saying. So that seeing they may see, yes they see, but they don't see, and not perceive. And hearing they may hear and not understand, lest they should turn and their sins be forgiven them. Wasn't time for that to occur. You know, Jesus is telling them it wasn't time then, and it still isn't time for the general population of the world to understand. And there's a reason for that, brethren. There's a very important reason for that. Those outside in the world, brethren, have not grasped the incredible mysteries because it's not given to them to understand. And they can't figure it out, no matter how smart they may be, but they must be, have it revealed to them. You know, cloud around their minds has to be taken away so that the light of the gospel can shine to them, and they can understand, they can perceive, they can put it all together. Let's go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2.

You know, I've heard messages before, and I don't think it's necessarily wrong, but sometimes, you know, you'll have a man that will get up to give a sermon, and he's got these stacks and stacks of books, you know, going to read. Of course, that's going to be the most boring sermon you ever heard. You read, you know, your sermon. But, you know, when I see that, I'm not really that impressed, because, frankly, we shouldn't be so impressed with what the world has written. You know, some are, again, very brilliant. I'm not saying they're not. But all the wisdom, again, in the world, all the intelligence and so forth in the world is just not going to cut it. But notice what Paul says here, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and verse 4, it says, He's talking, remember, to people in the Greek world at the time.

But on down here, verse 4, You know, you don't understand that power he's talking about, brethren, here. Until you tell somebody the truth and the lights go on. And you know they understand. Or you feel it deep down they understand. I don't know if any of us can really absolutely know. But, you know, you realize that this is not by physical might. It's not by the world's wisdom, intelligence of the human mind. It's by God's Spirit and the power of God's Spirit to either allow the mind to be closed or to be opened. And so that's why Paul says what he says here, brethren, I didn't come to you with enticing, you know, words of men's wisdom, human wisdom, but it came to you in the Spirit and power of God. You know, again, we need to grasp that, what that means. He really means that, brethren. Now, sometimes people read this to say, oh, yeah, yeah, Paul, you know, didn't come to them. You know, some people use that to basically say, well, you don't have to be educated.

No, that's Paul was a very intelligent man. You know, he didn't come babbling to people. He came, you know, very, carrying himself very well. Remember, he was a Pharisee of Pharisees. Probably no one more educated than Paul. So he's not talking about a lack of education here, but he's talking about coming in the Spirit and the power of God. That your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. I think, brethren, when we've gotten off track in the churches, we trusted too much in the wisdom of men. And I'm not talking about, you know, the wisdom that comes from God's people. I'm talking about the wisdom that is in the world and society that is out there.

It used to be, by the way, that if you, down in Pasadena, if you went to some of the Bible schools down there, that it was frowned upon. But toward the end, before 1995, you know, it was something that was being supported. And that's what happened. That people got off track. And I'm talking about the guys that were up there assisting, you know, with the leadership. You know, and a lot of times the church even paid for those educations, by the way.

But remember what we used to say about education? We talked about PhDs piled higher and deeper. We used to joke about that. We used to talk about seminaries as the place where they bury the truth. You remember that? Well, it became a place where a lot of our upper echelon ministers were going to get their ideas and their understanding. Well, you know, Paul didn't come with that. He came as an intelligent minister, certainly, but in the power of God. Going on here in verse 6, and it says, However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

They're going to come to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery the world can't understand, of course, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew. For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. And so I think Paul makes it pretty plain here.

You'd have to be in denial to not accept it, although some do. By the way, the Greeks prided themselves in reason and logic. You want to study logic, where do you go? What writers do you go to? Well, you go to the Greek philosophers. You know, Plato, Aristotle, brilliant men of logic, but they did not know the truth.

Now, the interesting thing is that Plato's work, by the way, formed the core of what became the Catholic Church. Now, again, all you've got to do is compare notes between Plato, Aristotle, and all those so-called wise men, philosophers, that impacted the Church in so many ways, so that you have this divergence between the true Church and the false Church. Let's go to Matthew 13. I'll tell you what, we can go ahead and skip that one. But you might want to write it down, Matthew 13, verses 10 through 17, and verses 34 through 35.

You know, basically talking about the same thing that we covered in Mark 4, but for the sake of time, we won't go over there to that. Now, sometimes people would come to Christ, by the way. You know what He would say to them? He would say, you know, you're not far from the kingdom of God. You're not far. In other words, they did not understand it, but they weren't far away.

Almost, but not quite there. And, you know, some people have gotten very close. But, brethren, close only counts, as I used to tell people, at Ambassador College in dancing. Back there, we couldn't, men and women could not dance close to each other, you know, back in those days. And hang grenades. If you get close with a hang grenade, that works, you know, if you're in the military.

But close does not work when it comes to the truth. You've got to actually know the truth. You've got to grasp the truth and understand the truth. And some have gotten close, but have not understood. Now, why? Why haven't they understood? You know, maybe they're a couple of hairs' breaths from understanding. Well, let's notice over in Romans 11, verse 25. Why God has not bridged that gap between, you know, not understanding and understanding.

Romans 11, in verse 25, I believe that's the verse here. It says, but I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. This in itself is a great mystery, as he says here. He says, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And by the way, the fullness of the Gentiles will not end until Christ returns the second time. That gives you an understanding of that. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written, the deliverer shall come out of Zion, and he will turn away on godliness from Jacob.

For this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. It says, concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election, they are in the love for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

For as you were once disobedient to God, you have now obtained mercy through their disobedience. Basically, he's talking about the church brethren. They wouldn't even be called if it hadn't been for these terrible tragic events that happened to Israel. But it opened the way to what we know as the Israel of God. And it says, Even these who have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you, they may obtain mercy.

Because God has committed them all to disobedience. And why did he do that? Why did he seal them all up into, you might say, a package? Because they didn't understand the truth, they didn't grasp the truth. Well, he tells us here, brethren, He sealed them all up in disobedience, that through the mercy shown you, they also may obtain mercy. And it says, For God has committed them all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all. The fact of the matter is, brethren, if God were judging the world right now, what would he have to do?

Anybody? He'd have to condemn the world, wouldn't he? But he sealed them all up in disobedience so he can have mercy upon them later. We have a loving God. And through the fact that he's done that with Israel, and he's done that for the world, for that matter, brethren, you and I can be called, we can be part of the church today.

So God can have mercy on the world and not condemn them to get a fire, which he would have to do. Because the world's not obedient to God. I mean, over a billion are not even Christian. If you were looking at just from the purely standpoint of Christianity. In fact, more than that. We know among the Muslims, that's just the Muslims. Then, of course, you have the Buddhists, the Shintoists, and all the rest in the Asian world. And then you've got atheists and agnostics, and some of those people that have those ideas. Revelation 10! Revelation 10! Let's notice over here. There is going to be coming into the mysteries, by the way, that the world cannot perceive that are in the church right now today. In Revelation 10, really just one verse over here, I wanted to read to you in verse 7.

It says, But in the days of the sounding of the seventh trump, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished, as he declared to his servants the prophets. So those mysteries have been declared to his prophets. They didn't understand them. A lot of what they had revealed to them. Remember, Daniel was told to shut up. You know, what was revealed to him, it would not be understood. He said, until the time of the end. And so, you know, here we see that the prophets, the men of God, men and women of God, heard it. But really, they couldn't understand it because there was not enough truth that was revealed. In fact, I think Daniel is a perfect example of how more truth had to be revealed in the end of the age, for he could even remotely understand it. Romans 16. Let's go to Romans 16.

Somebody is bound to say, well, you know, I can show you scriptures in the Bible that say the Gospel has been preached and made known to the whole world. And indeed you can.

It has been made known to the whole world. But it's not been understood. It's not been understood. It's not been grasped. You know, the world has not understood it, even though it's been preached. Mr. Armstrong used to talk about how the Gospel's been preached to the world.

And it has indeed been preached all over the place. And the work that was done is still having an impact, by the way, even to this day. And, you know, the work that we do will have an impact as well, because it's out there. It's out there. You know, this morning we got up and we watched Beyond Today on YouTube. By the way, you can look on YouTube. If you want to watch Beyond Today, you can... What's the name of that other... Royku? Is that what it's called? Rokku. I'm sorry. I'm not, you know, computer savvy. But, you know, I knew it started with an R, and it ended with a KU or some sort.

But in Romans 16, verse 25... Keep talking here and not getting there. Okay, Romans 16, verse 25... It says, Now to him who is able to establish you, according to my gospel... Again, he's talking to the church... And the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. You see? We're established by the revelation of the mystery kept secret from the world. It says, since the world began.

But now made manifest. It's made manifest to us and by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations. Like I said, people say, well, hasn't the gospel been preached to the whole world? Yes, indeed. It has been. But, you know, when Mr. Armstrong was alive, there was a whole different set of people upon the earth. And all new people. Some of you were not around in 19... What did he die? In 1986? You weren't around back in those days. You know, but you're new. Some hearing for the first time the truth.

But it says, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, the obedience to the faith. Or, for obedience to the faith. And so it's been made known and it was commanded. In fact, it be made known. What did Jesus Christ himself say? Preach the gospel to the world. Tell everybody in the world.

He didn't say they would understand it, but it would be preached. And like I say, Mr. Armstrong felt he made it too plain. And maybe he did. He made it very plain. But maybe not. Maybe it was the way God intended it because there was a necessity to have coworkers to help to get the work done.

To get the word out to the nations. And that still exists today, by the way. Still exists today. So we want to make sure we understand that we grasp the truth of God. So it's been preached and presented much down through time by God's people, but not understood by most. And frankly, the reason is because they'd rather, because their minds are clouded, they'd rather believe the counterfeit than they would the truth.

It's much more appealing to them. Now, we don't understand that. It's because our minds have been unclouded and we see the truth. That's why we understand the way we do. But a lot of times people, they'll come and they'll listen to what we have to say. And they think, sometimes they think they already know it.

And you don't see them anymore. They'll come and they'll listen. Maybe they've been studying our literature and they say, oh, is that all there is? No, I don't know what they expected. Maybe they expected you to speak in tongues, that we would have healings every Sabbath. You know, come on up and be healed today. You know, something like that. Maybe it's whatever their perceptions were, you know, that's what they, maybe they don't see.

You know, if you read Romans 1, by the way, you see what I'm talking about here. That they love, in fact, the creation more than they love the Creator, as it says over in Romans 1. And God gave them over to those things, as it says in the book of Ezekiel. But the church, brethren, has always had the job of being stewards of the mysteries.

I used to ask people, and I know I've asked you here, how safe would the truth of God be if you were the only person upon the face of the earth? How safe would it be with you? You know, don't think it could not happen. It happened to Noah. He's the only one. At a given time, it happened to Abraham. He was the only one. Again, you go down through history, and the way it was at the time. Now, we should not, again, hoist ourselves and get on a high horse, like we're some important group of people, brethren, because, you know, knowing all mysteries won't get you anything.

It won't get you anything. I don't care if you could unlock this book backwards and forwards. You know, every little key, every nuance, every mystery that is in this book, and I don't know it all, and I don't think you do either, but even if you did know it all, brethren, it wouldn't be enough. It just would not be enough. Remember what Paul said, And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

I am nothing. In other words, there's an element beyond just knowing the mysteries. If we know the truth, brethren, you're halfway there. But, you know, if you try to jump across the Grand Canyon, you're in a heap of trouble. If you're only halfway there, you've got to get to the other side, right? And the other half of it is, do you obey the Gospel? Do you live by the Gospel? Because if we don't know it, number one, you've got to know it, and then live by it.

And by the way, I think the two go together. Like I said, when I made my promise to God, I said, I will do it, God, if you reveal it to me. The understanding did not come until I promised I would do it. And I suspect that all along the way, it's been that way. Understanding's not going to be there unless you promise God you will do it, that you will live it in your life.

And you're going to work it at overcoming sin. If you sin, you get up, you dust yourself off, and you keep going forward. Like Mr. James was talking about, how God will make a way, no matter what problem that we may have. The only thing that's keeping you and me from the kingdom, brethren, is this, is if we quit. That will keep us from the kingdom. So we have to persist, we have to go on. God's offering too much for any of us to quit, quite frankly. Now, I'm not going to go through these, but I wanted to name you some of the mysteries in Ephesians.

In Ephesians 1, verses 3 through 12, you know, you can read those passages. I'm not going to read them for the sake of time. But the book of Ephesians is just, it has many references to the mysteries. You have there, in Ephesians 1, verses 3 through 12, you have the mystery of Christ's sacrifice and His grace that has shown us. In Ephesians 5, verses 30 through 32, you have the mystery of our inheritance.

In Colossians 2, verses 4 and verse 3, you have the mystery of God and Christ. Now, people have not understood God and they have not understood Christ. That's a mystery. It's shrouded in mystery. You have also, in the book of Ephesians, the mystery of your calling that the Bible talks about.

In Ephesians 6, verses 19, you have the mystery of marriage.

In 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 7, you have the mystery of iniquity. The mystery of iniquity. The world has even understood that, by the way. In Colossians 1, verses 26 through 27, you have the mystery of the gospel. That's the one we'll probably be most familiar with. In 1 Corinthians 15, verses 51, you have the mystery of being changed. In 1 Timothy 3, verses 16, you have the mystery of godliness. By the way, there are many other mysteries of the Bible, but these mysteries that I'm talking about really haven't been understood by the world. They really haven't. They think they have been understood. They think they understand. They think they grasp it. But they don't understand it. Most of them have a clue as to why Adam and Eve were created. They just don't. And quite frankly, many professing Christians today embrace what is the old evolution? That man sort of evolved. Many do. I remember I toyed with that when I was at Northeastern State University, and I rejected it. No, God had to create man. I came to understand. But with these things, brethren, we understand because God has opened our minds. And we've been shown these things not for our own aggrandizement, brethren. But God has a great, great purpose beyond what you or I can even understand. Why you're called, why I'm called, why we're sitting here and talking about this even today. We haven't understood it. Maybe fully what God has in store with us, for us. You know, the Bible says that angels desire to look into this process that we're going through right now. You know, that word desire means they set their heart on it. They long for it. They covet it. 1 Peter 1, verse 12 talks about that. And they want to look into it. It means they bend down beside, and then lean over so as to peer within what's going on in our lives, into the calling of the saints, their conversion, and their life. The angels are just enthralled by this process. They know where it's going to end up. They know where it's going. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Now, this is not going to be any great revelation to any of us, but let's notice here in the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 6. But here Paul says, It says, It says, We're going to judge the world in the future. When God's kingdom is set up upon the face of the earth, we're going to judge this world. And if the world will be judged by you, are you not unworthy? Are you unworthy to judge? The smallest matters. Do you not know that we shall judge angels? We're going to judge angels! Wow! How much more things that pertain to this life. You know, this is small potatoes right here, Paul is saying. So we're going to judge. The word judge means decide. We're going to probably distinguish between angels and maybe duties that they're going to have. The word, in fact, can mean manage, too. We're going to manage angels. But also this word means to try. To put on trial. We're going to judge demons in the future. Now, if we can't judge the smallest matters in our own life, I guess that's why Paul brings it up. In God's courts in the kingdom of God, that's what we're going to do. And the saints will have the job as kings and priests of managing the world under Jesus Christ and making judgments. And there are principalities in the world. There are fallen angels in the world. And there are good angels with principalities as well. And Michael's called the great prince who cares for the people of Israel, as the Bible says in Daniel 12. Now, let's go over to Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians chapter 3.

And I think it's an interesting thing the way Paul puts this over here. It's mind-boggling to think about the ultimate reason why you've been called right now. What God's intent is. I put a little asterisk by this scripture, by the way, because it's a very important one for me, at least. And it was inspiring to think about. But in verse 9, let's know this, in Ephesians chapter 3, it says, And to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery. We have a fellowship among ourselves of the mystery, Which from the beginning of the ages had been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ. Now, verse 10 is really a dynamite verse here, by the way. To the intent, to the intent, you've got these mysteries that have been hidden, and he says, Why? Why were they hidden? Ultimately. To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. In the heavenly places. Interesting, isn't it? In other words, the wisdom of God is going to be made available, brethren, to those in the heavenly places. Now, the only beings I know that are in heaven are God, the twenty-four elders I know of. You know, we have the spirit beings that are in heaven. Of course, I've already mentioned about demons being judged of us. But it sounds like to me, brethren, that the reason why, one of the great reasons why, we've had these mysteries given to us. Understand them, is God has a purpose for us, brethren, that is so much higher than we realize that we're going to be judging in the spiritual realms as well. And so whatever God has given us, brethren, is going to be important. I don't know when these things are going to happen. None of us do. I don't know. Maybe we'll need a thousand years' experience before we start giving some of that wisdom to heavenly realms. But it sure seems like that's saying that. Notice, verse 11, that according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulation for you, which is your glory. And so the ultimate purpose, brethren, stated is so much higher than I think any of us even perceive. Not just being kings and priests on the earth, brethren, but also helping in the spiritual realms. That God is calling us and is training us to help. Who knows? We may be teaching among the 24 elders. You know, they'll be more interested in us, by the way, than we could imagine. And maybe we do have—we'll have understanding—obviously they'll have understanding that they could not have. Because we're going to be the only ones who will have the same experience that Christ had. And, you know, it sounds like to me we're going to be teaching angels. We'll be teaching the spirit sons of God, the angels of God. So, brethren, God's mysteries are important to us because God has far-reaching plans for His saints. And we must not only have these mysteries revealed to us, brethren, but we must be living according to them. What an awesome future we have, brethren. And God has revealed His mysteries to us now. And be thankful, brethren, that you know those mysteries and that your name is written in the book of life, and your future, your great future, is ahead of you. So don't lose heart, as Paul says. Keep moving forward, because, you know, if we keep doing that, eventually we'll arrive where we're trying to go.