By “Foundations” we mean the foundations of the Christian life and the basic truths of the faith. The aim of these teachings is to give people the truth about God, the spiritual world, and man. Jesus Christ says:
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32)
We want this liberating truth to reach every person, because these are words that will change your life.
THE TRUTH ABOUT MAN
In the previous teaching we dwelt on the truth that there is a God. People do not believe it, but we must tell them: “This is the first thing—there is a God.” The knowledge of God is important, because it is directly connected to the truth about man. Who is he, how is he made, and what is the meaning of his existence? Until recently the official atheistic religion in our country—communism—taught that man descended from the ape, that he is simply highly organized matter, and that the only reason he exists is to labor for the party and to raise up a generation of young Pioneers and Komsomol members who will one day conquer outer space. Darwin’s hypothesis about the origin of man became established in modern secular, post-Christian society. Now man no longer labors for the party and the bright future, but so that he can afford the latest achievements of technology and as luxurious a way of life (“lifestyle”) as possible. From communism we have passed over to materialism and a consumer society.
THE ORIGIN OF MAN
I, however, refuse to accept that my great-great-great-grandfather was an ape. About yours I cannot say, but mine was not. If you think that your great-great-grandfather was an ape, that is your business, but for me it is easier to believe that I was created by God, and that the first man was Adam, and not some homo sapiens or other. The Bible tells us that God made man in His own image. He gave him a place of belonging by setting him in the wonderful Garden of Eden, supplied him with resources for life, and gave him a purpose and principles. Man was created to rule. Just as God rules in the spiritual world, so man was to rule in the material world, and to have fellowship with his Creator and to be His friend (not His slave or His robot). As a human being, you are precious to God—you are simply the only creature in the whole universe who can be His friend and who can love Him. But the arch-villain of the universe, Satan, made man hand over his authority to him; he deceived man and led him into sin. And God’s eyes are too pure to look on evil (Habakkuk 1:13), so man was separated from God and became spiritually dead. This is the essence of death—the separation of the spirit from the body, or, on the spiritual plane, the separation of man from God.
THE SPIRIT OF MAN
You are not only a body. Your body is merely the house in which your true “I” lives—your spirit. According to the Bible, man is a spirit who has a soul and lives in a body (1 Thessalonians 5:23). In their letters the apostles Paul and Peter (2 Peter 1:13,14; Philippians 1:19-24) speak of how they will leave their bodies, which are only the outer covering of the real person. The apostle Peter calls his body a “tent.” In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 the apostle Paul speaks of an outer and an inner man. And there it is said that although the “outer man”—the one that can be seen to grow old and pass away—is wasting away, yet the “inner man”—the one who cannot be seen—does not grow old, but is renewed day by day; he is eternal. The visible things are temporary—look around you and you will see that everything is subject to change—but the invisible things are eternal. Your spirit is eternal. Even though your body dies, your spirit will go on existing forever. But that eternal existence can be in one of two states. Our spirit will either be with God or be separated from God. And, as we said, if you are separated from God, you are spiritually dead.
Besides the spirit that gives life to your body, you also have a soul. There reside your will, intellect, emotions, memory, and imagination.
MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION
Your personality is in your soul. And as a free and independent person, you have a choice, because you have a will. And it is the battlefield on which everyone—I mean God and Satan—wants to win the battle, because whoever wins your choice wins you. If you have said “Yes” to the devil, he owns you, and you will go with him into the “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41), into “the fiery lake of burning sulfur”—this is “the second death” (Revelation 21:8).
So think before you decide, and gather enough facts about things before you make any decision at all. Look at things in perspective and weigh what the results of your decision will be—especially regarding your decision about “Where will you spend eternity?”
And perhaps you will say: “Oh, you are bothering me with this nonsense—God, the devil, eternity, and suchlike foolishness. Can you not be at least a little more real? I need money so that I can live decently, and I need someone by my side who thinks the way I do.” To you, whose meaning of life is business, the apostle James turns and says in the fourth chapter of his letter (James 4:13):
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (James 4:13-14)
Do not miss the moment, while you have appeared and before you vanish, to think about your eternal spirit and the salvation of your soul. And if these words have touched you now, and you want to learn how to be freed from the snare of sin and spiritual death, the words of the apostle Paul from Romans chapter ten are for you:
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)
Do you see how simple it is? You accept that Jesus Christ died in your place at Golgotha, and from that moment on you are free from all condemnation, fear, oppression, and uncertainty. Your spirit becomes alive to God, and you have eternal life—you will never die, but you will reign in life together with the Risen King, Jesus Christ, who loved you so much that He paid with His own blood for your justification (Romans 5:17).