About Our Cover ...
Education is more than learning or memorizing facts. Education is also more than just learning how to earn a living. At Ambassador Colleges (beautiful Pasadena campus pictured on our cover), the MISSING DIMENSION in education is taught. Students learn to recapture true values, learn the meaning and PURPOSE of life! Ambassador students not only learn how to earn a living, they also learn HOW TO LIVE. Read, in this lesson, the real importance of right education so necessary for lasting, true success.
Education is in a state of turmoil today! Students are dissatisfied, true educational values are lost, universities have become faceless factories. But education is vital for true success in life! Here is why, and how you can secure the right education in your life.
THE NATIONS of the world have "perhaps 10 YEARS LEFT in which to subordinate their ancient quarrels and launch a global partnership to curb the arms race, to improve the human environment, to defuse the population explosion and to supply the required momentum to world development efforts."
So spoke United Nations Secretary General U Thant in May, 1969.
Perhaps "10 years left"!
If world problems and crises are not solved in ten years, if nations do not begin to cooperate on a global basis, said U Thant, "then I very much fear the problems I have mentioned will have reached such staggering proportions that they will be beyond our capacity to control."
But how did the world come to such a state of affairs? How did such a worldwide crisis suddenly descend upon us?
The answer, when you understand it, boils down to the problem of EDUCATION!
Because of a lack of sound education, because of national prejudices, disagreeing histories, lies and political propaganda, the world's nations have never been able to get together and work to SOLVE man's mounting problems.
Despite universities and colleges, there has developed an astounding "knowledge gap." Despite the phenomenal growth of material knowledge in the past decade -- in which the world's sum total of knowledge DOUBLED -- education and knowledge concerning peace and the solutions to the world's problems was never more desperately needed!
How can world crises be solved as long as 45 percent of the world's children have no chance of receiving even a formal education? How can India's problems of soaring population be solved as long as over 68 percent of the Indian population is illiterate? How can Africa cope with its problems as long as 80 percent of the population cannot read or write?
UNESCO estimates that 45 percent of all people over 15 years of age in the world cannot read or write! In the non-Communist nations alone, there are three quarters of a billion illiterate adults!
Lack of education, worldwide, is a terrible CURSE obstructing progress and ruling out any hopes of true success in life for vast numbers of mankind!
Multiple millions are under this awful curse and have virtually no hope of changing things during this life. Millions are doomed to poverty, and millions more to mediocrity, because of a lack of true, worthwhile, proper EDUCATION.
But lack of education is not only a global, international problem. It not only poses a virtually insurmountable problem for the world's nearly 140 or so nations with hundreds of differing customs, languages, religions and beliefs, to learn to work together in cooperation -- it is also a PERSONAL, individual problem in the lives of millions even in the affluent nations!
Chances are even YOU are hampered to some degree in achieving real, lasting, true success because of a LACK of the RIGHT KIND OF EDUCATION!
Therefore, this worldwide problem should personally interest and concern YOU.
Today, education in universities around the world is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Students are dissatisfied. Classes are becoming sounding boards for politics instead of academic learning situations. Whole university campuses have been shut down because of student rebellion and protest. In the spring of 1969, over 200 American universities were struck by demonstrating, rebelling students. In the spring of 1970, hundreds more were shut down because of student strikes and the threat of violence.
But the United States is not alone in facing this problem. France, England, Japan, Spain, Mexico, Germany, and a long list of other nations have also witnessed students on the rampage.
It would seem that students today -- or a great many of them -- are not really interested in EDUCATION. All too many would rather protest, demonstrate, and rebel. Surprisingly, educational polls reveal that more than half the boys and girls who go to college go for FUN for football games, social life, fraternities and sororities -- not for academic reasons.
A comprehensive survey of college students conducted by the Educational Testing Service revealed that 51 percent of the freshmen want college for "collegiate" reasons -- in other words, to have a good time. Only 19 percent admitted they go to college for academic reasons -- to learn.
But frankly, being educated in one of the colleges in this world DOES NOT lead to true success. How many college graduates do you know who ended up working the pumps at a gasoline station? How many, after four years in college, are really equipped to succeed in their chosen occupation?
All too few!
Dr. David B. Truman, dean of Columbia College, the men's undergraduate liberal arts school of Columbia University in New York City, said American colleges are turning out "the NEW BARBARIAN, the educated illiterate" -- students who are knowledgeable only in their own specialty. Said Dr. Truman: "The specialist who is trained but uneducated, technically skilled but culturally incompetent, is a menace."
Professor Claude Coleman, director of a Special Honors Curriculum for Gifted Undergraduates at Southern Illinois University, also criticized modern education in the United States. He declared that American universities are turning out "splendid splinters" instead of educated men and women. He asserted American society is educating its best minds in the wrong directions and with a false sense of values.
Charged Professor Coleman: "Nine-tenths of our faculties are bores, simply because they become complete nincompoops outside their specialties. They are not happy until their undergraduate majors become as NARROW as they are themselves."
These are serious charges!
An illustration of the failure of modern college education to REALLY educate and teach young students is the study of geography. One year, 92 percent of all graduating seniors in a university had not even been exposed to one course in geography!
An Eastern college submitted its entering class of 500 to a geography quiz. Shocking as it may sound, 38 percent could not even locate Alaska; 40 percent mislocated Communist China; 61 percent placed England on the European Continent; and 86 percent could not even point to a location within 500 miles of the Rocky Mountains.
The reason for the world's growing problems today, as well as many people's personal problems, is simply the fact that millions who have been "educated" have been inoculated with the WRONG KIND of education. An UNBALANCED education! They have been taught material, physical knowledge, but are totally ignorant of SPIRITUAL knowledge!
Such an imbalance is guaranteed to wreck the lives of individuals and destroy the future of entire nations!
Seeing the problem in its true perspective, Dr. Benjamin E. May, President of Morehouse College, Atlanta, declared: "We know more than we have ever known. We have more educated people than at any time in history; we have more people with college degrees, yet our humanity is a diseased humanity ....
"It isn't knowledge we need; knowledge we have. Humanity is in need of something SPIRITUAL."
How true! Dr. May put his finger right on the problem.
Spiritual understanding is a fundamental part of the knowledge which is lacking in this world's educational systems. Too many are taught a conglomeration of "facts," and a smattering of "ideas," but are not taught how to UNDERSTAND world problems. They are taught "how" to do something, but not "why."
Warned Robert Hutchins, head of the center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, California: "To omit understanding from education, to confuse education with training and the transmission of information ... is to guarantee -- insofar as an educational system can affect the outcome -- the collapse of a civilization."
Strong words, those!
These are the truly fundamental, foundational questions that need to be answered!
Obviously, the kind of education disseminated by this world's educational institutions is direly lacking. It has led to the world's present predicament. It has brought us to the world's present state of global CRISIS, and away from true success!
How could anybody be successful in life if he pursues his goals and objectives IGNORANTLY, not knowing how to achieve them? How could a person achieve success if he plunges into life unable to communicate intelligently, unable to read or write, or lacking a solid, sound, foundational education?
In this lesson, we will learn that acquiring the RIGHT kind of education is basic to achieving true success -- that right education is indeed the SECOND BASIC LAW OF SUCCESS!
Let's begin to see what the Bible has to say about EDUCATION. It probably says much more than you would ever imagine!
Fixing and focusing on the RIGHT GOAL in life is the first law of success. The second law is also vitally important. Without it, success would be totally impossible.
The second law of success is EDUCATION, or PREPARATION to achieve that right goal!
Without the education necessary to achieve the true goal or purpose in life, one would be hampered and restricted -- hindered from ever really accomplishing -- obstructed by his or her own IGNORANCE!
You must not only have the right goal -- you must know HOW to achieve it! You must have the knowledge required to arrive at that goal. You must learn all you can about it.
Animals have instinct. They don't need education. Calves know where to find mother's milk. Birds automatically know how to build nests. But human beings MUST BE TAUGHT EVERY THING!
Dogs can be taught a few simple tricks. Dolphins can be taught to bounce balls about, to dive over outstretched bars or through flaming hoops -- but that is all. They are limited. They don't have the potential MIND POWER that mankind has!
1. What are we commanded to do in order to show ourselves approved to God? II Tim. 2:15.
2. Is the inspired Word of God profitable for spiritual EDUCATION? II Tim. 3:16-17.
3. What did Jesus say we are to live by? Matt. 4:4 and Luke 4:4.
COMMENT: HOW can we live by EVERY word of God unless we KNOW that Word -- unless we spend time STUDYING it, and drinking it into our innermost beings?
4. Did David "hide" God's Word within his heart so he would not forget it and sin against God? Ps. 119:11.
COMMENT: HOW could David make God's Word a part of him unless he studied it diligently?
5. Does God's Word illuminate our footsteps, showing us the right path to walk in? Ps. 119:105.
6. HOW do Christians GROW IN FAITH? Is it through hearing and studying the Word of God? Rom. 10:17.
7. From whom does RIGHT KNOWLEDGE -- or EDUCATION -- come from? Prov. 2:6. Should we grab hold of instruction? Prov. 4:13.
COMMENT: Right education or instruction, then, involves learning the TRUTH of God. But it also includes learning how to use the mental powers you were endowed with by God. It involves learning HOW TO THINK! The basic trouble with most schools today is that they simply pour textbook knowledge -- whether right or wrong -- into the minds of children. Children are taught to memorize facts, data -- but not how to use their minds to THINK, to analyze, to weigh, to discern between right and wrong. All too often, evolutionary garbage is funneled right into their pliable, plastic, unsuspecting young minds. Without realizing it, they are taught to look at life from an evolutionary approach or viewpoint.
Goal-oriented education also involves personality development, character development, leadership, experience, knowledge from travel, personal contacts with successful men and other people, observation and right associations.
Right education teaches the basic principles of life and success. It teaches the overall principle that for every effect THERE IS A CAUSE! Good results come from right causes; evil effects are the result of EVIL causes or actions.
The kind of education disseminated at this world's educational institutions is not geared to equip students for true success in life -- believe it or not.
Cheating is rampant in classrooms. Dishonesty is rife. Grades are all that count with far too many students. How they get those grades simply doesn't matter.
Is it any wonder, then, that we have so many college graduates who are able to do nothing more than run a gasoline pump at a service station? Is it any wonder that many college graduates are looked upon as misfits in business and industry?
1. What does the Bible say about those who refuse instruction? Prov. 5:11-13.
2. Does right instruction include reproof -- correction? Prov. 6:23. Is it the WAY OF LIFE? Same verse. Does instruction make a wise man still wiser? Prov. 9:9.
3. Is the man who refuses reproof making a serious mistake? Prov. 10:17. What happens to him? Prov. 13:18; 15:10.
4. Should we love instruction and knowledge? Prov. 12:1. What is a person who hates correction or reproof? Same verse.
COMMENT: The Moffatt translation says, "He who cares to know cares to be set right, but he who hates to be admonished is a STUPID creature." God says a person who hates knowledge, instruction and education is STUPID!
5. What will eventually happen to the man who is reproved often and finally hardens his will against receiving correction? Prov. 29:1.
1. Do wise men SEEK knowledge, education? Prov. 18:15.
COMMENT: Actually, the best educated man is the self-educated man -- that is, the man who is really interested in what he studies; who isn't merely trying to get a good grade in a class; who studies hard, driving himself to learn about the particular field he has chosen for his life's work!
Abraham Lincoln never graduated from high school; never went to college. But he pored over books at night, including Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". He drove himself to study. He burned the midnight oil. He taught himself the profession of law -- and finally, because of his self-education and diligence, he became President of the United States.
2. Does right instruction include hearing a multitude of good counsel? Prov. 11:14; 15:22. Does it also include walking with wise associations? Prov. 13:20.
Dwight D. Eisenhower was not an outstanding student in his school days. He was not overly impressive when he went to West Point as a young army officer candidate. But he studied diligently on his own. All during his army career, he studied books dealing with the army and military strategy. He broadened his education by associating with top-notch army officers. He gained field experience in Central America, and continued studying. He put his mind to what he was doing while he was doing it. He gained valuable experience.
Eisenhower, because of his diligence and attention to his duty, and his self-improvement on the job, became Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe in World War II -- and later became President of the United States!
Theodore Roosevelt was another who did not distinguish himself at school, but he was an omnivorous reader throughout his life. Almost nothing could interrupt his concentration while reading. He was a man of wide interests. He had a wide background of experience, including ranching, hunting, African safaris, Amazon exploration in South America, as well as military experience fighting in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt, also, was largely self-educated.
All these men, however, were successful only insofar as this present life is concerned. They did not understand the great, all-encompassing plan and purpose of God. They did not grasp spiritual truth.
But a truly great opportunity has been placed before you.
God has revealed great and marvelous truths to YOU. He has shown you His wonderful plan for all mankind. What are you doing with this knowledge? Are you educating yourself, driving yourself to learn all you can about God's way of life?
3. Does God say we should APPLY ourselves to instruction and knowledge? Prov. 23:12; 22:17-19. Does this knowledge lead to a wonderful REWARD? Prov. 24:14.
COMMENT: How plain it should be that right education is essential to REAL SUCCESS. A person cannot be successful in life unless he is willing to STUDY, to learn, to educate himself. This does not mean he should concentrate his studies on some intricate scientific subject only. It means the successful man needs a well-rounded, balanced education! He needs to be knowledgeable in many fields besides his own speciality.
Above all, however, it means he needs to be EDUCATED in the study of God's Word. Even more important than physical knowledge for success is SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE so he can live by God's principles of success! Obeying the Word of God is the surest route to true success -- it is the ONLY route!
In the final conclusion, spiritual SALVATION is right spiritual EDUCATION in God's way of life, His plan and purpose; understanding what repentance is all about; and studying and understanding basic Bible doctrines about faith, repentance, baptism, the resurrection, judgment. Knowledge about these important subjects is the most important, most vital knowledge ever published!
You have been receiving the education that really counts through this Correspondence Course. Have you been taking full advantage of it? We know many of you have NOT! Perhaps you need to go back to the first lesson and begin learning what you missed due to lack of diligence and the motivation which results from a full realization of your purpose in life, and the need to study God's Instruction Book for attaining true success.
For a person to achieve true success, he must do more than acquire "knowledge" of the facts. Knowledge is vitally important. But far too many people don't know how to USE that knowledge!
Knowledge, unless it is applied and used wisely, is worthless. To properly apply and use knowledge, a person must grow in UNDERSTANDING and WISDOM.
A college professor might have tremendous KNOWLEDGE in economics or history. But what good is it unless he can use it to help solve people's economic problems, or help students gain insight into the patterns and trends of history?
Many men have been failures because they had some knowledge, but that was all. They simply couldn't apply it. For example, a man might have the imagination and inventiveness to invent an interesting gadget or device. But he might not know how to develop it into a practical commodity. Somebody else might come along, purchase the patent for the device, and mass produce it for the public because he saw a widespread use for it. And he, not the inventor, will make millions of dollars, pounds, or francs from the other man's invention. And so many inventors have died in poverty, while other men took their ideas or inventions and used them to make millions.
To be truly educated, therefore, one must also develop his mind so he can APPLY knowledge, USE it, make it practical and beneficial.
Notice how the Bible bears this out:
1. Does possession of wisdom provide riches, wealth, honor and happiness? Prov. 3:13-18. Does wisdom lead to PEACE? Verse 17.
COMMENT: God shows that WISDOM is absolutely essential for true success.
2. Just what is real wisdom? Is it the fear or awe of God? Prov. 9:10 and Job 28:28. What is the Bible definition of the "fear of the Lord"? Prov. 8:13.
COMMENT: Those who fear God, who stand in awe of Him and FEAR to do evil or sin -- who KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS -- have true wisdom! This wisdom comes from God (Prov. 2:6). It is a vital KEY to success and prosperity!
3. Do other Proverbs show that wisdom is vital to achieving peace, honor, wealth, fame, fortune and TRUE SUCCESS? Prov. 4:5-9; 8:11-12, 15-18. Will those who have real wisdom inherit substance -- have their treasures filled? Verse 21.
COMMENT: How many truly WISE people do you know who follow this TRUE WAY to lasting success and prosperity?
4. Notice what other two qualities are often associated with true wisdom in the Bible. Is UNDERSTANDING one of them? Prov 4:5-7. Is the other one KNOWLEDGE? Prov. 2:3, 5-6.
5. Will those who have real understanding, knowledge and wisdom be spared many mistakes, and kept from stumbling and falling into failure? Prov. 2:10-12.
COMMENT: KNOWLEDGE is the accumulation of facts. Acquiring RIGHT knowledge can be achieved by learning truth instead of error. But most people in the world don't have right knowledge. Their minds are filled with lies, errors, mistaken concepts, false ideas -- a mixture of truth and error. Such a mixture is poisonous. It's just like adding a column of figures; if one number is wrong, the final answer will be wrong. Therefore, it is vital to get RIGHT KNOWLEDGE in order to achieve real, lasting success!
UNDERSTANDING is the quality of properly evaluating the knowledge one has. It involves discernment. It requires seeing the broad perspective, seeing how one's knowledge fits into the overall picture. When a person UNDERSTANDS knowledge, he sees its true significance -- its real meaning. Many people who have knowledge still lack this vital ingredient of understanding!
WISDOM is the capstone of the three. Wisdom is the proper and right utilization of knowledge and understanding. It is putting knowledge and understanding to the right ACTION -- the proper use! Millions who have a degree of knowledge and understanding, fall miserably short of possessing true wisdom! They don't know how to APPLY their information -- how to rightly use the facts. When it comes to acting on their knowledge, they are abysmally lost. Therefore, they never achieve REAL SUCCESS!
6. Who is the source of true understanding and wisdom? Prov. 2:6. What do we have to do to receive true wisdom? Jas. 1:5-6.
No matter what your job, it requires a certain amount of education. The higher your job, the more education it requires. Even a carpenter's apprentice needs instruction to do his job well. To advance, and to finally become a fully qualified carpenter, he must learn the necessary skills. The more instruction and education he can master, the better carpenter he will become. If he really applies himself, he might become a foreman, a superintendent, or even a contractor or a builder.
How high you rise depends to a great extent upon how much you learn -- upon your education!
True education is the soundest investment you can make in life. But true education is not necessarily measured by how many years you spend in school or classrooms. It does not depend on the number of diplomas or degrees you earn. It is measured more accurately by how well you LEARN TO THINK! Knowledge alone, as we have seen, is not enough.
Said Ralph J. Cordiner, Chairman of General Electric: "Two of our most outstanding presidents ... never had an opportunity to attend college. Although some of our present officers have doctor's degrees, 12 out of 41 have no college degrees. WE ARE INTERESTED IN COMPETENCE, NOT DIPLOMAS."
Merely being a sponge, and soaking up facts, won't bring you true success. A fact can be looked up in an encyclopedia, or an almanac. Books and files contain facts. True success depends much more on how well you learn to use your mind, analyze problems, solve them, and THINK! (Not "Thimk!")
1. Did the kind of wisdom God gave Solomon include the ability to think? Read I Kings 3:16-28. This is the kind of thinking ability YOUR education should lead to!
COMMENT: God can add this ability to you as you yourself develop your mind -- learn how to make decisions -- how to think. Learning facts is important, for you must have facts in order to properly arrive at sound decisions. But you must also develop your capacity for thinking analytically, for meditating over situations, for understanding concepts, and for applying that information to real life.
Stretch your mind. Train it to think constructively, positively.
Albert Einstein believed it was more important to use your mind to THINK than as a warehouse for facts. A story has been circulated about Einstein being asked how many feet there are in a mile. He replied: "I don't know. Why should I fill my brain with facts I can find in two minutes in any standard reference book?"
Another story has been told about Henry Ford, inventor of the Ford automobile. The 'Chicago Tribune' had called Ford an ignoramus, and a libel suit followed. Ford was asked who Benedict Arnold was, when the Revolutionary War was fought, etc. Ford, who had no formal education, could not answer.
Finally, in exasperation, Henry Ford thundered: "I don't know the answers to those questions, but I could find a man in five minutes who does."
Ford, like Einstein, was more concerned about THINKING ability than in memorizing a lot of unimportant statistical facts or historical data.
Too many people are like parrots. They can memorize very well. They are like walking, talking encyclopedias. But they are at a loss when it comes to THINKING, analyzing, making decisions, solving problems, developing new ideas.
An example of THINKING occurred in the life of Thomas Edison, inventor of the electric light bulb. Edison asked a young mathematician to figure out the cubic capacity of a light bulb. All week long the brilliant mathematician worked over his figures. He measured the bulb, calculated the curvature of the bulb, and pondered his data.
At the end of the week Edison returned and saw him still poring over the problem. "Haven't you finished that yet?" he asked. "Here, let me show you how to do it." Edison then took the bulb, filled it to the brim with water, then poured the water into a square basin. It took him a few minutes to get the answer, whereas the "expert" took all week and still did not calculate the final answer.
Henry Ford declared that young people should PREPARE themselves with the training, knowledge and experience every leader needs. Edison said he devoted every cent he could lay hands on to scientific books, and materials for experiments. Many famous men, including Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt, and others, have admitted their whole lives were changed through reading a book or several inspiring books.
Books, especially autobiographies and biographies of successful men and women, can INSPIRE, STIMULATE, and MOTIVATE YOU to greater achievement and success! Biographies of such men as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Dwight Eisenhower, and a host of others are very profitable reading.
The right kind of reading may awaken slumbering ideas in the back of your mind and provide an incentive or a goal to achieve. The study of the lives of great and successful men has aroused dormant abilities and aptitudes in thousands of other men and women who previously were stumbling along in life.
Don't waste time reading trashy novels filled with sex and sensual filth, or comic books, often filled with violence and gore. Be selective in your reading. Choose profitable, useful, educational books. Choose good books on history, ecology, pollution, the population explosion, and other world problems; visit the non-fiction section of your local library. Read such books as "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", "Too Many", "Famine -- 1975!", "Our Precarious Habitat", "The Hidden Persuaders", etc.
Also, keep up with world news. Don't be ignorant of world affairs. Read a weekly news magazine for reports on global affairs. Strive to obtain a broad-based, balanced, top-level education so you are conversant with world affairs, international relations, and the problems facing our world.
Read books on getting things done, such as "How to Get More Done in Less Time", "The Technique of Getting Things Done", "Streamlining Your Executive Workload", and others which will help you make the most of your time, learning to redeem vital minutes which you normally would waste during your lifetime.
You "don't have time"? Then you need to MAKE TIME! Arrange your life so you can spend profitable time every day READING worthwhile books, magazines, and the important news. Don't neglect this vital secret of successful living!
When you study the life of a truly successful man, you'll find that invariably he was an omnivorous reader. His reading helped him get ahead. It inspired him with new ideas, challenged his imagination, spurred him to action. But tragically, most people today have forgotten or neglected the vital art of reading. They waste hours viewing television, that greatest mind-robber of all time! They allow the narcotic effect of the "boob tube" to satiate them, to effortlessly fill their minds with drivel.
What about you?
To read more, follow these helpful tips: keep good reading matter handy; use routine travel time for reading whenever possible; read while waiting for appointments; use spare minutes, perhaps at lunchtime; read before going to sleep. Do your heaviest reading when freshest. Choose your reading material with great care. Don't waste time on nonentities.
Read with a purpose -- not aimlessly. Concentrate. Pause from time to time to summarize the material to yourself and THINK about what you're reading.
Read faster. Skim unimportant sections and trivia. You might even take a reading course for faster reading, if you wish. A good book to improve your reading speed could probably be found at a local library, saving you much money on a reading course.
When you read your own books and magazines, feel free to mark the material. Underline important sections, put stars or asterisks in the margin -- whatever you need to do to call your attention to that material in the future when you may wish to refer to it again or review it.
Reading will help you prepare for your future work, and will contribute greatly to your success in life, whether you are young or old. You are NEVER too old to learn, to grow in knowledge, or to prepare for the future! Because of poor eyesight, some few might not be able to read AS MUCH as they should. But if you have good eyesight and health, then don't make excuses for yourself.
Remember, readers often become leaders. Leaders are invariably readers. And readers are also more successful in life.
What about you?
Ostensibly, four or more years of a college education should prepare young men and women for life in the world.
But it seldom does. The world's educational system invariably turns out men and women prepared for nothing but eventual failure in all too many facets of life. Why?
Because it is narrow, unbalanced, restricted. It does not encompass the WHOLE of life. It neglects the spiritual!
Even the "successful" men we have mentioned in this lesson, from Ford to Einstein, were only "limitedly" successful. That is, they did NOT achieve true success because they were SPIRITUALLY ignorant! They did not understand the basic purpose or plan of life -- why they were born, what life is all about.
God did not reveal His wonderful TRUTH to them! But God has revealed that marvelous truth to YOU. You have been studying it for the past 57 lessons of this Correspondence Course. The purpose of life has been made PLAIN to you -- so plain a child can understand.
You have been receiving vital SPIRITUAL education that this world lacks sorely. You have been receiving the information you need in order to be a true, outstanding SUCCESS in life -- both spiritually AND materially!
What are you doing with this priceless spiritual education? Is it merely knowledge that is soaking into your head? Or, is it practical knowledge which you are USING in your life?
Remember: Knowledge is only of value as it is USED! God will hold you accountable for all the priceless knowledge He has permitted you to receive. Your potential, with this knowledge, is far higher than that of any president or king, or even the angels in heaven. God expects you to put the education you are receiving to use in your life to develop holy, righteous, spiritual CHARACTER! He wants you to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ so that eventually you can be born into the very Family -- or Kingdom -- of God, as His very own Son!
God is going to ultimately place you in charge of vast responsibilities, if you are born into His Kingdom! You are now being EDUCATED for that supreme purpose.
What are you doing with this education?
1. For what reason did the prophet Hosea say that God's people were destroyed? Hos. 4:6. Had they REJECTED knowledge or right education? Same verse.
2. What did Christ say the Pharisees had taken away from the people so they could not enter God's Kingdom? Luke 11:52.
3. Were the Scriptures written for our LEARNING? Rom. 15:4. Does God want us to abound more and more in the knowledge of His way, and literally be FILLED with the knowledge of His will? Phil. 1:9 and Col. 1:9. Are we to continually INCREASE in His knowledge? Verse 10.
COMMENT: Are you OBEYING the laws which you find revealed in God's Word? Are you putting them into practice? Are you striving to learn all you can about the Supreme Goal in life -- the purpose for which you were born?
Are you studying God's Word -- the Bible -- daily? Are you sometimes even studying it on your knees, drinking in every word, absorbing its vital message?
Christ said man shall live by EVERY WORD of God. How can you really DO that, unless you STUDY His Word, meditate on it, and think deeply about it?
The Apostle James wrote: "For if any one only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a DOER of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his own natural face in a mirror; for he thoughtfully observes himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the law of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets, but an active doer who obeys, he shall be blessed in his doing -- in his life of obedience" (Jas. 1:23-25, Amplified Version).
These words are timeless. They apply just as much today as when the Apostle James originally was inspired to write them.
4. Did Christ Himself LEARN by the things He experienced or "suffered"? Heb. 5:8. Are Christians also to LEARN by their experiences in living the Christian life? I Pet. 2:21.
5. Is KNOWLEDGE one of the attributes true Christians are to inculcate into their character? II Pet. 1:5-9. What does God command Christians to GROW in? II Pet. 3:18.
COMMENT: Diligent study of the Scriptures is needed to really GROW in usefulness in God's Work! Too many are NOT diligently studying their Bibles. Too many have only the foggiest notion of how to explain Scriptural doctrines to others who are interested. Many cannot even locate basic verses in their Bibles!
What about you? Are you able to explain the basic doctrines of the Bible, having studied this far in the Ambassador College Correspondence Course? Could you simply and clearly explain to someone who asked you the truth about heaven, or hell, or law and grace, or the resurrection? Can you simply and easily disprove the immortal soul doctrine taught in most of this world's churches today?
Do you study your Bible regularly? Or do you just pick it up occasionally when you don't have anything better to do? When did you last read through the entire Bible? Or have you ever?
It's time to stop kidding ourselves -- to stop assuming we know all we need to know about God's Word. If we want to please God and truly be SUCCESSFUL in life, then we need urgently to faithfully STUDY THE BIBLE DAILY to continually drink in of its message, absorb its teachings, study and remember its doctrines, and apply in our lives its principles of wisdom and success!
Don't deceive yourself. Only those who sink their roots deeply into God's Word, and take spiritual nourishment from it, will grow in grace and knowledge will DEVELOP in spiritual understanding and character -- and will finally enter the Kingdom of God as one of His born SONS!
God commands "STUDY"!
Are you obeying that command?
The first two laws of success naturally go hand in hand. You must set your aim -- fix your GOAL. Then you must EDUCATE yourself to achieve that goal -- you must study, learn, push yourself to master all the instruction that pertains to that goal.
The men of God in the Bible studied God's Word. They were familiar with God's instruction. Christ thoroughly knew the Word of God so that when Satan tempted Him, He was able to resist every temptation by referring to the proper Scripture.
Are you STUDYING this Correspondence Course, THE PLAIN TRUTH magazine, TOMORROW'S WORLD magazine, and all the booklets and literature you receive from God's Work? Are you applying this wonderful spiritual knowledge in your own life?
We hope and pray you are. The rewards are far greater than your mind can begin to fully comprehend! As the Apostle Paul stated: "For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim, blurred reflection of reality as in a riddle or enigma, but then when perfection comes we shall see in reality and face to face!" (I Cor. 13:12, Amplified Version.)
Titans of finance, businessmen, presidents and chancellors have not understood the great purpose of God. Again, as Paul declared, "None of the rulers of this age or world perceived and recognized and understood this; for if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory."
Paul continues, "But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared -- made and keeps ready -- for those who love Him, that is, for those who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed" (I Cor. 2:8-9, Amplified Version).
But God has revealed these priceless treasures of knowledge to you! You have been privileged to understand and to grasp the Supreme Plan of the ages.
May God help you put this precious knowledge to instant and constant USE so you may qualify to inherit His glorious Kingdom!
Next lesson: The vital THIRD LAW of success -- Good Health -- will be covered in detail.