America has just landed the Spirit rover on Mars, and we have gotten the best pictures ever of that planet. The world is stunned by the awe and wonder of this amazing achievement.

However, Mars is in a state of decay. It is probably dead, just as we found the moon to be. Mars is a vast, decaying wasteland.

And that decaying condition has everything to do with your incredible human potential. This subject is surely a million times more exciting and inspiring than the Mars landing. Let me to tell you why.

Cause of Decay

What caused the state of decay on that planet? When God created it, He said it was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). And the Father is “perfect” (Matt. 5:48), so He would only create something perfect.

I am going to have to use some Bible scriptures, because it is the only way to answer the questions about Mars. Anybody can prove that the Bible is God’s Word if they are willing.

The Bible also states that there was a war in the universe (Rev. 12:7). It was the most destructive war ever, leaving Mars and apparently the rest of the universe in a state of decay!

Two Bible chapters, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, give many of the details leading up to that war. Lucifer and one third of the angels rebelled against God.

But even more shocking and inspiring: That war is the very reason you were created! Mankind is destined to remove that decay from Mars and the entire universe! It’s hard to even imagine what a direct and strong connection mankind has to the universe. We will make the universe look like the Garden of Eden! That is man’s destiny—and you can prove it from the Bible.

Within five days of landing the Spirit rover, nasa had received 1.45 billion hits on their website. People are inspired and given hope by the Mars landing. But the truth is that most of those people will only have a few fleeting moments of inspiration and then the hope will fade away. Please don’t let that happen to you. Your potential beyond those pictures is breathtaking and inspiring beyond anything you have ever known. Let those Mars pictures be a stepping stone to the greatest hope mankind can ever imagine!

We spent millions of dollars fighting in court for the book The Incredible Human Potential (and other writings). And now we want to give you this book for free. When you read it, we believe you will understand why we fought so hard and spent so much money to keep this book from being destroyed—and why we give it to you for free. You can’t put a price on anything so priceless.

Scientists Ask Wrong Question

Why do our scientists want to reach Mars? It keeps getting back to one overall question: “Is there life on Mars?” But they are asking the wrong question! They should ask, “Why is Mars and the universe there?” Then we would begin to get our minds on the Creator first of all. Scientists today get their minds focused on the creation—not the Creator. And that is an exercise in futility and rebellion against God, though it may be done in ignorance.

Paul also had to experience scholars asking the wrong question and having a warped focus. “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen” (Rom. 1:24-25; Revised Standard Version). The word creature means things or beings. We are worshiping ourselves or other men and the rest of God’s creation—like Mars. We usually worship science, scientists and the universe—not God. And that includes most religious people.

We worship things and beings—the creation—and not the Creator of those things and beings. How disgusting and shallow men are when they leave God out of the picture. We ask, “Is there life on Mars?” and we should ask, “Is there a creator of Mars?” But most of mankind “suppress the truth” (v. 18, rsv). That is exactly what the Worldwide Church of God was trying to do in our court battle.

We must change human nature before we can successfully go to the cosmos.

Universe in Decay

In The Incredible Human Potential, Herbert W. Armstrong wrote this: “Apparently all such planets in the entire universe now are waste and empty—decayed (tohu and bohu)—like the Earth was, as described in Genesis 1:2. But God did not create them in such conditions of decay—like our moon. Decay is not an original created condition—it is a condition resulting from a process of deterioration. Evidently if the now fallen angels had maintained the Earth in its original beautiful condition, improved it, carried out God’s instructions, and obeyed His government, they would have been offered the awesome potential of populating and carrying out a tremendous creative program throughout the entire universe. When they turned traitor on Earth, their sin must have also brought simultaneously physical destruction to the other planets throughout the universe, which were potentially and conditionally put in subjection to them.

“As God surveyed this cataclysmic tragedy, He must have realized that since the highest, most perfect being within His almighty power to create had turned to rebellion, it left God Himself as the only being who would not and cannot sin.”

This is a very profound statement. You need to read the book to fully understand. It will show you that these statements fit perfectly into the master plan of the Bible. This is a subject that requires study—and you will find that study richly rewarding. “Study to show yourself approved,” the Bible admonishes us.

“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:18-19; rsv). Why are Mars and the creation waiting eagerly for the sons of God? Because a decaying universe (including this Earth) yearns for the rotting decay to be removed—decay that was produced by breaking God’s law.

Lucifer and one third of the angels were sent to this Earth to administer God’s law, and to beautify and build on this Earth. But they failed—they destroyed the Earth. You can read more about this in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. Then God had to renew the face of the earth (Ps. 104:30). That is when God decided that only sons of God with God’s own character could rule the Earth and the universe. Only those sons who obey God before Christ’s Second Coming will qualify to be Christ’s bride and help Him rule this Earth and the universe forever.

God created man to do a spectacular and magnificent work. When will we see our true potential? Once we do, it will galvanize us into action as never before.

“[F]or the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children [sons] of God” (Rom. 8:20-21; rsv). The universe must be “set free from its bondage to decay,” and that includes this Earth. We don’t have freedom when we break God’s law. We are in bondage to sin. The law gives us true freedom. We must give the whole universe the liberty and glory of the sons of God—members of God’s own family!

When we see pictures of the moon and Mars, we can see that “bondage to decay”! We can see what Romans 8 is all about. It is obvious that the universe needs desperately to be set free. We must make it flourish with new life and beauty—remove the bondage forever.

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (vv. 22-23; rsv). God personifies the universe. The “whole creation has been groaning in travail” like a woman giving birth to a child. The Earth and universe are in a state of “labor pains” just before God gives birth to the sons of God! The first fruits—those people called before Christ’s Second Coming—are going to remove those groans! That is why we are called now. Those dead planets will be brought to life. This Earth will become like the Garden of Eden. God is inviting you to lead in this magnificent universe-building program!

The word adoption is an absolutely wrong translation. We will not be adopted by God. We are going to be born into His family. This truth is so incredible that men refuse to believe God! But it’s true, and you can prove it. The translators just would not believe that mankind is going to be born into the family of God—of which human birth is a type! It is not an adoption!

How awesome this truth is! Can you believe your Bible? You can if you study The Incredible Human Potential and let God build your faith.

“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (vv. 24-25; rsv). It states that “in this hope we were saved.” God views it as having already happened! We should have that same positive vision.

The word hope is used five times in these two verses. Hope should fill our lives. We really are invited to help God remove the groan from this decaying universe. And the Earth has the biggest groan of all!

What a calling! What hope! In this evil world, we can be filled with hope. Mars is a desert-type place waiting for the sons of God. Are you willing to prepare now for this towering responsibility? Or will you let this super-vision just slip away?

Mars helps to show us how real the universe is. But there is much more that we don’t see and hear. We don’t hear the roar of the burning stars, many of them like our sun, but they are real. Your potential is excitingly real. However, it is only potential—we must fulfill that potential!

Wrong Goals

Scientists can see that Mars and the universe are waste and in a state of decay. And some intellectuals even dream of removing the decay.

USA Today wrote this in its January 9 edition: “In the 1930s, ‘you could be an intelligent and well-informed and scientifically literate person and feel it was entirely possible that there were intelligent beings on Mars,’ says Kim Stanley Robinson, author of the science-fiction trilogy Red Mars (1993), Green Mars (1994) and Blue Mars (1996).

“‘There was no reason to doubt it, really, given the evidence that they had at the time. That looms large in the imagination and it’s never quite gone away,’ Robinson says. In his trilogy, Earth’s scientists and engineers try to transform Mars from wasteland to Eden” (emphasis mine).

But what is wrong with that picture? We can see that Mars and other planets are like a desert wasteland. But can scientists and engineers transform that wasteland into a Garden of Eden? No, they cannot!

Look at what they have done to this planet. We are about to destroy all human life on this Earth!

We were given a beautiful Earth, first created and then renewed by the Creator God. And look at what we have done with it. We have done what Satan did to the universe—only worse! That is because he is “the god of this world” (ii Cor.

4:4). That means the Earth’s inhabitants worship him. Could we now take a Mars wasteland and make it flourish with life? First we must change human nature.

We sense that the end of man’s rule on this Earth may be a mega-disaster. “Ray Browne, an author and retired professor of popular culture at Bowling Green University in Ohio, says exploring Mars taps into the constant human need to find a better place. …

“But he adds that there could be a dark side to our explorations. ‘I suspect that the obsession—if that’s what it is—is a kind of subterranean fear that things are going to get too hot down here, so now is the time to look for that Shangri-La. And if we just get up there, a few of us, we’ll escape all the trouble that we’re having down here’” (ibid.).

We all share in the guilt of creating “all the trouble” on this Earth. Many leaders see that we have a dark and bleak future ahead and that we need an escape from the trouble.

God is going to reverse that process. He is going to change human nature and then make this Earth a place of beauty and rejoicing. And then we will go out into the universe as God’s family and fulfill our reason for being created!

Mars should inspire us beyond words to describe. But it never will until we view our destiny as God does.

There is good news. Scientists and scholars can see that there needs to be a change brought to this Earth, Mars and the universe. Today, God is calling out a “little flock” to lead mankind in achieving this weighty potential. But we can only do it if we submit to God. It is our potential to let God change us so that we can make the Earth and universe blossom as a rose.

Scientists are looking for life on Mars. They ought to be learning how to save life on Earth! Our number-one problem is human survival!

Even if we found life on Mars, we would just destroy it in the end!

It seems that men and women will believe almost anything about Mars and the universe—except what God says. Very soon, that situation will change forever.

The Big Bang

The Catholic Church put Galileo under house arrest for saying the Earth revolves around the sun. But then in 1951, Pope Pius xii put his stamp of approval on the Big Bang theory.

Discover magazine explained, “Eventually, astrophysicists followed the pope’s lead, as evidence for the Big Bang became too powerful to ignore. They accepted the notion that the entire observable universe—100 billion galaxies, each stuffed with 100 billion stars, stretching out more than 10 billion light years in all directions—was once squashed into a space far smaller than a single electron. They bought the idea that the cosmos burst into existence precisely 13.7 billion years ago and has been expanding ever since. But even now, many astrophysicists are still uncomfortable with the implication that the Big Bang marked the beginning of time itself. And the theory has yet to yield a satisfactory answer to a key question: What made the Big Bang go bang?” (February 2004).

Foolish men make such mind-numbing statements like “the Big Bang marked the beginning of time itself.” As if all you need is a Big Bang to begin time and the universe!

Man can’t create time, but an explosion can?

God “inhabits eternity” (Isa. 57:15). He is apart from time—and so will we be in the future, if we let God rule us. Time was created by God as a gift to mankind. But our time is running out. It is time for mankind to stop making such wild and illogical theories!

We have no theories about why man is here or why the universe is here. We don’t have theories about the vital issues. We have facts—the truth of God, which any person can prove. We don’t look to pathetic man to understand what only our Creator could possibly understand!

How much will mankind have to suffer before they heed God’s warning and inspiring message?

Other religions also believe in the Big Bang theory, even though they know the Bible teaches that God created the universe, and not through a Big Bang. Christ also said we should live by every word of God (i.e., the Old and New Testaments; Matt. 4:4). And a Christian is one who is supposed to follow Christ.

So there is an obvious conflict with Christ and most Christians in this area. And there is also a conflict between the Bible and most scientists.

Is it logical to say that the Big Bang came from “a space far smaller than a single electron”? How could you get a Big Bang out of what many of us would call nothing? They just assume the electron was there. Actually, there was nothing there before God created the universe—except God and millions of angels!

And here is a far more important question: How do you get a universe that functions a million times better than any of man’s creations, from a Big Bang? “Is it really logical that the cosmos burst into existence?”

America sets our master clock by movement of the planets. Did a big bang here on Earth create our watches and clocks? That question is far less ridiculous than the Big Bang theory!

The universe is subject to laws. It is not in chaos. If you were to make just a tiny tilt to the moon, the Earth would be flooded. If the sun came a little closer to the Earth, we would be burned alive. There is great design and power to sustain that design in the universe.

The truth is, no creation comes from a Big Bang. Where do you see such a miraculous event on this Earth? We see many big bangs in Iraq, which leads to chaos—not a well-functioning country. A Big Bang leads to the opposite of a wondrous and massive creation.

And that principle applies even more to God’s masterpiece of creation, mankind! Where do you see evidence that the breathtaking creation of man evolved? There is no such evidence! There never has been and never will be!

Earth’s Architect

How could 100 billion galaxies just burst into existence? The design of such a massive-size universe should stagger our imaginations. Would you like to hear from the architect of the Earth (and the universe)? It’s right before our eyes. All we need to do is believe.

“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof” (Job 38:1-6).

Here is where the Earth was created, and probably the universe as well. We know the “heavens [not heaven] and the earth” were created “in the beginning” (Gen. 1:1). The whole universe, including the Earth, was created in that time period. There was no Big Bang. But there was an imagination-stirring creation that proves our Creator exists.

Notice Job 38:2. Here are some other translations of that verse: “Who is this obscuring my designs with his empty-headed words” (Jerusalem Bible). “Who darkens my design with a cloud of thoughtless words” (Moffatt). “Who is this whose ignorant words cloud my design in darkness” (New English Bible).

The word design is used repeatedly in these translations. There is mind-staggering design in the Earth and universe. It was done by the greatest architect and builder ever—God.

Notice verse 3 in other translations: “Brace yourself like a fighter; now it is my turn to ask questions and yours to inform me” (Jerusalem Bible). “Confront me like a man; come, answer these my questions” (Moffatt Bible).

Scientists have questions. Now they need to get ready to answer God’s questions. Every person on this Earth is going to have to correctly answer these questions or else!

There is a strong indication that Job built the great pyramid. At least he was an outstanding builder. He became very vain and God decided to work with him and his problem.

Here are other translations from verses 4-6: “From what vantage-point wast thou watching when I laid the foundations of the earth …” (v. 4; Knox Bible). “… Tell me, since you are so well-informed!” (v. 4; Jerusalem Bible).

“Who determined its measurements? You surely know! Or who stretched the builder’s line upon it” (v. 5; New Berkeley Version). “Tell me, since thou art so wise, was it thou or I designed earth’s plan, measuring it out with the line” (v. 5; Knox Bible). “Do you know how its dimensions were determined, and who did the surveying” (v. 5; Taylor Paraphrase).

“What supports its pillars at their bases” (v. 6; Jerusalem Bible). “How came its base to stand so firm” (v. 6; Knox Bible).

We depend on the foundations of the Earth, even though we may not know it. Who can fathom the measurements the Builder used?

Job acted like he designed the Earth, not God. Some scientists have the same arrogance, and God’s test awaits them!

Can you fathom the dimensions and surveyings required to create this Earth? Do you know what supports the pillars at their bases? Do you know why this Earth is so stable hanging out in the universe?

We can see the invisible things of God by His creation, if we aren’t so arrogant that we refuse to see (Rom. 1:20-22). “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools”!

“When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:7). Why did the angels shout when the Earth and universe were created? Certainly they were impressed by the creation. But the shouting came from seeing their potential to rule the Earth and the universe. Sadly, they lacked the character to do so. So God must have decided at that time, that only God had the character to rule the Earth and universe. So He began to recreate Himself in man—He is creating sons, a family of God. The family of God will succeed where Lucifer failed.

Sons of God

God never said to any of the angels that “you are my son” (Heb. 1:5). They are not on the God level. God never intended that they be born sons of God, and yet today they have a fiery splendor that would make us faint if we saw them.

And yet our potential is much greater! Are we grateful?

“For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak” (Heb. 2:5). God has put the world to come—the Earth and entire universe—in subjection to men and women who enter God’s family. Only God’s character can rule the universe.

“But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (v. 6). This is a quote from Psalm 8:4-6. David looked up at what he could see of the universe and asked God why He was mindful of man.

I believe most of us don’t usually get the deeper meaning from this verse. God is obviously concerned about the universe. But His main focus is on His masterpiece of creation—man!

The universe would be of little value to God without His family to rule it. God’s mind is full—mindful—of mankind and their potential. The universe is to be their work after they are born into God’s family. After men have become God’s family—the universe will still just be a physical creation.

“Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him” (Heb. 2:7-8). The Moffatt Bible translates “all things” as the universe. God is going to put Mars and the universe under man’s rule—no longer is it the potential of angels. It has become the transcendent potential of man!

God is here discussing a higher level of being than the angels. What a jaw-dropping potential God has given man. It’s time we began to see it!

“For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (v. 10). God perfects us through suffering. We have trials to prepare us for our mind-boggling future. Without our Father’s correction we are spiritual bastards (Heb. 12).

Christ is our Captain. He leads us in the suffering. He is not a military leader who stays behind the lines. He brings many sons to glory—and what glory! If we see the glory, we can endure any trial.

Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren (Heb. 2:11). The angels were never called the brothers of Christ. They were never sons in God’s family.

We are about to enter a very dark age. Actually, you could say this Earth has been in the dark ages throughout man’s history.

God is letting the trauma intensify until we finally learn how inept we really are. It’s as if this Earth has a bad case of epilepsy, and we are entering into our worst siege ever!

In this world full of terrorism, we need our universe dream. We need to see the stupendous possibility and the eternal majesty. That is what will motivate us to achieve our lofty calling. Nothing can stimulate our imagination like comprehending our universe potential! Nothing.

Scientists dare to introduce new theories about the universe. But we dare much more. We dare to believe our Creator no matter what. And then God gives us the faith we need to fulfill our incredible human potential.