KEYWORDS: number, god, man, gods, devil, lord

Ye Shall Be as Gods

David Berg

DFO 170112/83

—On Godly, Godliness & Godward!—And the Difference Between 6 & 7!

1. (DAVIDA: WHY DID GOD SLEEP ON THE SIXTH DAY WHEN HE DIDN'T LIKE IT?) When He didn't like what? (Davida: When He didn't like the number six!) Well, it doesn't say that He slept, first of all, it just said that He rested, not on the sixth day, but on the seventh day! Did you forget that? Go check your Bible & see if that isn't so. I think you'll find that's true, that it was the seventh day. (Ge.2:2.) (Techi: If you say on the sixth day it doesn't rhyme!) Well, then it was a good thing it was the seventh day so it would rhyme with the song, huh?

2. (MARIA: WELL, I THINK THAT'S A THING CHILDREN DO NEED CLARIFICATION ON. We infer that six is the Devil's number, but like she says, we have to have the number six & we have to use it. It's not like every six is anathema.) Actually, there's no place in the Bible that says six is the Devil's number, & I don't think you'll find anything anywhere that I have said that six is the Devil's number. I know most of us don't particularly like that number because it's the Star of David &... (Davida: Because it's written on the forehead of the Antichrist.) But not just six, it's 666‚ six times three. After all‚ God made the World & the Universe & the numbers too & six had to be in there somewhere.

3. AS I'VE SAID, I'VE HAD THE FEELING THE JEWISH STAR WITH ITS SIX POINTS IS GOING TO BE ONE OF THE SIGNS OF THE ANTICHRIST, IN FACT IT ALREADY IS! But that's strictly … hocum about that star being the Star of David—David never had such a star, that's their own idea. In our [past] we promoted the star, etc., but going to Israel, that finished it! (Maria: That's a good point on how you can change your mind & how the Lord can make you wiser today than you were yesterday.) He's done that quite a few times I think. (Maria: But the Family still has a little bit of trouble realising it.)

4. SO DAVIDA‚ THAT IS A PROBLEM BECAUSE I KNOW WE DON'T SEEM TO LIKE SIX. I'm not a numerologist like some of these Biblical numerologists who can give you meanings of every number & tell you what everything means, its quantity & significance & blah blah‚ but the point is that in the Bible the Lord did seem to be particularly fond of 3s‚ 7s‚ 12s & 40s. You go through & see!

5. THE GOOD KINGS THAT HE BLESSED BECAUSE THEY DID GOOD, THEY ALMOST ALWAYS RULED AT LEAST 40 YEARS. You'll find king after king in the Bible who ruled 40 years. You'll find a lot of 40s in the Bible‚ all kinds of 40s, which was supposed to be a good number. And 12 was supposed to be a significant number. There were 12 tribes & 12 stones in the breastplate of the High Priest, one for each Tribe, & there were later 12 disciples, right? Actually there were 13 Tribes but one of them didn't receive any territory, therefore they usually speak of the 12 Tribes.

6. IN FACT‚ I THINK IF YOU'LL COUNT'M ALL UP YOU'LL FIND THAT JACOB ACTUALLY HAD 14 CHILDREN, BECAUSE ONE WAS A GIRL.—The gal that somebody was in the kitchen with, remember? I wonder if you all got that joke! Come on, somebody sing it! (Family: "Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah, someone's in the kitchen I know! Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah, strummin' on the old banjo!") Ha! They got the point, see? Imagine this one girl amongst all those horrible boys! They had one girl & she had 13 brothers! Whew! You count'm sometime & see if I'm not right. I remember I was puzzled by that too.

7. AND THERE'S ANOTHER PROBLEM ALONG THAT LINE TOO, THE LISTS OF THE TRIBES IS NOT EXACTLY THE SAME IN REVELATION AS IT IS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.—They leave out one of'm & put somebody else in! So why the Lord did that, I don't know. I can't understand why He left'm in at all! Ha!

8. SEVEN, HOWEVER, WAS CONSIDERED GOD'S PERFECT NUMBER! He created the World in six days but He rested on the seventh day. So because of the way it's used in the Bible & because of the obvious favouritism of the Lord towards seven, it's generally been considered by the theologians as God's number or the perfect number. Six is considered the number of man, not the Antichrist, but man. (Re.13:18.) In other words, he's just a step below God. He's not quite perfect. He's a pretty high creation, he's pretty high up the scale, but he didn't quite make it to Godhood. God has made him a little lower than the angels, the gods. (Ps.8:5.)

9. DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE ARE LOTS OF GODS, WHOM EVEN THE BIBLE CALLS GODS?—THE ANGELS! They're like gods to us. In other words, they're divine, supernatural beings with miraculous powers, etc. But there's only one the God so don't get confused. Of course, the Devil has a lot of gods too, & they are all kinds of gods, but evil gods, evil angels, evil archangels, etc. (Techi: I knew that already.) Right, but thank God we've got good angels! PTL!

10. SO DAVIDA, THE LORD'S FAVOURITE NUMBER BEING SEVEN & HIS NEXT FAVOURITE NUMBER BEING THREE & HIS NEXT FAVOURITE NUMBERS BEING 12 & 40, GOD'S GOT SEVERAL DIFFERENT NUMBERS! But since man's number is six, I think it's particularly significant that the Devil's number for the Antichrist—or God's number for the Devil's Antichrist, He's the one who actually identifies him with the number—is what? (Davida: Six hundred & sixty-six.) Right, it's 666, three sixes!

11. NOW THAT'S VERY SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT'S LIKE THE ULTIMATE THAT MAN CAN DO, & IT'S ALSO SYMBOLIC OF THE TRINITY OF SATAN. Because as I told you before, Satan has a trinity too, of which Satan is the father‚ the Antichrist is his son & most people interpret it that the False Prophet is his unholy spirit. So here we have the trinity of the Devil, with the Antichrist himself represented & identified with the number 666, the ultimate of man, the number of man. In fact, it's three times the number of man, sort of symbolic of the absolute ultimate of man & what man can do, & that's exactly what it's going to be. The Antichrist is going to be the ultimate man with the ultimate government doing the ultimate that man can possibly do, which is finally going to wreck the World!—Or almost wreck it if the Lord didn't come back & save it.

12. SO I DON'T REALLY THINK I EVER SAID THAT SIX WAS THE DEVIL'S NUMBER. Sometimes we may get that idea because the Antichrist's number is 666, but that's just three times the number of man. It means‚ in a sense‚ all that man can do, the best that man can do, 666‚ also representing the trinity of Satan. But six in itself is not necessarily an evil number. The Lord created the whole Universe in six days & He saw that it was good, so it wasn't bad! So six is not always bad.

13. (TECHI: SO THAT'S OKAY FOR ME TO BE SIX?) Yes, it'll be okay for you to be six! (Techi: Or I would skip that number!) Ha! She's been worried about it all this time & we didn't even know it! Well, don't worry, you're not even five yet, but you will be soon. It's perfectly all right to be six, Honey‚ & six is not a bad number. It's part of our numerical system & it's just the number of man, that's all. In a sense, man is all right too, except for the fact that he's not enough without God. He needs one more to make him Godly, & that makes him seven! It's just a little bit short of God's number, a little bit short of being God's.

14. THIS WAS THE TEMPTATION, OF COURSE, THAT THE DEVIL GAVE EVE: "IF YOU EAT OF THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD & EVIL, YOU WILL BE AS GODS!" LIKE GODS! (Ge.3:5.) Was that the truth or was that a lie? Watch out! Everybody's afraid to answer‚ total silence! (Family: It's true.) It was the truth! He told them half–lies & half-truths!

15. THE FIRST THING HE TOLD THEM WAS A LIE: "THOU SHALT NOT SURELY DIE!" Then, "For God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof ye shall be as gods, to know good & evil."—That was the truth. And man's been busy trying to be a god ever since. And he's getting closer to it all the time with all these miraculous & marvellous machines that think & all kinds of stuff. He's learning all about the Creation that God has made & coming to know more about God & His Creation all the time—at least through the Creation he'd know more about God if he'd admit it. But he's getting smarter all the time‚ brilliant, & knows more all the time, getting closer to being a god all the time. But of course he's never going to make it, not without the Lord, but we are!

16. WE ARE GOING TO BE AS GODS, YOU & I! We are going to be like the angels, & "we shall be like Him"—Jesus! (1Jn.3:2.) So we are really going to make it! The Devil's persuasion to Adam & Eve was "Ye shall be as gods!" Well, that's partly true of man, he's getting as close as he can, but it's going to be fully true of you & me. In fact, we're already the sons of God! So if you're already God's son, you're like God, right? So you're like gods. You're becoming like angels & you will have samples of that power to exercise when you need it, like Heaven's Girl!

17. YOU'RE NOT COMPLETELY THERE YET, BUT IT'S JUST LIKE HEALING IS A SAMPLE OF RESURRECTION! Healing is a sample of everlasting life, renewal of the body, cure of disease. It's a touch of resurrection. You don't have the full resurrection yet but you can have a little touch once in awhile. Look at me, here I am!—Ha! Behold, the resurrection of the dead! TYL! That's one reason I wanted to come to dinner, to show you God's answered your prayers.

18. TECHI'S SO THANKFUL, SHE LOVES HER GRANDPA! God sent her along to be my little comforter, cheerer-upper & the lifter up of my head, my little healer. She was coming around to pray for me before she was even born! Isn't that amazing? (Coughs.) Well, that cough shows you that I'm not fully resurrected yet, but I'm at least partly healed & that's a partial resurrection. We won't get the full one until Jesus comes. So thank God for that! Thank God we've got a little resurrection life now, huh?

19. I'M GOING TO SAY SOMETHING TO REALLY SHOCK YOU! I used to do this with my class in school. You know what? You're not even saved yet! You are not even saved yet! Whew! "Come on! Now I know Dad has blown his rocker for sure!" Well, I should probably qualify it a little bit better & say you are not fully saved yet.

20. YOU ARE NOW ONLY SAVED BY FAITH! You do not yet have the spirits of just men made perfect. (Eph.2:8; Heb.12:23.) (Fam: Amen!) You're being honest, Honey! We can all say amen to that! The funny thing about it is‚ from what we've found out‚ you're still making progress on the other side, you're not perfect yet. This growth into Godhood & into perfection is a long process & it's going to take us quite awhile!—A thousand years of Millennium & maybe by that time we'll be able to be good examples to the people on the outside Earth where we'll really be able to show them a little perfection for a change.

21. IT'S LIKE A LOT OF THESE ANGEL STORIES! I usually enjoy them because they're usually comedies & funny, about all these mistakes they make, etc., amateur angels & beginner angels like "Casper the Ghost." And what's that other funny little guy with the bowler hat & the two little stubby wings on his back?—Barnaby! It used to be a comic strip. There was a movie a little bit like that about that funny angel that kept showing up where the guy saved the bank. What a funny angel, here he carried a cane & wore a bowler hat & smoked a cigar & did all kinds of funny tricks & made mistakes & whatnot! (Techi: An angel would smoke a cigar?) Well, that was their opinion, that was their idea. Grandpa has a cigar on the toilet, don't I? But of course I'm no angel!—And actually I don't smoke it, I just let it smoke.

22. BUT ANYWAY, SIX IS NOT NECESSARILY AN EVIL NUMBER, IT'S ALL IN HOW YOU USE IT. Just like man himself is not necessarily evil, but it depends on whether he's good or bad or how he uses himself or how he lets the Lord use him. The piano itself is not evil, it depends on who uses it & how it's used, whether it's used for evil jazz music‚ bad music‚ bar room music‚ or I've seen lots of pianos in churches. But of course some churches believe that pianos themselves are evil & just because the Devil uses some pianos, they refuse to use pianos!

23. WELL, IF YOU QUIT USING EVERYTHING THE DEVIL USES‚ THERE WON'T BE ANYTHING LEFT!—Because he'll use anything he can get his hands on‚ including you! So it's ridiculous to say you're not going to use anything the Devil uses, that won't leave you anything to use at all, because he uses anything he can get ahold of.

24. SO THINGS ARE NOT EVIL OF THEMSELVES, IT'S ALL IN HOW THEY'RE USED & whether they're surrendered to the Lord & His use or whether they're good or bad, including the number six. PTL! That was a good question! (Family: Good answer!)

25. WELL, THAT BRINGS UP THE OLD QUESTION: "THEN WHY DOES THE LORD LET THE DEVIL COME ALONG & USE 666 FOR HIS NUMBER?" And that brings up the question, "Why does He allow the Devil period?" Well, even Satan is accomplishing God's purpose. There had to be a Devil in order to have the opposite side of the coin to show you the difference between good & evil. That's why the Lord had to let man fall in the Garden & let him eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil, so he would know the difference.—And to give him free will so he could make a choice‚ even if he made the wrong one, so he could find out for sure.

26. IF HE WASN'T WILLING TO TAKE GOD'S WORD FOR IT, THEN HE HAD TO LEARN BY TOUGH, HARD EXPERIENCE, WHICH PROVES TO BE THE BEST TEACHER. But I guess the Lord must have known that the only way man would learn was by experience. The easy way, the shortcut is to believe the truth & what your good teachers tell you & not learn by hard experience, the school of hard knocks. Believe God's Word, believe your teachers, then you don't have to learn by bitter experience & by trying.

27. UP NORTH WHERE WE USED TO HAVE STOVES & HEATERS YOU COULD TELL A LITTLE CHILD WHEN THEY'RE SMALL LIKE THIS: "DON'T TOUCH IT, DON'T TOUCH IT, IT'LL BURN YOU!"—Even before they could talk. But there are very few all that obedient that didn't try to give it a little touch when you weren't looking! Then you'd hear a howl! Let me tell you, they learned then! They never tried to touch it any more. They didn't believe you, in other words, they just had to try.

28. AND THAT'S ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO MAN, HE JUST WASN'T QUITE PERFECT ENOUGH. Almost perfect.—Six is almost seven but not quite. You get it? Six is almost perfect, it's almost seven, but it's not. And that's the whole thing, the whole deal, man trying to prove he's perfect, man trying to prove he can run the World without number Seven, man trying to prove that he has it all & he doesn't need God & he can do it himself.

29. THE ULTIMATE IN SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, THAT'S WHAT THE ANTICHRIST IS, & THAT'S WHAT HIS GOVERNMENT WILL BE. The ultimate in self-righteousness is man trying to save himself & making a final, horrible mess of the whole thing!—Proving that man cannot do without God, & number six is nothing without seven! PTL? Amen! That was a big long answer to a fairly short question! Ha! GBAKY going Godward!—In Jesus' name, amen.

Verses on Gods, Godly & Godliness

—Compiled by Joseph

But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is Godly for Himself: the Lord will hear when I call unto Him (Psa.4:3).

For this shall every one that is Godly pray unto Thee in a time when Thou mayest be found (Psa.32:6a).

I have said, Ye are gods; & all of you are children of the Most High (Psa.82:6).

Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? He called them gods, unto whom the Word of God came, & the Scripture cannot be broken (Jn.10:34,35).

But also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad (1Thes.1:8b).

But refuse profane & old wives' fables, & exercise thyself rather unto Godliness (1Tim.4:7).

But thou, O man of God, flee these things; & follow after righteousness, Godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness (1Tim.6:11).

Having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away (2Tim.3:5).

Teaching us that, denying ungodliness & worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, & Godly, in this present world (Tit.2:12).

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved‚ what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation & Godliness (2Pet.3:11).