103. We can tell from the books of Moses that there was a Word among the ancients because he mentioned it and excerpted from it (Numbers 21:14-15, 27-30). We can tell that the narrative portions of that Word were called “The Wars of Jehovah, ” and that the prophetic portions were called “Pronouncements.” Moses quoted the following from the historical narratives of that Word:

Therefore it says in The Book of the Wars of Jehovah, “Waheb in Suphah and the rivers Arnon, a watercourse of rivers that goes down to [where] Ar is inhabited and rests along the border of Moab.” (Numbers 21:14-15)

In that Word as in ours, the wars of Jehovah were understood to be, and served to describe in detail, the Lord’s battles against hell and his victories over it when he would come into the world. These same battles are meant and described time after time in the historical narratives of our Word - in Joshua’s battles against the nations of the land of Canaan, for example, and in the wars of the judges and the kings of Israel.

[2] Moses quoted the following from the prophetic portions of that Word:

Therefore those who make pronouncements say, “Come to Heshbon! The city of Sihon will be built up and fortified, because fire has gone out from Heshbon, flame from the city of Sihon. It has devoured Ar of Moab, those who occupy the heights of Arnon. Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, people of Chemosh; he has made his sons fugitives and sent his daughters into captivity to Sihon, king of the Amorites. With arrows we have dealt with them; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon, and we have spread destruction as far as Nophah, which extends to Medeba.” (Numbers 21:27-30)

Translators change [the title of] this to “Composers of Proverbs, ” but it should be called “Makers of Pronouncements” or “Prophetic Pronouncements, ” as we can tell from the meaning of the word moschalim in Hebrew. It means not only proverbs but also prophetic utterances, as in Numbers 23:7, 18; 24:3, 15 where it says that Balaam gave forth his pronouncement, which was actually a prophetic utterance and was about the Lord. In these instances each of his pronouncements is called a mashal in the singular. There is also the fact that what Moses quoted from this source are not proverbs but prophecies.

[3] We can see that this Word was similarly divine or divinely inspired from a passage in Jeremiah where we find almost the same words:

A fire has gone out from Heshbon and a flame from the midst of Sihon, which has devoured the corner of Moab and the top of the children of tumult. Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished, for your sons have been carried off into captivity and your daughters into captivity. (Jeremiah 48:45-46)

Further, both David and Joshua mention another prophetic book of the former Word, The Book of Jasher or The Book of the Righteous One. Here is where David mentions it:

David lamented over Saul and over Jonathan and wrote, “‘To Teach the Children of Judah the Bow.’ (You will find this written in The Book of Jasher.)” (2 Samuel 1:17-18)

Here is where Joshua mentions it:

Joshua said, “‘Come to rest, O sun, in Gibeon; and, O moon, in the valley of Aijalon.’ Is this not written in The Book of Jasher?” (Joshua 10:12-13)

Then too, I have been told that the first seven chapters of Genesis are right there in that ancient Word, so that not the slightest word is missing.

116. I have been allowed to see people born on [remote] islands who were rational in civic matters but knew absolutely nothing about God. In the spiritual world they look like apes and lead an almost apelike life; but since they were born human and have the ability to accept spiritual life, they are taught by angels and brought to life by recognizing that the Lord is human.

What we are like left to our own devices is obvious from people in hell. This includes some of the eminent and learned who are unwilling to hear anything about God and therefore cannot pronounce the word “God.” I have seen them and talked with them, and have also talked with some who burst into flaming wrath and rage when they hear anyone talking about God.

[2] Stop and think, then, what people would be like who had never heard about God, when there are people like this who have heard about God, who have written about God, and who have preached about God. Many people of this sort are Jesuits.

The basic cause of this kind of nature is a will that is evil; and this, as already noted [§115], leads our understanding and takes away any truth it has from the Word. If it is possible for us to know on our own that God exists and that we go on living after death, why then do some people not know that we remain human beings after death? Why do some believe that the soul or spirit is like the wind or the ether, and does not see with its own eyes or hear with its own ears or speak with its own mouth before it is [once again] united and merged with its body, even though that is now a cadaver or even a skeleton?

[3] So imagine a theory of worship concocted solely in the light of reason. Would it not teach that we ourselves are to be worshiped, as has been done for ages and still is by people, despite the fact that they know from the Word that we should worship God alone? No other kind of worship can come from our own self-aggrandizement, not even the worship of the sun and the moon.