On Jan. 24, 1984, Thailand’s Queen Sirikit and Herbert W. Armstrong flew to the north part of Thailand to visit the royal agricultural project behind the city of Chiang Mai. The Ambassador International Cultural Foundation had supported the project of King Bhumibiol and Queen Sirikit.

Their daughter, Princess Sirindhorn, accompanied them in the royal helicopter for the 45-minute flight. Other officials, along with the Ambassador College television crew, followed them in two Bell Huey helicopters supplied by the Royal Thai Police.

The group landed in an isolated rice field, paused for a picnic lunch, then began a tour of the agricultural project. This humanitarian endeavor had liberated the backward hill tribes of their dependence upon opium crop production, which allowed them to farm sustainable food.

It was at this time that the queen asked Mr. Armstrong if he would mind visiting the nearby village of Khob Dong. The mile-long trip required rough overland travel in four-wheel-drive vehicles. Mr. Armstrong agreed, and the group departed on the short but arduous journey.

They arrived at a few humble huts inhabited by the poor native Lahu tribe. The locals greeted them, and presented the queen with an assortment of handcrafted gifts.

The queen noticed two infants in baskets, and explained to Mr. Armstrong that this was how village mothers carried their babies when working in the fields. But then the queen noticed something was wrong with one of the babies. “She noticed that one of the babies was ill,” the Worldwide News reported. “Carefully she lifted the infant from the basket and held it. It was a boy, just a few days old. Her Majesty looked at us with great concern. ‘Look.’ she said, ‘he is dying’

“The villagers told her what happened. The baby was born 12 days before. The mother died later from blood poisoning. The husband was in a daze, and hadn’t known what to do. The villagers tried to save the baby, but they seemed ignorant of basic hygiene. They filled a dirt-encrusted feed bottle with stale milk, but the baby was not able to drink anything. Chai-Toi, the name he was given, was dying of starvation and malnutrition. If he were to live, he needed skilled attention” (Feb. 13, 1984).

The queen had the the baby quickly flown to a hospital in Chiang Mai. The entourage then made its way back to the helicopters for the return trip, at which time the queen thanked Mr. Armstrong for agreeing to the side trip, saying that had he not agreed to visit, Chai-Toi would be dead. She claimed that he had saved the baby’s life. Her Majesty’s private secretary and personal physician were sent to Chaing Mai hospital. By 10 p.m. that night, at her request, they visited Mr. Armstrong’s hotel to personally give him the news: Chai-Toi had survived and would live.

Mr. Armstrong reflected on the incident in the 1984 Behind the Work film: “The queen got word to me as soon as I arrived, before I saw her, that little child had recovered, and was living very well. Its father had decided to remarry and didn’t want it, and she’s going to get it a home some other place. But it was rescued when I was there, and she said I saved its life.

“Well, of course I didn’t; it was a coincidence the incident happened. But, if they had not been out there, and they wouldn’t have been out there that day. The queen went out there in a military helicopter, in fact there were two of them, and it was primarily to take me out and show me everything there, and so that our television crew could get a few of those shots, and I was present when some of those were being made.”

The Worldwide News reported that “Mr. Armstrong shared the queen’s concern. As he reminded us later, even though this baby was born in tragic circumstances into one of the most backward tribes on Earth, he nevertheless had human potential, and one day would have eternal life in the Family of God.”

Had the Philadelphia Church of God not fought for our inalienable spiritual divine right to freely reproduce Mr. Armstrong’s book The Incredible Human Potential, that human potential would remain, as the Laodiceans desired, buried and lost from world view (Habakkuk 2:3).

We know that man remains trapped in a world held captive to the sway of the adversary. A world blinded by the deception of false education, false science, and false religion. Yet its world leaders have heard the sweet sound of the good news of Christ’s gospel message (Matthew 24:14).

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).

We know of the coming Spirit-born royal Kingdom that will administer the government of God. We know of a coming new world of outgoing concern for the good and welfare of others. We know it will practice the give way, founded on the very royal divine law of God, codified for flesh in the Ten Commandments, the first four toward God and the remaining six toward fellow man (Exodus 20:1-18).

From the depths of abject filth, squalor, poverty, starvation and illiteracy will dawn a new millennial day (Isaiah 35:1-10). Men, women and children will come to know their great Creator (Isaiah 11:6-8; Jeremiah 31:34). Jesus Christ’s return will usher in an age of spiritual education. When the knowledge of God will be as extant as Earth’s vast oceans (Isaiah 11:9).

“It is the knowledge of what man is; the knowledge of why he is—the purpose for which humanity was put on Earth; the knowledge of the way to achieve that purpose—of the way to world peace, peace between individuals, groups and nations; the knowledge of the cause of all the world’s troubles and evils; the knowledge of the solution to all these problems; the knowledge of the true values—what is important and what is worthless. That is the missing dimension in knowledge” (The Incredible Human Potential).

Possessing this revealed knowledge, the Spirit-born Kingdom will expand without limit (1 Kings 8:27; Isaiah 9:6-7; Ephesians 3:9; Hebrews 2:8). How wonderful to understand that for Chai-Toi, and all who have ever lived, their incredible human potential is to be born into the expanding Family of God, dispensing His purpose and plan throughout the limitless universe. What a divine honor for God’s Church today to understand the revelation of the incredible human potential.