Why is it that the world’s best minds can’t solve mankind’s problems? Some material issues might get resolved for a time, like fixing a road that needs repair. But major issues remain: war, disease, hatred between various groups.

The obvious conclusion, if we will admit it, is that there is something wrong with the mind of man. Even the minds of the best and brightest are missing something.

What are they missing? Are you missing it?

The knowledge that man can’t discern on his own, that which God must reveal, is in the Holy Bible. Man is God’s creation, and the Bible is the instruction manual for how we are to operate. But man either ignores the Bible or doesn’t understand it.

In Matthew 11:25, Jesus Christ thanked His Father that He has “hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”

We need humility to look into God’s Word for answers.

In his booklet What Science Can’t Discover About the Human Mind, Herbert W. Armstrong wrote, “When man refuses to admit even the very existence of his own Maker, he shuts out of his mind vast oceans of basic true knowledge, fact and understanding. When he substitutes fable for truth, he is of all men most ignorant, though he professes himself to be wise.”

Why can’t man understand God’s truth and apply it? It has everything to do with the mind of man.

“But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding” (Job 32:8).

Man has a human spirit. Man is made out of dust—wholly physical (Genesis 2:7). Don’t misunderstand the word “soul” is this passage. It comes from the Hebrew word “nephesh,” which is also used for animal life. Ezekiel 18:4 says the soul that sins shall die. Man does not have an immortal soul.

This human spirit imparts the power of intellect. It is why people can read and play music and animals can’t. But the human spirit is not enough. We need an additional spirit.

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-12).

No animal can understand the things of a man. This is because animals don’t have the human spirit. Likewise, man cannot understand the things of God without God’s Holy Spirit.

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

This is why world leaders can’t bring peace. If they even look at the Bible, they think it is foolishness. They think it isn’t practical. They don’t understand the depth of it. They don’t know how to apply it. They don’t believe God.

This is due to the fact that they don’t have God’s Holy Spirit.

To understand much more about the mind of man and our need for God’s Spirit, request our free booklet What Science Can’t Discover About the Human Mind.