Joseph’s Alabaster Box

After Adam answered God in the garden of Eden, we cannot know if Adam came out of his hiding place to face the Lord, or whether he stayed where he was. Either way, he had to look on God’s face sooner or later. The human imagination cannot picture the horror of standing before an angry God. Hebrews 10:31 tells us that “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” If human imagination could visualize the face of the living God, human language still could not express it. Falling into the hands of the living God tears one loose from all his supporting thoughts and helpers. A mocker at God is at his worst when he is surrounded by mocking friends.

In the absence of the sight of God’s angry face, the mocker takes great delight in using God’s name in vain, and scoffing at all His works, and leading others in the impudence nad ruin of irreverence. There will be no friends around encouraging him when he stands in the presence of God, the righteous Judge at the Great White Throne (Revelation 22:11ff).

Adam heard the questions of the God Who had been his friend and companion, but was now his Judge. Man must flee to the Lord God when the Lord God is a friend. There is no pardon in the hand of the Judge. Pardons are not handed down from the bench. God was Prosecutor and Judge as He stood with the trembling figure of His erring creature before Him. Adam surely knew the principle laid out in Hebrews 10:30: “For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord will judge his people.” God’s judgment is always right, the criticism of heretics notwithstanding.

Notice that Adam did not object when God said, “. . .I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” God had commanded Adam, and Adam knew that God had a right to command him. Should the Creator not have the right, authority, and power to command His creature? The creature thinks more highly of himself than he ought to think. The creature has a rebellious spirit that makes it very difficult for him to obey. There can be no shame in obeying the Creator. I have never gone wrong when I obeyed the Creator. God’s command was God’s law. The ruler of the universe must have laws in force. Man with a free will must have laws to restrain the use of that free will. Man, contrary to common contemporary belief, does not have the right to do anything he pleases. No living thing on Earth has the right to do everything it pleases.

Corliss Lamont, voice of the humanist religion, wrote, “This means that all teachers and employees in school, college, or university are entitled to full liberty of expression and association.”1 Imagine what a bag of worms that opens up. But humanists are the world’s foremost hypocrites, for they do not practice that principle. I was fired by the Cherokee County School board for exercising my “. . .full liberty of expression…”. My full liberty of expression happened to include teaching my students biblical principles, and that was not approved by the humanist judge who handed down a decree that forbade Alabama school teachers from teaching the Bible in the classroom. Humanists declare that everyone should be able to do whatever he pleases, but they don’t permit it. If they were in full control of all our governmental powers, no one would go to church. Neither would anyone go to church in America if any of the religions in this country were in political control, except for the Protestants and Baptists who are presently in control, and guarantee freedom of religion.

God gave Adam one law. One simple, reasonable law. One law to delineate the position of God and the position of man. God was King and man was subject. That was not unreasonable.

I Corinthians 14:33 says, “. . .God is not the author of confusion but of peace,” and laws are for the purpose of maintaining peace. Even the matter of the universe, every atom is subject to divine law.

God’s question went directly to the heart of the matter. Adam and his precious wife must give an account for their deed. “. . .Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” “What’s the big deal about eating an apple?” the world demands. That we do not know what sort of fruit it was never seems to dawn upon a world that has little patience with the details of spiritual matters. It is this lack of caring for the details of eternal matters that is responsible for deceived souls being deceived. Who cares about the details of evolution as long as we can believe that scales turned into feathers, or the beaks of finches are different.

The big deal is that disobedience to the command of God is the capital crime of the creature with the free will. Sinners go to hell because they disobey the command of God, namely to repent. (Acts 17:30). Disobedience to man’s law may or may not be wrong, for man’s laws are not always based upon God’s laws. But every disobedience to God is wrong.

Adam’s classic answer is recorded to the shame of every man, in verse 12. “And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” Beautiful Eve was not now the wife of his bosom. She was the woman that God had given him. This is Adam’s second sin. He is a sinner now, and apt to say evil things. The knowledge of evil has not made him a better man – it has only made him a man with evil propensities. “Woman” is an honorable word. A very devout professor, Miss Ruby Wagner, said in class one day that she hated the word “lady,” and wished that preachers did not feel compelled to call women “ladies.” Jesus called His mother “woman.” The word “woman” is no less honorable than the word “man.” But as Adam used the word in his answer to his Creator, it was dead wrong. When a man refers to his wife as “the old woman,” he is committing a sin against God and his wife. “The ole lady” is no better. Speaking disrespectfully about his wife, indicates that a man has little self-respect, for a man’s wife is his own body. (Ephesians 5:28,29).

Adam did not confess his sin until he had a scapegoat. He laid the fault on his “woman,” and then he confessed. Such a confession is unacceptable, as the subsequent institution of the curse reveals. Repentance is not blaming somebody or something else for our sins, and then confessing them. Repentance is assuming the burden and guilt of our sins ourselves. We must stand in the presence of the almighty Judge open and honest with Him and with ourselves. Everyone will be judged according to their deeds. Parents who neglect their children are guilty of a great crime against God and man, and they will give an account for their abuse of that child at the judgment bar of God. But that does not justify that child for a life of crime against God and man. That child, born condemned, will give an account of his deeds unto the Lord Judge, and God will sentence him on the basis of his works.

All of us, sinner and saint alike, will give an account to God. God will interrogate us. “. . the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” (Revelation 20:12).

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” ( II Corinthians 5:10).

God’s interrogation awaits all of us. I want to be prepared with a Substitute, not a sick excuse.

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1. Corliss Lamont, The Philosophy of Humanism (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1979), p. 271.

Pontius Pilate, the petty potentate of Judea should have known what a man Jesus was. He had just a few minutes before watched Jesus stand silently while his soldiers abused Him, and beat Him nearly to death. Strange, they couldn’t break His bones. The brutal soldiers had tried to kill Jesus, but they failed even to make Him waver. The marble floor of Pilate’s judgment hall was splattered with blood, and bits of Jesus’ flesh. Jesus walked out of the judgment hall, and stood straight as He gazed down on the maniacal mob who demanded His life. They could have had Him as their King, even then, but they were mad with religion. In rejecting Him as king, they made Him the Saviour of the world. Pilate.

“… he drove them all out of the temple, …” How many were there? Ten? Twenty? Thirty? He drove them all out along with their sheep and oxen. Where were the temple guards? Where were the scribes and Pharisees? Hiding under the pews? Were noses bloodied: eyes blacked; backs striped? These men who had no respect for God’s house, had respect for God’s muscles. Jesus wasn’t called “the Son of Man” for nothing. Who leads the Lord’s army? Jesus was indeed the absolute Man, but not only for these two reasons. Jesus, took little children up on His lap, and blessed them. Can we believe He did not laugh with them as He blessed them? A strong man it takes to notice little children, and bless them with attention, and smiles of approval. Jesus had compassion on people. He couldn’t stand to see folks hungry.

“(For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” (I Timothy 2:5). Jesus was a disciplined individual. When the tempter came, he was weak and on the verge of starvation. He was dizzy; His stomach was bloated and painful. His entire being pleaded for nourishment. Bread, hot and fragrant, would give Him instant relief. Satan told Him all this. But Jesus had a discipline and self-control that made Him rise above self, and remember His responsibilities. There was nothing wrong with bread, but it was wrong to yield to the temptations of Satan.

Consider the America male. Enter a box that presents pictures and sound. It draws his attention away from his family. The man tells himself he deserves this. He’s free to do as he wishes. He is attached to it while his little children go to bed. When they’re older he buys them their own tv’s and computers. There is no prayer for them. No Bible stories. His wife goes to bed cold and alone. He watches moving image that cause him to lust. He’s told to “grab the gusto,” and he does. He’s told how good hamburgers are, and he eats too many. He sees people beating each other senseless, and he thinks they are real men. He sees tatooed bodies, and thinks they will make him more a man. He has to his own skin. Satan tells him he should watch ball games on Sunday. He agrees, and lays in a supply of chips and Buddumber as the tv commands. He becomes detached from his family. They develope life styles that turn into living hells, and then they go to hell. He doesn’t notice. He gets fatter and fatter. His belly falls down over his genitalia, and even “Viagre” doesn’t help. He decides he needs more pizza and beer.

It isn’t long until he has to take tablets to make love to his wife. Then he finds another woman because he blames his wife for his impotency. The harlot tells him all about how bad his wife is, and he agrees. His wife is not as attractive as she once was. Fox news tells him that all women should be gorgeous and witty. He becomes unable to deny himself any pleasure. He loses his self-respect and control, and goes out in public wearing sissy short pants with his hairy legs exposed to the gaze of little children who learn that a man is just an animal, after all. A pair of flip flops, and a cap on backwards makes him look even less manly. The tv has told him that an unshaven face is cool and sexy. The most primitive savage on the earth would hold him in contempt.

Incidentally, let me inject something here that I think I have written on this page before. Just what is nakedness?

For anybody who is interested, God has made it plain what it is. Go back to Exodus 20:26, and read; “Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.” God is instructing the priests as to how they must dress to appear before him.

They are to wear long robes down to their ankles. Just look at any picture of an ancient Israelite, and you’ll see. Now get the picture: a priest goes up steps to the altar. When he gets to the top step, look down at his feet. How much of him can you see. His ankles, his calves? God says that is nakedness. Does the verse say that to you? Does it matter what a 3500 year old book says? Notice two things: God is immutable (unchanable), and His Word is immutable. Society changes – God doesn’t. My conclusion (and yours?): America is a land of nakedness. Read on.

Conclusion: we’re only savages or animals because savages and animals go naked. There are a few problems with those conclusions. First of all, savages do not have access to clothing as we do. Secondly, hopefully we have risen above savages. At least our ancestors had. As for the animals, their gracious Creator provided them with covering. Hide, hair, fur, feathers, scales, shell. He even painted these coverings to make them more beautiful and protective. But man, with his thin skin, He left naked: exposed to the elements and sharp points. God evidently wanted to clothe him, not in fig leaves, but skins. Skins of righteousness. The natural man (and even most Saints.) want to do nothing God wants him to do. If we were honest, we would print “If God wants it – I don’t” on our coins instead of “In God we trust.”

The American male has created a nation that’s being governed by unam (unAmerican) fools. Men have lost their manly discipline, and reduced themselves to a state of disrespect that has wrecked the country. Not until men have gained their sefl-respect will the nation began to recover. (Don’t hold your breath.) Until men have sense enough to recognize the best Man Who ever lived as their ideal, we will languish in a stupor of stupidity.

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For Better or Worse

What I am about to put down here may make some folks very angry. Truth is perfect, and never changes. Truth can be unpleasant on occasion. I love people because we are all creatures invented and manufactured by the skilled hands of the Master Craftsman. Only Jehovah could make a snow princess and an ugly man, and love us both equally.

What I write here will be based on the Bible, which most of us think outlines the perfect way to live, even if we don’t live that way. God invented man, as I said, and built him, therefore He knows the best way for us to be happy and well. He has given us the Bible, which I once called an owner’s manual before I heard anybody else say it, and in the Bible He tells us the best way to go. If anybody has a sensible concept of the Bible, he must believe that it is God’s Word. That means that if you call Paul a male chauvinist, you are calling God a male chauvinist because Paul was only the scribe who put down what God told him to put down. Maybe that is what is wrong with our preaching, teaching, and witnessing. Maybe people think that Paul, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the others wrote their own words. Well, in a sense, they did write their own words, but God chose every one of those words, and the jots and tittles, too. We need to keep it uppermost in our minds that God is the author of the Bible (1611King James).

When John wrote ver 17 in chapter 7 in the Gospel bearing his name, “If any man will do his will, he will know of the doctrine, whether it is of God, or [whether] I speak of myself.” he was writing words and thoughts that were given to him by God. Anybody who is willing to do God’s will will know God’s will. That is what this essay is about. Be willing to do God’s will, and you will know what it is. I don’t know how that works, but I know it does work.

Our nation is in a very bad condition. This situation exists because we have drifted away from the concepts and practices laid down in the Bible. God did not create man, and leave him without the knowledge to run his own life, and govern himself. Societies fail when they refuse to live by the principles of the Manufacturer. We don’t change the oil when we should, or keep water in the radiator. Or worse, we put tar in the crankcase, and alcohol in the radiator. Then we get upset when the car doesn’t run as it should, and we just leave the owner’s manual in the glove box. (Who puts gloves in the glove box anymore?) Try feeding your kids marshmallows and Hershey bars for breakfast, and see how long it takes for something to go wrong.

What did God command us specifically that we have failed to do? He didn’t command us to have four wives and forty-six children like the self-centered Mormon on the front cover of “National Geographic” (Feb. 2010). Who does he think he is, anyway- Abraham?

Specifically, God said, “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:” (Genesis 1:28). That, as you know, was God’s command to Adam and Eve. What a grand command! Replenish the earth? Isn’t the earth replenished enough? The priests of the Catholics, Muslims, and Mormons don’t seem to think so. To replenish the earth, I read somewhere, it takes more than four children per family just to maintain a population. How many families do you know with four children?

 In our American culture, the wives would rather have their profession than a family, and the husbands like it that way – more money for beer. Can you imagine in your wildest dreams what would happen if wives with able-bodied husbands stayed home, and cared for their family? It’s a full time job, you know, taking care of a family. But just think how easy it would be for husbands to find good jobs! Wow! Would the unemployment rate plumit?

It breaks my heart to know that our girls seldom give a serious thought to a family of their own. They prepare for careers from grade school all the way through college. In college they study medicine, or tv news broadcasting, or some other high profile profession. Fortunately, they do get some training in home ec in high school, but it seems there are as many boys in home ec as girls. This sad situation exists among our church people as well as the people in the world who never heard of Genesis 1:28, or John 7:17.

You see, the will of God is for a woman to fill her divinely assigned role in life, and the man is to fill his divinely appointed role in life. The woman bears and nourishes children, and the man provides shelter, food, and protection for her and her children. Women’s lib is really women’s lie (meaning women have been lied to). Having it otherwise will not support a culture for long, unless, of course, we want to live in tents, and ride around in two wheel donkey carts.

Now, let me tell you a true story. I was going to town when I saw them. A pretty blonde young woman, and a good looking young man. Evidently, they were working for the telephone company. They were sitting on opposite sides of a square pipe that had hundreds of wires sticking out of it. Their knees were touching, and their hands touched as they passed the wires back and forth as they put them together. Now, let me guess the rest of the story. As they worked lust slowly rose in their bodies, causing emotions that were irrestible. Over time, short time, they get together after work. Their relationship developed until they were, like hypnotized zombies, led to a bed somewhere, and their lust exploded into a gross pleasure that both enjoyed to the fullest. That explosion destroyed love of kids; love of spouse; love of home; love of dog. They allowed themselves to get too close to the waterfall. When they go over that water fall, they don’t think of children. They forget their marriage vows. They forget the person they are married to. They forgot God! If they ever knew Him. Nothing matters but that explosion.

The divorce court is in their future, but they don’t care. Fatherless and motherless children weep themselves to sleep longing for Mom or Dad. Even the dog jumps up at every sound, thinking it is you coming home. Was love involved in the explosion? No. Just low-down lust. No love for spouse. No love for children. No love for the dog. No love for God Almioghty.

Scenarios like this happen thousands of times a day in different situations. When women are thrown into the lion’s den of man’s workplace, the lions are going to go for her. I read of a forest ranger who was fired because he would not go, as ordered, far into a forest with another ranger. The other ranger was a woman. He had the good sense to know that the water fall was back there is a tent somewhere.

I wrote editorials on this subject years ago, and all I got for my concern was editorials from woman who weren’t very kind to me. I know the risks of writing like this, but it may cause somebody to be willing to recognize God’s will, and do it.

God knows every thought and intent of our heart. We must always be careful about accusing people of having a bad motive because we cannot get inside a person’s head and learn why they did something. The Lord knows the motives for our actions because He knows what goes on in our soul. It may be a puzzle to some folks why God would ask man questions in view of the truth that God knows what is in our mind. God asks a question in Genesis 2:9 that is very interesting. Let’s read verses 8 – 10: “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I wast naked; and I hid myself.”

Of course, God knew where Adam and Eve were. He could plainly see them there among the trees trembling and dreading to face Him. You remember how surprised Nathanael was when Jesus told him that He saw him while he was standing under the fig tree. John 1:48, “Nathanael saith unto him, whence knoweth thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.” Don’t play hide and go seek with God. You may hide in a coal mine deep in the earth, but God will tag you out. Nathanael had been a long way off when Jesus saw him under that fig tree, and Nathanael knew that only the Son of God could see a man who was well out of sight.

In the next chapter of John, the last two verses reveal to us that God knows everything that is in man. John 2:24, 25, “But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.”

Adam and Eve were clearly in the sight of the Creator when He came to walk with them, though they thought they were well hidden. But God’s vision is not limited by such things as wood and skin and bones. It should not come as a surprise to us that God Who knew where they were, would ask them where they were. When God deals with man, God must deal with man with human attributes, or on human terms, for man can never deal with God’s divine attributes. And so, when God talks with man, he must talk with him as a man would. He wrote His Word in man’s language, for man could not read a Bible written in a heavenly language. The Bible, composed of man’s language, must be severely limited in explaining matters that concern Heaven and eternity. Man’s language is proficient in cursing God, and expressing doubts about His love, His grace; His very existence. Man’s language composes eulogies to gods of wood and stone and philosophy. God did not hide things when He gave us His Word in 1611.

Man’s language declares that life and beauty could arise from the soil. Man’s language extols time as a virtual god, and we are made to believe that life could have sprung from dying things. Doesn’t the blooming symphony of spring sing of a Creator? Why is language so devoid of praise to God? Listen as long as you will to the voice of the world, and you find that man does his best to hide truth and righteousness in clamor of vulgarity.

But God must force upon human language that which speaks of eternal matters. In mercy God uses man’s language to beckon man to the reason he was given the power to speak in the first place. God does speak to His minority in heavenly language. Heavenly language is heard by the soul and spirit. The machinery in the physical ear does not pick up sound waves when heavenly language is used. It is the heart strings that move when heavenly language is heard. Only the redeemed ear can hear and understand the language of the Lord. The devout soul communicates with the Lord God

Throughout the Word of God we learn of people being spoken to by the Lord. In Genesis 8:15, “… God spake unto Noah, saying, …”, and proceeded to give him orders to leave the ark. God spoke to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses; and all through the Bible, we find instances where God spoke to man.

Poor miserable Hagar, whom Abraham took to wife, and who bare his son, was cast out by Abraham’s other wife, Sarah. Hamar fled into the wilderness to a fountain of water where the angel of the Lord spoke to her, as recorded in Genesis 16:9, “And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: . . .”. Incidentally, note what God said to Hagar as He was speaking to her about her son, Ishmael, in verse 12: “And He will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him;. . .”. God prophesied that the descendants of Ishmael would be “. . .wild men. . .”, and today the whole civilized world trembles in the presence of Arabs who commit acts of terror that only wild men could perpetrate.

Of all the creatures on this planet, only humans talk. We call upon the evolutionist in vain to offer some explanation for this fact. At what point in his evolution could man have learned to speak? The evolutionist admits that they do not even know when man became man. The ability to communicate is another evidence of the existence of the human soul. If the eye was beyond the understanding of Darwin, then human speech would also have been beyond the scope of his thought if he had been perceptive enough to have thought about it. “One of the most obvious and unequivocal proofs of the uniqueness of man in contrast to the animals is the ability to communicate in terms of intelligible, abstract, symbolic human language.”¹ The most primitive peoples on Earth speak languages that are very complex, requiring skilled persons many long hours of study to decipher.

Today, God speaks to all men through His written Word. He has revealed to us through His Word all of the most important knowledge man must have to conduct his personal life according to God’s purpose for him, and in the most satisfactory way for himself. Man has created a babel of voices in the many different books that have been labeled “bible,” but in truth there is only one Bible. It is the King James Bible, having on its pages the grandeur of the old English which is Bible language. The other books may be classified as commentaries, or Bible story books, but they are not the divinely sanctioned and preserved Word of God.

The most important matters in God’s Word are clearly and plainly stated so that no man can be confused therein: namely, how to be saved, and how to conduct his life according to the basic plan for a child of God still on Earth. Matters of less importance, such as the creation, the history of the Jews, and the last days, are covered less thoroughly, and are therefore more difficult to understand. Translations of Scripture other than the King James, do not make these matters any more understandable.

God speaks to every man through His works. All the calendars on Earth show a seven-day week, speaking of God’s creative work. The heavens reveal the Creator’s triune person. All of the universe speaks of design and direction. The Lord God is the Creator. God calls to all of us, “. . .Where art thou?” “Where are you?” could mean where is a great group of people, such as you Jews. “Where art thou?” is more personal. It means one individual to whom God is speaking. The question is to the individual – every individual. Jehovah knows where you are, just as He knows all about your sins, but He wants you to think about where you are. Are you where you ought to be? He wants to know where your affection is, where your loyalty is.

Where would I want to be when God asks, “… Where art thou?” I would like to answer, “Here, Lord, by the altar.” How can one ever go wrong if he is by the altar? Just as Noah, Abraham, and Jacob built altars where they were, we should build altars where we are. The tool box, the washing machine, the computer, the school desk, the automobile, the bedroom; wherever we tarry a moment, could be an altar. To answer from the altar is an indication that we are ready for whatever task the Master has for us

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1. Henry M. Morris, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1984), p. 406.