Joseph’s Alabaster Box

            “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” These words from the Book of God are the very cornerstone upon which our government rested, and our culture reposed. I use the past tense because when we elected a Muslim to lead the nation, we deserted both. When Obama declared to the world that we are not a Christian nation, he spoke the only honest words he ever said. Though I agree with Obama, I am outraged that he would broadcast this to our avowed enemies. Many people in the nation, like the ancient Corinthians, are “called to be saints,” but we, like the ancient Corinthians, live in a heathen nation, governed by a heathen administration that has denied our heritage.  
                “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” These immortal words did not emerge from the Book of God, but they came from pure minds that were saturated with the Book of God. They could have well come from the mind of God. These words place the Nigerian child, born in absolute poverty, on the same level, in the eyes of God, as the child born to the CEO of a great company. God loves that child as much as the CEO’s child, and will just as quickly redeem him, and answer his prayers.

            Muslims indeed believe in a Creator. The Qur’an is virtually the same as our Old Testament. It even speaks of God by plural pronouns. However, Muslims went astray by accepting the Hadath, the mumblings of Muhammad. The Catholic Church went astray in a similar way by placing the dogma of the church above the Book of God, and giving the traditions more authority than the Book of God. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also erred because they accepted the Book of Mormon, and made it superior to the Book of God.  Jews had made the same error at the time of Jesus. He condemned their practice of making the Law “of none effect by your tradition.” (Matthew 15:6). We Baptists are making a similar error by adopting the hundreds of versions of the Bible that flood the market: each new version worse than the one before. Why can’t things get better instead of worse? Why do men have such an aversion to truth?

            The Book of God begins with the Creator, and goes through the death of Jesus, and His resurrection, to the judgment. This is what Paul did in his sermon on Mars Hill (Acts 117:24; 31). Satan is sly enough to persuade men to write stuff that other people will believe, and cause them to turn from the truths of their Creator to a lie.

            Too many people have believed the lie of another religious fanatic who wrote stuff that began a new religion. That man was Charles Darwin, and his lie is that God does not exist at all, and the cosmos came into being by an explosion. (Dr. Isaac Asimov said it was an explosion of a molecule, but where did the molecule come from?). Millions of people in the United States have been duped by this religion and its gospel. Their gospel is called evolution. Theological evolution, the idea that God used billions of years of evolution to bring the world into being, is only one other attempt to reconcile science with the Book of God. It is not worth discussing.

            The problem is this: Since the government of this nation is built upon the truth that a Creator has granted us our freedoms, people who reject God’s existence cannot claim to be Americans. They will reject this idea, but their actions are geared to the destruction of the American dream, and installation of a totalitarian, or socialist government of some sort, but without God. This is what we are being governed by. This government was elected essentially by the sort of people I designate as Barakovites. It is painful to come to this conclusion because I suspect some of my best friends, and maybe even some relatives, fall into the category of Barakovites. Some of these people seem devout, and most of them are good, decent citizens of the nation.  

            This essay is not meant to be a political thing. I am convinced that Republicans have governed us as unconstitutionally as Democrats. In fact, we have not been governed by the tenets of the Constitution since way back: maybe the second or third administration. I know it ended with Jackson, and his “to the victor go the spoils” ideas.

            I have pointed out before that no Saint (saved person) can vote for a Democrat, and please God at the same time. The Democratic Party stand on women’s rights can be found at Appendix 1 at the end of this essay. The rationale for this remark is simple: God only can create (give life) life, and only God (and the state to whom God gave the right) has the right to take it. People must make serious choices in their voting privileges:

1. Devotion to God, or devotion to party
2. Loyalty to God or loyalty to union
3. Vows to clubs, lodges, etc., or vows to God
4. Is my race more important than my membership in the family of God?
5.  

            This list could be greatly expanded, but there is not room here even if I could think of them all. The reason you cannot please God by voting for a Democrat is because the Democrat is bound to the position given in the Appendix, and God is not the author of death, nor the Author of confusion. I used to make a great many people angry by scrawling “Unborn Babies are People, Too” on the back of my truck. I will not argue the case here because all people should know by now that abortion has no place in the Constitution or the Book of God.

            My prayer: “Heavenly Father, Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done this day. Our nation is steeped in sin and wickedness. The selfishness of evolutionary dogma and atheism has caused our people to forget Thee, and all the blessings (good things) Thou hast given us. Many people in this country have placed government in their hearts in place of their Creator. I ask Thee, Father, to help me and my family to behave according to Thy will: quietly, harmlessly, lovingly with no malice toward any man, and obedient to our government. This administration holds power because it is Thy will, and we pray that Thou wilt remove it. But people have the sort of government they deserve. Give me and mine the grace to love people, and rebuke them when they are wrong. Protect Thy children from this wicked and untoward generation. In the name of Jesus Christ, Thy crucified, resurrected Son I pray. Amen.”

Appendix 1

  Reproductive rights

The Democratic Party believes that all women should have access to birth control, and supports public funding of contraception for poor women. The Democratic Party, in its platform in 2000 and 2004, called for abortion to be “safe, legal and rare”—namely, keeping it legal by rejecting laws that allow governmental interference in abortion decisions, and reducing the number of abortions by promoting both knowledge of reproduction and contraception, and incentives for adoption.

The Democratic Party opposes attempts to reverse the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade which recognized abortion as a right. As a matter of the right to privacy and of gender equality, many Democrats believe all women should have the ability to choose without governmental interference. They believe that each woman, conferring with her conscience, has the right to choose for herself whether abortion is morally correct. Many Democrats believe that poor women should have a right to publically funded abortions.

Some Democrats explicitly oppose the legality of abortion on moral grounds, including former Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

A substantial number of party members have been shifting to the center on this issue. Some believe in programs to make abortions less frequent as well as making sure the procedure is legal and available. Senator Clinton of New York said in early 2005 that the opposing sides should find “common ground” to prevent unwanted pregnancies and ultimately reduce abortions, which she called a “sad, even tragic choice to many, many women.”

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.

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

______

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

Genesis 3:4 and 5 record Satan’s good news. “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

Notice the four points in Satan’s gospel: 1.) no death; 2.) eyes opened; 3). be as gods; 4.) know good and evil. “Gospel” means “good news,” and some men love to hear that God is dead. To some people, it is good news to hear that scientists have proven evolution as a fact, because that negates the Bible and its demands on men.

It is inconceivable that Eve could have heard Satan call God a liar, and not been offended by it. It is likewise true, of course, that we cannot imagine how Adam and Eve might have thought about anything. They had never seen or heard of death. They had never seen or heard of another human. They were innocent, and perhaps with that, a little bit naive. And Satan came as “… an angel of light.” (I Corinthians 11:14), and Eve did not know that there was such a thing as evil. Satan used the body of another creature, just as he uses the body of others today. Eve had doubtless heard serpents and other animals speak, and was not surprised by that. Dr. John R. Rice believed that animals were created with the power to speak.1

I am certain that “. . .the beasts of the field. . .” which God created as domesticated animals, could talk. I can’t think of a single place in the Scriptures where we are told that Satan ever scared anybody, but every time an angel appeared to somebody, he had to say fear not. Satan’s good news to Eve was that they had no fear of dying, as God had said they would if they ate of the tree of knowledge. Eve, will you believe your Creator, or will you believe this serpent? Reader, will you believe God, or will you believe the false prophet? What an insult to the Lord God! What an offense! God sits upon His throne, and listens to people call Him a liar, call him a monster, call Him an impostor. Does the Lord God suffer pain? Can the Holy Spirit be grieved? Can Jesus Christ weep? Will there be a day of retribution? Will God allow these enemies to go without giving an account?

This tender, soft, liberal, sympathetic devil attacked God with violence we cannot imagine when he spoke these words. Every human will decide in his lifetime whether he will side with God or side with His arch enemy, the devil. Do you think that a conflict can rage for 6,000 years for the souls of men, and you can ignore it, or claim that you will not take part? Who do you think you are? God and Satan are enemies. There will be no reconciliation. Every human will be in one camp or the other, and be there as a volunteer. To claim you will be neutral is the most foolish thing you can do in your whole life, because that is self-deception. Your drugs, your music, your entertainment, are all designed to keep you from the horror of thinking of death and eternity, but one day it will be thrust upon you, and you will think about it for eternity.

You will die. Every human will die. That is a self-evident fact. Death is as real as life. Satan still denies death. “Live forever without God!” How foolish the thought. Living forever without God is living death.

Satan promised, “… your eyes shall be opened, … ,” but he did not point out that it does little good to have your eyes open in the absence of light. Satan’s good news is always a lie, you can depend on it. When their eyes were opened, they knew they were naked, and they were afraid. Fear immediately follows sin. The girl who commits fornication is filled with fear that she might be with child. A man who steals fears that he left incriminating evidence. Fear follows sin as surely as night follows day, and day follows night.

Satan did not reveal to what their eyes would be opened. Eve did not dream that her eyes would be opened to the sight of her second-born son lying in a pool of his own blood on the ground, bludgeoned to death by his older brother. That’s only one of the things it would be better if we never saw. Opened eyes are not always a blessing. A man who marries a woman who has a bad past, would be better off never knowing it. Sometimes, a congregation is better off never knowing the details of their pastor’s youth. A child is better off never knowing that his daddy was an adulterer in his youth.

The third element of Satan’s dishonest gospel is “. . .ye shall be as gods,. . .”. This is the underlying great hope of evolution. If man is evolving upward to a more complex state, what is the summit of that complex state? Only a supreme, divine being can be immune from further evolution. When man is completely evolved, then he must be a god.

Satan certainly did not have any wish that Adam and Eve would be gods, for he himself lusted for that position, and he wanted no competition from two mortals. Satan knew that his possession of knowledge of good and evil had not made him a god. He had just been cast out of Heaven, a good illustration of the truth that he would never be as god.

The history of humanity and its lust for godhood is so sad it tends to reduce you to tears. When man attempts to be god, then he becomes a mixer of everything. He throws out nothing until he has concocted such a mess of pottage that the truth is lost. There are no lines of demarcation with the liberal. There are no beautiful blacks and whites. Everything becomes gray. Liberal Christian colleges are examples of man trying to be god. Listen to Donald E. Chittick: “Denial of the historical accuracy of the early chapters of Genesis is the beginning of a slippery slope indeed. It causes problems for institutions as well as individuals. Cases can be cited of institutions which have begun this course only to end up totally secular. Many of our well-known private colleges and ^{universities began as Christian schools.”2 God has commanded} “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you.” When man stays in his place, and gives God His place, then he will be offended by falsehood and deception just like He is.

 The fourth element of Satan’s false gospel is that man should know good and evil. I would that I had never known evil. If I had lived out my life in total ignorance of evil, how much happier I would be. But if I had not known evil, I could not have known good, and that would have been a great loss. The worldly philosophers say that man shouldn’t live a life without a little sin. A little sin, the story goes, is what adds spice to life. To deny oneself a little pleasure of sin is to miss the good in life. When liquor is mentioned, the apologizer for the alcohol business always says, “A little drink won’t hurt nobody.” You might accurately call that a satanic truth. That is a truth stitched together to conceal a lie. A little drink may not hurt “nobody,” but the liquor business certainly will. In a year or two, we will be seeing liquor ads on tv as common as automobile ads.

 Santa Rosa County, Florida defeated a liquor referendum. Shortly thereafter, came a hurricane and bypassed Santa Rosa County, and blew an adjoining county with its liquor warehouse right off the map. Dr. Mac Johnson, pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Milton, led the fight against the referendum. He announced on his radio program that folks needed to take heed because a monster was prowling their neighborhoods. He also declared that if the restaurant owner who was the leading proponent of the referendum, would serve decent food, he wouldn’t have to get folks drunk to get therm to eat there. The owner sued and lost.

 Man did not know good or evil when he was created, because you can’t know good without knowing evil. Man was created innocent. One evolution philosopher criticized the Lord for withholding knowledge from man. God did not withhold knowledge from man, and did not create him without a means of learning and remembering. It was the knowledge of good and evil that man did not have, and he was much better off without that knowledge. Some people criticize folks who put their children in Christian schools, because they say the child will develop without a knowledge of the world. It’s called the greenhouse effect. Are we to understand that a child cannot develop fully unless he knows about the wickedness of the world? Satan’s lying gospel still destroys people today.

_____

1. John R. Rice In the Beginning. . .(Murfreesboro,

Tennessee: The Sword of the Lord, 1975), p. 119.

2. Donald E. Chittick The Controversy (Portland, Oregon: Multnomah Press, 1978), p. 110.