Truth Magazine

By Wayne Greeson

The Lord God had planted a beautiful garden in Eden and there He had placed the first man and woman. Adam and Eve were given only one law of restraint: “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Satan came and deceived Eve by twisting God’s Word. Eve broke God’s law and sinned by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. Then she gave the fruit to Adam and he also sinned and ate of the tree. Upon eating the fruit, they realized their nakedness and covered themselves. Then they heard the Lord walking in the garden and, in their shame and sin, they tried to hide themselves from God. “And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, ‘Where art thou?'” (Gen. 3:9)

God’s question to Adam is the first recorded question in the Bible. It was a relevant question of tremendous importance. The questioned was asked by the God who had walked and talked with Adam and Eve before and from whom they now shamefully hid. He was their Creator, the all-knowing and all-seeing Jehovah (Psa. 139:1-10). Try as they might, they would not hide from God; He knew where they were.

If the Lord knew where Adam and Eve were, why did He ask? God did not ask the question for His sake, but for Adam and Eve’s sake. He wanted them to realize where they were and why they were there. They were separated and hiding from the fellowship of God in shame because of their sin!

The first question recorded in the Bible is still a relevant and important question today. God is still asking, ‘Where art thou?” He asks the question of you and me. He knows the answer. How will you respond?

With Respect To Salvation

If you are of the age to know right from wrong then you have transgressed the law of God and sinned. “Where art thou?” God asks. Are you trying to hide from God behind your sin and shame? Try as you might you will never hide from God, just as Adam and Eve could not hide from God in Eden. Do you really understand just where you are as a sinner? You are not really hiding; you are lost and headed for eternal destruction.

Jesus declared, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk. 19:10). He gave up everything to look for you. He “made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:6-8). If you understand where you are as a sinner, it is time to come out from hiding, be found by Jesus Christ and become obedient to Him in faith and baptism.

When The Saints Assemble

When the saints assemble together on Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening and during gospel meetings to worship God and study His word, “Where art thou?” God knows where you are when you are not meeting with other saints. He sees each and every person who professes to be a Christian who is sitting home watching TV or out bowling or playing golf when the saints are assembled to worship God. As David asks, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?!’ (Psa. 139:7)

In John 20:19-20, the disciples were assembled together on Sunday evening, except for Thomas. We do not know where Thomas was, but we know where he was not. In ‘his* absence, he missed the fellowship of the other disciples, the encouragement and shared faith and above all he missed having fellowship with the. Lord.. Fortunately the next Sunday, Thomas came out from hiding from the assembly of the disciples and was present with the disciples when Jesus appeared again. Will you come out of your hiding place this next Sunday and Wednesday evening?

When There Is Work To Be Done?

The Lord told the prophet Jonah that he had some work for him to do. The work was to go and preach to the city of Nineveh. “But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3). Jonah tried to pull the old Adam and Eve disappearing act on the Lord and he was just as unsuccessful as Adam and Eve. Jonah learned a hard lesson that he could not run away from the Lord and the work the Lord had for him to do?

“Where art thou” when there is work to be done for the Lord?Are you running and hiding as Jonah and Adam and Eve had done before? When the building needs to be cleaned or repair needs to be done, where art thou? When it comes time to make a contribution for the work of the Lord, where art thou? When visiting and teaching needs to be done, where art thou? It is truly amazing how quickly people disappear when the Lord’s work needs to be done. You may hide from the elders, the preacher and even yourself, but you will never be able to run away from God when His work needs to be done.

On The Day Of Judgment

“Where art thou” when the day of judgment comes? Will you be on the left hand of the Lord ready to go into everlasting fire or on the right hand of the Lord ready to go into heaven? Where you were with respect to salvation, when the saints assembled and when there was work to be done, will determine where you will be on the day of judgment. Sadly, many will be in the same place they have always been – hidden from God. Those who spent this life hiding from God in sin and darkness will spend an eternity hidden away from God in shame in the farthest reaches of darkness.

It is time to stop hiding from God. It cannot be done. All one ends up doing is hiding from himself and reality. Come out into the light of God’s salvation, be present when the saints assemble, be present when the Lord’s work needs to be done and you will be on the Lord’s right hand ready to inherit heaven on the day of judgment.

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 3, pp. 78, 87
February 5, 1987

By Larry Ray Hafley

“ROBERTS NEEDS MIRACLE: Oral Roberts needs about $4.5 million in ‘quick money’ from followers or God won’t let him live past March, the evangelist says.

“‘I’m asking you to help me extend my life,’ Roberts told his I television audience Sunday. ‘We’re at the point where God could call Oral Roberts home.’

“Speaking from the clinic laboratory at his City of Faith Medical and Research Center, Roberts asked viewers to send

$100 immediately and pledge additional amounts for February and March” (Peoria Journal Star, January 12, 1987).

Usually a thief says, “Your money or your life,” but Oral Roberts says, “Your money or my life.”

Apparently, religious racketeering knows no shame and has no bounds. Paul referred to those who suppose that “gain is godliness” and said they were “of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth” (1 Tim. 6:5). Peter warned of “false teachers” who “through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you” (2 Pet. 2:1-3). As 1 Timothy 4:1-3 essentially describes Catholicism, so the tenor of these texts points to men like Oral Roberts.

Roberts is not alone. He is just richer and better known. He is not the first. He will not be the last. “And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of” (2 Pet. 2:2). All sincere efforts to teach the way of God in truth are adversely affected by men like Oral Roberts.

This is not a question of envy or jealousy. Our words are not opposed to Roberts’ soul, but to his doctrines and practices. Faithful gospel preachers, teachers and elders need to instruct and admonish against spiritualized covetousness and religious greed wherever it is found.

Oral Roberts is a man who has become a puppet to the institutions that bear his name. His organizational creations are bigger than he is. They are multi-million dollar businesses that voraciously consume their creator. Roberts begat them (at God’s behest, of course!), and now the schools, hospitals, research centers and corporations are needier and greedier than Oral ever imagined. So, call in God again. Oral cannot fund them. Evidently, the Lord is demanding payment for outstanding debts, for He, according to Oral, wants the money by March, or Oral might be bumped off. (Excuse me, “called home.”) It makes God appear as a Mafia Don and Oral as a loan shark chieftain who is behind on his collections.

Ah, but this latest emergency is not the first nor will it be the last. Remember the 900 foot Jesus that allegedly spoke to Oral a year or so ago9 Now, a death threat trom God Himself. What next? Stay tuned.

Frankly, I suspect that Oral will get his money, and that he may live past March, 1987. The devil cannot afford to let him die.

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 4, p. 97
February 19, 1987

In 1984-85, questions regarding swim wear were sent by the Hollywood Social Studies organization to a scientific sampling of U.S. psychiatrists to ascertain whether there are risks in sexual display of the fashionable swimsuits of today. The results were verified by a prominent retired psychiatrist. Here are some of their conclusions:

1. Of the psychiatrists who replied, 87 percent said a parent would be realistic to be aware that a swimsuit with the high cut legs might make a daughter a target of sexual advances or a sex crime. The same percentage said this risk is true for female wearers in Canada.

2. A parent would be naive, said 84 percent, to suppose a daughter could wear a string bikini and not appear to males to invite sexual attention. The same is true of females who wear short skirts or bikinis, said 81 percent in an earlier survey.

3. Husbands and fathers have some responsibility for sensible guidance to enable females to avoid attire that might be dangerously provocative to some males, said 91 percent.

4. Most psychiatrists said some mothers who clothe their little girls in unnecessarily revealing swimsuits may be expressing their own exhibitionism indirectly. If that fact is brought to their attention, however, 96 percent said one likely response would be self-righteous indignation, accusing anyone of vile motives who would think such a thing.

Donna Bali, Hollywood Social Studies

Pulpit Helps – December 1986 p. 322

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 2, p. 55
January 15, 1987

By Jimmy Tuten

Introduction:

A. Special emphasis on the “I am”! Conviction.

B. Being ashamed of the gospel, many have turned to social substitution and experiences, even testimonial meetings.

C. Divine provisions to make sinful man acceptable with God are found only in the gospel (Rom. 6:17; 3:22).

D. Sufferings and imprisonment for having preached the gospel could never make Paul ashamed of the message.

Body:

I. I am not ashamed of the basis of the gospel.

A. The cross of Christ is the basis (1 Cor. 1:17-21).

B. The preaching of the cross is God’s power to the saved (1 Cor. 1:18; 15:2, middle voice: “being saved”).

C. It is God’s power to save the believer (Rom. 1:16).

D. The cross is to some foolishness and a stumbling block, but it is the very foundation of the gospel (1 Cor. 1:18).

E. The preaching of the gospel cannot be done with the wisdom of words (1 Cor. 1:17,21; 2:1).

II. I am not ashamed of the wisdom of the gospel.

A. The design and function of the gospel is contrary to the thinking and wisdom of men.

1. The beatitudes illustrate the difference (Matt. 5).

2. Paul’s Philippian epistle from the Roman prison is one of rejoicing (1:18, 25-26; 2:17-18; 3:1; 4:4).

B. The self-exalted shall be abased (Lk. 14:11).

C. The wisdom of the gospel says, “do good for evil” (Matt. 5:43-45; Rom. 12:19-21).

D. “Lose your life to save it” (Matt. 8:34-35).

III. I am not ashamed of the supernatural in the gospel.

A. I believe and rejoice in the virgin birth, the miracles, resurrection, ascension, and promise of His second coming.

B. I am not ashamed of the inspiration of the gospel (2 Tim. 3:15-16; Gal. 1:11-12; 1 Cor. 2:10-13).

C. I am not ashamed of its finality (Jude 3).

IV. I am not ashamed of the oneness of the gospel.

A. The gospel allows no rivals, substitutes or mixtures: its claim is the gospel or nothing (Gal. 1:6-12).

B. It is the faith once delivered (Jude 3).

C. Only the gospel offers hope to men in Christ (Eph. 3:1-7).

D. “Same rule” demands unity of doctrine (Phil. 3:16; 2 Thess. 2:13-14; 2 Tim. 1:9; Gal. 6:16).

V. I am not ashamed of the product of the gospel.

A. The Word is the seed and it produces after its kind (Lk. 8:11).

B. The gospel produces salvation (Rom. 1:16).

C. The gospel produces undenominational, anti-denominational, non-sectarian churches of Christ. Cf. Paul’s tours of gospel preaching (Acts 13ff).

D. It produces consistent acts of worship (Jn. 4:23-24).

E. It produces the same polity and work in each church (Acts 14:23; Eph. 4:11-16).

F. “Receiving the end of your faith” (purpose of your faith, 1 Pet. 1:9).

Conclusion

1. Those who are ashamed of Jesus and His Word have no hope (Lk. 9:26).

2. Hope created in faithful gospel obedience “maketh not ashamed” (Rom. 5:5).

3. The faithful Christian is not ashamed of the gospel or suffering saints (2 Tim. 1:8).

4. The call of the gospel is: 1 Thess. 2:13; Rom. 10: 17. (a) “Study to show thyself . . . ashamed” (2 Tim. 2:15).

Guardian of Truth XXXI: 2, p. 49
January 15, 1987