Truth Magazine

By Kenneth D. Sils

A few weeks ago, many American’s sat riveted to their chairs as we watched with horror the events taking place in Union County, South Carolina concerning Susan Smith and the murder of her two young boys. She told the media that her car was highjacked with her children in it and we witnessed a nationwide search for them, even seeing the FBI following a lead as far away as Oregon. Many members of that community were searching the highways and byways while several others spent long hours in church buildings praying for the boys’ recovery. Susan and her husband were all over the TV pleading for the safe return of their children. This was a community gripped in despair and we hurt right along with them.

Then, came the greatest of all shocks. With a large crowd gathered, a police detective announced that Susan Smith was under arrest for the murder of her own children. Many in the crowd gasped with unbelief. Some denied that this was possible while others were visibly angry. The overwhelming question of the people of Union County was, “How could a mother kill her own children?” After her arrest, several of her angry neighbors told the media that they would have been glad to take the boys into their homes if they would have only known Susan’s state of mind.

The question this small community asked sure is a good one for us to consider, “How can a mother kill her own children?” It’s obvious that this action is never justified and should never be accepted by a civilized society. Yet, our country accepts over a million mothers who kill their children each year. The accepted difference is that these children being murdered have not yet seen the light of day, still growing in the womb of their mothers. The proverb writer said in Proverbs 6:16-17, “These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood.” Whether the child be three years old, 14 months old or still growing in the womb, killing it is shedding innocent blood and will bring God’s righteous wrath upon the murderer.

People have asked me, If abortion is so wrong, why didn’t the Founding Fathers say so in the Constitution?” The 5th Amendment of the constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, states, “No person shall be . . . deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law .” America’s Founding Fathers were God-fearing men and patterned our government from the laws found in the Bible. They believed as Dr. Suess instructed in Horton Hears a Who that “a person’s a person, no matter how small!” If they were alive today, I’m confident they would have upheld the 5th Amendment and deprived life to all mothers who kill their children, including the shedding of blood which occurs at every abortion.

We should not give up hope. Our nation has just elected some of the most conservative politicians in the last 50 years. Let’s continue to pray that America’s sin of abortion will soon come to a screeching halt and the hearts of these murderers will melt and turn to God’s truth. G

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 24, p. 1
December 15, 1994

By Larry Ray Hafley

Had there been such a headline in the “papers” of the day, mighty men derisively would have scoffed and said, “What a laugh!” Yet, there it was; the affirmation and confirmation of the fact was made: “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant” (Jer. 1:10).

God had done the same sort of thing many years before with Moses. Imagine, a lowly, banished shepherd approaching the military might of the potentate Pharaoh and saying, “Let my people go!” Again, what a laugh! As Pharaoh contemptuously asked, “Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice?” (Exod. 5:2)

Centuries later, the Lord repeated the effort and its effect. After listing the magnificent seven in the courts and congresses of the world (Caesar, Pilate, Herod, Philip, Lysanias, Annas, and Caiaphas), Luke said, “the word of God came unto John” (Lk. 3:1, 2). Not unto the popes and political powers of the civil and religious realm, but unto John “the word of the Lord came.”

Jeremiah, Moses, John the Immerser  what an unlikely trio! But to each man, God gave a message and a mission. The men were unimposing; their message appeared impotent; their mission seemed doomed to failure. Jeremiah was sent to a miry dungeon. Moses was rejected by his own people. John, an ascetic, backwoods preacher, was beheaded.

If you were of “the nations” and the kingdoms” of those eras, would you have considered these men a threat? Would you have given their word a second hearing? Would you have wagered anything on the chances of their success? No, a thousand times, no! Yet, in the end, each ultimately prevailed through him that ruleth in the affairs of men. It required many years. Moses and John did not live to see the full fruition of their word and work, but, as was said of later ventures, “So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed” (Acts 19:20). Count on it (Isa. 55:11).

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 24, p. 4
December 15, 1994

By H.E. Phillips

Jesus Christ gave the world a perfect example of walking with God and talking to God. No man can walk with God who does not talk to him and hear (obey) his word. Most people today look upon prayer as a tool for the poor, hungry, suffering, diseased and hopeless. People who have reasonable health and security, a good job and comfortable home surroundings have little use for prayer except for the common ritual when they “go to church” and occasionally just before a meal. Jesus Christ was a man of prayer while he lived among men. He taught his disciples to pray in his great Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 6:5-13; Lk. 11:1).

Why Did Jesus Pray?

Why would Jesus pray to God in heaven? He co-existed with the Father in eternity before the foundation of the world. Why would he need to talk to God when he knew his will and purpose perfectly? Jesus said, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand” (John 3:35). “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). The divine record provides a number of details regarding the prayers of Jesus from the beginning of his ministry to his death. Far more than we can discuss in this paper.

Fellowship necessitates communication. Walking together means agreement. “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3) We are commanded to “speak the same thing” and be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10). That requires communication. The communication between Jesus Christ and his Father is expected because of their fellowship in the eternal purpose of God.

How Did Jesus Pray?

1. He prayed with thanksgiving. He often expressed thanks to his Father (Matt. 11:25,26). When he established the Lord’s supper he offered thanks (1 Cor. 11:24,25).

2. He prayed that the will of God be done, even in death (Matt. 26:39). “…if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us” (1 Jn. 5:14).

3. He prayed with “strong crying and tears.” “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers andsupplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared. . .” (Heb. 5:7).

4. He prayed with confidence and humility. At the tomb of Lazarus he said: “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always. . .” (Jn. 11:41,42). His disciples believed the Father heard him when he prayed: “Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee” (Jn. 11:21,22). Jesus acknowledged that his Father always heard his prayers. “. . . Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always…” (Jn. 11:42).

5. Jesus prayed earnestly and fervently the night before his death. “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Lk. 22:44).

6. He did not use the power that was available to him through prayer that he might do the will of his Father. He said, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Matt. 26:53,54) Twelve legions of angels comprehend a numberless host. Angels did minis-ter to him on occasion. After his temptation by Satan angels ministered to him (Matt. 4:11), and in the garden just before his betrayal, “there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him” (Lk. 22:43).

When Did Jesus Pray?

He prayed upon many different occasions until his death on the cross. He prayed longer and more often when he was alone. He prayed alone before day (Mk. 1:35). He prayed alone at evening at the close of a busy day (Matt. 14:23). He prayed alone before choosing the twelve apostles (Lk. 6:12,13). He prayed alone after a busy day healing the sick (Lk. 5:15,16). He prayed alone three times before his betrayal in the time of his agony. Three times he prayed alone, “Thy will be done” (Matt. 26:39-44; Lk. 22:39-46).

Jesus prayed in his anguish before his betrayal and crucifixion. He went with his disciples to the mount of Olives; “And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Jn. 12:27; Lk. 22:39-46).

He prayed on the cross in his dying hour. The rulers who staged his crucifixion derided him. The soldiers who crucified him also mocked him, and offered him vinegar. As the closing moments of his earthly life approached, and his painful humiliation was at its pinnacle, Jesus expressed his last prayer to his Father: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost” (Lk. 23:46).

For Whom Did Jesus Pray?

1. Jesus prayed for Peter: “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Lk. 22:32).

2. Jesus prayed for himself: “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. .. And now, 0 Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (Jn. 17:1-5).

3. Jesus prayed for his disciples: “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gayest me out of the world …I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. . . I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thoushouldest keep them from the evil. . . Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:6-17).

4. Jesus prayed for believers through his word: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (Jn. 17:20,21).

5. He prayed for those who ridiculed, mocked him and crucified him on the cross. “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk. 23:34).

Jesus Taught Us Conditions For Successful Prayer

He taught his disciples to pray with reverence, for the kingdom, in humility, that God’s will be done, making requests for our needs, forgiving as we desire forgiveness, and asking for deliverence from temptation” (Lk. 11:2-4).

He taught us to abide in him and let his word abide in us (Jn. 15:7), to pray with persistence to him who is able to grant our needs and desires (Lk. 18:1-8). We must be holy (1 Tim. 2:8). We must be humble in prayer, not self-righteous (Lk. 18:9-14). We must pray in the name of Christ (Jn. 14:13,14), and according to the will of God (1 Jn. 5:14).

As Jesus Christ stood at the threshold of death, he could have with one short prayer called the legions of angels from the Omnipotent Father to deliver him, but he chose rather the will of his Father, and gave up the ghost as the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. The man of prayer stopped praying and passed into the realm of paradise. This divine person prayed and taught us to pray to the Father in heaven.

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII No.23, p. 20-21
December 1, 1994

By Grover Stevens

Our study is “Jesus: the way, the truth and the life.” This statement, and claim, of Jesus is found in one of the most favorite, familiar, and endearing texts in the Bible. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And where I go ye know, and the way ye know.” Thomas, desiring to understand says, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” The Lord then makes the statement of our text  one of the most remarkable and profound statements ever made  “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes unto the Father, but by Me.”

How full of meaning is the message conveyed in these few brief words. The Lord here and in the conversation that follows plainly declares that he is God  is Deity; not was, or going to be, but is (“Am”). He here equates himself with the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is each of these as well as all of them together. He is the true way of life. He did not say “I will show you the way,” but “I am the way.” He did not say “I have the truth,” but “I am the truth.” The Lord did not say, “I lead unto life,” but “I am the life.”

“I Am the Way”

Christ is the way to the Father. A way is a path, a route, a roadway. Some say, “How can I know the way when one preacher tells me one way and another some other way? Dear friend, the Lord did not say, “The preacher, or the Pope, or mother or father is the way,” but “I am the way.” Dear friend, do not follow this preacher or that, or the Pope, or anyone else, but the Lord Jesus himself. He is the Way.

We have all, some time or other, followed a marked path to a given destination. I read a story of one of our pioneer preachers riding horseback along a road in unfamiliar territory, when he came upon a barricade with a sign warning that the bridge was out. Distressed, he lookedabout to study just how he might proceed when he saw what appeared to be a marker showing the way. He went to investigate and sure enough just before he reached the first marker he could see the next, and so on through the heavy wooded section of the river bottom. By following the marked trail he was able to pass through the unfamiliar territory and reach his destination. Just so with the Lord Jesus; he is the marked trail  “the way” through this old sinful world to the wonderful city of God and to bosom of the Father. He says, “Follow me and I will take you to the Father.”

Christ is the only way to the Father. “No one comes to the Father but by me.” Hence, he is not only the way, but he is the only way to the Father. This way is referred to as the “the way of God,” “the way of salvation,” the way of truth, and “the way of holiness” (Acts 18:26; Matt. 22:16; Acts 16:17; John 14:6; Isa. 35:8; etc.). Our Lord said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Many say that it doesn’t matter what doctrine you believe just so you have Christ, but dear friend, God tells us, “Whosoever . . . abideth not in the doctrine (teaching) of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine (teaching) of Christ hath both the Father and the Son (2 Jn.9). Yes, indeed, it does make a difference what you believe. Again, the Lord said, “But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:9); and “Every plant (doctrine or practice) which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up” (Matt. 15:13-14). Any doctrine that is not found in the Word of God is “of men,” not God. All spiritual blessings are in Christ (Eph. 1:3). We have redemption through his blood in Christ (Eph.1:7; Col. 1:14). We must be “in Christ” to be a “new creature” (born again) (2 Cor. 5:17), and we get in Christ by being baptized “into” Christ (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:26-27), and we are “born again” by “obeying the truth” (1 Pet. 1:22-23; Rom. 6:17-18).

There is no other way. All religion that seeks to “come unto the Father” in some other way than in and through Christ (Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, etc.) is doomed to failure, according to this word of Christ (John 14:6). Again we hear the Lord say, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not My words (the gospel of the New Testament), hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48); and all who “obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . shall be punished in flaming fire with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thess. 1: 8-9). This also applies to those who claim to believe in Christ, but reject his teaching. The Lord further said, “Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Many teach that it doesn’t make any difference what you believe, or whether you are baptized or not, or “how” or “why” you are baptized, or whether you worship or not and how you worship, etc. Such people are not following Christ, the way, but their own way the way of their choice. The way of Christ is the way of truth. You must believe what Christ tells you to believe, the truth, the gospel (Mk. 16:15; 1 Thess. 2:13); you obey Christ’s command to be “buried” in baptism (Rom. 6:3-4), “to be saved” (Mk. 16:16), “for remission of sins” (Acts 2:38), to get “into Christ” (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27) who is the true way; and he will add you to the church he established (Acts 2:41,47), not some de-nomination (Acts 20:29-39; Gal. 1:6-9); and you worship the way Christ tells you to worship (John 4:23-24).

“I Am the Truth”

Truth is truth only because of God. Without God there would be no right or wrong, or truth. Truth, righteousness, holiness, light, and love, in any and all fields, whether mathematical, logical, moral (ethical or religious) are all basically the same thing  just different aspects; and they all derive their meaning from the inherent nature and character of God, who is the origin, source, and essence of each. The statement that two and two make four, or that honesty is good and lying is bad, expresses an everlasting principle in the eternal character of God. God and Truth have the same attributes and character; things equal to the same thing are equal to each other. God and truth are both eternal, immutable, perfect, unchanging, accurate, consistent, immortal, infinite, incorruptible, harmonious, faithful, reliable, trustworthy, dependable, right and righteous. Men can say, “I speak the truth,” but only God can say, “I am the truth.” The God of the Bible is the only true God because no other being possesses these attributes. Jesus Christ is one with the Father. To know Jesus is to know the Father. To “see” Jesus is to “see” the Father. He is not speaking of the fleshly body. The words of Christ are the words of the Father. The Father is in Christ and he is in the Father.

“I Am the Life”

God is life. In every nook and cranny of the world around us there is abundance and variety of life  living things. Among the millions or billions of kinds of life, human life stands out in uniqueness and singularity. God tells us this is because it alone is a combination of physical life and spiritual life (Gen. 1:26; 2:7). All life is from God (Gen. 1; Psa. 36:9; Acts 17:24-29). Something is eternal. Something cannot come from nothing, therefore some-thing has always been. All that is in existence had to be in that eternal “something.” Hence, that which existed eternally possessed life. J.W.M. Sullivan, one of the world’s greatest physicists, says, “Life never arises except from life . . . this (fact) leads back to some supernatural creative act”  GOD! (Limitations of Science 94). The Lord Jesus said, “I am come that (men) may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” “Abundantly” refers to the fullness and richness of the life in Christ  Christ’s way of life  that higher and nobler life of which human life is capable. See John 8:12; Luke 12:15; Jude 10.

Eternal Life. Life is union (Gen. 2:7), and death is separation (Jas. 2:26). Man has both physical life and spiritual life. At death (separation) both go back to their point of origin  the body to dust, and the soul/spirit to God (Eccl. 12:6-7). Spiritual life (eternal life) is to be united with God, and spiritual death is to be separated from God, banished into darkness and despair (Matt. 25:41,46; Rom. 6:23). The Lord Jesus said, speaking spiritually as he points out in v. 58, “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day . . . so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever” (Jn. 6:54-58). Again God tells us, “He that hath the Son hath life (eternal life,v.13), and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 Jn. 5:12). Again, Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (Jn. 11:25). Indeed, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII No.23, p. 18-19
December 1, 1994