Judy BettsEast Texas Medical CenterRoom 6161000 South BeckhamTyler, Texas 75701Yours in ChristGlenn & Jeanette Parham Rhodney Freeman..........Tim Jones Ronnie Stewart...............Rodney CookHave you become aware of new privacy laws? Doubtlessly you have received the notices in the mail of the recent confidentially laws concerning credit cards, bank accounts and numerous other personal business transactions we make daily. It is usually several pages of small type that, if you are like me, are tossed into the garbage. Who has time to read all this stuff?In medical care new privacy laws are especially noticeable. For instance, many doctors' offices no longer have patients sign-in when they come for their appointments. The thought behind this is that when you sign-in you will be able to see who else has a doctor's appointment that day as if you can't see them anyway sitting beside you in the waiting room. When I visit the hospital, no longer am I allowed to check a patient list posted in the foyer and walk-in to visit whomever I please. I wear a badge and only have access to a list of those registered as members of the church of Christ. I suppose that many of these news laws are needed. I can see, for instance, a thief poring over a patient list at the hospital to find out whose house would be an easy target.However, knowing how sensitive we are today to invasions of privacy, I suspect that the new laws are also attempts to throw a cloak of privacy over matters of shame. After all, privacy was not an issue with Adam and Eve until they sinned. It was only then they knew they were naked and sought to cover-up.Personally, I don't care who knows about my doctor's appointments or hospital stays. I really don't have anything to hide pertaining to my finances. If you want to see my church contribution, you have my permission. My personal phone calls and mail aren't going to show anything particularly embarrassing to me. A reality series made of my daily life would be canceled after one episode.As a minister of the word, I especially must be willing to live in a fish bowl. Paul realized the gravity of other's examination of him when he wrote, "The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you" (Philippians 4:9). What a challenge for all Christians to live so blamelessly that prying eyes are even invited!In 1 Timothy 5:25, Paul wrote that "deeds that are good are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed." The Hebrew writer records these sobering words, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4:13).The irony of privacy laws is that while they restrain the curiosity of men they do not restrain God. His eyes are not obliged to obey the laws of men. He sees all. He sees details that man can only talk about but never fully comprehend. He hears thoughts. He sees imaginations. He knows where every penny goes. He knows where we are and even where we want to be.How much we care for people to know about our lives becomes a measure of how much we might be hiding from God. If you are driven to constantly pull the drapes and draw the shades of your life, you might ask yourself, "Why?" Is there something you don't want man to see? Is there something you don't want God to see?Regardless of what men say and teach, only God has a right to address the matter of salvation. What has He said relative to "once saved always saved?" This is a doctrine which is extremely popular with the religions of men, but there is absolutely no support in the scripture for it whatsoever. Notice what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:27, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." Clearly, Paul was making note of the fact, that regardless of what he had done or how many he had converted, he could still be lost if he did not remain faithful. Those who deny the possibility of apostasy (falling away) cannot give a sensible explanation of what this passage means. The apostle knew he could lose his salvation. Look again at 1 Corinthians 10:12 "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." Paul is writing to his brethren (Christians). His subject here is not one of physical balance. He is concerned about them falling. This is similar to what is stated in 2 Peter 2:20-22, "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." The meaning of this passage is so obvious that comment is not needed. Notice again Romans 11:22, "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." Again the Spirit through the Apostle Paul clearly warns those who are saved to beware lest they be cut off. Read again the phrase, "if thou continue in his goodness " There is a condition placed on their salvation. He then gives the alternative, "otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." If these saved ones ceased to be faithful they would lose their salvation and be cut off. This could hardly be stated more clearly. Men can deny these verses but they cannot escape their power. Jesus stated in John 12:48, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." God's concepts do not have to be popular to be true.Jesus promised salvation to those who would persevere to the end. Revelation 2:10, "Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." And again in Matthew 10:22, "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be save." Paul warned of men who would arise within the church and draw away disciples after them (Acts 20:28,29). If they were drawn away from Christ they were drawn toward Satan. Peter made the same type of warning in 2 Peter 2:1-3). Paul often named specific men who had departed from the faith (Demas; 2 Timothy 4:11) or who had made shipwreck the faith of many (2 Timothy 2:17ff).Notice finally Paul's comment to the brethren in Galatia, "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace" (Galatians 5:4). We can fall from grace. If one verse of scripture affirms we can fall then it is wrong to teach that we cannot. The above discussion shows the biblical position. Also realize that every verse in the Bible that calls upon us to stay faithful implies that it is possible to not do so. For the sake of emphasis I would call upon all honest-hearted persons to examine the scriptures: 1Peter 5:9; Romans 16:16,17; 2 Peter 2:20-22; 1 John 1:7ff; Revelation 2:10; 1 Corinthians 9:27; Matthew 10:22; Romans 11:22; Galatians 5:4; 2 Peter 2:1-2; Acts 2:28ff; James 5:19-20; James 1:22; Hebrews 6:5-6; Hebrews 3:14; 2 Timothy 1:13; 1 Timothy 4:1-3,16; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:15; Colossians 2:8; Colossians 1:23; Philippians 2:12; Philippians 1:27; Ephesians 6:10ff; Ephesians 5:10-11; Galatians 5:7; Galatians 6:1-2; Galatians 1:6-10; 2 Corinthians 13:5; 2 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Corinthians 7:20; 10:12; 11:1; 11:19; 15:2; 15:33; 16:13; 15:58.Those I have shown can be multiplied by the hundreds. God didn't give the world this doctrine, the ministers of Satan did. 