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The First Commandment
"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." (Exodus 20:3)
By Garner Ted Armstrong
Is there anyone "wrong" or distasteful to a Christian to
engage only in monotheism; to avoid bowing down before pagan
deities, grotesque idols, figments of the imagination of demented and perverted
pagans who "imagined," in their ignorance, all sorts of "gods" to whom they
ascribed carnal human lusts?
Since God is the divine Creator, since He made the universe, the
heavens and the earth, and since He made man; since He is the Designer,
Creator, Sustainer and Ruler of our whole universe, is it somehow "wrong"
of Him to demand that we recognize Him, and Him ONLY?
This is a rather logical commandment, wouldn't you think?
What would the whole world be like if it acknowledged only the one
true God?
First, the religions of India, most of Africa, most of Asia and, for
that matter, the false religions of much of the Western professing
Christian world, would be totally altered if they understood the truth
about the one true God!
If they understood who God is, what is His nature and
character, why He has created man and placed him upon this earth, and
where humanity is headed, they would be living their lives according to the
divinely revealed Word of that God in awe and fear of Him, instead
of living their lives in abject ignorance of the true God, worshipping demons,
the "host of the heavens" or Satan the devil himself.
Consider the nation of India. Here, polytheism, the belief in "Vishnu,"
and the spirit worship of the Hindu religion holds one of the largest nations on
the face of this earth in its superstitious grip!
Here is a protein-deficient nation, a poverty-stricken, squalid,
disease-ridden, overpopulated, undernourished land of disease, starvation and
death!
It is asserted there are more cattle in India than the United States.
But, because of their religion, revering the cow as "sacred," the
Indians will not eat their cattle, which the one God placed on this earth as
food and to provide clothing and even shelter for mankind, thus bringing
upon themselves the horrifying curse of malnutrition, disease and death.
Ponder what you know of the world's so-called "great" religions for a
few moments. What have the religions of the major nations really done for
them? It seems almost axiomatic that, when one finds the most degenerate,
squalid, disease-ridden areas on earth, one will also find pagan,
polytheistic religions.
Even though the so-called professing "Christian" world, divided up into
more than 400 differing denominations, does not really know the true God
as they should, it seems that the mere fact that at the very least they
are monotheistic, believing in one God, has produced comparatively
greater prosperity and physical health.
In many ways, the First Commandment is the greatest commandment
of them all!
In summarizing the Ten Commandments, Jesus Christ said man is to
love the Eternal our God with all our hearts, all our minds and all our being,
and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Thus, Jesus summarized the first four commandments, showing they
tell us how to love God, and summarized the last six by showing us how
to love our neighbors.
Remember what you read in Romans the first chapter?
We may come to understand much more of the "invisible things" of the
great Creator God by looking at the things which He has made.
Whether you study the incredible complexity of the tiniest of our
insects, or learn about the marvelous symbiotic relationship between the great
whales and plankton; whether you study the migratory patterns of the arctic
tern, or learn of the marvelously intricate and law-abiding properties of
minerals, you are studying only the tiniest portion of the marvels the
great mind of God has thought out, planned, designed and then produced.
>From the vastness of our limitless universe to our own solar system,
and to all of the beautifully harmonious, intricately complex, interdependent
and symbiotic life forms in our ecosystem, you are looking at the handiwork
of God.
Consider yourself.
The greatest possible intelligence you can come to know through the five
senses; the most superb collection of sensory perceptions, knowledge, wisdom and
understanding in our material universe of which you can come to know through the
sense of smell, touch, feel, sight and hearing is yourself that of
man.
Man stands at the very top of the "food chain." Man reigns
supreme on the physical earth, able to force all other creatures, including
huge elephants and giant whales, to do his bidding.
Consider man. Consider yourself. Who gave mankind the
capacity for love? What is a laugh? What is a sneeze? What is "feeling"?
Since our bodies desperately need salt to survive, what mindless selection
process determined that salt tastes good to us?
Why are sunsets beautiful? Why is beautiful music pleasing to our
senses? Why, when we are hungry, is a beautifully prepared, nutritious
meal so savory, tasteful and enjoyable?
While the nations of mankind are utterly ignorant of the fact,
and while most professing Christians go about their daily lives seldom
confessing it, even your ability to touch, taste, feel, experience comes
from your Creator - comes from God!
The First Commandment is a most logical, simple, easy-to-understand
commandment.
Since the very divine Creator, who gives us every beat of our hearts,
every breath we breathe, and the very abilities to experience lift,
EXISTS; since our life is in practical fact the tiniest extension of His
life, in that He is our Designer, Beginner, Lifegiver and Sustainer,
isn't it the most logical commandment you could ever imagine that this
great Supreme Being commands we place no other
"gods" in front of Him?
What are "other gods"?
The most obvious infraction of this First Commandment seems to be, at
first glance, pagans bowing before man-made idols of wood and stone. The Bible
contains veritable chapters condemning this heathen practice.
But the apostle Paul reveals that "covetousness is idolatry." Many of
the Ten Commandments overlap. All of them are interdependent, each one an
integral part of the other. However, in a unique way, the first and the last
commandments are closely intertwined.
Anything you so lust for, anything you covet, is something which
gets between you and the true God!
And what do people truly covet today?
First, look at the greedy materialism in the world today.
Millions spend their lives on the altar of covetousness; frantically
pursuing such will-o'-the-wisp goals as more money, fame, importance, useless
ego trips, the approbation and approval of others, homes, automobiles,
electronic toys, glamorous trips and a dizzying array of manufactured
commodities which represent the sole purpose in living to millions of
human beings!
Thus, millions of professing "Christians," as they pursue daily after
more of everything, are indeed guilty of covetousness.
False goals can become false gods.
If you are yearning, wishing, hoping, desperately craving for some
particular goal in life other then the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness, then you have placed this temporal goal between you
and your God, and are unknowingly guilty of the sin of idolatry!
What "drives" you? What "motivates" you? What is it you are really
working for? What are your personal hopes, aspirations and dreams? If
everything could break your way, if your fondest hopes, dreams and
desires could somehow "come true," what would the fulfillment of these dreams
represent?
The answer to these questions may, in fact, be describing your idol.
Without consciously realizing it, millions of professing
Christians worship other people. The most blatant form of this is the
obvious adoration heaped upon motion picture stars, television personalities,
political figures, beauty queens or even religious leaders.
There is perhaps only a subtle difference between the feelings many
people express toward such famous personalities and actual worship.
Carried to its ultimate extremes, such forms of idolatry can become a
true sickness of the mind, leading to an amazing number of mental and
emotional problems.
Countless numbers of human beings gobble up every bit of gossipy, juicy
information they can find about motion picture and television stars, desiring to
learn the most intimate things of their private lives, wanting to be like
them, to mimic, imitate and emulate them, and, above all, to see them in the
flesh, to touch them, be with them, talk to them and get to know them on a
personal basis!
The sick young man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan
is only one case in point out of millions of people who form various fixations
and vicarious "love affairs" with popular personalities they see in the media.
The would-be assassin thought he was "in love" with a teenaged movie
actress he had never met, and, as he fantasized, dreamed, lusted and
hoped for this young girl, living all kinds of vicarious, unreal situations
in his mind, he became an absolutely dangerous human being, intent on
impressing the "idol" of his dreams by murdering the president!
Strangely, perhaps one of the most common forms of idolatry of all
is self-worship! Millions of professing Christian human beings do not
recognize the fact, but they worship themselves. When you put self
ahead of everyone and everything else; when self-pursuits, self-goals,
self-interests, self-desires, self-gratification and self-fulfillment are placed
before Almighty God; put first before Bible study, prayer and deep
thought about the Creator God, His soon-coming Kingdom and His great purpose
in human life, then, believe it or not, even the SELF can become an idol!
In every way, we can easily see why Almighty God placed the First
Commandment FIRST!
It is the most common of all sins It is the most "natural" for
human beings to commit, one of the easiest to commit, almost as if it is
an innate part of human nature, and is the most rampant and widespread
sin of all!
As we have seen, however, the whole world would be a
dramatically different place if everyone kept the First Commandment!
Think about it for a moment!
What do you really have to give up by keeping the First
Commandment? Do you have to move, change jobs, go back to school, give away all
your material goods, go through rigorous training, deprive yourself of food,
shelter or clothing, or "do" anything else which is harsh, unreasoning, rigorous
or which places you in bondage?
Absolutely not!
All you have to do is recognize the greatness of your
Creator! You must learn to love, honor and worship Him; to stand in deep awe and
respect of Him, and to place your Creator first in your life!
This removes from you an enormous number of curses, and
brings with it an automatic number of blessings.
The Second
Commandment
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for
I the Eternal thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me;
"And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and
keep My commandments." (Exodus 20:4-6)
By Garner Ted Armstrong
Obviously, the First and Second Commandments directly overlap.
The most blatant method of breaking the First Commandment is by also
breaking the second! Pagan races down through history have done precisely that.
From the ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek and Roman monuments comes a
"wealth" of pagan idolatry in the form of obelisks, temples, bas-reliefs, icons,
statuaries and idols in an amazing number of forms.
Not only did these ancient pagans make representations of everything
they could imagine from "the heavens above," "the earth beneath" and the "waters
under the earth," but they ascribed enormous human, physical appetites to their
"gods." and wallowed in a veritable sea of ignorance, blind superstition and
fear as they "served" their imaginary "gods."
Ancient temples and idols depicted the "host of the heavens," which God
directly commands is not to be worshipped, as the "gods" of the ancient
Babylonians, Assyrians and other nations.
Frequently, the appearance of cherubim was graven by the hand of
man on the walls and entrances of palaces of kings.
The famed "winged bulls of Bashan" and the man-headed, eagle-winged,
lionlike bodies with oxen's feet that decorated the entrance to Sargon's palace
and the palaces of Asshur-bannipal and Asher-nasirpal are cases in point.
The eagle-headed men's bodies, the lion's body with a man's head (the
Sphinx) of Egyptian monuments and many of those in Greece and Rome are further
evidence of the blatant worship of "graven images" which represented the "host
of heaven."
Satan the devil is called "the cherub that covereth." Cherubim are
clearly defined in Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 10 as having four appearances; that of
a man, a lion, an eagle and an ox.
Pagan races have tended to idolize these four, and even to mix
them together!
Even today, the national symbols of many nations
include eagles (Imperial Germany, the United States, Mexico,
etc.) or lions (Great Britain). And even civic clubs, sports teams and
other associations call themselves by the names of the principal types of
animals and birds.
By applying your mind to it for a few moments, you can see dozens of
other areas where nations of the world have flagrantly broken the Second
Commandment.
Of course, some who profess to be "Christian," and who nevertheless have
little idols about the house, on the dashboard of their automobile, or look to
various figurines in their churches and cathedrals, will argue it is not the
statue or the figurine to which they look, but what it represents!
This is the flimsiest of all possible excuses, however, for it is the
very purpose for which the idol is made!
Even the pagan Babylonians, Egyptians and Greeks had sense enough to
know that the idol itself was not the "god" they were worshipping, but
that the idol merely represented that "god."
One of the greatest controversies of all history, which split the
ancient Roman Catholic Church right down the middle, and formed the Greek
Orthodox Church, was the argument over the efficacy of idols, meaning a
separate statuary and sculptures of "saints," as opposed to icons, which
are partially raised figures in bas-relief.
The famous "iconoclastic controversy" of history is easily researched,
and when one is spoken of as breaking with tradition he is called
"iconoclastic." ("Clas" means to cleave, to rupture, shatter or to break;
thus to break an icon was "an iconoclast.")
The obvious thrust of the Second Commandment is that "images" were not
to be made for the purpose of worship!
However, a simple amount of research will prove that Almighty God
Himself approved the use of various figures and representations of cherubim
as a part of the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the temple of God!
The great difference is that wherein God allowed Moses and the
children of Israel to decorate the tabernacle in the wilderness with the figures
of cherubim, and ordered Moses to hold a brazen serpent aloft to stop a plague
of snakes, it was authorized of God, and done for the purposes of God, and
not as a representation of "God" or something to be worshipped.
Some modern cults have even eschewed photographs, and many a
pagan tribe believes there is something of "magic" or "witchcraft" in the taking
of pictures!
But a picture is not a "graven image" for the purpose of
worship, and is certainly not a breaking of the Second Commandment!
All that I have said concerning pagan nations of the world in
relationship to the First Commandment applies equally to the second. The
two are closely intertwined.
If the ancient races of Babylon, Egypt, Greece and Rome had accepted the
knowledge of the true God, and had not bowed before their hundreds of
variations of "graven images," all of world history would have been dramatically
different.
Even today, major oriental religions bow before graven images. Buddhists
have their various forms of Buddha, and the religions of Nepal, Thailand, India,
Bangladesh, Japan and China, many nations in Africa and the whole Catholic world
regularly go through rituals in various forms of church services beneath
the statuary of their various prophets, "gods" and saints.
God wants His children to look at our beautiful earth, all of the
fabulously lovely things upon it, such as the breathtaking beauty of verdant
pastures and forest lands, awesome sunsets, lovely carpets of wild flowers in
the spring, inspiring living creatures such as the great whales, the beautiful
animals of earth (and what is more beautiful than a herd of Thompson's gazelles
leaping gracefully in flight?) and to see in all of these things the
handiwork of God!
To the Eternal Creator, it is the utterest and most abysmal form of
gross stupidity for mankind to turn his back on the breathtaking and
awesome beauty all around him, chisel out a leering, ugly face from a block of
stone and then bow down before it and call it "god."
The Creator God, who gave man the mind, the ability to use his
muscles in forming and shaping that stone, and who made the rock itself
asks a simple and yet a profound question: "Who would not fear thee, O King of
nations? For to thee doth it appertain: for as much as among all the wise men of
the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.
"But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of
vanities ['stock' means idol].
"Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz,
the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is
their clothing: they are the work of cunning men.
"But the Eternal is the true God, He is the Living God, and an
everlasting King: at His wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall
not be able to abide His indignation.
"Thus shall ye say unto them, the gods that have not made the heavens
and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under
these heavens.
"He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by
His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His discretion.
"When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the
heavens, and He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; He
maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures.
"Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder [worker in metals]
is confounded by the graven image:
for his molten image is falsehood. and there is no breath in
them.
"They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their
visitation they shall perish.
"The portion of Jacob [God] is not like them: for He is the former of
all things; and Israel is the rod of His inheritance: the Eternal of Hosts
is His name"! (Jeremiah 10:7-16).
Again, what is wrong with this beautiful Second Commandment? What
is so burdensome, so harsh and "legalistic" about the Eternal God who designed
our very bodies, gives us every breath and every beat of our hearts, saying we
should worship Him and Him alone, instead of forming an ugly image
with our own hands, turning around and prostrating ourselves before it and
saying "that is god"?
Perhaps most churchgoing professing Christians would say they are not
guilty of worshipping "graven images," and, hopefully, this is so. However,
remember how the two commandments overlap - and remember that worshipping
the things which our hands manufacture, meaning materialism, can
come very close to worshipping "graven images."
It is not "difficult," or in any way rigorous or harsh, to KEEP the
Second Commandment of God!
The Third
Commandment
"Thou shalt not take the name of the Eternal thy God in vain; for the Eternal
will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7)
By Garner Ted Armstrong
This is one of the most flagrantly and commonly violated of the Ten
Commandments of God!
What is more commonplace than one hearing public figures, entertainers,
people on the street and one's friends and neighbors freely using the names of
God and Jesus Christ in profanity and swearing?
Million of human beings break this commandment by using the name "God"
or "Jesus Christ" as an oath.
Why do they do it?
There is a deep-seated psychological reason behind much of the cursing
and swearing you hear around you; one element is the constant attempt to
reinforce one's rejection of the real power of God; the immediate
presence of the Eternal Creator God by deliberately and flagrantly breaking this
commandment as if daring God to do anything about it!
How many bawdy and tawdry jokes are there about the Deity? How many
"pearly gates" and "St. Peter's" jokes are there? How many Jewish jokes are
there about Jesus Christ? In literally scores of bizarre and differing methods,
millions of human beings brazenly shatter this commandment of God every single
day!
Where, many years ago, it was against the law of the land to use
profanity in public places, it is so commonplace today that one may hear motion
picture stars and television personalities freely using the name of God and of
Jesus Christ in a jocular manner to punctuate their conversations.
The motion pictures are filled with filthy references to the
baser appetites of human beings, the well-known "four-letter words found
scribbled in graffiti on the walls of rest rooms are now finding their way
directly into millions of American homes over cable television, and before
countless millions of Americans in motion picture theaters.
Now it is "no holds barred" - all of this allowed by the Supreme
Court of the United States in their failure to invoke antiobscenity laws.
But the Third Commandment goes far deeper than this most obvious and
flagrant violation.
As we have already seen, when Moses was called of God, the Eternal
Creator said His name was "I AM!" Jesus later referred to Himself as that
personality by saying, "Before Abraham was, I AM!" to the Jews.
As you have already seen, this name or title of God carries the sense of
immutability, permanence, He who is! But this is only one of the
divine names. There are many Hebrew titles or names for God revealed in
the Bible.
In the first instance (Genesis 1:1) the word "God" is translated from
the Hebrew "Elohim." "El" means "God" in the Hebrew, but the latter portion of
the word is a plural ending, as you have already seen, which means
more than one!
The Hebrew characters for "the Eternal" (always printed in capital
letters as "LORD" in the King James Bible) are YHVH, or YHWH.
Some pronounce His Hebrew name "YAWVEH," while
others say it should be pronounced "JEHOVAH," and still others "YAWE."
But many other titles and names of God are revealed in the Bible. He is
called "YAWVEH-ROPHEKA" in the Hebrew, meaning "God our Healer." He is called
"EL-SHADDAI," "YAWEH-NISSI," or "The Lord of Hosts" or "God Our Shield," or "Our
Banner."
Unfortunately, the exact pronunciation of "YHWH" has been lost. However,
there are various groups who believe they must only pronounce the
Hebrew names for God the Father and Jesus Christ (which they insist should
be pronounced "YAHSHUAH"), or one is not using the authorized "sacred
name."
This is a large subject, and more appropriately belongs in a separate
booklet, but suffice it to say that there are many names and titles of
God revealed in both the Old and New Testaments of your Bible; that Jesus spoke
in at least three languages, and the disciples spoke in many
languages on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit inspired them to speak to
dozens of different dialects "in their tongues" concerning the "mighty works of
God."
The one English expression which more clearly connotes the name of God
is probably "the Eternal," or "the Creator God." Jesus, when instructing
Christians in how to pray, said when you pray, say "our Father,
which art in heaven," Here, Jesus used the Greek word for "Father,"
showing that if we acknowledge God the Father as our true Lifegiver, the Author
and Originator of all things, and our "Father in heaven," we are showing the
deep love, respect and awe deserving of our great God in heaven above who
gives us every breath we breathe. And what, after all, is in a name?
A name serves to identify the one to whom, or of whom, you are
speaking. Ideally, names should convey meaning.
Today, few mothers and fathers name their little children according to
some deep meaning. Usually, names are selected even before birth,
not uncommonly by thumbing through a book of names and simply selecting
something which is phonetically pleasing. Oftentimes, a middle name includes the
name of the father or mother, a relative or close friend. However, in most cases
the "names" placed on birth certificates are nothing more than a phonetically
pleasing sound to the parents, or a name reminiscent of themselves, a
close relative or friend.
It was not always so.
When God named Adam, He chose a name which explained what Adam was.
Did you know the name "Adam" appropriately means "red clay"? God
explained to Adam that he came from the ground, that he was temporal,
earthly, and that he possessed only a limited life span. "Dust thou art and unto
dust shalt thou return," said the Eternal.
"Eve" means the mother of all living.
The subject of names in the Bible is a vast one, as well as a
fascinating one.
It is very important that we attach names to everything around
us, for we must exist in an intelligible environment; one in which we human
beings can move about in comfort and familiarity.
You will notice in the opening chapters of Genesis that, when God
created the animals, he led them by Adam to see what Adam would name
them.
There are many usages of names. Some are "titles," conveying the
meaning of ownership, rulership, responsibility or honor, while others are
appellatives attached at birth, which should convey the meaning of
personality.
Thus, the name "Jesus" (Yashua or Joshua in the Hebrew) was the name
of the baby born to Mary, while "Christ" is a title which means "the
anointed one."
The name "Christ" is the Greek form of the Hebrew "Messiah."
Jesus Christ referred to Himself as "the Son of God," the "Son of Man"
and as the "Master" or "Teacher."
Some of His other names and titles are "Emmanuel" (meaning "God with
us") "Savior," "the Word," "the Lamb of God," "the Mediator," "Lord of Lords,"
"King of Kings," "Prophet, Priest and King" and "Alpha and Omega" (the Beginning
and the End).
The names of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son are intended
to convey the awesomeness of Their power; Their ever-living state of
eternal being; Their character and personalities; Their purpose and
will; Their great glory and power; Their total identity
and personality.
When ancient Israel was lost in slavery in Egypt, they knew of no
ever-living Creator Being who was God. They knew only of the polytheistic
heathenism of the Egyptians. When Moses heard the voice of God speak from the
burning bush, he said unto God, "Behold when I come unto the children of Israel,
and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they
shall say to me, what is His name? what shall I say unto them?
"And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
"And God said moreover unto Moses, thus shalt thou say unto the children
of Israel, the Eternal God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is My name forever, and
this is My memorial unto all generations" (Exodus 3:13-15).
Later, when God gave Moses charge to go before Pharaoh, He said, "I am
the YHWH [Eternal].
"And I appeared unto Abraham, and Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of
God Almighty, but by My name JEHOVAH [YHVH -the translators added the
vowels] was I not known to them."
Here is clear biblical proof of several important points:
(l) The Eternal Creator God has many different names.
(2) He concealed His name "YHVH" (JEHOVAH) from Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob.
(3) It is obvious, then, that there are several "authorized"
names of God which may be used in addressing the Deity, and not one
"sacred" name only.
There are dozens of references concerning God's name in the
Psalms, and many other books of the Bible. Again and again we read of praises to
God's name, of David, who meditated on the name of God; and of
people in distress and trouble who called upon God by name.
Jesus Christ of Nazareth showed that religious people oftentimes
profane the name of God by vain repetition.
"And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for
they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets,
that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you ,they have their reward.
"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast
shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth
in secret shall reward thee openly.
"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do:
for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking" (Matthew
6:5-7).
You see, then, that there are two extremes human beings use in
breaking the Third Commandment.
The first and most common extreme is that of cursing, using the
names and titles of God as a byword, or in profanity. The second is using the
names of God for religious purposes; as in orations, sermons or
prayer, but using His name too much, which becomes vain
repetition!
Even this scripture, by itself, should warn professing Christian people
against the kind of prayer which becomes a formal kind of chant or
repetitious saying, and which commits the sin of "vain repetition" of
God's name!
Then followed the sample prayer of Jesus, misnamed the "Lord's
Prayer." (The real "Lord's Prayer" is the prayer Jesus prayed just prior to His
crucifixion, and is found in the 17th chapter of John.)
Jesus said, "After this manner therefore pray ye: 'Our Father which art
in heaven, hallowed be Thy name'"
(Matthew 6:9).
You probably know the rest of the famous "Lord's prayer." However, you
may not have noticed, previously, that Jesus tells us to address God as "our
Father," not specifying a certain Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Latin or English
name at this point, but using a common appellation which acknowledges God
as our FATHER.
Immediately following this statement, Jesus said we should pray
"hallowed [most holy, sanctified and to be held in honor is Thy name."
If people understood the mighty power which can be unleashed by
the correct, humble, prayerful and faithful use of God's name, they would
be astounded!
When Peter and John were used as instruments of God to heal a cripple at
the "beautiful gate," Peter said, "Silver and gold have I none: but such as I
have give I thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and
walk"! (Acts 3:6).
Later, when the crowds gathered in wonderment at this great miracle,
Peter denied it was through his own power that the man had been healed
and said, ". . . His name through faith in His name hath made this
man sound, which you see and know: yea, the faith which is by Him hath
given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all" Acts 3:16).
It was the prayerful use of the powerful name of Jesus Christ that
caused this great miracle.
Repeatedly, Jesus instructed His disciples to command demons to depart
in the name of Jesus Christ. It is through and by the authority of this
powerful name that people are converted, convicted of sins, baptized in
water, and receive the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands!
When we pray, we are commanded to pray "in Jesus' name."
Throughout the New Testament, we see instruction in the awestricken,
fearful, cautious, faithful and prayerful use of the name
of Jesus Christ!
By breaking the Third Commandment, millions of human beings are
not only bringing upon themselves the automatic penalty of death - death
by Gehenna fire unless they REPENT of this enormous sin - they are also
depriving themselves of the wonderful knowledge of the Eternal God; the
knowledge and understanding of His great purpose and plan, and depriving
themselves of the fabulous gifts of God's Holy Spirit, including
repentance, conversion, the receiving of God's Holy Spirit, and healing.
Again, what would the world be like if the whole world knew only
the one true God, never cursed, used His name as a useless "byword," or
chanted in endless and vain repetitious prayers the names of God until they
became meaningless, but instead spoke of the Eternal Creator in humility,
fear, awe, honor and in love?
The whole world would be a very different place, indeed. if
mankind KEPT the Third Commandment! Is it harsh? Is it unreasonable,
restrictive or "unfair" that the Eternal Creator God who gives you every beat of
your heart and every breath of your lungs should command you to speak of Him in
reverence - NOT to use His name in vain repetition, but call upon
Him in humility and love as your divine Father?
If you are one who has flagrantly or "innocently" been breaking the
Third Commandment either by commission or omission, then it is time to
repent of breaking this powerful law of God, and start receiving the
countless blessings God has in store for you when you keep the
Third Commandment!
The Fourth
Commandment
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. "Six days shalt
thou labour, and do all thy work: "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the
Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy
daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the
stranger that is within thy gates: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore
the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." (Exodus 20:8-11)
By Garner Ted Armstrong
For over 27 years I have asked millions over radio and television,
"Just what is wrong with the Ten Commandments?" I always meant the
question facetiously, of course, for I knew that the Fourth
Commandment was the "great stumbling block" of the law of God in a
Sunday-professing world.
Is there any church or organized religion that flagrantly
teaches one may BREAK the Ten Commandments and still be saved?
Naturally not. The teaching that "the law is done away" is infinitely more
subtle.
There are seemingly endless arguments against the observance of the
seventh-day Sabbath.
Among them are the concepts that Christ died to free us from the
requirements of the law; that the "dispensation of grace" does away with the
responsibility to keep God's laws; that being "under grace" means we do not
have to obey the law; that Christians observe Sunday in honor of Christ's
resurrection; that the Sabbath was purely a "Jewish" and a "ceremonial"
requirement imposed upon ancient Israelites and is not of "New Testament
origin"; that Sabbath-keeping is part of a "Mosaic yoke of bondage" which
Christ came to break; that Sabbath-keeping represents "legalism"; and a host
of others.
There exists bountiful proof that the seventh-day Sabbath is,
nevertheless, to he observed by Christians, and that the Fourth
Commandment is still a part of the original 10 - is just as efficacious,
viable, binding and alive as the first, third, fifth, seventh or any
other - and that the breaking of the Fourth Commandment carries with it
the death penalty.
One of the most thoroughly researched and scholarly books on the
subject of the seventh-day Sabbath was published recently by The Pontifical
Gregorian University Press, Rome. From Sabbath to Sunday' was written
by Dr. Samuel Bacchiocchi and is available in the United States from the
author at 230 Lisa Lane, Berrien Springs, Mich. 49103, at $10 per copy. (Write
the author for quantity discounts.)
For each of the tiresome arguments against the seventh-day Sabbath,
there are powerful, biblical PROOFS that Christians ought to keep
this commandment of God!
Take a look at the original wording of the Fourth Commandment again.
It says "remember the Sabbath day, to KEEP it holy"!
The Ten Commandments did not come into existence at Moses' time. There
exists abundant proof from Genesis 1 to Exodus the 19th chapter, prior to the
giving of the Decalogue, that the Ten Commandments were in full force and
effect long before Moses!
You read of the creation of the Sabbath day in Genesis 2:1-3. God
says, "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
"And on the seventh day, God ended His work which He had made; and He
rested on the seventh day from all His work which he had made.
"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it:
because that in it He had rested from all His work which
God created and made."
Almighty God created the seventh day Sabbath by resting.
Even though He rested from "all His work," He was still creating
-creating a period of rest, which He blessed with His very holy
and eternal presence, and "sanctified," meaning He set that seventh day
apart for a specific holy use and purpose!
Never forget, as you ponder each of the Ten Commandments of
God, what sin is! Let the Bible tell you what sin truly is.
"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for SIN
IS the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4).
Notice, too, '. . . for where no law is, there is no transgression"
(Romans 4:15).
In order for there to be such a thing as "sin," there had to be
a law in existence which was being broken.
Notice Genesis 13:13, "But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners
before the Eternal exceedingly."
Here, long before the birth of Moses, long before there was any
such person on earth as an "Israelite," the Ten Commandments of God
were being broken by the evil inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.
A full booklet could be devoted to the proofs that the Ten
Commandments were in full force and effect prior to Moses!
Read Genesis 26:5 which shows the real reason for the great
blessings God gave Abraham: "Because that Abraham obeyed My voice, and
kept My charge, My COMMANDMENTS, My statutes, and My laws"!
Believe it or not, the Fourth Commandment is the great TEST
commandment of all 10! That is the real reason why it is the one of the 10
over which people tend to stumble; the one they resent, argue against
and use every conceivable form of human reason to "get around."
Almighty God tested the people of Israel before the
giving of the Decalogue on Mount Sinai by introducing His Sabbath day
to the Israelites.
Read Exodus 16!
"Then said the Eternal unto Moses, behold I will rain bread from
heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every
day, that I may prove them [test them] whether they will walk
in My law or not.
"And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare
that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily .
. . and it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much
bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and
told Moses.
"And he said unto them, this is that which the Eternal hath said,
tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the
Eternal: bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that which ye
will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the
morning" (Exodus 16:4-23).
Moses pointed out the seventh-day Sabbath before another
lengthy journey to a place called "Rephidim," a battle with the Amalakites,
and other great events - all prior to the giving of the Ten Commandments from
Mount Sinai!
In instructing the people about the Sabbath, Moses said, ". . . Eat
that today; for today is a Sabbath unto the Eternal: today you shall
not find it in the field.
"Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the
Sabbath, in it there shall be none.
"And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the
seventh day for to gather, and they found none.
"And the Eternal said unto Moses, how long refuse ye to KEEP
MY COMMANDMENTS and My laws?
"See, for that the Eternal hath given you the Sabbath,
therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide you
every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
"So the people rested on the seventh day" (Exodus 16:25-30).
God's laws were known by the ancient patriarchs. Abraham was obedient
to God's commandments, as well as certain "statutes," and other laws.
One can find that the knowledge of "clean and unclean meats" was known by Noah
at the loading of the ark.
The point is that the laws and commandments of God did not come
into existence when God wrote the Ten Commandments with His finger on
stone!
They are, after all, an expression of the divine character, will and
purpose of Almighty God, an expression of His master plan for the creation
of righteous, perfect character in the supreme example of His creative
handiwork, mankind.
The first four commandments tell us how we are to love the
Eternal our God. And, as we shall see, the last six show us how we are
to love "our neighbor as ourselves."
It is utterly fallacious to think of the Ten Commandments as
nonexistent prior to Moses' delivery of the tables of stone to the Israelites.
The Ten Commandments did not come into existence at the giving
of the Decalogue; they were codified in stone, the most
permanent writing material existent. But they had been in full force and
effect from the moment of creation, when God MADE the holy
Sabbath day!
Turn to and read Exodus 31:12-17. You will see that Almighty God
intended the Sabbath to be a perpetual covenant, a perpetual SIGN,
between the Eternal Creator God and His people forever, and that the
seventh day Sabbath was a permanent part of the creation itself, and
not a temporary "ritual" enforced upon man for a certain
"dispensation" meant to be abrogated at a later date.
Obviously, there are no scholars who argue against the
seventh-day Sabbath in the Old Testament. They all know that the
patriarchs observed the seventh-day Sabbath; that God enjoined the Sabbath
upon the Israelites; that righteous kings and prophets kept the Sabbath; that
God promises eternal life to "strangers" (a type of all gentile
peoples, or those who are not of Israel) for the keeping of His seventh-day
Sabbath - and that Almighty God insists not only His weekly Sabbath but His
annual Sabbaths as well are going to be kept in the millennium!
Read Zechariah 14:16-19.
The first great command the returning, conquering Christ will
send to the remnants of mankind is that they are required to go to the
new world capital, Jerusalem, "from year to year to worship the king, the
Eternal of Hosts and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." In Isaiah's
vision of the new heavens and new earth, the time of the establishment of the
Kingdom of God on earth, he sees that the seasons, monthly cycles and weekly
Sabbaths are in full force and effect!
"And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another (from
month to month, as God counts time!) and from one Sabbath to another,
shall all flesh come to worship before Me, says the Eternal"! (Isaiah 66:23).
But what about the Sabbath in the New Testament?
This is a vast subject, and requires much more space than
permitted in this booklet to explain. However, ample proof concerning the
Sabbath in the New Testament exists in many reference works, among
them Dr. Bacchiocchi's new book.
A few brief proof texts are important:
"And He said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man, and not
man for the Sabbath:
"Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath"! (Mark
2:27).
Does this say the Sabbath was "made for the JEWS"? Absolutely not! It
says the Sabbath was made for man - for all mankind, in all our
races, colors, geographical locations and languages!
The Sabbath day was not given to only one race of people, nor given
for only a limited period of time! It is a part of creation, a divinely
set, God-ordained unit of time, which Almighty God has made
holy!
Notice that the Sabbath is something that was made. It was made
when man was made-at creation!
It was made FOR man, intended to be a great blessing; a day of
complete rest and relaxation from the six days of laboring to earn our
livings; a day of restful and peaceful worship of the Eternal God; a day which
looks back to God as Creator - and a day which looks forward, as a
"shadow of things to come," to the millennial reign of Christ!
Mankind could never have discovered the weekly cycle by himself.
There are no astronomical observations which would point out which
day of the week it is! The months are discernible by the cycles of the
moon, but nowhere in the heavens is there anything which points out to
us the days of the week!
Tthe Sabbath day is the ONLY day of the week dignified by a name
in God's Word! All the others were merely numbered. from the first
through the sixth. The seventh day Sabbath alone was given a name.
Almighty God began the weekly cycle at creation, and has
always revealed to His righteous patriarchs, prophets and the leaders of
His New Testament church from the time of Pentecost until today which day
is the Sabbath.
God gave the keeping of the "oracles" to the Jews. Never has
that race lost track of the weekly cycle.
>From the time of creation until today, mankind has easily kept
track of the week.
Jesus Christ of Nazareth is never called the Lord of "Sunday,"
but is called "Lord also of the SABBATH"!
If one were to ask, then, "Which day - in the Bible - is the
true 'Lord's day'?" the only answer is "The Sabbath!"
Again, you need to ask yourself the question, "What is so bad
about the Fourth Commandment?"
The response from most people would be that the world is
geared to "Sunday observance"!
As a result of imperial edicts handed down by a sun worshiper named
Constantine, early Christians were commanded not to "Judaize" by retaining
their observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, or their keeping of the Passover
on the 14th of Nisan!
At the councils of Nicea and Laodicea, in the 300s A.D., the growing
universal church laid down laws to its adherents that they were to no
longer "Judaize" by observing the seventh-day Sabbath.
Since countless numbers of pagans had brought their observance
of the day of the SUN along with them into the "Christian" church (the
great visible church which was now apostate!), it was decided to
settle the controversy that was raging among the membership in the Eastern
Mediterranean and settle upon one day each week for religious
observance.
Actually, the early New Testament church never questioned the
observance of the seventh-day Sabbath! For nearly two and one-half
centuries that observance continued!
Think of it. For longer than the United States has been a nation, true
Christians continued to observe the seventh day Sabbath, just as had
their Savior, Jesus Christ, and the early apostles. It was not until about 325
and 331 A.D. that imperial edicts began to be imposed upon some who
insisted on obeying God by observing the Sabbath day!
Finally, even by force of arms, when necessary, much (but never
all) of Sabbath observance was stamped out!
The Roman Catholic hierarchy freely admits that Sunday, as a
day of worship for modern Christians, was a day determined by the pope at
Rome!
Catholics smile knowingly at feeble Protestant attempts to "prove"
their Sunday observance from the Bible!
After all, Catholics do not hold, as most Protestants seem to do, that
the Bible alone is their authority.
The Catholics Took upon the pope when he speaks from his throne
in the Vatican as equal or even superior to Scripture -
for they claim he is infallible!
Also, Catholics appeal to the tradition of their "fathers" (meaning
early Catholic writers, the "pioneers" of the universal church) and give it
the same weight as Scripture.
There is no justification for "Sunday observance" in the New
Testament of your Bible!
Rather, both the weekly Sabbath and the annual Sabbaths are
found in the New Testament. The letters of the apostle Paul and the
chronological record of Luke in the Acts bear ample testimony to the
observance by the early church of the Passover, the Days of Unleavened
Bread, the Feast of Pentecost (the very birthday of the church
itself!), the Day of Atonement, etc.
In Hebrews the fourth chapter, we see an obvious rejoinder upon
Christians to "keep the Sabbath"!
Read Hebrews 4 in its entirety!
You will see the entire subject is "rest," and that God "spake in a
certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the
seventh day from all His works" (verse 4).
Here, the Sabbath day "rest" is being pictured as a type of the
millennium, as a shadow of that which is to come as well as a
remembrance of creation.
Verses 8 and 9 should read as follows: "For if Joshua had given
them rest [the permanent, millennial rest], then would he not afterward have
spoken of another day. Therefore there remaineth a keeping of the
Sabbath to the people of God"!
The word "sabbatismos" for "rest" in verse 9, as a marginal reference
will show, should read "a keeping of the Sabbath."
While ancient translators all but succeeded in completely obscuring
this vital verse as they rendered the Bible in English from its Latin
versions, true scholarship has preserved the meaning of Hebrews 4 and verse 9!
The sense of the two verses is that, since the Kingdom of God, the
millennial reign of Christ, is not here yet, there remains a weekly
"keeping of the Sabbath" to the people of God!
Remember, the Ten Commandments stand or fall on any one of the
10! James said, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in
one point, he is guilty of all!
"For he that said, do not commit adultery, said also, do not kill. Now
if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor
of the law.
"So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the
law of liberty" (James 2:10-12).
The Fourth Commandment has never "passed away." It was never
altered or done away by Jesus Christ. It was obeyed and observed by Christ,
the early apostles, and generations of true Christians until most
of such faithful observance of God's Fourth Commandment was forcibly
stamped out in the Eastern Mediterranean regions by the middle of the
third century after Christ!
However, there have always been small bodies of Sabbath-keeping
believers who retained the true sign of God's true church, and who have
understood the basic truths of the Bible, and who represented the
scattered, weak "little flock" which is the true body of Christ!
The end-time remnant of the Church of God, terribly persecuted
of Satan the devil, almost wiped off the face of the earth, yet preserved
and protected of God, is described as ". . . the remnant of her seed,
which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ" (Revelation 12:17).
In the very last chapter of the Bible, God says, "Blessed are they
that do His commandments," and warns, "And if any man shall take
away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his
part out of the book of life . . ."(Revelation 22:14-19).
No amount of human argument, dishonest scholarship, vague human
reasonings or excuses is going to do away with the Fourth Commandment
of God! The holy Sabbath of God exists. It is.
Inexorably, every single week, at Friday sunset, a 24-hour period of
holy time commences. That period of holy time continues until Saturday
at sunset, which begins the first day of the week.
God commands mankind to keep His holy Sabbath day! God says, "Blessed
is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it;
that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from
doing any evil" (Isaiah 56:2).
God shows that those who are keeping His Ten Commandments in
the spirit, as well as in the letter, are meeting the basic
requirements of God's Kingdom! God will induct no person into His kingdom
who will not OBEY Him! While obedience does not earn salvation - it is
God's loving GIFT - the keeping of God's law is the opposite of SIN!
One must repent of SIN, of having flagrantly broken God's laws, receive
God's loving grace, which is forgiveness by the shed blood of Jesus Christ,
and then quit sinning, which means begin keeping the laws that
have been broken!
God says, "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from
doing thy pleasure [your own will; desires, 'business' or pursuits] on My holy
day; and call the Sabbath a DELIGHT, the holy of the lord, honorable,
and shall honor Him, not doing thine own way, nor finding thine own
pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
"Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Eternal; and I will cause thee
to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of
Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Eternal hath spoken it" (Isaiah 58:13,
14).
The Sabbath day of rest from our work: of worshipping God in
song, Bible study, hearing inspiring sermons and in fellowship with beloved
brethren and sisters in Christ, is a delight, a joyous, happy
experience. Not a "yoke" of bondage!
God commands us to keep it.
Will you?
The Fifth
Commandment
"Honour thy father and thy
mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth
thee." (Exodus 20:12)
By
Garner Ted Armstrong
Beginning with the Fifth Commandment, we commence dealing with the
last six of the Ten Commandments. As Jesus Christ characterized them,
it is obvious the "great commandment" is to "love the Eternal thy God with all
your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul, and to love your
neighbor as yourself."
By summarizing the Ten Commandments, Jesus tells us the first
four show us how to love God, and the last six show us how to
love our neighbor - how to love mankind!
The last six might be characterized as the "family oriented"
commandments; the laws of God that have to do with our interpersonal, familial
and communal relationships.
There is a cause for every effect! Today we experience the
enormous effects of murder and violence, crime, drug abuse, alcoholism,
wife beating, child abuse, homosexuality, sadism, abandonments, desertions,
divorce, illegitimacy, venereal disease, and an incalculable amount of human
woe and misery - all of which can be traced directly to the family!
"Homicide" has become "home-icide," for much of the murder of
which you hear in the news occurs in the home, among and between
family members, often between husbands and wives!
A few years ago, in the church organization with which I was then
affiliated, a young minister intercepted his wife in the corridor outside an
attorney's office where she was attempting to obtain a divorce, pulled out a
pistol and shot his wife, then turned the gun on himself and committed
suicide!
No class, no racial group, no segment of society is immune from the
massive blight of marital unhappiness, and the general decay and
disintegration of the home.
Consider the words of the Fifth Commandment carefully.
First, every human being of whatever age is commanded to
honor his parents! This command is not restricted to children. What
is "honor"? It is "high regard or great respect given, received or enjoyed.
One of the great curses upon our peoples today is that too many
parents do not strive to deserve or to retain the "honor"
appropriately due them from their children!
Make no mistake! Two wrongs do not make a right. Dishonorable
parents - parents who mistreat and abuse their children, who do
not properly provide for them, teach and educate them, give them the
love, attention and affection they need - are acting
dishonorably. Nevertheless, even though the parents may be
breaking God's laws toward their children, even disreputable conduct does
not give the children "license" or "permission" to dishonor their parents!
The word "honor" does not connote servile obedience! It does not carry
with it the requirement for children, especially when grown up to adulthood,
to blindly and docily be subject to the authority of their parents for
their entire adult life!
Almighty God explains this when He says, "Therefore shall a man
leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they
shall become one flesh."
Naturally, at the point of marriage Almighty God intended that a new
and separate family unit be established. The head of this new household
is no longer dependent upon his parents; no longer under their tutelage and
instruction; but is now the head of his own household, and his own
family.
Yet, even though he is not now required to render servile obedience
to every suggestion or desire of his parents, he is under the lifelong
obligation to show them honor!
Can one show one's parents honor even if they are in disagreement?
Consider this in the light of Jesus' prophecy concerning families.
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace,
but a sword.
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law.
"And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
"He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of
Me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me"
(Matthew 10:34-37).
But is Jesus advocating that such individuals show their parents
dishonor?
Absolutely not!
This scripture proves that a son and a father can be completely "at
variance," and even "against" each other for the sake of the work of Almighty
God and the gospel of Jesus Christ, yet the command to "honour
thy father and thy mother" still remains!
Jesus said such "variance" would reach into other, more distant family
members, such as "daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."
Later, Jesus said, "And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or
brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands,
for My name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit
everlasting life.
"But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first"
(Matthew 19:29, 30).
Interestingly enough, only a few verses earlier in the same
chapter, Jesus repeated the Fifth Commandment to the young man who
asked Him of the key to eternal life.
He said, ". . . If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
"He saith unto Him, which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, thou
shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false
witness,
"Honor thy father and thy mother: and, thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself" (Matthew 19:16-19).
Even though one may have to forsake brothers and sisters,
father or mother, or even one's own spouse, for the sake of the Kingdom
of God and the gospel, Jesus still says one must honor his
father and mother!
Thus, it becomes obvious "honor" is seen as distinctly separate from
servile obedience, agreement in all things, or "being in subjection"
for an entire lifetime.
The apostle Paul, writing of these family commandments, says,
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right.
"Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with
promise;
"That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the
earth" (Ephesians 6:1-3).
Notice Paul urges children to obey their parents "in the Lord."
An obvious exception would be when parents are not "in the Lord."
Many young people have had to face this bitter choice. Any number of young
people have been called into the precious knowledge of God's truth
while their parents were not.
Immediately, a major family conflict occurs. The parents believe the
son or daughter may have taken up with some "strange religion," and use every
parental influence possible to dissuade their youngster from studying
God's Word, coming to "strange," new conclusions which seem to unsettle and
disturb the parents.
Many cases of record show parents have attempted to order their
children to quit listening to God's truth, quit reading articles or booklets
published by God's work, and obey the parents by discontinuing all
contact with a church organization the parents feel is wrong.
In such cases, the admonition of the apostle Peter that we ought to
obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29) applies. Though the children may
(lamentably) find themselves in disagreement with their own parents,
and be forced into an adversary situation because of parental
insistence they abandon their newfound beliefs, the children are always
required to honor their parents!
Obviously, then, the requirement to obey the Fifth Commandment;
that each living human being must always HONOR his father and his mother -
honor them throughout his youth, through his adult life, and even honor
their memory after they are gone - does not mean that every parent
is due complete agreement, servile obedience or slavish
acquiescence from the child throughout that child's life, even up into middle
age!
Consider a few extreme cases: Many of the criminals in society are, of
course, parents! What if the murderers of whom you read have families? If a
man who is a parent kills, robs, cheats, lies or steals, is the child
to honor those acts? Of course not!
Yet, no matter what evil or illegal acts a human being may
commit, God's laws make no provision for the child to dishonor
the parent!
A parent may act in the most dishonorable manner imaginable, and it is
always the responsibility of the child to honor his father and
his mother! It becomes plain, then, that there are occasions when a person
must show that honor to a parent in spite of what the parent has
done or what the parent stands for, not necessarily because of parental
acts or deeds.
But do the parents have any responsibility toward their children?
Are parents required to be honorable?
Yes, they are! However, even if they do not measure up
to God's commands, even if they are acting dishonorably, the child is
still required to show them honor.
God says, "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but
bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4).
Naturally, God's laws are not suddenly "suspended" because one party
or the other breaks one of the commandments!
The Fifth Commandment is a multifaceted, multilateral commandment! It
embodies a broad command having to do with the relationship between parents
and children, therefore including a minimum of three parties! It
includes both parents and at least one child! Looking at the broad
principles of God's Word, the spirit of the Fifth Commandment and not
just the letter, we can see that this commandment, like all the Word of God,
is a "two-edged sword." It is not a command aimed only at children -
commanding children to be in slavish subjection to parents no matter what!
It is a command to all parties; commanding parents to be
honorable, and commanding children to honor their parents.
Two wrongs do not make a right. If parents are not honorable, their
children are nevertheless required to honor them!
If children refuse to honor their parents, parents have no license to
act dishonorably!
Again, however, what is "wrong" with this Fifth Commandment?
Why should any church organization assume this great law of
God is "done away"?
A family relationship is the very essence of the Kingdom of
God. God is a family of persons; the Father and the Son, a governing,
ruling family, or KINGDOM, into which we must be born!
This great Fifth Commandment carries with it the obvious analogy of
the requirement of all of mankind to love their heavenly Father, and to highly
honor Him!
Think what the world would be like if mankind obeyed
this commandment!
There would be no such thing as divorce. Honorable parents,
teaching their children God's ways and God's laws, and in return being
honored by their children, would mean tight-knit family groups,
God-defined family roles, a warm, loving, mutually supportive and firmly
grounded family and home environment in which children could
grow up, be nurtured and taught.
Since the family is the very building block of civilization,
the cornerstone of society, obedience to this commandment would
virtually eradicate a monstrous amount of evil! Divorce,
abandonments, desertions, family feuds and fights, parents murdering their
children, children murdering their parents, husbands and wives engaged in
stabbings and shoot-outs, juvenile delinquency and violence, teenage drug
abuse, venereal disease, illegitimacy, runaways, the incalculable,
multibillion-dollar waste and the tragedy of millions of shattered
lives as a direct result of breaking the Fifth Commandment would be
gone - erased - from the face of our nations!
The Fifth Commandment, if obeyed, would bring fabulous economic
blessings; a stable, God-fearing, virtually crime-free society, and
incalculable blessings from Almighty God!
The flagrant breaking of this commandment has virtually
destroyed family life among many peoples.
The Sixth
Commandment
"Thou shalt not kill." (Exodus 20:13)
By Garner Ted Armstrong
The Hebrew word used for "kill" is "rawtsach," which means "murder."
Actually, the command should read,
"Thou shalt do no murder"!
At the giving of the Decalogue on Mount Sinai, God was dealing with the
physical nation of Israel; carnal-minded, sinning human beings who were selected
for His chosen nation for a great purpose they were to fulfill. He
continually spoke of how they were stiff-necked and hard-hearted, rebellious,
and refusing to obey His laws!
Some of the tasks God set before Israel were most unpleasant!
Because of the bloody sins of the degenerate races inhabiting the lands of
Palestine and its environs, God gave ancient Israel charge to utterly
exterminate various of the tribal groups inhabiting these countries, such as
the Hivites, Jebusites, Perizzites, the Philistines and others.
Why?
Because these degenerate, evil people were guilty of human sacrifice,
perversion of every kind, idolatry, and were the carriers of terrible
and dreaded scourges and diseases. Blindness, deafness, dumbness,
venereal disease, leprosy - every hideous disease imaginable - was rampant among
them as a result of their utter disregard for the simplest principles of
cleanliness, chastity or obedience to the laws of God.
Some have wondered whether there was not a contradiction between
the Sixth Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," and God's command to Israel
to utterly destroy these evil peoples.
No contradiction whatever!
In the United States of America, it is against the law to
murder: However, it is not against the law for young American men and
women to volunteer for service in one of the military organizations, to don a
military uniform and, if called upon, to kill the enemies of the nation.
Killing, when done by constituted authority as a result of an act
of Congress, is most definitely not "murder."
By the same token, God was not prohibiting the taking of human life
under certain circumstances.
As a part of the book of the law, Almighty God instituted death
by stoning as the penalty for breaking any one of the Ten
Commandments! Therefore, constituted authority of the nation could put to
death lawbreakers - and, while this was most certainly "killing," it was not
"murder"!
The meaning of the command is clear. It is a prohibition against the
taking of human life among the citizens of a physical, carnal nation, except by
constituted authority.
However, notice how Jesus Christ of Nazareth makes the "letter of the
law" obsolete, and defines the spiritual intent of the heart, making this
commandment of God infinitely more binding!
Jesus said, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou
shalt not kill [murder]; and whosoever shall kill [murder] shall be in danger of
the judgment;
"But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a
cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his
brother, raca [you vain, mindless person!] shall be in danger of the council:
but whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of Gehenna fire"
(Matthew 5:21,22).
On another occasion, speaking of the Pharisees' charge against the
disciples that they ate with "ceremonially defiled hands," Jesus explained it
was not the honest "peck of dirt" one may ingest in his lifetime which "defiles
the man," but the inward thoughts of the heart.
He said, "Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the
mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
"But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the
heart; and they defile the man.
"For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
"These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with
unwashen hands defileth not a man" (Matthew 15:17-20).
Notice how many of the Ten Commandments Jesus listed!
Yet, Jesus is explaining that the sin is committed when the
thought forms in the mind, long before the actual deed!
Out of hatred toward a fellow human being can proceed the final
act of murder!
However, both the hatred of the human heart and the
terrible deed of murder break the commandment of God.
Today, murder - that ultimate, irreversible and horrifying
crime of all crimes - is being committed at record-breaking, imagination-defying
rates.
There are more murders in many big American cities in one year, for
example, than there are in all of the United Kingdom and Scandinavia put
together.
Since 1974 any male child born in the United States faces a greater
likelihood of dying as the victim of a gunshot wound than did the average
soldier in uniform during World War II!
The statistics on murder and attempted murder are simply mind-boggling!
And, as mentioned previously, it is doubly horrifying to see that
much of the bloody toll of murder in our nations occurs within the
family!
Horrifying, unbelievable examples are cited to you in
your newspapers and over television news every single day!
God's indictments against our sin-sick, rebellious, kill-crazy world are
a scathing, blisteringly accurate portrayal of life exactly as it is being lived
in the '80s!
God says, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times
shall come.
"For men shall be lovers of their ownselves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural
affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of
those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God; having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof, from
such turn away"! (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Those "perilous times" are here, now!
Violence is part and parcel of our daily way of life.
Millions of Americans live in constant fear of crime!
Multimillion-dollar new businesses have sprung up providing people with a vast
array of home and self-protection devices. Decorative iron grillwork, blazing
outdoor lights, peepholes, special door locks, computerized light systems to
turn lights on and off while a person is away on vacation, sirens, tear gas,
cans of mace, handguns - the list is seemingly endless.
Thousands of home and apartment complexes have sprung up featuring armed
guards at lighted security gates, and even moats, where residents can
live in retirement communities with a somewhat greater feeling of security. All
of this shows what perilous times these are.
Surveys have proven our peoples have a seemingly insatiable desire to
fantasize about murder. Can any TV series, motion picture or novel
be truly "successful" in sales unless it includes plenty of sex and violent,
grisly, blood-spattered murder?
The first toy millions of Americans provide their children is a
toy gun. When I was a boy, the favorite neighborhood game was "cowboys
and Indians." Then we whittled our own little toy guns out of soft pine or fir,
and galloped about the neighborhood on our hobby horses, claiming to be one of
our cowboy favorites we saw in the movies.
Today, however, children may be equipped with camouflage uniforms,
realistic-looking helmets and other military paraphernalia, and plastic
submachine guns and rifles which appear so realistic some of them have been
successfully used by bank robbers in the conduct of a crime!
Not only is traffic in real weapons at an all-time high, millions
of American children continue to be brought up with the notion that the ultimate
solution to one's problems is to simply "blow them away" in a hail of gunfire!
Whole books could be written about this tidal wave of crime and
violence, and the direct cause and effect relationship between violence
on television, in the motion pictures and other forms of entertainment, and real
violence on the streets!
Perhaps one of the sickest commentaries on this whole scene was the
account of an elderly lady in Las Vegas, Nevada, who sat inside her house while
she heard screams and the terrible roar of gunfire just outside her door.
Later, when investigating officers knocked on the door to ask if she had
witnessed the brutal gangland-type slaying which took place at her curb side,
they were amazed to hear her say she had not gone to the window to look out
because her favorite television show was on and she didn't want to miss it. The
show? Gunsmoke!
In describing the time of "great tribulation" which is even now
developing among nations, Jesus said, "Then shall they deliver you up to be
afflicted, and shall kill you:
and you shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake.
"And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and
shall hate one another"! (Matthew 24:9, 10).
In direct and flagrant defiance of Jesus Christ and His powerful
Sermon on the Mount, countless numbers of professing, churchgoing "Christians"
possess hatred in their hearts toward others!
The pitiful spectacle of Northern Ireland is a brutal, bloody case in
point. Here, the professing "Christian" religions of Catholicism and
Protestantism battle it out with arson, riotous demonstrations, screams of
profanity and blasphemy, guns, knives and bombs.
The heartrending spectacle of dazed and bleeding survivors groping their
way out of pubs and shops and the mangled, torn and blood-spattered bodies lying
amidst the twisted rubble and broken glass are grotesque testimony to the
unbridled ferocity with which so-called "Christians" can HATE!
Jesus knew no one could hate quite like a self-righteous,
posturing Pharisee.
Read His scathing indictment of their self-righteous religion in Matthew
23! He called them murderers (verses 34, 35) and showed that their true
attitude of heart made them hypocrites!
The apostle John was the closest of the disciples to Jesus. He
was called that disciple "whom Jesus loved."
John is shown as the one closest to Jesus Christ during the
famous last supper, and it was for John to give us some of the greatest biblical
instruction about love.
The theme of his letters (particularly 1 John) is love.
Notice: "For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that
we should love one another.
"Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother.
And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's
righteous" (1 John 3:11, 12).
John shows the motive for the world's first murder was
resentment ,jealousy and hatred. Cain actually hated himself,
just as most murderers do! Yet, because of his impossible guilt
feelings in the light of the righteousness of his own brother, Cain rose up and
killed his brother to rid himself of the constant reminder of
Cain's own evil.
Notice! "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we
love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
"Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no
murderer hath eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:14, 15).
Is the command against murder "done away"?
Obviously not!
Every government on the earth, including primitive and savage tribes of
New Guinea, the "outback" of Australia, or the darkest parts of Africa,
acknowledge that murder, within the community, is a sin!
Not only is the letter of the law alive and active today, but the
far more binding spiritual application of the command against killing is
binding!
Believe it or not, if you hate any other human being in your
heart, you are a murderer!
Shockingly, the label "murderer" applies to many
Christ-professing so-called "Christian" people!
I have said for years no one quite knows how to hate like "religious"
people!
This is not an indictment of all "religious" people, but the
bloodstained history of major church organizations, the hideous spectacle of Jim
Jones and his blind followers in Guyana, and the strife, bickering, politics,
infighting, rancor, vituperation, vilifications, name-calling, blame placing,
fighting, arguing of "religious" groups here and there throughout society are
vivid testimony to the alacrity with which many so-called "Christians"
BREAK the Sixth Commandment!
And what would the world be like if even one nation KEPT this
commandment?
Almost unimaginable peace would settle over such a nation!
If there were no such thing as hatred, there would only be
love!
In any society where people genuinely loved one another, there
simply could BE no crime!
Workers could not make unsafe machinery, there could be no divorce, no
wife beating, no desertions, abandonments, child abuse, no burglary, arson,
robbery or murder!
Remember, the Sixth Commandment is a thundering command from God against
the emotion of hatred toward any other human being!
What a marvelous, utopian world it would be if hatred
were eradicated! What if everyone loved everyone?
Eventually, in the Kingdom of God, they will!
The
Seventh Commandment
"Thou shalt not commit adultery." (Exodus 20:14)
By Garner Ted Armstrong
Today, divorce outpaces marriage in many large cities! When I first
began preaching on this subject over 27 years ago, I was saying, "Divorce
threatens to break up every third American home!"
In spite of constant preaching on the part of many church
organizations, the tidal wave of desertions, abandonments, broken homes and
divorce has surged ever upward until there are more divorce decrees issued in
some big cities than marriage licenses!
Is there any subject more talked of, written about, portrayed in
television and the motion pictures than sex?
One may browse through any bookstore and see literally dozens of
novels, documentaries, sensational revelations and other "sex-ploitation"-type
books.
Hollywood personalities are unveiled as voyeurs and homosexuals, and the
lurid details of their incredible number of sexual escapades are eagerly gobbled
up by the readers of prurient filth by the millions!
Autobiographies sell like proverbial "hotcakes" as millions read
of the dozens of trysts between this or that Hollywood actor or actress, who, it
seemed, was in bed with most of the population of the town, with the conceivable
exception of the mayor and chief of police!
And what of the movies? Is there any motion picture produced
today which does not portray fornication, lesbianism, homosexuality,
transvestitism, voyeurism, sadism and every conceivable form of sex-related
crime and violence?
As in the case of every other one of the Ten Commandments, Jesus Christ
of Nazareth showed the command against adultery reaches out to embrace every
aspect of human sexuality - that it is a command which may be broken in the
human heart, and not, alone, by the deed.
"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not
commit adultery:
"But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust
after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart"
(Matthew 5:27, 28).
Even this command is the subject of ribaldry, buffoonery and
jesting. A recent country-and-western song, for example, features the usual
lonesome "cowboy" nasally intoning that he and his would-be lover are not
"really strangers" for he has already "loved her in his mind"!
The Seventh Commandment is a clear command against lust.
But lust - the blatant, unbridled, hedonistic and insatiable
desire for sensual gratification which is a perverted, self-centered,
incoming feeling - is one of the most commonly expressed of all human
appetites!
It is fair to say that practically all advertising is skillfully
designed to appeal to lust! Whether it is the shiny new car, diet pills
to give you a slimmer body, juicy, mouth-watering views of attractive foods,
beverages, holiday resorts or sensuous nightwear, the emphasis is always on
sexuality and lust!
It is proverbial that seminudity is used to sell monkey wrenches!
Just what the sexy, sensuous girl scantily clad in a filmy negligee,
slithering over the windshield and hood of the imported sports model has to do
with the engineering, comfort, safety, mileage or durability of the automobile
is obscure.
However, advertisers are not in the business of selling products;
they are in the business of selling lust FOR the product!
As was mentioned earlier, all of the Ten Commandments "overlap."
Thus, the command against adultery overlaps directly with the final
commandment, which says, in part, "Thou shalt not covet . . . thy neighbor's
wife." Both of these overlap with the command against idolatry (having
another "god" in front of the true God), for the apostle Paul said,
"Covetousness, which is idolatry"! (Colossians 3:5).
Human nature is a collection of vanity, jealousy, lust and
greed!
The baser human appetites are common to human sensuality.
We are sensual, physical, carnal, flesh-and-blood human creatures who,
apart from the knowledge and truth of God, would be restrained in
our desire for self-gratification only by the shifting and changing mores
and "rules" of a godless, lawless, nihilistic society.
Actually, the vast majority in our nations today are living in precisely
that fashion! Their sexual codes are dictated only by "what is
happening," by what "everybody else is doing" and by the catch phrase "If it
feels good, do it!"
But the command against adultery was God's law to preserve
marriage!
Almighty God chose marriage as a microcosm of the Kingdom of
God!
When God says the partners in marriage "shall become one flesh,"
He refers directly to sexual intercourse in marriage.
Almighty God designed them "male and female," and then
established lows for the sanctity and protection of that vital and
foundational unit. To commit acts which destroy this basic building block
of any society - which rend and tear at the very fabric of marriage - is
to commit acts and deeds which are tearing down society itself!
Since World War II, moral standards have changed dramatically in
the United States.
There are many causes for the morals toboggan slide of our
societies; socio-economic pressures, the "future shock" syndrome, the subtle and
insistent voice of entertainment, the liberalizing of religion and social
standards, drug abuse - all these and many other causes could be listed
for the incredible effects with which we presently must live.
Look at our nations from God's perspective.
Rampant homosexuality and "gay rights" activists have burst upon the
scene with torchlight marches, demonstrations, rallies and proven political
clout.
In many big cities the so-called "closet queens" wield real political
power.
How like ancient Sodom and Gomorrah, which Almighty God destroyed
by fire and brimstone from heaven!
Make no mistake! The Seventh Commandment is a very broad command
applying to any form of sexual sins, whether in or out of marriage. Of
homosexuality, God says, "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through
the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
"Who changed [exchanged] the truth of God into [for] a lie, and
worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed
forever. Amen.
"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections:
For even their women did change the natural use into that which is
against nature:
"And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned
in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly,
and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God
gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not
convenient;
"Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity;
whisperers,
"Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of
evil things, disobedient to parents,
"Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection,
implacable, unmerciful,
"Who knowing the judgment of God [ordinance, or laws of God], that they
which commit such things ARE WORTHY OF DEATH, not only do
the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."!
Notice! Here is a vast list of human sins, including many
direct and flagrant violations of the Ten Commandments! However, notice
such things as envy, deceit, "whispering," and being implacable and
unmerciful are placed in the same categories!
The penalty for these things? Death!
Perversion, homosexuality and deviate sexual practices are soundly
condemned of God in the Bible! No amount of political activism, gay
rights demonstrations, political power, legislation, or a never-ending stream of
thousands of books sanctioned by the courts of our land is ever going to
change the divine decree of God!
Consider our society the way it really is:
1. Every sixth American male has homosexual tendencies.
2. Approximately 30 percent of all men will experience sexual impotency
at some time; the causes are manifold, but only a tiny percent is truly
physical.
3. Only a small percentage of marriages are truly "happy," and yet even
these will experience some sexual dysfunction now and then.
4. Sexual experimentation reaches into the early elementary grades, and
at least 20 percent of those barely reaching teenage have sexual experience.
5. About half of all those in the upper years of high school are
actively committing fornication and other sex acts.
6. Ten percent of all teenage girls between the ages of
15 and 19 become pregnant, and over half of all teenage marriages are
the result of premarital pregnancies.
7. About eight out of 10 of these hasty marriages break up within
only a few years, and of all teenage marriages about half are torn
apart by divorce within five years.
8. The unwanted children from these illicit situations are likely to end
up as antisocial, hostile, suffering every conceivable physical, mental and
social disorder. Often they are physically abused by young, untrained and
uncaring parents.
9. Tremendous numbers of children are sexually abused, either by
a relative, by parents themselves or friends of the family.
10. Venereal disease is second only behind communicable colds and flus
among teenagers! New, virulent strains of VD similar to "shingles," and called a
form of "herpes," are now become epidemic among youths. And it is said to
be completely incurable!
Yet, only small percentages of those with VD among teenagers have
real comprehension of the disease.
All of the foregoing represents a monumental attack against the
institution of marriage!
The Seventh Commandment is the "marriage protecting" commandment.
If it were obeyed, in the spiritual application as it applies to
all sexual promiscuity, our nations would be rid of an incalculable
amount of suffering, disease and death!
Again, what's "wrong" with this commandment?
True, it flies in the face of human sensual appetites. True, it is
largely ignored and rejected by society in general.
However, Jesus Christ magnified the Seventh Commandment, making
it far more binding by saying that the thought of adultery is sin!
Ponder the question: "What would our Western civilizations be like if
everyone kept this Seventh Commandment?"
First, no divorce! No desertions, runaways or abandonments. No wife
abuse. Families would be held together as tight-knit social units, the very
building blocks of civilization.
With such solid family units, all of society would greatly
benefit! Productivity, physical and mental health, vibrant economies, an absence
of sickness, disease and death; the list would go on and on.
The great blessings which would come upon any nation keeping
even one of the Ten Commandments of God are incalculable.
Almighty God intends that marriages be lifted to a "God-plane" level!
The apostle Paul had much to say about the state of marriage, showing it was
analogous to the relationship between Christ and the church! (Ephesians
5:21-33).
Therefore, Almighty God called unfaithfulness toward Him on the
part of His nation Israel "adultery," or fornication!
Read Ezekiel 16! In this chapter you see the picture of a beautiful
young woman (Israel) who committed "whoredoms," which God uses as an analogy
to show how His people had depended upon political and military alliances,
instead of depending upon God. Read Ezekiel 23! Here are two sisters, "Aholah
and Aholibah," portrayed as Samaria and Jerusalem, meaning the northern
l0-tribed house of Israel and the southern House of Judah.
God says, "And Aholah played the harlot when she was Mine; and
she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours . . ." (Ezekiel 23:5).
The entire chapter is given over to God's judgments on the sins
of these two nations, which are portrayed as young wives who left their
legitimate husband and sold themselves to their "lovers."
God said, "Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will
they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?
"Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the
harlot; so they went in unto Aholah and Aholibah, the lewd women.
"And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of
adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are
adulteresses, and blood is in their hands . . ." (Ezekiel 23:43-45).
God had said, "I became an husband unto them," showing that the
covenant God made with Israelis analogous to a marriage.
It is obvious the Seventh Commandment is strongly supported
throughout Scripture! Obviously, it is not "done away." Again, "what is
wrong" with the Seventh Commandment? Absolutely nothing! It is given
for the good of all mankind - from a loving God!
It is for the preservation of marriage; for the good of all
mankind, and for the sanctity and protection of the family unit.
It is actively binding upon mankind today!
The Eighth
Commandment
"Thou shalt not steal." (Exodus 20:15)
By Garner Ted Armstrong
Thievery, cheating, stealing, burglary, robbery, purse
snatchings, muggings - all are commonplace in our increasingly
violence-prone society!
Most stealing comes from lust.
Consider your own home environment. What about that bulging wad of keys
you carry in your pocket or purse? What about the locks you must keep on
your home, sheds and garages, your automobile, bicycles, motorcycles and
practically everything else?
When you go to the neighborhood supermarket, you may be unaware of the
little television cameras slowly rotating throughout the store, the rounded
mirrors giving the clerk a bird's-eye view of all the aisles and corners, and
other antishoplifting devices. They are there because shoplifting -
meaning the breaking of the Eighth Commandment, which brings the death
penalty - is engaged in like a "sport" by millions today!
Losses by supermarkets and big department stores soar up into the
hundreds of millions, and the total loss in the United States through theft
alone soars into the billions of dollars each year!
The greatest season during which shoplifting causes enormous
losses to retailers is the greatest "Christian" holiday of the year,
Christmastime!
During the season of "the spirit of giving," it seems hundreds of
thousands of shoppers, and tens of thousands of clerks, are more interested in
the spirit of getting! Getting illegally, by stealing!
Police statistics on the amount of "petty theft," pilferage and
shoplifting are simply staggering.
Look at the various categories of crime, and see how the Eighth
Commandment is broken so flagrantly.
Automobile theft ranks as one of the largest crimes in our
society. Crime rings have been revealed wherein professional crooks steal
automobiles, drive them to another state where they are repainted, serial
numbers changed or altered, new license plates installed, and then the cars are
resold.
Theft of aircraft, boats, motorcycles, trailers, practically
anything that isn't anchored down is enormous.
And why this avalanche of stealing?
It is traceable to unbridled human lust, a desire to have
what a person has not earned, not worked for, not produced and cannot (or
will not) pay for!
Even in corporate business, executives at the management level have
admitted in surveys that more than 90 percent of them got where they were
"dishonestly."
Stealing is an ugly sin. Reaching out one's hand to take
something which does not belong to that person is an embarrassing, shocking,
ugly deed!
Have you ever stolen? Have you ever had something stolen from
you? Probably, if you are completely honest, the answer is yes in
both cases!
What teenager did not, at one time or another, try to "swipe some
marbles" from the five-and-dime? How many have never stolen a hubcap? How many
have never chortled at their escapades in the neighbor's watermelon patch,
laughed at their expertise in eluding the "cops" after they siphoned someone's
gas, or gleefully recounted how the clerk gave them more change than they
deserved?
Thieving takes many forms. How many employees freely and cheerfully use
equipment, machinery, gasoline, paper clips, envelopes, stationery, stamps or
other materials on their job sites?
How many people attempt to "cut corners" on their federal income tax
returns, cheerfully (because they feel they "have it coming") stealing
from Uncle Sam?
There are millions of Americans who would not think of sitting
down with a known burglar for dinner. Yet, those same millions will cheerfully
recount how they got the better of their neighbor in a deal, sold a practically
worthless item for great price as if it were a priceless antique, cheated on
their income tax or managed to get the better of someone in a financial deal.
Let's face it - we all know we are living in a civilization where
practically anyone including our closest friends and even our own
children may be given to stealing!
But reaching out the hand to take that which you have not earned
and does not belong to you is a capital SIN, punishable by death!
God inspired Paul to say, "Let him that stole steal no more: but
rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good,
that he may have to give to him that needeth"!
Stealing, like any other sin, can he repented of! Just as Jesus
said to the woman caught in the very act of adultery, "Go and sin no more," so
the apostle Paul instructs, "Steal no more"!
In our society of an endless array of glittering gadgets, devices,
manufactured commodities, toys and attractive products, it is easy for people to
begin to lust after hundreds of items they don't need and can't afford.
Is there a day in our lives when the constant flow of all these goods
around us - the shop windows filled with beautiful things, the TV commercials
blaring at us that we should "save" by spending our money for this or
that - does not, subtly, tug at the back of your mind and cause you to say, "1
wish I had that"?
One of the best portrayals of this I have ever seen was in an issue of
Mad magazine one of my sons showed me. There were several pages of
illustrations which showed a typical American family of four, with father,
mother, son and daughter standing before the endless array of manufactured
goods, screaming at the top of their lungs, "I WANT!"
Typical of this attitude is what you see on some of the television game
shows.
As the voice of the off-camera announcer soars up, excitedly talking of
the prizes to be won on this particular game show, the drapes are whisked back
and there, shining in its new coat of paint, is the latest imported sports model
automobile! When the announcer says, at the top of his lungs. the contestant has
won this "NEW CAR!" the person who has won the prize almost faints with
excitement! People jump up and down, clap their hands in glee, utter
incomprehensible monosyllabic sounds, scream, cry, whirl about, clap their hands
over their faces, roll their eyes wildly, gasp in amazement and in other ways
act just about like Fido on a leash confronted with a two-pound New York steak
after a three-day fast!
This example of the unbridled lust for the possession of
things is shown, every day, on various of the TV game shows.
Remember, human nature is vanity, jealousy, lust and greed!
GREED, the insatiable desire for more of everything, is a
driving force in the hearts and minds of many individuals.
It is found in every stratum of society.
The "Abscam" revelations of congressmen taking kickbacks certainly prove
that!
Unfortunately, this flagrant double standard practiced by public
officials leads to the practice of excusing crime on the part of the
layman.
The average person seems convinced no one is honest, that
everyone is "on the take." And millions justify themselves in dishonest acts
by saying they are only doing what everyone else is doing.
Many cynics say the only difference between crooks and "honest" people
is that the crooks were the ones who got caught.
While two wrongs do not make a right and one evil deed does not justify
or excuse another, one can understand how powerful an influence it is - and when
vaunted public officials are found taking kickbacks, embezzling and lying - for
average citizens to justify their own illegal behavior, saying, "Even members of
Congress do it!"
A comment on the crookedness of society is found in the example of the
two burglars who, upon returning to their car with their stolen TV set,
discovered "some dirty crook" had stolen their tires!
The breaking of the commandment against stealing is one of the most
common of all crimes - indulged in by millions. But it is not merely a
"crime" against neighbor or society; it is sin, and the penalty is
death!
What is "wrong" with a law commanding mankind not to steal?
Obviously nothing. Is it "done away"? Obviously not. The Ten Commandments are in
living force and effect today.
Again, let your mind imagine what the world would be like if everyone
were perfectly honest. What if there were no locks, keys, security
devices, armed guards?
Why, the nations could do away with prisons and jails, reform schools
and detention homes; all police and law enforcement agencies could be disbanded.
Countless billions of dollars in lost labor, goods and services could be
saved. Society would be a happy, safe place to live!
What a righteous command! "Thou shalt not steal!"
The Ninth
Commandment
"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."
(Exodus 20:16)
By Garner Ted Armstrong
This is a broad, all-encompassing commandment against the capital sin
of lying! The commandment could well read, ""Thou shalt not carry
false tales, minimize, distort, exaggerate or speak anything but the truth."
Lying is part and parcel of our modern civilization. In many
societies, lying is considered an art, and millions engage in it
with skillful alacrity.
Jesus addressed the principle covered by this commandment in the Sermon
on the Mount.
He said, "Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old
time, thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine
oaths:
"But I say unto you, swear not at all: neither by heaven; for it is
God's throne:
"Nor by the earth; for it is His footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it
is the city of the great king.
"Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one
hair white or black.
"But let your communication be, yea, yea; nay, nay: for whatsoever is
more than these cometh of the evil one [margin]" (Matthew 5:33-37).
Actually, this command overlaps two of the Ten Commandments. It
refers more directly to "taking the name of the Lord thy God in vain" (swearing
by heaven, or by God's throne) than it does in carrying false tales or bearing
false witness against one's neighbor, but Jesus makes it clear that anything
other than the simple truth - a straightforward and simple "yes" or "no" in
response to an honest question - comes "from the evil one," from Satan the
devil!
Is there any biblical principle any more firmly emphasized,
repetitiously urged, sternly taught or constantly upheld than the principle of
truth?
Jesus said, "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). Part of the very
character of the Eternal God Almighty is "faithfulness and truth."
See Numbers 23:19; Joshua 21:45; 1Kings 8:56; Psalm 19:9, 105:8; Matthew 24:35;
and especially Hebrews 6:18!
God's Word says it is impossible for God to lie! When God gave
His righteous and holy laws to ancient Israel, He was establishing the
fundamental guidelines for the conduct of a godly, wholesome, healthy and happy
society.
If Israel would obey even the physical letter of those
righteous and holy laws, God's nation would receive untold and unimaginable
blessings!
God's law was the veritable charter of the nation! From its broad
principles every conceivable aspect of human behavior, societal relations and
interpersonal exchanges could be lawfully and peacefully regulated.
In many ways, the Ninth Commandment is a linchpin to many of the
other commandments. For example, within the community of Israel, if one had
broken the command against stealing, against murder, against adultery or against
idolatry, the punishment was death by stoning!
Almighty God caused Moses to set a group of "judges" in place to hear
the grievances of the people, and to render judgment.
God said, "Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates,
which the Eternal thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall
judge the people with just judgment.
"Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither
take a gift [bribe]: for a gift [bribe] doth blind the eyes of the wise, and
pervert the words [cause] of the righteous.
"That which is altogether just [honest] shalt thou follow,
that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the Eternal thy God giveth
thee" (Deuteronomy 16:18, 19).
When individuals within the community observed a crime, meaning
the breaking of one of the points of the Ten Commandments or one of the written
or oral "judgments" (having to do with everything from inheritances, landmarks,
dangerous cattle or safety measures around a man's property), the only way the
judges could determine the truth was by questioning witnesses.
Read Deuteronomy 17!
God showed that, in the case of the discovery of idolatry, "then shalt
thou bring forth that man or that woman, which has committed that wicked thing,
unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shall stone them with stones,
till they die.
"At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall
he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of
one witness he shall not be put to death.
"The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to
death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil
away from among you" (Deuteronomy 17:5-7).
Being a witness, even by accident, to a capital sin meant the individual
who had witnessed such acts would not only be the key "material witness"
causing the punishment of death for the individual who had so sinned, but
the witness had to be the first to cast the stones that would kill
the person judged as guilty.
Thus, if two or three conspired to deliberately become
"false witnesses" to illegally put a neighbor to death, they would not only be
breaking the commandment against "false witness," but would be forced
through the legal system under Moses to directly commit the act of
murder!
Probably, God insisted the witnesses themselves throw the first
stones as a deterrent to false witnessing! It might have been one
thing to lie about a neighbor, but quite another thing to pick up a rock
and kill him.
Because of the enormity of responsibility upon a witness, God
placed the sin of deliberately lying on a par with murder, or any other
capital crime!
Remember, a human being is only as good as his word. If a man's
word is no good, the man is no good! The Proverbs are laden
with dozens of examples of tattling, gossip, exaggeration, lies, whisperings,
slander, falsehood, false witnessing and sins involving word of mouth.
Some examples: "A tale bearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a
faithful spirit concealeth the matter" (Proverbs 11:13).
"The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked
are deceit.
"The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood:
but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them" (Proverbs 12:5, 6).
"He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness:
but a false witness deceit.
"There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword:
but the tongue of the wise is health.
"The lip of truth shall be established forever: but a lying tongue is
but for a moment . . . Lying lips are an abomination to the Eternal: hut they
that deal truly are His delight" (Proverbs 12:17-22).
"A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies"
(Proverbs 14:5).
"A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies"
(Proverbs 14:25).
"A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a
naughty tongue" (Proverbs 17:4).
"The words of a tale bearer are as wounds, and they go down into the
innermost parts of the body" (Proverbs 18:8).
"A false witness shall perish: but the man that heareth speaketh
constantly" (Proverbs 21:28).
This is but a sampling of the many admonitions in the Word of God
concerning truthfulness.
The sin of hypocrisy is breaking the broad principle of the Ninth
Commandment.
Jesus continually took issue with the self-righteous Pharisees, urging
His disciples to "beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is
hypocrisy"! (Luke 12:1).
When Jesus answered the outraged Jews who sought to kill Him, He said,
"Why do you not understand My speech? Even because ye cannot hear My word.
"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, be speaketh of his own: for he
is a liar, and the father of it.
"And because I tell you the truth, ye believe Me not.
"Which of you convinceth Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye
not believe Me?" (John 8:34-35).
Jesus Christ was truth personified! On trial for His life before
Pilate, Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world:
if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I
should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence."
"Pilate therefore said unto Him, art thou a king then? Jesus answered,
thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I
unto the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that
is of the truth heareth My voice.
"Pilate said unto Him, what is truth?" (John 18:36-38). Notice!
Pilate did not ask, "What is the truth?" meaning what was the truth
about the current situation. His helpless utterance was the direct result of
the pagan teachings received at the feet of his pagan Roman teachers.
The great philosophers of the time, whose works are still the vaunted
building blocks of much of this world's "education" (Socrates, Plato,
Epictetus, etc.), had led this exalted Roman officer to the futile question,
"What is truth?"
Look at this world of lies.
History is largely lies. History is grossly different from
country to country, and, it is admitted among educators, history is "largely
interpretive." That is, historians tend to interpret various aspects of
history according to their own national self-interest.
Thus, the history books of Japan, Germany, England and the United States
are graphically different when it comes to World War II!
You live in a world of lies. Most advertising is outright lying,
gross exaggeration, minimization, distortion, half-truths, insinuations and
falsehoods.
How much of what you feel you "know" - that sum total of
"knowledge" that has come into your mind since you were born - is
really truth?
Many are shocked to look into the inspired Word of God and find
they have a good deal of unlearning ahead of them. How surprised
are thousands to find they have been lied to by religious teachers
throughout their lives!
How utterly confounded many are when they discover the Bible teaches
almost the exact opposite of what they had been told in their earlier
religious experience!
Is there any profession wherein lies can be more abundantly found
than that of the clergy?
Why should there be so many religions, and more than 400
bickering, arguing, disagreeing Protestant churches, denominations and sects?
Look at government - and you are seeing classic examples of glossing
over the facts, distorting the truth, telling only part of the story, or just
outright lying.
Take a look at the world around you, if you can, from God's
perspective!
Advertising is mostly lies. Entertainment is mostly lies. Much of
literature is filled with lies. A lot of your education consisted of lies. Is it
any wonder millions of people are practiced, skillful, accomplished, dedicated,
determined, self-willed liars?
You've heard the old expression "He/she would tell a lie when the truth
would do better"?
Believe it or not, there are those who are such habitual liars they
probably would not know the truth if it walked up to them and knocked them down!
One of the cleverest illustrations which serves to emphasize our society
of lies was found in the "Li'l Abner" comic strip some years ago. The creator of
the strip, Al Capp, invented the "bald iggle" (bald eagle).
This baleful, bald-domed little creature would suddenly appear before
people. fixing them with his doleful eyes, and the effect of his stare was to
cause them to immediately tell the truth!
In one hilarious scene after another Al Capp's imaginative pen
skillfully performed cutting surgery into the heart of much of the pretense that
makes up society.
A cluster of women would be animatedly discussing the upcoming cocktail
party when the "bald iggle" would suddenly appear among them. Instantly, each
one began saying what she really thought of the other's dress, hair
style, makeup or general character. As you might imagine, after the first few
salvos what had been a pleasant tea party degenerated into a squalling,
hair-pulling, knock-down-drag-out cat fight!
Pompous businessmen, clapping one another on the back and speaking lying
inanities, would suddenly be confronted with the "bald iggle," only to begin
speaking the truth, what they really felt about each other, or
their discussion, and a fist fight would ensue!
Al Capp's point was that the truth is rarely spoken in our lying
society; and, further, that when it is, it is almost certainly sure to
cause trouble!
Read the third chapter of James! This resounding chapter of God's Word
is an enormous indictment against the sin-sick human tongue.
It shows how the very course of nature is "set on fire" by the lying
,words of a foul, false, sinful mouth!
Study that third chapter of James! It is New Testament
teaching about how truthful every human being ought to be!
The apostle Paul said, "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every
man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another . . .
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is
good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers . . .
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil
speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Ephesians 4:25-32).
In one of the most powerful indictments in all the Bible, the apostle
John was inspired to write, in the very last chapter of the Bible, "For without
[outside the Kingdom of God, as depicted by the holy city] are dogs, and
sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolators, and whosoever
loveth and maketh a lie"! (Revelation 22:15).
Many people are habitual liars! Embellishing stories,
exaggerations, minimizations, colorful additions which didn't really take
place, are the "salt and pepper" that flavor their conversation! Many
people are such habitual liars they do so unconsciously. Lying -
"stretching the truth," or telling what people refer to as "little white lies" -
is such a part of their very character they are oblivious to the
fact they are doing it!
However, they are committing sin, and a sin which is punishable
by death unless they repent of breaking this commandment of God!
Again, what's "wrong" with the Ninth Commandment?
Obviously, nothing! There is everything right with each
man "speaking the truth with his neighbor."
Can your mind envision what a world it would be if only the
truth were spoken by government, industry, business, the medical profession,
the military, among and between nations, races and most especially by
religion?
Obedience to this one command only would revolutionize all
of civilization as we know it!
While it is hard to imagine in our lying, distorted world, the time is
coming, probably in our lifetimes, when God establishes His Kingdom on
this earth, and when only the truth will be spoken!
The Tenth
Commandment
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy
neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his
ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's." (Exodus 20:17)
By Garner Ted Armstrong
Human nature is vanity, jealousy, lust and greed. Human nature
is egocentric, self-centered and solely concerned with pleasing the self.
As sensory human beings, we are creatures endowed with five senses. Each
one of those senses, whether sight, hearing, taste, smell or the ability to
feel, is completely physical.
It is only through the channels of those five senses that
knowledge enters our brain.
By inducting information into the brain through the senses, we
accumulate what we call "knowledge" and "experience."
However, all of this "knowledge" is carnal knowledge.
That is, it is knowledge which is obtained through human sensory
perceptions, and is utterly devoid of spiritual quality.
God says "the heart [the human mind] is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked [sick]; who can know it?
"I the Eternal search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man
according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings" (Jeremiah
17:9,10).
Most of us do not like to admit the real truth about human
nature!
Mankind tries to see "good" in human nature. Philosophers, sociologists
and clergymen speak of the "goodness" of humankind.
But the Word of God makes it very clear that, while man wants to
appear "good," and he wants to BE "good," he does not want to do good!
"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7).
What? What does this mean? Why does God say "neither indeed
can be"? This scripture tells us that man cannot be truly subject
to the laws and commandments of God on his own.
Human nature wants to "appear" right - wants to put the best foot
forward and act as if it is good; God's Word says it is evil,
"desperately wicked," and cannot be subject to the laws of God!
It is only through repentance (Acts 2:38) and the process of
conversion (Acts 3:19, Romans 12:1, 2) that one can truly become subject
to the laws of God.
The Tenth Commandment is the commandment against human nature, as
it were. Since one of the very attributes of human nature is coveting
- an incoming, ego-centric, self-seeking desire to have - the
Tenth Commandment strikes directly at the very heart of human
carnality!
Notice again how detailed Almighty God makes this command against
coveting.
He lists such things as our neighbors' homes, wives, servants (or
employees), cattle - or any other possessions!
God's Word makes it dear that "thy neighbor" is not restricted to the
individual living next door, or just across the street. "Thy neighbor" means any
other fellow human being on the face of the whole earth.
What are the motives which drive most human beings?
They are the motives of success, importance, money, fame and a desire to
have.
Coveting comes as naturally to human beings as breathing. The
profiteering, competitive motive of "keeping up with the Joneses," or "getting
ahead," is what drives humankind. No single word better describes our
sin-sick modern space-age world than the word "materialism." While the
disparity between "have" and "have-not" nations is wide and growing wider, it is
nevertheless true that, in our Western societies, millions of human beings have
never had it so good. Millions live amidst an outpouring of manufactured goods
and commodities such as has never been seen from creation until now.
The status symbols of success are beautiful homes, expensive clothing,
personal jewelry, exotic travel, expensive automobiles, exclusive club
membership, and the possession of things.
Millions exhaust themselves, often sacrificing peace of mind, successful
marriages, good physical health and a wholesome life on the altar of
covetousness; striving frantically to achieve the status they crave
in this world's society! That "status" is based largely on what other human
beings think. Craving the approbation and approval of people is one
of the most important motivating forces which drive men and women to "success."
Ego, vanity, a desperate desire to be "well thought of" is the real driving
force behind many a "successful" person. Oftentimes, such egocentric
drives are the direct result of deep-seated feelings of inferiority. Many
"successful" men have felt, in their heart of hearts. totally inadequate. deeply
inferior failures! Fear of ridicule, fear of failure, has been a
driving force which has catapulted any number to the "success" they
coveted.
The Tenth Commandment brings the laws of God full circle. for the Tenth
Commandment directly overlaps the first! Notice! "Mortify [put to death]
therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, WHICH IS IDOLATRY"!
(Colossians 3:5).
The all-encompassing lust for things, for material success, or
for fame, becomes a god! Anything which comes between you and the true
God is an idol. That idol can be beautiful homes, double ovens, sleek
automobiles, fine clothing, fabulous vacations arid exotic trips, or, in short,
anything of a material nature which demands your attention, absorbs your
interest and occupies your mind!
You live in a wholly materialistic society. The pursuit of materialistic
values is idolatry! Men have placed "things" above God!
Thus, it is not only petty cheats, crooks and thieves who lust longingly
for the possessions of their neighbors who break the Tenth Commandment, but
all of society which is continually breaking this law, for human nature
tends toward covetousness!
Is there anything "wrong" with this commandment? Is there anything
illegal, "ceremonial" or "Mosaic" about such a law? Jesus Christ magnified
this final commandment when He said, "Therefore I say unto you, Take no
thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for
your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body
than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not
much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his
stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field,
which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more
clothe you, 0 ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall
we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after
all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye
have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no
thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" (Matthew 6:25-34).
Notice Jesus says our first goal should be the Kingdom of God
and His righteousness and then all these "things" shall be added!
And what would the world be like if the Tenth Commandment were observed?
Without coveting, there could be no stealing. There would be no such
thing as adultery, for "coveting thy neighbor's wife" would necessarily
precede adultery. The entirety of society would be changed. The entire
economic structure of the world would be different. The profit motive,
self-seeking, struggling to "succeed," striving for advantage, trying to "get
ahead," would no longer be the all-consuming, driving force which fuels
"ambition" in millions of minds.
Rather, the avaricious cunning, swelling desire, lustful greed and
covetousness of the human heart would be replaced with an outgoing feeling of
concern for others; a desire to serve, give, share, help; an outgoing
motive of love!
Can We Earn Salvation?
Think about what you have read. The Ten Commandments were in full
force and effect long prior to Moses. They were written with the very
finger of God; the member of the God family who became Jesus Christ of
Nazareth (John 1; Hebrews 1), and they were most certainly not "nailed to
the cross."
Jesus said if you will enter into life "keep the commandments"!
(Matthew 19:17). The apostle Paul wrote, "Therefore the law is holy, and
the commandment holy, and just, and good"! (Romans 7:12). John wrote, "And
hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments"!
"He that saith, I know Him and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar,
and the truth is not him him" (1 John 2:3,4).
"And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His
commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" (1 John
3:22).
"And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in
him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He has given
us" (1 John 3:24).
"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and
keep His commandments.
"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments:
and His commandments are not grievous"! (1 John 5:2, 3).
From Genesis to Revelation, Almighty God enjoins His commandments
upon mankind (see Genesis 26:5, Revelation 22:14).
The end-time church - the remnant of God's own people still doing
the work of God right up until the time of the second coming of Jesus Christ -
are described, in the book of Revelation, as ". . . the remnant of her
seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ"! (Revelation 12:17).
In the very last chapter of the Bible, God says, "Blessed are they that
do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and
may enter in through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:14).
Remember, sin is the transgression of the law (the Ten
Commandments)! (1 John 3:4). All have sinned, meaning all,
including you and me, have broken the Ten Commandments!
When we repent of sin (Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19), we
are deeply broken up and sorry over having broken God's law!
With the heart, we render contrition and sorrow before God, and with the
mind, we determine never to sin (break the Ten Commandments) any
more!
Can keeping the Ten Commandments of God "earn" salvation?
No! A thousand times no! Keeping the Ten Commandments perfectly
(which you cannot do) for 100 lifetimes of 100 years each could never
"earn" salvation!
Salvation is the free, loving gift of God! It is because 'we
have sinned that Christ died!
"But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners [breakers of the Ten Commandments!] Christ died for us."
After we accept the blood of Jesus Christ on behalf of our sins
(infractions against God's Ten Commandments), we are "justified"!
Justification has to do with the removal of past guilt. It means we are
"made right" in God's sight; "brought back," "redeemed" from sin!
Notice! "Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through Him"! (Romans 5:8, 9).
The blood of Jesus Christ forgives our past transgressions! Now
we are not to sin any more. meaning we are no longer to break the Ten
Commandments!
"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of
His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life"!
(Romans 5:10).
The keeping of God's righteous, holy, sacred law is required of
all mankind. It is the starting place.
While we might experience the automatic blessings that come with
obedience, we can never, in any number of lifetimes of any number of
years, "earn" salvation. But God's free, loving grace; His forgiveness
for past sins, does not remove from us the obligation to quit sinning -
meaning quit breaking the Ten Commandments, and start keeping them!
Usually, churches of this world have no special quarrel with any
of the Ten Commandments except the fourth! They bridle in anger, argue,
write endless articles and books, preach endless sermons and struggle
frantically to find any excuse to keep from observing God's holy
Sabbath day!
Just as in the case of ancient Israel, the Sabbath day is God's great
TEST commandment! It is not all that "difficult" for most Christians to avoid
stealing, lying and bearing false witness, or bowing down before an idol. It
is very difficult for those having jobs (such as civil service jobs, or
working for federal agencies) which require them to work on "Saturday,"
which is God's Sabbath.
You have read the words of this booklet. You are now responsible
for what you have read. You have read the very words of God, from your
own Bible! You have seen proved, with your own eyes, that the Ten
Commandments of God are to be kept!
Are you - yes, You - now willing to keep them?
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