“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor”—Exodus 20.17
This commandment is a reminder that not everything we desire will be profitable for us to covet at every opportunity. Nevertheless, opportunities to covet do knock. We need to know what is good for us and what is not so good.
Splitting
The Commandment Into Two
This is definitely the tenth commandment of the Decalogue, but the Roman Catholics split this into two commandments to compensate for the merging of the first and second commandments into one. They are able to do this because the words “You shall not covet” are mentioned twice. What is obvious about this commandment is that “you shall not covet your neighbor’s house” comes first, suggesting that this commandment could simply be summed up as, “You shall not covet anything that is part of your neighbor’s household,” or, “You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Moreover, considering the wife, slaves, oxen, donkeys, or anything that belongs to one’s neighbor as separate from the “house,” which includes everything, seems odd. If the commandment mentioned “wife” separately before “house,” then it would be considered by all as a separate command; but it is not. If this commandment were truly meant to be two commandments, the Jews would also split it into two—but they have it as one.
There is no logical reason for this commandment to be divided into two separate commandments. The fact that “you shall not” is mentioned twice makes it easy to do so. However, even if there were an outbreak of social disobedience where men were taking each other’s wives, there would be no need to create a separate commandment stating, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,” as this is covered by the commandment against adultery. Although it is true that under the Mosaic Covenant, as emphasized in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter five, this commandment is altered so that coveting one’s neighbor’s wife comes first. This appears to have been done because of what may have happened during the sojourn in the wilderness. Nevertheless, even though this is the case, the Jews still have not split this commandment. They acknowledge the requirements of the Lord God, written by His own finger, in that this is the Tenth Commandment.
The only logical reason for this commandment being split into two must be that church authorities did not want people to learn the truth about God’s prohibition on kneeling before manmade works of art. Today, this commandment is still being split into two because church authorities want to hide the truth about their practices. The Roman Catholic Church encourages the practice of praying to those whom the artwork depicts, as in the case of saints or Mary, the mother of Jesus, who has been exalted beyond being merely the mother of Jesus of Nazareth to being the actual Mother of God and the Queen of Heaven. Effectively, this is the exaltation of mortal humanity above the One and Only Immortal Creator of life, the Lord God Almighty, in whom alone dwells immortality.
In some respects, this is akin to egotistical men trying to covet the glory of God by dictating and appointing who shall rule over whom in Heaven. Isaiah appears to mock the presumptions of a personage who seems to have attempted such a thing before his fall from Heaven (Isaiah 14:12-16).
Some
Woman Issues
Although this commandment addresses what predominantly seems to be a male issue, coveting is also a female issue. Some people take umbrage at the idea that a wife might belong to a man, as this suggests she is some form of chattel. In many places in the world, women are still treated as if they are chattel. However, we can take heart that this also means, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s husband.”
Polyandry (where a wife has more than one husband) is virtually unknown among humans. One of the reasons for this, from a psychological perspective, is that men are less inclined to invest in a child not thought to be their own. This is evidenced in the case of Onan and Er, recorded in the book of Genesis. Er impregnates Tamar, his wife, and then he is slain by God. Onan is told by his father Judah to take Tamar as his wife and raise Er’s child, but he is not interested in raising his brother’s child at all. Instead, he decides to ensure that the child is not his and is probably going to kill the baby when it is born (Genesis 38:6-9).
However, there is an exception to this aversion to raising another man’s child when two brothers marry the same woman at the same time. Polyandry has been known to occur in Tibet and Nepal, northern India, and among some African tribes. Since the brothers are kin, they are more inclined to take an interest in the offspring, and the chances that the male offspring will bear a family resemblance to the brothers’ side of the family are much greater, so the brothers would not know who fathered the child. However, this is not always the case, as is evident in the account of Onan and Er.
As for women not coveting other men and having affairs with them, about one in five children in the USA are estimated to be fathered by another man outside of marriage, which means that about twenty percent of married men with children are probably raising someone else’s child, each one believing the child to be his own offspring. Cuckoldry (where men unknowingly raise another man’s child in the belief that the child is their own) is not an American phenomenon. This occurs in all countries of the world today, even among those where more than one wife is the norm, and has been happening throughout history, though probably not as frequently as it does today.
Without conducting a study on the subject, I have come across a number of instances of cuckoldry. The latest instance brought to my attention was by a grandmother distressed about her grandchildren being cursed because they were handicapped in different ways. One of her daughters had three children. Evidently, none of the children has any of her son-in-law’s physical characteristics or any that belong to his family. One granddaughter was the spitting image of the daughter’s stepsister and is believed to have been fathered by the grandmother’s ex-husband, mainly because his features are evident. Another granddaughter had physical features that resembled her daughter’s own father’s brother (her uncle). Meanwhile, the grandson bears an uncanny likeness to the daughter’s stepbrother, the son of her mother. This daughter appears to have borne children to her mother’s son, her mother’s brother-in-law, and one of her mother’s ex-husbands, but the daughter’s husband believes they are his children.
Because cuckoldry appears to be on the increase, one wonders how much of this can be attributed to feminism being promoted in schools. Feminism is not to be confused with femininity. Femininity is where a woman expresses her own God-given uniqueness as a female and rejoices in childbearing and being a mother. Feminism, on the other hand, is a movement that promotes female domination. Cuckoldry could stem from women coveting a sense of power over men. This desire may originate from women who believe they suffer unfairly under a male-dominated world because they do not have the same rights as men. These women are aggrieved in their troubled hearts, not because they live in a world dominated by men, as they imagine, but because they do not want to admit their own unique femininity as a gift from God, which finds fulfillment in a marriage relationship where there is no abuse of rights or trust.
No man can experience the pleasure that a woman can have from bearing and giving birth to a child, then having the child suckle at her breast while nurturing and experiencing the bond of togetherness. God gave this privilege to women. Feminists, however, believe that they are denied rights that men have and covet something that is not God-ordained for women. This covetousness brings about all sorts of evil.
Dubbed the mother of modern feminism, Germaine Greer[i] might not think that she is evil, but her teachings and her life are seen as evil in the sight of God. They are an offense to the Creator, as are all who oppose God’s ways. She is a woman who regrets not being able to experience the thrill of femininity. She was even reported in one newspaper[ii] to be suffering from depression in the 1980s as a consequence of not having given birth to a child and not being in touch with her true biological self, thus unable to express her womanhood. In this, she is not alone.
Bibi Lynch, writing for The Guardian in the UK, laments that being a feminist has left her a deprived woman in her forties: “I will never be pregnant, never be protected by the father of my child, never be loved as the mother of his child, never love like you love, and never be loved as you’re loved. I will never mean as much to anyone as you do. Imagine that, mums. It is overwhelming to know that my legacy begins and ends with me. So no ‘family gathering’ photographs of me and mine with my siblings and theirs; no proudly watching my kid grow up; no natural place in life’s cycle. You, mums, have created the next generation.”[iii]
As for Germaine Greer, the author of The Female Eunuch (1970), the book that paved the way for what some say is modern feminism,[iv] a study of her life shows a woman who appears to be angry and craving celebrity status because of the choices she has made. She mixed with those who had nihilist and anarchist tendencies and lived for herself, only to wind up a woman in her sixties seeking attention in the media and striving for people to notice her. Like all mortals, her covetousness for position and power, outside of what God has purposed, has resulted in her life demonstrating the folly of her actions. There are many more women who believe they can be more male than men and compete with males—like the ex-tennis champion and lesbian Martina Navratilova. These women run the risk of caricature[v] rather than exaltation.
As noted earlier, the Bible has some very somber words to say about women: “For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control” (1 Timothy 2:13-15).
For women to try to usurp men and assume a male role in society is contrary to the order God has ordained. Coveting political aspirations and wanting to rule the roost is anathema to God’s order. The lost city of Atlantis was said to be ruled by women, and many people believed this to be a fable. However, excavations on the islands of Thera and Crete in the Mediterranean Sea have revealed that there was an ancient civilization that appears to have been ruled by women. This civilization was centered on Thera, a volcanic island that erupted around 1600 BC, not long before the Exodus of Israel from Egypt. The inhabitants and their culture were destroyed. In fact, this civilization was so advanced that it has been postulated that if the culture and knowledge had been left intact, the technology available at the beginning of the twenty-first century would have been in use when Jesus of Nazareth was born. It has taken another two thousand years to catch up, coincidentally around the time of the Second Advent of Jesus, rather than the First Advent. Just as the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah tried to usurp God’s order, there is good reason to believe that this civilization was destroyed because the people had strayed too far from the purpose of God.
The
Boundaries Of Habitation Have Been Set
God has set the boundaries of humankind’s habitation, and to covet something outside of this is to challenge God. Luke, the physician, has recorded the divinely inspired words of the Apostle Paul during his first visit to Athens, in which he says:
“Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for [i.e. feel after] Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring’” (Acts 17:22-28 NKJV).
Wrongful
Coveting Of Gender
Just because God has given us all free will does not mean that we can covet and take possession of everything we see without consequences. This applies to positions of power, authority, and influence. Yes, people can influence others, but what they influence others to do will be something for which they will have to give an account.
For instance, the coveting of gender roles stems from misguided and inappropriate desires. This applies to both men and women. To be a lesbian or a homosexual requires individuals to take on a gender role for which they are not biologically equipped. Participants in these behaviors might argue that they are the opposite gender trapped in the wrong biological body, but that is merely an argument to justify a wrongful, ungodly desire. This desire is an attempt by humans to usurp God’s authority and claim that they are the rulers of life. Unfortunately, their deception arises from a wanton desire for something that does not belong to them. The written word of God says:
“For this reason God gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections and degrading passions. For their women exchanged their natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one,
“And the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze (burning out, consumed) with lust for one another—men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray, which was [their] fitting retribution.
“And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome” (Romans 1:26-28—Amplified Bible).
Covetousness is how evil came into this world in the first place. Eve looked at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and saw that the fruit was delightful to her eyes, making her mouth water so much that her hunger increased even more. However, it was the desire to become wise that caused her to usurp the authority of her husband. Caught up in her desires and out of control, she leapt across the boundary that God had set for her. Adam followed Eve’s lead and did the same when he saw her eat—without dropping down dead! He could not bear the thought of the woman becoming wiser than himself. Likewise, today, men desire to be the same as women and covet their femininity while denying their own masculinity. The mess in the world today speaks for itself. Even though the world is filled with covetousness, God has allowed it and has given everyone the opportunity to work out for themselves what is right and what is wrong. God Himself has not only set the boundaries of humankind’s habitation but also preappointed times. The one time that no one can escape is the preappointed time; when at death, judgment comes for those who reject God’s purpose and attempt to usurp His power and authority by challenging His divine order for the family and society.
The archetype of the elite’s control over humanity is exemplified by the way the Devil deceived Eve. Little has changed in the dynamics of human affairs. Men can be influenced by targeting women to undermine their social status.
Slave traders would take influential men among an enslaved population, beating or killing them in front of others to instill fear, and even torturing the child of a slain male slave to compel the women to plead for mercy. Often, the women were separated from the men and warned that if they did not report on the men's actions, their own children would be harmed. Naturally, the women complied, and any men exhibiting strong leadership qualities were reported. This technique was also adopted by slave owners, who preempted resistance or rebellions by singling out and beating male slaves into submission, even if it meant selling them on the trading block for less.
Similarly, today, a modified technique is employed to undermine men in the West. In the field of humanities at higher education institutions, men are often derided and ridiculed as uncaring, portrayed by academics as viewing women solely as sex objects for domination. Women who feel rejected by more socially assertive men are led to believe that their disdain for men is justified because they perceive that men do not treat them as they do the more conventionally attractive females. Their suppressed feelings toward these assertive men, whom they probably secretly admire, can become displaced, manifesting in advocacy for women's rights to have equal representation in politics and business. Instead of focusing solely on domestic roles, they express their frustrations in public affairs, seeking to influence governance and assert their presence in traditionally male-dominated spaces.
The reality of women’s natural abilities has now come home to roost, as they have been challenged and outperformed in sports by mediocre males. This movement, designed to undermine the feminist agenda, is orchestrated by a powerful group operating in the background, serving the interests of the “Prince of the Power of the Air.” As a result, women are now crying out that it is unfair for men to demonstrate their physical superiority. Musical artist Alice Cooper remarked that women were “born to bleed,” and in the sporting arena, they are bleeding emotionally, expressing their victimhood and ignoring what the Bible states: that women are saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love, holiness, and self-control (1 Timothy 2:15).
A
Model For Feminists
Rather than covet the praise of the woman extolled in the book of Proverbs, feminists believe they are denied opportunities for fulfillment in life.
“How hard it is to find the perfect wife.
She is worth far more than jewels.
Her husband depends on her.
He will never be poor.
She does good for her husband all her life.
She never causes him trouble.
She is always gathering wool and flax
and enjoys making things with her hands.
She is like a ship from a faraway place.
She brings home food from everywhere.
She wakes up early in the morning,
cooks food for her family, and gives the servants their share.
She looks at land and buys it.
She uses the money she has earned and plants a vineyard.
She works very hard.
She is strong and able to do all her work.
She works late into the night
to make sure her business earns a profit.
She makes her own thread
and weaves her own cloth.
She always gives to the poor
and helps those who need it.
She does not worry about her family when it snows.
She has given them all good, warm clothes.
She makes sheets and spreads for the beds,
and she wears clothes of fine linen.
Her husband is a respected member of the city council,
where he meets with the other leaders.
She makes clothes and belts
and sells them to the merchants.
She is a strong person, and people respect her.
She looks to the future with confidence.
She speaks with wisdom
and teaches others to be loving and kind.
She oversees the care of her house.
She is never lazy.
Her children say good things about her.
Her husband brags about her and says,
‘There are many good women,
but you are the best.’
Grace and beauty can fool you,
but a woman who respects the LORD should be praised.
Give her the reward she deserves.
Praise her in public for what she has done.”
(Proverbs 31:10-31—ERV)
Here we see a woman who excels not only as a mother and wife but also as a businesswoman. She is productive and innovative, able to apply her intellectual and creative talents to benefit her household through her entrepreneurship. More than this, rather than coveting attention, this woman possesses an ever-abiding concern for helping the poor in practical ways. What is amazing is that this woman had all the virtues and freedoms craved by many women today, in a world dominated by patriarchs. Feminists seem to overlook the fact that in most homes, women tend to run the household. The woman in Proverbs goes further and demonstrates that godly female activities need not be restricted to the home front.
Often, people have told me that such women do not exist and that the woman of Proverbs is a fabrication. However, I can testify that a woman who once lived near me filled all the above criteria, the exception being her help for the poor (if she did, I did not know about it—she did not boast). She invested in the stock market and managed the family’s other investments. She also had her own professional occupation, apart from looking after her husband’s business interests, raising her children, running the household, and involving herself in neighborhood concerns. She was amazing! And so said others who knew her better than I did.
Loving
Lust
Today’s information age is different in many respects from that of the agrarian-based society of the past. People have more objects, technology, and roles available to covet than in times past. Yet wantonness and covetousness originate from the basic wrongful desires that afflict us as a consequence of being born into this world. Of this, the Bible says:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17 RSV).
Ways
Of Worldly Models
The ways of the world do not bring satisfaction, and because of this, they can be hard to control. In fact, many people are out of control, and they do not even realize it. We are not just talking about losing one’s temper, but about having an unbridled, uncontrollable, all-consuming wantonness toward sexual deviation, money, and addictions. Although losing one’s temper and being motivated by festering anger is often found near the root of many of the world’s evils.
A typical example of worldliness was evidenced in the much-publicized divorce of American model Christine Brinkley from her fourth husband, architect Peter Cook. At the time, he was having a sexual affair with his teenage assistant and was spending one thousand eight hundred British pounds each month on his pornography addiction. Brinkley is famous for being the “uptown girl” in a video accompanying the song “Uptown Girl,” which is about a downtown working-class man coveting the affections of a girl who lived a life he could not afford. Brinkley may be an uptown girl, but she is one who has had difficulty finding an enduring uptown relationship made in Heaven.
Michael Jackson is another example of someone coveting what he cannot have. Born to Black Afro-American parents, Michael Jackson coveted a life that was unnatural. He not only changed his looks through cosmetic surgery, making him look alien to his family, but he also took pigment-altering substances to change the color of his skin. Unable to form a stable relationship with a woman, Jackson coveted the companionship of boys—whom he would invite to sleep alongside him in his bed.[vi]
Unbridled
Lust Leads To Infamy
Numerous priests have been exposed for lusting after the flesh and committing perverted acts of indecency and sodomy on the boys in their charge. These men, like other pedophiles, suffer an insatiable torment within themselves that causes them to long wantonly for the fleshly pleasures that are supposed to gratify their lust but, instead, merely inflame inordinate carnal desires within their souls. This leads them to commit unbridled acts of lewdness time and time again. These vowed celibates unrepentantly let their wicked imaginations run riot in their minds, leaving them feeling that the only way they can relieve their torment is by sinfully pleasuring themselves, regardless of the pain inflicted upon their innocent victims. Desire can be brought under control, but when it becomes lust, it gets out of hand and controls the person who gives in to it.
A Maltese man told me that he boarded at a Roman Catholic school when he was young. A priest slept at each end of the dormitory, and each priest would sleep with one of his favored boys every night. Then, one day, a new boy entered the boarding school. The two priests each wanted to sleep with the new boy and started fighting over him. From that time on, this Maltese man told me, he knew God did not exist—that is, until he had an encounter with Lord Jesus Christ some thirty years later.
Jack the Ripper was infamous for killing five prostitutes in 1888, when many immigrants and lower-class women resorted to prostitution and solicited customers in London’s East End. However, a number of further unsolved murders continued into 1891, which are also thought to have been the work of Jack the Ripper. But what is attributed to Jack the Ripper, who was never caught, falls short of the horror of what Ted Bundy committed.
Ted Bundy confessed to the murder of thirty women whom he had raped, sodomized, and mutilated before killing them. Many people directly involved with Ted Bundy believe he is responsible for the murder of at least one hundred women. His unbridled lust went beyond just wanting to satisfy his natural libido or gratifying the excessive desire of a satyr. Ted Bundy was a deranged predator who had lost control of his ability to restrain his desire to covet what was not his.
John Wayne Gacy’s life is evidence of the sinister nature of covetousness taking over a person who wrongfully desires what God has already forbidden, which this commandment warns against. Gacy was twice married but admitted to killing and mutilating thirty of his male victims, whom he had sodomized and abused physically, emotionally, and sexually. Among the many things found in Gacy’s home and submitted as evidence were books such as The Rights of Gay People, Sex Between Men and Boys, and The American Bi-Centennial Gay Guide. This fiend’s lust was fostered by the publications he read. In fact, his second wife, whom he apparently married as a cover, left him because of the literature he was reading and his admitted preference for homosexuality.
Many people do not acknowledge that their practices are inspired by evil. Nonetheless, there are those who recognize that there is another force at work in their lives. David Berkowitz, known as the “Son of Sam,” killed people in New York because he claimed that he was following the orders of a demon dog.
Self-confessed Satanists have often appeared before the courts for the rape, torture, mutilation, ritualistic slaying, and cannibalism of their victims, having confessed to drinking their victims' blood as a toast to Satan. Probably the most infamous Satanist cult figure to be convicted is Charles Manson for the heinous crimes he and his communal tribe committed in the late 1960s when murdering Hollywood celebrities.
There have been many other convictions since, but more alarmingly, some thirty years after Manson appeared on the scene, the Indianapolis Star on May 3, 1996, reported what appears to be a disturbing covert tendency even today in a world out of control that is given over to covetousness: “Three teenage Satanists in San Luis Obispo, California, are charged with raping, torturing, and murdering 15-year-old Elyse Pahler. Prosecutors say the defendants hoped a virgin sacrifice would earn them ‘a ticket to hell.’”
Instead of desiring to know the true God of the Universe, these souls desire to be captive to the passions of the god of this world—the Prince of the Power of the Air—who is at work in the hearts and minds of the deranged and disobedient.
Lust
Of The Flesh
Lust of the flesh is evidenced in obesity, pornography, prostitution, rape, and carnal seduction, as well as addictions to sugar, chocolate, coffee, tobacco, marijuana, alcohol, medications, cocaine, opiates, gambling, and other activities that create physiological dependency within the body’s chemistry. The physiological responses within our bodies that result from food, substances ingested, and the thrills of various activities are always of a pleasant nature. This pleasantness, stemming from the release of endorphins in our brains, is what hooks us into addiction. However, there is no excuse for allowing ourselves to permit cravings to develop into an all-consuming covetousness within our psyche, leading us to lunge into uncontrollable, unbridled lust—a state aided and abetted by beings from the fallen universe of sin, personified by the ex-archangel Lucifer.
Lust
Of The Eyes
Lust of the eyes includes a longing for beautiful objects, whether they are paintings, works of art, jewelry, furniture, or buildings. It also encompasses the desire to hoard possessions that we see and like, regardless of their beauty. Lust of the eyes involves the acquisition of money, gold, wealth, or anything else that appeals to the eyes and creates a psychological dependency that compels us to a vision feast on these objects. For some people, this may mean reveling in the amount of money they have in the bank by reviewing their passbook savings or online bank balance, or salivating over the growing value of their share portfolio. All of this stems from lust of the eyes, as does the admiration of the faces, physiques, and figures of so-called beautiful people. Lust of the eyes even includes looking at ourselves in the mirror and admiring our good looks or imagined perfection for hours on end, as some are prone to do—luring themselves into the adulation of self at the altar of the cult of vanity, epitomized by an addiction to taking “selfies” on smartphones—literally becoming “lovers of self,” as the Bible prophesied for the last days:
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy (2 Timothy 3:1-2),
The
Pride Of Life
Pride of life leads to being consumed with egocentricity and essentially self-worship. This is when the adulation of one’s imagined perfection turns into vanity and self-exaltation of one’s importance, consuming one’s life. This often manifests as haughtiness, where certain individuals look down upon others with disdain because they think they are superior in intellect to other mere mortals. These individuals may be women who consider themselves more worthy and noble than their inferior servants or hired assistants—or any man.
Then there are those celebrities who have egos so big that they actually think they are the star of the solar system: the very Sun that provides Earth with light and life. Tragically, many celebrities are renowned for being so egocentric that they throw tantrums over what more mature individuals regard as inconsequential issues. Their tantrums are intended to leave onlookers with the impression that they are greater than any previous aspiring diva. This is because they believe they are a higher form of divinity themselves. In fact, many who covet the adulation of the masses desire to be adored as if they were the Divine One himself.
Everyone is known by his or her name. We respond positively when we hear our name called, unless we are in trouble. However, for the celebrity, just being like the rest of us mortals is insufficient. The celebrity has a need to have his or her name in lights. Otherwise, they may be forgotten by the multitudes and feel as if they do not exist. This is a dreadful thought for some of the divas and gods of celebrity in this world. So much so, that certain film and television stars have proposed to be immortalized through suicide when their name has not been displayed on their dressing room door to tell passersby that they need to know—I AM here. If only they could announce their presence with electrifying thunder and lightning, as the only I AM of eternity did when addressing the Israelites at the time He gave Moses—the meekest man on Earth (Numbers 12:3)—the Ten Words that lead to life.
The cult of self-importance is not restricted to celebrities who are like shooting stars falling at night. At one hospital, certain medical specialists have been known to be so supercilious that they insist on having their names in larger letters than the names of their perceived lesser colleagues. If they only knew the truth: Lord Jesus Christ is the One who really saves lives from the mouth of the demon of death. Moreover, the day shall come when, at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow in Heaven, on Earth, and in the spiritual realm, and every tongue shall confess, “Jesus is Lord!” to the glory of God (Philippians 2:10-11).
The
Power Of Death
One medical doctor, however, went beyond superciliousness and arrogantly patronized those he considered inferior. Although Harold Shipman was remembered by some students who knew him at university as merely someone who looked down upon them, and the staff saw him as nothing more than arrogant and rude, he exceeded the horrors committed by all other known serial murderers with his insatiable desire to murder patients. Some two hundred and thirty-six murders have been attributed to him,[vii] with the possibility that he murdered over four hundred people. Shipman had a drug habit and was purposely over-prescribing medications, leading to the deaths of his patients. The official coroner’s report stated that Shipman appeared to be addicted to killing, much like he was addicted to the drugs he over-prescribed to his patients, from whom he derived enjoyment as he watched them go through the process of dying. This gave him a perceived sense of control over both life and death. Shipman coveted power over people and liked to think that he held the power of the Creator—life and death—in his own hands!
From
Big Buzz To Fleeting Fizz
While it is easy to think of lust as excessive desire—predominantly related to drunkenness, gluttony, promiscuity, gambling, or power—what is often overlooked is that pride of life is about coveting the glory of life. Regarding the glory of life, Jesus said that this is more evident in the beauty of a flower than in anything humans might produce. When we see lush vegetation and flowers in full bloom, exuding their magnetic attractiveness, we are drawn to admire their remarkable and irresistibly beautiful iridescent colors. Captivated by their fragrance, we realize how impoverished manmade attempts have been in trying to create something equally glorious. Even today, with technology that is able to come closer than at any time in known history to recreating the beauty and glory found in Creation, what is produced is only a virtual representation and not true reality. This means that people are boasting in vain about manmade attempts to recreate what God has done, because, even at best, what has been created by mankind will never be everlasting. In this respect, like the flowers that are more glorious than anything humans can produce but only last for a short season before they wither, boasting about manmade attempts to reproduce God’s Creation is vainglorious and empty.
Consider the lives of celebrities—the famous, the proud, and the beautiful people invited to prestigious gala events. What do these privileged individuals really have to offer besides a fascination with glamour? These events are televised across the globe so that the average man and woman might be bedazzled by the pomp and ceremony of the occasion—events like the Academy Awards or weddings, such as when Prince Charles of England married Diana Spencer or when he became King Charles III. Meanwhile, in India, pomp and prestige make up the religious ceremonies that accompany their holy days, where so-called god-men are adorned with flowers, exalted, adored, and worshiped.
The god of this world seeks to bedazzle us with such events so that we will not seek the road to inner peace, true joy, and eternal happiness. Men and women like to think they are in control of their big buzz; only it is short-lived and turns into a fleeting fizz.
Natural
Desire
Desire is a natural part of being human. Just as God desires that all men come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved, so too has every human been invested with the capacity to desire not just a relationship with each other but also with our Heavenly Father. The knowledge that accompanies desire is what makes us sentient beings, capable of being perceptive and able to draw inferences from experience. The reason we humans have this ability to know, experience, and appreciate numerous sensations is that we have been created in the image of God. This sets us apart from other biological creatures on the planet. Our desire for knowledge may originate from curiosity, as far as we are concerned, but this desire is an intrinsic thirst for knowledge programmed into our spirits by our Heavenly Father.
Delusional
Desire
Psychologists have made valuable contributions to the human knowledge base, even if many are misguided in the belief that the theory of evolution is scientifically proven as fact, and they ignorantly speak about the evolution of the human mind. The only facts that are acceptable are those that can truly be proven. People might have a desire to discover truth, but when they start talking about events that happened outside their own experience as if they had absolute proof, yet cannot demonstrate this with indisputable evidence, then truth goes out the window and delusion sets in. Evidence of delusion is seen when astrophysicists talk about traveling millions of light-years as if they were traveling around the globe in a matter of hours, and theorists discuss a multiverse rather than acknowledge that the Creator exists. Biologists are also guilty of misrepresentation when they claim that life evolved by chance over billions of years from some simple single-celled bacterium to the complexities of life on Earth as we know it today. Even though they cannot prove the theory in real time, it is presented as an indisputable fact. Real science produces or records information that can be proven in the present.
Hierarchal
Desires
Abraham Maslow, a noted academic psychologist, observed that people are motivated by basic needs in their lives. He identified a hierarchy of needs that he placed within a pyramid. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is an observation of the desires that humans have, which need to be met in order for each person to be satisfied. These needs are categorized into five different levels and are usually illustrated in the form of a pyramid, with physiological needs at the bottom, followed by the needs for safety, social interaction, and esteem, pyramiding in order on top of each other, with self-actualization forming the apex.
First, there are the needs for food and water. Once these have been met, our concern shifts to the security of where we live, which forms the second level of the pyramid. The third level of Maslow’s pyramid consists of the relationships we need to have with friends, family, and spouses. Out of these relationships, we become aware of our need for respect and self-esteem, which forms the fourth level of the pyramid. The crowning apex of the pyramid represents the fifth level of personal needs, where we find fulfillment in expressing our creativity and freedom as moral beings.[viii]
God
Knows Our Desires
These needs may be seen simply as human requirements. When these needs are met, the person is satisfied. Coveting occurs when a person longs for something more than what can be construed as a basic need. Jesus said our Heavenly Father knows that everybody has needs and simply asks that people acknowledge Him.
We have no need to recite the same prayer over and over, as the heathen do, who think prayers are answered only by repeating them again and again. Remember, our Father in Heaven knows exactly what we need—even before we ask Him! However, we need to acknowledge God if we are to be acknowledged by Him. Jesus instructs us:
“Pray then like this:
‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’” (Matthew 6:9-13).
This prayer is not meant to be recited by rote, as so many people tend to do. It serves as a guideline for how we ought to think and expect God to meet our needs in life: (1) our physiological needs; (2) our safety needs; (3) our social needs; (4) our needs for self-esteem; and (5) what Maslow sees as our need for self-actualization.
In asking God to give us our food to meet our current (1) physiological needs, we can assume that this also means we are asking for the strength to carry out our daily activities that are of a physical nature and within the guidelines that have been laid down for our benefit. To go beyond these guidelines means we are coveting something that is not rightfully ours or that we are not meant to have.
(2) Safety needs are clearly met when we live in the confidence of knowing that we belong to the Kingdom of God and do not belong to the kingdom of this world. The god of this world has no hold over us if we are abiding in the Kingdom of God. Citizens’ rights are afforded to those who identify with living in the Kingdom of Heaven (Ephesians 2:19). This means that for those of us who call upon His name, God will provide assurance of those rights and a sense of security in the knowledge that we are safe when standing upon the rock of salvation.
(3) Social needs are indicated in the Lord’s Prayer by the concept of forgiveness. Within every relationship, there is a need to be forgiving and accepting; or, as it is sometimes expressed, “Every person has a need for unconditional acceptance.” Unforgivingness is the one thing that prevents us from being able to get along socially. If everybody were forgiving, even two egomaniacs who see the world only from their own point of view would get along with each other; this is because they would forgive the other for having such a narrow perspective and for being ignorant of the truth that their opinion is not really fact. In other words, tolerance of each other’s superiority would reign rather than pride. Friendship, attachment, and intimacy would be very much a part of the relationship, just as if they were family.
(4) Self-esteem needs are met when people appreciate each other. To appreciate another person, one needs to have a sense of individuality, which only comes when specific rights are recognized. This flows out of relationships, where recognition of the other person’s contributions is acknowledged. People who are praised for what they have done have a better self-image and more self-confidence (confidence within themselves to do more) than those who do not receive appropriate praise. Self-esteem does not mean being selfish or egotistical; rather, it means having an appropriate appreciation of one’s own abilities that contribute to a relationship. Therefore, by not being tempted by evil to think of ourselves beyond what we are capable of doing, we do not fall prey to the Evil One and covet a right, privilege, or position that is not freely given to us by another person. We do not sin against our brother, sister, or other family members or friends. We do not fall prey to the temptation to do evil.
(5) Self-actualization is evidenced when we do the will of God and allow God’s thoughts to become our thoughts, rather than thoughts of destruction. Knowing the will of God is of great benefit to all. God knows more than we know, and as we learn to do God’s will, we will start to become wise, make right choices, and demonstrate that we have a hatred of evil and a love of life and the power of positive creativity. Evil occurs when we break faith with God, and this is the source of self-destruction, which just happens to be the antithesis of self-actualization. Self-actualization occurs when we come to a realization of life and all its abundance as individuals who are fully satisfied, having all our needful desires met in the now. Just as Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
What Maslow has observed to be human needs, the Son of God has already expressed in a different form known as the Lord’s Prayer. Physical needs are represented by daily bread. Safety needs are met in God’s Kingdom. Social needs require us to forgive others. Self-esteem needs are met when our character is strengthened and we do not fall into the temptation of evil to break faith and sin against another person. Self-actualization is achieved by being transformed through the renewal of our minds to do the will of God.
Not acknowledging these truths is to deny ourselves the very things that we desire most—fulfillment in life. When we desire to know what God knows and understand the reasons why God has allowed us to live on this Earth, we will not covet anything other than wanting to know how we can fulfill our potential in life. This is not accomplished when we are lusting after something that is not ours or is not meant for us. God has given each one of us free will to come and reason with Him about what we can do to enhance His glorification within us. God wants us to know where we stand in relation to the universe in which we live. He wants us to know our purpose in life. This is what God desires, so we will achieve the fullness of our potential as sentient beings who have been given God-likeness. If we are separated from the Father, He desires for us to seek Him and find Him. The Bible informs us that we live and move and have our being in the Infinite God. How much, though, do we desire to have the Father live and move and have His being in us through our Lord Jesus Christ by means of the Holy Spirit? How much do we desire God to meet our needs?
In this world, it is easy to be tempted to look elsewhere to have our needs met rather than calling upon the name of the Lord. The way to life and blessing begins with us recognizing our own limitations. In the book of James, we find the truth about why we might be tempted to look elsewhere. This is because desire lies at the heart of temptation, and it dwells within us. James also contrasts the consequences of giving in to temptation with the benefits of endurance:
“Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:12-15 NKJV).
The
Heart Of The Commandments
This tenth commandment is centered at the heart of all the other com-mandments. We could say that the tenth commandment is cloaked by the other commandments. This is because when we allow God to meet all our needs and desire to know Him, there is no temptation to envy someone else and start coveting. In this way, we do not give the evil one any room in our hearts. For there is no one else to blame when we take our eyes off what God would have us become—and what He would have us do. We will be tempted by what we see, just as Eve was tempted by what she saw in the Garden of Eden and disobeyed the commandment of God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Her desire allowed her to be enticed away from the true God to believe the lie of the false god, who, through her, got to Adam. Then, through Adam, the Evil One got to every other member of the human race, including us. As a consequence of Adam’s disobedience and Eve’s deception, we find ourselves born into a world that is governed by sin and hypocrisy rather than righteousness and integrity.
The
Opportunity Is Ours
The tenth commandment instructs us to learn from God and allow our hearts to focus on truth so that we might set a course of discovery and adventure as we grow in grace and knowledge of what is right to do, modeling ourselves on positive ideas that prove to be fruitful and beneficial for all concerned. Coveting what does not belong to us makes us susceptible to losing control of our faculties and becoming futile in our thinking. As Jesus implied, if our eyes are full of light, we will have a sound mind and possess a happy state of being. This is because we have been spiritually translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light; we have actually become who we are meant to be—a fully-fledged child of God. Like a bird that has left the nest, we can grow into maturity. This is what we truly desire deep within our spirits; as true children of God, we can discover our true individuality and identity in the body of Christ. As members of the body of Christ who have been approved by God, none of us has any need to be ashamed, because each of our lifestyles is being worked out in the light of the knowledge of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to take the opportunity right now to seek the truth so that we will find it. We need to take the opportunity to ask for wisdom so that we will receive it. And we need to take the opportunity to knock on Heaven’s door so that the door of life will be opened to us; for all things are ours—if we only believe and do not doubt!
Truly, it was for our good and for our salvation that Jesus said: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8).
Rather than covet what is not ours, we need to call upon God to help us find the door that we need to knock on so that we can receive what is rightfully ours and not lose out on any of our inheritance.
.
****
[i] Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique published in 1963 would make her more
deserving of the title. Although, the1949 book The Second Sex
by the French existentialist Simone de Beauvoir is accredited with being the
beginning of the second way of feminism, or the modern post World War 2
feminist movement.
[ii] The Age newspaper Melbourne, Australia. Evidently,
Greer’s sister had just had a child and Greer was staying with her in a
Melbourne suburb—author’s recollection from around 1983-5. Since writing this book, it is noted that as Greer approaches her later
years she is making more favorable comments about the Bible, the value of its
contents and how reading it can be of immense benefit for those who are looking
for a better way.
[iii]
www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/31/mothers-stop-moaning-about-motherhood.
[iv] Modern Feminism is
said to have actually began in the late 1800s, when women campaigned for
property and voting rights. The second wave is said to have began in the late 1960s.
But feminists appear to have been active throughout the twentieth century
seeking more power and rights for women.
The Parisian Simone de Beauvoir, who had a life-long affair with
Jean-Paul Sartre and who is accused of lesbianism, seducing and grooming for
Sartre young students under her tutelage as a teacher, was a lifelong influence
for feminism. Her 1949 work The Second
Sex is thought to have laid the groundwork for the second wave of feminism,
which was funded in America by the Rockefeller institute and promoted by
journalist Gloria Steinem
[v]
Headlines:
Martina Navratilova sued for millions by ‘wife’ after being ‘dumped without
warning’—Daily Mail 24th June.2009
[vi] Michael Jackson admits
to sleeping with boys, but claims that there was never any child molestation,
even though
Jackson’s
career was blighted when he was accused of child abuse in the 1990s by
dentist’s son Jordy Chandler, 13, and paid a reported substantial multi-million
dollar sum in an out of-court settlement. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-158342/Why-I-sleep-little-boys-Michael-Jackson.html#ixzz2vI4K9bof, retrieved 15th Feb 2014
[vii] A clinical audit
commissioned by the Department of Health estimates his responsibility for the
deaths of at least 236 patients over a 24-year period—source:
Murderpedia.org..15th Feb. 2014
[viii] Maslow went on to
create a model that formed a pyramid of seven categories, but his five
pyramidic model sufficed to capture the essence of what God has laid out within
Creation. A pity for Maslow that he was not able grasp this.
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