Chapter Four A WOMAN’S MIRROR And A Man’s Money

Chapter Four

A WOMAN’S MIRROR

And A Man’s Money

An aging woman looks in the mirror and sees everything in terms of her reflection, while a man looks at his bank balance and reflects upon his worth. Meanwhile, our Heavenly Father looks upon every man and woman and sees the hearts that reflect the light of life. He expects each one of us to give an account of what we have done.

The Third Commandment

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain”—Exodus 20:7.

An Abbreviation

The Third Commandment is often abbreviated to “you shall not take the name of God in vain.” Immediately, we can see how we can be duped into not taking this commandment as serious as we should when we read the abbreviated version. Who would have thought taking God’s name in vain would be a serious issue? With the abbreviated version, there is no consequence for taking God’s name in vain. The complete quotation warns that God regards this as a very serious issue. Those who take His name in vain are to be held to account. Worse still, there appears to be no excuse or mitigating circumstances that will lessen the consequences of breaking this commandment.

The Problem with the Theory of Evolution

There is a problem with this commandment in that first you need to know the name of God, to take His name in vain, for there are many gods in the world. For instance, Allah is not the name of God. However, Jesus did say that He had been given God’s name (Pr. 30:4; John 17:11—cf. John 17:3; 3:18; 1 John 2:22-23).

Once again, many people would say that we are splitting hairs, because they would contend that everybody knows God is the Creator. Yet this is where the problem lies. If everybody knows God is the Creator, why do atheists not believe there is a God? Why do the majority of evolutionists have faith in their belief that everything just evolved by chance and there is no need for a Creator to have created anything? The reason is, according to them, they believe humans evolved from monkeys, and birds evolved from amphibians, and life began with a bacterium. When you start to consider the atheistic evolutionists’ worldview, it becomes clear not everybody accepts the truth that the Lord God is the Creator of life.

It is always easier to abbreviate something. The trouble with abbreviations is excuses can be made later for not understanding exactly what was meant. The lack of explanation for the abbreviation becomes an excuse for ignorance—but not necessarily an acceptable excuse; much depends on the circumstances. Fortunately, God does overlook ignorance. However, God also will be holding everyone to account based on the knowledge they have, and not on claims of ignorance. Even scientists who claimed they did not know the name of God, but inquired into other matters and declared that a Creator did not exist, would have no excuse claiming ignorance, since they claimed they were seeking to establish truth as scientists and failed to seek out the Lord of Creation. Moreover, many ask the question: From where did God originate? These individuals ought to cogitate more on the origins of that first bacterium from which they claim all life supposedly originated. There obviously was intelligence or someone greater than that bacterium in the beginning; the same as the Infinite One is greater than we who are the finite ones.

As we have seen with the first commandment, knowing who God is becomes important, especially, if we are to have a meaningful relationship with Him. In fact, simply knowing Who is God becomes important if we are going to have any relationship with Him at all. Who God is to us will determine the degree of interest we will take in Him, and to what extent our relationship with Him will have meaning—whether our relationship with the Eternal Father and His Son is in vain or not.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Vanity is considered a useless pastime; yet many people participate in the exercise. The most common example of vanity is of a woman looking at herself in the mirror; telling herself, how beautiful and how young she looks; especially as she grows older, and her skin becomes lined, wrinkled and saggy. The woman tells herself in vain that the mirror on the wall is saying she is the most beautiful of all.

The story of Snow White poignantly illustrates the truth about a woman’s vanity by pointing out how the evil queen could not bear to see her beauty fade while (her stepdaughter) Princess Snow White’s beauty shone more each day. Vainly she would ask the magical mirror, “Who was the most beautiful woman of all?” Of course, the mirror would say she was, until one day, she saw Snow White (probably standing behind her) in the mirror. The reality of the truth pierced her heart. The comparison was too much to bear. The evil queen hated looking at Snow White even more and sought to have her killed.

The story of Snow White depicts the truth that people can look in the mirror and admire themselves irrespective of what others might think. Just like magic, they see only the illusion they want to believe. Unfortunately, aging has it barbs, and as people grow older, they start to become aware of the differences that exist between them and other people. Eventually, the realization hits home (and what a painful hit it can be too) that the aging process catches up with everybody. Either a person then becomes gracious and passes on the baton, so to speak, or the person refuses to acknowledge the truth about life, and tries to resist the downhill flow of the river and manifests a hatred for the truth.

Jesus put it this way:

“…the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (John 3:19-21).

How do we Reconcile Eternity with Death?

Self-acceptance is an important part of growing older and growing up. It would be nice to live life as a Peter Pan and never have to grow older, even though we may grow-up by becoming wiser. Growing older is simply a numbering of our days; whereas growing wiser is a smartening of our ways.

God is called the Ancient of Days in the book of Daniel and, because of this; the Almighty has often been depicted as a wise old man with a beard. Yet the truth about eternity portrays an ageless state. It may be difficult for us mere mortals to come to grips with how time, as we know it, could be measured, when there are no days and nights and weeks and months and years to count. Although, the dilemma for many people is, “How do I reconcile this idea of eternity with the fact that I am going to die?”
 

It is hard to accept that death could happen at any time, but as people grow older and become feeble, the reality of this life fading away begins to sink in.  Usually people resign to accepting that death is near, when their skin starts to dry up and wrinkle and crack, while their quick reactions disappear and the light becomes less clear. Then God often becomes the hope overlooked when they were young and vigorous, and their skin shone with the radiance of youth, and their eyes sparkled like the freshness of a clear mountain brook. As the song says, “Those were the days, my friend, and we thought they’d never end.”

An Inevitable Accountability

Yet Jesus’ statement informs us not everyone will be willing to face the truth about his or her life. When confronted, many of us feel ashamed and ask forgiveness. Others are like the evil queen in the story of Snow White: they refuse to accept the truth; preferring to live in the shadows of their darkened beliefs about themselves. Such is the vanity that exists in the world today. People like to believe that when they grow older and die, for their evil deeds, there will be nothing to pay. Although common folk wisdom is often heard whispered in the narrow hallways of power, “What goes ’round, comes ’round,” if for no reason other than to remind those on the way up, when on the way down, if they land in a heap, that which they sow, they will also reap.

There is a nagging sense in the back of people’s minds that karma could be true. Everybody seems to know it only takes a simple equation to see if the books balance to ensure everyone receives the appropriate “bad karma” or “good karma” depending on what each one does.  If we were to believe the lie, we would be deceived into thinking there is nothing to fear. We would accept that this concept of karma has to do with previous lives rather than the one we are living here. Although, some perceive the pain experienced today, may have something to do with yesterday’s shame. It is always a matter of having the right perspective. The light shines in the darkness, and we hate the dark side of our lives being detected. But if we are true to ourselves, we come to the light, because we desire to do what is right. That is, we want to be children of light, and not like prowlers stumbling around at night. Indeed, the day will come when everything will be exposed by the light of the Gospel of Christ.

“For there is nothing hidden that shall not be disclosed, nor anything secret that shall not be known” (Luke 8:17).

One Life on Earth

The Bible tells us that we only have one life on Earth. We can toss a coin in a wishing well, or just as vainly seek to find gold at the end of a rainbow, or we can acknowledge the truth and have a new life begin.

In the book of Job, we read of a man who was suffering greatly, and his friends came to him and suggested that his suffering was some form of bad karma. According to Job’s friends, his bad karma was not the result of a previous life, but because of sins he has committed in this life. Nevertheless, the truth is Job’s affliction (bad karma to some) was allowed by God to develop Job’s understanding of life and his relationship with his Creator. Amazingly, Job does not take God’s name in vain, even though his wife tells him to curse God and die. In all that happens, Job remains steadfast in his belief that the only hope he has in life is to have an everlasting relationship with God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.

In the end, Job has the inner eyes of his heart opened and sees God (cf. Eph. 1:18; Matt. 5:8). Then Job, having seen the Father’s face, realizes his sin, and also his place; so before the Creator, he repents in sackcloth and ashes and appeals to God’s grace. God blesses Job, and then directs him to pray for the rest of those present; who did not realize Job had just passed his horrendous test. From that time on, Job’s prosperity and joy increased much more than what it was before. All because Job defied the devil’s ploy—no wonder, James, the Lord’s Earthly half-brother, wrote:

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

Sowing and Reaping

In the book of Proverbs, the idea of reaping what we sow is evident. Fools will reap in this life the fruits of foolishness, and the wise will reap the benefits of wisdom. Wise men who decide to hang around with fools, however, will become fools themselves; whereas a fool who hangs around with wise men, ceases to be a fool—this has nothing to do with karma. It is just how a fool learns to become wise.

The Woman of Proverbs

Amazingly, for a patriarchal society, we find a woman being exalted in Proverbs, chapter thirty-one, because of her excellent character. Instead of looking in the mirror and vainly admiring her beauty, or vainly wishing she were beautiful, this woman is what feminists—who have a gripe about glass ceilings—would do well to emulate. She not only runs her household, but is also a businesswoman who manufactures and sells clothes, and buys and sells property. This woman truly loves herself. Only she is not conceited, and neither is she caught up in self-adoration; nor is she embroiled with internal conflicts of bitterness and contempt about what men are doing at the gate—if they are late for dinner, as far as she is concerned, they will have to wait.

Instead, she is wise; for a wise woman loves herself, because she obtains wisdom—or as the Revised Standard Version states:  

He who gets wisdom loves himself; he who keeps understanding will prosper (Proverbs 19:8).

 It may seem a bit too simple, but the Bible teaches the beginning of wisdom is this: GET WISDOM (Proverbs 4:7).

Essentially, a wise person would recognize that taking God’s name in vain would be a pointless thing to do.

The Jews used to think they were wise. Many people today think Jews are wise—well, if not wise, shrewd[i]—because they seem to have control of much of the world’s wealth. Many Jews like to attribute their success to being favored by God and take a great deal of pride in the fact that their heritage includes having received the Law of God.

The Apostle Paul, however, had the following to say about the Jews of his day:

“But if you call yourselves a Jew and rely upon the law and boast of your relation to God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed in the law, and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth–-you then who teach others, will you not teach yourselves? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery; do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? For, as it is written,‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you”‘ (Romans 2:17-24).

The Law of God is not something to disregard. Notice that what God gave to the Jews through Moses contains the embodiment of knowledge and truth. It is rather odd that even today when humankind has supposedly become more knowledgeable and smarter than, the so-called mythmaker, Moses,[ii] no one has come up with anything else that is superior to the Law of God—written by GOD Himself—this is why!

Still the only Guide for Humanity

The Ten Commandments are a guide for humankind, still. Other ancient writings only state, in part, some of what we find in the five books of Moses. The major difference between other ancient texts and the books of Moses is the prophetic nature of the words that God gave to the people. Furthermore, the blessings and curses that will come upon people are a feature of the Mosaic covenant that still stands today. Many might like to think the consequences of violating God’s law have been superseded, but from what I have witnessed, those who put the principles into operation receive blessings, while those who break them reap curses, like the rest who do not receive because they do not believe.

Jean Paul Getty

Jean Paul Getty was once declared the richest American. Some even claimed, at the time, he was the richest man in the world. Once I was reading a book that contained articles that he had written, of all things, for Playboy magazine. This book contained Getty’s philosophy for life. What struck me about what he had written was his belief system mirrored what we find in the instructions God gave to Moses to give to His people. Essentially, Getty applied to his businesses the principles of success that we can find in the Mosaic covenant. It is no wonder he was so successful financially. Besides this, the J. Paul Getty Museum runs on those same principles. According to what I read, Getty said that he had ensured that the Museum (which was to be an art gallery) would not rely on the public purse for upkeep, like other monuments to men. Not only would Getty’s monument to himself not cost the government money, it would be free to the public. The J. Paul Getty Museum truly is a monument to free enterprise and the beliefs of its founder. Unfortunately, Getty did not abide by all the laws from the Mosaic covenant and appears to have been cursed when it came to finding a satisfying relationship with a woman. Nevertheless, Getty did acknowledge God’s existence—only, in vain, he would have worshiped the Lord God, if we were to believe all the reports of his exploits.

 Jesus said that there are many who acknowledge God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him, and in vain, they worship our Heavenly Father. Whatever the case, applying the principles of God’s laws is not vain, and when you apply all of God’s principles to your life: this is wisdom.

Lip Worship is not True Worship

When it comes to the Jews, because they worshiped God only with their lips and not in their actions, the name of God was blasphemed among the nations. God’s name became a byword. Likewise, today, the name of Jesus Christ is considered an expression that is used as a form of curse or, as reported in one Japanese dictionary, used as an expletive to express disgust, frustration and anger.

Christians will Reap their Judgment

A Muslim accusation rings true. For many in the East—and not just Muslims—Christians are insincere, god-forsaken people without morals or principles. This is because of the hedonistic lifestyle of so-called Christian countries in the West, which is exported via film and television that revels in the rude, the crude and the lewd.

The foolishness of the Western Countries is evidenced by the fact that there are about one million abortions every day, and the aging population has increased with medical science enabling people to live, on average, the last seven years of their life as invalids, something that was previously unknown. Meanwhile, the numbers of Muslims are growing four times faster every year than the numbers of nominal Christians.

There is every indication that God will use the sons of Ishmael to reap vengeance on those so-called Christian nations that claim the promised seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ, as their heritage, but have no heart for walking in the truth. The name of the Lord is not to be taken lightly. “I will not hold those who take my name in vain, guiltless,” says the Lord God. The truth of the third commandment is still holding up today.

Taking the Name of God in Vain

Taking the name of God in vain is more than merely using God’s name as a meaningless expression, even though it is true that people do not exclaim “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” when they jamb their finger in the car door. In some countries, references to Mary (instead of Father, Son and Holy Spirit) are used as expletives or profanities to shock and offend or as an exclamation of a curse.  Nonetheless, it seems more common among English-speaking countries for people to use “Jesus Christ” or “Jesus” or “Christ” with a so-called four-letter intensifier to express their pain, or their anger, or their frustration. However, this is not what taking the name of God in vain is really about.

Taking the name of God is really about claiming God to be our source of provision and not actually trusting Him to provide.

In the book of Proverbs, Augur son of Jaken of Massa says there are two (even though it seems like three) things that he fears doing before he dies:

“Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God” (Proverbs 30:8-9).

Clinical Death vs Real Death

The Australian billionaire and media baron, Kerry Packer, was once declared clinically dead, but then came back to life and lived on. After he had been revived, Kerry Packer stated that he had good news and bad news from his experience. “The good news is,” he said, “there is no Hell. The bad news is there is no Heaven.” Unfortunately, for Kerry Packer, he is now truly dead and has not come back to tell us what has really happened to him. There is nobody saying that Kerry Packer has been raised from the dead—Jesus Christ is still the only person of whom this is testified!

Kerry Packer was a man who was banned from Las Vegas casinos because he would win large sums of money, up to twenty million dollars in a single night playing blackjack. He was reported to have won as much as forty million dollars from the MGM casino in a few hours and bankrupted Aspinalls Casino, London[iii], on another occasion.

 One night, when Packer and his party were playing blackjack at a casino, a Texan businessman insisted that they leave the tables. Packer refused. The Texan then claimed he was a big shot worth one hundred million (Australian dollars at the time). Kerry Packer’s immediate reply was, “Great. I’ll toss you for the lot.” The Texan was not prepared to risk all his wealth on the toss of a coin, so he declined to take him up on his offer and quickly left.

Such was the stature of Kerry Packer that he virtually had regard for no man. Packer had no regard for God either, because he could say, “Who is the LORD, that I have need of Him. I can buy almost everyone and scare the pants off a person too.”

As one casino boss stated, “Kerry Packer put fear in all the casino operators, because when he won, they lost millions.”

Kerry Packer had business interests around the world that included media, gambling, industry, massive cattle ranches and other assets. When Packer died, he was reputably worth around eight billion dollars (numbered among the world’s richest men at the time), but he may have been worth more.  For instance, J. Paul Getty was declared to be only worth eight hundred million dollars when he died, yet, two years later, his son sold part of his father’s business empire, the Getty Oil Company, to Texaco for fourteen billion dollars. At the time, the transaction was the largest business takeover on record and worth around two hundred billion in 2012 dollars. 

Kerry Packer, when busy in his home town, would fly call girls from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia, and put them up at a five-star hotel for a week or so, and was once thought to be the “Goanna” (a criminal mastermind godfather figure), because of the way he put fear into people. Even though he was cleared of criminal activity, this mogul possessed an inordinate amount of wealth and power; Kerry could put the fear of Packer into people without having to resort to threats of murder.

When Kerry Packer was unconscious and declared clinically dead, he did not have an OBE (out of body experience), so when he was revived, it was natural for him to reinforce his belief that he had nothing to fear, because many people were more afraid of him than any god or (as he gave the impression) GOD Himself.

The Power of Money

In the book of Proverbs, chapter thirty, Augur, the son of Jakeh, had seen what wealth could do to people. It can turn a man from believing in God to believing he is God. Many people in the world believe they are as God, simply because they have power over people.

When a person has so much money and influence that he can buy people and cause people to sell their souls for money, he believes, along with those of his ilk, there is no need for God. The wealth of the world is the god of numerous people, and those who have the money start to think they are God, because of the power they can wield in influencing people to compromise their professed values.

A person does not have to be mega-rich, like Kerry Packer was, to have power; merely having access to more money than a number of other people gives a person that sense of power. Just as the Texan, who was worth a paltry $100 million compared to Kerry Packer's billions, thought he was powerful. But then a sense of power also comes when a person is in a position of authority; where a person can dictate who gets what, regardless of personal wealth. For instance, a government official might determine which company gets contracts and, therefore, has power and influence that may make him feel like God. On the other hand, a person could be a lowly loans officer and yet have the power to influence people’s applications for home loans in a negative or positive way. In certain countries, even small requests have to be accompanied with a bribe to facilitate matters; otherwise, the officials do nothing.

An acquaintance of mine fell in love with an Indonesian girl with whom he went to college. They both went to Indonesia to get married with her parents’ blessings. Everything was fine, until they were about to leave the country. In order to obtain official marriage documents and a new passport issued for his bride, the husband had to make eight additional individual payments to various officials at different levels of authority before the newlyweds could leave the country together as husband and wife.

Such is the way of man that power can be used to extract money from vulnerable people. Corrupt individuals think they have no need of God—if only they knew how deep and lonely the darkness is really.

Everything Seems to Have no Meaning

The book of Ecclesiastes speaks a lot about doing things in vain. If you watch a dog chase its tail, you will notice the tail always gets away. Well, according to Ecclesiastes, people try to catch the wind—probably thinking it is wasting space and could be put to better use at another place.

The writer of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon commented:

“I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind…So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:16-17; 2:17 NIV).

King Solomon is responsible for writing most of the book of Proverbs, but he also recognized that life in itself is a useless pursuit here on Earth. Self-exaltation and self-aggrandizement are both futile exercises; so, too, is much of what a person sets out to do when young. To quote Solomon: 

“Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity. Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil. For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 2:18-23).

The vanity of this life is seen when living for oneself—and oneself alone. If we live for ourselves and believe that whatever we do is okay, regardless of what happens to other people, then this is vanity. Furthermore, unless we are able to instruct our children to instruct their children concerning the purpose of life, then what we do is in vain. Irrespective of how proud we are of our children, if they are not able to impart wisdom to their children, what we have done was really for ourselves and not for them.

Group Situational Ethics

Living for ourselves and not taking into consideration the rights and welfare of others results in situational ethics becoming our moral standard. This is where whatever we do depends on the situation at hand. We might think something to be okay and those with us might agree, so under the circumstances, we think we are a cut above the rest. We think we have gotten it together. This is especially the case when what has been proposed is acceptable to the group of friends and acquaintances from whom we draw our sense of importance.

For example, a group of girls might see nothing wrong in ostracizing another girl on the basis that she is not of their social standing, because she comes from the wrong side of town. Or a group of boys believe that it is all right to assault and badly injure a boy who has wandered onto their turf. Or a bike gang might see nothing wrong in shooting up another gang’s headquarters because it is part of their revenge policy. Or a group of young women might think that it is okay to sleep around providing they are drunk, because this excuses their behavior. Or certain mothers might teach their children that it is wrong to steal from their relatives and friends, but perfectly okay to shoplift from chain stores. Or some might think that it is okay to make a living stealing from the rich, as long as they give some to the poor, because they are doing what Robin Hood did, even though he is merely a character from folklore.

The Tolerance of Relative Morality

Relative morality is similar, but slightly different to situational ethics, in that tolerance is supposedly the norm. While situational ethics could be said to be relative morality because the morals in a situation are relative to the situation, situational ethics depend on the situation, and can be considered to be the offshoot of relative morality. Relative morality differs in that everyone is to be tolerant of everyone else’s behavior providing it does not infringe upon another person’s rights. Prostitution is tolerated as long as it is restricted to licensed premises. Homosexuality is permitted as long as homosexuals do not try to convert heterosexuals or prey on young boys. Lesbianism is accepted as long as lesbians do not have recruitment drives. Crime is tolerated as long as it remains among criminals. Violence and disease and rape is ignored or tolerated as long as it is restricted to indigenous people who live in the third world countries, or people who live in slums, or people who are homeless. Within various prisons, an unlawful hierarchy of command, consisting of prisoners only, controls contraband, sanctions acts of corporal and capital punishment—not to mention the toleration of widespread ad hoc and organized sodomy—in order to prevent riots and mayhem, keep the peace, and take pressure off the guards and the prison warden.

What starts to become evident is that relative morality is not something that can be sustained and kept under control. It grows like a cancer that eats away at the heart of society. Immorality becomes tolerated in advertising campaigns, political campaigns, fund raising campaigns and every other campaign. People join forces with other people in the name of tolerance, only to be intolerant of something else. Compromises are made in the name of progress, and often executed in the name of God—yet these do little to bring about a better society. Today, in various jurisdictions, the age of alcohol consumption has been lowered; children are permitted to sue their parents; teenagers are given the power to make their own decisions without having to be responsible for those decisions. Furthermore, leniency is shown to criminal recidivists as an incentive to rehabilitate; sexual promiscuity is promoted as acceptable; homosexuality and lesbianism are celebrated as a natural form of human sexual and biological expression. Tragically, numerous church authorities are tolerant of many socially cancerous anti-biblical practices in the name of social evolution and scientific progression.

Before being crucified in Jerusalem, one thing that is evident in the gospels during the short time Jesus Christ was preaching and teaching is His attitude towards hypocrisy. There is often a mythological representation of a gentle Jesus, who is meek and mild, which gives the impression that Jesus would not castigate anybody for wrongdoing, but would gently correct them. However, when you read about His reproach of hypocrites, the picture of a harmless Jesus being gentle and mild appears to fly out the door. Instead, we see Jesus indignant and forthright.

Here is some of what Jesus has to say about hypocrites:

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.  

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ’If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’  You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?  And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?  So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.  And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.  You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.  So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 

Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.  Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” (Matthew 23:13-33)

The people Jesus was talking about being hypocrites would have been what we know today as preachers, pastors, religious leaders, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, lawyers, politicians, teachers, police officers, government officials and those who support them. In other words, you could say, these are the professionals who instruct others, or oversee cultural and social responsibilities, law and justice. This is not to say all who belong to those professions are hypocrites; rather, they are more prone to find themselves being hypocritical in what they say and do. In a civilized society such as the USA, this would probably represent around one third of the working adult population.

The Nature of Hypocrisy

In another place, Jesus said that many people honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. This is what hypocrisy is all about: saying one thing publicly, or with our lips, but not truly believing what we say is real. Sometimes it is not easy to tell a hypocrite, because smooth talkers can convince people that they are genuine and have at heart the interests of the people to whom they are talking. Just think how many people we have probably seen on television who are like that. Sadly, many govern the countries of the world. Their key interests are themselves.

The third commandment says that God will not hold any person guiltless who takes His name in vain. The general principle seems to hold that people who do not practice what they preach eventually do get their just deserts; in other words: you reap what you sow—only the hypocrite does not believe it so—that to take God’s name in vain is a ticket to eternal pain.

Feeling Sorry for $crooge

One seventy-five-year-old male, whom I knew, was an altar boy when he was a child, but grew up to be a mean, miserly man who would not spend any money unless absolutely necessary. Evidently, he said he believed in God, but he was not prepared to share any money with anyone; even his wife and child had difficulty getting him to buy any more than their basic needs. People would say that the taxation department would end up with his savings, and he would declare that he hoped they enjoyed spending it as much as he enjoyed saving it. Anyhow, at the age of seventy-five, old Fred had a stroke and spent the next twelve months not being able to speak. On the few occasions I saw him, tears of sorrow and self-pity would fill his eyes. At his death, the taxman took away a large portion of his estate in death duties; but being wealthy, his wife’s lifestyle was unaffected, and she actually had more money to spend. And to every one’s surprise, a bank account passbook came to light that only had the one entry, a deposit of ten thousand pounds (twenty thousand dollars) made in 1910. This was enough money to buy around ten houses in those days. People worked for about two dollars a day, and any more was considered to be good money for a day’s pay. Yet this man put money he had inherited in a bank account and forgot about it. How much more he could have done with that money, except, he preferred to save his money and treat people meanly. Somehow, in the last year of his life, he must have thought much about his miserable life of meanness ending with him being unable to speak, and having to rely upon the goodness and kindness of God through others to look after him.[iv]

A Fundamental Prerequisite: Honesty

If we are dishonest with others, we will be dishonest with ourselves. God knows our hearts. His eyes roam the Earth watching us night and day.

In the Book of Hebrews chapter four, verse twelve, the Bible informs us that God divides the thoughts and intentions of a person’s heart. We might think we can say whatever we like, and nobody will know what we really intend to do. However, God knows our intentions—and these will become evident to other people over time. We cannot run away from our responsibility to be honest to ourselves and to God. The Bible says, everybody will be judged at death, but God gives us the opportunity to judge for ourselves whether what we do is good; whether what we do is right; and whether what we do is true. If we know that what we are doing is not good, right and true, then we can seek our forgiveness from God—right now. However, we must practice what we say we believe; otherwise, hypocrisy will eventually get the better of us and we will find ourselves missing out on the very thing we seek the most in life.

If we value the fact that God has created us for a purpose and given us the right to discover that purpose for ourselves, then we must be true to who we are meant to be; if we are to receive the mercy and blessing of the Creator. Amazingly, people simply miss out on the many blessings that life on this Earth has for them because they do not want to put their trust in God. There have been people who have had OBEs (out of body experiences) and have been to Heaven. Many of these individuals tell the same story that they were shown all the blessings God has for us, but we forfeit them because we do something other than the will of God.  In the Gospel of John, we read there are those who are born of the will of God, the will of the flesh and the will of man (John 1:13). We can extrapolate from this that it is possible for us to miss out on blessings because we are too busy doing the will of the flesh or the will of man; rather than doing the will of God.

The Dishonest Manager

The fact people think they know better than God is illustrated in the story of the dishonest manager:

“He also said to the disciples,” There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’  He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings” (Luke 16:1-9).

In this story, the dishonest manager is commended for his foresight and shrewdness, but while he appears shrewd in the eyes of those who deal in the wealth of this world, this type of foresight is shortsightedness. There is more to life than having to survive in comfort on planet Earth. When each of us dies, then the eternal realm is our habitation forever. Those who love the truth will be permitted to live in the light of life and enjoy what God has to offer—the biographical account of Job is for real. When the eyes of hearts are opened, people realize they were born for more. Indeed, there is more in store—while those who hate the light, because their deeds are dishonest and corrupt, will suffer eternal punishment.

A Not So Grim Experience after All

My mother-in-law on two separate occasions tried to gouge both my eyes out. She hated me (as if with a vengeance) and succeeded in ruining my marriage. The last year of her life was spent in agony as cancer spread through her bowels into her pancreas, gall bladder and, finally, her liver.

A few days before my mother-in-law died, she forgave me of what she held against me and asked Jesus Christ to become her Lord and Savior. One hour later, she was heading into hospital in an ambulance.

On the Monday, when I was in hospital at her bedside, all she could do was nod her head and smile. She did not appear to be able to speak. She looked at me and clasped my hand in hers. I saw the pupils of both her eyes become lights and the words “I love you” beamed from them.

When I looked up from her, the hospital room wall behind her bed seemed like open space and two very large figures clothed in black hoods appeared. Instead of having faces, the black hoods contained an even deeper darkness that appeared to churn. The idea that these were grim reapers (demons of death) flashed into my mind.

Before I could have a second thought, an angel appeared between the grim reapers and my mother-in-law. All I could see of the angel was his outstretched bronzed hands placed in front of the deep darkness of their faces. This angel had large white feathered wings on his back. I could not see his head but the sleeves of the garment that clothed his arms were white. Amazingly, the vision that was before me did not change and stayed there even as I left the hospital room—the angel of God holding back two grim reapers that had come to receive an old lady into her already arranged eternal home; except, as the clock was about to strike midnight, she had a change of address. She had been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.—Praise God!

My mother-in-law died physically and left her mortal body that night.

I have no doubt in my mind that if my mother-in-law had not repented of her sins and asked Jesus Christ for forgiveness and received the gift of the Holy Spirit into her life that Friday afternoon before she was taken to hospital, she was going to Hell.[v]

Life is More Than Living for Ourselves

The Third Commandment tells us that life is more than living for ourselves. This is because the Creator is not someone Who is to be ignored. We were created for a purpose, one that is our prerogative to discover. It may seem strange that we speak of being created when in fact we were born of our parents. But the first parents had to be created; therefore we can say we were all created in them; at least, genetically and biologically. As for the spirit that God creates and places in us at birth, this makes God our Creator on a personal level. This also makes us accountable to Him.

In the beginning, there was the Creator Who created life, and human beings were one of the life forms that were created. People consider life to be precious—even sacred—and will do anything to avoid death, yet overlook the fact that death reigns in this world. Since death reigns, the only hope to finding life is to get in touch with the source of life, Who just happens to be the Creator. Since this is so obvious—at least to those of us who are honest with ourselves—it is perplexing that people will acknowledge there has to be a Creator and yet fail to seek Him out—to put their trust in His wisdom and guidance.

The Righteous Judge

The Third Commandment also highlights the fact that God is a righteous judge. The fact that God will not hold a person guiltless, who takes His name in vain, has to do with people dishonoring Him and thereby turning other people away from seeking Him out. Because of the hypocrisy of people through the ages, the name of God has been blasphemed and held in disrepute by those who are born into traditions where the Creator is not acknowledged.  All who claim to be Christians or Jews, who are not genuine when they say they believe in God, will be held accountable. Because to say we believe in God and not be forgiving of others is tantamount to unbelief. This can also apply to the Muslim who believes that the God of Abraham is the One whom he worships.[vi] Taking the name of God and not respecting the life of another person is the same as disregarding one’s own life, since man was made in the image of God. That image is not to be found in a mirror, nor is it to be found in the ability to exercise power. There is more to life than a woman’s fading beauty and a man’s money as his source of power; for the richness of life is found in principled living. Above all, God requires people to be accountable for what they say or do. There are no exceptions.

The Third Commandment instructs us that God honors His word and expects us to do the same. When we call upon the name of the Lord God Almighty, Creator of the Universe, we must accept the reality of the truth that He is all-powerful, all-knowing and ever-present. We cannot hide from God, and we cannot afford to be insincere in our affections, or in our declarations of what we intend to do. We need to be honest and true to ourselves by acknowledging God alone has the power to give life. This truth we cannot afford to disregard, and need to hold it foremost in our minds.

My own confession is that I am guilty of hypocrisy and deceit and have sinned against God and our Lord Jesus and the Body of Christ by not walking as directed in the Spirit. I am guilty of profaning the name of God. I can only acknowledge the truth that God’s name has been profaned and blasphemed by other people because of my own unholy behavior. However, praise the Lord God! Even I was able to repent, just as we all can. For Jesus died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6). You and I both have an advocate in Lord Jesus, and although we might fall, we are upheld by His hand (Psalm 37:23-24). We can only be ever thankful for the love and favor of our Father in Heaven, which is directed towards us through our Lord Jesus Christ and His everlasting blood that cleanses us from all sin as we have fellowship with one another (1 John 1:7). This we can do if we walk in the light as He is in the Light.

NEXT CHAPTER

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[i] The Jew, George Soros, set a new benchmark for a day’s pay when he made $1 billion short selling the British pound on September 16, 1992.

[ii]As for Moses being a myth, Archeologist Ron Wyatt has found artifacts that pinpoint the crossing of the Red Sea, chariots, horse bones, human bones and more…Wyattmuseum.com.

[iii] At the time of writing, Aspinalls is now a part of the Crown Casino consortium run by Packer’s son.

[iv] You have to admit, this man was no hypocrite. He practiced what he believed, and in the end, you could say he received because he believed. God did not hold him guiltless.

[v] Surely, it is far better to die of cancer and go to Heaven, than spend eternity in Hell, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.

[vi] The name of Allah may be that of a desert Jin, but if a Muslim conceptualizes that the God he is worshiping is the God of Abraham, the Creator of the Universe and the Judge of all the Earth, then regardless of the fact he calls God, Allah, instead of YHWH, there is every possibility that he will find Jesus Christ and be saved—many do.  But how many more are guilty of calling out what they believe to be God’s name in vain.