Most people tend to use the term “jealous” instead of “envious” when discussing feelings of envy toward others. To be jealous of someone or something is to be possessive and protective of one’s rights, rather than longing for something that one does not have.
The idea of our Heavenly Father being a jealous God is often misunderstood. A common misconception is that this means God is full of wrath and bent on taking vengeance against sinners. While it is true that God is possessive and protective of what belongs to Him, when it comes to sinners, our Heavenly Father desires for us to experience a relationship with Him and enjoy His favor (Romans 5:6-11). When we decide to put our complete trust in God and accept the truth, we will find that He is very jealous of His Word, which has been implanted in us—the pearl of great price (cf. James 1:21; Matthew 13:45-46).
The
Second Commandment
“You shall not make for yourselves a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments”—Exodus 20:4-6.
Deliberate
Deception
The Second Commandment is omitted in publications of a certain Christian denomination. The denomination’s writers claim that the Second Commandment forms part of the First Commandment and need not be mentioned. To accommodate this removal of the Second Commandment, the church authorities have split the last commandment to form the ninth and tenth commandments in their version of the Decalogue. Tragically, Christian-ity is judged by many according to the actions of various church authorities, rather than being judged according to what our Lord Jesus Christ has done. However, if we are seeking the truth, the key is to read the Bible for ourselves and pray to God to reveal Himself to us and show us the truth.
Bowing
Before Images
It is understandable why a Christian denomination would have an aversion to including the Second Commandment in its list of the Ten Commandments if the church’s practices involve having carved images and statues of people placed throughout its buildings and teaching people to pray before them. Decorating buildings with images of deceased individuals for veneration is rather strange behavior for any church that claims to be the protector of the true faith, especially when God prohibits bowing down before carved images or any representation of any likeness of anything, as stated in the Second Commandment.
There is an argument defending the practice of making images based on the premise that not all people can read or write. The argument suggests that individuals who cannot read or write may understand the gospel message better if they can see images of the people being spoken about. Images of the deceased are also said to convey the truth of the resurrection and thereby encourage faith. While this argument is insidiously deceptive, it is also quite plausible; if people cannot read and write, then a pictorial means of conveying the gospel is the next best thing. This way, people can see the images in pictures, carved figurines, and statues and know in what they are placing their faith. Even today, in areas where most people can read and write, certain denominations claim that having icons of cherubs and other religious artifacts is helpful in assisting people’s faith and should not be abolished because they are not icons of other gods.
The difficulty with this view is that faith comes from hearing, and the Bible teaches that we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Consequently, there does not appear to be any need for carved statues within a meeting hall or church building.
Bible-believing congregations do not even have a carved figure repre-enting Jesus on a cross to depict His death, let alone other images. Often, a cross is placed at the front of the church, but not with an image depicting Jesus being crucified. Bible-believing congregations have a cross only for this reason: Jesus is no longer on the cross. Jesus has risen from the dead. This is what the true faith is about—the resurrection of the dead.
Offending denominations have their authorities argue that the images are in line with the Old Testament practice of constructing objects for liturgical purposes. The Ark of the Covenant was adorned with golden cherubim (Exodus 25:18-20), and Solomon’s Temple was adorned with carved fruits, flowers, trees, and cherubim (1 Kings 6:18, 29, 32, 34-35). In the courtyard, there was a bronze basin supported by twelve carved bronze oxen. While these may be religious objects used to adorn the temple, they were not symbols to be worshiped, bowed before, or venerated in any other manner, and certainly not created to receive prayer requests.
However, the most convincing argument to justify devotion and prayer directed toward religious objects is supposedly the bronze serpent that was placed on a pole by Moses. This bronze serpent is said to have saved from death all who were bitten by poisonous snakes when they looked at it (Numbers 21:8-9). What these religious authorities overlook is that the people in the wilderness were saved through faith by being obedient to the Word of the Lord (i.e., the obedience of faith—Romans 1:5; 16:26) and by understanding what the bronze serpent represented (i.e., their sin being dealt with on the cross), rather than by the bronze serpent itself. The truth is that the Ark of the Covenant and all the other practices of the Mosaic covenant and Solomon’s Temple have been done away with because the true reality of Jesus Christ has now been revealed. As Jesus implied, He is the serpent on the pole, who takes away the sting of sin—the poisonous bite of death—through His death and resurrection. To quote Jesus:
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).
As for Jesus being lifted up, this does not mean as a figurine on the cross, but in the praises of the congregation, because He has risen from the dead and lives forevermore.
Religious organizations that have used all manner of deceptions in the past to control congregations still justify their use of images and statues. The fact that people looked at a serpent on a pole is not seen as a typology of Jesus becoming the mediator for all humankind. Instead, because people were healed in the days of Moses from poisonous snakebites by looking at an image on a pole, images of canonized saints and the Holy Family are taught to be just as potent. This is because the saints are part of the resurrection. Being now in Heaven, religious authorities claim that saints can be called upon to petition God on behalf of the person seeking assistance. The authorities assert that people are not taught to worship the carved images or statues that adorn the church sanctuaries. Nevertheless, the festivals in honor of various saints and the Madonna are encouraged. The reality is that people actually bow before images and adore them without correction. This is forbidden.
Praying
To Saints
According to the Bible, there is only one mediator between man and God, and that is Lord Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5). In this case, praying to saints or anyone else to mediate on our behalf begins to resemble contacting other gods and constitutes a form of idolatry. For those who would argue that men are not gods, the truth is that the Bible states men are gods and not irrational creatures of instinct; they are created in the image of God and given a spirit. Gods are spirit beings, and so are we, even though we might also be biological beings and possess a soul. Praying to saints is the same as seeking out other gods.
Praying to saints also raises the issue of seeking the dead. In the book of Deuteronomy, chapter eighteen, verses ten and eleven, practices performed by many religions around the world are forbidden. These include walking through fire, practicing divination, being a soothsayer, an augur, a sorcerer, or one who casts spells, as well as consulting ghosts or spirits, or seeking help from the dead.
Much depends on what a person believes. If someone subscribes to the belief that nobody really ceases to exist, then the idea of a person who has died physically still being capable of hearing prayers becomes plausible.
When a person dies, the spirit lives on in the eternal realm of habitation. What is astounding is how a human being could, in all honesty, believe he is endowed with the power on Earth to canonize saints to hear prayers, perform miracles, and administer blessings. One would think that if a person had such powers, he would have the ability to perform miracles and administer proven divine blessings upon people. But this is not the case, as there is no evidence of the Pope doing this.
However, anyone seeking help from a person who has died is committing a gross transgression of what God has forbidden people to do. This is true even if the Pope has canonized the deceased person as a saint. We are not to seek help from those who have died. We are not to seek help from anyone who has passed away whom we might think has eternal life and, therefore, has not really died; a person who is counted among the living. We are only to seek help through our Lord Jesus Christ
.An example of the difference between praying to a saint and praying to the only mediator between God and man is evidenced in the account of Maria and Nuncio. Nuncio suffered from large skin ulcers that covered his body for over twelve months, and medical science had no answers for his condition. He sought help from our Lord Jesus Christ, and a few days after having prayer for healing, he was completely healed. Nuncio received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, gaining the assurance of eternal life, and his mind was transformed. When he died, he could look forward to spending eternity in the Kingdom of God.
Maria was a very religious woman who prayed to St. Antonio, who was canonized in the year 1232 CE by Pope Gregory IX and made a Doctor of the Church in 1946 CE by Pope Pius XII. Over a twenty-year period, I saw Maria buckle over as a hunchback to such an extent that, when standing, her chin was below her knees. To look at people, she had to twist her neck and tilt her head upwards at an angle. This gave the impression that she was a hybrid human (part alien—like one of the aliens from the movie Men in Black[i]). When her husband Nuncio was miraculously healed after asking Jesus for healing and receiving Him as Lord, she still refused to stop praying to St. Antonio. Eventually, Maria could no longer walk, and she tragically refused to pray to our Lord Jesus Christ—even unto her death!
Queen
Of Heaven
Another teaching condemned in the Bible is the idea of Mary being the Queen of Heaven. God condemned this ancient Egyptian teaching when speaking through the prophet Jeremiah:
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying: ‘You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands, saying, “We will surely keep our vows that we have made, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” You will surely keep your vows and perform your vows!’ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by My great name,’ says the Lord, ‘that My name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “The Lord God lives.” ‘Behold, I will watch over them for adversity and not for good.’” (Jeremiah 44:25-27).
There is no queen in Heaven and the Lord God in Heaven, whose Son is the King of Kings, condemns the concept.
Mother
Of God
A greater abomination than the concept of there being a Queen of Heaven is the teaching that the Virgin Mary is the Mother of God. Not only is the Virgin Mary called the Queen of Heaven, but she is also referred to as the Mother of God. This implies that God is beholden to a woman who was the offspring of a man. What this actually tells us is that certain Christian denom-inations promote an element of manmade religion and are not necessarily the true religion that provides light to mankind and a path to the true God. No wonder strict adherents of the Islamic religion are so anti-Christ. The Muslim imams are outraged by the abominations in the Roman Catholic Church, even though the Quran acknowledges that Jesus was born of Mary while she was still a virgin. The Orthodox Church and the Coptic Church do not fare much better; they too venerate Mary with statues erected in their places of worship. They ought to acknowledge that Mary needed a Savior (Luke 1:47) because she suffered from the human plight of sin, making it impossible for her to be the mother of the Holy God Almighty, in whom alone dwells immortality (1 Tim. 6:16).
True
Religion
True religion is about worshiping the only true Creator God, and this can only be done in spirit and truth (John 4:24). This has nothing to do with statues or representations of art, for true worship is only possible if we have a personal relationship with our Heavenly Father through the Lord Jesus Christ by means of the Holy Spirit. Being baptized in the Holy Spirit is the very heart of the Christian message, for this baptism is the one that was promised by the prophet Joel, John the Baptist, and Jesus Himself.
In the Second Commandment, God makes a point of including three dominions that are known to man. These are the heavens above, the surface of the planet Earth, and the waters below the surface. People worshiped stars and signs that might appear in the heavens; they also worshiped whatever was found on the Earth’s surface, along with imaginary creatures of the deep that supposedly existed in the seas, lakes, and rivers below the Earth’s surface (e.g., Hades in Greece; Neptune in Rome). Humanity’s tendency toward delusions is clearly stated by the Apostle Paul:
“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the Creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!” (Romans 1:20-25).
The Second Commandment was given to the Israelites to address this tendency towards Creation worship, and it still applies to us today.
God
Tempts No One
It needs to be borne in mind that God does not actually come down from Heaven to punish people. In particular, it should be noted that God allows people to follow the decisions of their hearts. James, the half-brother of Jesus, points this out and describes the process of what happens when people are left to follow the desires of their hearts but do not seek the Lord:
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death” (James 1:13-15).
This process of temptation was evident when Adam and Eve broke faith with God. We are informed that when Eve looked and “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate” (Genesis 3:6). Eve had to reason out whether she was going to keep faith with God and Adam or go her own way. Unfortunately, the desire to become wise like God was too strong for her to resist as she continued to listen to the voice of the Prince of the Power of the Air (Ephesians 2:2).
The
Cosmic Struggle
Even though there is a cosmic struggle going on for the spirits and souls of men and women, God is not going to give up easily. The battleground is played out in the minds of every man, woman, and child. Each one of us has been given the power to choose for ourselves whom we will follow: the Prince of the Power of the Air or the Lord God of Creation.
Understanding what is actually going on in the hidden realms of the spiritual domain of existence gives us the ability to make informed decisions and exercise the power within us to take control of our own destiny. God is ever-present, dealing justly with every person and trying to bring people to Himself. This is evident in the second part of the Second Commandment, which states:
“…for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments” (Exodus 20:5b-6).
The
Human Soul
Every person is conceived through a biological process—the union of a male sperm cell and a female ovum—resulting in the formation of a physical body. Yet beyond the realm of biology, there is something far greater at work. At birth, God gives each child both a soul and a spirit. The soul is the seat of consciousness and identity, while the spirit is a divine gift—an eternal spark that God jealously longs for with deep love (James 4:5, Amplified Bible). God does this in the hope that each child, through the journey of life, will seek the true Lord of life: the Word of God, who took on human form.
This incarnation—the moment when the eternal Word of God entered human history—did not occur within Mary’s womb, as some suggest, but at birth. Scripture affirms that a body was prepared for Him (Hebrews 10:5), and into that body, the pre-existent Word entered. This Word is none other than the eternal Son of God, spoken of in Proverbs 30:4 and Revelation 19:13.
The child born to Mary can be compared to both Noah’s ark and the Ark of the Covenant. Just as the ark was built before becoming the vessel of salvation, and the Ark of the Covenant was fashioned before being filled with God’s glory, so too was the body of Jesus formed before it was indwelt by the divine Word (cf. Psalm 139:14). The glory of God was veiled within this human frame, hidden from view except in moments such as the Trans-figuration, when Jesus' face shone like the sun in the presence of Peter, James, and John (Matthew 16:28–17:2; 2 Peter 1:16–18).
In contrast to this divine humility, the pride of man mirrors the "survival of the fittest" mentality—the ethos of the jungle and of fallen humanity. Psalm 31:23 declares, "Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride." In other words, the one who lives by the flesh, soulish desires, or ego-driven self-preservation stands in opposition to God's will.
However, pride is not always destructive. There is a degenerative pride—rooted in ego and rebellion—but there is also a healthy form of pride that fosters resilience, growth, and a sense of identity. This positive pride motivates individuals to pursue goals, overcome adversity, and cultivate a healthy self-image.
Psychologist Erik Erikson, in Childhood and Society (1963), wrote, “In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of ego identity. Deprivation of identity can lead to murder.”
What Erikson identifies as ego identity aligns with the soul—the unique, personal essence of a human being. This soul is shaped either by the influence of “the Prince of the Power of the Air” (Ephesians 2:2), who works in the sons of disobedience, or by the transforming power of God through the baptism of death and new life (Romans 6:4; Mark 10:38).
The soul—the person—must learn to manage internal conflicts that arise in response to external pressures. It must wrestle with temptation, pride, fear, and insecurity. Yet, because humans are created with the capacity for reflection and moral reasoning, we are also capable of choosing trans-formation. The goal is to become authentic individuals—“living stones” shaped by divine purpose—rather than man-made bricks produced by the demands of culture and conformity.
God puts a spirit within each child at birth, which He attaches to the soul. This spirit is something God jealously yearns for with a deep love (James 4:5 AMP). God does this in the hope that each child will grow up and choose eternal life by seeking out the true Lord of life—the Word of God who entered the body of Mary’s baby (cf. Hebrews 10:5). This Christ-event occurred not before the fetus was born, as some people like to hypothesize,[ii] but at birth, when the body of the baby Jesus had been prepared for Him. The Word of God is the pre-existent Son of God, spoken of in the book of Proverbs, chapter thirty, verse four, and Revelation, chapter nineteen, verse thirteen.
Generational
Sin
When God says He is a jealous God who visits the iniquity of people to the third and fourth generation, this is not to be seen as punishment, but rather as an act of mercy. The reason this is an act of mercy is that each generation has the opportunity to see the futility of a sinful life and is given a chance to repent from sin and turn to the Living God.
In some cases, it may be the older generation that repents. I witnessed this when a seventy-two-year-old man heard a twenty-two-year-old man curse God with such vulgarity that he was grieved in heart and, consequently, asked Jesus Christ to forgive him for his own sins.
Sometimes it is the younger generation that becomes appalled by what the older generation is doing. To this, I can also testify.
I once worked with a person we will call John. I actually boarded with his aunt for a while and shared the same room with him. I was fifteen years old at the time, and John was eighteen. One day, his father visited us and then went out with John. The next night, John’s father knocked on the door of my abode, complaining that he had been locked out of his premises and that his son was in bed with his unwed partner. The following weekend, John took me around to meet his unwed (de facto) stepmother. When we arrived at her apartment, to my surprise, there was one of my bosses and another man, the boss’s cousin. They, too, had decided to get in on the act. I was so sickened by what I saw going on. There were little children running around the premises while their mother was drunk. She had been entertaining the two men in the bedroom just before we arrived. I left and, with tears in my eyes, began talking to God about the situation as I walked home alone.
In John’s case, I cannot comment on how the iniquity ran down to the third and fourth generation. One thing I do know is that a number of years later, he crashed a stolen car and was trapped behind the steering wheel. A voice told him to get out of the car, which he did. He was not caught for stealing the car, but he did find himself in trouble with the law for another matter and spent time in prison. John began to look to God because of his imprisonment and subsequent events. Then one day, he decided he did not want to look to God anymore. It was as if God was giving him every chance to seek Him out, especially considering that his de facto stepmother had seduced him when he was thirteen years old.
The last I heard of John, he had been caught in an adulterous relationship with someone’s wife, and to avoid a beating, he jumped off a three-story balcony. When John landed on the concrete below, he smashed both the heels of his feet—so badly that he now has to walk in calipers. Evidently, when John jumped, he did not know the property was built on a gully and therefore was three floors high at the back, as he had come through what appeared to be the ground floor entrance at the front of the apartment block.
A
Woman’s View Of Generational Sin
To help us understand how the process of generational sin works, we shall consider what psychoanalyst Helene Deutsch describes in The Psychology of Women (Vol. 1).[iii] In this work, she analyzes the three central women characters (Maria, Olga, and Genia) in the book Ways of Lovey, because she senses that they are based on the direct experience of the writer, and believes these three generations coexist historically; because every generation usually has a grandmother, mother and grandchild living at the same time.
What we find is Maria, the grandmother in this saga, possesses similarities with the real-life writer Alexandra Kollontai,[iv] a famed Russian political leader during the years of the Russian Revolution at the beginning of the twentieth century.
First Generation (Maria): Maria begins her break from tradition by marry-ing against her parents’ advice and has two children with her husband. However, she falls in love with another man, forsaking her first husband and children to marry a second time. After discovering her second husband having an affair with the milkmaid, who becomes pregnant, she leaves him, taking her child, Olga, with her.
Second Generation (Olga): Olga grows up fatherless and seeks the atten-tion of older men, entering into a sexual relationship with a much older man who is later deported, leaving her homeless. She is then employed by Marhk,[v] married engineer, as a governess. Despite Marhk appearing happily married with five children, Olga becomes pregnant by him, wrecking his marriage. She later meets Comrade Romahn,[vi] with whom she lives, while also maintaining her affair with Marhk, resulting in the birth of a daughter named Genia.
Third Generation (Genia): Genia has sexual relations with her stepfather, Comrade Romahn, and becomes pregnant. The unwanted child is aborted. Had this child lived, it would have been Maria’s first great-grandchild.
What we see here is the sin of each generation increasing in magnitude until the resultant abortion of the child from a prohibited incestuous affair (Leviticus 18:17). The aborted great-grandchild would have been the third generation from Maria, the grandmother of Genia, who started the chain of iniquity with her first act of adultery. However, the aborted child would have been the fourth generation related to that sin of adultery.
This illustrates how the Lord God visits iniquity to the third and fourth generation. The line of iniquity is cut off at the fourth generation, preventing the wickedness from increasing further.[vii]
God
is in control
God could easily wipe out every person who sins. However, He has decided to work within the framework of the conditions that currently exist. God does this to prove that He Himself is righteous and justifies the ungodly through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-25).
For many, the idea of God needing to prove that He is righteous is outrageous. What is important for us to understand is that unless our Heavenly Father is righteous, there is no hope for any of us. Fortunately, the sin issue has been resolved through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the ransom price to redeem the Earth and its inhabitants from the god of this world, the Prince of the Power of the Air—that is, Lucifer, the Devil, who is Satan, the accuser of God and those who accept His redemption.
The second part of the sin issue is the final judgment, when an eternal monument (cf. Revelation 20:10) is locked in place for Creation to witness and acknowledge. Forever and ever, all of Creation will see the evidence of the righteous judgment of God after He demonstrates His faithfulness and mercy to the lost and delivers justice for all according to their deeds.
God
Longs For Us To Return To Him
When the archangel Lucifer decided to break faith with God and chal-lenged Him by deceiving Eve and thereby trapping Adam into breaking faith with the Father, he gained the right to have dominion over the Earth. In heeding the voice of someone other than God, Adam and Eve forfeited their right to continue as Lord—and Lady (if you like)—over their domain on planet Earth.
Lucifer’s main aim these days is to keep people from discovering the truth about existence and finding salvation by returning to God through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The reason why God allows Satan to have dominion over the Earth is that He Himself is righteous. God has to demonstrate that He is a lawful Creator who is principled and does not break His own Word. If God were to break His own Word, He would cease to be righteous, holy, and worthy of worship by Creation.
It needs to be understood that God does not enjoy seeing people suffer, for our Heavenly Father loves every human being. The Bible says that our Father in Heaven even hates the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23; 33:11).
The Lord God Almighty created men and women with free will so that they would come to the realization that to know the Father and fellowship with Him is better than life itself. The Lord God gives each person every chance to know the truth and come to the knowledge of salvation. Right now, a war is taking place for the hearts and minds of us all. Satan and his agents are seeking souls to destroy. Our Lord Jesus wants us to obey Him and be saved from destruction. However, we did not ask to be born, so we must be given every chance possible to make it to Heaven.
The account of Abraham tells us that he believed God was the true Judge of the Earth (Genesis 18:25) and that, as a righteous judge, He would always do what is right. This means that God would overlook ignorance and consider every mitigating circumstance to show mercy to all who are prepared to be merciful themselves (Matthew 5:7). The scenario is one of the evil Lucifer trying to ruin the lives of men, women, and children and turn them against God. Meanwhile, God is calling all men and women to a better life by experiencing an intimate relationship with Himself.
What this means for us is that God will do whatever He can to bring us to salvation without overriding our will. He has to do this to prove that He Himself is righteous (Rom. 3:25; 1 John 2:12). To this extent, God overlooks our ignorance in every situation (Acts 17:30) as He extends His grace toward every person who is born. While God yearns jealously over the spirit that He places in us, this does not mean that we cannot be lost eternally and separated from our Creator. Just as God has prepared Hell for Lucifer and his angels, all who decide to reject the truth and follow the ways of the world will be cast into Hell, although this is not what our Heavenly Father desires. God desires all men to come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). Thank you, Lord Jesus!
The
Doers Of God’s Law Will Be Justified
“For there is no partiality with God. For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, rather it is the doers of the Law who will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law is written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus” (Romans 2:11-16—NASB).
Amazingly, everybody has the ability to discern right from wrong without being taught through guided instruction. The spirit that God places within us enables each of us to think and make judgments about whether our actions are right or wrong. Simply put, no person likes to be hurt; therefore, it goes without saying that it would not be right to hurt another unless there is a just cause. The idea that there might be a just cause implies that we have reasoned out the difference between what is just and what is unjust. This means that the spirit within us provides us with a conscience that alerts us when something appears unjust—at least until our conscience is seared (cf. 1 Timothy 4:2) and incapable of feeling any prick or goad (cf. Acts 26:14).
We
All Have A Conscience
The word “conscience” means “with knowledge.” True knowledge means “to know the edge” and requires understanding the limitations and boundaries of a given thing. When we know the edge of what is right, we also discover the edge of what is wrong. Our ability to know resides in our spirits and is sharpened by truth.
Our spirits are like pre-programmed software upon which we can write whatever we like. When we make a conscious entry, we will always be prompted for our next response. However, entries are being made every split second of our existence, and like any software, we can retrieve what has been recorded. This is the case, except when bugs interfere, preventing us from having instant recall. Another reason we may not have instant recall is that we have not been trained to develop this ability. Metaphorically speaking, one could say we all have a photographic memory before someone stole the film. Seriously, though, unlike the beekeeper who knows how to collect honey from the beehive, we do not know how to load, remove, and develop the film. Not having a brilliant memory is not restricted to our inability to use the software or develop the photographs; it also has nothing to do with loading the film. There are several psychological and biological reasons for memory loss, such as when a person suffers amnesia from post-traumatic stress (PTS), or from Alzheimer’s or dementia due to malfunctioning neurons.
Memory loss is probably more accurately described as a loss of memory recall. Our spirits record everything we do and say, as well as all the information that comes our way. This is why it is possible for hypnotists to place people in a hypnotic trance and help them recall forgotten events with remarkable detail, even though they are not consciously aware of them. This store of memories also explains why people will easily be judged on that great day of reckoning, where they will be held accountable not only for everything they have done but also for the thoughts and intentions behind their actions, and for every careless word they have uttered. This might seem hard to believe, but Jesus considered it a matter of fact and did not mince His words when He said, “I tell you, on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:36).
Our conscious mind readily recalls the information that we repeatedly concentrate on or churn over in our thoughts. There are two reasons for this. One is that our brain cells create pathways to recall information through regular use. The second reason is that the intentions of our hearts are formed when we focus on our desires, shaping our predilections and orientation in life, which creates what is known as a mindset. Consequently, information that aligns with the frame of reference within our mindset is easier for us to recall than isolated facts.
Our spirits are endowed with a desire to be united with God the Creator. Unfortunately, the Prince of the Power of the Air also gains access to our spirits—through sin—and he does his best to undermine our natural desire to secure our roots with our Heavenly Father. Satan does this by luring us away from seeking truth to pursue egotistical and vain lusts for material goods. In this way, we become caught up in physical wantonness, self-promotion, self-exaltation, and personal delusions, instead of finding God.
The method by which we program our orientation towards sinful passions is the same for everything we do—repetition reinforces both desire and ability, developing within us a natural inclination towards particular sins that become difficult to break free from. When we make a choice to do something, several factors contribute to that choice. These factors involve seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting, as well as how we react emotionally to a situation. A pleasant experience will draw us towards repeating that experience, while an unpleasant or painful experience will tend to make us want to avoid similar situations. Yet, surprisingly, some people grow up in violent environments and become so conditioned by them that they feel uncomfortable in peaceful, relaxing surroundings. Others may be shaped by repeated events in their lives to become rebellious and antagonistic, only feeling comfortable when they can make other people’s lives miserable.
When the same iniquity is passed down from the third generation to the fourth generation, the generational line is cut off; otherwise, evil would rule, our consciences would be seared, and we would self-destruct as a race of human beings. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit is trying to draw us all towards our Heavenly Father and encourage us to see that goodness and mercy are better than evil and injustice. It is God’s hope that we will seek Him out because we are repulsed by the injustice and evil that exist in the world.
God
Always Lets Us Decide
When Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, refused to let the Israelites go, God brought plagues upon the nation. Each plague was designed to encourage Pharaoh to make the decision to release the people. If Pharaoh did not recognize the hand of the Almighty God at work, the opposite would happen, and he would harden his heart. God evidently knew which way Pharaoh was going to go (Exodus 4:21). However, God is just. In all fairness, Pharaoh had to be given every chance to make the right choice and repent at every level of the process.
The first sign and the first two introductory plagues that Moses performed in front of Pharaoh were able to be duplicated by the Egyptian ruler's own magicians, so he was unimpressed. The next seven plagues sent by God were progressively worse, none of which the Egyptian magicians were able to duplicate. Nevertheless, with each plague, Pharaoh hardened his heart a little more and refused to let God’s people go. Yet, with every plague, there was sufficient pain for Pharaoh to change his mind if he so desired.
The tenth and last plague inflicted upon the Egyptians was the overnight slaying of the firstborn child of every family. This got Pharaoh’s attention in a way that none of the other plagues had. Pharaoh could not get rid of the enslaved Hebrews quickly enough—the intensity of the pain was too much!
The Egyptian taskmaster had second thoughts once the Hebrew slaves had gone. The slaves represented a loss of cheap labor. More than this, since they were a large group and could seek vengeance, they also became a new threat. Besides, who knows what sort of mischief people will devise in a desert wilderness? Tormented in mind, Pharaoh thought the best option was to chase after the slaves and recapture them.
When people make decisions with the same intent, they develop a habitual state of mind that makes it difficult to allow anything different to occur. This is often called stubbornness. This is what happened to Pharaoh. He stubbornly refused to let the Hebrews go after each plague until the pain became too great to bear. Then, after having let the Hebrews go free, Pharaoh’s fears of their return to harm him for his unjust treatment created even more pain. For Pharaoh, adored as a living god, this would be an insult to injury too great to bear. Consequently, he pursued the Hebrews to enslave them once more.
Pharaoh’s decisions would have been based on what he perceived to be the facts. Facts can be true or misrepresented. More often than not, much depends on the interpretation of the facts. Misinterpretation leads to continued ignorance and, ultimately, greater pain. In Pharaoh’s case, he was given the chance to repent with each plague. Instead, he hardened his heart, probably because he believed that the plagues were of natural origin and that Moses had discovered some secret that his magicians had not yet learned. Pharaoh would have known his own limitations, even though he was worshiped as a god. Having only an anthropomorphic concept of godhood, rather than a divine revelation of God, Pharaoh probably did not believe Moses was in communion with the Lord God Almighty. Ultimately, Pharaoh’s decision to release his slaves appears to have been based on feelings of pain rather than knowledge. Until the slaying of all the firstborn children in Egypt, Pharaoh had not been inflicted with sufficient pain to cause him to release the Hebrews from slavery. Likewise, we often make our decisions more from pleasure or pain rather than from knowledge. There is pleasure to be found in the knowledge of the truth, but—as is evident in the account of Pharaoh—pain will motivate us more.
The pain of childbirth has been said to cause women to call upon God, whereas men are not given the same opportunity. In the Book of Genesis, when Enoch witnessed the birth of Methuselah, he began to walk with God. The reason for his decision to walk with God is not known. It may have been because of the pain he witnessed his wife suffer, or it may have been due to the pleasure he experienced at the birth of his child (King David wrote that in the presence of God, there is much pleasure). It may also have been that the presence of God was evident in the birth of Methuselah (who was to become the longest-living human), and Enoch found so much pleasure that he made a decision not to leave God’s presence. For we read: “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him” (Genesis 5:22-24).
Steadfast
Mercy
With this Second Commandment, God says that He will show steadfast mercy to those who love Him and keep His commandments, unto the thousandth generation. This does not mean that God only loves those who love Him; rather, we who love Him are those who appreciate mercy. As Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). When we show mercy to others, we are the ones who take it upon ourselves to extend the divine favor that has been given to us, allowing us to give glory to our Heavenly Father. The reason we need mercy ourselves is that we all need a chance to prove ourselves, and sometimes we need even more mercy because of our inability to overcome certain obstacles and our need to be strengthened to do so.
Whatever the case, God is merciful and gives us all ample opportunity to make up our own minds and accept the offer of mercy today, while we can. However, there will always be a day of reckoning if the right decisions are not made, as evidenced in the case of the Egyptian Pharaoh—for after death in this world, we must face eternal judgment. The Lord God Almighty only tolerates iniquity to the fourth generation, after which that particular lineage is discontinued.[viii] By this means, as strange as it might seem to our way of thinking, God has been able to preserve many of the nations of the world and set the boundaries of their habitation (Acts 17:26), while allowing people to have freedom of choice.
Genealogy
Of Those Who Found Faith
As for us, who desire to know God and demonstrate this by keeping His commandments—for nothing else matters much (1 Corinthians 7:19)—we extend this favor to the next generation. This favor is extended throughout the generations, and evidence of this is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. The genealogy from Abraham to Jesus Christ is not merely a record of physical descent; rather, it is a record of those who have found faith and who hold the promise of the gospel that was given to Abraham (Galatians 3:8). The genealogy records forty-two generations from Abraham to the Christ (Matthew 1:17), that is, the church—the body of Christ.[ix]
The Church of God began at Pentecost and has been growing, and will continue to grow, until Jesus returns to receive her as a Bride. As the book of Romans teaches, if we are faithful and keep God’s word in our hearts, then we are numbered among the children of Abraham, for he is the father of all who keep faith with the Lord. This also means that we, who maintain our faith, are counted among the generations of the faithful.
While we understand that the grace of God is extended to everyone, and that Jesus died so every person could have salvation, not all have accepted the gift of salvation that has been obtained for them through the death and resurrection of the only-begotten Son of God. This is why some of Abraham’s descendants are missing in the lineage down through King David to Jesus—some chose to go their own way, and in doing so, they forsook the promise of salvation; others were saved, at the last moment, by their deathbed repentance. Nevertheless, those saved prior to the death and resurrection of Jesus were saved through the sacrificial offering on the Cross of Calvary and have been raised from the dead. The book of Matthew records how the dead were raised after Jesus’ death:
“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Matt. 27:50-54).
A very important truth is expressed here about the resurrection of the righteous. Those who were saved from Hell and died prior to Jesus’ death and resurrection were kept in a place known among the Jews as Abraham’s Bosom, which is alluded to in the story about Lazarus and the Rich Man. The resurrection of the righteous (or just) has two stages. The Apostle Paul, discussing the resurrection in the book of First Corinthians, points this out:
“But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (1 Cor. 15:23).
Jesus had to be raised first before the saints (the firstfruits) who had died prior to His crucifixion could be raised from the dead. This is why they came out of the graves after Jesus’ resurrection. Those who belong to Jesus at His Second Coming will also be raised from the dead, just before those who are alive are caught up to meet Him in the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). Those who are raised from the dead at Jesus’ coming, and those who are alive and caught up to meet Him, all belong to the forty-second generation, which is the (Body of) Christ recorded in Matthew. This is why the genealogy of Matthew is different from the genealogy in Luke (ch. 3, vv. 23-38). Luke focuses on Jesus’ physical descent and the reason why it goes back to Adam. Matthew emphasizes the promise to Abraham and those who did not reject the truth. This is the reason it begins with Abraham, the father of the faithful (Romans 4:11-12, 16).
Lazarus
And The Rich Man
Death does not necessarily mean the cessation of existence itself. It may mean the cessation of existence as we know it on Earth, in our physical bodies. Physical death does not mean that our spirits and souls cease to exist (cf. Matt 10:28; Mk 9:48; 1 Thess. 5:23; Rev. 6:9). The reality for us on Earth is that death means there is no communication between those who have died physically and those who are alive on this planet.
Jesus illustrates the gulf that exists between the living and the dead by telling the story of Lazarus and the rich man:
“There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear [that is, believe] Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead’” (Luke 16:19-31 RSV).
Learning
To Recognize The Truth
If we do not recognize that the truth about life is expressed in the words of Moses—that is, how we should act towards each other and what God expects of us—the reality is that nothing else will convince us of our need to do what is right before God. This is why we see people growing up in Christian families and professing faith in God, but later demonstrating a lack of faith in Jesus Christ and beginning to accept the ways of the world, along with doctrines like the Theory of Evolution and other fabricated philosophies to explain existence.
The Second Commandment, therefore, provides instruction regarding God's expectations of us. It emphasizes how God truly cares about every person who lives, having given each of us free will so that we can choose whether or not we want to love our Lord, keep His commandments (1 John 5:3), and be numbered among those who are resurrected to eternal life.
The Second Commandment warns about the dangers of false ideas and teachings that are not in accord with a devotion to the true God of the Universe. Other than the Author of Life, we are not to worship anyone or anything that exists in the heavens or on planet Earth, including anything within the waters of the planet. It also states that we are not to bow down (or kneel) before any graven (sculptured) image of any likeness of anything in heaven or on Earth or from the waters below Earth’s surface. Such practices lead people astray from a pure devotion to the Lord our God and to looking for other means of forgiveness for sin (like performing unnecessary acts of penance or paying indulgences); therefore, the Bible instructs us not to do this. Jesus died for the remission of sins, and we are to look directly to Him for forgiveness so that we can receive the mercy of God to do what is required of us.
It is worth noting that the Bible teaches God has created the boundaries of man’s habitation. This applies to the extent a nation may have dominion over a given geographical area, as well as to the extent sin may reign in people’s hearts until it results in the death of the individual. The edict is that sin, when fully grown, brings forth death.
God jealously beholds His creation and is not prepared to let anyone destroy the purpose He has established; consequently, God ensures that iniquity is dealt with at the fourth generation. This is similar to fruit flies that mutate until they can no longer reproduce, except we are talking about morality and sin, not physical dysfunction. Stopping a particular sin at the fourth generation prevents it from continuing in that lineage and bringing about the destruction of humankind. Social dysfunction and anarchy are brought about by following the Prince of the Power of the Air, who reigns in the lives of those who disobey their conscience and follow the passions and lusts of their ungodly desires unto destruction.
Evidently, sin grows in magnitude as it passes from one generation to another. When we repent of our sins, we are changing more than our own ways; we are, in effect, assisting God in changing the course of history by helping to save other people from condemnation.[x]
Once, when I was going through a wilderness experience, I was seen on the racetrack by a boy who was selling papers there. The boy had gone with his mother to a church I had attended for two years, five years earlier. He watched me hand over a large sum of money to a bookmaker and heard the transaction being called out. A couple of years later, I saw this now seventeen-year-old coming out of a betting shop. I asked him what he was doing in there. His response was that he was putting money on a horse race. I advised him that it was a loser’s game. He replied, “Well, I saw you do it at the races. Besides, I won last time.”
When a person pursues the ways of the world that can lead to destructive outcomes, a younger person may watch and decide to follow. When a person turns away from the path of death, there is hope for others, as the ways of righteousness produce life and peace.
When it comes to nations, Israel was given every chance to participate in the changing of the world. Unfortunately, the people failed as a nation to do so.
Now a new nation of believers has been formed, according to the Apostle Peter: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Christians are given every opportunity to be lights to the world. This should not be a problem if we are all lit by the spark of life in Christ and filled with the anointing oil of the Holy Spirit. Our lights should shine before men, who will then be able to see our good works and give glory to our Heavenly Father (Matthew 5:16). For “the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, but lawlessness takes away lives” (Proverbs 11:30 RSV).
***
[i]Men in Black starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith and
its sequels are based on the comic series “Men In Black” about aliens that
infiltrate human civilization.
[ii] Many wrongly assume that when John the Baptist kicked as a babe in the womb of Elizabeth, the time she heard the sound of Mary’s voice, the eternal pre-existent WORD of GOD was inside Mary’s body, rather than the fact that this event was brought about by the Spirit of God that was hovering over Mary.
[iii] Helene Deutsch.The
Psychology of Womam: a psychoanalytic interpretation, Vol 1., Grune &
Stratton, New York, 1944, pp358-375.
[iv] Alexandra Kollontai
died in 1952, aged 80yrs. Her book Ways
of Lovey is virtually forgotten, whereas other writings of hers that please
the socialists are often quoted.
[v] Deutsch does not
provide a proper name only the initial M.
[vi] Deutsch does not
provide a proper name only the initial R.
[vii] Interestingly, after
Kollontai wrote Ways of Lovey, the
loose sexual morals that were abounding during the years of the Communist
Russian Revolution were purportedly frowned upon and a more conservative milieu
pervaded Russian society regarding sexual behavior and marriage.
[viii] Not every sin gets passed down the generational line and grows in magnitude. God has set a limit at the fourth generation, but many people repent of certain sins in the second and third generation, even though they may begin to get engrossed in new sins. While people sin, the sin often changes with each generation, and the sins of the previous generation do not get to grow.
[ix] The Genealogy of Matthew is that of the Promise to Abraham and only those who are included among the faithful are mentioned (some are deathbed repentances, but they are saved). This is why there are physical generational gaps. Furthermore, Jesus is the forty-first generation from Abraham. The Christ is the forty-second generation. This generation refers to the multitudes that number the stars, who are the descendants of Abraham by faith, who are baptized into the body of Christ.
[x] This point is
poignantly illustrated in the 1946 film, It’s
A Wonderful Life, starring James Stewart, Donna Reid and Lionel
Barrymore.—Recommended viewing.
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