The world is going to change, and what we are seeing happening with Muslims throughout the globe is but the beginning of a New World Order being implemented in these days. Lord Jacob Rothschild (now deceased) is on record as having said that the reason one of his trusts purchased the 1735 painting Boy Building a House of Cards by Jean-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779) in 2007 had to do with the September 2008 Global Financial Crisis. To quote Lord Jacob Rothschild from the BBC4 documentary The Aristocrats: The Rothschilds: "We acquired it because we saw clearly that in 2008, of course, the world's financial system was coming to an end, and we saw that coming."[i] (Is this foresight or foreknowledge?)
If you read the Bible and understand it, you will realize that the Ten Commandments are the milk of the Word; they are the milk of God's Word, and few Christians actually understand them. In this case, being perceptive, you can comprehend the reason so many people claiming to be Christians are not heard by God and do not get their prayers answered. Instead, they struggle in their walk and become weak in faith towards God, merely professing a belief and not actually knowing their Savior, because they have no abiding relationship with Him—Lord Jesus Christ!
The Ten Commandments alone will not save anybody. Nevertheless, they are needed for understanding so that people can move on from the first step towards growing in faith in Lord Jesus Christ and becoming mature Christians who honor their word, who are humble, and who exercise self-control in all things and at all times. Without knowledge, people miss out, suffer unnecessarily, and perish. Therefore, the Ten Commandments are essential to understand if we are to begin truly walking the walk that God desires for us (read Hebrews 5:7-6:1; Rom. 3:20; 7:7).
Some people like to believe that the Decalogue—the ten words written by the Finger of God and delivered by Moses—has been taken from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Babylonian Hammurabi’s Code of Laws, or some other ancient work. Apart from the fact that they do not want to accept the truth, the reason doubters and non-believers say this is that there are many similarities between the codes of behavior stipulated in those documents and the commandments, statutes, and laws that Moses delivered to the Israelites. From the outset, it is obvious that if people are going to live together and are disinclined to love each other, laws are needed to bring about justice and define what is acceptable behavior. This way, there is no excuse for people committing crimes and making arbitrary decisions that are unjust because they favor certain people over others. Unfortunately, partiality and injustice are evidenced today when celebrities, politicians, powerful executives, and businesspeople receive punishment that is more lenient for their criminal behavior than that of other individuals possessing less status and influence within the community.
The
Difference In The Mosaic Covenant
One feature that distinguishes the Mosaic Covenant from these other codes is that the civil laws were treated as a covenant between man and God, not just between man and man—when people sin against other people, they also sin against God. People like to distinguish between the religious and civil aspects of the Mosaic Covenant, but these laws were provided to the Israelites under a theocracy, not a monarchy like those of other nations at the time. As a theocracy, God expects a nation to govern itself as an earthly entity; this is why the Old Testament ethos appears to be so different from the New Testament ethos of the Kingdom of God.
The truth is that the Old Testament records how God was working out His salvific plan for humankind. The Mosaic Covenant provided a structure wherein a nation could exist within the favor of God among the other nations and have sociological guidance to exist peacefully, prosper, and be a testament to the blessing of the Almighty One. Ideally, this was so that the other nations would be drawn toward our Heavenly Father. As the Israelites could not live up to expectations, an environment was nevertheless being cultivated for the birth and rearing of the Son of God in human form, so the world might have the hope of salvation through Him.
Another feature of the Mosaic Covenant was the teaching about justice, mercy, faith, and the love of God that accompanied many of the ceremonial sacrifices and offerings. But more than this, the laws delivered by Moses were of a prophetic nature and incorporated promises that are not evidenced in the other codes. Many of the rituals were indicative of events that were to come and pointed to the salvation of God through the death and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ.
Heart
Surgery
One requirement of the Mosaic Code is that everyone must circumcise his or her heart. This alone sets the Mosaic Code apart from these other codes, for none has a requirement that every person must circumcise his or her heart. But this is a requirement for every person who calls himself or herself an Israelite, a Jew, or even a Christian. We can search any other writing deemed to be sacred religious Scripture, and we will not find this requirement; it is written only in the Bible.
John Wesley, who was mightily used by God, saw the circumcision of the heart as the difference in his own spiritual walk. Additionally, John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress graphically illustrates the journey toward this critical juncture in eternity, where the spirits of men are made perfect.
“Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe” (Deuteronomy 10:16-17).
This edict alone indicates that the Law given to Moses must have been given by the Author of Life Himself. When you think about it: Who would come up with the idea for everyone to circumcise his or her heart? This may work for a person who is to become a sacrificial offering to appease Molech or some other bloodthirsty pagan god. But from a human point of view, this is a preposterous proposition. For each one of us to have our hearts circumcised would mean death for all. This is why the concept is not found in the other religious writings and sacred scriptures of the manmade religions of the world. If circumcision of the heart is the requirement of God for us to be saved, then only Almighty God can do it. This is why we need to give God a chance to move in our lives and perform the required circumcision (Colossians 2:11).
What many of us Christians fail to realize is the significance of the Mosaic Covenant overall in relation to prophecy and the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. The book of Deuteronomy talks about blessings and curses. What is cursed brings misfortune and ill will, while what is blessed brings good fortune and positive feelings about life. These blessings and curses are prophetic in nature and help us grasp the manner in which we ought to conduct ourselves. They also require us to understand what justice, mercy, and faith mean. Therefore, along with the rest of the Scriptures, understanding the truth of the Ten Commandments can only benefit us—even though, contrary to many people’s belief, it is impossible to understand the Bible without understanding the only words that were written by the Finger of God, for they are the plumb line from which to begin to build an understanding of God’s plan and purpose for our lives.
Mitigation
Of Offences
In many respects, it is common sense that if we want to have friends, we should not steal from people, bear false witness against them, commit adultery with their husbands or wives, or murder any of them. Just these four prohibitions should be sufficient for us to live in a civil community and show respect toward each other as human beings. Instead, people commit murder, bear false witness against each other, steal from one another, and commit adultery on a wholesale basis. The reasons for this behavior are often minimized in today’s society because the person committing the offense at the time was drunk or high on drugs and was not really in control of his or her faculties. If the reasons for committing these offenses are not mitigated by substance abuse, they are often attributed to emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, or parental neglect during childhood. In certain instances, even ethnic culture is proffered as an excuse for delinquent behavior and is considered sufficient reason for a lack of responsibility or any need to be held accountable.
Punishment
and Discipline
When people talk of punishment today, they often use the word “discipline”. This is because the one who controls the hearts and minds of those who love the world hates discipline, and causes those who are lost to regard this as punishment. Punishment may be a part of the discipline process, but discipline goes beyond punishment. Discipline also incorporates teaching, modeling and training. What is construed as punishment can be used as a negative motivator to point people to the advantages of being trained correctly, but it is only a part of the disciplinary process. For punishment is used only as a means to address a refusal to learn correct procedures or comply with acceptable behavior.
Negative Motivation
When people talk about punishment today, they often use the word “discipline.” This is because those who control the hearts and minds of those who love the world hate discipline and cause those who are lost to regard it as punishment. Punishment may be a part of the disciplinary process, but discipline goes beyond punishment. Discipline also incorporates teaching, modeling, and training. What is construed as punishment can be used as a negative motivator to point people to the advantages of being trained correctly, but it is only a part of the disciplinary process. Punishment is used only as a means to address a refusal to learn correct procedures or comply with acceptable behavior.
Positive
Motivation
Negative motivators can be physical or emotional. Negative physical motivators can include deprivation of physical needs, such as drink, food, or sleep, or the requirement of extended effort in the form of additional exercise regimes, performing extra cleaning chores, spending more time in less preferred locations (like at school), or engaging in laborious activities or sentry duty. Negative emotional motivators can involve the loss of simple pleasures, such as certain types of drink, food, clothing, outings, privileges, or other pleasures that do not physically deprive a person of any basic need but create a feeling of loss rather than the pleasure of a reward. Negative motivation does not arise from grouping people with like interests together, where they can turn deprivation into a quasi-committee meeting for the furtherance of antisocial activities. Yet this seems to be the preferred option of the judicial system in congregating like-minded antisocial individuals within comfortable prisons.
Time
Beats Us All
assessed. Just being here is measured by time, so why Everybody is born into a world that is governed by time, which is the one thing against which we tend to measure the aging process of our existence. Time is common to everyone and has nothing to do with height, size, strength, color, or looks. Therefore, there is no need to compare ourselves with other people when we use time as a frame of reference. It is true that not all things are conducive to using time as a means of comparison, but when we talk about character development and many other activities, time is a useful measure, and personal goal setting is the means by which self-improvement can be not make use of that time for a positive purpose, rather than live like animals that eat, drink, procreate, quarrel, fight, and die? There is more to measure with time than the length of time we have been here on Earth or how long it takes us to lose the vigor and attractiveness of our youth and, as we grow old, become wrinkled, weak, and wispy. For instance, we can aim to achieve targets regarding fitness in terms of strength, endurance, and agility. These can be measured using time, as well as other criteria, but there is no need to compare ourselves with someone else. Time beats us all; so why not use time to get ourselves into the blessings and favor of God faster than we would otherwise get there? Instead of spending time running from God, we would be better off spending time seeking Him through our Lord Jesus Christ and learning how to run the race of our life with confidence.
In the book of Hebrews, we find a proper perspective on setting our goals as Christians:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Forgiveness
Is Beautiful
In respect to the Ten Commandments and personal behavior, we can also set goals. Again, we are not talking about goals where we compare ourselves with other people, but rather personal goals. First of all, we can memorize the Ten Commandments in their complete form and develop an understanding of what they mean (reading a book like this helps). This will also help us meditate on the law of God, and we can set a goal for a certain time by which we can achieve this. When we have a thorough grasp of what the Ten Commandments mean, we will naturally become engaged in establishing our purpose here on Earth. This is because, in knowing the Ten Commandments, we will realize how much of a sinner we have been before God. We will understand how much we have sinned against other people and our need for forgiveness. When we see how much we have sinned against others, it becomes easier to forgive them for the sins they have committed against us, which is what the Lord’s Prayer tells us we need to do before we ourselves can be forgiven (Matthew 6:12-15).
Forgiving other people can be difficult at times. However, one way that I have found helpful is by praying in two stages. The first stage of prayer consists of supplication and intercession. The second stage of prayer involves thanksgiving and affirmation. In fact, the second stage of prayer is very important in the forgiveness process. Below is an outline of how to pray through these stages in the most effective way. Each stage has six parts..
Stage One:
Heavenly Father, I forgive [name of the person concerned] for what he (or she) has against me.
Heavenly Father, I pray that [name] will forgive me for what I have done to cause him (or her) to be offended by me.
Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name, forgive me for what I have done.
Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name, I pray you will forgive [name] for what he (or she) has done.
Lord, I pray that [name] can forgive himself (or herself).
Lord, I pray I can forgive myself (in this matter).
Stage
Two:
I thank you Heavenly Father I can forgive [name] for what he (or she) has against me.
I thank you Heavenly Father that [name] has forgiven me for what I have done to cause him (or her) to be offended by me.
Heavenly Father, in Jesus’ name, I thank you that you have forgiven me for what I have done.
Heavenly Father, in Jesus name, I thank you that you have forgiven [name] for what he (or she) has done.
I thank you Lord that [name] has forgiven himself (or herself).
I thank you Lord that I can now forgive myself.
Efficacy
of Prayer
To be effective, prayers have to be specific. A general prayer does not have the same efficacy; therefore, each issue must be dealt with separately. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of praying in this manner surpasses most other methods—especially when prayed with a prayer partner, who also reiterates the same prayer of thanksgiving and thanks the Lord for forgiving both parties involved, and then releases them by stating that he or she also forgives both parties individually. Something special happens when we thank God for having answered our prayers for ourselves and on behalf of another person.
Sometimes a person takes offense at me for some reason, and I become aware that something is wrong. If I cannot speak to the person immediately, I have found that praying in the aforementioned manner resolves the issue. Sometimes, I have to say the prayer and offer thanksgiving twice for the same person. This is because it is important to mean what is being said by expressing the words with feeling, rather than rattling off the prayer as if we are calling out breakfast orders to a short-order cook.
Although it is always best for us to speak to the person who has something against us and pray together using the above method, we should always do this whenever possible.
Moreover, whenever somebody asks me to pray for him or her about some matter, such as unconfessed sin, after going through the aforementioned method, I always tell the person that I forgive him or her as well and thank God that I am able to forgive. When the person being prayed for hears that the one hearing the confession has forgiven him or her, this creates faith within the person that he or she is not condemned, and the response is instant release, with the person feeling a sense of lightness and freedom. This is why we are to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another (James 5:16).
The reason we state that we forgive the other person first is that the Lord’s Prayer says we are to forgive others if we are to be forgiven by the Lord Himself. What this means is that we are required to take the first step, and then God does the rest. There are unbelievers claiming to be Christians who disagree with the Lord’s Prayer and say that a person is full of pride when taking the first step toward the Lord or forgiving another person. Contrary to what is written in the Bible, they claim God has to take the first step and then we follow. These false Christians do not believe in being saved by faith or in the need to know Jesus intimately, and they say that we are unable to do anything of ourselves, which is contrary to what Jesus taught. Jesus said, “Forgive, and then you will be forgiven. Acknowledge me before men, then you will be acknowledged in Heaven” (cf. Matthew 6:12; 10:32; Luke 6:37; 12:8; Mark 11:25).
Praying using the above formula might seem complicated, but it is as simple as one, two, three, four—knocking on Heaven’s door—when you practice the method regularly.
The reason this method of praying works wonders is that whatever we bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever we loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven (Matthew 16:19; 18:18). Not only do we release the other person, but by doing so, we also release ourselves from the Devil’s deceptions.
However, in certain instances, when it comes to people who have been doing more than just dabbling in sin (which in itself is not advisable) and have been caught with their pants down, so to speak, there may be more needed than what has been laid out here to get clean before God. Not that repentance and forgiveness should ever be taken lightly, but sometimes a deeper sense of contrition and realization for deliverance may be required; for we are dealing with princes of darkness and satanic forces that can weaken our will and deceive us if we are not totally honest. In such cases, the book Prayers That Heal the Heart by Patti and Mark Virkler and its companion volume How to Hear God’s Voice by Mark Virkler[ii] are very helpful, especially if we are to develop our maximum potential as citizens of the Kingdom of God and become the children of God that Creation is waiting with eager longing to have revealed.
To run the race and reach the goal, we need to know what we are doing. Stumbling around in the dark, grasping at straws, or walking in the twilight on tiptoes is not what running the race that is set before us is all about. We need to unload the weights that tie us down and look to Jesus, the perfecter of our faith—hence the recommendation of the books by Mark and Patti Virkler.
Honor,
Riches And Life
Having a sound knowledge of the Ten Commandments will not turn any of us into spiritually proud individuals. Instead, we will become more humble. We will know what sin is and what the consequences are for us when we sin. We will also understand what we can expect from our Heavenly Father and what He expects from us. This is because understanding the Ten Commandments means that we have an understanding of life, why we were born, and what entitlements are ours as a result of being here on planet Earth. This is why the Ten Commandments serve as a guide to honor, riches, and life—including inner strength and happiness.
Jesus did not say that the meek would inherit the Earth just for the sake of saying it. Moses was said to be the meekest man on Earth in his day, and notably, some fifteen hundred years later, the last time Moses was seen, he stood on the Mount of Transfiguration talking with Jesus. There is definitely more to being meek than meets the eye. It is just a matter of getting rid of the log obstructing our own spiritual eyesight so that we can see more clearly to read the directions on the map for successful living.
Temporary
Sacrifices
When we study the lives of people who achieve anything in life, we learn that the one thing they all had that enabled them to achieve their personal goals was discipline. Without personal discipline, we are unable to achieve anything. Discipline always requires sacrificing one thing for another. A student sitting for examinations needs to sacrifice hanging out with friends for diligent study. An athlete needs to sacrifice lying on the couch and watching television to acquire fitness and skills as part of being successful; similarly, everyone needs to sacrifice the temporary buzzes from sin for everlasting pleasures. Truly, we need to meditate on the truth found in Psalm One in the hope that we really grasp what it means. By not walking in the counsel of the wicked, nor standing in the way of sinners, nor sitting in the seat of scoffers, we can have everlasting life and prosper in all that we do—that is, of course, if we keep faith with God (Psalm 1:1-3).
Keeping
Faith
Keeping faith with God is the same as keeping faith with people, except that the level of appreciation is greater—not to mention the rewards. God will do more for us than any human is capable of doing. This stands to reason because humans are mere mortals who, like animals, are born, grow larger, mature, produce offspring, and then die; whereas God is not only faithful but also ever-present, all-knowing, all-powerful, and immortal. Having Lord Jesus Christ on our side means all our problems are technically over; however, the issue with this is that it sounds too simple and too good to be true. When all is said and done, the bottom line is that we only have one overriding problem in this temporal life, and that is how we are going to overcome death. Once we have established our relationship with our Heavenly Father, the death issue is resolved, and then it is just a matter of keeping faith. It is truly this simple. Jesus did say, “The way to life is narrow, and few there are that find it.”
It pays to bear in mind, though, that if we decide to live in the fast lane, compared to the road to life, the highway to Hell really is a multi-lane freeway with no speed limits.
Without
Knowledge We Perish
To honor the Ten Commandments and not violate them at any point is possible. Jesus did this. Even John the Baptist did this until the Holy Spirit left him and doubt entered his mind.[iii] The difference between Jesus and John the Baptist begins with their parents. John the Baptist had a human father, whereas Jesus did not. What this means is that the blood of Jesus was the actual blood of God and not human blood. However, Jesus’ blood is not what enabled Him to uphold the Ten Commandments. Jesus obeyed the commandments (Romans 1:5; 16:26) because He chose not to sin. Among the attributes of Jesus were His hatred of evil and His fear of what sin could do. It is no wonder Jesus spoke about Hell more than anyone else in the Bible. Once we realize what sin can do to us and get a picture of what Hell is really like, we will not want to go there.
Hell is considered amusing by the multitude of people who laugh and joke about how they are going to enjoy Hades because they will not have to suffer freezing winters or because they will be able to party with all their friends. Oddly enough, the closer we get to God, the more we seem to become aware of the reality of Hell.
Hell is not a manmade concept. The pastor who died and came back to life was taken to Hell and did not see (the manmade idea of) flames; instead, he saw people reliving over and over again the evil they did to others and their personal torments. Evidently, Hell is so dreadful that people cannot even have a pity party. Fortunately for that pastor, he received a wake-up call when he was told that Hell was where he was heading, except circumstances fell in his favor because he just happened to be seeking God and asking for forgiveness at the time of his (otherwise fatal) car accident.
Naturally, we would do anything to try to avoid Hell, such as striving to seek God’s face. In fact, we should find ourselves seeking God to help us resist sin in all its forms, including harboring grudges against other people and contemplating evil thoughts. The Bible is quite clear that if we resist the Devil and draw near to God, we will be rewarded—but without faith, this is impossible. We have to draw near to God if we endeavor to live in accordance with the Ten Commandments, for it is impossible to do so otherwise. Actually, all who draw near to God will find themselves upholding the Ten Commandments. However, if we do not know the Ten Commandments, we will not know what sin is. If we do not know what sin is, then we will not be able to repent of our wicked ways and draw near to God. Once we begin looking to God and calling upon Him to reveal Himself to us, we will become more aware of sin and how it can cut us off from having a relationship with our Heavenly Father.
Power
Of A Changed Life
The one thing that will begin to stand out to other
people as we develop our relationship with God is the fact that we now live a
changed life. We will find ourselves having a different attitude toward life
and toward people. Instead of begrudging in our hearts what others have or
deserve, we will find ourselves wishing them well. We will become less covetous
of the world’s goods and more inclined to experience a richer relationship with
God in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. People will notice that we tend to be
more considerate than we were previously. We will exude joy and have inner
peace when trouble is brewing, even when other people are upset or afraid. We
will be willing to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and be prepared to
wait and see what emerges from a situation rather than jumping to conclusions.
We will find that we are more forgiving and generous than we had been before.
We will also discover that people will begin to notice we are even more
faithful, more focused, and more productive than we were before our encounter
with God. In time, each one of us will become more humble and be renowned as a
person who exercises self-restraint and can be trusted to keep confidence on a
social level. Other people will honor us because our lives will bear the stamp
of God’s approval (cf. Romans 14:18).
Fairy
Tale Or Adventure
Some might think that this sounds like a fairytale or very boring; but in one way or another, have you ever noticed that everybody is seeking the benefits that come with living in accordance with God’s requirements? Additionally, have you ever noticed that everyone tends to want some adventure and excitement in life?
One young woman had an obsession with watching soap operas on television. When she was asked why she spent most of her time watching them, she replied, “I have nothing happening in my life, so at least I can get excited about what is happening in theirs.”
Those of us who have experienced the reality of Lord Jesus Christ having risen from the dead can testify to an exciting, adventurous journey of self-discovery. Instead of risking the dangers of climbing Mt. Everest without gaining any real eternal benefit from our efforts, the more we seek God, the more we begin to understand the other features of the Universe in which we live, especially those aspects we may not have noticed before.
Can
We Believe In Angels And Bacteria?
Oddly enough, some people do not believe that angels exist, yet they believe that bacteria, viruses, and other smaller molecules exist, even though they cannot see them with the naked eye. As a rule of thumb, a bacterium is one thousand times smaller than a human hair, and a complete viral particle (virion/exosome) is one hundred times smaller than a bacterium. The human eye has difficulty recognizing a single hair, let alone smaller cells. Yet, people believe these cells exist without having seen them. This is because people have been conditioned to trust that what scientists say is true, and there is evidence that these things exist, even if they cannot be seen—there is evidence that God exists too, just by looking around. However, when it comes to angels, spiritual beings, or spiritual influences, this is often rejected because there is no scientific proof. Unless we are working in a laboratory and have access to the technology that enables us to see bacteria, virions/exosomes, and the elements of an atom such as protons, neutrons, or quarks, we have no proof they exist, and we are relying on the reports of others—expecting them to tell the truth! There is no difference when it comes to accepting that angels exist. The same kind of belief system is required, although the subject matter is different.
The
Unseen Does Exist
The human eye does not see sound waves. When we speak, we cannot see the words we are saying; we can only hear them. The ear is an amazing biological apparatus that enables sound waves to be interpreted by us as meaningful representations that we call words. We still need to learn how to distinguish various sounds and respond to them. The means by which we perform this seemingly simple task of hearing is complex. Sounds also produce chemical responses in our bodies; though chemicals do not emit sound waves that have meaning to humans, chemical activity takes place as a byproduct of our thinking and vocal expression. We use sound waves when expressing our thoughts vocally. (Much happens, unseen by us, within the dimensions of the subatomic level of existence and the realm of photons and quarks.) If we are born deaf or become deaf, we are disadvantaged in many aspects of what we are able to do. However, scientific investigations have discovered how sound waves and hearing work, and today, as a result of the invention of the bionic ear, many people who were born deaf have been able to experience the privilege of hearing.
It just so happens that the inventor of the bionic ear, Professor Graeme Clark, is a Christian who sees no difference between applying science using faith and having faith in science. For Professor Clark, proving God requires an element of faith, just as producing a hypothesis requires a degree (not a certificate, but a measure) of faith in its construction.
The
Concept Of Faith
The concept of faith is at the basis of everything that humans do. Faith is the conviction and assurance of the existence of the unseen. We cannot see sound, but because we hear it, we are convinced it exists. Sound produces an electrical and chemical response in our bodies, of which we are often unaware. Faith is more than a sound because it requires knowledge that goes beyond electrical and chemical responses and enters the realm of consciousness.
Consciousness is the realm of beings that have the ability to understand the reasons why they respond to sound, sight, touch, taste, and smell. Animals may demonstrate what appears to be an awareness of the existence of sound, smell, taste, touch, and sight through the stimulation of their senses, and plants respond to chemicals, sound, touch, and light, but they are not consciously able to describe the interactions that occur in relation to what they encounter. Humans are able to do this, and faith appears to be at the heart of this ability. As Professor Clarke claims, faith is needed in utilizing knowledge, and he is correct; faith and knowledge are intertwined.
Faith is how humans act on knowledge. We cannot exercise faith without knowledge, and knowledge is of no value unless we have faith. However, by the time we are two years old, we have often already exercised faith in various ways, acting on rudimentary knowledge without realizing we have done so. In fact, we exercise faith every day, even though we may not be conscious of it. We do not need to understand the process of how to apply faith before we can actually exercise it; just as we do not need to understand how to breathe—we simply do it as a reflex action in response to our desire to live.
Faith works like this: every night, we go to sleep with the belief that we will wake up. It is by faith that we allow ourselves to go to sleep, because we do so with the knowledge that people typically go to sleep and wake up. If we think about sleeping in a strange place, we realize we would need to exercise an additional degree of faith at that time. This is especially true when we go to sleep in the presence of strangers. We do this with the belief that they will not harm us while we sleep. The reason for this is that we know there are consequences for those who harm us while we are vulnerable.
We could contend that animals do the same. However, if you have ever watched an animal, you might swear it sleeps with one eye open. An animal can be asleep one minute, and in the blink of an eye, it is awake and ready to go. Dogs are a good example of this; they appear to have a sixth sense—which is what a traveling backpacker needs.
The life of a backpacker is adventurous but also fraught with danger. When sleeping on the road, anything could happen. When staying in backpacker hostels, where many strangers sleep together in the same room, these travelers must put their faith in the law of the land being upheld. They rely on the knowledge that people’s fear of being punished according to the law will prevent them from committing criminal acts that violate the personal rights of other backpackers.
Once, I slept in a backpacker hostel. I was shown a room with six beds and introduced to another person who was staying in the same room. In the morning, when I woke up, there were four more people sleeping in the room. Anything could have happened that night, and I would have been none the wiser. Had I known that other travelers were coming, I would have been unable to sleep until they arrived, unless I had put my faith in God that everything would be all right. The truth is, even as it was, I was relying on the other person, to whom I had been introduced, to be a law-abiding citizen, and I was putting my faith in my expectation that he would be; otherwise, I would have likely had a sleepless night.
You will be surprised at how many people call themselves educated yet do not understand the simple truth being expressed here regarding faith. No wonder they are called “fools” in the Bible. The nonsense they speak is what they will have to account for when they stand before the Throne of God, for they reject the obvious truth in favor of believing and trusting in their own opinions.
These people claim that “faith is a belief not based on proof but on an opinion or a set of imaginary ideas.” After making a statement like that, these bright intellects then place their faith in their opinions or someone else’s theory, which they like to claim are exemplary forms of rock-solid wisdom, even though these opinions and theories are always inconclusive and can change like the wind.
Consequently, they scoff at those who put their faith in the knowledge that the Creator God exists because the evidence for a Designer of the Universe abounds. The Bible bears witness to this and explains why we are here. It also explains the need for the Ten Commandments. In fact, it says that fools are always right in their own eyes.
Recognizing this, we can be sure that the opinions of those who deny the Lord God are worthless, especially when they do not understand that genuine rock-solid faith is based on knowledge that is as reliable as day and night—not so with opinions, assumptions, or theories.
Without knowledge, we cannot exercise faith. By understanding the process, we will be able to exercise faith more effectively. Growing in the knowledge that enables us to exercise more faith in God is similar to growing in the knowledge that allows us to become more skilled as an engineer or tradesman. There is, of course, a significant difference between faith in God and becoming more skilled as an engineer or tradesman.
Faith in God requires us to venture into the unknown, whereas a tradesman will have performed the same task many times. The faith element for the skilled tradesman occurs when he has to apply those same skills in a different situation that poses a problem. A small degree of faith is required in his ability to overcome the problem faced. In fact, as an apprentice, each potential tradesman must take a step of faith in order to improve each skill gained. The apprentice tradesman has to believe that he can do better. These steps are all based on knowledge, but most people do not realize that a degree of faith is required in the improvement process.
Faith toward God is different from having faith based on one’s previously acquired skills. This is because the realm of faith in God is based on things that are not readily seen. Nonetheless, the process is still the same. We can only advance in faith toward God one step at a time. To go beyond the measure of faith that we possess is to be presumptuous (cf. Rom. 12:3; Deut. 18:22).
People think that faith is something that comes before hope. However, without hope, we have nothing to which we can anchor our faith. This is why the Scriptures say that hope is the anchor of our soul (Hebrews 6:19). Hope comes from knowledge, which requires faith if the benefits of knowledge are to be realized. The following illustration demonstrates this, and even though it is not directed toward God, the principle is the same.
A
Simple Illustration Of Faith
Let’s say that we want to cross from one forty-story building to another without going down all the stairs because there is no electricity and the lifts do not work. We see a two-hundred-foot (200 ft) long steel girder stretching across the road from the top of one building to the other. The girder is not swaying in the wind due to its weight and thickness; it is also wide enough for one person to walk across comfortably. In fact, we see workers walking across the girder, some pushing wheelbarrows. Naturally, we envision ourselves simply skipping across the girder, just as we would along the footpath, without giving a second thought to the possibility of falling forty floors down to the road below—not on your life!
All of a sudden, what seems like an easy thing to do becomes fearful for us. Having never done this before, we feel our stomach tighten. Unimaginable thoughts flood our minds; horrific scenarios in graphic three-dimensional images occupy our thoughts—thoughts we would never consider when walking between the very same buildings on the footpath and crossing the road.
Our situation is that we hope to walk across that girder to the other side. We know people can do this because we have just seen workers do it. We put a foot on the girder and unexpectedly feel an urge to go to the toilet, so we put our foot down. However, because we really want to get to the other side, we resist the urge. Then a strong gust of wind nearly blows us over while we contemplate getting back on the girder.
Here is the new situation: Jesus said, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God” (Matthew 4:7).
Readjusting our mindset on the way down the stairs, we are quite pleased with ourselves for having come to the realization that we were wise enough to read about the temptations of Jesus in the Bible (Matt. 4:5-7; Luke 4:9-12). However, some forty minutes later, when we have climbed up the stairs to the fortieth floor of the building that we could have walked to in less than forty seconds, we are disappointed in ourselves. We look at those workers pushing wheelbarrows across that girder, which could have made life somewhat easier for us, and feel as though they are rubbing our lack of faith in our faces. They have the faith; we do not. However, the truth is that those men had to learn gradually how to walk in high places with confidence before they were able to demonstrate the consummate faith they now possess. The good news is that we can likewise learn to trust God and grow in faith as we allow Him to prove Himself in our lives.
Faith, hope, and knowledge go together; they are inextricably linked. Without knowledge, we cannot have any hope of achieving anything of value for ourselves or anyone else. Without faith, we cannot do what we might hope to achieve. Therefore, learning how to exercise faith is essential if we are to achieve our aspirations in life and discover the reality of our purpose as children of God. When we exercise faith, it is always because of our hope that something we can visualize occurring will happen as a result of taking the appropriate steps. As our faith grows, so does our experience, and with our experience comes deeper knowledge. This knowledge increases the extent of our hope, enabling us to extend ourselves toward greater achievements and more overall fulfillment in life.
True faith is not based on presumption or false assumptions. True faith is based on the evidence of things unseen and becomes the substance of things hoped for, being accessible to those who seek it (Hebrews 11:1). To have evidence of something means to have knowledge and understanding. When we have something of substance, it means it is real, even though it may not have yet appeared in our lives. For we do not hope for the things we already have, but for the things that are yet to appear or are yet to come to pass. This is why the Scripture says that God has created the human race in the hope that everyone might feel after Him and find Him (Acts 17:26-27) and why He subjected Creation to futility in the hope that it might abound in the glorious inheritance of the sons of God when those who are chosen receive their immortal bodies (Romans 8:21-23). God is patiently waiting for us to draw near to Him, for it is our decision—we are not preprogrammed robots without free will, but individuals with the power to choose.
Faith in God is based on our hope that He exists, but we need a basis to exercise faith toward God in the first place. We need some knowledge; we need something to suggest that God exists, and this is where the Ten Commandments help us. They tell us that God exists and rewards those who seek Him. We know we fail to keep the commandments on our own strength, and if we are honest, we will seek God out because we know we are in need of a deliverer from our sin—expressed in the first commandment. The book of Hebrews gives us this pointer:
Without faith, it is impossible to please God, for whoever would seek God must [first] believe that the Eternal One exists and rewards those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6).
God’s
Values
While there is a difference between accepting that God exists and that our parents exist, both require knowledge. If we reject the knowledge that suggests there is a Creator, then we will not be able to exercise faith toward God. In chapter four of the book of Hebrews, we are told the reason the Israelites who came out of Egypt did not receive the promise provided by God. The people did not receive the promise because the word of God did not meet with faith in them:
"For to us was the gospel preached, as well as to them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it" (Hebrews 4:2—KJV).
These people simply did not believe that the values God gave them through Moses were worth keeping. The values we are talking about are those that originate from the only words ever written by the Finger of God. These are the Ten Commandments that speak about God and our relationships in life. However, many of the people did not accept these as valid. Like so many intellectuals today, even after hearing them, they probably thought the Ten Commandments were just some manmade version of existing rules or regulations created by some pharaoh in Egypt and transcribed from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, when in fact they were written by God Himself (Ex 31:18; 34:1; Deut. 5:22; 9:10).
Jesus made the point that if people did not believe what Moses wrote, they would not believe in the resurrection of the dead; neither would they believe in what He had to say. Largely, this has to do with the Ten Commandments, because if people do not believe that the Ten Commandments, written by God Himself, are valid as a guide for living, they will not believe that the Almighty can raise the dead. Essentially, they do not care; but when they do, they will find that it is too late to change their fate. They had their chance, but they preferred a rebellious dance to the tune of sin and death, played by the god of this world. They embraced this excitedly, caught up in the surreptitious influence of deception and disobedience promoted by the Prince of the Power of the Air, and trapped in bondage to gods of which they knew not (cf. Col. 2:8; Eph. 2:2; Gal. 4:8), seemingly changing their morals at will and rejecting the absolute standard.
Without a moral compass, it is impossible to believe in the Creator God. The moral compass provides us with the knowledge that there must be a Creator who will judge people according to their deeds. Knowledge of right and wrong enables people to have faith in God.
It is one thing to think of a Creator who made the heavens and the Earth, but this leads to questions about who created the Creator. The truth is that these questions can go on ad infinitum and become a vain exercise—one that amounts to a refusal to confront the reality of life on this planet. We are born, and we will die, so where is the justice in our existence?
When we start thinking about justice, we begin to consider ideas of right and wrong. This leads us to make judgments about actions that have been performed. The concept of judgment implies the existence of a Judge who provides justice for the wrongs committed against us, especially for the suffering we endure without having asked to be born.
Moreover, it is only when we reflect on our actions from a moral perspective and weigh our own inconsistencies that we realize we too might be judged. As we contemplate how we would stand before any judgment made against us, we may start to understand why it makes sense to believe in a Creator God as the Judge of all people on Earth.
One of the reasons I sought the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ was the realization that if God were real, I would have to answer to Him for the three murders I was contemplating committing without being caught.[iv] As Abraham said, “Shall not the judge of all the Earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25 KJV). If God were to judge me through Jesus Christ, I wanted to know: When would this happen? Why would it happen? And how would I fare?
Morality
A sense of morality enables everyone to have faith in values that cannot be seen. Morality is the very thing that allows us to have faith in God. We cannot see God, but we believe the unseen exists. To believe in God is to believe in the unseen and in things that we are unable to see with our eyes, such as love, hope, goodwill, and trust. Everybody has a degree of morality. Even among criminals, there are unwritten codes regarding acceptable forms of moral conduct. While most people agree that murder and stealing are not acceptable behaviors and are not conducive to good community relations, criminals, on the other hand, tend not to have any compunction about committing those crimes, which essentially break the Ten Commandments. Yet, criminals might consider breaking particular criminal codes of secrecy a worse offense. This just goes to show that humankind has an inherent ability to distinguish between what is acceptable behavior and what is not. Even thieves are known not to steal from each other, and murderers understand that there are limitations on whom they can murder before they themselves are killed. Life has its sanctity even among murderers and criminals, for the same sense of inner witness tells each one that good and evil exist.
False
Conscience
Morality can be distorted. People can develop what the psychoanalyst Freud termed a “superego.” A superego is, in effect, a false conscience. This is because a superego is not based on what we can call our natural internal recognition of right and wrong. Freud’s concept of the superego is based upon cultural mores of what is considered right or wrong.
For instance, a Sikh male believed that it was a violation of his religion to remove his turban and be seen in public with his flowing long hair. He removed his turban and let his hair hang down in public, but afterwards, when someone suggested his parents might find out, he felt very guilty about having done so. In fact, this twenty-eight-year-old Sikh became so anxious about his parents discovering that he had dishonored this religious tradition by attending a nightclub that the rest of his holiday became an internalized torment.
What happened in the Sikh’s case is evidence of the superego at work (overtime, in his case) and not the inner recognition of right and wrong that naturally originates from the spirit, which is placed by the Creator in every human. Manmade guilt is often mistaken for the guilt that comes from having knowingly sinned against God by breaking one of the Ten Commandments.
Morality is distorted when people place higher values on trees and animals than on human life. When people start creating artificial values and developing a false conscience, they lose their belief in God as their Creator, the Judge of all humankind, who will call everyone into account for what they have done in their lives. People might profess religious practices but then become caught up in false beliefs, such as vainly counting beads or repeating certain phrases over and over again in the hope that this will bring them forgiveness for their sins.
Throughout the history of Christendom (the so-called Christian world), many atrocities have been committed in the name of religion or the name of Jesus Christ. These atrocities have nothing to do with the Lord Jesus Christ but plenty to do with men who possessed warped consciences. For instance, killing people because they did not agree with another group's interpretation of what the Bible states has occurred all too often. The murder of heretics has been condoned by both Roman Catholics and Protestants. One such murder for the trumped-up crime of heresy was that of Michael Servetus, which was sanctioned by John Calvin and his cohorts. Even today, some people who defend the murder of Michael Servetus argue that heresy is a grave sin. Yet these individuals overlook the fact that hatred and murder keep people out of the Kingdom of God. Regardless of whether they possess brilliant intellects and can speak many languages or write volumes about what they believe is in the Bible, those given to hatred and murder are condemned as not possessing eternal life.
The Bible clearly states what sin is and what is required of us if we are to be guaranteed eternal life. One of the reasons people have a distorted conscience is that they do not understand the Ten Commandments. They may pay lip service to what God wrote with His own finger but do not appear to understand the words that were written. If they did, as with the many other murders that have taken place for the so-called crime of heresy, Michael Servetus, a fellow believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, would not have been burned alive at the stake outside Geneva on that fatal day of October 27, 1553. For this is what the Bible says:
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his command-ments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (1 Jn 5:1-3)
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. (1 John 3:15-16)
Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. (Luke 11:47-48)
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” (Acts 7:51-53)
The Jews in the days of Jesus believed they were saved before they were born—as if saved by grace alone. They adhered to tradition, not realizing the need for each individual to exercise faith for his or her own salvation (Galatians 2:15-16). They possessed the Scriptures, but they did not heed them. Even though they expounded upon them, they failed to understand that they needed to apply the Ten Commandments to their own lives. When we do, we begin to develop a conscience that quickly enables us to become alert to what might lead us astray. That which was written on tablets of stone is now inscribed on hearts of flesh by the Spirit of God (cf. 2 Cor. 3:3; Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26), provided we possess the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:4-9).
In the case of the Jews, their forefathers killed the prophets who loved God because they did not like their message. Saul of Tarsus (the Apostle Paul) was inclined to do the very same thing himself, even though he had memorized the Old Testament and excelled beyond his peers (Acts 22:19-20; 26:10; Galatians 1:13-14). Thus, we see that possessing knowledge of what is written in the Bible is not enough; application is required. Yet Jesus said that because the Jews of His day honored those who killed the prophets, they too were guilty of their sin, as they demonstrated their assent to it. Whoever honors those before them who have put their names to the murder of believers and who have not repented for having done so is doing exactly what Jesus said the Jews were guilty of: assenting to the sins of their forefathers who developed their brand of faith. However, this is not true faith; it is a distorted conscience that confuses manmade religion with experiential faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is only one name under which we can glorify God, and there is only one name by which the Bible says we should be called: "Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name" (1 Peter 4:16).
When we grasp the truth of the Scriptures, we start to understand how people develop distorted consciences by not adhering solely to being Christians. Instead of being Christians who bear fruit that glorifies God, they become different types of Christians. The same was true in the days of Jesus. There were not only those who believed they were children of Abraham and who readily accepted the message of the Lord Jesus Christ, but there were also different sects such as the Zealots, Essenes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, Ebionites, and others. However, if we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, we ought to be known as Christians and nothing else. The word "Christian" means "belonging to Christ." The Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth and glorify the name of our Lord Jesus Christ by producing the fruit of righteousness in our lives. The Holy Spirit will convict us of sin, convince us of righteousness, and enable us to understand the Ten Commandments without being deceived, as Saul of Tarsus had been before he met the Lord Jesus Christ and received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit himself (Romans 7:7-14; 7:25-8:11).
True
Knowledge Liberates
Contrary to what many people think, the Ten Commandments are about liberation and understanding how to take responsibility for our own actions in life. If we do not know how to do something, we are in need of a teacher. If we learn fables and untruths and believe in them, this will be reflected in our lifestyle. Conversely, if we learn the truth, we will be set free from ignorance and fear. This is a well-known historical and scientific premise, and it also applies to having a relationship with the Creator of the Universe.
Scientists have not yet been able to determine how the Universe is held together. They have theories, but that is all they have—no demonstrable truth. Yet the Bible states that the Universe is held together by the power of the Word of God. Similarly, relationships are sustained when we understand the power of adhering to the Ten Commandments and their prohibitions. When the Ten Commandments are broken, relationships become fractured. Fractured relationships lead to hurting individuals, and the science of psychology has discovered that the reason people commit harmful acts against others and themselves is that they are fractured souls, thrashing around within their inner selves as a consequence of their internal hurts. When people are suffering, unless they understand the reason for their pain, there is little they can do to overcome their internalized anguish. Knowledge liberates people because it enables them to overcome obstacles and heartache, make sense of their environment, and understand that without the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no hope for us. This is evidenced in the case of Valerie.
Valerie has been involved in two marriages, six other live-in relationships, and a few stand-by affairs. Her life is a mess. She wants to be loved but cannot understand why nobody will love her. Valerie’s problem is that she suffers from the pain of her childhood and takes it out on those who get close to her. Her hurts surface every time someone gets too close. When this happens, she becomes abusive and distrustful. She has done this with all her partners. Not realizing what she was doing, she would preemptively act out in expectation that each of her partners would abuse her, so as not to be caught off-guard. Eventually, her partners would retaliate. Slowly, Valerie has begun to realize that she is the problem and is starting to deal with these issues. She is also becoming more aware of which god is to blame for her problems. Now that Valerie understands the difference between Lucifer and God Almighty, she is beginning to let the God of Creation have an opportunity to prove Himself in her life and not succumb to the unconscious dictates of the god of this world.
All too often, people blame the God of the Universe for the problems inflicted upon the global population by the god of this world, who masquerades as light; but this light is better known as twilight. The distinction between light and twilight needs to be understood and is probably best observed in a sports stadium lit up at night by floodlights. The shadows tell the story. Likewise, the twilight zone is evident in the evening during the summer months in regions that are closer to the North Pole or the South Pole than to the equator.
Ten
Words Of Value
After reading the previous chapters, is it still possible to think that the Ten Words written by the Finger of God and given to Moses are of no value for us today? When we consider each of the commandments and ask ourselves whether we would like them to be violated by our Heavenly Father and others in relation to ourselves, our answer would not be an enthusiastic “Yes!” but rather an emphatic and definite “No!”
If we were to ask people where the idea of “do not do to others what you would not have them do to you” comes from, they might not know exactly. Yet they would understand that it is some kind of unwritten code or law—the Golden Rule—that seems to emanate from within our own being. No scientist seems to know whether we are born with an inner recognition of right from wrong or how this awareness truly comes about. Biologists like to think that it is genetic, but geneticists have yet to find the specific gene.
We could say that this inner consciousness of moral values comes from living with other people—well, at least from our interactions with them. Alternatively, we could acknowledge that true morality originates from the Lord God, Creator of the Universe, and forms the basis of justice for mankind.
One thing of which we can be sure is that the Ten Commandments provide us with knowledge of right and wrong. On this basis alone, everyone needs to understand them. But they go further, because while five of the commandments have a direct reference to humans only, the commandments about honoring our parents and keeping the Sabbath both reference God and humans. The first three commandments specifically refer to our relationship with God.
The fifth commandment states that if we honor our parents, God Himself will give us an inheritance. The fourth commandment instructs us to keep and enter into God’s Sabbath. This Sabbath began the day the creation of everything on Earth and within the Universe was completed. This Seventh Day Rest has not ceased and continues to be a vital part of our spiritual lives. Whereupon we who enter God’s Sabbath are to rest as He is resting and to trust our Heavenly Father to provide our needs, as we exercise the appropriate faith, so that His grace can be established in our lives. In addition to our own rest, we must not exploit or burden other people, as this goes against the principles of love and compassion. The third commandment points out that God will hold us accountable for our actions that bring contempt to His Name; nonetheless, the second commandment expresses how God is prepared to forgive us, even though we have been judged guilty of sin. The first commandment is fundamentally about being set free from the effects of having been born into this world and accepting that God is worthy of our utmost devotion and loyalty.
Understanding
The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments are about understanding ourselves and under-standing life. They are a succinct mnemonic for the deeper meaning of life and our reason for existing on planet Earth. If we memorize them and understand what they mean, then we will only be better off because of our knowledge of what they mean for us.
If no road rules are obeyed, then people will have difficulty negotiating intersections in heavy traffic. The laws of the road were brought into being so people would not endanger themselves and be able to drive safely by keeping to the laws that have been legislated for each one’s benefit. We might think that they are unnecessary at times. If they did not exist, then people would not only be having accidents, road rage would prevail, and everybody would be at war with one another, Nobody would be able to drive to work or deliver food and goods without an army. Civilization would self-destruct, and democratic societies, which have people living peacefully within communities, would become like the desolate zones seen in countries where dictators take over and pillage the population for personal profit.
God could act like a dictator too, but He has given everyone the choice to do what each of us would like to do. Tragically, not everyone wants to understand the reasons why we are here on Earth. People too often think only of themselves, without considering their brothers, sisters, relatives, or friends, and goodwill can turn into evil intent. Understanding the Ten Commandments changes this and helps us turn from evil and look to our Creator. Moreover, understanding the Ten Commandments also reveals how sin penetrates the thinking and actions of blameless babies.
Schools
Need To Teach The Ten Commandments
Children need to be taught the Ten Commandments and their meanings for social interaction in schools; instead, these guides to life are discarded because they are classified as unscientific and irrational. The consequence is that children grow older with false perceptions such as: “God does not exist, so I can do what I like, as long as I do not get caught. Even when I die, I have no need to give an account of my actions while here on Earth.”
Some people who do not believe in God do not want to accept death as a natural phenomenon and hope that scientists might achieve a breakthrough and discover the formula for eternal life. Those who have the money and who believe in humanistic ideals trust that scientific discoveries will provide the answer to life; consequently, they put their faith in the science of cryonics (the freezing of bodies to keep the tissues from decomposing). If ancient mammoths can be frozen in glaciers for thousands of years and perfectly preserved, then why can't humans be preserved in the same way? All scientists have to do is learn how to be God and place a spirit in the human body, while attaching it to a soul—which they also have to create.
A
Ladder To Heaven
There is no hope for humans if there is no infinite, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent Creator. The irony is that the formula for eternal life for human beings is found in the very Ten Words that God gave to a nation delivered from bondage, some fifteen hundred years before the appearing of Lord Jesus Christ in human form, and not in some scientific discovery yet to materialize. Not only do these Ten Words provide protection and hope; they are also the ladder that we, as children, must climb as part of our natural development toward maturity. Each commandment represents a rung of the ladder to heaven. We need to climb these ten rungs successfully without breaking one if we are to be righteous before God on our own merits.
The first rung of the ladder begins with coveting. Unintentionally, we begin to covet as babies when we long for things of which we become aware that exist around us. The second rung is bearing false witness. Unfortunately, we transgress when we blame others for things we did. The third rung is stealing, which involves taking things without permission. The fourth rung begins at puberty when sexuality starts to produce relationship issues that sow the seeds of adultery. The fifth rung is where jealousy over relationships can lead to hatred (if not murder)—note that everyone who hates another person is a murderer (1 John 3:15). The sixth rung is where we, as pubescent children, do not always honor our parents.
In the case of the unbelieving Jews, Jesus said they honored their father, the Devil, who was a murderer from the beginning. In contrast, the child who honors the Heavenly Father inherits the land that God has promised to all who honor their parents—in the Lord! Jesus, at the age of twelve, demonstrated His compliance with the Law of God. When He was at the temple and stated that He was in His Father’s house, He was honoring His Father (Luke 2:49).
Jesus evidently grew up in an environment where He did not covet, and because of this, He had no cause to bear false witness or blame others for things He should not have done. Instead of taking things without asking, Jesus was creative (as His mother knew—cf. John 2:2-9). We know Jesus sought only to do the Father’s will; therefore, teenage sexual issues, jealousy, and envy were not problems He encountered. In this case, Jesus, the Son of God, rested in the knowledge of who His Father was and demonstrated a maturity at which we can only marvel (Luke 2:46-47).
As children grow older, issues of true morality need to be discussed and understood within the context of each child’s biological and psychological maturity. The Ten Words of the Decalogue serve as a ladder to heaven, providing life for those who keep them, which is another reason why the Ten Commandments are superior to any other rule or regulation drafted by humans. They are a staff to help us climb the mountain of maturation and a rod for warding off any prowling lion seeking to devour us—such as the Evil One. While, on the one hand, the Apostle Paul says that it is impossible to be saved by works of the Law, on the other hand, the reality is that the Law needs to be upheld, for the whole world will be held accountable to the Law (Romans 3:19-20, 31).
The
Advantage Of The Law Of God
In the Australian state of Victoria, in the late 1990s, the government decided that the education department would publish, by school ranking, the academic performances of students sitting for university entrance exams. To the amazement of the general population, the top seven performing schools consisted of five Jewish schools, four of which took the first four rankings. What was even more incredible was that the Jewish schools’ curriculum included thirty percent religious studies (i.e., the Law). It was noted at the time that many within the Jewish community thought that the concentration on the Law of God was overdone, but they have since conceded that there is great value in studying the sacred text—Psalm One tells us why! Blessed are those who meditate on the Law of God, for they shall prosper.
If government authorities, politicians, and rulers really want to make a difference and bring about positive change within society, understanding the Ten Commandments should become their priority. Then all who understand the truths of these Ten Words from God and apply them in their lives would be able to enjoy life in all its richness, which ultimately is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Since many people claim that the Sermon on the Mount has superseded the words of Moses, it is best to quote our Lord and Savior, Jesus, from that very sermon:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until Heaven and Earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-20)
Actually, the Beatitudes are based on the Ten Words from God. Nine of the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount directly correlate to nine of the Ten Words written by the Finger of God. The First Commandment of the Decalogue is explained using the metaphors of being the salt of the Earth and the light of the world—an impossibility without having been healed from the effects of sin and set free from the bondage of darkness. After Jesus had finished with His revised version of the Decalogue, He stated that He had not come to abolish the Law. Yet the unenlightened, in their great wisdom, claim that the Beatitudes are superior to the Decalogue and supersede them. The truth is that Jesus has merely interpreted the Ten Commandments and explained them in another way—the only words written by God’s own Finger have not been superseded at all.
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
***
[ii] Obtainable at www.CWGministries.org
[iii] If you are wondering
which commandment John the Baptist broke, it was the first one—God spoke these
words saying (through John himself at Jesus’ baptism) “behold the Lamb of the
World, who takes away the sin of the world”. John then doubted the Word of God.
Doubting God is an act of breaking faith.
And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you,
whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but
believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him (Mark
11:22-25). To doubt means to have insufficient faith, and this means falling
short, as Paul said, “All…fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:20).
John declared Jesus to be the Savior of the world and then he is not sure that what God had told him was true. Apart from this, John presents as virtually sinless and as Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). Even if John did not really put any other god before God Himself, because He had a created spirit and had a human father, his blood was that of Adam and therefore subject to death. The blood of Jesus was the blood of God Himself, pure, sinless and everlasting.
If you found that this book was a blessing to you and provided you with a clearer perspective about life, PLEASE RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO OTHERS AND SHARE IT. The reason this book is on the internet is so as many people as possible might turn to the Lord God and not accept the Mark of the Beast. Jesus is coming soon and the Internet will be monitored and controls will be placed upon it. We need to get the message of repentance and faith towards God out for it is essential if people are to be saved.
PRINTED COPIES ARE AVAILABLE.
LORD JESUS CHRIST is RETURNING SOON. It is important that as many people as possible are saved and COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH having their FACULTIES TRAINED by PRACTICE to distinguish GOOD FROM EVIL in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.
but if hard copies are desired they can be purchased.
Lord Jesus says, "Freely Freely you have received, freely freely give."
Saved By Grace Through Faith In Lord Jesus Christ
Return To The Lord Of Blessings
Shine Like A Star
Jacobs Trouble
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