HOW OUR GOVERNMENT SHATTERS THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, AND WE'RE ALL ACCOMPLICES

Quickly (without google) name the ten commandments... GO!

 

     How many did you get? 60% of Americans can't name half, and even funnier 31% say they can earn their way in to heaven. Isn't that a conundrum, 6/10 can't name half the commandments, yet 3/10 think they can earn heaven by obeying these commandments? We've begun to systematically remove these commandments from our courthouses and our government, but what's worse is that we've removed them from our everyday life so much that we don't even notice them stripped from the public. I'm going to work back to front starting at 10:

 

10. DON'T COVET (to feel a desire for that which is another's)

 

     Is there a more popular subject matter in today's political sphere? I can't earn it, you've got it, I want it. The left tries to garnish some sort of biblical compassion for the poor by telling those who have EARNED their money the good old fashioned way to pay their FAIR SHARE. So that those who are less fortunate can have their FAIR SHOT. This thinking boggles my mind. By forcefully taking from those who have and giving to those who don't care, that is somehow biblical? I'm all for helping the helpless, I draw the line at helping the careless. I think that Paul said it best in 2 Thess. 3:10-13 (MSG):

"Don’t you remember the rule we had when we lived with you? “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” And now we’re getting reports that a bunch of lazy good-for-nothings are taking advantage of you. This must not be tolerated. We command them to get to work immediately—no excuses, no arguments—and earn their own keep. Friends, don’t slack off in doing your duty."

     Coveting is a problem we have. We are sending a message that says I don't want to earn what you have, I want to take what you have. I don't have to dream about my future, I want to take yours. I don't have to work for what I have, I want to sit and benefit from your work. See most of us want the success of others without going through what they had to go through to get where they are.

 

“Most people want to improve their circumstances, but they won’t improve themselves, so they remain bound” –James Allen

"The price of greatness is responsibility."— Winston Churchill

"Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”— Sigmund Freud

“The distance from where I am and where I want to be, is what I’m willing to give up. You can tell you’re on the road to success because it’s uphill all the way.” –John Maxwell

 

     We're unwilling to improve ourselves, so we want to take from those who have. We are unwilling to be responsible, so we demonize those who have been. We're unwilling to give up some luxury now, so that we can have luxury later. So we take from those who did. This has become the American way. Social Security: I didn't want to save when I was younger, so the young can now pay my retirement. Government run healthcare: I don't have a job that gives me health insurance, so I need to take from those who do. 2 Corinthians 9:7 (NLT) says: You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. "For God loves a person who gives cheerfully." Yet we have forced those who have degrees, experience, and sacrificed their time to pay for those who are unwilling to do the same. Don't understand what I'm saying? Watch this video from Nancy Pelosi's daughter who is a left wing journalist: OBAMA BUCKS VIDEO

 

#9 THOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS

 

     Pretty sure that we have seen this play out from both parties and both candidates. Enough said.

 

#8 YOU SHALL NOT STEAL

 

     SEE #10

 

#7 YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY

 

I DID NOT HAVE SEXUAL RELATIONS WITH THAT WOMAN

 

     The left doesn't have a corner on the market when it comes to adultery though. The right has the following: President George Bush Sr., the Governator, John McCain, Giuliani, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Newt Gingrich, Bob Barr, Henry Hyde just to name a few.

 

#6 YOU SHALL NOT MURDER

 

     We've been quite good at breaking this commandment. In fact, we've killed 26x's more babies than the amount of American's who've died in battle. Over 53,000,000 legal abortions have occurred since Roe v. Wade. Remember what David said in Psalms 82:3-4 (NLT) "Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." 

 

     Want to know another shocking statistic the left will never want you to know? Since '76, there have been slightly over 1,300 people given the death penalty for crimes. That's one person who commited a heinous crime to every 41K babies who've done nothing. How can the left justify being against the death penalty for those who've commited murder, and murdering a baby that's done nothing? This confuses me.

#5 HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER

 

     Have we ever lived in a time when this principle of our faith has been trampled on more? When the solidarity of the home has been beaten up by not just our government, but by the media too? We have shows on TV that represent all the things the bible preaches against. Shows like "Modern Family", "The New Normal" where homosexual couples are seen as the new normal. That there's nothing wrong with this picture. The problem people have is that the bible isn't an "evolving" document. See the standard of the bible doesn't change with pop culture, the bible doesn't change for us! WE CONFORM TO THE BIBLE.

 

     The bible is so clear when it comes to what's going to happen in the days we're currently living in. Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Tim. 3:1-5 (NLT), "You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. 2 For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. 3 They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. 4 They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. 5 They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!"

 

#4 REMEMBER THE SABBATH

 

     Another memory game, quickly name the only place you can think of closed on Sundays. I know the only one that I can think of is Chick-Fil-A. Sidenote, I'm thinking of a business venture where I buy a ton of CFA's food and sell it in their parking lot on Sundays. I'll call it Chick-Fil-Atheist. J/K.

 

     I love the story told by the movie CHARIOTS OF FIRE. It's about a young man named Eric Liddell. He makes a stand once he finds that the opening heats of the Olympic games is on a Sunday and says that he can't run on the Lord's day. He is so adamant in his stand, that they end up moving the day of the heats so that he can participate. This man who had a lifetime invested in this one moment was willing to give it all away because of a conviction about the Sabbath. Jesus gives us a picture of what God had intended for the Sabbath in Mark 3:4-5 (NIV) "Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.” Paul even said this in Colossians: "So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.”

 

     I think what I find funny too is the fact that technically Saturday is the real Sabbath. If we are really so legalistically bound by the rule of the law, than we need to be adhearing to the actual law. Remember that Jesus said this too in Mark 2 that the Sabbath was created for MAN not man for the Sabbath.

 

#3 DON'T TAKE THE LORD'S NAME IN VAIN (Vain- empty of substance: devoid of substance or meaning)

 

    I'm going to take some liberties with this one. I hope that you can follow my logic here. John 1:1 tells us, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." God is the word, so if you make his word void of substance, you've broken the 3rd commandment. Jesus tells us for our yes to be yes and our no to be no. We shouldn't swear to God, but we should just be men and women of our word. That we also shouldn't use the scripture to gain credibility.  

     I watched an interview about a book called THE HARBINGER and our politicians have foolishly used the word of God to proclaim America's greatness. After 9/11 they used the scripture from Isaiah 9:10 where the people of Israel, in defiance of God, shake their fist and say that we don't need you. We can rebuild our country on our own without your help. Yet they read this like they understand what they're saying, and that this makes them credible. What it's really doing is making God's word empty of substance and devoid of meaning.

#2 NO IDOLS/#1 WORSHIP NO OTHER GOD BEFORE ME

 

     Humans have a problem. We have a tendency to want to quantify God. We want to see, feel, smell, hear, and taste God. Even Israel, who saw incredible miracles, heard God's voice and in fear told Moses to go up and speak to God alone because they were fearful, after just 40 days had begun to melt all their gold and worship a calf. We want to make God human. People say knowledge is power, I say wisdom is power and knowledge is a curse. We were cursed by knowledge, the more we "know" the greater the curse. We try and put ourselves on God's level, even though Isaiah 55:9 tells us that his ways and thoughts are infinitely above ours. We put our faith in people and things because we have no FAITH (the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things NOT SEEN) in God.

 

     We can see, touch, smell, hear, and taste people. We glorify people to a place that only God should be. We worship Hollywood, athletes, singers, politicians, etc... We base our happiness on things that are unable to make us happy. An idol is defined as: making for yourself 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. How many of us have done this? If you quantify the things you do by the hour, how many things do you do more than your time with God? I would say that prayer, bible reading, and church would be able to be added together. How many things are you currently saying with your actions are more important than God?

 

     The reality is this, we can all complain about how corrupt/ungodly/secular/terrible/weak/sorry our government is becoming. The reality is this, our government is a direct reflection of us. They are our representatives. You'll hear most churches saying the following, "VOTE YOUR VALUES". The sad thing is what G.K. Chesterton predicted about our culture today when he said, "Tolerance is the virtue of a culture that has no virtues". We, as Christians, have to decide at some point to stand up and become the moral majority for our nation. We are the majority, 58% of Americans identify themselves as Christian. It's time that our actions lined up with our mouths, and we begin to walk the walk. REMEMBER:

It is the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit which will save our nation – not politics or even necessarily godly leaders in positions of authority.