Exodus
20:3
"Thou
shalt have no other gods before me."
That
knocks idolatry right out of the picture doesn't it. But has it? NO!
Because the one god that is not taken into account is.....SELF. Self
is the greatest whore, idolatrous being ever. Self wallows in darkness and because every person has this familiar spirit within him mankind does not know or understand it's power. Jesus said that the strong man would be defeated while speaking of Beelzebub in Matthew 12 and thereby put the two together (Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 53:12; Mark 3:27, Luke 11:21; 1John 3:8, 4:4, Revelation 12:7-10). So who is the stone that causes man to stumble, mans self-will, it blinds him and keeps him from entering the kingdom of heaven and God, we call it Religion. Because both the French and Latin term for heel means religare which is Religion. The fornicating, idolatrous, pagan, infidel god of self, the spirit that deceives and keeps man from his rightful place with the Father of spirits. The spirit that says, NO, God I will do it my way. When man sets himself above God by habit of custom, ritual, rites and tradition it matters not what name or title he may place upon it, he is in fact putting his will first above God.
Exodus
20:4a
"Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image..."
That
would be part and parcel of idolatry or any likeness of it. The
images do not need to be limited to graven ones, for man is an image
and so is his intellectualism. What he thinks or what he believes a
word or phrase is saying based on his limited background (even
college or university grades fall in here) and our religious
training. Catholicism has removed many of its pagan images, but there
was a day in time when the sanctuaries were lined with them. Ho, they
gave them religious names and titles but they were still pagan images
of a man or woman none the less. Here is another thought, the
paintings which cover many (stone thumbs) temples and cathedrals
walls and ceilings can also fall into this category, because of verse
3.
Exodus
20:5
Thou
shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them..."
In
what I just stated above about the paintings one may ask how is this
done, the bowing and serving of a painting that is? Jesus told the
woman at the well that her people and even those in Jerusalem did not
know what god they were serving and that statement applies here as
well. Then you come on up to verse 7. Stop and think a moment how
many bow to the wishes of a pastor, a TV evangelist, radio talk show
evangelist, host, big name spots star, politician or even themselves. All in the name or excuse of giving glory to God when in fact God never told us to do it. Or how about the continual practicing of religious holidays under the old Jewish customs which were meant to reveal Christ and John the Baptist brought to a close through water baptism of repentance. Repentance from dead works of the Law which had no power to save but only brought condemnation and death. When we practice those customs we are in fact bowing to them and serving them. For instances who about praying to mother earth or the mother of God these are all forms of paganism of self. Why? they remove the command to pray through Christ's name.
Exodus
20:7-8
"Thou
shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD
will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember
the sabbath day, to keep it holy."
What
is meant by taking the LORDS name in vain, how many have thought on
that? It is not using it to profane, curse a thing but is rather
calling ones self a “Christian” when we are NOT approved of God to
do so. Even this was miss used back in the beginning as a form of
ridicule and slandering of the Hebrews that came out from among them,
to be one who followed the Way. Remember those who Saul of Tarsus was
putting in prison and was traveling to Damascus to find. So we should
not be so quick to skip over the taking of the LORDS name or His name
in vain. As this does not mean cursing Him by calling Him names or
the using of His name in such a manor as to curse another or a thing. It goes
much deeper than that, because when we do not do as He has revealed
in His Will, the Word to us, we have indeed taken Him and His name in
vain. This too our Apostle Paul has warned against many times. But do
we heed him? Sad to say, NO!
For though he wrote as he was instructed to. What he wrote was God's
Word or voice spoken through Christ within him to us, just as Jesus
spoke to the prophets, apostles and still speaks to us when we have
entered His salvation, the kingdom of heaven and of God. It is then we can claim to be a Christian or
Christ-like-one and NOT before.
Remember
for Israel that was the seventh day (the Saturday Sabbath in
particular). And the purpose was to work six days and have one day of
rest. In fact they were to have a rest every seventh year as well.
The custom was to gather in the synagogue for worship but this to
became a habit and ritual of practice and a law of usage. Our worship
of God is a continual moment by moment worshiping without ceasing.
Exodus
20:12
"Honor
thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land
which the LORD thy God giveth thee."
Paul
refers to this one as the only commandment with a promise. And what is the promise, "If children would be obedient to their
parents, they could have a long life on this earth." And all
this was what, earthy, but with a spiritual undertone.
Exodus
20:13-17a
"Thou
shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness (or lie) against thy
neighbor. Thou shalt not covet..."
That
pretty much wraps up the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses, and
which Paul still adheres to, even for us under Grace. And that is why
we are making the statement that Grace is not license. Grace never
gives us license to go contrary to God’s Will, the basic laws for
humanity, which of course is the Ten Commandments. They bring about a morality in man which to days society is trying to legislate into being to replace the Ten. Coming back to
Ephesians chapter 6. Not only are the children to obey their
parents, but there is a responsibility for the parents to the
children, and particularly the father. And here again we as a society
have gone 180 degrees against the Word (Will) of God. Today in most
homes it is left to the mother who has to mete out discipline, but the
Scripture never gives that to the mother. But the whole concept of
Scripture is that the father is to be the disciplinarian as head of the family unite. This too has failed because of Religion and the Liberal Religious agenda of self destruction from within.
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