Commandment Controversy

I continue to get more and more upset with the number of folks who are jumping on the Ten Commandments bandwagon. Every good Pharisee knows that we should not be joining this attempt to compromise the principles of the Word of God under a misguided attempt to "bring back" the Ten Commandments. There are so many reasons why spiritual Christians should avoid joining the cause to re-post the Ten Commandments that it would take a book to contain them all. However, I will attempt to give you the highlights in this week’s column.


The Ten Commandments Movement is a Smoke Screen for Rampant Ecumenicalism

This cause like many seemingly well-intentioned efforts to improve the moral climate of our country is really just an attempt to unify all of the various denominations under a single banner. Just look at who is involved – Baptists, Catholics, Assemblies of God, Churches of Christ, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists – everyone except the Unitarians. It makes no difference what doctrinal beliefs you hold. As long as you support the Ten Commandments, that is all that matters to this movement. This is like so many other ecumenical movements such as Promise Keepers, The Moral Majority, The Pro-Life Movement, and many others. All of them seek to unite diverse doctrines under one unifying banner or another, which is an abomination to God.

The Bible plainly states that we should "mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them," in Romans 16:17. So we should avoid those who seek to unite all faiths under a single, unified cause because they are really causing division by sowing false doctrine. No matter how many they attract or how great their following, when we separate ourselves from them we are being obedient to our biblical mandate to avoid them. When we divide ourselves from them we are not causing the divisions but are only responding to the division that they have created by holding to false doctrine. Clearly, it is they who are the ones holding to the false doctrines, not us.

The Ten Commandments Movement Misses the Source of Apostasy

Many people think that what is hurting this country is principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places. They think they can remedy these “evils” by “getting back to the Bible” through posting of the Ten Commandments.

They could not be more wrong.

The real source of evil in our society today is the spirit of compromise and apostasy that exists in America’s churches. We have houses of “worship” that not only fail to preach against the evils of rock & roll, they actually incorporate it into their services along with all the attendant worldly instruments like guitars and drums. It is compromise with the world that is ruining society, not the lack of the Ten Commandments and I have proof. Nowhere in our church do we have them posted and we are the most spiritual bunch of True Christians I know. So if we can be spiritual without the Ten Commandments, why would we think that posting them in government offices (of all places) would make corrupt officials spiritual?

The Ten Commandments Movement is Fighting the Wrong BattleThe weapons of our warfare as saints in God’s Kingdom are spiritual, not carnal. The posting of God’s Law is a carnal act since it is not a spiritual weapon. The arena of the battle is the wrong one as well. The New Testament nowhere commands us to be politically active, particularly pastors. Paul certainly spent no time in his ministry trying to "bring the Roman empire back to God." Instead, like all the apostles, he devoted all his time "continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word." (Acts 6:4)

The sorry state of affairs in our country today does not require more Culture Warriors campaigning for the Ten Commandments (after all we have a Constitution to rule the government). What we should promote is a call to more prayer meetings, for genuine repentance from sins, for abandoning of heresies, for righteous living, for separation from the world and, most of all, for bold preaching like mine. If people would simply heed the Bible and follow the principles of 2 Chronicles 7:14 by leaving their wicked ways, humble themselves, pray and seek God's face, then God would hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land. Until America does that, then posting of the Ten Commandments won't do anyone any good.


The Ten Commandments Movement is Applying the Wrong Remedy

The Law of Moses is a Jewish Law and was given to a Jewish leader to guide God's Chosen People. The Ten Commandments have no application in our modern society because we are a Gentile nation founded on New Testament principles. This is not to say that we are a Christian nation because we are not. We never have been and we never will. Yes, there were Biblical principles involved in our founding but there were also principles of Enlightenment philosophy and Natural Science and even elements of paganism from Plato's Republic.

Besides, we have no business trying to build a country for God. Nowhere does the Bible direct us to build a "Christian nation." There is no commission for nation building in the New Testament, only a commission to build churches. So if we are trying to build a country instead of a church, we are really in rebellion against God's plan.

I realize this may sound harsh to some people but that is only because they can't stand good sound preaching. If they could, then they would not be cozying up to heretics to get the Ten Commandments posted. They would recognize that apostasy comes from a lack of separated righteous living and that fighting for the Ten Commandments is really a secular enterprise instead of a Spiritual one. And finally, if they could stand biblical preaching, then they wouldn't waste so much time trying to build up this country when what they need to do is spend more time in church, putting their money in the offering plate where it belongs instead of political action committees and causes.

Gamaliel/rjp

Sing praises to the LORD , enthroned in Zion;
proclaim among the nations what he has done.

Psalm 9:11 (NIV)
- posted by rick @ 7:23 AM