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MODERN ROMANS: A WARNING FOR AMERICA, BRITAIN AND ISRAEL
Chapter 7
Loving God - The First and Third Commandments
God’s first commandment states in Exodus 20:2-3, “2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
Many confuse having no other god before the true God as being the same thing as not worshipping idols. But idols and images are covered in the second commandment. It is important to understand the distinction between the two commandments. The second commandment forbids the use of idols or images as aids to worship God. It does not mean worshipping the idol or image as god. The first commandment on the other hand means not setting up something as more important than God, meaning it has become your god that you worship. The first commandment thus forbids activities that occupy your time or interest more than the true God.
Here are some important ways Americans and Britons are setting up other things as gods before the true God. For many money is their god. They literally spend no time on studying their Bibles, daily prayer or even attending weekly Church services. All their time is consumed in earning more money. For them money has literally become the god they worship. Popularity of lotteries, gambling also show how obsessed Americans and Britons are with money.
Related to worship of money is the worship of materialism: possessing fancy cars, in some cases beyond their means; latest fashions in clothing, latest up-to-date gadgets and gizmos. They pursue the old adage "He who dies with the most toys wins.” These goals is the god they worship, and the real God does not even occupy a corner of their minds and daily lives.
Many Americans and Britons are also unduly passionately preoccupied with politics. The popularity of numerous radio and TV shows discussing politics the whole day long shows the huge numbers of people obsessed with politics. People cannot seem to get enough of it. Elections are our political process for choosing leaders. Some time has to be devoted to it. But the preoccupation with politics for many crowds God out so that they have no time for worship For them politics is the idol or god they worship.
Many Americans spend inordinate amount of time daily on music and entertainment. According to a Nielsen report, United States adults are watching five hours and four minutes of television per day on average (35.5 h/week, slightly more than 77 days per year). The time spent daily on leisure and sports according to the latest Annual American Time Use Survey, averages 5 hours and 15 minutes, while an average adult American devotes about 8 minutes per day to religious activities. That might simply mean attending weekly Church services for a small percentage of the population. That means most Americans don’t ever read their bibles to find answers to pressing problems in their lives, or seek to learn God’s purpose for mankind. God simply plays no role in their lives. The only contact they might have with Him is utter a silent prayer on their feet for help when in dire trouble or emergency. Americans and Britons have no time to thank God for the many blessings they receive from Him.
But compare that with how actors, musicians, celebrities, sports stars and TV personalities, their favorite sports teams etc. are adored by the people. These persons are the idols (and they are called idols) they worship in place of God. We are free to do whatever we want with our time. It indicates our priorities. But don’t suddenly expect help from God when catastrophic events engulf us because of our sins.
Every human being will suffer some sort of illness or medical situation in their lives. We have made the medical profession one of our gods, because, we usually don’t first turn to God for healing. James 5:14-15 says, “14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
This is a very simple, straightforward statement. But Exodus 15:26 describes there is a condition for it, “26 “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. FOR I AM THE LORD WHO HEALS YOU.” The condition, therefore, for asking God to heal us first is listening to His commandments and obediently keeping all His laws.
Psalm 103:1-3 shows another related condition for receiving healing from God: “1 Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases.” The condition is that we should also lead a life of gratitude towards God for all the benefits we receive from Him. But the Americans, the British, and for that matter, all of humanity barely spares even a few minutes in their life for the true God. That’s why we don’t see numerous miraculous healings, though out of His mercy and kindness, God still performs miracles of healing in the world.
Since we do not receive help from God for healing our sicknesses, we have substituted the medical profession as our god. But please don’t misunderstand. The medical profession does a marvelous job. What the Bible points out is that our attitude towards the profession is wrong. Just as we make gods of sports stars and musicians, we make gods of the medical professionals. Some medical professionals are level headed enough to realize that they only assist in the healing process and that it is God who really heals.
A Pew Research Survey in April 2018 revealed that 56% of Americans believe in the God of the Bible. The situation is worse in Britain where 53% of Britons say they are not religious at all. Thus God has no place at all in the lives of 44% of Americans and 53% of Britons. For most of these people, their god is their philosophy or beliefs such as liberalism, secular humanism, or downright anti-God activism such as that of evolutionists, atheists, agnostics and the like.
There is also a severe problem with about half the population that identifies itself as Christian. Mainstream Christianity does not worship the true God and Jesus Christ. The days they worship on such as Sunday, Christmas, Easter etc. are all pagan days of worship, on which Baal, Molech, Ashtaroth, the Queen of Heaven were worshipped. We continue to follow the same traditions which Jesus Christ and the God of the Bible condemn. This will be explained later in detail our worship practices.
Thus the overwhelming evidence is that virtually all of America, British Commonwealth nations and the democracies of northwestern Europe do not keep the first commandment. They have a variety of gods they worship before the true God.
Third Commandment
Matthew 22:35-40 states, “35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
This statement explains how to love God and our fellow man. The first four of the ten commandments further elaborate how to love God, and the remaining six describe how to love our neighbor as ourselves.
We have seen that our people in America and British Commonwealth nations are violating the first commandment that prohibits having any other god before the true God; the second commandment that prohibits using idols or images as aids in worship of the true God; and the fourth commandment which requires keeping the Sabbath day holy.
Now let’s see how we do in keeping the third commandment which is stated in Exodus 20:7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.”
NIV translates this verse this way: “7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines vain as related to the third commandment as using “in an irreverent or blasphemous manner.” It can also mean using God’s name in an empty, frivolous or insincere manner, or to no good purpose.
When someone says the name ‘Trump,’ what comes into your mind? It invokes the person’s rank, authority, interests, personality, deeds and character. Everything associated with that person comes into your mind.
Names are very important in the Bible. God renamed people based on their characteristics. For example Abram’s name was changed to Abraham when God promised him that he would become father of many nations. Jacob’s name was changed to Israel. The reason: Jacob means supplanter, which implies deceitful nature, which is what he did when he deceived his blind father Isaac to steal his brother’s blessing. But after he wrestled with God at night, his name was changed to Israel, which means to rule as God.
God’s various names are revealed in the Bible. To Moses God revealed that His name was “I AM that I AM” and Yahweh, which means the Eternal, Ever-Living or the Self-Existent One. God’s name El Shaddai means God Almighty; Adonai means Lord; El Elyown means Most High God, El Owlam means Everlasting God; Jehovah Sabbath means Lord of Hosts or Armies; Yahwen-Rapha means God our Healer. But the most important name for God is Elohim, which means God.
God’s name also invokes God’s attributes such as Creator, provider, sustainer, healer, protector, never lies, never deceives, always truthful, omniscient, omnipresent, all-knowing, doer of justice among many others.
The name Elohim carries deep meaning. It is a uni-plural noun, like the words family or nation. Family is one unit but has many members. Similarly a nation has many citizens. Elohim is the God-family name. For example, let’s consider the Family name Jones. The father is named Matthew Jones; mother is named Sarah Jones; two sons are named James and John Jones, and the two daughters are named Rebecca and Jennifer Jones. Thus though there is the one Jones family, but it has six members. That is what the word Elohim is. It is the God family name, which at present has just two members: God the Father and then Jesus Christ. But all of humanity has the potential to be born into the God-family as God’s literal sons and daughters. Here is what the names will look like after the Jones family qualifies to become sons and daughters of God. The family will have the names: Father God, Jesus Christ God, Matthew Jones God, Sarah Jones God, James Jones God, John Jones God, Rebecca Jones God and Jennifer Jones God. You can also add your name to the family to see what it sounds like. The slight difference to the scenario I have provided is that God as our Father, because of His prerogative as a Father will give each of us a different name based on our characteristics when we become His sons and daughters.
I John 3:2 clearly says, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
John leaves no doubt in his statement. Potential of all humans is to become sons of God. We shall all look like Jesus Christ and be able to see Him as He is. If we violate God’s Third Commandment, we are besmirching our own future name.
God has created the human family for us to experience how He feels when we treat each other in the family in different ways. The golden rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” applies here.
Now consider how you as a father would feel, if your name was Robert and your own kids or others use your name to hurl profanities, or use it frivolously, invoke your name for no reason at all in frivolous conversation, or worse yet in filthy conversation laced with plenty of foul language; use euphemisms or distort it in every possible way to ridicule it, such as using words like Robby, Hey Robo, Bobby, Babs, Bobz, Tricky Dickey, Dick, ‘Oh my, Bobs’, ‘Ye Babz’ etc. What would your reaction be? Would you ever want to be close to such children or individuals? The answer should be so obvious to everyone. It would be impossible for you to be in the presence of such individuals. Now substitute “God” for all these words and see how it all sounds to God. Perhaps you can now understand why God will never allow those violating the third commandment to come close to Him. Such individuals are so obnoxious to God that He simply turns a deaf ear to their conversation and wants to have nothing to do with them. He expels them from His presence. If you violate the Third commandment, don’t expect your prayers to be heard by God. God’s names and attributes should inspire awe and reverence for Him. If you love your physical father, you certainly would not use his name flippantly. You would use it respectfully in conversation and conduct.
The consequences of violating the Third Commandment also apply to nations. Here are the various ways in which Americans and Britons violate this commandment.
The biggest culprit that even shapes our opinions and attitudes is the entertainment industry. It seems that no punch line in a TV show or a movie is complete or perfect until God or Jesus’s names are used as a profanity. The result has been that even little children use God’s name as an expletive. The entertainment industry uses God’s name lightly in crude jokes, stories and unwholesome conversation. The general population then uses it the same way by copying their screen idols. It robs God of the deep reverence and honor that His holy name deserves as our Creator, Sustainer and Ruler. Jesus Christ instructed us in the model prayer in Matthew 6:9 to hallow, or venerate God’s name.
Flippant use of God’s name in the social media is commonplace now. Witness the popularity of acronyms such as OMG for “Oh my God!”. Children, teenagers, adults alike use this and similar worse acronyms as a normal part of their conversations virtually every day.
Another common misuse of God’s name is when it is invoked in damning someone.
Jesus Christ told His disciples in Luke 9:56, “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” It is not in God’s character or His desire to damn anyone.
Swearing by using God’s name is another misuse that is prohibited in the Bible. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5:34-37, “But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: nor by the earth; for it is his footstool…But let your communication be, Yes, yes; No, no: for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil.” God’s name is sacred and holy and should not be used to back up our oaths. But many people invoke God’s name in an oath to make their lie more believable. That is a travesty of God’s truthfulness because God cannot lie as stated in Titus 1:2.
Another blasphemous use of God’s name very common in Mainstream Christianity is to use titles for Church pastors and leaders that can apply only to God. The Catholics use the title Father whereas Protestants use the title Reverend for their pastors. God has reserved the title Reverend for Himself alone as Psalms 111:9 says, “…holy and reverend is his name,”; and in Matthew 23:9 Jesus said, “…call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” Literally all of mainstream Christianity stands guilty of violation of the Third Commandment which uses God’s titles for human beings and profanes God’s name. However, we can call our own human parent father, as God does so in the Fifth Commandment.
Vainly repeating God’s name in prayer or conversation is also a violation of the Third Commandment. It is a practice of almost all pagan religions to keep repeating God’s name in song and prayer. Jesus said in Matthew 6:7, “But when you pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”
There is more to worship of God. Jesus Christ said, in Luke 6:46 “And why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Praying to God without obeying His commandments is blasphemy. This form of religious hypocrisy of using God’s name in prayer without any intention or effort to obey Him is using God’s name in vain and a violation of the Third Commandment.
Thus virtually all of America and British Commonwealth countries stand guilty of violating God’s Third Commandment. By besmirching God’s name, we are literally besmirching our potential future name. If you continue to violate this commandment, you simply will not qualify to inherit “God” as your future name. God will not make you a part of His family. Because God will not want you in His presence, He’ll not hear your cries for protection in the coming catastrophes.
As part of the covenant, God gave the Ten Commandments. The first four teach us how to love God, and the remaining six commandments teach us how to love our neighbor as ourselves. Now let’s see how Americans and Britons are doing in keeping the last six commandments.
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