The Commandments of God, and the Testimony of Who?

In a recent post, I called on Greg Laurie to go back and look at who the Ten Commandments were given to. Today, I want to look at who the rest of the commandments were given to.

The “Commandments of God” are considered by the Jewish population to be the 613 commandments of the Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy). It should be noted that no Jew could follow all of the 613. Aside from the fact that we “have all fallen short of the Glory of God” (Rom 3:23), the common Jew has additional reasons for not obeying all of them.

For starters, there is no existing Temple. This excludes the Jew from offering any sacrifice at the Temple, because they were commanded to never offer it anywhere else. So, right from the start, there are a number of commandments that can not be completed by the Torah observant Jew.

Secondly, a male Jew could not, for obvious reasons, adhere to the female cleanliness Laws, simply because he is a man. This means that there are certain Laws that he will never be able to obey. Also in this category (Laws that he can not obey) are the Laws that instruct him redeem his firstborn child (provided he has no children and there is still no Temple); the Laws of leprosy (considering he never contracts leprosy, and there is still no Temple); the Laws of farming (providing he is not a farmer and there is still no Temple); and the list goes on.

For logical reasons, coupled with spiritual reasons, no man can observe the Law in its entirety.

But who is supposed to be doing this Law to begin with? I should start by saying that we are not justified by doing the law. Paul makes that very clear in Romans 3:20, that “by the deeds of the Law no flesh is justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” We are justified just like Abraham was – through faith.

Is Paul saying that the law is not valid then? No; Paul asks in Rom 3:31, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”

We establish the law.

I believe that these laws are for Christians as well. The scriptures that back this claim are too numerous to list in this post, but I will list the most compelling evidence that I have found so far.

If you will turn to Rev 12:17 which states, “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Do you see it? These people, the “remnant of her seed” keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus the Messiah. This is seen seven times in Revelation (Rev 1:2, Rev 1:9, Rev 6:9, etc).

Also, look at 1 John, 2:3. This verse declares that you can know if you know Him (God). How do you know if you know Him? 1Jo 2:3 “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments”. Notice that John doesn’t claim that we are justified by the commandments, but if we know Him, we will obey them.

I don’t know about you, but I want to know that I know Him. 1Jo 2:4 says that, “He that says, I know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

If you are wondering if this is referring to the “two commandments given by Jesus”, you will have to come back tomorrow. In the meantime, I can tell you for now that these “two” are the same at those 613 I wrote about earlier. If you don’t believe me, check back later; we’ll talk about it.

"The real Clinton emerges..."

I picked a bad time to slow down on my political posts.

The real Clinton emerges

An outstanding piece by Dick Morris about the latest installment of creep-o-rific behavior from the Clintons.

Greg Laurie, not a Jew

I am on the night shift. I go in at 7:00 pm and leave at 7:00 am. Sometimes I listen to Christian radio on my way in to the factory – the music motivates me. One day last week, I started my truck and was getting ready to pull out of the parking lot when I heard Greg Laurie’s voice saying, “And that is why we, as Christians, do not have to celebrate the Saturday Sabbath.” He continued, “You see, that commandment was given to the Jews!” He almost yelled it, as if to say, "Don't you understand!?"

Greg went on to tell his audience why they should obey the rest of the Ten Commandments; why they are still valid in the life of modern Christians, and how they are a good moral framework for us today.

I could not help but think of the ignorance displayed in his comments. Who did he think the other nine Commandments were given to? Where does the Word of God differentiate in the dialogue of the Ten Commandments which ones are for the Jews, and which are for everybody? It doesn’t. Greg Laurie made the statement that a Christian does not have to obey the Saturday Sabbath because it is for the Jews. God’s Word says nothing of the sort. In fact, it says the opposite. Jesus states that The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath (Mar 2:27). Notice that Jesus didn’t say that Sabbath was made for the Jew, but for man.

If we are to follow Greg Laurie’s method of disregarding the things that were “given to the Jews” then we have a huge problem. To start with, the book of James in the New Testament was (as stated in the first sentence) “...to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad...” (Jam 1:1). See the problem? Maybe Greg would have us throw the entire book out. After all, it was given to the Jews, wasn’t it? I don’t think there is any other way to interpret the “twelve tribes”. They are clearly the twelve tribes of Israel. And what about Hebrews? The name says it all. I am no Hebrew, and to my knowledge, neither is Greg.

Greg doesn’t actually follow this rule though. He taught a (prerecorded) message two days later on “Thou Shall not Steel”, in which he stated that we are steeling from God by not tithing a tenth of our earnings to the church. Can you guess which scripture he used to make the claim? Mal 3:8 “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.” A simple study on these “tithes and offerings” will show even the most unlearned Bible scholar that they were commanded to the Jews, in order to provide for the Levites in the Temple. Here it is:

Num 18:26 “Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, [even] a tenth [part] of the tithe.”

Did you notice what “offerings” means? Is Greg telling us that we should offer up heave offerings too? I doubt it. I think he has merely transposed out 21^st century meaning of “offering” into the mix. Greg is telling his audience that we are robbing from the Lord by not paying 10% via the offering plate in church every Sunday morning.

I find it absurd that Christians can listen to comments like the ones Greg Laurie is making, and never even think to search them out in the scripture. We are called to make sure our teachers are teaching sound doctrine. I believe that Greg Laurie has fallen short of that goal when it comes to his separating Jew and Gentile commandments. They are all God’s Commandments. As servants of the Almighty, should we be allowing Greg to choose which of God's Laws we are to follow?

And about the "moral law" business. I heard a teacher say once that since Jesus said the greatest commandment is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." If the greatest commandment relies on our love for God, wouldn't all of his commandments be "moral commandments"?

Just something to chew on.

"...history always begins this morning for liberals"

Some highlights from Ann Coulter’s latest master piece:

...the only reason McCain is demanding that prisoners like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, the beheading of journalist Daniel Pearl and other atrocities -- be treated like Martha Stewart facing an insider trading charge is this: "It's all about the United States of America and what is going to happen to Americans who are taken prisoner in future wars."
McCain, along with Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. John Warner -- or, as the Times now calls him, the "courtly Virginian" -- want terrorists treated like Americans accused of crimes, with full access to classified information against them and a list of the undercover agents involved in their capture. Liberals' interest in protecting classified information started and ended with Valerie Plame.

... There hasn't been this much railing about the mistreatment of a hostage since Monica Lewinsky was served canapes at the Pentagon City Ritz-Carlton Hotel while being detained by the FBI.

... But being nice to enemies is an idea that has never worked, no matter how many times liberals make us do it. It didn't work with the Soviet Union, Imperial Japan, Hitler or the North Vietnamese -- enemies notable for being more civilized than the Islamic savages we are at war with today. By the way, how did the Geneva Conventions work out for McCain at the Hanoi Hilton?

... Fortunately, history always begins this morning for liberals, so they can keep flogging the same idiotic idea that has never, ever worked...

...As McCain might put it, I hold no brief for al Qaeda, but what would better protect Americans they take prisoner than if America went whole hog and became an Islamic republic? On the plus side, we can finally put Rosie O'Donnell in a burka.

If you have already had your morning coffee, and still feel like something is missing, read the whole thing here.

Here we go again...

Jerusalem Newswire:
Shame March Gets Green Light 
By Stan Goodenough
September 18, 2006

A homosexual organization in Jerusalem is determined to ensure that a twice-cancelled public parading of perverse sexual lifestyles through the streets of the sacred city will take place after all.

The fact that the "Gay" shame event will offend millions of Jews and Christians has only served to intensify the efforts of the "Open House," which successfully persuaded Israel's High Court of Justice to rule that the march will now be held on Friday, November 10.

On that day, the tens of thousands of Jerusalemites who normally use Friday to prepare for Shabbat will have to ensure that they and their children are off the streets if they do not wish to be exposed to half-naked men kissing each other, and gyrating women embracing, in the city Israel's God chose to call His own.

By given the event its blessing, the High Court has helped promote and protect a lifestyle that holds untold numbers of people prisoner. And it has aided and abetted those who have made their goal the perversion and imprisonment of our youth.

There's a huge spider under my "new leaf"!

I am back!

Before I get started, I want to say that I am going to change the format a little around here. The news is really getting on my nerves, and when I allow myself, I become consumed with it. There are only so many things I can say about the communistic, left-wing, terrorist supporting, Bush hating, Mama Sheehan supporting, Gorbachev worshiping, Clinton praising, 9-11 conspiracy mongering, holocaust denying morons before I start to lose my focus.

Things are spiraling out of control in our world, and the Democratic Party is so convinced that the world’s problems are the product of George W. Bush, that they are wiling to blame even the weather on him; then claim that the conservatives are irrational. I have had it.

People like this can not be reasoned with. They are not worth the trouble.

So, while I will not reject the news entirely, I am going to get back to my original vision, and do more Torah studies, more of my art work, more cello posts, and the like. I am open to any and all suggestions; however – if you do not agree with the opinions on this blog, leave. Better yet, go study up and present a logical argument based on fact and rational thought. This may keep you away from the abortion clinic, or from taking the 10 Commandments off of court house lawns for a little while, but trust me; it will do you some good to use your brain for a few minutes. The ACLU can do without you for the time it takes you to study up on some factual history. Don’t be a coward, leaving comments that spew hatred and foul language, without ever conveying an intelligible idea. As members of the Left wing Democratic Party, you know who you are, and you know what I am talking about; your illiteracy and vile remarks reveal you.

...back to business...

All of this talk of vile, disgusting creeps makes for the perfect intro to something that happened to my wife tonight. She had just taken our weiner dog outside to do her business, and when she came back into the house, she had one of these on her arm:

...yes, on her arm; touching her skin, crawling up her arm. After she brushed it off (thinking it was just part of a cobweb that she walked through) she jumped back and said, "Oh my gosh!! That's the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life!"

I continued reading, unconcerned, because I know for a fact that we have seen some pretty large spiders at the St. Louis, and Indianapolis Zoo, so I figured that she was exaggerating. In hindsight, I think she meant to say, "That is the biggest spider that has ever been on my arm!!" That would have gotten my attention. Or, "Hey, is that one of those bird catching spiders - that was just on my arm?"

I nonchalantly got up and started over toward the door; then I saw it. After shuddering about fifteen times, I managed to get it into in a Mason jar (where it sits, safely by my right hand as I type). Its rear end is the size of a small grape, and its legs spread out bigger than an old silver dollar.

Man! Maaaaaaaaan! I will not sleep tonight.

It's title is: "Neoscona crucifera" of the Araneidae family. Supposedly it is "not known to cause serious effects to humans". Personally, I don't care if it was wearing an "I love Ronald Reagan" T-shirt, it still gave me the willies; and it wasn't even on my arm.

She is asleep now. I am going to bed soon, but not without a lot of contemplation, I'm sure.

Where are the rest of them? These things could be hiding anywhere; under the bed, beneath the toilet seat, in my boots, or my sock drawer, even taking refuge in my extremely manly, robust beard while I am sleeping... for all I know, one could be on my back right now, seeking revenge for the imprisonment of his mate...

...or on her arm.

Coming soon...

I will back up and posting soon...

...many overtime days...

...*must

...*get*



...rest*...